Blogs from China, Asia - page 15

Days 61 to 63 of 80 We 'left' Shanghai by metro to reach Zhujiajiao for 3 nights /2 days. Zhujiajiao is famed as one of Shanghai's 'water towns', of which there are several dotted around the Shanghai suburbs. Water Towns, so called because, surprise, surprise, they are based around numerous rivers and/or canals. Zhujiajiao is regarded as one of the best mostly because of the extent of its preserved layout and buildings which surpass any other in the region. Established about 1700 years ago, it now has a population of 60,000 though by far most of these must be in the modern surroundings not the central old town. Numerous rivers and 35 stone bridges, and 1 wooden. Not surprisingly it is known as ..... wait for it ...... China's Venice. We have found it hard to ... read more

DOWNTOWN BEIJING Since our last blog from Beijing, formerly Peking we have enjoyed getting acclimatised to the area whilst resting after our flight and a great days hike on the Great Wall. We enjoyed several shorter walks around our hotel watching locals go about their everyday lives, little market stalls being set up on the side of the road and we noticed that the fresh produce disappeared as quickly as the farmers were putting it out. A good sign of fresh produce and looking at the stalls excellent quality. We were going to use the subway and head a little further into the city but Marco our guide for our wall hike informed us that some of the stations were closed because of the security, rehearsals for the pending celebrations - the previous evening he had ... read more

Day 59 continued to 61 of 80 When we last posted we were atop the Shanghai Tower, on the world's highest, possibly, observation deck. Beautifully clear day. Having walked around at ground level for several days it was interesting to get a from-above perspective of the city. Several things struck us: - Yes, Shanghai is a city of high-rise buildings but there are many areas of lower, more intimate, housing usually with greenery incorporated into the 'estate' - There are several surprisingly large undeveloped areas within the city boundaries. Can't tell whether these are dead ground, swamp, protected green space or whatever. Heading down, and looking to get across the river, we took to the ferry, along with several groups of 'enthusiastic' Chinese. Just a short 5 minutes hop took us to within a few minutes ... read more

ON THE ROAD AGAIN Well it has been absolutely ages since we were last travelled and I really do miss our frequent wanderings around the globe, although we have had many journeys throughout the UK it was now time to get ‘abroad’ again. … … Last year we visited India and enjoyed every moment and for our main break this year we decided it was time for us to visit ancient China. We very nearly visited in 2014 but ended up only reaching the border in the north of Vietnam when we visited Sapa and the surrounds. We have many pleasant memories of our time in the north of Vietnam which you can read about in previous blogs if you wish. Of course we would not have travelled now if we knew we would be escaping ... read more

Hi all Here are the photos which should have been with our last blog Days 48 to 49 of 80 Thursday morning and we disembarked from our boat at Chongqing. Yet again, another city we haven't heard of but its population is 7 million in main city, 32 million within its conurbation! Think on that. ... that's nearly half the population of the UK, in one city, and China has many more like that. There's more to China than most people think, not least its ever growing number of enormous cities. We didn't get to stay in Chongqing, it was just end of the line for the Yangtze cruise, and station transfer for High Speed Train to Chengdu and its pandas. But, Frank did tell us something about the city which gives us a chance for ... read more