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Beijing: Mon, Sept 22nd

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September 23rd 2014
After a solid 8 hours sleep, we felt nearly normal again. Breakfast at the hotel is 50% 'western' and so we tucked into eggs, bacon and toast - although the coffee got a firm thumbs down. This morning we braved the daily Beijing traffic jam and visited the Summer Palace - actually an enormous park/lake area with a few buildings that the Emperor would retreat to to escape the hot Beijing summers. B ... 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