China Travel Forum

[drat]

Hi all,
I'm planning on a 3-4 month visit to Asia next year (something like China > Vietnam (Hanoi) > Laos > Cambodia > Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh)) and am trying to work out an itinerary starting from Beijing and ending in Yunnan. I would like to take in Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Guilin along the way but these are only my immediate thoughts and am open to suggestion for other places or side-trips.
I'm not sure if it would be better to spend 4 or 6 weeks on this leg so could anyone suggest a budget, taking into account that I will be travelling solo and so will stay in hostels to meet with other travellers and be using trains and buses for transport, unless there is a must see destination which would be better visited by plane. I have a ball-park figure of £1,000 (~US $1,700) for 30/45 days = £33/£22 - $56/$37 each day which includes hostel, food, transport, attractions - or am I being unrealistic?
All advice is greatly appreciated!

[Hilal]

an average of 400 yuan per day (US $50...or even less depending on where you are) is definitely doable. i'm teaching in changsha and have done a small amount of wandering about (will do more during spring festival). the most expensive part of your trip will be getting here. after that, it's a breeze. during national day break in october i took a cruise through the three gorges and (without watching the budget too closely) spent around US $350 on the entire week-long trip (flight from changsha to chongqing, four-day cruise from chongqing to yichang, food, a few souvenirs, trains from yichang to wuhan and wuhan to changsha and hotel for three nights in wuhan). shanghai will be more expensive, of course, but it should all equal out given the more scenic parts of your journey.

definitely take trains where possible. they're so inexpensive and an experience unto themselves.

i don't know if i'd suggest going too far out of your way to do it, but if you have time the limestone peaks of zhangjiajie (national park) here in hunan are absolutely amazing.

happy planning!

[Guest]

Honestly, if you want to see China and spend around 10 euros per day, then just head west. East Guizhou for example is rich in living culture, and unspoiled nature. In the various minorities' villages you'd be paying around 2 euros for a double and peanuts for food and you'd get into life rather than monuments. Don't expect to find more than a couple other backpackers and be carefull with the buses when it rains. Even further west, Xinjiang sports some incredibly unspoiled corners on a 10 euro or less daily cost. Trust me: I've travelled twice in China for four months each time, and the only safe conclusion is the more west you go, things can only get more beautifull, cheap, freindly and personal.

In total, if you keep out of the big cities and the tourist traps (Pingyao, Taishan, Suzhou, Huangshan, Guilin, etc) and if you are ready to sleep where the chinese sleep, eat what the chinese eat and ride what the chinese ride, then your thousand quid are absolutely sufficient.

Good luck