Tour of Suzhou

We will be in Shanghai late April with a fee day and are considering touring Suzhou. Any recommendations on how to do this with someone reputable? Thanks

Tour of Suzhou

Possible to DIY, actually.

What are your sightseeing interests and preferences? Suzhou is famous for Chinese classical gardens but I don%26#39;t recommend visiting anymore than two otherwise most probably you%26#39;ll be ';gardened-out';. Perhaps not the case if you%26#39;re a botanist, horticulturalist or gardener though.

You might want to email me at ellyse99@yahoo.com for more suggestions -- put ';TripAdvisor'; and your own username (eg abirder) in the subject line please.

Tour of Suzhou

One Garden + Hu Qiu Mountain

Hopefully you would not see too many tourists there which would guarantee ruin your visit for any garden.

You can choose Liu Yuan (鐣欏洯) Garden which is the most famous one (used to be the home for the famous Christian ';peaceful kingdom'; army marshal Li XiuChen%26#39;s home when he occupied the area around 1860s). Anther not that famous one is ';Wang Shi Yuan';, the suzhou garden you can see at Metropolitan Art museum is a copy of that one.

Hu Qiu Mountain and its Leaning Tower is unique.

My family and I recently took a 1-day tour of Suzhou via Shanghai with a tour company called DTS (Destination Travel International - Shanghai Branch). They were recommended by our hotel as an agency geared toward international visitors. The young tour guide assigned to us was professional, enthusiastic, considerate and very likable. We were very impressed. The driver was also excellent, treating us to smooth and uneventful rides (not to be taken for granted in China). As we purchased a private tour for 5, we were sent a van instead of a bus. The Mercedes was new, clean, and equipped with working seatbelts. We were all very happy with our Suzhou experience.

I think if you are traveling with young kids or elderlies or in a group larger than 4, you should definitely consider booking a tour instead of DIY. From what I saw, the Suzhou tourist area is not easy to navigate. The roads are unpaved and dusty, full of rocks and holes, and not particularly well-marked.

Tiger Hill is also one of my favourites but not usually on my selection for a daytrip as it takes a longer time to explore and most daytrippers would rather see more sights and spend less time in each.

My personal favourites for gardens are Master-of-Nets Garden (Wang Shi Yuan 缃戝笀鍥?as above) and Lion Grove (Shi Zi Lin 鐙瓙鏋?.

';The roads are unpaved and dusty, full of rocks and holes, and not particularly well-marked.';

Unpaved? Tarred roads are the norm for touristy areas (and most of the rest) in Suzhou.

Dusty is correct though. It%26#39;ll be mucky when it rains.

';Full of rocks and holes'; -- I think Suzhou is doing a lot of road construction at the moment, that might be the reason.

Not particularly well-marked? You%26#39;re weren%26#39;t looking in Chinese. :P

Animal attractions in Tianjin and Beijing

Hi, I%26#39;m coming to China in May and I%26#39;m wondering if anyone knows of any animal attractions outside of Beijing zoo. I%26#39;ve been looking but can%26#39;t find anything.

Thanks

Animal attractions in Tianjin and Beijing

Haven%26#39;t heard of any.

cream treatment

Days inn Forbidden city

Hi,

Can I get the map to reach ';days inn forbidden city'; hotel from Beijing railway station or near by underground or from airport.

Thanks..

Days inn Forbidden city

Helo,

The hotel information as follow :

Location:

Days Inn Forbidden City Beijing is located in central Beijing, adjacent to the Forbidden City, which is close to the downtown area. To the east is Wanfujing Street, along West Chang An Avenue and with a 3 minute walk to Tiananmen Square. The hotel is surrounded by the Forbidden City and the People%26#39;s Congress Hall, which create a superior cultural and artistic environment for the establishment.

Address: No.99, Nanheyan street,Dongcheng District, Beijing　P.R.C 100006

Tel: 86-10-65127788

Fax: 86-10-65260882

I think you can buy a beijing map to find out the hotel.

Days inn Forbidden city

Hi,

Thanks for the information.. can you give info about abt the near by train/metro station..

The hotel near the subway. also the rail station is not far.

Hi, I also booked this hotel for November, do you have an idea where I can get the address in chinese for Days Inn? So I can show it to the taxi driver. Will be coming from the railways station.

Location map for this hotel: http://www.bjhotels.com/map/3320.gif

Hotel name in Chinese characters: 北京香江戴斯酒店

Hotel address in Chinese characters: 东城区南河沿大街南湾子胡同1号

It%26#39;s very close to Grand Hotel.

Thanks Everyone! Have been very helpful :)

I have a question about the accommodation at this hotel - Days Inn Forbidden City. There are some cheap rooms that specify they have queen beds and are on the basement level. Basement level to us is below ground level. Are these rooms beloe ground level, are they good, or is it better to splash on the deluxe rooms? Thanks so much for your help.

Cheers

Cas

Unfortunately all names and addresses in chinese only come up as boxes on my computer. Does anyone know where to go to get the correct information for this hotel?

Thanks

Cas

Read all the comments about days inn forbidden city

tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g294212-d672600…

Great Wall Tour: Leo Hostel or Downtown Backpackers?

Has anyone tried these tours? I%26#39;m trying to decide between the two.

The Backpackers looks cool because it%26#39;s a hike. I%26#39;m not too sure about Leo Hostel.

I would appreciate any input.

Thanks!

Great Wall Tour: Leo Hostel or Downtown Backpackers?

My understanding was that all the backpackers shared the same tours - the bus cruises round BJ for an hour picking up people from all the hostels. Thoroughly recommend the Jinshanling to Simitai hike if you are fit enough to walk 10 Km in 4-5 hours.

Great Wall Tour: Leo Hostel or Downtown Backpackers?

AFAIK, they go to different sections.

Downtown Backpackers go to Jinshanling-Simatai; while Leo Hostel goes to their ';Secret'; Wall or Mutianyu.

XiTang transportation

Is there busses or train service from XiTang back to Shanghai

XiTang transportation

no train, but there is bus,you may ask the native for where the bus station locate, normally there are lots of traveller bus from shanghai to xitang everyday, you can take any of them back to shanghai. good luck.

XiTang transportation

At Shanghai Stadium there is a bus terminal, including a bus to Xitang. It was an all day excursion, including the trip there and back. The cost was 120 RMB.

Be warned there was a shopping stop on the way back - 1.5 hours in the middle of nowhere.....

Here%26#39;s some info I posted on another forum. You need to get to Jiashan first, then you can catch a bus to Shanghai.

Xitang

Getting there:

Xitang 鈥?Jiashan: It鈥檚 around a 5-10 minute walk from the Old Town to the road to get the minibus to Jiashan. Pay on minibus (3 yuan).

From Jiashan, I think there are frequent buses to Shanghai.

At Xitang you will be met by cyclo 鈥?rickshaws. They say that they will charge 2 yuan to take you to the Old Town. Then they tell you about 60 yuan entry charge but they say not to worry, as they have 鈥榮pare鈥?tickets. At entrance they give you 鈥榮pare鈥?tickets which are punched by the ticket guy. The rickshaw will then take you to guesthouse (which probably pays him commission). He then wants 30 yuan for the journey plus getting you into old town for 鈥榝ree鈥?

This might seem a cheap way of getting in. The problem is that the 60 yuan ticket includes admission to many of the sites in the town, and anyway you can get a 30 rmb ticket and then pay for each place individually (4yuan up). Therefore, you don鈥檛 really save any money by paying the rickshaw driver direct.

*Guesthouses / hotels / rooms in Old Town: *

There seem to be many 鈥?although most have no English name. I paid 110 yuan for a basic clean double with bath and air con. Look around a bit and you can probably get a room with more character / river view / terrace etc.

Restaurants:

There are plenty around although many (all?) are without an English menu. Prices are reasonable - 10 - 20 yuan a dish. There are dishes such as shredded potato, egg plant, dumplings, pig knuckle and spare ribs as well as fish, river prawns and river snails. Beer is around 10 yuan a bottle. There are a couple of empty bars playing hits from the 90s but we enjoyed a couple of beers from a restaurant on a bridge near the boat trip pier.

Other things:

On Sunday / middle of the day several coachloads arrive. After the day trippers leave, the town is quieter, although teenagers remain in the evening playing with sparklers on the boats. Boat trips on the river are 100 yuan for a boat of 12 people.

Mosquitoes 鈥?for a water town there didn鈥檛 seem to be many, although perhaps I was lucky!

Electricity for Old Town was cut off at 7 am in the morning! Then woken up by loud voices of old women complaining.

.

The tops of the bridges are great places to sit to enjoy the breezes.

Overall a nice, friendly town making a change from its bigger neighbours. Definitely worth an overnight stay.

Xitang has no train station so if you take the train you%26#39;ll still have to change at (most probably) Jiashan to a public minibus/taxi.

Read my VirtualTourist Xitang Transportation travel page for a relatively complete answer to your question: members.virtualtourist.com/m/1d57/f2e9f/9/

channel

ocean park /disney land

hi im having a 3 day stop over in hong kong and would like to take my girls 7 and 10 years to disney land and ocean park. is there a restriction on the height and age for the rides like the roller coaster

also ant ideas would be appreciated on hotels near shops markets also where to go with my girls in this short stay

thanks

terry

ocean park /disney land

after ocean park (4 or 5pm), you can head to causeway bay for a little shopping and then end the day in victoria peak for a good view of HK.

after disneyland, you can still have time for the night market in mongkok.

a 3rd day can be spent in tsim sha tsui and maybe a trip to central or stanley.

for hotels near shops, stay in tsim sha tsui, mongkok or causeway bay district. lots of decent hotels but it depends on your budget. try to get 1 near an mtr exit for convenience.

ocean park /disney land

hi! just got back from HK. if i remember correctly, the minimum height req%26#39;t for the mine train and other similar rides at ocean park is about 140cm. same with space mountain at disneyland, i think. i suggest you go to ocean park early, as queues can be pretty long, so your girls can go on every ride. enjoy!

In Ocean Park, the main height thresholds for rides are 122 cm amd 132 cm. Mine Train (roller coaster) is 122 cm, while Abyss Turbo Drop (vertical free fall) is 132 cm. There are still some rides that they may ride even below 122 cm.

In Disneyland Park, the main restrictions are Space Mountain (roller coaster) is 102 cm; Autopia, driver is 137 cm and passenger is 81 cm.

thanks guys

info was great hoping by christmas my girls have grown a few more cm%26#39;s

if you go to ocean park after seeing the pandas head for the top part of the park ,because the rides and attractions in the lower part are pretty lame

If you are going to Ocean Park and are interested in the animal shows then make sure you check the schedule of shows before you go. I was disappointed that on the day I went all the shows were scheduled for the afternoon, not the morning, so I saw the Pandas, took the cable car ride and then left (not really interested in the rides).

recommended immunizations?

hello,

my mother and i are traveling to china w/ a tour group (china spree) in april, and i wanted to see what vaccines are recommended?

we%26#39;re planning on getting hep A (already have hep B immunization). but what about typhoid, etc? going by the CDC website, etc.. looks like we need multiple immunizations. but what do people really get?

we%26#39;re traveling to beijing, shanghai, hong kong, and a few smaller cities (including Guilin).

thank you!!!

recommended immunizations?

All you will need it Hep A and B and your Tetnis shot. That%26#39;s all most people get as you%26#39;re not going to any really small rural places, Guilin has 6 million people... but that is a small city in China.

recommended immunizations?

The best thing to do is go by what the CDC says and then also consult your doctor.

thanks for the replies! the 2 replies represent some of the variable advice i%26#39;m receiving offline as well. we%26#39;re definitely getting hep A and B.... can anyone who%26#39;s traveled to china comment on whether they received the typhoid vaccine? we%26#39;re not going to any high-risk malaria areas, but we are wondering whether it would be worth it to get the typhoid vaccine....

thanks!

I recently received my vaccinations which were Hep A and B and typhoid. The travel clinic that I went to strongly recommended the typhoid. Also my brother in law who lives in China recommended the tyhpoid. I was also told to take malaria pills for visiting him in Dong Guan City but he said that was overkill.

thank you so much for your reply! everyone%26#39;s advice has been very helpful and reassuring.

I think one poster above added one zero too many to the Guilin population.

I%26#39;ve never had a typhoid shot, but the disease is reported to be on the rise in China.

It would seem to be more of a concern in southern, rural places but I can%26#39;t find any good information about where cases have occurred.

The nurse at the travel clinic I visited felt the typhoid vaccine was optional, depending on my travel plans: not necessary if I would be primarily in urban areas, eating in restaurants; advisable if I planned to be spending lots of time in rural areas eating in private homes. Basically, she didn%26#39;t feel it was necessary unless I got pretty far off the beaten track. None of your destinations qualify.

Your doctor may feel differently though, or the situation may have changed. A good travel clinic will have updates on the disease situation in all areas of the world and make recommendations based on the most current information.

Susan

Would vaccinations be needed for someone just going to Beijing and not to rural areas?

Hello

My sisterand I and a friend are travelling to China in three weeks time from Australia and we have all been advised by our Doctors and the health Department (all different doctors) to have the combined (one needle) of hep A and Typhoid. My doctor is Thaiwonese and my sisters doctor is Indian and they agree to have the shots.