I can't find a way to go to Nanchang and Jiujiang, only one destination would be possible in the time.

Bus up the expressway from Nanchang to Lushan (more frequent departures if you change in Jiujiang which is nearest sizeable city/transport hub). You're the one who earlier mentioned you wanted to focus on natural areas not cities, it is now ???? why you suddenly want to divert and spend time in Nanchang--except that your less-than-casual friend will serve as a free guide. Well, OK if that's what you want. What I'm trying to say is that if you stay with your Nature over Cities theme and make a brief stop in Nanchang then go to Lushan for a day or so (with your friend if his/her schedule permits), it makes more sense to not backtrack to Nanchang but to continue on to Wuhan, where even cheaper flights to Beijing are on offer.

I think on this thread, we've just about reached the limit of being able to help you since we can't make value judgments on destinations for you. All we can tell you is when your logistics aren't realistic.

You may also want to build a bit of flexibility into your schedule for the bus-ride. I took the road trip from Changsha to Zhangjiajie a couple of weeks ago and it was foggy even after 10am. It wasn't bad enough for the highways to be closed though.

However, in winter months, I would recommend that you allow for the possibility that the highways may be closed in the morning due to fog. This is one place where rail travel has its advantages since I don't believe they stop the trains when it's foggy.

While I wouldn't recommend travelling by road at night either, the road between Zhangjiajie and Changsha is actually all motorway-standard so at least it won't be windy. However, there were sections undergoing maintainence when I last made the trip, so expect crazy lane changes.

You'll travel via G5513 all the way.

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Zh...mra=ls&t=m&z=9

Yep, fog can be a problem this time of year, regardless of road quality. And yes, train would be safer and more reliable and will keep running even when buses might be delayed.

I think a lot of the problem stems from OP's desire to stay in Zhangjiajie that last night (Day 15). If he would just cut things short a couple of hours on that last day, then take the evening 19:00 train K9033 to Changsha, arriving 06:11 on Day 16, he could have plenty of time to get a ticket on that D train heading for Nanchang at 11:30...and he wouldn't have to change stations. While it's a longer duration than other ZJJ-Changsha trains, it allows for a decent night's sleep in lieu of a hotel stay. Other option would be the 18:18 train that is much faster but arrives in Changsha between 11 pm and midnight, so a hostel/hotel bed for the night then continuing on by train or bus next day would be the plan there.

Its ok, I told her I will not stay in Nanchang and ask if she could go with me to Lu Shan. She dont want it, so the Nanchang and Lu Shan part is canceled.

Some minutes ago I wrote a long review of my trip, but my browser crashed. So in short words, it was great. Lijiang, Dali and Tiger Leaping Gorge is definitly a place you can visit in december. Its a little bit cold in the morning, but after noon it feels warm and specially in the tiger leaping gorge, hot.
Hongkong was boring. Maybe someone who like big cities whould like Hongkong, but its nothing for me.
Zhangjiajie is a really great place. You can spend a week without a problem here. There are also 7 day Tickets for 300RMB available, not only the 2 day tickets for 248RMB. I'm sure I will visit this place again in the future.
I stayed two nights in nanchang, wasnt so boring like you said. There was a (small) mountain in the near we climbed up, this filled one full day. We spend another day in town and at the river, so I didnt fell boring here. Just the big wheel was without power so we couldnt ride it. And we visit the best bar of town, never see to high prices in a european bar.
My Unicom Sim Card with 1GB Traffic was a good help, but the coverage wasnt like china mobile. All towns I visited have Unicom HSDPA Coverage, but there was no coverage in the tiger leaping gorge (only china mobile was available). Along the Railways China Mobile Coverage was avaibale almost everywhere, but the Unicom Coverage was poor. But if there was a signal it was HSDPA almost all the time.
I did the 32hours trainride from Dali to Zhangjiaje. Wasnt so bad than I thought. But there was nothing to see, just hundreds of tunnels.
I tried to get a Train Ticket from Nanchang to Beijing at Changsha Train Station, but they told me there are no tickets available. At the next day in Nanchang it was no problem to get a Ticket to Beijing, so the depature station can definitly sell more tickets than the other stations. And the train was only half full.
I walked from Beijing West Train Station to the Subway, but it taked two hours to get in the Subway with my backpack. Never saw this at my earlier visits, but there was people who stuff the passangers in the trains, there was really no chance to get in with luggage. And also no taxi driver want to bring me to my hotel, they just told me I should use the Metro.
This is my first day at home and I look forward to my next china visit. Really like this country.

Zhangjiajie is really gorgeous and foreign tourists will flock to this place soon, I see mostly Chinese tourists. I thought that 7 days would be too long, you would have covered most of the scenic areas in 3 days max. I would say a 4d3n stay in Zhangjiajie would be good to cover most grounds.


This is weird, you could get tickets anywhere for trains anywhere but glad for you that tickets were still available.

That's the issue I had with Beijing taxi drivers, they indeed choose their passengers and the metro is crazily packed during peak hours.

I like it too, I love how culture differs from different parts and China really has many beautiful places that I don't see it back home. Xinjiang would be my next stop :D

Zhangjiajie
 

To those who wished to take the bus from Changsha to Zhangjiajie.

Beware of the following:

This particular route's drivers are on strike (31st Dec 11) when I was there.

There were services which do a stop in Zhangjiajie and they are dangerous.

the bus I took, took more passengers that it should be, did not tell us that we arrived at Zhangjiajie and if I didn't ask, I would have went to the final destination of the bus which I forgot where.

Same goes for Zhangjiajie to Changsha.

The bus services from Changsha to Wulingyuan(the scenic area entrance) are running normally.

Two services, 815 and 1500 IIRC.

tycosiao, thanks for your posts. I agree, many outdoor places (if not too cold) are great winter trips, esp to minimize crowds and heat. ^

Thanks for review, but the idea that somebody would find Hong Kong boring and at the same time, find Nanchang interesting is just :eek: First time I have ever heard this sentiment expressed. I suspect what colored your impression was that you had a Nanchang friend.

Beijing West taxis: the best place to go is the official taxi queue which is underground just as you come out of the platform hallway exit--they can't refuse you. Once out on the street around that station, it's chaos city. So if you want a taxi, commit and get in the queue, even if you have to wait 10-15 minutes as I did a couple of weeks ago (queue moves quickly). And the back (south side) of BJW right now is torn up for some plaza construction, so that's not helping. Eventually the metro will come right to the station. Line 1 is so crowded most times, that trying to navigate it with major luggage is a pain.

This brings up a good point about bus services, even at times when their are no strikes. I have observed that most of the bus accidents (and there have been some with heavy casualties in just this last week in southern China) are private or charter services rather than the official public buses. Even though the latter are not immune from dangerous drivers, it's the private enterprises that seem to have the cowboys, take shortcuts by going over capacity, etc. I have been on a LOT of intercity buses in the last 3 months, all publicly scheduled services, and have been amazed at how safe and careful the drivers have been. Every one of them. Also, private services tend to drop you in odd places, as they can't go to the public bus stations. You must be very alert and particularly if not a Chinese speaker.

So, try to ensure that your bus service is a public one--normally buying a ticket at a public bus station window ensures that. Buying on the street, or from a tout or from another business such as a hostel...may get something different. Of course in times of bus strikes, your inexpensive options may be more limited. In these cases, if a train is available even if pokey, consider hard SEAT as a safer alternative. Or if you have the funds, arrange a private car and find some like-minded travelers to share. And for ALL buses, try not to be on the road after dark, the exception being moving through big city traffic in the pre-sunrise or post-sundown period.

Are you sure there is no special ticket stock that could only be sold at the departure city? They told me in Changsha there are no tickets for Nanchang Beijing (and I talked with a english speaking agent at the ticket counter). Next afternoon in Nanchang there was a lot tickets available for this route. It was a Z Train and I got good sleep in it. The Kunming Zhangjiajie Train use his horn almost every minute, but this Z Train didnt.
They also ask for my passport to give me a ticket from Chansgha to Nanchang, I got all other train tickets without registration.

Can't confirm that. I did this in the opposite direction on 01. Jan 2012. Minibus from Zhangjiajie Village Bus Station to Zhangjiajie City Bus Station (11RMB), then bought a ticket on the official ticket counter for Zhangjiajie City to Changsha Bus Station. Price was 94RMB, last bus was 19:00 that day. Because I finished Tianmen Mountain earlier I ask if I could get on the 17:30 bus with my ticket and it was no problem. It was a big bus and even 20% of the seats was occupied. It was a good and less crowded highway and it take just 3.5 hours. At Changsha Bus Station West you have to get on Bus 315 to Changsha Railway Station, 3RMB.


Sure, that could be a point. But even things like the Hongkong Lightshow was so boring, not worth to spend time for that. You could only see half of the lasers and they wasnt synchron with the music. So everyone who was on the peak was very disappointed about it.
And you lived in Nanchang before? Of course its not a City like Beijing, but there was enough to do to fill two days. Even the Hotel was a expecience because it was on the campus and the reception has a big rack of condoms in front of it. This must be the place where the students go to get some privacy for a couple of hours. But it was cheap, just 40RMB/night. And I didnt thought thats its so free to live there. You couldnt see any security or police, I didnt have to register myself and the students was really clever, they know exactly whats wrong in their country.
It was just hard to find a warm place, no restaurant use a heater, everything was cold.
And this was the first time I got really freightend in China. We goes to a muslim restaurant (my friend is muslim so it was necessary). There was no guest in it, just two guys who looks like thiefs. Every minute someone came in the restaurant and give his hand to one of this mans to say hello. After that he put something in his jacket, every time. Both of us was worried the food could be poisoned, so we eat just a little and went away very fast :p

Next time I will know it. I didnt thought that it will be so hard to get on subway so I tried this first. To walk back from subway to Train Station was no real option for me, so I waited for a empty train. Just some minutes before 9 it was possible to get on.

The ability to purchase a ticket in City A for a B-->C journey is still not universally consistent across the rail system. I think this was one of those times, as the Changsha station wouldn't have had any reason to hold back if they could actually sell him the ticket. Until it gets more consistent, one should always try first, and then have Plan B as backup. Which worked out fine in this situation.

The Z trains are express trains and they run on standard tracks, but are indeed the best and fastest choice (few stops) when available and there is no bullet train running the route. I find them one of the better long-distance travel bargains for the budget traveler.

Plan A was to fly this route. There was tickets for 260RMB + Tax until 3 days before departure. I booked one but elong told me there was an error with my Paypal Payment, so they canceled the booking. New ticket price was over 500RMB + Tax, so I decided to take the train.

Z Train was perfekt for this route. Get on the train around 8pm and you are in Beijing 7:30am next day. They also offered toilet paper in the train, but there was none available in the morning. So maybe nice to know for others: You have to take your own toilet paper with you anywhere you go in china. You will not find this at public toilets/trains/buses.