Travel to China for 10 days

I am visiting China for 10 days and would like to cover most of it.
Please let me know if the below is a realistic plan. Planning to
travel by the train in the night.

China Travel Plan
*
12 Thursday – Reach Shanghai
13 Friday – Shanghai Tour
14 Saturday – Shanghai Tour & Leave to Beijing (Train #T104 Shanghai
20:36 Beijing 09:36 )
15 Sunday - Beijing Tour
16 Monday – Beijing & Leave to Xian (Train #Z19 Beijing West 21:24
Xian 08:25 )
17 Tuesday – Xian Tour
18 Wednesday – Xian & Leave to Guilin (Train #K315/K318 Xian 19:38
Guilin 22:07 )
19 Thursday – Guilin Tour
20 Friday – Guilin & Leave to Shanghia (Train #K538 Guilin 17:33
Shanghai 14:55 )
21 Saturday – Shanghai Tour
22 Sunday – Suzhou Tour
23 Monday - Leave to US

Planning to travel by train in the night, *
http://www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains

At each stop, I am planning on taking a day trip. The trips are the
following,

http://chinatour.net/Great-Wall-Tour.html
1 Day Tour : Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City

http://chinatour.net/Xian-Tours.html
1 Day Tour : Terra-cotta Warriors, Wild Goose Pagoda, City Wall

http://chinatour.net/Guilin-Tours.html
1 Day Yangshuo Characteristic & Li River Cruise Tour
*
I have following questions,
1. Is above a realistic plan? My wife and 2 kids will be traveling
with me. They all are healthy and athletic.
2. Would you recommend staying an extra day in any specific location?
3. I have some distant friends in Shanghai, I am hoping they will be
give some sound suggestions on local travel in Shanghai.
4. Do railway stations have good showers? Any suggestions on where I
can find good showers?
5. Things to carry?

Thanks,
Raj

If this is a trip organised by a Chinese tour agency, then fine.

If this is an independent tour, put together by yourself, then I would be
extremely concerned about getting hold of train tickets at such short
notice.
For example, last year I met a couple of independent travellers in Xian who
had to spend (an extra) 3 days there because all trains to Beijing were
fully booked.

AFAIK, showers in Chinese railway stations do not exist, and washing
facilities on trains are a mess.

Gerry





wrote in message
...
I am visiting China for 10 days and would like to cover most of it.
Please let me know if the below is a realistic plan. Planning to
travel by the train in the night.

China Travel Plan

12 Thursday – Reach Shanghai
13 Friday – Shanghai Tour
14 Saturday – Shanghai Tour & Leave to Beijing (Train #T104 Shanghai
20:36 Beijing 09:36 )
15 Sunday - Beijing Tour
16 Monday – Beijing & Leave to Xian (Train #Z19 Beijing West 21:24
Xian 08:25 )
17 Tuesday – Xian Tour
18 Wednesday – Xian & Leave to Guilin (Train #K315/K318 Xian 19:38
Guilin 22:07 )
19 Thursday – Guilin Tour
20 Friday – Guilin & Leave to Shanghia (Train #K538 Guilin 17:33
Shanghai 14:55 )
21 Saturday – Shanghai Tour
22 Sunday – Suzhou Tour
23 Monday - Leave to US

Planning to travel by train in the night,
http://www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains

At each stop, I am planning on taking a day trip. The trips are the
following,

http://chinatour.net/Great-Wall-Tour.html
1 Day Tour : Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City

http://chinatour.net/Xian-Tours.html
1 Day Tour : Terra-cotta Warriors, Wild Goose Pagoda, City Wall

http://chinatour.net/Guilin-Tours.html
1 Day Yangshuo Characteristic & Li River Cruise Tour

I have following questions,
1. Is above a realistic plan? My wife and 2 kids will be traveling
with me. They all are healthy and athletic.
2. Would you recommend staying an extra day in any specific location?
3. I have some distant friends in Shanghai, I am hoping they will be
give some sound suggestions on local travel in Shanghai.
4. Do railway stations have good showers? Any suggestions on where I
can find good showers?
5. Things to carry?

Thanks,
Raj

To me, it sounds like you will have a hard time doing all that,
especially if you are doing it on your own, and without carefully and
completely having all your local arrangements in place ahead of time.

I took this tour in October 2007
http://www.china-vacation.com/2008/L.../2008_G12E.pdf
which coeers much of the same terrirtory in 12 days. The travel was
very efficiient, with almost no "down time". We flew between all the
major cities, with tight connections and no time wasted on getting
tickets or arranging ground transportation, finding hotels, figuring
out menus, etc. Meals were served to us immediately when we arrived
at the restaurants. When we took the Li River boat tour, there were
almost 100 boats waiting for passengers, and our local tour guide took
us directly to the correct one. There were a couple late night
arrivals at the hotels, and also a couple early morning departures.
My feeling is that, even if you are fluent in Mandarin, you would have
a hard time being efficient enough at making your local arrangements
(hotels, tours, etrc) without having the intimate knowledge of a local
resident. Little problems inevitably occur, and it was really helpful
when the tour company could bring all of its resources (local and
national offices) to fix them.

Even if you could check into your hotels in the mornings after the
train travel (don't coudnt on it; many hotels enforce their afternoon
check in times), you will probably want to wash up after an overnight
train ride. Realistically, you should not be able to start your
tourist activities until about lunch time.

On Jun 8, 8:28*pm, wrote:
I am visiting China for 10 days and would like to cover most of it.
Please let me know if the below is a realistic plan. Planning to
travel by the train in the night.

China Travel Plan
*
12 Thursday – Reach Shanghai
13 Friday – Shanghai Tour
14 Saturday – Shanghai Tour & Leave to Beijing (Train #T104 Shanghai
20:36 Beijing 09:36 )
15 Sunday - Beijing Tour
16 Monday – Beijing & Leave to Xian (Train #Z19 Beijing West 21:24
Xian 08:25 )
17 Tuesday – Xian Tour
18 Wednesday – Xian & Leave to Guilin (Train #K315/K318 Xian 19:38
Guilin 22:07 )
19 Thursday – Guilin Tour
20 Friday – Guilin & Leave to Shanghia (Train #K538 Guilin 17:33
Shanghai 14:55 )
21 Saturday – Shanghai Tour
22 Sunday – Suzhou Tour
23 Monday - Leave to US

Planning to travel by train in the night, *http://www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains

At each stop, I am planning on taking a day trip. The trips are the
following,

http://chinatour.net/Great-Wall-Tour.html
1 Day Tour : Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City

http://chinatour.net/Xian-Tours.html
1 Day Tour : Terra-cotta Warriors, Wild Goose Pagoda, City Wall

http://chinatour.net/Guilin-Tours.html
1 Day Yangshuo Characteristic & Li River Cruise Tour
*
I have following questions,
1. Is above a realistic plan? My wife and 2 kids will be traveling
with me. They all are healthy and athletic.
2. Would you recommend staying an extra day in any specific location?
3. I have some distant friends in Shanghai, I am hoping they will be
give some sound suggestions on local travel in Shanghai.
4. Do railway stations have good showers? Any suggestions on where I
can find good showers?
5. Things to carry?

Thanks,
Raj


After this trip, or even sometimes during this trip, your wife will
want to divorce you and your kid will hate your gut. All of you will
be so tired you won't even have the energy to argue. And your
distance friends in Shanghai will be mysteriously out of town the day
you visit.

When do you plan to take a shower during this trip? No there isn't
any at railway stations.

But since you are leaving this thursday, there isn't a whole lot of
time to make any plans is there?

Thanks Gerald, Feng and Peter for your opinion.

My wife is from Shanghai and hoping the language would not be an
issue. I have changed the itnernary to take flights on the last two
segments.

Shanghai - Beijing - Red eye train journey (kids love them)
Beijing - Xian - Red eye train journey (kids love them again)
Xian - Guilin - Flight ( too long for train journey)
Guilin - Shanghai - Flight ( too long for train journey)

Here is our plan,

12 Thursday
- Shanghai
- Hotel Stay/In-laws

13 Friday
- Hotel Breakfast
– Shanghai Tour
- Hotel Stay/In-laws

14 Saturday
- Hotel Breakfast
– Shanghai Tour
- 8:36pm Leave to Beijing #T104
- Train Red-eye

15 Sunday
- Train Red-eye
- 09:36am reach Beijing
- Beijing Tour
- Hotel Stay

16 Monday
- Hotel Breakfast
– Beijing
- Hotel Stay

17 Tuesday
- Hotel Breakfast
- Beijing
- 9:24pm Leave to Xian #Z19
- Train Red-eye

18 Wednesday
- Train Red-eye
- 09:36am reach Xian
– Xian Tour
- Hotel Stay

19 Thursday
- Hotel Breakfast
– Xian
- 1:40pm China Eastern Air #MU2307
- 3:25pm #MU2307 reaches Guilin
- Guilin
- Hotel Stay

20 Friday
- Hotel Breakfast
- Guilin
- Hotel Stay

21 Saturday
- Hotel Breakfast
- Guilin
- 10:15pm China Eastern Air #MU5382

22 Sunday
- 12:25 am #MU5382 reaches Shanghai
- Shanghai
- Hotel Stay/In-laws

23 Monday
- Leave to US

Thanks!

On Jun 9, 1:39*pm, Tiiger wrote:
Thanks Gerald, Feng and Peter for your opinion.

My wife is from Shanghai and hoping the language would not be an
issue. I have changed the itnernary to take flights on the last two
segments.

Shanghai - Beijing - Red eye train journey (kids love them)
Beijing - Xian - Red eye train journey (kids love them again)


Have your kids taken overnight trains in China? If so fine. If not
maybe they won't love them so much. And allow alternative options in
case you can't get train tickets.



Xian - Guilin - Flight ( too long for train journey)
Guilin - Shanghai - Flight ( too long for *train journey)

Here is our plan,

12 Thursday
- Shanghai
- Hotel Stay/In-laws

13 Friday
- Hotel Breakfast
– Shanghai Tour
- Hotel Stay/In-laws

14 Saturday
- Hotel Breakfast
– Shanghai Tour
- 8:36pm Leave to Beijing #T104
- Train Red-eye

15 Sunday
- Train Red-eye
- 09:36am reach Beijing
- Beijing Tour
- Hotel Stay

16 Monday
- Hotel Breakfast
– Beijing
- Hotel Stay

17 Tuesday
- Hotel Breakfast
- Beijing
- 9:24pm Leave to Xian #Z19
- Train Red-eye

18 Wednesday
- Train Red-eye
- 09:36am reach Xian
– Xian Tour
- Hotel Stay

19 Thursday
- Hotel Breakfast
– Xian
- 1:40pm China Eastern Air #MU2307
- 3:25pm #MU2307 * reaches Guilin
- Guilin
- Hotel Stay

20 Friday
- Hotel Breakfast
- Guilin
- Hotel Stay

21 Saturday
- Hotel Breakfast
- Guilin
- 10:15pm China Eastern Air #MU5382

22 Sunday
- 12:25 am #MU5382 reaches Shanghai
- Shanghai
- Hotel Stay/In-laws

23 Monday
- Leave to US

Thanks!

Thanks Peter. They have taken small trips on Train in China. They love
them. This should be fine. I can always get a flight ticket more
easily then train tickets, if I have to change it (if the kids are
tired).

wrote in message
...

5. Things to carry?

When travelling in China there are two rules that you will very much regret
breaking:

1) never, ever, ever, drink the tap water (don't even use it for cleaning
your teeth),
2) don't forget to take toilet paper with you everywhere.

So the answer to this question is: branded bottled water (check the seals
before you buy) and toilet paper.

Oh, and I think your tour is ridiculously optimistic!

tim

In article , tims next home says...

When travelling in China there are two rules that you will very much regret
breaking:

1) never, ever, ever, drink the tap water (don't even use it for cleaning
your teeth),
2) don't forget to take toilet paper with you everywhere.

So the answer to this question is: branded bottled water (check the seals
before you buy) and toilet paper.

What a nonsense. In all places where I stayed they had clean western
style toilets with toilet papers and brushing the teeth with tap water
caused no problems.
It sounds you have been staying in extremely cheap low-end places with
shared toilets.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

"Alfred Molon" wrote in message
...
In article , tims next home says...

When travelling in China there are two rules that you will very much
regret
breaking:

1) never, ever, ever, drink the tap water (don't even use it for cleaning
your teeth),
2) don't forget to take toilet paper with you everywhere.

So the answer to this question is: branded bottled water (check the seals
before you buy) and toilet paper.

What a nonsense. In all places where I stayed they had clean western
style toilets with toilet papers

I wasn't referring to "places where one stays", I was referring to "whilst
one is out and about". This is what the question was about.

and brushing the teeth with tap water
caused no problems.

Until you get unlucky. You are probably right that this might be
unnecessary, but who's to know

It sounds you have been staying in extremely cheap low-end places with
shared toilets.

The water in the most expensive hotel comes from the same place as the
grottiest flee-pit. If a town's water isn't treated by the municipality,
then it isn't treated by the hotel. I was only following advice give to me
by colleagues, all of whom, without exception, had been ill whilst there.

tim