Things to know about travel to China!

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We are home and trying to wade through mail and laundry. Before we forget, thought we would list some random thoughts about our trip and things that might be helpful to know if you are traveling to China for the first time.
1. Look for a handicapped sign and you can often find a western toilet! If not, walk to the end of the line of stalls and you might find the last one is western. This theory worked well for me in many locations. It is a bonus if you also find toilet tissue 😊!
2. Hotel concierge's are not all created equal, even at western hotel chains. Do your homework before you go for restaurant ideas etc, the web is a much better resource! We found great suggestions from http://www.cityweekend.com.cn website and also http://www.timeout.com/cn/en/beijing/
3. Marriott "gold" level gets you many more perks in China than it does in the US. Even if you can't get it for free, upgrading to the executive level may be worth the price. We had free breakfast, afternoon tea, happy hour, soda and wine, and internet (internet would have been $20.00 US per room per night)
4. An internet trick we learned was to log on to the wireless in the executive club then keep the laptop open and on while returning to our room. Once we were in our room the internet automatically connected to the in-room internet without having to log into the fee page. The boys also went outside the door of the lounge when it was not open at 5 am and were able to log into the network.
5. If you have access to a VPN you can access blocked sites in China. Without the VPN we could not access Facebook or our blog, but once logged in through Mike's UCLA account we had access to everything.
6. Crossing the street is an art-form. Follow large groups of Chinese people whenever possible. When you are at major intersections look for pedestrian underpasses, we found several. Cars do not stop for red lights so do not assume it is safe to walk when there is a "green man."
7. If you have an I phone or something similar, download apps before to help with travel: We downloaded subway maps for Beijing and Shanghai that were very helpful as the printed map was not updated with the new lines. Also we had a Chinese language translator that would "read" the words out loud for us. We used the words "subway" and "washroom" several times to smiles from the Chinese people we were asking for help! The number of words was limited but it was still helpful.
8. Taxi's are very cheap but don't always know where they are going. Bring the address written in Chinese!! There are free translator services for both Beijing and Shanghai that you can call while in the Taxi and have them speak to the driver. Beijing 86-10/6513-0828 and Shanghai 86-21/962-020.
9. Speaking of phones, when using your cell phone in China you "dial" as if you were using a Chinese phone. Land lines have area codes and then 7 or 8 digits. The area code for Beijing is 10, and for Shanghai is 21. When in the city, just dial the 7 or 8 digits, if not then dial "0" then the area code and then the number. Mobile phones do not have an area code no matter where in China they are from. They are 11 digit numbers beginning with a 1. Call them without any 0 or prefix. To call a USA number, dial + (by holding 0) then 1 then area code and number.
10. Christmas is a great time of year for sightseeing in China if you do not mind the cold or do not need to see a lot of greenery! People in China are not off from work or school, so many locations are uncrowded and easy to navigate. Although we did have some cold days we had 14 days of no rain or snow! We had the Great Wall nearly to ourselves, and no lines at many popular locations that typically have an hour wait. The only day that would have been crowded was January 1st as it is a public holiday, so we planned our spa day and stayed at the hotel! Shanghai is milder and we did see winter flowers just like we do here in Northern California.
11. If you are worried about GI upset, take 2 Peptobismol tablets before each meal and at bed time. I take them every time I have traveled to China and swear by them!
12. You can never have enough hand gel or antibacterial wipes with you!
13. If you have blond hair be prepared to be photographed! I can't even imagine how many photos I was in during the 2 weeks. The best was the day in Hangzhou, when about 6 young guys were photographing me and a their friend. I felt like a celebrity with the paparazzi following me 😊
14. Visit a Hutong before they are all gone. I was able to purchase some items at a gift shop where the funds go to support preservation of the hutongs. http://en.bjchp.org/english/indexen.asp/
15. You can travel on your own without being part of a tour group. It does take more work, but you have a lot of freedom and flexibility. We did it all, subway, taxi, hiring a car, and then hiring both a car and guide. If money is no object, probably having the car and guide made for the least amount of stress. However, we did have a lot of fun learning about the subway and walking through the city.
16. Take an overnight train, it was fun! Just purchase the whole cabin (4 berths). There were six of us, but we purchased 8 tickets so we could have the whole cabin to ourselves. The extra berth was actually great for our luggage! We had our laptops and brought DVD's with us to watch before we went to bed. There were outlets in each cabin.
17. Speaking of outlets, our Marriott hotel room accepted Chinese, European and some American plugs. The only US plugs that would not work were the three pronged and the "fat" ended prongs. We used the European adapters for everything else.
18. Send me the link to your travel blog when you go to China so I can see your photos and enjoy your trip with you!
I hope to go back again with Diana when she is older. China has changed so much in 12 years, I am sure by the time I go back again everything will be different and easier to navigate!

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