Have an amazingly fantabulous time!!!! Where are you headed??

The 26th sounds good to me...post details when you get back...let's go to Manhattan Chinatown!!!

Thanks very much for the kind wishes. I head to Shanghai where my extended family lives (immediate family is here), except for day or overnight trips out of the city, I just wander around the streets exploring every corner and try not to get lost in the vast glass and concrete highrise jungle.

Have fun and happy eating!!!! Take notes for us!!

EK -
Thank you so much for all your trip information. We just returned from our first trip to China and a print out of your TR came along! Many times we followed in your footsteps or took your advice. Even met the lovely Violet. Thanks again for helping to make this trip so memorable.

I have loved your detailed Beijing reports! Thanks so much for sharing. I am planning a 5 day trip there next month with my family and just hooked up with Konglin. Your reports gave me the confidence to seek a local guide and steer clear of the big tourist outfits. I hope we meet Violet too! Do you have any advice for traveling with little kids? They're 6, 8, and 11.

Memmon..I am glad you enjoyed the report. I am not so good on the ideas for children, but I have faith in Konglin (and Violet). I would guess that they would enjoy the Lama Temple just because it is so exotic..ditto the Wall.

Topping for information on my guide in Beijing, Kong Lin..scroll down past Korea to reach this part of the report..

Sega 61, I am in China now and I am taking the trains all around from Hong Kong to Nanning then to Hanoi and HCM city. I have researched train prices and if I can help you let me know. I just bought my soft sleeper, lower bunk ticket from Shanghai to Beijing for 499.00 yen.

Jemappell

Hi Ekscrunchy,

I have a friend that might be going to Beijing in March (or April) and I had told her about my plans for my day trip to the Great Wall, to include lunch at the family reunion restaurant. He's interested in going to this restaurant (traveling to the wall on his own). Would you have the address or the name of the town?

Thanks!

Monica

Oops, that should be, ".. I had told him..."

Monica, the Family Reunion Restaurant is in the town of Huai Rou between Beijing and Mutianyu. The restaurant is at a busy intersection and there is parking right in front. I am not sure if there is any signage in English in front but they do have a menu with English and pictures.

Hi ekschrunchy,

Thanks for the information!

Monica

You're welcome, Monica. I forgot: When are you going?
Are you traveling by yourself? My trip was fantastic and I hope to be able to return one day...I want to read the details of your trip...vicarious thrill and all that...

Hi Monica and EK...as you may know, I am also a fan of The Family Reunion. Just have friend follow EK's directions...any guide would know, also. Are you hiring a guide for Mutianyu? I also am high on Konglin...Have a great trip...when are you leaving?
stu T.

ek and Shanghainese, so sorry to be MIA for a month+. (Grad school is getting the best of me this semester; I haven't even had time to *peek* at Fodor's since mid-Oct!)

I'm not sure I'll be able to join you after all. It turns out I will be in MA 12/22 through 12/26 early evening, so it may be cutting it too close to meet up that day. If you decide to make it the 27th or later, I'll be very happy to join you!

memmom, I have a few suggestions for places that may be appropriate for kids that might not have been mentioned to you before:
- The Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall (not far from Tianamen Square). It's a bit quiet and empty, but the scale model of Beijing that fills an entire room is well worth the price of admission. It's primarily a 3D model that is so up-to-date it includes planned buildings that are not yet built. Then where the 3D model ends, backlit photos to scale continue the city underfoot all the way to where the floor meets the wall. A narration in Chinese and English points out landmarks. It was cool to find our hotel near Tsinghua University at the edge of the model, and the entirety really gives you a sense of the huge breadth of the city! (Other parts of the museum give glowing reports on China's building progress.)
- Another kind of quirky place is the TV tower (though the aquarium in its base is very forgettable). Even if the view is obscured by haze as it was the day we were there, it's still fun to be up there. Also, there's an entire floor of Olympics related stuff - sign your name to a scroll to honor the athletes that aims to be in the Guinness Book of Records, buy ribbons and attach them to a wishing tree for the athletes, photo op with lifesize versions of plush mascots, etc. Our second try had better weather, and it was magical to watch the sun set and the city lights go on from the observation deck...
- If you make it outside of the city, check out the Botanic Garden to the west. Plenty of families with kids, and the plants are beautiful. There's a temple inside the park with a massive reclining buddha.
- Otherwise, parks such as Behai and the one across from the TV tower might be good for some r&r.
- Definitely check out the Temple of Heaven!

ggreen -- I'll try to see if we can change it to 12/27 or 12/28, check the GTG posting, please.

Hi ekscrunchy and Stu,

I'm heading to Beijing October 9th, arriving the 10th. I am still in the early works of finalizing the itinerary and deciding on hotels (although I have decided on the Crowne Plaza in Beijing).

I chatted with someone this morning who highly recommended that I go with a tour company rather than going on our own (taking my Mom's cousin Reenie), as she stated the language barrier is really difficult, transportation (busses and subway) is also difficult and especially crowded. She enjoyed the convenience of having someone pick her up and take her to the sights, to dinner, to/from the airport, etc. It does sound like a good reason for convience sake, but I know that many on this board have gone independently. Need to think hard on this one. I know that everyone is different and has different travel styles. I've traveled solo a few times now to Europe and am quite comfortable doing that. I know some words/phrases for French and Italian, but China is a whole different world.

Monica

Monica, both ways of travel have their ups and downs. I had no issue whatsoever with the language. But then, I took taxis and not buses or subways. Taxis are so inexpensive that unless you are on a super-strict budget, they may well be within your means.

The hotel would write the name of the restaurant/sight in Chinese characters and then the doorman/porter of the hotel would usually get me a taxi. When I left the restaurant after dinner, I often asked them (or they offered) to get me a taxi. It was also easy to hail taxis on the street and I recall only once when I had a bit of a hard time getting one (near Ritan Park in Beijing. Perhaps this was because of the late afternoon hour, I am not sure.) But even at that time, I only waited 10 minutes or so..

But remember that I only went to the 2 cities and you are venturing further afield...

The one time that the language barrier was a bit daunting was on the night I took the train to Shanghai..but even then, part of the problem was that I had SO MUCH TO CARRY that I could not wander around and find someone to assist me..I was tied down to my HUGE PILE of STUFF!!!

I do think that it would have been nice to have a live guide at a few of the major sights. But I did manage to overheard some of the guides that were leading tour groups and many of them just droned on and on in not very good English. So if you do decide to take a tour, remember that you are doing so partly to surmount the language barrier. So make sure that the guides will be fluent in English! Better yet, go alone and arrange for private guides for a day or two in the cities you will be visiting, like I did with Konglin in Beijing..

If I were to return (and I hope to someday soon) there is no question that I would go alone once more..

Feel free to ask anything..we love to help!

Hi Monica,
I wouldn't worry over-much about the language barrier, as long as you have a good attitude about it. I met other international travelers in hostels in Chengdu and tiny Songpan that were able to navigate just fine. (I had the advantage of a Mandarin-speaking travel companion, so I can't say much firsthand.) A Spanish couple I met were traveling all over the country - and their means of communication was in English!

Public transportation is clean and efficient; signs are in Chinese and "pinyin" (Chinese in roman alphabet); announcements such as next stop are first in Chinese then English.