China

A 10-day adventure by Steve Read more

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Trip start
September 13, 2024
China Steve Catterall
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Day 1
Friday, September 13, 2024 at 7:23 AM
☀️ 4 °C
Altitude: 18 m
England Heathrow Terminal 5 51.480562, -0.48396451°28’50” N 0°29’2” W
Day one is here
September 13, 2024 in England ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C
Well leisurely breakfast in the hotel, dining room looks out onto the airfield, nice breakfast too better than scrambling for something at the airport 😉. Now to head to the BA check in. Breezed through the airport rigmarole bit of a delay getting my visa checked but all done now,
Checked in, boarded plane on time, then here we sit, air traffic cancelled slot so looks like we will be an hour late setting off 😡
Well what a flight, not very impressed with BA it's been like sitting in a very dark tunnel for 12 hours, still nearly there now, it's 10:51 UK time and 5:51 am china time 🥴 so it's day 2 really 😵‍💫Read more
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China Steve Catterall
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Day 2
Saturday, September 14, 2024 at 11:42 AM
☁️ 33 °C
Altitude: 9 m
China Boyd's Dock (historical)31.254664, 121.50554131°15’17” N 121°30’20” E
Day 2 begins
September 14, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C
Well it's midnite at home 7am here lol, we should be landing around 08:10 so Shanghai here I come woo hoo
Well got to the hotel and I'm melting 🫠, mind you it's only 31 °
Omg a giant shopping centre to wander round...and the first place is...a German beer house 😘
And then ..... An ALDI 🫣
Tonite we went for a Chinese, what a surprise lol then a trip on the river to see Shanghai at night absolutely fantasticRead more
Looks amazing Steve! [Grace]
9/14/24Reply
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China Steve Catterall
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Day 2
Saturday, September 14, 2024 at 9:01 PM
⛅ 29 °C
Altitude: 9 m
China Boyd's Dock (historical)31.251043, 121.51408231°15’4” N 121°30’51” E
Day 2 more on the river
September 14, 2024 in China ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
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China Steve Catterall
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Day 3
Sunday, September 15, 2024 at 9:20 AM
🌬 30 °C
Altitude: 15 m
China Jin Mao Tower 31.236751, 121.50092731°14’12” N 121°30’3” E
Day 3 shanghai tower
September 15, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌬 30 °C
Well there's the remnants of a typhoon heading to us so we are going up Shanghai tower this morning before the rain hits us ☔
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China Steve Catterall
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Day 3
Sunday, September 15, 2024 at 11:21 AM
🌬 31 °C
Altitude: 9 m
China Tangdong 31.222415, 121.53448831°13’21” N 121°32’4” E
Day 3 shanghai museum
September 15, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌬 31 °C
Second part today was Shanghai museum, what a lovely place, loads of room and some fantastic stuff on show, wish we had have longer here
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Day 3
Sunday, September 15, 2024 at 12:50 PM
🌬 33 °C
Altitude: 9 m
China Huangpu 31.237309, 121.47824531°14’14” N 121°28’42” E
Day 3 lunch then silk factory
September 15, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌬 33 °C
Well it has to be Chinese for lunch ha ha , the on to visit a silk factory, it was really interesting, we were shown the stages of the silkworm, through to the spinning of the silk and I was amazed at how strong the silk thread is, then we watched it being turned into a continental quilt and other yarn being used for other silk items, absolutely fascinating and it's no wonder silk products are so dear, virtually everything is done by hand.
Gardens
Tea ceremonyRead more
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Day 3
Sunday, September 15, 2024 at 3:16 PM
🌬 31 °C
Altitude: 9 m
China Shanghai French Concession (historical)31.229965, 121.48882531°13’48” N 121°29’20” E
Day 3 gardens and tea ceremony
September 15, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌬 31 °C
Well our guide is trying to get everything done before typhoon bebinca hits shanghai tonight. The wind has picked up and it's just trying to rain but hopefully we can get round Yu Gardens. before the rain.

Well we managed the gardens , absolutely fantastic place , just as we finished the rain started so we rushed into the tea shop for a tea ceremony demonstration.

I'm not a great team drinker but this certainly opened my eyes to the multitude of teas in china along with the ceremony (rigmarole) of heating the teapot, swilling the tea etc. I tried about a dozen different teas but only found about 3 that were palatable lol, but hey it was an experience and certainly put a new meaning on tea cakes.Read more
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Day 3
Sunday, September 15, 2024 at 3:55 PM
🌬 31 °C
Altitude: 9 m
China Xiaoximen 31.228419, 121.48790131°13’42” N 121°29’16” E
Day 3 shopping in the market
September 15, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌬 31 °C
Well it's raining, my phone is low on charge so photos are on my camera for now so I will upload when I'm home

Well it's 5am and the rain has woke me up not sure if it's the rain or the wind lol , we are due to leave at 9:30 to drive to Wuhan water village, hoping we can still get there looking at the weather radar pics 😲Read more
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Day 4
Monday, September 16, 2024 at 8:45 AM
🌧 28 °C
Altitude: 9 m
China Boyd's Dock (historical)31.254281, 121.5039331°15’15” N 121°30’14” E
Day 4 shanghai to wuzhen typhoon bebinca
September 16, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌧 28 °C
Well woke up early with the high winds and the typhoon is just about to hit Shanghai, airport, railways and most things have shut down. We are due to set off at 9am but don't yet know whether we will be heading to wuzhen as some roads and bridges are also shut, think our guide has done brilliantly to alter the last 2 days so that we could see things.Read more
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Day 4
Monday, September 16, 2024 at 1:40 PM
🌧 24 °C
Altitude: 12 m
China Hongqiaocun 30.750487, 120.48508230°45’2” N 120°29’6” E
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Wuzhen Water town
September 16, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌧 24 °C
Well we finally out ran the tornado, a two hour journey took nearly five hours 😵‍💫 couldn't use the main roads and had to use b roads, with the driver avoiding all the fallen trees and standing water on the roads.

Went for a walk round the old town (in the ☔) but it was really nice, like being under a shower the heat was still strong.Read more
😳 [Lisa]
9/16/24Reply
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Day 4
Monday, September 16, 2024 at 7:16 PM
🌧 26 °C
Altitude: 10 m
China Hongqiaocun 30.751203, 120.47426130°45’4” N 120°28’27” E
Day 4 watertown by night
September 16, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌧 26 °C
Lovely night time stroll
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Day 5
Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 6:06 AM
☁️ 27 °C
Altitude: 9 m
China Hongqiaocun 30.75125, 120.4748230°45’5” N 120°28’29” E
Day 5 watertown,shanghai to xian
September 17, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C
After a flying visit to the Watertown today we head back to Shanghai to catch an internal flight to Xian.
The weather this morning is looking brilliant so hopefully the trip back to Shanghai will be a lot quicker 🤞Read more
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Day 5
Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 5:09 PM
☀️ 32 °C
Altitude: 414 m
China Beilin 34.253501, 108.94013734°15’13” N 108°56’24” E
Day 5 xian
September 17, 2024 in China ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
Met at Xian airport by our rep who told us that it was the Autumn Festival and she had some Mooncake for us.

Before going to the hotel we would be going to see Xian's city walls which are the world's oldest city walls and stretch 13.5 kilometres around the city.

After that it's off to the opera house for our tea and then we will check into our hotel and have some free time.Read more
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Day 5
Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 7:24 PM
🌙 30 °C
Altitude: 416 m
China Hansenzhai 34.260527, 108.99051634°15’38” N 108°59’26” E
Day 5 our hotel
September 17, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌙 30 °C
Well everything looks good in the dark,
Hotel looks fabulous! [Lisa]
9/17/24Reply
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Day 6
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 10:11 AM
☀️ 27 °C
Altitude: 478 m
China Sunjiaping 34.384892, 109.27398534°23’6” N 109°16’26” E
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Day 6 terracotta warriors
September 18, 2024 in China ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Really looking forward to this, its a little bit warm to say the least but excited to see them

Our guide decided to sing us a song on the way there, then asked if anyone else wanted to sing a song 🤭 ...as they say "some fell on stony ground"Read more
Wow this looks amazing !! [Lisa]
9/21/24Reply
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Day 6
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 3:36 PM
☀️ 35 °C
Altitude: 416 m
China Xincheng 34.26413, 108.99122234°15’51” N 108°59’28” E
Day 6 changle park
September 18, 2024 in China ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
Arrived back from seeing the warriors and had some free time before going out for our evening meal and show so decided to walk round the local park (change park)
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Day 6
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 7:13 PM
🌙 32 °C
Altitude: 415 m
China Beilin 34.237888, 108.9422334°14’16” N 108°56’32” E
Day 6 trip to theatre tang dynasty show
September 18, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌙 32 °C
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Day 7
Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 8:20 AM
☀️ 24 °C
Altitude: 327 m
China Yangtianzhai 34.523992, 109.67899634°31’26” N 109°40’44” E
Day 7 bullet train to Beijing
September 19, 2024 in China ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Looking forward to the journey to Beijing on a bullet train, got my ticket and can't wait. Just arrived at the station , god it's clean and spacious.
Comfy seats and no tilting on the train ,305 kpm and nice answer smooth.Read more
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Day 7
Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 2:43 PM
☀️ 31 °C
Altitude: 57 m
China Nanhai Hu 39.898922, 116.38533939°53’56” N 116°23’7” E
Day 7 forbidden city
September 19, 2024 in China ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
Visit to Imperial palace (forbidden city)
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Day 7
Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 3:24 PM
☁️ 31 °C
Altitude: 41 m
China Beijing 39.91361, 116.39594539°54’49” N 116°23’45” E
Day 7. Chinese people
September 19, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
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Day 7
Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 8:06 PM
☁️ 26 °C
Altitude: 40 m
China Siluju 39.946195, 116.45605539°56’46” N 116°27’22” E
Day 7 a stroll along the canal
September 19, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C
An evening stroll along the canal at the back of the hotel
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Day 8
Friday, September 20, 2024 at 8:52 AM
🌧 17 °C
Altitude: 38 m
China Taiyanggongcun 39.968258, 116.42670439°58’6” N 116°25’36” E
General pics
September 20, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌧 17 °C
Various pics
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Day 8
Friday, September 20, 2024 at 11:04 AM
🌧 16 °C
Altitude: 287 m
China Juyong Guan 40.287916, 116.0679640°17’16” N 116°4’5” E
Day 8 the great wall
September 20, 2024 in China ⋅ 🌧 16 °C
Ming dynasty section of the great wall of china, many various dynasties built parts of the wall.

Wow what a hike, it certainly helped with my respiratory, having climbed all those steps it's certainly helped aerobically, now feeling really good, but it's probably the adrenaline 🤭Read more
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Day 8
Friday, September 20, 2024 at 1:08 PM
☁️ 17 °C
Altitude: 130 m
China Xinlizhuangcun 40.2413, 116.14351540°14’29” N 116°8’37” E
Temple of heaven
September 20, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
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Day 8
Friday, September 20, 2024 at 5:21 PM
☁️ 15 °C
Altitude: 44 m
China Longtan 39.884231, 116.42585539°53’3” N 116°25’33” E
Day 8. Acrobat show
September 20, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
In the evening we went to the Red Theater and saw the Suining Acrobatic Troupe.
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