| First time in China. Any advice? | |
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| Jun 28, 2009 05:44 |   |
 | Hello, I am an American living in England with my Polish fiance whom I met in Ireland. LOl I love that story! Anyway, we are getting married this month and spending our honeymoon in China. We arrive in Hong Kong on Sept 1, 09 and depart 21 days later from Hong Kong. We decided to do a backpacking tour of SE China not quite going as far north as Shanghai. The only places we have to go for sure are Hainan Island (Sanya) for the beach and Xiamen for Gulangyu Island. We also want to visit some small villages and rural areas. I was wondering if anyone could help point out a few places along our way. We will be doing a sort of circle from HK, up the East coast and then head Southwest and finally East back to HK. we do have a ton of traveling experience between us but any ideas and suggestions would be hugely appreciated. Please keep in mind that we are in our mid 20's, very active and on a tight budget. We have maybe £600 (6,763 CNY) after airfare. However we dont stay in hotels. We mostly camp in our tent or couchsurf. (couchsurfing.com). Also, is hitchhiking safe/practical/legal? If so is a thumb used like in the States? Can we set up a tent anywhere? Thanks for listening and I look forward to your replies! Have a great day, Jay and Olga |
Last edited by MRJAYFARRAR: Jun 28, 2009 05:47 | |
| Jun 28, 2009 06:21 | #1 |
| China's beaches are really not really that wonderful, especially if you've been to beaches in the Caribbean or South-East Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia etc). Some of the top picks in southeast China, for your interests/preferences, would be Yangshuo (look on http://www.yangers.com for excellent information) and also the Hakka roundhouses in Fujian province. Hitchhiking isn't practical in China. Excuse me but is there a problem using public transport like most other people? You're travelling in areas which are very densely populated. Suggest that you rely on CouchSurfing and hostels to save money instead of trying to camp in tents, as it would be rather impractical. If you intend to visit Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan provinces, as well as Hong Kong and Macau, then I think you'll have quite enough to keep you busy for 21 days already, without going any further to Guizhou and Yunnan provinces. |
| Jun 28, 2009 07:28 | #2 |
| Thanks ELLYSE There is definitely nothing wrong with public transport, we just have a small budget and hitchhiking is a great way to meet people and experience more than a bus can offer. Yangshuo looks AMAZING! were probably going to spend one day in Hong Kong to have more time for the Mainland. |
| Jun 28, 2009 08:10 | #3 |
| Hong Kong has a lot of stuff worth discovering as well, don't write it off. I live on less than 6000 RMB per month, trust me. I once travelled in northwest China for 3 weeks and my total expenditure (including train travel to/from Shanghai, public transport and budget hotels, no hitchhiking) wasn't even 5000 RMB. You have more money than you think you'll be spending. Hitchhiking is NOT the culture here and whoever picks you up would most probably expect to be paid as well. If you don't speak Chinese, and expecting to ride for free, it might be a bit too much to ask for. |
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