Of course one can follow the wind and change their plans along the way and somehow detour to a new location or even a new country but the reason why I say that a general idea is always there is due to the fact we live in a sagregated world divided, by borders and Visa.
So the moment I enter a country, a clock will start ticking where I need to leave the country by xx days. Hence I usually have a general idea on point of entry and exit. Comprende ? This time round was no different, enter China via Shanghai (Flight) and exit via land to either Vietnam or maybe Laos. Vietnam was prefered as I would be able to continue travels by renting a motorbike.
I wont go through the iterations of the route that went through many micro changes along the way since its irrelevant, a route not taken was not taken anyway.
The route I took was ...
Shanghai (Entry) -> Suzhou ->
 |
| Leg 1 of Backpacking China - Shanghai to Hong Kong |
 |
| Leg 2 of Backpacking China - Hong Kong to Vietnam |
Shanghai
I dont think I need to introduce Shanghai. Its famous enaugh and a easy entry point for china to start. I choosed to start in Shanghai for a few reasons unrelated to tourism but more due to route planning and timeframe concern.
Planning wise, it was the cheap flight where other than Guangzhou or Shenzhen, every where else along the coast from Shenzhen to Shanghai would cost me the same as a direct flight to Shanghai. I did contemplate flying to Guangzhou but then the distance to make any sort of route loop would cost more on timeframe hence it was more economical to start in Shanghai.
Timeframe for Shanghai to Vietnam was more bearable. There was option of a few long distance bullet train but also gives enaugh time for a few small towns exploration. Generally a 1 month timeframe means to me if I were to spend an average of 3 nights in a place, I could only go at most 10 places. Someplace could be shorter granted but then some places could also be longer.
Shanghai turn out to be a great Icebreaker to China backpacking for me.
Suzhou
Easily my favarite cities in China for this trip. I cant imagine anyone skipping Suzhou if you are in the vicinity really. Great food, vibrant city, a tinge of touristic things to do in every corner and a subtle blend of all kinds of trades in every turn. I should have stayed here a week, but it was the start of my backpacking journey hence I hesitantly only extended one more night.
Hefei ... Strikeout
Hefei was a failed mission. I bullet train there from Suzhou, but never stayed and hopped back on the train to Wuhan ....
Wuhan
Young People everywhere in Wuhan. A metropolitan not easily explored really and one that I feel a hidden gem unknown to international tourist even now. I met a few people along the way in China that had plans to visit Wuhan for it is known for the origin of Covid-19. Wrong reason to visit Wuhan really for it has so much more to offer in terms of tourism.
Yi Chang
To visit the Three Gorge Dam. Thats all mostly but the city/town is big enaugh to get lost exploring for at least 2 nights. Supprisingly the locals ignores the tourist or rather the tourist usually dont bother with exploring Yi Chang and mostly hop to the Dam and run away.
Zhangjiajie
The highlight of this backpacking trip really. When I planned the route this was the key waypoint in deriving all alternate routes. If you are in the region and you missed Zhangjiajie, you should be ashame of yourself. Pure Raw nature work of art.
Fenghuang
Little minority town PACKED with tourist from all over China. Instaworthy and definately worth a visit. The overwhelming abundance of tourist visiting the place makes it a little turn off but try to ignore them and one would realized there is a reason why there are so many tourist in the first place.
Hengyang
En-route to Nanyue, big city yet I have no idea what is there to describe. Its one of those many cities in China where we look on the map and think ah, its not a big city but when you are there suddenly it seams bigger than imagine and with lots of people too.
Nanyue
One of the five sacred mountain in China. If one would like to see Taoist monk, not buddist but Taoist monk and culture, here you go.
Guilin – Yangshuo – Xingping
The famous Guilin of China and actually its a loop of three places. Guilin – Yangshuo – Xingping.
I probabaly dont need to talk about this much but if there is one thing that I missed throught China, it was riding a bike. While they have electric bike for rent through their apps in all the cities in China, I had never managed to unlock the bike with the forigners Alipay account.
Yangshuo however had electric bike for rent from shops and it goes pretty cheap and fast too. Great loop to do within the vicinity with lots of things to see. The loop is about 60km and takes a whole day.
Guangzhou
To be fair, I did not see much of Guangzhou. Hence I cant really paint a proper short description. For some reason, I did however go on a Michilin Star cusine hunt and tried a 2 Star, a 1 Star and a Michilin Honour restaurant. Guangzhou feels a little bit like home, dont remember the city but more of the food. Only a little bit since is only a small part of Malaysian cusine.
Hong Kong
The visa run. I did Hong Kong purely for a Visa run. Dont hate me, but if you have been traveling China like I have, you would skip Hong Kong too. Its just way too expensive.
Zhuhai
Zhuhai was my sacrifical city in China. It was either exit HK to Zhuhai or to Macau. I had a bad feeling for Macau with all the casino around and a lack of touchstone. Dub as the romantic city in China it certainly feel that way with all the couples snugging around.
Hailin Island
The unexpected find was Hailin Island. These days with the internet, travelling has lesser and lesser supprises. So I was entirely thrilled when I found Hailin Island. Heck I did not even know what I would find and just decided to go since there was super cheap accomodation. The transportation to get there was tedious but I was dreaming of cheap accomodation by the beach hence the motivation to go out to Hailin Island where there was no recommendation whatsoever.
Zhanjiang
The forced stay I would say. Forced to stay in Zhanjiang for I could not find a way to get to Hainan Island. Train was sold out for days, bus was expensive and many hours, the ferry was also ambiguous. Hence while trying to get to Hainan, I ended up in Zhanjiang.
Beihai
Sleepytown as China town could get. Dont be fooled by Beihai on the map. Its a big place and totally not walkable at all. I spend the whole day riding electric bike to visit most of the places around and that was from sun-up to sun-set. Yep, the lucky find of a hostel that do private rent electric bikes. ^^
Dongxing / Mong Cai
Purely for border crossing I choosed Dongxing – Mong Cai. Main reason was that I could cross it by walking and not through a tour/long distance bus.
I may have been too worried for those busses where someone takes all the passport and go process it for you out of china and into vietnam and who knows what kinda mishap they will make without a care to the tourist once you are far far away across the border.
I dont think I need to introduce Shanghai. Its famous enaugh and a easy entry point for china to start. I choosed to start in Shanghai for a few reasons unrelated to tourism but more due to route planning and timeframe concern.
Planning wise, it was the cheap flight where other than Guangzhou or Shenzhen, every where else along the coast from Shenzhen to Shanghai would cost me the same as a direct flight to Shanghai. I did contemplate flying to Guangzhou but then the distance to make any sort of route loop would cost more on timeframe hence it was more economical to start in Shanghai.
Timeframe for Shanghai to Vietnam was more bearable. There was option of a few long distance bullet train but also gives enaugh time for a few small towns exploration. Generally a 1 month timeframe means to me if I were to spend an average of 3 nights in a place, I could only go at most 10 places. Someplace could be shorter granted but then some places could also be longer.
Shanghai turn out to be a great Icebreaker to China backpacking for me.
Suzhou
Easily my favarite cities in China for this trip. I cant imagine anyone skipping Suzhou if you are in the vicinity really. Great food, vibrant city, a tinge of touristic things to do in every corner and a subtle blend of all kinds of trades in every turn. I should have stayed here a week, but it was the start of my backpacking journey hence I hesitantly only extended one more night.
Hefei was a failed mission. I bullet train there from Suzhou, but never stayed and hopped back on the train to Wuhan ....
Wuhan
Young People everywhere in Wuhan. A metropolitan not easily explored really and one that I feel a hidden gem unknown to international tourist even now. I met a few people along the way in China that had plans to visit Wuhan for it is known for the origin of Covid-19. Wrong reason to visit Wuhan really for it has so much more to offer in terms of tourism.
Yi Chang
To visit the Three Gorge Dam. Thats all mostly but the city/town is big enaugh to get lost exploring for at least 2 nights. Supprisingly the locals ignores the tourist or rather the tourist usually dont bother with exploring Yi Chang and mostly hop to the Dam and run away.
Zhangjiajie
The highlight of this backpacking trip really. When I planned the route this was the key waypoint in deriving all alternate routes. If you are in the region and you missed Zhangjiajie, you should be ashame of yourself. Pure Raw nature work of art.
Fenghuang
Little minority town PACKED with tourist from all over China. Instaworthy and definately worth a visit. The overwhelming abundance of tourist visiting the place makes it a little turn off but try to ignore them and one would realized there is a reason why there are so many tourist in the first place.
Hengyang
En-route to Nanyue, big city yet I have no idea what is there to describe. Its one of those many cities in China where we look on the map and think ah, its not a big city but when you are there suddenly it seams bigger than imagine and with lots of people too.
Nanyue
One of the five sacred mountain in China. If one would like to see Taoist monk, not buddist but Taoist monk and culture, here you go.
Guilin – Yangshuo – Xingping
The famous Guilin of China and actually its a loop of three places. Guilin – Yangshuo – Xingping.
I probabaly dont need to talk about this much but if there is one thing that I missed throught China, it was riding a bike. While they have electric bike for rent through their apps in all the cities in China, I had never managed to unlock the bike with the forigners Alipay account.
Yangshuo however had electric bike for rent from shops and it goes pretty cheap and fast too. Great loop to do within the vicinity with lots of things to see. The loop is about 60km and takes a whole day.
Guangzhou
To be fair, I did not see much of Guangzhou. Hence I cant really paint a proper short description. For some reason, I did however go on a Michilin Star cusine hunt and tried a 2 Star, a 1 Star and a Michilin Honour restaurant. Guangzhou feels a little bit like home, dont remember the city but more of the food. Only a little bit since is only a small part of Malaysian cusine.
Hong Kong
The visa run. I did Hong Kong purely for a Visa run. Dont hate me, but if you have been traveling China like I have, you would skip Hong Kong too. Its just way too expensive.
Zhuhai
Zhuhai was my sacrifical city in China. It was either exit HK to Zhuhai or to Macau. I had a bad feeling for Macau with all the casino around and a lack of touchstone. Dub as the romantic city in China it certainly feel that way with all the couples snugging around.
Hailin Island
The unexpected find was Hailin Island. These days with the internet, travelling has lesser and lesser supprises. So I was entirely thrilled when I found Hailin Island. Heck I did not even know what I would find and just decided to go since there was super cheap accomodation. The transportation to get there was tedious but I was dreaming of cheap accomodation by the beach hence the motivation to go out to Hailin Island where there was no recommendation whatsoever.
Zhanjiang
The forced stay I would say. Forced to stay in Zhanjiang for I could not find a way to get to Hainan Island. Train was sold out for days, bus was expensive and many hours, the ferry was also ambiguous. Hence while trying to get to Hainan, I ended up in Zhanjiang.
Beihai
Sleepytown as China town could get. Dont be fooled by Beihai on the map. Its a big place and totally not walkable at all. I spend the whole day riding electric bike to visit most of the places around and that was from sun-up to sun-set. Yep, the lucky find of a hostel that do private rent electric bikes. ^^
Dongxing / Mong Cai
Purely for border crossing I choosed Dongxing – Mong Cai. Main reason was that I could cross it by walking and not through a tour/long distance bus.
I may have been too worried for those busses where someone takes all the passport and go process it for you out of china and into vietnam and who knows what kinda mishap they will make without a care to the tourist once you are far far away across the border.
Traveled on: Nov-Dec 2023
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