My latest article for Intrepid Travel has recently been published in their online journal.
It’s about the advantages of doing a small-group adventure travel tour in China. China is fascinating but it is not easy – there are very few foreign tourists, millions of Chinese tourists, and there is very little English, either spoken or written. Following eighteen days of solo travel in Japan it felt like a blessing to hand over the reigns to a local tour leader who was fluent in both spoken and written Chinese and English. It was also fun to be travelling with a group of people. Don and I tend to keep to ourselves a bit too much, especially me when I’m travelling alone. Joining a group forced me to be more sociable, which was nothing but a good thing.
Hop on over to Intrepid and have a read.
WHAT IT’S REALLY LIKE VISITING CHINA ON A SMALL GROUP TOUR
Photos:
Top – a scene from the stunning Three Kingdoms Live Action Show.
Bottom – a pile of hungry pandas at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
Next post: back to Japan – Kyoto’s five-block long Nishiki Market, and the Aoi Festival (gorgeous Heian period costumes!)
All words and images by Alison Louise Armstrong unless otherwise noted
© Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart, 2010-2018.
Adventures in Wonderland 
How does an animal as large as a panda live on bamboo? That would be like a human living on celery. Amazing.
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They are amazing creatures, and it was awesome to get so close to them and watch them doing their panda thing. Koalas and sloths are smaller of course, but they eat only leaves, and of course cows eat only grass – and they’re more active than pandas. Pandas are very lazy that’s for sure.
Alison
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You have really made me think about travelling in China, a country I would love to see more of. Sometimes it’s so good to let someone else take the strain and I guess it’s always good to do something different to what we would normally do – opens things up.
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China is amazing. I could definitely spend more time there, especially in the more out of the way places. Don and I did tours in Jordan (for ease of transportation) and Egypt (for security), and now me solo in China. It’s a trade off of course, but one of the best things with a tour is not having to even think about accommodation or transportation. It takes a way so much of the stress.
Alison
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Congrats sweet lady!
Your photos and narratives are truly wonderful, because, you are.
Be well.
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Thanks Cindy. I’ve really enjoyed writing all the articles for Intrepid (there’s still a couple more to come). And I will of course write many more about China for this blog – So many stories of that trip.
Alison xo
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The pandas are very cute.
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Aren’t they though! I’m so glad we had a few hours there just to watch them.
Alison
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Yes. That is great.
They really are cute.
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wow very nice….
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Thank you so much.
Alison
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A fabulous article. Well done, as always. Should I get to China, I will do a small group tour.
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Thanks so much Darlene. China is a vast amazing country, and definitely worth visiting. I feel like I barely scratched the surface. Now I’ve been there on a group tour I may one day go back and explore more independently knowing a fair chunk of time will be taken up simply with communication. People do travel independently there, but I’ve sure heard many stories of how challenging it can be.
Alison
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Bopped over and read your post, Alison. Peggy and I are thinking about China. It is one of the few places, I would definitely go with a tour group. Like the Pandas munching away. The one in the front almost looks like it could be playing a flute! 🙂 –Curt
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Thanks for taking a look Curt. China is quite amazing. Crowded and noisy, and the big cities are very modern these days, but modern life cannot ease thousands of years of Chinese culture. I found it fascinating and would like to explore there more.
The pandas were so cute. They just lay around munching on bamboo without a care, and we were able to get quite close to them. They are in huge free-range enclosures, but they are fed the bamboo sticks up close to the fences. Don mentioned the same thing about the flute.
Alison
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Peggy and I had an interesting discussion the other day, Alison. We both agree that China would require a tour group, at least for us. Or it would require a lot of pre-planning time. Peggy is hesitant about both China and India because of the huge crowds. She keeps countering with Australia. I amy be coming to you for advice on the latter. 🙂
Fun that Don saw the same thing with the ‘flute playing panda’ that I did. –Curt
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In Feb we’re off to India for the third time! The only time I remember crushing crowds there was in the subway in Delhi. India is crowded and busy that’s for sure, but the crowds of domestic tourists were way worse in China than in India. Australia is to die for, and not just because I’m from there. You want amazing landscapes/wildlife/cosmopolitan cities it’s the place.
A.
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My only visit to Australia was when I was a mere youth in my 20’s— and then only Sydney. It’s time… 🙂
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If you would care to peruse this blog you will find 21 posts about Australia lol!
Ask me anything.
A.
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Peruse away I will before we go, Alison. Thanks. –Curt
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Loved it, Alison! Took me right back to my own group tour in China in 2009, also sans husband. People (including me in the past) sometimes sneer at the idea of group travel, but there are definitely some places it works out great. (The China trip and a later small-group visit to Mongolia made me think that for individual travelers in difficult places, these groups can be the best thing ever!). I still got my alone time each night, was able to wander off alone on free afternoons, and I could pick and choose with whom or with how many people I wanted to spend additional time. And also like you, I do nearly all of my own trip planning, so having someone deal with all the hassles for once was a welcome gift. Small-group travel can be the best of all worlds in many ways! So glad you enjoyed your trip so much; it seems like you really bonded with your group and did so many fun things.
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Thanks so much Lexie. I couldn’t imagine going to China for the first time doing independent travel. I think I would have dived right in until I heard my sisters’ stories. They are both very experienced travellers, and not afraid of a challenge, so it carried some weight with me. I’d also think that Mongolia would be a place I’d choose a tour. I remember your posts about it and it sounds amazing.
Sometimes with groups there can be people who are not so wonderful to be around, (and yes I’ve experienced that) but mostly I’ve found that the type of people who choose small-group adventure tours tend to be pretty cool people.
I’ll eventually be writing posts for this blog about China – I have SO many more stories to tell about that trip.
Alison
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Alison, you had me at the pandas!! What a wonderful photo. I love the photo of the street food too.
I can totally see how a small group tour would be ideal for China and the fact that it’s a small group is probably key. Seems like you lucked out too to get a group of global travellers, friendly and all looking out for each other.
Really good article and if we ever find ourselves en route to China I will use your article as a resource. So glad you had such a successful and interesting trip…
Peta
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Thanks so much Peta. I must admit I’d heard enough stories to be a little intimidated by independent travel in China. And even now – I’d go back to Japan travelling independently, but not so sure I would to China. It’s certainly tempting – to have that kind of freedom to choose where and when to go, but I know for sure that logistics are challenging.
Mostly I think the kind of people who choose small-group tours are pretty experienced travellers though sometimes there can be someone who’s . . um . . difficult. This group was really good. And everyone always has the choice about how much time to spend with the group. One of the guys was a real loner and wandered off by himself whenever there was the opportunity, but at the same time he was great company to be around.
China is amazing, and definitely worth a visit. I’m looking forward to sharing posts here – there were so many incredible experiences.
Alison
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Reading your article definitely convinced me should we go to China, a tour will be needed. I think the stress of trying to do it on our own would outweigh the joy of experiencing China.
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I think perhaps you’re right Sue – that the stress would outweigh the pleasure, but China is definitely worth visiting. I think my only complaint was too many Chinese tourists at all the main sights (eg Forbidden City) so it did get crowded at times, but apart from that it was all absolutely fascinating.
Alison
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That was an entertaining and informative read, Alison. I myself can vouch for the wisdom of choosing a small group tour in China given my most recent experiences traveling there with Bama in 2012 as an independent traveler. Although I do read Chinese (albeit slowly) and speak Mandarin, it was still a stressful experience getting around, figuring out what to do and where to eat, and trying not to be fleeced. I remember seeing a notice spray-painted in red on a public bus from Guilin to Yangshuo that read “Beware of Pickpockets” – at which point I weighed up whether or not I should tell Bama (I didn’t in the end).
Actually I couldn’t help chuckling at the enormous portions of soup and the giant ladles in that photo. The reason for it is immediately apparent to me because I was partially raised in that culture – everything on the menu, even inside the train, was meant to be shared. That includes the plates of stir-fried meat and vegetables. The giant ladles are there to portion out the soup into individual bowls, and you’d never eat directly from the stir-fried meat/vegetables either. Now that I think of it, even in Hong Kong, I can’t ever recall a family meal in a Chinese restaurant in which we all ordered our own dishes and didn’t share. I guess that’s a fundamental cultural difference between China and the West.
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Thanks so much James. Well you’ve doubled down on my perception that China can be difficult for independent travel. If you can read and speak Mandarin and still found it challenging then I think I’d have been hopelessly lost.
OTOH I do wish we’d spent more time in the countryside and villages of Guilin. Guess I’ll just have to go back and take Don with me. 🙂
So now I’m chuckling at the enormous soup bowls and ladles! I wonder why our (Chinese) guide Peter didn’t tell us they were meant to be shared.
I do love the idea of sharing all the dishes at the table. It does of course happen in homes in the west – several dishes are prepared and everyone has a share of each even if the plates are dished out at the stove then handed across to the table.
Alison
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I echo your sentiment about the importance of being in China with someone who speaks the language. I’m glad on my trip to southern part of the country back in 2012, I had already met and started traveling with James. Although he’s not a native Mandarin speaker, at least he can read and speak it. During our trip I realized that without his help with all the communication with the locals I would have had a hard time traveling in China.
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Communication is definitely the biggest challenge in China. Being with James must have made all the difference. I’d love to go back, especially to some of the more out of the way places and ethnic villages, but I think I’d just have to hand over any kind of control or itinerary to the gods and hope for serendipity. I guess one could always get on a train without any real idea of where it was going, and get off on a whim and see what happens. Don’t know if I’m that brave or not but I love the idea.
Alison
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Who doesn’t love those cuddly Pandas!
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Right! They’re soooooo cute. It was amazing to be so close to them.
Alison
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Hey there Alison!
I read your article, and liked it thoroughly. But… I still wouldn’t go on a group tour. I love travelling with my fiancée, I love travelling alone, I love travelling with a friend. But if it’s more than 3… Nah. Not my thing. Unless it’s trekking, but even there…
Fabrizio
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Thanks Fabrizio. I must admit I’m happiest travelling with just Don, and from time to time one other person (depending on the person lol). Travelling alone is something I started to get used to in Japan and feel more confident now I could (and probably will) do more of. Even so I must say travelling alone in China would have been totally intimidating for me. Perhaps now that I’ve been there with a group and gotten the lay of the land I’d be more confident, but a having a guide was so helpful. I have such an adventurous spirit I want to do everything, but sometimes for me it’s more relaxing to hand over the reins.
We’re off on a new adventure in February – Paris, India, and Japan! Yay!
Alison
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Great article Alison! Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my need to organize and execute absolutely everything in our travels that it becomes rather stressful (and time-consuming). I’ve now heard from several reliable sources that small group travel is the way to go in China. I think you were really smart to do it like this. Sounds like you had a terrific leader and a great group.
I wish you and Don happy holidays and all the best in the new year (with lots of travel of course).
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Thanks so much Caroline. I’m so glad I did a tour in China. There’s pro and cons of course – I didn’t get to all the places I wanted to see, but perhaps wouldn’t have anyway, and independent travel there still seems so daunting. James and Bama found it challenging even with James reading and speaking the language.
We did have a good leader – very knowledgeable and conscientious, and a great group.
Happy holidays to you two too, and may the new year be filled with joy, and of course lots of travel.
We’re off back to India in Feb for a month with a few days in Paris on the way and 2 weeks in Japan on the way back.
Alison
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Sounds great. Where in India are you headed? I’m assuming this means that Don is feeling better and up to travelling again…I’m happy for you two.
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Good to try different experiences when you have the opportunity, Alison. Hoping the New Year holds all the joy and adventures together you could hope for. 🙂 🙂
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Thanks so much Jo. And the same to you!
Alison
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Very well written as always, Alison. Just think of the service you’re providing to all the people who read your articles – it’s impressive. Have a great holiday!
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Thanks so much Lynn. I hope what I write is of some help. Our travels have been helped enormously by all we’ve learned from the internet. It’s such an amazing resource, so it’s nice to pay it forward a little.
Happy holidays to your too.
Alison
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That opening image on this post is stunning.. Wow, the stage looks sleek as glass, and the focus looks exceptionally sharp – not easy to do in low light. You are amazing!
Thanks always for the easy links, and congrats on another post on Intrepid.
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Thanks so much Lisa. That stage was as big as a football field and filled with a few inches of water so everything was reflected. It was one of the most magnificent spectacular performances I’ve ever seen. I’ll eventually do a post about it.
It’s been fun writing for Intrepid, with a couple more articles still to come.
Happy holidays.
Alison
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Another wonderful article Alison! Your writing and photos have shed a new light on China travel for me. Happy holidays to you and Don!
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Thanks so much LuAnn. China was amazing. It’s a truly unique culture. Not always easy but definitely fascinating.
Happy holidays
Alison
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China is now high on my list, thanks to you Alison. Everywhere you have been has been pushed higher on my travel list! Happy holidays to you and Don.
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