Korean Job Discussion Forums

[shostahoosier]

Hi travelers...

I have 10 days for Chuseok and I'm thinking of going to Beijing. However, I've been told that that may be too much (I know...you could spend a month there, but this trip is to see the general things).

I would like to add Shanghai too, but I'm worried that I might be squeezing too much in to 10 days.

[mm]

you can take the night train to shanghai, 9hours or something like that, can sleep and wake up in shanghai. easy.

[jmuns]

yeah 10 days you could easily do both. the overnight train like mentioned above is the way to go. fastest trains are around 10 hours or so, the slower ones will take 12-13 hours as of a couple years ago. but its not bad when you leave at 8 and arrive in the morning. you can get a hard sleeper and its fine. you could also do all 10 days in beijing. go on an overnight camping trip on the great wall for a couple days, then just see all the sites. there are plenty of things to see/do.

[shostahoosier]

[D.D.]

fly between the cities . why waste 10 hours on the train. 10 days is perfect to see shanghai and beijing. I would even go to somewhere like west lakes outside shanghai for a couple days. shanghai is a better party town than beijing so be here for the weekend.

[JBomb]

Beijing is all posh clubs and very few bars. The bars also employ touts who can be quite annoyingly aggressive to try to get you into their place for drinks. The so called lady bars are even worse.

[jmuns]

beijing has thousands of bars. the above poster went to all the wrong places

[Xuanzang]

It'll be the Autumn moon festival there as well so keep that in mind.

[jomiro]

10 days is too much for beijing.
the night train to shanghai takes anywhere between 14 and 16 hours.
i did that on my way back from shanghai up to beijing.

i think 5-6 days is a good time to spend in beijing. if you wanna go to shanghai really bad, then you can get a cheap domestic flight once you are in beijing or book it online on ctrip or elong.com.

if you rather take pre-scheduled tours, then there are a few sites that offer those for a reasonable fee.
but honestly, when you are in beijing, doing the stuff there is to do and to see on your own is much better.

just the wall of china should be done with a tour, unless you have a driver with a car at hand and want to scold out 800 yuan yourself. a pre-scheduled tour runs at 120 yuan up to maybe 250 yuan, depending which part of the wall you want to go to.

badaling is the closest part. will take up an afternoon
mutianyu is further and might take up 3/4 of a day
and the part thats furthest away (always forget the name) you will need a full day for (due to the distance and traffic).

as for the bars. ive lived there for 1.5 years. there are a huge amount of bars of any kind. posh bars as well as casual bars. and neither of them is really expensive or host aggressive people.
try san dian san (its close to the workers stadium, north gate) or for the younger clubs try the north east of the city, a district called wu dao kou.

dongzhimen has very nice restaurants along gui jie (ghost street) and also isnt far from some bars.

all in all. youd do better flying to shanghai. dont consider taking a train. it will consume too much of your time.

have fun!