I travel to China several times a year mainly for fun but also to check out hotels and new tourist attractions for my book. The following information is not in my 2002 book.  

The following items are dated with the month the information was obtained. Everything is subject to change but this should give you a good idea of what to expect. Please also look at our collection of photos from some of these places.

Vertical Layout Slides - Landscape Layout Slides

The last update for this page was 12/31/08

Destinations

Anyang
(page 530)
I did a quick day trip here from Zhengzhou. This is one of the major archaeological sites in China, a capital of the Shang dynasty, one of China's oldest.

There is now a decent three-star hotel if you have to spend the night here. The Feng Leyuan Hotel is in the Hua Shan Road Development Area, 455000. Tel. 372/3901888, Fax 3901777. Rooms range from Y398 to Y438, and suites from Y688 to Y1888. Add 10% service charge, but ask about its discount. It even has a small gym, business center, and foreign exchange. Little or no English spoken.

The Memorial Temple of Yue Fei (not in my book) is now surrounded by a fascinating street full of old-style shops and buildings. The temple itself is interesting because it honors this maligned 12th century official who was proved to be right-- after his execution. People still spit on the statues of his accusers.

The important Yin Ruins are 3.5 km. to the northwest of the Feng Leyuan Hotel, and the aerial school is 3.5 km. north of it.

The Anyang Aerial Sports School is still very much in business. This is the main place for aerial sports in China and the only place where foreigners can rent planes to fly themselves (at about US$300 an hour.) It has AN-2s, Astir-Jarus-Cessna 172Rs, Yun-5s, and Robinson helicopters in its fleet of over 50 aircraft. If you have a pilot's license, you still need to take a test here before you can fly on your own. The easiest way around this is to have a licensed Chinese pilot fly with you. It has 30 instructors in Anyang.

As for gliding, you have to have a US or Chinese glider's license. A Chinese glider's license, said Qin Jianmin, who is involved with the school, takes about 15 days to get, and costs US$4000, and is valid all over the world. It involves 100 launches at US$40 a launch.

The center also has "motor-parachuting," sky-diving, and hot air ballooning. It costs $200 an hour for motor parachuting. Sky diving requires a certificate. Diving from 1000 meters costs US$10, and from 2000 meters, US$18. Diving from 3000 meters costs US$25. Diving piggy back costs $80 to $100.

You can go hot air ballooning alone, says Qin, but it is better to take a recovery truck and crew which costs about US$300. You should bring your own paragliding equipment (for flying off a mountain three hours away.)

You have to apply to CAAC for permission to import your own plane. For more information, contact Qin Jianmin, Deputy Director of the Anyang Municipal Tourism Bureau, 129 Renmin Road, 455000. Telephone 372/5929735, 5925859 (w) or 5929102 (home). Fax 5929734. If you can communicate in Chinese, you can contact Zhang Jie, President, Anyang Air Sports School, Shengli Road, Middle Section, 455001. Tel. 2298218, or 2930455 or

2298218. Fax: 2924686, E-mail: gjtzah@public.ayptt.ha.cn . Web-site: http://hx.ayinfo.ha.cn . (in English and Chinese.)
-- RLM, DATE, May, 2001.
* * *
More information on Anyang will be in Ruth Lor Malloy's new "China Guide," due out in Spring, 2002.

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Beihai
Page 575. BEIHAI (page 575)

From CTS: -- Our web address will be changed at the end of this month to http://www.bhtour.com .
--The ship Xin Shang Hai does not leave Beihai on Monday or Friday now. It's up to the ship company. Normally there are two different routes to Vietnam in a week . One is to Halong Bay (3 days and 2 nights), and the other is to Halong Bay, Haiphong, and Hanoi (5days and 4 nights). The schedule of the ship is irregular. Making a reservation 10 days in advance will be ok.
-- There is a good swimming beach on Weizhou Island. I don't think the ship there is good enough for foreigners and some people get seasick when they are taking it.
--The Skylake Hotel on North Beach in Beihai is not officially 3-star now, but it will be a 3-star hotel soon.
-- Foreigners can enter Vietnam at Dongxing by land if they have a Vietnamese visa. --Sharon Xi: sharonxi@21cn.com. - Date: July, 2000.
* * *
Beihai was once part of Guangdong province. It joined Guangxi in 1965 so that Guangxi could have a port. It was a booming business town a few years ago, but no longer. Its many empty and unfinished high-rise buildings are painful reminders of its former incarnation. But it is still a port, and the area produces oil. There are no heavy industries and only a few cars pollute its pristine, seaside air. It is a beautiful little seaside resort, and a gateway to Vietnam.

It is five hours by bus from Guilin, three hours by bus from Nanning, but more by train. You can reach it by plane from about 17 Chinese cities. Regular charter flights link it with Guilin, Haikou and Guangzhou four times a week.

Local travel agencies can arrange for tourists to go from Beihai to Halong Bay (in Vietnam) by the three-star cruise ship Xin Shang Hai. I didn't see this 500-passenger ship but one travel agent said it was closer to two star quality. It has 75 second class cabins with four beds and a bath and 24-hour hot water, and two first class cabins with one king-size bed each.

However, this ship has frequent cancellations and it could be delayed by typhoons. Travel agents say the air-conditioned bus service is more reliable. Daewoo buses take 21/2 hours to the border, a total of about 10 hours from Beihai to Halong Bay. Because 50 km of this is by secondary road, not expressway, travel agents also say this route is okay for French people, but not good for hard-to-please Americans. Roads in Vietnam are bad.

Most Chinese nationals need no passports and visas for Halong Bay, Hanoi and Haiphong so these places are full of Chinese tourists. Foreigners have to get visas and the closest Vietnamese consulate is on page 604.

Beihai's urban population is about 400,000 and the total population 1,360,000. The too-hot season is July to October. About 1000 mm of rain falls a year, usually from March to July. November to February is high tourist season.

24-kilometer long Silver Beach looks fine for swimming in places with lots of little hotels, umbrellas, stalls selling bathing suits, and persistent peddlers selling real but low-grade pearl necklaces for Y20. The entrance fee is Y15. Its musical fountain, the largest in Asia, should be seen in the evening.

(Yalong Bay in Hainan Island is better because it has fewer people and higher quality resorts.)

Shopping: For better pearls and higher prices, try the Beihai Pearl Co., 4 Chating Road, 536000. Tel. 2072908, Fax 2054913. E-mail: pearl@south-sea-pearl.com. The first asking price for a 42 cm - long string with 0.6-0.7 cm pearls costs Y1600 (less 20%); black pearls range from Y900 to Y38,000 for a 45 cm.-long string. )

What to Do: If you want to do a lot of swimming, ask first about Beihai's sewage disposal facilities, and does the city check its swimming area for E. coli. The city should be opening a sewage plant in 2002, or who knows. Consider the plastic bags washing up on the shore, and how far the fishing boats are from the beach.

There is also the 25 square kilometer, volcanic Weizhou Island for hiking and swimming, and the oldest Church in China, built 1861-1880 by French Jesuits. Weizhou has a hotel with no air-conditioning. A boat leaves Beihai port at 8am for Y40 and takes 21/2 hours. It is 36 nautical miles away.

If you're anxious to see something in Beihai itself, there's Old Street, Zhu Hai and Zhongshan Streets in the old style architecture, a real street, not a theme park. People eat on the streets and the sewers are open. There are also some old colonial buildings, French. German and British, now used as schools. But these are not worth making a special trip to Beihai to see. See also page 575 for the primitive rock paintings at Huashan.

Where to Stay: Hotels here add 10-15% to hotel prices including food.

The Shangri-la and Furama Hotels are side-by-side, the five-star Shangri-la much better than the three-star Furama. They are both about one kilometer from the bus station, 24 km from the airport, 3.8 km from the railway station, and only a 20-minute taxi ride to Silver Beach. Both have waterfronts but you definitely shouldn't swim there.

The Shangri-la Hotel's address and telephone numbers remain the same. (page 574). It has changed its postal code to 536007 and is now officially five stars. Its e-mail is sbhi@shangri-la.com. Prices are now $100-$160 for rooms, and $500-$1600 for suites, but it has been giving discounts.

Computer ports and in-room safes are only in its executive floor and suites. It has good conference facilities and can organize theme parties and team-building games. Its business center is open 7am-10:30pm.

The Shangri-La's breakfast buffet costs Y78; lunch or dinner buffet on weekends only Y98. We had a huge, wonderful dinner buffet that included sushi, mussels, assorted grilled meats and fish, and Indian breads.

It now has 364 rooms with blond furniture, carved wooden mirror frames, and green marble in its bathrooms. Its ballroom can accommodate up to 2000 theatre style. Its two outdoor tennis courts are lighted. Its large, freeform pool is set up for water polo as well as swimming. I enjoyed my stay here very much.

The three-star 318-room Furama has also had a postal code change to 536007. The telephone is now 2055588, and fax 2051210. It has been giving 20-40% discounts off its published rates, Y680-Y720 for rooms and Y1445-Y10880 for suites. Rooms are better in its newer eight-story 1993 building. It has e-mail service for Y20 an hour and a problem with English. It is clean but needs refurbishing. It has no in-room safes.

The 115-room, three-star quality Skylake Hotel (Tianhu Jiudian) is on North Beach. The address is Immigration Cultivate Base, 536000. Tel. 3888779, and 3884410, and Fax 3881679. Y268-Y380 for rooms and Y488 for suites. It has been discounting 20% in low season. It takes some credit cards, but can't change money. It has IDD, a gym, an outdoor pool, and a travel agency. It has no television in English, no in-room safe, and needs more careful cleaning. We couldn't find anyone who spoke English but it's the best beach hotel. Another hotel is being constructed down the road and maybe it's better.

Where to Eat: Waisha Dan Peng, is a good sea-food restaurant in Wai Sha Da Pai Dang, a large collection of open air seaside restaurants, five kilometers from the Shangri-La. Tel. 2032989. Dances are performed at 7:30pm-8pm. Prices are cheap. It takes only Chinese credit cards and cash. It has no air-conditioning but it does have fans and sea breezes. And the food is great.

Practical Information
Beihai China Travel Service has three guides who speak English. It's at 2/F, Huangdu Hotel, Guizhou Road, 536000. Tel. 3033935, Fax 3035256. E-mail: bhctsnet@ppp.nn.gx.cn. sharonxi@21cn.com. For a sea-view standard double in the five-star Shangri-la Hotel, CTS charges Y600: for a city-view, it's Y530. For a sea-view standard double in the three-star Furama Hotel , it charges Y430; for a city-view, it's Y370. The service charge for booking a hotel in Beihai is Y50 for one person. The charge for an English-speaking national guide for two people per day is Y250, and it's free of charge for booking a domestic plane ticket. -- Sharon Xi: CTS.

Beihai China International Travel Service, 6 East Beibu Gulf Road, 536000. Fax: 2062525. Mobile: Deputy G.M. Li Hao Cheng 86-1397790806. E-mail: bh-cits@ppp.nn.gx.cn.

The telephone code is 0779. -RLM. Date: April, 2000.

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Bozhou (Hefei)
You can reach this hometown (page 350) of Disney heroine Mulan north of Hefei by train from Kaifeng. The road from Hefei is bad and very tedious. It was here also that General Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms, changed the uniforms of his soldiers to give the enemy the impression that he had more fighters than he actually had. Bo Zhou has a three-star hotel that is aiming for four stars, the Gugiang Dajiudian. RLM, June, 1999.

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Burma Road (Kunming)
Tengchong (page 687) is better than Ancient Town (see Lijiang below). - David Huang, August, 1999.

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Changsha
Sorry, I haven't been there lately.  If you get there before I do, please let us know what you find, what hotels and restaurants you recommend, and what tourist attractions you see.   RLM, Date, November, 2008.


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Fuzhou
Sorry, I haven't been here in a while.  I'll write about this when I get there again. In the meantime, if you get there before I do, please write and tell us about it. 

We're interested in your take on hotels, restaurants, travel agents and tourist attractions there  RLM, Date: November, 2008

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