China... The idea of ​​seeing the Celestial Empire came to me a long time ago and has been ripening for several years.
China seemed very unusual to my imagination.
Some things have been stereotypically stuck in my head since childhood, some were shocked from the news and the Internet...
In short, let's go and figure it out on the spot!
A trip as part of a Ukrainian tourist group was out of the question right away - I didn’t like the standard programs, and the individual tour was simply off the charts in cost and did not fit into the framework of my prudent pricing.
An attempt to order a program from Chinese tour operators (the most famous are CYTS and CITS) was also not inspiring. Either it was necessary to select a group of 5-6 like-minded friends in order to get a Russian guide and a relatively reasonable price, or to adapt to a group recruited by the Chinese side itself from all over the world, accompanied by a standard English-speaking Chinese.
Doubts peaked after studying a two-week tour offered by Beijing operator BEIJINGTOURGUIDE (website www.BEIJINGTOURGUIDE.com). There was practically no day in the program without visiting various factories and medical centers; for example, 40 minutes were allotted to the Beijing Zoo, and 2 hours to the Great Wall of China.
For a two-week program with an English-speaking Chinese guide, the company wanted 2396 bucks per nose (without external flights).
It was at this moment of tossing and torment that I came across someone’s wise saying that freedom has 2 degrees: the lowest - when you do what you want, and the highest - when you don’t do what you don’t want.
This moment was decisive.
Even the panic fear of hieroglyphs could not suppress the insatiable desire to create a route on my own and depend only on my own desires and preferences.
Almost six months before the trip, tickets for an external flight were purchased, documents were prepared for the Chinese Embassy, ​​a visa was obtained and hotels were booked according to our movements. Airplane tickets within China were purchased on the first day, immediately upon arrival in Beijing.
So, I will briefly describe the technical details of preparing an independent trip to this country for those who want to follow our example.
1. Create a travel itinerary based on what you want to see.
2. Select the time of year when you want to go, taking into account possible natural disasters, the specifics of the regions chosen for inspection and Chinese holidays.
3. Get a Chinese visa.
There are 2 possible ways here:
a) contact any Chinese travel agency that has a license (this is mandatory, it is provided to the Embassy).
You will be emailed the program of your trip and an invitation. In this case, only insurance, a completed application form with 1 photo, international air tickets and, in fact, a passport will be enough.
The disadvantage of this method is that after sending the invitation and tour program, the Chinese will ask you to transfer some kind of prepayment to their account. But you can delay this almost until the moment of departure, and then politely refuse, citing the high cost of the tour or something else. :) The visa does not depend on prepayment; it is issued based on the invitation, travel program and agency license provided.
b) do everything yourself:
- book hotels along the entire route on the website www.elong.com, booking is free, a notification letter is instantly sent to your email address. Payment for accommodation occurs at the hotel at the time of check-in. If you try to pay with a card immediately on the website, you can get even lower prices. But my payment card data stubbornly could not be read, so we settled on the first option - pay a little more at the hotel upon arrival and not worry about where the money was written off from the card. :).
- write letters to the first and last hotel of your route requesting confirmation of the reservation, which are provided to the Embassy;
- take a certificate of income from your place of work (in option a) it is not needed);
- fill out a form with 1 photo;
- do not forget to include insurance, external air tickets and a passport in the package of documents.
That's it, you get your visa in a week.
Information for Ukrainian tourists: visa (one-time) is obtained in Kyiv - 850 UAH + 34 UAH (bank services). Rate: 1 dollar - 8.10 UAH approximately.
A Chinese single-entry visa is valid for 3 months. The dates of your trip should fall into this corridor.
4. Now that you have a visa, tickets and hotel reservations, you need to carefully prepare for the trip.
China is not Europe. Even if you know English perfectly, this can only help you in some hotels, and in the subway, where next to the hieroglyphs there is an English inscription in dubbing.
In all other cases, communication with people occurs at the level of gestures and pre-prepared pieces of paper with Chinese characters.
Therefore, a Russian-Chinese phrasebook is very desirable (especially in catering places). Names of cities, train stations, attractions, etc. Every morning we asked hotel staff to write in hieroglyphs depending on what we wanted to see and where to go. This is very convenient, because you don’t ask all the time “Do you speak English?”, but poke the necessary little finches at any Chinese, who is happy to explain with gestures what you should do.
5. Domestic flights and transfers.
It is not possible to book a bus or train in advance without being in China - only at railway stations or bus stations in the country itself. You don't have to worry about communication. In large cities there is always one cash register where the cashier speaks English.
In small ones, a piece of paper prepared in advance with hieroglyphs will save you. There was not a single case where we were unable to get a ticket and explain where we needed to go.
It is possible to book flights on the same website elong.com, but keep in mind that these will be the maximum fares.
I wouldn't recommend doing this.
When you arrive at Beijing Capital Airport, go to the 3rd floor of Terminal 3 (all external flights arrive at this terminal) and buy the necessary tickets (each Chinese airline has its own counter, the staff speaks English).
I previously wrote down the numbers and departure times of the flights we needed (from the website elong.net) for the required dates, and the purchase process went quite quickly. There were tickets for all flights, we asked for the lowest possible (discount) price).
As a rule, airlines offer discounts on prices a few days before departure. For example, we saved almost 300 bucks on six tickets (2 people, three flights) than if we had ordered them in advance from Ukraine.
Domestic tickets are only in Chinese, so Arabic numbers are very helpful (Thank God the Chinese didn’t think of translating them into their badges). Where should we fly - we were guided by the date on the ticket, and by the flight number (English letters + numbers are stored there) - which gate to board at.
Don't worry that there won't be any tickets. China is a big country, there are countless people, the transport infrastructure is at a high level, and there are a lot of local airlines. The only tension may be if the dates of your trip coincide with some Chinese holiday. But this tension will be everywhere - both in hotels and at attractions. Therefore, my advice is to plan your trip around Chinese holidays - at this time the whole country travels and travels with entire families, and the Chinese always travel in organized tourist groups.
Now about our route.
The more you immerse yourself in China in preparation for your trip, the more your head swells with how you can fit everything you would like to see into 2 weeks. We initially planned a trip in April to see cherry blossoms and spring China in general.
We started from the cherry blossom festival held annually in Beijing's Yuyutan Park (it runs from the end of March to the end of April).
Therefore, we chose travel dates from April 10 to April 24.
Since this was our first visit to China, the route was quite standard:
Beijing (4 days) - Xi'an (3 days) - Guilin (1 day) - Yangshuo (1 day) - Longzhi (1 day) - Shanghai (1 day) - Suzhou (1 day) - Zhouzhouan (1 day) - Hangzhou (1 day ). Since the first day in Shanghai we spent half a day in the hotel room due to the tedious long rain and nasty haze, we decided not to go to Hangzhou, but leave the last day to Shanghai.
Hotels were booked in Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin and Shanghai.
We bought international air tickets with a connection in Helsinki (UIA + Finair), which we did not regret at all. Convenient departure time, excellent service, even the 5-hour wait in Helsinki (there) passed unnoticed and not burdensome - very comfortable lounge chairs in the waiting rooms for passengers.
And now, actually, about the trip itself.
At 6.55 in the morning on April 11, we set foot on the land of the capital of one of the most ancient civilizations.
There are several ways to get to the city from Beijing Capital Airport: the easiest way is to take a taxi, or you can take a bus going to the Central Railway Station. There is a possibility of getting stuck in Beijing traffic jams, so we chose the third option - take the Air Express high-speed train (ticket 25 yuan) and get to DONGZHIMEN station (terminal) - line 2 or 13, and then take the desired line for 2 yuan to get to your hotel (the price of a ticket in the Beijing subway is fixed, 2 yuan, regardless of the number of stops, transfers and color of the line).
In Beijing, we booked the Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel, which turned out to be not only the best of our Chinese hotels, but also, perhaps, one of the best I have ever stayed in, despite the stated 3 stars. The cost of a day, by the way, exceeded other fives.
It is located a 10-minute walk from DONGSI metro station (line 5) in the Beijing hutongs area.
Hutongs are an ancient type of urban development in China, narrow streets of one-story houses practically glued to each other. The lowest classes of Chinese society lived here. After the Chinese Communist Party came to power, hutongs began to be mercilessly demolished and built up with identical high-rise buildings, very similar to Soviet microdistricts of the 70s of the last century (remember the beginning of the film "The Irony of Fate..."). When we were driving from the airport, the picture outside the window was painfully familiar, only the hieroglyphs gave some kind of novelty. And only in the central part of Beijing there remained colorful hutongs, on one of the streets of which our hotel was located. The spirit of the hutongs, preserved for a long time, gives a feeling of natural China, the true everyday life of ordinary people, without popular tourist flowery and gilding. Every year there are fewer and fewer hutongs, and I think that very little time will pass when hutongs can only be seen in pictures...
The Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel is designed in the style of a Chinese courtyard - a cotyard. Several courtyards are blocks of rooms. The courtyard itself is very national: lanterns, blooming magnolias, old furniture, pebbles - and absolute silence. The guests do not interfere with each other at all. The rooms have furniture from the Ming Dynasty. We slept on a 19th century wooden stucco bed, with a red canopy and an embroidered peacock on the wall. The rooms have a safe, TV, telephone, Wi-Fi, a wardrobe with the obligatory dressing gowns and slippers, an electric kettle, packet coffee, but loose tea, in painted Chinese jars - two types - green and green with jasmine. On the day of arrival we received a welcome plate of fruit, and on subsequent days we received 2 half-liter bottles of water and small bars, which were nicely placed on our bed.
Bathroom: instead of a washstand - a painted Chinese deep plate, all bath accessories (in China you don’t need to take toothpaste and a brush - they are provided in every hotel), a shower with hot and cold water (it was fun to watch how the water swirls counterclockwise as it flows - Asia, friends!).
Breakfast is wonderful, a wide selection of both European and Asian food, juices, coffee, tea, regular and soy milk, fruit, a large selection of pastries and sweets.
The staff is well trained, speaks good English and is very friendly. Upon check-in, they give you a map of Beijing with a metro map (free of charge), answer any question, and are well oriented in the streets of the city and where everything is. You can change money at the hotel (the dollar exchange rate corresponds to the bank exchange rate), which greatly simplifies and speeds up the process of receiving yuan. But this procedure is only for hotel guests. Not all hotels allow you to change money. If you live in a hotel where there is no exchange, another hotel will not change your money. Then you need to go to the bank, be sure to bring your passport (here, too, not all banks change dollars - we changed them in two: Bank of China and ICBC, it seems). Banks are open from 9 am to 5 pm, which is not always convenient since you arrive at the hotel late in the evening.
The exchange procedure takes 20-30 minutes, depending on the queue. They give you a slip with the queue number, you fill out a declaration with your passport details and the required amount of currency. A bank employee makes a photocopy of your passport, tells you the current exchange rate and, if you agree, the actual exchange process takes place.
At the Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel you can book any excursion, tickets to the circus, opera, etc. I don’t know the prices, since we went everywhere ourselves.
Reading reviews on websites about this hotel, I did not see a single rating below 5. And this is true. There's just nothing to complain about.
We hardly saw any other hotel guests, except at breakfast. A very quiet hotel, especially mesmerizing in the evening - the red lanterns turn on, you sit down at a moving table with a cup of aromatic jasmine tea and share your impressions of the past day...
Travel budget:
- air flights Kyiv-Helsinki-Beijing, Shanghai-Helsinki-Kyiv - 750 USD
- 3 domestic flights: Beijing-Xi'an, Xi'an-Guilin, Guilin-Shanghai - 500 USD.
- hotels - 725 USD
- transport (taxi, trains, buses), food, tickets to attractions and performances, tea, souvenirs and gifts - 925 USD.
The amount can be reduced due to lower star rating of hotels and cheaper food (I’ll talk about this later).
To be continued...

How to maintain your sanity with two small children and the ubiquitous Chinese :)))

Why China and why now.
Reflecting on the topic of where to take children to the sea, in light of recent events: the terrorist threat in Europe and the Middle East and the sharp fall of the ruble, a rather unexpected decision was made to go to China. Moreover, at that time there was an Aeroflot promotion on air tickets, and in terms of money, if before China was at least cheap, now it is certainly not expensive.

Flight Moscow - Beijing by Aeroflot.
Everything here went without incident. Our friends took us to Sheremetyevo, from where we flew safely to Beijing.

So we flew...

A TV with cartoons and programs and games was just the thing...

Some people are having lunch...
Although it is certainly difficult with children on an airplane, they do not like to sit idle for a long time.
Upon arrival, we took the Aeroexpress to our hotel - Dragon King Hostel (previously I had to spend about 4 hours at the airport, due to the time of check-in at the hotel and the cost of the night transfer to it, but the children slept great)

This was our number. Quite worthy, in my opinion :)

The hotel can be easily reached by metro (From Zhangzizhong Road metro station (Line 5) (Exit C) it takes about 2 minutes to walk to it, we didn’t know this, so we had to get lost. Initially I thought that the distances in China are not such long distances, then I’ve radically changed my opinion, so don’t even think about the metro)

In general, the place itself is very convenient, there is a store nearby with very cheap prices for China (in the photo below there is the most unsightly entrance, where there are a bunch of boxes with goods - all the nearby stores are purchased in this store (in bulk from 2 pcs.), the prices are actually an order of magnitude lower ) (not far from the 7 eleven store - sort of), opposite there is a bank with a 24-hour ATM (across the road).

Here it is on the second floor (description and photos can be found further in the report)

Day 1. Beijing. Sky Temple...

The scale of the park and buildings is certainly impressive, especially considering when it was all built. In the park you will always see groups of Chinese who are either dancing or meditating, some are just walking and enjoying nature (you will never be left alone :)))). I somehow saw this picture: a grandmother is riding in an electric wheelchair (like for the disabled), gets to the steps, gets up, lifts the stroller, sits down and moves on (my jaw even dropped), in general they take care of themselves :)

Previously, only emperors could enter this temple, and the road to them is long and with constant slight upward slopes, as if you were rising into the sky. The temple is worth visiting, the architecture and park area are simply beautiful, I personally had doubts about the originality of the temple itself (but maybe I’m wrong), they arose while examining it very closely :)

In this temple, sacrifices were carried out (thank God only with animals) for a better harvest or rain, or something else. The interior decoration of the temples is identical.

This is another temple in the same park area. After passing this temple, only those close to the emperor went further, and only the emperor entered the Temple of Heaven itself (Temple of Heaven in the previous photos)

The main gate of the previous temple. Our children were held in high esteem here, everyone wanted to take a photo with them, especially with Ulya (blue eyes). Lukyan was sickened by such an abundance of attention to him:)

And this is another part of the park area. It’s difficult for me to say what she was responsible for, because... I wasn’t able to look through the crack much, it seems to me that this is something like a barracks.

We didn’t get there, it was already after 18-00, which means everything - everything is closed :)))) In China, if you got up at 12-00, then you were late for everything :))) For this reason, we were not successful several days - I slept for a long time, I just couldn’t get into it :)

And some of our crew move quite comfortably, almost like emperors :)
This is how our first day in Beijing ended; on the way back we still managed to drop into a shopping center for souvenirs, which we will buy upon arrival from China (wait for it...)

For information:
If you leave the central entrance of the park (next to the metro) and walk to the left for about 30 meters, you can cross the overpass to the other side of the road. Here you can go to a large store and buy souvenirs. Don’t forget to bargain, immediately lower the prices 3-4 times. It’s a very good place to buy souvenirs and a snack (price/quality matches), we haven’t found such a choice and such a low price at other tourist sites as here:)
The cost of visiting the park (Temple of Heaven) in 2016 is 34 yuan (I don’t remember if it’s a student or not)

Well, in the evening we had locally produced fruits.... Ripe mango is just super, especially after a hard day for the body.

Day 2. Beijing. Peking duck
The next day somehow didn’t work out for us and as a result, for the whole day we were able to see only half of Gugun and in the evening eat Peking duck. The duck itself somehow didn’t impress me, no, it’s certainly tasty and all that. But the whole point of it is not so much in the duck, but in the processing of its skin (so that it is crispy and juicy) and sauces while eating it.

This is what our restaurant looked like. We had to wait about ten minutes for a table.

Ulya, as always, showed herself to be a maniac before eating...

And so, Day 3
On this day we went to what everyone associates China with - the Great Wall of China, to a site called Badaling.

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For information:

The student ticket price is 20 yuan (regular price 40 yuan).
In principle, these are all costs (if you are a fairly athletic person), but if youIf you don’t want to sweat and walk up to the wall (about 30-40 minutes), you can ride on a special sled on wheels (it’s difficult to name this device correctly).
Moreover, when you go down, you will get a whole bag of positive emotions - this is a small attraction :))) We liked it, the price is 100 yuan (round trip) per person. Also, having reached the very top of the wall (one of the highest points, you definitely won’t miss this place) you canwill ride (go down) along cable car

road, but I would recommend that you save this money for something else, because...You won’t see beautiful views on the cable car anyway, but it costs a lot, and I don’t advise you to skip the attraction (on the sled ride) - it’s very cool :) As far as I remember, this is an Italian attraction from some shaggy years :)))As everywhere else, it’s better to take water and snacks with you, because... prices here will be 2 times higher than usual and no one will bargain with you. When leaving there is an enclosure with bears, and next to it there is a sliced ​​apple on a plate so that you can feed the bear, but not from your hands of course, but just throw food to him, this pleasure will cost 5 yuan :)Of course it’s a pity for the bears; spending all the time on a concrete floor somehow doesn’t seem very good to me :)
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The wall itself is certainly impressive, here are a couple of photos to get an idea of ​​the full scale. Here Lukyan met a group of schoolchildren who, as usual, wanted to take a photo next to him, so it’s not known whether the wall was a landmark or Lukyan, of course he really likes this attention :))))

There are certainly a lot of people on this section of the wall, but it has several undeniable advantages: accessibility (direct bus), proximity (only an hour's drive from Beijing), and of course the fact that it has been restored and certainly looks impressive (neither vegetation nor sea ​​or other relief features)

And on such a thing we climbed, and then descended accordingly (I highly recommend it, especially the descent)

A small attraction to remember the wall, there’s nothing too extreme there - but it’s memorable :) It was fun :)))
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How to get to the wall yourself:

The easiest way is to take the subway to the 积水潭 Jishuitan subway station, exit A. When you go up and stand with your back to the steps of the subway exit, you need to walk straight back (I mean the direction). As a guide, you will pass a large bus station on your left (you walk along it, as it were). Buses can be seen just outside the Deshengmen watchtower (it is not visible from the metro)and from there take bus No. 877 (tourist bus, it is much more convenient) or 919 (regular bus, only this one runs during the non-tourist season) the price of tickets for them is the same.

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In the evening, fruits are on duty as usual.

Day 4. Temple of Confucius.
Getting up early in the morning (on the fourth day, and even probably on the 3rd, I somehow got into getting up at 6:00) we went to the Confucius Temple, where Confucianism originated, a landmark (I always wanted to see it).

And here is the monument to the founder of Confucianism.

Park area of ​​the Temple complex.

Inner garden. Trees that are more than..., God knows more than how many centuries these trees are :))))

Inside the temple itself. The design styles in the temples are very similar, so if you have seen one of the Chinese temples (well, maybe two), then you don’t have to waste your time on the interior decoration anymore :)

This is the house that Emperor Confucius gave to him for teaching his son:)

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For information:
The entrance fee for an adult is 20 yuan.
Student cards are valid only for students whose age does not exceed 24 years, we were unlucky; we were 25 years old in ISIC. In general, this rule is found quite often in China, so take this fact into account.
I definitely recommend it for inspection, also if you have time there is nearbyThe Lamaist Palace of Peace (Yonghegong Lama Temple), and the quarter itself next to the temples is very interesting.
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Next we went to Gugun (Forbidden City), but since we had partially explored it the previous day, we went to Jingshan Park 景山, which is located immediately behind the Forbidden City and from the highest point of which the best view of this very Forbidden City opens up ( in fact, the name of the park sounds like that in translation from Chinese - “view from the mountain” or “mountain with a beautiful view”).

Entrance to the park is, of course, paid, but we are saved by the international student cards made in advance; do not forget that the age in them must be up to 24 years old inclusive. In general, student cards really help make your wallet fatter in China, so don’t forget to use it (especially if you look young, I think you don’t need to learn how to make a student card in our homeland).

View of the observation deck, which offers a good view of Gugun.

And here is the culprit himself - Gugun or the Forbidden City, in a different way. The view itself is impressive and the inside is very cool.
Then we went down and decided to walk the gugong in reverse order. But as of April 2016, I can say for sure (100%) that the entrance from the back side is closed and you can only pass through the Forbidden City from one side - the central entrance, next to the metro. Because of this, we had to take a taxi to the main entrance, otherwise we would never have had time to explore the palace completely (the taxi cost us 20 yuan :)
Well, then just photos - look and be impressed :)

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For information:
The cost of admission to the Forbidden City is 40 yuan per person, for a student it is 20 yuan.
In terms of time, count on about half a day (it took us a day, but we were with the children, and we ourselves were a little stupid at the beginning), i.e. and the Temple of Heaven and Gugun can be explored in one day if you get up early and leave late and if you are athletic enough to walk for a long time (and you will have to really walk a lot).

Day 5. Amusement park and Summer Imperial Palace.

In general, the entertainment for children in Beijing somehow didn’t work out for me (the realities turned out to be very far from the original plans). During all the days of our stay in the capital of China, we went to the Cube water park 3 times, but all these times it was closed and only On the third trip, I found a Chinese man who told me in English that the water park was closed for a whole month - in general, we were somehow unlucky with him :)
By the way, we also went to this amusement park twice, because... on the Internet it is written that it is open until 21-00, but in fact it is open until 18-00, like everyone else in China :))) Although for me this is strange for an amusement park, of course there is also Happy Valey (he it definitely works until 22-00, but many of the attractions in it close after 18-00, and open only after 13-00 (be careful in general)), but it’s still too early for us to go there, which is why we weren’t allowed to ride everywhere: ) Looking ahead, I’ll say that I liked Disneyland Paris (and this park in Beijing is an attempt to copy the park in Paris) more, somehow everything there is more well-groomed and festive than here :)

We spent about 3,000 rubles in it, which, in principle, is not a little in itself (the ruble exchange rate was, of course, very depressing; before (2 years ago, before the crisis), all the fun would have cost us 1,200 rubles). The kids certainly liked it and in such a good mood we went to see the Summer Imperial Palace.

Article text updated: 05/29/2018

I’ll tell you a secret - I’ve already started testing the waters for independent travel on vacation next spring. And yet I haven’t even started writing travel reports on my own in China, Hong Kong, the Philippines and New York. To set myself a goal, a beacon, and to get the writing of the story off the ground, I decided to write this announcement today.

The trip to the Celestial Empire took place in mid-November 2011, as part of the route “Ekaterinburg - China - Hong Kong - Philippines - China - Yekaterinburg”. The Chinese part of our trip included:

1) Excursions around Beijing and surrounding areas. In particular:

• Visit Summer Imperial Palace.

• A trip to the farthest section of the Great Wall of China - Mutianyu Great Wall . There are three sites in total that have been developed and restored for tourists to visit.

• Walk along the famous pedestrian Wangfujing Street .

2) Flight to the city Guilin in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. And from there we take a commuter bus to the village of Yangshuo, where we spent four days.

• We rode bicycles and mopeds through the orange groves and strawberry fields in the surrounding area Yangshuo village .

• We also rafted along Li River .

3) Travel by night train to the city Shenzhen), which stands on the border with Hong Kong. We arrived in Shenzhen on the third berth of a Chinese reserved seat carriage.

4) We arrived in Shenzhen in the morning. We ate and went to cross the land border with Hong Kong. We walked around Hong Kong until the evening and flew to the Philippine island of Cebu at night.

5) Then we wandered around the Philippines for a week (the islands of Bohol, Pangalao, Boracay) and flew through Manila to Shanghai th where we spent one day.

In Shanghai we managed to visit the aquarium and walk around the center.

We really liked China. Absolute safety, friendly people, ancient history and amazing nature. Delicious and varied cuisine!

We will return to this country more than once. That's for sure. At a minimum, to see the sights that we didn’t have time to see the first time. I have a dream to walk along the most terrible trail in the world in Huashan Mountains , meet the dawn in Zhangjiajie Mountains and see the clear waters of the national park Jiuzhaigou .

There are many nuances when preparing an independent trip to China. For example, the Chinese do not speak any language other than Chinese. And you need to prepare for this. Train tickets cannot be purchased earlier than 4 days before the trip. And a ticket for 1 flight on an airplane, unlike the rest of the world, costs exactly 50% of the round trip flight.

Note. In addition to this report, below is a link to a story about a trip to China in the fall of 2017, which details how to buy train tickets from Russia through the Ctrip service. It also describes how many troubles there were due to the presence of Turkish stamps in the international passport.

A Chinese proverb says that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step. Let's assume that today I have already taken my first small step in writing a report and recommendations for traveling as a savage to China...

How to organize an independent trip to China

Before we begin a detailed report about our vacation in the Middle Kingdom, let's tell you how we organized our trip. Maybe my advice will be useful to someone.

So, the procedure for developing a trip plan for China is, in general, similar to organizing a trip to any other country. You need to think through five strategic points in detail:

1. Select tourist places where you would like to go on an excursion, identify attractions that you would like to see.
2. Create a travel route around the country and book air tickets. If possible, also purchase train or boat tickets.
3. Decide on where you will spend the night and book hotels. In China, we booked hotels in advance. But in Mexico and Sri Lanka we reserved rooms only at the first point of our route. True, then we traveled in rented cars.
4. Go to the insurance company and buy a medical policy. Please note that when you rent a car, you need to inform insurers about this. Driving is considered a dangerous sport and insurance will cost more.
5. Get a visa.

Let us now consider these issues in more detail using our route as an example.

First. Choose places to sightsee in China

Why was China chosen for our trip? Because it is the third largest state on our planet by territory. Its history dates back thousands of years. Making a choice about which attractions to see in the People's Republic of China is not easy. As I wrote above, I wanted to see the “Avatar Mountains” in Zhangjiajie Nature Park, walk along the most terrible trail in the world in the Huashan Mountains, and see the clear lakes of Jiuzhaigou. I really wanted to see the rice terraces in Yunnan province and walk through the Tiger Leaping Gorge (Hutiao Xia) in the same area and dozens of other attractions.

At the same time, the wife set the condition: “Take me to whatever pampas you want, but several days of beach holidays on our vacation must be reserved in any case!” I read reviews from tourists about seaside resorts in China and realized that “service like in the USSR does not appeal to me.” Moreover, it turned out that you can buy inexpensive air tickets from Hong Kong to the Philippine island of Cebu.

Many hours of studying reports on Vinsky’s forum for independent travelers crystallized the following plan for traveling with savages in November:

1. Arrival in Beijing. Visit to the Summer Imperial Palace. If we have time, we will also drive to the Forbidden City. In the evening we will take a walk along the famous Wangfujing pedestrian street.
2. On the second day we will go to see the Great Wall of China. There are several sections of the wall that attract tourists: Badaling, Jinshanling and Mutianyu Great Wall and Simatai. Badaling is the closest, but all the billion Chinese tourists come there. Symatai, it seems, has not been restored and looks cooler. We chose a compromise option: the Mutianyu Great Wall section, where there are not many tourists, and it is not very difficult to get there and there are very beautiful mountains.
3. Flight by domestic Chinese airlines to the city of Guilin. Here we had to buy train tickets to the city of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, and then take an intercity bus to go to the village of Yangshuo for four days. The village is famous for its magnificent landscapes of karst hills. As I told you earlier, we rode bicycles and mopeds, and rafted on bamboo on the Yulong River.
4. On the evening of the fourth day, we arrived back to Guilin, where we boarded the train and, on the third berth of a reserved seat car, traveled overnight to Shenzhen. We ate here at the station and crossed the border to Hong Kong via an underground passage. We took the metro to the final station of the express train to the airport, left our luggage in the storage room, and went to the observation deck of Victoria Peak. When it got dark, we took the metro to the Avenue of Stars embankment, where we watched the evening laser show.
5. After midnight we flew to the Philippines to the island of Cebu. From Cebu we took a ferry to the island of Bohol. From Bohol we took a tuk-tuk to Pangalao. Here we sunbathed for four days, swam, went on an excursion to see the Chocolate Hills, a butterfly park and a nursery for tarsiers (torsiers). We also went down the Loboc river cruise.
6. Then head back to Cebu and fly to Caticlan Island. From Caticlan, a sea minibus departs every half hour to Boracay. There is a wonderful place here - a beach with white sand and crystal clear sea (White Beach). Here we just relaxed by the sea.
7. A few days later we flew to Shanghai with a three-hour layover in the capital of the Philippines, Manila.
8. We arrived in Shanghai in the evening. We spent the night at the hotel, left our luggage at the reception, and went to the city center. We saw skyscrapers, the famous Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower and went on a very impressive excursion to the Shanghai Aquarium (Shanghai Haiyang Shuizuguan). In the evening we had a flight to Beijing (Beijing) and five hours later a flight to Yekaterinburg.

The itinerary for our trip to China looked like this:

Second. Booking tickets for a trip on your own in China

At the beginning of my report, I already noted that one of the features of China is that plane tickets cost exactly 50% of the round-trip price for the round trip route. I described in detail how to find and book cheap air tickets in the 10th part of the story about prices in Sri Lanka. Having studied the airlines' offers, we found an acceptable option: the flight Ekaterinburg - Beijing - Ekaterinburg, operated by S7.

To search and purchase air tickets within China, independent travelers are advised to use the websites elong.net And ctrip.com. Another difference in the Chinese transport system is that, usually, the closer the departure date, the higher the discounts on tickets. So, we booked tickets on the Ctrip website with a 40% discount.

Payment was made with a Mastercard card. When filling out the payment form, the program did not allow me to enter the name of the bank with numbersBank24.ru and I had to type something like "BankTwentyfourdotru"…

On one of the sections of the trip (from Guilin to Shenzhen) it was planned to travel by train. Here is the following difficulty: in China you can only buy train tickets within the country just a few days before departure (like 4 days). And, according to unverified data, only at the departure station.

Train schedules and prices for train tickets can be seen on the portal TravelChinaGuide.com. Experienced travelers are advised to double-check the accuracy of the schedule on the official website of the Chinese Railways huochepiao.com, since TravelChinaGuide may contain inaccuracies.

TravelChinaGuide website employees can buy train tickets for you and deliver them to a pre-agreed address. So I placed an order asking for travel documents to be purchased and sent to my hotel in Yangshuo (remember, tickets can only be redeemed four days before travel). But a day later, employees of this agency contacted me and informed me that my payment from the card was not going through and I should call the bank. The bank employee said that you can pay for tickets online if you just turn off the verification functionCCVbank card code. He could not explain what such a procedure entails for the security of payments. In general, I wrote to my Chinese partners that I would cancel the order and rely on the will of God. I'll ask the hotel employees to buy us tickets. If it works, we’ll go to Shenzhen by train. But no, then take a night bus (in China you can travel between cities on a comfortable bus with lie-flat seats. However, the deck chairs are short, and sleeping is not very comfortable for tall people). Well, or, as a last resort, we’ll fly by plane or take a taxi.

Looking ahead, I will say that we were able to buy train tickets at the Guilin ticket office on our own without any problems.

I can give the following advice on planning an independent trip. Be sure to check that your travel dates to China do not fall on public holidays. Many travelers write that at this time it is extremely difficult to buy travel documents and find available hotel rooms.

Third. Hotel room reservations

Hotels for a trip to China by savages booked on the portal agoda.com. You can also use booking.com.

• I chose an inexpensive hostel to stay in Beijing 161 Hostel, located in the old town. Price per night – 1500 rubles. Our room had a shower, sink and toilet. If the room had amenities on the corridor, the price would be less than a thousand per night. Public places are kept perfectly clean. So, if you want to save money, book a cheaper room. The staff speaks reasonable English. There is internet. The metro stop is five minutes from the hotel. Wanwujing Street and the Forbidden City are just a stone's throw away.

Photo. Where to stay in Beijing. Which hotel to choose. The white circle at the top right is the sign of our hostel 161 Hostel.

• In the village of Yangshuo we stayed at the four-star West Street Vista Hotel. The quality is so-so, tolerable. As it turns out, there are plenty of cheaper hotels around. The service at the hotel is “Soviet”.
• In Shanghai we spent one night at the New Asia Hotel. It is located near the metro, next to the famous Pudong area. You can live... Adjusted for Chinese service.

Another tip for those traveling around the country on their own. In Chinese hotels, it is customary to take a deposit in cash upon check-in. I don’t remember whether we always paid 200 yuan, or for 1 night. Therefore, before my vacation, I had to buy yuan in Yekaterinburg. Here you can exchange rubles for Chinese currency, for example, at Sberbank branches at the following addresses: st. Moskovskaya, 11 or st. Tveritina, 34. At the same time, I had to place the order in advance. The foreign currency arrived a week later. The course is unprofitable. That's why we only bought 600RMB so that you have something to pay for travel from Beijing Airport (Beijing Capital International Airport, BCIA) to the hotel and give a deposit for the first night.

In general, dollars were changed in Shanghai once at a hotel. We waited a long time for the employee to fill out all the paperwork. They say that if you change at a bank, you will have to wait even longer. And we withdrew Chinese money from ATMs several times - very convenient.

Fourth. Purchasing a medical insurance policy for travelers

Everything is clear here. When going on an independent trip, if you don’t want problems, insure your health. We always take out a medical policy for 50 thousand dollars.

Insurance cost 620 rubles per person. Indirectly, this can serve as proof of the safety of tourists. So, to Mexico, an insurance policy cost 2,400 rubles.

From the crime scene, I only heard about such a scam for tourists. You walk around Beijing and turn your head around with your mouth open. Two pretty Chinese women come up and offer to be your guide in English. They say they want to practice their English. At some point, they offer to go to a cafe with traditional Chinese tea, but they don’t have any money. You agree to pay. They are going away. The waiter brings a bill for several thousand rubles... If you refuse to pay, goons appear...

Fifth. Obtaining a Chinese visa in Yekaterinburg

If you decide to travel to China on your own, you can apply for one of two types of L category tourist visa: individual or group. The second one costs half as much, but there are pitfalls. I highly recommend getting an individual visa.

The fact is that with a group visa, all group members must come to passport control at the same time. My wife and I witnessed the following scenes:

• At Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg, passengers are turned away at the check-in counter: “Please wait until all members of your group have arrived.”
• At Beijing airport BeijingCapitalInternationalAirport at passport control, the whole group cannot go through the procedure, since two leaders got drunk and yelled that they will not give 200 rubles for a photo: “We have already paid all the expenses!” The entire delegation of 15 people, exhausted from the seven-hour flight and dreaming of getting to the hotel as quickly as possible (it’s two o’clock in the morning), is forced to beg the ghouls not to mess around.

With our individual visa, we went through all the procedures without a hitch. What happens if one of these drunks is late for the flight?..

We obtained a visa to China without the help of travel agencies. There is nothing complicated.

• We go to the website of the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Yekaterinburg ekaterinburg.chineseconsulate.org/rus/lsyw and download the form. Let's fill it out.
• Paste a photo 3.5*4.5 cm.
• We arrive at the address: st. Tchaikovsky, 45 with a package of documents for obtaining a visa: application form, internal and foreign passports, copies of important pages of passports, copies of airline and hotel reservations, medical insurance and a certificate of employment in any form (position, salary) and in a good mood. You will have to stand in the cold for a while (they launch in batches).

We handed in our documents and received our passports and visas within a week.

I recommend that you carefully study the Vinsky independent travelers forum. In our time, you could stay in some Chinese cities for 24 hours (now 72 hours). On the forum you will find out the latest news and details.

To travel as a savage in China, we received an individual tourist visa of category “L”. We also applied for the visa ourselves.

Sixth. Other travel arrangements

Readers often ask me whether it is possible to go to this or that country as savages without knowing English (I speak excellent English, I learned Spanish before going to Mexico, and I know a little German). I usually answer like this: “If everything goes without incident, then you can travel without a foreign language. But when problems arise, such as an accident in a rental car in Mexico, ignorance can lead to a lot of problems.”

Well, a trip to China on our own became our school for traveling without a language. In the vast majority of cases, the Chinese speak only their native dialect. I seriously prepared for the vacation. I took with me on vacation:

• A short Chinese-Russian dictionary with basic expressions (downloaded to the Internet). He was very helpful in dealing with taxi drivers, waiters and just passers-by. You point your finger at the hieroglyphs “how to get to the bus station” or “where the stop is” and they show you the direction with gestures.
• Photos of all hotels along our route and names and addresses in hieroglyphs.
• Subway maps for Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
• Detailed description of how to get to the desired attractions. For example, how to get on an excursion to the Summer Imperial Palace: “Line 4 in the Beijing subway. Get to Xiyuan Station. We exit to the surface through exit C2. Then we turn off and walk 500 meters or rent a pedicab for 5 yuan.”.

On the right page you can see Chinese train tickets (234 yuan each). In the relevant part of the review I will tell you how to “read” them.

By the way, lest we forget, in China the measure of food weight is “jin”, equal to approximately half a kilogram. Therefore, the price on the price tag is usually given for half a kilo. Keep in mind.

The weather in China during our vacation in November 2011 was excellent. In Beijing it is sunny and +15 degrees. In Yangshuo - sunny and plus 25. In Shanghai - cloudy, light rain and +15 Celsius.

The country has one time zone. The time is +2 hours ahead of the Ural time, i.e. Moscow - for 4 hours.

Seventh. Costs of traveling independently in China

So, having completed all the points for planning our vacation in China, described above, all I have to do is calculate the costs of traveling to the savages.

In the following table you can see the aggregated planned and actual expense items.

For the convenience of planning your budget and understanding how much money you need to take with you, how much is spent on food and excursions, I will provide more data for each day.

As you can see, I would make a good financier, since the planned and actual budget practically match exactly. Well, the final plan of our vacation looked like this.

About beach holidays in China

Among Russian tourists, the most famous seaside resort is Hainan Island. And here the most popular beaches are Yalong Bay (亚龙湾) and Lihuitou. The best time to travel here is from November to May.

As I found out later, there are other resorts in China where you can go on a beach holiday. For example, according to reviews from a few of our tourists, there are very good beaches in the port city of Beihai (北海市, Beihaishi), located in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. This is 550 km south of Guilin, in the southeast of the country, slightly north of Hainan. The season is from April to November, when the sea water temperature is pleasant for swimming.

In the Shenzhen area (from where we got to Hong Kong) you can relax on the beaches of Dameisha (大梅沙) and Xiaomeisha Beach. The best time for vacation is from November to January.

Another place where you can spend a seaside holiday is the city of Xiamen (Xiamen Shi, 厦门市) in Fujian province.

Eighth. My first DSLR for vacation photography

If we talk about my photographic equipment, then this report can be a good illustration of how the skills of a beginning photographer grow as they gain practical experience in photography. The fact is that until the fall of 2011, I only took photographs with a point-and-shoot camera. I have never held a mirror in my hands. And so, a week before the trip, I became the owner of a Nikon D5100 Kit 18-55mm VR SLR camera. So, as you read the report, you can evaluate my progress. In my opinion, by the end of the vacation, I almost turned into a professional photographer... 😉

Photo. On our third trip to China, we visited the city of Turfan (XUAR), in the vicinity of which we managed to climb mountains. Read the report - a lot of useful information! Shot on a Nikon D610 with a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. Settings: 1/320, -0.67, 8.0, 110, 155.

The first chapter of the report describes what problems may arise if you have a Turkish visa in your foreign passport, provides a map and a description of the route, provides tips on buying a ticket for a Chinese train from Russia, and recommendations for preparing for traveling to China on your own.

February 18th, 2015

China is one of the most visited countries in the world, receiving more than 55 million tourists a year. China attracts with its rich history; incredible monuments, temples, towers, as well as landscapes and hearty food.Here are the most interesting and beautiful sights of the Celestial Empire, which you should definitely visit at least once in your life:

Rewind the clock and admire the distinctive Chinese architecture of the scenic Hongcun Village, which is over 900 years old.

The famous Peking duck, of course, can only be tasted in Beijing. And the best place for this is the Da Dong Duck Roast restaurant.

Take a ride on the 1,580-meter Great Wall toboggan run, which starts from the Mutianyu section.

Conquer the sand dunes of the Gobi Desert on camelback, which will take you straight to Yueyaquan Lake in Dunhuang Oasis.

An excellent fishing spot is the Xiapu Shoal, located along the southeast coast of China in Fujian Province.

Scorpions and other Chinese culinary delights can be sampled at Wangfujing Night Market in Beijing.

Today, about 1,800 fortified multi-story diaolou mansions remain in Kaiping County, which were built in the early 20th century to protect local residents.

Stroll along the waterfront in Shanghai.

Enjoy scenic views of one of the largest waterfalls in Asia, Huangoshu.

Take a sunbath on the beaches of Hainan.

Forbidden City and Palace Museum of the Ming and Qing dynasties in Beijing.

Walk through the 12-kilometer Long Tan Valley and admire the reddish-purple quartz sandstone.

This is a traditional brunch for Southern China, during which dim sum is served - small portions of dessert, fruits, vegetables or seafood. You can taste it in the City Hall at the Maxim’s Palace restaurant.

An outdoor escalator will take you to Hong Kong's best boutiques.

Did you know that the floating island mountains on the planet Pandora from the famous movie Avatar were created in the image of a real place on Earth. This miracle is located in Zhangjiajie National Park.

Fans of unusual travel can ride a donkey through the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia and spend the night in a yurt.

Climb the Lushan Mountains and you'll understand why artists and poets come here for inspiration.

All the gamblers in China gather in Macau, the only place where gambling is officially allowed.

You can see your reflection in the mirror lake Tianchi or “Heavenly Lake”. This is the deepest lake in China, which is located on the top of Changbai Mountain.

Wander through a village made entirely of ice at the world's largest ice and snow festival in Harbin.

Take a boat trip along the mountain range on the Golden Stone Coast, Dalian.

Yu Yuan Garden in Shanghai is a great place for a leisurely stroll.

Ancient Buddhist temples are represented in the Yungang cave grottoes in Shanxi province.

What could be better than a bike ride through the park and surroundings of Xihu Lake in Hangzhou?

The Terracotta Army in Xi'an will make an indelible impression even on the most experienced tourist.

Play with the golden monkey in the forest area of ​​Shennongjia.

Spicy pork brains in simmering chili oil are a challenge for your taste buds.

The fabulous cave of the “Reed Flute”, hiding in the depths of the Chinese land. Only there you can see stalagmites and stalactites illuminated in different colors.

Funny hugging pandas in Chongqing city.

Jiuzhaigou National Park is famous for its multi-level waterfalls and colorful lakes.

According to rumors, the legend of Aladdin originated in the bazaar of the city of Urumqi.

Night lights of the fountain of the Great Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an.

Take a cruise along Eurasia's longest and deepest river, the Yangtze in Yunnan Province.

Visit Mao Zedong's mausoleum, a symbol of communism, in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Tiger Leaping Gorge in Lijiang is famous for its incredibly beautiful panoramas and landscapes.

Tourists have a unique opportunity to celebrate another New Year according to the Chinese lunar calendar.

Magnetoplane or maglev is a magnetic levitation train that reaches speeds of up to 500 km/h.

If you decide to explore the culture of Asia and spend your vacation in China, then the surest way to do it on a budget is to go on your own, without the help of tour operators. We have put together an interesting 9-day itinerary that will allow you to see all the interesting things.

A nice bonus only for our readers - a discount coupon when paying for tours on the website until August 31:

• AF500guruturizma - promotional code for 500 rubles for tours from 40,000 rubles
• AFTA2000Guru - promotional code for 2,000 rubles. for tours to Thailand from 100,000 rubles.

And you will find many more profitable offers from all tour operators on the website. Compare, choose and book tours at the best prices!

From Russia the cheapest way is to fly to Beijing, and then to Xi'an.

As a rule, the first and second terminals are used for domestic flights, but departures can also be from the third. It is better to purchase air tickets in advance. Flights are operated by Air China. If you are not a big fan of flying, you can get from Beijing to Xi'an by train. Tickets can be purchased at chinatraintickets.net.

You shouldn’t waste time trying to buy tickets at the station, as you’ll have to wait in line in the evening. You can use the services of a travel agency, whose offices are not difficult to find. They may sell you tickets at a small markup, but this way you can save quite a lot of time. The cheapest way to get from Beijing to Xi'an is by bus, which departs from Liuliqiao Bus Station.

So, for example, a double room in the Suba Hotel Xi'an Dongmen 2* per night costs 428 rubles, a room in the Xi'an Forest City Hotel 4* 1309 rubles per night, a room in the Golden Flower Hotel Xi'an by Shangri- La 5* for 2783 rubles. In general, the choice is huge, and the prices are quite affordable.

The first day. On your own in Xi'an

Xi'an is an amazing city that has more than 3,000 years of history. It is rightfully considered one of the oldest cities in China. This is where the Great Silk Road began. You will spend two days here. We begin our tour of the city with the most famous sights.

We catch a taxi and go to the Big Goose Pagoda, which is located in the Qien Temple. Here you will see beautiful gardens and unique architectural buildings. Many of which have been restored after repeated destruction. The Pagoda itself, 64 meters high, has 7 tiers. From the top you have an excellent panoramic view of the entire city, where many other unique attractions are concentrated. An observant tourist will notice that the Pagoda is at an angle that increases over time. This is how the pagoda received the unspoken name “Chinese Leaning Tower of Pisa”.

Big Goose Pagoda is a great place for walking and contemplating beauty. Be sure to check out the Peony Pavilion. Near the Pagoda, the fountain show begins in the evening. A very beautiful sight. Not far from the fountain garden is the Narru New Year shopping center, where you can have a snack at the Hot Pot restaurant. In these restaurants, food is prepared right at your table, which has a heating element built into it.

After a short rest, we again use a taxi and go to the inspection of the Fortress City Wall, the main task of which was to protect the city. Here are the most famous and significant sights of Xi'an - the Drum and Bell Towers, the Muslim Quarter, and the Great Mosque.

We recommend starting your inspection from the southern gate. Here you can see the Drum Show, which takes place daily. After the show, you will be able to take a photo with its participants dressed in national costumes and even knock on these same drums. Tourists are treated with respect here.

The length of the wall is 12 km, so you can rent a bicycle on site. Paid entrance. In close proximity to the South Gate there are the Bell and Drum Towers. The Muslim Quarter is also close. The Silk Road directly influenced the fact that two religions are practiced here - Islam and Buddhism.

In the Muslim Quarter you will see the Grand Mosque, which is one of the four largest in China, and which was built in the 18th century. The Muslim Quarter is a fantastic place, colorful and a must-see.

The shopping streets in the quarter deserve special attention. Here you can buy souvenirs made of stone, wood, and silk.

Second day

To visit Xi'an and not see the eighth wonder of the world - the Terracotta Army - would be simply an unforgivable mistake. You can get there from Xi'an by one of the buses that depart from the railway station every five minutes. Look for the inscription on the bus “Terracotta army”. The journey will take no more than an hour. The bus will stop near the ticket office, which is where you need it. Local guides who speak reasonable English also offer their services here.

Before you get to the entrance, you will have to pass by souvenir shops, eateries and other places that will try their best to get you to spend money.

Now that the path has been completed for you, three pavilions will be open on the territory of the museum. To see the Terracotta Army, go to the first pavilion. The height of each warrior in the army reaches about 195 cm, and the weight of the sculpture is 135 kg. The faces of all the sculptures are directed to the east, towards the defeated states.

After visiting the eighth wonder of the world, go to the bus stop, get on the bus and after three stops ask the driver to stop in Lintong. Huaqing hot springs will be interesting here. Don't forget to prepare a note with hieroglyphs for the driver or explain yourself in English. Just let us know that you need Hot springs. Why is this place a must visit? It is here that the garden and park assembly is located, which occupies an honorable place among the hundred best in China.

You will have to pay about 110 yuan to enter. This place is associated with a romantic but sad love story between the beautiful Yang Guifei and Emperor Xuanzong. It was for his beloved that the emperor built a beautiful park and baths.

Today, next to the Lotus Pond, you can see the Tree of Love, to which thousands of ribbons are tied. The hot springs are also operational, so you can wash your face with healing water. Now is the time to appreciate the place from the observation deck on Mount Lishan, which is located close to the park.

Now you can return to Xi'an with a sense of accomplishment to taste the famous local dumplings. We recommend checking out the restaurant, which is located between the Bell and Drum towers. You definitely won’t pass by this place, because at the entrance you can see a huge dumpling.

Don't stay up late, because tomorrow you will have a flight to Guilin.

The third day. On your own in Guilin

How to get there

In order not to worry about the transfer, contact the administrator of your hotel and order a taxi. The flight to Guilin takes 1 hour 50 minutes. What is remarkable about this place? Unique nature, unique landscapes, the Lijiang River, karst mountains. In addition, the third episode of Star Wars and the film The Painted Veil were filmed here.

From Guilin Airport you can take an express bus to the city. If your hotel is further away than the final stop, then after the bus, take a taxi.

Where to stay

Budget accommodation options include the following hotels:

• Guilin Ling Hong Express Hotel (RUB 427 per night)
• Guilin 68° Hotel North Train Station Branch (RUB 517 per night)
• Guilin Muslim Hotel (RUB 662 per night)
• Yu Long Hotel (RUB 669 per night)
• Guilin Hetai Hotel (RUB 675 per night)

If price doesn’t really matter to you and you don’t want to skimp on comfort, then we recommend the following hotels:

• Grand Bravo Hotel (RUB 4,045 per night)
• Guilin Golden Oriole Hotel (RUB 4,052 per night)
• Sheraton Guilin Hotel (RUB 4,390 per night)
• Shangri-La Hotel, Guilin (RUB 4,587)
• The White House Hotel Guilin (RUB 8,442)

Now that you have checked into your hotel and rested a little, we recommend visiting the iconic site of Guilin - Elephant Trunk Mountain (Xianbishan), which is located in the southern part of the city center. This place, whose height is 100 meters, received this name because the outline of the mountain resembles an elephant that seems to have lowered its trunk into the river. A very interesting place. This is where the Lee River joins the Peach Blossom River.

According to legend, in this place a herd of elephants descended from heaven to earth. The beautiful views and picturesque nature so impressed the elephants that they wanted to stay here, but this thereby angered the Jade Emperor, who ordered them to return immediately. The herd returned, but the emperor was missing one elephant.

Enraged, he took out his sword and stabbed the animal in the back. The elephant turned to stone. Today, tourists can visit this place by taking a ferry. The ferry departs from the terminal on the street. Nanhuanlu. At the top of the hill you can see a brick pagoda. Its shape resembles the hilt of that same sword.

Near the park you can see the Hezhong tourism travel agency. We recommend stopping by here to purchase a tour to the rice terraces. Of course, you can get to them on your own, but then you will have to make a transfer, and the journey itself takes more than three hours. In general, many tourists prefer an organized excursion. You will have to pay about 170-180 yuan. The bus will pick you up from your hotel and then take you back. Don't forget to leave the hotel's business card with the employee to avoid any misunderstandings, as English will not help you here.

Waterfall at the Lijiang Waterfall Hotel

Don’t rush to leave the park, because an evening walk along the picturesque complex of ponds and unusual bridges will bring a lot of pleasure. Be sure to go to the hotel
Lijiang Waterfall Hotel, which is located in the center. In the evening, whole crowds of tourists and locals gather here to see how the wall turns into an amazing waterfall for ten minutes. Another moment and the waterfall again becomes the wall of a five-star hotel.

If you are planning to extend your stay here for a couple of days, then be sure to visit the Reed Flute Cave and the Seven Stars Park. In the cave you will be able to contemplate not only magnificent halls, the beauty of which is difficult to describe, but also one of the most beautiful underground lakes.

Fourth day

Today we go to Yangshuo to see with our own eyes all the beauty of the karst hills and take a walk along the Li River. To get to the city you can purchase a cruise for 420 yuan per person. You won’t find anything cheaper; there is only one company that organizes them. The journey will take four hours.

Independent tourists can get there by bus in an hour. We recommend not to waste your money and time and choose this option.

According to local residents, the area between Yangdi and another village of Xinping is the most picturesque and fascinating. If you look closely at the Chinese 20 yuan note, you will notice the Li River, karst hills and lush vegetation.

To get there, go to the bus station to buy tickets to Yangshuo. The fare is about 15 yuan. Having reached the city, you will need to change at the same bus station to a bus that will go to Xinping or Yangdi.

The bus that goes to Yangdi will take you to the pier, where you can rent a raft designed specifically for tourist trips. Such rafting will cost a tourist about 300 yuan.

Be careful, because for less money, cunning guides reduce the walking time from an hour and a half to 30-40 minutes and drop you off far from the end point. So, if you fall for a scam, you will have to get to Xinpin on your own and spend a lot of time and effort on this. In general, we recommend not saving too much on your trip and paying money for a full-fledged rafting trip. The price usually includes a transfer from Xinping Pier to the bus station.

The guide can also stop for lunch at one of the local cafes. No one promises that it will be presentable, but they will feed you tasty and inexpensive. In general, if you feel slightly or not very hungry, then agree.

A three-hour walk from Yangdi to Xinping will delight you with beautiful scenery and a unique atmosphere. To return to Yangshuo, take a regular bus, the fare is about 7 yuan.

Moon Hill

Before leaving for Guilin, do not deny yourself the pleasure of seeing the miracle of nature - Moon Hill, which has a unique shape. You can get to Moon Hill by bus, just 15 minutes and you’re there. A ticket to Moon Hill costs 15 yuan.

You will have to make the climb yourself, since there is no lift, but for the money, a stunning view awaits you at the very top of the hill. It's worth it! Also, prepare 5 yuan for the grandmothers, who will accompany you until you buy water or any other drink from them. Now go back to the train station and take the bus to Guilin.

Fifth day

We are going to the ethno-village of Huanglo to the long-haired Yao

We use this day to see the Longji rice terraces, especially since we thought of everything in advance and bought a tour from the Hezhong tourism agency. In the morning, a bus will pick you up and go to the Huanglo ethno-village, where representatives of the Yao people live.

In this village, girls never cut their hair, and yet their hair is really beautiful and thick. For residents, this is the key to long life and wealth. What is also surprising is that rich hair color can be found even among elderly representatives of Yao; gray hair is unheard of here. One can only envy this.

Representatives of the Guinness Book of Records recorded the maximum hair length of one lady living in Huanglo, which was 2.1 meters. In general, when travelers get to this village, they envy silently, and sometimes they don’t even restrain their emotions.

Previously, traditions were strictly observed here, so only the girl’s husband could see her loose hair. Today, this tradition is rarely remembered, so for a fee, village residents will not only let your hair down for you, but will also happily pose for the camera. It’s not for nothing that they say that money spoils people.

All the girls are talented needlewomen, so the souvenir business is developed. Here you can buy handmade items. Here, next to Juanluo, you can already see rice fields.

Trip to Ping An village (rice terraces)

The next village you will visit is called Ping An. If you go on your own, you will have to pay for entry. For organized tourists, admission is usually included in the price of the tour, so there is no need to pay anything additional. The distance from Guilin to the village is about 100 km. To get to the place, you will have to transfer to another bus, designed specifically for driving along mountain serpentine roads; a specially trained driver is included with the bus.

This concerns the program of the purchased tour. If you are persistent and decide to explore the area on your own, then you need a bus that goes to Heping. It's easy to find one at the bus station. From Heping you can get to the village entrance by car. When you reach the entrance, you will have a difficult choice between two routes.

Packet-goers have only one option - to transfer to a bus that goes to the Ping An rice terraces. Local residents gave them the name Dragon Ridge. The land for rice fields began to be cultivated more than 800 years ago. At that time, the Yuan Dynasty ruled.

To say that it was a titanic work is to say nothing. It took centuries for the plan to be realized, and today a unique landscape opens up to travelers. There is even something unearthly about it. On the terraces you can find two viewing platforms - Nine Dragons and Five Tigers and the Landscape of the Seven Stars accompanying the Moon. You will have to get to the observation decks on your own, climbing the steps.

In addition to rice, tea is grown here, so do not deny yourself the pleasure of purchasing it at a local stall. Freshly picked tea leaves will be dried and packaged right in front of you. After exploring and purchasing souvenirs, you will be asked to board a bus and be taken back to the hotel in the evening.

Sixth day. On your own in Shanghai

How to get there

It's time to go to Shanghai. It is better to purchase tickets in advance. You can easily get there on board a Shanghai Airlines plane. There are several ways to get from Pudong Airport to the city center: taxi, bus, Maglev Train, which reaches speeds of up to 430 km/h. Maglev goes to LongYang Road Subway Station Line 2. Perhaps this is the best option. The fare is 50 yuan, but there is an opportunity to save.

Present your air tickets when purchasing and you will receive a 20% discount. You will be there in 7 minutes. Once you arrive at the final stop, you will need to change to the metro or take a taxi to get to the center itself. If you choose the metro, after 5 meters you will see metro line 2. The trip will take about 10 minutes. If you prefer a taxi, then ask the driver to turn on the meter, it will be much cheaper. If the meter refuses to turn on, the fixed amount should not exceed 80 yuan.

Where to stay

• Baolong Homelike Hotel (Zhongshan Branch) 2* from 1039 RUR. per night
• Shanghai Amersino Hotel 3* from RUB 1,240 per night
• Jitai Hotel (Shanghai Train Station South Square) 3* from 1353 rub. per night
• FX Shanghai Liuying 4* from 2006 rub. per night
• Golden River-view Hotel Shanghai from RUB 2,884. per night
• Grand Mercure Shanghai Central (Formerly.Grand Mercure Shanghai Zhongya)5* from 4500 rub. per night
• JI Hotel Shanghai Railway Station West Tianmu Road 4* from 7153 rub. per night

These hotels are located very well. Nearby there is Shanghai Railway Station and the Central Railway Station.

After checking into the hotel and some rest, we recommend heading to the Old Town. To get to the place, use the metro. You need purple line 10, Yuyuan Garden. In the Old City, we recommend visiting the Garden of Joy (Yuyuan Garden). The entrance ticket costs from 30 to 40 yuan, depending on the time of year.

This garden, located in the old part of Shanghai, was founded more than 400 years ago by the Pan Yundan family, or rather by a son who wanted his parents to spend their days in complete peace and happiness. The rich have their own quirks, but the idea was a success, although it took more than 20 years and all the savings. Later, the guild of Shanghai merchants would buy this garden. Today this park is one of the main attractions of Shanghai and causes indescribable delight among visitors.

In the park you can leisurely enjoy the pond with blooming lotuses, gazebos, terraces and, of course, the picturesque “Bridge of Nine Turns”. According to legend, by walking across it, you can cleanse yourself of evil spirits, whose entry to the bridge is prohibited. The Usintin Tea House is located right on the bridge. We also recommend visiting the Temple of the City Gods.

Spend today in this park and leisurely enjoy its charm, beauty and splendor. Near the park you will find many cafes and souvenir shops.

The Bund embankment and the Pearl of the East TV tower

If time permits and you have the desire, you can get to The Bund embankment and the Oriental Pearl TV tower. On the waterfront you can take stunning photos of the city's skyscrapers. It is located near metro line 10, East Nanjing Rd station. From the metro, move towards the river. Huangpu.

The Oriental Pearl Tower is located one subway stop from the embankment, near Lujiazui Station Line 2. You can also visit the famous aquarium here. On the way back, we recommend stopping at the railway station at the pre-sale ticket hall, especially since the hotel is located in close proximity.

You can buy tickets to Suzhou here tomorrow. Take the G train, it will get you there in just 25 minutes and the ticket costs about 40 yuan. There are cheaper options, but the journey will take longer than an hour. Keep in mind that you will need to present your passport at the ticket office, as tickets are issued in personal names.

Seventh day. To Suzhou on your own

Why is Suzhou a must-see? Yes, because here you can enjoy the splendor of the famous gardens, of which in the 16th and 17th centuries there were about 280. Today there are much fewer, about 69, but this is more than enough for one day. The city itself is more than 2.5 thousand years old, and its historical part is part of the World Heritage Sites. In general, there is a lot to see and be impressed by. Suzhou is also a silk center. Well, how can we resist here?

After arriving at the station in Suzhou, we transfer to bus No. 5, which departs from the station and goes to the Panmen Gate (“Gate of the Curled Dragon”). Travel time is about 50 minutes, ticket price is 1 yuan. Panmen was once part of the wall. Today we can see the already restored landmark.

A huge amount of work was done and at least $2 million was spent. Thanks to these investments, the area was also beautified: trees and flowers were planted, the pond where carp live today was cleaned, and lighting fixtures were installed. While walking, you will easily find the Ruiguant Pagoda, which in ancient times housed a Buddhist stupa made of pearls.

Fisherman's Garden and Wangshiyuan

Wangshiyuan is one of the most popular gardens in Suzhou. Here architecture and nature, impeccability and grace come together. In the pavilions you can see the interiors of previous centuries, and in the center of the garden, visitors can admire the beauty of the picturesque pond, which is framed by beautiful plants and stones. In Wanshiyuan, you can also take beautiful photos in the bansai tree garden, on the arched bridge, which has the lyrical name “Leading to Serenity.” In summer you can visit the garden even at night, so don’t miss this opportunity.

The next must-see garden is Lion Grove, the distinctive feature of which is a pile of stones that have a certain appearance (taikhushi). Several decades are needed to “grow” such stones. To achieve a certain look, it was necessary to make holes in ordinary stones and place them in the lake. Over the years, these stones took on very unusual shapes. In general, there is something to see and be surprised by. The Lion Grove Garden is definitely a must see. Ticket price is 30 yuan.

Now is the time to go to the Garden of the Humble Official or Administrator, which covers an area of ​​5 hectares. Of course, a few hours are not enough to explore it; it’s better to set aside a whole day, but if you don’t have much time, then during this time you can see quite a lot here.

Construction of the garden was started more than 600 years ago by an official removed from government affairs for corruption. He worked on its creation for about 20 years, and today it has a unique design and unique beauty. If you visit the garden in summer, you will find a lotus festival, and in the spring, an azalea festival. The entrance ticket costs 70 yuan.

If you’re not in a hurry to catch the train, you can walk to the train station and be sure to stop by the “85” confectionery to brighten up your day with delicious pastries and aromatic coffee.

Eighth day

Travel to Chinese Venice on your own - Zhouzhuang

Today we will go to explore the Chinese Venice - the city of Zhouzhuang, which has a history of almost a thousand years. You can get to it by bus from Suzhou, so first we’ll take the comfortable G train. There is a bus station not far from the railway station. The fare is 17 yuan. Travel time from Suzhou to Zhouzhuang is about an hour.

If the road is not tiring and you are full of energy, then from the final stop to the Old Town you can walk or take a taxi if you are not considering this option. You need to pay 100 yuan for access to the attraction. The old city, after the noisy and dynamic Shanghai, will surprise you with its regularity and silence, especially if your trip takes place on a weekday. Unlike Venice, the local canals are narrower, and the passing boats are steered by local women.

We recommend not to miss the opportunity to explore the city from the water. The cost of renting a local gondola is 100 yuan. That's how much a 25 minute walk costs. If you're lucky, they'll even let you steer and sing something folk and very sad, about love, probably. But for love, or rather for singing, you will have to pay extra. No romance.

After enjoying the walk, you can go explore the city and the life of the local residents. Be sure to check out the Key Bridge. If you are observant, you will understand that local residents receive their main income from private transportation along canals, the restaurant and souvenir business. The most interesting thing is that men here are engaged exclusively in intellectual work. Women get the hardest part – physical work. Maybe that's why they sing such sad songs?

If you want to eat, you will find many places, but whether you dare to try something is another question. Keep in mind that water for cooking is taken from the same canal where clothes are washed and other household chores are done. No, of course, the water is first boiled, and, as the locals say, after that it acquires a unique taste (who would doubt it), but the choice is always yours.

If you have already seen everything and don’t want to stay overnight to see the stunning sunset, we recommend that you hurry up, because the last bus to Suzhou leaves at 17.10, and to Shanghai 40 minutes earlier.

Ninth day. Self-guided walks in Shanghai

Today you can take a walk in the French Quarter. You can get there via Red Line 1, Shanxi Road. This place is very atypical for a metropolis; here you can stroll peacefully and feel its romantic atmosphere. If you have been to Europe, you will recognize its appearance - cozy cafes with the cutlery we are used to, and pastry shops, paving stone roads and nicely decorated balconies. Despite the name, not only the French lived in the quarter, but also Russian emigrants.

The remaining time can be spent exploring the sights that you have noted for yourself, but have not yet had time to see or go shopping. We recommend viewing and visiting the Shanghai Circus and Zoo, the Temple of the Jade Buddha, the Pushkin monument, and the Museum of the Chinese Communist Party.

If you are interested in items from fashionable global and local brands, we recommend Grand Mall. On 7 floors you are sure to find something for yourself and your loved ones. There is also a supermarket where you can buy delicious fruits and vegetables, and the choice is simply huge. Grand Mall is located nearby Lujiazui Subway Station.