Don't you worry your little head, Panda is always present. PATIENTLY awaiting the final installment of the trip report. Calculators are warmed up and getting ready to compute.

In fact, this thread has been particularly helpful. I think we may go to Hangzhou, Suzhou and Wuxi. Staying a few nights in H and S. If we had a fourth destination, it would be perfect.

Did you ask Mrs. P if I could l come along??

eks....don't worry she would encourage anyone to come along as it is so tedious and boring with panda alone... and that's being kind...

Yes, a travel book thread is a lovely idea. It will also curtail thread hi-jacking.

I defer to better judgment about where to put it. An Asian Travel Books (etc.) snuck in here on the Asia board or move it to another general forum? Your call -- I have noticed some dark mutterings about the tone on other forums, but cannot draw on any personal experience aside from a few pleasant experiences on the Europe board.

Meanwhile, I quite liked DON'T LET'S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT and look forward to discovering the other titles you mentioned.

Anyone is always invited to comment on boofs in any thread that I start. You have enhanced it rather than hijack.

EKS-don't you think you should actually meet us before committing to spending any serious amount of time with us. Had I only done the same with RhkKmk, my life would have been much easier. Now we're faced with the prospect on enduring him during our 2010 Bali trip. Yuck!

Actually I kind of changed my mind after I read Bob's recent post. (!!) But I will be meeting you one of these days in some distant locale or other.

Thanks, Gpanda. Thus emboldened, I go back to boof speculating for a moment.

I wonder if the East Africa book that ekscrunchy was ruminating about above is Elspeth Huxley's THE FLAME TREES OF THIKA. The family isn't Indian, at least not as I recall, but the rest of the profile fits. It is subtitled an "autobiography of an African childhood" and it details life among the Kikuyu in the early twentieth century. Another engrossing read.

I have never gushed this much over a set of books in my life but the ekscrunchy syllabus has lots of winning titles. When not off on an adventure, it is awfully nice to alternate travel planning with a little armchair travel through boofs.

2 nights in Hangzhou would be lovely, for Suzhou 1 night is enough.

4th destination nearby with culture and history, suggest Shaoxing for small town experience as ET mentioned above on 2/20, or Nanking for big city time.

I still feel if you are not returning to China soon, go to Beijing for a few days, it's like visiting the US without stopping in NYC.

I'd second Shanghainese's idea that going to Beijing would enhance your China trip a lot more than bopping around the outskirts of Shanghai.

Yes, I'd also second the suggestion to start an Asian books thread on this forum. Things can get a big nasty on some of the other forums and it's not conducive to calm and enlightening book discussion.

Mrs. Panda has nixed Beijing. As I am nothing more than her humble servant, I'm doing the best I can to work out a plan. Shangainese, thanks for the additions. It sounds like we can make a seven day road trip from Shanghai that will suit.

Any hotel recommendations in:

Hangzhou
Suzhi
Nanjing
Shaoxing (Is this where the wine comes from?)

Yes, where the wine comes from. I can't picture a panda bopping but I am sure it will be quite a sight!

I am glad that you explained Mrs. Panda's firm directive because others of us -- in addition to Shanghainese and easytraveler above -- have been fretting over whether 7 days in Shanghai isn't a bit much, and wondering whether folding some water town visits into your Shanghai week, coupled with time in Beijing, before or after, might not be preferable. If the constraint is non-negotiable, that frees up thought about other options...

Marya: I loved the flame trees of Thika! It was also a PBS series in the US. But the one I am thinking of was published in the past few years. There were children of various ethnicities growing up together in East Africa. The African boy grew up to become a fighter for independence. They lost track of one another. There were blond children..

A bunch of useless clues,I know..let me try to figure this out.

Meanwhile, what about Saudi Arabia?

FOOL's PARADISE; ONE AMERICAN'S SEARCH FOR VESTIGES OF AN ANCIENT CULTURE IN MODERN-DAY SAUDI ARABIA by Dale Walker

Note essential, but lively reading about an area not often covered in travel literature.




Here is one that made me laugh out loud, over and over again; I mentioned it on the Africa board:

AR WE THERE YET: CHASING A CHILDHOOD THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA by David Smiedt

Sad, funny poignant. By a writer who knows how to laugh at himself.



http://tinyurl.com/bynlcu

Finally: Here is the book I was trying to remember. Recommended:

THE IN-BETWEEN WORLD OF VIKRAM LALI by MG Vassanji

http://tinyurl.com/cvbyrg

Non-negotiable. Believe me, I tried. In her defense, we have had some of our best vacations just bumbling around without any grand destination in mind. It leaves us more open to serendipity. In truth, I've resigned myself to the prospect of not seeing all of the must-see things in the world. Missing a few specific ones does not really matter.

Of course Pandas bop. It is our natural gait.

Gpanda: Glad you bop! :)

I went into tripadvisor and found that my hotel is listed as number 4, mainly because there aren't too many reviews.

Mine was the Shaoxing International Hotel and I recall there was a small grocery store right across from the hotel where I got some of the drinking kind of Shaoxing wine. Their restaurant is way up at the top of the hotel.

Can't remember why I chose that particular hotel but vaguely remember that it had something to do with convenience.

I had a really nice room for about $60 or $70.


Normally I like the Shangri-La hotels, but wouldn't recommend that one in Hangzhou. It's really not that conveniently located.

There's a whole bunch of hotels on one side of the lake, believe it's the east side - Hyatt, Sofitel (we stayed at one and our friends in stayed in the other, can't remember which was which), those would be the better choices for Hangzhou.

Hope this helps a bit.

I haven't been to Shaoxing for a while, the new fav is the Shaoxing Fandian, lowrise courtyard buildings in a large garden setting, see tripadvisor.

In Hangzhou we stayed at the Lakeview Hotel, it's not as posh as the Shangri-la but was fine for us. The location right across the West Lake, lakeside park and the boat pier with the city center area around the cross street made it extremely convenient. In addition to the excellent restaurant upstairs with expansive lakeviews, the other restaurant on the ground floor was designed like a street food alley with yummy food. Get an executive room on an upper floor facing the lake, ours was booked on elong (slightly lower than ctrip at that time) 10 days in advance.

We have only done daytrips to Suzhou and stayed with relatives in Nanking. You should also add a daytrip to one of the 6 little watertowns from Shanghai or Suzhou, and bop on the picturesque small canals.

I may be misunderstanding all the advise regarding how to use the days on Gpanda's Shanghai trip but I think you could easily spend 4 full days (5 nights)in Shanghai. 3 would be quite easy and the 4th you could use either just to relax a bit or decide to use it for a day trip to one of the water villages. I had everything ready and planned out in case I wanted to go to a water village and instead spent the 4th day enjoying the city. Shanghai is not so much a "sites" city but a place to wander and absorb the culture of the city. If you only have 7 nights total you could then add 2 nights in Hangzhou. I guess it all depends on how busy you want to be. We used to squeeze in a lot more in our trips but lately have been spending more time in each place and just wandering at will. Enjoy your trip in any case.

Paulo -- I know it's confusing, took some elbowing to figure out bowing to the pressure from the mrs., the panda is planning a 2-week stay in the Shanghai and neighboring areas.

Paulo-we're spending seven nights in Shanghai, we ned to figure out what to do for the other seven nights. Apparently, we're not flying anywhere, so we are trying to uncover "neighboring" locations. So far, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Shaoxing and Nanjing are the current suspects.

This is a relatively typical stream of consiosness thread. Following the bouncing ball can be difficult, but it is generally rewarding. (Please forgive the tortured metaphor). We've gotten a lot of very good suggestions from this thread.