Shane and I arrived in Iceland after our short 5 hour overnight flight to Keflavik airport just outside of Reykjavik. Thanks to the time change, we arrived just at the crack of dawn- or what would have been the crack of dawn if the sun actually set at night. Yes, we were in the land of the midnight sun, just a few days shy of 24 hour daylight. Instead, we were trreated to about 22 hours of daylight and a sun that barely sets, but just skims across the horizon. After figuring out the airport shuttle buses, we were on our [View Full Entry]

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Today we booked our only tour of the entire trip: a day trip to Hangzhou, about 3 hours outside of Shanghai. We had been excited for this trip and booked it for the main purpose of visiting a Dragon Well or Longjing tea plantation. Since it seemed far too complicated to arrange to get out to Hangzhou on our own, our tour ended up being almost a private tour with only 2 other people in the group with us. We lucked out and had a great guide named Maggie from Gray Line Tours, who was incredibly helpf [View Full Entry]

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We awoke to a beautiful and warm sunny day in Shanghai. After our first- and last- attempt at the hotel’s breakfast, we headed out to the French Concession to follow a walking tour laid out in our guidebook which encompassed all the major sites. The walking route was kind of difficult to follow and we found that we had ended up walking by the major points of interest before we had even realized it. Oh well. It was still a great day for a walk and we stopped in a small café for a snack and coffee, and went to a [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Shanghai after a smooth early morning flight from Beijing. Getting to the hotel via taxi was a problem this time, even though I was able to point out where we were going on the driver’s map. Even in another language, I was able to tell where the hotel was, so I wasn’t sure what the problem was. Checking into the hotel was a bit of a nightmare. We had pre-booked our stay at the Villas 1937 Hotel because of its great location blocks from The Bund, the main drag along the Huangpu River. The desk clerk did not [View Full Entry]

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For our last full day in Beijing, Shane and I decided to head just outside Beijing to the Summer Palace. We were lucky to have a beautiful and sunny day to explore the Palace. Entrance was a cheap 60 Yuan, but we did not get a map which made the grounds hard to navigate, even with our Beijing guidebook’s map of the Palace. Lots of tourists and we kept walking in circles only to wind up back in a line with the same large tour groups. Veering off the beaten path, we found ourselves on a peaceful climb up a hill, [View Full Entry]

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Still exhausted after our hours climbing the Great Wall, we opted for an easy day touring around Beijing in the rainy weather. Bundled up in our jeans, sweaters and jackets- what a difference few days makes when we were sweating in the sunshine 2 days ago- we hit Jingshan Park, conveniently located off of the hutong we were staying on. We had to bite the bullet and tackle Jingshan in the rain since we were winding down our time in Beijing and hoping to get a nice day to see the Summer Palace. Despite the rain, Jingshan Park was still pretty [View Full Entry]

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The Great Wall of China is what defines China. And today we were finally going to get a chance to step on to thie piece of history. Shane and I hired a cab from the Sha Tan hotel with our new travel friends (just under $90 Cdn from central Beijing) to Mutiyanu where a less-visited and older section of the Great Wall is. We opted to hire a cab and get there on our own instead of being crammed into a bus with other toursts and given a limited time at the Great Wall. This was one of the best decisi [View Full Entry]

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Shane and I had planned on making today our Great Wall trip out to Mutiyanu, but the forecast was less than promising. Instead, we opted to book a taxi to the Great Wall on Tuesday and spend the day at the Temple of Heaven and the Back Lakes, or Hou Hai. It ended up being a really hot day instead- too hot for walking on the Wall, so we were pleased with our decision to spend it in Beijing instead. Navigating the subway out to the Temple of Heaven was easy. Such nice and modern subways and platforms compared to what [View Full Entry]

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By our 3rd day in Beijing we were already exhausted. Walking the grounds of the Forbidden City had tired us out so we opted for a more leisurely day- one fo the benefits of independent travel. After our daily stop for breakfast at Alley Cafe, we decided to take a trip across town to the Panjiayuan Market aka the Dirt Market. Panjiayuan Market is known for antiques as opposed to the overly touristy souvenirs (although there are still plenty of Mao watches to be found). We mixed in with mostly locals and the odd Westerner as we browsed the stalls. The [View Full Entry]

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Weary of the hotel restaurant, we awoke on our first morning in Beijing and decided to try the little café at the end of our hutong which we passed by on our walk the previous night. The Alley Café is set in a traditional courtyard house- the inner section of the house is completely out of doors. Painted bright red with lots of open windows and big comfy chairs, Shane and I knew we had found our local hangout for the week- especially because the place was crawling with cats; 13 cats in total who live there we were la [View Full Entry]

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