The Last Leg of our Asian Adventure

There is no airport in Yangshao, so we had to drive back to Guilin to catch a flight to Shanghai. We were in transit for most of the morning. I caught up on a lot of sleep.

As soon as we arrived in Shanghai, we did scenic cruise along the Huangpu River. I like the Lotus building in the middle of the photo.

Look! It's Haibao in the distance!

Nanjing Road is one of the world's busiest shopping streets. We held back and only bought a few things, knowing that we were going to Hong Kong and Shenzhen later on.

When we got to the hotel, the Quatchis helped me figure out a game plan for the next night. Q is pointing to where I was going to meet my friends for dinner and drinks. The Mins is pointing to our hotel.

The next morning, we visited a silk factory and the Shanghai Museum. We had to cut our visit short in order to cross something off of my mum's bucket list...

...afternoon tea at the Peace Hotel! The spread was really, really, really impressive - really.

Our next stop was Old Town. The best soup dumplings are from here. It is also a great place to buy souvenirs. I used my very preliminary Mandarin skills to ask around for a Chairman Mao teapot. My mum collects teapots and has been looking for one with Chairman Mao on it for a long time. Some stores had one kind, but it was way too big for us to bring home. Alas, our search for the Chairman Mao teapot continues!

Before meeting up with my friends, I walked along the Bund to enjoy the night view. The Oriental Pearl Tower is to the left. Like the CN Tower, it is a TV tower. It may be more flashy, but ours is taller!

After Shanghai, we flew to Guangzhou to meet up with my mum's siblings and my brother. We then drove a few hours to Nam Hoi to visit a memorial hall to my mum's great great grandfather.

The Quatchis adore my mum so they were glad to visit this place with her. The same great great grandfather used to write Chinese characters on small things, such as rice. Some of his stuff is at the Guangzhou Museum. Unfortunately, we couldn't check it out because they just changed the items on display a few months ago.

The building above is my mum's ancestral home. It is now a museum. It looks quite Western on the outside, but the decor is quite Asian inside.

The Quatchis at the ancestral home.

After our grand tour of China, we spent a week in Hong Kong to visit family and friends. The Quatchis have already been to Hong Kong so I didn't take very many pictures this time around. We escaped to Macau for a day with my aunt and a family friend.

We had a three hour lunch at the Dome au Robuchon (three Michelin stars!) at the Grand Lisboa. The Quatchis liked their appetizer - mini wagyu beef sliders. We were in foodie paradise!

We also went to the House of Dancing Water show at the Galaxy Resort. It's similar to Cirque du Soleil. We were sitting in the fourth row so we got a little bit wet. They gave us towels to block some of the splashing. Overall, it was a very entertaining show.

I can't believe I've been to Asia three years in a row! Q has joined me each time, and the Mins for the last two. We're hoping to do another big trip next year. Any suggestions?

Happy New Year, friends! We wish you the very best of everything in 2013!

Chongqing >> Guilin >> Yangshao

After a few restful days on the Yangtze River, we disembarked in Chongqing. Did you know there are more people that live in Chongqing than in all of Canada?!? Crazy to believe, but it didn't seem overwhelming (with the crowds, traffic, etc.) while we were there.

 

We paid a quick visit to the pandas. We were lucky because we came when they were having breakfast. 

This panda was on a feeding frenzy. She didn't even stop to move the scraps on her tummy!

When she realized all of the food was gone, she immediately (no exaggeration) fell asleep! Lol. It must be a hard life...

 

Our next destination was Guilin. It's famous for its unique scenery and rice terraces. The photo above is from a tea plantation.

 

Q loves tea time. He wanted to take a closer look at the tea leaves. The white tea costs a pretty penny.

 

The Mins also loves tea time. He was more interested in the tea pots though.

 

In the city centre, we saw Elephant Trunk Hill. Do you see the elephant's trunk? The rock itself is quite large (to the right), and surrounded by water.

 

In the evening, we took a stroll in downtown Guilin. My mum and I also got a foot massage. Massages in China are a great bargain. I think this one cost us around $12 for one-hour, per person.

 

The next day we drove to Yangshao, a small county near Guilin. There, we took a cruise down the Li River.

 

The views were awesome. I'm glad I finally made it to this place (it's been on my China hit list for a long time).

 

The mountains are made of limestone so they're slowly eroding. I'm sure this place will look a lot different in 20 years.

 

The weather was in the low 20s. It was very refreshing to stand on the top deck of the boat without a jacket.

 

The Qs eventually made it to the front deck, right beside the captain, to enjoy the last leg of our boat ride.

 

At night, we saw the Impression Sanjie Liu show. There were over 600 actors performing on water. The men above were on small fishing boats, hidden behind the massive red ribbons. I was told that many of these men were local farmers.

 

See you in Shanghai next!

On Board

The Quatchis made the most of their time on the cruise ship. They wrote postcards to their friends back home...

...ate local fruits (my mum's fav) and freshly roasted chestnuts (my dad's fav)...

...watched movies (yay for subtitles!)...

...played MJ (and won!)...

...and read Chinese magazines.

Stay tuned for more trip photos!

Xi'an and the Yangtze River

We had a short yet productive visit in Xi'an. We saw the Wild Goose Pagoda...

...and the Terracotta Warriors. This was Q's second visit to the museum. The Mins (and Q) saw a few of the warriors in Singapore last year.

We also ate 18 courses of dumplings while watching the Tang Dynasty show. I used to do ribbon dancing was I was younger.

The next day we flew from Xi'an to Wuhan, and then took a bus to Yichang to board our cruise ship. Our trip was pretty hectic up to this point, so it was good to relax while on the Yangtze River.

Our first excursion was called the Tribes of the Three Gorges. I highly recommend it if you ever have the chance to go! It was very peaceful and picturesque.

The Quatchis spent hours looking outside. It was warm enough to sit on the deck, but I didn't want to risk the Quatchis falling into the water.

Our second excursion was to the Lesser Three Gorges. We took smaller boats, like the ones in the photo above, because the water was shallow.

The water levels are much higher today because of the Three Gorges Dam. I still found the cliffs to be impressive.

Excursion #3 was to the dam. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the dam is huge (it's in the background)! It makes the Hoover Dam look tiny! I used to work on electricity finance and policy issues for the Ontario Government, so I found this visit to be very interesting.

Our last excursion was to the Shibaozhai Pagoda. It looks new because it's freshly painted, but it's actually over 500 years old! The Quatchis climbed the narrow stairs up to the very top with me.

We've never been on a cruise before so we enjoyed it very much. Has anyone else been? What did you think of the Yangtze River?

Beijing: The Northern Capital

I was fairly disorganized leading up to the trip. I didn't start packing until after midnight and we left the house around 5 AM. Good thing I can sleep really well on planes. We flew from Toronto to Beijing via Chicago.

After being in transit for 20 hours, and losing another 12 hours due to the time zone change, I was very happy to settle into our hotel.

And so were the Quatchis, as you can see. They sure know how to kick back!

The weather the next day was miserable, so the Quatchis had a relaxing day at the hotel. My parents and I braved the freezing rain and slush to visit Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven. We also saw a Beijing Opera after dinner. I'm glad we saw it, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

We woke up early on Day 3 to head to the Great Wall. The hike was steep and icy because of a blizzard the day before. I was determined to get to the top of the hill.

 

The Quatchis travelled comfortably in my MEC backpack. They were quite popular with the tourists when I took them out to take photos.

 

The view of the other side of the wall.

In the afternoon, we visited the Ming Tombs. It was much larger than I expected. Thirteen Ming Dynasty emperors are buried here.

 

The man himself. And yes, that is money at the bottom of his feet.

 

The sun came out when we reached my favourite place in Beijing - the Summer Palace.

Can you find the Mins?!?

At the top of Longevity Hill is the Tower of Buddhist Incense.

The Quatchis taking it all in.

Before heading to the airport, we made a quick stop at the Bird Nest. This was a must see for the Quatchis. They love the Olympics after all!

Next stop: Xi'an!