11 April 2011 Onto Guilin. As it is on a river, the specialties include fish as well as horse interestingly enough! The limestone cliffs rise up into the mist as we travel down river past villagers fishing. High up the mountains stretch farms and rice paddies. It is very scenic and reminds us of traveling […]

10 April 2011 We set off on our own for the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Not many speak any English at all and we get sent in opposite directions sometimes when trying to find our way. Asking at a hotel is a good way to find things – we have learned from the Amazing Race […]

9 April 2011 The terracotta warriors is the reason we came to Xian. There are 8000 warriors found buried in what was farming land. They were found by farmers digging for water who unearthed some bronze pots. Archeologists were called and the first warriors were uncovered only as recently as 1974. One of the farmers […]

8 April 2011 Before departing for Xian, we braved the subway to the Lama Buddhist Temple. It is a huge complex with many beautiful building housing carved and cast Buddha images guarded by monks. The Pavilion of Ten Thousand Fortunes houses an 85-foot buddha carved from a single sandalwood block. There are many worshipers praying […]

Welcome to Beijing, China. Today we visited Tienanmen Square. There is a long line-up of people to visit the tomb of Mao. The body is only on display in the morning as it must then be lowered down into a freezer to -35 degrees to preserve it. Apparently he is slowly decaying (probably a bad […]

Itinerary Apr 5. Beijing Arrive in Beijing Capital International Airport, the 2nd busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic. Forbidden City (the Imperial Palace) Apr 6. Beijing Beijing, the capital city, is also the second largest city in China with population of 17.4 million. Your full day tour begins at the Tiananmen Square. It […]