Help? Advice for trip to China. URGENT?

Question

Hi There,

My friend and I are going to China for the Canton Fair (the second bit, from 25th October).

We are flying to Beijing on the 17th Oct, and coming back from HK on the 28th. The last 3-4 days will be spent at the fair, before flying out of HK. Any ideas on how we should arrange our trip to get the most of our time in China? Where should we go, what should we do before we get to the fair on 24th Oct? We are on a budget, and would like to travel round a bit. How are the trains? When / where shall we book accommodation? ANY HELP WELCOME

Many thanks

Answer 1

First of all, china is very expensive for accomodation. government make it so ,, u can only stay in tourist only hotels..
Buy the lonely planet, it has the best list for cheap accomadation, i stayed in one which was about £20 a day , near tienemen sqaure..
Everything else in china is dead cheap,, go up side streets for restuarants, dont go to the ones in tourist spots,,
As for traveling,, now,,, you can only book a train ticket, upto 3 days in advance.. and believe me,, do it 3 days before, and be at the station at 7 am,, because believe it or not, all tickets will be sold before 8 am.. so many people travel its crazy .. If you buy a seat , be quick to get on the train ,, they run and fight like animals. to get the seats... wear earphones, so u dont have to listen to their gobbing and throat clearing . yea , they spit on trains and busses..
Buy a first class sleeper, its still cheap, but so much more comfortable, my freinds got second, they had to share with 8, and the air con was turned off at night..
Remember , its a large country , took 32 hours to go from beijing to nannin... so check well in advance, how long the trip will be,, u dont want to miss ur flights .. For a short trip,, i suggest, beijing good for sight seeing, then shanghai, which is very beautiful.then guangzhou. which is good for nightlife. this brings u north to south, and u can fly from guangzhou, to hongkong...
Hope this helps, you will have a great time , china is fantastic...

Answer 2

You don't have a lot of free time to visit but you will at least have a glimpse of this amazing, diverse and fascinating country, and if you have an open mind, I guarantee you that you will come back for more. Since you will already spend some time in big cities, you should try to see a little bit of the country side. In Beijing, anyone could spend weeks just to see the city and the surrounding but you should at least stay 3 days to visit the major attraction around: the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, go at least for a day-tour to the Great Wall...I would then recommend taking the train (safe, fast, comfortable, take hard sleepers) down towards HK, perhaps stopping on the way in a few places. Around Shanghai, about 2 hours by car or bus, in the Yangtse delta area you can spend a day or two to visit many beautiful water villages that seems to be centuries away from big city hustle and bustle: Tongli, Zhouzhouang, Wuzhen...then from there, jump on the train back towards HK to attend the fair. HK is a wonderful city, see my previous posts on this site for more info. Other travelers on this site also have great recommendations about China and HK. Contrary to popular beliefs, China and HK are very very cheap. Lonely Planet guides are excellent. More info on train below. I love train travel but this guy takes it to the next level!

Answer 3

Shanghai is really a distinguished international city pulling more and more attention from all around the earth; so see what that town is offering with hotelbye . Shanghai is a favorite journey location for visitors. In Shanghai you will see the wonderful Yu Garden (Yù Yuán), also called the Garden of Happiness. That Garden covers a place greater than 20,000 square yards and consists of an external and an internal garden. The oldest section is the Outer Garden with more changes being made in the 18th century when Sansui Tang, the park's major hall, was added. The newer and significantly smaller Inner Garden days from 1709 and contains features typical of a conventional Chinese writer's Garden: beautiful little pavilions, decorative stones, and little mountain stages, separating surfaces and small ponds, and a highly furnished theatrical stage.

Answer 4

Since you are flying to Beijing first, you will actually have time to see quite a few things before you head to Canton (Guangzhou). Book a hotel in Beijing - near downtown - look for hotels near Wangfujing street (one of the main shopping streets). In the back streets off Wangfujing you will find many hotels that are acceptable accomodations wise and have good prices.

If your budget allows, you can also look into hotels like Sheraton Great Wall (in Sanlitun area) or the Traders' Hotel (it is a Shangri-La hotel) near the intersection of the 3rd looproad and JianGuo Rd. The Traders' is near the China World shopping mall and in that area is also a subway station.

In one day you can see:
* TianAnMen Square
* The Forbidden City
* The Temple of Heaven
In the evening of that day after you finish with the visit to the Temple of Heaven you can head over to the HongQiao Market (near by the Temple). There you can find many souveniers, etc.

On the second day you can ask the hotel to help you negotiate a taxi for the day. That taxi can then drive you to the MuTianYu section of the Great Wall -- very interesting section of the Wall.
From downtown Beijing to Mutianyu, wait for you there and back should be around RMB400-500 based on the car, and will take you about 6 hours total.

In the evening after the trip to the Great Wall you can visit Wangfujing Street -- one of the big shopping streets in Beijing and just do some people watching and may be shopping.

Then you can fly to Shanghai -- spend the day there and at night fly to Canton (all that on the 3rd day). Trains are too slow -- you will waist time and not save that much money.

Buy your airplane tickets in China and you will get a good deal. For example, the fast train from Beijing to Shanghai is 12 hours and costs around RMB470, while the plane ticket could be around RMB800.

One other option is that you get a train ticket from Beijing to Shanghai and sleep on the train and arrive in Shanghai in the morning of the 3rd day (rather than staying in a hotel that night).

In Shanghai you can see Nanjing Lu (street), the Bund, the Peace Hotel (go to the top terrace and look into Pudong (new area of Shanghai) from there -- quite the view), Drive over to Pudong near the Pearl tower....visit old Shanghai.

Well that should be plenty given your time constraints. Enjoy!

If you have questions email me [e-mail]

You can also check out my blog at site.chinafinds.com/blog

Answer 5

As among the six ancient cities in China, Beijing has been the center and soul of politics during its extended history and therefore there's an unmatched wealth of finding to delight and interest people as they investigate the city's historical previous and interesting modern progress, know more with hotelbye . Now in time, Beijing it is becoming among typically the most popular journey destinations in the world and the areas lice Yunju Temple or Summer Palace are into the reason why for what Beijing worth visited. Beijing Summer Palace is the biggest noble Garden in China.

Answer 6

http://www.gomacau.com

recommend Macau - a lovely island near HK.

In Beijing - The great Wall 1 day
Forbidden City & Beihai park &Wangfujing St. 1 day
Heaven Temple & Tian'an men square 1 day
i know some youth hostel in Beijing and Hk, if you'd like to know

[e-mail] e mail me then

good luck!

Answer 7

DO NOT TAKE ILLEGAL taxis from the airport.. they will charge you bloody high (RM150 if you are lucky). insist on the meter

Trains are cheap. About RMB3.

I think you can book hotels at sinohotel.com, try special deals. maybe Yue Xiu is not a bad one. very near a train station.

can see the great wall and 13 ming tombs, etc.. by taking a bus or taxi (RMB400 for the day, incl. driver)

the local Temple of Heaven, Tian An Men square, etc. are within easy reach with the train. hope that helps. good luck

Answer 8

there are many 3-4 stars hotels in china and are not expensive, food in china is cheap u can get hlep from those tourists that is same race as u ask them but do not get cheated as some taxis in china hike thier price especially tourists...u can get help from hotel information counter. Have a time management and planning before u embark on your trip.have some chinese currency (Yuan) ready in case u do not want to pay yr own currency.....

Answer 9

It's worthy to Pay a visit to Shanghai!!!

Shanghai is a morden city, financial center of China...u sure will find good opportunity there.

If u need interpreter or city guide, contact me or get more information here http://chinabiz.wetpaint.com/page/Services

Answer 10

I've heard all the stories about spitting in china
anywhere outdoors, in public transport, even inside department stores....
in some evil way I would like to witness it myself, but I am not going to.
you are going to
you are going to see and hear phlegm in an abundance you never considered possible.
having said that, I do know people who own a motel in Shanghai
a beautiful city
you can mail me for details