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Heath Williams
Been living abroad from my native country of Australia since Feb 2000 and love to experience new cultures and soaking in the local atmospheresHeafo
Travel Blog Posts
China - Yaoziyu, XiShui Valley, Huanghua Great Wall Section
Published: September 19th 2012Asia » China » Beijing
September 16th 2012
Sunday 16th September I get up and take a taxi at 7:30am to the kapinsky hotel where there is a pickup for a hiking tour of the Huanghua section of the great wall. This section is only a few years known as each year new sections are uncovered. We head to the chestnut capital of China where it's harvest season. A local tour guide meets our tour (in which we have a young Chinese guy who speak perfect English) meets us. We are told its a 4 hour hike and then will have lunch with a local family before returning to Beijing. So we venture off. Walking along a road track for 15 mins. Then all of a sudden the 60year old local guide wearing a jacket, long trousers and hiking shoes walks off the road ... read more
China - Hutongs, Houhai Lake & Kung Fu Show
Published: September 19th 2012Asia » China » Beijing » Dongcheng
September 15th 2012
Saturday 15th September With no more tours booked was now a good time to see the things ear marked to see within the city. First stop was getting a cab to the drum and bell towers near the Houhai lake. From here haggled with some rickshaw drivers into a tour of the local Hutongs (name originating from the Mongols). For those of you going to visit Beijing this is a must. Not the rickshaw but just venturing around the Hutongs. The rickshaw driver was an overweight Chinese guy navigating his way around the Hutongs very slowly. He stopped off at a family to show me the inside of a Hutong residence. He tapped the door bell a few times and a lady opened the door asking for ¥30. Not knowing to expect I enter and hear ... read more
Beijing - Ming Tombs & Mutianyu Section of Great Wall of China
Published: September 19th 2012Asia » China » Beijing » Mutianyu
September 14th 2012
Friday 14th September Next day same thing picked up at 7am for a trip to the Ming tombs and Mutianyu section of the great wall. First stop was the Ming tombs which in itself is an impressive sight. Basically all but 3 of the 16 Ming dynasty emperors are buried here in underground tombs located 40km north of Beijing. Next stop the great wall (Mutianyu). I recommend not going to the Badaling section as all the Chinese tours stop here as its the closest section of the wall to Beijing. Mutianyu has less tourists and a little more picturesque. On arrival you can take a choice of two sections to get you the wall. One is a cable car for the elderly, the other is a chair lift. Once you get to the top via The ... read more
China - Summer Palace, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven
Published: September 19th 2012Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City
September 13th 2012
Thursday 13th September Was picked up from my hotel by my organised tour guide at 6:45am and was off to see the Summer Palace, Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. After a couple of pickups of other tourists we headed out to a glorious blue sky and sun. First stop Summer Palace. I won't go into the history or things to see but was a worthwhile trip. Next stop was a tour of a fresh water pearl shop. Obviously these additional stops were used to give the tour guide and driver commission on anything sold. So after being shown the different between a fresh water oyster and an ocean oyster (fresh water holds at least 20 to 30 pearls where as the ocean oyster only has 1) we headed to lunch at a local Chinese ... read more
September 12th 2012
Wednesday 12th September It all started almost a week ago when I left the sunny days in Sydney, no rain for the entire duration of my trip (15th Aug to 11th Sept). I was expecting to come to a smog filled city as depicted from the pre 2008 Olympic city documentaries or even some cloudy days but no, Beijing (formally Peking) turned on the glorious weather just as Australia did. I arrived at 5:50am to a barmy 22 degrees. After flying through customs and within 5 minutes I had my luggage and was greeted by a scared face well dressed Chinese man with a name plate that read "Heath William", thinking that the odds of another person on my flight having a similar name to me I just said yep that's me. After all ... read more
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