Lijiang and Kunming

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Here are some more photos from the end of our trip in China, Lijiang and Kunming.

Going to China

To make things a little more interesting Einav and I made a short "recommenation" list for our friends going to China - this should get you to understand China a little better!!!

here it is:

1. Toilets: prepare yourself for the worst, get ready to lihitapek a lot. bring a lot of pocket toilet paper. It is useful to have 3/4 pants and some tiger lotion for your nose to avoid to strong smell.

2. Weather: the weather in Yunnan changes a lot in this season, one day its very hot, and the other may be cold. Bring with you long sleeve shirts and a fleece, but a thin one that you can carry with you.

3. Do not try to explain what you want, if you buy a lonely planet phrasebook, mark yourself the things that you think could be useful. If you are looking for something to eat, saying that you are a vegeterian does not mean that you are not going to get meat. Don't be ashamed to point at somebody elses dishes and say: "this is what I want!".

4. Transportation: If you are taking a public bus, it may be cheaper, but: people spit all the time, smoke on the bus, mefatzchim gariinim and do other various bodily noises! If its a long ride, don't be cheap and take the tourist bus. Unfortunately, we cannot gaurantee that this one will be much better, but it usually is. Do not get tempted to take chinese tourist buses because they will take you all around the area into jade shops, restaurants, etc, all but the place you wanted to get to!!!

5. Bring a calculator with you, can be very useful for bargaining, even though they usually have one, they don't understand when you ask them to use it! Bargain about EVERYTHING even hotel rooms, taxi rides that are long (not with a meter in the cities), clothes, food in a restaurant, etc.

6. Never get to a place or a restuarant without asking the price before you order. We know a couple that on their first day paid 250 Yuan (or Kway as its said here) for a meal, and this is about 3-6 times the price of a meal anywhere!

7. When you arrive in a hotel, or guesthouse ask them if they have hot water, and ask to see the room before you take it, even if they say they have hot water, it does not necessarily mean that they do, or that it runs all the time! We were in some places where they opened the water only for several hours (including the toilets!) Don't even try to throw toilet paper into the toilet, otherwise you will know a lot of chinese "plumbers". Another important thing is checking the matresses, which are sometimes simply not more than a blanket with a nice cover on it.

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