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Hong Kong: the colourful city

Hong Kong. One of our favourite cities. To visit that is. I am not sure I would want to live here and don’t have an intention of finding out if I do but, it is one of those wonderful places that lives on water, enjoying a freshness and a feeling of space that relieves the […]

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Yangshuo and the dreamy river Li

On our way to Yangshou, we have a stopover night in Guilin. We do not want to linger because Yangshou (so we have been told by fellow travelers) has everything that Guilin has to offer and more. So we take a morning boat trip down the Li River for the 4 hour journey though some […]

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Lijiang & Tiger Leaping Gorge

Lijiang is a town that is a complete contrast to anywhere else we have been in China. Set among the rolling hills of north Yunnan province, it has a backdrop that reminds us we have escaped the huge sprawling, heavily populated cities we have visited so far. We are staying in the old town which […]

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Shanghai: the economic powerhouse

Shanghai is one of China’s most massive and vibrant cities. Somehow typifying modern China yet unlike anywhere else in the land. It’s modern, commercial, brash, self confident and touristy, yet it could not be labeled international. There are no ancient sites here – no terracotta warriors, great walls or dusty old temples – instead there […]

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Mount Huangshan: sweet & sour

The mighty mountain of Huangshan is another of the five sacred mountains like Tai Shan (see previous blog) created by the disintegrating body of Pan Gu. It is famed for its beauty and rightly so, for the views from the summit area are spectacular. The granite peaks of the mountain jut into the sky like […]

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Nanjing: China’s ancient capital

Nanjing is a city that in Chinese means Southern Capital. It has been the country’s capital on several occasions over the years, the most recent finishing after the Second World War in 1949. It is one of China’s more pleasant and prosperous cities with wide, tree lined boulevards, chic apartment blocks and mile high towers, […]

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Xi’An: City of surprises

Xi’An is a city of the unexpected. Nothing was quite how we imagined it would be. The historic city still has its ancient walls intact, The Terracotta Warriors seemed decimated, the Muslim Quarter complete with mosque was a complete surprise, we hadn’t expected to find pandas nearby and the smog was of epic proportions. After […]

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