I caught a plane from Vancouver to Beijing, and then from Beijing to Chongqing. I did not know any Chinese at all, and I found the whole process very straightforward. The airports have Chinese and English signs for everything, and a lot of the airport staff also speak English, especially in Beijing (due to the upcoming Olympics of 2008).
Arriving in Chongqing, it is pretty easy to catch a taxi, but you have to speak the Chinese name of the location that you’re staying at. Or you could have the Chinese characters written down that you can show. Taxi rates are pretty decent, getting from the airport to a place closer to the actual city was only about 40-50 yuan.
Your account on flying to China is interesting - I thought that it would be quite complicated to travel to China, but your description makes the process sound easy and very doable.
What is your experience with booking accommodations in China? Do you recommend using a travel agent or booking online? What websites do you recommend? Also, do you recommend getting travel insurance?
I got my ticket through a local chinese travel agency. I saved $500 compared to the cheapest online price I found, and I bought the ticket the day before I left. That really shows how much better it is to buy from a travel agency that specializes in your destination.
The travel agency was in chinatown, but if your city doesn’t have one, perhaps phone a chinese travel agency in a bigger city, especially the cities that are hubs for lots of airplane routes.
I got my travel insurance through my bank (Royal Bank of Canada), pretty affordable, I didn’t exactly shop around.
I haven’t tried booking accommodations yet. I’ll know more in a few weeks.