Hi,
We are starting in Beijing then going to climb Tai shan, visiting the Shaolin temple, heading to Xian, also onto Xiahe, Songpan (horse trek), Lanzhou and Dunhuang (how cold is the desert at night?). The rest of the trip will be heading south to leave from Hong Kong and I know that part will be warm/hot.
The guidebook says that Tai shan can be pleasant at the bottom and miserably cold and damp at the top. Also, what about the elevations of the Shaolin temple and the other locations?
With these considerations what kind of jacket should we take? How warm? How cold might it get in these places even though it is early summer? Obviously we don't want to carry more bulk than necessary as the last half of the trip it shouldn't be needed.
By the way, we're not total wimps but we're not accustomed to very cold weather either.
Thank you for any input. We really appreciate your help.
We did a horse trek at Songpan late May. early June and I can tell you it was really cold at night into the latter part of the mornings. Our guides gave us Tibetan coats for our beds and my husband wore his during the day as well as we had no jackets, only some sort of Chinese "thermals". You'll also need gloves and a hat. We had rain and were given rain jackets. We took changes of clothes but found it too cold to get undressed so stayed dirty till the trek finished then went and had a hot shower at the public wash house.
this winter has been abnormally warm. i was in the xiahe/qinghai/gansu area about a month back;
xiahe was freezing at night (down jacket + windstopper), but only cool in the day. lanzhou was warm enough for just a windstopper, as was dunhuang and beijing. xian will probably be warmer.
id suggest taking a windstopper (forget fleeces, too bulky and obviously wont stop the wind) and a good set of thermals. you can chuck a rain jacket over it if youre already carrying one, or just buy one enroute that you can leave behind. clothes are so cheap in china its only quality you need to worry about. a good fake north face will do for most conditions and are everywhere.
Thanks for the update on current conditions stoognik. I managed to find a jacket with a nylon shell and removable fleece liner that can each be worn separately or together which I think will be great. It was at a discount store (for $50usd) but my friend has not had quite the luck.
My concern about buying clothes in China is the sizing. My friend is six feet tall and a bit thick around the middle. We are going to check a few more discount stores but if you think we'll be able to accommodate his size there we will definitely keep that as an option.
Thank you everyone for all of the input.
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