I am currently sitting at Peking airport waiting for LH 723 to Muc – and I am mentally re-viewing our Chinese journey. We had two intense weeks during which we accumulated great and impressive adventures in four installments.
Part 1 – Peking
During the first four days, we acclimatized to China and learned a little about Peking. Our hotel was the Sheraton “The Big Wall”.
We saw the “Place of Heavenly Freedom”, the “Forbidden City” and the imperial “Summer Palace”. And, of course, we set particular store on the “Chinese Wall”, where we hiked a special route with many, many metres of altitude. And, of course, we also had to “experience Peking” and “Chinese Life”. The first hotpot. The night market, the fake shops. All the hustle and bustle. Chinese constriction.
We often hiked and also took the metro several times. But still, in all my life I never went anywhere near as often by taxi in sum as I did during this one stay in Peking. In addition, we also rode (bike) rickshaw and at one time enjoyed a nice pedal boat outing on the summer palace lake.
Part 2 – Yanghsou
After a rather lengthy flight with China Air, we arrived at Builin. We went on to Yangshou by taxi. Our accommodation there was in the Yangshou Mountain Resort – it is a small vacation hotel directly on the river Li. This part of the trip was meant as a recuperation time after Peking and for the coming wedding.
The highlights of this stay were the two river trips. We glided on the Yulong in a motor boat and on the river Li in a small rafter. We experienced a monumental light show and often strolled through the ”night life“ of the tourist place Yangshou.
Several tourist attractions were within biking distance from our hotel. We climbed the Moon Mountain and other local specialties (big stone, big tree…). And, as always, we went to plenty of places by taxi.…
Part 3 – Wuhan
We flew Eastern Airlines from Builin to Wulan, where we stayed at the “Howard Johnson”, directly on the Jangtsekiang. After having recuperated near the nice river Li, now the time for the “wedding” had come: we acclimatized to Wulan, meet the future in-laws of my son and gave them their presents.
We spent a day rehearsing the ceremony and the next day was totally dedicated to the event itself. In between, there was a boat trip on the “long river” at night.
Besides, we enjoyed a wonderful visit of the Wuhan museum and a historic musical event that was just as beautiful, a hiking trip around both a small and a large lake and a boat trip. We climbed a mountain (again many steps) with a pagoda on top and were lucky enough to listen to another very beautiful concert on historical instruments.
;-( And, of course, again, there were many taxi trips.
Part 4 – “Road Movie” back to Peking via Hangzhou and Shanghai
After the wedding, there was one day left for “good-byes”. Then, the late-night flight of Xianmen Airlines took us to Hangzhou. At two o’clock in the morning (due to a significant flight delay), we were brought to the “Four Points” (another Sheraton hotel).
We had “public bikes“ for our wonderful tea field inspection and the tour around the lake. In the evening, we changed hotels, ending up at the ” Sheration Wetland Park Resort”. And on the next day, we visited Wetland Park with its museum. Again, there was a lengthy boat trip with many short intervals and diverse hiking tours.
Finally, we went to Shanghai by train, where we stayed at the Le Royal Méridien Shanghai right in the city centre. So the conclusion of our trip happened in a suite on the 52th floor.
On that Saturday, we let our hair hang down in Shanghai. It was another intense day with many impressions. In the evening, at 9.16 p.m., we boarded the night train to Peking-South. On the train, we celebrated the Haching soccer victory. The train took less than 12 hours for the 1,300 kilometres to Peking. Mind you, this is the slow alternative. The fast train covers the entire distance in five hours. And then we went to the airport (again by taxi – a little more than an hour) – and fifteen minutes later, it was boarding time…
Conclusion:
It was great. We had very warm, even sup-tropical days. All the hotels very excellent. We always ate Chinese, with the exception of once: Korean. With few exceptions, we found both the proper meals and the snacks quite delicious. Mostly, the internet and mail connections were fine, whereas the VPN client (for FB, twitter and google+) hardly ever worked.
On the whole, it was a strenuous, but still very enjoyable and leisurely journey.
Here is my recommendation: Imitate us!
RMD
(Translated by EG)
Loading ...