We arrived in Beijing on April 25 where we stayed 3 nights.
 |
| View of the Forbidden City from Tiananmen Square |
 |
| Forbidden City is a Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) palace (where the Last Emperor was filmed) |
 |
| Qing Dynasty Summer Palace |
 |
| Walkway at the Summer Palace |
 |
| Peking Duck (Peking is how the Cantonese pronounce Beijing). The Mandarin folks cannot understand the Cantonese dialect. |
 |
| Alice, my Chinese Brush Painting teacher, and her artist friend from whom I bought a landscape painting |
 |
| My Giant Panda friend at the Bejing Zoo. There are only 300 wild in China and they are the ONLY wild animals left in China. All others were killed for food during the many famine times. |
 |
| John and Carol at our tea ceremony but it was a demo of different teas for sale at that store. |
 |
| Sim and me at the Great Wall. We took a gondola ride to the top of the hill and spent our energy walking the wall. |
 |
| Great Wall of China (Ming Dynasty portion near Beijing) |
 |
View from one of the towers on the Great Wall facing North and those pesky Mongolians.
|
 |
One of the Wonders of the World, it was built by 20% of the Chinese population during the Qin dynasty (the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 206 BC)
We flew to Xi'an (the ancient capital of China) which is southwest of Beijing but still in Northern China. |
 |
| City Wall built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) that surrounds Xi'an |
 |
| John, Carol and I biking on the city wall (8 miles around) |
 |
| Example of the amount of food we were served for lunch and dinner. This meal was just the four of us as everyone else went to the Tang Dynasty Banquet and show. This meal included sliced tongue, baby bamboo shoots, soup, rice, fried chicken breast and the standard- watermelon for dessert. This is what was left after we finished eating. |
 |
| Terracotta soldiers unearthed from the Qin Dynasty. The army was created to protect the first emperor's tomb. |
 |
| Sim and me at one of the 3 pits |
 |
| The farmer who found the soldier remains as he was digging a well in 1974 |
 |
| Terracotta archer - the wooden bow and quills either rotted or were taken when the tomb was raided. |
 |
| Museum building with roof detail meant to protect the building from fire (fish fins). |
 |
Pretty Chinese porcelain lady
Next day we flew to Guilin in the Southern China which had rice paddies and water buffalo and fabulous limestone mountains. We drove 2 hours to get to the Yangshuo where we stayed 2 nights. The Yulong River is a tributary of the Li River in the southeast of Guangxi Province.
|
 |
| Rafting on the Yulong River |
 |
| Jessica, our tour director |
 |
| Bugs for lnch |
 |
| Half Moon Mountain |
 |
View from top of Half Moon Mountain
Local ladies went up the hill with us hoping to see us water or coke. It was a nice idea but very annoying.
Next we flew from Guilin to Shanghai. This took all day! |
 |
| Fish pond at our hotel on Shanghai |
 |
| Nice round opening at the Jade Buddha Temple |
 |
| One of the goddesses at the Jade Buddha Temple |
 |
| Crowded shopping are in Shanghai |
 |
| Silk worms at the silk factory where they sols really nice silk comforters |
 |
| Beautiful Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai |
 |
| Sim and me at a garden doorway |
 |
| Interesting tree at garden |
 |
| Interesting Mosaic floor in garden |
 |
| Gateway to the Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai |
 |
| Master of the Nets Garden about 2 hours from Shanghai in Suzhou |
 |
Sim, me, Carol, and John on our last day in China
Getting out of China was more difficult than getting in as our airplane in Shanghai sat on the tarmac for 6 hours due to several issues with paperwork and gas tanks. By the time we got to Tokyo we had missed all our connecting flights. While most of our group opted to stay overnight in Tokyo and take our same flight the next day, Sim and I opted to take a plane leaving in ten minutes for Honolulu. Once in the US, I knew I could talk with ML on the phone which I could not do from Japan. We had a 6-hour layover in HI, but I was too tired to leave the airport so we walked around the airport and charged my iPad so I could read my book on the flights home. Delta was not accommodating about all the hassles. Since Honolulu to Atlanta was a domestic flight, there was no free food or headphones for the 8-hour flight. |
