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Dev
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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 Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 10:25 pm Post subject: Tours To Beijing. Have You Done One? |
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I'd like to know from people who have been to Beijing on one of those guided tours.
Was it worth it?
Which tour agency did you use? |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 1:04 am Post subject: Re: Tours To Beijing. Have You Done One? |
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| Dev wrote: |
I'd like to know from people who have been to Beijing on one of those guided tours.
Was it worth it?
Which tour agency did you use? |
Yes I have. Hanatour and Mode Tour.
IF you get the 500k won package... go for it... It includes all the sights BUT they will run you ragged and you will get to travel all that way to eat Korean food.
BUT
If you have to pay more, do it yourself. You don't need a tour package. Get a hotel like the Home Inn Chain. Prices are affordable.
Someone at the front desk will speak English.
The menus and guest information is all bilingual (English / Chinese).
You will be within easy travel distance (walk or short / cheap taxi) to all the major sights EXCEPT the Great Wall and the Summer Palace.
They can help you get a day tour out to the great wall and it is only about 15k won (or less) for a taxi out to the Summer Palace (far north west corner of the city). |
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JAWINSEOUL
Joined: 19 Nov 2005
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 1:12 am Post subject: |
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I took a "Hana Tour" trip and it was great. The only down side was the lack of free time we had, but we had a great time.
I blogged my experiance - http://jaw0604.blogsource.com/ |
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butlerian
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 4:37 am Post subject: |
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| Great value package tours, but expect it to be tiring with little free time and rushing from one place to the next. |
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Binch Lover
Joined: 25 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:22 am Post subject: |
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Took a Xanadu tour last winter. We saw all the sights and the hotel was very nice and all that, but it's a bit of a scam. The tour guide would rush us through the sights and then we'd spend two hours in a jade factory (I tended to sleep through these on the bus).
It would have been fine actually but there was a group of idiot Canadian girls (the worst kind, I normally like Canadians) who just wanted to shop and weren't at all interested in being in Beijing. So we'd have to wait for these girls endlessly at any bs overpriced factory they brought us to cos the guide got a cut. But then we all got to laugh at them when we got better stuff for half the price they paid, in a couple of hours at the market. F*ckin retards |
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bixlerscott
Joined: 27 Sep 2006
Location: Near Wonju, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:35 am Post subject: |
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Yes, I took a bus tour to Italy from Germany 10 years ago and it was all about being rushed from ceramic factory to ceramic factory to shop for fancy expensive things I cared nothing about with little free time to explore historic sites and museums. I was about the only young man on this tour full of senior citizens and women. I realized that organized tours any where in the world are usually focused on controlled forced shopping and are good for people who are not an independently self led.
I have since traveled on my own simply by buying transportation and staying in cheap motels and hostels everywhere I went, usually with no advance reservation on the cheap sleeps. You can get the best more authentic souveneers too. Usually works like a charm for an independent self led traveler unless you were doing something like going to China during Lunar New Years. (have not done it, but know it would be very difficult without reservations) Those organized (shopping) tours common throughout the world do good service for older folks and others seeking the safety net a tour might offer as they do help them get out who would otherwise not be able to on thier own.
Breaking out the Lonely Planet books and the internet as my tour guide.  |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Binch Lover wrote: |
Took a Xanadu tour last winter. We saw all the sights and the hotel was very nice and all that, but it's a bit of a scam. The tour guide would rush us through the sights and then we'd spend two hours in a jade factory (I tended to sleep through these on the bus).
It would have been fine actually but there was a group of idiot Canadian girls (the worst kind, I normally like Canadians) who just wanted to shop and weren't at all interested in being in Beijing. So we'd have to wait for these girls endlessly at any bs overpriced factory they brought us to cos the guide got a cut. But then we all got to laugh at them when we got better stuff for half the price they paid, in a couple of hours at the market. F*ckin retards |
I loved the Xanadu tour, but do think the time we spent at the factories could've been reduced. I stayed extra nights and did all the other things in Beijing I wanted to do. Our tour guide was great and wrote lots of stuff down for us in Chinese to show cab drivers.
Go to "Old Bar Street." It's much better than "New Bar Street," although on new bar street you can get a hookah for $3 US. |
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stealth_fighter
Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 7:49 pm Post subject: Keep away from OK tour |
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| If you come across OK tour for Beijing, keep away from them. They ripped off 800000W, but it was a forced shopping tour. |
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