So where do you expect one to find information such as about possibilities to stay in chinese hotels other than from friends who have been riding through China, from tripreports here on the forum etc? Is that information worthless? My friend Mika who is a member here have been riding through China , and he was the first, or at least one of the first guy riding through China without guides etc. He have also posted his stories and ride reports here and I have also heard them directly from him. He had problems finding accomodation. Cheap accomodation was in general non accsessible for foreigners and he was even thrown out of places were he at first was allowed to stay after the police made a visit to the hotel/gh. The same is reported from the guy who just recently posted his adventures in China here. I cannot finds his postings here for the moment and doesnt remember his name/nick but he had a paralyzed arm and he was buying a bike in China and riding it around there for a good bit of time. He had also problems finding accomodation and he was slso thrown out of places he had been allowed to check into - if I remember his stories right.

But of course we shouldnt belive in such statementd as they come from the internet and from friends and thus of course are all lies.

Well I can of course - tell my own experiences from riding through China if that would matter. But then again it will just be another story on the internet wouldnt it? And thus not reliable. Well I rode through China in 2014, 30 days and around 6000 kms, entering from Kyrgizstan and exiting to Laos. It was an organised group. And the whole itinerary and accomodation was booked long time in advance. But then again 2-3 times it happend that we had to deviate from our original route and had to improvise and find accomodation "out of the book". And for those poor guides of our who had to do it they had a really hard time to find a place that could actually house us. Local police, regional police, higher authorities had to be called and had to approve that foreigners could stay in a hotel without license to do so. I remember especially one remote little town somewhere in Yunnan where there were only one little guesthouse and because of a landslide we couldnt get further so we had to spend a night there. And this little guesthouse had of course not permition to house foreigners and thus it took our guides several hours to get recognition and approval so that we could stay there. So accomodation isnt easy for foreigners in China - thats sure!
Well - dont belive me as this is just another internetstory.....

Thaiplated bikes or other foreign bikes into Vietnam - as I mentioned in my other post - yes some come through without any permits or in organised tours, with expensive organised tours you will come in and with a hefty permit one seem to come in nowadays. But just rocking up at the border will hardly be very succesful. There are dozens of reports of peoplewho have been denied at the vietnamese border. But then again - some people dont belive in tripreports on the internet. I find a bit strange that someone that mistrusts stories written on the internet such as here on the Horizons even bother to write here themselves, as netstories isnt reliable at all. But youre definetively right - one shouldnt belive all one reads on the internet.

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

His name was Tom (The 1 armed guy you are talking about)
I had the pledge to meet him in Chaing rai the other month.
The point I am making that good reliable up to date information up
about China is hard to come by. ( But Toms post is nearly spot on and I did say so in a reply post?)
Yes, hotel in very small towns you could experience difficult finding a hotel that will except a western person.
But you are never too far away from a larger town that does (100km max).
Also, the police are generally very helpful and if you are stuck the police will always help out and get you signed into an out off way town hotel.
It all come down it knowing the rules in China.
I seen town which holds over 1.000.000 being built over the last year or so things change very fast with regards to china so internet posting from 2 years or longer IMO is just out of date.
By the way, i read the SUN newspaper

Posted the link once already never mind here it is again

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...frontier-90255

Just had a read of Tom thread about HOTEL IN CHINA

Here are the importance bits ???

The importance bits I have put in BOLD


21 HOTELS AND HOSTELS:
- ALL HOSTELS HAD COMPUTERS FOR PUBLIC USE, HOTELS SOMETIMES HAD COMPUTERS IN THE ROOMS.
- I always started to look at least one hour before dark, you'll see why when you read further!
- the only time you may have trouble finding accommodation at popular hotels or hostels is during the NATIONAL HOLIDAYS. one is in the 1st week of October and the other is April 5th to 8th, and June 1st and end of September's "moon festival", end of April and first few days of may. check guide books! FOR ME, I never had trouble anywhere, finding a room during holidays. especially if you don't stay at the most popular places. in either small towns or big cities.!
HOSTELS:
- china has its own chain of international youth hostels in every place or city with big tourist sights, or famous parks etc. online (booking.com and hostelworld.com) they are usually designated "international youth hostel" in the title. these are usually having the same standards as other international hostelling association type hostels. - the Chinese international hostels, have a guide book for free, that has a list of all hostels throughout china, about 150 all together. with phone and addresses. and almost all of these accept foreigners. they also have dormitories, private rooms, restaurants and bar in many cases. dormitories= $5 u.s. to $7.00..... privates starting at about $16 u.s. ...... but I always could find hotels for less money ( $10 to $12.oo u.s.) that were far better, bigger with private bath and t.v. and parking. that were often a few blocks from hostels. then I would go eat dinner or have drinks at these hostels so as to meet other travellers, to get my fix of speaking with someone after long spells of only communicating with Chinese, etc.
- either way, there are also thousands of private hostels all over china in all major cities.
HOTELS:
- NOTE: after you read the hotels section of your travel guide, you will know, that in a few provinces some hotels will not accept foreigners. but don't panic! each time you enter a hotel go in smiling and be positive, just like with the police, and be very patient. I know, its at the end of a long day.! but it's better than going in worried that you might not get the room. as I have learned this after about 160 hotels experience. after being rejected by a hotel in a town, I would go in hotels asking " do you accept foreigners" as my first question!. and this was always a problem. cause they would then start phoning the manager or the police to be sure. and that's after you try to get them to understand your question, that can take 10 minutes. I've learned to always check the price first, then look at the room 2nd. and the less police around the better I always felt. often it may be simply because they don't want the extra hassle than their usual customers.
- THE REASON FOR BEING TURNED AWAY FROM HOTELS......... I never knew 100 % why, corruption, government safety, bla bla bla. no matter, its about learning to recognise when you have to leave town!! most often if a hotel denies you with a friendly smile, you must try to ask which hotel will accept foreigners. and get them to point out exactly where it is on a map and how to pronounce its name. if they cant do that, it just means they could be just lying to you! this happened to me a couple of times! try again at the second hotel the second hotel that denies you, then just leave town, otherwise, you could waste a few hours, because they will continue to smile kindly and send you away to 10 different hotels, anywhere to get rid of you. now if you do get proper directions then you will always find, the hotel will be usually about 200 yuan $30.00 u.s. but often this will include a Chinese style breakfast, buffet style? if 200 is over your budget then get out of town. usually, the next town will have no such bullshit... about 4 times in total I decided to stay at the expensive hotel, because I was too tired to drive further. the provinces this happened to me was, most often in Hebei , the province that surrounds Beijing and Tianjin cities. least often were Gansu province and Geermu city in Qinghai province
- I NEVER EVER RESERVED A HOTEL, anywhere in china! most towns above 10,000 people had a hotel. I never reserved because there are many variables in china. like, while biking, road problems/delays or getting tired earlier than planned. and never did I end up without a hotel.! i always started looking for hotels at least an hour before dark. and if a whole town denies you a hotel, I then would always drive to next town and find something. the smaller the town the more likely they will not care about who or where your from, and won't even ask for your passport.
- ONLY TWICE WAS I ASKED TO LEAVE A HOTEL AFTER CHICKING IN.. usually this is by order of the police, when the hotel tried to register you. or by the owner or manager. but no worries, calmly pack up and just go to the next small town or city. for me, I was never more than 20 minutes from the next town.


So i think from Tom report Hotels for westerners are not that hard to find?


2 out off 160 hotels he was asked to leave ??? not bad odds IMO

Well after spending several thousands of nights in hotels/hostels/ghs around the world I have NEVER been asked to leave after checking in - so two times are imho two times too much. And all the other troubles he had finding a place that accepted him in the first place are what I would define as problems finding accomodation. Directions, language barriers etc etc - it all adds up. Easy - no way!!!

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

You posted -Now he has up to date information for him to consider and not you?

Yes now he have up go date info and can see with his owns eyes that finding accomodation in China can be very very difficult and that he must even be prepared to be thrown out of places he actually have been allowed to stay in the first place. An experiece only to be found in China...

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....