Hi, LiuLangMao, I have no plan to do any trekking for now because i think the wind will be strong and cold during this time of the year. Unless someone tells me i am wrong. The only worry is i have is the transportation... Been searching the web and there are posts saying that the last bus leaving 慕田峪 and 司马台 for Beijing are pretty early... around 4pm if i am not wrong. Anybody knows?:dunno:
i went to 司马台 in 2002, but I used my company car to go , But from what I know there is a 游12路 tourist bus that goes from 宣武门。
for 慕田峪, there is a 游6路from 宣武门 too.
But most of these 游X路bus operates only on Sat and Sun. as early as 0630 - 0800.
I went 慕田峪 in 2006, took a bus 916(daily bus, whole day also got, just like we take bus from town to bedok) from 东直门, and reach怀柔, from there, I took a cab cost me abt RMB40. once u get off the bus, lots of taxi driver will ask u to take their taxi. just walk a bit far away, grab one of them to tok abt price and agree on it, if u r not happy with the price, just walk away to get another driver, no need to feel pai sei.
most of them are honest ppl, they just want to make a livng, once the price is agree, they will stick to it. But not to say there are no nasty driver around, I have met some nasty A**H*** before. just dun look blur and be tough.
my advice, once u reach beijing, go to wang fu jin and buy a china guide book, cheap cheap RMB30~40 only, but that is if u can read chinese pretty well. in fact I brought 2 , its more useful than lonely planet. I believe the site that u saw it ok, most of the bus route dun change easily. I checked my guide book printed in 2002, almost the same thing.
there are no such things as cheapest and fastest, both do not co-exists, if u can get both, than there must be something that will be compromised. I always tell myself, if I wasted 1 whole day sitting in a bus and the scenary along the way is not that fantastic, than my holiday have been cut short 1 day, I would rather take a plane or pay more to do a overnight train, or even book a taxi. I ever paid RMB600 to get a taxi just to see a glacier, climb the hell out of me in high altitude, but its all worth it, cos the memory is priceless. the glacier was not in any lonely planet , I found it in the china guide book, and the only transport is via taxi.