cwoelfle

My husband &amp; I will be in China the last 2 weeks of May. The 1st week is a business trip to Shanghai &amp; the 2nd will be vacation in Beijing.<BR><BR>We have 2 free days in Shanghai (no business meetings). One day &amp; a couple of evenings we’ll tour Shanghai. The 2nd free day we will take the train to Hangzhou or Nanjing. Hangzhou sounds a little more picturesque – do you think this is the better choice?<BR><BR>I may also take a side trip to Suzhou for a day while my husband is in meetings. I love gardens and shopping, so thought this might be a great place???<BR><BR>In Beijing I have 4 days packed with sightseeing which we will mostly do on our own however it was suggested that we get a driver/guide for the Summer Palaces and also take a Hutong Tour on a rickshaw. Do you know people we can contact for these 2 excursions???<BR><BR>After being in cities, we would like to see some countryside &amp; small villages outside of Beijing. Any suggestions??? We can include this when we go to the Great Wall or go another day???<BR><BR>We both love all kinds of food &amp; are very adventurous. It sounds like we can eat snacks and some lunches from food carts on the street. I assume the carts are safe to eat from???<BR><BR>I really appreciate any advice you can give us. We are both very excited about this trip.<BR><BR>Thanks<BR>Claudia<BR><BR>

LynneD

Hi Claudia- I have recently returned from China and can address a few of your questions. My 13 year old son and I traveled with a group of 15 others, all of whom are friends. Because we were on a &quot;group&quot; tour we were unable to veer much from the itinerary. If we ever go back, I would go back to Suzhou in a second. We did view beautiful gardens and took a boat tour thru their canal district, which was really neat. We would have loved to shop there, but time did not allow.<BR><BR>I am not a very adventerous eater, but my son ate whatever he fancied, including a lot of questionable looking things. He loved it all and the only result was a very quick bout of diareah (sp?) that was cured with 1 pepto bismo tablet and just as easily could have been picked up at a restataunt, not a street vendor. Try the night food markets if you get a chance.<BR><BR>Have a wonder full trip!!! Lynne

Andrea_expat

I've never been to Nanjing, but I've been to Hangzhou a couple of times, and from what I've heard, Hangzhou is much better. I wasn't too impressed, but some of my friends have really enjoyed it. Its main attraction is a lake that is surrounded by weeping willow trees. The city itself looks pretty much like parts of Shanghai, as does Suzhou.<BR><BR>If it's at all possible, do your day trips on weekdays instead of weekends - both Suzhou and Hangzhou are better to explore when there are fewer people, and they both fill up on the weekends. Also, go exploring very early in the morning - it's a wonderful time to see China. The streets will be quiet, the older people will be out starting their shopping at the wet markets, and groups of people will be out doing their morning exercises (tai chi, ballroom dancing, fan dancing, sword dancing, etc.).<BR><BR>In terms of the BJ excursions, I do recomend the Hutong tour on rickshaw. It is touristy, but fun, and for us at least, was a welcome change for our sore feet from walking. Your hotel will have brochures or can get the phone number of the company that does the tours.<BR><BR>In terms of street food, there is really no way of saying whether or not you will get sick. Plenty of tourists do eat in local restaurants and stalls, and don't get sick, so just weigh your personal risk comfort level. If you hear from 5 people who say they never got sick, that doesn't mean that you won't. Approximately 50 - 60 percent of all travelers to developing countries get travelers diarrhea or other mild ailments, and hepatitis is more prevalent in China. <BR><BR>Be sure to get the recommended shots before you leave, and try sticking to hot foods. <BR><BR>Sorry I can't help with your other BJ questions - hopefully someone else will post. Have a great time!

PeterN_H

I suppose that's me. (I agree with Andrea's assessment of the modest pleasures of Hangzhou. In general, in China, the more the long-standing the hype the more disappointing the destination. But Hangzhou is pleasant enough. You may find the more frequently departing and quicker express bus services a better choice than the train.)<BR><BR>In Biejing, there's no need to get a driver/guide for the Summer Palaces. The most pleasant way to get there is by boat, something you can easily arrange for yourself (or get an English speaker from your hotel to get on the phone). The layout of the Summer Palace is not complicated, everything is well signposted, there are plenty of highly inaccurate and misleading signs about the history which are no different from what any guide will tell you. Materials you bring from home will be more accurate.<BR><BR>Boats, best booked in advance, leave from Ba Yi Hu (the lake behind the Military Museum, which is on the metro), and less frequently from just behind the zoo (which you DON'T want to visit). There are about nine sailings a day in each direction, Y40 one way, Y70 return. Call 8386 3576.<BR><BR>There are at least two companies running the absurd and embarrassing hutong tours--an entirely made-for-tourists event in which you pay the equivalent of a month's local salary to be trundled round streets you could easily stroll for yourself for half a day, in Cadillac versions of cycle rickshaws, and given a distorted and sanitized account of local history. It's the Beijing equivalent of being in Mexico and visiting one of those tourist restaurants where everyone wears big sombreros and Tequila bottles in holsters.<BR><BR>Perhaps the easiest choice of village outside Beijing would be Cuan Dixia, although that's remaking itself for visitors, it's a pleasant trip I've done twice--see post below. An alternative would be to visit the leafy countryside temples of Tanzhe Si and Jietai Si, and just wander into the nearby villages.<BR><BR>Peter N-H<BR>http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html

PeterN_H

The village is a little over 100km west of Beijing's west edge. It can be visited by public transport using a combination of metro and bus but instead you can just hire a taxi for the day. Y300 if you bargain, but be sure the driver knows where it is. All he has to do is to follow route 109.<BR><BR>The village was originally called Cuan Dixia, meaning 'under the earthenware stove', a name which still appears on some signs and on the tickets, and was probably renamed to simplify writing it¡ªa character requiring more than 30 strokes was replaced with one requiring only three, and it now means ¡&reg;under the river¡¯. The village contains a number of fairly well-preserved Ming and Qing dynasty siheyuan courtyard houses, not kept as museums, but as functioning family houses, in which, in some cases, you can stay.<BR><BR>After the ticket office the road swings round to the left and the village is immediately to your right as well as above you on the hillside. Initial turnings to the right end up at blank cliff, which with further scrutiny seems to have steps cut in it, but further up on the left there¡¯s a fully functioning well, and a stone-flagged path up to the higher sections to the right. Not only the drum stones and carved beams at the entrances have been well preserved, but the slogans of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution remain on the walls as if freshly daubed (Yong Mao Zedong sixiang wuzhuang women de tounao!¡ªUse Mao Zedong thought to arm our minds!). In season there are brilliant camellias and other flowers in tubs, the roofs are made bright yellow with corn set out to dry, and the eaves are bristly with hanging bunches of red peppers.<BR>There are said to be about 70 siheyuan here, but only about 40 of them occupied as younger people have all left for the cities. You may encounter the last of the ¡&reg;lily-footed¡¯ ancients, their feet bound from childhood, not white-haired, walnut-faced, watery-eyed, and nearly toothless.<BR><BR>Several of the houses have signs indicating they sell honey, and there are one or two shops and the odd English sign, but there¡¯s little to buy except a fine hard-back picture book of the village in Chinese (Y100-110), and you are mostly left alone. The odd satellite dish suggests that tourism, although still sporadic, may be reviving the village slightly, but beneath it you may see someone washing clothes with a scrubbing board under a tap.<BR><BR>You can stay in the village for as little as Y12 in a clean, if primitive, dormitory, and eat cheaply depending on what¡¯s cooked. For Y35 you can order an immense feast, but a bowl of what the family¡¯s having will cost a lot less than that. You may have to share the bathroom with honking geese. Is there hot water? ¡&reg;Oh yes.¡¯ Pause. ¡&reg;Not in winter of course.¡¯ <BR><BR>5.5km further on the now unmade road there¡¯s another village, where it will generally be assumed you want to climb the 1733m Huang Cao Liang (¡&reg;Yellow Grass Bridge¡¯) for the views, and you¡¯ll be pointed in the right direction, roughly another 6km or so. The villagers also say that after two hours walking you can reach yet another bit of Great Wall.<BR><BR>Peter N-H<BR>http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html

emckeeve

For Andrea: You mentioned the recommended shots. I have started the Hepatitis A and B series for my April-May trip to China. I have the list of other recommendations. Did you get all of them?

Les

Let me weigh in in favor of Nanjing.<BR>We've been to China 3 times, and Nanjing is one of our favorite cities. There's no single thing there that'll knock your socks off, but it's a very pleasant and liveable city, with lots of things to do in the evening, with the locals. It's a college town, so young folks are well represented.<BR>We also like Hangzhou, but Nanjing is more vital and alive, and is quite manageable. Some of our fondest memories of China are from Nanjing.<BR>Just my 2 cents.

Andrea_expat

Regarding the shots - yes, I did get everything, but that's because I moved here (I've been living here for 4 years - recommendations vary by person depending on the length of visit and areas to be visited). <BR><BR>As has been said many times on this board, the best source of information on recommended shots is your doctor, the CDC website (www.cdc.gov) or the World Health Organization website (www.who.int), which seems to respond and report outbreaks faster.

LauraH

WE just got back from a week in Shanghai and Beijing. We had a great time! I would recommend not doing the Hutong Tour-agree with others that it is very touristy and you more expensive than you should pay. We actually hired a guy right outside of the Forbidden City to take us back to our hotel on a rickshaw and it was cheap and fun. For the Great wall, I would recommend going to Mutianyu, which is less touristy and crowded and the drive is pretty nice. We hired a drive for the day (500RMB inclusive) and he took us to a Cloisonne factory tour, which was very interesting and not expected, the Great wall (there is a slide there that you can ride down the hill, sooo much fun) and then to the Dingling tomb, which I would not recommend.<BR>Shanghai was great. The shopping is phenomenal. Bargain, bargain bargain. Don't settle for anything more that 50% off what the stands initially ask for. Also go to Cloud 9 in the Hyatt.

PeterN_H

As some readers will have noted under another heading, the cloisonn¨¦ factory will have paid the driver a small fee just for stopping there, and if anything was bought and their vastly inflated prices, he will have got a significant cut.<BR><BR>And on other shopping at markets in tourist areas, although it varies, five times too much for the first asking price is standard, and ten to fifteen times too much very common indeed. Of course 50% is accepted with pleasure.<BR><BR>Peter N-H<BR>http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html