I am planning a trip to the People's Republic of China in April and I found a wonderfully informative travel site that I would like to share with you. Although I have used Virtual Tourist ( http://forum.virtualtourist.com/ ) only for China research, you can get great information about virtually (pun intended) any place in the world.
It is not a photo specific site although I have asked several specific questions regarding photography in various parts of China and have received answers from both people who have traveled in these areas and people actually residing there.