April/May trip

My wife and I have made a late decision to head over to China for the Canton Fair which is later this month.

We have been looking at accommodation over this period and room rates are at their peak.

My knowledge of China is very low however I am assuming the high rates are related to this fair.

As funds for us are tight I was wondering if there was an area we could stay that was close enough to travel to the show daily but hopefully far enough away to take advantage of cheaper room rates.

Grateful for any advice or suggestions.

April/May trip

Foshan or Dongguan?

April/May trip

Thanks for that - yes I have decided to stay in Dongguan and have booked the Gladden Hotel ShiLong which has a few good reviews on here and is actually quite inexpensive.

I probably should post a new topic but I am now struggling with how to make my way from HK airport (landing approx 6pm) to the hotel.

The hotel web site says there is a coach transfer but no details of the service and they haven%26#39;t (as yet) replied to my email requesting information.

I also checked out the web site for HK airport itself and whilst they also talk about hotel coach transfers there is no real information.

Anyone have any ideas??

Cheers.

Mark.

As far as I can see, apparently they only have shuttles to Guangzhou and Shenzhen airports, not Hong Kong airport.

Hmmm I%26#39;m not familiar with Dongguan%26#39;s layout. But there%26#39;re buses from Hong Kong airport to various places in Dongguan: 鈥kcts.com/routes/air/air_dongguan_e.html and ctsbus.hkcts.com/routes/air/air_dongguan.html

Thanks Ellyse - I learned of the shuttle bus from the hotels link of the Canton Fair website - specifically this page cantonfair.org.cn/en/鈥ap.htm

which says ';Hotel鈫?a class=''internal auto'' href=''/Tourism-g294217-Hong_Kong_Hong_Kong_Region-Vacations.html''>Hong Kong airport scheduled shuttle bus锛?2 times per day锛宒eparture time锛?06锛?0锛?7:00锛?8:00锛?9:00锛?0:00锛?1:00锛?4:00锛?5:00锛?6:00锛?/p>

17锛?0锛?18:00锛?9锛?0';

I would therefore assume a return service for each of these times but am at a bit of a loss how to book etc :)

I just wasted some time and money calling the hotel and one of the bus services (domestic long-distance!) for you. Just wanted to let you know that the hotel staff don%26#39;t seem very smart, they couldn%26#39;t even understand properly what I was asking, in Mandarin. I wish I could speak Cantonese!

There%26#39;re 3 bus companies running on the route from Hong Kong airport to your hotel. Note that these don%26#39;t only just serve your hotel, your hotel is one of the many stops on these bus routes, that%26#39;s all! Also, these aren%26#39;t all really ';buses';, but 7-seater MPVs as well as normal buses.

Eternal East (160 RMB): huitw.com/bus/鈥KtoDONGGUAN-2006-04-11.jpg

GoGoBus (180 RMB): http://www.gogobus.com.tw/t1.php (catch the MPVs leaving every 20-30 mins till 1950)

Shun Chit (200 RMB): http://www.sccb.com.hk/sj/lineview.asp (scroll to the bottom of the page)

Ok... do I get a nomination for ';thread of the day'; or something? -mop brow- That was a lot of work!

Ellyse - you are a legend! Thankyou very much for your work I truly appreciate it.

I have emailed the third company that you listed - I cannot read any Chinese so the link you gave me is of no meaning to me and their English version of their website doesn%26#39;t work at all (apart from the contact link).

The first site you linked I can read the route information but the rest of the site is in Chinese.

The second site is only Chinese as well so no go there.

One last question if I may - I assume because it is peak time with the trade show etc I would have to book one of these shuttles rather than just rely on arriving and getting on one??

Again thankyou for your time and effort.

Mark.

I posted the useful parts of their sites hoping that you%26#39;d wisen up to using Google Translate (http://translate.google.com) or similar to help...

For Shun Chit (http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A//www.sccb.com.hk/sj/lineview.asp%26amp;hl=en%26amp;langpair=zh|en%26amp;tbb=1%26amp;ie=gbk), buses leave every half hour till 2030, from Hong Kong airport. It appears that you then have to change buses at some point and then get on route A1 to get to your hotel.

For GoGoBus (http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A//www.gogobus.com.tw/t1.php%26amp;hl=en%26amp;langpair=zh|en%26amp;tbb=1%26amp;ie=big5), I already told you what you need to know -- catch the MPVs that leave every 20-30 mins till 1950.

What else did you want to know about the Eternal East route? All the information is there!

Hi.

I wasn%26#39;t actually after any further information really (apart from whether you thought it better to prebook or just %26#39;turn up%26#39; at the counter).... I was more just thanking you for what you have done.

As for using a translation website to be honest it didn%26#39;t occur to me so thanks for the tip.

Again thanks for your help.

Mark.

Heh, sorry, I didn%26#39;t mean to sound like I was berating you!

Can%26#39;t answer your question though, and I don%26#39;t think I%26#39;m going to call any more places up when I can%26#39;t speak Cantonese and they don%26#39;t understand my Mandarin very well, it%26#39;s just a waste of time and money.

My take on the situation is that, there should be enough supply to meet the demand. I%26#39;m sure there%26#39;re other people going who also aren%26#39;t booking ahead for the shuttle services. And there%26#39;re 3 to pick from, anyway.

Hey not a problem - I really do appreciate your help and I should have thought about the translation thing.I certainly dont want you to waste your own time and money on it :)

The email I sent the first company was just saying I wanted to book etc so if I dont hear back I will try the others or just turn up.

Again thanks.

Mark

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