Well, we just got back from our 3 week trip through China and I wanted to thank all of you who gave me advice. It was spot on and helped make it a great trip with no issues that we had any control over.
Our final itinerary was:
Beijing for 6 nights
Hangzhou for 2 nights
Shanghai for 3 nights
Xi'an for 2 nights
Yangshuo for 3 nights
Hong Kong for 4 nights
Beijing - our stay here for 6 nights was pretty well a perfect length of stay. We saw everything we wanted to see without feeling rushed or getting ourselves exhausted. The first day was pretty well just recovering from the flight and going for Peking Duck at Made in China, which was outstanding. After that, we spent the next 5 days visiting hutongs, Lama Temple, Ancient Observatory, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, the Panjiayuan Market and the Great Wall, Mutianyu. We enjoyed each site and didn't regret visiting them. We also spent a couple of hours on several days just wandering around, taking pictures and shopping - ie. we walked back from the Lama Temple to our hotel, the Hilton Wangfujing.
I must admit that walking, or make that climbing, the wall at Mutianyu was quite strenuous, especially the km or so to the right when you get off the chairlift. The views were definitely worth it, once we caught our breath.
For our trip to the Wall, I asked the concierge but the hotel was charging ¥1200, which was way too much. So, on the way back from the Forbidden City, a random man came up and asked if we wanted a tour to the Wall for ¥350. From reading FT, I knew what was coming but we huddled and decided to see what his offer was. ¥350 for the trip to the Wall and to the Summer Palace, with 30 min. stops at the "silk factory" and a "tea ceremony" or ¥850 for the trip without any side stops. We decided to go for the one with the side stops but before we got in the van the next morning, I discussed the itinerary with our "guide". She seemed honest and said no more than 30 mins at each with at least 2 hrs each at the Wall and at the Summer Palace. So, we went with it. Our guide, Miumyu, turned out to be very personable with good English and kept to her schedule. And, the tour of the silk factory and the tea ceremony were interesting with no pressure at all to buy, which we didn't (although our friends bought a silk blanket that makes into a pillow for ¥250). The ride down from the Wall in the sleds was fun too and totally seemed safer to me than the old ski-lift they were using - at least you're on the ground so you can't fall.
Other than all the amazing sites, the things that stood out the most for me were:
- how there are not thousands of accidents a day on their road system - we saw only 2 but I was sure our taxi was going to hit another car at least 5 times on each ride. We were all amazed at the avoidance skill of the drivers;
- the amount of air pollution - some days you could see the mountains around Beijing, but most days you couldn't see the building next to us. I don't understand how the government doesn't understand that unless this is brought under control, the people of China will start dropping like flies from cancer, emphysema, etc. And the worst pollution wasn't in Beijing but in Xi'an where we all got sore throats and headaches for the unbelievable air pollution levels. The more frightening thing is that supposedly the month of October is the month with the best air quality. Anyone with an existing respiratory condition should think twice about visiting China;
- the neglect of the treasures of China. Wherever we went, whether to monuments or gardens, there were weeds throughout the gardens and damage to the structures. One would think that the government would care more about the historical foundations of China. Mind you, the new China is much worse off. The level of quality of buildings seems to be way below North American/European standards and reminded all of us more of Mexico than Canada. I can't imagine any of the new buildings being around more than 50 years, never mind 500 years;
- what's with the price of tea in restaurants? For example, the first meal we had was Peking Duck at Made in China and tea for the four of us. The duck was ¥285 and the tea was ¥240! And this was repeated at pretty well any restaurant we ate at, whether in a hotel or a stand alone restaurant. Any time I've had dim sum or other chinese meals here in Canada, tea is usually either part of the meal or a couple of bucks a person. Is tea in China like popcorn here at the movies - where the theatre makes all of its profits from the popcorn/drinks;
- we only got ripped off by taxis twice, once on the way from the Ancient Observatory to the Lama Temple which should have only cost around ¥15 but near our destination, the driver blocked the view of the person in the front seat and when he looked again, the price had jumped from ¥16 to ¥28 in 2 blocks and the second time was to the train station for the hs rail to Hangzhou, where one taxi was ¥30 and the other was ¥60. What are you going to do, so we chilled and used it as something to talk about. Good entertainment for a couple of dollars.
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- the Hilton Wangfujing was amazing. Although only a gold member, they upgraded me and our traveling companions, who have no status with Hilton. The rooms were outstanding, with views of the Forbidden City, huge bathrooms, very comfortable king beds and not a wiff of cigarette smoke in the entire hotel. They also gave me lounge access and allowed our friends to join us for breakfast in the lounge for free - they asked and access per day was ¥600 for them. Also, after leaving, my friend realised that he had left his noise cancelling headphones in his room. I contacted the lounge attendant and she couriered them to us at the next Hilton we stayed at in Xi'an. All in all, if the HIltons in the US or Canada were even remotely close to this one in luxury of the rooms, food in the lounge and service, I don't think I'd stay anywhere else.
Hangzhou - our stay here was for 2 nights/3 days but we should have stayed longer, 3 or even 4 nights, as we all enjoyed our stay immensely. We stayed at the Hyatt on the lake and it rivaled the Hilton for the quality of its rooms, had a slightly less impressive breakfast but, although I'm only Platinum with Hyatt, they upgraded both rooms and gave all of us lounge access. I can't remember ever getting lounge access as a platinum member before. We spent one whole day wandering around the lake and the other seeing Quyuan Garden and exploring the Qinghefang Old Street area. The fountain show on the lake was right outside our hotel and we watched it a couple of times. It was quite enjoyable. The other thing we all liked was the many public displays of music, dancing, etc. All around the lake, we saw groups of people dancing, singing, playing instruments, etc. - it looked like just random people would come and perform, not organised concerts or shows at all. Also, the level of air pollution was very low here which made staying here more enjoyable.
Shanghai - we stayed here for 3 nights and we all agreed that it was our least favourite place. It was just too much a big city without a lot of interesting sites to visit. If anyone asked me, I would recommend only a short visit to see the Shanghai Museum and to wander around the Bund/French Concession area, maybe even just a day trip for Shanghai. We stayed at Le Royal Meridien and I upgraded both rooms to the club floor with lounge access - which in my mind is a great deal for only 4k points per day per room. Mind you, I wanted to upgrade to an Imperial Suite on the 63rd floor for 12k points a day but I was outvoted by my wife who wants to keep points for Italy next year.
The rooms were much smaller than the first two hotels we stayed in but were still very comfortable with luxurious touches.
Xi'an - we were really torn about our stay here. The level of air pollution was so extreme during our visit that we all suffered. I have never seen such unbelievable air pollution. We visited the Big Goose Pagoda, Watch and Bell Towers (outside only), walked the old city wall and explored the Muslim Quarter. Of course, we also took a tour to the Warriors, which my friend and I both thought were amazing but our wives were totally underwhelmed. Is this a guy thing only? Here we stayed at the Hilton and we were all upgraded to lounge access. Again, another outstanding hotel which makes the Hiltons in North America look sick by comparison.
Yangshuo - we all loved it and thought this was the place we should have stayed the longest. We could have easily spent 5 or 6 days here. But, we didn't. c'est la vie. We stayed at the Yangshuo Village Retreat and loved it. We had booked their 2 bedroom "penthouse" suite which turned out to be on the 5th floor and an immense unit, probably over 150 m2. When I saw the 4 flights of stairs and then looked at our mountain of luggage, I got a sore back just thinking about it. But, the staff waved us away and said they'd deliver it. We went to pick up some of the small hand luggage but they looked like we'd insulted them and shooed us away.
The suite was filled with the most ugly furniture and tons of empty space but the master suite had a huge bed, and an en suite bathroom with a steam shower, a jacuzzi tub and a shower while there was a separate bathroom with shower for the other bedroom, but not en suite. The food was excellent and reasonable and the service was outstanding. I had decided to see if we could do a Yulong River raft tour on the way from Guilin to the hotel on the day we left Xi'an so I sent an email from our ipad but didn't get a reply before we had to board the plane. When we landed, the driver, who couldn't speak english, handed me his cell phone and the person from the hotel confirmed that we could do the raft tour if we still wanted and the price was ¥250/raft - 2 people on a raft. We did and loved it, the weather was perfect, the trip was amazing and we just felt ourselves getting more relaxed and happier by the minute. What a great decision!
While in Yangshuo, we also climbed Moon Hill - which made climbing the Wall seem like a stroll in the park - but was totally worth it for the amazing views, toured Silver Cave, which was totally not worth it, saw the river light show, which was totally enjoyable and worth it at ¥350 per person including transportation for the vip seats - everyone gets a bottle of water so you don't have to bring any with you. On the way back from Moon Hill, we asked the driver to drop us off in town and we wandered around for a couple of hours, taking pictures and buying some souvenirs, before walking the km or so back to the hotel. All in all, we loved our stay and the whole stay, including tours, meals, several taxis, river cruises and accomodation cost us less than ¥3000.
Hong Kong - Our final stop in China we visited twice, once when we arrived from Guilin and a second time when we did a day trip to Macau, where we got lucky at the Wynn casino. We stayed at the Inter Continental, with a view of Hong Kong Island, which was quite impressive especially at night for the light show. We had 2 full days and half a day in Hong Kong before we had to go to the airport, along with the day trip to Macau. We enjoyed the bus ride up and the tram ride down the Peak, especially the bus ride - I can't believe how close the bus gets to both the trees on one side and the traffic on the other, just unbelievable. We also did a day excursion to Stanley, passing Repulse Bay which we all agreed we should have taken time to check out as it looked gorgeous. Stanley was definitely worth visiting. We also enjoyed wandering up Nathan and Granville for some shopping and people watching.
Transportation -
Train - we took the high speed train from Beijing to Hangzhou and from Hangzhou to Shanghai, both times great with no issues, tickets easily bought by the hotel, easy getting on the train even with the crush of non-queuing Chinese, trains on time almost to the second. In my opinion, the first choice for inter-city travel in China.
Air - we flew between Shanghai and Xi'an on China Eastern, between Xi'an and Guilin on China Southern and between Guilin and Hong Kong, through Xiamen, on Xiamen Air. Of the three, we left 30 min. late from Shanghai, 5 min. late from Xi'an and on time from Guilin and 20 min late from Xiamen. They were all relatively similar but I thought the best service and cleanest planes were on Xiamen Air. I'm not sure why but at each hotel, when we asked about how early to get to the airport for our flights, they all said to be there at least 2 hours early, 3 hrs being better. Each time, we took their advice and ended up sitting around for 2 hours once we checked our bags and cleared security. I also made my one big oops by leaving my Diners card at home when I was emptying out my wallet. There are lounges at Shanghai, Xi'an and Guilin that I could have accessed with it but as a gold star alliance member, I had nothing. So, don't leave home without it, if you've got one.
So, we had an amazing adventure in China and I think that a large part of our enjoyment was due to the advice and help from all of you kind people here on the China board. Thank you again.