[PiperH]

It looks like we will arrive in Shanghai or Hong Kong rather than Beijing before traveling to our province. I just wondered from those who have been to those places what there is to see.

Thanks,
Violet

[sakelley]

We will also be traveling through Hong Kong. I know on the way home, we are planning on staying a couple of days there to go to Hong Kong Disney.

[Trace7]

We have been to both Shanghai and Hong Kong. My brother lives in HK, so I have been there twice (and also once on my honeymoon before he lived there), and then Adam and I went to Shanghai on our adoption trip before we went to Beijing for our adoption (and we did HK at the end of the adoption trip).

I love both cities, but honestly - I would go to Hong Kong if given the choice - especially if this will be your first trip to Asia or specifically, to China. Hong Kong is a gorgeous city, and if you stay in central - everything is very close together for the most part and easy to see. I consider HK to be sort of "China-lite", as in you will find that most people speak english, and getting around is very easy. Shanghai wasn't too hard - but it was definitely harder to find people who spoke english there, and we did get lost more than once doing sightseeing on our own there. Between the two cities, I also find Hong Kong to be more beautiful right on the harbor and nestled in the mountains.

In Shanghai, we went to Yu Yuan Garden, had dinner and drinks accross from the Bund, walked along the Bund and enjoyed the night-time views from the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. We were only there for two days.

In Hong Kong, you can do the peak tram up to the Peak (a must-see at night- especially when it is clear skies), you can walk through HK Park (and the zoo and aviary) for free, you can take the old trams down to the shopping areas for a mere 2 dollars and crossing the harbor to Kowloon on the Star Ferry is also very inexpensive. The dim sum in HK is fabulous and if you can - try and find a yummy Korean BBQ place to try, too. My brother lives on Repulse Bay, which is a gorgeous beachy area and they have busses that can take you there. It is also very near Ocean Park, which is a very fun amusement park located on the cliffs of the China Sea. We did that one as well as HK Disney, and they were both very fun (and this was after we had our DD, and she loved both).

So my opnion is although they are both great cities, I would say go for Hong Kong. You will get to experience "real China" in your baby's province - and I personally think HK has the best of everything. I can't wait to go back and visit my brother and his family. Hopefully we go in 2010.

[SofiasMom]

I haven't been to Hong Kong but did go to Shanghai last year. I was blown away by Shanghai. It's very modern, at night the place is lit up like a Christmas Tree or like the Vegas strip but so much larger. We had drinks at the Peace Hotel where a Jazz Band that looked like it was out of a 1940's movie played (the hotel might now be closed for renovation), took a river boat tour at night, went to the French concession part of town and had a wonderful meal at the Art Restaurant Art Salon (Wu Li Xiang) | Restaurant Review | Shanghai | Frommers.com. We took a day trip to Suzhou, one of the water towns and were impressed with the gardens. Hangzhou, another beautiful garden city, is about a 2 hour train ride away.

[vivismom]

We LOVED Hong kong! We didn't do Disney (although I heard it's a great one day trip) but we did see what we could in the 2 days we had there. The kids loved riding the buses (especially the double deckers!), the subway, the cable car, the suspended cable car, the ferry, and the taxis, plus we rode the train there. I think we went on every single type of public transportation possible. We went to that monastery up on the mt. and rode the extremely cool suspended cable car up and down (TOTALLY WORTH IT). The kids were running around and it wasn't overly crowded. We also really enjoyed all of the markets, especially the night markets. We had 2 three year olds (my son recently adopted) and had to carry them on our shoulders one kid per parent, but it was so worth it! I would do it again in a second. We bought the most amazing souvenirs in HK, even though we had no room left in our suitcases LOL. Do the night street markets if you can- they were my fav thing in HK. Check out our blog for pics:
we travelled in April.

[PiperH]

Thanks for the information everyone. But now that we aren't traveling until October we will be going through Beijing.

So, it's the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tianenmen Square after all. That's cool, though, because we both really want to see and walk on the Great Wall.

Kevin

[Trace7]

Originally Posted by PiperH

Thanks for the information everyone. But now that we aren't traveling until October we will be going through Beijing.

So, it's the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tianenmen Square after all. That's cool, though, because we both really want to see and walk on the Great Wall.

Kevin

That is awesome. Beijing is very cool. You will have an amazing trip to your son no matter what!