| Traveling to China for the first time! | |
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| May 19, 2009 19:44 |   |
 | I am traveling to China with my fiance for the first time in June!!! Super excited. Besides from being excited, I am also terrified. I don't speak any Chinese. I have no idea how anything works. I don't even have a route. I have to be in Shanghai from 6/21 till 6/25 for a conference, but the rest of it is open. Obviously, I have to fly in and out of Shanghai for that reason. So how do I go about building a route based on that? I don't even know how many days I should allow each location? How does the train work? or heck, how much should I pack? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks so much! |
| May 19, 2009 21:49 | #1 |
| What are your sightseeing interests and preferences? Do you have any daily budget to keep to? What's your departure date? You might want to email me at yahoo.com|ellyse99 -- put "TravelChinaGuide" and your own username (eg MET01) in the subject line, thanks. |
| May 21, 2009 20:02 | #2 |
| GUEST21131 | How long will you be in China? Would you like to travel independently or join a group tour? |
| May 21, 2009 20:49 | #3 |
| Hi, Thanks for responding! I will be there for 2 weeks. We would rather travel independently than join a tour - we are both students and don't have a lot of money. We like just about everything - love history, love food, and love scenery. No departure date specific yet. Thanks! |
| May 21, 2009 21:49 | #4 |
| If you're here for 2 weeks, the usual "big 3" to include would be Shanghai, Xi'an and Beijing. Would you have any sightseeing time during the conference, or would you have to include Shanghai sightseeing in the remaining 2 weeks? Do your 2 weeks include 21-25/6 as well? |
| May 22, 2009 10:40 | #5 |
| Hi, Thanks again! Yes - the two weeks do include 6/21 to 6/25. I would have the evenings during the conference to see Shanghai. |
| May 22, 2009 11:22 | #6 |
| I would suggest that you probably do Xi'an and Beijing for 1 week, plus perhaps a) Nanjing, or b) Hangzhou + Xitang, for the remaining 2 days. What do you think? BTW as mentioned earlier, you might want to email me at yahoo.com|ellyse99 -- put "TravelChinaGuide" and your own username (eg MET01) in the subject line, thanks. |
| May 22, 2009 11:41 | #7 |
| Actually there is great tool called the internet where you can research, look up maps, etc. Once u have a clearer idea of the places you want to visit and things you want to do, then you can ask specific questions like where/how etc. You sound like you want to be spoonfed. |
| May 23, 2009 04:54 | #8 |
| It was scary the first time, but you soon relax (give it a day) because then you find everyone is just so friendly and helpful. Relax and enjoy the place. My first trip was last October and I am going back for my third trip in July. We will spend a month just travelling around. We have used TCG for the later part of the trip and they are excellent and very affordable. However we are arranging our own first part even including some train journeys and a flight (actually got TCG to do it). Everything you need can be found online. Recommend Central Plaza Holiday Inn if you get to Beijing. Ask for Storm he is amazing. One little thing I found really helpful was downloading the manderin translation app for my ipod. It has many phrases and sentances that you can use, and as well as written it also says them so you can either repeat them or let the person listen. Also downloaded the taxi maps and subway guides, which a re also useful. So enjoy the trip. |
| May 25, 2009 10:29 | #9 |
| Wow, KSWONG, there is no need for the condescending tone and animosity. Of course I know of the Internet, since we are all kind of on it right about now. I was only excited when my trip was first planned, and was looking on pointers on where to begin my search, since it's all so vast. You are free to not reply to my thread if you don't want to. To everyone else - thank you so much. That was really helpful. I never would have thought of the Ipod thing for instance. OK, so now I have come down with a few decisions, and I have a few questions: 1. As Ellyse advised, I will definitely do Shanghai-Beijing-Xian. 2. Everyone keeps saying (not here, but elsewhere) that Guilin/Yangshuo is a must-see. I don't see any good way to get there, except to fly. The train would take 22 hours (from what I can tell) - and since I have so few days, I am not keen on spending my days on the train - nights are totally fine though. So is it really worth flying from Xian to Guilin, and then Guilin back to Shanghai? 3. As far as interests, somebody asked, I am very interested in history. I am going with my fiance, who is very interested in naturals scenery. So I guess that covers everything. 4. I keep hearing different advice on this - should I book hotels beforehand on the internet or should I wait till I get there? Some people said book first so you know where you will be. Others say you want to be flexible with your travels, so just get there and grab a hotel - it will be cheaper. Which do you recommend? 5. I keep reading that you need to get train tickets ahead of time. I am not entirely sure how to do this. Will I not be able to get train ticket the day of? Thanks so much for all of your help! |
| May 27, 2009 05:16 | #10 |
| I prefer to have accommodation booked beforehand personally. One it is less hassle and Two, you are free to spend the time touring rather than looking for a place to stay. Sometimes it can be useful to use the overnight trains (eg Xian to Beijing). On my next trip a flight checkin at Xian was around 4.30pm and got us to Chengdu around 8.30pm then we were booked into a hotel. Instead the overnight train leaves in the afternoon and arrives in the early morning so we still have the day in Chengdu. Train ticket is around 1/3rd to 1/2 the cost of the US$200+ airfare plus we save a night in a hotel at probably US$100+ for a 4 star or better. Guilin is beautiful and there is a large tiger and bear sanctuary near the airport thats worth a look. Over 1.000 tigers - certainly seem quite a few. The li cruise is fun but hardly peacul and quiet like all the pics. More like a city rush hour with hundreds of boats of all sizes. In Guilin the Left Bank Coffee Bar has a brilliant restaurant upstairs, really good food and good pricing. Yangtzee Cruise is nice, but a bit touristy. Next time I will do it by ferries. At Xian allow heaps of time at the buried army it is amazing, and a cycle round the city wall is good too. |
Last edited by CROSIS: May 27, 2009 05:36 |
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