I figured this is as good a place as any to get this advice these days. Anyway, I am still trying to figure out a vacation destination this spring and was thinking about going to China. I like my vacations to be "active/adventure" type vacations, in other words, I like there to be hiking, horseback riding, rafting and that kind of thing to be involved. While I enjoy seeing cities & stuff, the adventure travel thing is my newest kick, (for example I spent two weeks in Outer Mongolia last summer) so I don't just want to go to Beijing or Shanghai and call it a trip. Also, since I've already been to Outer Mongolia, I don't really need to see Inner Mongolia or the Gobi. That being said, any advice on regions, destinations, itineraries, etc in China that have this sort of thing? I imagine most of this stuff would be in Western China, correct?
http://www.tsingtaobeer.com/brewery/brewery.htm Qingdao is supposed to be a pretty interesting city. It might be a cool place to visit on your journey to stop and get a beer. This pic is actually from their City Goverment Homepage promoting beer sampling. Mount Laoshan is also close. http://www.gov.qd.sd.cn/travel/t24.htm
Hey, I'm going to China this summer too, gonna stay there for a month. For the stuffs you like, Guilin in Guangxi province is your best choice, truly beautiful place, lots of water and mountains, one of the less polluted area in China.
Out of deference to rimbaud...i'm not going to touch that one. We'll settle this via e-mail wild4wombats@yahoo.com
Why do you need to fly halfway around the world to raft, hike and ride horses? This can be done in the US. BENEDICT ARNOLD VACATIONER
Um... do you mean Dollywood as in Dolly Parton's theme park in Tennessee? Or do you mean Bollywood, as in India's Hollywood (which would tie in with the outsourcing joke I made). Perhaps this is a freudian slip which exposes your lust for Dolly Partons ta-ta's?
Check out this website (you can spend days at the website alone). They have an adventure expedition in Tibet, but check out the ones in Chile and BC as well. Even if the whole thing is too "orchestrated" for you, you should at least get some great ideas: http://www.earthriver.com/expeditions.asp?header=4&ss=3
I havent been to xinjiang for security reasons, but i have been to two places that may fit your plans. TIbet is one, but if you are not accustomed to REALLY high altitude, you will be sick for a few days, especially if you are athletic, otherwise there are a lot of places to hike, and i can actually refer you to a nice woman to stay with who runs a respectable inn for hikers (in lhasa). however, if the altitude is too much, i highly reccomend Kun Ming, also known as spring city, there are tons of places to hike around there, including 2 stone forests, one of which i found a dead body in, but thats another story. keep in mind that as far as the accesible parts for foreigners in China, you won't get far from crowded areas and cities. You should also look at trips along the silk road. Take advantage of any country seeing in China now, because it won't be there for long.
Do NOT Go!!!!!!!!!!! you will be stoned by the billons of YOFs there! your AntiYao attitude is known to probabally half the chinese population
Man you are lucky! I was going to visit China along with Viet Nam and Thailand, Next January/February. But the friends my wife and I were going to go with had a change of plans and it looks like the trip is off. We could go to anyway, but they knew folks that were going to put us up for parts of the trip, and make it cheaper, and give us a local's view of things. I think we'll be saving for an extra year and try again. I hope you have a great trip.
HAHAHAHA... I was just about to say that. Except I was gonna say I dunno how well Chinese people take to brazen Americans. But as far as the Yao problem, it's gonna be no problem for him because in China more people criticize Yao than here.
When I go back, I just gorge in food, that's it. Best food in the whole world and at a fraction of your avg sit down restaurant.
