Does The WRC Need China?

[omer yetis]

Fly with Turkish airlines to Istanbul and then direct flight to Beijing....
and if you guys need any information about China, I will do my best to help you with as I live in Shanghai for the last 10 years and did the China rally championship earlier....

[Livewireshock]

My suggestion for travel from Europe would be with Hainan Airlines, who fly from Brussels, Berlin and Prague from about 550 Euros return at the moment for the dates surrounding the rally direct to Beijing. They are the pick of all Chinese airlines and deserve their 5 Star Skytrax ranking. Much better than Air China, China Eastern or China Southern. Do not treat passengers as total cattle class and have more room in each class of seating, even on domestic flights within China.

For bargain hunters, it is possible to find cheaper flights to Hong Kong due to the extra competition flying there. However flying direct from HK to mainland China can be more expensive (up to 300 Euros more) than a similar mainland domestic flight from Shenzhen Airport, because of the extra taxes on HK flights. Yet crossing the land border to Shenzhen is easy and painless with multiple travel options, Shenzhen Airport is new, huge and wonderful to pass through. The two airports are only 40km apart as the crow flies.

As for flying domestically in China, the way tickets are priced and sold is a little different to most other places. All air routes are priced by government regulation, so much per kilometre, this is regardless of which airline is flying that route. The individual airlines then discount this base fare by 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more percent, this is always a rounded to the nearest 10. So many airlines on the same route will have the exact some price. What to look out for is when those discounts take effect, normally the base fare is the only available price far in advance, with discounting only coming in one or two months before the flight (pending on destination) and then go back up with a week to go.

Airspace in China is controlled by the military and is restrictive. If a problem occurs in one place, planes simply can not fly around bad area, causing delays that often snowball onto other routes through out the day. Thus morning flights are more reliable to be on time than evening flights, with cancellations being quite possible for lengthy delays.

High speed trains run almost everywhere in China, they are very reliable, fast and comfortable. Most large railway stations are more conveniently located in most cities, but not always so. There are first class and second class seating, with only a few overnight sleepers on high speed routes. They are about the same cost as an airline flight though with little difference in cost between classes. VIP, Sightseeing and Business class seats are not worth the cost.

Conventional trains can be much slower, can be slightly delayed, yet will be much cheaper and stop at older inner city stations. There are soft and hard sleepers, soft and hard seats as the four classes. Seats are only good for trips up to 6 hours in length, otherwise always choose a sleeper.

Train tickets are available up to 60 days in advance now. Try to avoid buying tickets in crowded ticket halls at train stations and try to find ticket offices and agencies located in hotels or in small shopfronts around the city. For an extra 5RMB cost, you avoid the noise, crowds and save lots of time.

For all travelling needs a website like http://english.ctrip.com/ is very good. It is possible to book hotels, flights and train travel there.

[Livewireshock]

Now for my thoughts on accommodation around Huairou for the rally week. There are a few 5 star hotels located close to the urban area of Huairou. Most of the new hotels are situated around Yanqi Lake, site of the 2014 APEC meeting and possible service park, however these are distant from the regular downtown area. There are a few but not many business style basic hotels in the urban parts of the town too, 7 Days Inn is a good brand that is equivalent of Ibis Budget hotels for example. About 10km east is the larger town of Miyun. It has a larger selection of hotels, including a ski field, French wine chateau, replica of Tasmania's Government House and more.

Out of the town and closer to the stages, there are a huge number of small B&B style places. These mostly cater to the weekend getaway crowd from Beijing, seeking out the natural beauty in the mountains. These can be priced quite cheaply, however, expect services to be limited with no foreign languages spoken and often hard to locate. However expect the hosts to be very welcoming and friendly with invitations to share meals with the family.

Regardless of the star rating, you can expect most beds in China to be rock hard by Western standards (this is a Chinese cultural preference and they believe it is better for you). Do keep in mind also that all accommodation providers must be licenced to host foreigners, so some cheaper places do not allow overseas travellers to stay.

During the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, I rented an apartment in nearby Miyun for 3 months, because a basic furnished apartment was cheaper for a month (1200RMB) than a single night in a Beijing Hotel (avg 2000RMB). During that time I cycled my way around the mountains and plains around Huairou and Miyun. So I am very familiar with this place, even after going back for the rally last year. However renting an apartment would not be an option for a single week for most travellers.

This area is famous for the mountains, the Mutianyu and Simatai sections of the Great Wall, clean waters, fish and national parks. There are several major breweries located there too, even some wineries.

Getting to Huairou, if you do not have a private car or transport, catch the train from the airport to the city terminus at Dongzhimen, then go to the ground level bus station and find the Express 916 bus. This is a soft seated coach, this will make only 3 stops in central Beijing before running along the expressway to Huairou where it then makes multiple stops. There is a bus leaving every 10 minutes until about 8pm and takes about an hour, before finishing at Huairou Bus Station. Be aware that there is a slow 916 bus that travels almost the same route but stops everywhere along the way, thus over 2 hours in travel time. Buses have luggage bays underneath the coach for all your gear if you need to use them. During rush hour they can be overcrowded too.

Handy description of the Beijing bus station and shows the Express 916 bus.
http://www.tour-beijing.com/blog/tag...en-bus-station