BeachGirl247

We will be traveling to China the end of August for 8 1/2 days. Our purpose is to take our 24 year old son to Tianjin for business school and we are arriving before school begins so we may see a few places in China.

We do not speak Mandarin but are attempting to learn basics. I will have a sheet with Chinese script next to the English translation for cities, hotel names, and any other pertinent information to show someone. We are in good physical shape with no health issues (bad knees, asthma, etc.).

I have read other similar posts but did not want to take over their thread so here are my questions:

Arrive Shanghai at 1:45pm and Depart Beijing 9 days later at 3:45pm.

Here is a tentative itinerary and I would like your comments:

Day 1: arrive Shanghai 1:45pm.
Day 2: Shanghai
Day 3: River City: Tong Li or Suzhou.
Day 4: Xian
Day 5: Xian. Take overnight train to Beijing
Day 6: Beijing
Day 7: Great Wall -- we are interested in Mutianyu or Simatai.
Day 8: Beijing
Day 9: travel to Tianjin in morning. Explore areas around son's school and the city.
Day 10: travel back to Beijing (train or air?) for our 3:45pm flight back to the US

We would enjoy some city sites but would like to incorporate the slow pace and beauty of the river cities and other towns. Top 4 things we want to visit are: Forbidden City/Summer Palace; Great Wall (less touristy area); river city; terra cotta warriors.

? Will the Mutianyu day trip take 1/2 day? Or, plan the entire day for traveling and exploring the area? I have read Simatai is full day of driving and hiking, yes?

? for Day 3 & 4: Would it be better to overnight in Tong Li or Suzhou and have more time in this area?
Day 3: travel to Tong Li in morning from Shanghai. Overnight in Tong Li.
Day 4: Tong Li - Suzhou for the day. Return to Shanghai to catch overnight train to Xian?
This would leave only one day in Xian (arrive morning, depart evening). We are open to flying as well.

Any comments on our itinerary? Your advice is greatly appreciated.

JPWasko

Hi BeachGirl,

Enjoy your trip! Your itinerary looks action packed.

I've been to China four times over the last four years, so here's my take:

1.) You only need one day in Xian. Get in to see the Warriors (fantastic) and then get out of dodge. The pace is a bit whirlwindish, but that's the best way to go.

2.) I would suggest Simatai over Mutianyu as I enjoyed the experience at Sim a bit more, although you can't go wrong with either. Make sure to ride the zip line over the water. It looks a little iffy, but it's absolutely fantastic and completely safe. My only advice would be to stay away from Badaling, which is very touristy.

BeachGirl247

Thank you, JPWasko. I am concerned that I have packed in too much in a short period of time.

Do I need to cut out more than one day in Xian?
Should I make Tong Li or Suzhou a day trip only?

Thank you.

thursdaysd

"1.) You only need one day in Xian. Get in to see the Warriors (fantastic) and then get out of dodge. The pace is a bit whirlwindish, but that's the best way to go."

Totally disagree! That are a number of worthwhile things to do in Xi'an besides the warriors, including just wandering the back streets. Do a search here on Xi'an, or pick from: Great Mosque, Temple to the Eight Great Immortals, Big Wild Goose pagoda, Shaanxi Museum, stele museum, the wall, eating in the Muslim quarter (assuming it hasn't totally been taken over by Han Chinese). And that's just in town.

colduphere

I am with Thursdaysd about Xian, and I didn't even enjoy the TCWs that much. We loved cycling the wall in Xian, even if it did leave our mouths a bit dusty. And the Muslim quarter was fun.

And being approached by a hooker at the Bell Tower made my day.

SiobhanP

I would fly to Xian as its faily cheap with internaal flights. I totaally disagree with JPwasco about Xian.Dont just tick the main tourist box explore. There are some interesting places here. You can walk the walls, the Muslim quaretr I missed last trip but meant to be great at night and good food and overall I was ataken round by my Chinese friend to local restaurants and just had a lovely two days there last March. The warriors are fantastic but there is more tto Xian.

thursdaysd

"I would fly to Xian as its faily cheap with internaal flights." - but it's a worthwhile experience (and saves some daylight sightseeing time) to take the train at least one way. See seat61.com/China.htm for info trains in china.

BeachGirl247

Thanks for the input on Xian.

SiobhanP, I wish I had a Chinese friend that could take us around for great food. I have no idea what to expect but I like to try street fare where I am visiting and this trip is proving to be my most adventurous in the culinary department!

Any advice, anyone?

thursday, we would love to take the train and it would save us one night of lodging for two rooms. Am I reading the site correctly that I cannot buy an overnight train ticket until 10 days before our travel date?

colduphere, I'll tell dh to keep his eyes peeled for any suspicious activity!

Thanks for the help in planning this exciting trip!

thursdaysd

"reservations for the best D- & Z-category express trains open 20 days in advance, but for most other trains bookings only open 5-10 days before departure. Even an agency cannot positively confirm your booking before reservations open and they buy your ticket!" - you're probably looking at a D or Z train for Xi'an-Beijing.

I don't recommend back-to-back night trains (been there, done that!) but if you're spending a night in Xi'an you could train both ways - I've caught a train to Xi'an in Suzhou.

Kwoo

You don't need to overnight in Tong Li. We took a bus to Tong Li from Shanghai, spent the day there & then took the bus back in time to meet our daughter for dinner. If you have the time, Suzhou is worth spending one night.

I also agree with other posters that you should spend 2 days in Xian. There is a lot more to do than just the Terracotta Warriors. They are spectacular but other sights are very interesting as well, such as Wild Goose Pagoda, Muslim area, Shaanxi Museum, walking along the wall. Great food in Xian too.

BeachGirl247

Thanks thursdaysd & Kwoo.
I appreciate your input! I think I will stay with 2 days in Xian.

Now, I need to work on transportation for Tong Li-Suzhou, then on to Xian. Maybe we'll visit Tong Li for the day and then take the bus to Suzhou to overnight and visit Suzhou the next day.

I'm thinking:
arr Tong Li on Thursday. Visit. Then take late bus to Suzhou and overnight.
Fri: tour Suzhou all day.

Then depart Fri evening. Do we 1) Fly to Xian ??
or 2) take overnight train to Xian??
Is one better than the other?

We could also overnight in Suzhou and depart in the morning to Xian by plane.

What do you think?

thursdaysd

I'm a big fan of train travel - city center to city center, greener, one less hotel night, scenery (although not at night, of course) - so I would (and did) take the train. Also, you need to check whether there's a direct flight from Suzhou to Xi'an.

BeachGirl247

** Update to my itinerary **

I was able to add on 4 days to our trip so this helps a great deal with squeezing in Xian.

I'll post more specific questions that I have.

easytraveler

I'm with the others on trying to do the long distance stretches by overnight train if you can. Get a soft sleeper and it's almost painless (Pssst! bring toilet paper!)

I prefer the upper bunks. Not only are they cheaper than the lower bunks but they're also more private.

seat61 is a great resource for train travel.

We're excited for you too!

For Xian in particular, it's good to arrive and depart by train. The Xian airport is outside of town and you lose at least half a day traveling by air, whereas the train will get you there in the morning and you have a whole day in Xian. Overnight there, have another whole day in Xian, then take the night train to Beijing. Arrive Beijing in the morning and you have a whole day in Beijing.

travelgirl2

Have a great time! Your questions brought back memories of our Beijing-Xian-Shanghai trip in 2006. That overnight train (we went from Xian to Shanghai) was quite an experience. The flight (Beijing-Xian) was definitely much easier, but lacked the excitement and 'foreign-ness' of the train ride.

Please let us know how your trip goes!

BeachGirl247

Thanks, we're pretty excited about it, albeit a little anxious as well.

Q for you: Was it that easy for air travel? We may have to fly. I've read that the language barrier is difficult at the airport. True or not?

travelgirl2

We flew from Beijing to Xian and then took the train from Xian to Shanghai. We found no problems at the airports. Our particular flight had at least half or more Westerners. Checking in at Beijing was easy and they spoke English. On arrival in Xian, the airport seemed quiet and then we reached the arrivals area and it was teeming with people. I was glad we had arranged a ride to our hotel. Generally, in China we were relieved to have prearranged transportation every time we arrived somewhere (except Shanghai, which was a nightmare getting a taxi), and then we'd later book something much cheaper for the ride back to airport.

On the other hand, taking the train was quite an adventure. Here is an exerpt from my trip report with our kids aged 11 and 13 (Travelgirl's Trip of a Lifetime) ...

OVERNIGHT TRAIN FROM XIAN TO SHANGHAI. I had expected the Xian train station to be small. Boy, was I wrong. It is huge and absolutely teeming with people. We see a waiting room for our train and it is overflowing with people. I show our tickets to a guard. He points upstairs so we take the escalator up (about 3 stories high). We go to the ‘soft sleeper’ lounge. The lady shakes her head no and points downstairs. We say that the guard said to come up. We ask her where to go. She says to sit down and wait a minute. Soon, another lady comes and motions that we should follow her. There is no down escalator, so we have to carry our luggage down the 3 flights of stairs. I hope DH doesn’t have a heart attack, as he has the largest rolling suitcase and also 3 smaller bags.

She takes us to a ‘soft sleeper’ lounge downstairs. She tells us the train will come on track 1, which is right outside the lounge, and she will take us to the train. We are surprised, delighted and relieved by the personal service. Sure enough, about ten minutes later, she motions for us to follow her and takes us to our platform and shows us where to wait for our car.

We wait for a few minutes and then follow a man onto the car. The cleaning people come over and shoo us off the train. Eventually, we are allowed back onto the train. Only, I cannot proceed down the hallway, since the cleaning people are in the hallway while changing the sheets in the last two cabins (one of which is ours). The people behind us are irritated at us and keep trying to pass us, which is impossible with all of our luggage. Someone far behind us starts banging to show their irritation. They can’t see the cleaning people, so they are probably wondering what the crazy foreigners’ problem is. Finally we are allowed to pass and go to our cabin. We pull all of our luggage inside the cabin, which leaves us all sitting on the beds, with nowhere to stand. Eventually, we spy an overhead compartment and stow the luggage, while stepping all over each other. Complete chaos and lots of bickering about who is stepping on whom.

After the excitement of getting on the train (it was hell) and getting settled, the actual train ride was fine. It reminded me of camping, which we’ve done quite often. As far as I could tell, we were the only Westerners on the entire train. The soft sleepers were pretty comfortable. Each of us had a separate bed and we were together in our own cabin, where we could shut the door for privacy. It was quite a lively scene outside our door, with lots of Chinese people clustered in the hallway, talking and laughing.

DH, DS1 and DS2 went to the dining car, while I waited with our stuff. They were unable to communicate, so they were just given some food, which they described as edible. People were smoking (a lot) wherever they wanted to. At one end of our car was a pit toilet. When DS2 went to use it, it was stopped up, so he used the handy bamboo stick provided to push everything through the hole. There was also a Western toilet at the other end of the car, which was ok. The attendant brought each car a pot of hot water, which many people (not us) used to make ramen noodles in their compartments. We had brought some packaged food, which we ate in the morning in our cabin.

travelgirl2

I realize that my prior posting mentions "nightmare" and "hell". There were many frustrating moments in China, but overall it was a fascinating place to travel. Exciting and different and full of energy. Just a wonderful place. We had a great time and I hope to go back one day.

BeachGirl247

Your description of the train station is just what I imagined!

We will take the Z train to Xi'an and on to Beijing (unless DS talks me into flying before we book tickets). Z train has 2-berth sleeper with its only toilet and sink so that makes me VERY happy.

Did you buy the packaged foods there or bring them from the states? I'm thinking granola bars and instant soup packages for emergencies.

It will definitely be an adventure!!

starrs

Have a GREAT time!