Correction to Beijing 9 City Guide

It’s come to our attention that there’s an error in the Beijing city guide. (We printed the map from page 291 on page 293.)

We’ve fixed the ebook and the digital chapters, but if you’ve bought a copy of the book already you can get a corrected copy of pages 292 and 293 here.

Inner Mongolia Nadaam festival 2013

Hi!

My boyfriend and I would really like to see the Nadaam festival in Inner Mongolia this summer but there seems to be a lot of conflicting dates on the internet. Does anyone know the actual dates for this summer's celebrations in Inner Mongolia (China not Mongolia!) Also we wouldn't mind joining anyone else who fancies it and wants to cut costs by getting a group together :) thanks!!!

Anyone planning to drive through China around May-Jun 2014?

We are going to do this journey around May-Jun 2014. We plan to enter China from Kazakhstan, then through XInjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, northwestern Sichuan, Chengdu, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong and exit into Hong Kong.

You may already know, as this issue has been discussing here over and over, driving through China is not an easy task.
And the cost is in the order of thousands US$ just to get all the permit and licences.

Therefore, we'd like to ask if anyone is also interested in doing a similar journey, so we could share the cost together. The cost of most permits is for the whole team, so they are nearly the same, no matter the team just has one car or ten cars. So you are more than welcome to bring your own car as well.

Thx!

xinjiang: itinerary advice?

hi forum,

i'm travelling to xinjiang for three weeks this summer. i've been to china before (studied in beijing for three months, and travelled for two other months through eastern and sw china), and so i'm planning on spending a couple days in beijing meeting up with some friends and then heading west from there. i really like the idea of travelling overland from beijing to the west, to see the country's transitions.

i have done a decent bit of research and have landed on the plan below. xinjiang is so expansive and diverse, so i decided to focus on southern xinjiang and the silk road.

here's my outlined schedule -- i'd really appreciate any advice you guys have!

7/3 - 7/6 BEIJING
7/6 (evening) - 7/8 (morning) train to liyuan, bus to dunhuang
7/8 - 7/11 DUNHUANG (mogao caves, overnight trek in mingshashan desert)
7/12 in transit from dunhuang to turpan (vi... more »

third stop in China?

My wife and five year old son will be travelling with me to China for 17 days this coming July. We plan on visiting Beijing and Yangshuo. Any thoughts on a third place? We aren't keen necessarily on Xian or Shanghai. Would need a location that is between Beijing and Yangshuo, or at least reasonably easy to get to. We are thinking 5 days or thereabouts in each spot, allowing for travel between.

All suggestions are welcome!

Studying Mandarin in Beijing??

I did a search on this topic but nothing specific came up so here goes:

Everybody seems to agree BCLU is the best uni to learn Mandarin in Beijing.Any other recommendation?
Are there courses for intermediate level learners?I am looking for short term courses,a maximum of six months.
I emailed BCLU and I am yet to receive their reply.
Would another university in Beijing cost less than BCLU but still be as good teaching wise?
Thanks a lot!
p.s I intend to go next year.

Huangshan -yellow mountain

Hello!

Im Heading to hangzhou tonight and I would like to do some trekking on the yellow mountain. Has anyone done it recently? If yes, did you sleep up there? And which way did you do?
The LP suggests to do the western steps on the way down but I'd like to see your opinion!!

Thanks a lot !

'only in china' memorable experiences : any recommandations?

Hello,
I'm planning to travel this summer through China. I don't travel with a settled plan and do not feel compelled either to visit the main touristic sights but look for an interesting experience. So far, I've planned to have a camel riding trek in the taklimakan desert and a horse trek (maybe in Sichuan).
I'm also looking for: a place where I could possibly share the lives of the locals, a monastery where I could stay overnight or have a retreat for a couple of days, places which are stuck in time (either with colonial or traditional chinese atmosphere/architecture) and any other great experience I could have in china that I may have not even heard about.

I may have to add that I will enter china by bus from Kazakhstan so I will start with the Western part of china and then follow my whims. All kind of recommendations on these would be much appreciated, thanks. more »

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.