Thorn Tree travel forum

1

1) Where are you exiting China from???
2) What's your budget like?
3) How much Chinese do you know?
4) Is this your 1st trip to China?
5) Do your 4 weeks have to include the 2 weeks in Tibet? Or is it 4 weeks for the rest of China and a separate 2 weeks for Tibet Autonomous Region?
Nanning -- bus -- Yangshuo (3.5 days) -- bus -- Guangzhou (0.5 day) -- bus -- Yongding Hakka roundhouses (1.5 days) -- bus -- Xiamen (1.5 days) -- flight/overnight train -- Hangzhou (2 days) -- bus (via Jiashan) -- Xitang (1 day) -- bus (via Jiashan) -- Suzhou (1 day) -- bus -- Tongli (1 day) -- bus -- Shanghai (2 days) -- bus/overnight train -- Huangshan & Hui-style villages of Hongcun/Xidi/Nanping (3 days) -- flight/train -- Beijing (4 days) -- overnight train -- Datong (1 day) -- overnight train -- Pingyao (1 day) -- overnight train -- Xi'an (1.5 days) -- flight/train -- Chengdu (1.5 days) -- train (2 days) -- Lhasa (5 days)
Cheers!

2

I really like Zhouzhuang, which is another little town like Suzhou and Hangzhou that's near Shanghai. There are tour companies that offer great deals to take you to any of the three aforementioned places that will drop you off and pick you up - you don't need to follow some guy around.

3

Yuck, Zhouzhuang has to be THE most tourist-circusy of all the water villages around Shanghai. Do NOT go! The options of Tongli and Xitang I suggested in #1 would be much better. #3, Suzhou and Hangzhou are hardly anything like Zhouzhuang.
Cheers!

4

Thanks for the advice!! To answer some of your questions..We are entering China from Vietnam. So we take the bus from Hanoi to Nanning. We don't speak a word Chinese, but during the long trainrides we will start practising...Of course at the end of our trip we speak Chinese fluently;) It is our first trip to China and we are trying to travel low budget. We want to spent 4 weeks in China and maybe 2 weeks in Tibet.

Carpe Diem

5

#4, what do you think of the itinerary I offered in #1 up till Lhasa? It should be around 28 days (give or take some) excluding Lhasa.
Cheers!

6

Ellyse, why are you always asking people how much Chinese they know? It seems insulting to me. Very few travelers to China know Chinese. Don't make them feel bad if they don't know it.

!! Be warned that "students" who want to practice English with you may actually be scammers. In Shanghai they try the Tea Ceremony Scam. In Beijing it's the Art Student Scam. Be very wary if a stranger wants to speak English with you, especially if you are in a tourist area. !!

7

Oh no ZHET, I'm not trying to make them feel bad at all! It's just that some of the places that I've been eg Wuyuan are wonderful to visit but probably not suitable if travellers speak no Chinese at all.
Cheers!