Getting around China has become so much easier in the last 5 years. There has been a huge Government backed push to expand high-speed rail to every major city. The train pictured above is the "fastest" train in the world. Even though Europe has some trains that have set speed records, this train actually runs a schedule at the incredible speed of 349 KPH (or 217 MPH). this train runs from Guangzhou to Wuhan, with 6 schedule stops in between (including Changsha South, which is where we got off)
The price for a ticket is about 335 RMB ($50 US), so you don't see a lot of locals on the train, but compared to a 3-4 hour car ride, or a $250 plane ticket this is truly the way to travel.
There is a local Chinese saying that says "If you have the time you take the plane, if you have the money you take the train". This refers to the airline delays that China is famous for, and the expense/convenience of the extensive train network.
In 2 years they plan to have a Shanghai-Kunming train running, which will make it possible to traverse the majority of the Country in about 5 hours. Can't wait to take it next time we are there.
Getting to Guangzhou is fairly easy. As host to the Canton Fair, China's largest trade fair (and therefore one of the worlds largest) this city has some great transportation options and sees a lot of international business travel.
Note: US Citizens require a Visa for entry in to China. Single-entry, short-stay Visas may be applied for at the border, or in Hong Kong, but it is better to get your Visa before traveling. I recommend using ZVS and applying at least 45 days in advance
For ease of travel, I recommend going to Hong Kong first, enjoying some of the sites there, then heading inland.
Already in Hong Kong? Getting to Guangzhou couldn't be easier. Here are 3 options, listed in order of ease:
1. From Hung Hom MTR station buy a ticket on the Express ($190 HKG, Cash only!).
There are twelve trains daily between the two cities. Travel time is around two hours. There is 1 stop along the way (Dong Guan).
This will drop you at Guangzhou East (Guangzhoudong) station. From here you can take a taxi to your hotel, or walk if it is located in the area (Lilac, Westin, and many others are less than 5 minutes walk away)
2. Have some money left on your Octopus Card? Take the MTR to Lo Wu station, walk across the border (clearing customs) in to Shenzhen China, then take the express train from here to Guangzhou East. This will not save you much money, and cost a lot of time, but your call.
3. There is also a Ferry service running from Hong Kong to various Mainland China ports. I have used this service to get to Zhuhai, Zhongshan, and Panyu, but never with the intent of getting to downtown Guangzhou. Panyu is a southern suburb of Guangzhou and once there you can take a bus or taxi to your destination. I would only recommend this method if you needed to visit someone in Panyu first, and they could help you arrange to get in to downtown.
Don't want to go thru Hong Kong? Here is option 4
Fly there - The Baiyun International Airport (CAN) has flights directly from many major cities in the Pacific Rim, but I have found that getting there from the US is more difficult. You can take a connection in Narita (Japan) or Incheon (Korea) or even Hong Kong, but with the added time, connections, and my biased preference for Honk Kong I recommend flying in to Hong Kong, staying the night, and traveling in from there there. If you do fly in, be aware that the airport is a good 30-45 minutes away from any of the major downtown area.
Stay tuned for Part 2 - What to do while in Guangzhou
To me, there is no more international city than Hong Kong.
First, HKG is a destination for just about every major country in the world. While in the airport you will hear 20 different languages being spoken. The MTR (their Subway system) has everything in Cantonese as well as English, and I know they have a huge French, Spanish, African and Indian populations.
Getting around is simple. The MTR covers about 70% of the City, while cheap taxis and an extensive bus system cover the rest. Get an Octopus Card at any MTR station, load it with about $200 HK (@ $27 US) and you can travel all over without having to use cash. Note: Taxis do not accept the Octopus). Have a little money left over on it when you leave? McDonalds, Starbucks, 7-11, etc... also accept the card for payment.
Things to see? The Victoria Peak is a must, followed by the Ngong Ping 360 up to the Big Buddah. Walking Nathan Street aka The Golden Mile is also very high on the list. Below is my perfect day in Hong Kong:
(staying on the Kowloon side) 7 AM: Leave your hotel for walk along the Avenue of Stars, HKG equivalent of the Hollywood area with all the stars handprints 8 AM: Catch the Star Ferry crossing Victoria Harbour to Hong Kong island 8:30: Walk the 7 uphill blocks (or take a taxi for $10 HK) to the base of the Peak Tram 9:00 take the Peak Tram, one of the longest steel cable trolleys Spend the rest of the morning enjoying the views of HKG from The Peak. 12:00 Eat lunch at one of the excellent restaurants at The Peak 1:00: Take Taxi from Peak down to Central MTR station. You could ride the Tram back down but it takes longer and is more expensive. Plus, taking a taxi down the winding mountain road really gives these drivers a chance to shine (not for the weak of stomach) 1:30 Take MTR to Tung Chung Station Exit B and walk 5 minutes to the Tung Chung Cable Car Terminal. 2:00 Buy tickets on Ngong Ping tram, ride to top, spend rest of afternoon walking around the Giant Buddah 5:00 Take MTR to Tsim Tsa Tsui Station (pronounced Chim Cha Choy). 6:00 Have Fish and Chips and a Guinness at Murphy's Irish Pub on Nathan Road 7:00 Walk Nathan Road looking for great deals on souvenirs. Note: you will be offered hundreds of Copy Watch and Hand Bags. I suggest you decline. 10:00 Head to Knutsford Terrace for drinks and dessert. It's just a short walk up Nathan Road (look for the Red street signs, these indicate visitor areas). Have a Vodka in the Ice Bar, listen to the Chinese Mariachi band in the Mexican Restaurant, or enjoy some Tapas and wine in the Spanish Restaurant. Keep an eye out for elevators with signs on them, there are bars and clubs all the way up to the 6th floor here.
2 AM get some sleep.
Did I miss a ton of HK stuff? You bet, Lan Kwai Fang, Stanley/Aberdeen, Lei Yu Moon. But these will have to wait until another day.
Stumbled upon my old Blog by accident, and I found the timing funny as I am getting ready for another trip to Asia. I will be visiting Honk Kong, Guangzhou, Hanan, Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Ninghai, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Weihai, and Beijing. I am impressed that I have had 26 visitors this month, and I haven't posted in 3 years. I will throw some more stuff on here shortly and see if the visitors come pouring in :)
See you in 3 weeks, when I get back from my trip around China.
I know this isn't supposed to be a political blog, but I just have to say "No Bailout, No Way".
I like to consider myself fairly self-made. My parents gave me a good start, but they didn't hand me a set life. When I decided to marry my beautiful bride I knew I had to support her, so I joined the Navy in order to provide for my family. In that time we made some mistakes and ran up some bills. Instead of filing for Bankruptcy we put in a payment program and we become debt free next month (5 long years later).
While we were paying off this debt we knew we would be stretching ourselves to buy a home. Instead we rented for 4 1/2 years until we were able to get a Fixed Rate mortgage and live within our means.
Now people are planning to take MY money and reward those people for gambling with their money. Where is the right in this? Let the market correct, let the gamblers lose, let the failures fail, and STAY OUT OF MY WALLET.
It is not the job of the government to step in and save everybody when they make bad decisions. Small government, personal accountability, let me keep what I earn.
Each year I take a trip with my Father In Law. Normally we climb a major peak, or at least try to, but this year a friend recommended we take a Canoe trip in Yellowstone National Park. Now, we live about 3 hours from the South Entrance but in the 4 years we have been back in Wyoming this is only my 2nd trip there.
An amazing statistic is that 3,000,000 people (6 times the Wyoming Population) visit YNP each year, yet only 2% of them ever leave the pavement.
For our trip we paid Xanterra an ungodly fee to ferry us over to the SouthEast Arm of Yellowstone Lake. from there we took canoes 7 miles down to the very Southern end of the lake to camp. We were there for 4 nights, and I must say it was a trip that will be in my memories forever.
Even though we were in the middle of the busiest park in the US we went a full day without seeing anybody. The only sign we weren't totally alone was flickering campfires on the distant shores.
The picture above was taken from our 2nd campsite. The weather was unbelievable, the scenery beyond compare. I will post a few more pictures in the coming days.
So today opened the Archey hunting season here in Wyoming. Since it happened to fall on Labor Day we thought it would be great to head yup to the lake, camp for the weekend with friends and family, then head out hutning bright and early.
The weekend started great. Saturdays weather was perfect and even though we got out of town late it still was nice. Sunday was OK, little bit of rain and wind, but nice. We took the kids out fishing for a bit (no luck, but still nice).
After dinner me and a friend decided to go up to a high meadow and cold-camp so we could hopefully be in place for the early morning elk.
We positioned ourselves in the middle of a swampy meadow, sheltered by trees and some camo blankets. There were fresh elk beds all over and it seemed to be perfect.
Everything went fine until about 2:00 AM when it strted to blow and rain. It rained on and off (more on than off) for the rest of the moring. We got up at 6:00 so we could glass the meadow for elk. It was wet, cold, and empty. We stuck it out until 7:30 but realised the only dumb animals out in the rain was us. We headed back to the campers, made coffee and called it a day.
Luckily this is the first day of 2 months of Elk Season, so we live to fight another day.
