Hello,

I'm planning a solo trip to China in Oct-Nov. My preliminary itinerary is:

Beijing
Xian
Guilin
Yangshou
Chengdu
Lhasa

I have about 3-4 weeks. Does anyone have any suggestions, or would you add or drop any locations.

Thank you very much for your help.

It seems to me a lot to do in 3-4 weeks but you can probably do it if you're flying between locations. Xian is worth two or three days. There isn't a whole lot to do in Chengdu but it is a pleasant enoough place. I think you would want at least a week in Lhasa. I didn't visit Beijing.

http://www.travelsinasia.com/China/China.htm

Well, I would personally add Hong Kong because (i) the weather is so fantastic is October and November and (ii) there is so much excellent hiking. I know that hiking is part of the reason for your trip so Hong Kong would be a great place to start as a warm-up and even more so if you can get cheap air fare here. All the hiking is reachable by public transport and can be done by as a day trip. There are excellent hikes on Hong Kong Island itself or you can go to the New Territories for even longer walks. From Hong Kong you can then go to Bhutan (I know that is on your itinerary) via Bangkok easily, and you might want to go to Bhutan first as later in November weather may not be as good. Not sure if you can go overland from Bhutan to other places in the PRC, but if you fly back to Bangkok (via Druk Air), you should be able to get to Beijing or Xian from Bangkok and then do the rest of China. If you don't want to go to Hong Kong but do want to go to Bhutan, then look into flights to Bangkok because I believe that is the best way, other than flights via Delhi, to get to Bhutan. I don't believe you can fly from the PRC to Bhutan at all, and I don't know of any train options. Overland by road would be quite problematic I think, but there may be bus routes. Check lonelyplanet.com and their Thorn Tree Post site.

If you want more mountain areas, consider Lijiang, could also then include Dali and Kunming. I would take out Tibet as you are going to Bhutan and you will have spent enough time money and effort going to Bhutan that IMO you won't need to repeat the experience in Tibet (and some would say not as good an experience in Tibet; have not been to Tibet, and am not going until a Dali Lama does.... have been to Bhutan and found it quite wonderful.) I also saw Nepal on your other post, I am not a timid traveler but again personally I would not go there now, just too much unrest and uncertainty. Katmandu was shut down yesterday and surrounded by burning tires in protest over fuel price rises. I found Katmandu underwhelming and quite seedy and while I liked the hiking, IMO there is lots of very good hiking elsewhere in the world that is far more accessible and more pleasant, albeit it doesn't have the "dinner party cachet" of Katmandu (e.g. Switzerland – but hey Bhutan does). There is enough to see in China and Bhutan in 3-4 weeks to more than take up your time. Get into the countryside of course in the areas on your list, especially around Xian and Guilin/Yangshou.

Cicerone

Thank you very much for your kind & informative response. I may remove Nepal from my list. I knew there was recent trouble, but not that recent. Because I could get to Bhutan from Kat, I thought it made sense, but I'll get there another way. I hear such varying accounts of Kathmandu. Some love it, some really disliked it.

I did plan to to visit Lijiang. What did you like about Dali and Kunming?

How long would you recommend in HK? My itinerary is still very flexible. Do you recommend HK first, then Bhutan (and maybe Lhasa) then back to PRC for Beijing, Xian, Yangshuo, Lijiang,

Cicerone

Thank you very much for your kind & informative response. I may remove Nepal from my list. I knew there was recent trouble, but not that recent. Because I could get to Bhutan easily from Kathmandu, I thought it made sense, but I'll get there another way. I hear such varying accounts of Kathmandu. Some love it, some really disliked it.

I did plan to to visit Lijiang. What did you like about Dali and Kunming?

How long would you recommend in HK? My itinerary is still very flexible. Do you recommend HK first, then Bhutan (and maybe Lhasa) then back to PRC for Beijing, Xian, Yangshuo, Lijiang, etc. I have about 4-5 weeks for this part of my trip before meeting my girlfriend in Tokyo or Bangkok (still undecided)

Thanks again

Thank you WeiLong..and thank you for your response to an earlier post of mine.

How did you travel to Lhasa? From PRC?

I think you really could be flexible in your itinerary. Bhutan flights probably would be the decider, you might look into those first. Also check weather and see if there is a big temp difference in Bhutan between those months, as there is not a huge difference in terms of temp in Oct to November in most of the parts of China you are considering; although Beijing, Xian and Chengdu will be a bit cooler in November than October. Hong Kong makes no difference in weather. I think the Kunming and Guilin areas would be less rainy in November versus October. This would incline me to say do Bhutan first. Note that October 2-8 is a major holiday week in the PRC and almost the whole country has that week off, so I would not travel in or to the PRC on those dates (Hong Kong excepted); I know you say Oct/Nov but was not sure of your exact dates.

I thought Lijiang was just charming and the mountain areas were beautiful. I did not go to Dali, but it is in the area. I went to Lijiang once on one of my business trips to Kunming so did not have time to see Dali. I am planning a trip back to Lijiang at some point and would like to go to Dali. Kunming is a large city, but the climate is pleasant and it has some lovely gardens. I would concentrate more on Lijiang and Dali over Kunming, but Kunming has good air service and from there you can get up by bus cheaply to the other areas. (You can fly right to Lijiang as well, but I think flights are more expensive, do some checking; I don't know what kind of a budget you are on.)

If you want to go to Tokyo or Bangkok at the end of your trip, then you might do Beijing last, as that would probably have the best air connections to those two places, and you can get to Beijing from most other cities in China fairly easily. You could also do Hong Kong at the end for the same reason, but if you want to do some practice hikes as I first mentioned, you might do Hong Kong first. It would also depend on the prices you can get for airfare to Hong Kong versus other cities in China from your home, and IMO whether you can get non-stop flights. I prefer non-stops. Of course if you can get a really cheap flight round trip to say Bangkok that might be the best option as you can go to Bhutan from there and can also get to and from the PRC as well, including going to Hong Kong. You can go overland by train from Hong Kong to other parts of China, and vice versa, although to the cities on your itinerary, these would be long trips, the closest would probably be Beijing and that would be an overnight train (with several changes), but it would not be expensive.

It is hard to say how long to spend in Hong Kong. To see the major tourist sights, you need at least 2 full days, really 3 days is better so you can relax a bit from the long flight, etc (i.e., a flight out on late afternoon or evening of 3rd day is OK). If you want to do any hiking, add at least 1 more day and 2 is better esp if you want to go to outlying areas in the New Territories. Of course if you want to skip some of the tourist stuff you can spend less time and just do more walks.

You should start organizing your PRC and Bhutan visas shortly. Assuming you are a US citizen, you don't need a visa for Hong Kong, Thailand or Japan.

Info about the latest riots in Kathmandu can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5268048.stm. The bbc is a very good source of info about the area, as is the UK embassy in Nepal at http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/ser...=1067968460507. They are alarmist, but not quite so strident as the US Consular reports.