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InvisibleMisterMuscaria
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Backpacking in China
    #15224617 - 10/14/11 11:31 AM (12 years, 3 months ago)

I am considering a backpacking trip in China.
I will probably be coming in through Shanghai....POSSIBLY visiting the northeast but more than likely taking the train down to Guangzou then going to backpack through Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet and Xinjiang.


Has anyone backpacked in China before or have any advice?

I plan on getting a multiple entry visa so I can visit Macau from Guangzhou and do a night or two of gambling before I set out for the hills.

My other option would be to travel along the Yangtze.


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InvisibleShroomismM
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: MisterMuscaria]
    #15260319 - 10/22/11 03:10 AM (12 years, 3 months ago)

I've never been to China and have no knowledge to share.
Just wanted to post. Sounds badass! Take pictures and write a journal.


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Invisiblemoonrockmushy
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: Shroomism]
    #15317719 - 11/03/11 03:27 PM (12 years, 2 months ago)

If you haven't seen this series already check it out!

Thumbs Up: China

They hitchhike across China, entertaining and a different view of the country than we usually get.  I'm not sure what sort of backpacking you're trying to do but it might give you an idea of the sorts of challenges you'd face.

Do you speak any Chinese?


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Invisiblevjp
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: moonrockmushy]
    #15325677 - 11/05/11 08:06 AM (12 years, 2 months ago)

I use to live in China - Guangzou.

If you visit the northeast look up the mountains with holes in them - I forget their names right now.


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Offlinehuman experience
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: vjp]
    #15347875 - 11/10/11 12:17 AM (12 years, 2 months ago)

I have hiked/traveled all over China and Taiwan. I now live back and forth between Hong Kong and Taipei for my job. You mentioned lots of amazing places: (Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet and Xinjiang).
How long were you planning on backpacking? Are you going with a tour, group, or solo? I would focus your trip either on North China, South China, or Taiwan. China is a huge country, it's really difficult to do everything in one trip.

A) One trip idea up North is starting in Beijing instead of Shanghai. Take the train from Beijing to Lhasa. (Qinghai-Tibet railway). Don't hesitate to get a sleeper car. Then take the Silk Road Down to Xian.
B) Another common first mainland trip is the loop: Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Yangshuo, Guilin and Shanghai. (Try a Yangtze River Cruise?)
C) Rent a motorcycle, keep following The Great Wall and camp along in different areas. (Never done this, but sounds like fun)
D) Also, Taiwan is a friendly first introduction to Asia. Parts of Mainland China can be sometimes tense. 
Google: the Railway, Guilin, and Tourist Silk Road Maps:
Tips:
1) In the South avoid the rainy season. North major cities/areas are very polluted with smog. It actually "rains mud" from the dust off the Gobi Desert. Bring a dust mask, and clothes that clean easily. 
2) Have some decent chinese phrases, it will makes your trip more interesting to talk with people.
3) Get used to squatting to shit, always have tissues paper and baby wipes.
4) Bring Stomach Meds, Pain Pills, Etc., the food will get you eventually (LOL!)
5) Pickpockets and sometimes gangsters in cities.
6) Get your visa early. Chinese Govt. is super slow.
7) Don't talk politics. Avoid accepting gift. Give gifts if you go into people's homes.
8) If your first experience in China, Perhaps go with a tour? (Tours are cheaper inside China than buying online)

If you like, I can give you some suggestions about what to expect, stay, or my experiences. If you end up in HK/Macau or Taipei I can give the local knowledge.

Sounds like a good adventure.


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InvisibleMisterMuscaria
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: human experience]
    #15348381 - 11/10/11 04:41 AM (12 years, 2 months ago)

I was planning on getting a multiple entry visa valid for 90 days.

Pretty much I plan on going in through Shanghai since it's drastically cheaper, taking a train down the coast to Guangzhou, then a train west to Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet and Xinjiang and focusing on backpacking there.

Ive read up on things to do and not to do as well as typical scams in the area (ie; not accepting the invitation from the girl to go to the teahouse with no prices on the menu).


Im partially considering NE China too since i want to go somewhere that's off the usual beaten tourist path.


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Offlinedshow
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: MisterMuscaria]
    #15350545 - 11/10/11 02:57 PM (12 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

ie; not accepting the invitation from the girl to go to the teahouse with no prices on the menu).




what happens?


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Offlinehuman experience
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: dshow]
    #15352102 - 11/10/11 07:19 PM (12 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

dshow said:
Quote:

ie; not accepting the invitation from the girl to go to the teahouse with no prices on the menu).




what happens?



Quote:

dshow said:
Quote:

ie; not accepting the invitation from the girl to go to the teahouse with no prices on the menu).




what happens?




The Beijing Teahouse Scam
You are happily wandering around somewhere like Wangfujing or Tiananmen and a friendly English student starts chatting to you. He or she speaks very good English, is friendly and shows you around, maybe helps you buy a few gifts, and subsequently suggests you go for a cup of tea at a nice teahouse he / she knows. The teahouse will be very nice, you will have some very nice tea, but you will feel slightly disturbed by the fact that they served tea without letting you see a menu, or that the menu has no prices on. You will assume this is how you do things in China.

When the bill comes it will be ridiculous. Some have been presented with a four-figure RMB sum, for a pot of tea. Even if there is a tea house in Beijing legitimately serving tea at that price, it sure as hell doesn't pour without asking what you want first.

What happens now varies - some scream and shout, some yell for the police, some pay up meekly, even if it requires the use of foreign currency or a credit card because they haven't got enough RMB on them.

In any case, you'll be in danger of paying a lot more for something than you should do, and at the very least you're going to waste your time.

How to avoid it: Sad to say, 99% of people who approach you in China want something, whether they are postcard sellers, tour touts, Mao watch merchants, or scam artists as described above

Aside from China, the most scams I have found are in Thailand. It saved me lots of trouble/time to just read up on and avoid them.


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Offlinehuman experience
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: MisterMuscaria]
    #15352237 - 11/10/11 07:37 PM (12 years, 2 months ago)

The Multiple Visa is the way to go. Sounds like a great trip lined up. You should see some very contrasting places. In Asia it seems everywhere you go there is always something very old next to something very new. It can be a culture shock how money motivated people are, many times at the expense of others. It was confusing for me years ago to separate people's hospitality from friendship. Must be a more Western View? It is amazing how nice people are when they want your money.

Definitely try the butter tea and buy some malas in Tibet. Tibet is like going back in time.


Edited by human experience (11/10/11 07:48 PM)


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Offlineeinfopedia
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: Shroomism]
    #15979487 - 03/22/12 02:08 AM (11 years, 10 months ago)

similarly as like a shroomism i also not visiting a china but i have a desire to visit it...but according to my information china is a developing country but i must be visit the china.


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OfflineCrypt Keeper
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: einfopedia]
    #16017561 - 03/30/12 03:46 AM (11 years, 9 months ago)

Fucking tigers. (If you go on nature trails)


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Offlinehawksapprentice
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: Crypt Keeper]
    #16021196 - 03/30/12 08:30 PM (11 years, 9 months ago)

Check out Huangshan.  One of the more beautiful places I found when I was backpacking through China.


--------------------
"I celebrate the Earth, my home, my mother, my grave, and as long as men are Man they must, if they would preserve the integrated being, do the same---[and preserve]--this rank casual hungry smelly sweaty lusting transitory body, my oozy pulpy liquid-bag-swollen body, bones, blood, hair glands, my bejeweled sex; I love and celebrate it all.  never to let men forget that they are animals as much as gods---that is one thing I shall say."

  Edward Abbey


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OfflineLion
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: MisterMuscaria]
    #16033474 - 04/02/12 12:39 PM (11 years, 9 months ago)

Isn't it extremely difficult to get into Tibet on a tourist visa these days?  I could be wrong, but I've heard the Chinese government has taken a lot of measures to discourage touristic visits to Tibet.


--------------------
“Strengthened by contemplation and study,
I will not fear my passions like a coward.
My body I will give to pleasures,
to diversions that I’ve dreamed of,
to the most daring erotic desires,
to the lustful impulses of my blood, without
any fear at all, for whenever I will—
and I will have the will, strengthened
as I’ll be with contemplation and study—
at the crucial moments I’ll recover
my spirit as was before: ascetic.”


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Offlinehawksapprentice
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Re: Backpacking in China [Re: Lion]
    #16034733 - 04/02/12 05:12 PM (11 years, 9 months ago)

Yes it is hard.  What you have to do is take a train close to tibet and then just go in.  It's just hard to book any type of travel directly into Tibet.


--------------------
"I celebrate the Earth, my home, my mother, my grave, and as long as men are Man they must, if they would preserve the integrated being, do the same---[and preserve]--this rank casual hungry smelly sweaty lusting transitory body, my oozy pulpy liquid-bag-swollen body, bones, blood, hair glands, my bejeweled sex; I love and celebrate it all.  never to let men forget that they are animals as much as gods---that is one thing I shall say."

  Edward Abbey


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