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Hostel reservations, or on-the-spot?
Jun 15, 2006 11:45
  • XIAOMAGE
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Hi again folks,

For those of you who did not get to see the post I made some time ago regarding my trip (probably most of you :D), I'll be heading for China in early-mid July and will be traveling around the countryside for approximately a month. Major stops will be Beijing, Nanjing/Shanghai/Hangzhou, Chengdu, Guangxi, and GZ/HK area.

My friend and I are operating on a fairly tight budget for our own living accommodations and would like to find fairly cheap arrangements. I've been to http://www.hostelworld.com and have browsed around quite a bit and found it helpful, but I'm wondering if it is indeed best to reserve a room well in advance or if my friend and I should just start hunting when we arrive. The latter plan would give us significantly more flexibility in our trip, but we worry that availability becomes a problem quite often.

If we are to reserve rooms in advance, we would need to make our trip plans a bit more concrete, which doesn't really appeal to us. My Chinese is pretty good and my friend is reasonably competent, so we're not worried about language as much as availability and price.

Any advice would be appreciated!
Jun 15, 2006 21:37
#1  
  • PEA28COCK
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Hi Xiaomage,

My suggestion is:

If you go to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou or other big famous cities, you'd better book a hotel or hostel in advance. You know that these are hot tourist destinations. There are always swarms of tourists living there. Another reason is that there may be some big conference or events held there, thus finding a hotel or hostel when coming there will be definitely difficult.

If you go to Guangxi or other places which are not considered as the hottest tourist destinations, you can find your lodging when arrive there. I think that will be OK.

Have a nice trip.
Jun 15, 2006 21:39
#2  
  • PEA28COCK
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By the way, your user name 'Xiaomage' is a hero of a famous Hong Kong movie. Then you like Hang Kong movie or Chinese movie, right? :)))
Jun 16, 2006 11:39
#3  
  • XIAOMAGE
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My Chinese surname is Ma, and a bunch of friends decided to start calling me Xiao Ma Ge. It's also one of the nicknames of the mayor of Taipei.
Jun 17, 2006 09:26
#4  
  • JABAROOTOO
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Hi Xiaomage,
I personally have never made reservations and have only been caught out once in Chengdu. We did get a room with a little help from friends but it was over the weekend and there were several big things on at the time. Not uncommon but most big cities have loads of rooms and if you are early enough in the day checking in you should be OK. I immagine there was other accommodation available in chengdu just not so convenient or as cheap for us.

I'book the first and last dates which cannot be flexible and leave the rest up to..........whatever happens

All the best



Jun 24, 2006 09:04
#5  
  • ELLYSE
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If you're looking to save money, you could also try websites like http://www.couchsurfing.com and http://www.hospitalityclub.org for some leads.
Jun 24, 2006 15:46
#6  
  • MURRU
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We just arrived from Guangzhou and Yangshou.
We made the hotelbooking in advance by net to Guangzhou but in Yangshou (one of the most beautiful places I`ve ever visited) we just walked in to the hotel and got two rooms for 80 yuans each. So 40 yuans per person. Holiday Inn hotel on the Western Street. Clean and very good staff. Ask Elevy, she helps you whatever comes.
Jun 25, 2006 10:42
#7  
hi~~ the us folk with the cute name xiao ma ge which made me burst out laughing .
actually , i do suppot on-spot both in those hottest destinations and those arent . because those for you foreigners to book are so expensive and too classical i think , lol , i am just a student who can not afford that much . there are many mid-classical ones which you can get from their outlooks , safe and comfortable .
and by the way , are those places you listed are the confirmed ones ? come on , chongqing with the three gorges is so attractive ~~:)
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