Planning for China

I have applied for my visa, should get it quickly. I cannot believe how expensive the visa is! For U.S. citizens it costs $131 plus a rush fee if needed. 

I have decided to take the 24 hour train from Hong Kong to Beijing and go from there. It looks like I will be in Beijing for about 5 days (I need to get my Vietnam visa there, I expect that to take 5 days) and then head to Xi'an. After 4 days there, I will head to Shanghai and Hangzhou. I think I will spend 5 days and then head to Guilin, Guanxi. I'll end up in Guangzhou and take the bus/train from there to Vietnam. I hope all goes to plan. I looked at flights and realized how expensive they are for getting around. I will probably bus a couple of the legs of the trip, but I look forward to nice train rides with amazing vistas.