free information from the author of a popular travel guide on China about the many places she has visited in the last few years: Beijing, Chengdu (Leshan and Emei Shan), Hangzhou, Huangshan, Kunming, Lanzhou, Lhasa, Lijiang, Suzhou, Xi’an, and the Yangtze Gorges. Included are lesser known but exciting places like Shangri-La, Xiahe and Xining (Tongren). for a free 25-page travel guide on Shanghai completed in 2006 with prices, hotels, restaurants, fun things to do and where to find an up-to-date subway map on the web. for hotel reviews from someone who has personally stayed in or visited the many hotels mentioned and is able to warn you about the standard of English and breakfasts, the noise, the convenience of ATMs, dirty carpets, and in-room safes too small for lap-top computers. for some idea of prices to anticipate how much you will be spending in China. for some cheaper hotels, especially in the Shanghai where you can stay the night in a private room for around $20 and find an internet café for as little as Y6 an hour. Also mentioned are prices quoted by hotels so you can compare these with on-line hotel agencies like Travelocity.com, Expedia.com and www.eLong.net. if you want to know today’s or last year’s rate for Chinese currency. if you want to save time trying to find out the closest hotels to the Beijing and Shanghai subways. Subways are important. Taking them can mean avoiding traffic jams. if you want a recommended China-based travel agent. for information that’s hard to find on the Web such as a bus from Shanghai airport to Nanjing? Or what to do if you lose your U.S. passport there? Or the price of Zhang Yi Mou’s evening show in Yangshuo. if you need a hotel’s Romanized name for taxi drivers who don ‘t speak English. if you want advice on how to travel from Lhasa in Tibet to Everest Base Camp, Guge, Lhasa, and Mt. Kailash. if you want to know where you can get a Kosher meal in China. And there’s more. Ruth also likes to travel to off-beat destinations too where tourists are few and the air is clean. She likes popular places in off-tourist season. Read about the train from Vancouver to Jasper, Canada (in winter), Montserrat (with its volcano) and Ft. McMurray (Canada’s oil capital where you can see the northern lights and ride dog sleds in March). In 2006 she went to Alderney (Britain), Mongolia, St. Petersburg, the Azores (Portugal), and Easter Island as well as China. Click Here for most of these. And Inexpensive World Cell Phone for Easter Island. In 2007, she hopes to get to Mexico and Siberia too.
Website: http://www.china-travel-guide.com/