Visas

If you are a British passport holder you will need a visa to travel to China. You can obtain one from the Chinese Embassy in London, and should enclose one passport-sized photograph and the applicable fee of around 30. Please ensure you have a full empty page in your passport and that it is valid for at least six months after the date you are due to exit China. British passport holders visiting Hong Kong for less than six months do not require a Hong Kong visa. On arrival in China you will be given 3 forms to complete, a Health Declaration Form, an Entry Card and a Customs Declaration Form.

Money

When you travel to China you will need Chinese currency, the Renminbi (RMB), which is also called the Yuan or the Kwai.

Sterling cash can be exchanged for RMB throughout China except in very rural areas where US dollars may be more popular - if you have some already bring them just in case. Make sure that when you take foreign currency into China that the notes are clean, unmarked and untorn, or they may not be accepted. Scottish banknotes are not accepted. Travellers cheques are accepted in China, sometimes for a slightly better rate of exchange than cash.

You can buy RMB before you arrive in China, from the airport on arrival, and probably also from your hotel reception as well as banks and exchange bureaux in all towns and cities. The exchange rate is regulated so rates are virtually the same everywhere. Ask for notes in small denominations as large notes for 50 or 100 RMB may be awkward for people to give change from.

Keep your receipts when you change money so that if you do have any RMB left over when you depart China, you can convert up to half of what is shown on your receipts back into sterling.

American Express, Diners Club, Master Card and Visa are widely accepted in the major cities and tourist centres, and there are cash machines to withdraw RMB using your PIN as at home. Cash however is the preferred method of payment.

In Hong Kong the currency is the Hong Kong dollar, and the rate is similar to RMB. Hong Kong dollars cannot be used in mainland China

Tipping

In mainland China tipping is not usually expected, although your guide or driver may deserve a token thanks. Low salaries are supplemented by tips for many workers.

In Hong Kong however, tips are expected. Restaurants there will usually add a 10% service charge, hotel bellboys should be tipped $5-$10 per piece of luggage, and taxi drivers will round the fare up to the nearest dollar as their tip.

Climate

When is the best time to travel to China? Generally speaking, spring and autumn are quite mild and so April, May, September and October are good times to travel to China. However, it is a good idea to avoid ravelling on the 1st May or 1st October as these are National Holidays, and also Chinese New Year - you may find hotels and planes full, the streets and attractions crowded as the Chinese are all on holiday. Beijing and the north - hot summers with rain in June and July, temperatures can reach 38 degrees C or 100 F. Winters are bitterly cold, rarely above freezing, and windy but often dry and sunny nevertheless. Spring and autumn are good times to travel, with temperatures around 20-30 degrees C or 68-86 F during the day, cooler at night.

Shanghai and central China - hot, humid, rainy summers, cold winters below freezing and often wet.

Guilin, Hong Kong and the south - hot, humid, rainy summers, with typhoons along the coast. Cool winters

Harbin and the north east - very very cold winters of -40 degrees - this is the home of snow and ice festivals! Mild summers.

Shopping

If you want to bring home some interesting momentous from your China travels, there are great-value and good quality objects produced all over the country. Beijing is noted for cloisonne enamel and fresh water pearls; Shanghai is renowned for jade; Xian is celebrated for antiques and rugs, while Guilin is famous for scroll paintings and bijouterie. Particularly, Suzhou and Hangzhou are well known for silk and tea.

Bargaining is common except in large stores and government-run shops, but make sure you and the seller understand the price correctly, and that you compare prices for similar goods on other stalls first. Be careful if buying jewellery or antiques unless you thoroughly understand the quality of what you are buying.

Eyewitness guides are characterised by their colour, which differentiates them from most other travel guides. Maps, photos and diagrams light up the pages and bring to life what can be experienced when travelling. Information in other guides may be more precise, detailed and comprehensive, but readers who enjoy Eye Witness Guides do so because visually they are stimulated and excited by what they see on the pages.

Great Britain - An Eye Witness Travel Guide begins with an introduction containing maps, information about society, politics, culture and the arts, and history. To whet the appetite further, the history of gardens, stately homes, heraldry and the aristocracy, rural architecture, the countryside, walkers’ Britain, the traditional British Pub and British Food, are all colourfully explained and illustrated so that the reader is provided with an idea of what is essentially British.

The remainder of the book is divided into a sections related firstly to London and then to Southeast England, The West Country, The Midlands, the North Country, Wales and Scotland. Each section is comprehensively covered, and significant cities for example Bath, Oxford, Glasgow and many, many others, are given special attention. Every so often the reader will come across a snippet of information such as Beatrix Potter and the Lake District, punting on the Cam in Cambridge, the stained Glass of York Minster, building with Cotswold Stone, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Edinburgh Festival and the Bronte Sisters which serves to put these things into their geographical context.

Information about major streets, usually shown as a conventional map, frequently appears in Eye Witness Guides as an overhead drawing often in 3D. Noteworthy buildings such as Blenheim Palace are presented in the same way. It is much easier to visualise than a conventional map or plan. And while this may reduce the accuracy of the information provided, it is more useful for the tourist who is probably after impressions rather than detail. And if detail is required other avenues to obtain it can readily be sourced.

Useful chapters at the end of the book cover accommodation, where to eat and practical information such as business hours, the National Trust, hospitals, communications, and currency. And even most of these pages, which in most travel guides are usually only consulted for information, are in colour with drawings and photos and consequently a real pleasure to read. There is a section giving travel information, air, rail, car, coach and on the canals. The index is comprehensive and useful.