Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Smee]

Hi,
In January I'll have about 10 days to spend in China. I've never been there, and depending on whether I stay in Korea next year, I won't go there again in the foreseeable future. I'm planning for it now, using the internet and a travel book (don't recall the name). I'm sticking to eastern China, and there are a lot of things I'd like to see, but I don't really want to rush myself more than I have to.

My main question is whether I should attempt seeing Beijing and Shanghai, or just base myself out of one. I didn't realize they were so far apart until I started researching for this trip. If I do both I'd have to fly . . . no way I'm spending 12 hours on a train. I kind of think there's enough to do in both regions to justify spending all my time in either the north or south, but since I've never been there I'd like some input. I'm also interested to hear which region you'd recommend: north or south.

Oh, and a travel agent should be able to set up my visa, right? Any recommendations on who to go through? And how long in advance should I book the tickets?

Thanks.

[kat2]

If you want touristy/culture stuff, then you really can't miss beijing. There's a ton to do there and around there. We were ther efor only 4 days and just scratched teh surface.
Shanghai is nice as a break from korea (shopping, eating, etc), but really tehre's not much too see in thecity except perhaps the contrast between Shanghai and the more rural/poor parts of China.
We only had time to go shanghai and beijing, but i really wish we had had time to visit thecountryside of china.
So, i guess my suggestion is that if you want touristy/cultural stuff, Beijing and stay in the north. If you want shopping/eating/relaxing visit Shanghai.

[duns0014]

I've heard good things about the sichuan valley.

[Tiger Beer]

SOUTH!

YUNNAN PROVENCE.

I've been to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Yunnan Province.

YUNNAN was THE most interesting place by far!

[pugwall]

Ive travelled all over china, you cannot miss beijing really but shanghai is missable. Xian is great and really chinese. Henan province is good for Shaolin. You could go down the east coast BJ, hangzhou, suzhou maybe nanjing and shanghai and fly back to BJ. But east china has huge contrasts with west china with me prefering the west. Sichuan and Yunnan are overall the best provinces with the coolest stuff. You could do a few days in BJ and get a return flight to Kunming in Yunnan and maybe go upto Dali and Lijiang. Guangxi province is nice.

If cities are you thing maybe do BJ, Xian, Chengdu as those are probably the most truly chinesey.

flights arent expensive in the middle kingdom. use Elong.net.

So north is nice, south is super but west is best

[heydelores]

I was in Beijing for a week over Chuseok and definitely could have used more time. I'd stay there the whole time if I were you. You can always take a day trip or two if you feel you've seen everything you want to see in the city.

[heydelores]

[Lizoid]

I'm planning on going to China for Christmas too. I was warned against Beijing and Shanghai at that time of year because it's REALLY cold.

[pugwall]

[Smee]

Initially I was opposed to doing both b/c I didn't want to pack cold-weather clothes and warm-weather clothes. However, I looked on the internet and it said the average temperature in Shanghai in January is around 50 F, so I don't think it'll be necessary to bring summer clothes.

Anyway, thanks for your tips. I'm 99% sure I'll stay in the north during my trip. And I'm sure I'll have other questions between now and then.

One follow-up . . . for those who got visas through a travel agent, I assume you also got the tickets through the same travel agent? Any recommendations? I've considered buying tickets through interpark, as they're cheap, but I don't have the time to go to Seoul to get a visa. Is Kangsan Travel a good option here?

[Tony_Balony]

Its kinda cold in the north now.