China IN December

madmoe

Hi all,
Seriously thinking about China in late December early Jan for about 3 weeks. Going over with Chinese mate and staying with her for first few days in her city. She reckons you can go to a travel agent over there and for €400 -€500 get a multi city trip which include flights, accommodation etc. I would LOVE to do this but am wondering has anyone else done this on here? How many days did you go for? Which cities are the best to go to? How long should one stay in each city? Any info you have on this would be very much appreciated.

I have asked my mate but she says it is best to book it over there to get the best deals. Would like to try and get a bot more info. before booking flight.


Thanx,
M

Jesus Wept

This is a travel website my chinese friend showed me.

The flights are cheaper, found return flights in Jan to Hong Kong for 500e (it was 650-700 on irish travel sites).

madmoe

Just seen flights on eBookers for €600 return to Bejing.

Spider_Baby

Beijing, Guilan and Yangshou are cool places. You'll get to see the Great Wall, Terracotta Army, biggest Buddha in the world and panda sanctuarys too.
Its easy to get around without booking one of those trips, plenty of long distance buses and trains. The tour might be good though for meeting other travellers.

madmoe

@Spider,
Thanx a million for that. Did you travel independently?

tywy

I enjoyed both Beijing and Shanghai. Both cool but different.

We got the Trans Siberian to Beijing and then another train to Shanghai and then flew home with Qatar Airways thru London. Very comfortable!

Spider_Baby

madmoe wrote:

@Spider,
Thanx a million for that. Did you travel independently?

Hi,
No I was with a friend for the China part of the trip.
We used all public transport though, combination or buses, trains and tuktuks.
Cant remember the exact route offhand but if I take a peek at a map it should come back to me.
We were in Beijing, Guilan, Xi'an, skipped through Nanning but heard good reports on it, Yangshou.
Fave place was Yangshou. Really nice chilled out vibe there.

Any q's feel free to pm me.

madmoe

@Spider,
Thanx for that man. So u reckon the best way to go is independently rather than book a tour etc.?

M

Spider_Baby

madmoe wrote:

@Spider,
Thanx for that man. So u reckon the best way to go is independently rather than book a tour etc.?

M

Yeah we'd no problem at all organising it all ourselves.
Only thing is their "hostels" for the most part arent really hostels, most we were in were like hotels...great in one way...but not great if you are trying to meet other people.
A few of the hostels were great though, the one in Xi'an had a good atmosphere. Yangshou too.
The one we stayed in in Beijing though was more like a hotel.
Also found for the most part the people we met in China were totally different to travellers we met elsewhere. In China there was a lot of older Americans who were there learning Chinese...very different to the "usual" backpacking traveller you'd find in other Asian countries like Thailand and Laos.

I haven't heard much about the organised tours to be honest. Could be a good way to meet other travellers, cut out the hassle etc.
We had no problem at all getting around though. Actually...a few times we had a problem trying to communicate where we wanted to go...but sure we got there in the end! Did get ripped off coming over the China/Vietnam border though, feckers.

madmoe

@Spider,
Cheers mate, sounds like ye had a whale of a time. I think I'm gonna go to Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an while I'm there. Staying with a mate initially north of Beijing but will do a 10-12 day trip between these three. Would that be too long for these 3 cities?

M

rivers

hey,
just in regards to the organised trip, i definitely would advise staying far away from these. Generally, these trips would be full of chinese tourists, the tour guide (if there is one) will speak no english and invariably you will pay much more for doing the same things compared to you doing it on your own.
get yourself a lonely planet and you'll be fine.
i lived in china for over a year and did a 6week trip around the country from north to south. I'd second one of the above poster's reccomending Yangshou, great little town surrounded by amazing scenery. 10-12 days would be about fine for those 3 cities. but i would look at other places also, maybe the tiger leaping gorge in yunan or even hong kong (but if you want to re-enter china you need another visa or a re-entry visa). I did a blog while i was there, might give you some ideas. Let me know if you want ill send it to you.

btw its going to be very cold that time of year so wrap up!

madmoe

@rivers,
Thanx a million for that mate. Will check out your blog too.

M

Spider_Baby

I second Rivers....wrap up well!!
It was Nov/Dec when I was there myself. Climbing the Great Wall brings you through all temperatures...you start off absolutely f-f-f-freezing (especially if you are a female using the "tiolets" at the Wall), all wrapped up in hat, scarf, woolly socks etc...after 10 mins you are boiling from the steep steps...so you take off some layers, maybe take a small break...only to be freezing your ass off again as soon as you stop walking! Good times, good times.

Yeah I think 12 days sounds about right.
I found Xi'an very polluted when I was there...no blue sky at all...all grey and smoggy, so even though we enjoyed it we were also glad to move on and get some fresh air.
I cant comment on Shanghai as I wasnt there.
Beijing is cool though. The whole place is undergoing a complete overhaul for the Olympics. HUGE amount of con-artists and scammers in Beijing though.

madmoe

Guys, ye are great for the info, want to say thanx a million again! The other half is coming with me so we are defo gonna do it independently, from what ye say it sounds like way more fun that way!

Thinking about setting off on a 10\11 day trip starting on Xmas eve in Beijing, stay that night and Xmas day\night in a hotel (any recommendations for a nice one), it is Xmas so don’t mind spending some extra shillings for a good place ;-) Stay in Beijing until St. Stephen’s day, will everything be opened (the sites) even though it is Xmas? Head to Xi'an possibly after that for another 3-4 days (too long) and after that to Shanghai for the remaining time.

This is a very rough plan but feel free to give any advice. Thinking about travelling between the cities via train, except for when we fly back from Shanghai to Beijing, dunno if this is the best way to do it?

Cheers,
Mark

Spider_Baby

Yeah we found the trains were fine. Cant remember which part of the trip we used the train though...think it might've been from Biejing to Xi'an possibly.

I also took a 20 hour bus alone! Interesting experience. Only female on the bloody bus! No english speakers either which made the toilet/food breaks a nightmare as I had no idea how long we would be stopped for.
The buses can be a bit annoying. You do get a bed, but if you are taller than 5ft 7 or so you will be squashed. They also tend to play really bad Karaoke videos throughout the journey on the buses and beep the horn constantly...so bring earplugs!

I've no idea what it will be like at Christmas, we had moved on from China at that stage and were in Vietnam for Xmas ourselves.
Not sure if things will be open or closed.

3 or 4 days in Xi'an sounds good to me. You can cycle around the walls of the city there and go sight-seeing for a day. THen do a day trip to see the Terracotta Army.
I cant really recommend any nice hotels in Beijing, we were cheapskate backpackers so stayed in hostels all the time

rivers

Xmas is like any other day in most of China. It's not really a holiday there so expect everything to be open. It's being celebrated more and more these days though (especially with the consumer culture, the shops will milk it for everything).

As for hotels in beijing, there's an abundance of them. You can stay in a really nice place for say 60euro. Just check a little on the net for hotels, and reccomendations. In beijing i definitely reccomend renting a bicycle and hitting the hutongs (old alleyways). These are centred around the forbidden city, and you can buy great street food here, and see houses centuries old, and that kind of thing. This is the real beijing and my favourite part. If you stay within the 1st ring road then beijing doesnt seem so big, and there's alot of great sites to see in this area - tianamen sq. forbidden city, some pagodas, the lake area, the old wall...another thing in beijing not to miss, is trying some beijing duck...

Travelling in between the cities, i'd definitel y say take trains. all long distance trains have beds, in bunk bed fashion. the lowest being the most expensive and the highest least expensive. The middle one is the best. Picking yourself upa phrase book would probably come in handy as no one in the train station will speak english! If you could even get some mandarin lessons to learn some basics before you went, it would make your stay alot more enjoyable and easier...

anyway, if you need anything else pm me...

madmoe

Hey guys,
Thanx again for the info. Gonna start palnning it all oput ASAP. Getting some language lessons may be a good idea, would be nice to be able to say some stuff.

Mark

johnnyboy4711

hi all!
wonderin on electronics markets in shaghai as spending a couple of days there on way back from new zealand.
for cameras,mobile phones,computers pdas etc
john
fake markets also thanks

madmoe

Hi guys,
Got it all sorted for Beijing over Xmas with a tour and a place to stay. Am heading to Shanghai on St. Stephen's day, thinking about doing this ad hoc. What are the best things t do\see and has anyone stayed in any good places here?

Cheers,
M