Blogs from Shanxi, China, Asia - page 9

Judy Manton and I finished our TESOL symposium yesterday around 5:30 and then in the lobby of the Jing Shi Hotel at Beijing Normal University we met Wendy Wen and her husband Brad and her brother and his wife. Brad and Wendy are visiting her family during July...we left NYC on the same day but arrived different times/days...we walked to a local student canteen on campus since we had some meal tickets left over and just made it in time to get a few dishes ...then went to this place that I found in the morning for coffee and a drink. It was a pleasant evening...not to hot not to cold and it was pleasant to see Wendy and Brad in a different venue. We went back to the hotel room afterwards...not too late around 10:30 ... read more

Voici la suite de notre voyage en chine, la province du Shaanxi Vous y trouverez entre autre , la ville de X'ian, la grande mosquée, vieille de plus de mille ans et le site prestigieux de l'Armée enterrée. On vous laisse parcourir les photos de cette partie de la Chine.... read more

Day 23 - Wednesday 13th April - Independent travelling really begins We spent the day cycling aroung the hutongs and back street markets; suprisingly enough no crazy food on sale here which suggests all the creepy crawlies on sticks are for good old gullable tourists. I then went for a cycle to Baisal Park and continued all the way around the Forbidden CIty...smog was really bad today...probably due to the factories been pumping out pollution for 3 days straight. We had some deep fried icecream for dinner...not the healthiest of options but it was sitting next to a deep fried, fried egg and chips. WHO is ordering that!? The calorific icecream was delicious! About 6ish we decided that we'd walk to the bus stop as opposed to changing buses. Its probably only a 15 minute walk ... read more

To get to Pingyao from Beijing we took the train firstly to Taiyuan, which took around three hours; we were able to book these tickets through our hotel in Beijing. Taiyuan, being the provincial capital with Shanxi, was as hectic as you could possibly imagine, and we fast became quite the spectacle in this place, especially with what they would have probably considered excessive baggage. Before too long we were off again for the second, hour long train ride. Somehow we had acquired top level sleeper tickets for the short ride, so I craned my neck and nestled between our backpacks on the top bunk (which was quite a struggle reaching as the bunks are three tiered), so that I could be out of the way and out of view from the curious local people, who ... read more

The next morning, after some quite reluctant waking up and a lovely breakfast from Ayi, we had a little wander before the minibus came at 11. By 11:25 it was quite obvious that no minibus was coming, so we set off on the 45 minute wander back down to the village, which was good fun, just strolling through the beautiful countryside singing songs. Eventually we ended up back in the village and caught a bus which, the driver assured us, was going to Pingyao... After a few hours the bus dropped us in a town and said that we should go to the train station as there will definitely be trains to Pingyao from there... When we arrived at the train station, after an exceedingly busy bus journey on a very over-capacity bus, there of course ... read more