Heading to China for 3 weeks

Heading out to China for 3 weeks in June (spending the entire month there basically) and am trying to plan out the whole trek. My original thought was to do Shanghai -> Beijing -> Xian -> Shanghai -> Hangzhou -> Huangshan -> Shanghai but I'll probably have to wing it a little with transit as the high speed only seems to run in Beihing, Shanghai and Hangzhou I believe.

We'll be seeing all the usual stuff like Terracotta Warriors, Forbidden City, climb Mt. Huan in Shaanxi, climb Yellow Mountain etc but are there any other gems? I figure since we're passing through Hangzhou to Huangshan it might be good to spend 2 days there but I have no idea what to go see/shoot. We plan on being in Shanghai from the 7th - 13th and then we'll be in China until the 30th of June so I'd like to spend a good amount of time seeing as much as we can.

Kit wise I think I'll bring the 10-22, 35L, 85L and I'm tempted to bring the 24-70 but feel like the primes will be enough for that range.

If anyone's been or lives out that way and can suggest best way to cram all this in or any good places we might be missing I am all ears

-s

Oh, I am so jealous, you should consider Shangri-La and Guilin. I heard those 2 places are really beautiful.

smcclelland wrote in post #9986830
Heading out to China for 3 weeks in June (spending the entire month there basically) and am trying to plan out the whole trek. My original thought was to do Shanghai -> Beijing -> Xian -> Shanghai -> Hangzhou -> Huangshan -> Shanghai but I'll probably have to wing it a little with transit as the high speed only seems to run in Beihing, Shanghai and Hangzhou I believe.

We'll be seeing all the usual stuff like Terracotta Warriors, Forbidden City, climb Mt. Huan in Shaanxi, climb Yellow Mountain etc but are there any other gems? I figure since we're passing through Hangzhou to Huangshan it might be good to spend 2 days there but I have no idea what to go see/shoot. We plan on being in Shanghai from the 7th - 13th and then we'll be in China until the 30th of June so I'd like to spend a good amount of time seeing as much as we can.

Kit wise I think I'll bring the 10-22, 35L, 85L and I'm tempted to bring the 24-70 but feel like the primes will be enough for that range.

If anyone's been or lives out that way and can suggest best way to cram all this in or any good places we might be missing I am all ears

-s

I tried convincing my girlfriend we should go to Tibet but it requires a ton of leg work when you get to China I hear to obtain all your permits and travel visa's to enter Tibet. I told her I'd have to just quit my job and hike around China with my camera in hand and not return until every memory card was full heh. Guilin was on our original list but slid off as we weren't sure if we'd have enough time with the train travel to do it all and make it back for our flight home heh.

If you are travelling by train I suggest you do some of your trips on sleepers as you save the day and a hotel bill. Don't limit yourself to the high-speed. A lot of the Chinese sleeper trains are good quality, the network is extensive, the cost is low and its a good social experience. We've just done the Hong Kong - Beijing train (24 hour trip), in October we did Shenzhen to Guilin heading for Yangshuo (about 13 hours overnight) and I'm now planning Xian for the autumn. Our kids (8 and 10 y.o.) love it. If you haven't seen it, look at this website which gives train times, routes, costs, etc for almost any train in China.

http://www.chinatravel​guide.com …al:CNTrainSearc​h?method=1

Be prepared for the size of the cities too. Beijing is huge, as is the Forbidden City. You could easily spend a day at the Forbidden City, a day at the Wall, a day at the summer palace, at least half a day at the Temple of HEaven, etc. There are numerous other sights. If it was me, I'd spend more time in Beijing than Shanghai. We were in Beijing for 4 days and I could have easily done another 4 days. Although three weeks sounds a lot, you'll probably be pushed for time with the draft itinerary that you have. Other people who are more familiar with these places can probably advise you better. The area around Guilin is extremely beautiful, but with the time you have I would stay in the North. I think it's probably better to do a few places well than rush through a huge itinerary. The travel section of my smugmug page has photos from Beijing, Shanghai and Yangshuo - it might give you an idea of these places.

In terms of kit, I took 24-70 and 70-200. The 24-70 was the workhorse with the 70-200 for picking out architectural details. However, the 10-22 would be excellent as I often felt the need for something wider (I shoot on a Canon 400).

Thanks for the tips HKdave! We're definitely looking at doing sleeper trains and some co-workers in our Shanghai office made some suggestions to change the trip a bit so we'll be doing Shanghai -> Hangzhou -> Huashang -> Hangzhou -> Beijing -> Xian -> Beijing.

We're in Shanghai for a week due to my work requirements Monday - Friday (I'm there for work Tue, Wed, Thurs really) so we may leave Shanghai earlier than Sunday and start making our trek on Saturday to Hangzhou to spend 2 days there before Huashang. I'm making sure we spend at least 6-7 days in Beijing and am trying to end our trip there so that we wind up flying out of Beijing back home instead of Shanghai (I've been told I must see Beijing airport).

Interesting that you brought the 70-200, I was pretty sure I'd be leaving that one at home as I didn't want to look like one of those crazy tourists and the wife doesn't want me lugging all my kit around everywhere. Because we're doing a lot of hiking and I intend on climbing Huashan in Shaanxi I wanted to keep it as light as I could for safety and energy reasons.

No problem with the tips. Your revised itinerary sounds a lot more manageable. Beijing Airport is huge.

I took the 70-200 f4 IS not the f2.8. To be honest with you, bearing in mind the weight, I would be inclined to leave the f2.8 at home. Definitely take the 10-22. I don't have experience with the primes you have but I would be inclined to take the 24-70. I've taken a 50 F1.4 on my last two trips and it hasn't been on the camera. In terms of looking like a crazy tourist, I wouldn't worry. Beijing was full of domestic tourists touting the latest gear - quite a few with an L lens. It's getting to be more like Hong Kong.

It sounds like your trip will be a lot of fun. You'll be seeing these places at an interesting time. I look forward to seeing your shots when you return.

Hi Shawn (I am on tpmg as well).
China is a HUGE country with many many gems. It can't be done in 3 weeks obviously. If I were heading there I would have included Yangshuo (close to the Guilin suggestion offered up earlier). But that's ME. I love that kind of karst limestone scenery (similar to Vinales, Cuba and Krabi, Thailand and Halong Bay in Vietnam). Guilin-Yangshuo would be #1 in my list but there are hundreds of other gems in the country. Like India, it's surface won't even be scratched in 3 weeks. Tibet is a 3 week trip on it's own. Old historic towns like Lijiang and Dali in Yunnan are incredibly photogenic. There are places where the rice paddies are breathtaking: Yuanyuang and in Guangxi (Dragon's backbone). Pick an itinerary that's not too rushed because you WILL want to go back and you'll be better to see the rest when you go back. Biting too much off will end up in a rushed busy unrelaxing vacation - and possible tension with your girlfriend if photography isn't her thing.
As far as what gear to bring, I am of the camp that brings as much as I can and only leave the hotel with what I need that day. I'll bring a tripod on a trip even if I only use it 4 times. It can sit in my hotel the days I don’t use it. IF you are staying in hostels you'll need to ensure they have secure lockers though.

Hey Phil!

Yeah man... when I first got the notice that I'd been selected to present I went crazy thinking of all the cities and then I realized we're talking 1500km's or more between some of them. This will be my first time over there and I am hoping it won't be my last, if I like it enough I may just have to ask for a transfer to our Shanghai office for a year or so! Thankfully my girlfriend doesn't mind photography and a lot of times I find her trying to scoop up my camera to snap some photos when we're out and about I made sure to book extra time in Beijing as she's got a huge list of stuff she wants to see there and she's agreed to Huashan even though she doesn't want to do the climbing portion of the mountain heh (she's cool with Yellow Mountain but she's not so cool with Huashan's rather technical and scary climbing).

We'll be staying in hotels aside from one night in the hostel at the east peak of Huashan and another probably at Yellow Mountain (depends if Hotel Beihai is full). I think our revised schedule works much better for us as it streamlines the trip and allows us to spend more time in Beijing before we leave. I basically have from June 13th -> July 2nd to travel but if we leave on the 30th it gives us some time to kick the jet lag and get back to our regular schedule before work on the 4th

Gear wise I think I am leaning towards bringing the 24-70 now as it's just such a versatile walkaround lens but I'm not bringing the 70-200 as it's just too big and bulky. If I get my Z-Finder before the trip I plan on recording some videos of the trip for sure so I'll be investing in a lot more memory cards very soon!

OH!! I see you have the f2.8 version of the 70-200. Hmm, big decision there. I have the lighter f4.0 so it travels anywhere I go on vacation. I dump all my raws in to an aging Fujitsu laptop which is small and compact. I upgraded the HD to easily handle a month's RAWs.
Don't sweat what you'll miss. China has so many good photo ops that you'll want to head back for the rest. I've been there twice and plan to return some day.

i second phil on bringing your 70-200 with 24-70. i think that will complete your gear so far imo.
while youre there, do you mind if u get a chance to give us some hands on reviews re: benro tripods and vanguard....

I'll be bringing my MBP with me and an external hard-drive that I keep work data/photos on so I plan on offloading my daily stuff to my P-3000 and then to my external drive when we're back at the hotel.

I'm sure we'll miss a ton of great stuff but I think we've got a pretty good area covered and some great photo ops

If I could speak mandarin better and actually talk to a store clerk I might be able to try the tripods but I know maybe 4 words of Mandarin (I'm working on it) so I'd probably not get very far

http://www.boston.com …eady.html?s_cam​paign=8315

Yep, my office has booked us a VIP tour of the World Expo the last day I am on business there so I plan on checking that out for sure. We're going to extend our time in Shanghai and probably knock of Xian from the trip to make up for the extra time. World Expo is once in a lifetime thing to see in a country like China

So a slight gear change at the last minute and some schedule changes has made this trip a little easier for us Kit wise I'm bringing along the 7D, 17L, 35L, 24-70 and a 135L which should be more than enough and I may also bring the Zeiss 50 for any video work I shoot over there.

Schedule wise we're zipping off from Shanghai down to Zhangjiajie first now (had lunch with some friends who worked on Avatar and highly recommended it) then to Yellow Mountain, back to Shanghai to catch the bullet train to Beijing and then spend the last portion of our trip in Beijing and surrounding area. Seems more manageable for us and not as crazy trying to line up a ton of trains.

nice! can't wait to see the photos when you come back!