Visiting China //

Seoul is nicely located within East Asian region. Even though it might not be the cheapest city from where to visit other Asian cities it has very easy connections to its neighboring countries.

We decided to visit China before our classes in Seoul would start.

Flights Seoul - Shanghai - Beijing - Seoulplus 3 nights accommodation in Shanghai (twin room with ensuite) and 4 nights in Beijing (twin room with ensuite) cost about 525 euros per person.

It's only 2-3 hours flight between these cities. In Shanghai we visited both of the airports (Pudong and Hongqiao). Both of the airports seemed like well-functioning ones. Hongqiao was maybe little more modern. Everything worked nicely also in Beijing but the airport itself looked quite old.

In order for us to travel to China, we needed visa which we did not have arranged in advance. In Korea, foreign citizens need to have the alien card valid for at least 6 months in order to apply for the Chinese visa in Korea. So it is recommendable to get the visa while you're still in your home country.

Our trip started with Shanghai. We would have two and a half days to get to know the city. We arrived to Shanghai before midday and made our way to the hostel with airport bus and subway. The hostel we stayed at was located in Putuo district near the Cao Yang Lu station. Shanghai City Central Youth hostel was very pleasant and I could gladly recommend it. :) More central regions of the city were easily accessible by subway. Also for someone used to north European price structure, taxi was not too expensive.

The first day we went to Pudong area at the night but didn't really get too much out of our time. We were walking by Century Avenue which seemed rather empty. It was already around 9 p.m. when we arrived there and most of the places would close at 10 p.m. We found one big electronics "department store" only selling fake goods.

The second day we visited French Concession (subway station Shaanxi Nan Lu on line 1), Old City and Yu Garden, the Bund and riverside Promenade from where we took a ferry to stand on the root of the "towers" (Oriental Pearl Tower, Jinmao tower and Shanghai World Financial Centre) in the Pudong area.

On the third day we headed to Zhujiajiao water village located on the outskirts of Shanghai. The area had many white Chinese traditional style buildings, narrow streets and several canals. The part we most liked was to go through the canals with a boat (kind of gondola) cause the view of the buildings was nice when looking from the canal. After the water village we passed by the People's Park and spent some time walking by Nanjing Xi Lu which was said to be good shopping area but we didn't really find it any special - there were many department stores though. In the evening we went to bar called Cloud 9 located in the 87th floor of the Jinmao tower. The view was great. I was kind of wishing I could have seen the sunset from there but we arrived only when it was already dark. It's a nice place to spend some time (note: the minimum consumption is CNY 130 plus CNY 20 for the service).

The next day we flew off to Beijing (3 full days). In Beijing we stayed in hutong area near Hou Hai lake, in a hostel called Red Lantern House. The first full day in the city passed by visiting Bei Hai Park (where we tried a pedal boat), Forbidden City and the Tian'an Men square. Since it's a vacation time for Chinese, the places (especially Forbidden City) were really crowded. After the sightseeing we spent some time in Sanlitun area where we saw more modern style buildings and a shopping centre.

On the second day we visited Tian Tan (the Temple of Heaven) and after that Qian Men Dajie which is a nice shopping street (but mostly just western clothing brands) with unique style buildings.

The third day was reserved for the visit on the Great Wall. We were lucky to make the trip to the Wall by motorcycles which made it a lot of fun. On our way to the Great Wall we passed by a replica of a French château and silver pagodas. The part of the Wall that we visited was more remote and so there were no other people than our group of four. We walked few kilometers above the Wall. The views were mountainous and beautiful. :) In the evening, on our way back to the hostel, we made a fast visit in the Olympics area, Hou Hai and a street named Nan Luo Gu Xiang with a lot o bars and small cute stores.

One week went fast but we were able to see the main attractions and had a fun trip. Now we're back with our normal lives in Seoul.