China Travel Specialist, China Tours

China Travel Specialist

Erin Morse
China Travel Specialist

Erin Morse is our Asia Travel Specialist here at Peak Travel Group. Erin has traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. She especially loves the culture and people of China, and recently traveled back to China with Abercrombie & Kent Tours. A & K is known for being a leader in the upscale travel market, with a reputation for outstanding quality and service. The tour Erin took was the "Highlights of China." Here are her comments and China travel tips listed by city...Enjoy!

Contact China Travel Specialist Erin Morse to assist with your China Travel

or Call Toll-Free: 1-800-737-9776

Erin's General Comments on China Travel

China is a fascinating country known for it's contrasts. Within it's huge expanse, you can find some of the worlds most modern and progressive cities, as well as small villages operating in much the same way as they have for thousands of years. In Beijing you can visit the ancient Hutongs built in the 13th century that sit only a few blocks away from modern high-rise buildings that seem to touch the sky. While in Xian it's common to see an expensive sportscar traveling along the 800 year-old city wall. The Chinese people seem to really embrace this dichotomy of new and old. As a traveler you can feel the tremendous pride the Chinese have in their history and culture, as well as an almost tangible excitement for the tremendous growth they are experiencing. China is a wonderful country with something to offer for all kinds of travelers!

Picture taken by Erin Morse

Picture taken by Erin Morse

Tiananmen Square

Picture taken by Erin Morse

Tips on Traveling to China

Weather in China can very greatly by season. In Beijing the average high temperatures are

January - 35°F
May - 80°F
July - 88°F
October - 66°F

If you have mobility issues, this is probably not the best place to travel to.
There lots of steps and cobble stones...

Cab drivers do not speak English. It's best to have your hotel concierge always get a cab for you, so they can verbally tell a driver where you are going. Having your destination written in Chinese doesn't always help either, since 1/3 of the country can't read. It is necessary to ALWAYS have a card (in Chinese) of where you are staying. However, it make take several tries before you get a cab driver who can read it.

Picture taken by Erin Morse

Water bottles should always be bought in a store, the ones sold in tourist locations are tap water...even though they are re-sealed and look new.

Diet Coke is not consumed by Chinese, so if you see it, it is most likely expired and was saved from being destroyed in another country...best to stay away!

ATMs are easy to find. But understand that it is really difficult to get money changed back to US Dollars, so only take out what you need.

It is best to only use cash as there are a lot of credit card scams.
If you do use a credit card, check the exchange rate they are giving you. Quite a few establishments will scam a much higher exchange in their favor !

Prices are not set anywhere...everything can be bargained downed to about 1/3 to 1/2 of the original price given.

Pick pocketing is a large problem in China...and they are GREAT at it. Even the most seasoned traveler must be aware! Our group caught people in their pockets twice (luckily there was nothing in there!)

There is also wide spread scam where very innocent looking girls and boys come up to you and want to "practice English" with you at their school. They try to bring you to their schools for a variety of reasons including seeing their "art exhibit." These are scams and can be dangerous.

The Intra-China airlines Shanghai and China Eastern are great for internal flights, but they are VERY strict with baggage weight limitations. 20 kg MAX. If you exceed this maximum weight, you may have to send your bag separate at an extremely high cost!

Beijing

The Peninsula Beijing is the best hotel in Beijing currently. I say currently because the Mandarin, Ritz Carlton, Intercontinental, JW Marriott and Park Hyatt are scheduled to open new hotels within the next year!! The Peninsula is in a great location, within walking distance to the best shopping districts, as well as the Forbidden City and Tian An Men Square. The service there is amazing, they pay attention to every detail, even placing a bookmark in the book I had left on the night-stand I highly recommend the club level here, as it comes with a private check in (the lobby can be a bit crowded), and a huge amount of food for breakfast and cocktail hour. The suites here are AMAZING!!! they have a 2 level duplex suite that is really reasonable and lovely...and the presidential suite is the most beautiful I have ever seen, with artwork on loan from the Shanghai museum (although not so reasonable). I went and looked at the Shangri-la, it is nice...but the location is out of the way. The current Ritz is also OK, but the rooms are small, and the location is really only good for business travelers. This city is going through a renaissance, and it is really neat to witness! Everyone is very excited about the Olympics, everywhere you look there are signs, and countdowns, and construction. The city is surprisingly clean, and I found the people extremely courteous.

Things you must see in and around Beijing are:

The Forbidden City

Tien An Men Square

The Temple of Heaven

The Great Wall

Ming Tomb Area

Silk and/or Pearl Markets.

Picture taken by Erin Morse

Xi'an

The Terra-cotta Warriors were fantastic. They are in a much larger complex than I anticipated. Touring this incredible sight takes the better part of a day. I also really enjoyed the Underground museum, which is new, not crowed and even more interesting than the terra-cotta warriors.

The Shangri-la is the nicest hotel...but still not as nice as you may assume with this brand. Also...you may want to warn your clients the massage parlor there is...well...not of the upstanding variety. We were fore-warned, but this is not something you would expect at a supposed 4 star hotel ! The Hyatt here is also very nice and it is within the walled-city portion of Xi'an, which is great for walking, but has TERRIBLE traffic.

Yangtze River Cruise

On a positive note the scenery is beautiful, and going through the new dam was really interesting. A&K clients get to eat in a private room for all meals, which makes a BIG difference, as the rest of the boat was a zoo!! There were some independent A&K clients on our boat as well. We invited them to join our private excursions. They had nothing but great feedback regarding their experience thus far, and their ages ranged from 14 to 83.

We were on the East Queen...which was NOT great. The ship is run-down, and the common areas were fairly dirty. The entertainment is put on by the kitchen and cleaning staff...so not "professional" caliber. There is nothing really scheduled to do, and the decks smell of defile...so not a lot to do if you are not in port sightseeing. Of course the rooms are small with no room to store luggage. To get on and off the boat you must walk up and down a lot of really steep and narrow steps. This can be a challenge for those more "mature" or physically challenged tour members. A&K will pay porters to carry clients, but this may be uncomfortable, so again make sure your clients know what to expect. There stories of other tour operators who have simply left clients who could not make it on board. A&K will have a completely refurbished boat that should be finished in April '08 and it sounds like it will be MUCH better!!

Picture taken by Erin Morse

Picture taken by Erin Morse

Shanghai

Shanghai was my favorite part of the trip! It is a great city, very cosmopolitan, with great museums and transportation. There is a lot to see and do here, and I would recommend extending any tour that starts or stops here.

Stayed at the Portman Ritz Carlton, which was great. The service is not up to par with the Peninsula, but still very good. I would NOT recommend the bottom category of room there. They are small and dark and not remodeled! The Shanghai room is the lowest I would recommend and the club level is also a good value as well. The suites are very nice, and they have lots of them! The Jr. suite is a nice value and the 1-bedroom is HUGE! For the business traveler, the Grand Hyatt is the best bet as it is located on the 50th to 87th floors of a high rise in Pudong business center building. The Westin Shanghai is also a GREAT option, especially for a younger traveler, as it is located on the Bund (the waterfront entertainment district).

Erin's Comments on A & K Tours

A&K has amazing contacts in China, and I was able to meet the people in the Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai offices, as well as one of the reps from the Oakbrook office.

Everywhere we went, things were made to happen for us. Someone on the tour likes pandas? Then an unscheduled stop at the zoo is made. To add the the experience, amazingly the zoo keepers bring out the baby panda for a private viewing. Interested in the relocation villages? They arranged to go and visit the home of one of the first relocated families, with a translator to ask questions and take a tour of the village.

The meals A & K arranged for us were great. They were a nice variety of culinary options that highlighted the region we were visiting. The A & K guides are extremely attentive and are given the autonomy to be flexible. They always had water available for us. When the guide learned two of us liked bottled Green Tea, he would get us our tea and water for the rest of the group. When it started to rain while we were on the Great Wall, our guide ran up and distributed ponchos to all of us! I felt informed and taken care of throughout!

Although this was not the most culturally immersing trip, it is a great option for people who want a China tour experience that is safe and requires little thought.....for those who want to "check off" that they have visited the major sights of China with the creature comforts of the west.

Our guide was a wealth of knowledge, and really a highlight of the trip for me. He also leads groups with Tauck and Access China, as well as a pretty impressive list of private clients (like Bill Gates). He has been leading groups in Asia for many years, and spoke to me rather candidly about a lot of the tour operators in the region...if you have specific questions about this let me know!

Hope that helps, and if you have any questions...just ask !
Erin

Contact Erin at Peak Travel Group to assist with your China Travel.

or Call Toll-Free: 1-800-737-9776

Picture taken by Erin Morse