Travel to the north east

[Silent]

This summer I intend to visit the China. Nothing is fixed yet but I consider concentrating on the north east of China. My lonelyplanet from a few years back doesn't give that much info. I'm aware it's not the most touristy area but I suspect there's far and far more to do and see than LP tells me.

Has anyone tips on resources, websites, forums etc with good info on the area? Any (Chinese) travelguides worth checking out? (If Chinese preferably in ebooks so I can use a dictionary easily) Any-one aware of hidden gems in the north east?

[imron]

Not sure of any good travel resources, but Changbaishan (the mountain that borders China and North Korea) is supposed to be really nice that time of year.

Personally, I found the south-west much better for travelling than the north-east.

[WestTexas]

I live in NE China. In general it is not as dense in tourist sites as some other parts of China, so you will need to take a few more trains/planes to get around, but there are some interesting places. Also, you probably know this, but most of NE China was unsettled before the mid 19th century, so there aren't any thousand-year-old temples or anything.

Places I've been in the northeast:

Harbin - summer has a beer festival, beer gardens, a nice walking street downtown, lovely river, Siberian Tiger Preserve. Seems to have the tallest people by far out of anywhere in China. Also the best looking women in China IMO.

Aershan/Arxan - small town on Mongolian border. Very remote, almost no people at all out there. Lots of forests, hills, clear streams, natural springs, etc. Beautiful area, but extremely difficult to get to also

Dandong - famous North Korean border town. You can look at North Korea, eat "Korean" food, see the bridge Americans blew up in the Korean War. Honestly not one of the better places I've been, but some Americans think it's cool.

Wulanhaote/Ulanhot - nice area, but nothing really to do in the town itself

Shenyang - has some very nice parks, and the Shenyang Imperial Palace, which is kind of cool, but very small compared to the one in Beijing. Also great for shopping and all sorts of food. Has a Korea-town, lots of good Korean food. Shenyang is a fairly big city with a decent amount to do, although nothing really cool enough that I'd recommend someone go there just for tourism.

Changchun - not a big fan of this city, pretty much a smaller, crappier version of Shenyang IMO.

Other places in the Northeast/places I'd like to go:

Changbai Mountains - China's largest nature reserve, looks pretty wild and untamed.

Manzhouli - Russian border town, also close to Inner Mongolia grasslands

Hailaer - Area close to Russian border, on Mongolian grasslands. Has traditional Mongolian herders or something. Looks cool.

[fanglu]

I have found yododo (http://www.yododo.com/) to be a decent Chinese travel resource.

(null)

[bad_dream_house]

you could also try wikitravel http://wikitravel.org/en/Main_Page, it has a lot of suggestions of places to visit, things to do etc

[Silent]

Thanks for the replies!

@Imron: I'm well aware that the south west is considered better from a touristic point of view. I like to combine China with North Korea making the north east more convenient. I prefer to focus somewhat on a 'limited' area, it's still large enough, as I want to relax, hike and sightsee rather then spending lots of time and money on long transfers.

@fanglu: Thanks for the link. It will require a fair bit of effort to explore the site. My first impression is good and it may improve my Chinese.