The last two days in Beijing were overcast and much colder than the days before. At least, the weather appeared stable enough to do a bicycle tour to all the important sights in the center we had not been so far. Since our hotel only offered city bikes without gearshift and hardly adjustable saddle, we …
Mr. Liang punctually knocked on our hotel room’s door. He was our driver to the Great Wall, couldn’t speak English, but at least seemed to be a funny guy. Due to his audacious driving style that somehow resembled a Hollywood car chase it took him only an hour to steer his vehicle through the congested …
Very similar to our arrival in Shanghai, we were picked up at the railway station. Su Shi, a friend of Xuanli, brought us to the hotel that was strongly recommended by the American opera singer we had met on the ferry from Hong Kong to Macau. It was decent, cheap enough for a week’s stay …
Although the distance between Shanghai and Hangzhou is roughly 200 km, travelling between both cities often takes less time than the transfers from and to the railway stations. Hourly non-stop high-speed trains connect the two hubs (a ride takes only 50 minutes), thus making a convenient daytrip possible. Bob, another friend of Aaron, first showed …
The train, it seems, offers the best opportunity to write. Sitting in the high-speed train to Beijing (currently 305 km/h), I summarize my impressions of Shanghai. Alex, one of Aaron’s former schoolmates, was already waiting at the railway station, holding a handwritten A4 sheet with my name on it. Together we took a taxi to …
The day before yesterday, our last full day in Yangshou, was a lot of fun. We visited the Great Water Cave nearby, a magnificent treasure of underground karst hydrogeology. Its first few rooms are full of beautiful stalactites and (this time, real) stalagmites. If this cave was in Europe it would be thoroughly protected by …
The journey to Yangshou was adventurous: First, we took the ferry from Macao directly to the airport of Shenzhen and boarded the Airbus to Guilin, where we stayed overnight in a decent hotel. In the morning, we were happy to find the public bus to Yangshou. Already upon entering the People’s Republic of China, we …
The days in the special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macao were amazing. I’m currently onboard the ferry from Macao to Shenzhen airport, here’s a short summary of the last few days: Due to the delay (3.5 h) of our flight from Beijing to Hong Kong and Jacqueline’s serious spine injury, which had to be …
It’s around 02:30 a.m. Hong Kong time, some minutes after half past seven p.m. back home. Usually, I switch time zones on all of my clocks directly after take-off in order to start getting used to the new rhythm at the destination, hopefully avoiding jetlag as much as possible. And so did I a few …
Tomorrow at 9 a.m. we (Susi, Franz and I) will be already sitting in our train to Frankfurt – I can hardly await our three-week trip to China. Visas are issued, travel and language guides prepared, important addresses & stuff printed out, and my suitcase is (nearly) packed.. well, I still don’t have my rucksack …