China

Always carry a card with the name of your destination and name of your hotel written in Chinese to show taxi drivers. Almost none of them will speak English.

You gotta see the Forbidden City and venture out to see the Great Wall. It might be better now, but when I was there 5 years ago nobody spoke any English and everyone wanted to take pictures of us cause we looked so different. It can be a bit off putting at the start but you find out that the locals are really friendly. I recoomend finding an English speaking local tour guide and get them to introduce you to people. After that it's great!

The West Lake came from a shallow bay in ancient times where Qiantang River ran into the sea. It was formerly named as Wulin Water Golden Buffalo Lake, Qiantang Lake and Xizi Lake. As it lies in the west of Hangzhou, it was later named the West Lake. It covers an area of 6.6KM2, the average depth being 2.27M and the deepest being 5M. It has mountain on three sides and the city on the remaining one side.The Lake and mountain are magnificent. Centered on the West Lake Scenic Area is a national scenic area with a total area of 59KM2.

When most Australians go to live abroad for the first time, they usually take the "safe" option and go to the UK. If they are feeling extra adventurous, maybe they'll go to America or Canada. My best friend and I decided to go to Dalian, China, and I have no doubt in my mind that it was the best experience of my life. When Chinese people refer to Dalian, they allude to one catch-phrase - "Dalian is a beautiful city," or "the pearl of the orient." While the beaches don't have the pristine sands of Western Australia, or the magnificent skyline of Melbourne, Dalian is undoubtedly one of the nicer cities of China. Dalian is one of the smaller Chinese cities with only a population of about 6.2 million(yes this is small), but only has and urban population of about 3 million including a developmental zone. Dalian governs the entire Liaodong Peninsula of North-East China, while mountains surround the northern end of the city, which makes for many-a lovely hiking trip through the mountains and surrounding townships. As Dalian is a seaside city, there are also plently of opportunities for strolls along the coast when weather permits. As with most of China, there is also plenty to do and costs were minimal. As an English teacher, I was able to live on about 500RMB per week(about $70US) and this included eatling out every night, and having an active social life. Having travelled in most provicences of China, Dalian definitely had the best food, as unlike the rest of China, it food was niether sweet or laden with MSG. For $1 US, you could enjoy a tasty Chinese BBQ with lamb sticks and Corn bread, before heading out for an evening of drinking and playing Jenga or connect 4 at Noahs Ark or Dave's Bar. In the summer, Dalian comes alive in it's many paks and squares where you can join in with the locals and play Hacky Sack(with a feathered ball thing), or a version of Duck Duck Goose they play where someone walks around everyone who are standing in a circle and drops the hankey behind you before being chased (sadly I got caught and ended up having to stand in the middle with the other losers singing "We Will Rock You". In Zhongshan Square, in the city, they also do dancing. In our mis-guided attempts however to learn the steps, we ended up leading the locals in dancing the "Nutbush" to their music! Don't get me wrong, Dalian had it's drawbacks. Hygiene in retaurants, a hole in the ground for a toilet, the beaches had pebbles instead of sand, and communicating and accepting the beuracracy of their customs was often frustrating -as you would expect, but overall, Dalian was a fabulous experience, and I highly recommend it.

Always barter, unless in a proper shop. A great way to get the price you want is to show them the money you want to pay. Money talks

I came here to see the Buddhist grottoes, which certainly didn't disappoint (some of them are as impressive as the valley of the Kings in Luxor). But don't miss out on the fantastic sand dunes on the edge of the town either. They are immense, hundreds of metres high, and you can hire cammels to go trekking into the dunes very easily (its set up for Chinese toursits, but is not as chessy as that sounds). A great place to visit.

This provincial capital is a bit out of the way and hardly any tourists make it this far, but thats partly what makes it a fascinating place. 800 years ago it was the capital of the Xi Xia kingdom, a group of Tibetan decent who built some quite amazing tombs just outside the city. The city itself is built by the banks of the yellow river and there is a fantastic old pagoda in the town which you can climb (if you have a head for heights!)

If you find yourself in Lijiang i really recommend the 2 or 3 day trek through the Tiger Leaping Gorge of the Yangtze river. The scenery is absolutely stunning, and few guesthouses along the route are really cozy (although obviously very spartan).

get yourself a Shanghai Public Transportation Card (costs 30 RNB) which you can top up at most metro stations in Shanghai. It's a lot more convenient as you don't need to buy a single ticket each time you use public transport. It also works on buses and taxis

If you real Guangzhou-nese food, go to SHANG XIA JIU, literal meaning: up down nine. A huge shopping block where only walking is allow.