Blogs from Great Wall of China, Beijing, China, Asia - page 3

We caught a high-speed bullet train from Xian to Beijing. The approximately 4 ½ hour ride was very smooth and comfortable and the train reached speeds of 307 km/hr. Between cities much of the land was cultivated but all in very small plots. Sadly, the pollution got worse as we drew closer to Beijing. At a Beijing Cloisonne factory we saw just how much work it is to shape copper wire into leaves, petals, feathers, etc., and glue them onto copper vases, pots, pens, Christmas ornaments, etc. Then the spaces in the wires have to be filled with enamel colour until the wires no longer protrude, fired numerous times during this process, polished, and glazed. The vast factory store had many beautiful pieces but with four more weeks of travel ahead we managed to resist buying. ... read more

Because of the move into the new school at KAS, we were given a 19 day holiday, enabling us to embark on our longest sightseeing tour of the year. We were very pleased to discover that Lulu, the other grade 4 teacher at KAS, also wanted to visit China and was interested in joining us. Maurice and Lulu did a lot of research and put our itinerary together. It helped that Lulu has traveled to 30 different countries, is fluent in Mandarin and was able to research Chinese websites. To be able travel with a multi-lingual young lady who also happened to be very tech savvy was a huge help for us. Facts about traveling to China: When we first started researching, Canadians could get a single entry visa for 30 days ... read more

Email sucks. Use blog to keep in touch. Eight pics included here. It was a sunny day for a walk along the wall that has been reconstucted. All 4000 km/m? of course are not accessible. Much of it has deteriorated over the millenia. Merriad info available on Google. Leave hotel at 08:00 or there about. Tested wooden furniture displayed by a group of men on the sidewalk in front of hotel. Had my picture taken.... will I be used in a wood furniture add???? LOL. It is an almost two hour drive...70km... from Beijing downtown thru Friday morning traffic to the Great Wall of China. OMG!.... OMG!.... OMG!... I have walked the Great Wall of China! There is always the hunt for a toilet and it was no less urgent when the bus after slow progress ... read more

Hello all! Our pick up was at 7am for the Great wall at the Badaling section. We booked it online as our hostel dint have enough people to go on the tours to the better/less tourist sections of the Great Wall. But for £14 each we got an 11 hour tour including: transport, we had a group of 13, some English and American mainly-reall interesting to talk to. They were all a bit older and all joining Sapphire Princess in a few days. Ming Tombs, interesting history of the early Ming dynasty of China. Jade showroom, I really wanted to buy a ring but it was too expensive at >£100. Neil bought a Buddha rubbing stone. Silk warehouse, we were very tempted to buy a gorgeous set of silk sheets including a silk duvet but the ... read more

Our third day in Beijing and Jerry and I parted way for the day. I was planning a day indoors at a mall - not to shop but to escape the smog and give my lungs a chance to recuperate - and Jerry was heading out of the city to spend the day at the Chinese Aviation Museum. First though I wanted to visit a small shop I had read about which uses pieces of porcelain from dishes smashed during the Cultural Revolution and sets them into tiny boxes. Of course it took much longer than I expected to get there and after many locals kept giving me directions which contradicted each other a kind man eventually led me down a street and pointed at the street sign I had been looking for - impossible to ... read more