Member Since: 10 Jan 2010
Location: NW Highlands
Posts: 5107
China recommendations
Does anyone have recommendations for hotels in Beijing/Tianjin and experience of travelling in China...sleeper train especially?
We are heading out late Jan to visit No.2 (this thread is not the one with East Asian bathroom connotations!) son while he is at Uni out there.
At the moment I think we'll spend 1st night 'Gold Lounge' room at the Fairmont Beijing and then a couple of nights in Tianjin at a good, but less expensive, hotel (but must have nice pool and sauna) for a few nights before heading off with him to the Harbin Ice Festival and onto Xian, where we'll leave him to explore further out to the west of China and we head back to Beijing.
I'm a veteran (so much I used to be invited to staff events) of the Caledonian Sleeper Inverness-Euston so have something to compare for the sleeper, but would be interested in people's experiences of the Chinese versions.Black 05 TDV6 HSE Auto
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18th Aug 2018 10:50 am
IndusD4
Member Since: 01 Dec 2011
Location: Sydney, NSW
Posts: 308
Don't expect taxi drivers to speak any English, make sure you have a printout of Hotel name and address in Chinese characters with you. Or have someone with you who can translate for you.
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18th Aug 2018 11:15 am
highlands
Member Since: 10 Jan 2010
Location: NW Highlands
Posts: 5107
Once we're in Tianjin our son will be our translator!
So just Beijing to tackle. I'm fairly used to working out in India, Africa, Russia, etc so pretty used to surviving. Black 05 TDV6 HSE Auto
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18th Aug 2018 11:18 am
dunton10
Member Since: 23 Dec 2006
Location: SUTTON COLDFIELD, WEST MIDS
Posts: 213
We didn’t have to worry about language difficulties as we were on a tour but I was pleasantly surprised in Beijing at the number of English signs and directions.
I can recommend the Kerry hotel. Great condition, superb rooms. Lovely communal areas etc
Good suggestion about carrying a card for taxis.Currently 2015 D4 SE Tech, Corris Grey
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18th Aug 2018 2:38 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73123
Re: China recommendations
highlands wrote:
We are heading out late Jan to visit No.2 (this thread is not the one with East Asian bathroom connotations!) son while he is at Uni out there.
Bet you’re now checking divider between the two parts of the room though?
Also interested in this as China is on the plans for a jolly, also travelling by train.
19th Aug 2018 7:11 am
highlands
Member Since: 10 Jan 2010
Location: NW Highlands
Posts: 5107
Very much so! Black 05 TDV6 HSE Auto
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19th Aug 2018 7:57 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73123
dunton10 wrote:
Good suggestion about carrying a card for taxis.
Most excellent suggestion. Also thought about a screen grab of the hotel’s Chinese address, would have to be sure it’s the address, not a head office address say. This one from https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/bei...index.html makes it easy.
19th Aug 2018 8:35 am
kajtzu
Member Since: 10 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6767
Beijing - take the airport express train to one of the larger railway stations. I noticed you said Fairmont so you’re not exactly budget limited but Grand Vision Beijing is quite good and probably half price. It’s near a subway station, too, so easy going there from the airport. Kerry, or Shangri-La, is really nice and more “downtown”.
In Beijing, for me, it was a problem to get money from ATMs. Similar to Japan, not all machines wanted to clear foreign Visa or MasterCard. Taxis really don’t speak any English. Navigation is so and so as google maps doesn’t work (no google services actually) but Apple maps does. The locals use something else but unless one reads Chinese it’s rather useless for a foreigner.
Get a local sim, I’ve used these guys several times https://www.3gsolutions.com.cn/. Have the sim delivered to your hotel and it’ll be at the reception on checkin or at the concierge (depends on hotel). Don’t bother with their VPN. Use corporate VPN (if allowed) or F-Secure Freedome. Latter you can get a 30 day trial. China Unicom has the best network (subjective) and the 4G bands mostly coincide with European bands or are supported with EU iPhones for example.
The weather can be very cold in January, I was miserable there one year around new year. There is a really nice international hospital, OASIS, it’s on the road to the airport. They accept most travel insurance and international credit cards. Doctors are British, Australian, etc. and board (etc.) certified, hospital is also certified to western standards. Everyone speaks English. They have a pharmacy with audited, western prescription drugs readily available. Stay away from the public hospitals.
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