China for the common white person! - Guangzhou - TravBuddy

I recently took a Ritz tour through China that last about 2 weeks. Im not sure as to the exact cost, but I think it was around $2,500 (My mother informed me that this was the Chinese version of the tour and for the English tour its double the cost). The reason we took this tour was because my mother works with a few Chinese speaking teachers at her school that invited us along. If you do not speak Chinese and are very interested in learning the historical aspects of everywhere you visit DO NOT GO ON THE CHINESE TOUR. Altough our main tour guide who was with us the entire trip spoke great english, the local tour guides assigned to us from city to city spoke very limited english. I highly recommend learning Mandarin Chinese and practicing it for at least 6 months before you risk venturing off into China. Luckily for my mother and I, we had 2 friends with us that were very fluent in Chinese. Just to give you some perspective on the locations our tour guide had been doing this tour for 5 years and has seen a total of 5 white people...4 of them being in MY group. One great thing about these trips is the cost ($2,500) is really all you need to spend. Every meal over the course of the entire trip is payed for by Ritz. Everywhere you go you will enjoy the local cuisine, after 2 weeks having experienced a variety of flavors and dishes. Each city brings with it a different taste (spicy, sweet, salty, etc.) and your stomach will not always agree with it. The only other money you will spend will be on souvenirs, or outside beverages and snacks. If you visit these cities be prepared to be starred at, gawked at, laughed at, and just payed special attention to. I had numerous chinese girls come up to me (ages 6-20) and want to take a picture with me simply because they don't see very many white people walking through these cities (I'll list them below). One great thing about Ritz is we stayed in the nicest hotel in each and every city, all 5-star hotels, amazing rooms and accomodations. I'm basically going to cover a few basic must-knows before heading into China, mainly these specific cities on this tour.

1) Learn the language. Many of them will know 5-10 words, but thats it. Walking down the street they will say hello to you, but after that it gets a little sketchy. Key phrases to master are "how much", "toilet", "yes", "no", "thank you", "Where is..."
If you don't know simple basic phrases it will be extremely difficult to survive on your own without a translator.

2) Bring BRAND new money. about 80% of the hotels we tried to change our money at wouldnt take our bills if they have any rips, tears, spots, stains, marks, or extreme wear from folds on them. They only took brand new bills, which turned out to be a pain in the butt. Some of the smaller cities won't even take your travelers checks because they just don't see them that often. As of July 2007 the exchange rate was about 1-7.5 meaning we cashed 100 US dollars and received about 750 Yuan. Sounds like alot, but things cost a bit more there. Sodas run about 5-7 dollars. Also the suggested tipping amount is $75.00 per person for the entire tour. This money will be evenly distributed to the bus drivers, the local tour guides, and the main tour guide who is with you the entire time. Also, only bring 1 credit card, just in case.

3) Bring plenty of medicine to aid stomache aches, heartburn, head aches, cramps, muscle aches..everything you can think of. This tour involves ALOT of walking, sometimes at really high elevations (2 mile hike at 10,000 feet, optional cable car for 80 yuan, or about 11 US dollars). Eating Chinese food for 14 days in a row 3 times a day will get you. There was not a single person in our group of 28 that didn't have an upset stomach at some point in the trip.
Make sure you keep them in the original bottles and containers...dont just throw pills into a bag willy nilly..security will take them away from you at the airports if they can't tell what they are.

4) Pack alot of snacks. Granola bars, pop tarts, crackers, cookies, all good stuff to have on you. You will get to a point where you will skip a lunch or a dinner because you need a break, and you will be hungry later on. When this happens it is nice to have familiar snacks on you to keep you sane. The pop tarts come in handy when you simply cannot stand eating fried noodles and rice for breakfast anymore.

5) Bring a power converter, and Music player (Ipod, MP3, etc) and alot of batteries. The converter is a must to charge your music player (and in my case my camera battery and laptop). The music player will also keep you sane on those bus rides up and down the mountains when the tour guide is in the front talking into the microphone for 45 minutes, and not one word of english is spoken. Its also just nice to turn it on and hear english every now and then. Whatever batteries your camera takes, bring about double what you think you will need...same with a memory card or film. The local venders all sell these things in case you run out, but they come at a pretty penny. Ex: I bought a 2gb compact flash card (holds about 500 picures) for my Rebel XT camera at costco for $40, and one local vender had a 512mb card (holds about 60 pictures) for $50 dollars...or about 375 yuan. I bring my laptop and usb cable so I can unload my pictures into my laptop every day and start fresh with a new memory card. The plugs are obviously different so if you plan on charging anything you will need that converter.

6) Bring the most comfortable shoes you own. There is alot of walking involved and your feet will thank you. Every hotel we stayed at has massage service, so foot massages are available and somewhat cheap, but comfortable shoes will take you a long way.

7) Wear a moneybelt (fanny pack, if you will). Just as a precaution against pick pockets. Nobody in our group had anything stolen, but everyone had their own moneybelts on, nobody really had wallets in their pockets. These are handy because you can keep your passport, plane tickets and money all on your body in plain view. I have a flat moneybelt made by Samsonite that cost me about $12 and has 2 seperate compartments. I wear it underneath my shirt and most of the time it isn't even visible until I lift my shirt up.

8) Pack light! This tour included jumping on about 5 or 6 different flights and lugging around a heavy bag will eventually get old. That along with adding souvenirs everyday will become a drag and leave you wishing you hadnt packed so much. A 14 day trip may sound like alot, but I really only suggest bringing 1 pair of underwear for each day as well as socks, and then about 2-3 pairs of shorts, and 7-9 shirts. Bringing a shirt for every single day is way too bulky and takes up alot of space. Wearing the same shirt twice without washing it wont kill you, but dragging a heavy bag around just might. As long as were talking about luggage, make sure you bring luggage locks to have your luggage secured for each domestic flight as well as when your luggage sits in your hotel room unattended. Again, just a precaution.

9)Pack small single uses packets of kool-aid or crystal-light, whatever you prefer. This is not a must and is mainly based on preference but drinking plain water every single day becomes tiresome. Ritz will provide you with bottled water just about everyday, and a kool-aid will just give it that something extra.

10) Practice your chopstick eating before you go! Nothing is worse then having to flag down a waitress and trying to explain to her in english that you are too white and need a fork. I did that for my first 2 days because I could not use chopsticks until I eventually got fed up and figured them out. Again a preference, but will just make your life easier.

11)Bring toilet paper with you as well as tissues to use as napkins. The public restrooms dont have toilet paper 99% of the time, not to mention a toilet seat to sit on. The bathrooms outside of your hotel have nothing more then a hole in the ground you have to squat over to do your business. Hand sanitizer is also a must as well as Off! bug spray. Sunscreen and an umbrella is also essential! The weather is unpredictable and can pour rain at any given minute.

12) Carry business cards (or other small cards) with your names and e-mail addresses written on them. At the end of the tour all of the travelers wanted to keep in touch with each other, and it was a massive scramble for a pen and paper. Having this information small and available is incredibly helpful.

The cities we visited include the following:
Guangzhou, Zhangjiajie, Huanglong, Jiuzhaigou, Emeishan, Chengdu

Things to leave at home
- Cell phone (unless you get it switched to international, verizon does this for a small fee)
- Shampoos and soaps (these add bulk and weight to your luggage, every hotel you stay at has these supplies for you)
- All your credit cards (except for 1) and extra cash. You should be fine bringing between 300-500 dollars, but no more.
- Your wallet, invest in a moneybelt for security.
- All of your shoes that match all your outfits. Bulky and heavy. Bring 1 pair of shoes, 1 pair of sandals.
- Books. Bringing books to read also eventually ended up being a pain. They are heavy, they take up space, and you really don't get that much time to read them. (any time you will have will be spent napping on either the bus or plane, trust me).



This tour is good for the average person of good health if they simply want to experience China and aren't too worried about the language barrier or having to worry about where to be and how you are going to get there. The tour guide leader will tell you exactly what time to be on the bus, or when to have your bags outside of your room so they can be collected and put on the bus. They take care of everything at the airport uncluding checking in and baggage check, you just need to keep your passport within reach. If you feel comfortable speaking Chinese and would rather plan a trip on your own, without having to deal with being in a group of up to 30 people, then this trip isn't for you. If you want to experience China worry free of getting lost or having any kind of problems then this tour is a great first experience. I did not mind being in such a large group, it seemed as though the entire group clicked very well and we had all become very good friends by the end. Each of us knew everyone elses name by day 2 mainly in part to the fact that every night for dinner we get 3 tables that we all have to sit at, so mingling becomes a part of the dinner experience.

Thats pretty much all the advice I can offer up for the time being. I will keep adding pictures as well as information as I remember it.

If you would like to know anymore about my trip please send me a message. I will try and post more pictures from each and every city.