At the beginning of July, I went on a trip with a group of friends to Kaiping, China. I bracketed First, as this was not officially my first trip, but then again it was. The reason for this was because, my first official trip was to Shengzhen for about 2 hours, to get some books for my work, and so really didn't do much. So I whenever people ask me whether I have been to China before, I usually say this was my first time.When the trip was being organised, I was quite excited for my first time.
One of the few things that have put me off going to explore China was the ability to get a chinese visa or the whole process of getting a china passport. But it was one of those things that I had put off for too long, and it was the proper time to get it done! So within 1 week I had my China Visa (!) which being my first allowed me to gain entry to China twice! No matter, I was determine to get more later. going away for 3days, we really didn't reallhy pack much. My camera gear was much more heavier (!) As this was a great opportunity to take loads of photos. On the day, we had to get up early to get the coach. It was a direct route which took about 4hours (including queuing and going through passport counters). By the time we got to Kaiping, the weather was gorgeous. There was something quite amazing about the blue skies in China. It was kind of mesmerising. Not to mention, quite hot.
I won't go into too much detail of the whole trip but over the 3 days we were there, the Diaolou (old houses) were quite amazing. Some of the houses we saw were built during the Chinese Dynasties and some were built during the 20s, 30sand 40s. As heritage sites, all the bulldings were cleanly kept and looked after. as well as being built to live in, some were also built to sustain the battle and damages of war. I have to say, it is good to see these buildings, and is definitely worth a visit if you can, but it is not a visit that you are going to come back to in for a good few years. Overall, I was very pleased to finally go to china and experience life and culture there, even for a few days. and to get to see sights such as these, is truly worth the trip. I would recommend going to see these magnificent buildings. I cannot wait for my next visit to China.
