Well, a lot! So we have now completed the China leg of our travels, and apologies for not updating this blog until now. We didn't have access to social media due to stringent Chinese Internet security..
Beijing
We started in Beijing where we arrived at our hutong hotel,
the Orchid, which definitely lived up to expectations (from Tripadvisor) being a complete contrast to its surroundings and was amazing!
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| Our Hutong |
Before joining our tour we explored the city, starting with visiting the Lama temple (as in the Dalai Lama, not a wooly Llama :) ).
We also couldn't wait to have some authentic Chinese food, and started with some lovely Peking duck (the restaurant even hit a gong at our table when the duck was ready, which was more than we were expecting..).
Later we visited a more interesting, albeit less welcoming, food market including some very 'rare' dishes, including scorpions (live ones), frogs and starfish.. all on sticks! How the scorpions survived the skewering we'll never know.
We were also lucky enough to spend an afternoon with two friends of friends who are local to the area. They took us to the summer palace
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| Summer Palace in the background |
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| We were also treated to an authentic Chinese lunch, which was amazing! |
Thanks again so much Wen (and your lovely husband, Sheldon ;) ) for all your hospitality!!
We then met up with our tour group who we would be spending the next three weeks with. Luckily the group was really nice and varied in personalities and origins; one from Belgium, Holland, Germany, some Canadians, a few from the UK and even two from Guernsey (!). There was also a lovely lady from Washington (County Durham, not in the US) who worked at the same hospital as my mother, probably at the same time. Small world.. (Don't worry Mam, if you're reading this I'll tell you more about it)..
We also had a great Chinese guide, 'Jenny' who took us through our whole China tour.
Beijing activities took place during one of China's busiest holidays, which made it quite hectic. Here is what we got up to:
The Great wall..
..the Forbidden City (which is obviously no longer forbidden, with it's hundreds of thousands Chinese tourists!)
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| Chairman Mao - he's kind of a big deal.. |
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| This is a relatively quiet area.. most places around the palace were packed |
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| It was next to this bike in the palace garden we found a quiet oasis for a few moments before moving on through the crowds.. |
We also had a lovely guided tour through the city Hutongs where we learnt about the structure and history.
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| Walking through Hutongs |
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| Rewarding ourselves with a drink on a rooftop bar |
Shanghai
After our few days in Beijing, our next stop was the metropolis Shanghai. We got there using a (1/4 on the trip) soft sleeper train (still not really sure why it's called a soft sleeper, as the beds were pretty solid!).
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| Rob happy in his train bunk |
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| The gang on the ''space efficient" train. Good way to get to know people at least. |
Shanghai met us with a very impressive skyline and a much more modern feel compared to Beijing. Our hotel was around the corner from the main shopping street and not far from the famous harbour.
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| Statues outside the Shanghai museum |
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| Scary old mask inside the Shanghai museum |
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| Funny statue in the French Concession area where we had a lovely walk |
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| Shanghai by night |
We were also taken to see an amazing acrobatics show. It included everything from girls balancing on bicycles to plate spinning to men riding motorbikes inside a metal sphere!
We weren't allowed to take pictures, but here is a link to a
YouTube video.
Xian
After some lovely days in Shanghai we moved on to Xian. Our first activity (and still one of our favourites) was a bike trip around the ancient city wall.
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| Us getting ready for our bike ride... |
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| Our tour group |
Nearby we went to a market with calligraphy pictures and trinkets.. the below were Christine's favourites..
(Also playing around with our camera...)
One of the main attractions near Xian are the Terracotta Warriors, which we were very excited about.
Quick background lesson: Some farmers discovered the huge collection of warriors in 1974 when digging for a well. They are still excavating and finding new items, but currently the collection consists of ca. 8000 soldiers, 130 chariots and 150 horses. There are lots of other smaller artifacts as well including pots and weapons etc. A number of chambers were built as part of a mausoleum for an ancient emperor in 200 BC (!).
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| The original chariot with incredible detail |
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| One of the warriors up close |
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| Some of the warriors still in the pits. Notice how each face is different. They were apparently modelled on the original soldiers! |
Right.. although the original plan was to complete this post will updates from all of our Chinese destinations, this may be enough for now as it is already very long..
But stay tuned for PANDAS in our next post!
