Dan's Adventure

Whilst travelling around China I have found the following five tips to be very beneficial so thought I would share:

1. Check hostel prices before arriving – Some hostels offer cheaper prices when you book online via hostel world and hostel bookers than they do for people just rocking up. I have found that if you know the price offered online you can negotiate with them and often get the better rate without tying yourself to a booking.
2. Shop around for the best tour prices – Sometimes tours are far more convenient than trying to do things on your own, but before handing over the cash to the travel agency in the hostel you are staying at do your research. Many hostels offer different prices for the same tours. I have experienced this a number of times where the mini bus picks up from various hostels and everyone has paid a different price.
3. Take advantage of student discounts – Most tourist attractions have an unpublished student price which is often 50%. Even if you don’t have a student card its worth trying to pass off any other form of photo id as a student card.
4. Carry directions in Chinese – If using public buses, get an English speaking Chinese person to write down where you want to go in Chinese and use this to get someone on the bus to tell you when to get off. In my experience, metros and trains are easy to navigate as the station names are all in Chinese and English, but on buses everything is just Chinese symbols.
5. Hard seat is never worth it – The hard seat on the train is a fraction of the price of a soft or hard sleeper, but it is never worth the saving. The seats are brick hard, crammed together and have no leg room. I had no choice but to take a hard seat from Shanghai to Beijing and after that journey I vowed never to do it again.