8 days in China...with my parents + sister

hey guys, would like your advice...

the 4 of us (mum dad in their 60s adult sister) are going to China for 8 days 3-11 April, current plan is to fly into Shanghai and out of Beijing (altho tickets not booked yet so flights can be changed)

our background is that we're an Indian family, my parents are vegetarian (no meat, fish, or eggs), they can't walk too much (couple of miles per day is fine), none of us spk Mandarin or Cantonese, and budget-wise we're probably mid-way between shoestring and extravagant

i'd like to see at least some of the big tourist sights (Terracotta Warriors, Great Wall, etc) but also some countryside if possible...but 8 days isn't long for such a vast country

what's the best way to do it and where should we go? and should we book local flights/transport from abroad, and book hotels in advance etc?

thanks in advance! mj

With this amount of time, you really won't be able to see a great deal more than Shanghai, Beijing, Xian and even that will be rushed. Are you planning to fly from Shanghai to Xian to Beijing? That would probably make the most sense.

I would suggest looking at the world destinations guide here on the LP website and picking out 2-3 things in each of these three cities that you really want to do and then perhaps one or two others that you would like to do depending upon the endurance of the older folks in your group.

Regarding your vegetarian diet in China, check this thread: China and Vegetarian

Ruth

I think you can order a travel agency to do that ,or you book by elong .com ----one famous webiste
in shanghai maybe you see the bond,yu yuan garden ,and chenghuang temple , optional jinmao building the highest building inshanghai or orital TV tower ,stay there may be 2 days and then fly to xi'AN TO See Terracotta Warriors,and shaanxi provincal museum .and bell tower and drum tower ,and beijing forbidden city ,summer palace .teme of heaven and so on
from shanghai to xi an 500 yuan /person mu 2156
xi an to beijing 740 yuan /person ca 1206
hope it can help you !

Vegetarian food is quite easy to get your hands on once you get the knack, as per Ruth's suggestion check out the previous threads and my website Vegetarian China.

You're not so bad off - recently a Jain contacted me who was paranoid about not having anything to eat when he arrived on business!

In case you have trouble with the Chinese food, Indian and other international food is available in Shanghai and Beijing but in my experience is that Indian food in China is always really expensive: by which I mean the same rates you'd pay in Indian restaurants in the west, or even higher! Perhaps you'll get a discount if you're from the same part of India? Hehe...

Regarding hotels, it's worth pre-booking nicer hotels to get better rates, but if you are looking for lower-end stuff then you can get reasonable rates just walking in. If you want to pre-book some nicer hotels (mostly from 20USD-40USD per night) then send me a message and I'd love to help you out, as I'm actually in the middle of starting a hotel booking network for China.

Anyway and otherwise, enjoy your trip :) There's some great vegetarian food here, it just takes some searching!

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<hr>but in my experience is that Indian food in China is always really expensive:<hr></blockquote>

heh. I had indian for lunch today. a thali (they have both veg and non-veg options) from Punjabi in Shanghai cost me . . . 49 RMB! Dinner goes for 85RMB (buffet) - so not India prices, but not particularily expensive either.

Of course, i'm not sure you want to spend your entire time in China eating Indian food (after all, I didn't eat Chinese food in India) - but it's not difficult to find in Beijing/SHanghai if you really need to. (Not sure about Xi'an).

I'll offer to help you out with all the accommodation and ticket arrangements -- yes I do think it's very rushed to do all 3 cities in 8 days (although possible) and you'll need to plan well.
I have a jpg file that you could print out and show people what you can/cannot eat (vegetarian-wise) so email me at ellyse99@yahoo.com with "ThornTree" and your username in the subject line if you think that would be of use to you.
Cheers!

I suggest that you can come to Beijing first,and come back you home from Shanghai.

In Beijing,you can visit frobbiden city,Summer place,and Great Wall.You can stay in Beijing 3 days,then fly to Shanghai.Also,lot of places in Beijing need you to walk to visit.so I suggest your dad and mam take a wheelchair with them,or you can rent it in Beijing.

However,I can offer you a tour plan in detail about your days in China.All you need to do is book the air tikecks in your hometown.If you like I can help you arrange everything .

welcome you e-mail me anytime.suyue_liu@yahoo.com

China welcome you!Text

Your parents might want to do some walking or other exercise to prepare...my dad came here to visit me this past October and there was no end to the complaints about walking and stairs, between hotels, restaurants, pedestrian over/underpasses, etc. I was ready to clobber him by the end of it.

many thanks for the info so far...

does anyone have any info/experience of doing a (day) trip from Beijing to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors? which is better in terms of comfort, convenience and cost - flying or the overnight train?

it's not really a "day" trip. it's an overnight train both ways.

I think as a visitor - the train is superior in terms of comfort and cost . .. convenience, it depends on your time schedule and how in a rush you are. I really like travelling via trains in China, however, I haven't been able to because of limits of my schedule.

astroboy - do you know how long the overnight trains take? and do they leave at convenient times e.g. leave 8pm, arrive 10am?

I had friends that did it as a day trip. Flew down in the morning, got picked up at the airport, taken to the warriors, then to the muslim quarter, back to the airport and flew back to beijing. Far from ideal but they only had one day, wanted to see them and figured it was worth the money. They arranged it through a travel agent. If you are interested pm me and I can send you the email of my travel agent (who speaks english) and you can ask her if she can arrange something like that for you. No idea about the cost.

loungelizzard This is a much better site than anything I could explain

#10, the best would be the Z trains, those are only 11.5 hours overnight. Soft sleeper costs 400/417 RMB for upper/lower bunk.
Beijing West -- Xi'an: Z19 (2028--0758)
Xi'an -- Beijing West: Z20 (1923--0653)
Cheers!