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Where in the world?
billwill
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My 21st birthday is fast approaching and my family has decided to ship me somewhere as their big gift to me.
I won't be able to go until late Fall-ish because of my job and then school, but I'm fine with that because it gives me more time to research where exactly I want to go.
They'll be covering just the airfare; covering the other stuff shouldn't be an issue for me, as it will mostly be a week or two max vacation and I can save up.
The only question is, where do I pick?
Some things to consider:
+ I'll be traveling alone (most likely) and I'm a 6'4" white male.
+ I've already been to New Zealand (though that's it), but I would totally be opening to visiting again.
+ I like the idea of backpacking around. Or maybe a step above that. But I'm not looking for glitz and glamour.
+ I'm not interested in traveling anywhere in the Americas. The rest of the world is good.
+ I like hiking and kayaking a lot.
+ I love history.
+ I think China would be cool but I'm worried about sticking out like a sore thumb.
Thanks so much!
I won't be able to go until late Fall-ish because of my job and then school, but I'm fine with that because it gives me more time to research where exactly I want to go.
They'll be covering just the airfare; covering the other stuff shouldn't be an issue for me, as it will mostly be a week or two max vacation and I can save up.
The only question is, where do I pick?
Some things to consider:
+ I'll be traveling alone (most likely) and I'm a 6'4" white male.
+ I've already been to New Zealand (though that's it), but I would totally be opening to visiting again.
+ I like the idea of backpacking around. Or maybe a step above that. But I'm not looking for glitz and glamour.
+ I'm not interested in traveling anywhere in the Americas. The rest of the world is good.
+ I like hiking and kayaking a lot.
+ I love history.
+ I think China would be cool but I'm worried about sticking out like a sore thumb.
Thanks so much!
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billwill on
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I'm in the United States right now.
The one major drawback would be the language barrier if you don't understand any.
Yeah, there's this one national park I was looking at that's in China but I can't find it (I lost my bookmarks a while ago). It's pretty iconic. I think it's the most famous one in China, if anyone would be kind enough to link me.
And yeah, the cost would be great!
The only issue I have is where would I go in China? It's a pretty big country.
Is China the best place to go alone if you don't speak the language and are clueless about their culture?
I have ~6 months to learn about their culture and some basic language?
I don't know much about their national parks, but Xi'an might be a good pick. The city's rich in historical sites on its own including the Terracotta Soldiers and is nearby a few national parks.
He'd hardly be the first to do it. A few of my coworkers first went to China, some by themselves, not knowing the language at all.
6 months to self teach yourself enough of a non-indo European language to get by on your own? Not near enough time. You could maybe teach yourself a few phrases, but that's about it. You're probably going to slaughter the intonation so badly that no one will have a clue what you're saying.
Again, based on your previous posts, I'm going to say you should go somewhere that's a little more...easy for a casual tourist to get by in.
Thanks for the consideration. Duly noted. But I'm still strongly considering China.
I'm talking about previous threads, by the way, not your posts in this one.
Iceland could be fun. Their economy is shit right now too, so your money will go nice and far.
Thanks for the suggestion! Xi'an seems pretty cool, from the reading I'm doing on it now.
May I ask what experience you have with China? Have you lived there/visited before? You seem pretty knowledgeable!
Unfortunately no. I speak the language and my job requires a somewhat broad knowledge about the country which also leads to spending a lot of time with people from there and who have visited. So I do have to say everything I tell you is only second hand from others I've talked to.
And the teracota warriors too.
Satans..... hints.....
I've also spent sometime in yangshou and there is a bunch of outdoor stuff to do from rock climbing (why I went) to hiking to bike riding and kayaking and has a cool off the track kind of vibe in it.
Also forget esh, learn yes, no, thankyou and how to sign to ten and that is like 90% of everything covered for you. As you'll run into enough people who speak English there.
Satans..... hints.....
Having been to europe twice now (once to various cities in Scotland, once to Paris), I also give that locale a hearty thumbs-up if visiting another industrialized country is what you're aiming for.
I will recommend you the SE Asian region. Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. Obviously you would want to narrow it down a little more than that, but there are a lot of good things to see in a relatively small geographical region.
LoL EU West nickname: Irridan
Not only can you see Versailles, but you can hit up Hemmingway's favorite bar. See beautiful Venice, and go to Dino de Laurentis' favorite restaurant. That can all be really cool stuff, and China doesn't really provide the same opportunities.
--LeVar Burton
Are you talking about Harry's New York Bar? Avoid like the plague. Maybe walk in and out, but otherwise it's an overpriced tourist trap.
An issue might be renting a car while I'm overseas, though, since I'm 21 (or will be).
I'm also considering just maybe going somewhere tropical, like Fiji, and relaxing there for the duration. I don't know, there are too many options!
The Philippines is ridiculously cheap and has an amazing country. I imagine there are lots of colonial and war time historical sites.
Granted one of them has family in malaysia, but still.
Come back down here to New Zealand! We probably have lots of stuff you haven't seen yet! Like the Waiamangu Valley (sight of the violent volcanic eruption back in the early 1900's. The whole valley was utterly destroyed, the pink and white terraces of victorian lore buried under 40 meters of a new lake. The vegetation is in the 2nd stage of growth after the volcanic eruption) It's so fucking cool. Of course it's in Rotorua so everything smells like sulfur. Also, we have hot water beaches!
And things. Plus, if you're leaving the states in the fall, you'll get here during spring!
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If you do China, the big sites are of course Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong for the city thing. Beijing is the best of those in my opinion, plenty of stuff to do there. For seeing awesome countryside, my recommendations are Yangshuo in Guilin, Chengdu in Sichuan, and Kunming, Dali, and Lijiang in Yunnan province. There are tons of things to do in all those places. For me, Xi'an was kind of a 2 days and done city, beyond the terracotta warriors and the old city wall, there wasn't much else going on there (or at least nothing worth travelling to the city for compared to other places).
As much as I love China, I would probably recommend thailand and either Laos or Cambodia as a combo. Tons of great food, beaches, and cultural things to keep you busy, and doing two countries there in 2 weeks is pretty doable. I did a two week loop of Bangkok, Koh Phi Phi, Angkor Wat, and Sihanoukville and had a great time.
On the opposite end of the country is Beijing, which you could probably spend days there on it's own. But it has good access to most of the hike-able places of the Great Wall.
As Quid said, you will stand out, but not in a bad way, really.
The language would possibly be an issue, but you should be able to plan things out ahead of time and have most of that covered, so since this isn't going to be till the Fall, I wouldn't worry about that much.
China has a LOT of history. And a lot of the "tourist" places in China are centered around the history, so if you are wanting to see ancient cultural landmarks, relics, etc., and learn some about them, China's a great choice.
Is there a particular area of history you like more? i.e. Asian vs European? Because that could be an important factor.
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I'm heavily leaning towards China right now. A huge concern of mine, though, is the weather; I'd be going early December, and I definitely don't want to deal with tons of snow, as I imagine that it would impede my hiking and just general exploring quite a bit. So would I need to stick to Southern China? Or what?
Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
LoL EU West nickname: Irridan
If you do go to China though tell me how it is, I've always wanted to go and I'm in Japan currently so I'm only a hop over the pond away...
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/24/world/asia/china-foreigners/index.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-chinaforeigner-bashing-brings-a-public-backlash/2012/05/24/gJQA4eAenU_story.html