easytraveler

There are luggage storage areas in every train station that I can remember. Sometimes there's more than one, so you have to take note which storage area you left your luggage in.

The Beijing-Xian train leaves from the West Station.

There are trains which leave for Datong from Beijing also from the West Station. There's one that leaves around 11:30pm and gets into Datong about 6:30am the next morning. Get the soft sleeper ($21 per person), four sleepers to a compartment. The return is also around 11:30pm, leaving Datong and arriving Beijing at 5:30am.

I'd suggest that you have your Beijing hotel buy the round trip tickets for you. May cost you a handling fee, but well worth it.

If you take all your luggage with you to Datong, the CITS office there will store your luggage for you during the day. However, I don't see dragging all your luggage over to Datong for a one-day trip when you need just a minimum overnight bag.

If you sandwich your visit to Datong between your stay in Beijing, you can leave your luggage with the hotel for the two nights you wouldn't be there. This would be a better course, as you don't want to spend two whole nights on trains going to and from Datong, spend the day in Beijing, and then hop on another train to Xian the third night.

If someone hasn't mentioned it already, check out seat61.com for train travel in China. It has a link that will get you to where you can look at schedules and prices.

monicapileggi

Thanks, I forgot I could leave our luggage at the hotel in Beijing. I think that would probably be safer than locking things up at the train station.

Monica

Jeffrey

Here's a quick version of how we did the Shanxi 4.5 day side trip from Beijing. I am just catching up at work this week, so have not had a chance to post the full trip report I wanted yet. We did this just 10 days ago.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Central Plaza in Beijing. We left most of our luggage there with the concierge, since we were returning to the hotel at the end of the side trip. We also kept the hotel cell phone. Our route was planned by the Beijing hotel, and the head of the concierge desk ("Storm" Li) actually took his wife, Jasmine, on a mini-vacation to the Yungang Caves (taking a Friday off work), accompanying us for the first day and a half, since they had never seen the grottos themselves.

Day One - Afternoon train from Beijing West Station to Datong. 5.5 hours. Soft sleeper. Cubicle reeked of smoke. View of nice mountains the first 2 hours, and then row after row of horrid coal plants. Arrived safely and on time, had a lovely Shanxi hot pot dinner (still remember the local specialty vinegar).

Day Two - Hire a taxi and "professional guide" from the hotel to see the Yungang Grottos and the Hanging Monestary. Grottos are spectacular and I have never seen anything like them before. They equal the Sistene Chapel, Chartres, or any other large architectural act of religious devotion the human species has ever come up with. 7 or 8 50 foot high Buddhas carved into rock by hand in the from 460 to about 500. Northern Wei. Originally part of a larger temple/merchant complex. This site seems to be on the common French/Belgian tourist route, but seemed totally ignored by Americans. 2000 visitors a day, only about a dozen westerners that we could see. We spent about 3 hours there. Good facilities (toilet, water, etc.) The "professional guide" was useless, and I bought a tourist book to understand the site better, plus I had read some Chinese art history books before going. "Professional guide" in China is an excuse to increase the price of the car hire, and means limited english will be sometimes spoken.

Hanging Monestary was almost as interesting. Liao dynasty sculptures inside, and a special site on the side of the mountain (it does look like the internet pictures).

Day Three - Morning in Datong, seeing the Hua Yuan Monestary (amazing 24 or so piece Liao dynasty Three-Buddha heavenly group, and very good Liao ceramic dragons), and the Ming 9-Dragon Screen (much more impressive than the Behai Park Qing screen in Beijing). One could spend another full day in Datong and see the old wooden Pagoda and a few other minor sites. We regretted that we could not. I recommend Datong highly, but cannot emphasize enough how polluted it is. Westerners will likely have no possible conception of how bad it is.

Afternoon luxury bus to Taiyuan. Better than US busses. Very nice. Good on-trip Kung Fu movie so obvious in plot that the lack of English subtitles did not matter. Glimpse of the Jin Dynasty Great Wall from bus. Great Shanxi dinner in Taiyuan with noodles and vinegar.

Day Four - Car hire from Taiyuan hotel to see Pingyao and the Qiao Compound. Pingyao had a lovely Yuan Dynasty Daoist Temple with original statues, a Qing bank, and Ming City wall and many other lesser sites. Qiao mansion looks like the movie and was worth about an hour on the way back to Taiyuan from Pingyao. There is little reason to stay overnight in Pingyao, the courtyard hotels looked quite dumpy inside and were expensive. Taiyuan food was much better than Pingyao's (one reason I went to China was to eat Chinese food for real). Daytrip from Taiyuan hotel is the way to go to see Pingyao.

Day Five - Car hire to Jin Ci Temple. Original Song Dyanasty temple, bridge, iron statues and garden view area. Many well-off Chinese tourists, we were one of only 6 westerners at the site. A hidden jewel. More impressive than any other site than the grottos. Does not get the press it deserves.

Afternoon soft sleeper back to Beijing (8 hours). Nice car, no smoke smells. Interesting cubicle companions. Interesting views of rural villages and farmers along the route. We could have taken a soft sleeper to Xian (maybe 10-12 hours, don't remember) but we had stuff still to see in Beijing, and returned there instead.

monicapileggi

Hi Jeffrey,

I probably could follow your trip and then continue on to Xian from Taiyuan. Some questions for you:

Is the Holiday Inn Central Plaza in a good location in Beijing? I haven’t researched hotels yet, but do want to stay in a good location.

Which hotel did you stay in in Datong? How much was the room?

Which hotel did you stay in Taiyuan?

How long of a drive was it from Taiyuan to Pingyao?

With your tour, what were you charged? I have no idea at this time what guides charge for tours.

Thanks!

Monica

LadyOLeisure

The Holiday Inn Central Plaza was very near our hotel in Beijing. It is near the "2nd Ring Road" -- and while not terribly exciting there are restaurants in the neighborhood and you can easily get a cheap taxi to anywhere you want to go. You can have the hotel desk people write where you want to go on a hotel card -- you then have the hotel's card so you can get back easily too. (And flagging down cabs is no different than anywhere else.) I don't think we took a taxi anyplace that cost more than 30 yuan, and usually it was less.

Jeffrey

The Holiday Inn Central Plaza is the number one rated hotel on Tripadvisor for Beijing. You can read about it there. Our experience was similar. Storm Li at the concierge desk made many things much easier. The area around the hotel is much better than the fancy shopping area around Oriental Plaza, with all the tourist hussle.

The bus from Datong to Taiyuan takes about 3 hours.

Basic car hire in Shanxi seemed to come to about 7 dollars an hour for a whole day as long as we wanted, through the hotels, which is probably not the cheapest way to go, but was cheap enough for us. We wrongly asked for a "professional guide" the first time. The "guides" in China know less than a standard tourist booklet. Simply avoid them.

I'll post more with hotels and restaurants soon, when I can get the rest of the trip written out.

monicapileggi

I read up on some hotels on Trip advisor, including the Holiday in in Beijing. Sounds great!


Monica

travelgo7

Jeffrey,

Sounds like you had a bad "guide" experience. What happened? Would you instead recommend just going alone and using a travel guide book instead? I was looking to use guides in some of the smaller cities I was planning to visit in July.

monicapileggi

I had a long talk with my cousin about my itinerary and we both agreed on what we want to see, including Chendu to see the pandas.

This is my revised itinerary, but would like help with the Shanghai portion.


9 Oct Thu Depart Washington DC
10th Fri Beijing arrive afternoon
11th Sat Beijing
12th Sun Beijing
13th Mon Beijing-Great Wall Mutianyu
14th Tues Beijing
15th Wed Beijing

- Overnight Z Train to Xian (2-person soft sleeper compartment)

16th Thu a.m. arrive Xian - sight see in Xian
17th Fri Xian - Terra Cottta Warriors
18th Sat Xian – Afternoon flight to Shanghai


19th Sun Shanghai
20th Mon Shanghai – Day trip to ?
21st Tue Shanghai – Day trip to ? or more sightseeing in Shanghai
22nd Wed Shanghai
23rd Thur Hangzhou
24th Fri Hangzhou - Lingyin Temple, afternoon flight out to Guilin


25th Sat Guilin - day trip to Rice Terraces
26th Sun Guilin - take morning Li riverboat tour to Yangshuo (with luggage); Stay at Li River Retreat

27th Mon Yangshuo - Visit nearby villages/bike/etc.

28th Tue Yangshuo to Guilin for afternoon flight (or train?) to Chendu

29th Wed Chendu - Panda Preserve
30th Thu Chendu for the day OR one extra day in Yangshuo before heading to Chendu

31st Fri Depart from Guilin or Chendu – depending on above) to Hong Kong
1 Nov Sat Hong Kong
2nd Sun Hong Kong
3rd Mon Hong Kong - fly home

I could subtract a day in Shanghai and add 1 to Yangshuo. Yangshuo will be our "relaxing" portion of the trip. Could even do a cooking class or a river raft ride.

As always your comments are appreciated!

Monica

monicapileggi

PS: I can also reduce the time in Shanghai and add back in Luoyang (between Beijing and Xian).

Monica

rkkwan

I think you'll save some time flying by doing:

Beijing - Shanghai/Hangzhou - Xian - Chengdu - Guilin - Hong Kong

Between Xian and Chengdu, you can take the train or you can fly. The fastest train is a day train that takes 12 hours - it's a mountainous route with good scenery.

From Shanghai, you can do a daytrip to Suzhou and/or one of the watertowns around the area.

monicapileggi

With your suggestion, how do I add Luoyang?

Monica

rkkwan

Fly from Shanghai to Luoyang. Then train to Xian.

linbob

I am just starting to plan for a China trip for 2008...I feel overwhelmed. I'm curious to know how much Monica is budgeting for her trip...maybe on a per day basis. I think we'll go for about 20 days.
When we travel, we have usually done it at least semi-independently....but that is in Central or South America.....and we speak a little Spanish. I'm concerned that we can't do as much independent travel...but it appears that Monica is.
I'd love some insight.

maytraveller

Hi linbob:

You didn't post your question to me, but I'll give you a data point nonetheless.

DW and I returned in late May from 18 days in China, our first trip and it was great. Most of our independent travel experience has been in Europe,and I found China to be an excellent travel value by comparison. We love Europe, but the cost of hotels and especially food in China was an added bonus to a fantastic trip.

We don't budget for trips, but in China our cost for hotels, food, sightseeing, local guides, admissions, and internal travel (3 flights, 2 sleeper trains)was about $4400 or just over $120/day/person. We flew over in coach with FF tickets but would have paid just under $900/ ticket had we paid cash.

We stayed in nice western-run hotels (Crowne Plaza in Beijing, Sofitels in Xi'an and Chengdu, Hilton in Shanghai) plus a modest more local style place--Li River Retreat in Yangshuo.

In May 2006 we spent 18 days in Europe, 12 of which were on an E. Med/Black Sea cruise, on a HAL ship in a standard outside cabin, with 3 days pre-cruise in Venice and 3 post-cruise in Athens. The trip was also fantastic (aren't they all?) and the cost n/i airfare was just under twice the cost of our trip to China.

By the way, I hope you follow through and travel independently if you go to China next year. Take advantage of the great resources available from those on this board who have pioneered the way for you. I did, and I'll never regret it.

Happy travels,

maytraveller

monicapileggi

linbob,

My budget: I started an excel spreadsheet for all costs and have estimated approximately $4700 for my 26 day trip (includes the days to fly there and back) - 24 full days in China.

YES, you can travel to China independently. I am doing lots of reading and researching my best options to get my airline/train tickets, hotels, and figuring out where I would need a guide and/or driver and what can be done on our own. It does take careful planning but I'd rather go independent than be stuck with 30 or so other people and not have the flexibility to do what I want when I want. I'm sure there will be some tough situations (I don't know the language), but I'll work it out.

Monica

Shanghainese

Monica: You are so organized! I only use Excel at work, didn't think of using it for travel budgeting, great tip.

Is your budget for 2 persons excluding roundtrip airfare? You are doing very well. Sleeper train saves on airfare/hotel as long as you sleep well. As long as the hotel is decent, you don't need to stay at the Ritz. If you read/research enough, you may just need a driver instead of driver + guide. And above all you have the determination to work out tough situations!

monicapileggi

Budget is for just me with an estimate of the airfare to/from China at $1200. Not sure the cost of the tickets since it's my first trip to China.

Yes, been doing lots of reading and will probably just get a driver for some of the places, taxi for others.

Monica