China Chronicles: Planning, Budget and Itinerary

I booked the Manila-Shanghai and Beijing-Manila tickets one year before the departure date. These are the most advanced tickets I ever purchased. That’s one year of advanced planning and saving.

When I shared my plans that I will be in China for more than two weeks, most people were baffled: What will I do in China for two weeks? Shanghai and Beijing can be done in a rush for a week. So why spend so much time in one country?

China is a HUGE country.

 

I was careful drawing those boundaries

A couple of websites that we really helpful for planning

Chroniclesof Marianne. She did a great job of documenting her adventures

Pinoyexchange Beijing Detailed and helpful info for the Beijing Leg

DIY Great Wall (Mutianyu) Super helpful. 

Since we initially had 18 days in China, I chose to copy the China itinerary of The Chronicles of Marianne. I set out itinerary to start in Shanghai, the long train to Taiyuan then to Pingyao, train to Datong then bus to Beijing.

BUT.

…we didn’t get the the visa for 18 days. We were only granted a visa valid for 14 days. 

Then WHAT?

Ugh. So it looked like we had to: 

-cut our vacation short

-flush the piso-fare flight from Beijing to Manila

-buy a flight costing $500 to fly back to Manila (no seat sales at that time)

-and sulk, because China wasn’t generous enough with our visa.

NO. No sulking. Sulking causes wrinkles. 

So enter the back-up of the back-up plan: travel to another visa-free country, and enjoy the four (4) days that were supposed to be spent in China. Anyway, we had budget for those four days, the additional cost is really just the plane ticket (at a different date) going back to Manila.

The choice for the next adventure: Singapore.

Singapore is 3 hours away from Manila but it is 6 hours from Beijing – if you have a direct flight. Direct flights are limited so we booked a flight with a 3-hour stopover in Shenzen. The flight also costs $500. If I’m gonna spend $500 anyway, I’d rather spend it going somewhere else rather than flying home (then sulking because of the shortened vacation). Also, it had been four years since I was in Singapore. The structures around Marina Bay were still undergoing construction in 2010.

Not-photo worthy back then

So Singapore it is.

Had to flush down the piso-fare flight from Beijing Manila. Well oh well papel, sunk cost. Charge to experience.

I had to cancel my reservations in Datong, modify my reservation in Bejing, and find an available hostel in Singapore. A headache, but I managed.

We booked our Singapore flight during Day 2 in China. PRICEY. But it costs just as much as a Beijing-Manila ticket during that time. The adventure continues.

Here’s how out itinerary turned out:

DAY	LOCATION	ACTIVITY	ACCOMMODATION
0	Depart Manila. Arrive in Shanghai
1	Shanghai	Slept   until afternoon. Explored Nanjing West at night	Motel 168 Shanghai Wujiaochang Wanda Plaza Branch
2	Shanghai	People's Squre, Nanjing Road, The Bund at night	Motel 168 Shanghai Wujiaochang Wanda Plaza Branch
3	Shanghai	Day trip to Qibao	Motel 168 Shanghai Wujiaochang Wanda Plaza Branch
4	Shanghai	French Concession (Xin Tian Di). Sherlock Café. Tianzifang	Motel 168 Shanghai Wujiaochang Wanda Plaza Branch
5	Shanghai	Shanghai Zoo, Wujiaochang	Motel 168 Shanghai Wujiaochang Wanda Plaza Branch
6	Shanghai to Pingyao	Afternoon departure of overnight train to Taiyuan	Motel 168 Shanghai Wujiaochang Wanda Plaza Branch
7	Pingyao	Arrive in Taiyuan. Take morning train to Pingyao. Explore Pingyao.	Pingyao Harmony Hotel
8	Pingyao	Explore Pingyao Walls.	Pingyao Harmony Hotel
9	Beijing	Bike around Pingyao in the morning. Afternoon: train from Pingyao to Beijing. Arrive in Beijing at night.	Dragon King Hostel
10	Beijing	Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Jingshan Park	Dragon King Hostel
11	Beijing	Great Wall of China (Mutianyu) Great Wall, Olympic Park	Dragon King Hostel
12	Beijing	Summer Palace. Temple of Heaven. Food street at night.	Dragon King Hostel
13	Beijing to Singapore	Fly from Beijing to Singapore (with stopover in Shenzen)	Dragon King Hostel
14	Singapore	Around Marina Bay	5.footway.inn Clark Quay
15	Singapore	China town and Little India	5.footway.inn Clark Quay
16	Singapore	Botanical Gardens	5.footway.inn Clark Quay
X	Singapore to Manila

 

We stayed for a long time in Shanghai because the purpose of this China trip is to spend time with Amiga Sara and her family. We also chose a hotel which is near their place and not near Nanjing Road. 

The average cost of each twin room a night is around CNY 180-200. So that's CNY 90-100 per person or around Php 700 per person per night. Not that cheap, but I was iffy booking hostel beds. I read a lot of negative reviews about hostels in China not being that clean. I can stand old and ugly hostels, but not dirty.

 

China Budget Breakdown:

	CNY/RMB	SGD	PHP
Airfare	-	-	26,749.50
Transportation	891.50	.40*	50.00
Food	1,188.98	75.90	240.00
Accommodation	1,106.00	128.00	-
Other Fees	375.00	6.10	2,170.00
Souvenirs	70.00	26.35	-
TOTAL	3,631.48	238.75	29,209.50
Forex Rate	7.50	37.00	1.00
PHP	27,236.10	8,833.75	29,209.50
GRAND TOTAL			65,279.35

*We had almost no expenses for transportation in SG because we had a contact who generously provided us with loaded transportation cards.

Airfare:

5J ticket to MNL-PVG                                              2,146.23

5J ticket PEK-MNL (sunk cost)                                  4,098.89

Shenzen Airline flight PEK-SG                                14,791.96

  Jetstar flight – SG to MNL                                       5,712.43

The PEK-SG flight was expensive, but we had limited options. 

That's a lot of info. I'll break it down further in the next entry.