Last Words about China

A few words are due about our China experience, which was just wonderful.

We met lots of fellow travellers who didn't rave about China, but they most shared the same complaint: it was just hard travelling in a country where almost no-one speaks English, and some of those that do speak some words - especially the tourist-facing ones - may try to overcharge, rip, or sell you something you don't need or want.

But once you overcome those difficulties, especially if you can speak the essential 20-30 words for basic communications, China could be just an amazing experience.

We loved the people almost everywhere we went, and especially in the provinces and smaller cities. Whether it was chatting with people in restaurants (asking them about which dish to order), laughing with/about fellow Chinese tourists who take 100 photos, or talking to people in shops, we found a genuinely warm welcoming from almost everyone. Yes, we did have some not-as-good-experiences with the tourist-facing side (especially a few travel agencies), but they were outweighed by all the other wonderful experience we had.

We loved the views of this huge country and its diversity. Yangshou, Guilin, Xian, Beijing, Shanghai, Jiuzhaiguo and Chengdu are just few on-the-touristy-track places which were each beautiful and enchanting yet unique.

And lastly, the Food. Even if you're Kosher/vegetarian, you'd find Chinese food as one big feast. We had some of the best meals in our trip there, especially as we can now compare it to the food we've tasted in other Asia countries. Simply walking in the street, trying the delicious street food is a reason for its own to come to China and visit as many provinces as you can.

So that's our short summary about China. We were quite sceptic about the country before we arrived, but were mesmerized by what it has to offer. We're really hoping to return to China and visit new places - and we're hoping our photos and experiences would convince you to do so, too.


TIPS IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO GO
1. Learn some Mandarin: numbers, how much, how are you, goodbye, thank you, what is this, what is the time, it's too expensive, and the most useful one: "I'm not foreigner, I'm Chinese - what's the cheapest price?".

2. Lower your expectations. Expect for everything to be hard, dirty and annoying. And then when you finally arrive, you'd discover that it's not (so) hard, not dirty (most places) and not (too) annoying - and you'd be much, much happier.

3. Do your homework: decide where you're going to, how much time it'll take and how much would it cost. Now double it (just in case) and you're all set.

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