This is what it did to Ben

China - Part 2

---

July 30th 2012
The train to Beijing was pretty uneventful - our carriage was entirely full of Western travellers but there was no vodka fuelled madness. Even the border was simple with only cursory checks, no smuggling of boots or anything else was visibile last time (though maybe in the other compartments?). Once again the wheel bogies had to be changed (as China uses standard gauge) but after Belarus we knew t ... read more

Asia » China » Beijing » XiCheng District

---

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