Re: China
you won't have time for that. there is so much to see and if your tour guide is like ours they will pack in so much .
I loved China and would go back in a moment. Apart from the "Tourist" attractions there is far far more. Such as watching the silk being made into material- carving jade- pearl factory - tea ceremony.
Then there is not the so obvious sites such as the Bell Tower and Drum Tower tower inZian, having a 20 course meal in one of the Emporers palaces- bike ride around old part of Bejing.
The history of China is amazing ,how for example they kept the Mongolians invading for so long
One thing we did notice that most of the large tours parties got out of the coaches and walked on the wall. Avoid if possible and book a private trip, ours was included with the company we went with. They took us right out into the countryside to the mountainous region and we had to get a ski lift up to the wall a few thousand feet up.
This is where you can appreciate the scale and work that went into building it, not where the coaches park.
this is what you go all that way to experience, even if it costs a little more
to give some idea how high were were you can just see the road in the distance
Take a camera because there is so much to get photos of it will nearly always be in use.
Oh and yes we we exhausted art the end of each day, started of and finish in Bejing but flew to Zian mid holiday
W had oly been in our hotel for a couple of hours when the tour guide took us out on a site seeing trip, and what a lovely people both were on in each place. they really put themselves out to make you holiday memorable.
We were lucky we had our own car and driver as well as our own tour guide. Cost a bit but it is really once in a lifetime holiday. The company we used now longer exists, but it was about 10 years ago
One thing all the notice signs are in Chinese and English