Greetings Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 To put it short, I've always been wanting to go to China on holiday.After much consideration, I've decided that a good place to go to would be Guangzhou. It seems to be a nice blend of a big modern city and traditional Chinese architecture with lots of beautiful sights and interesting things to see. It also holds the CAN airport so getting there from Europe should be very easy. Now, I'm not sure if Guangzhou is a common choice for tourists from around the world, but if it isn't then the first problem one will probably encounter is the language. How the hell does one navigate through a place that big without being able to communicate with people or read signs? City transport / hired car + GPS? Neither will work surely, you need to be able to read where you're going to in the first place. Communication is my only and biggest worry and it's something I need to sort out before I even seriously start thinking about going there. Have any of you non-Chinese speaking guys been to Guangzhou or another big city in China? How did you find things? Was it an "easy" place to go on holiday or did you find it rather challenging? Any basic advice would be useful , I really don't know what to expect. I'd almost certainly be going "privately", not with a group. Also, roughly what are we looking at in terms of food/transport and museum prices once we're there? Hotels seem to be pretty well priced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King C Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 The last time I went to Hong Kong (not China, I know) was quite a while ago but I seemed to recall alot of the signs etc had english on them aswell. Cant really help much more Im afraid. It might be an idea if you looked into a tour package or something.From some who speaks basic Cantonese, but has Cantonese speaking parents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 Hong Kong used to be controlled by England though, so it might not be the same as other parts of china. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greetings Posted June 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 Yeah, I'd expect Hong Kong to have signs in English.As for a tour, I've looked into possible options and they all look really interesting but the price suggests I should get a wife and settle down first. They start at 2 grand so that'd be 4g's for the two of us. That covers a 3 week tour around the whole of China all expenses paid so it works out at 100 pounds a day which isn't bad. But I don't know anybody who would pay that much for a trip at this age. Not sure I would either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Yeah, I'd expect Hong Kong to have signs in English.As for a tour, I've looked into possible options and they all look really interesting but the price suggests I should get a wife and settle down first. They start at 2 grand so that'd be 4g's for the two of us. That covers a 3 week tour around the whole of China all expenses paid so it works out at 100 pounds a day which isn't bad. But I don't know anybody who would pay that much for a trip at this age. Not sure I would either.Have they done google Street View in China yet? Have a look at the signs that way! Other than that, no help from me I'm afraid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weirdoku Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Yes they do have english on the majority of signs, but majority of people won't understand you if you started speaking english.I'm chinese myself, from hong kong. Been to mainland china few years back. Language will be your biggest problem unless you go with some kind if tour group where I'm guessing atleast the leader dude will know how to speak mandarin/cantonese.The language barrier plus you being english, you might be at risk of scams and such. Like paying a much higher price for something on the street then it's really worth or even worst buying something that's fake as some things can be convincinly real.Lol only if you my friend, we can stay my uncles free house for accomdation and travel to china as I might be going to hong kong in august Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted June 6, 2009 Report Share Posted June 6, 2009 I think you'll be fine. We made it across europe/russia/asia without speaking any of the local languages, you'll work it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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