Travelling in China

Travelling in China

China is altogether a place that gives you an entirely different kind of feel when you walk down the Silk Road, sail across the Yangzi River or visit the Dr. Seuss landscape of Guangxi Province. China is a land divided into cultural as well as geographic beauty with a balanced gist of revolutionary zeal and economic pragmatism.

China offers a varied range of cultural places to adore, from Terracotta Warriors, the Great Wall of China through to colonial Shanghai and the ancient splendour of Beijing. All such places offering tremendous Chinese art and architecture attract tourists towards China, not forgetting, the famous Buddhist temples, sacred mountains and Chinese Scholars gardens to wander in.

Currently, China is facing heavy snowstorms creating havoc in the country. As a result, many roads, rail and air links have been blocked and around 50 people have been killed. Hunan and Hubei and eastern provinces have been badly affected. Therefore, travellers are advised to keep themselves updated with the local news services and visit the country only when everything is under control and its safe to travel between destinations.

As far as money and expenditure are concerned, you may find ATMs in all big cities of China. But you must carry cash while paying for your transportation, as cards can only be used in major hotels, guest houses and department stores but not for transportation purposes. Secondly, credit cards like Visa Card, Master Card, American Express, Diners Club, etc. are acceptable in the mainland China, with their branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen. Even the exchange of currency is quite easy and simple to do; you can track cash as well as travellers cheques in the countryside and the west. You can change them at the branches of Bank of China, tourist hotels, department stores and Friendship Stores. It is advisable to carry more of travellers cheques than cash as they are more favourable against exchange rate; American Express, Visa and Thomas Cook are widely accepted. Counterfeit notes are not much in use, so ensure you exchange notes of large denominations from the vendors.

The best time to visit China is during summer (March-April) and autumn (September-October) seasons. Areas like Tibet, Qinghai and Western Sichuan should be visited during June-September. Days are moderate, while nights are normally cold and wet. Do not visit China during major public holidays, like Chinese New Year, to avoid accommodation problems.

Getting to China is again an easy job; you may find more than 115 ports of entry and exit, but people often prefer to travel via Hong Kong, Shanghai or Beijing. You can travel to China and come back via Europe or Asia without leaving the ground. Some of the well-known foreign routes include Laos-China, the Trans-Siberian railway, Tibet-Nepal and Xinjiang-Kazakhstan.

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