http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ShellandTurk/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ShellandTurk en-us Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:25:52 UTC Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:25:52 UTC We arrived in Japan on the 26th July after two full days on our ferry from Shanghai. The ferry was a much more luxurious one than we were used to with our cruise down the Yangtze River with numerous activities for entertainment including DVDs Table Tennis and the fun night time activity of Karaoke. Our Italian friend Davide's version of YMCA was definitely something to write home about 'eeets http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Japan/Osaka/Osaka/blog-311648.html June 24Having seen Chengdu and visited the main sights of the area namely the Panda Reserve and the Giant Buddha we decided to move on to our next port of call Chongqing haha its funny you see because itrsquos a port. The aim here was to find a cheap cruise down the Yangtze River so that we could see the Three Gorges and the famous Three Gorges Dam.In China they have 3 cities that are kno http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Chongqing/Chongqing/blog-302090.html June 20Having finally and emotionally finished our teaching there were many tears mostly the kids however we started our freedom by making the possibly risky trip to Chengdu home of the Giant Panda. Chengdu is in the Sichuan province that was hit by an earthquake on the 12th May. However after much research into where the earthquake had hit we decided that it was still worth a trip. The Si http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Chengdu/blog-302083.html Qufu is famous for being the birthplace to the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius. It also houses the tomb of Confucius and as a result plans to build a train station in the small town were scrapped on the basis that trains would disturb his tomb. Let me start with a bit of an introduction to Confucianism. Whilst Confucianism is not really a religion and more a philosophy he is described and http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Shandong/Qufu/blog-302066.html Our next destination was a good old fashioned traditional holiday destination. We were headed for the coastal town of Qingdao which is famed for three things it plays host to a number of Chinarsquos best beaches for those of you who love watching sailing on TVwho doesnrsquot the Olympic sailing is taking place here it was formerly inhabited by Germanrsquos and finally and most impor http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Shandong/Qingdao/blog-301816.html