Maya324

Hello everyone,
I have been reading all your answers and it inspired me to do a trip to china and I finally booked the ticket to go with my grumpy partner.

I live in rural western australia and is hard to come by with the latest edition of travel guide (till I can order one ).
In the meantime.. I know its a lot of typing but I will really appreciate all your help.
We are in late 40s (well he is younger than I am) and I can walk up to like 2-3 hours a day but no way uphill.

The ticket is from September 17 to October 28

September 17 Arriving Macau
October 28 departing from Shenzen

Total days 40 days

Okay here I go
Macau (maybe 3-4 days)
Hongkong (6 days or 7 days)
Guanzghou (dont know how may days??) (2)
Yangshou (4 days)
Guilin (4 days)
Chendgu (5 days) (Must see Leeshan and big buddha)
Xian (2 days)
Beijing (6 days)
Shanghai (5 days)
Shanghai to Huanglong and other day trips
and to Shenzen
Would above fit in..

Any other tips.
Its quite brave of us to do it on our own so we really need your advice.
All I can say is Thanks a Million for doing this for me.

Love
Maya

rkkwan

Macau - 2 days in enough.
Hong Kong - 3 to 4 alright.
Guangzhou - skip it.
Shanghai - 2 to 3 for itself.
Guilin - 1 day is enough since you're already staying in Yangshou for 4.

You can do:

Suzhou and Hangzhou near Shanghai - 2 days each.

Yunnan Province - Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La. Should have time to do Xishuanbana as well.

40 days is plenty of time. You can add a few destinations and without overstressing it at your age.

kaneda

As rkkwan said, you don't need all that time in those places. You could try a Yellow River cruise. Consider flying to another country for a week. Flights are cheap in Asia and you could book it in Hong Kong which has a lot of travel agents in Kowloon at the ferry end of Nathan Road. Pick up an English language newspaper and look at the ads.

If you leave China and come back you will need another visa.

samuell

We are also inspired by posters of this board and are booked in for a 30 day trip on our own this Nov.

Our trip starts in BJ and ends in Shanghai. From what I have learnt from this board, we do not need to reserve ahead which will give us more flexibility for time spent in each city and town.

LynnieD

How exciting!!! I agree totally with rkkwan. Skip Guanzghou entirely and 5 days between Yangshou and Guilin more than enouth.

Make sure and add Yunnan in and try to fit Xishuanbana. While in Xishuanbana, be sure to hire the bamboo rafters for the trip down the Mei Kong (sp?) river, a true highlight of my trip, and also the botanical garden.

What fun to plan this scale of trip. In my experience, planning a trip with a grump is great. Since they profess to not care about anything you get to plan and have everything your way.

baaj

I second rkkwan - skip Guangzhou.

You won't need to spend more than 2 days in Shanghai, unless you'd like to take a break at that point in your trip, and get some western food, etc.

You can easily spend 40 days in China, but I'd advise that you add a few other destinations (definitely Dali and Lijiang in Yunnan). There are some great off the track places in Yunnan and Sichuan with traditional Tibetan architecture and culture. (I forget the name of the most well known though - maybe Zhongdian?) It's a beautiful drive to get there. Hire a jeep though - don't risk your life on a bus. Xinjiang in the far west of China is also incredible, if you like natural beauty. The food, architecture and culture are so different from the rest of China, Kashgar (in southern Xinjiang)is really a destination worth adding to a longer trip.

I did the Leshan/Big Buddha trip a few years back. I was very disappointed. Can you imagine standing in line, as you climb a mountain? People trying to sell you red bull as you wait...Some people may like the experience, but it was definitely not the mountain serenity that I was looking for.

And 2 days max in Macau. 3 days max in HK. Skip Guilin - just spend your time (2-3 days)in Yangshuo. Plan to spend more time in Beijing. 4-5 days there will be easily filled.

rkkwan

Yes, Zhongdian in Yunnan is the place. It's now been renamed Shangri-La.

About Leshan. It's not worth going by itself, but it's worth a stop on the way from Chengdu to the Emei Mountain. Short flight north of Chengdu are the Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong national parks. Closer to Chengdu is the Wolong panda reserve. That'd be at least 7-8 days if you want to cover these main sites of Sichuan province.

In northern China, consider visiting the sites in Shanxi Province, including Datong (Hanging Temple, Wutai Mountain, Yunggang Grotto) and the ancient town of Pingyao. About 6-7 hours by train from Beijing, or can be done enroute between Beijing and Xian if you take the slower train. That's a 4-5 day trip.

From Beijing, take a side trip to Chengde, location of a summer palace and many lama temples. Very interesting. 2-3day trip. Or make it a longer trip and combine parts of the more eastern Great Wall, Eastern Qing tombs and Guanyin statue at the Dule Temple. That'd be like a 4-day trip from Beijing, and logistics may be a bit tricky.

The Xinjiang recommedation is another good one. Long travel distance over that part of China.

Late September to late October is a good time to visit China. You should be decent weather basically anywhere you go and not too hot, especially towards the later part of your trip.

Maya324

Thank you rkkwan; kaneda; samuell ; LynnieD & Bajj

You made my day by replies and got me more confused (just kidding).
I had a shock as I am told 1-7 oct is national holiday week when 59 million people take holiday. So maybe I and grumpy have to go to tibet or something and experience some altitude sickness.

How do I go from HK to Yangshuo directly ? I thought I had to go via Guangzhou???

I dont have a decent map (tell you living in a rural area is no fun)

Maya

rkkwan

Yes, first week of October is national holiday. You may want to avoid traveling during that time or have plane tickets early on. Also need to book hotels ahead. I'll avoid going to the popular tourist place for locals - like the national parks - during that time. Yunnan or Xinjiang may not be a bad idea.

Yangshuo is a small city. You go through Guilin to get there from most places. From Hong Kong, the "easiest" is to fly direct to Guilin (KWL). Cheaper is to go up to Shenzhen and fly from SZX. There are buses and trains, but takes whole day or more.

iamles

I am interested in rkkwan's advice to fly from Shenzen to Hong kong because taking the bus makes it a whole day enterprise. I read an older post by Marija, I think, who reported that she arrived in Hong Kong by noon, flying into Shenzen early in the morning and then taking the bus. If anyone else has traveled this way, I'd appreciate hearing how long it took.

Thanks,
Les

rkkwan

You don't fly between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. I mean going by land (bus, train or ferry) from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, and then fly SZX-KWL. It will add about 2 hours to the journey and more hassle, but if one's on a very tight budget, that can save some money. There are also more flights SZX-KWL than HKG-KWL. Most of the flights direct from Hong Kong depart late in the day, while there are flights from Shenzhen all day long.

samuell

Depending on where you hotel is located,finding your way to Hk airport will take an hour or more,Shenzhen route doesn't take much more time.
With $$ saving and more flights, should be an easy decision.

baaj

You can take the Ferry from downtown Kowloon (in Hong Kong) directly to the Shenzhen airport (with a very short shuttle from Shekou). Mush faster and more convenient than the bus and a little more scenic. It costs a little more, but is worth the price.

rkkwan

The ferry pier for SZX is Fuyong, not Shekou. Do not take the Kowloon to Shekou ferry.

baaj

rkkwan sounds sure about the non-shekou route, so i'd go with his advice on that. But there is a ferry. And I still stand by my recommendation.

iamles

Oops! I did not read carefully when I wrote my post this am. I had the itinerary in reverse.

My route is the oposite- coming from the mainland to Hong Kong. We will fly to Shenzen and arrive before 10 am. What is the best way to get to Hong Kong -bus train, ferry? We'll be staying at the Salisbury.

Thanks,
Les

rkkwan

Ferry is most comfortable. But most expensive and not very frequent with only 5 sailings to Kowloon to 2 to HK Island weekdays (4 and 2) on weekends.

www.turbojet.com.hk/turbojet_sailing_rev.htm

A before 10am arrival at SZX should allow riding the 11:00 or 11:50 ferry to Kowloon. You can walk (about 0.5 miles) or take a taxi (2 minutes drive, HK$15) to the YMCA Salisbury.

iamles

rkkwan, I appreciate the info about the ferry. If we are not able to take the ferry, what do you advise.

Many thanks,
Les

rkkwan

Alternatively, you can take the airport bus:

eng.szairport.com/catalog_495.aspx (Chinese only)

or, from the bus operator itself:

www.trans-island.com.hk/eng/china-line_szj.htm

About HK$90 or $100 to Prince Edward in Kowloon or Wan Chai Pier on Hong Kong Island. Once every 20 minutes.

The main disadvantage of the bus is that you need to get off twice with all your luggage, once at the Chinese border, and then again once you cross to the Hong Kong side. Since you're a visitor, you'll likely to take much longer than the Hong Kong or Chinese residents (for example, to fill the form). And the bus may not wait for you. You'll then need to look for the bus running the next departure 20 minutes later. And even seasoned travelers hate that bus depot setup for these supposedly "direct" bus.

---

Another alternative is to negotiate a taxi or private car to drive you from SZX to the Huanggang border. You can then take your time to go through Chinese immigration. Right at the exit of Chinese immigration are buses to various points in Hong Kong (not just Prince Edward or Wan Chai), and those buses depart every 15 minutes or less.

The total cost of this taxi/private car to bus transfer will be more than the so-called "direct" bus; but may be less stressful.

rkkwan

BTW, it may sound silly, but if you're staying at the YMCA Salisbury and taking the bus, it may be better to take the bus to Wan Chai Pier on Hong Kong Island and then cross back to Kowloon on the Star Ferry.