PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2010
Awesome pictures of the Forbidden City. You are so lucky to see it with very few tourists there.
You're really making me want to go back to China and see more. I think I've decided I need to go to Beijing, Xian, Guilin (and the Li River), Chengdu, Shangri-la, Zhangjiajie Stone Forest, cruise the Yangtze and maybe see if there is a cruise down the Grand Canal. Is that a 7 week trip??? LOL
OOOhhhhh I can't wait to read about what you did in Beijing. I just started my pre-trip report. We leave in less than a month. We are staying near where you did, just mapped it, 950 meters directly to the west.
Love the hotel! Great mix of new with Chinese features. I read with interest. Other than our recent visit, I last went to China when I was 10 with my parents. And it was VERY different back. Unfortunately as a 10 year old I don't think I appreciated what I was seeing and experiencing. And sadly I was somewhat scarred by my experiences. Which explains the "not wanting" to visit China until recently.
You're really making me want to go back to China and see more. I think I've decided I need to go to Beijing, Xian, Guilin (and the Li River), Chengdu, Shangri-la, Zhangjiajie Stone Forest, cruise the Yangtze and maybe see if there is a cruise down the Grand Canal. Is that a 7 week trip??? LOL
I love your trip report. The photos are gorgeous, and the info you're providing is so interesting. I've been to China several times but always for work and only in the south and central parts of the country. Never Beijing or Shanghai. This makes me want to be a tourist there! If I ever return for fun, I will be sure to stay at that lovely hutong hotel. Thank you for sharing your trip with us.
The Forbidden City was amazing - the ornate ceilings really took my eye!
Take me! Take me! I can speak Mandarin...sort of...You're really making me want to go back to China and see more. I think I've decided I need to go to Beijing, Xian, Guilin (and the Li River), Chengdu, Shangri-la, Zhangjiajie Stone Forest, cruise the Yangtze and maybe see if there is a cruise down the Grand Canal. Is that a 7 week trip??? LOL
Always happy to share!I imagine it was very different. I had a friend who visited with a group back in the mid '80's before the 1989 Ti'ananmen Square incident. (I am quite jealous as he has also visited Checkpoint Charlie while the wall was still active and Russia during the communist era etc so has seen a lot of 'history'). It all looked very different back then and of course you could only visit with a guide. I would be interested to hear the incidents that you remember one day.
Count me in PIO! Those places are all on my wishlist too.
Ooh that's my perfect trip too. I'll come --mmm how many weeks do we have?
Take me! Take me! I can speak Mandarin...sort of...
Always happy to share!
My aunt lived in Shanghai and she was with us most of the time. We visited Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai as well visiting my father's village in Xiamen in the Fujian province. We may have to more places but I can't remember. I do remember people looking/staring at us which can be uncomfortable at times. Things that were awful were:
1) the toilets. It was one long drain with partitions and no doors. I saw poop floating down...and all the toilets stank.
2) The food was also not crash hot. I remember being oily and tasteless.
3) The hotel we were at in Beijing was musty. My experience was coloured by me being very unwell with a high fever in Beijing.
4) We caught a train (I don't remember where we caught it from and where we went...) and it was one of the worst experiences ever. It was hot and dirty. The air coming in was sooty and at the end of the train ride, I remember rubbing sweat off my face and neck and seeing black grime coming off. We had to put our suitcases under the seat and I'm not sure I every wanted to touch those suitcases again but I remember my parents saying that we had no choice.
5) The spitting. It was everywhere and I could hear someone bringing up phlegm nearly every few seconds and just wanted to gag.
The good things!
1) My father's family home was still there and his remaining family were SO happy to see us. They gave us gifts and the home made food was so much better.
2) Seeing my aunt! She clearly loved spending time with us. I remember her very fondly.
The more I see of your hotel, the more I like it!
And what an amazingly clear blue sky you had! Incredible photos of the Forbidden city! All those details were lost on me when I was 10...
I might have missed this but how cold was it on the day? Was it significantly colder in Beijing compared to Shanghai?
I shouldn't say as she is still waiting to get the official paperwork through and sign the contract but all being well she is off to Sweden for her first job (2 year postdoc) - so she needs to get used to that level of cold! (She loves the cold much more than the heat though and was hoping for a job somewhere cold in Europe!)