Buses: Three Reasons To Ride

To a traveler who cannot read or write Chinese, the thought of using public buses to get around Chinese cities may seem a bit daunting. How will you be able to know if a bus goes to a given location? And, more importantly, how will you know when to get off the bus? These concerns may make traveling by taxi seem like the obvious choice, but here are three solid reasons why a bus may be worth the ride for tourists interested in getting to know how locals get around in China.

1) Buses are cheaper: …

Beijing, the historic capital and cultural heart of China, is a city where past, present and future meet. In the past few decades, the city has transformed itself into a modern metropolis with towering skyscrapers, glitzy shopping districts, and multi-lane highways. Nonetheless, Beijing’s centuries-old traditions and stories are still never more than an alley away.

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The New York Times recently published an article detailing 45 places to go in 2012 and two of the destinations are in China.

Take a weekend break to Shanghai with your classmates. Click here for the itinerary

Destination Overview:
Shanghai has the air of intense vitality and sophistication. The city offers the opportunity to see how
a rapidly modernizing Chinese city works. And yet, for all the modernization in terms of infrastructure lifestyle and availability of consumer goods, Shanghai at the turn of the millennium is nonetheless a city inextricably linked with its colonial past.

Take a weekend break to XiAn with your classmates. Click here for the itinerary

Destination Overview:
Xi’An, also known as Chang’An in ancient times, is the birthplace of ancient civilization in the Yellow River basin. During its three thousand-year history, 13 dynasties have situated their capitals here. Because of its long history as China’s capital city, Xi’An is considered one of the four major ancient civilization capitals along with Athens, Cairo, and Rome. Today, Xi’An is the capital of Shaanxi province, located in the southern part of the Guanzhong Plain.

In every major Chinese city, cabs can be found waiting to take you to your desired destination, but cabs are great for more than just getting you from one place to another- taxi drivers are a treasure trove of information! Here are three questions you (or your translator) can ask a cab driver if you wish to learn more about what China has to offer:

1. Where’s the best place for….?

It’s your driver’s job to take people all over the city. In doing so, they probably know exactly where the swankest bars and greatest street food can be found. Your driver likely …

I have been to Badaling before and what sticks out in my mind about the trip is not the wall; it is the trouble of finding a cab for the day, of negotiating a fair rate, and waiting as our car crawled along the highway in the infamous Beijing traffic…. In the end, the transportation costs alone were 800 RMB and the day at the wall we had planned wound up being more of a day in the car.

So this weekend I went out to explore an alternative route to the wall by taking the newly opened commuter train from …

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Let the exhilarating energy of the Pearl of the Orient take your breath away as Hong Kong remains one of the most dazzling cities in the world. For a place this size, Hong Kong has a great variety to offer. Marvel at the brilliant cityscape with a light show at Victoria Harbor as the skyscrapers housing the leading financial institutions in the world are bound to impress. Visit the city’s wonderful parks and have a drink at one of the many glitzy bars in Lan Kwai Fong amidst beautiful historic buildings from the British colonial era. Offer incense and have …