Chinatrvl

... although you won't die using wood chopsticks either. Just don't think about it...

jiejie

I usually tuck a few pairs of disposable, or take my trusty plastic TWA chopsticks (purloined from that airline decades ago ). However, when confronted by the communal chopstick bucket of re-useables, the thing to do is pour a cup of boiling hot tea, and plunge the chopstick ends in there for about 30 seconds, before using. (Toss out tea and get a new cup for your drinking tea.) Not foolproof but helps a lot.

mnredfox

Another trick I learned from a local Chinese. Ask for vinegar and rinse your chopsticks/plates with vinegar. The acidity should help kill off any bugs.

Chinatrvl

or (cheap) baijiu - kills everything. Including you, when you had too much

mnredfox

If you have a lot of Chinese baijiu, you can pretty much eat anything and what you eat will be the least of your worries. So in essence, 100% agree.

ArizonaRoadWarrior

You are correct that you won't die but I don't want to spend the next day with diarrhea and/or other gastronomical\intestinal discomfort. On my last day of my first trip to China in 2001, we had a business meeting at a factory. They were cooking lunch in (more like on it) their parking lot…the next day; I made several trips to the lavatory on my flight back to SFO.

sangild

Do you know SMART TOURS? a friend recommend me them

sangild

do you know SMART TOUR? a friend recommend me them

moondog

For $1000 all in (a smokin' deal ten years ago, let alone now), including a Beijing-Shanghai flight, I'd jump all over this... and plan on refraining from nearly all "tour" type activities. That having been said, be prepared to make alternate hotel arrangements; these guys won't be putting you up in the Park Hyatt.

sangild

so, you can trust them?

moondog

When offers like this pop up, you can throw "trust" out the window. Print out the stuff on their site, call them, and come to China. While the tour operator might be pissed when they knock on your door at 7a and you ignore them, that's not your problem.

In short, SFO-PEK-SFO routinely costs $1500 these days and PEK-PVG costs nearly $200. Based on these numbers alone, you're looking at $700 pp in savings. The tour company presumably makes its bank via gift shop visits and the like; that's not your problem.

sangild

but, do you know about smarttour?

sangild

smart tours

moondog

I don't know a thing about them, but I know a good price when I see it. I would expect serious gift shop pressure all the way from arrival to departure, but: 1) I could be wrong; and 2) if your door is locked at 8a when they come knocking or if you simply aren't in your hotel, there's nothing they can do about... though you should check the terms and conditions to be sure. $1000 all inclusive vacations remind me of time share pitches in the US; the provider likely has ulterior motives, but determined souls can still come out on top by subjecting themselves to minor inconvenience. In case I'm not clear, the price alone suggests to me that the quality of the tours themselves is likely to be dreadful. But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider taking them up on their offer, even just for the airplane tickets alone.

jiejie

No, we don't know about smart tours. Try asking on Frommer's or Fodor's. At some point, without enough information, you have to take a risk.

Why are you asking here anyway? If a "friend" recommended them, don't you trust your friend more than you trust a bunch of strangers on Flyertalk?