The few tips I can offer about traveling in China

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I’ve been asked for some advice on traveling in China by a couple of different people and while I’m no expert, I’ll write about some of the things I’ve learned.

Trains:
Trains tend to be the least expensive way to travel in China, which accounts for many of them being booked solid, especially in summer. However, you can book trains several days (up to 5 I think) in advance by going to the station and getting your ticket. The best way to see what trains are available is to go to http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/index.htm where you can enter your location and destination and you’ll get a list of possibilities. Now, it is always easier to get a ticket for a train that originates from your present location and you may find it difficult to get tickets for any train that does not, as ticket brokers tend to buy up a lot of the tickets for the main lines, e.g. Beijing to Xian, Beijing to Shanghai, etc.

So, you figure out the train you want. Next is actually getting the tickets. Most youth hostels and a lot of hotels will have travel services within and for a fee of between 10 and 50 RMB will get the tickets for you. That’s what I did on most of my trip the last time I was in China and it worked out well. However, this time, I’m on a tighter budget and those fees add up.

I guess I should also explain that there are 4 classes of tickets in China. There are hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, soft sleeper. I’ve traveled in all classes except soft sleeper, which tends to cost about 20% more than the hard sleeper. Hard seats can be very hard, especially if you are on some of the minor lines…basically a tall-backed wooden bench covered in green vinyl. Soft seats are slightly more expensive than hard seats, between 10-20% and are normal, reclining seats that most of us know from our own countries. Either of these options is fine for daytime trains of trips lasting 12 hours or under. However, if you are planning any journey that will take longer than 8 hours or so, I would suggest taking a night train and buying a sleeper. It saves on a hotel room and I actually enjoy the trips, although the hard sleepers aren’t all that comfortable. Hard sleepers are tiered 3 high and 6 to a compartment and are open to the rest of the carriage. They offer little or no privacy, but you are provided with a pillow, blanket and sometimes a small towel. The bed itself is approximately 60 cm. wide with a length of about 185 cm. and pretty hard, hence the name I guess. So, if you are tall like me it is probably best to choose a top bunk so your feet can stick over the edge and you don’t have people running into them. The prices vary for top, middle and bottom, with bottom being slightly more expensive.

I have a system of purchasing tickets. I’ve had someone write hard sleeper, top bunk on a card which I keep (along with hard and soft seat) in my wallet. I then write the train number, the date I want to leave on the card in pencil and hand that to the ticket person saying the name of my destination. Also, one warning, train stations tend to be a sea of humanity with few signs in English other than the one telling you where the ticket windows are. However, even if I happen to be in the incorrect line at the station, they will usually help anyway and if there is any real problems, many I’ve met on this trip speak passable English or there is someone nearby who does. I have not had any problems getting tickets in this way on this trip. Of course, it is low season, so most trains I’ve been on so far have not been full. (You can find out more about trains in China and many other nations by going to www.seat61.com. It’s a great site.)

Long-Distance Buses
I think trains are the best way to travel if you can purchase your ticket at least one day in advance. I think it lets you be more intimate with the locals and they just seem more relaxed and willing to talk. However, if you must go to another city the day of, your best option will be the bus. Most cities of any size have several bus stations, so you will have to figure out which bus station you need to go to. Once that is accomplished, just go to that station, tell the ticket person where you want to go and they’ll give you a ticket on the next bus available. There are night/sleeper buses that travel long-range…these are an experience you may want to try, but my one experience involved a bus that broke down twice and I was stuck in a bunk smaller than a hard sleeper on a train. But it was an interesting experience and I slept well. However, buses are pretty cramped and they tend to pack them to capacity with people and bags. They rarely have much leg-room and the drivers can be seriously aggressive drivers, which actually doesn’t bother me much, but you’ll see more than your fair share of oncoming traffic closely missing a head-on collision with your bus (I was on a bus that was side-swiped by a car last time I was in China and we were stuck by the side of the road for 4 hours getting a replacement). So, if you dislike that kind of driving…I suggest not coming to China at all, because all the drivers are like that, from bicyclists up to heavy trucks.

People in and around Train and Bus Stations
You’ll find a lot of different types of people in these places, all trying to sell you something. If you’re going into a bus station, people will be yelling locations to you, asking if that’s where you’re going. It may very well be and the service, private cars or buses may actually be faster, but it is generally more expensive. Don’t buy your ticket outside the station; it is not for a real bus and you can get a less expensive ticket inside.

When arriving at a station, beyond the beggars and locals trying to sell their handicrafts or trinkets, you’ll be greeted by two types of people. One are the ladies, and sometimes men, with photos of places to stay yelling “binguan” or asking you if you need a place to stay. I’ll talk more about these people in the lodging section next.

The other people who will try to demand your attention at the stations are men and increasingly, women, who are holding out a car key, and in pretty good to very fluent English asking if you need a ride. These are the “black” car drivers, called that because they almost invariably drive black Volkswagon J ettas or the like. Even among the Chinese, the “black” car drivers have gotten a bad reputation. They will charge you huge rates for what a taxi will do for a third of the price and often less. However, if you want to do a day tour and there are 3 or 4 of you together to share the price, you might, by negotiating very hard, get a pretty good deal on one of these guys to drive you around to various sights for the day. Otherwise, just avoid them.

Lodging
Your best bet for lodging is a hostel. Now, I know some of you revile hostels as dirty, nasty and dangerous, and I admit that I have stayed in a few like that in a variety of places. Smelly dorm rooms filled with people’s stuff laying around everywhere…it can be like that. But, many of the hostels in China offer singles, double and even triples some with ensuite baths. So, don’t be too swift to discount hostels. A couple of good websites to find budget accommodations are www.hostelworld.com or www.hostels.com. Both list many hostels in China, but not all of them from my experience. So, check in the hostels in which you are staying to see if there is something in the city to which you are heading.

However, if you come to a place without a hostel, this is where the ladies at the station can come in handy. Usually, they are pitching a hotel or guest house near the station where you’ve arrived and receive a commission for getting you to stay there. Accordingly, you should be wary of any promises they make to you regarding price. Whatever price they give you, always say that it is too expensive (thai gui= pronounced “tie gway”). In fact, get used to saying that for everything even if it sounds like a great deal (see the next section on bargaining).

You can do this without the ladies by just walking away from the station and looking around. The cheapest lodgings in any city or town seem to be in this area. When you find something that looks up to your standards, walk on in and head for the front desk, which will have a list of prices on a large board. This is required by law, but those prices are always negotiable. If the starting price for a room looks like it’s in your price range, ask to take a look at a room and if it passes muster, tell them it is too expensive and you would like a discount. Unless you are traveling in June, July, or August, or during the Lunar New Year or other Chinese holidays, they should be pretty willing to negotiate. If not, leave and go next door. Half the time they’ll make a different offer as you’re getting your bags ready to leave.

Bargaining
That leads me to bargaining, which is really my weakest area. I just get tired of haggling over everything I’m planning to buy. First, I’ve been told that there is a minimum of three-tiers of pricing. Local; Chinese, but not local; and foreigner. Your goal should be to get a price that is as near the local price as you can get. And in truth, even if you think you’re getting near the locals price, you’re probably still a ways a way from it.

I’ve heard different methods for bargaining…one is to take the price down 60% and make that your first and final offer. That’s probably a good starting point for most every day things you’ll be buying, but if you’re buying souvenirs, I would suggest offering even less: between 10-30% of the sellers starting price.

Only one thing happens when you offer that low of a counter offer. The seller gets upset. However, there is real upset and there is fake upset. If they are really upset, they will tell you to get lost…you’ll know it when you see it. In that case, you’ve actually offended them by offering a price that is too low. Don’t worry though, the next shop you come to will likely have something exactly the same or very similar and this time you offer a bit more.

However, you will be able to tell the people who are not truly offended because they will keep trying to sell to you. If that is the case, stick to your price and don’t budge. Just keep offering the same number as they make counter offers. If they don’t start coming close after two or three counter-offers, just shrug your shoulders and head for the door. If they don’t stop you and let you go, you were probably too close to their break-even price, so you could go back again later and offer slightly more. However, more often than not, they will stop you before you hit the door and agree to your price. Never feel bad about this even if they wag their finger at you or make sad eyes like you’ve stolen their new puppy. They wouldn’t sell to you if they weren’t making money. And never, never convert to your own currency and think it’s a bargain. Of course it’s a bargain, everything is in China, but you will probably be paying 10 times more than another person who bargains well.


Anyway, that’s all the advice I have about China and I’ve been a lot more long-winded than I expected. I’m sure others who have lived here or traveled extensively in China may disagree with some or all of what I’ve written, but this works for me and I hope it helps those of you who’ll soon be in China.

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