Comments on: A Different View of China – Part 2

By: Janette

Janette — Sat, 13 May 2006 00:31:33 +0000

This article has been translated into Chinese here: http://chn.blogbeta.com/139.html

By: Kcho1348

Kcho1348 — Wed, 10 May 2006 20:03:42 +0000

I can live in Beijing for $25.oo per month with a room and decent food. On the other hand I can spend $2,000.00 for one night at a KTV joint….

By: China Law Blog

China Law Blog — Mon, 08 May 2006 22:15:34 +0000

You are obviously not hitting the right places. I stay in Chinese (not western) 5 star luxury hotels for $60 to $100 per night. I eat unbelievably good food for $5 to $10 a meal, at really nice restaurants. Last time I was in Shanghai I stayed at a Western hotel becuase of its location and meeting facilities. Breakfast was $30 and an excellent lunch around the corner cost three of us around $20.

By: renee

renee — Sat, 06 May 2006 12:42:25 +0000

i’m a chinese student. i quite agree with what olifante mentioned above.

By: olifante

olifante — Wed, 03 May 2006 20:42:03 +0000

$350 for a hotel room? $80 for a meal? In China? That’s insane!

I spent a whole month travelling around China last year, and most places you can find decent, clean rooms for 100 to 300 Yuan, currently $12 to $36.

I paid $12 a night for an OK double room in Beijing not far from Wangfujing Avenue. I paid $24 a night for a nice double room in Shanghai, 5 to 10 minutes on foot from the Bund. The most we paid was $84 for a great double room in Hong Kong with a wonderful view of the bay.

As for food, we routinely ate for $2 per person or less. Oh, and we never booked a room — we just walked into hotels and asked for their prices.

As always, you can pay a lot more if you want to, and occasionally we did want to, but if you have any bargaining skills and are willing to shop around, China is currently VERY affordable.

I also disagree with your friend’s impressions of China, but to each his own. China’s biggest problems for western travellers are in my opinion spitting, table manners, and the constant need to bargain (at least outside Macao and Hong Kong), which is a bit tiring but you get the hang of it after a while.

By: anon

anon — Wed, 03 May 2006 20:33:27 +0000

the difference between third-world and first-world is the country’s ability to handle its garbage.

Your friend isn’t worried about China (neither am I) but when he gets to India, he’ll realize that we have decades before we fear that economy.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 01 May 2006 23:43:38 +0000

Best quote – “So what’s a dude to do – pay up for crap or risk it.” Strangely it applies to so many other things besides food.

By: BBC

BBC — Mon, 01 May 2006 10:43:55 +0000

Tell your friend to leave China straightaway. It’s not for him. Having said all this, I enjoyed travelling to China, or else I would have gone to Switzerland.