I had several business trips to China, but in 2005 Tammy went with me for a three week trip. I had two weeks of work and put in one week of vacation. I didn’t do a travel report for this trip, but we took a lot of pictures.
Great Wall
Of course every tourist to China has to make a trip to the Great Wall. It was a cold day when we went, which you can see by the snow.
Forbidden City
Our next stop was the Forbidden city. The scale of this place was unbelievable.
Old Beijing
One of the days I was working, Tammy took a tour through Old Beijing. The area is one of the last remaining neighbor hoods that remains unchanged. Tammy was impressed by the daily delivery of coal bricks for heat and cooking. This goes a long way to explain the horrible air pollution in all the major cities. She also enjoyed going to a nursery and seeing the lack of girls.
Xi’an
Xi’an is an ancient capital. Tammy seemed most impressed by the flower displays in the hotel.
Terracotta Warriors
We hired a guide and car for an all day trip to see the Terracotta Warriors. I don’t have any pictures inside. There were signs every where and the lighting was poor. I do have some pictures from a nearby factory where they are making reproductions using the old methods.
A second day was spent enjoying the sights around town and going to a local art show. One of the more interesting sights was an ancient palace for the emperors harem.
Guilin
We had a fun day exploring Guilin.
Farming Village
We hired another guide along with a car for a day. We decided to let her pick what to see. That turned into a good decision. She had done her Master’s thesis on a particular farming village. Yes, you can get college degrees in being a tour guide. One of the local elders met us and was proud to show us around. While every house now has electricity, the village is otherwise unchanged from how it was a couple hundred years ago. As we walked around, our guide was pointing out the different building styles. She would say this house was built during the Ming Dynasty and this house was build during the Chen dynasty.
It felt odd going through people’s private homes while they were out working the fields. We were in one house looking at a “wedding bed” when the owner came home. He was so proud that people were looking at his bed.
Li River
We took a boat tour on the Li River. If you’ve ever seen those drawings of the silly steep mountain peaks that appear to be fake. Well, they actually exist along the Li River.
Minority Village
On the way back from the Li River our guide stopped at what was called a Minority Village. It was pretty hokey, but you did get introduced to some of the various minorities, their dress, and dances. When we got back to town Tammy headed for one more foot massage.
More Guilin
On our second day exploring Guilin, we ran into a local kid that said he wanted to practice his English. He he was really doing was taking us to all his friends shops. He did it so well we enjoyed our day.
Shenzen
In Shenzen we tried out an amusement park for the locals. After a full day Tammy wanted something American for dinner. I went to KFC and got her a bucket of lawn mower chicken. It’s cooked the same as ours, the pieces are just not cut the same.
Hong Kong Flower Market
We took the advice of the hotel and treated ourselves to a limo ride from Shenzen to Hong Kong. No lines, no waiting. The Flower Market was a short subway ride from our hotel, so we decided to give it a look.
Hong Kong Outer Island
The next day we took a ferry ride to an outer island for a look at a local tourist spot.
Victoria Peak and the Star Ferry
Our last two stops in Hong Kong were Victoria Peak and the Star Ferry. Normally both f these are packed with people. However, we were traveling at the height of the SARS epidemic, so we had the place all to ourselves.
