China Experience

Some crew have expressed an interest to see pictures from my recent trip to China. Here are some of the highlights, let's hope that we can all draw some inspiration from our RL events and travels to help enrich our future RP's!

Shanghai









Wuzhen
The beautiful, ancient canal town of Wuzhen.









Wuzhen










Wuzhen
I loved the alleyways.











Shanghai - French Concession
We had 30 minutes of free time in the French Concession, time for some caffeine! (I barely started my chai latte when we had to run)







Shanghai
A cruise on the river Yangtze, a beautiful view of the city by night - even if the boat *was* crowded to the brim.








Shanghai












Shanghai - Yu Garden










Shanghai - Maglev Train
The Maglev train travelled at speeds up to 430km/h. More fun than a rollercoaster! (well almost).








Xian - Terracotta Warriors
Sure I took plenty of pictures of these, but I won't bore you - do a quick google for far more professional pictures than I could hope to take ;)
Suffice to say this experience was inspiring, I particularly enjoyed Chamber 3 with the broken pottery and figurines.





Xian










Xian - City Wall
This wall is 16km in length, surrounding the entire city of Xian. We hired a bicycle and rode along it for 40 minutes, but that was all our free time - we barely covered a fraction of the length before we had to meet up with our tour group to continue to our next location.





Xian - City Wall










Xian - Muslim Quarter; Mosque










Xian - Muslim Quarter; Mosque










Xian - Muslim Quarter; Markets










Xian - Gardens/Pagoda
We began climbing the stairs inside the pagoda behind me, however it was too crowded and it was quite a climb up - we made it half way.










Beijing
See the kites? I brought some back :)









Beijing - Tiannamen Square
We followed the crowd - who seemed to avoid the grass like it was poisonous ;)








Beijing - Forbidden City










Beijing - Forbidden City










Beijing - Forbidden City
Emperors chair









Beijing - Back Alleys
A rickshaw ride through the back alleys of Beijing, this was incredibly fun.









Beijing - Back Alleys












Beijing










Beijing - The Great Wall










Beijing - The Great Wall
These locks are left here by couples to symbolise a long, strong and binding relationship/marriage.








Beijing - The Great Wall
Only part way up and the view was already breathtaking.









Beijing - The Great Wall










Beijing - The Great Wall










Beijing - The Great Wall
Made it to the top! My singlet sweat stained in the 30C heat (and after a steep climb with plenty of Chinese tourists crowding us on either side).
I went for comfort, knowing what I was in for - unlike many of the Chinese who wore their suits while climbing the Great Wall (and sweaters/jumpers! O.o)




Beijing - The Great Wall
This guard kept us moving, "no stopping or resting on the steps!"











Beijing - Summer Palace
A ride on the Dragonboat at the Summer Palace.









Beijing










Goodbye China, it was an incredible 10 days - I wish it could have been longer, and that we had more freetime to explore at our own leisure!