China Travel Forum

[Nora]

I am wondering if anyone has done China independently? Or is it still one of those countries you need to travel in a small group tour?
I am looking at a tour something like this - Hong Kong>Yangsho>Yangtze River Cruise>Chengdu (large carved Buddha) & the Panda Breeding Base>Xian(Terracotta Warriors)>Beijing.
Is this the pick of the many fascinating cities?how about the hotels?
Has anyone ever gone by train or flown from Beijing back to Hong Kong? Is it easy?
Thanks for any input!
It is still in the early planning stages.
Cheers,

[Henry]

I went to China in 2004 indepently and it was really great. I went to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Xian. I had a lot of time to myself to explore the cities and I found it really interesting. I only down two tours (to the Great Wall and Terracotta Warriors) which was also great, as I got a lot of history of on the areas from the tour guides. But it is really easy to get around in Hong Kong the transporation isystem is really good. In Shanghai the buses were really overcrowded but taxis were cheap. You have to either agree a price first or make sure its on the meter as they are prone to cheap foreigners. Even though I didn't speak any mandarin or cantonese - any of the younger people speak a little english and it was easy to get around.