New Year Quandry advice please

New Year Quandry advice please
Nov 16, 2008 17:42
KMATH71 Points: Join Date: Nov 16, 2008 Status: offline	In my wisdom, I thought it'd be a great idea to see in the Chinese new year in the Capital. However, we are planning to travel across China to Hong Kong, so we can catch a flight to the Philippines before heading back into China to catch our return flight home. I realised that train travel would be challenging, and was fully prepared to experience this, but did not realise that: A- Booking train tickets online via an agency would be so expensive, or B- I'd only be able to book train tickets a couple of weeks in advance or C- The Visa requires that I show proof of the flights to the Philippines. This means that if I book the flight to the Philippines in time for the visa applications, that we may not be able to guarantee we will make our connection. I can't afford that. Our flight to Beijing will arrive on the 25th. I was planning to spend a couple of days there, seeing The Great Wall, Forbidden Palace etc before heading south on the train to Hong Kong around 27th-28th, fly out to the Philippines where we would remain for about 10 days, before heading back to China to see the country when the public transport had settled down. Unfortunately my research led me to train prices which are only available to people buying tickets once in the country, and I have worked out our budget accordingly. I have considered a flight but this is considerably more expensive, and becoming more so as they sell out (I am holding out for pay day!). After paying for this, and other major expenses, it will only leave us about 501.731 CNY a day to live on (food, hostels, local travel) there will be four of us. Should I gamble, perhaps booking the Philippine flights for a later date, and trying Beijing train station daily in the hope I can get train tickets? If so, would it be possible to cut costs by buying two hard seat, and two sleepers, so the party can take shifts sleeping? On slightly different note, we were planning to arrive back in China around the 7th, and our flights back leave on 21st Feb, leaving us 14 days to explore China, however, I am greedy. I want to see- Karst hills (not Guilin, I'd like to avoid the tourists) Mingyong glacier The Terracota Warriors Sand dunes in Inner Mongolia A volcanic area? and I am ameniable to other areas of great beauty, especially nature reserves Of course, this is recipe for a very tight schedule, and we also have to consider the weather, especially re. Mingyong Glacier. Money is very much an object, I saved all year, working double shifts, for the international flights alone. We will have about 3,010.48 CNY for train travel for the return tour, so I'm trying very hard to pick regions which combine the above as much as possible to cut travel, and am also looking at overnight sleepers to combine sleep and travel where I can to save time and money. Is it also possible for us to rent a twin room a have some sleep on the floor to cut costs? Any tips about the any of the above would be gratefully received. Thank you, Kaz

Nov 16, 2008 17:42

KMATH71
Points:
Join Date: Nov 16, 2008
Status: offline

In my wisdom, I thought it'd be a great idea to see in the Chinese new year in the Capital. However, we are planning to travel across China to Hong Kong, so we can catch a flight to the Philippines before heading back into China to catch our return flight home. I realised that train travel would be challenging, and was fully prepared to experience this, but did not realise that:

A- Booking train tickets online via an agency would be so expensive, or
B- I'd only be able to book train tickets a couple of weeks in advance or
C- The Visa requires that I show proof of the flights to the Philippines.

This means that if I book the flight to the Philippines in time for the visa applications, that we may not be able to guarantee we will make our connection. I can't afford that.

Our flight to Beijing will arrive on the 25th. I was planning to spend a couple of days there, seeing The Great Wall, Forbidden Palace etc before heading south on the train to Hong Kong around 27th-28th, fly out to the Philippines where we would remain for about 10 days, before heading back to China to see the country when the public transport had settled down.

Unfortunately my research led me to train prices which are only available to people buying tickets once in the country, and I have worked out our budget accordingly. I have considered a flight but this is considerably more expensive, and becoming more so as they sell out (I am holding out for pay day!). After paying for this, and other major expenses, it will only leave us about 501.731 CNY a day to live on (food, hostels, local travel) there will be four of us.

Should I gamble, perhaps booking the Philippine flights for a later date, and trying Beijing train station daily in the hope I can get train tickets?

If so, would it be possible to cut costs by buying two hard seat, and two sleepers, so the party can take shifts sleeping?

On slightly different note, we were planning to arrive back in China around the 7th, and our flights back leave on 21st Feb, leaving us 14 days to explore China, however, I am greedy. I want to see-

Karst hills (not Guilin, I'd like to avoid the tourists)
Mingyong glacier
The Terracota Warriors
Sand dunes in Inner Mongolia
A volcanic area?

and I am ameniable to other areas of great beauty, especially nature reserves

Of course, this is recipe for a very tight schedule, and we also have to consider the weather, especially re. Mingyong Glacier.

Money is very much an object, I saved all year, working double shifts, for the international flights alone.

We will have about 3,010.48 CNY for train travel for the return tour, so I'm trying very hard to pick regions which combine the above as much as possible to cut travel, and am also looking at overnight sleepers to combine sleep and travel where I can to save time and money.

Is it also possible for us to rent a twin room a have some sleep on the floor to cut costs?

Any tips about the any of the above would be gratefully received.

Thank you,

Kaz

Nov 16, 2008 22:34

APAULT
Points:
Join Date: Mar 11, 2006
Status: Offline

I always caave out ution against overtight schedules esppecially in situations like yours. Leave out the Philipines???

Chinese New Year is mostly family and does not have so much for the outsider. The holiday wek is ATTROCIOUS for travel, and the isssues you mentioned are magnified - it is VERY hard getting tickets.

You can use buses which are more readily booked at short notice, instead of trains but your distances are very high.

'Areas of great beauty' are usually less accessible, you need several days to get there and get into these locations unlees you habve the money for highly organised guided travel. As it's winter the weather will be very cold, south of the Yangtze buildings are npot heated, and the days are short.

My view is that you should reconsider the scope of the visit, you will not 'explore' (to use your word) much, you would at best spend a lot of time on trains.

Nov 18, 2008 13:55

KMATH71
Points:
Join Date: Nov 16, 2008
Status: Offline

Thank you, I figured that would be the case. I think I'll definately book a flight to Shenzhen, and still keep the Philippines. With the exception of the Mingyong Glacier, I was thinking perhaps spending more time in the Guizhou Province would meet our needs? We can drop Inner Mongolia, and we'll be visiting rainforests and a volcano in the Philippines, so we could drop them too.

I'll just have to do more overtime to meet the flight cost!

Kaz

Nov 19, 2008 07:11	#3
APAULT Points: Join Date: Mar 11, 2006 Status: Offline	Forgot to add, you are likely to have difficulty with sharing seats and sleepers as the sleepers are not accessible from the seating compartments. Hard seat compartments can be packed with standing passengers making life quite uncomfortable even if you have a seat....and you can guess satnders would find their way to the sleepers if they were not locked out.

Nov 19, 2008 13:28	#4
KMATH71 Points: Join Date: Nov 16, 2008 Status: Offline	Oh...and I thought I was being so very clever! Thank you, that was valuable info :) Kaz

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