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CHINA - Inc photos of Xian to Hong Kong
Well the China segment is now complete so thought Id better put some words to the pictures
Beijing
Host city to this summers Olympic games!
After being dropped in the middle of nowhere by the bus from the airport we eventually found a quiet little hostel behind a temple near to the Forbidden City. To find it you had to first accept you'd probably get lost in the many Hutongs (lanes) or seek directions using sign language from the locals. Thankyou to Doug for showing us the right way!
First impressions were that everything seems to be about sprucing up - lots of reconstruction going on, new buildings sprouting up everywhere you look and yes quite smoggy too.
Day 1 was devoted to exploring Tiannemen Square and the Forbidden City under the gaze of Chairman Mao and plenty of PSB soldiers. Next was the Summer Palace, the emperor's favourite retreat from the city heat. On the 3rd day we set out early to make the 5hr round trip north (a local job by PwC standards) to a unspoilt section of the Great Wall. The scale of
the thing is really awesome- you have to give it to the Chinese when it comes to building walls, they're second to none.
Our last sight in Beijing was the Heavenly Temple. It was that evening we had our very first experience of a sleeper night train, something we would quickly get used to. Its really not so bad and a cheap form of combined accomodation and travel. This meant a bunk bed (about 48 beds packed into a carriage) and being the only foreigners on the train there was quite a bit of staring at us. We sort of slept on/off to Datong, arriving 6am.
Datong
Here we arranged a tour to some budhist caves and a precariously balanced hanging monastry. On the trip we met other travellers, a great bunch who Ill try to remember names of - Matt & Beth, Nina and Nina, Amy & Brice(roughguide writer who gave us some really useful tips) We had the best hotpot with Matt and Beth before heading back to the train station for another sleeper to Pingyao via Taiyuan.
Pingyao
A fortified city with lots of Chinese latterns, courtyards and people whizzing round on bikes. We
stayed just a night here but really appreciated the treat of a traditional heated bed, clean linen a toilet you can actually sit on.
Xian
The centrepiece of this place was a trip to the terracotta army. Most of its unexcavated as they don't have the technology to preserve the painted warrior's colours, however we saw all 3 of the open pits (these ones faded within seconds of exposure to air/light and are now just the familiar grey). Here we also took in the Big Goose Pagoda where we managed to miss the biggest water-light show in all of Asia. We also spent a full day climbing the 4 peaks of Hua Shan. My legs ache thinking just about it.
Kaifeng
We got a guided tour on rickshaw by the driver Jason.
Nanjing
Old capital of China. It was a lot hotter by this stage of our journey south so we decided to enjoy a walk by the City Walls next to the lake. That took us as far as the Botanic Gardens, packed with school kids and all done up with national flags and olympic branding. Finally we visited the Presidential Palace, read up a bit
on tne 1860s Opium war and learnt about the massacre following the Japanese invasion in the 1930s. We spent our last day assessing the northern Gate house- which looked like it could stop virtually anything even though hundreds of years ago it used to fall down all the time. That was until they burried someone alive under it for luck or superstition.
Suzhou
First night was a disaster, our booked hostel had closed or gone bust and we had nowhere to stay on the bussiest night of the chinese calendar. We paid through the nose for a nearby hotel and to crown things off I had a stir fry pork which was so spicy I couldn't feel my face for hours. Next day we delicately explored the humble garden along with the rest of Chinas population (May day is also a national holiday here) and climbed to the top of a 9 level pagoda.
Shanghai
We had a nice evening walk along the Bund seeing the sky tower and Old Town. Took in a show at the Shanghai theatre (No photos sorry its on my other memorey card). Hopefully then I can remember what we actually did just
before in Tongli and Shanghai.
Hong Kong
After leaving China we headed by plane and train to our final destination which was still sort of part of China - Hong Kong. Massively different to the mainland, lots of sky scrapers and expats everywhere. It was refreshing to talk english and be understood. Christa took advantage of the tax free prices and picked up a brand new camera to replace the one that got stolen in China. We went to the giant Budda by cable car and I met up with Sam whose been living out there on Lamma Island, for a good few years now. He took us to the races where I continued my gambling skills from Utoxeter and backed a couple of winners (unfortunately stakes were low and odds fairly poor) and we had a superb Viatnemese meal with Sam and Suzy -
thank you, we had a great time, looking forward to seeing you again sooner than last time!
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