Travel: China - Shanghai
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When I first visited Shenzhen, the attractions are clean and not many people. But nowadays, the people from China are rich and they also visited these places. The second time I visited with my sis, found that the places were not as clean as before and a lot of their local people there smoked and they blocked your view from watching those shows, no manners. Sorry not biasing, but this was my encounter.
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starlight1968sg:
Shanghai Metro Line 2 takes you from pudong airport to hongqiao airport terminal 2 in 70 minutes, including an change over from 4-car train to 8-car train, and this train passes through the shanghai city stopping at every station. Fare : Rmb 7 / pax
I will touch down at Pudong and will catch a train (east) or bus (north) to Hangzhou.Dnls_mum:
I was staying 3 nights in Hyatt and 2 nights at Banyan Tree. It is definitely no where near Hyatt. If i recall correctly, it is near Shangrila and Yue Fei Temple. Only DH arrive HZ by train, but I arrived via plane so i have no idea where the train station is actually located. Sorry. :scratchhead:
What are your plans?
So I have to make up my mind on the mode of transport because the hotel I will book will be based on where I arrive.
If the performance is located near Yue Fei temple, then it may be nearer to the bus station ie at the northern part of the lake.
We are thinking of staying in HZ for either 2 or 3 nights before proceeding to Shanghai by train. Places to visit would be Yue Fei temple, a cruise in West Lake, Six Harmony Pagoda which is quite far south to see Qian Tang River. In addition, we may want to visit the National Tea Museum. We are unsure if we can complete all these within a day or so.
By taxi : also about one hour, Rmb 200 approx; by coach Rmb 30/pax but takes about 60 minutes.
At Hongqiao airport terminal 2 basement, buy your train tickets to HZ. train number staring with 'G' is bullet train @300km/hr, 'D' is high speed train up to 200km/hr, 'K' for express train..
visit http://www.shike.org.cn for the train schedule and ticket price
trains in china very punctual -
starlight1968sg,
Just fyi. I took the CTC tour from Hong Kong to China for the visit to Shenzhen. You can do so for others tour to China from Hong Kong to save some brain cells for thinking too hard on the itinerary.
I'm kapo again.
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starlight1968sg:
Just thought i can give you a rundown of our hangzhou itinerary to give you an idea of what can be done in any particular day. The itinerary was not rushed at all, had time to sit down for coffee etc.
I will touch down at Pudong and will catch a train (east) or bus (north) to Hangzhou.Dnls_mum:
I was staying 3 nights in Hyatt and 2 nights at Banyan Tree. It is definitely no where near Hyatt. If i recall correctly, it is near Shangrila and Yue Fei Temple. Only DH arrive HZ by train, but I arrived via plane so i have no idea where the train station is actually located. Sorry. :scratchhead:
What are your plans?
So I have to make up my mind on the mode of transport because the hotel I will book will be based on where I arrive.
If the performance is located near Yue Fei temple, then it may be nearer to the bus station ie at the northern part of the lake.
We are thinking of staying in HZ for either 2 or 3 nights before proceeding to Shanghai by train. Places to visit would be Yue Fei temple, a cruise in West Lake, Six Harmony Pagoda which is quite far south to see Qian Tang River. In addition, we may want to visit the National Tea Museum. We are unsure if we can complete all these within a day or so.
Day 1 : Left HZ aorund 10am for Wuzhen East section. After late lunch proceed to West section. Dinner in Wuzhen west section before returning to HZ by around 9pm.
Day 2 : Full Day Tour of Westlake area in HZ. Walk along Su Causeway, boat ride/cruise to SanTanYinYue, PingHuQiuYue, visit LeiFeng pagoda, visit LingYing Temple and FeiLaiFeng, Shopping along XinHeFangJie. At night watch Impression westlake
Day 3 : Half Day Tour of 6 Harmony Pagoda, Visit Longjing Village, Visit former residence of HuXueYan, request guide to take us shopping for silk blanket. We went to a state owned shop instead of buying from shops along XinHeFang Jie because we ks and wanted to ensure that we get authentic stuff. Thereafter we transferred to Banyan Tree to checkin and enjoy the spa and resort.
Day 4 : Half day tour of Xixi wetland. Afternoon relax in spa and resort.
Day 5 return to Shanghai to catch our flight back.
Hope this is of some help. I think we were able to accomplish a lot because we had a car ready to pick us up from one place and move on to another. The guide always called before hand and the car is always waiting and ready to pick us up when we are done.
If you have time, Wuzhen is worth a visit if you have not visited any other water villages in China.
Are you going to HZ during Mid-Autumn Festival? I ask because the tidal bore at Qian Tang river occurs on that day only or I shd say is highest on that day. Other days, nothing special. But you can see a section of the river from 6 harmony Pagoda. -
Thanks Dnls_mum for sharing your itinerary.
We will go there in late Oct. -
starlight1968sg:
Late Oct will be so much better in terms of weather. We were there in Aug and it was really humid. The changing colours of autumn will be beautiful too.Thanks Dnls_mum for sharing your itinerary.
We will go there in late Oct.
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Hi Dnls_mum,
Am keen to do a F&E trip(small family w a 8 yrs old boy) to Hangzhou & Shanghai but can only travel after 1st week of Dec. Is Dec an ok time to visit? If we're going, it'll be our 1st holiday trip to China... Beside Westlake, any other good recommendation?
Seem not much choice of direct flight to HZ except for Jetstar with timing which i don't fancy... so better to take to Shanghai & then take a train to HZ?
Wanted F&E as i've heard that package tours to China are very hectic while we prefer more leisure pace & not changing too many hotels.
Thanks for your advice in advance
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December is already winter and it gets dark around 5 pm, short day light, cold and damp, but a different way to enjoy the place
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yeah... i don't really like going such period too.. but with schooling kid, u can only either go for cold dreadly winter or hot summar... no more spring & autumn
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spanly:
VK2010 is right. Dec is winter and will be pretty cold and it snows. But if you like cold or want to experience something different, then why notHi Dnls_mum,
Am keen to do a F&E trip(small family w a 8 yrs old boy) to Hangzhou & Shanghai but can only travel after 1st week of Dec. Is Dec an ok time to visit? If we're going, it'll be our 1st holiday trip to China... Beside Westlake, any other good recommendation?
Seem not much choice of direct flight to HZ except for Jetstar with timing which i don't fancy... so better to take to Shanghai & then take a train to HZ?
Wanted F&E as i've heard that package tours to China are very hectic while we prefer more leisure pace & not changing too many hotels.
Thanks for your advice in advance I was told by the locals that best time for Hangzhou is spring or autumn. Not sure if any attractions will be closed in winter, so you'll need to check that.
You are right that only Jetstar fly direct to Hangzhou. As I was flying there alone to meet DH, I took Jetstar because I did not fancy traveling such a long distance by road or rail alone. I kiasi! :rotflmao: But I am usually not a budget flight person so I paid extra for the first row seat but must say it was not bad once I took out my iPad, put on my headphones and watch my movies. Be prepared that the maybe lots of Chinese tour groups on that flight (at least mine had) and even the chinese student returning home from Australia who was sitting next to me commented that it was like a market behind us!
:rotflmao: And it's true that you arrive around midnight and so that's why I had the hotel, (Hyatt) pick me up from the airport. So it went pretty smoothly. Actually the timing of Jetstar to HZ is pretty gd. I left office a little earlier that evening, took my flight and arrived at hotel after midnight. Save 1 day leave compared to if I fly via SH. My leave very precious lah :rotflmao:
Going back, I took SQ since i was coming back with DH and we came back via Shanghai. I am too spoiled :rotflmao: but also because I redeem one way ticket on SQ so not ex lah :rotflmao:
Actually HZ mainly see Westlake lor and all the sites around westlake like pinghuqiuyue, santanyinyue, feilaifeng, lingyingsi, leifengta etc. You can try the itinerary I suggested above. Should be quite complete. If you have additional time, you may also want to stay overnight at Wuzhen Xizha (west area), instead of doing a day trip. Should be quite fun since it's like staying in a movies set :). Another possibility if you fly in or out via shanghai is you can go back via Suzhou, stay a night or 2 . Then train again to shanghai. Possible too.
And since you have a kid with you, can plan a visit to Songcheng. It may be a bit fake, but theme park lor, so can have some fun. We were both adults so we gave it a miss
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