Traveling to China (in January)

Hi all,

I'm just about to buy my RTW ticket starting the 16th of January in China and i have a few questions that i hope somebody can help me with. I will stay in China for 4 to 5 weeks and then fly to New Zealand.

1) I realize it's winter in China at that time and i was just wondering if i'm making a big mistake. I can handle some cold, but will there be more downsides that i'm not thinking about?

2) At first i was thinking to fly to Hong Kong and then go by land to Beijing, but now i'm doubting if this won't be a waste of time to start in Hong Kong (i don't care about shopping, i want to travel 😊). So, i'm thinking it might be more clever to fly into Shanghai and then go to Beijing (with some inland traveling including Chendu, Xi'an etc.) or maybe the other way around.. Is there any practical way to go about this?

3) What travel book to take/read? I want one that has budget accommodation options and good info on prices and that kind of stuff, but i'm not a huge fan of LP. Can't seem to find much.. Does anybody have recommendations? Reply to this

You can fly to Shanghai first and spend one week there is enough.Then go to Nanjing,the acient capital of six dynasties.Both the Sun Yet-sen Mausoleum and office of the president are worth to visit.It will take you within two ours to go to Nanjing from Shahai by train.It's convenient.About three days later,you can go to Beijing by train T66 that will take you just one night.Beijing is too big to travel in a short time.But the subway can take you almost wherever you wanna go.You will definitely have wonderful time there.I guess about two weeks are needed.Then you can fly to xi'an.Discount ticket is always available.Both Terra-Cotta warriors and the acient walls in central city will leave you a deep impresion.Finally you can go to Chengdu by train.So many beauty and delicious food are there waiting for you.Have a good time in China.
I'm currently a college student in China.If you have any question during your trip in China,send me a E-mail:.I wish I could help.

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I've heared so much about the ice festival in Harbin.Actually,I plan to go there in early January so that I will not miss the openning ceremony in January 5th.Harbin is no doubt attractive and wonderful in January
.Howerer,It's probably too cold to bear.The average temperature is said to be 19 degrees below zero.Who know,we may become one of the beautiful ice carvings there,joking,the enthusiasm of people there will absolutely warm you,you know,people in Dongbei are famous for their kind-hearted in China.
If you are gonna to experience the ice,I think it's a good idea to fly to Harbin first then(Harbin-Beijing,Bejing-Xi'an,Xi'an-Nanjing,Nanjing-Shanghai,Shanghai-Guilin,Guilin-Guangzhou)This order avoids the unnecessary long way you may travel.It's save both money and time.You can get every place by train.But you may have a hard time getting tickets.Because there are always too many people ride train.So you'd better buy ticket at least 5 days in advance.By the way,if you don't have a big taste to food and beauty it makes more sense to travel to Guilin rather than Chengdu.Guilin has a charming natural scenery meanwhile things full of ethic flavor are gonna leave you a different feeling.
Generally speaking,the roads are well accessible in winter in cities I just metioned except for Haerbin which I'm not know for sure.As so many visitors there I guess the case is by no means too bad .The government must work it out.
Best wishes. Reply to this

Not a problem at all 😊

I wasn't really planning on buying any of our train-tickets before arriving in China, you think this is a mistake?
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hello SofanDan,first I'd like to recommend a site for you http://www.jipiao.cuxun.cn you can find more than 1000 companies there provide budget airlines.I always get the discount ticket through this site.it's quite a good for China airline info.the site is in Chinese,but don't worry for all you need to do is enter your origin,destination and the date of the depature then the discount lowest ticket will on the top.it's wise to book your ticket one month in advance so that you will have a big chance to get a cheap ticket ,but the info is changing you'd better always connected to this site.When it comes to train-ticket it's really a headache I ever standed in a queue for hours to get a ticket 10 days ahead my schedule but got nothing,and you got that right especially in holidays cases go from bad to worse.this year's spring festival is 14th Feb which means you will have a hard time getting ticket from 31th Jan to 29th Feb this period is called "Sping Moving"it will be surprised to see foreigners on the train because even the local people have a problem getting tickets around this time.tere are some ticket houses
in the central Kunming they charge about 5yuan processing fee for per ticket but if you can get ticket there you can't be more lucky.actually, it can't tell.and I don't know if you ever heard about YHA so many travllers around the world tend to book youth hotel.it's cheap safe and interesting some of them may provide the pre-booking ticket service but I'm not know for sure.maybe you can go to Youth YHA's homepage to get the info.I wish I could help.best wishes Reply to this

Hi Cinnie, about a good China guidebook - unfortunately (as far as I know) LP is the only one which has the information you are looking for. The alternative is to use the web and make your own guide book, that works quite well actually. There are lot's of sites with information on everything you need to know (including this site). The positive of LP is that it has place names in Chinese and a small dictionary, though you can of course buy a separate dictionary. The negative is that some advice may be dated things change very fast in China, and that may create problems.
Expect cold at this time of the year, I have visited Xian and the East coast in March and it was very cold (snowing) and a Siberian wind made things worse. Gloves and long underpants a must. Difficult to say if there will be lot's of snow, it was a very harsh winter two years ago when communication was difficult, but that was exceptional.
If you have the time there are many nice cities around Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shaoxing south of Shanghai, and Suzhou north of Shanghai. Good motorways and modern express buses make it easy to travel between these cities with bus, and there are frequent departures so you can just go to the bus station and buy the ticket on the spot although during the Spring Festival I would buy tickets in advance. Personally I don't think one should spend much time in Shanghai (especially if you don't like shopping), but the other cities (Hangzhou etc.) has much more to offer in culture and sights. I don't think you need to go back to Shanghai from Nanjing, but you could do Shanghai - Suzhou - Nanjing and then overnight train to Xian or Beijin.
Have a nice trip Reply to this

Hello Cinnie, train tickets is usually difficult to get because you can only get them in the town you are travelling from and only a few days before departure of the train (this seem to differ between different trains, but we are talking about a week maybe). And there aren't really any agencies offering reasonable rates if you try to get them in advance and even they can only buy them when they are released. Supposedly soft sleeper tickets are easier to get because they are more expensive. I would think for the beginning of the journey you will be OK buying the ticket as soon as you arrive. It may be more complicated in February. Don't forget to have the destination and date written down in Chinese, but you may also be able to get them from your hostel/hotel, which will save lot's of hassle. Best Inga Reply to this

Hi Cinnie, be aware that Beijing is a BIG city and distances are really huge, not a city to walk around in and try to find a place. So if you can book ahead (this also goes for the other places in fact), Mid February will be busy, don't forget that Chinese people like to travel too and they are MANY!. Bring a printout of the address of the place you booked in Chinese, that way you will easily be able to get there. However, there are also touts around bus and train station, whether you want to trust them is another question, but that is probably OK in January. Cheers
PS If you are going to Suzhou do stay in the old town, it is very nice with canals and low rise housing, some old some new in old style.
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Hey all,

I too am travelling Mid Feb 2010 for my sins! Well, I booked my flight tickets and thought I'd rather China in a different season as I have travelled during the roasting hot summers.

I have used a website to book my hostel for 4 days from 14/02. From there on in, I am open to whatever. However, I have enquired with numerous online organisations to try and book train tickets during Mid to late Feb. 99% say they cannot readily obtain such tickets due to the Chinese New Year. I dont really want to fly either. However, I am hassling my hostel to book me a ticket for 18th Feb to either Hangzhou or Shanghai. These two cities are quite close to one another so after 18th I could use other transportation (busses even if it takes longer lolll).

I am also looking to book my accommodation only once I am certain of my travel plans. Invariably, if you cant get to a location, your accommodation plans will be scuppered. Therefore, until I physcially see a train ticket, only then I'll go online and book accommodation.

However, not being able to book tickets to certain places may make me think outside the box. Maybe fate has something else in store for me loll.

Therefore, back to the orignal reason why I am posting this response is I am probably going through the same thing as the poster. Never mind....look on the bright side......we are still going to be "travelling". Reply to this

Mohamed, I deleted two of your duplicate posts. Please only post once for each request.

Thank you. Reply to this