Kai Kai the panda on show in Macau. Which, incidentally, there’s no visa faff to get into.
China, never the most hassle-free of destinations to go to in the first place, has just added a few extra complications for would-be visitors.
Tourists now need to send off a letter of invitation (either from a pre-vetted travel firm or Chinese company/ individual), plus photocopies of round trip flight tickets and hotel reservations.
If I’m honest, China doesn’t really hold that much appeal for me. I’ve been to Hong Kong and Macau, and seen the hideous air quality there. The thought of more of the same in big mainland Chinese cities fills me with precisely zero enthusiasm.
So the remaining lures, that I know of, would be pandas, the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and that ice-sculpture festival in Harbin. I’m sure there are bits of beautiful scenery here and there, and a wealth of attractions that have not yet crossed my radar. But there are no pangs of excitement, no desperate urges and no vague whims to drop by that I may eventually act upon.
China, alas, is just one of those countries I’m not bothered about going to. I’ll happily live my life without having visited the most populous nation on earth.
There are other countries that fall in the same boat. Nicaragua, Paraguay, Zambia and Papua New Guinea don’t leap out as places I feel I absolutely must go to either. But I’m far more likely to drop by and have a look if I happen to be in the vicinity. Why? Because I don’t have to faff about sending my passport off to get a bit of paper put in it.
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I’m extraordinarily lucky to have a British passport – there are hundreds of countries around the world that I can go to without having to be parted from that little red book. Many don’t require a visa at all, others allow me to buy one on entry, and a few involve filling in some details online prior to arrival. They’re all fine – not all that much effort is required.
But the more hoops you have to leap through, the less likely you are to bother jumping through them. Such visa restrictions will not be off-putting for people who really want to go to China, but to anyone who’s indifferent, it means that China gets lumped behind 100-or-so other options. I’m not too excited about South Korea or Japan, but I’m more likely to stop in both if I travel through Asia.
Even if I really wanted to go to China, however, the idea of booking flights and hotels before I even get the visa is seriously off-putting. And to have to lock yourself in to where you’ll be staying each night? Forget it – I’ll leave China for the tour groups the country obviously wants. Anyone wishing to explore independently faces a tough task.
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I had no idea they just added the letter of invitation requirement. Seriously, China? Maybe it’s based on reciprocity – I’m not sure if western countries require a LOI for Chinese visitors, perhaps?
You’re right about one thing, though – China holds precisely zero draw for me, too. Pandas in Chengdu and the Harbin Ice Sculpture Festival thingy are the only two things that interest me – and zipping through the river in Shanghai in that futuristic-y tunnel.
Send me to Taiwan, Korea, Japan, or even Mongolia any day. Less bureaucracy, more freedom, less black mucus lining my lungs.
But fewer pandas.
You lazy bugger. Admittedly, when I went to China I just needed to give them my passport for five days and they plonked a visa it in. I got it sorted at the Hong Kong office, which meant I had more time to spend in HK than planned (bonus). China takes a few days getting used to, and I actually wasn’t amazingly excited about going, but it’s well worth a trip, in my opinion. Even with these slight extra hassles, one day I’ll go again – especially for the food. I know it’s very good in HK, but it’s exceptional in China, and ridiculously cheap. I had a couple of the best meals of my life there. PS. I wouldn’t make a special effort to fly to Nicaragua, but those travelling through Central America would be foolish to skip it.
Totally with you, David. I’ve been to mainland China a dozen different times (having lied to the face of a consul general three separate times to get a visa) and have no warm feelings for the place. None at all. That said, I can’t entirely blame the visa process – I’m desperate to go to North Korea, despite the hoops and associated jumping. So can’t claim the same defense. I just don’t like China.
Double ditto, David. I was in Hong Kong a month (loved it) before it reverted to China, haven’t had the urge to return with the increased influx of traffic since then. From friends’ tales who’ve been to mainland, the rest of the country doesn’t appeal. Honestly, with so many destinations to choose from, I’ll spend my tourism dollars in countries with better human rights and environmental record. I’ve made up my own personal travel bucket list, not printed one off the internet:\
Am with you, partly. Have been to HK a bunch of times – quite like it, although it’s way down the list in terms of my favourite Asian places to visit – and I’ve been to Beijing and Shanghai, quite liked those too.
In honesty though, overall I am quite lukewarm on China, I like the museums, the Great Wall and the modern art scene but I really, really dislike the food (I know it’s appealing to many people but I can’t bear it – bland and greasy on the whole imo) and as I’m in India so much I feel I only have mental space for one mega country at a time…..
Visas and hoop jumping, not such a big deal, but new regulations always a little off-putting.
Thats interesting! I’m going to be doing a lay over for a day in Beijing so I can see the wall and never return to China.
Do you know if anything has changed for the 24 hour permit?
China…Ballsin’ it up..
No idea on the 24 hour permit, alas… You might want to check that out
I have the same sort of situation with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the three countries bordering Poland which I haven’t yet been to. Australians still need invites and visas to enter these three, so even though I visit Poland regularly I’ve never quite got around to visiting them. Instead I’ve been to Germany, Czech, Slovakia, Lithuania, and I haven’t yet run out of other near-neighbours to Poland who don’t require me to jump through hoops to enter.
I think, David, that the new rules only apply to US citizens, who’ve always had a harder time visiting than most of the rest of the world.
Also, there’s a lot more to China than you itemise. The Yangtze, gorges, mountains, forests, Terracotta Warriors, real Chinese food, the Temple of Heaven, ginormous buddhas, yada, yada. And, I think you forgot the yaks?
I’d very much recommend it.