China.. with children..

trustno1

Hi all!.. I was wondering if anyone who has been to China could help me with some advice?. I am planning a trip to China next year travelling with my two children (single parent). After looking around at the various online travel sites I have discovered that to go 5 star with the Travel Department will cost in the region of 5,500 and with a smaller agency 4,500.. but after looking into flights and hotels I can book a longer holiday (taking in Beijing, Xi'an and Chengdu) for approx 3,800..

So my question is.. how safe is China? i.e. would you recommend it for an independent traveler with two children just to head over on their own? (kids are 12 and 13). And when you are over there, is it easy enough to book tours i.e. to the Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors etc? or would you really need to book through an agency so you at least have someone to turn to.

I have done a fair bit of travelling on my own with the kids (a few places in Europe, Canada and the US) and have always booked it myself (as its much cheaper than an agency), but the furthest we have been is Florida.. so this would be a total culture shock!

Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated..

Sundew

Would be worth throwing this query out on the China forum on Trip Advisor, if you have not already done so
http://www.tripadvisor.ie/ShowForum-g294211-i642-China.html

trustno1

Thanks Sundew.. just had a look and there is loads of information!..

undo

I was in China last year, traveling between Shanghai and Nanjing. I always felt absolutely safe. The cities are teeming with people. As long as you do not intentionally wander off into some shady alleys, you will always be surrounded by lots of pairs of eyes looking at your strange skin color. There is no way someone could do something to you without people noticing.

We organized the entire trip ourselves. Some of it was a bit of an adventure as even in the biggest cities, you can be sure that no English is spoken whatsoever. We booked train tickets, took cabs, all by pointing at the map, smiling friendly and doing our best to communicate with hands and feet. It was great fun . It really helped though that we did our homework and knew what we were looking for in each city. Getting any kind information once in China would be very hard due to the language barrier.

As for hotels, we stayed mostly in Accor properties (ibis, Mercure). Those are built and run to Western standards, so you know you will get the same quality of accommodation as in any ibis or Mercure here in Europe. We managed to catch a sale and paid €2.50 per night each in the ibis. I think the regular price is something like €5.00 per person in a double room sharing. An ibis is two star only but the hotels are all pretty much brand new and spotless clean. I could not fault them. And with the money you save that way, you can do a lot of fun day trips.

smeedyova

Went backpacking in China 3 years ago. Am a seasoned independent traveller. Hated it and so did most of the Europeans we met. Worst place I've ever been. Filthy. Not knowing Chinese is a huge disadvantage as hardly anybody speaks English. I'd advise you to go Malayasia, especially with children. It's much more like the west and much easier to get around, people speak English. A much gentler intro to that part of the world.

killbillvol2

undo wrote: »

I was in China last year, traveling between Shanghai and Nanjing. I always felt absolutely safe. The cities are teeming with people. As long as you do not intentionally wander off into some shady alleys, you will always be surrounded by lots of pairs of eyes looking at your strange skin color. There is no way someone could do something to you without people noticing.

We organized the entire trip ourselves. Some of it was a bit of an adventure as even in the biggest cities, you can be sure that no English is spoken whatsoever. We booked train tickets, took cabs, all by pointing at the map, smiling friendly and doing our best to communicate with hands and feet. It was great fun . It really helped though that we did our homework and knew what we were looking for in each city. Getting any kind information once in China would be very hard due to the language barrier.

As for hotels, we stayed mostly in Accor properties (ibis, Mercure). Those are built and run to Western standards, so you know you will get the same quality of accommodation as in any ibis or Mercure here in Europe. We managed to catch a sale and paid €2.50 per night each in the ibis. I think the regular price is something like €5.00 per person in a double room sharing. An ibis is two star only but the hotels are all pretty much brand new and spotless clean. I could not fault them. And with the money you save that way, you can do a lot of fun day trips.

I'd love to know where you got hotel rooms for €2.50 a night! Link?

smeedyova wrote: »

Went backpacking in China 3 years ago. Am a seasoned independent traveller. Hated it and so did most of the Europeans we met. Worst place I've ever been. Filthy. Not knowing Chinese is a huge disadvantage as hardly anybody speaks English. I'd advise you to go Malayasia, especially with children. It's much more like the west and much easier to get around, people speak English. A much gentler intro to that part of the world.

Each to their own.

OP, I've been to China in 2009 and again last year. I'll be back there shortly. Firstly, I didn't meet any Europeans who didn't like it. Secondly, China is pretty clean by Asian standards.

More pertinent to your situation, I met a lot of Europeans travelling with children. It's very safe and the kids absolutely loved the experience. The Chinese treat children very well.

Negatives would be the lack of English spoken (no big deal for me as I was travelling alone) and the sheer scale of the place.

Also, be prepared for the natural Chinese "curiosity". They think nothing of photographing you and your kids and may even surround you to take a group photo. I just found it amusing and joined in but if you have issues with personal space it's the wrong country for you.

undo

killbillvol2 wrote: »

I'd love to know where you got hotel rooms for €2.50 a night! Link?

As I said, it was a sale we caught. It was "Accor's Asia Pacific 3 Day Super Sale." This one is long over but they have similar ones on every once in a while.

They think nothing of photographing you and your kids and may even surround you to take a group photo.

We took a chairlift up a tall mountain. The ride took something like 45 minutes. Many of th people sitting in chairs going the other way took pictures of us. No way to dodge the cameras there .

killbillvol2

undo wrote: »

As I said, it was a sale we caught. It was "Accor's Asia Pacific 3 Day Super Sale." This one is long over but they have similar ones on every once in a while.


We took a chairlift up a tall mountain. The ride took something like 45 minutes. Many of th people sitting in chairs going the other way took pictures of us. No way to dodge the cameras there .

I booked rooms in the same sale. You have the decimal point in the wrong place.

undo

Depends on the hotels you booked. I just dug up a random booking confirmation. CNY 288 for two nights in a twin room at the ibis Nanjing. That's €7.50 per person per night. Some other hotels cost more, others less. The fanciest we went was a deluxe room at the Mercure Suzhou for €14.25 per person per night.

killbillvol2

undo wrote: »

...paid €2.50 per night each in the ibis...

undo wrote: »

CNY 288 for two nights in a twin room at the ibis Nanjing. That's €7.50 per person per night. Some other hotels cost more, others less. The fanciest we went was a deluxe room at the Mercure Suzhou for €14.25 per person per night.

undo

I was digging up random booking confirmations. The two I got were €7.50 and €14.25. But we had cheaper ones as well.

trustno1

Folks thanks a million for taking the time out to reply, I have already had a look at the likes of the Ibis, Mercure et al.. and there are huge savings to be made... I am also thinking of taking sleeper trains internally to cut the costs down further (am just above 3 grand at the minute and the trains could get it below the 3 grand mark ).. sorry to hear that you weren't impressed smeedyova, but nothing is going to put me off heading over as it's a country that I have been dying to experience for a long time.. but will take your thoughts on Malaysia on board and might go there in 2013! .