Places to visit in China
According to my last When post, we probably won’t begin seeing rumors until sometime next week. Of course, anything can happen, but the numbers say we aren’t likely to see rumors just yet.
Let’s talk today about our favorite places to visit in China. Mine is easy, I love Guilin. Hong Kong is also a nice place to visit, in large part because it is so easy to get around there — the transportation systems all work in harmony with each other, and were designed to be user friendly. Anyone responsible for transportation in a large city should be required to spend a week with their family in Hong Kong to get an idea of how mass public transportation should work. There is plenty to do in a small geographical area, and there is lot’s of beautiful scenery.
But Guilin is still my favorite. I’m more of a country girl than a city girl though, so if you’re more of a city girl then you’ll probably appreciate Beijing and Shanghai a whole lot more than the mountains and river of Guilin and the surrounding area. If you’ve got the Big Bird in China
What is your favorite spot in China? Do you have any off-the-beaten path gems to tell us about?
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:42 am
As an archaeologist, I have to say Xi an. In addition to the archaeology, I found the city not too big but with lots of interesting things to see.
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:59 am
I can only comment on where we’ve actually been. From the pictures I’ve seen, Guilin seems breathtaking. Our daughter is from Hefei, in Anhui Province, so she was much closer to Shanghai than Beijing. We spent a couple days in Shanghai before arriving in Hefei. What I actually liked about Shanghai was that it seemed city like with all of it’s colorful lights, until we walked thru a tunnel to the park that surrounded the river. Then, it seemed as if I we were traveling back in time. We have a picture of a man carrying a bamboo across his shoulders with a bird cage attached to each end. There were lots of people doing exercises in the park, some to authentic Chinese music and some to polka music. Some were doing ball dancing. Shanghai was a bag of East meets West meets turn of the century meets 50s, and everything in between.
We stayed in Hong Kong briefly on the way home, and wish we would have gotten out but we were afraid we would miss our plane home.
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Usually a lurker, but thought I’d share some of our favorite places in China.
While we were waiting for our first daughter my husband found Longqing Gorge, which is outside of Beijing near the Badaling section of the Great Wall. We were able to visit Longqing Gorge during our journey to our second daughter. We were the only non-Chinese people there! It was/is breathtaking, and well worth the trip! Here’s a link: http://www.chinavista.com/travel/longqingxia/main.html
Our 2nd daughter is from Yunnan province, which is known as “Eternal Spring”. It is not only beautiful, but also the temperature is wonderful year around. The Minority Village, located outside of Kunming, is huge, and well worth the trip. There are “villages” for every ethnic minority in China represented in one place.
While in Guangzhou, I’d suggest visiting the Chome-Long Xiangjiang Safari Park. It’s fun for the entire family! Make sure you do the Safari on Wheels, in addition to walking around. (It’s similar to Disney World Animal Kingdom’s jungle safari ride, but on a much grander scale. When entering this section of the park there is a huge gate door that you drive through. It looked so much like the entrance to “Jurassic Park” that it made me a little nervous. LOL!) http://xjzoo.com.cn/ More and more agencies are sending their families here during their time in Guangzhou. I’ve been 2x, and can’t wait to take my family there next time we’re in Guangzhou!
Last, I suggest families visit different factories to see how things are made in China. We loved the jade factory (Beijing), porcelain factory (Guangzhou), and the embroidery factory (Changsha, Hunan – the double-sided embroidery was just amazing!) that we visited.
August 2nd, 2010 at 1:31 pm
we went 7 yrs ago, but the most memorable experience was the drive to the wolong panda reserve and then the reserve itself. i have no idea what it is like now after the earthquake, but the drive was breathtaking. it was so nice to get out of the big city and see the countryside of china. and then once at the reserve, we got to hold baby pandas (10 m), pet adult pandas and we even saw thru a window twins in incubators. on the drive home we also stopped at a temple and rode this skyline that i doubt would have passed any USA safety standards. gosh, it was a great trip!
August 2nd, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Chongqing!!! Awesome! The hot pot food, the rivers, the views at night…def. city girl style!
August 2nd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
We loved Wangfujing Street in Beijing. Great for foodies and photographers. We went the night we arrived because sleep was nowhere to be found.
I have always found that wandering the streets of any city or village that you are visiting provides many wonders. Just wander!
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:02 pm
DS2 is from Sichuan. We went fall after the earthquake. Stayed mostly in Chengdu. Loved the Chengdu Panda Breeding Center. Since we went so quick after the earthquake, we couldn’t go to Woolong. I think it was closed and some of the Pandas were actually at the Chengdu Center. Seeing so many was so amazing. I never in my life expected to see that many Pandas and they had babies too. We chose not to hold the babies due to cost and the fact we were afraid our little guy would think they were a toy.
I know Sichuan has many many beautiful areas. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get out of town too much. Alot of that I think was due to the recent earthquake. We want to get back.
I loved Beijing. I loved Tianneman Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. The main Great Wall visitor area is outside Beijing about an hour plus away. We had super clear cool fall day. Amazingly beautiful, the wall just went on and on. It was very crowded but still worth it. Granted the next day we met our son so we were jet lagged and distracted. Still I am so glad we went to Beijing first. It was a good introduction.
We are heading to Sichuan when DS2 is an early teen. We are going to see everything that we are allowed to see. Great thread.
I really want to Guillin. Those photos are amazing. Are they the karst formations?
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:59 pm
tong li!!! ancient canal city only about two hours from shanghai, and much like li jiang (the world heritage city) but quick and close and much more fun than shouzhou or hangzhou IMHO.
mogan shan, mountain town also about two hours from shanghai – unbelievable and undiscovered by westerners.
also loved shanghai and beijing – particularly the parks in beijing, where everyone was ballroom dancing beneath the trees….
August 3rd, 2010 at 7:52 pm
My DD is from a small town in Jiangxi’s north, so before we met her, we spent a few days in the nearby city of Jingdezhen, which is famous as the porcelain capital of China. They have been making porcelain for the Emperors of China there for over 2000 years and the kiln sites are still preserved and some are still working today. We visited the main kiln site, which included preserved historic buildings and a working porcelain artisans workshop (not a large scale factory, all handmade by master craftsman), beautiful gardens etc. There were countless porcelain factories and shops in Jingdezhen and in the main city area, all the streetlights have the most incredibly beautiful porcelain bases, it was just georgous. We also visited the nearby Ancient Fuliang County Seat which was a very well preserved walled town that had been the seat of power for the government of Jiangxi at one stage and includes Red Tower, one of the 4 famous pavilions of the Yangtze River. Unfortunately we ran out of time and didn’t get to visit the mountain town of Yaoli which we have been told by many people is a real highlight of the area.
We also visited Zhouzhuang which is another of the water towns close to Shanghai, as part of a day trip to Shuzhou and wished we had had the whole day at Zhouzhang, instead of only a few hours.
Also loved Shanghai, despite its population we never felt crowded and the Bund, Yu Gardens and the Jade Buddah Temple were all highlights.
August 4th, 2010 at 11:01 am
i’ve never been there, but i really want to go to kashgar, in the far west. it’s not from a big adoption region but everyone i know who has been there raves about it. it’s more central asian than chinese.
August 4th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Hi all! I first went to China in 1986. My parents were there in Shanghai from 1985 to 1988. I had travelled to other countries, but had never experienced culture shock the way I did then. Within days, I was fine and that is when I started to fall in love with such a beautiful country. Never had I experienced such deep cultural roots before. I have been to Shanghai, Beijing, Xi”an, Hong Kong, Hongzhou, Souzhou and for my daughter to Jiangxi province in Nanchang. What I would love to have again is the Temple food at the temple in Shanghai! It was the most awesome food! It tastes like chicken, beef, pork ect. and looks like it, but it is tofu! I really would LOVE to see Guilin…I agree the mountains and the river must be awesome! I am hoping to be going next year for daughter #2,but daughter #1 is most anxious to go and see China. I am so pleased to read such wonderful positive posts in regards to China! As