Tag: China
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Chengdu Kite Fliers
I have a backlog of China photos and stories to post, so I’ll continue to post China material from Australia. All over China, kite flying is a popular activity. I’ve seen kites in every city I visited. These particular kites are in the People’s Park in Chengdu. You can see three kites, and the Monument…
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Shop ’til You Drop
Yesterday, I went to see the former French Concession. It is noted for the houses and estates built during the 1920’s and 30’s by the Europeans. It is the nicest area of Shanghai I have seen, and probably very expensive. A lot of the estates have been converted to offices or institutes. After wandering the…
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Tall Buildings, Fast Trains
I spent a day in Pudong, the area for tall buildings and fast trains. I got up early. Too early. I hopped on the ferry across the Huangpu River to Pudong. The trip costs Y2, and takes about 10 minutes. The ferry drops off a little too far south, though. I stolled up to where…
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Shanghai Museum
Shanghai Museum is another museum about ancient China history. They have a very impressive collection, though, and the museum building itself is very nice. I spent the morning and half of the afternoon browsing through the exhibits. One of my favorite things to see is the Chinese scroll landscape paintings, like the one above. I…
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First Day in Shanghai
I arrived in Shanghai this morning at 7:00am. The Shanghai Metro is well-designed, and I could take it from the train station to near the hotel I am staying at. I am staying in the dorm at Captain Hostel, which, at Y70 per night, is very cheap in Shanghai. It is also probably the nicest…
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Leaving Beijing
I am travelling from Beijing to Shanghai, tonight, on a sleeper train. I have been in Beijing for four nights, and almost five days. I’ve been very busy seeing the sights, so I haven’t posted for a few days. I find that if I spend a lot of time uploading photos, I don’t manage to…
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In Beijing, Now
I arrived in Beijing this morning at 6:45am, after an overnight train journey. The trip took 11.5 hours. The soft sleeper to Beijing was nicer than the one from Chengdu to Xi’an. This one had an LCD TV screen for each bunk, and you could choose from a number of “channels”. One was playing movies…
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Xi’an
Picking up from the ending of the Hua Shan post: When I arrived at the bus station in Xi’an, I decided to try avoiding the taxi drivers waiting for tourists, so they can overcharge them. (As a new arrival in a strange city, you are at a disadvantage: you don’t know where you are, how…
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Hua Shan
I got into Xi’an around a couple of days ago, after spending two nights on Hua Shan (Mt. Hua), and one night in the town below, before going up. Hua Shan is another one of those impossible-looking steep-sided mountains that become Buddhist holy mountains. Fortunately, there is a shuttle bus and cable car that take…
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Sichuan Cooking Class
Yesterday, I took a Sichuan cooking class. Ten people attended the class, and we learned to make Sweet and Sour Pork, Gung Bao (Kung Pao) Chicken, Crisp Rice with Vegetable Sauce, Fish-Flavor Eggplant, and Three Shredded Vegetable Salad. Pictured above is my Sweet and Sour Pork. These are the tools we used to cook. That…
Michael Chmilar's Travels 