i'm supposed to be going to luzon to visit family, and then manila & boracay... i suggested visiting palawan cause i heard how beautiful it is there and my mom freaked out and started talking about the "militant islamics" and how they like to kidnap americans. she's kind of your typical neurotic mother though...

 

how the hell do you guys take 3 weeks off of work? plus this has to cost a pile of $$$ doesn't it?

I am jealous... i go to freaking ocean city, md every year.... i need to get my ass on a plane and go somewhere neat!!!!

goodluck on your trip.

 

i'd visit palawan if i had the chance.
i've heard that at some resorts, the huts extend over the water from the beach.

 

When we stayed in Beijing I left a window open overnight. Bad idea.

 

Ok, just finished putting together my travel itinerary, and wanted to thank everyone for the input! It's appreciated, and I'll be sure to watch out for the mosquitoes, pickpockets, and Islamic militants.

 

dude aren't you gonna bless my thread with an ass picture?

 

Green Turtle FTMFW

 

I go to China monthly for business and have been doing so for a long time. My advice would be that unless you have your heart set on it, you might as well just spend the entire trip in the Philippines. Shanghai is cool in some ways, but Beijing has a dismal North Korean feel to it in many places. Be prepared for people to be openly rude to you, possibly even more so because your girlfriend is Filipino. Instead of going to Guangzhou, I recommend going to Hong Kong, which you will find to be much more civilized. Guangzhou is afterall, the birthplace of SARS, among other plagues.

 

Thanks for the warning! I've actually purchased my tickets already, so I'll be spending about 8 days in China, split between Shanghai (with a side trip to Hangzhou) and Beijing. I'm skipping the Guangzhou part.

In Beijing, I'm planning on just seeing the tourist stuff -- Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace.

In Shanghai, I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing yet, but figure the Hangzhou trip will eat up 1-2 days, which leaves me another 2 days or so of free time to work with. Anything else I can see within a day's distance of Shanghai?

And yep, my heart is indeed kind of set on seeing China this time around. The girlfriend and I are doing this as the "motherland tour," hence the choice of Philippines and China. Some level of rudeness I kind of expect, and as long as no one gets hurt I don't mind.

 

Shanghai will be rewarding. Beijing will be 'interesting', as it is basically the Washington DC of China (with cool walls, buildings and whatnot). If you are going for just a few days, you should be fine. Shanghai is more metropolitan and civilized, there are some cool bars. My favorites being "Window 2" and "Cocaine". Check out the drinking/tourist areas of "Xin Tian Di" and "Tong Ren Lu" to observe the nightlife. Not sure how old you are, but there's a club called Babyface on Maoming Nan Lu street that I thought was pretty trendy.

Everyone speaks English in the Philippines, as mentioned above. If you've never been to either of these places, you will return a changed person! have fun.