Anyone been to China?
Anyone been to China?
Ok so have now decided to go to China. Specifically Beijing and Shanghai. possibly Hong Kong if i can fit it in. Will be for about 10 days in total. So what must i see, where can i get vegi food :rolleyes: and where are the best shopping places (eg for elecronics)? any help much appreciated. ta
eta: any idea of the weather/clothes to take. am going at end of feb
Answers:
End of Feb will be cold still in both Beijing (average temps -5 - 10 max) and Shanghai (ave temp 0-15), although in Beijing it will be a very manageable dry cold. Take layers, but if you find you don't have enough warm stuff, don't worry, you can always buy yourself duvet coats, cashmere sweaters, and all manner of other items.
You can get veggies anywhere - the Chinese eat a lot, but they don't really get vegetarianism, so you could end up with veggies that have been boiled in meat stock. Get a decent phrase book (Lonely Planet is good cos it also has the Chinese characters alongside your word in English and Chinese pinyin pronunciation) and then when you go in any restaurant you can show it to the servers or just point to what other people are having if you fancy that.
There's tons to see in Beijing and Shanghai. You'll find the highlights listed in every guide book going. I presume you must have some idea of what there is to see?
You can get to the Great Wall easily from Beijing - closest site is at Badaling, but also the busiest. Mutianyu and Simatai are further and even further (respectively) so less traffic.
Beijing - major sights are Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven in Tiantan Park, Summer Palace, Beihai park, Lama Temple, Great Bell temple. Lots of other stuff you'll see listed in the guide books. Take a hutong tour (on bicycle if possible). See an acrobatics show. Go shopping - Wangfujing (main shopping street with huge mall), Dazhalan (Chinese medicines and fabrics), Liulichang (Chinese art & crafts), Xiushui silk/textiles market, Xicheng mall. Ask at the concierge of a big 5-star hotel for the best electronics places.
Sanlitun is one big going out spot. Beijing Journal (available in 5-star hotel lobbies) will list all the places for night life.
Shanghai - Shanghai Museum, the Bund, Nanjing Lu (Nanjing Street - a major shopping area), Frenchtown (old foreign concession with European architecture -fast disappearing), Sun Yatsen's house, Jade Buddha temple, Pudong new side of Shanghai - go up the tv tower, have a drink in the Hyatt hotel bar in the tallest building Jinmao tower. There's probably loads more new stuff you can see - it's been 5 years since I last went. Again, pick up the English-language freebie magazines on Shanghai that you'll find in the 5-star hotel lobbies.
You must get up early at least one day to get into the parks or on the Bund and see the older generation Chinese doing their tai chi, fan dancing, opera singing, bird fancying...
Suggest you get a good guide book: Rough Guide, Lonely Planet, Footprint, are the best. Have a read of the China-relavant bits in this link .
Whenever you go out anywhere, make sure you have a card from your hotel to show a taxi driver (or learn how to say the name of your 'fan-dian'/hotel in Chinese) to make sure you can get back easily.
After you've done a bit more research and if you have any specific questions, feel free to come back and ask them here.
Answers:
Just adding this link (in the FAQ bit of LP NE Asia branch):
http://www.pratyeka.org/vegetarian-china/
Answers:
that is wonderful info. will print it out and do the research you recommend.
Answers:
I went to China last year - specifically Beijing & HK. You will love it! I think augusta has covered all the bases but just to add:
Beijing:
- hutong in Beijing - fantastic - we stayed in the one South of Tianeman square & had a great time, the best food too down the backstreets;
- Great Wall - as stated Badaling is closest and parts of it have been repaired for tourists - if you want something more authentic & quiet then I can recommend Simitai - you can organise a coach trip to it locally;
- We did the 10k walk from Jinshanling to Simitai & it nearly killed us it was so steep - I was elated once I had completed it but it was a struggle because some of the steps we had to go up on all fours! It would probably be easier this time of year though - we went at the end of May when it was quite hot.
- Below Dahzalen zie there is a tea shop on the main road to the Temple of Heaven - if you go in there & it is quiet they will invite you to participate in a tea ceremony - I tried about 15 different flavours of tea in an hour & the girls were very sweet.
HK - a lot of shopping to be done there. Highlights for me:
- the escalators to mid-levels
- tram to Victoria Peak
- Star Ferry to Kowloon
- afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel
- botanical gardens
- night market
If I think of anything else I will let you know - it rained constantly for the 4 days that we were there, so I have quite a lot of memories of drinking coffee & playing cards indoors.
chops
Ok so have now decided to go to China. Specifically Beijing and Shanghai. possibly Hong Kong if i can fit it in. Will be for about 10 days in total. So what must i see, where can i get vegi food :rolleyes: and where are the best shopping places (eg for elecronics)? any help much appreciated. ta
eta: any idea of the weather/clothes to take. am going at end of feb
Answers:
End of Feb will be cold still in both Beijing (average temps -5 - 10 max) and Shanghai (ave temp 0-15), although in Beijing it will be a very manageable dry cold. Take layers, but if you find you don't have enough warm stuff, don't worry, you can always buy yourself duvet coats, cashmere sweaters, and all manner of other items.
You can get veggies anywhere - the Chinese eat a lot, but they don't really get vegetarianism, so you could end up with veggies that have been boiled in meat stock. Get a decent phrase book (Lonely Planet is good cos it also has the Chinese characters alongside your word in English and Chinese pinyin pronunciation) and then when you go in any restaurant you can show it to the servers or just point to what other people are having if you fancy that.
There's tons to see in Beijing and Shanghai. You'll find the highlights listed in every guide book going. I presume you must have some idea of what there is to see?
You can get to the Great Wall easily from Beijing - closest site is at Badaling, but also the busiest. Mutianyu and Simatai are further and even further (respectively) so less traffic.
Beijing - major sights are Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven in Tiantan Park, Summer Palace, Beihai park, Lama Temple, Great Bell temple. Lots of other stuff you'll see listed in the guide books. Take a hutong tour (on bicycle if possible). See an acrobatics show. Go shopping - Wangfujing (main shopping street with huge mall), Dazhalan (Chinese medicines and fabrics), Liulichang (Chinese art & crafts), Xiushui silk/textiles market, Xicheng mall. Ask at the concierge of a big 5-star hotel for the best electronics places.
Sanlitun is one big going out spot. Beijing Journal (available in 5-star hotel lobbies) will list all the places for night life.
Shanghai - Shanghai Museum, the Bund, Nanjing Lu (Nanjing Street - a major shopping area), Frenchtown (old foreign concession with European architecture -fast disappearing), Sun Yatsen's house, Jade Buddha temple, Pudong new side of Shanghai - go up the tv tower, have a drink in the Hyatt hotel bar in the tallest building Jinmao tower. There's probably loads more new stuff you can see - it's been 5 years since I last went. Again, pick up the English-language freebie magazines on Shanghai that you'll find in the 5-star hotel lobbies.
You must get up early at least one day to get into the parks or on the Bund and see the older generation Chinese doing their tai chi, fan dancing, opera singing, bird fancying...
Suggest you get a good guide book: Rough Guide, Lonely Planet, Footprint, are the best. Have a read of the China-relavant bits in this link .
Whenever you go out anywhere, make sure you have a card from your hotel to show a taxi driver (or learn how to say the name of your 'fan-dian'/hotel in Chinese) to make sure you can get back easily.
After you've done a bit more research and if you have any specific questions, feel free to come back and ask them here.
Answers:
Just adding this link (in the FAQ bit of LP NE Asia branch):
http://www.pratyeka.org/vegetarian-china/
Answers:
that is wonderful info. will print it out and do the research you recommend.
Answers:
I went to China last year - specifically Beijing & HK. You will love it! I think augusta has covered all the bases but just to add:
Beijing:
- hutong in Beijing - fantastic - we stayed in the one South of Tianeman square & had a great time, the best food too down the backstreets;
- Great Wall - as stated Badaling is closest and parts of it have been repaired for tourists - if you want something more authentic & quiet then I can recommend Simitai - you can organise a coach trip to it locally;
- We did the 10k walk from Jinshanling to Simitai & it nearly killed us it was so steep - I was elated once I had completed it but it was a struggle because some of the steps we had to go up on all fours! It would probably be easier this time of year though - we went at the end of May when it was quite hot.
- Below Dahzalen zie there is a tea shop on the main road to the Temple of Heaven - if you go in there & it is quiet they will invite you to participate in a tea ceremony - I tried about 15 different flavours of tea in an hour & the girls were very sweet.
HK - a lot of shopping to be done there. Highlights for me:
- the escalators to mid-levels
- tram to Victoria Peak
- Star Ferry to Kowloon
- afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel
- botanical gardens
- night market
If I think of anything else I will let you know - it rained constantly for the 4 days that we were there, so I have quite a lot of memories of drinking coffee & playing cards indoors.
chops