408
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
== Public Transport ==
You will most likely need public transport to get to the express ways. Fortunately in every city there are express ways running close to the city centre, and often toll areas also, which are excellent for hitching from. If you are lost, try to find a younger Chinese person, and ask them which bus number goes to somewhere near the ''gao su gong lu''. Make sure not to point at the road itself, they will inform you that you cannot take a bus there. Then you can take a bus and walk to the road.
Referring back to the occasionally overly generous Chinese folk, you may encounter an awkward situation in which your driver will take you to a train station and inflict upon you a train ticket to where you are going. This is very counter productive in almost all situations. You will waste many hours waiting for the train. You will then arrive at a city you may not have wanted to visit, perhaps at night when there are no buses, sleep deprived, hungry and lost. Above all this if it's not a fast train, it is likely much slower than by car, so you will be many hundreds of kilometres behind where you would have been on the road.
So, if your driver leaves the motorway, you have to insist, sometimes very strongly to leave the car. Some people might not want to let you out because they are totally sure that you will get lost there, but if you really insist they will not force you to stay in the car.
Another option to avoid this situation, have your polite Chinese letter state very clearly that you do not want to go to the train/bus station or the airport, and that you only want to hitch hike in the country, perhaps as a cultural investigation, to save money for tourists sites, to learn Chinese or as a challenge.
<br />Special administrative zones:
<br />
Autonomous regions:
<br />
Provinces:
{{move_to_nomadwiki}}[[nomad:China]]
no edit summary
There are Service areas on highways, it have gas station, big public toilets, shops, coffeshops. Drivers usually will drop you off there. It is very convenient to sleep there. Sometimes you even can take shower if some of shop sellers offer you (sellers live in service areas in dormitory)
== Regions ==
A following "A" indicates the provincial capital.
Municipalities:
* [[Beijing|Beijing]] 京 jīng
* [[Shanghai|Shanghai]] 沪 hù
* [[Chongqing|Chongqing]] 渝 yú
* [[Tianjin|Tianjin]] 津 jīn
* [[File:Flag of Hong Kong.svg|30px|border]] [[Hong Kong]] Special Adm. Region of China
* [[File:Flag of Macau.svg|30px|border]] [[Macao]] Special Adm. Region of China
Autonomous regions
* [[:Category:Guangxi|Guangxi]] Autonomous Region of the Zhuang people, 桂 guì
* [[:Category:Inner Mongolia|Inner Mongolia:]] Autonomous Region of the Mongo people, 蒙 měng
* [[Tibet]] Autonomous Region of Xizang, 藏 zàng
* [[Xinjiang]] Autonomous Region of the Uyghur people, 新 xīn
Provinces
* [[:Category:Anhui|Anhui]] 皖 wǎn
* [[:Category:Fujian|Fujian]] 闽 mǐn
* [[Shenzhen]]
* [[Changsha]]
== Public Transport ==
You will most likely need public transport to get to the express ways. Fortunately in every city there are express ways running close to the city centre, and often toll areas also, which are excellent for hitching from. If you are lost, try to find a younger Chinese person, and ask them which bus number goes to somewhere near the ''gao su gong lu''. Make sure not to point at the road itself, they will inform you that you cannot take a bus there. Then you can take a bus and walk to the road.
Referring back to the occasionally overly generous Chinese folk, you may encounter an awkward situation in which your driver will take you to a train station and inflict upon you a train ticket to where you are going. This is very counter productive in almost all situations. You will waste many hours waiting for the train. You will then arrive at a city you may not have wanted to visit, perhaps at night when there are no buses, sleep deprived, hungry and lost. Above all this if it's not a fast train, it is likely much slower than by car, so you will be many hundreds of kilometres behind where you would have been on the road.
So, if your driver leaves the motorway, you have to insist, sometimes very strongly to leave the car. Some people might not want to let you out because they are totally sure that you will get lost there, but if you really insist they will not force you to stay in the car.
Another option to avoid this situation, have your polite Chinese letter state very clearly that you do not want to go to the train/bus station or the airport, and that you only want to hitch hike in the country, perhaps as a cultural investigation, to save money for tourists sites, to learn Chinese or as a challenge.
== Expressways ==
The expressways are often new and fast (100-130 km/h), where as the second level roads may be really bad and a fatal error, where there are a lot less cars and other rules for hitchhiking. Stick to highways if you want to travel fast.
Most of the entrance to the highways from the cities in China, have a toll. Using the "talking system", go there and talk straight to the drivers, pointing at the letter or map. be earnest. Say something like: "Nihao! Qing wen, ni qu nali? Wo qu zheli, ni ne? Ni qu zheli ma?" (Hello! Excuse me, where are you going? I go here, and you? Do you go here?), etc. Keep saying "Oh hao hao, xiexie a!" (Oh good good, thanks, ah!)
=== To [[Russia]] ===
Note: there is no Chinese/Russian border post where you are allowed to cross by foot, and the Heihe crossing is by [[boat ]] from west to east:
* [[Manzhouli]]
* [[Heihe]]
[[fr:Chine]]
[[zh:中国]]
