We left Hong Kong today by taxi to the airport, as the driver’s first pick up he was proud to proclaim, and departed on an Emirates 777 to Dubai. We took off towards the east and before we could see the city we were in cloud. A brief respite in the cloud cover enabled us …
Today we took two open-top bus tours of Hong Kong Island. Both of them started at the Central Star Ferry pier. On the green route this morning we passed through the man-made canyons of glass and steel from the Two IFC Tower to The Bank of China, the complex at Admiralty Station and those at …
Hong Kong today is a product of the British take over of Hong Kong Island in 1841 during the First Opium War between China and Britain. The 8000 or so local people seemed to work with the British but the two countries fought over the trading rights of other port cities such as Shanghai. The …
We awoke around 7:30 a.m. to sub-tropical rainforest, which is not as dense as that at the Equator, isolated farms, terraced fields and tree covered pyramidal-like mountains. We were about 20 degrees north and the cloud and humid air clung to the mountain tops as well as in places almost at ground level. Yesterday whilst …
This morning we commenced the last leg of our Europe-Asia rail adventure. We were booked in coach 8, beds 9 and 10, on train Z97 to Hong Kong. The journey is scheduled to take 25 hours. Upon arrival at the big and new Beijing West railway station we checked in as normal but because of …
Beijing has had a chequered history since its first settling in 1045 BC. The Mongol warrior Ghengis Khan destroyed the city in 1215 but by the 15th century the basic grid of the present day city was established. Modern Beijing came of age when in January 1949 the People’s Liberation Army entered the city and …
We left Xi’an just after 7:00 a.m. in heavy rain that was predicted on Chinese TV as likely to be prolonged and severe. It certainly was. Upon arrival at the new Xi’an North railway station we converted our e-ticket into paper ones. Following two layers of security we were in another massive and spotless departure …
This morning we left the old city at the South Gate and upon crossing the moat we entered the very modern high rise section of Xi’an. It was interesting that within a kilometre the shiny granite and glass towers selling Prada and other named clothing brands changed to multi-storey apartments and old single unit shops …
Xi’an was the political heart of China until the 10th century, but long before this it was the beginning/end of the Silk and Spice Routes, meaning that the city became a mix of cultures and religions as well as the home to poets, monks, merchants and warriors. Today’s city walls date from the Ming dynasty …
We awoke just before 8:00 a.m. to see mountains still to our left and still of the old, red sandstone. The railway line, although improved for high speed running was still faced with the same geographical challenges of the old route, namely the Gansu Corridor, which narrows as the mountains come together some 300km south …