First China Holiday

light487
 October 06, 2008, 02:34 AM posted in General Discussion

Hey all.. good idea this group.. Should have thought of it when I had my questions the other day.

Anyway.. In my other conversation I ended up with a preliminary route to go around China. Here's what I came up with:

Shanghai -> Wuhan -> Chengdu -> Xi'an -> Beijing -> Jinan -> (some place just southwest of Shanghai, Zhanghou may be?) -> Shanghai.

The point of this post is to find out what others think would be a good first trip to China. What destinations would you suggest, without going into massive amount of detail on each location?

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MuampHeadphones
 October 06, 2008, 09:58 AM

Hi Light,

 

I think the name of the place SW of Shanghai that you refer to is Hangzhou, a very beautiful city!

Zhangzhou is a city in Fujian province, a place that I personally love, BUT Zhangzhou is not going to be everyones 'cup of tea'.

Have a good trip.

 

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light487
 October 06, 2008, 12:31 PM

Yes.. Hangzhou is the one :) hehe.. I might end up going to Nanjing.. who knows..? :)

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chanelle77
 October 06, 2008, 01:37 PM

Hi light: I live in Nanjing welcome at my place for a drink if you like :-)

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qingdaossadventuresdotcom
 October 08, 2008, 01:03 AM

Not to be totally biased but I would reccomend skipping Jinan, unless you are really enthused about tourist traps based around small water springs.  Instead within Shandong, definitely think about checking out Qingdao which has many great outdoor adventures, German colonial history and prime examples of the explosive economy (three of the largest name brands in China are from here; Hisense, Haier and Tsingtao beer).  If you do go to Jinan, I would reccomend using it as a base for checking out  Taishan or Qufu (home of Confucius) nearby. 

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sushan
 October 10, 2008, 02:45 AM

The route looks fine except for the time and expense of doubling back to Shanghai...consider an 'open jaw' flight that lands in Beijing and leaves from Shanghai or vice versa. Beijing-Xian-Chengdu (or reverse) definitely makes sense, it costs the same to fly between Beijing and Chengdu as it does to stop in Xian.

I don't find flights to be that much more expensive than soft bed train tickets and you save a lot of time, but train travel appeals to some for its own sake.

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light487
 October 10, 2008, 04:12 AM

Yeh.. I kind of wanted to experience the whole train thing.. more as a novelty/curiousity.. part of the experience... :) I'm sure the novelty will wear off after the first few hours.. haha.. but still need to do it for the sake of it.. :)

Also.. is there a boat/ferry that goes from Dalian to Yantai? There's someone I could meet up with in Dalian and then go, by boat, to Yantai and then on to Qingdao as suggested above.