Hi looking at traveling from Xiamen to hanoi, i have never been to china before and was woundering how long this train would take and cost? also can anone reccomend good places to visit on route? Many Thanks Camilla

please feel free to add to this. I'm going to stay away from touring advice, mainly because I thinks it's a no brainer, get on bike, peddle and try not to get killed along the way. I travel with a big bike (Kona Coiler with a 170mm fork and 150mm rear travel) and while I do a fair amount of road touring on this bike I also travel by bus and train alot as well. being that even the most hardend cycle tourist will some times take other transport, unless of course you name is Janne Corax, some of this may come in handy.

heres the tips.

with busses the first thing you going to hear it no. you got to be assertive, and showing the baggage handlers that your bike breaks down into small parts by taking the wheels off goes a long ways to getting your bike on the bus. with sleeper busses or short distance busses it's going to ride on top. The baggage handelers here have no idea the amount of damage that can happen to a porely loaded bike. they are use to the indistucable chinise bikes. get up there and watch them tie it down. as with any one, telling some one how to do there job it going to cause some tension, but it's worth it. if you have to, let them finnish and re-doit. and at the end of all this you will be asked to pay a little bit (~ 10 RMB) to the baggage guy. it's your call if you want to pay it, but I generaly do. and if the bus is load with cargo, then you may have to pay a charge higher them this to the bus driver.

Come join Shanghai Expat at this Summer's BBQ series at Senses in the newly renovated garden. The next Summer BBQ will be on July 30th, the last Sunday of every month, 2pm to 5pm. We look forward to seeing you and your friends. One platter of grilled meats, including lambchop, steak, burger, an expanded All-U-Can-Eat salad, and complimentary beer or glass of wine for ONLY RMB100. FREE for children under 14. Discounted drinks! Senses Wine Lounge :515 Jianguo Xi Lu, near Wulumuchi Lu.

Shanghai Expat Weekly Gathering

Head to Malone's private lounge(at the third floor), and meet all those
people you hang out with online anyway, share your Shanghai life
experience with the added benefit of great drinks deals.

Free entrance & free finger food, 25 RMB for standard drinks.
( weekly event, from9:00pm- late)

Do you want to get the Chinese traditional papercuts, paintings, beautiful silk scarves or traditional Chinese painted funs?

Do you want to wear the Chinese traditional clothes, “Qipao” or Taiji clothes and shoes?

Do you want to get the Taiji swords, knives and funs?

Do you want to get the necklaces, earrings, and bracelets made of pearls?

Do you want to get the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games symbols, “Fuwa”?

Do you want to get close to the mysterious culture of China?
Do you want to visit the famous Forbidden Palace and the Great Wall?
Do you want to take a stroll around in the highest land of the world?
Do you want to sleep in the typical yurt and watch the traditional dances and horse- races in the Mongolian Grassland?
Do you want to visit the most beautiful tropical island in China as well as experience Chinese Ethnic Minorities traditional culture?
Do you want to visit the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shihuang' s terracotta army in Xi’an?
ServingMall offers tours in Beijing for 3, 4 or 5 days, and also the tours in Tibet, Mongolia Grassland, Hainan and Xi’an.
ServingMall also offers other tours all over China, and you can always find one fit for you.
We also offer hotel reservation, airport transfer, and we can book the cheapest  Air and Train tickets for you.
For more info, please visit our website (http://www.servingmall.com/en/travelChina/index.htm)
Contact us at : travelchina@servingmall.com  scarlett_hmm@hotmail.com (or talk to us online by MSN).
Travel Center:
 Contact person: Ms. Scarlett

ServingMall International IT Co.,Ltd.
Tel:86-10-64424153
86-10-64424409
Fax:86-10-64425021
Website: http://www.servingmall.com
Address: Room 405 Building No.1 (JinOuDaSha), No.2.Dist, Anzhenli, Chaoyang Dist.,Beijing.
Zip Code:100029

Review of Holly's Hostel by small cat (5), 8. Juli 2006

dorm is 20--35

Double room with public-bath is 70yuan/room

Double room with private-bath and AC is 140yuan/room

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese authorities arrested a reporter from Germany's Die Zeit newspaper and held him for five hours for conducting "illegal interviews" with villagers about a dam project in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

The journalist, Georg Blume, was detained by two police patrols in the village of Xiao Shaba after he interviewed farmers near the Nu river about their impending relocation, Die Zeit reported on its Web site. He was taken to a police station, where authorities asked him to turn over his notes and film material.

Blume refused to hand over the documents and signed a declaration that he wouldn't conduct any more interviews and would leave the region immediately. He was released after he'd destroyed a portion of his documents himself, Die Zeit said. The newspaper said it had spoken with Blume by mobile phone.

Me and my sister are in Japan Tokyo, for the moment. We are soon leaving for Kyoto, and then Osaka. We intend to go directly to Seoul from Osaka. After Seoul we want to go to China, or we must go to China because we have already bought the flight ticket home from Beijing. Though we have one problem. We had little time to fix visa before we left Sweden, so we decided to fix a chinese visa in either South Korea or Japan.

Now here is the question: how long time will it takes us to fix visa for China either in Osaka, or i Seoul? Is it possible to fix a visa three days before we are leaving to China?

SHAPINGBA,XUELINYAYUAN,CHONGQING,