Viking China (Part 2)

[Turtles06]

Our guide suggested going to Pearl Factory, but I have pearls and don't wear what I have. Are we missing out? We are staying an extra day on our own and this what she has planned. Sound good?

 

9:00 am start at hotel

Beijing zoo /pandas

Temple of heaven

Lunch

Lama temple

Hutong walk

Wangfujing night food market & downtown (4:30 pm start -10:00 pm)

Back to hotel

 

I have a feeling that those of us flying to Lhasa, Tibet will not see the pandas. I will double-check with Viking.

 

Is your day in Beijing before or after the Viking trip? In either case, having spent three days in Beijing pre-Viking, and done a good bit of touring there with a guide and on our own, I think you have a very ambitious schedule. If this is after you arrive in China, you'll be jet lagged and probably hit the wall in mid-afternoon and need a break. If this is after the Viking trip (as it seems), I think you'll be pretty tired out just from that. But only you know if you can handle it.

 

At any rate, in terms of devoting 5.5 hours to "Wangfujing night food market and downtown," you might want to get a better sense of what your guide has planned for that considerable amount to time. Another possibility is to have a really great meal at one of the well known Peking duck restaurants (not where Viking takes you), or Black Sesame Kitchen if they are back in business. And/or see the flag lowering ceremony at sunset in Tiananmen Square.

 

The hutongs, the Temple of Heaven Park and the Lama Temple are really "must sees," so I'm glad you have them on your itinerary.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Turtles06

[Lola911]

Thank you very much for taking the time to write your replies and your consideration for our exhaustion. Our extra day is our final day of trip in Beijing after beginning in Shanghai. We may be toured out for sure, but we do not want go all that way without seeing Heaven, Lama and the hutongs. I believe the time frame for the night food market is time it is open and that is why I did not question. If we have had enough we will say so as we did enough markets recently in Bangkok so I could skip the exotic bug food myself...lol The reviews on Sunflower (guide) were very good.

[Chloe's mom]

We just used Sunflower when we were there in early May. She was excellent. I recommend her highly.

[Turtles06]

Thank you very much for taking the time to write your replies and your consideration for our exhaustion. Our extra day is our final day of trip in Beijing after beginning in Shanghai. We may be toured out for sure, but we do not want go all that way without seeing Heaven, Lama and the hutongs. I believe the time frame for the night food market is time it is open and that is why I did not question. If we have had enough we will say so as we did enough markets recently in Bangkok so I could skip the exotic bug food myself...lol The reviews on Sunflower (guide) were very good.

 

Sunflower was our guide three years ago and she was terrific; I've recommended her before and I'm glad to see others are using her too. She was very considerate of how we were feeling, so I'm sure you won't have any problem there. You might just consider a backup dinner plan if you really are tired of touring by late afternoon or you've seen enough bugs. :)

 

Have a great trip!

[Carol From California]

Thank you very much for taking the time to write your replies and your consideration for our exhaustion. Our extra day is our final day of trip in Beijing after beginning in Shanghai. We may be toured out for sure, but we do not want go all that way without seeing Heaven, Lama and the hutongs. I believe the time frame for the night food market is time it is open and that is why I did not question. If we have had enough we will say so as we did enough markets recently in Bangkok so I could skip the exotic bug food myself...lol The reviews on Sunflower (guide) were very good.

 

We were on Shanghai to Beijing itinerary April 16. We flew in one day early and that allowed us to adjust from jet lag. It also allowed us to do a little sightseeing on our own. For example, we were able to visit the Bund at night which was AMAZING! We also went to the Jewish Refugee Museum and did a little shopping at the fake market in Shanghai. On the end of the trip we stayed one extra night. We went shopping at the Pearl Market, which is not just for pearls as someone else pointed out. It is also a fake market. You can get wonderful "replica" handbags and wallets and we also bought Beats Headphones. Obviously these are not real but good quality replicas. On the Viking trip we were able to go to the Hutongs, we went on the Rickshaw ride, and we also saw the pandas when we got off the boat in Chongqing. This was on our way to the airport. The zoo we went to was inside a park and they opened the area where the pandas are kept especially for us to see. They threw food over to them so they would come out for us to take photos. However I don't think all the groups were able to see the pandas. It depended on your flight time and when you had to be at the airport. Our group had time on the way to the airport to make this stop. We also saw the night market in Beijing. It was on the same street as our hotel in Beijing (Regent) and just a few blocks away.

[Chloe's mom]

I should add that Sunflower is very flexible, so you can make changes to your proposed itinerary at any point, including during the day of the tour. Our Viking escort had discouraged us, when we were signing up for optional tours just before our flight to embark the boat, from taking Viking's optional tour to the Summer Palace, so I emailed Sunflower to see if we could add that to our tour with her. No problem.

 

If you have the time and energy, Bei Han Park is another sight you may want to add to your day. It overlooks the Forbidden City.

 

One caution about buying "fake" goods. The people who sell counterfeit items may also engage in other shady business practices. Electronic goods may be a just a bunch of wires inside that can catch fire, or accessories may damage your electronic products, or the goods can have high lead levels. Caveat emptor! (Buyer beware).

[Peregrina651]

 

One caution about buying "fake" goods. The people who sell counterfeit items may also engage in other shady business practices. Electronic goods may be a just a bunch of wires inside that can catch fire' date=' or accessories may damage your electronic products, or the goods can have high lead levels. [b']Caveat emptor! (Buyer beware)[/b].

 

And the other thing about counterfeit goods is that they aren't quit legal to bring back into the US. If you are thinking about buying such products, at least read about bringing them back into the US before you spend money on them.

 

Here's a link to the Customs and Border Patrol website's list of what you can and cannot bring into the country. "Fakes" are covered under the "Trademarked and Copyrighted" section.

[GoInOnaCruz]

Best Peking Duck ever was at Made in China at the Grand Hyatt--very reasonable and soooooo good.

 

Sat next to a gentleman who had just returned from China and said in all his years of doing business there, this was one of the worst pollution years in both Shanghai and Beijing. Take disposable masks. They do work. Pat

We were on the Viking Emerald March 5, 2013 trip Beijing--Shanghai--pollution but nothing bad. Then went back to China this April for business and I with moderate asthma had a lot of difficulty. So BRING mask if you have any lung problems--talk to your doctor in this case also--my pulmonary specialist told me that they will "up" my treatment in future cases as we will be traveling in the near future to China. Love every second of this ancient country and you won't get a better picture of it than with Viking's incredible tour. So jealous of all still in process or getting ready to travel. :)

[sisterpower]

My sister and I are doign the Beijing to Shanghai July 7th tour some of my research states that it is frowned upon for women to wear shorts - this seems kind of strange to me - if anyone can give insight as to what type of outfits were worn during the trip would be appreciated.

[Bruin Steve]

My sister and I are doign the Beijing to Shanghai July 7th tour some of my research states that it is frowned upon for women to wear shorts - this seems kind of strange to me - if anyone can give insight as to what type of outfits were worn during the trip would be appreciated.

 

My research says ... perfectly okay...

 

I did a google search and got this:

 

https://www.google.com/#q=wearing+shorts+in+China

 

Clicking one each of the first several links that came up, they all seemed pretty much in agreement that it was okay...

 

It MAY clue everyone in that you are a tourist...but I figure there's no escaping that anyway...I'm going to be a large white man with blue eyes holding a camera and hanging around with a large tour group following a guide...Anyone who can't figure out I'm a tourist is pretty dumb...

[Turtles06]

My sister and I are doign the Beijing to Shanghai July 7th tour some of my research states that it is frowned upon for women to wear shorts - this seems kind of strange to me - if anyone can give insight as to what type of outfits were worn during the trip would be appreciated.

 

I am a female. I wore shorts in China. It was not a problem. It was not frowned on. (No issues as in churches in Europe, for example, where of course I'd never wear shorts.) Many Chinese women were wearing "western" clothing, if you will.

 

If you are going to be in China in July, unless you are wearing some skimpy dress or skirt (and I never wear dresses or skirts), you are going to be quite uncomfortable walking around during the day unless you are wearing shorts.

 

You will want to be comfortable on this trip. Have a great one.

[sisterpower]

Thank you Turtle and Bruin Steve for your insight regarding the topic of wearing shorts I want to be sensitive to the people of China as we are visitors in their country.

[GoInOnaCruz]

Thank you Turtle and Bruin Steve for your insight regarding the topic of wearing shorts I want to be sensitive to the people of China as we are visitors in their country.

We were with a young woman who works for my husband in Shanghai and she was wearing what we used to call "hot pants" back in the day--can't get any shorter than that. I noticed lots of young women similarly attired after that so I definitely wouldn't worry--any shorts you're apt to be wearing will probably be a lot more modest. ;)

[siliconegel]

We are currently on the cruise and just arrived in Shanghai. There are 7 groups on our tour. Our guide (Matthew) has been with Viking 10 years and spent one of those years as the Program Host on board the ship for 9 months. The schedule is not always as listed in the itinerary since all 7 groups don't do the same thing at the same time. They also don't fly on intercity flights together so some activities are staggered. Our group is the first group to do everything. Some later groups don't get to do everything we do. It's a great cruise and anyone in the US who has never been to China doesn't have the slightest clue what is going on here. It's truly amazing.

[GoInOnaCruz]

The schedule is not always as listed in the itinerary since all 7 groups don't do the same thing at the same time. They also don't fly on intercity flights together so some activities are staggered. Our group is the first group to do everything. Some later groups don't get to do everything we do.

That is a good point. Our guide, Jimmy, was the longest employed with VR (I think)and we and one of the other groups (Francis) were the sweepers--we were last off the ship, last onto the planes, etc. so we had a great tour but we did miss some stuff due to that--example, we didn't get to visit the information center at the Three Gorges Dam. We are of the opinion that you definitely don't have to see everything to have seen enough so it was great for us. Glad you are having a great trip!

Edited May 28, 2014 by GoInOnaCruz

[molymoo]

And the other thing about counterfeit goods is that they aren't quit legal to bring back into the US. If you are thinking about buying such products, at least read about bringing them back into the US before you spend money on them.

 

Here's a link to the Customs and Border Patrol website's list of what you can and cannot bring into the country. "Fakes" are covered under the "Trademarked and Copyrighted" section.

 

FWIW ... upon our return to Chicago from our China trip last summer we were pulled out of line at customs and we were questioned at length about what we were bringing back. They stopped short of searching our luggage but were particularly interested in any "fake" designer items we may have purchased in China.

[Viking Cruises]

We received our documents in the mail today...

Very impressive little packet...very nice case, usable later for an iPad case...nice printed booklets...a couple of luggage tags, two stickers--to wear, I gather, when we arrive at the airport in Beijing so they can pick us out of the crowd...

(Bringing up the question: how and where at the airport do we find THEM?)...

 

...and two lanyards with personalized ID name tags...

 

Only one BIG problem: they have my wife's name wrong!

Her name is correct in the document booklet...and on every other bit of correspondence..."Beth"...simple...

 

But the ID tag says "Heather"...

 

Now, Beth likes the name Heather...We named one of our daughters Heather...We spoke to Heather tonight and told her about it...and we all agreed that we guess she gets to go now!

 

Aside from that strange occurrence, one of the other things we learned is the identity of our. Hotels in Guilin and Hong Kong...

We will be staying at the Shangri-La Guilin and at the Shangri-La Kowloon Hong Kong...both seem to get excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com. most importance to us is the hotel location in Hong Kong since we have so much free time there. Anyone know about the location of this hotel? Good?

 

Only a little over three weeks to go now...I'm looking forward to it...Beth just hopes she can go!

 

Dear Bruin_Steve,

 

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We apologize for the inconvenience and wanted to let you know that a new ID tag with the correct name is on its way. If we can be of further assistance, please get in touch with us directly at TellUs@vikingcruises.com. Until then, have a wonderful time on your cruise!

 

Best,

Viking Cruises

[Bruin Steve]

Dear Bruin_Steve,

 

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We apologize for the inconvenience and wanted to let you know that a new ID tag with the correct name is on its way. If we can be of further assistance, please get in touch with us directly at TellUs@vikingcruises.com. Until then, have a wonderful time on your cruise!

 

Best,

Viking Cruises

 

Thanks, Viking...

You guys really are a class act...great to see you paying attention here on Cruise Critic as well...

 

I'll be awaiting the delivery...I was actually prepared to drop by your corporate offices in person! (Not really that big a deal, fellow Cruise Critic members...they're only about ten minutes from my house!)...

Edited May 29, 2014 by Bruin Steve

[Going Coastal]

Good to hear, especially since we are just at the final pay stage for next March.

 

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk

[Bruin Steve]

...a new ID tag with the correct name is on its way...

 

...and it arrived in the mail this morning. Thank You!

Edited May 29, 2014 by Bruin Steve

[rhskls]

Forgive me if this has been asked before. In the US you can have one carry on and one personal item. Do the Chinese airlines allow a personal item.

[caribill]

Forgive me if this has been asked before. In the US you can have one carry on and one personal item. Do the Chinese airlines allow a personal item.

 

Yes.

 

Some have posted here that they do not care on many carryons you have as long as they fit within the size restrictions.

[Mark_T]

That is a good point. Our guide, Jimmy, was the longest employed with VR (I think)and we and one of the other groups (Francis) were the sweepers--we were last off the ship, last onto the planes, etc. so we had a great tour but we did miss some stuff due to that--example, we didn't get to visit the information center at the Three Gorges Dam. We are of the opinion that you definitely don't have to see everything to have seen enough so it was great for us. Glad you are having a great trip!

 

Hmm... I must have missed earlier references to this issue ...

 

I must admit that I'd be raising this as a complaint if our group was consistently missing out on parts of the tour that other groups were getting.

 

Why aren't the group time slots rotated so the same group isn't last all the time?

 

Everyone is paying the same, why would it be acceptable for some guests to be missing out all the time?

[siliconegel]

Forgive me if this has been asked before. In the US you can have one carry on and one personal item. Do the Chinese airlines allow a personal item.

 

Viking gives the formal info from the Chinese Airlines in the brochure about Carry Ons; however, in practice, the Chinese Airlines are very liberal. We had a carry on bag that was only 8" thick. Those are hard to find and not necessary. 9" and 9-1/2" thick bags are OK. Also there many people carrying 2 and 3 carry on bags. You do need to be careful about the checked baggage. The limit is 44 lbs. Try not to exceed this by more than 1 or 2 pounds and you'll be OK. Carry On bags are not weighed, but checked ones may be.

[siliconegel]

Hmm... I must have missed earlier references to this issue ...

 

I must admit that I'd be raising this as a complaint if our group was consistently missing out on parts of the tour that other groups were getting.

 

Why aren't the group time slots rotated so the same group isn't last all the time?

 

Everyone is paying the same, why would it be acceptable for some guests to be missing out all the time?

 

The same group is not first or last all the time. They do get rotated. Also the itinerary is different if you are touring Shanghai to Beijing or the reverse. Some items may not be seen going one way but seen going the opposite way and vice-versa.