Pudong, new Shanghai

Xi'an and the Whore of the Orient

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May 1st 2008
Leaving Beijing we caught the night train to Xi'an which was clean and punctual but the beds were very hard and being next the toilets we were awoken by the Chinese morning chorus of throat clearing - lovely! Xi'an is a busy modern city but it has the best preserved city walls in China which we were able to cycle around on a tandem - definitely a once in a lifetime experience and not to be repeat ... read more

Asia » China » Shanghai

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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