30 days in China - recommendations?

bluemagpie

Hey, I am going to China at the start of June via HK, does anyone have any advice or recommendations - hostels, trains, cities, unmissable things to do?

My current plan is to go to Chengdu, X'ian, Shanghai, Beijing, and to enter via the train from HK to Guangzhou and travel around by train as much as possible. But any suggestions or advice would be great, thanks!

Challo

I would leave out Shanghai unless you have a particular fondness for cities and skyscrapers.

Pingyao is a lovely old stone walled town between Beijing & Xian.

A park called Jiuzhaigou near Chengdu (well it's a 10hr bus ride but Chengdu is the nearest base). Just google some images!! One of my biggest travel regrets is not going there.

And you could spend some time in Yangshuo for cycling/countryside/scenery, just beautiful. Can get a train from very nearby Guilin to Guangzhhou to go on to HK then.

You'll be moving fast for 30 days by the way.

killbillvol2

I'd agree with leaving out Shanghai.

Also a +1 for Yangshuo and surrounding areas.

To get to Beijing from HK is some serious travelling. Are you leaving from Beijing or do you have to return to HK?

mckildare

Also agree on leaving out Shanghai or spend only couple of days there, Zhouzhang was a nice place to visit though!

Overnight train was an effective way of getting from Xian to Shanghai, 14 hours but we got excellent sleep in the comfy compartments so we hit the ground moving when we arrived. Reverse that and the same again to Beijing and it won't be too bad on time.

Xian was my favourite spot - Huashan was a must for me (and if the Q is massive, hike it, you'll be up there quicker than the cable car ). Cycling the wall is fun when the weather is nice. The Warriors of course. And Haggling!

Beijing - The gardens around the Temple of Heaven at 7am on a weekday. Watch thousands of people doing a random mix of exercises before they go to work. It was fantastic!
Mutianyu section of the Great Wall was the most appealing to me, definitely deserves its name in that part of it. Although I heard the section that goes into the sea is cool and there are parties there :cool:

Try plan the big tourist spots during the week. It is ridiculous how many Chinese tourists show up at the weekend.
You will probably be stared at in a lot of places, you'll learn to ignore it Some people in shops will also ignore you if they don't feel confident speaking to a foreigner, its not personal. This wasnt in the touristy areas though.
Try the street food, it's lovely!
If you're going to buy train tickets etc, get someone in the accom to write it out on a piece of paper (symbols and english translation). It saved us a lot of standing around trying to figure things out

Enjoy the trip!

bluemagpie

Cool, thanks a million for all the advice! I'm flying out of Beijing so just travelling from HK through the various cities to get there, rushed enough but time is limited!

Great will try and get stuff written down for me, good to know. In general did you find it ok getting around without the language? I've heard a lot of mixed reviews but these are all from people who were on organised tours or hearsay from people who have never been...

mckildare

We had no problems, only once when we were way off the beaten track and a teenager with a bit of English randomly got a kind old lady to point out which bus to take to a Silk Market, she was delighted to help :pac:.

Having things written down just speeds up the process in the train/bus station because it can be fairly annoying with the crowds and finding which booth to use and so on might take a while.

budgemook

That Jiuzhaigou looks amazing!

bluemagpie

Excellent, thanks for all the replies, much appreciated!