Visited China for two months: May and June 2009 .
Good times, no cold or heat, although we had lots of rain and humidity especially in the south.
The most difficult to travel to this country is the language. We thought the sign was the universal language but here do not work, their signs are different. Although some young big cities speak English, it is unusual to find anyone who understands you and even fewer in the villages.
So you have to be filled with patience, but as the Chinese are so kind always do their best to help. It is crucial to carry a travel guide as they indicate bus routes, where to catch certain kinds of transport, the location of the stations, etc. It worked very well photocopies with the translation of basic phrases from English to pinyin (phonetic transcription of Chinese) and Chinese. Thus, we showed the role and they understood. Here we leave some.
DATA AND REFERENCE PRICES :
- Visas. 's ask in Madrid, no problem. Do not ask or hotel reservations or plane. The processed within 2 days. We pay about 60 € for the 2 visa (for non-Spanish is a bit more expensive.)
- Plain: € 490, round-trip Finnair. Scale in Helsinki. Arrival in Beijing and Shanghai output.
- Currency. Chinese Yuan Renminbi (RMB). Exchange rate: 1 € = 10 rmb. We euros and we changed easily in the Bank of China.
- Transportation. Very good train service, fast, clean and cheap. We travel a lot in sleeper train. No school, the price depends on where the litter (3 levels), the higher is cheaper. They give you pillows, sheets and duvet, all very clean. The price depends on the region and of course the journey.
One night can cost between 9 and 25 Euros. There is a driver per car, hands you a card and wakes you up when they reach their destination. Very organized. People respect the hours of sleep, no noise, but will not miss the snorer. In isolated regions, interior, transportation is scarce. So you have to adapt to the schedules, conditions and prices of what they are. In the medium and large cities have a subway (or being built in 2009).
With the internal bus is difficult to clarify the routes, so a good option is the motorcycle taxi or taxi directly if the journey is long. A race can go for 2 €.
- Hotels. Overall good, clean, private bathroom and cheap. The most expensive are in Shanghai and the cheapest in the country. The most expensive thing we pay only 17 € the night in a 4-star Shanghai room with window trim (did not find anything cheaper).
The hotel cheaper: € 4.5. On average, about 7 € per double room. We stayed in hotels for Chinese who are the cheapest. In tourist hotels generally speak English, but are more expensive (twice) and even more if they go out in the guidelines. In some villages are still signs that are not foreigners, but they are the exception.
- Food. It is said that China will eat anything with legs except the table, and everything that flies except airplanes. The truth is we did not see that offered many strange things, or as we ate and we did not know.
The issue of food is complicated by the language, there is no way clarified. We speak of course of restaurants where you have no cards with pictures to get an idea of what is required. We are not here worked for photocopies in the translation of the food. The dishes that came did not understand written Chinese, so what I did was look at what other diners were eating and pointed out that it seemed more palatable. Overall, we liked the food, tasty, varied, with different flavors.
When no one was eating, we walked into the kitchen, looked at what they had (everything is fresh), and we indicated the ingredients to prepare us something. In many cases, the easiest was to identify eggs and tomatoes. We were in the region where they eat dog, but did not try. It is a special breed, bred for that purpose. Not cheap and consumed mostly in the winter. It takes a lot of beer and cheap.
EXPENSES. 2 months, 2 people
- Transport: 620 €
- Hotels: 390 €
- Food: 275 €
- Tickets to tourist sites: 165 €
- Shopping: 150 €
- Aircraft: 980 € + 100 € Irun - Madrid
- Visas: 60 €
- TOTAL: 2,740 €
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