Tag Archives: Youth Hostels Association

Zai Jian China!

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Goodbye China

Goodbye China

China is not a developing nation, it’s developed. And we all might understand soon just how developed they are. I’ve never met a people who are more determined to make an impression on the world than these folks. Today China, tomorrow – well, probably Taiwan – but then …the World!

Hostels in China are terrific. The number and quality of them surprised us, lots of YHA options these days too, so get your membership before you arrive. Generally, they are cheap and most are either new or only 4 or 5 years old, so everything is shiny and new. Transportation in China also really surprised and impressed us. We were blown away by how modern the road network was and the buses were very comfortable. Now, bear in mind were were coming from India where the transportation system leaves something to be desired, so in comparison China ruled.

In terms of sights and things to do, the culture and natural beauty of the Southwest trumped the monuments and architecture of the North and East. Go to Tiger Leaping Gorge before the Dam is completed, see the South-West if at all possible, you will be greatly rewarded. Make time for it, shaving a few days off your time in Beijing or Shanghai will pay off.

China is the place I most wanted to visit before this trip an so far it’s the place I most want to come back to. Thanks China, have a great time ruling the World, I’m sure you’ll do a great job.

China Notes for Budget Travelers

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Our original budget for China was based on the costs of the big cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. Our goal was to stay at or below $70 a day for both of us. We were able to get by on about that in Hong Kong, but were able to easily stay below $50 a day for most of China.

This was a welcome change and was in large part thanks to the vast network of YHA hostels that have come online in the last couple of years. Our lodging rarely exceeded $20 for a double room with the exception of Hong Kong where you pay $30-35 for a tidy little matchbox. The lowest we paid was about $2.50 for a basic twin room in Tiger Leaping Gorge and the average was likely somewhere between $10-$15.

When we did have to opt for a Chinese hotel, the rule of thumb was bargain. Never pay the quoted rate for anything in China, especially hotel rooms. They were a little more money and a little more worn that the hostels, but still served the purpose. Trying to communicate with them at what time and for how long the hot water works was a whole different issue.

Food was always an interesting endeavor. If you go for western restaurants, where they are available, you more or less pay western prices. Food in general is not very expensive, but finding a place with an English menu or an English speaker was the challenge. The best way to go was the little stalls in the side alleys where the food is fresh and you can point to what you’d like. We took our chances with our botched Chinese and Mandarin phrasebook on more than one occasion. Typically we ended up with some rice and sauteed bok choy – for which I admit I began to develop a slight fondness.

Aside from a few fast and fancy train rides, we didn’t really have any budget breakers in China. Some of the sites have ridiculously high entrance fees, but that was usually offset by cheap lodging and food. Overall, China offered a lot of bang for the buck.

Australia Notes For Budget Travelers

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Sad Little Went Tent

Sad Little Went Tent

It should come as no surprise that Australia is not the cheapest of countries on our itinerary. That said, the country is well equipped for backpackers on a budget. Like New Zealand, if you watch your $ in the cities and self-cater (camp and cook yourself), you can stretch your dollars pretty far.

Here are a few things we learned:

  • Renting a car, even with the cost of gas, was cheaper than buying train and/or bus tickets for two people to various sites throughout the country. It also meant we had more freedom to see and do what we want. Though we didn’t have the bargain rental we had in NZ, we did pretty well. Between the rental and gas, which is cheaper than in NZ but still much more than the US, we spent about $800 and drove just under 5000 km. Without a car, it would have been impossible to really enjoy the Great Ocean Road as well as the quirky towns of the New South Wales Outback. That said, Australia is a HUGE place. We had to give up our hopes of making it to the middle (i.e. Uluru and Alice Springs). There was also the small detail about our car not being allowed to venture into that territory. Apparently it is not a good place to break down!
  • Like NZ, hostels in cities (mostly Sydney) were one of our largest expenses. Both times we visited Sydney, we stayed in newer hostels near the Central Train Station. The location was great and the hostels, particularly the Railway YHA, were new and quite nice. The first time we came through Sydney, we stuck it out in an 8 bed dorm room to save some cash. Yes, that’s 8 people and all their crap in a room about the size of my office at CCHD. The savings wasn’t worth it. We’re just too old for that crap! (I’ll spare you the details of what “crap” entailed.) Our hostel in Darwin was the only bargain, but that might have had something to do with the run down bathrooms, the 5:00am carpet cleaning outside our room and the monsoonal rains of the wet season.
  • In most cases, campgrounds were less costly than NZ. The down side of some were that the kitchens had limited equipment. Usually a fridge, a sink, a coin operated grill and some type of hot water maker (electric kettle or hot water tap). Since camp kitchens in NZ were so well equipped, we opted not to buy gas for our stove. This hurt a few times when there was no hot plate or stove, but we managed to be creative with couscous and grilled veggies. An up side of the campgrounds in Oz were that they were mostly inhabited by Australians rather than tourists like ourselves. We met some nice and interesting folks along the way. Like Fred & Shirley – who reminded me of one of those couples being interviewed in When Harry Met Sally – or the Vietnam Vet biker dude from Townsville who will be traveling to DC for Rolling Thunder in May with his local bike club and their sister club in Detroit.
  • Unlike NZ, we never had the sense that we were being gouged because it’s summer here and there are loads of tourists, though I suspect there are always tourists. One exception was Darwin, but that actually worked in our favor. Our room was just a little over half the price of a double room in Sydney – though as previously mentioned it was not as nice. I imagine in the Dry (our summer months) this city crawls with tourists and steeper prices. In general, we didn’t feel like everything was a tourist trap with a price tag down under. The Great Ocean Road and our tour of the wineries – two highlights – cost us only gas money!
  • If you’re looking for the extended holiday but are low on cash, Oz is another good place to look for work. Bulletin boards at hostels are full of postings and most major backpacker centers offer some sort of job placement service. One of our dorm mates in Sydney was working as a server at a restaurant on Darling Harbor making $15/hr plus tips. It seemed to adequately subsidize his drinking habit. Dave and I were briefly entertained by the demand for office/computer work in Alice Springs. How random! Every other place seemed to be agricultural work, but poor little Alice Springs way out in the middle of the country just need someone to sit in an office and do admin work.
  • Obviously getting robbed cost us, but we won’t hold that against Oz.