Book Board Chat

Sounds like you are going to be running around a lot, Jim. If you have time in Beijing (which has lots of pollution), try to get to the Shard Shop, Ritan Beilu 1, Chaoyang Qu. Owners took broken Ming and earlier ceramic sherds and made them into boxes. Rather neat. Great souvenirs. I assume you'll be going to the Great Wall. Expect it to take a lot of time. Traffic is horrid in Beijing. The shops outside of the GW are expensive tourist traps. Guides get a "cut" from what tourists spend in these places.

Shanghai: try to see the Master of the Nets garden and shop along Nathan Road. There are old, used book stores around Shanghai, too. Fun to rifle thru, and get some English books on old China - pictures, etc. You may get an afternoon free in this city. The Bund is a nice stroll and you see the harbor.

The Yangtze River cruise: You have to go where they take you. Made me crazy. There were pagodas I saw and other things and I wanted to get off!

Xi'an is a great city, one of the capitals of old China. The Ming wall gives you an over view of the city. Watch out for bicycles! Try to see the Muslim Quarter and the Big and Little Goose pagodas, near the quarter. There are kabobs that are the world's best for sale on the street, and lots of stuff to buy, like Chinese tiger hats (soon to be a thing of the past).

Guilin is one of my favorite cities. You'll want to take a river cruise for 1/2 day and at the end, shop the market (great stuff). Guilin has super caves, too, and book stores that are in old, abandoned fall out shelters. Most of the books are Chinese, but it's fun to see the stores. Guilin beer is super; we wish they imported it. The odd thing about Guilin is that the river runs thru the city, but there are very few bridges. You need to get a guy with a bamboo raft for about $. 50 to take you across. We walked forever, saw our hotel, couldn't find a bridge, hired a boatman, and voila! Cabs are cheap. Make sure they use the meter, tho.

Now, Hong Kong is my favorite city in the entire world! You MUST eat at the Loong Yuen Cantonese Restaurant at the Holiday Inn in Kowloon! I don't care if you have to run away from the tour, go there! Take the Star Ferry if you're staying on HK. Try to see the "Make a Wish" temple, too. Subways are cheap and easy. If you can, take a boat to Lantau Island, too. Spend the day. Your hotel can arrange a tour. The fishing villages are neat and the biggest Buddha in the world is there, along with a monastery. There's so much to do and see in HK! The Art museum is also fabulous, right on the harbor (or harbour, as they write it out); nice gift shop (can you tell I like shopping?). Of course, having afternoon tea at the Peninsula is a MUST. Make reservations. There's a neat Irish pub called "Murphy's" in Kowloon on the main drag, a few blocks up from the Holiday Inn. The ethnic Chinese waitresses speak with Cockney accents, if you can believe it. In fact, most people in HK speak English, so getting around is not a problem, unless you forget they drive on "the wrong side of the road" and you get run over. If you go to Stanley Market, which I'm sure you will, there's a nifty antique shop on the left right before you enter the market. Go up the stairs and enjoy. The Market is geared for tourists and the prices are correspondingly high. Bargain like crazy. I always avoid the market and spend time in that antique store. If you don't get whatever you want, the airport going home has it all(except antiques)! I never saw as many stores as at the airport.

Bring plenty of singles. Your driver and guide now expect tips. Gone are the days... If you buy stuff from vendors who will hound you to death outside your buses, they like US dollars. Bargain, except in shops that have prices on things.

The book you picked is a good one. Things are changing fast, tho, so it's somewhat outdated, except for the bathrooms (lol).

Enjoy!