China for newbies
 

Being that I studied in Tokyo and have verrrrrry basic knowledge of the kanji, which may help somewhat, I've been eyeing a trip to China/Beijing....

Should I go, this will be my 1st time and being that it is, is it best as an unplanned, i.e. no tours, but on my own kind of thing. Is this a good or bad idea?

Also, say arriving in PEK and/or CAN can I get a good taste of the region/area if I am on my own or is it best to go with a Trafalgar type of tour company or just simply create my own....


tia....sorry for an open question here.

Lots of folks manage to travel in China without a tour group. It's your attitude that's most important: a bit adventurous and not getting upset when things go wrong or you're not being understood or such.

Remember that beginning about December, Beijing becomes pretty cold for travel, and Beijing's quite a bit colder than Tokyo in winter.

We don't know you so we can't tell.
Beijing is a very international city so knowledge of Mandarin is certainly not required. There is certainly a ton more to see in Beijing than Guangzhou.

Many Westerners put together amazing trips to China without the aegis of organized tours. I often admire Westerners for their senses of adventure and curiosity, which put the Chinese themselves to shame. Consider staying in hostels, even in the major cities. There, you will meet many Westerner travelers, and they can share ideas with you on where to go, how to navigate, etc. Besides, many hostels offer unique experiences that regular hotels simply cannot match. hostelworld.com is a terrific resource for that. Good luck and bon voyage.

Big NO for going with a group. Either you go on your own, or don't go at all.

Another good source for hostels is here

http://www.yhachina.com/

I'm an English speaker with only a few words of Chinese and I've been there many times. There's enough English about that I would have no worries about doing tourist things on my own--trying to do non-tourist things without translation assistance is another matter and I would be surprised if I could get something like the old age discounts. (70+ gets free admission to most anything government run, there's also a threshold that gets you half off but I don't recall what it is. The buses are also free for 70+ but AFIAK there's no way for someone without a local ID to actually do it.)