About China and Travel Tips

Archive for August, 2009

Have you ever experienced a serious disaster whilst on holiday? If not, itâ??s merely a matter of time. It has been said there are two kinds of travellers, those that have experienced a problem holiday and those that are still going to.

Tasked with identifying the top ten travel tips immediately got my mind going but an idea soon took shape. Why not use the experiences of the professionals, ask them to identify the more common causes of problems when travelling. Unbeknown to me this certainly dropped the cat amongst the pigeons, largely because limiting this to only ten became a problem, thank you so much to all those who were a part of the panel.

One of the most common problems and a unanimous choice of the panel were problems surrounding logistical arrangements. Largely related to reservations; dates and ticketing, these can be problematic despite the ease and simplicity of the internet. It is imperative when planning any holiday to any destination that all bookings are made well in advance, followed up either by e-mail or telephone a few days before your departure and still in time to rectify problems if discovered. After this has been done, prevent further problems by ensuring you have proof in the form of copies of any relevant document or reference number, this could be a receipt confirmation of a deposit paid or any item depending on your personal arrangements. This is one of those suggestions where prevention is definitely far better than cure.

Our second tip is all encompassing and covers the packing of essential items. Obviously these items might vary according to your personal plans but would perhaps include items such as passports and ID documents; applicable drivers licences; money – credit cards, wallets and other financial needs; mobile phones and cameraâ??s, (get with it, preferably digital) are essential items nowadays, together with supporting items such as chargers and memory cards. On my personal list are always sunglasses, activity equipment, a few books, a pack of cards, a multi-purpose pocket knife and other smaller items or games which always come in handy.

How are we doing so far, the bottom line is that with tip numbers one and two you can go almost anywhere in the world and if you have forgotten anything else you can purchase them en route.

Tip number three is so absolutely boring you might well stop reading at this point but it remains one of the most common causes of holidays being cancelled. Before you leave home ensure that all domestic matters are resolved and tucked in to bed. These will again vary but will certainly surround adequate locking up and security issues; paying all accounts, in particular municipal services; cancelling any deliveries; ensuring access is available to a trusted friend or relative in the event of a fire or emergency; ensuring pets are adequately cared for and that someone responsible is able to contact you in the case of emergency during your holiday. Yesâ?¦boringâ?¦.but oh so often the cause of having to either come back early or returning to face a smelly deep freeze or worse.

The basics are covered and now we can move onto the fun part, tip number four surrounds choosing the right holiday for your needs and enjoyment. To haul three children under ten years old to a game reserve for ten days will stretch your patience and theirs, you might enjoy spending half an hour looking at a bird or waiting for an Elephant to come to a waterhole while sipping a Chardonnay, they certainly wouldnâ??t. If you have had a really stressful year and are going on holiday for a time out, a few days in London followed by a few in Rome and a low cost flight via Moscow to save a few cents would mean lots of flights; too many airports and complicated transit arrangements. Our panel suggests taking a few extra minutes to analyse the real needs of all travelling partners before selecting your holiday destination.

You have analysed your own needs and decided on letâ??s say a scuba diving holiday as an example. Tip number five stays with destination choice and is all about research. Thatâ??s easy I hear you saying, once youâ??ve decided what type of holiday you want. However, you could also end up on a scuba diving holiday in monsoon season, perhaps to a great destination at most times of the year but in the month you have chosen, itâ??s infested with mosquitoâ??s and a temperature of 45 degrees, is that what you wanted.

Perhaps you might be looking for a quiet and romantic getaway and choose a week in a Spanish seaside village only to find out it clashes with a local political election and the local school holidays. Time researching local conditions is well spent, beware particularly of special offers or discounts, these are usually offered for a reason and often due to seasonality or other sub-optimal characteristics of the destination at the time the offer applies. This same principle applies to discounted flights and packages, itâ??s important to be fully aware of which items and costs are included and not included in the price.

How far have we gone so far, in summary we have the logistics and essential equipment under control, chosen a stunning destination to ensure our needs are covered and we have selected the dates to suit the destination characteristics.

Tip number six is about the modern day wonder of the travellersâ?? world. You guessed it, the internet. This modern tool enables you to ensure you are fully au fait with all and any information you might need. From discoâ??s to dive centres, museums to mausoleums, cathedrals to camping grounds, the information is easily available to you from the comfort of your home; office or failing which, an internet café. Referring back to our Spanish village, if you want to know the history, what to see and do while youâ??re there, the internet provides this service. Even once youâ??re there, if you want to send pics and news to someone at home, the internet has really made this simple. I read recently that in excess of 70% of all travel arrangements are now made on-line, wow, that is an awesome number and it is no doubt climbing, not without reason.

A list of top ten tips would definitely be incomplete without a reference to the importance of adequate packing. Notice we say adequate as it does vary according to destination and travel method. A car trip to Port Alfred with a trailer and roof rack is a far different scenario than a flight to London. Tip number seven is to pack early; to pack correctly and most of all to pack according to a well prepared list. One often makes the mistake of packing too much, leaving little room for error and no space to include a few souvenirs or that tee-shirt that looked so good in the market. On a personal note our family has a rule, what you pack you carry; this has a fantastic effect of ensuring no one packs without a plan.

The boring battle of the budget. We all have dream destinations we hope to get to one day; this is unfortunately not a reality for most of us. Tip number eight is to ensure you remain within your personal limits of expenditure. Interest rates are high and could get higher; credit offered by banks can be easily obtained by utilising the credit card options so often available. You donâ??t want to spend the year after your holiday stressed out about how youâ??re going to pay it back during the rest of the year. Plan adequately before and during your holiday. Whilst itâ??s certainly fun to spoil yourselves during a holiday, we suggest you allocate a daily allowance to each person and to the whole group; this will certainly help control costs, particularly in an international destination when one is not fully conversant, it can come back and bite quite hard.

The members of our panel are all seasoned travellers, local and overseas. In conversation we certainly learned that all had on occasion bumped their heads or made often silly mistakes. Our unanimous tip number nine is to enjoy South Africa. As residents of this beautiful country we are all absolutely blessed to live within a reasonable distance from either a beach; lake; mountain; game reserve or whatever it might be that appeals to your family. Too often we feel the need to travel far and wide when itâ??s all on our doorstep. We might travel to an exotic dive destination but havenâ??t yet experienced Aliwal Shoal; sit on a Mauritian Beach when our coast offers some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, perhaps even camping in France when youâ??ve never been to the Drakensberg or Clarens.

It might be a cliché but we really do have it all in one country. We certainly hope that our leaders will take every action to ensure that it stays that way. We in turn need to appreciate it and invest in local tourism and the job creation it offers. Our panel felt that we need to market ourselves as a destination a little better than we do, encouraging local travellers that Cairo is perhaps not always better than Cape Town. Local is lekker, it has its place alongside braaivleis, biltong, sunny skies and all the rest.

This might be our last tip of the ten we were confined to but it is the simplest and most important â?? have fun! Youâ??ve worked hard, you deserve your holiday, please donâ??t forget to enjoy it. In most cases when on holiday, one is surrounded by those your love the most, those dearest and closest.

What an absolute blessing to be able to spend quality time in a holiday destination with those you love.

This article is about the China vacations and you can find some useful information in it if you are planning your China vacations now.

Changsha is the capital of Hunan Province. The history of the city dates back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC) and Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). It is also the centre of Huxiang Culture. Encompassing 11,819 square kilometres, the city is composed of five districts and four counties with a population of 5.82 million. The area and population of the city proper are 554 square kilometres and 1.51 million respectively. The city lies in the rich Xiangjiang Plain. The yearly average temperature is 17.2 C’ . At the end of 1998, Changsha was named China’s “excellent tourist city.” The mainstay industries of Changsha are food, electronics, machinery, chemicals, building materials, textiles, pharmaceuticals and metallurgy. Traditional export products including Hunan embroidery, fireworks, pottery, porcelain and granite enjoy a good reputation in the international market.

Changsha is not a very big city and you don’t need a tour guide here. There are some good places for you if you are a big fan of Karaoke:

(1). Wensha: It is located in the famous Huangxinlu Street of Changsha. Wensha is most people’s first choice for Karaoke in Changsha. The price is a little bit high but the sound systems are perfect. There is no free buffet in it.  ( small room: 380 rmb for 4 hours, middle room: 620 rmb for 4 hours. ) The phone number for reservation: 0731-2827777. There are no enough small rooms in Wensha and you’d better make a reservation if you need a small room in Wensha.

(2). Party World (Qiangui): It is a very famous KTV brand in China. There is another “Diamond Party World (Zhuanshi Qiangui)” in Changsha and it has nothing to do with the Party World. The “Diamond Party World” is very expensive and their services are terrible. The real Party World is located in the opposite of Xilandeng Hotel. To get here, you can get a taxicab and just tell the driver to go to the Party World (Qiangui) close to the Xilandeng Hotel. The bus is not a good choice for your Changsha travel because their serives are not so good here.

(3). Haoledi: The sound systems here are not bad and price is not high. Only 168 rmb for a night ( 4-5 hours). Haoledi is close to the big ferris wheel of Changsha and you can see the night scenes of Changsha after your Karaoke if you like. The view is not bad here.

If you are looking for some cheap hotels or motels in Changsha, here are some good options for you: 7 Days Inn, Friendship Hotel, Hanting Inns & Hotels. They are all in the famous Huangxinlu Street and the price is not high.  ( You can find more information about the China vacations, Beijing flights and Lhasa travel at Travel2ChinaInfo Dot COM )
 
Another thing you need to know is that there are many thieves in Changsha and you have to be very careful about your cell phone or bags. My friend lost 3 cell phones and 2 wallets in a year here.

Eat in Changsha: The snacks here are very attractive to the travellers. The most famous restaurant here is the Huogongdian (in Huangxinlu Street). It is called a “restaurant with a history of more than 100 years”. This place is also Chairman Mao’s ( The 1st president of P.R.China ) favourite. I like the Buliaoguo here. It is in the Huangxinlu Street too and is notable of its chafing dishes. The chafing dishes here are cheaper than the Huogongdian.

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As with any area of specialization, there are business travelers who always seem to know what they are doing and those who constantly seem to be in a state of crisis. The business traveler who has been at it a while figures out some insider information that not many travelers know. These little travel secrets make the world of difference when traveling. And you can bet they are not going to share this information with just anyone because this is the kind of information that can change the nature of your business travel forever.

Your laptop is a crucial piece of equipment as you travel. In an airport emergency situation, your wireless laptop can be used to change reservations so you can avoid those long lines to get on the next flight out. You can reserve a rental car or snag one of the few remaining hotel rooms in town right from the comfort of a seat at the airport. Then the savvy business traveler can casually stroll to his or her designation as others around them panic because they knew how to leverage technology and the internet to bail themselves out of a crisis situation.

But one aspect of using your laptop to rescue yourself when the airport is in shut down is the limited power of laptops. To see your battery go dead just when you needed it the most is like watching your ship sink as the sharks circle the lifeboat. What not many people know is that there are open electrical outlets in airports that are there for cleaning crews if you know where they are. Usually these outlets are just under the windows that overlook the landing strips so if you can secure a seat near these outlets, you can charge up your laptop and keep your lifeline to the world alive.

Business travelers also know how to take full advantage of resources that are made available to business travelers exclusively. Find hotels that cater to the traveling businessperson. These hotels will not have amenities for families nor are they trying to bring in busses of teenagers on the way to camp. So you can find a hotel with much fewer young people making noise and being a nuisance when you are trying to focus on business.

The more authentic information about business travel tips you know, the more likely people are to consider you a business travel tips expert. Read on for even more business travel tips facts that you can share.

In addition to using businesses that cater to the business traveler, take advantage of frequent flyer and priority clubs that many airlines and hotels offer. If you are going to travel a lot, you can rack up some credits on those clubs, which can result in upgrades to first class, better accommodations or free services when you stay at your selected hotels. They win because they capture your travel dollar. You win because you get pampered for a while.

You can gain a lot of convenience and reduce your hassles by using a less popular airport to come into town. By utilizing an airport in a smaller town near by and renting a car, you get out of the congestion of traffic and can drive to your destination without that exposure to the masses all pushing and shoving to get through the major hubs.

Extra copies of travel documents can speed things up a lot especially if you are leaving the country. Often when you are going through customs, you must surrender your passport so the customs agent can make a copy. So you make a copy before you get there and give it to them. With a quick scan, they can confirm that it is a legitimate copy and have you on your way much quicker.

Don’t overlook how public transportation can bail you out of dealing with a lot of traffic in large city situations. In Washington or New York, the subways work exceptionally well. If you can get out of the airport area via mass transit, you can find a rental car location in town and conduct your business with less wait and without the traffic jams you would face at the airport. Plus airport rental car sites are more expensive than those in town.

These little tips can go a long way toward making your trip less of a hassle, less expensive and more successful. By knowing how to get around the big crowds and use the resources made available to business travelers, your trip will be more efficient, more relaxed and more successful.

You can’t predict when knowing something extra about business travel tips will come in handy. If you learned anything new in this article, you should file the article where you can find it again.

This article is about the China vacations and you can find some useful information in it if you are planning your China vacations now.

The Macau Special Administrative Region, commonly known as Macau or Macao, is one of the two special administrative regions of the People’s Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong. Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong province in the north and facing the South China Sea in the east and south. The territory has thriving industries such as textiles, electronics and toys, and a notable tourist industry that boasts a wide range of hotels, resorts, stadiums, restaurants and casinos. This makes it one of the richest cities in the world. Macau’s economy is based largely on tourism, much of it geared toward gambling. The gaming, tourism and hospitality industry is estimated to contribute more than 50% of Macau’s GDP, and 70% of Macau government revenue.

First, there are three useful advices for your Macau travel:

(1). The RMB or U.S. dollars are not accepted in Macau and you’d better do the currency exchange before you arrive Macau. You can only use the HK $ or Portuguese Escudo (PTE) here. 1 HK $ = 1 Portuguese Escudo in Macau. If you are also going to visit Hongkong, the HK $ is your good choice because the Portuguese Escudo is not accepted in Hongkong. You will need to get some changes for the bus service too (like some coins). Usually the bus in Macau costs HK $ 2.5 for one person. You can do the currency exchange in Macau for sure, but the exchange rate are not so good here (comparing with other cities in China). The digital video and digital camera are good equipments for your Macau travel. You can use your cell phone here if your cell phone service provider can provide you the international roam service in Macau.

(2). If you are planning to visit Macau in the weekend and will need to stay here for one night, you’d better ask a local travel agent ( travel agents in Macau or Zhuhai) to make a reservation for you first. You will find it very difficult to find a hotel with reasonable price if you don’t do the reservation in advance. The cost will be about HK $ 700-1000 if you don’t make a reservation. If you do this in advance, your travel agent can help you to get your room at only about HK $ 300. Sometimes it is even lower than this if you are lucky.

(3). The people in Macau speak three languages: English, Portuguese and Cantonese. You can choose the Xinmalu Street (Shizheng Square) as your first stop in Macau. The Macau Government Tourist Office is in this street and you can get free Macau maps here. They can be very helpful for your Macau travel.  ( You can find more information about the China vacations, Beijing flights and Lhasa travel at Travel2ChinaInfo Dot COM )

Here is  a list of the useful phone numbers in Macau:
Emergency: 999.
Emergency (for travellers from China mainland): 110.
Emergency (for foreigen travellers): 112.
Fire: 572222.
Shanding Hosptital: 313731.
Hotline for travellers: 333000.
Macau Government Tourist Office: 315566.
Consumers’ Association: 307820.
Macau International Airport: 861111.
Weather info: 1311.
Time: 141.

The main bus lines in Macau are:
1, 1a, 2, 3, 3a, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8a, 9, 9a, 10, 10a, a0b, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 28b, 28bx, 28c, 32. ( HK $ 2.5 for one person)

Some 4 stars and 5 stars hotels in Macau:
4 stars hotels : Fuhao Hotel (tel: 853 782288), Zhongguodajiudian Hotel (tel: 853 851166), Jingao Hotel (tel: 853 781233), Junyi Hotel (tel: 853 837788), Macau Holidy Hotel ( tel: 853 783333).
5 stars hotels : Pujing Hotel (tel: 853 577666), Kaiyue Hotel (tel: 853 831234).

Copyright belongs to Travel2ChinaInfo Dot COM .  You can find more information about lhasa travel,beijing flights and china vacations from our web site.
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Chinese cooking has yielded some of the most delicious foods that are available, but you may feel as if the techniques used to prepare and cook the foods are too complicated or unfamiliar to produce good results. The truth is that Chinese cooking is simple, and can be done by almost anyone.

Chinese cooking is usually done in a wok or a bamboo steamer. A wok is simply a large, bowl shaped pan that can hold soups, stews or stir fry easily. Bamboo steamers are made from bamboo, and are used to make dumplings, meats and vegetables.

You will use the bamboo steamer inside the wok, which will be filled with water. You do not need to use a lot of water, but you will want to make sure that there is enough water so that the wok does not dry before the food is cooked, and that the water is boiling before you add the steamer.
You will also want to line the bamboo steamer with either cabbage leaves or lettuce leaves to make sure that your food does not stick to your steamer. Most Chinese foods can be cooked with these two simple cooking utensils.

A wok is a great choice for making healthy and nutritious vegetable dishes, since you can use a high heat for your dishes so that little cooking time is required. Since Chinese cooking can be completed in just a few minutes in a wok, your family will love being able to have their favorite Chinese food anytime.

When you cook Chinese food, it is best to use ingredients that are fresh. Most Chinese cooking is very simple, using only meats and vegetables with seasonings such as ginger, soy and garlic. The staples of Chinese cooking include beef, pork, chicken, cabbage and rice.

Typically, meats are used for seasonings in Chinese foods such as dumplings and stir fry’s rather than the main ingredient. Fresh vegetables and fruits are very common in Chinese cooking.

Some Chinese cooking does require some practice to make, such as egg rolls and dumplings. The main problem that you are likely to encounter is working with and folding the wrappers for these Chinese foods.

A good tip to remember is to make sure that you measure the foods you put into the wrappers, so that all of the egg rolls or dumplings cook in the same amount of time. You can cook egg rolls and dumplings either in hot oil for a crunchy snack, or in a steamer for a softer one. Typically, egg rolls are fried while dumplings are steamed, although you can always choose the cooking method that suits your family best.

You can put any combination of foods that you like in your dumplings and egg rolls. Chinese cooking is very versatile, and recipes can be adjusted to meet the tastes of even the pickiest members of your family.

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