Blogs from China, Asia - page 2222

(P.S I am writing this all postumously, it is actually the 3rd of June but I havent had access for a week. If I get my tenses muddled, Im sorry) Im so disappointed I could cry. My camera is full, I cant take any more pictures and, try as I might, I cant upload the pictures I have. Major dilema. Anyway. I was about to tell you about the art gallery but first I have a funny little anecdote to impart. Last night after I left the internet cafe I had to catch the subway back to the hotel. By this stage it was pretty late at night, but I was fairly confident I had mastered the system. At the station I bought my ticket, followed the arrows and got on the train. Once on the ... read more

Our first destination in China was Beijing. The city is full of temples which we made every effort to see:- the newly restored Temple of Heaven with it's brightly coloured shrines, the Lama temple which is home to many monks, and of course the Forbidden City, a huge city of temples and relic museums. We visited Chairman Mao's Mausoleum in Tiananamen Square where we were ushered quickly through, past his preserved body. We also saw Mao's huge portrait hanging on Tiananamen Gate, the entrance to the aforementioned Forbidden City. The highlight of Beijing was undoubtedly the Great Wall of China. We visited a section called Badaling where we walked as far as was possible (only sections of the wall have been restored). It was hard work, it is very steep in places, but well worth it. ... read more

Wow, I think this may be the most uncharacteristic thing I've ever done. When we were looking at a calendar and planning different trips for different weekends, it sounded like an incredible idea to go to the place in China most similar to our Hawaii, and spend an extended weekend right before finals relaxing/having the best time. And in reality, still an incredible idea. I just can't get over how well the whole weekend worked out. We planned to leave Wednesday night and miss class on Thursday, and booked a really late flight home Sunday night (as in, I actually got back to my apartment at 3am Monday morning), so that we'd have a full 4 days on the beach. I even turned it into a full 5 day vacation, since I took a mental health ... read more

Okay dokey, pig in a pokey! You'll be glad to know that we're in a slightly better mood tonight. We've still got the rotten cold from hell, however we think it might be on the mend after spending today doing absolutely hee haw except for sleeping, watching films on HBO channel, eating nice food and munching on the Panadols. Since arrived in Beijing we've been pretty floored with this wee cold virus thingy that we picked up in Shanghai, so we haven't got around to seeing as much as we wanted to so far. However - we HAVE been to walk on the good ole Great Wall, and we've been to see Tiananmen Square and a little bit of the Forbidden City, and even managed to fit in a short trip to see one of the ... read more

26th May Friday Paul - The morning and afternoon was a little bit hazy. Hazy in the sense that I can't really remember what we did. Had breakfast and sat in a cafe all afternoon watching "Hero" on DVD is about the best I can do. Emailed our friends Andy and Anna who are supposed to be in Yangshuo this week and generally lazed about drinking milkshakes and reading. A very "Chinese" day. In the evening we ended up in "Bar 98", a little bar beside a river with a pool table and playing reasonably decent music (well except for Jet). Friday night so obviously all the local expats were out in force and a chirpy Australian bloke managed to convince us to play in a pool tournament. Laura - The first round of knock out ... read more