Help me plan my holiday to China... Cheers!

[munitalP]

Hi all

I am starting to plan my holiday for the end of the year now - my basic travel will be MEL / Bejing on DEC 22 2008 with a return JAN 10 2009 - I have not made up my mind - from either Shanghai or Hong Kong / MEL

I would like to see the wall, Xian, the silk road and spend a couple of days in Guangzhou before returning.

I intend on rail travel rather than flying in China and am traveling with my wife.

OK - who can help me plan this? I look forward to suggestions. Cheers!

BTW - I have never been to China so am relying heavly on others to point me in the right direction.

 

[albatross710]

We went to Beijing, Xi'an & Shanghai in Sept 07. Had a wonderful time and are ready to go again (if someone can offer me a job there.)

We flew SQ BNE - Beijing via SIN. Return from Shanghai to BNE. SQ is highly recommended for service, convenience, inflight entertainment.

We took overnight trains between the cities. The trains were clean and comfortable. First trip was "hard sleeper" open cabins, 6 people per cabin. Average sleep. 2nd leg was "soft sleeper", quieter cabins and 4 people per. Good sleep.

If I was doing Xi'an again I'd probably only do 1 train leg and then fly out after 1-2 days. 1 trian leg builds character and completes the Chinese experience.

Looking at hotels, check the reviews on tripadvisor.com. I found them to be accurate. 2 out of our 3 hotels were excellent.

When you first get there you will pay too much for anything you buy. It takes you a couple of weeks to get use to the fact that things can be so cheap.

IMHO don't buy stuff from markets. It is the lowest quality. Buy from the new generation of department stores where the Chinese are spening their new found wealth. The departments stores have the same quality as western goods for one quarter price. The street markets often have low quality goods for much less. It is a trade off...you pay 30% more for 400% improvement in quality. Does that make sense to anyone?

We bought one backpack from a street market which fell apart within 2 days but then paid twice the price for a backpack which will last years.

Cheers

Alby

 

[munitalP]

We flew SQ BNE - Beijing via SIN. Return from Shanghai to BNE. SQ is highly recommended for service, convenience, inflight entertainment.

I am booking our flights with frequent flyer points - I have a few to burn so will shop flights to ensure QF business or first both ways

Thanks for the advice as well

 

[Happy Dude]

Hi MunitalP,

In Jan 06, I did a similar trip but in reverse starting at Guangzhou, except that I also added Guilin/Yangshuo and Haerbin for the ice festival. Yep, similar!

I only did o/n rail between Xian and Beijing. If I had more time I would have done lots more train travel and stopped as often as possible. For rail advice (for any country) I'd recommend looking at a website call "man in seat 61" or similar...should be able to google it. It's very comprehensive about Chinese rail travel.

I kept a flexible schedule and relied on Lonely Planet advice or hotel touts in each place I went to and didn't have any shockers. I was in the budget end of things (about USD 10-15/night). Can't recall names of hotels but if I didn't like what I was shown, I just moved on to another.... I'm not sure what the prices will be like post-olympics (pretty horrendous if Sydney is anything to go by), but I think the dual pricing system has all but finished.

Regarding the Wall, on LP's advice I went to the Huang Hua section. It wasn't touristy, although there were sections that had been recently re-built. This may have spread with the upcoming Olympics. I used public transport, much to the annoyance of the touts who'll tell you any old chat in order to cast doubt and get your cash. It might be worth checking out LP Thorn Tree regarding the section of wall you want to see and what sort of experience you want. Personally I could tell that I wouldn't like a section like the most commonly-visited Badaling. Huang Hua was deserted and quite scenic. You can walk on the wall for about two hours, although parts of it were so steep that crawling was necessary.

The single most important thing I learnt in China was that peking duck should cost about 7 bucks for a whole duck, all in. I let some 'helpful' chinese girls order for me ("only Chinese menu here") and was given a bill for $40, including their food. I didn't mind or think that was too bad, and the duck was delicious.... until I went back the next day and the english menu indicated otherwise. Machiavelli himself couldn't have concocted a better scheme!

Have a great trip!

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

I've been spending a fair bit of time in China over the past few years, and so this time last year took a month to have a look around. I travelled from Hong Kong to Guangzhou (by train), spent a bit of time there (probably the best food in China) and then flew up to Shanghai.

From Shanghai, we headed to Beijing via Nanjing, Xian and a bit of Shaanxi province including a walled town I've forgotten the name of (Ping Yao?). Xi'an is a great place, even without the unmissable terracotta warriors, it oozes silk road (even down to mutton kebabs with coughin). From Beijing, we took an overnight train to Harbin for the ice festival, then flew back to Beijing and out to Melbourne.

The problem with travelling inide China is that there doesn't seem to be a concept of booking well in advance. Whenever you try to book a train, there seems to be a sweet spot between three and one day before to actually be able to book it. Once you're there, it's pretty easy - every hotel, restaurant and probably laundrette has a travel bureau and they are well regulated - so you book your next leg when you get somewhere. But doesn't make you feel 'in control'.

 

[munitalP]

Great advice so far!! Thanks

munitalP

 

[HardieBoys]

Hi there,

I was in Beijing in September 2007, and was very impressed. It's one of the more remarkable cities in Asia, and I'd definitely consider allocating a couple of days to it. The Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven are very worth while visiting.

In terms of visiting the Wall, I stayed out overnight at a place called Mutianyu, which is several hours out of Beijing, at a place called 'Red Capital Ranch', which is meant to be one of China's first eco-friendly hotels. The wall is completely unrestored around there, which means scrambling around, climbing, and getting sweaty, but on the other hand, you'll have it all to yourself. The Red Capital Ranch is a bit on the expensive side, but might be worth a treat just for one night.

I'm interested that you're going to spend a couple of days in Guanzhou. Most of my friends in HK say it's a hole, and that Shamian Island can be seen in an hour or so.

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

I'm interested that you're going to spend a couple of days in Guanzhou. Most of my friends in HK say it's a hole

HK people are very snobby about Guangzhou (not to mention Shenzhen). It's historic Canton, so it is older than HK, but it is a lot, lot cheaper for accommodation, food, shopping etc.

This snobbiness doesn't extend to not going there....

 

[HardieBoys]

Hongkongers are snobby about many things, as 25 visits in the past 4 years has led me to conclude, but you're right, they do look down on the mainlanders in particular. It's been more than 20 years since I was in Guanzhou, so I can't really comment on what it's like today. My parents have travelled a lot in China, including parts of Guandong province, and they're a bit ho-hum about Guandong compared to other parts of the country.

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

My parents have travelled a lot in China, including parts of Guandong province, and they're a bit ho-hum about Guandong compared to other parts of the country.

As a province, it is pretty ordinary and I would agree with your parents and go to many places in China above Guangdong - but Guangzhou is definitely worth a look as part of an itinerary from HK up to Guangxi or Shanghai.

 

[munitalP]

It's historic Canton, so it is older than HK, but it is a lot, lot cheaper for accommodation, food, shopping etc.

Can you offer advice to places to see, where to go and stay?


Cheers

 

[dajop]

With only 2 visits to China associated with work trips to Beijing, I am sure many others can offer better advice. However did manage to fit in visits to Shanghai, the Great Wall and Xi'an as well while there. Aside from the various treasures in Beijing, and the food and buzz of Shanghai one of the highlights was the visit I made to the Great Wall. I was dropped of at a place called Jinshanling and walked about 5 hrs or so and was picked up a second part of the wall, Simatai - really impressive, and not very touristy (except for quite a few Aussies) - although I imagine it may be more difficult going in Dec/Jan if there is cold weather. Also, I know you are planning train travel, but if you do find yourself in need of a domestic flight I found Ctrip useful for flight bookings and other info.