Saving in China
SUZANNE MACNEILLE
With the dollar plummeting, a budget-minded traveler might assume the only option for 2005 is to stay home. But the dollar holds clout in China.
Shanghai may be ``the new Paris'' _ with ominous Paris-like prices _ but a 2-12 hour train ride away is Nanjing, a bustling riverside city that has maintained much of its historical fabric. An elaborate Ming tomb complex, a traditional Chinese park and smaller crowds are among the attractions. The Hilton, near a restored city wall section, costs about $80 (3,125 baht) a night.
Pingyao, a Han merchant city in north-central Shanxi province, is a Unesco World Heritage Site, and, with its traditional architecture and crimson lanterns hanging everywhere, one of the few historically intact cities in China. A room with private bath in a centrally located two-star hotel will cost about $50 (1,950 baht), while small, family-run inns are around $15 (585 baht).
Kunming, in southern Yunnan, has many parks and temples and is one of the most pleasant big cities in China. Lodgings range from about $15 a person at a two-star hotel to $110 (4,300 baht) at the five-star Harbour Plaza.
From Kunming, you can visit Lijiang, another World Heritage Site, and the mountainous village homes of ethnic minorities like the Dai and the Naxi _ $20 to $50 (780 to 1,950 baht) for a room in a homey guesthouse. A proposal for a huge dam project near the region's two-mile-deep Tiger Leaping Gorge _ a project that would displace thousands of people _ provides further inspiration for a visit.
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