Xi'an xucks

I've been to Xi'an twice and stayed at different hotels each time, booking the hotels online.  No hassle.  I've both trained and planed and had no issues to report.  I have to say that I think this is a great city.  Too bad it does winter.

I think Xi'an is a great city. I had a good time there. The airport is pretty woeful for such a large and interesting (and popular) tourist destination. You can't win them all. Oh well. About the laowai hotel scam: it is back in full force. I experienced this when I flew down to Shijiazhuang to spend two nights revisiting friends. The only hotels that would take laowai were actually grottier, further away from trains and transit, and infinitely more expensive than the majority of hotels on offer; none of which accepted foreign guests. I don't kid. It took trips to 14 hotels and nearly two and a half hours to find one that would accept a laowai. A few days later we took the train down to Handan and encountered a similar problem, but it took four hotels and fourty-five minutes to find one. Referrals from one hotel to hotels that supposedly took laowai always turned up a dead end. This leads me to believe that these changes are something that is being enforced within the last year. Hebei, Shaanxi, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou (Zhejiang??? I wouldn't be surprised). Reading about China ten years ago, it appears that the bad old days are coming back.

This leads me to believe that these changes are something that is being enforced within the last year. Hebei, Shaanxi, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou (Zhejiang???

I am sure my experience was related to security arrangements for the National Peoples' Conference.

I think that the present situation with hotels in these areas is linked to the Shanghai Expo security arrangements. I have no proof of that  - but who needs proof in China!

Last year I read that all hotels in Guangdong had to be online to the PSB. Your registration at a hotel was automatically logged to their system. I thought this would result in the 'old rules' being enforced but it did not seem to limit the type of hotel foreigners could use.

Maybe there is an old Guangdong PSB saying like, "It is better to know where the white cat sleeps on a dark night than spend all day following him."   

It sounds like the rules just chilled out prior to the Olympics. Now that they are finished the screws get tightened again.

Someone mentioned the hotels were more relaxed down south. I think that is also true. In DaLian, on the 4th of June 2008, I got kicked out of a small hotel by the police because it wasn't licenced for Johnny LaoWai. When I asked where I could stay, the copper pointed me in the direction of a "posh" hotel: 270 RMB a night. Not too expensive but this was the first three days of a five week backpacking stint. not cool...

In ShenZhen my Chinese mate took me to unlicenced place. It was 80 RMB a night. The people were more than happy to have me. The place was squalid. I told my mate that it was too grimy so I ended up staying at the HI Hostel. I felt very bad telling him that it was too dirty for me but it was...


And finally, in GuangXi, I stayed near some rice terraces. There loads of small guesthouse type places. I found one that charged 100 a night. Excellent views. I paid up. She diden' ask for my paspport. When I asked if I was going to be registered with the PSB, she just laughed. 

The ultimate cheapo stay is supposed to be to fork out the 30 or so RMB required for yer average sauna/massage place, stash your stuff in a locker and then spend the whole night in an easy chair in the smoke-filled common room. It's up to you if you take advantage of any 'extras' on offer.

Personally I'd be afraid of missing an episode of 'dialogue' I haven't seen yet, so I have so far always opted for a hotel, but a friend assures me this option is entirely do-able.

Personally I'd be afraid of missing an episode of 'dialogue' I haven't seen yet, so I have so far always opted for a hotel

 

The ultimate cheapo stay is supposed to be to fork out the 30 or so RMB required for yer average sauna/massage place, stash your stuff in a locker and then spend the whole night in an easy chair in the smoke-filled common room. It's up to you if you take advantage of any 'extras' on offer.

I taught at a high school that offered on-campus accommodation that was quite comfortable but was also inaccessible after 2200 hrs. One of the other FT's (a young guy from Canada) would stay at a sauna across the street when he was out too late. It always was fine for him...he just slept in one of the easy chairs or in a quiet room that apparently was just for sleeping.