Hot answers tagged china
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There are a great many locations on the Great Wall that can be visited. The most common start point if from Beijing, however, I would disagree with the answer by Mark Mayo in that they are not all over crowded with tourists. Most tours head to the section along Badaling, near Beijing, and that is the bit to avoid. Though again, if timed right and going off ...
19
My experience with China's internet has been "Have a backup plan" if you need access to some services.
You can use Google's Transparency Report for China to determine the current status of Google Services in PRC. As of writing, no it does not appear to be blocked.
However, there are cases where it has been - and it might happen while you are there. If ...
16
First of all, you must be prepared to such trip - it is 4 days long from Moscow to Mongolia (with changes), and you should get some stuff like electronic books or films. Also you should think about possibilities of recharging your electronical devices - charges are available not in all trains and not at each stations.
After those choices, I recommend you ...
15
Any recommendations as to where?
Firstly, you should choose the trains. For now, you have such options:
Direct train 020Щ(sch) "Vostok" ("East")
Moscow (departure at 23:55 PM every Saturday) - Beijing (arrival at l5:32 AM every Saturday), do not goes through Mongolia.
Direct train 004З
Moscow (departure at 21:35 PM every Tuesday) - Beijing ( arrival ...
15
Well there were actually several stages of the wall, and it's now in various states of disrepair / ruin depending on where you go. Presumably you want to go where there's actually wall, as opposed to rubble.
One of the most common routes is ex-Beijing, but since you want less crowded, we'll skip that.
For something quite cool and different, try Shanhaiguan ...
15
I'm Chinese so I can probably tell you this. As you're a foreigner they know already that you're not used to their culture. So, be yourself and you'll be fine. If anything, I guess it must be you to prepare for culture shock. As most of my foreigner friends complain about the spitting and toilets. So be prepared. Another thing is they smoke everywhere, if ...
13
You're very unlikely to get them rejected if you go through an agency, as they'll make sure you have all the right information before they submit it to the various government departments.
I use http://www.visatorussia.com/ in 2008 to get a tourist visa, and this year for a 3 month double entry business visa, and both times they were fantastic.
Both ...
12
As I know, in Russia visas can be achived for two ways:
By the invitation from some people or company in Russia, and I think this is not for you, because it not very stable way to get visa.
By the touristic trip or voucher. This can be made by travel agencies. Try to choose famous one, like http://nevatravel.ru/
Also in some cities you can stay for three ...
11
The Chinese Emabassy in the UK site refers visa applications to the Chinese Visa Application Service Center. According to this site, they have locations in London, Manchester, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, The Hague, Brussels, Paris, Marseilles, Milan, Rome and Madrid.
The terms of their online application state that applicants must be a citizen or ...
11
Generally, Hep B is the more common disease in Asia, however that does not mean that there is a significantly lower risk for Hep A. A general overview of the various types of Hepatitis can be found at this link.
I have not found any recent epidemics published in China, however, they have happened in recent history (a paper discussing one in 1990 here ...
10
From Tbilisi to Baku you can go via train #38/37. It goes every day, so there is no problem with that.
From Baku you can get to Aktau (Kazakhstan) via ferry. People who used this ferry are saying it has no stable schedule, so you can contact ferry station by phone:
(99412) 493-19-63
(99412) 498-10-13
Also you can go to Türkmenbaşy ...
10
As with everything else in China - if you go to a place that is opened for tourists, be prepared to see a lot of them. You can usually avoid the hordes by going on a weekday (as opposed to weekend), avoiding national holidays, going early in the morning and picking a place that is less-known (pick #3, #4, ... place as opposed to #1, #2 place). That being ...
10
I have traveled to China about 10 times now as my wife was born there.
If you are not spending your time in air-conditioned hotels and doing some independent travel I seriously suggest you take some repellant.
It really depends in China where you are as to what sort of things you can buy; cities are expanding all the time; if you are in a newer section of ...
10
I'm just adding this in on the off chance that the US is the same as Australia, hopefully this is helpful.
If you have a place in your city like a China Town that has plenty of Chinese shops you can get very cheap calls by purchasing Chinese calling cards.
Many Chinese grocery stores have posters stuck up with call rates. This is very common in my local ...
10
Personally I didn't plan much, just went with the flow, but that depends on how much freedom you have.
Work out how much time you have. Bear in mind that a Russian tourist visa is 30 days, but you can get a Business visa for tourist purposes (I had zero problems) and that's valid for 60 days, multiple entry.
Work out your budget. Hostels are pretty cheap ...
9
So far as I'm aware, it isn't currently possible. You can hire guides individually though.
I've heard from a couple of different people that permits to Tibet for foreigners are currently closed though, so you'd probably do just as well to call an agency (the big places all have English speaking staff as well) and see what the say. It's hard to find concrete ...
9
In many of the big cities you will find department stores that are dedicated to selling electronics equipment. This is the place to buy your plan.
The reason is that most of the booths are manned by young people and you are more likely to find someone who can speak English. You need to understand that although Chinese people are trying hard to learn English ...
9
Google Voice -- $0.02/min. The way it works is you can call online or call a local US number that will call the Chinese number for you (which would use your minutes or your normal per minute cost on top of the $0.02).
Your girlfriend could call you online using it as well, if you set up an account for her in the US (it can't be set up outside). That would ...
9
Shanghai office of Customs department in China has a guide for international travellers. Looking at your list, you should be fine as none of these fall under prohibited or controlled items...except for designer earrings. Gold items fall under controlled items and you will need to declare that by filling up a customs declaration form and passing through red ...
9
China has lifted most of the restrictions on trade in Chinese currency, so it has been possible to (legally) obtain renminbi outside China for a few years. When entering and leaving China, you are allowed to bring 20,000 CNY in local currency (appr. 3,200 USD) and 5,000 USD or equivalent in foreign currency (source: Chinese Customs).
Assuming that you are ...
8
I was looking into the same journey recently and the best resource I found was seat61 http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm#Visas
I talked to one of the agencies they recommend http://www.realrussia.co.uk/ They knew what they were doing, they quickly responded and sent us quotes and paperwork for both my husband and I (Australian and English passports).
...
8
There is, in fact, a direct flight from Melbourne to Guangzhou with China Southern Airlines. (They have two websites - the global one, which I've linked to, can accept payments from international credit cards while the Chinese one doesn't. Of course, you can book via third parties like Expedia et al too.) This seems to be the easiest option.
If you want to ...
8
There are a great many locations on the Great Wall that can be visited. Narrowing the choice to those within day trip or single overnight stay from Beijing, we get the following list. I've added my comments as to their merits.
Miyun County
Simatai ( 司马台; Sīmǎtái) a popular but remote. Quite far from Beijing. Currently (2011) this section is closed to ...
8
I visited the rice terraces in Longsheng near Guilin in 2007. It is a beautiful place and well worth visiting.
There is no need for special clothing other than the usual good walking shoes and clothes suitable for the days weather. There are sturdy stone foot paths throughout the mountains and villages in the area. At no time will you need to worry about ...
8
Personally the best view is not from those skyscrapers but a nice spot to view these buildings from the bund (Puxi side)
I highly recommend Three on the bund, it has a roof top and now is the perfect time to go. Stunning view of Pudong area.
Image courtesy of Stuck in Customs, licenced under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
8
There's really only one choice: the Karakorum Highway.
Regular buses travel between last Pakistani town on the highway, Sust, and Kashgar. The only caveat is that the highway is subject to closure during the cold season, so it is best to arrange for travel before November. Sust is not a particularly nice place, so if possible try and get tickets before ...
8
Yes, yes it does. If you click layers on Google Maps, and the Wikipedia layer, you'll also get photos taken in the area. Several are from Panoramio, and are labelled "Zheng Cheng Gong" - see an example.
From Wikipedia:
Koxinga (Lord of the Imperial Surname) is the customary Western
spelling[8] of the popular appellation of Zheng Chenggong,
So it ...
7
I discovered the other day that there are companies who will do the footwork for you (for a fee). For an example, see http://www.mychinavisa.com/tourist.php.
We ended up using China Visa Service Center (mychinavisa.com), and we now have our visas. It cost an extra $124 for service fees and shipping, but it saved us the trouble of having to go down to ...
7
Author Peter Hessler visited some of the most remote parts of the Great Wall and seemed to do an excellent job of avoiding other tourists. He took measures to avoid catching the attention of the local government, though. In planning your trip, you might do well to read his account of the journey: Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory
7
You could look at http://www.openstreetmap.org/ which is google maps meets wikipedia. It's all copyleft, so you can download it yourself. However you'll have to find a suitable applicaton/format youself. Hunt around the http://wiki.openstreetmap.org
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