China Travel Forum

[Lali]

I've been to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guilin/Yangshuo, Yunnan (Kunming, Dali, Lijiang etc.). Planning to visit Beijing, Xian and perhaps Lhasa. What are the other highlights ? I'm primarily interested in photographing scenic places (history, nature, culture).
Concerning Lhasa, I couldn't find direct flights from Beijing. Aren't there any ? Is it true that you can't travel to Lhasa individually and have instead to book a group tour in Chengdu ?
The LP China guide lists Dalian as one of the places in China to definitely visit. On the other hand I did some googling and checked photos of Dalian. It looks like a modern town, without too many attractions. Has anybody been there and is the place worth visiting?

[kamal]

Since you've been to the southwest before, why don't you try the west? Xinjiang meets your needs for history, nature and culture. You'll see a very different part of China, because of the Muslim influence. I recommend visiting Turpan and Kashgar, at the least. Distances are long, so you'll probably want to fly from Xi'an to Urumqi, and maybe from Urumqi to Kashgar.

If you can't spare the time and money to get all the way out to Xinjiang, take an overnight train from Xi'an to Yinchuan, Ningxia and explore that area. My report on my trip to Yinchuan has fallen off the TT, but I can email you a copy of it if you are interested.

You can also fly to Lhasa from Xi'an. DelmarWilliams on this list has done it.

I visited Dalian several years ago and found it a nice clean, modern city, with a few things to see. IMO, it's not worth a special trip. OTOH, I think Qingdao is worth a special trip, for the German architecture.

[Roshka]

One of my "highlights" (apart from being in China ...) was the Xinjiang people with the Uygur population. Interesting to see the difference between them and the incoming Han Chinese, and great weather , acceptable food (try the breads if you go there, the small round ones). The towns along the road to Hotan are all traditional, if you stick to the Uygur quarters that is ...