SOOOO confused!!!
Our trip is 11 full dys in October and having read daily for months now, I am wondering if we should eliminate Shanghai and visit Lijiang (Yunnan) instead? Just the 2 of us, active So. CA,in our 50s.
Hard to advise , I know....
having said that, here is our plan: we want to definitely visit Beijing (4-5 dy: we have to fly in/out fr there), still considering possible overnight train to see TCW in Xian for a day and then fly to Guilin (directly go to Yangshuo) for a few dys and then to Shanghai for few days. I%26#39;m currently leaning on not gong to Xian (SobeSparky said the books of photos are better LOL) and I%26#39;ve watched youtube videos (funny BTW).
However, now that BJ is changing rapidly, not sure if Shanghai is a ';must'; see for the ';future'; China as it once was? Hence, should we skip it, as it is opposite direction and instead add time in Yunnan?
CondeNast had a great article ';12 Perfect Days in China';, which is great BTW and thus added to my confusion and difficulty choosing.
Our first trip to China and won%26#39;t return in future, so we hope to get a feel for the city/countrylife a little, due to limited time here.
We care most about meandering around, historical/cultural interests and don%26#39;t mind changing locations every 3 dys since our itinerary is somewhat ambitious.
Would love thoughts fr those of you who have seen all these places and can advise which to keep/eliminate.
(yes, I have read most guidebks,TA posts and still would love ideas).
thanks so much in advance!
Itinerary debate: Shanghai or rural area??Based on your taste, Shanghai is super modern %26amp; city life while Lijiang is not. Also shanghai is more ';china'; compared with Lijiang which is , let me put this way, same as Tibet for our Han-Chinese.
My feeling is since you lived in San Diego, probably you would hate Shanghai and perfer Lijiang, since almost all So. CA person hates NYC, which more like Shanghai life style.
Itinerary debate: Shanghai or rural area??It is difficult to advise you as it depends on your personal tastes. You are already doing countryside with Guilin (assuming you actually go to Yangshuo).
I am not a big fan of Xi%26#39;An either if only for the soldiers but there are other things to do as well.
About LiJiang, consider that is it quite far, there are no direct flights and the weather can make flight schedule unpredictable.
Yes for flights you would need to go via Kunming.
So I assume if you are flying to Lijiang from Guilin you would have to fly to Kunming first. There are only 2 flights available and the earliest one arrives into Kunming in the afternoon. Which would mean you then have to stay the night in Kunming or fly onto Lijiang and arrive early evening.
I would leave Lijiang for another trip where you could afford at least 1 week (if not more) to do that and the rest of Yunnan province justice.
go to Yunnan, but first you need to take flight to Kunming then transit other flights to different places in Yunnan. Personally I love Xishuangbanna, very nice %26amp; pretty rural area with a minority market on every Thursday ( if my memory is right-_-u).
If you want to learn the modern history of China, Shanghai is a must see place.
If you are more concerned about the rural life and culture diversity in China, lijiang is a good place.
It also depends on your available time. The transportation in shanghai is highly developed, so you can spend three days to visit majority must see place in Shanghai. However, it is quite difficult for you to do that in Lijiang, Yunnan, many places are far away from each others, although they are really attractive for people came from metropolitan area. I was grew up in Shanghai, I had ever spent three weeks in the areas around lijiang, but I still felt time is not enough. lol
I wouldn%26#39;t go to Shanghai or Lijiang--11 days isn%26#39;t that long! Do Beijing and Yangshuo. Maybe a day in Xi%26#39;an. It%26#39;s enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment