Thorn Tree travel forum

1

Just curious, why is Nanjing your last stop? Since it's geographically in between Beijing and Shanghai, it would make sense to do Beijing -- Nanjing -- Shanghai instead.
I would say 16 days in total for this itinerary if going by your number of days in each destination, but personally I would spend more time in some places eg Beijing.
Cheers!

2

Oh oops, I meant Beijing-Shanghai-Nanjing-Beijing. I know it would be simpler, but I'm taking the train to Hanoi from Beijing so I don't have much choice but the backtrack.

16 days sounds good, thank you!

3

shortly ,for kashgar dont miss the karakul lake(about 200km ,needs one day) and sunday bazaar ,for Urumqi dont miss the Grand bazzar and Xinjiang museum ,if you like to scenery spots dont forget to visit the Heavenly lake , for Turpan Tuyuk valley , ancient city Jiaohe and Gaochang , Imin minaret , one of three ancient grand projects in China the underground irrigation system -Karez. .....
if I am lucky enough we might meet at Urumqi (I am living in Urumqi city)

4

Actually, do you absolutely have to take the international train from Beijing to Hanoi? For more flexibility, I would instead suggest that you go on a Shanghai -- Nanning train and then another train Nanning -- Pingxiang and then cross to Vietnam at the Friendship Pass near Pingxiang.
Beijing -- Hanoi trains run twice weekly whereas the Shanghai -- Nanning trains (2 of them) run daily.
Cheers!