8 Tips on Travel to China.

How to travel to China is not that difficult.  When we think of China in America we may think of the Communist regime, but that has changed.  Travel to China can be very relaxing now and a great experience for solo travelers, those who will travel to China with a friend as well as people coming with families.  Here are tips on travel to China.

1. Visa

The type visa that you are looking to get for travel to China, that is if you are not married or have family living here is going to be a Z visa.  That is the tourist visa.  For some countries, primarily western countries and some European countries as well it lasts ten years.  Don’t get too excited though because you will have to exit the country every 60 days. 


How do you get a Z visa is also fairly simple, a search done line will find you several different services that will help you to obtain your visa.  All you have to do is fill out the form, get the picture, and send everything to them.  That being said you do need to book a hotel before you apply for your visa.  The Chinese government will want to know where you are going.

2. Language

Speaking Chinese is relatively easy.  You can pick up a few key phrases before you.  Ni Hou? For example, is hello in Chinese, it is also how are you, you would add the word ma.  Ma signifies that you are asking a question.  The numbers are simple enough to pick up, the hand gestures for 6-10, however, are different.  Another small tip, Quia, is like buck with dollars, they mean cash.



Reading Chinese is a whole different problem.  It’s pretty hard.  There is a character for each word.  However, using an app like Waygo or Hello Translate will help a lot as you can take a picture then translate it with your phone.  If you want to learn some Chinese before you show up, I recommend Hello Chinese, it’s free, goes on your phone and also has reading and writing in it.  It’s also kind of fun.

3. Where to Go?

There are a lot of places to go in China, but if you have never been before then I SHOULD go to Beijing first.  Did you notice the amount of emphasis I put on Beijing?  There is a very good reason for that.  A lot of the sights you are going to want to see are in Beijing.  The Forbidden City, the Old Summer Palace, The Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square, and many others are in Beijing.  I would like to add Temple of Heaven, Tsinghua, and the Lama Temple to the list.  If you have not heard of them then I recommend them as places to see on your visit.

4. Flights

Since I am recommending Beijing as your first visit, then you are best flying out of New Jersey if you can.  It sounds strange, doesn’t it?  It’s the fastest flight from the states to China.  Why?  Because the plane flies over the north pole.  So not only do you get to fly to China you also get a chance at seeing the north pole, what’s not to like.

5. Food

Let's be honest one the best reason for coming to China is the food.  A couple of things about that.  One of the food is not the same as the food that you will find at Panda Express.  Much like Taco Bell, it’s Chinese food adapted for American Tastes.  While they do have sweet and sour pork here, it’s bigger and sourer than sweet. 


One of the great things about Beijing is that they don’t adapt the food for Beijinger tastes they leave it as close to the food from the province of its origin as possible.   That being said there is some weird food in China.


Someone once commented that the Chinese will eat anything that has four legs and is not a table.  It’s true, also true that the Chinese say the same thing about Guangzhou.  A safe place to eat if you are just looking or lunch or a quick meal is Lanzhou Ramen.  It’s Chinese Muslim food and delicious.
Because they are Muslim they follow very strict rules about the preparation of food.   I recommend tudou niu rou lamien (to doe knee oh row la me en.)  It’s beef, potatoes, and noodles, delicious.

6. Hotels

Hotels are pretty cheap actually.  You can get a five-star hotel for under a hundred dollars as a night.  Of course the closer you are to some areas and attraction the more expensive it will be.  Here are four hotels in the heart of Beijing worth checking out.


Ibis Beijing Dongdaqiao Hotel- $83 a night.


Park Plaza Beijing Wangfujing- $147 a night.


The Emperor Tiananmen Beijing- $240 a night. 


Sunworld Dynasty Hotel Wangfujing Beijing- $83 a night


All four of these are five-star hotels that are centrally located near some of the best attractions that Beijing has to offer.  For more options click here.

7. Sights

A lot of what you will want to see your first time in China are listed here.


The Great Wall- One of Beijing’s main attractions.  You can catch a bus at Deshengmen Bus Terminal, which can be found near Jishuitan MTR station on line 2.  The bus ride is about an hour and a half but only causes 12 RMB which is under two bucks. 


Forbidden City- The place complex is right in the middle of the city and can be accessed from either Tiananmen East or West MTR stations on line 2.  There is a lot to see around the complex including parks, museums, and other historical sites.  A quick warning do not go on Chinese national holidays, so many people!


Olympic Park- With some cool architecture, as well as the fact that they will be using it again during the next winter Olympics now, is a great time to go and see the park.  A good time to go is at night to see the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube lite up at night.  You can get there on line 8 getting off at Olympic Park Center.


The Old Summer Palace- considered an architectural wonder it was used by the emperors in Beijing.  That is till it was destroyed by the English and French.  You can find it at Yuanmingyuan station on line 4.


Tsinghua- It’s the top university in China, but that’s not the reason for visiting.   It was built on the old imperial guardians.  You can rent a bike near the south entrance that is near the Wudaokou subway station on line 13.  Take a relaxing bike ride through the campus.  One hint is to head west when you enter as the better scenery is towards the western part of the campus.


Lama Temple- Is the largest Buddhist temple in Beijing.  It is great for seeing a different side of Chinese culture.  There are some good vegetarian restaurants near there.  Also, there is a cool kind of artsy street that has a Mexican restaurant, a Greek restaurant, a brewery and a vampire bar down it.  Look for the KFC and Costa coffee then walk down that street.  The Lama Temple is located at Yonghegong station on line 2 or 5


Temple of Heaven- the Temple of Heaven is a large temple complex that is great for taking pictures, or just having a peaceful stroll.  It was constructed during the Ming dynasty for religious purposes but was also used by the Qing emperors.  The Temple can be found at Tiantan East Gate station on line
5.  If you are interested you can also look into seeing the Temple of Earth, Temple of the Moon and the Temple of the Sun all also located in Beijing.

8. Paying for things.

The best way to pay for things is with your phone.  The most common ones here are Alipay and Wechat, sadly for both, you need a Chinese bank account.  That being said Apple pay is accepted as well as What’s app.  Using cash is possible.  The only problem is that when they see the cash they might forget how to use it for a second.  The problem is some cashiers and stores don’t want to deal with it anymore.


This is also a phenomenon that is only in China.  When it comes to change they will try and make it as easier for them as they can versus how it would be in America.  Here is an example, say you want to buy a pencil.  The pencil costs 76 cents. In American, we would just give a dollar.  In China, they would give a dollar and one penny so that the cashier can just give a quarterback to you.  Sound weird, yeah it takes some getting used to.


I hope you have a great time in Beijing and the rest of China.  Please be kind and support this blog!

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