You can’t say you’ve been to China until…

photo_lg_chinaI have been in China for 9.5 months. Can you believe I have not visited Beijing yet? No Great Wall. No Forbidden City. No Tiananman Square. My time is running out. It’s crunch time!

Dragonboat Festival is coming up at the end of the month and we get a 3-day 4-day weekend, Thursday to Sunday. the original plan–concocted yesterday and changed yesterday–was to travel to Beijing with Avril. It looks like some of the other teachers are planning a trip just west of Wuhan, I just forgot the name of the city. It’s a city with a West Lake (西湖 xīhú). I think I’ll be joining them if they decide to go.

If I did decide to go to Beijing, seeing as time is limited, I think going by plane would be my best bet. It’s a choice between a 10- to 16-hour train ride for about 262元 to 429元 (one-way) or a 2-hour plane ride for about 650元 to 910元 (round-trip). Plane sounds like a good idea to me.

…or maybe I should spend my days in a 5-star resort in Sanya. I will do the lazy tourist thing where you lay on the beach instead of seeing the sights.

Resources:
If you’re looking to travel in China, here’s some places you should visit.

  • Seat61: Train travel in China – a beginner’s guide
    Links to all the useful sites for train travel.
  • China Travel Guide: Train times in English
    Where are you coming from, where are you going? You’ll get all the train times for your O-D.
  • Ctrip: Chinese Expedia
    Buy all your plane tickets online. Think Expedia in Chinese (they do have an English site).