Destination: China

Sudden changes...

Fri, 3 Oct 2008 | By abelaine | Views [1294]

So we took the T97 fast train from Beijing to Hong Kong.  The trip was 25 hours and leaves every other day.  This same train also leaves from Shanghai.  NOTE: You really don't have to go to GuangZhou then cross the border from there.  Even some Chinese ... Read more >

Tags: beijing, hong kong, t97, traing

World Heritage Day

Fri, 3 Oct 2008 | By jsherdc | Views [1915] | Comments [1]

Yesterday I woke up and walked over to the north gate to the city and went up to the top of the city wall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_wall_of_Xi'an). Up there I rented a bike ($3) and biked the 8 mile circumference. Everyone was very friendly ... Read more >

Tags: terracotta walls

Gallery: Xi'an

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 | By jsherdc | Photo Gallery

Beijing and the Birds Nest

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 | By abelaine | Views [1546]

We took a bus ride to the Olympic Arena from Tianmen sq.  It took about an hour to get there.  It was not really possible to see the stadium from too far due to the never ending smog that seemed to always be in the city. But as the sun set, it was fun ... Read more >

Tags: beijing, birds nest

Gallery: Birds Nest

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 | By abelaine | Photo Gallery

China

Wed, 1 Oct 2008 | By ross_vic | Views [232]

We're so far behind writing this journal that we're just going to summarise what we've done. We were blown away with China. It was so clean. Such a change from Delhi. Arrived in China on 1st October National Holiday. The place was heaving for about ... Read more >

Gallery: Beijing-People

Wed, 1 Oct 2008 | By jsherdc | Photo Gallery

Gallery: Great Wall China

Wed, 1 Oct 2008 | By abelaine | Photo Gallery

The Great Wall of China

Wed, 1 Oct 2008 | By abelaine | Views [3265]

The Great Wall of China is the only human made construction that can be seen from space.  It is hundreds of KMs long and was built to keep out the Mongol invasions. There is a Mongol joke that it doesn't matter how big a wall you build, it matters who ... Read more >

Tags: great wall.

More Beijing

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 | By jsherdc | Views [494]

The last 2 days were more mellow. Yesterday I went to the Lama temple which was quite interesting. Visitors lit incense outside each temple in honor of the budda, and then went inside and preyed. There was one rather large budda. The interesting thing ... Read more >

Tags: cupping beijing rosh hashanah

Gallery: Forbidden City

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 | By abelaine | Photo Gallery

Forbidden City

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 | By abelaine | Views [1493] | Comments [1]

After taking a long nap we headed to the busy busy Tianmen sq as the Forbidden City (Palace) is nearby.  There is ALOT more people in the city at the moment, it seemed the whole country travelled to Beijing to celebrate Independence Day.  We could barely ... Read more >

Tags: forbidden city

Hard Seats in China

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 | By abelaine | Views [1605]

I wish I had a picture of this scene.  Technically speaking the hard=seat is not a bad seat and is quiet comfortable as a train seat really - IF you were travelling up to 5-6 hours no problem at all.  The seats are pretty new, soft enough, clean and ... Read more >

Gallery: Xi'an

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 | By abelaine | Photo Gallery

Xi'an city

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 | By abelaine | Views [3314]

Xi'an city was the alternative city considered for modern China's capital.  This is because of it's long history as a captial on the Northern provinces and also because of the wonderful preservation of ancient mixed with the modern city. Xi'an also ... Read more >

Tags: china, xian