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China & Hong Kong Trip June 07
This is my first blog entry to keep in touch with everyone. I am not use to writing blogs and it makes me nervous putting all my thoughts and details of my life on the internet, but here it goes.
As you all know, I am in between jobs at the moment. I am moving to Atlanta, USA soon to start on my new role. I thought it was a great opportunity to travel before I start my new job. I decided on China and Hong Kong because it was close by and I something a bit cheap (compared to Europe) and I have heard so much about it from friends that I thought it was worthwhile taking a look.
Bei Jing (2nd June 2007)
Bei Jing was not what I thought it would be. Firstly the streets are so clean and the people are pretty friendly. Many don't speak English but when they do they were friendly and extremely helpful people. The only thing is that they tend to push in when lining up. Now I know why most Asians act the way they in do in Australia. It's their culture, get in fast or lose. People still live
The Great Wall
The Great Wall of China is amazing! The experience was surreal. The climb up was fairly challenging as I have been extremely inactive the last few months. The Chinese ladies were so crazy, they were climbing the steps and walking on the great wall in stilletos and skirts (impressive because I was exhausted at the end of the climb wearing sneakers). Just amazing. There is also a slide down the wall at a price. It's was a really great experience that I will never forget.
Shopping
The shopping centres are pretty average. The prices are just the same as anywhere else that sells quality products. This was pretty disappointing. I didn't get a chance to go to the markets, the people in the tour group that came earlier than me said that the markets were really good for fake stuff.
Mao's Square & The Forbidden City
Mao's Square (also called The people's square) was really amazing, it can fit up to a million people there. Very cool.
The Forbidden City is huge and it took a long time to walk through everything and see how royalty use to live. I was in awe of the amount of planning and detail that went into the architecture. The mere size of it was pretty impressive too.
Xian (4th June 2007)
The tour group got us to take the overnight train from Bei Jing to Xian. The train trip was an experience. There were 6 beds to 1 berth. It was tiny but bearable. The toilets were swating ones, and it got smelly during the trip (I was told this, I refused to go in the morning) and the doors were locked 10 minutes before it stops. As the toilet's contents went straight down on the rail tracks (nice!).
Terracotta Warriors
The tour group took us to see the teracotta warriors. It was pretty amazing. The size and the history of it all was pretty amazing. We also went to see a traditional Tang Dynasty dancing and singing performance. It was not only worthwhile but intresting to watch all the girls in fancy traditional dresses prancing around.
The night life was not great but Vicky and I (a friend I met on tour) found a cool bar with live music after the show. The bar was pretty laid back and we had a great time.
The Wild Goose Pargoda
This is also where I lost my camera and lost all of my cool pictures from the trip so far. As you can imagine I was pretty upset about it. Not sure how I lost my camera but I did and it happened. I spent the whole day retracing my steps and contacting different people to see if they had my camera. A lot of time was spent at the police station to get a written statement. I just want my memory stick back, they can have the camera.
Oh well. Luckily Vicky had a spare digital camera that she let me borrow. I can't believe she trusted me with it after what happened to mine. I was extremely grateful.
Suzhou (6th June 07)
Suzhou was just amazing. It's like Venice but with traditional Chinese buildings. The canels were amazing! I love it here. It is definitely one place I would like to come back to. The town was full of friendly people and it is so photogenic. You can't stop taking photos.
Shang Hai (7th June 07)
Shang Hai is something else. It is such a grand city and it is so clean! Something that I wasn't expecting. There is a lot of growth and development in this city, there were countless sky scrappers and it is so easy to get lost in this vast city. The city is modern and colourful but the lights get turned off after 12pm to save electricity. What a smart idea.
The shopping is really cool. I founds shoes that actually fit (I have abnormally small feet) and I also got some tailored suits made. I recommend shopping in Shang Hai to anyone.
Hong Kong (10th June 07)
Hong Kong is a different kettle of fish. I was really looking forward to the shopping but it was not as good as I had in mine. The souveniers are probably better purchased in China because it seems they import it from China and pump up the price by 300%. The fashion is not my taste and the international brands are not that much cheaper than Australia. The electronics on the other hand is crazy! It is so cheap and there are countless stores that sell it. I wouldn't rush to Hong Kong purely for shopping.
The trip ended and I rushed back for a day to be with my family and caught the flight the day after to the US in time to start work.
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Posted by adventuresoflinlin on 2008-07-10 10:35:31 | Rating: | Views: 29
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