China Day 20-22 Beijing

After our final night train in China, we arrived in the modern capital Beijing.

Our first afternoon was spent exploring Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. On our second day in Beijing we travelled for 3h to the Great Wall of China. We then proceeded to explore this extremely steep section of the wall from Gatehouse 8 -12. This was an amazing experience which was topped off by snow fall  at our highest point on the wall.

Our final evening was spent celebrating our tour leaders birthday and enjoying Peking Duck, along with a number of other delicious selections.

The next day, the small group of us who weren’t flying out until later ventured over to see the Beijing 2008 Olympic Stadium and Water Cube. These were both very impressive structures. We then explored “Snack Street” where we discovered the famous skewer sticks with live scorpions, sea horses, and a selection of other interesting combinations... no, neither of us ate any of the skewer sticks on offer! 

China Day 18-19 Xian

After a 12h train journey we arrived in Xian, the capital of the Shaanxi Province. Xian is the longest serving capital city in China’s history, being the capital for four of the Dynasties. 

It is also the home of the famous Terracotta Warriors, which were unearthed in 1974 by a farmer digging a well.

There are over 6000 of these individually hand carved clay statues of soldiers, horses, and chariots, all facing east in battle formation protecting Qin Shihuang, China’s first Emperor.

It was amazing to see the soldiers in their original location which also doubles as an archeological site where the restoration is ongoing. 

China Day 13-17 Yangtze River

From Yichang, we travelled a short bus ride to our River “Cruise” Boat port, stopping along the way at the recently completed Yangtze Dam wall. Standing 170m tall it was quite impressive.

The next 2 nights were spent cruising up the Yangtze River, where it was unfortunately cold, wet, and very foggy so the views were obscured. However, a few Thai Chi lessons in the morning, lots of cards during the day, and the odd drink at night kept us amused.

We disembarked our “cruise” and took a bus to Chongqing for the night.

China Day 12 Yangshuo

This morning we were met by the instructor from a cooking school. She lead us to the daily fresh produce markets to buy some of ingredients for our dishes - this was an experience - we even had the opportunity to buy dog meat, needless to say we didn’t take it! We then spent the next few hours cooking 3 Chinese dishes, including the regional speciality “Beer Fish”, Gang Bao Chicken, and Vegetarian Dumplings. This was our lunch today and we were both pleased with our efforts!

Tonight we boarded yet another sleeper train bound for Yichang. This train journey was filled with learning a Chinese version of “rock, paper, scissors” and shots of rice wine! It was important to catch on quickly to avoid doing shots!! However, there seemed to be a lot of rule changes each time a local lost :-0!!

China Day 11 Yangshuo

Another bike ride this morning took us along a river through the limestone outcrops, paddy fields, and local villages. Our lunch break was after a short hike to the top of Moon Rock, which gave us spectacular views over the surrounding region. 

After lunch we went caving and rode back to town. In the evening we travelled up river on a small local boat to watch the fishermen and their trained cormorant fishing birds hard at work.

China Day 10 Kunming-Yangshuo

This morning we said good bye to 2 of our group as they were on a tour that only did the first half of ours. After contact details exchanged and possibility of locum work for Brii organised (one of these 2 is a GP in rural Oz) we made our way to Kunming Airport to fly to Guilin.

From Guilin we travelled a short distance to the neighbouring town Yangshuo. We are now in the Szechwan province where the food becomes more spicy - excellent! One of the great spices that this region is known for is the Szechwan Numbing Chilli powder. This is a fabulous spice that makes your lips go slightly numb for a brief moment on eating it. They use it on all of their bbq foods.

Yangshuo is stunning. Surrounded by beautiful country side and Limestone outcrops and cliffs.

China Day 9 Lijiang-Kunming

Today was spent on a bus travelling from Lijiang back to Kunming. The trip notes said this was a long but pleasant ride through the countryside. However when you are hungover, the windy mountain roads combined with constant nausea makes it only LONG and not so pleasant!

Our night in Lijiang prior to this bus ride was spent celebrating 2 of our group members birthdays. After a fabulous meal in a local market square (where we were the only non Chinese people) we made our way to the “Amsterdam Bar” where the local dutch bartender Jacque poured drinks like he would pour his own (very generous portions)... the night was made even better when Jacque offered us some “Edam” cheese (after Brii had mentioned that she really missed cheese).