Day 5. Beijing/Shanghai/Suzhou Today we flew to Shanghai, then moved on to Suzhou by bus, not too far but a lot of travel on the journey southbound. Originally founded in 514 BC, Suzhou has over 2,500 years of rich history, and relics of the past are abundant to this day. The city's canals, stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens have contributed to enjoyment of being in the south. Since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), it has also been an important centre for China's silk industry. The classical gardens in Suzhou were added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997 and 2000. Suzhou is often dubbed the ‘Venice of the East’. We took a trip on the canal, but of note really was the fact we shot more pictures standing on the corner ... read more

Nihao I am off to China 19thApril, including others parts unknown -- actually, I have all my visas -- including more or less the following: Beijing, Shanghai, Pingyao, Xian, Guilin, Hangzhou, Taipei, Macau, HKG, Tibet, China; Katmandu, Nepal; Rangoon, Myanmar, Dakar, Bangladesh, Karachi, Islamabad, Harappa, Quetta, Lahore, Pakistan. In all likelihood, I will visit many of the usual tourist sites, based on what I understand tourists are visiting, however, ideally I will hope to see much, much more with the time I have available to me! For reasons that will remain only for me to know, I expect to be moving something along the lines of Beijing-Shanghai-Beijing-Datong-Pingyao - south to Xian - Yangzi/Chang Jiang R. - Guilin and the Li R. and the Dragon's Backbone rice fields and then into HGK and Macau - Taipei - ... read more

shanbe Jan22Sat Up at the crack of dawn, even earlier, for a 5:00am full-day trip to Persepolis, Naqhsh-e Rostam and Naqhsh-e Rajab, before ending off with Passagardae, which according to LP is a questionable stop for what value there is to see at the site. Let's see! My driver, Ahmed Miere (a Shirazian with no English), arrives a little late and with only a slight detour to pick up his friend, who is along for the ride, we head off for less than an hour or so before getting to Persepolis. I am no history enthusiast, nor am I really particularly knowledgeable about Iranian times around 2 million B.C, but I understand that Persepolis, may be possibly the greatest empire of the Achaemenid period, and will be something to behold; this is what I have really ... read more

panj shanbeJan20R Had earlier considered a day visit to Kashan, before heading south by buses; however, these plans fall apart, so I change itinerary and ask Elham to look into a flight to Shiraz, thinking that the LPIran itinerary would be best to follow and eventually leave me working my way north by some combination of buses, bus tours and taxis. In this way, I would be working my way back to Tehran for my Feb3 departure rather than travelling away from my point of final departure from Iran (this approach was learned in Korea – risky ventures first and early in journey and small short trips last, so you remain close to home prior to final departure). I find this a more suitable plan of attack for travelling to the cities of Shiraz, Persepolis, Yazd, ... read more

SatJan15 – Shanbe Well, I will keep the long details out of this day’s events. Suffice to say, I went terribly awry picking Reza to be my CS host. I will be much more careful in future. Consequence of this mistake was one long wasted Shanbe in Tehran. One thing of real value learned this day was how to grapple with taxi drivers over fares; the other was how to make use of the Tehran metro. This is clearly the cheapest means of getting around and it costs only about $1 per trip!!! Why use a taxi, except perhaps when lost? With ease of travelling with the metro now in hand, I make my way to the Bazaari district and then on to Golestan Palace; unfortunately, while this is a cheap tourist site, only 33,000IRR, the ... read more