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barneygumbell
Joined: 27 Feb 2009
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 Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:31 pm Post subject: 7 weeks in china |
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hi,
i am going to china soon for 7 weeks..flying into beijing and out of shanghai..i don't think i'll buy a lonely planet so i'm just wondering if anyone has some recommendations for me.
thank you! |
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waynehead
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Location: Jongno
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:21 am Post subject: |
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| 7 weeks? Um...buy a lonely planet. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:30 am Post subject: Re: 7 weeks in china |
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| barneygumbell wrote: |
hi,
i am going to china soon for 7 weeks..flying into beijing and out of shanghai..i don't think i'll buy a lonely planet so i'm just wondering if anyone has some recommendations for me.
thank you! |
7 weeks? how did you get a tourist visa of that length of sojourn? Usually they are only 30 days.
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bbb0777
Joined: 24 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 1:04 am Post subject: |
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| Why...won't you be buying a Lonely Planet? That's somewhere around $.50/day...how could that not be worth it, especially for such an ambitious trip? |
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barneygumbell
Joined: 27 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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yea i'll just buy a lonely planet..i just thought it was a short time so no point buying one.
well i've looked at a few sites now and there are visas for 6 or 12 months i think..i really hope so now otherwise i'll be in trouble. maybe i'll have to run to hong kong..i think you don't need a visa for there if you're british. |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:49 pm Post subject: |
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| waynehead wrote: |
| 7 weeks? Um...buy a lonely planet. |
whatever u do, don't bring it to China with you
they confiscate it right at the border  
good news: you can buy it bootlegged from within China  |
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barneygumbell
Joined: 27 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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| anybody know if you can get more than 30 days on a visa? or if you can extend it when you get there? or even get a new one from hong kong.. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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| barneygumbell wrote: |
| anybody know if you can get more than 30 days on a visa? or if you can extend it when you get there? or even get a new one from hong kong.. |
Yes, you can get them in HK. You can even get them at the border crossing in Macau.
I don't know about extending one. I have never tried to do that.
I do know that you CAN ask for and get a double entry / multi-entry visa which may suit you better than paying for 2 separate visas and will effectively give you 2 - 30 day sojourns with the required "border crossing" out and in again.
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waynehead
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Location: Jongno
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:19 pm Post subject: |
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| ThingsComeAround wrote: |
| waynehead wrote: |
| 7 weeks? Um...buy a lonely planet. |
whatever u do, don't bring it to China with you
they confiscate it right at the border
good news: you can buy it bootlegged from within China |
That can't be right. I've seen them for sale in Shanghai, in that large foreign bookstore.
I've never had anything confiscated going to China, and I've been there a half dozen times. This ain't your granddaddy's china no more. |
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barneygumbell
Joined: 27 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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i'm not really too worried about paying extra for double entry or multiple entry..i just want to know that i can go there from korea and stay for 6-7 weeks. i have spent the whole morning searching for this information and it all seems unclear.
i don't want to have to buy another plane ticket to go there just because of visa problems. it would be too annoying and frustrating (and expensive).
also i'd prefer not to go to hong kong..it isn't really somewhere that interests me and it is far away from my entry airport (beijing) and my exit airport (shanghai).
i'm very grateful for any help...and thanks once again tom. |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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| waynehead wrote: |
| ThingsComeAround wrote: |
| waynehead wrote: |
| 7 weeks? Um...buy a lonely planet. |
whatever u do, don't bring it to China with you
they confiscate it right at the border
good news: you can buy it bootlegged from within China |
That can't be right. I've seen them for sale in Shanghai, in that large foreign bookstore.
I've never had anything confiscated going to China, and I've been there a half dozen times. This ain't your granddaddy's china no more. |
That's what I said. You can buy it bootlegged in China.
And yes, they still confiscate things. I know because upon visiting after the 2008 Olympics, they took my LP  |
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bbb0777
Joined: 24 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 10:13 pm Post subject: |
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Well...I went a month before the Olympics, and they didn't take mine.
I think...you probably had an exceptional experience. |
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Gamecock
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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| There's this great thing called the "internet" and you can find out all sorts of information about the best places to visit if you don't want to buy a LP. With that said, you really should visit Guilin/Yangshuo and perhaps even a bit of Yunnan province if you are able to procure 7 weeks. Having that much time and staying only near Beijing and Shanghai is a bit of a waste. |
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definitely maybe
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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| barneygumbell wrote: |
yea i'll just buy a lonely planet..i just thought it was a short time so no point buying one.
well i've looked at a few sites now and there are visas for 6 or 12 months i think..i really hope so now otherwise i'll be in trouble. maybe i'll have to run to hong kong..i think you don't need a visa for there if you're british. |
You can pay to extend your visa in China at various locations in just about any big city and police stations in some smaller towns. Any guesthouse worth their salt will be able to point you in the right direction. I extended mine at the police station in Songpan, Szechuan, in the end of winter a few years ago, which is not exactly a bustling tourist time. I went there twice and the place was closed, so the woman who ran a nearby restaurant called up and got someone to come down just to help me out. No idea how much it costs now, but it was around $25/week for an American in 2007, and you needed to provide some semblance of an official explanation of what you were planning on doing.
7 weeks is still not enough time to take in all of China, but it will allow you to see quite a bit. I'm very partial to Yunnan Province, particularly Lijiang and Old Dali. The capital, Kunming, is also great. I also enjoyed Szechaun. Songpan, the place i mentioned in the first paragraph, has horse treks in the lower Himalayas. It was rough going in March, but probably great in the warmer months. Gamecock is dead on about Guilin as well.
PM me if you have any questions about specific cities, spots, etc. I'd be happy to help. |
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samd
Joined: 03 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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| bbb0777 wrote: |
Well...I went a month before the Olympics, and they didn't take mine.
I think...you probably had an exceptional experience. |
+1. I've been there several times with a Lonely Planet and it was never even looked at.
OP, you don't really need a lonely planet. The train system is extensive - just look at a map of China and wikipedia, decide where you want to go, and travel in between those places by train. Buy a phrasebook and study it on the train and you'll be fine.
Go to Xian, Chongqing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, with 7 weeks up your sleeve you could even do the silk road out to Urumqi, which would be awesome. |
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