North-East Asia branch Frequently Asked Questions thread

This branch covers China (inc. Hong Kong and *Macau*), Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan and Tibet. Other information about the region can be found under Lonely Planet Destinations.
Inside this thread we hope you'll find the answers to all your questions, if not, feel free to share anything you feel is missing!

SEEKING TRAVEL COMPANIONS OR TREK PARTNERS? Please post only on our Travel Companions branch, not here on the destination branches. Any such topics posted on this branch will normally be moved by the moderators to the Travel Companions branch without notice. If you also have a travel question then please post it as a separate topic on the appropriate travel branch.

*Choosing a... more »

Migrating to a new server

Hi all,

The whole of lonelyplanet.com, including Thorn Tree, is changing hosting providers in the following days. While this change takes place, Thorn Tree and the Lonely Planet website will be unavailable for a short period of time. We will communicate the exact time nearer the date. This migration will hopefully be a matter of hours but we have a lot of Thorntree content to move! We will do everything we can to cause minimal disruption to users. You will be able to chart the progress of the work while the site is down through our Twitter account.

Thanks,

Zabba

Chinese Visa Sticky

Until recently, it was relatively easy to get a Chinese visa. The situation has changed beginning about mid March and it is expected to remain unstable until well after the Olympics.
It is now impossible to get a 6 or 12 month multiple entry business visa.
It is now impossible to get entries longer than 30 days.
In many embassies and consulates it would appear impossible to get a double entry tourist visa.
It has been reported that beginning July, it may be difficult to impossible to get extensions.

From Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, April 6:
"Beijing has stopped issuing multiple-entry visas, risking major inconvenience to foreigners who travel to the mainland regularly, especially on business. Hong Kong travel agents say the ban will stay in place until after the Olympic Games.
+Travellers are now restricted to single- or double-entry visas valid for 30 days. ... more »

Fellow traveler(s) wanted for 8 day trip to Lake Khövsgöl

Fellow traveler(s) wanted for 8 day trip to Lake Khövsgöl

Between Monday 27 May and Monday 3 June we would visit
UB - Kharkhorin – Lake Khövsgöl - Amarbaasgalant Khiid – UB

6 weeks in japan at xmas

First time to japan with my husband and 2 kids 13 & 11 , want to spend about 3 weeks ckecking out lower part of japan, kyoto , hiroshima , miyajima other spots along the way if someone could recommend . then spend about 3 weeks in japan alps snowboarding in the later part of jan also tips if anyone has info . its our first time backpacking with 2 kids my husband and i backpacked the world for 3 years in the late 90's but with kids it needs lots of planning. first dilemma is getting from narita to somewhere and we land at 8pm at night, do we stay in narita and head south next day and to where first or go into tokyo for a couple of days and then move south. my husband wants to do 5-6 days in tokyo before we leave and then we can buy things without carrying around whole japan.
can we send my husbands snowboard to somewhere in snowfields and how
we don't want to do all tourist areas we... more »

Route around china

So i land in Beijing on Sunday 7th July and Exit Hong Kong Saturday 27th July.
I understand this is a short trip in terms of a country the size of China but its as much time as I can get off work.
I plan on spending at least 4 days in Beijing to take in the Wall, Forbidden city and to get lost in the city. After this I plan to get the over night train to Xien to see the Terracotta warriors. After this im not that sure which way to take my trip I would like to go to YuanYang and see the rice terraces. would this be possible and where would you stop along the way from Xien. Or would it involve to much traveling, for the time I have?
At the end of the trip I want 3 preferably 4 days to split between Hong Kong and Macau.

Jiankou Section of Great Wall Hike

Hi,

I am looking at doing a day hike along the Jiankou section of the Great Wall. I am wondering if there is a way to access this area from Beijing via public bus/transport and enter without a tour group? Has anyone ever done this section without a guide?

If not, does anyone know an affordable tour group that does this trip? I have seen many options online but would like to get something cheap (or less touristy)

Thanks

Sarah

Hokkaido onsen - Tokachidake or Shirogane?

Hi Japan road warriors,

I'm blowing through Hokkaido in an 8-day trip and staying for 2 days in Furano area.
If I only have time for one onsen day trip from there, should I make it Tokachidake or Shirogane?
I'm also going to Asahidake onsen for two days after that, for soaking and trekking.
Is it worth the extra slog to Tennikyo or Sounkyo onsen from there?

There are four of us and we'll have a rental car.
I'm going in early June.

Your advice is much appreciated. Cheers

Few days in Hohhot - what to do?

Hey, I have a day or two to kill in Hohhot.

Was wondering what was worth doing, seeing, and eating while there..

merci beaucoup

Nepal to Tibet on onwards?

I see that the regulation of five people from the same country to enter Tibet has been dropped which has ever so slightly fanned the flames of my idea to cross Eurasia from coast to coast entirely by land. I'm Irish.
I'm currently in India. So if I am either prepared to pay solo or find others is it possible to take a trip from Kathmandu into Tibet and crucially onwards out of Tibet to continue independently in China?
I see from a thread here that you can't go east towards Sichuan or Yunnan. What about heading north towards Urumqi and heading East from there or before there?
If such a trip was possible what's the minimum amount of days I could spend in Tibet? Thanks for any help.