China itinerary advice needed (and open invitation to meet up while I'm there)

[unjung]

I will be in China from April 8th to April 29th. I am landing in Shanghai and connecting with a friend there for the weekend, and then we are off to Wuhan. I'll spend a few days there, and will try to entertain myself as best I can while my friend works (private school), then off to Sanya around the 14th where I'm hoping to do some surfing, but worst case scenario sit on the beach. On the 18th I am thinking of flying to Xi'an for two nights at most, and then taking the train (soft sleeper) to Beijing. In Beijing I'll do the trifecta of Forbidden City, T-Square and Great Wall, and also try to enjoy wandering various neighbourhoods, attending a concert at the Nat'l Centre for the Arts, check out some museums, and generally try to get a sense of the place before flying out on the 29th. There's a chance I'll get bored and fly or take the train to some other place briefly in the Beijing area but I don't know.

I will be staying at hostels primarily because I am trying to buy a house in the near future. My hostel in Beijing will be near the FC, so I should have decent subway access.

Any major recommendations?

Anyone care to join me for a drink in Beijing at some point (Eason, LK)? My friend and I would probably also be interested in hanging out in Shanghai with any takers on the 9th.

 

[krawlx]

I was in China for about three weeks, and spent a few days in Xi'an. I wish I had spent more time there and done more research on the city before I got there. The terracotta warriors are the major highlight, but I loved the layout and feel of the city.

 

[unjung]

Originally Posted by krawlx

I was in China for about three weeks, and spent a few days in Xi'an. I wish I had spent more time there and done more research on the city before I got there. The terracotta warriors are the major highlight, but I loved the layout and feel of the city.

I intend to go up Hua Shan mountain. This is actually the main reason I'll be going there. I'm just researching the train from Wuhan to Xi'an... it looks like it's one of the ghetto trains.

I'm also trying to determine whether I should pre-book flights within country through elong.net or just try to buy flights when I get to the airport... kinda a struggle to decide.

 

[tundrafour]

Not sure if you need a hostel for Shanghai, but I stayed here for about a week: http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels...shanghai/7514/

Reasonably clean, cheap, and staffed mainly by really friendly 20-something Chinese girls. Not the most central location, but it's easy to take the train wherever.

 

[Valor]

If you intend to climb Hua Shan, you should know it is fairly difficult and about a hundred people die a year climbing it.

 

[unjung]

Originally Posted by Valor

If you intend to climb Hua Shan, you should know it is fairly difficult and about a hundred people die a year climbing it.

Appreciate that. I'm a pretty solid scrambler (up to and including with axes and helmets) so I'm not too concerned. I imagine the sheer number of climbers, combined with the potential of ice and snow, and of course the drop-offs, leads to the deaths.

 

[NaTionS]

From what I hear there's a chance of duststorms in Beijing in April. Depending on the severity you might be stuck indoors.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

If you have the time and means I would suggest hiking the unrenovated part of the Great Wall. It sounds like you're an accomplished hiker so it will not be a problem for you, and will be MUCH less crowded than the touristy part of the Great Wall.

It's best as a one-way hike so you arrange to have a car pick you up at the end of your hike. We hiked a section and it took us 4-5 hours moving at a very slow pace (one of my friends is a chain smoker). The unrenovated part has some parts where you walk over crumbling parts of the wall and others where you will have to dismount from the wall but it's nothing super technical.

Be forewarned that there are admission fees in the middle of certain routes on the unrenovated part so bring some cash. Also, there will be hawkers trying to sell you stuff ... and in some cases they will follow you until you buy something (and even after you buy something). One group of hawkers followed us for two hours (not an exaggeration) and only left us when we hit a "toll booth". If you are easy to peg as a Yanqui (as we were), you're likely not to escape this sort of treatment; nothing like being harassed while you're on vacation.

For Xian I would also recommend seeing some of the lesser known burial mounds. They also have terra cotta warrior displays but on a much smaller scale. It seems after the main cache was created, subsequent rulers didn't have the budget to do the same thing so they buried smaller armies of smaller statues (some no bigger than six inches tall). Again, these are less crowded than the main warrior exhibit and very interesting to boot.

I don't have much to add on Shanghai itself. The touristy stuff isn't half bad. We took a ride up the Pearl Tower and also got on a sunset cruise down the river.

If you have an unlocked quad band GSM cell phone you can buy a prepaid SIM card for your mobile phone needs. Note that it's not as easy as buying a SIM card in Europe; you'll have to fill out some forms in order to buy one. I don't read or write Chinese so I had my buddy from Shanghai fill them out for me. In any event, it's worth the time to buy a SIM card, otherwise you'll be paying outrageous international roaming rates.

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[Eason]

Originally Posted by unjung

I will be in China from April 8th to April 29th. I am landing in Shanghai and connecting with a friend there for the weekend, and then we are off to Wuhan. I'll spend a few days there, and will try to entertain myself as best I can while my friend works (private school), then off to Sanya around the 14th where I'm hoping to do some surfing, but worst case scenario sit on the beach. On the 18th I am thinking of flying to Xi'an for two nights at most, and then taking the train (soft sleeper) to Beijing. In Beijing I'll do the trifecta of Forbidden City, T-Square and Great Wall, and also try to enjoy wandering various neighbourhoods, attending a concert at the Nat'l Centre for the Arts, check out some museums, and generally try to get a sense of the place before flying out on the 29th. There's a chance I'll get bored and fly or take the train to some other place briefly in the Beijing area but I don't know.

I will be staying at hostels primarily because I am trying to buy a house in the near future. My hostel in Beijing will be near the FC, so I should have decent subway access.

Any major recommendations?

Anyone care to join me for a drink in Beijing at some point (Eason, LK)? My friend and I would probably also be interested in hanging out in Shanghai with any takers on the 9th.

My recommendations for China are all social and not historical/cultural as I hate touristy stuff. While in Beijing, try: Mei Zhou Dong Po for 24/7 delicious sichuan food (try the kung pao chicken and the duo jiao fish head), Bellagio for dessert, and San Li Tuan/Worker's Stadium for bars/clubs.

I don't live in Beijing anymore, I'm in Zhu Hai which is right near Macao and Hong Kong. If you're going to be in the area (Macao, HK, Shen Zhen, Guang Zhou) I'd be happy to take a trip to meet up, though.

Get a pre-paid SIM card, the government now requires you to register them with a passport, previously you could buy as many as you wanted, but it should still be pretty easy and can be done from any newspaper stand I believe.

 

[Viktri]

SIM Cards: China Unicorn has better prices than street vendors, especially for 3g prepaid cards.
If you're Canadian, the Canadian bar (I've only seen one) is near the Forbidden City and streams games.

Personally I only enjoyed the Terra Cotta warriors and the Great Wall. Not really a fan of the other stuff.

There were supposed to be dust storms this week but it seems they'll probably come in next week or after.

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

unjung: How did you like China? I'm going in September and seeing many of the same things (Beijing, Xi'an, Hua Shan mountain, Shanghai), so I'm interested in your impressions.

 

[unjung]

It was really good. Beijing and Shanghai were probably most to my tastes. The other areas I visited were interesting but I don't see a need to go back in this lifetime. You can kill a lot of time in those two major cities... I'm sure I could have spent another few days in either. Xi'an would be a three night trip, max, more likely two. Hua Shan itself is nice but unbelievably crowded. I heard from some Brits at the top that they waited two hours to catch the gondola (I walked both up and down). You'd need to stay overnight or have your own car if you want to see the whole mountain. The buses don't run late enough to see everything otherwise.

I'll send you a PM with some more thoughts.

 

[dtmt]

Try to make an excursion to Hong Kong if you can, mainland food is ****.

 

[unjung]

C, your inbox is full. I sent one PM but wanted to send one more.

Originally Posted by dtmt

Try to make an excursion to Hong Kong if you can, mainland food is ****.
I skipped HK, as I'll be there for work soon enough. Plus you'd have to start or end there, otherwise you need a double entry visa. I didn't have any problems finding decent food.

 

[Kent Wang]

C: If you come to Shanghai we can try to organize another SF meetup. Last time it was just Unjung, me, and my girlfriend, but I think there are a couple other Shanghai resident members.

Originally Posted by dtmt

Try to make an excursion to Hong Kong if you can, mainland food is ****.
Have you considered that perhaps you don't really like food?