I'm planning my first trip to China for fall 2002. I am still deciding whether to travel independently in China or to join an organized group. I've traveled on 6 continents before, often independently, occasionally with a group. I've been advised that China is several orders of magnitude more difficult for independent travel than other places I've traveled.
I'm looking at 3 IT trips: China Unmasked, Yangtse and the Southwest, and Journey Across China. (If I join an organized trip, I definitely want the trip to include a cruise through the 3 Gorges.)
My first questions are to anyone who has taken any of these trips before: Will I feel rushed on these itineraries? Do the trips offer sufficient time to explore a place on my own in addition to the time spent in group activities?
My next question is to anyone who has traveled in China: What are your thoughts on the differences among these trips? Those differences are the grasslands, villages, and cities of Mongolia and a camel trek (China Unmasked) vs Hong Kong, Guilin/Yangshuo, Kunming/Shilin, the pandas, Giant Buddha in Leshan, and Dazu (Yangtse and the Southwest) vs Guilin/Yangshuo, Kunming/Shilin, Dali, Tiger Leaping Gorge, and Lijiang (Journey Across China). It seems all 3 trips include the 3 Gorges cruise, Beijing and the Great Wall, Luoyang and the caves, and Xian and the terra cotta warriors. At the conclusion of any of the trips, I will probably visit Shanghai on my own.
Thank you for any answers or suggestions.
Re: China travel
Dear Carl,
I am very pleased that you are considering a trip in China this year. China is truly a fascinating country with a wide range of things to do and see.
China's vast size makes it very difficult to see all of the intersting places in one visit. All of our tours are designed to visit a number of intersting sights and also to provide you with enough time to see smaller sights that may be of interst to you. Our tour leaders will provide you with all the information you need to get the most of each day without dragging you around sights that you are not keen to visit.
The tours that you have selected are all very popular this year and all 3 are unique in their own ways. They all visit the main sights in Beijing, Xian, Luoyang and they cruise through the 3gorges on the Yangtse river.
The China Unmasked tour visits the Inner Mongolia region where you will stay in a traditional ger in the grasslands. Here you will have a chance to go horse riding, or participate in Mongolian wrestling or archery. The camel safari is a wonderful experience. The desert which is adjacent to the Yellow River consists of rolling sand dunes that seem to go on for ever.
The Journey across China tour visits the wonderful Minority towns of Dali and Lijiang in Kunming, and you will trek through the awesome Tiger Leaping Gorge. In Kunming, you should also have time to visit the naturally formed forrest of Stone at Shilin.
The Yangtse aand Southwest tour is a Traveller standard tour, where many meals are included aswell as all entrances fees for sights visited as part of the itinerary. This tour visits the Giant Buddah at Leshan aswell as visiting the Panda research centre of Chengdu.
All of these trips will leave you with wonderful memories of China.
I hope to see you in China this year
Kind regards
Alf Exposito