DantheMan

Today was "a free day to explore on our own". I had seen a show on the Travel Channel about Hong Kong a few months before, and it had mentioned a giant Buddha on nearby Lantau Island. So, I decided I would check it out. The previous day, our local tour guide gave me instructions on how to get there. I took the subway out there, where I then boarded a bus to the Giant Buddha. The bus was a little cramped, and the roads were hilly and curvy, not the most comfortable bus ride in the world. The scenery was nice, though. I checked out the Giant Buddha, known as the Tian Tan Buddha, completed in 1993 and is "the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha". It's 34 meters tall, and sits on top of ... read more

The next morning, I walked outside of the hotel and down the sidewalk across the street. Some people were dancing, and doing Tai Chi. We had a great lunch at the Long Ze Tea House, and then visited the Reed Flute Cave. It was cool, but very crowded in there. As we were walking back to the bus, I saw the group of Chinese ladies that I had talked with on the Li River cruise the day before. The sales pitch of the day was going to a Pearl Museum. We were treated to a brief "fashion show" featuring young ladies wearing pearls, which livened things up a bit for me. Then, we went to the airport. We had to say goodbye to our guide Kevin, who apparently is not allowed to go to Hong Kong. ... read more

Candy told me the people in Shanghai were different. She was right. Read on. When we rolled into Shanghai, I couldn't believe what it looked like. There were an incredible number of lit up buildings, cars, traffic, and people everywhere. What an incredibly big city. The tour guide said there were 20 million people in Shanghai. If that's true, then that's equal to the total population of the entire states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia combined. Of course, Beijing and Hong Kong were big crowded cities, too, and I have also been to Tokyo, but Shanghai was more of a madhouse. In China, there are 1.3 billion people, that's over 4 times the population of the US, and I believe it now. Wow. We checked into the hotel and had the evening free. On ... read more

Onward to Xian We caught a late afternoon flight to Xian, on China Eastern airlines. The flight was roughly an hour and a half or so, and it was dark by the time we landed. A lot of the trip was spent in transit. Drive to an airport or whatever, wait around, fly, get your bag, travel to the hotel, etc. It takes a lot of time to do all that. We had a long drive from the airport to the hotel, the Sofitel on Renmin Square. Candy We were standing around the lobby waiting for Kevin to dole out the room keys. Near the front desk was the entrance to a Japanese-themed restaurant named "Koi". Outside of Koi, was a cute young girl wearing a kimono who would seat the guests. I got to talking ... read more

I woke up a little early this morning. Around 6am, I went down to the steam room in the hotel. I also had a nice breakfast at the hotel. Ming Tombs/Sacred Way Then, we headed out to the Ming Tombs. It was a little bit of a drive outside of the city. This area is where the emperors of the Ming Dynasty era are buried. Leading up to the tombs is a path known as the "Sacred Way". It is lined with statues of animals and people. There is a particular significance to the order of the statues. This was constructed in the 1400's. We walked down the Sacred Way. It was very peaceful. It was quiet since there weren't many people there except for our group. Music was being played from speakers along the path. ... read more