Trip 1 is underway

5am at Adelaide airport. Note Andi is carrying her entire luggage for the 8 weeks.

Great Wall

A recommendation from Brent. Don't take the usual tours to see the Great Wall. Have a look at the walks organised by Beijing Hikers.

I contacted the hikers a few weeks ago to see what they might have coming up in October. They got back to me saying they were in the process of organising their October walks. The very friendly guy asked when we were going to be there, what we were looking for etc and, without any promises, said they would see what they could do.

The October programme just came out and there, in the middle of the week we will be in Beijing, was a perfect walk. A less visited section of the Wall, a strenuous but not exhaustive walk - designed to perfection.

The pictures from previous walks along this section of the Wall looked great so I booked immediately.

Travelling Light

We have decided to travel light. No check-in luggage, just what we can carry in the cabin.

It will be an interesting test - 8 weeks with just one small bag each. The benefits are obvious. No airport queues at check-in and no waiting for bags at the other end. Travelling by train should also be much easier with just one small bag.

The downside is equally obvious. Fewer clothes, more often washing. No sharp instruments, so pocket knife, nail scissors etc will have to be left at home, perhaps to be purchased, and then left, in China.

I guess that if it all gets too hard we can purchase another case over there.

In the meantime, after much searching, we decided on this as our bag of choice. It meets the size requirements and has handles, shoulder strap and 'back-pack' straps as optional means of carrying it.

Two weeks and counting

With only two weeks to go, and with hotels and trains booked, attention has turned to what to see. As is usual, Andi has been looking at this for some time, reading widely and preparing lists, while I have left it all up to the last minute. Today, for the first time, I have directed my attention to a guide book. Thank god for Andi's attention to detail and even, I have to confess, her spreadsheets of things to see.

Hotels - part 3 (final)

Our last hotel booking has now been confirmed.

The Pig's Inn, or Pig's Heaven Inn, is in Xidi, a world heritage listed village near Huangshan.

So, one month to go and it seems that all our bookings are done. A few bus trips to be arranged when we are there but the basics (trains and hotels) are all now set. Time for some more detailed reading.

Hotels - part 2

Travelling is such hard work, especially in the planning. So many hotels to look at and evaluate. What crieria - location, customer reviews, amenities, price and complimentary WI-FI.

After a couple of solid days we have now completed all but one of our bookings. Looking over them, there is an eclectic mix.

Kunming - Fairyland Hotel Dongfeng Square - no images worth showing.

Dali - Mountain Delights - just outside the old town but the reviews were great and the bus stop close.

Lijiang - FarnerBa Hotel - good reviews, wi-fi, just outside the noisiest part of the old town but a close walk. One factor was that, unlike many hotels in the old town, a taxi can actually get to the front door.

 

Yuanyang - Yunti Hotel -  hard to book a hotel here on-line. This one looks OK and has had reasonable reviews. The location is as good as they get here.

Guilin - JIngGuanMingLou Museum Hotel - located on one of the lakes, it is central but with views and some nice walking.

Yangshuo - Camellia Resort - I hope we get a room with this view. If not we will have to spend some time in the restaurant.

Huangshan - this is a stop-over place on the way to and from XiDi so we chose two hotels. The first, the Huangshan Hukaiwen Hotel is close to the bus station for the following morning. A fairly utilitarian choice.

The second hotel, also just for one night, looks a bit more interesting. The Huangshan Design Boutique Hotel is located close to the train station for the next morning. The exterior looks harmless enough, but the rooms .....

Nanjing - Orange Hotel - good location and we couldn't resist the fruit on the bed.

And finally, Shanghai - the Elegance Bund Hotel - less elegant than the name might suggest but a good location, close to the Bund and Nanjing Road, and what looks like the world's smallest hotel 'swimming' pool.

That's it. Just waiting for an email from the last hotel - perhaps they couldn't understand my Chinese.

Hotels - part 1

We made a start today. As mentioned previously we had already booked a place in Beijing, next door to Brent. Today we looked at our next three destinations - Pingyao, Xian and Leshan.

In Pingyao it was impossible to go past a place called Cheng Homes for The Aged Folk.

Xian is a much bigger city and the hotels all looked a bit boring. We eventually settled on the Citadines Central, mainly because it was, well, central. Besides, who could resist that lobby and, in case we don't get enough walking, a gym.

The choice in Leshan was even more limited. We are tending to do most of our bookings through Agoda. They have been good in the past and it enables us to pay by credit card before we leave rather than carry a bundle of cash - a lot of hotels won't accept credit cards at the door. Anyway, Agoda only had three hotels in Leshan. I guess we won't spend much time in it - the wonderfully named Anyi 158. Who knows where the other 157 are. 

More bookings another day. This travel business is tiring.

Train Bookings

It looks as if most of our train trips have now been booked.
Mind you, it took some time to go through the timetables and choose the trains that best fit our proposed itinerary. Then there was the issue that tickets are not made available or issued until shortly before the date of the train's departure - a somewhat uncertain and changing 5-20 days before. This makes it a little difficult to plan in advance with certainty. But leaving it all until we arrived in China raised the prospect of endless hours at railway stations across the country trying to buy tickets, often with only Chinese spoken.

The best option we found was to use an online agent. They charge a fee of about $24 per ticket for their services. Sometimes this is higher than the actual ticket price, although not for overnight sleepers or long journeys. It seems worthwhile, however, as they obtain the tickets and deliver them to your various hotels across the country.

We ended up using travelchinaguide.com. Their website had easy access to the train timetables. They also had free phone access in Australia as well as China, Skype, MSN. We couldn't book online as we didn't have all our hotel bookings made so did it all by email. They were quick and efficient. Lets hope the rest of the process goes as smoothly.

Now it's on to looking at hotels.

Visas

We had been told that it might be hard to get a visa for more than 30 days in China. One of Andi's fellow Chinese language students had planned a longer trip but only been given a 30 day visa. She eventually got a longer one but only after some difficulty and extra fees.

Forearmed with this knowledge we applied with a detailed itinerary and accompanying letter explaining why we wanted a 60 day visa. With no consulate in Adelaide we couldn't speak to anyone personally and just had to post the application to Canberra.

Within the stated 10 days, back came our passports with 60 day visas inside. No problem at all.

Next job is to try and book some railway tickets online.

Initial Bookings

To get things started we have booked our flights and our first week's accommodation in Beijing. The five star Swissotel was recommended by Brent and is located next door to his place. At about A$90 a night it looks like luxury we can afford. It is also located close to the centre of the city and on the railway line.

#1 China

Planning is underway for the first of the big ten.

The idea is to fly into Beijing and, eight weeks later, fly out of Shanghai. In between, a long anti-clockwise sweep by train should enable us to see a reasonable bit of the country.



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