Friday 11th March Today we have a train to Shanghai to catch so we have time for some final visits and lunch before catching train Z94. Our first stop was the Bell Tower which we accessed from underground in the middle of the roundabout upon which it is located. The Tower was built in 1384 …
Thursday 10th March Today has broken as a much better day than yesterday. It is certainly crisp but we can see the blue sky! Today’s mission is to see what has been described as ‘the Eighth Wonder of the World’: The Emperor Qin Shihuang Mausoleum Site Museum or more commonly known as the Terra-Cotta Army …
Wednesday 9th March We arrived virtually on time and leaving the station it was amazing how many hundreds of people were all moving to the exit with our two faces, again, being the only European ones in sight. This has been the case since leaving Frankfurt! Somewhere to the left in this mass of humanity …
Tuesday 8th March Today was a ‘getting there day’ and part of our circumnavigation that we didn’t expect to be making. However, Chinese railways have provided a way of seeing more of this wonderful country. The day broke with strong winds and drizzle and there had also been a dramatic drop in temperature. We did …
Monday 7th March We write this after dinner when one member of the team had sweet and sour pork for his third time. We have had to change our plans as the container ship, MS Hanjin Geneva, has had its itinerary changed and consequently there is no other way for us to cross the Pacific …
Sunday 6th March Overnight the weather changed and we awoke with cloud virtually to the ground and the tops of buildings impossible to see. We took the sightseeing bus around the city and from People’s Square, near the hotel, we passed through familiar territory to reach the waterfront at The Bund. Great disappointment!!! The opposite …
Saturday 5th March Today we set out to discover the Shanghai waterfront known as The Bund. Leaving the hotel we made our way along East Nanjing Road which was once China’s most famous shopping street. Â Today it is pedestrianised and awash with neon signs and the same so called deigner label stores found anywhere …
Friday 4th March This morning we crossed the sprawling suburbs of Beijing by taxi to reach Beijing South railway station. The public areas are circular rather like the first terminal at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. In fact, it is more airport than railway station until one is on the platform. Like an airport …
Thursday 3rd March Our mission today was to explore the Forbidden City. This has to be entered through Tian’an Men Square, which as we have already seen is the world’s largest public square, a mass of paving stones and a giant collection of 1950s Soviet-style buildings and ringed by perimeter fences that mean everyone has …
Wednesday 2nd March Today has been a very special one. We have visited one of the ‘Wonders of the World’ – The Great Wall of China. When the team were younger and before GPS and other satellites, astronauts went into space with hand held cameras. It was from space that this single continuous structure was …