Any Travels

With over a quarter of the world's population, one could hardy claim to have visited the planet Earth without visiting China. It is a huge country taking up more land mass than continental Europe and has a history that rivals those of the most ancient of civilizations. Today visitors bring back stories which sound like those of Marco Polo. It is a country filled with surprises and unforgettable people. Nothing about China is mundane. It is youthful and yet eternal. It is backward and yet intellectual. It is conservative and yet bold. China will not disappoint you. It may well change you.

China is bordered in the north by Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, to the east by North Korea and the east China Sea, to the south by Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar(Burma), Bhutan, Nepal, India and in the west by Pakistan and Afghanistan.

China has a much too varied climate to be explained in a few phrases. The weather patterns are wide in their variance. Some areas are desert while others are rich in green vegetation. The north bordering Siberia will see warm summers but bitter cold winters and the south is simply put - subtropical. If you want to visit China, check before you go to see what you will need to wear. Tour company will have the information that applies to your itinerary. For the most part it is a good rule of thumb to dress comfortably and not for formal occasions taking care to have footwear which are old friends.

China is incredible in many ways. The list of sights and things to do here is endless, not to mention the thick culture and wonders of this country. A few notable must-sees include the barren highlands of Tibet via the Silk Road to the bewildering Forbidden City at Bejing, the magnificent Great Wall of China. There are also the amazing thousands of Terracotta Warriors and Horses at the tomb of Qin Shi'huang in Xi'an, the intriguing citylife of (Shanghai), the breath-taking scenic beauty of Yunnan Province Province and the original Asia's world city - Hong Kong. China is up and rising in recent years - watch for this truly spectacular place! Traveller's suggestion: In most hostels/hotels in China, you can get a hotel business card at the front desk which includes their contact information, address, and map to it. This is very useful to give to a taxi driver when you want to return after your sightseeing.

Places of Interest:

Beijing
If your visions of Beijing are centred around pods of Maoist revolutionaries in buttoned-down tunics performing t'ai chi in Tiananmen Square, put them to rest: this city has embarked on a new millennium rollercoaster and it's taking the rest of China with it.

The spinsterish Beijing of old is having a facelift and the cityscape is changing daily. Within the city, however, you'll still find some of China's most stunning sights: the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven Park, the Lama Temple and the Great Wall, to name just a few.

Hong Kong
Hong Kong has the big city specials like smog, odour, 14 million elbows and an insane love of clatter. But it's also efficient, hushed and peaceful: the transport network is excellent, the shopping centres are sublime, and the temples and quiet corners of parks are contemplative oases.

Hong Kong has enough towering urbanity, electric streetscapes, enigmatic temples, commercial fervour and cultural idiosyncrasies to utterly swamp the senses of a visitor, and enough spontaneous, unexpected possibilities to make a complete mockery of any attempt at a strictly organised itinerary.

Macau
Macau may be firmly back in China's orbit, but the Portuguese patina on this Sino-Lusitanian Las Vegas makes it a most unusual Asian destination. It has always been overshadowed by its glitzy near-neighbour Hong Kong - which is precisely why it's so attractive.

Macau's dual cultural heritage is a boon for travellers, who can take their pick from traditional Chinese temples, a spectacular ruined cathedral, pastel villas, old forts and islands that once harboured pirates. A slew of musuems will tell you how it all came about.

ShanghaiAlthough the lights have been out for quite some time, Shanghai once beguiled foreigners with its seductive mix of tradition and sophistication. Now it is reawakening and dusting off its party shoes for another silken tango with the wider world.

In many ways, Shanghai is a Western invention. The Bund, its riverside area, and Frenchtown are the best places to see the remnants of its decadent colonial past. Move on to temples, gardens, bazaars and the striking architecture of the new Shanghai.

Xi'an
Xi'an was once a major crossroads on the trading routes from eastern China to central Asia, and vied with Rome and later Constantinople for the title of greatest city in the world. Today Xi'an is one of China's major drawcards, largely because of the Army of Terracotta Warriors on the city's eastern outskirts. Uncovered in 1974, over 10,000 figures have been sorted to date. Soldiers, archers (armed with real weapons) and chariots stand in battle formation in underground vaults looking as fierce and war-like as pottery can. Xi'an's other attractions include the old city walls, the Muslim quarter and the Banpo Neolithic Village - a tacky re-creation of the Stone Age.

Culture

Chances are, if it exists in the West, it came from the East. Think anything from noodles, football, calligraphy and ceramics to golf, ice-cream, opera, fireworks, architecture and philosophy. The Chinese were casting bronze around 5000 years ago, and the earliest chopsticks were not far behind. Chinese culture has made one of the greatest artistic contributions to humankind. Sadly, much of China's ancient art treasures have been destroyed in times of civil war or dispersed by invasion or natural calamity.

Within the last 200 years, China has undergone tremendous social and economic upheaval, all taking its toll on the national psyche. Chinese culture took a beating during the Cultural Revolution and is still recovering. There is a large cultural gap between Hong Kong and Macau and the rest of China. Hong Kong and Macau, while outwardly more modern, are also more traditionally Chinese because the Cultural Revolution didn't have such an effect there.

Funerary art was already a feature of Chinese culture in Neolithic times (9000-6000 BC), ranging from ritual vessels and weapons to pottery figures, jade and sacrificial vessels made of bronze. Earthenware production is almost as ancient, with the world's first proto-porcelain being produced in China in the 6th century AD, reaching its artistic peak under the Song rulers.

China's literary heritage is huge, but unfortunately its untranslatability makes much of it inaccessible to Western readers. Traditionally there are two forms, the classical (largely Confucian) and the vernacular (such as the prose epics of the Ming dynasty).

China has a wide variety of foods which can bet categorized in to the following: Shanghai ( mostly sea food), Sichuan (very spicy), Cantonese (mostly sea food) and Beijing (lots of noodles). Yogurt is a drink in China and is usually very good. It comes in a glass jar which needs to be returned. Beer is of differing varieties in different areas. Tsingdao is the best known. Chines beer tends to be better than the imported variety. No matter what do not drink the water if you are not in your hotel or it is not bottles. Usually travelers drink Coke or Pepsi or tea in various forms.

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