Beijing

Beijing is the capital of China, and was the main destination of this cruise.  However, it is actually around 100 miles from where the ship docks in Xingang.  As such the ship stops overnight to allow for 2 days visiting, and many people on board choose to spend a night in a Beijing hotel, either arranged through the ship or independently.

The cheapest way to get to Beijing is probably by taxi to the local station, and then by public trains to Beijing.  This is, however, a bit of an experience and probably should not be attempted except by confident travellers with instructions written in Chinese to use for buying tickets!  Kate and I had arranged a private car and guide through a local company called Travel China.  This path had been followed by about 9 different groups on board, and as such there was a small fleet of cars waiting for us dockside, each with a driver and guide holding up a piece of paper with our names on them!

The main advantage of using Travel China (beyond mere convenience) was that you are able to tailor your itinerary depending upon your own interests. In our case, we wanted to do the following:

• Day 1 morning: the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
• Day 1 afternoon: the Summer Palace
• Day 1 evening: the kung fu show
• Day 2 morning: the Great Wall at Mutianyu
• Day 2 afternoon: shopping and back to the ship!

A few words are due here about Travel China.  As far as I know, everybody on board who used them was very satisfied with their service.  Our own driver (Mr Fong) and guide (Nancy) were both friendly and knowledgeable, and worked very long hours to meet our needs over the 2 days.  Price wise, the total cost was around half of the ship's tours, and we had the advantage of personal service and customisation.  Based on our experience, we would have no hesitation in recommending them.