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CHINA - 2011 |
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A trip to China. For this country, you really need to go on a guided
tour, so we chose Friendly Planet this time round. English was not
widely spoken in 2011, the young people under age 25 are really the
main ones that spoke English as it became mandatory in schools 20 or
so years previously. The first stop was Shanghai. |
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 Yu Garden  January is a little chilly in China |
 The famous Pearl Tower. The top floor of the Oriental Pearl tower is 1,200 ft high. |
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| Stop off at a local meat market, someone's asleep on the job. We really needed the curtains on our rickshaw! | |
 A boat ride on the Huangpu River |
 Some nice areas |
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 Some not so nice! |
 It was a fun ride even though cold. |
 Going up the Pearl Tower. |
 Hazy but still spectacular. |
 Walking the streets of Shanghai |
 Of course there's a Starbucks!! |
 Taking the bullet train to Xian - that is 187 mph! |
 Xian downtown |
 Time for the Terra Cotta Soldiers!  Xi'an City wall in Xi'an built in 1370. |
 There are over 2,000 statues, with another estimated 6,000 that are still buried.  The City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived in China. |
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Next stop is the Great Wall of China! |
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 More than just a single wall, it's a vast network of walls, watchtowers, and fortresses, with the most famous sections dating from the Ming Dynasty, spanning over 13,000 miles in total length. |
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Next day we went to the Forbidden City in Beijing!! |
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The Forbidden City is the imperial palace complex in the center of the Imperial City in Beijing, China. It was the residence of 24 Ming and Qing dynasty Emperors, and the center of political power in China for over 500 years from 1420 to 1924. |
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 Fancy a bat, starfish or a scorpion for dinner? |
 Don't say a WORD about the government here, listening devices everywhere in Tiananmen Square! |
 Went to see the Pandas! |
 Palace on the lake. |
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The final stop was in Hong Kong. Of course everyone is selling something everywhere! |
 Time for a boat ride, of course! |
 Weird boats everywhere they can find a place to tie up. |
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 Time for a cable car ride to the other side of Hong Kong island. |
 It was a beautiful ride! |
 Incredible statues...  |
 Big Buddha on a hill!  |
Quaint fishing villages, very different to Hong Kong and Cowloon. |
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Back to Hong Kong for our last night.
It was a fun trip!!! |
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