Help me drafting my trip?

[Peng]

I am going to Osaka, Japan to do an internship this summer. I have been thinking about visiting China and Korea from Japan and trying to figure out how to travel around in China with little expenses.

I'd like to travel in China for one or two weeks in August. I am planning to take ferry from Osaka to Shanghai (either Xinjianzhen or Suzhouhao). It takes around two days to arrive Shanghai.

I plan to stay in one city for one or two night. So my draft is like this:

Shanghai > Suzhou > Nanjing > Anyang (tomb of Cao Cao) > Xi'an > Taiyuan > Beijing (seven cities in total).

Is it possible to find such a train that can take me to those cities? Any ideas or recommendations that will help me handle my budget? I am planning to find a hostel at hostels.com

Many thanks!

[anonymoose]

Going from Shanghai to Suzhou and onto Nanjing should be no problem. Trains depart from Shanghai Railway Station.

I don't know what kind of budget you will be on, but there are a fair number of economy hotel chains which have popped up recently, and usually charge less then 200 RMB per night. Some you can even get for less than 100 RMB, although not all of them take foreigners (or at least that's what I was told when I tried one of them in Shanghai).

[jbradfor]

Is the tomb of Cao Cao open? I haven't been following it closely, but I thought it wasn't. Are you getting it confused with the Tomb of Fu Hao?

You also might want to consider flying for at least part of the legs. Xi'an is a bit far away, and domestic plane fares can be quite cheap.

[taylor04]

Are you wanting to ride the ferry because you think it's interesting or because it cheap? I looked at the costs of going to Japan when I lived in China, and for some reason I think it was cheaper to fly. You might want to look around and think how much those two days are worth even if it is a little cheaper than a plane

[Peng]

Going from Shanghai to Suzhou and onto Nanjing should be no problem. Trains depart from Shanghai Railway Station.

I don't know what kind of budget you will be on, but there are a fair number of economy hotel chains which have popped up recently, and usually charge less then 200 RMB per night. Some you can even get for less than 100 RMB, although not all of them take foreigners (or at least that's what I was told when I tried one of them in Shanghai).

Thanks for suggesting Shanghai Railway Station. I'd try to find an economy hotel in those cities. My budget is more likely under 1,000 USD.

Is the tomb of Cao Cao open? I haven't been following it closely, but I thought it wasn't. Are you getting it confused with the Tomb of Fu Hao?

You also might want to consider flying for at least part of the legs. Xi'an is a bit far away, and domestic plane fares can be quite cheap.

No, the tomb of Cao Cao isn't opened for anyone to enter this time, I think. You probably can see it few feet away from it because it seems that the villagers put straw rope around the tomb and you have to pay 5 yuan to see it (source).

I am not aware of domestic plane fares being cheap there so I found ctrip.com in another thread. Thanks for pointing out.

Are you wanting to ride the ferry because you think it's interesting or because it cheap? I looked at the costs of going to Japan when I lived in China, and for some reason I think it was cheaper to fly. You might want to look around and think how much those two days are worth even if it is a little cheaper than a plane

I just want to ride the ferry because it's cheap. I have been looking around several websites for flights between Japan and China, they are quite more expensive than ferry. Unless you can point me to the right direction…

[chrix]

in my experience, flights FROM Japan and back are more expensive than vice versa

[jbradfor]

I just want to ride the ferry because it's cheap. I have been looking around several websites for flights between Japan and China, they are quite more expensive than ferry. Unless you can point me to the right direction…

Funny you should mention that, I was just pricing flights recently and was surprised how expensive they were..... According to a wikipedia article, Osaka (KIX) has the second highest landing fees in the world, after Narita.

I was seeing r/t fares as low as $350, depending on a lot of factors, for low-cost Chinese carriers. How much is the ferry? I know our situations are not the same, but personally I would not want to spend 4 days on a boat (r/t) just to save $350.

Take a look here and see what you find: http://beta.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch [login as guest if you need to.]

LATER EDIT: I was curious. KIX -> PVG early August, then PEK -> KIX mid August is showing up as $520 on JAL. A bit more than I expected. But I still think better than 4 days on a ferry, unless taking a ferry really, ummm, floats you boat.