Blogs from Anhui, China, Asia - page 13

Thank you for all your kind posts and helpful advise! All will be considered in our journey outside of Beijing this August... We are intrigued by the China countryside, and our lonely planet lists some small towns in the south to explore...Has anyone traveled to Honcun, Xidi, Nanping, and further on in Jiangxi, and the Wolong mountains.... Would love to hear some more information about lodging (?) and experiences!... read more

Ok, so it's been a while In my defense we have been working really hard. Things are beginning to quiet down now as we head for the end of term. Unfortunately, the last week is "promotion week" a polite way of saying....we can send you to any school, anywhere, any age and you'll teach a lesson that'll make Aston Language Centre look good!! So I came to China with the Grinch thinking that this year he'd have nothing to complain about. China - non religious country - right. Ignores Christmas - WRONG!! At least the tat only arrived in December not right after the kids go back to school in September (like the UK) And trust me when I say tat, I mean garish, tacky, toxic and likely to break before you get it home. The ... read more

Omdat onze vorige treinrit zo fantastisch was meegevallen, hebben we vanuit Xi'an maar weer een nachttrein genomen naar Hefei. Van daaruit zijn we met de bus verder gegaan tot Tunxi, een stadje in het zuiden van de provincie Anhui (zo'n 150 km ten westen van Shanghai). Hier begint het rurale China zich meer te manifesteren (in tegenstelling tot het meer op industrie gerichte noorden): landbouwterrassen, waterbuffels, moestuintjes,... Zondagochtend zijn we met een bus vol Chinzen naar Yixian vertrokken, waar twee historische dorpjes liggen. De dorpjes Hongcun en Xidi zijn gebouwd in Huizhou style, een bouwstijl die de rijkere handelaarsklasse tijdens de Ming en Qing dynastieen (14de-20ste eeuw) gebruikten. Onze eerste stop was Hongcun, een idyllisch dorpje aan een meer. De nauwe straatjes, het riviertje dat langs de stad stroomt en de Moon Pond maakten het geheel ... read more

At the offer of visiting the legendary Yellow mountain we could not decline. We bought the tickets and endured our first Chinese train ride in the sleeper berths. These consisted of six beds per unit with small seats and tables in the hallway. Having the option to stretch out is fantastic, I tell ya. I let Dave sleep on my lap and rest his legs while I took in the Chinese country side which was comprised mainly of micro-farming plots and concrete ghettos. I was told that many of the buildings are actually pretty new, but no one keeps them up and they all just seem to fall to piece after about 10 years. This is the case of our apartment - the inside is completely fine, but the outside looks like a concentration camp. Anyways, ... read more

so they sell baijo in squeeze bottles here for something like 2 yuen, which i think is somewhere in the 20 cents cdn vincinity. this stuff is fermented rice wine, usually 110 proof, and tastes terrible. my first night here i got suckered into drinking a large glass of it, but have fortunately only had to hit up the squeeze bottle once after a late night run to the 'big profit center'. anyway, here's a picture of what the south end of our city looks like at the foot of the mountain. they seem to be tearing down the remains of a small village (that people still live in) in order to build god knows what. the results is miles of brick rubble and trees. we found some graves way up in the mountain while exploring, ... read more