Great Wall

Beijing bonanza

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March 16th 2007
We arrived to Beijing from Xian early in the afternoon after a more pleasant train ride than our last one. After another sardine bus ride, we arrived in the Qianmen area and found a simple hotel with a nice courtyard for a good price. The rest of our day was spent looking for a bank to exchange our traveller's cheques. Despite this being Beijing, only the Bank of China would take the cheques, nob ... read more

Asia » China » Beijing

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For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A... ... read more