Today is our last day in Beijing before we catch an overnight train to Xi’an for two nights. We headed off to the Hutong area of Beijing to see how the locals live. A lot of this traditional area has been destroyed by the government as it is in the centre of the city to build high rises and shopping malls. The government eventually realised that they should keep some of these houses as it is part of their history and culture. These traditional houses (usually in quadrangles) would usually share the same backyard/courtyard and often have several families in each house and a public toilet. Many of you might think that this would be very overcrowded, granted it probably was. However the people that you talk to you about their life in these houses and ... read more

First stop today was the famous Tiananmen Square, the worlds biggest square, that can hold over 1 million people. Not a really lot to see here , Chairman Mao Mausoleum a couple of monuments. They have recently put a huge screen in the centre of the square for the recent 60 year anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and a marathon in the coming weeks. It was fortunate that we came to the square today, as they will likely close the square to the public when the Beijing marathon is being held shortly. They actually close the square quite a few times, and at times without notice. When we arrived at the square there was a huge line and I was a little concerned that we were going to have to line up, but this ... read more

Today was a full day of touring virtually nonstop from around 9am until we got back to the hotel around 10:30pm. First stop was the Shanghai Museum. Four levels of amazing pieces from Chinese history. We had around 90 minutes in here, which is probably an hour not enough if you really want to appreciate all that is in the museum, that is of course if you like museums. Judith and I managed to look thoroughly at two of levels which included the some paintings (no photos allowed in this section) ceramics and pottery on the second level and furniture from Ming and Qing dynasties and Jade sculptures on the fourth levels. We didn’t see anything on the first level, and only briefly looked at the calligraphy and the seals on the third level. Some amazing ... read more

On our second day in China and Shanghai, we visited an Ancient Water town called Zhujiajiao (Chinese 朱家角) which is located around 50km out of Shanghai. Zhujiajiao was formed around 1700 years ago, however there is some archaeological evidence dating back 5,000 years. It is considered the best preserved ancient water town in Shanghai. There are number bridges in the village, built in different shapes and styles and also different material from stone, wood and marble. We meet our “guide” Di around 9 am, the traffic was a bit chaotic for her to come to our hotel. Even though Di leaves only 5 km away, it took around 1 hour for her to get to our hotel. We caught a bus to the Peoples Park in centre of Shanghai before catching another bus to Zhujiajiao. I ... read more