bennos

I+1 are likely to show for dinner.

I'd be up for this. We tried to do this on my trip last spring but failed (for our own reasons). At least I know how to get to the bus station now

Not true for the NY consulate 6 month double entry max for your first one.

spaceman

Guess I was lucky by going to the Embassy in DC.

Shimon

I may or some of my friends may join in for the tour. How certain do the organizers need us to be? We will not be joining in for any of the meals.

May I suggest going to the Acrobatic show? I've been and it is quiet amazing and very cultural.

Heads up: Air China considers beef a vegetable in its business class domestic meals.

spaceman

We have to give the folks at China Eastern Training Facility a firm count no later than 1 November.

spaceman

First and foremost, for those of you who have not yet responded with your intensions whether or not to attend -We need to provide them with a final firm count no later than 1 November

Secondly, we do have the opportunity to give them some special requests. So please take a look at their website (http://www.ceaftc.com/CeaftcWeb/Intr...nyInfo_En.aspx) and if you have any specific requests please let us know.

frostie

Spaceman:

Please add myself + 1 for the weekend.
We intend to do all the activities.

I will pm our flight schedule to you shortly.

Thanks in advance.

NewbieRunner

Since gvdIAD mentioned a day trip to Suzhou upthread I've been looking up the place on the web and am quite interested. Shanghai to Suzhou is only 25-35 mins by train. Then I found this thread in the China forum which made me think a day trip by train wasn't a good idea.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...-purchase.html

But I jumped to the end of the thread and found that rail tickets for bullet trains (which serve between Shanghai and Suzhou) can now be booked online and it seems possible to get the hotel to book a ticket if they have a copy of your passport as ID.

I've checked the booking website 12306.cn where I found the timetable (I can recognise enough Chinese characters to know I want a train from 上海 to 苏州. ) A question to China experts is if they think this will work?

I'm not volunteering to lead but I wonder if anyone else is interested in a day trip to Suzhou on Friday and possibly getting lost together?

Some of lili's bus tours also sound interesting but information is a little sketchy, e.g. duration of the tour. Some may be quite short (if not stuck in traffic!) but some may be a whole-day tour.

lili

Right behind you Newbie!

Spaceman and I have been talking about talking a half-day, full-day, bus tour to the famous Zhujiajiao Ancient Water Town. on Friday. Yes, it has become an ancient tourist town, but I am an ancient tourist. It’s also the closest water town to Shanghai.

Definitely a no-host adventure, just show up at the meeting point or bus station, get on the bus, and like a band of gypsies we go down the highway. RT Express bus is 24 CNY.

Admission fee toZhujizjizo attractions:
1. CNY 80 for cruise boat and nine scenic spots (including Tongtianhe Medicine Shop, Qing Dynasty Post Office, City God Temple, Yanyi Hall, Shanghai Handwork Exhibition Hall, Imperial Academy Stele Museum, Shanghai Quanhua Art Hall, Yuanjin Meditation Room and Kezhi Garden)
2. CNY 60 for eight scenic spots (including Tongtianhe Medicine Shop, Qing Dynasty Post Office, Yanyi Hall, City God Temple, Yuanjin Meditation Room, Shanghai Handwork Exhibition Hall, Shanghai Quanhua Art Hall and Kezhi Garden)
3. CNY 30 for four scenic spots (including Tongtianhe Medicine Shop, Qing Dynasty Post Office, Yuanjin Meditation Room and Kezhi Garden)
4. English-speaking tour guide available 3 hours 100 CNY.

So a full-day adventure for between $4 and $32 USD plus lunch, beer and shopping.

There are two bus routes to Zhujiajiao, one departs from the bus plaza at the stadium and takes 2 hours and a transfer and continues on to other places. The other is Huzhu Express Line at People's Square Pu'an Road Jinling Road and arrive in Zhujiajiao one hour later. There is a bus every half an hour.terminating at Zujianiao, slightly reducing the chance of getting lost.

If anybody is interested, PM me or post here and I will get firm information and arrange a meeting spot. Keep in mind I got this information from the internet, so it is true and accurate. I plan to back it up with the concierge at Le Royal Meridien. Also be aware this is a group project – I’m just looking for company and somebody to keep me from being more lost than usual.

Please speak up if you are local, have tried this before, or have information that will keep us from making silly mistakes.

If you prefer luxury, enforced stops at tourist shops, and hand-holding, try this day trip: http://www.chinatourbuilder.com/tour...out.php?id=410.

Shimon

Only the sunday activities would be suitable for me and my friends.

NewbieRunner

Some comments on tripadvisor about Shanghai Tourist Bus Lines. I wonder if these tours mostly cater for Chinese tourists.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...-Shanghai.html

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTop...-Shanghai.html

spaceman

Where did you find anything about a transfer necessary on this run? According to the travelchinaguide.com it is direct and this seems to agree with what in the Frommer's Shanghai day by day

NewbieRunner

Not sure about the transfer but here are the description on http://www.travelchinaguide.com/city...n/town-bus.htm

Zhujiajiao is a stop and the bus goes on to the Grand View Garden.

Of the two, the bus departing from People's Square Pu'an Road sounds more attractive. I've found this photo blog (in Japanese) by someone who took the tour a year ago. It was on Saturday and after waiting for 1.5 hr at the stadium they decided to take a taxi to Zhujiajiao instead. They took the Huzhu Express bus back to Shanghai. You can see the pink bus if you scroll down.

http://4travel.jp/traveler/chizuka/album/10516068/

lili

It's on the Wikitravel link I posted, along with other sites. (Scroll down to Get In / By Bus. It doesn't mention the transfer, but my friend did and I saw that somewhere else I think.

There is a transfer with the buses going from the Stadium. My friend and some others were dumped on the side of the road by the driver after his ticket was checked. New bus came along and took them to Zhunjiajiao. He was a bit stunned and had no idea what was happening, but it all worked out well. It's a two hour trip, and there is one bus going in the morning and one in the afternoon. Not something I want to do.

The Express bus from near People's Square runs every half hour, and is an express. That's the one to take. BTW, there aren't tours exactly. The bus (either one) gets you there, then you go to tourist office to arrange tours locally if that's what you want. You will have to pay something to see the sights like temples etc. There are also regular tour companies that shuttle you around for larger costs.

Any info on how often the trains run? I'd really be up for a more flexible schedule, like the Express bus or the train. That also means you don't have to take a bus to the Stadium. However, the buses from the stadium are cheaper than the Express bus - probably because they make more stops. They are listed at 2 CNY and up, and the Express bus is 12 CNY, obviously a first class kind of ride rather than economy!

lili

Yes, the Express bus (it IS pink!) is the way to go from what I've read. It's Option 3 on the TravelChina page http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attr...zhujiajiao.htm as well as mentioned as the best way on Wikitravel.

Whatever, however, let's do it! I suggest train or pink express bus and forget the ones from the stadium.

spaceman

I have to agree with you that we would probably be a lot better off using the Express bus (2USD should not break anyone) and sure don't need to spend 2-hours each way sightseeing when I would have no idea what I was looking at. And besides which if you fall asleep on the ride your stop is the end of the line in both directions.

Wikitravel also has a great info page on Shanghai http://wikitravel.org/en/Shanghai