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New York

Andy and I just spent a week in New York. Did a bit of sightseeing, but mostly shopping :)

Everything just seems sooo much cheaper in New York than in London. So of course I couldn’t resist doing a bit of shopping. And then some more. And then a bit more…

We both treated ourselves to a shiny new iPod touch each. This thing is amazing! When I got it up and running for the first time I just couldn’t put it down. There’s something quite addictive about being able flick through your album connection on the screen with your finger and seeing the album covers float by.

We also did a lot of clothes shopping. So much in fact that I almost did my back in trying to drag my suitcase up the stairs on the way home :-s

Oh, and in between all of the shopping we did manage to do a bit of sightseeing (as you can see from the pictures below, and the gallery here).

Hong Kong

Hong Kong was the final stop on our holiday in China, and the point at which we said goodbye to Ann, our guide around China. From here on we were on our own. By the time we landed in Hong Kong it was already dark. The first thing that strikes you as you come into the city from the airport is how tall all the buildings are. Land is in short supply here, so the only way is up. The buildings all look very pretty lit up at night.

We spent pretty much the whole of the first day exploring Central and Causeway Bay on Hong Kong island. We started off with the peak. We took the tram up, which was very steep, much steeper than San Francisco. I can see now why they needed to build this to help the commuters who live on the mid-levels. The view from the top was quite spectacular.

It’s a shame it was so hazy, but apparently clear days in Hong Kong are getting rarer these days due to all of the pollution. After having lunch at the peak we headed back down on the tram and went for a wonder around the business district.

We then hopped on a tram back to Causeway Bay and spent the rest of the afternoon shopping.

On our second day in Hong Kong we both had major hangovers, due to getting completly bladdered the night before. It was also quite hot outside, so we decided to take shelter in one of Hong Kong’s many air conditioned shopping malls and do yet more shopping. For this we took the ferry accross the bay to Kowloon, where they conveniently have an absolutely massive shopping mall right next to the ferry terminal.

We were in that place until about lunchtime, I bought a new iPod (a shiny black video one no less). After lunch we got over our hangovers sufficiently enough to brave the outside world. So we hopped in a taxi to go to Hong Kong history museum. They had an interesting exhibition on the modern history of Hong Kong, from it’s beginnings as a trading outpost in the 19th century. After wandering around the exhibition for a bit we decided it was time for a bit more shopping, so we headed for Temple Street market.

After the market we got the ferry back over to Hong Kong Island and went out for dinner.

On our final day we had some spare time before we needed to head for the airport. We’d had enough of shopping so we decided to head out of the city. We jumped on a bus and went round the other side of Hong Kong Island to a town called Stanley. It was quite pleasant, almost felt like a small English seaside town. We had fish and chips for lunch, and had a wonder around the market. After that we headed back round the island to catch our transfer to the airport.

Guilin

Guilin was our fith stop in China. It’s probably the most picturesque too, with it’s high limestone peaks, lush greenery and rice paddies dotted around the landscape. This is how I imagined the Chinese countryside to be.

In the morning on our first day we went on a cruise down the Lee river. The scenery was beautiful, as you can see from the pictures below.

Then, later in the afternoon after the river cruise, we went for a drive around the countryside. We stopped to admire the view at one point, but got mobbed by a load of old women trying to sell us back scratchers. They were fairly persistent :-p

We also stopped off at a farmhouse to see how the locals live. It was surprisingly modern, they had gas, electricity, and a TV.

In the evening we went for a walk around Guilin. We went to see the cormorant fishermen. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get any decent photos of that, but I did get a good one of the twin pagodas in the middle of one of the lakes in the city.

On our final day in Guilin we went to see the reed flute caves. On the way there we stopped off in a small town called Da-Xu.

Xi’an

The fourth stop on our tour was Xi’an, at the eastern end of the silk road, and the captital of China during 13 dynasties. The first stop on our tour was the city wall.

The next day we went to see the terracotta army. On the way we made a little detour to one of the parks in the the city, to see the locals doing Tai Chi, and to see the Little Wild Goose Pagoda.

Then on to the main event for the day. The excavation site is huge. It looked big in the pictures I had seen before, but I didn’t quite realise how big it was. This has to be the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle. When the pit was first unearthed not a single soldier was intact. All the ones you can see in the photos below have been put back together by archaeologists.

Beijing

The third stop on our trip was Beijing. This was probably the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most. Most of the main attactions are here (Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tian’an Men Square). As usual, our new local guide met us at the airport, and took us straight to the next bit of the tour. In this instance, the Temple of Heaven. It took a while to get there due to the really bad traffic in Beijing. Apparently 1,000 new cars join the road in Beijing every day.

The temple of heaven itself was quite pretty. Apparently it had just had some restoration work done on it. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to go inside, so I just had to poke my camera through one of the windows to take a picture.

On the first full day we headed north of Beijing to the Great Wall. It absolutely packed with people, as you can see from some of the photos below. We went up the bit that was harder to climb, so it was less busy. It got scarily steep at some points. Yet right at the top there were still a load of Chinese women waiting for us with the obligatory ‘I climbed the great wall’ t-shirts, ready to do a deal.

After visiting another restaurant/shop for lunch we headed to the Ming Tombs, the final resting place of 13 of the Ming dynasty emperors.

On the start of our second full day in Beijing we headed for Tian’an Men Square and the Forbidden City. It was already quite hot outside by the time we got there, and Tian’an Men Square is basically a giant slab of concrete, so we started cooking. Thankfully it wasn’t long before we headed for the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City was spectacular. It was absolutely massive. Unfortunately some of the larger buildings were being renovated in time for the 2008 olympics, so we didn’t get to see those. However, as you can see below, there was still plenty to see.

In the afternoon we went to see the summer palace. The emperor’s retreat from the stifling summers in the Forbidden City.

In the morning before heading off to the airport to catch a plane to Xi’an, we had just enough time for a couple of short excursions. First we went off to the zoo to see the pandas.

Then after the pandas we went for a rickshaw ride round the hutong.