OT: Good news and questions for anyone who has traveled/lived in China

Good news. My wife and I have been waiting for quite some time, but finally we have out official travel dates to go and pick up our 20 month old daughter in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China! So I guess I'm going to have to revisit the baby seat thread shortly. My 5 year old is in a booster seat, so the back of the car is going to start getting crowded. For those of you who may live there or have traveled there, any suggestions (other than the obvious - Forbidden City, Great Wall, Summer Palace, Olympic sites & Terracotta warriors) on places to see or to eat in Beijing, Xi'an or Guangzhou? We're going to have 4 days in Beijing, 5 days in Xi'an, and 6 days in Guangzhou. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Congratulations! How long did you wait? We stayed at White Swan Hotel (so did everyone else in the world there for adoption, I think!) Breakfast at White Swan is an unbelievably experience. The biggest buffet, full service with chefs making omelets, noodles, etc. you have ever seen. The area around the hotel was pretty touristy but after almost two weeks even half-way decent hamburgers and spaghetti were welcome. We only had two days in Beijing, but there was a night market not too far from the hotel and that's an interesting experience and great if you are adventuresome. Even if not there will still be stuff for you to try. Forbidden City and Great Wall were definitely the things to see for us in two days. We went to Wuhan and stayed pretty much in the hotel all the time as we had other things to get busy with right after meeting our daughter. Fortunately the hotel there had great food and yes another great breakfast spread. I think people in our group also went to Xi'an and had a great time. Congratulations again, and have fun! You will not forget the experience. Show pics when you come back.

Jim, Thanks for the info. We will also be at the White Swan. We didn't wait terribly long because we did a program called Children of Promise with our agency. The night market sounds interesting. Thanks

While you are in Guangzhou, might as well see Hong Kong.... worth while seeing. Congrats on the adoption!

Thanks. We're only going to spend the night in HKG. If we wanted to spend more time there we'd have to spend three nights total (because I'm not flying coach and there are no upgrades available for two more days). So after 2 1/2 weeks and getting a little girl, I think we'll be ready to go home.

I'm just back from Xian, Beijing, and Shanghai. All amazing cities--of course, how the cultures of Shanghai and Beijing can co-exist for any length of time within the same country is difficult to understand. One lesser known "don't miss": the Muslim quarter of Xian. You'll feel transported to another time. Have a great trip. And congrats on the baby.

I just got back from a 3 week vacation in China, and have visited the cities that you listed. 1. Don't rent a car and drive, the traffic is really bad and the drivers are worst. 2. Pedestrians do not have the right of way. 3. The food is better in the south part of China, actually the Peking duck is better in Guangzhou than in Beijing. 4. Prepare for hot and HUMID weather. 5. Carry toliet paper with you along with immodium. Some toliets are squatters and may be bring your own wipes. Other than that have a great time and take extra memory cards for your pictures. Congrats on your child Nidan ps If you want a specific details, p.m. me

Congratulations on your baby! I travel to China for business a few time a year. There are good suggestions above. Bringing your own toilet paper is a must. I would also bring a bottle of "Purell" hand sanitizer. Rinse your cutlery with hot tea before eating when eating outside of 5 star hotels. Never drink local bottled water, only known national brands. While you are there; Shanghai and Hong Kong are the places to visit. Beijing and Guanzhou are actually my two least favorite cities. Beijing has tourist value but Guanzhou does not. Stay at the Shangri La in Guanzhou. Its new and a nice building. The nice thing about 5 star hotels in China is that they cost no more than $150 per night if you negotiate. You must negotiate....

Thanks for all the tips. There is a travel agency associated with our adoption agency, so they are arranging for everything in country (we'll probably be staying with other families who are adopting). I did recently find out that we'll be staying at the Novatel Peace Hotel in Beijing, Hyatt Regency in Xi'an, and the White Swan (where most adopting families stay) in Guangzhou. We definitely will bringing our own t.p. and hand sanitizer. The swine flu and the potential of being quarantined is really starting to freak out my wife, because we're bringing our 5 year old. Although I hope to reduce that by sitting in the last row of the front business class section on Continental's 777. There's a closet, then a galley, then a lav, then finally 3 or 4 more rows of business class behind that before you get to coach. I know when they quarantine people in coach I think they take the three rows around the person. So hopefully we can have a bit more leeway if some a couple of rows back from us has a fever (we're actually about 6 coach rows away from them!) We can't wait - 3 weeks from today we'll have our little girl.

Congrats Eric. Kids are great. China's very fascinating and contributed a number of inventions beyond the ones we all know. I'd also recommend taking cabs, driving there is just crazy. Cabs are plentiful and they come in small/medium/large sizes with corresponding rates per KM. It's much better than driving in the crazy traffic yourself and they'll take you anywhere. You might even be able to negotiate a daily dedicated cab rate, ask your Concierge and they can help you map out your daily trips. I know Beijing pretty well but it's been a couple years. Jingshan park is next to the Forbidden City and has the highest spot in the city to look out. Temple of Heaven in Tiantan Park is also cool because of its unique wooden construction. The Silk Street is kind of a crazy market, vendors are hawking their wares, but at the end of it is the US Embassy which is cool and has been in a couple movies. In Beijing there's also Behai park which is very peaceful, or Yuan Ming Yuan which are ruins of the original summer palace (the British and French destroyed them in the late 1800s, duh). Also, if you go to the great wall in Beijing (Badaling) you can avoid the Ming Tombs because it's kind of dead, ha, but seriously not so exciting. You might also enjoy the ancient Observatory, I went there at sunset and it was pretty cool, here's a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing...nt_Observatory Also you'll probably see a lot of folks selling ancient Chinese coins in plastic protectors. They're very cool, but they all seem to be reproductions so don't pay too much. Main thing is don't be late for any of your official meetings in Guangzhou, I've heard it's very busy there. Okay, we sense some new baby pics coming -- have a great trip!

go to a book store... in the travel section. I recommend getting a travel guide book of China... Lonely Planet is the only guide book I get... Its awesome.

+1 on Xian Muslim quarter. If you have any sort of respiratory sensitivity (even if you don't) be prepared for very polluted air.

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Small can be the back of a motorcycle... but don't worry, a family of 3 fits nicely behind the driver!!

Don't worry about quarantined. They only quarantine 3 rows ahead and behind the person with fever. Bring packs of Emergen-C; the 1000mg powder mix. Lemon is the best flavor. Mix that into a small bottle of water and drink it once a day and on the flight there. Flying for 20+ hours can be hard on your body, that's how people get sick.