All About China > Your trip to China
Going to Zhanjiang - how?
Hans:
I am searching for a ticket to China in late December and will buy it very soon. I am planning on visiting my lady in Zhanjiang, Guangdong. We have been talking about what would be the best route for me. First I thought flying from Stockholm to Guangzhou was the best option followed by a one hour flight to Zhanjiang. However, it turns out that one hour flight is very expensive, at least when I have been searching the net: 1500 RMB. In Sweden it would cost less than 60 USD. Being a student I need to keep my expenses down. Another option is to fly to Hong Kong (which is more expensive) and then fly to Zhanjiang from there (which is supposed to be a bit cheaper than flying from Guangzhou).
I was thinking about other options as well: either bus or train (certainly cheaper but also very time consuming!). Do you guys have any experience with busses or trains in China? I have always been flying when in China and have no experience of others ways of travel between cities. I know enough Chinese to ask for directions to bus or train terminals etc. but not to make any detailed conversation yet.
I am pretty used to travel alone and arranging everything myself. My lady, however, insists that the agency take care of my hotel booking in Zhanjiang. I told her I was grateful for the assistance but that I would like to make all bookings myself. She keep telling me it is probably best if I let the agency do it for me. Should I read anything into this? Will I be charged by the agency later for their services? Is this common practice or rather unusual among the agencies? Or is my lady just worried that I will not be able to book a hotel in China on my own? I don't know but I am sort of getting the feeling that maybe the translator is promoting something here without my lady's notice...
All the best,
Hans
David5o:
Hans,
I can't help you with your travel enquires as such, but as for the Hotel, ....why can't your lady book the hotel for you?? She will normally get a much better price than you will probably ever get. I suspect you are right in your assumptions, ....that it's the agency/translation trying to make a few more Euros out of you.....
What i can tell you, The trains in China are pretty good, and if there's a bullet train going from Guangdong to Zhanjiang, that will probably be your best bet as far as cheapness/time is concerned.... if you don't want the expense of a flight. Incidentally, there are always discounts on offer for internal flights and train tickets, (look for between 25/30% discounts) this is another area where your lady could help you in keeping your costs down ......
David.....
Hans:
Thanks for the reply, David.
The problem is that my lady is working and living in Foshan but we will meet in her hometown Zhanjiang. Maybe she could do it through the Internet or the phone, though. She (or the translator) told me that the train from Guangzhou to Zhanjiang would take 10 hours while the bus takes 6 hours (shouldn't it be the other way around...?). She use to travel by bus herself when going home to Zhanjiang from Foshan on certain occasions. I'll try to ask her in my limited Chinese in an email. She has always been saying that the agency will help me with these matters, if her reply in Chinese is different then maybe that is an indication of how much the interpreter have been adding in our EMF communcation...
David E:
Hans
You might want to look at going from Sweden to Singapore and getting a flight direct to Zhangiang from Singapore. There are several Airlines (Tiger, China Southern, ChinaAir etc) that do frequent and cheap flights to many, many Chinese Cities.
You can do your own Hotel booking...but you will never get as good a price if the Agency/your Lady does it for you...even if they make a few Yuan out of the deal :):)
DavidE
Hajo:
Hans,
For the ticket, try airtiki.dk. Its a danish travel agency, but it should be no problem to order from Sweden. I found a flight from Stokholm to Zhanjiang (oneway) for 4036,- danish crowns.
I do not know about the hotel, as I stayed at my wifes places. But as the others say, your lady should be able to order it. If it is her hometown, she should have some friends who should be able to help.
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