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CHINA PACKAGE TOUR. . WORTH IT?

 
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altoid



Joined: 07 Mar 2003
Location: sk

PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2003 5:42 am    Post subject: CHINA PACKAGE TOUR. . WORTH IT? Reply with quote

Chosuk is coming up and I want to check out the Great Wall. I have seen package tour adds in the back of the Korean Herald and want to know if anyone has gone on one of them? Any info you could pass along would be great. . . such as a good company to use, what your expeience was like, hidden costs etc..

Many Thanks,
Al
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Homer
Guest




PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2003 5:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A buddy of mine in Busan took a package tour to China for chusok 2 years ago and he was quite pleased.
the tour was nice and well organised and not too limiting.
nice accomodations too.

They went to Beijing, the great wall, forbidden city and a few other sites.
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GirlFromMars



Joined: 15 May 2003
Location: Corea do Sul

PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2003 5:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

out of curiousity, how much do these tours cost, from seoul?
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waterbaby



Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Location: Baking Gord a Cheescake pie

PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2003 6:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I took a trip to Beijing for Chusok in 2002... the price started at about 550,000 won but kept increasing as time went by... ended up being somehting like 790,000 for sat am ~tues am... which would have given us 3 full days instead of five, as initially promised.

Also, we were tied to the places they wanted to take us for dinner (commission?)... lots of Korean food on the agenda... though we managed to talk thme out of that for a few meals. We also got dragged to a lot of factories... pearl factories, jade factories etc... just be prepared fo this.

Had some wicked nights out though... very freaky nightclubs. Very unusual.

As far as accommodation goes... well at first we were taken to a Holiday Inn and I was rather pleased about that... nice foyer and all... but they had no record of our booking... Our travel guide eventually checked us into a hotel waaaaay out of town (apparently the occupancy rates in Beijing are like 99%) and it was disappointing compared to the Holiday Inn.

Just remember, it's not actually cheap to travel in China... at least not cheap like SE Asia. I lived & taught there for a while and blew my whole pay on just trying to live comfortably...

If you go on a tour from Korea, just make sure it's an english tour and you won't be getting Kimchi for breakfast, lunch and dinner as that's a part of the fun of a holiday!
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Draven



Joined: 03 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2003 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I did one of those package tours advertised in the Herald a couple of years ago. My experience was great. While I generally don't like to go on package tours, I found that being on a tour made it easier to get to all the sites I wanted to see in a short period of time, without the hassle of having to arrange my own transport everywhere.

Cost was 550,000 won for 4 nights, all inclusive, and the accomodation was excellent; I got a suite in the Beijing Tourist Hotel. On the day the tour wasn't going anywhere I wanted, I just went off and did my own thing.

I was on a Korean tour, which wasn't a problem because there was a doctor from Seoul on the trip who took pity on me and did a fair bit of translating.
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Cthulhu



Joined: 02 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2003 6:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I did one of those short "sightseeing around Beijing" tours out of Busan. I didn't do the foreigners tour (went with the wife) but the Korean one was pretty good. Only problem was with the hotel, where the first night in Beijing they put us up in a lousy Chinese hotel with staff that was indifferent at best (never have high expectations of staff in a communist country), but after a lot of arguing the tour guide was able to change us to the 5-Star Sheraton--nice! Tour itself was pretty good. We did a number of Korean restaurants but tried some Chinese stuff as well. The Koreans didn't like it...guess it wasn't the Korean-Chinese food they expected like back home.

Actually, Koreans are notorious for not wanting to try the local cuisine. I had the same problem in three pakage tours to Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. Although the included hotel deal is always good, I've had enough of package tours.
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altoid



Joined: 07 Mar 2003
Location: sk

PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2003 6:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ive been doing the research and so far it looks like costs are around 600K-650,000. Includes about 10 or so major touristy places. . .Red Square, Great Wall, bunch of palaces and gardens, circus, chinese opera etc... english speaking tour guide, all meals paid for, 4 star hotel, all transportation. They do the Visa for you but you have to pay those costs and the airport tax. All in all not to bad if you wanna be a major tourist in China for 4 days. I just want that picture standing on that wall, ya know.

-al
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Zyzyfer



Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?

PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2003 6:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't try to do China on your own without a fair bit of ummmm....guidance. China is friendly to foreigners, but not foreigner-friendly.
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