China

Trip Photos

I'd been to Beijing twice as a kid, so most of the touristy spots were not new to me. For the Great Wall, we picked a quieter section called Mu Tian Yu, to visit, and it was a good choice because it was down right deserted by Chinese standards. We had a nice hike there for a couple of hours. The traffic was congested everywhere in the city. Taxis were cheap and so plentiful that they came looking for you, but in the afternoon rush hour, no cars got anywhere fast. The drivers had a total disregard for traffic rules. Jeff, himself an aggressive driver by Canadian standards, was on the verge of a heart attack a few too many times. We tried the subway, which was fine when it wasn't crowded, but utterly impossible during rush hour unless you wanted your lungs crushed.

In Xi'an, we admired the Terracotta Warriors, browsed through the impressive collection at the provincial museum, walked in the interesting Muslim Quarter, and had a fun bicycle ride on top of the old city wall.

Nanjing turned out to be Jeff's favourite city because it has mountains, a big lake, tree-lined boulevards, an authentic old city wall, and an excellent French restaurant in our hotel. (A foodie, Jeff judges cities by their food.)

Next, we took the high-speed train to Shanghai. Since it was my first return trip to China after nearly twenty years, there were lots of relations and friends to visit. Naturally, Shanghai had changed beyond belief. To my delight, my grandparents' old apartment building in the old French Concession was still standing, and the old neighbourhood was still quiet and tree-lined, the way I remembered it. It was great for me to see everyone again although Jeff, being unable to speak or understand a word of Chinese, was bored to tears. November happened to be hairy crab season. At our hotel, we had a wonderful dinner done in the Japanese Kaiseki style where every course, including dessert, had a crab theme. It was a very clever idea.

While in Shanghai, we took two day-trips, one to Hangzhou, and one to Wuzhen. Hangzhou is an ancient city famous for its scenery and history. Wuzhen is a tiny water village built along the Grand Canal six hundred years ago, a picturesque town and very Oriental-looking. I got a couple of potentially award-winning photos simply by closing my eyes and pushing the camera button.

Our last stop on the Mainland was four days in Yangshuo, near Guilin. That part of China is entirely different from the big cities. We stayed at a mountain retreat on the banks of the Yu Long River, amidst dreamlike fields and karsts. We went boating and rafting on the beautiful Li River, hiked and biked along the riverbanks, going in and out of the karsts. It was my favourite part of the time in China.

Finally, we arrived in Hong Kong. It's impossible not to like vibrant Hong Kong because one has so much fun walking the trail on the Peak, taking the Star Ferry, having high tea at the Peninsula, shopping on Nathan Road, eating dim-sum in a bustling Chinese restaurant, and doing a million other things. Our seven days there were not nearly enough.