We began our 2011 tour of Hong Kong and China in Hong Kong. At the time I wrote most of my blog entries for this trip, I only wrote about mainland China. Now, as I write this, many residents of Hong Kong have occupied the international airport to protest China’s attempt to impose a new extradition law that could limit the rights of the Hong Kong people. With Hong Kong so much in the news, I revisited this part of…
After we finished our Yangtze River cruise, we flew to Guilin where we took a leisurely boat ride down the Li River. We saw fishermen, farmers and lots of water buffalo. Leaving the Li River area, we saw water buffalo sharing the road with cars. Near the hutong neighborhoods, rickshaws and cars were on the streets. Cities had modern, multi-lane highways. There was also a great deal of construction – roadways, buildings and bridges. During our trip, we saw farmers…
We saw a variety of housing in China. When traveling through cities, we frequently saw high rise apartments. Often they would have bars on the windows to protect children from falls. Buildings of more than eight floors were required to have elevators. Tauck, our tour company, did a great job of arranging for us to see different styles of homes and meet the families who lived in them. I am not picturing the families here, to protect their privacy,…
This will be the last “Beijing” post and will focus on the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven. The Summer Palace was originally commissioned in 1749 but was damaged in two wars. It was rebuilt in 1886 at the direction of Empress Dowager Cixi. She is said to have been one of the most powerful women in Chinese history. She was widowed when she was 26 and her five-year old son was next in line to serve as emperor. …
Our tour group visited Tiananmen Square which means the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Besides being a major tourist attraction, many celebrations and military reviews are held here. This was also the site of the student and worker protests in 1989 which ended with many pro-democracy protesters being killed. The first picture under this paragraph is the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. Our guide told us that Chairman Mao is revered by the Chinese people and indeed, many Chinese were waiting to…
We saw so much in Beijing, that I decided to break down this part of our trip into different parts for my blog. One of our first stops in Beijing was the Olympic Park. Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics. We saw the cauldron where the Olympic flame burned during the summer games. We also saw the five mascots for the games, each dressed in one of the colors of the Olympic rings. The swimming and diving events were held…
One of the places we visited in Xi’an was the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It was built in 648 AD to house the Buddhist supras, which are scriptural doctrines of Buddha. The pagoda pictured below is part of a large temple complex where monks still worship. Another picture is one of several statues of Buddha we saw during our visit. We also saw people lighting incense as they prayed. The highlight of our time in Xi’an was seeing the terra…
After leaving Shanghai, we went on a four-day cruise up the Yangtze River on the Yangzi Explorer. We sailed through three gorges: the Xiling, Wu and Qutang. Like many other passengers, we spent a lot of time on the observation deck, enjoying the beautiful scenery and taking pictures. The Three Gorges Dam was built on the Yangtze River to prevent flooding, generate power and improve navigation. Because of the dam, a series of five locks were constructed. We visited…
One of our favorite Tauck trips was a tour of China. The tour was provided through Tauck and was called the China, Yangtze River and Hong Kong (westbound) tour. We took the tour in 2011 and it still ranks as one of our most memorable trips. After visiting Hong Kong, we flew into Shanghai and took a high speed maglev train into Shanghai. A magnetic levitation train allows the train to travel without actually touching the ground. It can reach…