China Travel

[kkeenan 13]

I will be traveling to China in September for an international airshow. Since my fellow jumpers on DZ.com seem to be an endless source of knowledge and experience in world affairs, I'm looking for some general travel advice, as well as sights / activities in the Bejing and Laiwu City (Shandong Prov.) areas.

Cheers,

Kevin K.

[guppie01 0]

Hopefully the bathrooms have improved within the last 4 years, if not be forewarned - TOILETS ARE FOR TARGET PRACTICE! ETA: Carry your own TP, some places do not carry it, and you must buy it $$$

Great Wall was cool
Forbidden City was cool
Chairman Mao - he looked like a wax figure
Peking Opera was cool
Ming Tombs were cool

Avoid tours (they willl take you to high priced jade factories and places you don't really need to see) , you can hire a private driver for the day for $80.00

Get out of the city, and enjoy the country!

g

"Let's do something romantic this Saturday... how bout we bust out the restraints?"
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[Squeak 17]

Quote

Hopefully the bathrooms have improved within the last 4 years, if not be forewarned - TOILETS ARE FOR TARGET PRACTICE! ETA: Carry your own TP, some places do not carry it, and you must buy it $$$

Great Wall was cool
Forbidden City was cool
Chairman Mao - he looked like a wax figure
Peking Opera was cool
Ming Tombs were cool

Avoid tours (they willl take you to high priced jade factories and places you don't really need to see) , you can hire a private driver for the day for $80.00

Get out of the city, and enjoy the country!

g

Everything Gia said but we also visited a few other provinces, Xi-An is great, and visit Frenchy in Shanghai

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[dirtbox 0]

Ditto on the toilets - when I was there in 09 it was still squatters and yeh get out of Beijing.

Have your shit sorted for the airports - I was arrested comming back through from Hong Kong (I have a receipt in my draw for a duel entry visa but the travel aganecy only sent it away for a single - I checked the visa was in my passport but didn't check how many entries [I'll accept responsibility for this one though - I should have checked]... I found out in HK and they bled me dry of cash with 'fees'. Another time I was returning through Shanghai from Thailand and my flight has been delayed to weather and, because of how Shanghai airport is set up, I had to enter China to cross to terminal two to catch my new flight ... I now have a funky red stamp in my passport (through no fault of my own) which causes me issues at other airports.

Also a heads up for scammers at the tourist points - if they speak to you in English they are most likely scammers.

The summer palace was a little gem and the great wall hike (Jinsangli to Simitai [sp?) were cool. I found the rest over rated tbh. Some of the bars in the Hutong area were funky as was the Olympic park though they aren't (or weren't) doing a great job of maintaining it when I was there.

Xian isn't worth it if you go just for the teracotta warriors - they are mostly broken. Though there is some other cool stuff there if you have a few days. HK is a cool city was well if you can make it down there.

Dave - about to leave Asia after two years

[BrokenR1 0]

For someone planning a trip with no idea of where to go and what to see what city or cities would be a good stop? Any package type tours worth it or just buy the plane tickets and piece it together on your own? I think I'd like a trip mid next year and am trying to piece together how long I'd want and how much I would need to budget.

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Rap is to music what etch-a-sketch is to art.

[dirtbox 0]

depends what you're into but after two years in Asia my top picks are the Philippines and Malyasia/Borneo. Kuala Lumpar for the best city, hands down!