By David Thomson from Australia

Trip attended: China Experience (13 days)    

Travel Date: 23 June to 5 July 2010

Day 1 of our trip started on a hydrofoil journey  leaving behind the beautiful islands of Hong Kong.  What a feast of the senses these beautiful islands are.  Our journey into China has started from Guangzhou  where we are met by our guide Alex whose job it is to take us on our first overnight train trip to the city of Guilin.  The train trip was a lot of fun and we were very pleased with the soft sleeper cabins.  From Guilin we then travel on a local bus to the town of Yangshou which is so pretty.  If this is our first introduction to China we are in for a thrilling time.  The bike ride through the country side is a highlight, then we climb up the 800+ steps up to see Moon Hill with the local women who put us to shame.  Whilst we are huffing and puffing they are quite happy to continue all the way up, carry their little esky of cold water for sale which was very welcome once we reached the top.  There is so much to do here that it is a shame we only have a couple of days.  The boys decide to take a bamboo raft  ride down the Li river were they saw the  water buffalo having a swim, Cormorant's  fishing in the river, the local families going about their daily chores and even had a turn steering the raft.  The girls have decided to have a look at the local shops and book the whole family into Cloud 9 restaurant for a cooking class with Linda tomorrow morning.  This is a definite if you come to Yangshou , not only do you learn to cook some very special dishes,  you also go for a walk through the town to the local market with Linda  to purchase all the ingredients.  The visit to the food market is an event in itself.  So now we have mastered the making, rolling and cooking of pork and vegetable dumplings it is time to head back to Guilin for a look around before we head to the airport to fly to Xi'an, home of the Terracotta warriors. 

Here we are meet by our next guide James who is a local to this city.  After a good night's sleep we drive out to see the Terracotta Warriors which is something everyone should see in their life time.  It was amazing to think that they were 2000 years old and so many of them in such good condition.  The scale of this project is mind boggling as they have only unearthed a small portion of what is still buried.  After returning from seeing the amazing  warriors we take a self guided tour of The Drum Tower and The Bell Tower, which from the top have amazing views of the city streets.  Then we take a leisurely stroll through the muslin quarter to have a look at the markets and watch the big drums of walnuts being roasted on a bed a hot sand outside each shop. 

After saying goodbye to James who has delivered us to the train station to catch a train to Luoyang where we are meet by Gerry who is going to take us tomorrow to the Shaolin Temple were we will stay 1 night in the Kung Fu school. 

This is also a highlight of our trip where we sat for hours watching the children go through their routines over and over again. You could never get bored watching them, they are so good. They are inspiring with their dedication and discipline to this sport.  We take in a Kung Fu show which was fantastic.  Kids have now decided they both want to take up Kung Fu when we get home. We travel back to Luoyang for the afternoon where we visit the Longman grottoes. Hundreds and hundreds of hand carved Buddha's carved into the mountain side.
Next stop is back on the overnight train to Beijing, here we have 5 nights which seems like a lot but we will need all the time we get.  Our guide Peter delivers us to our Hotel where we can have a shower and change into clean clothes ready to start our tour of  Beijing. Our first day is spent wondering around Tiananmen Square, with a visit to the Mausoleum to view Chairman Mao, then on to the Forbidden City, the size of this site is unimaginable.  Next we view the city of Beijing from the top of a royal temple were we decide how we will spend the rest of the afternoon.  Once we have eaten lunch at a local restaurant we go on to see the Royal Gardens and take a boat ride over to the other side of the lake to see the many rooms the Emperor and Emperoress spent much time painting or just relaxing. 

Day 2 in Beijing we have decide to visit the Zoo which is a must see to any traveller.  The temperature today  has reached 40 degrees and the zoo handlers are hosing down the Panda's who are also feeling the heat.  There is a huge variety of animals from all different parts of the world housed here and the kids can get up close and personal with the animals.  Next stop is a visit to the Summer Palace then a wonderful buffet lunch at a local restaurant.  After lunch we catch the subway to see the Olympic stadiums.  Highly recommended is the electric bus tour around this area where you can see the Bird's Nest stadium and the Aquatic Cube all from the seat of this little bus.  It is quite a large area to walk and in 40 degree heat not highly recommended. 

Our final day of our tour with Panda Adventures is the most anticipated yet, we will walk along the Great Wall of China.  Here we travel to a fairly unrestored part of the wall were we catch a cable car up to the top and start our trek.  This is the first time that we feel we are walking on top of the world.  It is so high up and the surrounding area is just tree's as far as the eye can see.  It is so much harder than we thought it would be but it is unbelievably exhilarating.

For those that have developed what they think is a Chinese palate, no visit to Beijing is complete without a visit to the Wangfujing night market. Decisions, decisions, will it be the scorpion or should I try the snake? 

Our next 2 days are spent shopping until we dropped. The best markets, as recommended by Peter, were the Pearl markets, something for everybody in the family.

Our local guide Peter has made our visit to Beijing most memorable, his knowledge and patience with us was great.  We would like to recommend Panda Adventures to any person/family wishing to see the real China.  They made our trip most memorable with their guides local knowledge, safety first mantra and ensuring everybody from the youngest to the oldest person in the group took something special away from the visit.