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Thread: Comments needed - a month in Asia - any recommendations ?

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[quote=BARONTWANGLE,270492]Finding a decent hotel which is cheap in HK is not easy.  There are cheap hotels, but they are hardly what you would call "decent".  If your budget can stretch to about $90US per night (per room - not per person) for the couple of nights you will be in HK, then I can recommend the Charterhouse Inn which is just a couple of minutes walk from Times Square and Causeway Bay.  The rooms are small, but very clean and comfortable.  By being able to walk to most places, you will save a little on transport.  The best place to book this is on expedia.com.   If you want to go cheaper, then try somewhere called the Lynn Tyde Guest house.  Also situated very close to Times Square, this place is much cheaper (about $40 for a double room), but they also rent the rooms on an hourly basis - which should give you an idea of what to expect!  I have stayed there (for longer than an hour!) and it seemed fine.  The phone number is +852 28902112, but I am not sure if the couple who own it speak English.  They don't have a website.

Staying in Kowloon can be a little cheaper, but you will find that you end up travelling much more, and spending the money you have saved on accommodation.

Regarding taking the train from HK to Beijing...  If you really want to, then make sure you go Hard Bed class.  The beds are not actually hard at all, and the atmosphere in hard sleeper class will help pass the 24 hours much faster than soft bed class, which will see you locked in a room with a couple of snoring business men.  However, you do realise you can usually fly to BJ for about the same money, although probably not in the run up to the Olympics!  For a good place to stay in Beijing, try the Haina Hotel - tel 84071641.  Also nearby is the Lama Hostel which is also good.

If you are flying from the UK, have you considered looking at a Round The World ticket with Star Alliance?  This would enable you to fly from London to Bangkok - Koh Samui - Bangkok - HK - Beijing - Tokyo (probably via Seoul) - Hawaii - San Fran  - Oslo (or vice versa).  You get up to 15 stops for about £1300 (incl taxes).  If you're already paying half that to get you to Asia and back, then you'll probably rack up the other half on other flights and trains.  Just something to consider.  Of course, it would mean missing out on places such as Zhangjiajie, Yunnan, or Yangshuo.  If you would rather see these places, then do it between HK and BJ, rather than going direct.

Hope this is of some help?

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