tour guide in china help
 

hope that one of you can help me....looking to go on vacation in china....likely south china....might also end up in the more popular cities of northern china...instead of a tour, would love to go on our own with tour guides...did a search for help on how to find the guides...but came up empty...any help to start me off would be great.

thanks

MilesBuzz?

It has been about 15 years, so I'm sure things have changed. But here goes. My wife and I got cheap tickets to Beijing. This was before the internet, so I made a few calls to the NY Consulate. I was assured arrangements for tours would be "no problem". Having no clue, we booked a room at the Intercontinental. (It was pretty dated but had an amusing mix of guests.) We landed in Beijing and got to the hotel. Somehow we went to the Jiang guo? Hotel which had a tourist office. Apparently the tourist offices are government run to keep track of us foriegners. Within 1 hour we had all our arrangements laid out. We could have gone anywhere at reasonable rates. We did an overnight trip to Xian. They gave us a guide and driver and the price was right. The travel desk also lined up all the city and Great Wall tours we took. I had a good city map and we did a little exploring of our own in Beijing. Watch out for pickpockets especially coming out of any evening shows! Sorry, this is probably totally dated. But the lesson we learned was that arrangements were "no problem." Have fun.

It depends largely on what kind of service you're looking for and what you want to do while in China. If you're looking to hit big cities and major tourist attractions, and simply want a driver, translator, and some historical context, there are plenty of services out there (some good, some bad, many truly terrible). If you want something a bit more adventurous and off-the-beaten-path, then you need a very different kind of guide.

Jason and Amy at Haiwei Trails (www.haiweitrails.com) were able to arrange a superb trip for my parents and me when we visited southwestern China in February 2002. I was living in Nanjing at the time and looking to get away from the usual tourist paths. They worked with me to put together a jeep trip through northwestern Yunnan that took in amazing scenery and introduced us to many fascinating local cultures and traditions. The cultural diversity of that region is extraordinary.

They also introduced us to an American doing research for his PhD in the region who set up a three-day trek through the mountains near Lijiang where we held a free eye clinic for local villagers. He arranged for vegetarian meals and accommodations in villagers' homes for us and got the OK from the local officials. I found an optometrist in Nanjing to produce very low-cost eyeglasses. My parents (ophthalmologists) tested villagers' eyes while the PhD student and I translated between English and Mandarin and the local communist party officials translated between Mandarin and the local languages (mostly Yi and Bai). We gave out several dozen pairs of glasses that day, and surgically removed a piece of charcoal that was stuck in an old woman's eye. We also introduced my mother (who is accustomed to slightly more luxurious accommodations) to the wonders of sleeping in a potato barn.

I haven't been in touch with Jason and Amy lately, but assuming (1) they're still operating, (2) you can afford their services (which aren't exactly cheap), and (3) you want something even remotely like this... They definitely have the resources to put together a very unique experience.

My information is slightly more recent than naharragt's but still might be out of date. In 2000, my wife and I arranged a three-week trip to China. I did much Internet research and came across a wonderful woman named Rachel Chin at www.chinahighlights.com. I told her what we wanted to do (Beijing, Xian, cruise down the Yangtze) and she arranged for a car, driver, and interpreter/guide to meet us at the airport in each place, got us our plane tickets, hotel rooms, and handled everything for far less than we would have been charged elsewhere. She also recommended we visit her hometown of Guilin, which we did (and are so thankful we did, because it is stunning). Don't know if she's still there, but her business card (mind you it's from 2000) featured the following two e-mail addresses: [email protected] and [email protected]. Another e-mail I have for her is [email protected]. I haven't corresponded with her in five years, so try contacting her but don't expect much. Still, the chinahighlights.com website is up and active (I just checked) so you might have success with another of their managers.

Anyway, the trip was remarkable, and the guides were able to either take us to the mainstay places or customize on the spot. For instance, after going to the Wall at Badaling, I was anxious to get to a spot where it was less crowded, so two days later, the driver and guide took us to Mutianyu, about two hours away from Beijing, where we could have conceived a child on the Wall if we had been so inclined it was so empty.

One negative: part of the deal she arranged was lunch when we were on trips, and we ended up sometimes eating alone in large restaurants designed for foreign travelers, when we would have much preferred eating in local restaurants or from street or market vendors. Toward the end, we simply told the drivers not to bring us to the designated places, even though it was paid for, so we could fend for ourselves, and had some of our most memorable meals ever.

Hope this information helps.

Unless you have absolutely zero sense of adventure, never ever accept prepaid meals as part of any tour in China (or many other parts of Asia). And if traveling with a guide, be very suspicious of restaurants they choose. Be very clear that you want to eat what the locals eat when they go out--not what the guide thinks rich foreign tourists are expecting.

I agree; and when I paid for the guides, tickets, etc., there was no mention of meals. We were surprised when we were first taken to a restaurant and served food. The second time, we were disappointed, and the third time we told them not to. I assume the cost was worked in there somewhere, but it was still very reasonable.

I must digress for a moment: At the end of our river cruise, we were alone in Wuhan and wandered the night market for a while til we came across a jampacked hotpot restaurant. We went in and it was like those old E.F. Hutton ads: everyone stopped talking and eating and looked at us. Well, we found the last open table, and sat down, and everyone went back to normal. The waitress came over and stared down at us. No tourist or picture menu available, and we didn't speak the language. The guy next to us pointed to a gleaming pile of white bones next to his plate and said the one word he apparently knew: "Frog." Well, my wife, being an artist, said she could solve the problem. She decided to draw a bowl of noodles on the back of the waitress' order pad. Words were barked and out came the chef from the kitchen with a wicker basket, which he promptly opened and pulled out a snake. A live snake. Long story short, my wife was taken back through the kitchen and into the back alley where she was able to hand select all of the ingredients for our hot pot meal. It was phenomenal. And with two large beers to slake our thirst. I'm sure we got raped on the bill -- US$9 :cool: -- but we were quite happy.

have a grt guide in china
 

hi, i have a great guide in china, specifically beijing, but she is willing to travel throughout china as a guide. i used her when i was in beijing last month, very reasonable price (less than $35/day) pm me if you want her info...
r

Here's a warning which I hope isn't too much information: My wife and I were walking along the main road where Mao faces Tianeman Square. Wouldn't you know that I got a wedgie right in front of Mao. In the interest of being discreet while I fix things, I asked my wife to give me a hug. Within seconds, we had 100 people circle us and observe. Very memorable.

Yep, definitely too much information........... :)

Some rather odd posts, here.

I don't use guides in China, because my wife is Chinese. Even if she wasn't, I doubt we would use guides (we've tried that only once, in India, and would have done better on our own).

However . . .

1. Your hotel can arrange for a driver to take you wherever you want.
2. Taxis are plentiful and cheap. Have your hotel write the name, in characters, of where you want to go.
3. Except in the smaller towns, you will not be stared at because you are a foreigner.
4. In restaurants, if there isn't a picture menu (there will be in restaurants in larger cities), just look around you and if you see something good, point.
5. Learn a few Chinese words (noodles are "mien").
6. Read this thread: [url]http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=517944[/utl]It has input from a lot of people who visit China often (and recently).
7. No one in China will track your comings and goings.
8. Public displays of affection are not part of Chinese culture. Fixing wedgies won't attract attention. Public hugging will.
9. I agree completely about avoided taking tours that include meals. China has one of the most interesting, varied cuisines in the world. Don't confine yourself to tourist restaurants.
10. Themicah's experience sounds like a wonderful adventure! Anything that gets you away from tourist destinations for a while, and lets you see the countryside should be fascinating.

I'm sorry if there was TM. PT, Good tips; I wish the internet was around back when we took the trip. I could have used some of your advice (especially #8). Our best meal was a local place in a neighborhood not far from the Congress building. The hotel restaurants fine for the timid. WRT Taxis, I think we signalled that we wanted to go to the airport by outstretching our arms. The next thing you know our driver was going twice as fast as any other car on the road, weeving in and out and scaring us half to death. We couldn't convince him to slow down. Learning a signal for that would have come in handy.

Definitely true.Also definitely true in big cities. And even out in the boonies you can usually find some guy with a tractor or motorcycle to take you to the next town for a few bucks.I disagree. You will be stared at far less in the big cities, but you will still be stared at far more than you would in the US. Staring is not considered rude in China, and when people are curious about something or see something interesting, they stare. Foreigners are very common in the major tourist cities, so people don't stare as much, but if you do something interesting (whether it be hugging or playing hacky-sack or whatever), you can expect people to stop and watch in a way that would probably be considered rude in the US. Also note that it's not uncommon to be asked to pose in Chinese tourists' photos. Part of visiting Beijing for many Chinese is getting a chance to see foreigners in person--often for the first time. More shy Chinese won't ask you to pose, but will simply take pictures of their kids with you in the background. It took me several weeks of jumping out of the line of camera fire before I realized that these people actually wanted me in their pictures (note: I am over 6 feet tall and have very red hair, so I stand out quite a bit).I agree with the strategy. But in my experience, the VAST majority of restaurants have menus only in Chinese. Picture menus mainly exist in fast-food joints and tourist joints."Mian-tiao" is the generic term for noodles in Mandarin. But different kinds of noodles have different names in Chinese just like different pastas have different names in Italian. You wouldn't order "macaroni" if you wanted penne, and you wouldn't order "mian" if you wanted chao-fan.Excellent thread.Depends on where you go. In the big cities, absolutely not. But if you get out in the boonies, you can bet the local officials will be aware of your presence. And don't even think about trying to travel solo around rural Tibet.Unless it's in a park or university garden late at night, in which case you'll fit right in with the students making out (Chinese students typically live in shared dormrooms with 7 other students, so the only privacy is outside).Yep yep!My thoughts exactly. In my fairly extensive travels around China, the most memorable experiences were always the ones way off the beaten path. The trip to Yunnan was amazing, as was a Spring Festival journey to visit my friend's family in northern Hunan. The major tourist sights (the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors, Guilin, etc.) are well worthwhile, too, but you haven't experienced China if you stick to the beaten tourist path (just as a foreign tourist in the US hasn't really experienced the US if they only visited Manhattan and Disneyland). The contrasts between the big cities and the other 99% of China is extraordinary.

Stay away from China Advocates. My parents got ripped off by them to the tune of several thousand dollars and we are still trying to get the money back, several years later.