16 days itinerary in China - advice
Jul 10th, 2004, 01:11 PM
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16 days itinerary in China - advice
We have planed our vacation in Hong Kong and China, end Aug - beg Sept. We've been reading posts on this forum (thank you all !) and we are considering the following route:
- 3 days in Hong Kong (YMCA Salisbury Hotel): since we arrive in the morning, but after a long flight, we plan to walk/shop in Kowloon; the second day is for HK tour; the third day we plan to go to Macau (eventually Canton if time allows); we should fly to Shanghai on the forth day (we're going to decide/buy there the flight to go, since there are many), so we plan to visit Po Lin Monastery in our way to airport
- 2 days in Shanghai (Sofitel Hyland): city tour (and The Bund), the Museum (antiques); late afternoon we're leaving by train to Shouzou.
- 1 day in Shouzou (Bamboo Grove Hotel or Shouzou Hotel): Tongli garden and the city; late afternoon, we're going to take the train to Nanjing
- 1 day in Nanjing (Jinling Hotel): city tour and late night we're going to take the train (soft sleeper) to Luoyang, arriving in the morning
- 2 days in Luoyang: one day is for Shaolin Monastery and the next day is for city tour; late afternoon we're taking the train to Xi'an
- 2 days in Xi'an: one day - Terracota Warriors, the second day is city tour and late afternoon we're going to Beijing (train)
- 5 days in Beijing (Wangfujing Grand): sites we plan to see are Forbidden City, Summer Palace, temples in Beijing and city tour, Great Wall. As being the last city of our trip, we plan to go for shopping half day.
Questions:
1. HK: should we go Guangzhou or Shenzen instead of Canton?
2. HK: can we store our luggage somewhere in Lantau (at the airport?)
3. Nanjing - any 'must see' we should't miss in out city tour?
3. Beijing: which temple should we include in our visit
4. Beijing: where to go for shopping (silk, porcelain) ?
Any suggestion/advice/opinion is more than welcomed! Are we missing any interesting site in our tour, any site/museum/place that is within our itinerary and is worth visiting to remember ... ?
(We've been traveling on our own before, but never in Asia and since we are four girls in early 30's and we do not speak Mandarin, wish us good luck!)
Thank you
- 3 days in Hong Kong (YMCA Salisbury Hotel): since we arrive in the morning, but after a long flight, we plan to walk/shop in Kowloon; the second day is for HK tour; the third day we plan to go to Macau (eventually Canton if time allows); we should fly to Shanghai on the forth day (we're going to decide/buy there the flight to go, since there are many), so we plan to visit Po Lin Monastery in our way to airport
- 2 days in Shanghai (Sofitel Hyland): city tour (and The Bund), the Museum (antiques); late afternoon we're leaving by train to Shouzou.
- 1 day in Shouzou (Bamboo Grove Hotel or Shouzou Hotel): Tongli garden and the city; late afternoon, we're going to take the train to Nanjing
- 1 day in Nanjing (Jinling Hotel): city tour and late night we're going to take the train (soft sleeper) to Luoyang, arriving in the morning
- 2 days in Luoyang: one day is for Shaolin Monastery and the next day is for city tour; late afternoon we're taking the train to Xi'an
- 2 days in Xi'an: one day - Terracota Warriors, the second day is city tour and late afternoon we're going to Beijing (train)
- 5 days in Beijing (Wangfujing Grand): sites we plan to see are Forbidden City, Summer Palace, temples in Beijing and city tour, Great Wall. As being the last city of our trip, we plan to go for shopping half day.
Questions:
1. HK: should we go Guangzhou or Shenzen instead of Canton?
2. HK: can we store our luggage somewhere in Lantau (at the airport?)
3. Nanjing - any 'must see' we should't miss in out city tour?
3. Beijing: which temple should we include in our visit
4. Beijing: where to go for shopping (silk, porcelain) ?
Any suggestion/advice/opinion is more than welcomed! Are we missing any interesting site in our tour, any site/museum/place that is within our itinerary and is worth visiting to remember ... ?
(We've been traveling on our own before, but never in Asia and since we are four girls in early 30's and we do not speak Mandarin, wish us good luck!)
Thank you
Jul 10th, 2004, 02:02 PM
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1. Guangzhou *is* Canton. Don't go out of your way to visit the city, however, and there's no good reason to visit Shenzhen (which is a hideous, gimcrack, rootless, temporary place of no history whatsoever).
2. Hong Kong Airport has a comprehensive Web site. Left luggage details are here:
http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/aguide/baggage.html
4. Five days in Beijing and you'll visit only *one* temple? Given that the Temple of Heaven should be more accurately known as the Altar of Heaven, and assuming you won't miss that, I'd add the combination of the Lama Temple, and the neighbouring back street but rarely visited Confucius Temple, which is far less glamorous but much more charismatic. Consider, too, a side trip to the west of the city for the hillside Jietai Si and Tanzhe Si. There's not much that's rural on your itinerary, so effectively you're missing the life of 70% of Chinese.
5. Do search for the word 'silk' using the search box at the top of this page and you'll find a number of threads on the topic of silk shopping, including this one which gives a number of addresses:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34485464
Porcelain? There's nothing modern of quality and the antiques are fake. For a wide variety of the cheap and cheerful (pots small enough to feed birds to those big enough for you to climb in, bowls, plates, etc.) try the Beijing Shi Yuanlin Huahui Sicheng, a market tucked just inside the northeast corner of Tiantan (the 'Temple' of Heaven), and approached from outside the wall.
Peter N-H
http://members.shaw.ca/pnhpublic/China.html
2. Hong Kong Airport has a comprehensive Web site. Left luggage details are here:
http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/aguide/baggage.html
4. Five days in Beijing and you'll visit only *one* temple? Given that the Temple of Heaven should be more accurately known as the Altar of Heaven, and assuming you won't miss that, I'd add the combination of the Lama Temple, and the neighbouring back street but rarely visited Confucius Temple, which is far less glamorous but much more charismatic. Consider, too, a side trip to the west of the city for the hillside Jietai Si and Tanzhe Si. There's not much that's rural on your itinerary, so effectively you're missing the life of 70% of Chinese.
5. Do search for the word 'silk' using the search box at the top of this page and you'll find a number of threads on the topic of silk shopping, including this one which gives a number of addresses:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34485464
Porcelain? There's nothing modern of quality and the antiques are fake. For a wide variety of the cheap and cheerful (pots small enough to feed birds to those big enough for you to climb in, bowls, plates, etc.) try the Beijing Shi Yuanlin Huahui Sicheng, a market tucked just inside the northeast corner of Tiantan (the 'Temple' of Heaven), and approached from outside the wall.
Peter N-H
http://members.shaw.ca/pnhpublic/China.html
Jul 10th, 2004, 02:04 PM
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Sounds like a fun trip.
1. Guangzhou is Canton. It's a long day trip, even if you fly. Not really worth it in my opinion. Since you plan to go to Macau, why not hop the ferry over to Zhuhai and look around.
4. Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) is a must in my opinion. Also, the Lama Temple (Yong He Gong) is an option. White Cloud Temple (Bai Yun Guan) is a lesser known place is in western part of the city and is very quiet and peaceful. Also there are several nice parks in Beijing. A large one with a striking temple in it is Beihai Park, just north of the Forbidden City.
Lots of places to shop. I'll let others voice their opinions on that.
Have a great trip!
1. Guangzhou is Canton. It's a long day trip, even if you fly. Not really worth it in my opinion. Since you plan to go to Macau, why not hop the ferry over to Zhuhai and look around.
4. Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) is a must in my opinion. Also, the Lama Temple (Yong He Gong) is an option. White Cloud Temple (Bai Yun Guan) is a lesser known place is in western part of the city and is very quiet and peaceful. Also there are several nice parks in Beijing. A large one with a striking temple in it is Beihai Park, just north of the Forbidden City.
Lots of places to shop. I'll let others voice their opinions on that.
Have a great trip!
Jul 10th, 2004, 05:25 PM
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If you want to visit anywhere in China from HK/Macau, and then back to HK before the rest of your trip, you'll need to get a dual-entry visa. A single one will not do.
I say just spend your time in Macau. It's an interesting place with lots of historical sites. Spend a whole day there.
Make sure you allow a lot of time to store your luggage at HKG and then to up to Po Lin Monastery. Buses are infrequent during weekdays, and you'll need to first get to Tung Chung's bus terminal. Or you can take the A35 from the airport and switch to another bus later on. There's no direct bus from HKG to Po Lin Monastery.
I say just spend your time in Macau. It's an interesting place with lots of historical sites. Spend a whole day there.
Make sure you allow a lot of time to store your luggage at HKG and then to up to Po Lin Monastery. Buses are infrequent during weekdays, and you'll need to first get to Tung Chung's bus terminal. Or you can take the A35 from the airport and switch to another bus later on. There's no direct bus from HKG to Po Lin Monastery.
Jul 30th, 2004, 03:37 PM
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Peter, Mthompt77, rkkwan - thank you all for replay!
Which Rural parts would you consider we can include, considering the current itinerary planning (no. of days/city)? I'd like to have a look on Rural areas (I thought Shouzou will give us some insights), but ... don't know! Pls. suggest ...
Thank you again
Which Rural parts would you consider we can include, considering the current itinerary planning (no. of days/city)? I'd like to have a look on Rural areas (I thought Shouzou will give us some insights), but ... don't know! Pls. suggest ...
Thank you again
Aug 13th, 2004, 03:20 AM
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Would have to agree on skipping Guangzhou(canton)and Shenzen. I have friends there and I will only be passing thru on my trip. I don't see Yangshou (Guilin) on plan and it is a great place to kick back and enjoy. Don't know if it would fit into your plans.
