China Revisited - Shanghai and Beijing
dated 2008-11-03 | posted in columns | topic Travel | permanent link
Most of my preconceived ideas about China were wrong. Instead of the rice paddies and pagodas I’d imagined, I saw skyscrapers and super stores, inhabited and frequented by vibrant, hardworking and dynamic Chinese. Over a year ago, friends from the US asked Don and me to join them on a tour of China and Tibet. The idea of a tour was new for us and bothersome. We wondered how much control the tour would exert on our days and nights, balked at compu ...
China Revisited - Part II
dated 2008-11-17 | posted in columns | topic Travel | permanent link
China Revisited: Part Two, Xi’an (Warriors), Chengdu (Pandas)
After the sights of Shanghai and Beijing, I thought we’d seen the best of China. However, our next two stops, Xi’an and Chengdu made me reconsider. Xi’an is best known as home to the famed Terra Cotta Army, often called the Terra Cotta Warriors. Even getting there was an adventure. Our tour company Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) (www.oattravel.com) made sure that our transp ...