| Online booking of bus from Guangzhou to Macau | |
|---|---|
| May 28, 2008 22:19 |   |
 | In July I am staying overnight in Guangzhou. We intend travelling to Macau the next day. We will have been in China for about 10 days prior to that travelling in from Hong Kong to Shenzen and up to Shanghai before going to Guangzhou and then to Macau. I have been told by the Chinese Consulate in Australia that in order to get a visa for China I need to have tickets purchased showing how I am going into mainland China and then out of China. I have my ticket from Hong Kong into China (by ferry) but need to book a ticket from Guangzhou to Macau on the way out. We had planned to buy bus tickets once we got to China but this is no longer acceptable. I must have tickets in and out of mainland China before they will issue the visa. I've looked for a bus company which pre-books online between Guangzhou and Macau so I can take the ticket/proof of exit to Macau to the Consulate. I found one site but it doesn't appear to let me book online. Help needed to get an online booking company - preferably bus, but all help on any travel methods between Guangzhou and Macau appreciated. It must be somewhere I can book online though. Many thanks for advice. Anne |
| May 29, 2008 02:15 | #1 |
| Perhaps i can offer u an alternative solution, not sure if it works for u. You can get a local friend to buy you a bus ticket from Guangzhou to Zhuhai (Gongbei stop) and from there, you can walk across the border to Macau. The bus tix from GZ-ZH is only around RMB75 or thereabouts. |
| May 29, 2008 03:09 | #2 |
| That method wouldn't satisfy visa application requirements. Booking bus tickets online is unheard-of. What other travellers have been doing is to book a cheap throw-away airline ticket. |
| May 29, 2008 04:36 | #3 |
| I don't think you will need it. My sister and a friend are doing what you have just described in a little over a week from now. Neither of them were to required to show proof of transport from HK/China/Macau. The friend was only required to show proof of hotel reservation and that was only for the first night and not for the whole stay. My sister required nothing. Send in copies of your flights in/out of HK and your hotel bookings on the mainland and leave it at that. The fact that you can walk into China from both HK and Macau makes this a pretty silly stipulation. Use Shenzhen and Zhuhai as your POE's Read some of the other threads here. Conditions seem to vary depending on your nationality and length of stay and Port of Entry. Good Luck |
| May 29, 2008 05:28 | #4 |
| Online booking for buses? I would be crazy happy if they'd just make the direct purchase of train tickets available online! |
| May 29, 2008 08:28 | #5 |
| Thanks all for the advice. The Chinese Consulate in Australia will not give me a visa unless I have the tickets into and out of mainland China. Proof of tickets to and from Hong Kong are no longer accpetable. It doesn't appear to matter that even though previous practice has been eg. to catch a HK train and get off at the last stop and walk over the bridge going through customer/border post on the way, tha tis no longer accpetable. I have been to the consulate about this a number of times. it doesn't matter that previously people have been able to walk in where borders join so long as they have the correct visa. The Consulate will not now issue visas. So I have to buy a ticket to get the visa even if I don't end up using it. Anne |
| May 29, 2008 08:44 | #6 |
| I have booked online train tickets through the MTR site. There is also a China Travel Site which will take applications and do the booking but it will on do a limited number of days beforehand. The MTR site does a much further in advance booking. Anne |
| May 29, 2008 21:51 | #7 |
| The MTR looks interesting...I'd never seen that before, although I have yet to visit Hong Kong. The China travel sites that do the booking as you said can only do so a limited number of days in advance(7-10 days, I think), they can't guarantee booking (like when I needed it during Spring Festival - I know, an awful time to travel by train) and they usually charge outrageous fees compared to the price of the tickets. Then there's the issue of getting the tickets into your hands in such a short period of time. Too many hoops, too much effort. I look forward to the day, and I hope it's not too many years away, when you can buy and print off train tickets like you do for airline travel. I don't think that will ever happen for the bus system, but it will eventually have to happen for the trains. It has to! During peak travel season the lines at the ticket office in my city here are at least 100 meters long - and there's not even a train that comes to our city!! |
| May 30, 2008 00:00 | #8 |
| This is just A THOUGHT but I wonder if the Chinese Authorities have a quota of tourists in addition to Olympics personnel and participants for the peak months of July/August/September while the Olympics are on. Allowing participants, guests and others with fully paid up travel itineraries to enter but........ It's already a logistics nightmare moving the Chinese population en mass during prime holidays so to avoid some of these problems occurring during this 'show-case' Olympics, perhaps they are denying visas and making them hard to obtain if you cannot prove that you have your transport sorted. IN MY OPINION this would be a wise decision on the part of the authorities here but too bad for the casual visitor to China. If you don't absolutely need to be in China during the next few months then I recommend postponing your visit until well after the big O has been and gone. |
| May 30, 2008 01:31 | #9 |
| GUEST20463 | Anne, I am having exactly the same problem! My family members (from Australia) will be visiting in 3 weeks but they must show, with a ticket, how they will be getting in and out of China, from Macau. I live in Zhuhai, and the intention is to pick them up from the airport in Macau, and WALK across the border at Gongbei into China. I think I can pre-purchase a bus ticket, from Kee Kwan bus company, only 7 days in advance. RMB70, Macau to Guangzhou, Ph +853 2983 3888. (doesn't speak English!) Getting out - we are going to try buying a ferry ticket from Shenzhen (Shekou port) to Macau. For details on sailings and tickets, contact Macau (853) 7907039 Hong Kong (852) 28593333 Shenzhen (86 755) 7776241 Guangzhou (86 20) 82222555 or visit www.turbojet.com.hk Ferry tickets can be bought 90 days in advance. So the website says! No-one has ever heard of buying bus tickets in advance, you buy on the day in China! T.I.C. .... this is China. It has already been mentioned ... buying cheap throw away air ticket, just to satisfy visa requirement. If possible get fully refundable ticket, in and out of China, print out itinerary and e-ticket for consulate, wait for visa then cancel ticket and get your money back. Good luck. Ebe |
| May 30, 2008 01:33 | #10 |
| Scalping of tickets is already bad enough for the trains. If every Tom, Dick and Harry could buy and print train tickets online, it would be chaos. |
Page 1 of 2 < Previous Next > Page:
Post a Reply to: Online booking of bus from Guangzhou to Macau
Copyright © 1998-2024 All rights reserved.