Our visit to Beijing

I made my first visit to Beijing 2 weeks ago, and it was amazing.

Beijing is a place that i need to go once, and never go back for a very long time. I went with my girlfriend for a week. We did all the main sight-seeing and that was truly amazing. We packed for w inter as we heard that autumn can be very cold, so it was better to be safe than sorry. We had planned this trip for quite a while, as I had one last trip on my visa, the choice was easy. Beijing and The Great Wall.

As the time came closer, I had began to get excited as not only would I actually get to take lots of photos to keep and cherish, but more importantly to touch and feel one of the great wonders of the world.

The plane journey from Hong Kong to Beijing took 3 to 3 and a half hours, which was very quick, which made it even better as it gave us more time to explore. As soon as we arrived, the first thing you usually notice off the plane is the weather. the weather in Beijing at this time was very dry, it reminds me of the uk. Dry and fresh, which is perfect compared to the humidity of Hong Kong.

We were lucky to book a hotel near the the centre of Beijing and also right next to one of the MTR stations. Since the Olympics, Beijing's MTR system is cleverly planned out for the tourist, it would be very hard to imagine how it was before when there was no underground stop to the tourist attractions. This I am very relieved for, as my mandarin is pretty much non-existant (!)

Even though there are stops for pretty much the main attractions, Beijing is still very big, and walking across the road can take a bit of time.

I have to say, looking back at the whole trip, out of all places we visited, The Great Wall is by far the best the most memorable and exciting. Even now, Can't really believe that I still walked some of it. I slowly learnt through this trip that its better not to have any high expectations of Beijing, as Beijing is still the same large city but with a polished exterior. In good and bad ways.

Overall, like I mentioned before, if you have never been to Beijing, then you have to go to see the sights, its a must, but once you've been, staying longer than a week, getting used to the people, food and customs may take much longer, and even then it may be not to your taste.

My (first) trip to China-Kaiping

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.