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Thread: help with the planning

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[quote=EJUNG6,393447]Going to China has always been my dream, and seems this may come true soon!

I'm planning a trip for about a month-long, possibly in late May or early June (I can leave in early May, if it's better). My point of entrance and exit would be Dalian, but since I haven't bought the ticket, I'm willing to change this if anyone suggests.

I said one month, but as I was planning, there are just too many places I wanted to visit. So I boldly excluded the far-western part of China, but I still need to cut down more.

Here is what I have now. Please feel free to slash and cut this apart. Some things I was particularly concerned with were the followings: 
 -I'm not too much of a thrill-seeker, but am really interested in different culture and lifestyle, so they are what I tried to include in my itinerary mostly.
 -I'm a poor poor student, so am trying to keep the cost low as possible (the main mode of transportation would be overnight train, staying in hostels if available)
 -I'm a young girl and am travelling alone. Also, although I have some experience in travelling, it's minimal.  I'd rather be safe than be sorry
 -I look like Chinese, but do not speak any Chinese (zero at all). As much as I would love to interact with the locals, I would feel much more comfortable if the places to visit are somewhat touristic so that I can communicate in English.

(add a extra day each for taking trains, I'm taking soft sleepers for all)
Dalian: 2 days, city sightseeing (bus)
--> overnight train to Beijing: 7 days, city sightseeing (tourist special smart card) + the great wall
--> train to Xian: 2 days, the usual
--> to Chongqing: 3 days, (bus)
--> Kunming: 3, (renting bike) 
-> Nanning: 3, (bus)
-> Guilin: 3, inc. day trip to Li River (to Yangshuo), sightseeing (bike)
-> Guangzhou: 3, bus to Mt Baiyun for a day-trip, 
-> bus to Macau: 3, bike
-> go back to Gaunzhou and train to Shanghai: 5 days, Transportation Card
-> Yutze River cruise: instead of cruise, is there local ship I can hop on and off at different cities?
   (-> on the river, Nanjing: 1 day
   (-> Huangshan: 1 day
   (-> Wuhan: 1 day)
--> From Wuhan, train to Zhengzhou: 2 days
--> Beijing: stopover for a day
-> Dalian

so how does it look? I tried to do my homework, but as you can see, it's messy. I've been to Hong Kong before, so I didn't include this. You're welcome to slash this, but please do not take out Guangzhou (have to try its food!).

Again, the main problems seem to be the long duration (54 days!!!) and the high cost. I looked into one of those host/ boarding programs (like couchsurfer) but how much can I trust this? Plus with the language barrier (and fear, to be honest), I am SOOO tempted to take local tours (which I absolutely abhor and would cost lot more than what it's worth). Meeting local friends to guide me around the attractions would be the best option, but seems hard. Do you know any (safe) online network where people are willing to offer help?

Thanks in advance for all your help!![/quote]

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