Beijing - Gongti(clubs), Wu Dao Ko, San Li Tun, Silk Market
Shanghai - Bund (obviously), Cloud 9 cafe grand Hyatt (killer views)
This place is the tits.
@Pokhim - Haha, thats hilarious to hear about the English speaking 
We are having a guide which the agent arranged, so hopefully we dont face the problem… Unfortunately skipping Chengdu because of lack of time 
@gringo - Thank you mate, I heard China you get tons of fruits… So may be its time to turn to fruit diet for 2 weeks and get back fitter and leaner
@Ohai - thank you…
@ACE - thanks for those places. We do seem to cover most, but will cover the rest myself.
Hi All,
Thanks for all the suggestions, I had a fabulous time in China with my family. Sharing some experiences for the benefit of others:
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I was supremely surprised by the level of vegetarian options which is possible in China. The only problem is to convey the same to cook
My wife was very good with that and went to the kitchen of a small restaurant and worked with the cook to convey what can be added and not. (For the first time I felt bad about causing hardships to others being a vegetarian) -
Mutiyanyu section of Great wall was amazing. Just fabulous and the rains added to the beauty of the whole place. I suggest this as a must visit place from Beijing (though I have not seen other views of Great wall). But this one was less crowded and a bit more difficult to navigate because of the geography of the place.
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Beijing Bargain Market/Shopping district - bargain bargain and bargain. Start at 1/10th of what they quote. 200 RMB is the quoted price, start shamelessly at 20 RMB. You would be surprised that people agree to that price. (Personally dont shop much and didnt buy anything other than tea).
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Tea - dont buy the tea from the so called antique tea shops. You are better off buying them from smaller shops and supermarkets. I have bought tea from both the places and the Oolong tea I bought from both the places, taste just the same. And a difference of over 50 RMB for a 100g of tea.
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Xian - loved the food part, but thats about it. Was completely put off by the Terrecota warriors. I didnt like this one bit, seemed too artificial and made up stuff. Apart from terracota warriors and eating, there is pretty much nothing in Xian. Some fountain garden is there which is a bit touristy and can be avoided at all cost. But the place is quite good in the evening to walk (though just a garden).
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Chongqing zoo - We went to see only the Pandas here (since we skipped chengdu). Pretty good and there was a baby panda which we could see
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Three gorges river cruise - We did the downstream (Chongqing to Yichang (3 nights), you can even do till Shanghai but pretty long trip). You can see the three gorges, some monastries, the dam trip etc. You can also experience the ship locking mechanism where the ship crosses the dam (175 metres of water on one side to 65 metres on the other side). For me this experience was worth the cruise completely. We travelled with the Victoria Cruises (negotiate heavily for the price, its supposedly an american managed company).
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Shanghai wild life park - Brilliant for my son. We did some cycling inside as well which was quite good.
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Vegetarian soup dumplings - The best dumplings we ever had on this trip.
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Day trip to Suzhou - This was amazing… The 1 hour boating through the narrow lanes of suzhou was quite an experience.
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The bund, top of Shanghai towers etc were quite good too.
Shanghai airport - one word of caution, if you expect anything to eat after 10 PM there in the airport - be ready for a shock. Every single shop was closed after 10 PM on a friday night. Not even the duty free shops were open. And we starved, till we boarded the aircraft
Overall, a fantastic trip and really thank you folks for all the pointers. Cheers!
gentlemen, look no further than the pot noodle
