{"id":4200,"date":"2014-04-16T13:10:01","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T17:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/?p=4200"},"modified":"2014-04-25T13:25:36","modified_gmt":"2014-04-25T17:25:36","slug":"china-tours-hidden-gems-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/china-tours-hidden-gems-china","title":{"rendered":"China tours: The (kind of) hidden gems of China"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Program Consultant Cara Suriyamongkol.<\/em><\/p>\n

China is pretty big\u2014big cities, enormous population. Just look at it on a map and be impressed. However, after living in China for over a year and studying abroad in the country before that, I feel the press too often neglects its surprisingly rich diversity. Ask anyone on the street in and it\u2019s likely that the only places they know in China are Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.<\/p>\n

But there is so much more.<\/p>\n

Most travelers only barely scratch the surface of the beautiful and interesting places in China. So, as someone who has traveled extensively and talked travel with many locals, here are a few of my favorite, lesser-known (to Americans) destinations:<\/p>\n

1. Yangshuo and Guilin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Luckily, one of Explorica\u2019s tours, Best of China<\/a>, manages to fit this awe-inspiring spot into the itinerary. It is probably one of the most unique landscapes I have ever seen. Picture this: soaring Karst, limestone peaks and caves surrounding a slow-moving river that looks like it\u2019s out of an ancient fairy tale.<\/p>\n

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2. Jiuzhaigou National Park and Northern Sichuan<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is another special spot, and despite the quickly increasing amounts of visitors, it remains tasteful. In fact, it is so picturesque, it\u2019s almost overwhelming. Some of the highlights? Nearly-crystallized, ancient, petrified sunken logs under glass-like turquoise water and fabulously vibrant foliage.<\/p>\n

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Also, if you get the chance, make sure to visit some other parts of Northwest Sichuan and you\u2019ll never think of China the same way again. The landscapes are reminiscent of our own Wild West, populated by it own breed of Tibetan cowboys who ride around the mountainous region fully outfitted with leather jackets, cowboy hats, and motorcycles.<\/p>\n

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3. Lijiang, Dali and Shangri-la<\/strong>
\nMy last shout-out is to these three cities. All are heavily influenced by ethnic minority culture and are surprisingly distinct, despite being so close to each other (for China standards). Incredibly popular with Chinese nationals, expect there to be large crowds anytime except for early morning in these cities. My personal favorite? Shangri-la, hands down!<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Want to visit China? Check out our China tours online!<\/a><\/h2>\n

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Guest blogger: Cara Suriyamongkol, Explorica Program Consultant<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meet Cara, one of Explorica’s dedicated program consultants. Cara has had her fair share of adventures jet-setting\u00a0across the globe, including a year and a half living in China.\u00a0So, to get the scoop on China tours, just ask Cara!\u00a0<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Program Consultant Cara Suriyamongkol. China is pretty big\u2014big cities, enormous population. Just look at it on a map and be impressed. However, after living in China for over a year and studying abroad in the country before that, I feel the press too often neglects its surprisingly rich diversity. Ask anyone on the Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[147,58,422,421],"class_list":["post-4200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-explorica-news","tag-china-tours","tag-educational-travel","tag-learn-abroad","tag-study-abroad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4200"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4247,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4200\/revisions\/4247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}