1 month China on the cheap? Help!

1 month China on the cheap? Help!
Jun 9, 2006 15:30
XIAOMAGE Points: Join Date: Jun 9, 2006 Status: offline	Hello everyone, I'm sure trip planning questions are posted all the time (just went through about 5 such threads before ignorantly posting without a very thorough search). Please direct me to relevant discussion if possible but any help would be welcome. I'm heading to China on July 9th and staying until August 9th or so when I depart for Taipei from Hong Kong. My friend will be coming with me and we're interested in going to a few select "zones" and exploring within them: Beijing area Nanjing/Shanghai area somehow get to Chengdu (thinking cheap, changjiang boat maybe?) Eventually worm our way down to GZ/HK and hope to see some things along the way (Guilin comes to mind). We're both photographers and would like some scenics and some street shots. We're also Chinese literature/language scholars and so we feel like we want to avoid some of the typical tourist stuff in favor of in-city wandering and social interaction. I'm sure some people can relate to this feeling...you get to a tourist "spot" and see it and go "yep, there it is, now what?" We are no strangers to the food and don't really find anything "exotic" anymore. We know very well that 1 month and a low budget is not sufficient to get a very thorough taste for the mainland, but I think it should be enough time for us to do a little exploration, hopefully without too much cost. We're willing to endure some degree of hardship--transportation, living in hostels, that sort of stuff. Domestic air travel comes with two tradeoffs: cost and cost, unless there's really a good or necessary option. We of course would like to see Huangshan, JZG, and Guilin (are any of these places attractive during the summer? I know it'll be hot). Any other good scenic stops along our tentative trip? The biggest concern will be transportation and finding a cheap way to go the long distances such as Nanjing-Chengdu and how cheap we can go without putting ourselves at serious health risk. I hope someone out there has some suggestions for us, it'd be most appreciated! :)

Jun 9, 2006 15:30

XIAOMAGE
Points:
Join Date: Jun 9, 2006
Status: offline

Hello everyone, I'm sure trip planning questions are posted all the time (just went through about 5 such threads before ignorantly posting without a very thorough search). Please direct me to relevant discussion if possible but any help would be welcome.

I'm heading to China on July 9th and staying until August 9th or so when I depart for Taipei from Hong Kong. My friend will be coming with me and we're interested in going to a few select "zones" and exploring within them:

Beijing area
Nanjing/Shanghai area
*somehow* get to Chengdu (thinking cheap, changjiang boat maybe?)
Eventually worm our way down to GZ/HK and hope to see some things along the way (Guilin comes to mind).

We're both photographers and would like some scenics and some street shots. We're also Chinese literature/language scholars and so we feel like we want to avoid some of the typical tourist stuff in favor of in-city wandering and social interaction. I'm sure some people can relate to this feeling...you get to a tourist "spot" and see it and go "yep, there it is, now what?" We are no strangers to the food and don't really find anything "exotic" anymore.

We know very well that 1 month and a low budget is not sufficient to get a very thorough taste for the mainland, but I think it should be enough time for us to do a little exploration, hopefully without too much cost. We're willing to endure some degree of hardship--transportation, living in hostels, that sort of stuff. Domestic air travel comes with two tradeoffs: cost and cost, unless there's really a good or necessary option.

We of course would like to see Huangshan, JZG, and Guilin (are any of these places attractive during the summer? I know it'll be hot). Any other good scenic stops along our tentative trip?

The biggest concern will be transportation and finding a cheap way to go the long distances such as Nanjing-Chengdu and how cheap we can go without putting ourselves at serious health risk.

I hope someone out there has some suggestions for us, it'd be most appreciated! :)

Jun 9, 2006 21:35

GERALDINE
Points:
Join Date: Jun 6, 2004
Status: Offline

Hi there
Think that you will do OK we went to China for a 5 weeks and were able to do it very cheap! We stayed in hutong accomodation in Beijing - great for the real street life Wangzhima Hutong from memory- we alked alot and spent alot of time imn beijing observing the street life- great thing to do and very cheap entertainment as well as superb photo opportunities.
Booked trains all the way good cheap travel but you must take your own food as train food was not too good!
Well worth a visit is Ping'an - take the bus from Guilin to Longsheng and then hop on the Ping'an bus- we stayed with minority folk in the terraced hillsides 50 Y per night for the two of us, I didn't want to leave.The food was fantastic and very resonable - filling meal for 2 cost us around 35 Y Apart from the terrfic scenery, the people are beautiful in nature and friendship- and we couldn't speak the lingo so you will do well. Yangshuo is a must but get out of the town hire a guide - a lady called Esther is great, she hangs out in the western part of town- get on a bnike and out in to the villages. Beautiful people, superb scenery and excellent day all for 50 Y!!
Good luck and have a great time!

Jun 11, 2006 01:33

LEMONCACTUS
Points:
Join Date: Dec 8, 2005
Status: Offline

hi xiaomage

this is almost too big a question to answer... and I guess it depends what you mean by cheap. Compared with travelling in other countries, China is very cheap. Especially food. Most of your money will be spent on transport and accommodation.

I can help you a little with Chengdu, having visited there last summer. Flying from BJ will cost you around 2500RMB, maybe more now! It is cheaper (and much more fun, imo) to get a hard sleeper on a train, but this will take longer and sometimes it can be difficult to get tickets for this route!

Jiuzhaigou is beautiful in every season, but if you don't fly from Chengdu then you're looking at a full day to journey there by bus (and then you have to get back!). Again it's a case of budget v time. Tickets for JZG are not cheap, 310RMB.

If you're really looking for scenery and not 'touristy' things then you could pretty much spend a whole month exploring the villages and landscapes in this small part of Sichuan Province. Really stunning scenery and heavy Tibetan influence makes it even more interesting.

Accommodation in China ranges in price from the very cheap to the very expensive. Cheap hotels are also good value and for a twin room you're looking at 100RMB upwards. BJ hostels are cheap and great value for money, clean, showers etc. Probably around 50RMB a night upwards for a dorm bed. If you can handle outdoor toilets and no hot water then you can really live on the cheap: I've paid as little as 10RMB a night!

There's a lot of information and pictures on this site about the places that you want to go, it's worth checking out the travel tips, reviews, pictures of JZG, BJ, SH etc.

One thing to be aware of is that China is massive. You must factor in time to get from place to place. A month really isn't very long here!

If you look on the left of the site screen you'll see a list of destinations, choose one and hit 'go'. This will bring up all info & pics from members here.

Have a great trip :)

NB: Sounds like you speak Chinese, so don't be afraid to try to bargain down room prices in hotels (especially in out of the way places) and feel free to ask to look at the rooms before you buy.

Jun 11, 2006 04:18	#3
PINETREE Points: 2514 Join Date: Oct 9, 2005 Status: Offline	I thot XiaoMaGe should now be in Taiwan tackling Chen Shui Bian !! Anyway, this website of hostel/guesthouses could be useful to you in your travelling plan :- www.hostelworld.com/index.php Enjoy.

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