TOPBUZZ

In 1931 the Japanese invaded China and set up a Puppet Government in the Shenyang area of north-east China. General Zhang and his son lived in the house below and were part of that government. Shenyang which is an industrial area of China with automobile factories although has modern buildings is still like China of the 1980's in many ways. Few western tourist go there and I stayed in the old Holiday Inn although a new one has just been built for mostly foreign businessmen to stay when working in Shenyang. The house was built at the turn of the century and was occupied by the Last Emperor who left Beijing after being driven from the Forbidden City and replaced by the first President of China, Sun Yet Sen about 1916. The house is fantastic to visit and all the furnishing are still there and original. Shenyang is also the site of the founding of the Qing Dynasty in 1644 and a small Forbidden City is still there and being well maintained as a tourist attraction although few people...

You need to be careful booking hotels in China. For my clients I do not book less than 3 star hotels except in very remote areas where it may be necessary. Trying to save money in China can be a disaster if you try to save it with hotels. Here is a typical 2 star or less hotel as an example. The photo with the t.v. is actually the lobby with a desk in the corner as a front desk. I stayed at this hotel in a small tourist town just outside Chengdu just to show people what a local 2 star or less hotel looks like. No western tourists stay here but it was the "best" hotel in the town. Yes, that is a Squat Toilet you are seeing in the bathroom. The shower with no hot water available was a shower head out of the wall and drained onto the floor which had a drain. Note the sink had no hot water faucet. Cost was $35 a night. Breakfast was not included. It did have heat but no air conditioning and this area becomes very hot and humid during the summer. I write this just to show...