China /Japan help needed please

[ian180]

Hi

Just started planning 'The Big One' next year with an independant self made 3 week intinery planned, in the very rough stages at moment. I have 3 or 4 days spare and wondered if anyone had any ideas of day tours or visits to include.

At moment it looks like this:

Sat 20/9 Arrive Beijing, staying at Raffles
21/9 Beijing City tour
22/9 Great Wall (Mutianyu area) and Silk Alley
23/9 Fly to Xian, Sofitel on Renmin Square.
24/9 Terracotta Army and Wild Goose Pagoda tour
25/9 Xian City tour and fly to.....
25/9 Guilin at Sheraton Guilin
26/9 Li River cruise, Yangshou and Reed Flute Caves tour
27/9 Fly to Shanghai, Shangri-La Pudong hotel
28/9 City tour
29/9 Fly to Singapore, Shangri-La, Valley Wing
30/9 Shopping and Nigh Time boat Cruise and Dinner
1/10 Afternoon Tea at Raffles / Leisure day
2/10 Fly to Tokyo, Mandarin Oriental Hotel
3/10 City sightseeing tour
4/10 Mount Fuji day tour and Hakone
5/10 Disney!!
6/10 Disney!!
7/10 Fly home

The thing is, I have extra 3 days to fit in and I have a few options:

In Guilin I have option of Longeng Rice Terraces tour (not sure if it is 'us', just seeing scenery [albeit amazing] and rice fields, but am I missing out on traditional China??). Also same applies in Shanghai when I can slot in a Zhujiajao Water village tour (??) or Suzhou Day tour - boring or facinating?? As not keen garden people, we don't relish looking at gardens and waterways, but once there, might we just love it?? I din't know!

Should I have an extra leisure day in Beijing/Shanghai or even Tokyo to do our own thing, visit the shops or just relax?

Anyone who has been to any of these places, I would be very interested to hear views or anyone with suggestions?

Many thanks.

[susieb]

are you going alone out of interset

[ju_itfc]

If you are going to add any days I would recommend leaving them for Shanghai.

Beijing is a horrid place to be honest and we couldn't wait to get away. In fact the Great Wall was a complete right off as well as we chose the only day it decided to be foggy and could barely see a metre in front of us. I'm sure on a nice clear day (as per the pictures) it would be magical but it was a huge let down because of the weather.

Be very careful in and around Beijing. There are a lot of scams flying around and two of our party were caught up with tea ceremony invites which turned out to be very very expensive, and they were not allowed to leave until paid for in full. Fortunately they paid on credit card and were then able to put a stop on the transactions after speaking to our guide.

I would also avoid borrowing anything from hotels i.e. umbrellas. One of our party borrowed two for an evening out and paid a deposit. When she took them back they insisted they were damaged, despite not even being used. It was only when our guide intervened and threatened to take their business elswhere they they relented.

They just seemed to be going full out to try and get extra money out of tourists. We didn't notice it anywhere else in China apart from Beijing.

We did Xian and liked the city itself. The Warriors were a bit overrated if I am being honest but still worth a visit. Don't pay to have your picture taken or get an autograph by the supposed "finder" of the Warriors, he is fake. There was a great article on the Warriors in the Sunday Mail a few weeks back, see if you can get hold of a copy.

As for your question re: Suzhou. Hmmmm, tricky. It was a stop on our itinerary and we visited the Master of the Nets show which was different to say the least. We also did a half day city tour which included a river cruise (nice) and a walking tour (ok) and ended up with the show in the evening and going for some food and beers afterwards. We found the area quite seedy with a lot of karaoke clubs which were obviously not really karaoke clubs. Still we baterred down some beers to just 5yuan (under 50p) so we were quite happy.

I wouldn't go out of my way to go to Suzhou but if you are passing, one night won't hurt.

Shanghai is the real jewel in the Chinese crown though. I could have spent weeks there, although would probably have sweated to death by that stage. A great city, up there with Hong Kong and as it was our final port of call in China, a great way to end our time there.

Let me know if you need any further info. Are you doing any train journeys btw?

[ian180]

are you going alone out of interset

No, but thank you for your kind offer!! I am going with my wife.

[ian180]

If you are going to add any days I would recommend leaving them for Shanghai.

Beijing is a horrid place to be honest and we couldn't wait to get away. In fact the Great Wall was a complete right off as well as we chose the only day it decided to be foggy and could barely see a metre in front of us. I'm sure on a nice clear day (as per the pictures) it would be magical but it was a huge let down because of the weather.

Be very careful in and around Beijing. There are a lot of scams flying around and two of our party were caught up with tea ceremony invites which turned out to be very very expensive, and they were not allowed to leave until paid for in full. Fortunately they paid on credit card and were then able to put a stop on the transactions after speaking to our guide.

I would also avoid borrowing anything from hotels i.e. umbrellas. One of our party borrowed two for an evening out and paid a deposit. When she took them back they insisted they were damaged, despite not even being used. It was only when our guide intervened and threatened to take their business elswhere they they relented.

They just seemed to be going full out to try and get extra money out of tourists. We didn't notice it anywhere else in China apart from Beijing.

We did Xian and liked the city itself. The Warriors were a bit overrated if I am being honest but still worth a visit. Don't pay to have your picture taken or get an autograph by the supposed "finder" of the Warriors, he is fake. There was a great article on the Warriors in the Sunday Mail a few weeks back, see if you can get hold of a copy.

As for your question re: Suzhou. Hmmmm, tricky. It was a stop on our itinerary and we visited the Master of the Nets show which was different to say the least. We also did a half day city tour which included a river cruise (nice) and a walking tour (ok) and ended up with the show in the evening and going for some food and beers afterwards. We found the area quite seedy with a lot of karaoke clubs which were obviously not really karaoke clubs. Still we baterred down some beers to just 5yuan (under 50p) so we were quite happy.

I wouldn't go out of my way to go to Suzhou but if you are passing, one night won't hurt.

Shanghai is the real jewel in the Chinese crown though. I could have spent weeks there, although would probably have sweated to death by that stage. A great city, up there with Hong Kong and as it was our final port of call in China, a great way to end our time there.

Let me know if you need any further info. Are you doing any train journeys btw?

Hi and thanks for your in depth advice - much appreciated.

We are erring towards an extra leisure day and I was thinking between Beijing or Shanghai. I think from your advice and warnings it will be Shanghai, especially to break up the trip with a 'rest day' (or shopping probably if DW gets her way!)

Shame about the wall being foggy; how annoying must that have been?!

Xian looks good, but I will be careful about photographers etc. Always scams everywhere you go! I read the article in the mail and found it interesting.

Great advice re Suzhou - you are not the first person to say that, so that has nailed it, just the city tour and a day of leisure. Excellent! You have sold Shanghai to me!

We are doing the bullet train in Japan on way back from Mount Fuji, so really looking forward to that. Apart from that one, it will coaches or planes I think.

Thanks very much indeed once more for your kind help.

[ju_itfc]

Ian,

Glad you found the information helpful. I did a similar post on another forum the other day and when reading it back I actually felt apologetic for saying a few negative things about a trip which is quite rightly classed as "a big one".

Shame you are missing out on the trains in China itself. What an experience they were!! In Vietnam our guide had managed to get tickets so all the group were together, well split over 2 or 3 carriages. Our Chinese guide didn't think of that and instead let an agency book them for him which resulted in us being split up all over the train. Thankfully the locals were quite accomodating and allowed us to move around a bit but we still shared with a couple of nice Chinese men, who insisted on trying to convince us to eat pigs snout (that is what it looked like anyway) during the whole journey. The smell was pretty vile. Our offer of a couple of Pringles seemed fairly lame in comparison!!!

I would always recommend spending more time in Shanghai than in Beijing. We loved Hong Kong and got our Chinese Visa from there. Shanghai was like HK but obviously not so British, so you get the best of both worlds really, modern but also traditional at heart. And the skyline is just unbeatable.....

Of course one of the best things about China is the food and drink. I must admit that our guide tended to order for our group (about 12 of us) most nights and we just shared a load of different dishes. It worked out very cheap most nights, like about 30-40 Yuan per person which is what £3-£4? Bargain. The beers were even better, large 500ml bottles of Suntory or Tsing Tao (spelling?) were anything from 5 to 12 Yuan a bottle, so not hitting at max a quid and at best around 40p.....now that is my kind of price!!!!

Anyway, I'm sure you will have a good time. It's a nice country but obviously has a long way to go for tourism. Beijing isn't that great but is obviously worth a visit, with Tiannamen Sq and the Forbidden City...very very muggy though. I'm sure you will find it will get better once you leave Beijing.......

Great Wall of China? Yes, the fog was annoying to say the least. Try walking that with no perspective of where you are or what is ahead of you (normally 100 step hills!!!!).

Have fun.

Ju

[susieb]

sorry wasnt an offer!!! Just sounded like you were travelling alone so was going to share tips as a fellow single traveller.

[ian180]

sorry wasnt an offer!!! Just sounded like you were travelling alone so was going to share tips as a fellow single traveller.

Darn...my hopes dashed!!! Sounds interresting (and brave) being a single traveller. Met one in Singapore 2 years ago, her husband had died 3 months before although it had been planned and booked by him. She was persuaded to go by her children and had a brilliant time and was so glad she did (though of course she missed her husband).

[ian180]

Ian,

Glad you found the information helpful. I did a similar post on another forum the other day and when reading it back I actually felt apologetic for saying a few negative things about a trip which is quite rightly classed as "a big one".

Shame you are missing out on the trains in China itself. What an experience they were!! In Vietnam our guide had managed to get tickets so all the group were together, well split over 2 or 3 carriages. Our Chinese guide didn't think of that and instead let an agency book them for him which resulted in us being split up all over the train. Thankfully the locals were quite accomodating and allowed us to move around a bit but we still shared with a couple of nice Chinese men, who insisted on trying to convince us to eat pigs snout (that is what it looked like anyway) during the whole journey. The smell was pretty vile. Our offer of a couple of Pringles seemed fairly lame in comparison!!!

I would always recommend spending more time in Shanghai than in Beijing. We loved Hong Kong and got our Chinese Visa from there. Shanghai was like HK but obviously not so British, so you get the best of both worlds really, modern but also traditional at heart. And the skyline is just unbeatable.....

Of course one of the best things about China is the food and drink. I must admit that our guide tended to order for our group (about 12 of us) most nights and we just shared a load of different dishes. It worked out very cheap most nights, like about 30-40 Yuan per person which is what £3-£4? Bargain. The beers were even better, large 500ml bottles of Suntory or Tsing Tao (spelling?) were anything from 5 to 12 Yuan a bottle, so not hitting at max a quid and at best around 40p.....now that is my kind of price!!!!

Anyway, I'm sure you will have a good time. It's a nice country but obviously has a long way to go for tourism. Beijing isn't that great but is obviously worth a visit, with Tiannamen Sq and the Forbidden City...very very muggy though. I'm sure you will find it will get better once you leave Beijing.......

Great Wall of China? Yes, the fog was annoying to say the least. Try walking that with no perspective of where you are or what is ahead of you (normally 100 step hills!!!!).

Have fun.

Ju

Thanks again. You never know about the trains, since we have built in spare days, it may be a good opportunity to do one, especially if you think it is an experience to be had! Think I'll pass on the pig snout though!!

Shanghai it is for the extra day then! We too loved HK and had a fantastic 4 days last year (Intercontinental, Junior Suite overlooking the river to Kowloon - amazing!) Thanks for the recommendation - it helped me make my mind up. I love skylines....what view did you have from your hotel (river, city? etc.) - or where was it situated?

I love cheap! Beers and food at good prices are always good for the wallet. I don't mind chinese food, but 3 weeks of it might be too much - I guess there is western food/steak etc. on offer too?

Thanks again for your help and advice - much appreciated.

Cheers.

[ju_itfc]

Thanks again. You never know about the trains, since we have built in spare days, it may be a good opportunity to do one, especially if you think it is an experience to be had! Think I'll pass on the pig snout though!!

Shanghai it is for the extra day then! We too loved HK and had a fantastic 4 days last year (Intercontinental, Junior Suite overlooking the river to Kowloon - amazing!) Thanks for the recommendation - it helped me make my mind up. I love skylines....what view did you have from your hotel (river, city? etc.) - or where was it situated?

I love cheap! Beers and food at good prices are always good for the wallet. I don't mind chinese food, but 3 weeks of it might be too much - I guess there is western food/steak etc. on offer too?

Thanks again for your help and advice - much appreciated.

Cheers.

As we were on an Intrepid group trip they tend to book hotels around the 2star level, which are fine but obviously if I was going with just my Wife I would certainly book a far better hotel. Our hotel was just off the Nanjing Road and about 10mins walk to the Bund area. Great location, but I wouldn't recommend it ever.

As for food, well to be honest Western food was pretty scarce apart from the likes of McDonalds/KFC etc but as were with our Chinese guide he obviously wanted us to experience the local cuisine and we pretty much stuck with that. I'm sure there are plenty of Western style restaurants in Shanghai somewhere, but I doubt you will find too many in Beijing or any of the other cities. Xian had a very nice McDonalds in the main square...that was a Godsend after Beef Fried Rice for what seemed like years!!!!

I'm glad I'm not the only person who has a thing for skylines by the way!!! I would say that Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney and San Francisco are my favourites at the moment. I have never experienced anything like when coming into Sydney Harbour on a ferry after a day in the Blue Mountains, it was getting dark, the bridge, the opera house.......it doesn't get much better than that!!!

Have a great time in China and don't take up any invitation to a tea ceremony!!!!

Ju

[ian180]

As we were on an Intrepid group trip they tend to book hotels around the 2star level, which are fine but obviously if I was going with just my Wife I would certainly book a far better hotel. Our hotel was just off the Nanjing Road and about 10mins walk to the Bund area. Great location, but I wouldn't recommend it ever.

As for food, well to be honest Western food was pretty scarce apart from the likes of McDonalds/KFC etc but as were with our Chinese guide he obviously wanted us to experience the local cuisine and we pretty much stuck with that. I'm sure there are plenty of Western style restaurants in Shanghai somewhere, but I doubt you will find too many in Beijing or any of the other cities. Xian had a very nice McDonalds in the main square...that was a Godsend after Beef Fried Rice for what seemed like years!!!!

I'm glad I'm not the only person who has a thing for skylines by the way!!! I would say that Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney and San Francisco are my favourites at the moment. I have never experienced anything like when coming into Sydney Harbour on a ferry after a day in the Blue Mountains, it was getting dark, the bridge, the opera house.......it doesn't get much better than that!!!

Have a great time in China and don't take up any invitation to a tea ceremony!!!!

Ju

Hurrah for MacDonalds, thats what I say!! Thanks again for the tips!

Yup, I love skylines (and beautiful sunsets - Maui my fave there) - Our hotel in Sydney overlooked the harbour bridge and opera house so that was 'awesome'! - also NY, HK, SanFran, Auckland - looking forward to the orient ones - as you say - it doesn't get much better than that!!

Cheers.