All that digging in the sand at the beach when i was a little girl paid off and i finally reached China. https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/ Sat, 11 Apr 2026 23:01:34 GMT World Nomads Adventures Christmas celebrations in our classroom https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/7937/China/Christmas-with-the-kids Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/7937/China/Christmas-with-the-kids#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/7937/China/Christmas-with-the-kids Wed, 9 Jan 2008 02:05:00 GMT 0 Christmas Day lunch and other antics https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/7748/China/Twisted-Christmas-2007 Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/7748/China/Twisted-Christmas-2007#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/7748/China/Twisted-Christmas-2007 Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:58:00 GMT 0 These are pics from a typical day in the dining hall at school https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/7467/China/Lunch-time-with-Grade-1 Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/7467/China/Lunch-time-with-Grade-1#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/7467/China/Lunch-time-with-Grade-1 Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:28:00 GMT 0 11 hours on trh train ride back to Beijing. We left at 8pm and arrived at 8am the following morning. The train compartment we had was a 6 berth. I really didn't like travelling that way. I had the top bunk and it was difficult to sleep on. For the first time i felt claustraphobic. there wasn't enough room to sit up so i felt like i was in a train coffin. It felt suffocating. I climbed down from the bunk beds a couple of trimes during the night because i felt so bad. I sat in the hallway. We were at the end of the carriage right next to where the toilet is. The smell of urine flowed into the hallway. It made me gag. I had to sit on the end of Corey's bed on the lower bunk. He had trouble sleeping too and said that he had the wheels of the train clunking in his ear all night. We shared the cabin with a chinese mother, father and daughter. Only the daughter could speak english. she was 14 years old and her english was great. We have her a koala keyring and in turn she gave me a lollipop as that was all she had. Giving gifts in China is a difficult thing. Its very cultural and i realised that they can take offense or be embarrassed, particularly if they don't have to something to give you. She liked talking to us, especially about Australia. The father also wanted to speak to us. we asked the young girl what her father does for work. She said that he is a business man. I asked what kind of business but she clearly stated that she didn't care what he doe. That was an interesting response but fairly typical for a highschool student, no matter what country they are from. We arrived At Beijing West Train Station. This station is bigger than Sydney Airport. We caught a cab back to Gloria Plaza Hotel wehere they gave us the shittiest room we had seen on our travels and the bed was rock hard. So while Dragon Master waited in the shitty room, I endeavoured to try my charms on for a better room for the same price. I was trying to comprehend that for only 200 yuan less than what we had originally paid,the standard of room whould be less. Sure we expected a smaller room for 600 yuan as opposed to 800 yuan but the quality shouldn't change. I mean, everything was completely dodgier, from the rock hard bed, right down to the little flip flops and hotel shampoo. I viewed 2 other rooms, of which the first one stank of smoke and had twin beds but the second was much more acceptable. Dinner was at "Serve the People" Thai restaurant which is loacted near the embassies.we went celebrity style and the demanding, finger snapping Hollywood came out to play. 2 bottles of Chilean white wine got us well and truly drunk. The duck salad was divine. Curries, red & green were hot hot hot. The atmosphere outside was a balmy summers evening, where we were sheltered by trees as we dined alfesco. It was gorgeous. The mosquito coils seemed to do their job too. All the Who's Who of Beijing were there, or maybe it was the Who's Who Wannabes. But no-one dare upstage Hollywood in the lilmelight. A chinese lady walked in as i was about io film myself. She asked if I wanted her to take a photo of us. Then she said "oh you want a photo of me". That's when Hollywood pipes up with "oh we have so many photos taken of us when we're in Australia". She was taken aback and tottered off in her pink high heels and tanned legs. She looked like a hooker buyt we think she actually is a famous chinese singer.that was just our guess. We watched people try to walk in strutting their stuff. It was hilarious. After dinner drinks were at what was supposed to Frank's Place. But as many things from the Lonely Planet China change so quickly, we soon found that Frank's Place was now called The Pavillion. It was a great bar - all style. I was given a lighter that looks like a sexy lipstick. We had a mojito, a cosmopolitan and a sex on the beach to share. It was the perfect night cap before hitting the Gloria Plaza Hotel and packing for Mongolia - on next destiatnation in the morning. https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11863/China/Back-to-Beijing Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11863/China/Back-to-Beijing#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11863/China/Back-to-Beijing Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:28:00 GMT 0 Would you like some cheese with your Whine ? Its not always roses when you are travelling, and sometimes you just have to say what you really think because that’s when the true essence of the holiday shows through. When the question “So how was your holiday ?” is asked, I have so often heard the response “Oh yeah, it was great”. I know that not all parts could have been great. There is no such thing as a perfect holiday. This hotel had only opened in Spring this year. The chinese or people that are guests in China really are filthy buggers cos it looks like the carpet in this brand new hotel needs a steam clean already. The room we were given was a “couple’s room”. Let me explain its weirdness. The bathroom has a big glass window so you can not only see your partner shower, but you can watch them while they sit on the toilet. Ok, watching them take a shower isn’t too bad, but watching them take a dump ? Could they not leave any privacy or what ? But get this….you might be thinking its all a bit kinky until you see the beds. Twin beds ??? What the ??? It doesn’t add up. We had to take the twin beds as there was no king size room. By this stage of the trip, we kind of needed some time apart. Not really, but we were exhausted from the train ride so it was nice just to have my own bed. Comfy and cosy. So far, no hard beds which is a miracle in China. I sleep on a very hard bed back at school, so if we are paying to stay somewhere, it has to have a comfy bed. The room faced into the middle of the building where there is an atrium. Cool if you want to spy on people having breakfast or lunch. Not ideal if you are sleeping and can hear people outside your window having a chat. There was also some horrendous banging we heard that sounded like construction.One side of the room also backs on to a stairwell so we regularly heard people walking up and down it. All in all, we can’t really complain because it is a nice hotel. They have a buffet breakfast that as included in the price of our room and its superb. Thursday 9th. We slept through from about 10am to 4pm – you literally need one day to recover from the travel. Then went on a search for the atm so we could give John his cash payment for the hotel. It was still pouring rain as it had been when we arrived. Set out in search of the restaurant which had a good write up from the Lonely Planet called Lao Sun Jia. Although it had been raining, it was quite “muggy” and we had walked quite a long way. The restaurant didn’t really have an adequate air conditioner so it was hot inside. It wasn’t really a clean place, the waitresses were a little rude and ignored any requests we made. We ordered the dishes not really knowing what they would be, even though the menu was in English. For example– vegetable jewellery was a vegie dish was covered in oil and had that interesting Chinese oil taste. We were sat next to other foreigners too ! I don’t know why that bugged me but it did. We also ordered a mutton dish which tasted just like Mum’s lamb roast with a bit of gravy, and a beef curry which was the crappiest curry ever. China only knows one kind of flavour of curry and its not recommended.. All in all, I don’t know what the Lonely Planet was raving about this place for. They had big glasses – like a half litre jug that you’d normally see someone chug a giant beer out of. IT had flower tea in it and you pick which one you wanted and they filled it up with water. I think this may just have been a budget restaurant for those Lonely Planet back packers. Not impressive but we created our own fun and made a move sting on other foreigners. Views of the bell and drum tower in the centre of the city were gorgeous at night. FIRST TOUR OF XI'AN.... The first real tour we had taken in Xi’an. Late wake up was followed by a rush to squeeze in some brekkie and race to the bus that was awaiting us. Pick up was 8.30, but we arrived at 9am and found other foreigners already crammed into the buss. Oops. At least the bus waited for us. This tour took us to the Terracotta Warriors, a silk factory, and Banpo Neolithic Village, and it also included llunch. From the time we entered the bus, the Dragon Master had started to rev up the passengers. After we had been to our first tourist spot – Banpo Neolithic Villiage, the dragon Master had turned into the tour guide. Much to the dismay of the Chinese tour guide who really couldn’t get a word in. Yes, he had done his reading and knew what it was all about. That photographic memory always comes in handy. Our tour was only a small mini bus of 6 people plus the driver and the English speaking guide named Sally. Germany, Spain and Australia were all represented amount the group. It was a fun group. Banpo Neolithic Village is the remains of a village that existed 6000 years ago. It was amazing to see. They built their houses half underground. They buried their children in pottery jars. The women could only be buried with other women when they died and the men were buried together with other men. We saw the remains of 4 women’s bodies, and some men. It was a little creepy and also hard to believe these skeletons were from 6000 years ago. That’s 4000 BC. They had a mote that surrounded their village. We noticed that the skeletons from this age were actually taller than the Asians. They were stockier and bulkier men, as depicted in the clay models of the villages which showed us the pottery kilns and how they made their pottery. Next stop was the Silk Factory. I knew it was not the place to buy silk from our previous jade factory experience. I knew the prices would be sky high and they were. I even took a photo of their price list as they were so outrageous. Dragon Master was out to play once again . It was the first time we filmed the karate chopper in action. He bought a new grey silk jacket with a yellow dragon on it. Very sexy. The only real way to understand, is to see the video clip. We had a typical Chinese lunch – the big thick noodles were the best. The restaurant made noodles in front of us but then wanted to charge an extra 10 yuan. Always asked for extra money when we had paid 400 yuan each already to do the tour. So we didn’t try those hand made noodles. The biggest highlight in Xi’an was the Terracotta Warriors. I’m not really into history much, but after this, I had a new found respect for history. This place was huge. There are 3 enormous pits which have been dug up. I only realised just how significant this archaeological excavation had been. And their work still continues. The first one contained all the warriors standing upright. The sheer amount of soldiers they have uncovered is sensational. I think what impressed me the most was that these pottery figures are life size and it was a real representation of Emperor Qin’s army. This tour was well worth it. https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11860/China/Xian-Whine-and-Dine Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11860/China/Xian-Whine-and-Dine#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11860/China/Xian-Whine-and-Dine Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:17:00 GMT 0 As I said, we planned ahead and actually booked a private room in a Youth Hostel recommended from the Lonely Planet.; We had been poshpacking so far but knew that we had to start budgeting down. A man carrying a sign with my name on it greeted us at the station. Nice of the hostel to provide free pick up at the station. We would only pay 188 yuan. It was supposed to be clean and neat and not far from the station. the reason we plucked this one out of the Lonely Planet is that it said the Manager's name was Jim Beam. The street was flooded with puddles of water that weren't going anywhere because there just isn't any drains on the streets in china. My thongs were flicking up mud onto the backs of my legs. We were led down the road to the hotel. It turned out that the free pick up was us walking there ourselves.Hardly a chariot waiting to lead us to the palace. Upon arrival, the asked for our passports and wanted us to pay for the night. that wouldn't have been a problem except we didn't have any cash on us and they wouldn't take visa card. All the hotels we had previously stayed at have taken credit cards. No problem, I just needed to know where the nearest atm was. One girl told me, at thr crossing and turn right. Fairly simple directions. Crossing the crossing was a nightmare. Buses and taxi's everywhere with no one stopping to allow people to actually cross. The atm wasn't where she said it would be. So I kept looking. Found one across the road but it was out of service. So I flip flopped my way in the rain back to the hostel to ask for the location of another bank. Corey asked the hotel staff to accompany me to an atm. they looked at him blankly with a "you want us to do what?!?" attitude. I wasn't orientated around this city yet and after hardly any sleep, and in the pouring rain, it would have been nice for them to actually be helpful. they weren't. They just gave me a map. I took the map as i was determined it shouldn't be too hard to find a bank . I stopped at the corner and asked a man which way to go to find the bank. Out of nowhere, a young boy appeared who said he was an english student. He said he could help me and show me where the bank was. In the back of my mind of was wondering how much his help was going to cost. I had become so suspicious of the chinese as they always seemed to be after something and mostly - money. I decided it was ok to go wtih him. The Bank was closed when we arrived and there was no atm in front of it either. I walked backwith the plan in my head to tell Corey we would go to another hotel that would accept visa and not dick us around. I was glad I walked in the door when i did, as Corey was just about to walk out to come and find me. He said that the hostel didn't have our room ready but they had put our bags in another room. This was the icing on the cake as we had booked ahead, advised them on what train we would be one and when we would check in. This hotel was kind of filthy anyway. It was all beginning to become a bit of a blur after the 11 hour train ride with no sleep. I was feeling a little delirious. There was no lift in the hostel, and the stairs were lined with filthy red carpet. When i got to the room, I knew we wouldn't be staying there - it was old and gritty. The first mid-range priced hotel i called from Lonely Planet was the Melody Hotel, but the girl hardly spoke english. the second one was The Bell Tower Hotel. A nice gentleman answer the phone and said he had to meet some other guests down at the train station so if we could meet him there. We went back to the train station and were greeted by a well groomed chinese man called John. He was a beautiful, peaceful soul. He told us that his boss owned another hotel that is newer and better than the Bell Tower Hotel. We instantly agreed for him to take us there. We just wanted to lie down. This man was a pure gentlment with an amazingly calm nture. We were quite stressed when we met him. He got a taxi to the Mei Hua Golden Tang International Hotel. 468 yuan a night - thats less than we've paid for other 4 and 5 star hotels. Once we saw the room, we instantly accepted. This hotel was so nice and clean and gorgeous. Yes ! Yes ! Yes ! And so cheap !!! The only catch was that we had to pay John and not the hotel. https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11848/China/Xian-bad-beginning-happy-ending Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11848/China/Xian-bad-beginning-happy-ending#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11848/China/Xian-bad-beginning-happy-ending Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:37:00 GMT 0 After the train ticket debarcle and getting hard seats and no sleeper for the 11 hours to Xi'an, we had finally arrived. Tired and cranky is the best way to sum it up. Not much speac eon those hard seat trains. We did have fun along the way. In fact, big giggles about all the snoozing chinese who have a habit of sleeping everywhere and anywhere. We did made a few sneaky snoozing movies featuring ...anyone who is sleeping. I tried to get some sleep and i become one of the victims as the Dragon Master put a sting on me. I shut my eyes a few times and got about 2 hours in total sleep (not even sure if you could call it sleep). The clock watcher himself had told me not to clock watch. so I took my watch off and had no concept of time which was the best way to get through 11 hours. If only i could meditate ! The hard seats on the train are totally upright, supposedly giving you posture but no where to slink your head back on the seat. I'm sure there are many travellers out there complaining of sore backs from long train journey's in china. After a couple of hours, even though the air con had kicked in, we were still fairly sweaty. When i stood up for the first time, it felt like ants were biting my bum. Not a comfortable feeling at all. We had bought some fruit and a couple of packets of instant noodles. Eating proved a good way to keep your mind of the discomfort of the long hourse. We bought a dinner which on the train which included a rice dish, a noodle dish, a tofu dish and a chicken dish. Hen hao ! The Dragon Master spotted a jar of chilli that the family sitting opposite us. He asked if he could have some. the mother said we could have the whoel jar. we didn't take it but Dragon Master helped himself a few times during the journey. It was damn hot chilli. Delish ! We amused ourselves by laughing at the man sitting next to us on the floor who was snoozing and snoring. Fits of laughter when we filmed the same man who ended up lying flat on the floor across the aisle with his head under one seat and his legs under another. He wasn't the only one to try to sleep on the floor. The train was pretty quiet when everyone was sleeping. and only few men didn't really sleep. At one stage, we were almost the only ones on our carriage that were awake. It was only until recently that i saw footage of the Dragon Master at workl that i realised he had been the only one awake of which he filmed the carriage and stung his sleeping beauty too ! Getting off the train, it was alot cooler in Xi'an. this is what we needed - a reprieve from the heat. Except that it was pouring with rain. This time we had booked ahead. The rest of the Xi'an story is told in 3 parts. This is the first, then next will be a long winded explanation of what happened next with the hotel. And the story posted after that will go into more detail about the things that we actually did in Xi'an. https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11846/China/Destination-4-Xian Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11846/China/Destination-4-Xian#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11846/China/Destination-4-Xian Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:01:00 GMT 0 ALL ABOARD THE SUZHOU TO BEIJING EXPRESS Well its express if you call it 10 hours on a train over night. 7pm to 7am. It was exciting, We travelled via train in soft sleeper carriage. Soft sleeper is a cabin with two bunks – top & bottom on either side of the compartment. We both had top bunk and there was a Chinese lady on the bottom one. Funny that – a Chinese woman in China ! (my attempt at humour – you can laugh now). We had a chat with her and learnt she was travelling to Beijing for business. This was our first long distance train trip. Cost about 450 yuan each which is something that many Chinese can not afford so it was a bit of luxury (not compared to first class flying though – and we didn’t do any of that either). It was all very exciting at the start. What to do ? Peer out the doorway into the hallway and see what other passengers were doing, or wait to use the toilet and see just how stinky it is, or go to sleep and hope to stay asleep til you arrive, or read the book you brought, or listen to your ipod, or wait for the dinner lady to arrive with some treats. By the time we had settled in to our new train compartment, it was time for lights out. Might as well get some rest. As it was the first long distance for both of us, I don’t think either of us slept well at all. As we had heard about theft on trains, we kept a close eye on our stuff. There was no problem for us. Arriving in Beijing Train station we were a little tired from the disrupted sleep and were greeted by masses of taxi’s. We had to wait in a huge line for a taxi – yes there was actually a line ! Obviously they are trying to practice line etiquette for the Beijing Olympics. We still had to glare at people who were trying to push in and point to the end of the line. We had not booked ahead for anything at all on this trip, so we were winging it all the way. That was going to make it interesting when we turned up at a hotel unannounced. The first hotel was our dream hotel – The Peninsula Palace. After asking the price for the night realised this hotel really was in our dreams. It did have a Chanel shop in the foyer after all. Next we tried Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza. But they told us they didn’t have any rooms available. I thought this was a little suspicious. So we had breakfast at their buffet and I made the call to them from my mobile phone. They were happy to make a booking for us over the phone. This was something that we cottoned on to quite early. So we knew we had to make the phone call, even if it was from the hotel lobby. But for whatever reason it was, hotels didn’t not like walk ins. Who would turn up at a hotel expecting a room anyway ? We did. After calling around a few places we decided upon Qianmen Jinguo Hotel. Good location downtown, not too far from Tiananmen Square. Recovery Sleeps – this are must haves, after 10 hour train journeys. Followed by Peking duck dinner at Asia’s Biggest Duck Restaurant – Five floors of restaurant. Delicious duck beyond description. Not realising how close to Tiananmen Square we were, we hopped in a taxi bike each. This was fun. The taxi driver had said 3 yuan, but when we stopped they said 30 yuan. We paid them the 3 yuan and left them. Sneaky ! This is where we were hit by our next sneaky traders waiting to prey upon the unsuspecting foreigners. Kites were for sale everywhere along with other touristy items. The first kite we bought, a dragonfly one, we knew we had been taken for a ride but we weren’t sure how. Then we realised they had given us the kite, but not the long string and handle that gets the kites flying as high as they do. We watched the street sellers promoting their kties by flying them higher and higher in the sky. We also noticed that to get the really long ones, you had to pay more. We had made the mistake of buying the smallest one. I had lots of fun running around trying to get this small kite high up in the air and keeping it there. The kites at Tiananmen Square were such a delight at night and I am so glad that I took the time to stop and fly one. Corey, bought an big kick ass kite to take back home. Had a look at the big picture of Mao that the square is famous for. Pretty impressive sight. Our main objective in Beijing was to book tickets for the train trip to Mongolia but first we had to see if we could obtain visas. This was an interesting experience. Firstly the Mongolian Embassy was shut so we had to wait til it opened on Monday. We decided our only goal for Saturday would be to see the Forbidden City. It was huge. Corey and I both went on a Snapathon and took loads and loads of photos. Huge actually is an understatement of a description. I guess its not a called a "city" for nothing. The Forbidden Cityt is where the Emperors and Empresses lived. Before we arrived, Corey was ripped off by a preying watch merchant who had been watching us get money out from the atm. He thougth he got a great deal - 4 watches for 100 yuan. But on closer inspection, the watches were very plastic looking. Replica man strikes again ! Lazy Sunday - We had an early start with a hotel buffet brekkie. Not as good as we have had before. But if we didn't get up for it, we would miss out and breakfast was included so it seemed a pity not to go. Brekkie was followed by a long sleep in til midday. ah ! The snooze tour of China continues. In the afternoon we decided to go to Panjiayuan Market. The cab driver gave us a bum steer to an expensive antique market in a multi-storey building and not the market we were looking for. After asking a security guard, then a fruit seller if we were going the right way (not in China but by pointing to the map), we finally found it. Panjiayuan was awesome. Its pretty big and we didn't get to see absolutely everything, but we covered some good ground. We got osme bargains and some not so good bargains, but overall shopped pretty well. Alot of the stuff there looked old and antiquey but it could well have been brand new. There was a whole street of "stall holders" with bits and pieces of stuff sprawled out on the ground for all to see. We made a good shopping team, and maybe we could further improve our tag team technique and get further bargains. One of us would find something we liked, then the other would come up and say how much do they want, then the other person would comment on how expensive it was and say the lowest price possible. this worked well because when I really wanted something but knew they were trying to rip me off, Corey would come along and make them reduce the price, otherwise we would walk away. I purchased : a small pink journal that is covered in a chinese material a love heart jewellery box that is ceramic and has an unusual silver trim with dragons on it and 2 pairs of chinese slippers. Corey had purchased a whole heap of stuff, from a big vase with Mao all over it, to some little dragon nick nacks. Obtaining the visas for Mongolia: Beijing is of course massive, and you might think you are just one street away, but that street can be deceptively large. We went to the area where all the embassies are. It was stinking hot - it was mid Summer after all. We sweated like nobody's business. And to top that off, we had to walk around the whole outside of the embassy compound before we finally reached the Mongolian embassy. We of course needed to find a bank too as it was going to be a hefty payment to rush a visa through. We wanted to get one asap so we could start our journey. I guess we were a little anxious about it all because we had spent so much time in Shanghai that we didn't want to miss out on Mongolia. There was a huge line at the embassy which was only small. We waited in line....some of us weren't so patient and were taking their frustrations out on me and the chinese. There was another aussie in line who apparently was a tour guide and was there to organise visas for his group. Once the paper work was completed, they sent us over to the Bank of China to make a payment for the visa. We had to pay 495 yuan each as we had asked for the visa to be processed express. Now that we knew the visa would get through, we had to get the tickets to Mongolia. Oh, the pain of the process. Well it wasn't too bad. We went to the International Hotel which had a CITS office. CITS stands for China International Travel Service. We found them unhelpful but that could have been tainted by the pure frustration of understanding processes or getting anything done in this country. We couldn't get a train ticket to Mongolia til next TUESDAY. And even then, we couldn't get a return ticket. We asked them how we would get back to Beijing. They said that the only thing we could do is to book a ticket in Ulan Bator when we get there. We were catching the Trans-Mongolian railway from Beijing to Mongolia via first class cabin. It cost us 1000 yuan each and as you know, that was for a one way ticket. We had decided that in the mean time we would take a detour to Xi'an. we wanted to go there anyway and it didn't matter in what order we saw things. Lucky we were flexible with our itinerary. Getting the train ticket to Xi'an was more of an ordeal. No one would serve us. We went to the Foreign Speaking Counter but they said we had to go to Counter One. We went to Counter one, then they said we had to go to the Foreign Speaking Counter. It didn't help that there was a woman behind the Foreign Speaking Counter who just wanted to go for her dinner break. There was alot of confusion and it simply is not worth explaining the whole ordeal except to say that a very kind chinese man who could also speak english tried to help us. Although the main problem was that she refused to give us a ticket on a train to Xi'an that had a sleeper carriage. she told us that there was no sleeper carriage. We knew this wasn't true but thought maybe she just meant that it was fully booked. So we asked her for a different date, and she still said no. She said that all the seats on the train and sitting seats not sleeping seats. Ok so we decided that was just what we had to do. when we caught the train, we found out that they did have sleeping carriages but it was all too late by then. We had a massive argument at the train station because of the stupid chinese woman who wouldn't listen.. The ticket she gave us was still two days away. It gave us time to actually see some more of the sights in Beijing and relax a little. The next day we had another late sleep in. All this travelling and making plans on the go is exhausting. We decided to check out of the hotel that we dubbed as the "Itchy Scratchy Hotel with Hard pillows". We checked into the Gloria Plaza Hotel. We opted for the Gloria Plaza Hotel. This was a pretty nice, comfortable 4 star hotel. They even upgraded us to the Executive Suite. Not sure why, but it was exciting to know we got special benefits. Guess we haven’t done much executive style travel. We had access to the executive lounge on the 15th floor , and received two complimentary drinks of our choice per day. If we wanted, we could have breakfast there too. It was definately time to chill in the hotel. They had a Cantonese restaurant - so we had a realllllly long dinner. We had some of the most delicious prawn dishes. MMmmmmm, with lots of good wine of course. The Great Wall of China was the next destination. Corey had met a guy at the Forbidden City who had a "car" to take us. It was his turn to organise it. They said we would be picked up by an Audi, instead we had a shitty VW. We had a driver and a tour guide. They were pretty helpful as we needed to pick up our visas from the Mongolian embassy so we just told them where to go and they took us. The problem with this whole scenario is that i knew we would be held captive and taken to places we didn't want to go. We had been warned off this in the Lonely Planet. Mainly that you get taken to the Jade and Silk factories but its merely just to rip the foreigners off and make them pay high prices. As it turned out, they did take us to a Jade factory. It wasn't the real factory, More like a huge shop with a small line up of machines that show you the process of carving the jade and how they make what they do out of it. It was interesting - but we knew that it wasn't a real factory. Inside a sales woman who spoke english tried to explain the history of jade. we were impatient as we really didn't want to be there. Then we were taken in to where they have masses of jade - everything from bracelets to huge carvings. New sales tactic was to let me try a jade bracelet on. Next thing i knew i had 4 jade bracelets on and i couldn't get them off my hand. There is a special way to give you the right size jade bracelet. If you make a fist with your hand, then the bracelet should fit over only 3 knuckles. That size bracelet is very small and you can't put the bracelet on without using hand cream or in their case, a plastic bag which helps slide it on and off. They were wanting something like 3000 yuan for one bracelet. Of course, i decided there was no way i would pay that. I did desperately want the jade bracelet. We tried to bargain but their lowest price was 1500 yuan. Still too high in my eyes. We didn't buy a thing, and our tour guide didn't look too happy. she obviously wasn't getting any commission for this trip. Next on the list was lunch. We stopped at a restaurant that we ended up paying 200 yuan. Big tourist trap. Nice food and we were kind of glad because it was raining outside so it gave the rain time to stop. We noticed another "jade factory" across the road and invesigated. We knew what the other factory's prices were so it was time to drive a hard bargain. We told them that we wanted two bracelets but were only prepared to spend 1000 yuan. It didn't go as well as planned so we told them to think about it and we would come back after visiting the great wall. It was getting late in the afternoon and they might even be closed by the time we came passed again. But we were willing to risk it. What can i say about The Great Wall of China ? It is incredible and we were so blessed that it had rained. By the time we got to the wall, the rain had stopped, the sun came out, and apart from one or two tourists, we had the whole section of The Great Wall at Mutianyu to ourselves. this tourist area had a cable car to take us to the top, and a speed slide way (or Toboggan as we would call it). We went up and down via cable car. The views at the top were breath taking, we even had the sun shining through the mountain mist. What a fantastic day. Someone decided he had to have a beer on the Great Wall and also take a piss. Yes i do have a photo of this. We actually didn't climb very far - we weren't in the hiking mood especially in the heat and humidity. The little way we walked was fascinating. One part was incredibly steep. Almost vertical. We ran into a man selling things...they seem to be everywhere in China. Corey bargained hard and got us both a small metal plaque that says we climbed the Great Wall. We even have a video of the haggling that went on between the Dragon Master and the chinese man. Hilarious!!! Up on one section of the wall, I climbed up some stairs that led to lookout. I found a man with a worm. He showed it to me. Strange ! It was a really big one. Again, i have a photo of man and worm. Back down at the base of the tourist area was many shops. Many people wanting us to buy from their shop. Of course, we bought some t-shirts and other chinese souvenirs. It was 5pm and we only just got back to the Jade Factory to make the purchase. It was the hardest piece of bargaining ever. But I would not budge. Two bracelets for 1000 yuan was my price. The price that we reached an agreement on was 1200. That's 600 per bracelet. They didn't look happy but I have heard that sometimes that is just for show. The price of the bracelets were orginally priced as 3380 yuan and 2280 yuan. So I guess i got the price down to one fifth. Its still $200 aussie dollars that i spent. I felt good about the purchase. the Dragon Master was well and truly sick of jade by the end of it. In fact he was walking around telling them in the factory that jade is ugly. I didn't care, i got two beautiful bracelets. Time to pack again, this time for Xi'an. https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11840/China/Destination-3-Beijing Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11840/China/Destination-3-Beijing#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11840/China/Destination-3-Beijing Sun, 18 Nov 2007 23:29:00 GMT 0 Now was time for Corey to finally see where I had been living since I arrived in China. Believe it or not, we caught a cab from Shanghai to Suzhou. 400 yuan later. We were being really lazy and it was a bit of a luxury. Its not something I thought I’d ever do again but actually, I did one more time. To put it in persepective of how ridiculous it is to catch a taxi from Shanghai to Suzhou, I’ll tell you the price of the train. Its 30 yuan at the most. Sure the train ride is only 30 mins on the fast train, but when you have luggage, you really don’t feel like hauling it around to the train station, up and down the stairs, waiting an hour for the train to arrive, then out again at the other end while you wait around for another taxi. Door to door, depending on how long it takes to get a cab, it can take a few hours from Shanghai to Suzhou. There were various suzhou exits that seemed to run off the freeway ,but the taxi driver looked like he knew where he was going. I could see where we had to go, but as I didn’t know the roads well, and nor did he, I just made a series of motions pointing left and right to guide him to the school where I live. As we had gone a fair bit out of the way, he was yelling in Chinese at us. Maybe he wanted more money but we weren’t prepared to give it. It wasn’t our fault he took the wrong. We arrived at the school gates. Finally the Disneyland Castle. Someone I am close to gets to witness the reality of it. Time for unpacking and washing. Oh so mundane but so desperately needed after one week in Shanghai. We decided not to stay at the school and booked The Bamboo Grove Hotel. It was nice enough, certainly wasn’t The Regent. Bamboo Grove had a comfortable bed which is a vital requirement. It should be illegal for hotels to not have one. It’s a four star hotel, but we just didn’t get the same kind of welcome as you do in Shanghai. To be honest, it has a very strange yet very typically a Chinese garden courtyard of rocks. At the night time, it looks amazing, but during the day, its quite ordinary. We had a look at the pool and it seemed nice enough but we didn’t really stay there long enough to appreciate it. And of course, after staying at The Regent, nothing compared. I showed Corey around the usual Suzhou places. Our time was limited and I didn’t get to show him the really amazing spots. We went to Guan Qian Jie which is the main pedestrianised shopping street. This is where we met with my Chinese friend Carl. We were so glad he could come to meet us. We needed a little help with finding out about train tickets. Turned out that we didn’t need his help after all. But we had tea with him at the tea house where they had a performance on. It was some Chinese instruments which I don’t know the name of. It was the first time I had experienced it. And this is where the Dragon Master was born. Corey had taken on a whole new façade that I hadn’t seen before. I was interested where this was going to go. How would this Chinese friend react to the Dragon Master in action. It was a first for me too, so I sat back and watched. Carl explained that there is a Chinese legend that the Dragon had nine sons. It was the Dragon Master’s challenge to find the nine sons in China. The Dragon Master actually did find out who the nine sons were from two young gentlemen working at The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Beijing. Here is an explanation below : HAVE A SPECIAL DRAGON MASTER TRIBUTE – thanks for making this trip unforgettable. According to legend the Dragon had nine sons, and each had a strong personality. There is no general agreement as to what the Dragon's sons are called. However, to most people, they are: . Haoxian . A reckless and adventuous dragon whose image can be found decorating the eaves of palaces. . Yazi . Valiant and bellicose; his image is seen on sword-hilts and knife hilts. . Chiwen . Chiwen likes to gaze into the distance and his appearance is often carved on pinnacles. . Baxia . Baxia is a good swimmer and his image decorates many bridge piers and archways. . Pulao . Pulao is fond of roaring and his figure is carved on bells. . Bixi . Bixi is an excellent pack-animal whose image appears on panniers. . Qiuniu . Qiuniu loves music and his figure is a common decoration on the bridge of stringed musical instruments. . Suanmi . Suanmi is fond of smoke and fire; his likeness can be seen on the legs of incense-burners. . Jiaotu Jiaotu is as tight-lipped as a mussel or a snail. His image is carved on doors. http://www.orienttouch.com/popuptext2.php?pID=50 - good pics and explanations. Draw some and include in photos0 From then on, the Dragon master sought out anything that remotely looked like a Dragon. It was quite exciting to be in the Dragon Master’s presence as you never knew what would happen. Chinese people wanted to interact with the Dragon Master and his main prey were replica watch men. There are tons of them on Guan Qian Jie. As they chase after you saying “watch, bag, shoes” - they didn’t need the encouragement, the Dragon Master was giving them by firing back at them with “How much? How much ?”. So we followed one of the men that had a shop a few streets away and located in a hideaway place at the back of an arcade. So we walked through the bag shop, then they opened a hidden dooway at the back which revealed a back room – full of watches. I have to admit, that these replicas were better quality than even I had seen before. Brand names galore. Fortunately, we were meeting more Chinese friends for dinner so time was short and Corey only spent 1000 yuan on 5 watches. Yes he realised he probably could have got them cheaper, but they were better quality. I got a Chanel watch out of it. I have to get the band re-sized but it’s a pretty nice watch. And it still keeps the right time. They also said they would give him a good deal on a suitcase, which we went back. Unfortunately further down the track in our trip, this bag would be cursed at, as the handle broke. New motto : Cheap merchandise often costs more in the end. Thai Coconut Kitchen (in the same vicinity as Guan Qian Jie) – we were there to meet Chinese Janet and her boyfriend. His nickname was Bee and her nickname was actually Fat baby or something like that. So we decided to call them Honey & Bee. The etiquette in China is that the person paying does the ordering. Well I ordered, and somehow, I picked all the fried dishes. But we all still had room for a mango pudding. Yum. One more night at the bamboo Grove then we were off to Beijing, The first leg of our trip. Our reasoning for not staying longer in Suzhou was that we could come back and finish the trip here. After all, we didn’t really feel like we had started the trip until we got on the train to Beijing. https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11839/China/Destination-2-Suzhou Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11839/China/Destination-2-Suzhou#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11839/China/Destination-2-Suzhou Sun, 18 Nov 2007 23:26:00 GMT 0 This was the first blog I wrote on my other travel website so you may have already read it before. I have added some extra bits. Have I comeback to Australia or am I still in China ? Shanghai via Five star hotel doesn't feel at all like we are in china. Corey arrived and I feel a little guilty that he hasn't had a chance to see or experience anything remotely like the real China. We do have a whole month ahead of us and most of it won't be five star so all the more reason to enjoy the luxuries now. All I can probably say about our 5 days in Shanghai is to rave about The Regent Hotel. We were both a bit dubious about how far out of town it is located. But resigned ourselves to the fact that we'd just have to take a cab everywhere. That can be no mean feat, even when the concierge tells the cab driver where to go, they still play dumb and drive the foreigners on a world tour of Shanghai before they reach their destination. This hotel is amazing, every detail from the massive plasma lcd screen in the room to the swimming pool is quality., and I haven't slept in a bed this soft in China. Simply bliss. The lobby bar and restaurants are superb and we loved it all so much we decided to stay one more night. As the legend that is Corey booked this hotel through a Mosman travel agent, to stay an extra night, we had to check out and check in again. Our room was on the 33rd floor which we thought was pretty special and the views of Shanghai were fantastic. We decided to try our luck with moving to an floor higher up. When we changed rooms, it felt like a dog box. The room was just a tad on the squashy side so we requested another room. And to be completely honest the quality of the furnishing seemed more worn than our previous room. They had to send someone up to meet us and show us another room. Was it good enough ? yes ! But did it have the view from the other side of the hotel ? no! So please can we have another room ? Maybe our polite whinging was enough for them to say ok, lets put these two on the 51st floor. The bathroom is massive and is practically a room of its own. Its like a mini apartment with a lounge over by the window….guess the photos really speak for themselves. Oh and The Guerlain Institute has a spa here. So I have had two blissful facials of which included a foot spa, paraffin wax for the hands as complimentary treatments. I didn't know a facial could relax your whole body. For those of you out there that don't think that you can find a hotel with a pool in Shanghai , then just take a look at the photos we have of the pool here at the Regent. It overlooks Shanghai, and for an indoor swimming pool its really like being outdoors. Plenty of Sunshine coming in. So did we make it out of the hotel ? Yes, our new favourite place in shanghai is an area called Xintiandi. Its full of trendy shops, restaurants and bars. We ate at Kabb, which was a recommedation from the Luxe guide to Shanghai which is a top little guide. And for a high wow factor, we went to a restaurant called Shintori, where the likes of Ralph Fiennes has dined. With a bamboo lined path as the entrance, you walk up to the front door which is a sold dark wood wall – giving the impression that the restaurant is closed but actually as you approach the door, the wooden wall automatically opens, then you walk into a square room and as the wooden wall behind closes, the wooden wall in front of you opens and you arrive in the reception. Concrete and wood are the theme throughout, and the interior is very spacious, simple but dramatic. An excellent contrast to the Japanese food which is served. Exquisite flavours, tomato & crab salad – out of this world, cheese & shrimp rolls, sashimi beef (very raw for someone who is on the the verge of being a veggie but flavours that have you coming back for more), peking duck Vietnamese rolls, massive scallops, curry noodles (that you cook yourself in a little dish), assorted sashimi including bonito, perch, shrimp, salmon & tuna. And for dessert, five spoons with morsels of exquisite desert treats. Splashed down with a Sauvignon blanc from the Casablanca vineyard in Chile. And since the beer glasses were a novelty, we had to top it off with Asaki beer, Probably not good to end with a beer but the cone shaped glasses were just too cool to pass up !. We had originally wanted to go to M-on-the-bund but too many reviews basically said it was past its time, or the service wasn't great and the food not a s good as expected. Shintori was beyond our expectations. After that we decided to check out The Glamour Bar on the The Bund. Too be honest, this was no glamour bar. It was one big sweat box. We enjoyed a Princess Bride & a Glamour Bar Cocktail each. Met a Canadian couple living here, who were also ESL teachers in Japan and Taiwan. It was just too hot for all of us so we left after one more drink. Maybe the people were glam but every one was there to be seen. Maybe it's a great place if you are single. But make sure you bring your own piece of sexy attitude and flaunt it ! A walk along the Bund at 9.30pm and its still incredibly hot. Packed with people, tourists from all over China. “You want watch” is a common phrase that is yelled at you, and there are some persistent salesmen among them, frustratingly so that the only way to get rid of them is to buy something. Corey was just itching to buy a watch from replica man, so he got his fake rolex for 100 yuan. Replica man also through in a Monte Blanc pen, fake of course as it broke before it was even used. Saturday night we went to the Nanshi Theatre to see the Acrobatic Show. I purchased VIP tickets from the concierge and it really couldn't get any better with front row, right in the middle. Celebrity status strikes again. It was an extravaganza of plate spinning, straw hat tossing, silk rope hanging, pole climbing, jumping through rings, hula hoop. And to top it off….The ball of Death !!!! Now this has got to be the highlight. Watching a guy on a motorbike drive inside a steel ball construction. He drives around and around, and even upside down. A second daredevil joins him, but it really gets exciting and jawdropping when the sixth motorbike dude joins in. They flip and spin and even go around the steel cage ball in the dark. It was a great show, and a good intro to acrobatics in China. Top that night off with dinner at Paulaner Bauhaus, with german pork knuckles and ribs, as well as a Munich lager. Lots of well off Chinese enjoying themselves to the beats of yet another Philipino band that do great cover songs. Do we ever want to leave Shanghai when its this good ? Well actually, we are staying another night before heading back to Suzhou. We still have to check out a fabric market and another Superbrand Mall…..Shanghai sure does have plenty of shopping and if you look in the right places, you can find clothes that fit. You just have to be prepared to be told that you are XXL size and live with it when you are only a size 12, or be told that they don't have any big sizes. Our favourite shopping centre near Nanjing Road is Raffles. It also has a Megabytes food court up top that is a great place to stop and have a bit to eat…after all, when you are doing all day shopping jaunts, you need to stop and revive. I'm so glad to have a great shopping partner ! Spend Spend Spend ! Shanghai was a barrel of fun. Time to catch up after not seeing each other for so long. Got some clothes sent from Mum (thanks) and nice bottle of perfume from the airport from the man (thanks Corey). That’s when the shopping commenced. Oh to shop in Shanghai. Lucky this man knows how to and isn’t afraid of a little spending spree. Awesome shop in the Superbrand Mall called we also met some of my teacher friends at Korean bbq restaurant and partied at various bars, then ended up back at the hotel swimming in the pool til the breakfast time. Oops we forgot to wear the swimming cap which Chinese are so insistent that everyone wears upon entering a public swimming pool. Must be something to do with all the black hair ! Next Stop Suzhou....then Beijing ! https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11838/China/Destination-1-Shanghai Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11838/China/Destination-1-Shanghai#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11838/China/Destination-1-Shanghai Sun, 18 Nov 2007 23:18:00 GMT 0 Where did we go ? Shanghai – Suzhou – Beijing – Xi’an – Beijing – Ulaan baatar (Mongolia) – Bejing – Shanghai – Suzhou – Shanghai (and then me back to Suzhou after taking Corey to the airport) How long was the trip ? 5 weeks What did we do at each Destination ? BEIJING Visited : Tiananmen Square The Great Wall of China The Forbidden city Panjiayuan Markets Beijing Zoo Summer Palace Olympic Stadium for Beijing 2008 Beihai Park Fun times : Flew a kite in Tiananmen Square at night Got chased by Corey in a tuk tuk Ate at Asia’s biggest duck restaurant Got visas for Mongolia Had superb dinner at the Cantonese restaurant at the Gloria Plaza Hotel Bought a big box of expensive mooncakes Had High tea at the International Hotels revolving restaurant that didn’t revolve Took a long hot & sweaty boat ride from Beijing Zoo to Summer Palace Went on a Hutong Tour Boat ride to the 17 arch bridge (at the Summer Palace) Cocktails at Pavillion Bought magnetic clicking things Made video of all the snoozers on the train – couldn’t stop giggling. Met young girl with her parents on the train on the way to Xi’an– gave them mooncakes The pits : Having to sit straight up on the train for 11 hours (between the hours of 7pm and 7 am). Trying to figure out exactly where to purchase a ticket at the train station and being sent back & forth between booths until a chinese man helped us get what we wanted (sort of). Lost or Stolen – the camera SUZHOU Mainly consisted of preparing for the trip and catching up with Chinese friends before we left so that Corey could meet them. - ate at restaurant in Lumu with Chinese teacher friends - Kitty & Jack - had tea with Chinese teacher friend - Carl - had dinner at Thai Coconut kitchen with a couple Where did we stay ? Well we didn’t stay at the school that’s for sure. Bamboo Grove Hotel was booked. It was a very much a Chinese hotel but it was 4 star. I probably wouldn’t go there again. The staff weren’t so helpful. SHANGHAI Stayed at : The Regent Hotel Visited : Xintiandi - where gorgeous the gorgeous old Shikumen houses are found The Bund Glamour bar Toni & Guy Shanghai (outrageously priced hair do – another story in itself). Shopping, - Nanjing Road, The Superbrand Mall, Raffles – bought new clothes that fit Swam in the Regent Hotels swimming pool Had relaxing facial Yu Yuan (Shops near the garden) Party with friends – Jazz Bar, Absinthe Bar, followed by some bar we have no idea where it was but it was full of Nigerian men. BBQ Korean restaurant owned by students father. Romantic dinner splurge - Shintori Japanese restaurant Nanshi Theatre – Acrobatic Show – VIP front row seats XI'AN Visited: Terracotta warriors Banpo Neolithic village Silk Factory Jade Factory The Bell Tower The Islamic restaurant street Found a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet (Four thumbs down) Met and toured with german brother & Sister as well as some Spaniards and the Dragon Master MONGOLIA Trans-Mongolian Railway –30 hour first class train ride from Beijing to Ulaan Bator Kathryn fell terribly ill with fever. Drank vodka as per Mongolians request, Corey went to meet the locals. Stayed one night at The Ulaan-bator Hotel. Bad hotel experience with smelly paint fumes in the rooms. Upgraded to a suite like a house. Day two consisted of Kathryn being ill and Corey demanding that we be compensated for our troubles during the night – to no avail we changed hotels to the Chingiss Khaan Hotel. Kathryn remained in bed for four days, while Corey hunted around for things to do. Went for a meal at the California restaurant. Went to the only department store in Ulaan Bator. Watched lots of movies in the hotel room on HBO. Finally, booked a one night stay in a Ger Camp with Samar Magic Tours - Awesome – best ever part – unforgettable. Kathryn still sick but got through. Had lunch at the Mr Gomez Hotel’s Spanish restaurant - kind of weird. Food cooked on fire and with hot stones inside Only people staying there Magical views Played goat sheep horse game with knuckles Rode Horses – Corey fell off Lite a fire in the ger – even though it wasn’t that cold Met the Spanish ladywho fixed my back Spent time on the hill Watched the milking of a mare Met Little Girl and her parents Decided to stay a second night Didn’t want to go home The Hostel drove us to the airport Stopped by police on the way to the ger camp ?? who knows what was going on? Went to the black market which Lonely Planet said was dangerous but we didn’t find it so. Near the Chinggis Tourist Camp was the newly built but not open for business Chinggis Khan Statue Getr Camp on the bank of the Tuul river How did we get out of there ? Plane – 1.5 hours (story on this) WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE TRIP : 1. We didn’t really do much planning. In fact we had not booked ahead for anything at all on this trip, so we were winging it all the way. We had our trusty (Ahem !) Lonely Planet. The thing you have to remember about Lonely Planet is that it is only a guide. We had a vague idea of where wanted to go, and what we wanted to do. This made it incredibly easy to change our plans at the last minute to suit where China wanted us to go. It also seemed that as soon as we got to one destination, we were thinking about trying to organise how to get to the next destination. Frankly, that’s what we had to do before we could relax and take a look around. I can see why people pre-book tours of China. But we really learnt a lot and can say that we really did it on our own. 2. We did a hell of a lot of travelling., particularly by train. Shanghai to Beijing 1463km (11 hours ) Beijing to Xi’an 1200km (10 hours ) Xi’an to Beijing 1200km (10 hours ) Trans-Mongolian Railyway: Beijing to Mongolia (Ulaan bator) 1136km (30 hours) Mongolia top Beijing Flight (1.5 hours) 1136km Beijing to Shanghai (2hours) 1463km Shanghai to Suzhou Taxi (1.5 hours and 550 yuan later) 200km 3. Stayed in Fabulous Hotels The Regent Shanghai – best pool, best bathroom, best view, best food, best everything Gloria Plaza Bejing – best brekkie Qianmen Jianguo Hotel Beijing – best grand piano Meihua Golden Tang International Hotel Xi’an – best The Ulan Bator Hotel – best 4 room suite Chinggis Khaan Hotel – best chandelier in foyer Baolong Hotel (Grand Mecure Hotel) Shanghai Beijing Jingmei Hotel - little box room but kind of good - except for the shower which went cold and ran out of water while i was stil soapy. https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11837/China/The-Not-So-Brief-Outline Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11837/China/The-Not-So-Brief-Outline#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11837/China/The-Not-So-Brief-Outline Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:44:00 GMT 0 Yes I’m still here in China, thought it was time to get the blog back up and running. I still haven’t managed to get all my photos up from the trip - there are over 1000 and I sure don’t want to bore you to death. Other peoples holiday pics aren’t really that exciting. I’ll be sure to include some of the new photos of took of funny translation signs – always for a good giggle. There are two ways you can read about our travels, either : 1. The not so brief outline for those of you that get completely bored with monotonous accounts of someone else’s 5 week holiday when you are stuck in the office. Trip highlights - where we went, what we did, do & donts of travel in China. Or 2. The extended novel version – this is not a full account either (because I would be completely bored writing about every time I saw a man or baby piss in the street). But it includes a few gems that happened along the way. And although it is not a choose your own adventure, we certainly did. Either way, I hope you enjoy our holiday as much as we did. And if not, then you might be slightly amused and want to try it yourself, or are completely turned off any travel in China. I’m hoping it’s the first one. Also, some of my accounts may seem a little inconsistent as some of it I wrote during the trip and some of it, I have written quite recently. Sit back, relax and enjoy, Kathryn x https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11835/China/China-Trip-Introduction Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11835/China/China-Trip-Introduction#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/story/11835/China/China-Trip-Introduction Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:38:00 GMT 0 First class train ride https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6843/China/Transmongolian-Railway Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6843/China/Transmongolian-Railway#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6843/China/Transmongolian-Railway Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:25:00 GMT 0 Staying at a Ger Camp https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6842/Mongolia/Mongol-Mania Travel Mongolia whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6842/Mongolia/Mongol-Mania#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6842/Mongolia/Mongol-Mania Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:04:00 GMT 0 City Sights https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6841/China/Suzhou Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6841/China/Suzhou#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6841/China/Suzhou Sun, 18 Nov 2007 19:42:00 GMT 0 Mountain, Cave & Park https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6830/China/Summer-Camp-Field-Trip Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6830/China/Summer-Camp-Field-Trip#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6830/China/Summer-Camp-Field-Trip Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:02:00 GMT 0 https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6599/China/Beijing Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6599/China/Beijing#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6599/China/Beijing Wed, 7 Nov 2007 12:53:00 GMT 0 PE Festival https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6557/China/School-Life-Grade-1 Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6557/China/School-Life-Grade-1#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6557/China/School-Life-Grade-1 Tue, 6 Nov 2007 22:50:00 GMT 0 Signs in english - be amused https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6558/China/Chinglish Travel China whatkatydid https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6558/China/Chinglish#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/whatkatydid/photos/6558/China/Chinglish Tue, 6 Nov 2007 03:04:00 GMT 0