February 18th, 2015

China is one of the most visited countries in the world with over 55 million tourists a year. China is attracting rich history; incredible monuments, temples, towers, as well as scenery and hearty food.Here are collected the most interesting and beautiful sights of the Middle Kingdom, which you definitely need to visit at least once in your life:

Rewind time and enjoy the distinctive Chinese architecture of the over 900 year old scenic village of Hongcun.

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.

Ride the 1,580-meter Great Wall toboggan run from Mutianyu.

Conquer the sand dunes of the Gobi Desert on a camel ride that will take you straight to Yueyaquan Lake in the 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 the Wangfujing Night Market in Beijing.

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

Walk along the waterfront in Shanghai.

Enjoy the picturesque view of one of the largest waterfalls in Asia, Huangguoshu.

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 km Longtan Valley and admire the reddish-purple quartz sandstone.

This is a traditional brunch in South 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 open escalator will take you to the best boutiques in Hong Kong.

Did you know that the floating mountain islands on the planet Pandora from the famous Avatar movie were created in the image of a real place on Earth. This miracle is located in the 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 will understand why artists and poets come here in search of inspiration.

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

You can see your reflection in Tianchi Mirror Lake or Heavenly Lake. This is the deepest lake in China, which is located on top of Changbaishan 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 displayed in the Yungang Cave Grottoes in Shanxi Province.

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

The Terracotta Army in Xi'an will impress even the most sophisticated tourist.

Play with the golden monkey in the Shennongjia forest area.

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

The fairy-tale cave of the Reed Flute, hidden in the depths of Chinese soil. 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 colored 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.

Cruise along Eurasia's longest and most abundant river, the Yangtze, in Yunnan Province.

Visit the mausoleum of Mao Zedong - the symbol of communism in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

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

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

A magnetoplane or maglev is a magnetic levitation train that can reach speeds of up to 500 km/h.

How to save the psyche with two small children and the ubiquitous Chinese :)))

Why China and why now.
Thinking about where to take children to the sea, in the wake of recent events: the terrorist threat in Europe and the Middle East and the sharp fall of the ruble, it was rather unexpectedly decided to go to China. Moreover, at that time there was an Aeroflot campaign for air tickets, and for money, if before China was at least cheap, now it is certainly not expensive.

Flight Moscow - Beijing by Aeroflot.
Here everything 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 what we needed...

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

This is the number we had. Pretty good, in my opinion :)

The hotel can be easily reached by subway (From Zhangzizhong Road subway station (line 5) (exit C) walk to it for 2 minutes, we did not know this, so we had to stray. Initially, I thought that there were not such long distances in China, then cardinally changed my opinion, so just the metro and don’t even think about it)

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

Here it is on the second floor (description and photos can be found later 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 people who either dance or meditate, someone just walks and enjoys nature (you will never be alone :))))). The following picture somehow opened up to me: a grandmother rides in an electric wheelchair (as for the disabled), reaches the steps, gets up, lifts the wheelchair, sits down and eats further (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 a constant slight upward slope, as if you are rising into the sky. It is worth visiting the temple, the architecture and the park area are simply beautiful, I personally had doubts about the originality of the temple itself (but maybe I'm wrong), they arose when examining it very closely :)

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

This is another temple in the same park area. After passing through 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. Here our children were held in high esteem, everyone wanted to take pictures with them, especially with the Beehive (blue eyes). Lukyan was amused by such an abundance of attention to him :)

And this is another part of the park area. It’s hard for me to say what she was responsible for, because. It was not enough to peep through the crack, 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 is closed :)))) In China, if you got up at 12-00, then you were late everywhere :))) For this reason, we didn’t succeed a few days - I slept for a long time, could not get involved in any way :)

And some of our crew move quite comfortably, almost like emperors :)
Thus ended our first day in Beijing, on the way back we still managed to drop into shopping center for souvenirs that we will inflate upon arrival from China (wait...)

For information:
If you exit the central entrance of the park (next to the metro station) and walk to the left for about 30 meters, you can cross the overpass to the other side of the road. Here, go to a large store and buy souvenirs. Do not forget to bargain, immediately lower prices 3-4 times. A very good place for buying souvenirs and a snack (price / quality corresponds), further to other tourist sites of such a choice and such a low price as we did not find here :)
The cost of visiting the park (Temple of Heaven) in 2016 is 34 yuan (I don’t remember if I’m 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 Gugong and eat Peking duck in the evening. The duck itself somehow did not impress, no, of course it is tasty and all that. But the whole essence 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:

Student ticket price - 20 yuan ( common 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 go up to the wall (about 30-40 minutes) on foot, then you can ride on a special sled on wheels (it’s hard to name this device correctly).
Moreover, when you go down, you will get a whole bag of positive emotions - a small attraction like this :))) We liked it, the issue price is 100 yuan (round trip) per person. Having also reached the very top of the wall (one of the highest points, you definitely won’t miss this place) you canride (go down) 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 miss the attraction (downhill on a sled) - it’s very cool :) As far as I remember, this is an Italian attraction of some shaggy years :)))As elsewhere, it is better to take water and percuss with you, because. prices here will be 2 times higher than usual and no one will bargain with you. When leaving, there is an aviary 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 at him, this pleasure will cost 5 yuan :)Of course, it’s a pity for the bears, it doesn’t seem to me to spend all the time on the concrete floor :)
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The wall itself is certainly impressive, here are a couple of photos to represent the whole scale. Here Lukyan met a group of schoolchildren who, as usual, wanted to take pictures next to him, so it’s not known whether the wall was a landmark or Lukyan, of course he really likes this attention :))))

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

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

A small attraction for the memory of the wall, there is nothing mego extreme - but it is remembered :) It was fun :)))
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How to get to the wall yourself:

The easiest way is to take the subway to 积水潭 Jishuitan subway station, exit A. When you go upstairs and stand with your back to the subway exit steps, you need to go straight back (I mean direction). As a guide, you will pass a large bus station to your left (as if walking along it). Buses can be seen just outside the Deshengmen Watchtower (not visible from metro)and from there take bus number 877 (tourist bus, it is much more convenient) or 919 (regular bus, only it runs during the non-tourist season) the price of tickets for them is the same.

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In the evening, fruit on duty as usual.

Day 4. Temple of Confucius.
Getting up early in the morning (on the fourth day, and even probably on 3, I somehow got involved in getting up at 6-00) we went to the temple of Confucius, where Confucianism was born, a landmark point (I always wanted to see).

And here is the monument to the founder of Confucianism.

Park area of ​​the Temple complex.

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

Inside the temple itself. The decoration styles in the temples are very similar, so if you have looked at one of the Chinese temples (well, maybe two), then you can no longer waste your time on interior decoration :)

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

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For information:
The entrance fee for an adult is 20 yuan.
Student valid only for students whose age does not exceed 24 years, we were not lucky, we had 25 years in ISIC written. In general, this rule is quite common in China, so keep this fact in mind.
For inspection, I definitely recommend it, also if you have time nearby there isThe Lama Palace of Peace (Yonghegong Lama Temple), and the quarter itself next to the temples is very interesting.
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Then we went to Gugong (Forbidden City), but since we had already partially examined it the previous day, we went to Jingshan 景山 Park, which is located immediately behind the Forbidden City and from the highest point of which opens the best view of this most forbidden city ( in fact, the name of the park sounds like this in translation from Chinese - “view from the mountain” or “mountain with a beautiful view”).

Naturally, the entrance to the park is paid, but we are saved by student international standards made in advance, do not forget that the age in them must be up to 24 years old inclusive. In general, student wallets really help to keep your wallet thicker in China, so don’t forget to use it (especially if you look young, I don’t think you need to learn how to make a student wallet 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 downstairs and decided to walk the googong in reverse order. But as of April 2016, I can say for sure (100%) that the entrance from reverse side closed and you can pass the forbidden city only on one side - the main entrance, next to the metro. Because of this, we had to take a taxi to the main entrance, otherwise we would not have had time to inspect the palace in full (a taxi cost us 20 yuan):)
Well, then just pictures - look and be impressed :)

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For information:
The cost of the entrance ticket to the forbidden city is 40 yuan per person, for students 20 yuan.
In terms of time, calculate somewhere in half a day (it took us a day, but we and the children, and we ourselves were a little stupid at first), i.e. and the Temple of Heaven and Gugong can be seen in one day if you get up early and leave late and if you are athletic enough for a long walk (and you will have to walk really a lot).

Day 5. Amusement park and Summer Imperial Palace.

In general, things didn’t work out for me in Beijing (the reality turned out to be very far from the original plans), for 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 in On the third trip, I found a Chinese 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. it is written on the Internet that it works until 21-00, but in fact it works until 18-00, like everyone else in China :))) Although it seems strange to me for an amusement park, there is of course also Happy Valey it definitely works until 22-00, but many 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, in this we were not allowed to ride everywhere: ) Looking ahead, I’ll say that Disneyland Paris (and this park in Beijing is an attempt to copy a park in Paris) I liked 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 small in itself (the exchange rate of the ruble, of course, was very depressing, earlier (2 years ago, before the crisis) all the pleasure would have cost us 1,200 rubles). Of course, the kids liked it and in such a good mood we went to see the Summer Imperial Palace.

China... The idea to see the Middle Kingdom came to me a long time ago and matured over several years.
China seemed very unusual to my imagination.
Some things stereotypically stuck in my head since childhood, some shocked me from the news and the Internet...
In short - we're going, we'll figure it out on the spot!
The trip as part of a tourist Ukrainian group disappeared immediately - they didn’t like the standard programs, but individual tour just went off scale in value and did not fit into the framework of my prudent pricing.
An attempt to order a program from Chinese tour operators (the most famous - CYTS and CITS) also did not inspire. Either it was necessary to select a group of 5-6 like-minded friends in order to get a Russian guide and a relatively adequate price, or to adapt to a group recruited by the Chinese side from all over the world, accompanied by a standard English-speaking Chinese.
Doubts reached their peak after studying a two-week tour offered by the 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 for the Beijing Zoo, and 2 hours for the Great Wall of China.
For a two-week program with an English-speaking Chinese guide, the company wanted 2396 bucks from the nose (without external flight).
It was at this moment of throwing 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 minute was decisive.
Even a panic fear of hieroglyphs could not beat the indefatigable desire to make a route on their own and depend only on their own desires and preferences.
Almost six months before the trip, we bought tickets for an external flight, prepared documents for the Chinese Embassy, ​​received a visa and booked hotels according to our movements. Airplane tickets inside China were bought on the first day, immediately upon arrival in Beijing.
So, I will briefly describe the technical details of the preparation. independent travel to this country for those who want to follow our example.
1. Make a travel itinerary based on what you want to see.
2. Choose the time of the 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) write to any Chinese travel agency that has a license (this is mandatory, it is provided to the Embassy).
You will be sent a program of your trip and an invitation. In this case, only insurance, a completed application form with 1 photo, international flight tickets and, in fact, a passport will be enough.
The disadvantage of this method is that after sending the invitation and the tour program, the Chinese will ask you to reset some kind of advance payment to their account. But you can pull it off almost until the moment of departure, and then culturally refuse, referring to the high cost of the tour or something else. :) A visa does not depend on prepayment, it is issued on the basis of an invitation, a travel program and an agency license.
b) do everything yourself:
- on the site www.elong.com to book hotels along the entire route, booking is free, a notification letter is instantly sent to your email address. Payment for accommodation occurs already at the hotel at the time of check-in. If you try to pay by card immediately on the site, you can get even more low prices. But I stubbornly did not read the payment card data, so we settled on the first option - to pay a little more at the hotel upon arrival and not worry where the money was debited from the card. :).
- write letters to the first and last hotel of your itinerary asking for booking confirmation, which are provided to the Embassy;
- take a certificate of income from the place of work (in option a) it is not needed);
- fill out a questionnaire with 1 photo;
- do not forget to put insurance, external air tickets and a passport in the package of documents.
All in a week you get a visa.
Information for Ukrainian tourists: a visa (one-time) is obtained in Kyiv - UAH 850 + UAH 34 (bank services). Course: 1 dollar - 8.10 UAH approximately.
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 remarkably well, this can only help you in some hotels, well, and in the subway, where an English inscription is dubbed next to the hieroglyphs.
In all other cases, communication with people takes place at the level of gestures and pre-prepared pieces of paper with Chinese characters.
Therefore, a Russian-Chinese phrase book is very desirable (especially in catering places). Names of cities, stations, sights, etc. every morning we asked the 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 always ask "Do you speak English?"
5. Domestic flights and transfers.
Booking a bus and train in advance without being in China will not work - only at railway stations or bus stations in the country itself. You don't have to worry about communication. AT major cities there is always one cash desk where the cashier speaks English.
In small ones, a piece of paper prepared in advance with hieroglyphs will save. We did not have a single case that we could not take a ticket and explain where we need to go.
It is possible to book flights on the same site elong.com, but please note that these will be the maximum fares.
I wouldn't recommend doing this.
When you arrive at Beijing Capital Airport, go up 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, staff speak English).
I preliminarily wrote out the numbers and departure times of the flights we needed (from the elong.net website) for the required dates, and the purchase process went quite quickly. There were tickets for all flights, we asked for the lowest (discounted) price).
As a rule, a few days before departure, airlines give discounts on prices. For example, we saved almost 300 dollars on six tickets (2 people, three flights) than if we ordered them in advance from Ukraine.
Domestic tickets are only in Chinese, so Arabic numerals are very helpful (Thank God that the Chinese did not think of translating them into their icons). Where we should fly - we were guided by the date on the ticket, and by the flight number (English letters + numbers are stored there) - which gate to go to land.
Do not worry that there will be no tickets. China is a big country, there are a lot of people in it, the transport infrastructure is at a high level, local airlines are inundated. The only strain can be if the dates of your trip coincide with any Chinese holiday. But this tension will be everywhere - both in hotels and at sights. Therefore, advice - plan a trip around Chinese holidays - at this time the whole country travels and travels with whole families, and the Chinese always travel in organized tourist groups.
Now about our route.
The more you immerse yourself in China in preparation for the trip, the more your head swells from how to fit everything that you would like to see in 2 weeks. We originally planned a trip in April to see cherry blossoms and spring China in general.
We started from the sakura festival held annually in Beijing in Yuyutan Park (it takes place from the end of March to the end of April).
Therefore, we chose the dates of the trip from 10 to 24 April.
Since this was our first visit to China, the itinerary 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) - Zhouzhuoang (1 day) - Hangzhou (1 day) ). Since in Shanghai the first day we spent half a day in hotel room because of the tedious long rain and nasty haze, we decided not to go to Hangzhou, but leave the last day to Shanghai.
Hotels booked in Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin and Shanghai.
We took international air tickets with a connection in Helsinki (UIA + Finair), which we did not regret at all. Convenient departure time, excellent service, even a 5-hour wait in Helsinki (there) passed unnoticed and not burdensome - very comfortable chairs in the waiting rooms for passengers.
And now, actually, about the trip itself.
At 6.55 am on April 11, we set foot on the ground of the capital of one of 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 to the Central Railway Station. Here it is possible to get stuck in Beijing traffic jams, so we chose the third option - take the Air Express high-speed train (ticket 25 yuan) and get to the DONGZHIMEN station (terminal) - 2 or 13 lines, and there, along the desired branch for 2 yuan, 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 branch).
In Beijing, we booked the Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel, which turned out to be not only the best of our Chinese, but also, perhaps, one of the best I have ever stayed in, despite the declared 3 stars. The cost of the day, by the way, exceeded the other five.
It is located a 10-minute walk from the DONGSI subway station (Line 5) in the Beijing Hutong area.
Hutuns 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, the hutongs began to be mercilessly demolished and built up with the same high-rise buildings, very similar to the 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 were colorful hutongs, on one of the streets of which our hotel was located. The spirit of the hutongs, which has been preserved for a long time, gives a feeling of natural China, the true everyday life of ordinary people, without the popular tourist coloring and gilding. Every year there are less and less hutongs, and I think that it will not be long before hutongs can only be seen in the picture...
The Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel is made in the style of a Chinese courtyard - a cotyard. Several courtyards are blocks of rooms. The courtyard itself is very national: lanterns, flowering magnolias, old furniture, pebbles - and absolute silence. The guests do not interfere with each other at all. The rooms - furniture from the Ming Dynasty. We slept on a 19th century stucco wooden bed with a red canopy and peacock embroidery on the wall. The rooms have a safe, TV, telephone, Wi-Fi, a wardrobe with obligatory bathrobes and slippers, an electric kettle, packaged coffee, but tea is loose, 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 the following days - 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 (you don’t need to take toothpaste and a brush in China - they are given in every hotel), a shower with hot and cold water (it was cool to watch the water flowing down, twisting counterclockwise - Asia, friends!).
Breakfasts are wonderful, a wide selection of both European and Asian food, juices, coffee, tea, regular and soy milk, fruits, a large selection of pastries and sweets.
The staff is well trained, speaks good English and is very friendly. Upon check-in, they give a map of Beijing with a metro map (free of charge), answer any question, they are well oriented in the streets of the city and where everything is located. 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 can 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, always with a passport (here, too, not all banks change dollars - we changed in two: Bank of China and ICВC, 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. You are given a ticket with the queue number, fill out a declaration with passport data and the required currency amount. A bank employee makes a photocopy of your passport, informs you of the current exchange rate and, if you agree, the exchange process actually 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, because we traveled 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 charming in the evening - red lanterns turn on, you sit down at a moving table with a cup of fragrant 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), meals, tickets for attractions and performances, tea, souvenirs and gifts - 925 USD.
The amount can be reduced due to the lower star rating of hotels and cheaper food (I'll talk about this later).
To be continued...

China is huge and interesting country. Are you planning your first trip to China? This article can give a general understanding about the language barrier, tourist routes, weather, trade and food culture in China.

Tourist features of China

The language barrier

The language barrier is often considered the number one hurdle when visiting China. In fact, many Chinese, especially young people, are taught English language in city schools. Therefore, if you speak English clearly and slowly, you will be understood in the cities of China.

However, the language barrier is still a problem because travelers cannot always count on finding someone who speaks English. Listed below are top tips for overcoming the language barrier when traveling to China.

– Start learning Chinese before you go to China, this will give you more confidence;

– It is not necessary to try to learn the language perfectly, it is enough to learn a few simple basic phrases. In addition, you can prepare and include an audio recording where you ask how to get to a specific place.

Tourist destinations

China is vast and has many scenic natural landscapes, including the world's highest mountains, big deserts, huge meadows, graceful examples of karst relief along the Li River.

It is impossible for tourists to cover everything in a few days. For a first trip to China, the most recommended travel destinations are Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an and Guilin.

• Beijing- the capital of China, the city has numerous world-class attractions. There you can climb one of the eight wonders of the world, the Great Wall of China; visit the grand imperial palace, Forbidden City; enjoy a large-scale place of worship for heaven, the Temple of Heaven and see Summer Palace, one of the most famous in China.
• Shanghai has several historical monuments(Jing'an Monastery, Jade Buddha Temple, Yuyuan Garden), masterpieces modern architecture(Jin Mao Tower, Oriental Pearl TV Tower and Shanghai World Finance center), and posh towns on the water (Zhujiajiao). Near Shanghai is the town of Hangzhou (it is only forty minutes by car). high-speed train). You can arrange your Shanghai-Hangzhou tour to visit the famous West Lake.
• Xi'an- the birthplace of Chinese culture, so the city has many historical monuments and ancient architectural structures, including the Terracotta Army, the ancient city wall and the amazing Hua Mountains in the arsenal of the city.
• Guilin has one of the world's most beautiful national parks and the Li River Scenic Area, which offers graceful watery wonders with karst formations and hills. Guilin has magnificent rice terraces.

Itinerary in China, taking into account annual weather conditions

China has the largest amplitude of weather than any country on the planet. As climatic conditions vary greatly from region to region, then when planning a trip to China, you need to take into account weather and count the best time for traveling.

Where to go in China, depending on the time of year

January: Northern China (Harbin and Jilin)

The Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival is held annually from January 5 to February 5, at which time you can admire the ice sculptures almost everywhere in Harbin.

February: Hainan Island

In most Chinese tourist spots February is still cool. However, Hainan welcomes its guests with the warm rays of the sun of a leisurely bay.

March: regions south of the Yangtze

In early spring, the first spring flowers appear, making the regions of Shanghai, Yangzhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou more graceful and worth visiting.

April: Guilin, Xi'an and the Yellow Mountains

April is the time of flowering. A visit to Guilin in April will allow you to appreciate the peach tree blossoms and enjoy the unique karst landforms framed by vibrant greenery along the Li River.

May: Yunnan Province (Shangri-La Lijiang and Kunming)

Yunnan Province is a place where you can explore different periods of ancient life, enjoy clear blue skies, visit mysterious Tibetan monasteries, and appreciate the beauty of azalea blossoms and massive snow-capped mountains.

June: Zhangjiajie

The highlights of Zhangjiajie are the peculiar hills (the prototype of the mountain in Avatar) in the Wulingyuan Scenic Area.

July: Dalian, Qingdao, Weihai, Yantai

Coastal cities are an excellent choice for a tour of China in the midst of a hot summer. Please note that Qingdao hosts the International Beer Festival every year in mid-August.

August: Tibet

Arrange a real tour-adventure in Tibet: visit magnificent Palace Potala, take a horse ride through the endless meadows and pay a guest visit to a local family.

September: Xinjiang and Beijing

Melons and fruits in Xinjiang are ready to eat in September, and the weather is not so hot this month.

October: Jiuzhaigou

The entire Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area is decorated with colorful trees. Foliage colored in gold, red, blackish green or yellow is spectacularly reflected in the light blue background of the pools.

November: Guizhou

One of the reasons for visiting this region is the festivities held in the Miao village and the festival in Lushen. The weather in November in the vicinity of Beijing becomes cool, but quite comfortable.

December: Hong Kong

December marks the peak of the season of discounts and shopping. During this month, you can save a lot of money by making many pleasant purchases.

Shopping in Chinese

Virtually all tourist destinations In China, you will find many merchants selling souvenirs or food. If you don't plan to buy any of these items, don't ask the price. If you ask, salespeople can follow you long enough to persuade you to buy. As a rule, when bargaining, a price reduction of 2/3 is possible.

When traveling in China, you should know some simple Chinese options for not buying or for bargaining. Remember, it is recommended to say these words with a warm smile.

If the seller doesn't agree with your price, pretend to leave by refusing to buy. They can immediately change their mind and sell you the product at your price.

Some bargaining phrases:

不要了, 谢谢 (búyàolē, xièxiè): no thanks.

这个多少钱 (zhègè duōshǎo qián): how much does it cost?

太贵了 (tàiguì lē): it's too expensive.

少点吧 (shǎodiǎn bā), or 便宜点 (piányì diǎn): can you lower the price a bit?

Chinese cuisine

China has a deep food culture. Each region of the country has a particular style of cooking. For newcomers to the Middle Kingdom for the first time, it is necessary to recommend not to miss the roast duck in Beijing (北京烤鸭), pork buns in Shanghai (上海灌汤包), dumplings and hamburgers in Xi'an (西安饺子&肉夹馍), rice noodles to Guilin (桂林米粉). You definitely need to learn how to use Chinese chopsticks.

Try Chinese street food. Street food is part of the urban culture.

For example, in Beijing, you should try egg cakes, which are found only in the morning, as they are offered for breakfast at a price of 5 yuan each. In the evening hours in Guilin, you can eat barbecue, about 1 or 2 yuan.

Chinese cuisine is roughly divided into eight categories, which represent eight different regional cuisines. In addition, the country offers a large amount of fantastic food that is not suitable for a normal person. We have listed some of them below.

normal chinese food

bamboo rice(竹筒饭, zhútǒng fàn). Rice, meat and some water are placed in green bamboo shoots, then the bamboo is heated on the coals of a fire. The dish is very flavorful.

five color glutinous rice(五色糯米饭 wǔsè nuòmǐfàn) is a classic Zhuang food. During each festival, the people of Qingming and Zhuang cook rice in five colors as a sign of worship to their ancestors: black, red, yellow, white, and purple.

bean curd(臭豆腐, chòudòufū) has a strong odor. This food really stinks, but it tastes really good. Bean curd in Changsha is the most famous throughout the country.

Food for the brave (not quite normal)

Perhaps you would never even think that it can be eaten. Most Chinese don't eat it.

Fried bee bellies(蜂蛹, fōng yǒng);

snake meat(蛇肉, shéròu)

In Hong Kong, they offer snake soup;

dog meat(狗肉, gǒu ròu) and cat meat (猫肉, māoròu)

Dog or cat meat is cooked in a pot. In China, dog meat is more common than cat meat.

Traveling in China

Traveling in China

A huge country with a thousand-year history and extraordinary culture - China - attracts tourists from all over the world. By initiating an "open door" policy at the end of the 19th century, the Chinese showed the world their riches: snow-capped mountains, wild deserts, the Great Wall of China, spacious beaches and clear seas, fantastic cities that combine traditional architecture and modern life, Buddhist temples, rice fields and ancient burials. If you thought that Greece has everything, forget it and go to China: it has everything and even more.

Forbidden City in Beijing

Before describing the natural and cultural wealth of this country, you need to familiarize yourself with its history. China is the birthplace of one of the most ancient civilizations in the world, and probably the only one where the physical type of the population has not changed for five millennia. Five thousand years is a huge period for artistic, political and philosophical development, which made it possible to create an amazing culture in which Buddhism, Taoism and the teachings of Confucius were mixed. The Celestial Empire harmoniously unites many nationalities under its roof, peacefully coexisting with each other. China is a phenomenon, historical, political and cultural. No one can explain the so-called "Chinese economic miracle" - the unprecedented economic successes of the last quarter of the 20th century. But it is better to make sure of everything yourself, having looked with your own eyes at the life and life of modern Chinese, at the beauty of nature and the greatness of traditions.

Cities and sights of China

Travel to China should start from its capital - Beijing. This is a real city of contrasts: a huge metropolis with breathtaking skyscrapers, among which ancient temples, palaces, parks and cultural monuments flaunt surprisingly harmoniously. It will take several days to see a small part of these sights. And the first in a row should be the Forbidden City, ancient capital China, from where the emperors of the last two dynasties Ming and Qing ruled. This is the largest palace complex in the world in terms of area, it houses a museum of imperial treasures: Chinese paintings, porcelain, carvings, ancient books and documents. Will not leave anyone indifferent and majestic temple complex Tian Tan is an excellent example of Ming Dynasty architecture. No less significant in size and cultural value are the cave-temple ensembles called the Longmen Grottoes, located in sandstone cliffs outside Beijing. Not far from the city is the Valley of 13 Tombs, where you can feel the ghosts of the past by walking along the Alley of Spirits through the Great Red Gate. When visiting Beijing, one cannot ignore Beihai Park, which is located on the stunningly beautiful North Lake, the landscape of which is adorned by the tall Lamaist White Pagoda on the Jade Island.

the great Wall of China

But the most important attraction not only in Beijing, but in all of China is, of course, the Great Wall of China - grand building, the eighth wonder of the world, the most famous symbol of the Middle Kingdom. The Chinese claim that it is impossible to understand their country without visiting the wall. From the highest points you can admire the most beautiful panoramas, and the safety of the building, which was built several centuries before our era, amazes all visitors. Tourists on the Great Wall of China can purchase a certificate, which will indicate the date and time of the visit.

Despite the greatness of Beijing, for a thousand years the capital of China was the city of Xi'an, which was ruled by 13 dynasties, starting with Western Zhou. Today Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi Province. In that ancient city there are many cultural monuments, and the most famous and grandiose is the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang. This find was made in 1974 - six thousand Chinese soldiers with full uniforms stand in eleven rows and 38 columns. Near the army are the tombs of the emperors.

The second most important city in China is Shanghai, a real city of skyscrapers, which in a matter of years has become the economic capital of all of Asia. The financial and economic power of the city is symbolized by the ultra-modern Pudong district with fantastic buildings, the famous TV tower, luxury hotels and a maglev train that is gaining speed over 400 kilometers per hour. Tourism in Shanghai is developing at a frantic pace.

The nature of the Middle Kingdom

Undoubtedly, the cities of China are a miracle, but the nature of this country is even more amazing. On the territory of the Celestial Empire there are three hundred nature reserves and national parks. The relief and landscape of the country is very diverse: the fertile lowlands in the east pass into the highlands of Tibet in the west, reaching incredible heights in the Himalayas in the southwest. High-mountain plateaus and steppe regions of the west are gradually turning into northern deserts. In the depths of China are tropical forests, turning into bamboo in the uplands and mangroves on the coast. The famous pandas, leopards, monkeys, antelopes and elephants are found here. The most majestic natural monument of the Middle Kingdom is the Huanggoshu waterfall - "The Milky Way on Earth". In winter, there is little water in it, and it flows down with the thinnest silk threads, in summer the water rises, rushing down in huge streams and amazing the imagination. You can admire the spectacle from three different points, and in the evening a fantastic picture appears before tourists: modern lighting equipment transforms the panorama of the waterfall, turning it into a multi-colored fairy-tale labyrinth.

Huangshan mountains

Fans of natural beauties and ancient civilizations should visit the "roof of the world" - Tibet. This is amazing place located at an altitude of four thousand meters. Tourists, as a rule, tend to see the capital - the city of Lhasa, which until recently was closed to everyone. In Lhasa there is a huge palace complex, which is also the largest monastery in the world. The nature of this area is unique - it is the highest and youngest mountain plateau in the world. The mountains are covered with snow, the peaks seem to be crowned with silver that shines in the sunlight. Here is the most high mountain in the world - Everest, from the top of which a silvery glow is scattered, and the most sacred for Buddhists and Hindus - Kailash with white ice towers.