Cambodian new year is in a couple of months. Usually get a full week of national holiday for that :)

I know that. Just commenting on how it feels like I've just finished celebrating new years, and here it is again :)

Just out of curiosity, are either of those places worth visiting? I'm going to be working for the next year over in Yangshuo and I'll have nearly 2 months off in the middle.

Happy CNY everyone! It's that time of the year again to put on weight.

Kung Hei fat Choi. Happy Lunar New Year of the Dragon ppls.
Gotta be better than the last crummy one :/

Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province (also my hometown), so if you want to visit big city, It is a good choice along with HK.
For a cultural and historical tour, Guangzhou and Chaozhou are good choices since they are both cities with hundreds of years history. (You should definately try the food in Guangzhou AND Chaozhou.)
For natural scenary, Yangshuo itself is already quite famous for that, and you also should not miss the cities around like Guilin.

I've considered visiting HK, but I'm having to be really careful because I only get 1 entry on my visa and I'm not quite sure what authorities consider China as they include just mainland China and I'll have to have a special visa if I decide to visit Tibet. I would assume that HK is considered to be mainland China, but I can't afford to get caught off guard.

I'll have to put those areas on my list of places to visit. I had considered visiting HK and as long as my visa allows for it I'm likely to go at least once. I've heard it's quite something. And while I'm there those cities don't appear to be too far away. I'm interested in both Chinese history and food. Hopefully by the time I have actual time to head outside of town I'll be fluent enough to be able to get on mostly by myself.

HK (and Macau btw) is considered to be leaving China from a visa point of view - ie you would need a dual/multi-entry visa to go and come back. (so I guess you can't this time).
I loved HK the first time I went but that was before I'd been to the mainland.
Still - there's lots of stuff to see in mainland China.

Guangzhou is a big city - very crowded - and has every kind of food (I mean they'll eat pretty much anything and also there's styles of food from around China)
Edit2: Guangzhou has changed a lot over the last 9 years (and more but I've only been here 9 years) - become more 'international' so you have to hunt around for the old buildings and local stuff. There are many smaller towns nearby though with lots to offer.

Chaozhou is also in Guangdong Province but quite a way to the East from Guangzhou. I've been to Shantou (near Chaozhou and of the same cultural background). ChaoShanese is a different local language to the Cantonese and you'll find some of the older people there don't speak Mandarin. Mostly you'll be ok in the cities and there's always pointing emphatically to get your point across ;)

I'd recommend Xi'An to the north too (Great food, nice city, wonderful cultural sites to visit both in the city and out at the Terracotta army bit).

Edit: and if you like spicy food then pop across to Hunan.
Side note - from Yangshuo there's an overnight bus to Guangzhou - 11 hours - not comfortable and only for the strong of heart (those mountain roads with the drop-off aren't safe at night). There's an overnight train from Guilin (13 hours) that's better (or just fly).
I've done long trips on the trains many times but that's fun.
Longest bus I've done is 11 hours back from Yangshuo - not fun.

Hope you have a smooth trip at any rate.

One thing to notice, when we talk about Mainland China, we usually mean China minus Taiwan, HK and Macou, but I don't think you will need a visa to visit HK as long as you are not staying for too long. Maybe one way to do it can be landing at HK, do some visitting, and then enter Mainland China from HK. (I think some of my friends in Canada do it this way, but maybe you will want to consult the official a bit more)

Check this link:
http://hongkong.usconsulate.gov/acs_hkvisa.html

He can enter HK but his problem would be getting back into China (mainland) - he's only got a single entry visa so unless he can visit HK first, like you suggest, then he won't be able to do it on this trip.
Are the flights booked already Hedwards? Maybe you could get them to give you a layover in HK on the way there/back...

Yep, I think that's the only way to do it. Visitting HK before entering Mainland China and/or after leaving Mainland China......

Black (or Metal) Dragon, even, if I remember correctly.

There are twelve animals and five colours/elements, making sixty combinations.

I mean, black metal is awesome, dragons are also awesome, merge them and well...

EDIT: No, I remembered wrong.

2012 is a water year, so basically its the year of the Water dragon or....

Think some of that stuff is historical in nature. It's only been like 12 years or so since HK's lease expired and was returned to China.

I always get a bit confused with the language, unfortunately I can't actually write more than a very small number of marginally useful characters so I'm going to be counting on a universal translator to augment my charades.

I haven't decided where I all want to go, but I've decided not to go see the Great Wall unless I happen to be in the direct vicinity for other reasons. Of all the things there are to see in China, it seems to be one of the least interesting.
OK, so I wasn't going mad there. That's more or less what I had heard previously, but there was some discussion about what exactly that meant.

I guess worst case scenario would be that I headed to HK on my way home. Hop a plane to East Timor for some scuba diving and then do a tour through Malaysia, Indonesia and hopefully, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos in whatever order makes sense.