China

On leaving China …

One more train journey brought us to the finale of our long China tour: Beijing. 18 million people, purportedly 9 million bicycles (no, we couldn’t stop singing it), home of the 2008 Olympics. Home too to nice restored bits of the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the pickled Mao. &hellip Continue reading »

Categories: China, Rachel, World Trip 2006-7 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Burn the eggplant!

You left us boarding a rather incongruous golf cart on the side of a dusty 4-lane highway. We then steamed along at a steady 4 kilometres an hour, giggling in sheer relief to be away from Lisa (and at the bicycles overtaking us). Pingyao simply doesn’t let anything bigger than a golf car or motorbike &hellip Continue reading »

Categories: China, Rachel, World Trip 2006-7 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lost in translation?

Most sensible tourists will do Xi’an, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong and then call China a day. We are not they. We headed off the beaten track to Luoyang and Kaifeng, but not before we had the mother of all admin nightmares in Xi’an. Prepare for yet another mammoth digression … As unofficial trip planner, &hellip Continue reading »

Categories: China, Rachel, World Trip 2006-7 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment