Make This Holiday Gift the Best Ever
The People's Republic of China Offers Adventure & Lifelong Memories
Nov 15, 2009
Why buy into a Disneyland-Jungle-Cruise-style tour when, with the help of the Internet, it’s easy to create a one-of-a-kind vacation filled with foreign sights, sounds and smells? This holiday, give the gift of wonder with pictures and memories that will last a lifetime.
Unearth a latent sense of adventure and dust off the walking shoes hidden in the closet. There’s no need to follow someone else’s itinerary or get caught in the current of tourists going from carefully produced “show” to “show”. Bask in the cultural charm honed to perfection over thousands of years while savoring the spicy flavors of ancient recipes in settings worthy of a blockbuster movie with nary a Western face in sight. Travel in China can be done independently, and on a tight budget.
Rather than paying to stay in the pricey five star hotels built to Western standards, volunteer – or get paid – to teach English at a children’s school for a week and try a hotel filled with locals. Or, avoid hotels completely and couchsurf or camp your way across the country.
Celebrate a Holiday in China, or Check Out Special Interest Tourism
Travel during the summer and Chinese holidays is always more expensive. So, come early, stay late and skip places that charge. Utilize a free host service to find new friends and places to stay. It’s a great time to be included in the celebrations of a native family.
- Celebrate the new year – Chinese New Year is on Valentine’s Day in 2010 – with a loved one. Invigorate a relationship or write a personal love story fired by a passion that has been lit by the romance of a cling-to-each-other tour for two.
- National Holiday is the first week of October and most of China is on vacation. Plan in advance to spend it with newly found friends in their city or somewhere else.
- Learn about lesser known but equally fun celebrations like the Dragon Boat Festival and Luoyang Peony Festival.
- Avoid the most crowded, touristy sections of the Great Wall near Beijing which have been reconstructed and hyped up for tourist fleecing. Take a wild wall hike, or visit Shanhaiguan where the wall, Laolongtou (Old Dragon Head) runs into the sea.
- Trace the journeys of Marco Polo and visit places where foreign faces are still unfamiliar sights.
- Instead of being a spectator at a Chinese folk show, go to a small village not on the tourist circuit and be the guest of honor at the open air town dance that is held every night of the summer or holiday season.
- Visit Sichuan and help earthquake victims in their ongoing efforts to start over.
- Do an end run around the ticket hawkers for the Li River Cruise where tour boats follow one another and serve mass-produced lunches. Instead, hire a small boat and choose the speed of travel. Stop and order lunch at any of the villages along the route. Better yet, rent a place or camp out for a week and soak up the grandeur until the senses are glutted.
- A one-hour foot massage without a “happy ending” can cost a foreigner 200 yuan, which seems like a reasonable price based on massage prices “back home”. Local people get the same treatment – or better – for 20 to 30 yuan. Knowing what something should cost improves China travel.
The List of Possibilities for Chinese Adventure Travel is Endless
To make the “best gift” tangible, give Chinese travel guides – like Lonely Planet or Frommer's – and anything that will be useful on the trip. Then spend an hour or two reading and dreaming of that perfect vacation:
- Go native! Ride a camel through Mongolia or horses in Tibet.
- Sleep in a yurt.
- Bargain at a farmer’s market for food to eat for lunch.
- Ride a motorcycle through the desert following the ancient Silk Road.
- Wander the streets of Ping Yao which is the same today as it was during the Qing Dynasty.
- Eat Kaifeng baozi, an exquisitely delicious small steamed dumpling with meat and juice inside.
- Skip the taxis, get down and dirty riding buses with the natives.
In many Western countries the thrill of anticipation has become a victim of consumerism and instant credit purchases. Theme park rides have nearly extinguished the delight that comes from a sense of danger that often accompanies the unknown or unexpected. Renew these basic feelings and discover the joy that thinking, planning and adventuring can bring.
After the initial gift is opened, spend hours pouring over the myriad choices presented in the travel guides and online. Review the thousands of attractions, then make a prioritized list of desired places to visit. Create a rough outline of an itinerary but expect to make detours. Leave plenty of time to follow unexpected opportunities.
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