outside the forbidden city

Big, Great Beijing

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October 31st 2007
Beijing is huge. We arrived here by train early Monday morning at the civilised hour of 7.30am (certainly more civilised than our regular 5am arrivals on past overnight trips!). The train had special features, like a pleasantly smelling toilet that remained so after 14 hrs of chugging along northwards and plenty 'transactions', a food trolley that regularly delivered 750mL bottles of beer to my ... read more

Asia » China

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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