Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Friday, August 3, 2012,
At my final stop now before heading home. Counting down the days now. Very excited to go home and see everyone again, but I'll be sad to be leaving China after a year. My plane luckily landed half an hour early which meant I could hop on the airport link metro rather than getting a taxi. Although I got so far with the airport link, I still needed to get the metro that linked one other stop, which happened to be closed. I looked on my map and it didn't look so far, only three blocks, 'I can do... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Thursday, August 2, 2012,
I arrived in Chengdu with 5 days ahead of me to explore the city on my own. Not even a couple of hours into my time here I was already chatting away to groups of people in the hostel which was great. This is the first hostel which has been full of foreigners rather than mainly Chinese, and it certainly makes a difference, its so much easier talking to others when their English is basically fluent. I ended up going out with a group of French guys and an Australian in my first night there. Seco... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Thursday, August 2, 2012,
I went from the misty mountain surroundings of Dali to the clouded sacred Buddhist peaks of Emie Shan. The first day I had a few things to sort out like washing and things so by the time I had everything done it was to late to go climbing mountians so I headed for Leshan to see the Giant Buddha. I started by catching a boat tour which took us round the front of the statue showing the rock carvings on the water front as well as the statue. I was expecting the boat to stop on the Buddha side of... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Sunday, July 22, 2012,
I arrived and found the hostel much easier this time. In only an evening I had already seen much of the old town, and ... without getting lost, yey! It's very diferent to Lijiang despite being so close. The streets in Dali are wide and long, compared to being narrow and winding however the buildings are similar, with the curving rooftops and the carved wooden panels along the front of the streets. In Lijiang there was many little streams flowing alongside the paths, in Dali the streams flow ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Sunday, July 22, 2012,
I arrived in Lijiang just as a storm started, great, first problem! Next was that the taxi drivers refused to ttake me to where I needed to be, they just said 'ting bu dong' (don't understand) even when I spoke chinese to them - its your lanuage im speaking so dont tell me you dont understand ahhh!!! - eventually i found one of the police men who were wondering around the taxis who stopped one and he took me straight away, thankyou Mr Policeman! After all that I was dropped of at the old town... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Sunday, July 22, 2012,
From Ho Chi Minh, we flew up to Hanoi, the capitol of Vietnam. We were in Hanoi for the next three days. We had hoped to do a trip out to Halong Bay, but we needed 3 nights, 4 days which we didn't have, which is a shame, but we still had a great time. Hanoi was quite similar to Ho Chi Minh as it had lots of little alleys and backstreets. Our hostel had a rooftop bar in it so we figured we'd head up and see what it was like, the hostel staff were really good at getting everyone drinking, they ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Sunday, July 22, 2012,
Our first stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh City. Our hostel was down a little alley way, just round the corner from a brilliant streets for shopping. Vietnam has many gorgeous materials, hand woven with ribbon and strips of fabric making up patterns, some cross stitched patterns, I found a bag made up of many of these fabrics, very traveler looking, perfect for when I start uni when I get home. Along with the gift shops are the little cheep clothes shops full of quwerky tops, which we bought a... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Sunday, July 22, 2012,
I really liked Vietnam, it had a lot of Chinese influences to it, which made me feel a little more at home there. It was very busy, lots of motorbikes whizzing up and down the roads constantly, but it was a laid back busy, lots of people going places but going places to relax, where as Bangkok was busy with people going places to work and complete tasks. Me and Becky only had a week in Vietnam, so we stuck to the two main cities, Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon) and the capitol, Hanoi.... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Sunday, July 22, 2012,
Koh Samui was only a short half an hour boat trip from Koh Phangnan, and on the boat we had the entertainment of those who were feeling a little rough and whos friends were trying there hardest to make it as difficult as possible for them. We arrived and hopped in a taxi to our hostel which was on the other side of the island, as we got closer the buildings around us seemed to fade and we were getting further and further from where everything was. We finally arrived in a little town area, whi... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Sunday, July 22, 2012,
The travel to Koh Phangnan was rather nerve wrecking ... before heading of to the island we were debating whether to stay on Koh Phangnan or go to the nearby island Koh Samui, in the end we stuck with Koh Phangnan, and we are so glad we did ... It's said that traveling by night buses in Thailand isn't safe, although we didn't know this until the next day. About an hour from the peer the next morning after setting off we came to a sudden stop, a night buss heading to Koh Samui had been caught ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Sunday, July 1, 2012,
Me and Francesca arrived in Bangkok on the 29th, where we were eventually joined by Becky, after her flight was delayed by two hours. It was great seeing Becky again since weve not seen each other since the winter traveling in Guilin. Once we were all together we got our bags and headed for the hostel. The train sysem in Bangkok was rather easy to use, after we made the mistake of staying on the train at the end and then realising we started heading back in the direction we had come from. Onc... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Sunday, July 1, 2012,
After spending the week on Koh Phi Phi, I was ready to get back to a town where there was more to do than lye on the beach and swim in the sea, as much as I love doing that a I do need to do some exploring. So it was over to Phuket for a few days. The hostel was lovely and had a massive flat screen and surround sound, perfect for movies at night. The weather in Phuket was difficult to get used to, it was extremely humid, a walk down to the corner shop and you would be boiling. We went for th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Sunday, July 1, 2012,
After an over night stay in Bangkok we then took our forth flight from Bangkok to Phuket, a 3 hour ferry jorney then 20 minutes on a long boat, till we finally arrived on Koh Phi Phi Island. The resort we were staying at was on a more rural area of the island, away from the tourist area. We had a long white beach lined with turqoise waters, palm trees with hamocks and little wooden beach huts all to ourselves (pluss the others staying on the resort), so it was very peaceful.
Lots of swimmin... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, June 25, 2012,
Planning for summer traveling seemed far more difficult than in winter. I have counted about 6 different plans, before finally deciding, only a week ago that I was going to go to Thailand, and only once I arrived here, did I decide to stay in Thailand for a few extra weeks, before heading up to do areas of Yunnan and Sichuan then over to Beijing. Thailand will hopefully give me the chance to compare other Asian cultures to that of China, Yunnan is the backpackers place in China, and Sichuan i... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, May 14, 2012,
Turpan in Xinjiang, also known as the "Fiery Land", is the lowest basin in China and second lowest in the world, at 154m. It's the hottest city in China, reaching above 40C, and it came close whilst I was there reaching about 38C! Despite being in the middle of a desert, Turpan's streets are lines with bright trees and plants, with long streets arched with winding twisting grape vines. Turpan has many old villages, ruins, mosques and incredible dessert land surrounding it, which gave it a rea...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, March 12, 2012,
The 6 of us who'd left Hong Kong together decided we'd spent enough money, so headed up
to Zushi where Luke and Josh's project is. They'd headed up with Sam after Hong
Kong as they'd all spent every last penny they had. The town had a much more traditional feel to it compared to the other projects i've been to, with lots of street food stalls, small 'garage' restaurants, market streets and few buildings more than two or three stories high. A 5 minute walk to the edge of the town leads into ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, March 12, 2012,
Next for me, Rosie, Matt Ollie and Zak was a day trip to Longsheng to see the Dragons Backbone Rice Terraces. After a journey of 3 hours on a bus, to be told it was another 2 hours into the hills,
however to then be told just over the hills by another guide, we decided to go with the 'just over the hills' so we jumped into what was
basically a motorbike pulling a trailer with a tin roof. There were plenty times
we thought it wasn't going to make it, it would have been quicker to push it up... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, March 12, 2012,
After Hong Kong, I split off from Ellie and Katie, and headed to Guilin, northeast of Guangxi province with Florrie, Rosie, Matt, Ollie and Zak for the last of our sightseeing. We visited the Seven Star Park Scenic Area, which contained mountains, hills, water areas, water falls, caves and animals, along with the amusing 'Chinglish' signs which keep everyone's spirits up such as 'warning water' next to the water falls, and 'I am here, don't step on me' next to garden areas. The caves were qui... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, March 12, 2012,
The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together. It's as big as Christmas is for us. The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, so this year it was the 23rd of January. All people living away from home go back, making this the buisiest time for transport systems, making it vvery difficult to get from place to place, so we found out when trying to get from Shanghai to Hong Kong. ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, March 12, 2012,
The bus back to the city where we were getting the train to Shanghai was running
late, so we had to run for our bags in the hotel then over to the station. The
whole way we were determined we were going to miss our train, but we made it and
we were on our way to Shanghai!
I had a really good time in Shanghai, discovering the arty side, visiting the main art
galleries and museums, along with the art district on Moganshan Road. The art district was
interesting, its wall that ran along the ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, March 12, 2012,
Next stop Shaolin, with a few problems along the way. Our bus got stuck for 6
hours in one spot at a toll both as they weren't letting anyone through the
other side, then because of that, we missed the next bus we were hoping for to
get so had to stop overnight in a hotel, however all the cheap places wouldn't
give us a room because we were foreign, so ended up staying in a 4 star hotel
for about 5 times the price we wanted to pay. Shaolin, the home to martial arts, is within the mountai... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, March 12, 2012,
Zhang Bi in Shanxi province is a small ancient fort where the village was built within the walls. The fortress was built on the top of a 1000m high cliff. Underground the village runs a winding set of tunnels at different levels, which were used as a defensive system during wars. The tunnels emerge on the edge of the cliff face, over looking the steep sides of a gorge with amazing views. The tunnel is 5km long with three levels, the first only 1-2m below ground, and the third 20m below ground... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, March 12, 2012,
Ping Yao, in Shan Xi Province is an ancient walled in town from the Ming and Qing dynasties (14th-20th centuries) that still has it's very traditional features of small wooden buildings with the typical slanted rooftops and little back alley streets. Even though Ping Yao is very touristy, as the spring festival holiday (Chinese new year) hadn't begun, the town was still really quiet so it didn't feel like a tourist trap. With all it's little stalls, antique shops and handcrafted souvenir s...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, March 12, 2012,
The Qianshan Mountains, (Mountain of a thousand peaks), in the south of Liaoning Province, are one of the well-known scenic spots in China, referred to as 'A Pearl in Northeast China'. In winter they are coverereed in snow and frost, which is what we were aiming to see, however we were a little early in the season so the snow hadn't quite arrived. As it was very close to Spring Festival, the scenic area was rather closed down, with the cable cars not running, and the temples in the middle o... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, March 12, 2012,
From Xian me and Katie had a 30 hour seat north up to Harbin, where we met Ellie. Harbin is in the northeast China,in the south of Heilongjiang Province. Close to the borders of Russia and Mongolia, influences from these countries can clearly be seen in Harbin, with many of it's buildings having Russian architecture. Sometimes I looked around, and if it wasn't for the Chinese on all the signs, I could have easily been standing on a street in Eastern Europe. Harbin was amazing! It was definitel... Continue reading ...
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Monday, March 12, 2012,
Xian's not only known for the Terracotta Warriors, but it's meant to be one of
the central party places of China, so we thought it would be the perfect place to celebrate new year. After an over night train of 'sleeping' on the floor, as we had 3 seats between 6 of us, we had a wonder around Xian, stopping of at the Starbucks, Dunken Donuts and other Western favourites ... the first proper Western food since arriving in China was very exciting. After getting our Western fix, we all hopped on... Continue reading ...
|
|
|