Answer to One China Travel Question
|
| |
Q: We're Australians and will be staying in Kowloon. We're interested in going to China as a side trip for maybe a night. Where is the closest place in China where we can see some sights and go shopping? We plan to take either a train or a boat. Which ever is faster. Will we need a Visa to enter China? Where to apply?
| | A: If you have just one or two days for your side-trip in mainland China from Hong Kong, your options are most likely limited to Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Neither of these two cities are tourist cities per se (unlike Beijing, Xian, Guilin or Shanghai). But if your intention is to do a little shopping and just get a taste of life in China as it is, you can certainly go to Shenzhen and/or Guangzhou. Shenzhen is about an hour north of Hong Kong. It is a new, commercial city built up in the past 25 years, with a population of 6 million. If you go by train, it is a 40 minutes' ride to the Lo Wu border crossing point. There are many trains during the day. Right after you go through the customs you'll see a large shopping place called Luohu Commercial City, where you'll find all kinds of small goods, some of which are fakes of well-known brands. Not many tourist attractions in the city, though. There is a theme park callled Splendid China, which features over 80 miniatures of historical buildings and scenic sites across China.
Guangzhou, used to be known as Canton, is the capital of Guangdong Province and has a population of 7 million. There are a few attractions such as Six Banyan Temple and Sun Yan-sen Memorial Hall, but nothing extraordinary. There are, however, numerous stores, markets, restaurants etc. The train ride from Kowloon to Guangzhou lasts about 2 hours and costs about US$30 (there are ordinary class and first class). The train ride to Shenzhen costs about US$8 first class.
Some people have to go from Hong Kong to Shenzhen by hover ferry, then by bus to Guangzhou, and back to Hong Kong by train. This way you get to see landscape on your way to compensate for what you do not see in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. There are organized one-day tours like this which cost about US$150 per person.
Australians can stay in Hong Kong visa-free for up to 90 days, but you need visa (tourist visa in your case) to enter mainland China. You can either apply at the Chinese diplomatic or consular mission close to you in Australia or apply for it in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong you can apply through agencies such as China Trave Service (which is a kind semi-official service of China). Need to give it 3 days or so; otherwise you'll have to pay for rush services. To save yourself from the anxiety, you can of course apply in Australia. If you decide to go on an organized tour, the travel agency can most likely take care of it for you.
| | | | | |
|
|
