Update... Now we are in Hong Kong it appears the blogger is no longer blocked by the Chinese Government, but now the Hotel wants to charge an extortionate amount for Internet access... I can't win!
Our tour is called 'Glories of China' and is for 14 days
Days 1 - 2 Fly Saturday 8th May from Heathrow terminal 5 to Pudong Int. Airport, Shanghai (12 hour flight).
Days 3 - 4 Stay in Shanghai - sightseeing tour of the city, including an evening cruise.
Day 5 - Shanghai to Guilin
Day 6 - Fly to Guilin / Li River / Yangshuo - river cruise
Day 7 - Yangshuo / Guilin - Seven Star cave, Giant Panda enclosure, Pearl Exhibition Centre, evening sailing on the river Li to see fishermen fishing with a Cormorant! Ever seen the HSBC bank advert on TV?
Day 8 (Saturday 15th May) - Guilin to Xian - Mt Deicai, then fly to Xian
Day 9 - Xian - Terracotta Warriors and City Walls
Day 10 - Xian to Beijing - Little Wild Goose Pagoda, the Great Mosque and Shaanxi Museum
Day 11 - 14 Beijing - Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Mao's Mausoleum (if queue is not too long) Juyongguan Pass, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Rickshaw ride, Summer Palace. Evening entertainment is a Chinese Acrobatic show.
Day 14 (Friday 21st May) Depart from Beijing to Hong Kong (arrive 16:10 local time) - coach to our Hotel.
May 21st 22nd 23rd (Fri/Sat/Sun) - 3 nights stay in Hong Kong to do whatever we want... it appears we do get a half-day city tour on Sat 22nd, but after that we are on our own. Sue and I want to see the Hong Kong LDS Temple, and then we will see what else takes our fancy, 23rd is a Sunday so it would be nice to go to church if we can.
Sun 23rd is a free day
Mon 24th Depart from HK airport to London Heathrow (leave 23:15 local time for a 13 hour flight). We need to be at the airport by...? Our flight leaves at 23:15 so if we need the usual 3 hours beforehand, plus travel time from the city we problably need to leave the hotel by about 6pm? I'm hoping that the transfer to the airport is included, not so much for the costs, but for the security of knowing who is taking us, the right time to leave the hotel, and for a safe and timeley arrival at the airport so we are not rushed!
Tues 25th arrive at Heathrow 04:55, collect bags, clear customs, get mini bus to car park, drive home, arrive about 9am
I go back to work Wednesday 26th and Sue on Thursday 27th we expect to be visiting friends and relatives after that with our photos, videos and (chinese) begging bowls!!!
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Check out our holiday video clips on YouTube:
Traffic outside our Hotel in Shanghai: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdd1vp_cAY4
I have managed to load a video of the MAGLEV train onto YouTube??? Watch the time on the YouTube display until you get to 3 minutes 27 seconds... how long do you think it takes for our train to pass the other one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZXa8Sg6bmY
The Great Wall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHR1E1hOOWY
A Giant Panda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSmf_A2ZyYI
Our Hotel in Xian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGMHI8RpH0Y
We went to a show of Chinese Music and dance, this guy was very good:
Please remember to click the back button to come back here:)
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Monday 24th May - time to go home. We need to be out of our room after breakfast (by 12 at the latest) but we then have all day to ourselves, we're not quite sure what we are going to do yet....
We split up... Nova decided she didn't want to go too far and so Sue and I went off to find the Hong Kong Temple. Now as I said below we are actually in Kowloon and not Hong Kong and the Temple (fortunately for us) is in Kowloon. We got on the subway then walked the last few hundred yards. The area the Temple is in is very nice, there are not so many tall skyscraper blocks, and there are actually a few very nice houses. If our tour guide was right these houses must be very expensive.
Opposite the Temple the church is building a new chapel, it must be close to completion because the 'welcome' sign (behind the van) is already in place.
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Sunday 23rd May - Today we decided to take a trip back up Victoria peak but this time to take the cable car. We set out walking from the Hotel to the ferry terminal, as we left there were a couple of spots of rain, then when we about 5 minutes away it poured down. Luckily we were next to the shops and all the shops are set back from the front of the buildings so there are plenty of places to shelter. After a few minutes it stopped and that was that. At the ferry terminal we paid less than £4 for three of us to cross the harbour to Hong Kong, then walked a bit (longer than we thought) to the cable car station. It was a steep ride up the mountain but also very exciting. Once at the top the views were fairly good but not as clear as yesterday.
This evening we are going back to the harbour to see a music and light show at 8pm... report on the 'light show' we've seen better in Redditch!!!! The only good thing was to see Hong Kong lit up at night but the show did include some 'choreographed' lights on certain buildings so it was not a complete waste of time. If I tell the truth it was OK, and I haven't seen better in Redditch, but if we had paid to see it I would possibly have asked for my money back. The picture below is just before it got dark, the building with the crosses on it is the Bank of China.
Tonight we eat at a Pizza Hut... Hawian with a cheese stuffed crust - fantastic!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Saturday 22nd May - 8:40 start with a tour of the city. We are actually staying in Kowloon, so we got a good tour of HK and Kowloon.... We went from our Hotel, through a tunnel to Hong Kong Island, then (not in order) to Repulse Bay, Deepwater Bay, Aberdeen, Stanley and it's famous market, and Victoria peak.
Away from the main city areas of Hong Kong and Kowloon the roads are narrow, the skyscrapers are tall, most transport is by BMW (bus, metro, walk) and we've done a lot of all three.
The higher you live up the mountains the more expensive it is and the houses and apartments we saw on the way up to Victoria peak are priced in millions
Underground tube ride... after lunch we decided to do the cable car ride up.... so we got the tube which is a bit like London's tube only much much better... air conditioned, quieter, cleaner, and probably cleaner too. We got to the cable car base a bit too late to do everything but we still did the ride up the mountain... in a glass bottomed cable car so we had true 360 degree vision (until the cloud rolled in).
Dinner at McDonalds... exactly the same as at home, barely edible (but easily recognised)... what else would you expect from McD????
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Friday 21st May - Easy morning, packed bags, had breakfast, taken to airport for our flight to Hong Kong. Flight a little late taking off, first of all the flight crew came off the plane and we don't know why, later the new flight crew blamed 'technical difficulties'... very comforting. Very bumpy flight, lots of turbulence, they had to stop all cabin services for a while. Just before the one and only film (South Africa wins the Rugby) ended they switched the film off... I'm never flying Dragonair ever again!
Eventually arrived and couldn't find our escort, there were 2 exits from arrivals and we came out of the wrong one, but nobody told us there were two exits.
It is very hot and humid here, up to about 32 degrees and 95% humidity. By the time we got to the hotel it was time for dinner KFC this time... it sounds good but it wasn't. No chicken strips... the Chinese seem to like bones with everything so Sue and I settled for popcorn chicken, which was not so good either.
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Thursday 20th May - Today we visited the Emporer's Summer Palace and Gardens. I can't remember how big the guide said they were but they are BIG! There is a huge lake as well as lots of buildings, trees and grass but not a lot of flowers although it is early summer here.
Nice looking Dragon boat... we had a short trip on the lake. Most things are quite cheap and it was less than £1 each for the trip back across the lake.
This boat goes nowhere because it is made from Marble...
For our last dinner we went to a restaurant and had Peking Duck. The chef brought 3 roast ducks and carved them right in front of us.
Time to pack... the China mainland part of our holiday is over, tomorrow we leave the hotel at 9am to start our journey to Hong Kong.
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Wednesday 19th May - Early start... left hotel at 7am for the 2 hour drive to the Great Wall. Got there just after 9am. Started climbing the path/steps... we were challenged to get to the 7th tower and 8 of us did it! It was quite hot, in fact by the time we got back down it must have been close to 30 degrees (a couple of hours later after lunch it was betweeen 30 and 31). It took me just over an hour to get to the 7th tower which was actually as far as we could go anyway. The views were fantastic... this is what I came to see/do!
Visited a Jade 'factory/museum' which is a fancy way of saying a big shop for Jade and other precious stones. I think most people bought something.
A few of us went to a theatre before dinned to see a Kungfu show which was very good.
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Tuesday 18th May - Tiannemen Square, Forbidden City.
Can't help but reflect on events in Tiannamen square a few years ago when the Chinese government used tanks on lots of their own people. The meaning of Tiannenen is something like the place of supreme happiness... ironic?
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Monday 17th May - Flew from Xian to Beijing then visited the Little Wild Goose Pagoda, the Great Mosque, the Muslim quarter and the Shaanxi Museum. I think our guide (who comes from Xian) was a bit too enthusiastic about how interesting the museum is (not).
The Muslim quarter and Mosque was interesting. We think of Mosques as having a gold dome but this one just looked like any opther Pagoda from the outside. We were not allowed inside. The streets around the Mosque were filled with narrow streets and markets.
The Little Goose Pagoda has an interesting little story it goes something like... there was a problem (shortage of food) and the people went to the... (holy man?) who apparently prayed, then looked up to see a flock of Geese flying overhead and the first one fell dead at his feet! There is also a Great Goose Pagoda (where the original story took place).
Sunday 16th May - Early start, need to have finished breakfast before 8am as we are going to see the Terracotta Army.
Got there and the trip was worth it. This is one picture but I didn't realise that there are several burial chambers, and most have not yet been excavated. There are about 8,000 warriors and horses!
We did not stay long enough... this is what most of us had come for... very dissapointed with the time.
We also visited the Xian city walls, which are very impressive. They form a rectangle around the city, 14 meters wide at the top and 18 meters wide at the bottom. I can't remember how tall but I think it was about 12 meters.
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Saturday 15th May - After breakfast we flew to Xian (had a meal on the plane). Xian is the home of the terracotta army (we visit there tomorrow). After lunch (more food) we visited the city walls, 12 metres high, 14 metres wide at the top and 18 at the bottom, 13 kilometers long. Walked a couple of hundred yards only because it was time to (wait for it) go to dinner... (even more food). This time we had the local delicasy, it is what they call dumplings. To me it was more like a sort of filo pastry (but more like pasta than pastry) made into a shape and filled with something savoury and not anything like we would call a dumpling. One dumpling is about 2 bites. You can get 3 sorts: deep fried, boiled or steamed. We had one sample of deep fried and it was very nice, the rest were all steamed. The texture on the outside of the dumpling was more like a pasta type shell only quite thin, the insides were varied: pork, chicken, leek, walnut, vegetable, etc.
After our dinner (which was in a theatre) we had a traditional Chinese song and dance show. There were live musicians on stage as well so it was a real Chinese experience. Oh and I should say that there were some models of the Terracotta Army on dispaly in the theatre/resturant foyer... looking forward to the real thing tomorrow.
Our first week is over!!!!!
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Food/Meals: We are stuffed! We get cooked breakfast, cooked lunch, cooked dinner, if we fly we get an airline meal as well. Most of our lunch and dinner meals are the same, served at a round table, 10 people to a table. Real 'Chinese' food is not like the 'Chinese' food we get in the UK. They have lots and lots of vegetables and rice, and not a lot of meat. They use chillies in most dishes so you have to be careful... I've eaten a couple and had to reach for the water pretty quickly! Every rouind table has a 'lazy Susan'... they put the food on it and you spin it round until the food you want is close to you. They always serve rice, soup, and 6 or 7 other plates of food to choose from. They don't have dessert, but they always serve a few slices of water melon.
So far we have avoided McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut.
Other stores: Today we saw a B&Q but we've also seen Ikea stores several times. signs have been seen too for Tesco and Asda Walmart. In Hong Kong we say a couple of girls with M&S bags, and Nova actually saw the store in a posh shopping centre.
So far we have avoided McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut.
Other stores: Today we saw a B&Q but we've also seen Ikea stores several times. signs have been seen too for Tesco and Asda Walmart. In Hong Kong we say a couple of girls with M&S bags, and Nova actually saw the store in a posh shopping centre.
Toilets: Sue wants me to post the following:
This is the ladies loo... I've managed to avoid the Gents (no pun intended)!!!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Friday 14th May - Today we drove back to Guilin, on the way we visited a farm house, not a museum... it was real, a widow lived there with her grandson. To make a little money she has tourists visit her and she allowed us to see her home. There was a main room, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom.
1. The main room had one light bulb, a setee, a sort of Chinese Welsh Dresser, a few photos and some pictures done by her grandchildren. There was no carpet, just a dirt floor.
2. The bedrooms, again just one light bulb, no glass in the windows, a bed, a piece of bamboo and a curtain round it for a wardrobe. Just a dirt floor
3. Kitchen, again just one light bulb. She cooks everything on an open fire a bit like a BBQ. No fridge or anything like that, and definitely no washing machine. Just a dirt floor.
4. Bathroom, this did have ceramic flor tiles. There was a little shelf with shampoo and stuff on it, a piece of string to hang the towel on, and a bucket to wash from! No running water, they get their water from a well pump in their garden. Off the 'bathroom' was a little corner where she kept her chickens.
This is the lady:
In the same village we saw rice paddy fields:
We saw women washing clothes by hand in the rivers and streams. We live in a different world!
When we got back to Guilin we went to a Pearl Museum... less museum and more a big pearl hypermarket, however they did look good and most people bought something.
Next we went to climb one of these 'mountains' there were about 300 steps to get to the top, some went, some didn't... I did! Great views from the top. This was actually in a park and a Zoo and the big Zoo attraction was 3 giant pandas. They were lovely cute cuddly looking things, though not much life in them. One could barely lift his head from the rock he was lying on, like he didn't have a care in the world... actually I guess he doesn't!!!
We really didn't have time to look at anything else in the Zoo which was a pity because they had some red pandas and we only had about 2 minutes left to watch them.
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Thursday 13th May - River trip to Yangshuo , about 4 hours. Weather good, sun nearly all the way. Saw more fishermen and cormorants (resting), lots of boat salesmen, they used the same type of boat that the fisherman had, they paddled up to our boat then grabbed hold of the side and used a grappling hook to stay attached to us, then they walked up and down their boat trying to sell us things, mostly Jade but our guide warned us that most is fake. Our big boat had 2 decks so we spent most of the time on the outside top deck which had a bit of a canopy so I could enjoy the shade. Scenery is very different, lots of mountains and/or hills.
Not quite sure what to call them, they can't all be mountains because they are not tall enough. The land is mostly flat but these 'hills/mountains' just appear to rise up out of the ground. Most are too steep to walk, up, most are uninhabited, most have at least one side that is in part a sheer cliff. There are hundreds of them, some clearly will be mountains because of their size. Beautiful scenery all along the river. We saw loads of water buffalo which they use to pull carts and to work in the fields.Night time we went to a fantastic outdoor light, dance, boat, singing, spectacular show... the backdrop was 13 mountains, and the stage was the river. The creator and director of the show also created the opening and closing of the Bejing Olympics. The show had about 600 people in it and about a dozen water buffalo too. Nova bought us a DVD afterwards and we are looking forward to seeing the show again when we get home.
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Wed 12th May - flew to Guilin. Very busy city of 4,000,000 people (4 million). Some free time to explore the city. Night trip on the river to see the fishermen fishing with Cormorants. It was fascinating to watch as the birds dived into the water and returned with a fish. They have been fishing like this for 600 years. The boats are made out of 5 or 6 bamboo poles which they paddle standing up like someone in a Canadian canoe would if they were to stand up, or a bit like punting, but it is a paddle they use and not a pole.
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Tuesday 11th May - Went to a silk factory, watched them spin 8 very fine silk threads together to make it thick enough and strong enough to sew with and to make the silk cloth with. Watched them make the silk into the filling for quilts, and saw them make a quilt. Visited the silk shop of course but didn't buy anything. After lunch we went to the old quarter and visited an old house (350 years) and the gardens, then went to the market.
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Monday 10th May - A sunny day today, I (Andrew) got sunburned! Had a short tour of the city, went to the museum (one of the top 3 in China, and we will go to the other 2 at some point). Went up to the 88th floor one of the tallest buildings, looked down through a glass roof into the nearly hollow centre of the building to the hotel lobby on the 60th floor. Went on the MAGLEV one of the fastest trains in the world - reached 431 Km per hour (about 267 miles per hour). I'm going to try and post a video on you tube.
When we passed the train coming in the opposite direction (at about 220 Miles per hour) we passed each other in 1/10th of a second! The train travels almost 20 miles in about 7 minutes. Also just to get you worried the train has no driver, and there are no buffers at the end of the line... the track just ends in mid-air!
Visited the Shanghei museum which is located inb a beautiful new building, and it includes the peoples square which has lovely gardens and some great views of the city skyline.
Had dinner followed by a great night river cruise.
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Sunday 9th May - arrived just fine, we were about 45 minutes late leaving Heathrow but the pilots just about made it all up by the time we arrived in Shanghai. Weather not too good, light rain.
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Saturday 8th May - arrived at the airport too early for check-in... sitting in the coffee shop with a great view of the planes landing... just a pity about the dirty windows (see picture opposite)!
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Friday 7th May - just about to go to bed, in 9 hours time we should be leaving home and setting off for Heathrow Terminal 5. Right now we are both a bit worried... our suitcases (just one each) are well under weight so we can't figure out what we are not taking with us, or is it that in the past we've taken far too much? Who cares.. as long as we have a change of clothes, batteries for the cameras, and money in our pockets we shall be OK.
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Saturday 1st May - met Nova at Emily Shaws baptism and talked over a few holiday things, none of us have started packing anything yet, does this mean we are 'cool international travelers' and think we don't have anything to worry about?
Sue and I did buy a new compact digital video camera today, all I've got to do now is learn how to use it so that I can post some video for everyone to see where we are and what we're doing.
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Tuesday 27th April - NOW I can go on holiday... passport and visa safely arrived!!!! I'm a bit annoyed about my new passport because either the travel agent or the Chinese embassy stuck some kind of sticky label on it and left a mess which I had to very carefully scratch off and then clean with some solvent, also they have stapled stuff through the passport so I hope that passport control don't think that it has been damaged or tampered with.
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Saturday 24th April.... one of us still doesn't have a visa, and actually one of us does not have a passport either!!!! I hope the Post Office doesn't loose it....
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Wednesday 21st April 2010
Just 17 days to go and just one tiny little problem... only one of us has a visa!!!!
The Chinese Government would not give me a visa because I work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! I'm not sure what they think I'm going to do... take a suitcase full of Books of Mormon? Baptise hundreds of Chinese people? Be a missionary for 2 weeks?
Normally you apply 8 weeks before your holiday but in my case they will not grant me a visa until 4 weeks before I go. I know it is 17 days to go but I had to have my passport as I was expecting to be in Germany from the 19th to the 24th of April but the volcano has put paid to that so I've now sent it to the travel agents, who assure me it is not a problem. I hope they are right...
