China Travel Guide II

[aranses]

can anyone answer if there is a direct flight from xiamen to shenzhen? we're going to xiamen by april 5 and plan naming pumunta ng shenzhen via xiamen on the 12th. Please help!

check mo sa china southern sis 

http://www.flychinasouthern.com/

[zhanne8]

ur a big help sis! thanks much!

[eang]

san yung outlet store in shanghai? can anyone pm me exact location or address? thanks!

[iluvescadasport]

^this thread might be of help:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g308272-i2804-k2602798-o10-Outlet_Store-Shanghai.html

Basta I remember, the 1st time I went there, nagbus ako. Hindi ko pa nga mahanap yun bus station haha

The second time I went there (kasama kasi mom ko, so may taga-bayad ng taxi haha), nag mrt kami until the last station of a certain train line (which I forgot, kasi nawala ko na mga notes ko, but try ko hanapin), tapos paglabas ng mrt station, meron pila ng taxi. nagtaxi kami hanggang outlet mall, which is cheaper. Kasi mahal if from people's square to outlet mall.

[Frenzied]

Just got back from my Shanghai Trip. Shanghai is such a beautiful city. It's soo big. If you plan to explore the city via train, I highly discourage bringing along kids and seniors. I think a maximum of 2 days is enough to explore Shanghai and do shopping. You can do a sidetrip to nearby cities like Hangzhou (which unfortunately for me I was not able to do).

It was really cold during the time I was in SH, the lowest I think was about 5 degrees or so.
Traffic was so bad but you have the option to take the train which is an efficient mode of transport in SH which will take u from point a to b.Luckily, my hotel has a nearby Train station so I had the option to take a cab or ride train.

Let me share bits and pieces of my SH trip:

Day 1 to 3 - were for business
                --Had dinner at M on the Bund - great place to see the skyline of Pudong. The place is packed with expats. The following night, had dinner at this great Chinese restaurant (canot recall the name of the resto but it was located at the Superbrand mall, i think at th 9th floor) and gave us a good view of the bund. lovely food as well.

Day 4 to 6- Leisure
Went around Pudong area, took pics of the tv tower, jinmao and i think the other one was the Shanghai World Financial center. Went to the apple store at IFC mall. It was heaven for apple fans. Was able to buy itouch casing for more or less rmb400, kate spade.

Lunch at Ding Tai Fung at Superbrand Mall. The food was good but not super WOW! Great view of the bund as well. Shopped a little at Toys R Us.

Then headed over to Yu Garden by train. Lovely garden. If you have no time to go outside the city, it's good to visit Yuan Garden. There was an authentic steamed buns place which I wanted to try but didn't get the chance to. Sayang!

After this, headed early to the CIrcus World (via train again) and bought Acrobratics ticket for RMB80. SUper sulit. DO NOT MISS THIS IN SHANGHAI. it was worth every penny spent. The place was just smAll so even if we bought the cheapest tiicket, there's really not much difference.  While waiting for the show to start, we went to a nearby mall and had starbucks and just went around

Day 5 -
TO BE CONTINUED

[Chili1113]

just got back from Beijing =) loved the trip! Thanks to ppl here for the tips. Was alble to cover everything on my list in 3 days: mutianyu, olympic stadiums, forbidden city, tiananmen sq, quianmen street, summer palace, also passed through ut didnt stay at wafungjing, changan ave, ximen, national theatre. I wish I added at least one or two more days though. thanks again

[mama squeak!]

^It's good to know you enjoyed your trip! Pero bitin talaga ang 3 days sis 'no. I'm still waiting na magkaroon ng schedule flight si hubby back there para sasama ako ulit.   

[Frenzied]

CONTINUATION OF MY SHANGHAI TRIP

DAY 5 - Started the day around 1:30AM and Went to Nanjing West Road in search of the Famous Yang's Fried Dumplings. It's inside a mall (2nd floor). It was not difficult to find it as everyone knows the place. We made sure we asked our concierge to write it in Chinese so we won't get lost. The place was packed. We ordered 3 orders of the dumpling (12 pcs) and 1 fishball soup.I loved the fishball soup but the dumplings to be honest was nothing great for me. Maybe I had a very high expectation. I loved the experience because we got the chance to dine with the locals and super siksikan talaga. Very funny and memorable experience.

After dining, we went to Science and Technology Museum -- not to see the museum but to shop. It was like greenhills and divided into sections -- pearls, apparels like clothes, shoes and bags. There was one section where you can buy suits or have it custom made. As always, I didn't get to shop a lot here because I didn't know what to get and most of the stuff they sell here are knock offs.

Went back to the hotel to rest.

At around 5PM, got dressed and went to Nanjing East for some photo ops. Had dinner at this Beef Noodle Place in the nearby mall (forgot the name of the mall but it had a ZARA on the ground and the name of the mall had numbers). Walked til we reach the BUND Area and took loads of photos again of the BUND and the Pudong Area.

After the photo session, took a cab to Xin Tian Di (like Greenbelt), had hot choco, hang out and just people watched. It started to become super cold and we called it a night already.

Day 6 - stayed at the hotel. Dine at the Hotel resto and got ready to go home.

It was a very nice city. I regret not being able to do a sidetrip to Hangzhou, suzhou or zhujiajiao. Maybe next time

[AnGeL06]

is anyone in Beijing right now? how's the weather like? I wanna know if I need to bring thick coats or normal jackets will suffice

Thanks!

[curlytops]

Will leaving for Shanghai on Monday. Sobrang short notice kaya i have few days lang to prepare. Kamusta ang weather? Same question din if need to bring jacket, thick clothes, etc.. Tia!

[zhanne8]

does anybody know the weather in xiamen by april 5 this year?

[mama squeak!]

^sis, no one will know definitely what the weather will be like. You only get weather forecasts. Check the link below to guide you:

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/hdfForecast?query=xiamen+china

 
 

[zhanne8]

ok, thank you mama squeak!

[anachanel]

If anyone is going to Guilin, make sure to check the night market, best I've seen so far (better than vietnam, cambodia, hongkong, and even bangkok!) But keep your wallet with you at all times! Grabe mga snatcher, and I thought manila has it hard!

[blooming]

By plane 2 hours. By train 10-15 hours.

From Shanghai to Beijing - wala bang bullet train?

[blooming]

^sis, here's my suggestion:

Day 1  - Badaling Great Wall - pwede ito DIY. Hubby and I hired a cab to take us there and back to the hotel for RMB500. We just asked the hotel staff to negotiate for us. Depends where your hotel is located a total of 4 hours including travel time is enough. Pay the driver when you get back to the hotel na.
             Olympic Village at night. It's better to visit at night as the lights are switched on at the "Bird's Nest" and the "Watercube". Madali lang to get there kasi easy lang yung subway system nila.

Sis, for the olympic villate, ano ang makikita inside?  Hindi ba at night, sarado na ang mga stalls or souvenir shops?

[mama squeak!]

^sis, when we went there we didn't notice any souvenir shops. Sadya lang talaga namin ni hubby was to see the Watercube and the Bird's nest. The former is where the swimming competition was held while the latter was the stadium. It's better to go there at night since you'll appreciate the lights.

[badmonkey]

If AUGUST ang punta ko ng china, kailan dapat ako mag-apply ng visa?

[mama squeak!]

^sis, madali lang ang Chinese visa application. Regular processing 4-5 days. Pwede mo na rin ipagawa sa travel agency so di ka na ma-hassle. Going rates for Makati travel agencies Php1400-1600 while yung mga Binondo based nasa Php1200.

 

[badmonkey]

^Thanks a lot!