CHINA COMMUNICATION TIP

Modern cities in China resemble modern cities anywhere in the world but there is a big difference in government.  In China, Facebook is banned and so too is Google which means no Gmail.  I didn’t realise this and found I was unable to communicate with people back home.  Before going to China, you need to get up to date information about how you can communicate.

CHINA VISA TIP

To obtain a visa for China your ears must be showing in the photograph that you supply with your application.   A friend had her visa application knocked back simply because her hair covered her ears.  She was told she needed to supply a new photograph, which caused a panic as  the time to departure was ticking down. 
When I arrived in China, I watched as an immigration officer carefully tracked my face, her eyes sweeping from one ear to the other.  It makes sense.  Ears are hard to disguise.

CHEAP CHINA

Lots of amazingly cheap deals are currently being offered for tours to China.  

Are those deals too good to be true?   No, they are not.  I did one last year and it was fine.  

How can they run these tours at such low prices?  A tour guide in Beijing told me that the Chinese government subsidies the cost to promote tourism. 

What is the Chinese government up to?  Who knows but you will be well looked after on your trip and come home safely.

Last year my friend Maggie and I saw one of these trips advertised and we were very tempted but the price being so low worked as a deterrent. 

We thought there must be a catch.

Return airfares, accommodation, the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, panda bears, and a three-night cruise on the Yangtze through the Three Gorges.  

It sounded fabulous, but the price was so cheap that we thought maybe it was scam and they’d harvest our organs. 

We also wondered if we’d have to turn tricks then decided as we are in our sixties that would be a case of more fool them.

We also assumed that our cabin on the cruise would be down in the boiler room, but it wasn’t.

Sadly, Maggie became ill and I travelled by myself and although I was worried about Maggie it was a brilliant trip. 

The only catch is that tour groups are taken to government businesses to spend money on items such as pearls and jade.  That's okay - who wants to go home without pearls and jade.

If you are thinking of doing one of these cheap China trips, grab the opportunity and pack your bags. 

If you need motivation to travel in your sixties think of travel insurance prices.   The price goes up astronomically if you leave it too late.  You may be fit enough to travel in your seventies but unable to afford the insurance.

Ideas for UK in early October.

Lauren Kelly will be in London on 29th September and leaves on 10th October.  She is looking for ideas.  Let's help her out. 

Getting Round in the UK

On Facebook I was asked how I travelled around in the UK and also for my thoughts about travelling around the UK by car, rail or coach.  In the European summer, I was lucky enough to spend two weeks travelling around Scotland with my friend Sue in her car.  Without a car we would not have been able to get to some places in the Highlands. 
In the UK there are extensive rail and coach networks. I used a Britrail pass which is for visitors only.  It is worth checking that out.  The passes aren't cheap but are far cheaper than buying tickets for individual journeys  after you have arrived.   With Britrail passes visitors travel more cheaply than locals.
Coaches are much cheaper than trains but take a lot longer to get to their destination, so it depends on the amount of time you have. 
Friends have rented cars in the UK but that is quite an expense and fuel is expensive too.  You need to consider how much time you will be spending in major cities and whether you want to drive a car in them.  In smaller towns the historic centre is often some distance from a Park and Ride car park where you leave your wheels and take a bus 
In London you can buy an Oyster card to get around or use a contactless card which is what I did.  This was a matter of just using my normal ATM card.  It must have this symbol. 
Whichever way you do it, travel within the UK is a major expense so be prepared.

Lions eat rhino poachers and the world cheers.

There seems to be a common perception that rhino horn is powdered and taken as an aphrodisiac but when I was in China I discovered a different purpose.  When I went to an info session about Chinese medicine we were told that there were three means of external medicine - acupuncture, cupping and scraping.  The scraping is done with a piece of rhino horn.  The photo shows cups and packets of acupuncture needles and the dark object at the bottom of the photo is the piece of rhino horn.  The Chinese doctor did not speak much English  so I could not find out why the scraping had to be done with rhino horn, instead of something like bamboo.  Also I don't know how many practitioners of Chinese medicine there are in China, but if they all have rhino horn in their kit, the demand would be staggering. 

SIX REASONS TO TRAVEL IN YOUR SIXTIES

1.      Travel is cheaper and easier than when you were young.

2.      You either have no kids or they are grown up, unless you are one of those nutter women who has a baby in her 60s.

3.      You may have some health issues now but, face it, they won’t be better in your 70s.

4.      The mortgage is either paid off or you have given up hope of ever getting one.

5.      You either now have more money than you know what to do with, or you don’t have enough to make it worth saving what little you have.

6.      Time is not finite.  It is not a matter of do or die.  It is a matter of do and die. Or not do and die anyway.