Travelling to china

Hi,

My husband and I would like to go to China. We are coming from
Chicago. We are interested in visiting Beijing, xian, Shanghai and if
possible, going to Lhasha.

I've been researching on the internet and TRAVEL CHINA GUIDE seems to
offer the best options in terms of price and itinerary. I've been
trying to find some unbiased reviews of the tour company, but all the
reviews are positive. It makes me wonder if it's a really great tour
group, or if people aren't reporting.

Can anyone recommend a tour group?

thanks.

On Sep 3, 9:39 am, Sharon wrote:
Hi,

My husband and I would like to go to China. We are coming from
Chicago. We are interested in visiting Beijing, xian, Shanghai and if
possible, going to Lhasha.

I've been researching on the internet and TRAVEL CHINA GUIDE seems to
offer the best options in terms of price and itinerary. I've been
trying to find some unbiased reviews of the tour company, but all the
reviews are positive. It makes me wonder if it's a really great tour
group, or if people aren't reporting.

Can anyone recommend a tour group?

thanks.


there are a number of them. i would go to a travel agent in Chinatown
and check out some of their offerings.

On Sep 3, 2:19 pm, PeterL wrote:
there are a number of them. i would go to a travel agent in Chinatown
and check out some of their offerings.
Do they still have different tours/prices for foreign tourists,
overseas Chinese, returning Chinese, and local Chinese? If so, going
through a Chinatown travel agent might get you into a tour for the
second or third category. The prices may be lower, but the qaulity of
the tour/accomodations/service will be poorer, and your tour guide may
only speak Mandarin. Most Americans would probably prefer amenities
like showers and Western-style toilets.

I know a Chinese man who returned as a tourist with his American
Caucasion wife. They went to see the Great Wall. He thought he was
pretty clever saving money when he went there as a returning Chinese
while she had to pay more as a froeign tourist. One difference was
that her line to get in was less than five minutes long, while his
took almost an hour. After that, he decided to pay the higher fees as
a foreigner.

On Sep 3, 3:34 pm, " wrote:
On Sep 3, 2:19 pm, PeterL wrote: there are a number of them. i would go to a travel agent in Chinatown
and check out some of their offerings.

Do they still have different tours/prices for foreign tourists,
overseas Chinese, returning Chinese, and local Chinese? If so, going
through a Chinatown travel agent might get you into a tour for the
second or third category. The prices may be lower, but the qaulity of
the tour/accomodations/service will be poorer, and your tour guide may
only speak Mandarin. Most Americans would probably prefer amenities
like showers and Western-style toilets.

You are still stuck in the last century. The world has passed you
by. The only true statement you have there is that you may encounter
a mandarin speaking tour guide. However the agents will be most happy
to guide the OP to an English speaking tour.

They also still have different pricing. But as part of a tour that
don't apply.



I know a Chinese man who returned as a tourist with his American
Caucasion wife. They went to see the Great Wall. He thought he was
pretty clever saving money when he went there as a returning Chinese
while she had to pay more as a froeign tourist. One difference was
that her line to get in was less than five minutes long, while his
took almost an hour. After that, he decided to pay the higher fees as
a foreigner.

"PeterL" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Sep 3, 3:34 pm, " wrote:
On Sep 3, 2:19 pm, PeterL wrote: there are a number
of them. i would go to a travel agent in Chinatown
and check out some of their offerings.

Do they still have different tours/prices for foreign tourists,
overseas Chinese, returning Chinese, and local Chinese? If so, going
through a Chinatown travel agent might get you into a tour for the
second or third category. The prices may be lower, but the qaulity of
the tour/accomodations/service will be poorer, and your tour guide may
only speak Mandarin. Most Americans would probably prefer amenities
like showers and Western-style toilets.

You are still stuck in the last century. The world has passed you
by. The only true statement you have there is that you may encounter
a mandarin speaking tour guide.

Simply refuting the guy's statement without any explanation
counts for noting. This is usenet. We don't know who you
are and have no way of evaluating whether your claim is
better than the other guys. Anyone could come along here
and claim that someone else's post is false, this doesn't
make it so!

Are you saying that this low standard of facility does not exist
or that the agents in chinatown don't have differential tours for
different categories of customer, or soemthing else?

However the agents will be most happy
to guide the OP to an English speaking tour.

At some cost no doubt.

They also still have different pricing. But as part of a tour that
don't apply.

It will if the whole tour has been booked based upon a
lower standard of facilities.

I know a Chinese man who returned as a tourist with his American
Caucasion wife. They went to see the Great Wall. He thought he was
pretty clever saving money when he went there as a returning Chinese
while she had to pay more as a froeign tourist. One difference was
that her line to get in was less than five minutes long, while his
took almost an hour. After that, he decided to pay the higher fees as
a foreigner.

However, I don't recognise this example. When I went to the
wall there were no substantial queues, either to buy a ticket
or to get in once you had bought it.

FWIW the wall is the only thing that I did with a tour and the
agent bought the tickets, but all of the other places that I
went to I bought my own tickets. There were no queues there
either.

tim

On Sep 4, 1:20 am, "tim....." wrote:
"PeterL" wrote in message

oups.com...





On Sep 3, 3:34 pm, " wrote:
On Sep 3, 2:19 pm, PeterL wrote: there are a number
of them. i would go to a travel agent in Chinatown
and check out some of their offerings.

Do they still have different tours/prices for foreign tourists,
overseas Chinese, returning Chinese, and local Chinese? If so, going
through a Chinatown travel agent might get you into a tour for the
second or third category. The prices may be lower, but the qaulity of
the tour/accomodations/service will be poorer, and your tour guide may
only speak Mandarin. Most Americans would probably prefer amenities
like showers and Western-style toilets.

You are still stuck in the last century. The world has passed you
by. The only true statement you have there is that you may encounter
a mandarin speaking tour guide.

Simply refuting the guy's statement without any explanation
counts for noting. This is usenet. We don't know who you
are and have no way of evaluating whether your claim is
better than the other guys. Anyone could come along here
and claim that someone else's post is false, this doesn't
make it so!


Just like you.



Are you saying that this low standard of facility does not exist
or that the agents in chinatown don't have differential tours for
different categories of customer, or soemthing else?


Agents in chinatown do have different tours for different categories
of customer. But the standards of most tour groups should be OK.


However the agents will be most happy
to guide the OP to an English speaking tour.

At some cost no doubt.


Agents do have to make a living somehow.


They also still have different pricing. But as part of a tour that
don't apply.

It will if the whole tour has been booked based upon a
lower standard of facilities.



Group tours would've purchased entries to the attractions. So
individual tour members don't have to pay and worry about differential
pricing.


I know a Chinese man who returned as a tourist with his American
Caucasion wife. They went to see the Great Wall. He thought he was
pretty clever saving money when he went there as a returning Chinese
while she had to pay more as a froeign tourist. One difference was
that her line to get in was less than five minutes long, while his
took almost an hour. After that, he decided to pay the higher fees as
a foreigner.

However, I don't recognise this example. When I went to the
wall there were no substantial queues, either to buy a ticket
or to get in once you had bought it.

FWIW the wall is the only thing that I did with a tour and the
agent bought the tickets, but all of the other places that I
went to I bought my own tickets. There were no queues there
either.


So you say. But this is usenet. How do we know it's true?


tim-

On Sep 4, 8:26 am, PeterL wrote:
Agents in chinatown do have different tours for different categories
of customer.
Thank you for the confirmation. If the OP follows your advice, she
should tell the TA which of these kinds of tours she wants (if she is
even eligible), just so she too does not unexpectedly get stuck in the
last century. Most westerners should probably avoid the bargain
tours that are advertised only on the xeroxed flyers and written
mostly in Chinese.

So you say. But this is usenet. How do we know it's true?
I believe both tim and my friend. While foreign tourists may come
and go in a seasonal cycle, the number of local Chinese at the tourist
sites is probably affected by the weather, work week, and local
holidays.

"PeterL" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Sep 4, 1:20 am, "tim....." wrote:
"PeterL" wrote in message

oups.com...





On Sep 3, 3:34 pm, " wrote:
On Sep 3, 2:19 pm, PeterL wrote: there are a
number
of them. i would go to a travel agent in Chinatown
and check out some of their offerings.

Do they still have different tours/prices for foreign tourists,
overseas Chinese, returning Chinese, and local Chinese? If so, going
through a Chinatown travel agent might get you into a tour for the
second or third category. The prices may be lower, but the qaulity of
the tour/accomodations/service will be poorer, and your tour guide may
only speak Mandarin. Most Americans would probably prefer amenities
like showers and Western-style toilets.

You are still stuck in the last century. The world has passed you
by. The only true statement you have there is that you may encounter
a mandarin speaking tour guide.

Simply refuting the guy's statement without any explanation
counts for noting. This is usenet. We don't know who you
are and have no way of evaluating whether your claim is
better than the other guys. Anyone could come along here
and claim that someone else's post is false, this doesn't
make it so!


Just like you.

Agreed, but I didn't says, "the other poster was wrong"
and expect to be believed.

Are you saying that this low standard of facility does not exist
or that the agents in chinatown don't have differential tours for
different categories of customer, or soemthing else?

Agents in chinatown do have different tours for different categories
of customer. But the standards of most tour groups should be OK.

So from saying that it's impossible for the standard to be low,
it now "should be OK"!

However the agents will be most happy
to guide the OP to an English speaking tour.

At some cost no doubt.

Agents do have to make a living somehow.

The point is that this 'special' will cost considerable more
than booking the right included tour in the firts place.

They also still have different pricing. But as part of a tour that
don't apply.

It will if the whole tour has been booked based upon a
lower standard of facilities.

Group tours would've purchased entries to the attractions. So
individual tour members don't have to pay and worry about differential
pricing.

I had assumed (perhaps wrongly) that the differential pricing
was that which applied to accomodation.

I never encountered differential pricing for attractons.

I know a Chinese man who returned as a tourist with his American
Caucasion wife. They went to see the Great Wall. He thought he was
pretty clever saving money when he went there as a returning Chinese
while she had to pay more as a froeign tourist. One difference was
that her line to get in was less than five minutes long, while his
took almost an hour. After that, he decided to pay the higher fees as
a foreigner.

However, I don't recognise this example. When I went to the
wall there were no substantial queues, either to buy a ticket
or to get in once you had bought it.

FWIW the wall is the only thing that I did with a tour and the
agent bought the tickets, but all of the other places that I
went to I bought my own tickets. There were no queues there
either.


So you say. But this is usenet. How do we know it's true?

You don't, but at least I gave enough infomation for someone
to single out the part that they might disagree (or agree) with.
I didn't just say "that was wrong"!

tim

wrote in message
ps.com...
On Sep 4, 8:26 am, PeterL wrote:
Agents in chinatown do have different tours for different categories
of customer.
Thank you for the confirmation. If the OP follows your advice, she
should tell the TA which of these kinds of tours she wants (if she is
even eligible), just so she too does not unexpectedly get stuck in the
last century. Most westerners should probably avoid the bargain
tours that are advertised only on the xeroxed flyers and written
mostly in Chinese.

So you say. But this is usenet. How do we know it's true?
I believe both tim and my friend. While foreign tourists may come
and go in a seasonal cycle, the number of local Chinese at the tourist
sites is probably affected by the weather, work week, and local
holidays.

Golden weeks! Apparently you can't move during them

tim

On Sep 4, 9:28 am, "tim....." wrote:
I never encountered differential pricing for attractons.
I read an article in the travel section of the Sunday paper. The
writer said that, when he was riding a bus in a poor country, he was
charged more than the locals for a bottle of soda. He went on to
describe his subsequent feeling of guilt over his act of petty revenge
(not returning the empty bottle) after he realized that he was getting
upset over a differential of less than US$0.20. On reflection, he
said he should not have begrudged the poor street vendor of that small
amount of money.