Backpack at China

[Ahbao999]

Hi Guys,

 

have anyone here backpack in China before ??? can share and advise some pointer ???

 

My friend and I going China for 11 days and visiting places like Qing Tao, ShanHai, Su Zhou, Xia Men and Guan Zhou ...

 

Do share your experience ... thanks

[Gabriel]

stayed in china for a month some 10 yrs back..if u can afford the time..book the tours from the place itself...u get to miz with the locals of that place..and experience a diff lifestyle...me went with a bunch of chongqing pple to hainan..and they kept on complaining that the food was bland..while me on the other hand found it yummy...not neccessary to go for long tours..just short tours will do also

[PengYou]

It really depends on your itenary, China unlike singapore, if u hit holiday season, better book ur train / flight ticket way in advance. ok, if u decide to take train and it is an overnight or long distance one, take one with "Woa4 Pu4", aka bed. and doing so, be very careful of ur lugguage, alot of new ppl steal things from ur bed at night, as it is open concept only w a curtain.

 

then when u out of train station or airport, locals will flock to u to practically pull u to their "hotel". So I suggest before u land foot, book a reputated one 1st, incase kenna black shop.

 

have enough small notes, cos some airport, u need to pay a fee to "tie" ur lagguage. it is a must cannot siam.

 

some places like zhu hai need to becareful of ur wallet, even locals told me tat.

 

Becareful of ur $$, e.g my mum kenna, pay rmb100, the person return my mum HKD100 saying its torn pls give another note.. only later then my mum found the value differs.

 

It really depends on which county u are going.

[Taipan49]

Hi Guys,

 

have anyone here backpack in China before ??? can share and advise some pointer ???

 

My friend and I going China for 11 days and visiting places like Qing Tao, ShanHai, Su Zhou, Xia Men and Guan Zhou ...

 

Do share your experience ... thanks

 

I did 3 months backpacking in China in 2005 and had a great time. Went all over the place.

 

Best way to get around is by train. I went overnight train as it saved on accommodation costs too. Normally went hard sleeper and took the top bunk. I would put a wire mesh around the backpack at night and lock it to the railings to give me piece of mind. Never had anyone touch it or steal anything then. Highly recommend the wire mesh and worth the price.

 

I used hostels for accommodation and found this site good (http://www.hostelz.com/). But also a lot of the hostels are relatively new and had affiliations with other hostels in other cities so I could book with the one i was staying in for the next city and generally they would pick you up from the train station as part of the service. And they were relatively cheap too. Also they could get your train tickets for a small fee if you wanted to avoid the queues and spend more time sightseeing.

 

Avoid the "golden weeks" when everyone goes on holiday. Got stuck in Kunming for 5 days as couldn't get anywhere due to that.

 

The Rough Guide travel book I found was better than Lonely Planet. But the Thorn Tree forums on the Lonely Planet website are also very good for current information and updates.

 

Also take note of the distances and how long the trains take between cities. It is an awfully large country and 16+ hour train rides can be the norm.

 

 

[Ahbao999]

Thanks everyone for sharing your information. appreciated ...

 

that why i like this forum .. can ask advise for so many thing hahaha

 

anyway take overnight train is a good idea ... cos i see the train journey take about 6 to 10 hours ...

 

the High speed train still don't serve many location ...

 

btw, what type of attraction should we visit .. ???

[Taipan49]

Thanks everyone for sharing your information. appreciated ...

 

that why i like this forum .. can ask advise for so many thing hahaha

 

anyway take overnight train is a good idea ... cos i see the train journey take about 6 to 10 hours ...

 

the High speed train still don't serve many location ...

 

btw, what type of attraction should we visit .. ???

 

I really liked western Yunnan province (Lijiang, Dali, Deqin, Tiger Leaping Gorge), but I think that is quite a way of your intended journey. But if you like trekking and seeing rural parts of China then lots of ideas here: http://www.chinatrekking.com/

[Galantspeedz]

now got 高铁 for some places...

 

but can take plane also...

 

11 days, 5 places , if travel by overnight train where got enough..... 4-5 days already spend on travelling

[Taipan49]

now got 高铁 for some places...

 

but can take plane also...

 

11 days, 5 places , if travel by overnight train where got enough..... 4-5 days already spend on travelling

 

The problem I found was that the airports are all new and so therefore are built many kms/hours away from the centre of the city, whereas the train stations were all downtown central. So you may save on flight time vs rail time, but you lose out on time getting to/from airport, plus the check-in etc. Also it depends on your budget as well. But timings of the overnight trains I found were generally good. Leave late afternoon/early evening and then arrive early in the morning the following day.

[Galantspeedz]

The problem I found was that the airports are all new and so therefore are built many kms/hours away from the centre of the city, whereas the train stations were all downtown central. So you may save on flight time vs rail time, but you lose out on time getting to/from airport, plus the check-in etc. Also it depends on your budget as well. But timings of the overnight trains I found were generally good. Leave late afternoon/early evening and then arrive early in the morning the following day.

 

but plane about 2-4hrs max.... train depending may be up to 24-36hrs

 

i guess it depends where he goes... sometimes bus or car also quite fast

 

ya budget very important.. i expect budget to be low since he mention backpack... but with the 5 places quite far from each other... he may spend more than half of the 11days travelling by bus

[Taipan49]

but plane about 2-4hrs max.... train depending may be up to 24-36hrs

 

i guess it depends where he goes... sometimes bus or car also quite fast

 

ya budget very important.. i expect budget to be low since he mention backpack... but with the 5 places quite far from each other... he may spend more than half of the 11days travelling by bus

 

Bus sucks in China. Took an overnight bus once, i think i can still smell the stink. And as for local regional buses, spitting in the aisle and smoking inside is a "pleasant" part of the experience...

 

But as noted in my first post here, got to take note of the distances and the time. Whether by train or air.

[Donut]

Hi Guys,

 

have anyone here backpack in China before ??? can share and advise some pointer ???

 

My friend and I going China for 11 days and visiting places like Qing Tao, ShanHai, Su Zhou, Xia Men and Guan Zhou ...

 

Do share your experience ... thanks

 

to be honest, 11 days is not enough to go so many places lah.

 

travelling alone will take out half of 11 days. what's there to see, after deducting the travelling time?

 

11 days, i strongly suggest to go only 3 places max. travelling is not "touch-and-go". travelling means you stay long enough in one place and immerse yourself in the local community and appreciate their local traditions and culture.

 

If i were you, i will only pick 3 places max, and i may just go to 2 places in the end.

[Galantspeedz]

Bus sucks in China. Took an overnight bus once, i think i can still smell the stink. And as for local regional buses, spitting in the aisle and smoking inside is a "pleasant" part of the experience...

 

But as noted in my first post here, got to take note of the distances and the time. Whether by train or air.

 

i sat a few times... mostly ok..... except once someone with hk feet raise up his feet... wanted tell him off but he 公安, my friend ask me forget it....

 

shifted place to further in front.... :angry:

 

 

[Porker]

Bus sucks in China. Took an overnight bus once, i think i can still smell the stink. And as for local regional buses, spitting in the aisle and smoking inside is a "pleasant" part of the experience...

 

But as noted in my first post here, got to take note of the distances and the time. Whether by train or air.

 

Everytime go China sure fall sick.

I really dislike travelling in China. The people jump and cut queue, spit all over the place, talk loudly and the food sucks.

[Taipan49]

Everytime go China sure fall sick.

I really dislike travelling in China. The people jump and cut queue, spit all over the place, talk loudly and the food sucks.

 

It's called queueing in a circle as opposed to the standard queueing in a straight line. It doesn't really work.

 

But I found the food better the further away from the coast I went. Really liked the hotpot in Chengdu and Chongqing.

[Ahbao999]

thanks everyone on the feedback of my journey ... your advise is value to me ... appreciate it ..

 

now we shall look into it again to see how we can arrange our trip better ... like reducing the places to visit ...

 

beside China any other place good for Backpack ???

 

actuall our althernative plan is self drive the whole malaysia plus go to the beach such as ReDang Island and etc ... but anyway still on the process of planning ...

 

 

[Rncw]

just a note.....be extra careful in train stations, bus stations, etc...thats where most criminals operates....other than that big cities should not be a problem

[PengYou]

thanks everyone on the feedback of my journey ... your advise is value to me ... appreciate it ..

 

now we shall look into it again to see how we can arrange our trip better ... like reducing the places to visit ...

 

beside China any other place good for Backpack ???

 

actuall our althernative plan is self drive the whole malaysia plus go to the beach such as ReDang Island and etc ... but anyway still on the process of planning ...

 

 

I quite love backpacking in Euroupe, now that Euro is low, can consider. But becareful in Eastern Euroupe, got many professional pick pockets. I've heard many stories happening to my friends...

 

e.g simplest, a group of young gals was running and bang my friend, sensing something is wrong he quickly check his wallet which he palaced in his jacket, true enough, its gone, luckily he manged to catch hold of one of the gals.. anyway many stories. But nice place, just becareful of your belongings, and register with ur embassy, just in case...

[Watwheels]

I rather go to places like Tibet or Mongolia if backpack, the air there at least is fresh. China cities mentioned are just too densely populated and the air pollution is really bad. The pickpockets are everywhere. What you want to do is try to blend into the crowd cos if ppl know you are not from around there you will not only to be targetted by peddlers but also criminals. Especially at tourist hotspots.