Just before I went on stage to deliver a travel lecture at the Adventure Travel Expo this past Saturday in Seattle, I was approached by Wilson Wu, president of China Spree (tel. 866/652-5656; www.chinaspree.com), the Washington-state competitor to such better-known names as China Focus, Pacific Delight, Champion Holidays, and Ritz Tours. And Mr. Wu, in the most engaging manner possible, proceeded to deliver some persuasive recommendations for his company.

Because such up-and-coming, "we-try-harder" companies like China Spree lack the resources to advertise heavily, Mr. Wu asked me whether he could compose a statement of his company's strengths for appearance in this blog.

And because we've had good reactions from readers who have traveled to China with China Spree (and also because it always helps to present the bigger companies with healthy competition), I readily agreed. I don't endorse the knocks he delivers to some of the others, and I've had to heavily condense what turned out to be an impassioned and lengthy screed, but in the firm belief that a vibrant marketplace of competing companies is good for everyone, I've allowed China Spree to address you as follows (in a totally free-of-charge statement, like everything else in our text):

It was a great pleasure to meet you in person. Over 60% of China Spree customers come from the references of previous travelers, and at least half of them have learned about China Spree from Frommers.com

Unlike a number of other companies that offer cheap China tours for cheap prices, China Spree offers First Class China Travel at Bargain Prices. We never sacrifice quality for the lowest pricing.

That's why China Spree Tours feature nice hotels with central location. We all know what the hotel location means for a traveler. I usually travel to China about four time a year to inspect the hotels we use for China Spree tours, to ensure these hotels meet these standard.

Chinese are good at building new hotels but not good at maintain them. Besides China hotel star-rating is very confusing -- that is why many tour operators take advantage of that. The fact is that foreign travelers never know what kind of hotel they will end up with until they check in. So, they have to rely largely on the tour company who picks the hotels for them. China Spree avoids substandard hotels at all cost. My principle is that if I don't want to stay at that hotel myself, I would never put my clients there.
 
China Spree tours are dynamic trips for active travelers. Our tours have more included features (tours, evening shows, and special meals) than any of my competitors on the market.

China Spree is dedicated to small group travel. Our average group size is between 10-16 people. The maximum size is about 20 people. From a purely practical standpoint, smaller groups can also go to places and enjoy special events that are simply inaccessible to the larger ones.

China Spree Culture Insight Programs particularly focus on cultural exposure and people-to-people interactions. In Beijing, we have Hutong tour on Pedi-cabs that include family hosted lunch. In Xian, we visit the Yao Dong (cave dwellings) and a local primary school. In Tibet, China Spree tours visit a Tibetan family home and a local Tibetan hospital, etc.

I totally agree with you regarding the poor quality of group meals in China [AF: I had complained to him about this]. I had been working in China for over 10 years as a tour manager, escorting American tours for over 250 days a year for multiple U.S. tour companies, so I feel the same way as you do for the group meals. I knew, experienced repeatedly, and therefore determined to make changes if I operate my own tours. So over the years, I have been working on improvement of the quality and variety of group meals for China Spree tours. The real problem of the group meals for foreign visitors is the repetition of the same dishes over and over again. You might still remember how many time the 'sweet and sour pork' repeated in your group meals. With China Spree, the restaurants are only allowed to serve the dishes which represent local flavours of the region the tour visits.

Please take a look at our 2009 China tour. Also please refer to our specials here. Our popular 14-Day China's Best Treasures tour covers not only the must-see sites such as Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Suzhou and Shanghai but also includes an off-the-beaten-path hiking tour to the "Dragon Spine Terraces" in Longsheng.

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Labels: china, tour companies

I have often talked about the nine-night tours of China operated by San Francisco's China Focus ( www.chinafocustravel.com), which go to Beijing, Shanghai, and three smaller Chinese cities -- and I still regard those packages as leading the field. Their one drawback is that they don't go to Xian (to see the stupefying terra cotta warriors). Xian needs to reached by a rather expensive air trip from Beijing, which is probably why China Focus doesn't include it.

But just recently, Friendly Planet (tel. 800/555-5765; www.friendlyplanet.com) has introduced its own low-cost air-and-land package to China, and it does include Xian. So if you're determined to get a quick glimpse of all three popular cities, here's your chance. Friendly Planet's deal is available both by advance purchase for January travel and last-minute for November travel. It's an eight-night trip that, as I've noted, does the classic China: Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai, including trans-Pacific airfare, fuel surcharges, breakfasts, hotels, and some lunches for $1,399. (And one of the January departures is just $1,299.) It must be booked by October 22 no matter which departure is chosen.

Note the various optional events thrown into the itinerary (duck dinner, Panda zoo, dance performance, etc.) at an extra charge. I'd pass them all up and do my own thing, since taxis are so cheap in China ($1.50 to $3 for long rides).

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Labels: china, deals

Here's Pauline on the Today Show last week talking about how to find deals to China after the Olympics.

Labels: china, pauline

I'll blog more tomorrow, but for those watching the Today Show, the two companies that are selling 10-day trips to China for $999 are China Focus (www.chinafocustravel.com) and China Spree (www.chinaspree.com). Those rates are for select dates in winter only & don't include fuel surcharge.

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Labels: china, deals, pauline olympics

A reader has taken me to task for writing so much about group package tours to China. Although I continue to believe the group package is best for a first trip, and especially one that goes to several cities, I'm ready to admit that an independent trip to just one city has certain advantages. It introduces you to the more authentic life of China that you would otherwise fail to experience on a group trip.

That reader (I do not have her name) has written so well about her own recent independent trip to China that I'm reprinting her comments here. Note that she mistakenly assumes that the "Historic China" trip of China Focus goes to only three cities (it actually goes to five). Otherwise, her comments seem well taken:

My husband and I are going to China in mid-October, and I'd just like to let you what our costs will be, because I do believe independent travelers can do China as cheap, if not cheaper than the tour you describe above.

Airfare: Portland to Beijing via SFO, $933 per person on United, and our choice of dates. Fuel surcharges included.

Hotel: there are nice three-stars at great locations for $40-$50 a night. We'll be paying almost $60 per night for a spanking new four-star at a decent location. A friend in Beijing works for a government agency which owns the hotel, so we get her discount. Since we will be in Beijing for 12 days, we decided to splurge on the extra $10-$20 a night for the upgrade in accommodations.

Meals: I anticipate we will pay no more than $10-$15 per day for both of us. We will eat in neighborhood restaurants for the most part; the food is better and more authentic (not to mention cheaper) there than in upscale restaurants which "sanitize" the dishes for Western tastes. Probably the most expensive dinners we will have will be Peking duck at $4-$5 a person -- I love Peking duck, so I'm budgeting for at least three duck dinners.

I am budgeting at average of $10 a day per person for transportation and admission fees. We will use the subway as much as possible, as its the quickest way to get around as above-ground traffic is horrendous.

The above adds up to about $1,500 per person, which is not bad for a 12-night stay. Plus, we have the flexibility to do what we want, when we want to, and not have to participate with the herd.

... We plan on day trips, at least twice to the Great Wall (different sections) and maybe to Tianjin, using public transportation for all trips.

Travelers to China need to watch the major online agencies, such as Expedia and Travelocity, for cheap package deals. Our trip to Shanghai in March -- 10 hotel nights -- was $1,150 per person for air fare AND a three-star hotel 30 meters off Nanjing Road.

One final note by AF: Our reader and her husband seem relaxed about traveling within Beijing by subway and bus. They are obviously adventurous and adept travelers, and I commend them. But you should keep in mind that, unless the Olympics have changed matters, there is no bilingual signage in Beijing's subways, and scarcely any English-speaking person to help you. On my own recent use of the Shanghai subway, I took the sheer gamble of going to a particular track that seemed headed in the direction I wanted—and I was lucky, it worked. But to this day I don't know what I would have done if the choice had been a wrong one.

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Labels: china, tips from readers

A San Francisco tour operator called China Focus (tel. 800/868-7244; www.chinafocustravel.com) has gained a bit of fame among avid travelers, and grown to fairly large size, because of its near-miraculous price of $999 for an 11-day air-and-land package ("Historic China") to China. I've spoken with a great many of its previous clients (including relatives of mine) and all of them have been uniformly positive about the firm and its product.

But in the face of an ever-more-expensive Chinese currency (the Yuan), and the skyrocketing price of aviation fuel, how long can China Focus maintain its $999 miracle? Turns out: no longer. That catchy figure is now offered for exactly one isolated date of departure in early December, and all other prices of China Focus have risen quite a bit.

But what they continue to offer (prices increased by about $50 to $200, and now bearing a fuel surcharge) remains a travel miracle. And it is produced by people so cordial, responsible and hard-working, that you really should consider it for your own next trip. China's prices are going up and up, and it is only if you book right away that you'll get there at a cost that anyone can handle.

On the firm's website mainpage you'll find a moving billboard on the right-hand side; from there click for further details about the "Historic China Promotion." You'll see a specially-priced version of their 11-day tour to China in January and February, 2009, spending 9 nights in five Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Ji'nan, Qu'fu, and Tai-an. It includes round-trip air to China from either San Francisco or New York, all transportation within China, all transfers, accommodations for 9 nights in those five Chinese cities (quite decent hotels), all meals, and all escorted sightseeing on every day of your stay -- a particularly comprehensive, all-inclusive tour called "Historic China" that has delighted many thousands of Americans to date.

The price: $1,049 from San Francisco, $1,249 from New York City, provided only that you pay by check or money order and thus save them the commission they'd otherwise need to give a credit card firm. The departure dates at these rates: January 6 and 13, February 3, 10 and 17, 2009. Prices go up on later dates.

But what about taxes and fuel surcharge? Those add $415 and $455 from San Francisco and New York respectively, bringing your total cost to $1,464 from San Francisco and $1,699 from New York. You can reduce the price by $100 -- if I am reading their literature correctly -- by booking prior to September 1.

It will never again be cheaper. And those prices, as best I know, aren't matched by any other tour company dealing with China.

It's important that you see China. It's an essential trip for any thoughtful person. And it can be visited in January and February as well as in any other month. Your hotels, buses, museums, temples, palaces, shops and restaurants are as well-heated as anywhere else on earth, and you will enjoy a trip that's largely free of other tourist crowds.

Turn right now to your spouse, partner or friend, and ask them to consider making the time available and going with you on an important and inexpensive trip to five Chinese cities in nine days, this coming January or February.

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Labels: beijing, china, packages, shanghai

A British website read by travel professionals -- TravelMole (www.travelmole.com) -- is filled with dire predictions about how bad things will be in China when the Olympics have ended (August 24). The country is full of new hotels that haven't really been marketed for the post-Olympics period. And making things worse is a phenomenon that no one really understands: the fact that, historically, cities and countries hosting the Olympic games enjoy diminished tourism in the immediate aftermath of that event.

Says the European Tour Operators Association, as quoted in TravelMole:

A report from the association claims to reinforce the conclusions of a study published two years ago by ETOA that hosting the Olympics typically stalls tourism growth... Latest data from Greece and Australia suggests that tourism to the host country is harmed even more than to the host city, according to ETOA.

Greece has failed to keep pace with neighbours Croatia and Turkey and the performance gap is widening, with the growth in visitor arrivals trailing that of Turkey by more than 20% a year since the Athens Olympics.

Following the 2000 Olympics, visitors to Australia declined for three years in a row, while tourism to the prime competitor destination, New Zealand continued to grow consistently, ETOA said.

[W]hat has been seen in city after city over the past Olympics are unrealistic expectations, which are ultimately met with real shortfalls in demand.

So contact: China Focus (www.chinafocustravel.com), Chinaspree.com (www.chinaspree.com), RIM-PAC International (www.rim-pac.com), Ritz Tours (www.ritztours.com), Pacific Delight Tours (www.pacificdelighttours.com), smarTours (www.smartours.com), and all the other specialists to China -- and book an immediate trip! China will never again be as cheap, nor will its hoteliers be as frantic to greet you.

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Labels: china, deals

The current edition of Travel Weekly, the major trade publication of the travel industry, carries a story from Beijing headlined "Where did all the tourists go?" It describes the bewilderment of a Travel Weekly reporter over the sharp fall-off in travel to China, and includes such statements as: "I was virtually on my own to tackle the Great Wall at Badaling. At the Forbidden City in Beijing, there was plenty of room to roam on one's own, to visit entire portions of the vast royal complex with barely another soul in sight."

The reasons given for this strange development were: the recent tragic earthquake in central China (but far from Beijing, Xian and Shanghai), the violence and Chinese political crackdown in Tibet, and a tightening of Chinese visa requirements designed to thwart the movements of persons wanting to interfere with the Beijing Olympics starting August 8.

But I, for one, doubt that it will remain difficult for tourists to obtain a Chinese visa processed by recognized tour companies. Subject only to that possible problem, it now seems clear that July will be a fine time to travel to China, up to perhaps July 27, when athletes and journalists will begin descending on Beijing. You might try phoning one of the popularly-priced China tour operators -- Pacific Delight, China Focus, China Spree, Ritz Tours, Champion Holidays, Rim-Pac International, others -- to see whether they can rush you on to one of their departures and guarantee the issuance of a visa.

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Labels: china

The most popular website for currency exchange rates -- XE (www.xe.com) -- carries a daily value for the Chinese Yuan (CNY). I've been following it, with a sinking heart, for many months now.

When I first traveled to China several years ago, a traveler received about 8.30 Yuan for one U.S. Dollar, a joyous, exhilarating rate. Then strong international pressure was exerted on the Chinese to re-value its obviously-undervalued currency. Though the Chinese denied they were giving in to these demands (and thus saved face in the matter), they proceeded to do just that. Every single week or so, the value of the Chinese Yuan went up a tiny bit. By the beginning of this year, you received only 7 Yuan for one dollar. Yesterday, you received only 6.88 Yuan for one dollar. By the autumn, the rate will undoubtedly be down to around 6.70 to the dollar, and to 6 to the dollar by the end of the year.

All of this is by way of suggesting that if you harbor any interest in visiting China, you should get there quick. Though China remains an inexpensive destination, it will get costlier and costlier with every passing month.

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Labels: china

Its deals change every day. And they are mainly for flights from Chinese cities to other Asian locations, like Singapore. A single U.S.-to-China bargain (Chicago to Shanghai) remained up for a few days but has now been taken down (probably because it quickly sold out).

But the website called Ctrip.com (english.ctrip.com) should be watched periodically by every traveler interested in visiting China. It's like the Expedia of China -- that nation's largest airfare and hotel search engine, an immense organization that is now publicly traded and announces giant profits in its periodic filings with the U.S.'s SEC.

Although you can book intra-China flights directly on the website, you cannot yet book international flights in that manner -- you simply learn about them and then phone an 800 number staffed by English-speaking reservationists (tel. 800/820-6666) to make the booking. Go to the main menu page, then scroll down and look at the headlines on the lower right-hand side: "New look, same great Ctrip," "Beijing hotels available for Olympics," "ChinaTravel.net, your China guide and travel community," and "Ctrip DOES book international flights." Click on the last-named headline, then look for the sentence "Check our latest deals by booking here," and click on "here."

And incidentally, even if you don't find a deal between the U.S. and China, you might nevertheless phone the number given to inquire as to what are the current rates for a round-trip flight from the U.S. to China. You might be pleasantly surprised. Currently, Ctrip.com is listing $691 as the round-trip fare between Vancouver and Shanghai.

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Labels: china, websites

For several years now, Ctrip.com has been China's leading source of travel news, accessed by a multitude of Chinese readers. But although it maintained a barely-working version in English, it was the Chinese-language website on which most attention was lavished. Lots o' luck.

Ctrip.com has now given its English website a big facelift and a crystal-clear address, www.english.ctrip.com. And it has also created a phone number (011-86-21-34064888, ext. 6) for inquiries or to make a booking (you'll hear a Chinese-language announcement until you press extension 6 at the end of the Chinese statement). Starting now, you won't find cheaper tickets to China, or within China, than on Ctrip's English-language site.

Prices are set forth in Chinese Yuan (CNY), which you convert into dollars by dividing by 7. Thus, 2,100 Yuan equals $300. Here are some examples of they're presently offering (all round-trips):

• Vancouver and Shanghai on Air Canada: 3,670 Yuan ($524)


• Chicago and Shanghai on American Airlines: 3,150 Yuan ($450)


• London and Shanghai on China Eastern Airlines: 4,080 Yuan ($582)


• Saigon and Guangzhou on Vietnam Airlines: 1,610 Yuan ($230)


• Shanghai and Xian on China Eastern Airlines: 1,000 Yuan ($142)

You can also e-mail Ctrip at e_service@ctrip.com. And you can book beach vacations in China (you've been dying to do so) at sharply-discounted rates. See you on the sands at Qingdao!

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Labels: accommodations, airfare, budget travel, china, websites

Witness the major marketing of three new programs by European specialist, Gate 1 Travel. In widely disseminated press releases, Gate 1 is featuring bargains like $1189 to Bali, air-inclusive from Los Angeles, for a five-night stay there; $1249 to Hong Kong and Bangkok, air-inclusive from Los Angeles, for a six-night stay split between the two cities; and $2,029 to Vietnam, air-inclusive from Los Angeles, for a 10-night escorted stay in Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue, Halong Bay and Hanoi. Who would have dreamed that a tour operator famed for its city stays in western Europe and cruises along the Rhine, would feature Ho Chi Minh city as the new bargain location? You'll get all the details at www.gate1travel.com.

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Labels: china, thailand, vietnam

Eighteen months ago, the Chinese currency sold at a rate of nearly 8 Yuan to the dollar; it is now selling at a rate of 7.11 Yuan to the dollar, and everything in China has become at least 10% more expensive. Under fierce pressure from the western nations to increase the value of the Yuan, China has embarked on a steady appreciation of that currency, and we will undoubtedly be looking at the dollar buying only 6 Yuan a further year-or-so from now.

That extremely probable development, as well as the looming presence of the August Olympics in Beijing, make a case for speeding up your own first trip to China. It will never again be as inexpensive as it presently is. And those of you who live in the eastern half of the U.S. should consider using the services of Rim-Pac International (tel. 800/701-8687; www.rim-pac.com) to travel there. Just recently, Rim-Pac has forged ahead of the west coast operators to China in the degree of the bargain they offer to China.

For its departures from New York of March 26, April 2, 9 and 16, September 18 and 25, October 16 and 23, November 5 and 12, Rim-Pac will take you to China on a 13-night trip, spending 11 nights in Chinese cities (Beijing, Ji nan, Qufu, Suzhou and Shanghai), receiving three meals daily on 9 of those nights, and flying there non-stop on Air China from New York, for the remarkable price of $1,589 per person. Such a price for a stay of that duration, and flying from the east coast, is very special indeed.

The earlier you book, the more likely it is that the $1,589 price will remain at that level. China is bound to get more expensive, and the best time to go is now.

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Labels: china, tour companies

Repeating a point I made in one of yesterday's posts: if you are able to schedule your next vacation for the autumn, you may very well want it to be in China. A final tabulation of the hotel rooms now in construction (and about to open) in Beijing show that nearly 15,000 new rooms will have been added to the city's hotel capacity by the time of the Olympics -- a giant increase in Beijing's ability to accommodate visitors. There will be major discounting, and numerous "deals," offered to persons arriving during the last days of August, shortly after the Games have ended. If I were planning an independent trip to China scheduled for the autumn, I would send an e-mail to my preferred hotel stating that "I am looking for a room costing no more than [and here name a cheap but respectable price] per night." The chances, in my view, are considerable that they will respond: "It just so happens we have such a room."

Alternatively, go to the air-and-land package operators for autumn dates -- China Focus (www.chinafocustravel.com), China Spree (www.chinaspree.com), Ritz Tours (www.ritztours.com), Champion Holidays (www.china-discovery.com), Pacific Delight Tours (www.pacificdelighttours.com), China Travel Service (www.chinatravelservice.com) -- most of which will have been unable to send travelers to Beijing during the period of the Olympics. Chances are excellent that they will have favorable rates and almost endless capacity to accommodate an autumn booking.

In this era of world history, China comes close to being an almost indispensable trip for thoughtful Americans wanting to experience or witness world trends. And as I wrote earlier, the Chinese currency -- the Yuan -- will almost certainly be a far more expensive purchase in 2009 than in 2008. Now is the time to go.

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Labels: china

Who would have dreamed that a quick trip to China was available from Go-Today.com (www.go-today.com)? Fresh from its triumphs as a package operator to Europe (where it consistently leads the field in low-cost weeklong air-and-land packages to London and Paris), and regarded by most travelers as simply a source for cheap package deals to Europe, Go-Today.com has suddenly blossomed as a source of short air-and-land trips to Shanghai and Beijing. In the month of February, you can buy air (from the west coast) to Beijing and five nights' hotel accommodations with breakfast there for as little as $949 per person. In the same time period, you can buy air (from the west coast) to Shanghai and five nights of room-with-breakfast for $999 per person.

Interestingly enough, lunch and dinner are not included -- you are actually expected to strike out on your own to any of numerous Chinese restaurants, and act like an intelligent human being exactly as you would have done on an independent tour of Europe. China has finally shaken off the group-travel straitjacket.

The cities from which these prices are valid include: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucscon, Portland and Fresno.

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Labels: china, deals

In the United States, not a single law -- either federal or state -- guarantees a single day of vacation time to anyone. We are the most backward prosperous nation on earth in that regard, and our failings have now highlighted by a recent announcement by the Chinese government. The Legislative Affairs Office of China's State Council has announced draft legislation awarding a week's vacation each year to persons who have been employed for one to ten years. After that, they get a second week and even a third week for more lengthy employment. Although the proposed amount of leave is absurdly short, it is at least a start, and stands in contrast to our own total lack of any public law guaranteeing a single day of vacation to anyone.

In a recent response to one of my post about vacation time, a reader wrote that vacation time should only be a matter for private negotiation between employer and employee, and never mandated by our legislative representatives; that under our free enterprise system, an employee is entitled to quit if he or she is unsatisfied with the length of their vacations, and is therefore in a fair bargaining position to demand more. It's interesting how the opponents of legislative action argue with words in place of reality.

In terms of the minimum wage, in terms of the work-week and the abolition of child labor, in the prohibition of discrimination in employment, in terms of a dozen laws ensuring proper working conditions, it was only when Congress or state legislatures acted that minimum wages, decent hours of work, an end to child labor, reduced discrimination, and proper working conditions, were brought about in America. When and if a humane new Congress is elected in November of 2008, I hope you will join me in forcefully proposing a statute guaranteeing a decent minimum of vacation time to every American. The time has come.

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Labels: china, rights

Here's an interesting travel opportunity from DFW Tours (tel. 800/780-5733; www.dfwtours.com), a 29-year-old airfare consolidator (discounter) that seems, from all indications, to be utterly reliable and well-financed (it's the subsidiary of a major British firm). Throughout the entire month of November, DFW will fly you round-trip to Beijing for $529 per person, midweek, from Newark, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Raleigh-Durham, and for about $100-or-so more from Dallas, Tulsa, Atlanta, Oklahoma City, and elsewhere. Since most of these cities lack direct service to Beijing, it's obvious that you'll making a stop in an intermediate U.S. city on the way. DFW does not reveal the airlines it will be using. Bookings must be made by October 30.

Once in Beijing, you'll find that hotel and meal costs are so cheap, especially in November, that another $400 or so is sufficient for a week's worth of your local costs. And so, if you have up to $1,000 in the bank, you can enjoy a week in Beijing viewing the rather unusual life and commerce in China's capital. And you should give that prospect serious consideration.

I'd suggest a totally independent stay, wandering on your own, eating where you choose, paying admission to various attractions on the spot. Take a look at the various internet services for booking hotels in Asia, and you'll find that a stay in Beijing can today be approached as you would a visit to Europe. But, of course, you'll want to start the application process for a Chinese visa right away.

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Labels: beijing, china, deals

Sharing my disdain for sightseeing in a big motorcoach with 40 other tourists, a reader who has twice been to China has described her own preference for moving about independently in big Chinese cities -- even to the extent of taking meals in restaurants frequented only by locals. She writes:

Three years ago I travelled to Beijing and Shanghai through www.friendlyplanet.com. My friend and I took a guidebook that had Chinese characters for most of the major tourist attractions that we wanted to see (and a hotel card with the name of the hotel we wanted to return to). We would flag down a cab, show them the Chinese characters and wait for a nod before getting into the cab. We always got to our destination and the cost was cheap.

In one area where we were walking, we got lost and wanted lunch. We walked into a place (Muslim Hot Pot) that was way off the tourist track. They had one menu translated into English. The staff probably hadn't seen many non-Chinese in their restaurant, but they were so patient and helpful. They pointed to suggestions and brought out samples of their suggestions. It was a memorable lunch -- for us and them -- the whole kitchen staff came out to check us out as we ate.

Friendly Planet offered a la carte tours that we passed on, choosing the cab method. We saw almost twice as much as the people who took the tours. Occasionally, we would hire a tour guide at the entrance gates. Even doing this, we saved huge amount of money over the organized tours and we could control the amount of time we spent in various places. We even saw a few places that the tours didn't get to.

A year and a half later, I took my husband to Beijing for Thanksgiving and we used the same method. One place we wanted to go, I used the Chinese name for the place we wanted to go. The cabbie took us to the south end when I had asked for the north end. I insisted on the north (bei) end. He dialed a number and handed me the phone. An English speaker asked where I wanted to go. I told him and he asked me to hand the phone back to the driver. The driver looked embarrassed. Apparently, I had pronounced everything correctly -- he just didn't think I knew Chinese. After that, we always pointed to the characters.

So, I would highly recommend using cabs to save money. Whether or not you know Chinese, you can get around with very few problems.

Increasingly, tourism to China is resembling tourism to Europe. With preparation and ingenuity, it becomes easily possible to sightsee on your own.

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Labels: china, tips from readers

The Chinese currency has increased in value by 8.8% in the last year; wages in China are inching up also. It's obvious that tour operators to China are having difficulty in maintaining their bargain-level rates. The price leader, China Focus (www.chinafocustravel.com), now charges $999 for its famous ten-night, air-inclusive, "Historic China" tour on only two remaining departure dates in 2007 -- November 30 and December 7 -- and only three dates in 2008 (January 7 and 21 and December 5), and only if you pay for the tour by personal check or money order, not by credit card. It has also reduced the length of the stay in China, in 2008, by one night. For most dates on its classic introductory tour of China, the price in 2008 from San Francisco will now be $1,299 to $1,499 per person -- still a tremendous value, considering that round-trip air transportation to China is included -- but no longer the jaw-dropping $999 that attracted so much attention in the past.

Since China is committed to a slow, upward, revaluation of its currency, tour prices to China can only increase in the months ahead. If you haven't yet made your first trip to this important and rewarding destination, you should speed preparations; it will never again be as cheap. You'll find excellent arrangements, and good prices for what you get, from China Focus, Champion Holidays (www.china-discovery.com), China Spree (www.chinaspree.com), Ritz Tours (www.ritztours.com), Pacific Delight Tours (www.pacificdelighttours.com), and numerous other companies. It's even possible for the most versatile of tourists to travel independently to China, simply buying an airfare and picking up accommodations on the spot.

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Labels: china, deals

Although you'll need to ask your hotel desk clerk to write out the Chinese for the museum or sight you're hoping to visit (as well as the name and address of your hotel), that simple act will win you freedom from the tour guides and the group-jammed motor coaches. And the sights themselves charge a pittance to enter (usually, the yuan equivalent of a dollar). By either taking a cab or walking to the closer-in places, you enjoy independent travel in any Chinese city, which is infinitely preferable to joining a chattering crowd of your fellow tourists. As for meals, nearly every Chinese restaurant of size has either an English-language menu or English translations under Chinese menu items -- or even more frequently, photographs of the dishes they serve. Tourism by foreign visitors is today so highly developed in China that the lone tourist or tourist couple can enjoy their stays solely on their own, without surrendering to the rigidities and cultural barriers of escorted group travel. As for the out-of-town places (like the Great Wall or the Summer Palace), Chinese travel agencies visited on the spot, or your hotel, will book you aboard either half-day or full-day tours to such heavily visited attractions.

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All the recognized names in tour operation to China -- ChinaFocus, Champion Holidays, Pacific Delight Tours, Ritz Tours, and a couple of others -- are currently doing tons of business, and it sometimes happens that you encounter harassed telephone reservationists or endless busy signals when you call them to book. I don't mean this as a negative criticism; no one anticipated the skyrocketing rise in the number of Americans seeking to visit China.

But because the standard names are so busy, you may want to know about Chinaspree.com, of Blaine, Washington (tel. 866/652-5656 or 360/332-7970; www.chinaspree.com). It matches the $999 promotional lures offered by ChinaFocus and Champion Holidays, at least for one or two departures, and matches their higher fares during many months of the year. Its tour program is just as comprehensive, just as varied, with numerous options, as the others; and it is a licensed tour operator in both Washington and California, which means that payments to it are deposited in a trust account monitored by a bank and not released to the tour operator until the tour is successfully concluded.

I've had favorable comments about Chinaspree from readers of Frommers.com, and I'm impressed with its well-designed website. If you're considering a trip to China, you might give them a call.

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The wide publicity that's been given to the starting date of the 2008 Beijing Olympics (August 8, 2008) should serve as a wake-up call for Americans who haven't yet made a trip to China. For a full month prior to August 8, Beijing will begin filling up with thousands of reporters, photographers, television crews, television producers and writers, athletes getting an early start on their tune-up for the games, coaches and attendants for these athletes, and countless other human beings associated with this worldwide event. The same will happen, though to a lesser degree, in Shanghai, Xi'an, and other sporting venues.

This means that July 8, 2007, will be the last date for several months for using the tourist facilities of China and paying normal prices for them. July 8 -- that's only slightly more than a year from now. If you're to undertake that long-contemplated trip to China, you must make your bookings now and plan a fairly early departure.

Several weeks ago, I wrote about low-cost tours of China offered by such companies as China Focus of San Francisco (www.chinafocustravel.com) and Champion Holidays of New York (www.china-discovery.com). A number of readers have asked for recommendations of upscale tours of China, including those of a luxury standard. I really don't think it's necessary to go upscale, but here are the two major operators (there are more) of classier, air-included China tours:

$2,298 to $2,798 for 8 nights in China, is charged by Uniworld (tel. 800/733-7820; www.uniworld.com), a typical mid-value product operated by a long-established company especially known for its river-cruises in Europe and Egypt (and available on the Yangtze River on those of its China tours that are higher-priced than the ones I cited in my earlier post). Here, you receive round-trip air from Los Angeles (or, for $200 more, from Chicago or New York), air transportation from city to city within China, 8 nights in deluxe hotels in Beijing, Xi'an, Suzhou and Shanghai, most meals, daily sightseeing, the Beijing Opera, the Tang Dynasty Review in Xi'an, and much more.

$3,448 to $4,118 for 12 nights in China, from Pacific Delight Tours (tel. 888/221-7179; www.pacificdelighttours.com). Though Pacific Delight also offers various low-priced tours of China (like its 10-night "Golden Route Supervalue" product selling for $1,998 to $2,138), it's better known for its thoroughly deluxe product for groups of less than 16, like its "Golden Route Imperial Experience" for $3,448-$4,118, including air from Los Angeles, spending 3 nights Beijing, 2 nights Shanghai, 2 nights Xian (home to the terra cotta warriors), 2 nights Guilin, and 3 nights Hong Kong at the very best luxury hotels, with many meals, fulsome sightseeing, and two dinner shows, all fully escorted from Los Angeles by a U.S. tour director. The oldest (more than 35 years in business) and largest of the China tour operators, headed by an illustrious pioneer in the field, Francis Luk, Pacific Delight will also fly you from New York or Miami for only $100 more, and give you dozens of other Asian tour options. This is the choice for the most demanding of tour passengers.

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Jim and Mary Patterson (those aren't their real names) paid an astonishing $999 per person for their visit to five Chinese cities in ten days, including round-trip air. Too frightened to sign up for a bargain-priced wonder, William and Ellen Cartwright paid some $4,000 per person for round-trip air and 14 nights in six Chinese cities.

Yet once in China, both couples walked the same stretch of the Great Wall, attended the same show of Chinese acrobats in Shanghai, walked on the same ancient brick floors of the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, strolled around Tiananmen Square, beamed at Chinese kindergarten children in the same sort of elementary school in Suzhou, even ate in the same mammoth restaurant with singers and orchestra, to which nearly every tour group is brought in Beijing.

To the extent that their tours differed, it was in the number of passengers (30 for the cheap tours, fifteen-or-so for the expensive ones) that formed each group, and the hotels in which they were housed. But since most hotels in China are modern and less than 15 years old, the difference between them is not in the comfort of the rooms but in the elegance of the public areas -- and thus utterly unimportant.

How little can you pay? Try the following two options for starters:

$999-$1,599 for 12 days, from China Focus: The unchallenged price leader to China is the remarkable China Focus, of San Francisco (tel. 800/868-7244; www.chinafocustravel.com), whose 12-day stay in five cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Ji'nan, Tai Shan, Qufu, and Suzhou) is so great a value for the price -- it also includes round-trip air on Air China. The only condition to these rates is that you make payment by personal check or money order, not via credit card (plastic requires an extra $200 charge). The firm's Chinese-American management is so reliable that I've never received a complaint about China Focus (but rather constant passenger compliments). When: Departures through December.

$999-$1,469 for 9 days, from Champion Holidays: The east-coast runner-up to China Focus, charging slightly more, is New York's Champion Holidays (tel. 800/868-7658; www.china-discovery.com), offering departures at the above prices from Los Angeles (and from New York for an additional $100-$120). You receive round-trip air (Air China or Japan Airlines), seven nights in China (Beijing, Suzhou, Wuxi and Shanghai) at good first class hotels. When: departures through February 2008.

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A friend in the cruise business has alerted me to a yearlong series of bargains on cruises sailing the most exotic itineraries imaginable. These have resulted from a disastrous effort by Carnival Cruises to operate vacations at sea for the people of China.

A subsidiary of Carnival, Costa Cruises, had expected the newly-emergent Chinese middle class to flock onto the cruises of Asia offered aboard their shiny, new Costa Allegra, sailing from Shanghai and Hong Kong throughout 2007. They haven't. And the reason has apparently been a totally unexpected and almost incomprehensible dissatisfaction with the cruise product by the Chinese who had booked the initial departures.

Turns out that Chinese passengers from nearly a dozen different ethnic regions had problems understanding the one or two Chinese dialects used on the ship's loudspeakers, and that Chinese passengers didn't cluster about as part of a happy group: they tended to stay in their cabins and socialize there, they ate earlier than expected, didn't go into bars, and -- most astonishing of all -- weren't terribly interested in the on-board casino.

Result: with future sailings only lightly booked, sailings of the Costa Allegra out of Shanghai and Hong Kong have now been opened to Americans (and are being discounted to attract U.S. traffic). If you'd like a bargain cruise of the most exotic variety, leaving from Hong Kong or Shanghai and initially designed for a mainly-Chinese audience, go to the website of Costa Cruises (www.costacruise.com) or to www.vacationstogo.com, and you'll find prices as low as $114 a day for 14-day sailings throughout the year from Hong Kong to Manila, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Danang, and to a port in China itself. The prices run an amazingly low $1,609 or $1,679 per person for most of those two-week adventures. And you'll find a price of $759 for shorter, five-night cruises from Shanghai to Japan and South Korea.

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