Hi,
I am on the China Explored trip and I will arrive in the early afternoon [flight arrives around 12pm] the day before the tour starts. I would like to go to [in order of importance] the Summer Palace, the Ming Tombs, and maybe the Temple of Heaven in addition to the scheduled places on the tour. Will I have enough time to do this?
Will it be difficult to go to these places without a tour book? I do not have a Chinese tour book and hope not to have to buy one [since I have 4 books for countries that I am travelling to on my own.]
Your suggestions are most welcome.
Thanks!
Caroline
Re: China Explored
Hi Caroline,
It will be difficult for you to visit all three attractions in that one afternoon before the tour starts.
The Summer Palace is around 30-60 mins (depending on traffic) from the centre of Beijing, the Ming Tombs are about an hour away and the Temple of Heaven is right in the middle.
The Ming Tombs are pretty dull, there's a large underground chamber but that's it really.
You could comfortably visit the Summer Palace and the temple of Heaven in an afternoon which would be a relaxing yet active start to your trip.
To get to these places on your own you might not need a guide book but you will need somebody to write down each place in Chinese so that your taxi driver will know what you're on about.
I hope you enjoy the tour.
[b][email]chris@imtrav.co.uk[/email][/b]
Re: China Explored
Hi there,
I went on the China Explored trip last September, and like yourself arrived at about midday on day 1 of the trip. We decided, with some of the other folks in the party, to head off to the Summer Palace, and spent about four hours there before it closed, which was enough time to see most things - but certainly wouldn't leave you much time to reach the Ming Tombs too. Oh, and on the way back from the Summer Palace, you'll get to experience rush hour traffic in Beijing - time to catch up on that jet lag with a couple of hours kip in the back of a taxi!
To get there, we bought a map of the city from the folks behind the desk at the hotel (10 yuan -
Re: China Explored
Thanks!
Re: China Explored
Hi,
Just noticed a little cross wires in the above exchange. The main temple of Heaven is in the middle of Beijing and is definitely worth visiting. There is also a temple in the middle of the Summer Palace which is officially named Temple for Dispelling Clouds, but sometimes is nicknamed the Temple of Heaven. This is also nice but is certainly no substitute for the real one !
Enjoy your trip.
Re: China Explored
If you can only do one or the other, I recommend doing the Summer Palace, for the stroll along the long corridor. We have been to Beijing twice in the last 2 years and this beautiful wooden structure just blows us away each time we visit it.