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January 20th 2013
Hi All, We've had a relaxing few days here in Shanghai. We spent the first day relaxing in the hostel and we went out for a walk down Nanjing Road in the evening. On Saturday I tried to hunt down some train tickets for us to get home but there are none left there aren't even any tickets to Changsha either so we're having to fly back home. One good thing is that it only takes a couple of hours instead of the 17-19 hours that the train usually takes. With an extra day in hand we're going to stay in Changsha on Monday night and travel back to Shaoyang on Tuesday. Saturday evening we went to one of my favourite restaurants in China The Uigher Restaurant on Yishan Road. I even had a twirl at ... read more
January 19th 2013
Hi All, A quick blog about our hostel Traveler's Soul Inn, I know american spelling :-( The Hostel itself was quiet, maybe being winter doesn't help, clean and the stafff were helpful when the tap broke in our bathroom and steaming hot water squirted everywhere. The only problem with it was its location it was a long way from the city centre although by our last day we'd found out the right buses instead of having to walk. One word of warning do not eat the pizza. The 1886 park was pretty cool though. It was originally a military factory but it had also been a film studio. Enjoy the photos Jah Bless... read more
January 19th 2013
Hi All, We thought we'd do something different today instead of the usual temples and museums. We did have to take a taxi to get there but we did manage to get the bus back. We love travelling on the buses here in China, if you can get a seat that is! So it was off to the Yangtze River bridge today. A cracking example of China's former socialist power and it's also a good example of how much China has changed. Before the bridge was opened in 1968 there was no direct rail link between Beijing and Shanghai, now the high speed trains can do it in just under five hours. There is a delapidated museum, next to the delapidated park and playground, wih a statue of Mao and some half heated exibhits showing the ... read more
January 19th 2013
Hi All, This was my reason for visiting Nanjing. After visiting Unit 731 in Ha'erbin and discovering what the Imperial Japanese army did there and in Manchuria I wanted to visit the Nanjing Memorial Hall to discover what happened here. Nanjing has been the capital of China on two occasions, once in the Ming dynasty and again in1912 when China became a republic.The Imperial Japanese army invaded China in 1937 finally taking the capital in December. The KMT nationalist government had already fled to Chongqing leaving behind an under equipped defensive force. In fact it's said that the gates of the city were locked leaving everyone locked inside. When the city fell orders were given to the soldiers to rape, pillage burn and kill. They were under strict orders to not take any prisoners. Soldiers had ... read more
January 16th 2013
Hi All, Well our old guidebook has started to show it's age. We managed to get lost today trying to find Nanjing museum and when we did find it it was undergoing some major reconstruction in other words demolished. We did stumble across some cool futuristic buildings. A space-age look shopping centre and Nanjing library. The city is a little confusing as there are trees lining all the streets and it makes them all look the same. We started the day walking to the Zhonghua Gate from our hostel. It is the largest Ming dynasty defensive gate left in China and was constructed in around 1360. A very clever system of dropping doors was used to trap the invaders inside and then the defenders used archers to shoot down on them from above. It must have ... read more
October 8th 2012
Hi All, We decided to hire a bicycle to go out to Baisha. We chose to take a tandem which maybe wasn't the best idea. Going was hard work because we had a headwind a slight incline and a tandem built to withstand a tank attack!!! It must of weighed a ton. We shan't do that again. Baisha is about 10 kms north of Lijiang and is again another capital city of the Naxi minority. After walking around the backstreets of this little village I could begin to imagine what Lijiang may of been like before the facelift. In the village are some temples with some religious murals. It is the only place in China to have Taoist and Buddist murals together in the same temple. The murals aren't in the best condition and how they ... read more
October 8th 2012
Hi All, A 4 hour bus ride from Dali to Lijiang, through some really stunning scenery, which passed without a hitch. There are a lot of places to stay in the old town and we soon found one that was in our price range. It was a wooden house in the Chinese courtyard style. Some of these touristy places are becoming very similar. Although called Old Town it has a very new feel to it and boy was it busy. While Dany had a snooze in the hotel I went in search of the Mao statue, which was easy to find. A statue which I assume was erected after his death, it had his birth and death dates on the front, yet he's dressed as a Red Guard celebrating one of China's most chaotic and violent ... read more
October 8th 2012
Hi All, We wanted to go out and about around the lake today on bicycles but unfortunately the weather was against us. With getting wet climbing the mountain yesterday we didn't really fancy getting wet again so we went for a walk around the town. Dali is very small, compared with other places we've been, so it's very easy to walk from one side of the town to the other. The centre of town is very touristy but on the outskirts of the town there are still old houses and a vegetable market for the locals is still going strong in the north east part of the town. I've really enjoyed our time here and I wish it could of been longer. Dali is a great place to come if you want to relax. Enjoy the ... read more
September 28th 2012
Hi All, What a kerfuffell to get here. The sleeper coach from Shaoyang to Kunming, 17 hours, wasn't the most comfortable or the sweetest smelling ,a baby went to the toilet in the bin, nice! The driver of the coach was good though. I told him where we were going and he made sure we got to the correct bus station. We caught the bus from Kunming to Dali City all going good until we hit a traffic jam on the motorway. 3 1/2 we were stuck in this queue. The strange thing was that once the traffic moved there was no carnage, nothing. The journey was worth it though. A pretty little walled town which again was once a capital city, not of China, but of a kingdom that stretched into Burma. Today we went ... read more
August 31st 2012
Hi All, Boy it's hard leaving Italy. The Italians are such emotional people that saying goodbye is very hard. We had about a week in Atena before we went to England and then we returned to Atena to say our goodbyes and then flew back to China from Napoli via Roma. After nearly three years away I'd forgotten how quiet Atena is. I asked My brother in law Giuseppe if anything had changed and he told me that the trees had grown a bit :) . If anything the village seems even quieter. The festas we went to in the village seemed to be lacking people which is a shame. Comunque, grazie tantissimo a tutta la famiglia per tutto. Ci mancherete veramente Enjoy the photos Jah Bless... read more
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