The Best of China
Under Construction
I had the opportunity to live in China for one year with one of my best friends. we taught English as a foreign language at a private, English school in Zhaoqing, Guangdong China. I don't have an "itinerary" because we traveled around China over the course of our year abroad. However, I compiled suggestions for the cities we visited. China is severely underrated! Although the culture shock is pretty extreme, China has so much to offer in nature, culture, and history!
Beijing: 3 Days
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We stayed in a pretty unique hotel: Beijing Traditional View Hotel
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It was in an old part of town- hidden in winding canals, surrounded by small restaurants and shops.
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We used the hotel's airport shuttle for a small additional fee.
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The first time I went to Beijing, we were ripped off by a taxi driver- never again.
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We arrived in the evening, had dinner, and went to bed.
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Day One:
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We took the subway around the city, Beijing subways are very clean and easy to navigate.
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Visit the Summer Palace
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We spent a few hours taking in the sights
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There is a boat you can take across the lake; we walked to the island and took the boat back
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Beijing Temple of Heaven (park)
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We managed to find a fantastic Greek restaurant somewhere in an old part of town
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We really missed different types of food while living in China
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Walk around the olympic park
Day Two:
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The Great Wall of China
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We scheduled a tour with our hotel when we arrived
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Our tour took us to the Mutianyu Section
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This was my second time to Beijing, and most hotels seemed to advertise the Badaling section. I wouldn't recommend Badging because it is right next to a highway, so it doesn't have that classic, endless allusion that you think of when you hear "the great wall of china". You can see breaks in the wall; whereas the Mutianyu section is strictly in the mountains
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We had to pay a little more to the Mutianyu section because we took a gondola up to the wall. You can walk up to the wall, but we wanted to spend more time walking along the way than walking up to it.
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Our tour also took us to a Jade museum, a tea shop, and a silk shop
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After the tour company brought us back, we went to Tianmen square and the forbidden city
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Be careful around the forbidden city, there were A TON of loiterers who try to sell things to you or invite you to go get tea. These people will approach you, strike up conversations, and try to find commonalities. Just avoid them at all costs.
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There is only one entrance and one exit into/ out of the forbidden city. Unfortunately, there is no a subway near the exit. However, there is a bus stop.
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Night markets & Restaurants
Day Three:
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In the morning, we walked around the canals that surrounded out hotel. There was a really good crepe restaurant that we went to for breakfast- we missed a lot of the food from home, so we tended to hunt down Western restaurants when we got the chance.
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Afterwards, we had to head to the airport- a lot of our trips were only weekend trips because we had to get back to work.
Zhangjijaie: 3 Days
Zhangjijaie has A LOT to offer. Again, we only had two full days, so we were limited to one national park, but there are two that you should definitely make time for!
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Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
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This national park inspired the Hallelujah Mountains in the movie, "Avatar"
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We decided to spend both days here because our first day was very foggy, so we din't get to see much when we climbed to top of the mountains
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We stayed at a hotel within walking distance of this park.
- It wasn't the most luxurious hotel, but it was convenient for this park
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The passes that the park sells are for multiple days
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When you visit, be very careful when you are near the monkeys! We had a not so wonderful experience with a small pack of them..
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Other sights in the area:
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the Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge that hangs over the Grand Canyon
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Tianzi Mountain
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Suoxi Valley
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Guilin: 3 Days
Guilin is breathtakingly gorgeous. There are great cultural markets, incredible crags, rice fields and of course- the Li River. There are great group tours in Guilin and Yangshuo to show you all of the sights! We booked all of our tours directly at our hotel when we arrived.
Lodging: Moon Flower Hotel
Day One
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We kept day one laid back and focused on taking in the local sights because we landed in the mid-afternoon
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Reed Flute Cave
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Admission fee: 90 CNY ($13.00 USD)
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Elephant Trunk Hill
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Small park near the city center
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Admission fee: 55 CNY ($7.95 USD)
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Small trail with a great view of the city
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Zhongshan Road- Market and A TON of restaurants/ street food
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Day Two
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Longsheng Rice Terrace
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We signed up for a tour that provided us with transportation to/from the village, lunch, and a gondola ticket
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We were taken to a long-hair village, where the women performed a dance and washed their long hair... very interesting
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After we walked through the village and had lunch, we were able to explore the rice fields on our own
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The tour lasted almost the entire day
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We visited during the rainy season, so naturally it rained while we visited the rice terraces.
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