I am flying to Qingdao for a fair and shall be staying there for a few days.
This is my first trip to China so I need advice on several matters:
How to find a decent/reasonable hotel in Qingdao?
There are plenty of options in Qingdao - I prefer the Shangri-La. Depending on your dates, rates would be between US$100-200/night.
How to find/reserve reasonable rental Car?
Don't think about driving yourself. Qingdao is pretty small comparatively, and you'll do fine with taxis. I don't have any hookups for private car/driver rental in Qingdao but others may do.
Dont have a GSM phone that I can take to China. What is the alternative since I want to be able to use cell phone there?
As the previous poster said, get an unlocked tri-band GSM phone before leaving the US. Once here, get an M-Zone pre-paid SIM Card. Around RMB50 for the SIM and load it up with an amount you feel you need.
Need to travel from Qingdao to Guangzhou and Shanghai. Any websites where I can book the tickets in advance?
WWW.ELONG.COM - Use it all the time, highly recommended.
Need to find reasonable hotel in Guangzhou ... any suggestion?
Again, depends on when you're going and what your idea of reasonable is. If its during April15-30 then nothing will seem reasonable. Outside those dates, try the Donlord Hotel (www.donlordhotels.com) - very good value at around RMB450/night - but worth every cent.
I know i've asked lots of questions .. but any help is appreciated!