We turned our blog into a book

Now that life has returned to normal after a fantastic trip we took the opportunity to use Blurb to turn our Blog into a real-life book. What a great way to remember our time in China and much nicer than pictures stuck in a photo album. Have a look...

Our Journey through China 2011 by GaryWillTravel | Make Your Own Book

Our last day in Asia - Tuesday 19th July

We didn't rush again and after a late breakfast we packed our bags for the last time and checked out. The hotel stored our bags for us as we didn't need to leave for the airport until 2015.

Hong Kong - Monday 18th July

Now time seemed to be running out very quickly, with only a couple of days left until our flight back to the UK.

Guangzhou to Hong Kong - Sunday 17th July

Our train to Hong Kong was at 1039 from Guangzhou East station. After an early breakfast we got a taxi across town to the station. Some parts of Guangzhou look very nice so maybe our arrival in the rain combined with the area our hotel was located didn't give us the right impression.

Guangzhou - Saturday 16th July

We arrived on time at 0830 into a warm, wet, concrete jungle of a city. Chun was right, Guangzhou is not the most eye-pleasing of places. What a stark contrast to the natural beauty of Yangshuo.

Yangshuo, travelling again - Friday 15th July

Exhausted from yesterdays triathlon - cycling, swimming, hill climbing - we had a lie in until 1000. Perhaps killing our last bathroom visitor was a mistake because we had to do battle with its big brother before we could use the bathroom.

Yangshuo - Thursday 14th July

It's a well kept secret but Eva was 30 today (14th July) and to mark the occasion we had a visitor - a cockroach large enough for us to share for breakfast was sitting in the bath waving at us. Following on from the snake yesterday we definitely know we are in the tropics.

Yangshuo -Wednesday 13th July

After a great nights sleep in a large comfortable be with crisp, clean bed linen , a world of difference to train life, we went for breakfast in M. C. Blues which had been recommended for its western style breakfasts.

Xi'an to Guilin - the BIG train ride!

The train ride we had been waiting for, 27 hours from Xi'an to Guilin.

Xi'an, the Terracotta Army - Monday 11th July

Guess what, we had another early start because we want to see the Great Goose Pagoda on the other side of town and the Terracotta Army, which is 45 - 60 minutes north of Xi'an before we leave. We shamefully grabbed a fast breakfast in McDonalds. I now know that a sausage and egg McMuffin tastes the same in China as it does in the UK - it was strangely reassuring.

Xi'an - Sunday 10th July

From the total madness of Xi'an station it was thankfully only a 5 minute walk through the rebuilt old city wall to the Jiefang Hotel. The hotel is next door to a 24 hour McDonalds and over the road from a 24 hour KFC. First impressions are that this is a modern, bustling city but a lot of it is still under construction.

Night train from Pingyao to Xi'an - 10th to 11th July

Our guide, Leon, had warned us that this was the worst train journey we would be taking. No air conditioning, noisy and possibly dirty as we were joining the train half way through it's total trip.

Pingyao station was very quiet and easy to negotiate compared to Beijing, so we were soon in bunk bay 19/20 of carriage 7 - Dominic on top, Eva on the bottom and me in the middle this time.

Pingyao - Saturday 9th July

We had a great nights sleep, perhaps the medieval bed in a box design will make a come back.

After breakfast we borrowed bikes from the hotel and pedalled out through the old city wall, through the hot and dusty new town of Pingyao and headed east to find yet another temple. This time the Buddhist Shuanglin Temple.

Pingyao - Friday 8th July

0730 in the morning and we were sat on the back of a stretched electric golf cart going from the Pingyao station to the Yide Hotel inside the 4m thick old city wall. Golf carts are the favoured form of public transport in Pingyao.

Night train to Pingyao - 7th to 8th July

This is the first of the 4 long overnight train rides we will be taking down through China, so a bit of a leap into the unknown.

Beijing, riding the Hutongs - Thursday 7h July

It's our last day in Beijing already but still more to do before our first 12 hour overnight train ride.

We're off for a cycling tour of the Hutongs - networks of narrow lanes around old courtyard style family homes dating back to before the Ming Dynasty.

Beijing hot spots - Wednesday 6th July

Enjoyed a Chinese breakfast in the hotel - egg fried rice beats Coco Pops - Eva had toast. Had first cup of coffee since arriving in China, it got rid of my headache!

Went to Tianamen Square on the Metro. Why can't the London Underground be air conditioned?

The Great Wall and Summer Palace - 5th July

An early start this morning (0700) to drive across Beijing and North to the mountains and The Great Wall of China. We are going to Mutianyu - a good area for accessing the Wall with a chance to walk along it for a couple of miles.

Back online!!!

My phone has finally decided it has dried out enough to function and still has a connection to the blog. Amazing!!

So, through a slightly water distorted screen I will try to bring our travels up to date. All access to Hotmail, Twitter, etc, from the kindle has been blocked for the time being.

Ok, so I will carry on from where I left off on a day by day basis.

Temple of Heaven and a bridge too far

At the time of writing this we are on a bus going to The Great Wall but thanks to the Kindle we can update yesterdays activities.

Singing in Longtan Zhiu Park

Breakfast in the hotel was good, very Chinese - egg rice with vegetables and sausage. Then we headed off on foot to the Temple of Heaven Park. 20 minutes of walking in 35+ degrees left us moist and drinking plenty of bottled water. We went via a small park with an ornate pond, Longtan Zhiu, that had elderly ladies singing traditional songs as if to welcome the day.

Getting there - the flightpath

Time to catch up on the last 48 hours....

Stars in the ceiling for night effect

So, after the smoked salmon and champagne, our last luxury indulgence for a few weeks, we boarded our first Emirates flight to Dubai. Everything was as expected -good seats, good food, good service, great inflight entertainment (hundreds of films plus TV programmes, music and games). Apart from spilling a whole glass of vodka and orange juice down my leg (I'm pleased it was a 6 our flight to have time to dry out), the flight was uneventful. It did give me the chance to become reacquainted with the Pink Floyd Division Bell album.

The step that starts each journey

On an unnoticeably normal Saturday, just after lunch, my best mate Richard arrived to take us on the 30 minute drive to London Heathrow airport. As I stepped out of the house, my foot touched the ground and I recalled the old Chinese saying from Lao Tzu, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step" - very apt for the start of a 16,000 mile roundtrip to China.

Preparations

Backpacks have been tried, tested and generally taken apart and put together again in some hope of understanding what the variety of pockets, straps, buckles and fastenings do or can be used for. Much different to the normal suitcase with wheels for the usual 2 weeks in the sun.

A map of our trip...

View Beijing to Hong Kong 2011 in a larger map

It doesn't look far at that scale but in reality it's nearly 16,000 miles as the crow flies! (and that's a long way for any crow :-) )