China- One of the best places on earthAug 27 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Remember you only live once so China is a wonderful country to experience so much since it has so much history. During my extensive travels in China I have learned a vast amount of knowledge and know a lot about the country. In the following I will describe all the best places in China and tell you why to visit them. I hope my information is helpful for you so that your visit to China will a great as mine have been. To start: I would recommend starting in Beijing just for geographical purposes. If you are flying from the US you will probably stop at one or more of the following airports. LA International Airport, Hong Kong Internation Airport, or Narita Airport (Tokyo). When you eventually arrive in Beijing you will then proceed to your hotel. Taking a taxi will be perfectly safe and also inexpensive. I recommend the St. Regis Beijing or the Palace Hotel. When you get around for site seeing there are many famous things. First of all there is Tianamen Square, the location of all the protests in 1989 as you have probably heard. Then make your way to the Forbidden City, home of the emperor until the Communists took over. It is called the Forbidden City because no one was allowed in or out unless special permission was granted and here the emperor lived most of his life. To finish it off stop at the Temple of Heaven and the emperor's other home his Summer Palace. As for food you will find many good places to eat and there is no need to worry about there being no western food. If you have a sensitive stomach and still want Chinese have Cantonese which is not spicy and more like the Chinese food in the US. This information on food will apply to all city's unless otherwise noted. From Beijing you can take a three hour car ride out to see the great wall, truly the eighth wonder of the world. It is amazing and goes on forever. Please see my more extensive comments on the great wall by searching it on epinions. Next I would recommend going to Xi'an either by train or plane. Here you can see the Terra Cotta soldiers which were created to guard to tomb of an emperor. They were discovered by three farmer's digging a well who found a head in the ground and after years of work most of it have been discovered. Hundreds of the soldiers have been put back together. According to Chinese military formations there should be one more group of soldiers that has yet to be found. There are also many other things to see, for more information search Xi'an and you will find my comments. From Xi'an you can travel to Chongquing where you can take a river cruise along the Yangze River up to Wuhan. The scenery is marvelous and indescribable. You really need to see it to believe me. If you go soon you can still see the construction of the mighty Three Gorges Dam (to be the biggest ever). They will control the flow of the Yangze and change the landscape. Also you can see the hanging coffins which are coffins of emperors placed in unreachable places in mountain sides. They were placed there by ropes since the mountains go straight up. Once in Wuhan you can travel to Shanghai which is unbelievable. It is probably, along with Hong Kong, the most modern city in the world. From here you can get great shopping and you can also visit some of the amazing architecture as well as some of the temples. The Bunt is an amazing place with all of the old western architecture from when the Europeans ruled the city. Along the Bunt you can stay at the famous Peace Hotel which is really an experience. Hong Kong, like Shanghai, is a very modern city and well known for its shopping in designer clothes and also antiques. I recommend antique shopping here because, even though prices are a little high, you will be sure that they are real antiques. It is fun (and safe) to go to the side street markets and also the well known Night Market. For much more indepth description look up Hong Kong and you will find my opinion titled Hong Kong- Jewel of China. Here you can find out about hotels, transportation, shopping, eating and more. From Hong Kong we leave for Chengdu, one of three cities from which you can enter Lhasa,Tibet. In Chengdu, you best hotel is either the state-run one or the Holiday Inn (both 5-stars). It is best to eat in the hotel here instead of venturing out into some dark back alley so that the quality of your food is ensured. There is no need to spend too much time here but one nice thing to see is the UN Panda Reserve which has been featured on many TV shows. You will see the world's largest collection of pandas including the normal black and white ones and also red pandas which are cute and resemble a raccoon. Lhasa is the capital city of Tibet and is very poor. The airport is old and about an hour and a half from the city. The best hotel is the Lhasa Hotel which prides itself on being "The former Holiday Inn." In Lhasa you can see many monks everywhere and there are many monasteries to visit but the main attraction is the Potala Palace. The Potala Palace has always been home to the Dalia Lama until the Chinese invasion when he fled to India. It is amazing and full of monuments to former Dalia Lamas. Estimates say that billions of dollars of gold is found throughout the Potala in their stupas to former Dalia Lamas. From the street outside you can find great views of the palace which is painted red and white for the old and new sections. Then to Kunming. Kunming is home to the famous Stone Forest which was previously a sea bed an now has amazing stone "spikes" which shoot up and you can walk around. It is the type of thing that really makes u realize how magnificent nature is. As for hotels I recommend the Westin. It was very inexpensive and the room was unbelievable. For $70 you got a room that would have been $200 in the US. Also, while dining in the hotel, the manager came over to us and was extremely friendly. He even presented many different dishes for free. This should end your tour of China. You would probably take a plane to Hong Kong and then fly out of there. I promise it will be the trip of a lifetime and one you will never forget.  |
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