From Beijing I headed over to Xi'an, one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. It has a recorded history older than 3100 years. And it also happens to be near where they discovered the treasure of Terracotta Warriors. If you haven't heard of them you have certainly seen them in a movie or two. Here's a couple of pictures to jog your memory.
This is one of the must see sights if you were to ever visit China. You'll either be amazed or appalled by the fact that so many were made and so meticulously so. I understand that there were over 700,000 workers at various times building the estimated 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits. Oh yeah, there are also acrobats and musicians in the pits; have to keep the dea Emperor entertained.
From Xi'an I traveled down the Yangtze River and was able to tour the Three Gorges Dam. The Discover Channel has a show on the building of this dam from time to time and it is every bit as big as portraited. When moving through the "locks", watching the doors open and close is really quite entertaining, well, at least for the first set of doors anyway. Massive, massive doors!!
The Yangtze River had its moments also but its nothing to write home about. I've seen just as beautiful scenery if not more so along the Colorado. Enjoy.
From here I kind of get lost, literally. I knew where I was going, Kunming, but once I got there I was so far away from either Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong that I could find no one that could speak any English. I'm sure there were some Chinese around Kunming that could speak some English but my problem is I couldn't find even one that could at least point me in the right direction. Needless to say Kunming was a big waste of time for me. I spend 3 days walking the streets and not much else.
I will tell you I did find some great street food so I guess you can say it was a complete waste. And it doesn't matter what city you are in, Shanghai, Beijing or far out West Kunming there are always food vendors on the street. I'm pretty sure the food isn't of the "sterile" variety but just have them cook it well and you should be just fine. I never once got sick. In fact, knocking on wood, I still haven't been sick since starting my travels. Must have someone really special looking out for me from above.
My last stop before heading to Wuxi where I would be working for at least 5 months was Hong Kong. I had two reasons for going to Hong Kong, one was sightseeing but the others was since I came to China on a Tourist VISA I had to exchange it out for a Work VISA.
I guess I picked the right day to go to the Chinese Consulate because I just walked right on in; no waiting at all. I was able to get most everything I needed but had to come back three days later to actually pick up the VISA. When I came back three days later, wow!, the line was around the block. Since I was "returning" to simply pick up my VISA and pay for it I was able to stand in a second but much, much shorter line and we had priority on going in first. How lucky could I have been. If I would have had to stand in the other line I would have never made my flight to Shanghai. I think it had something to do with giving them money - the shorter line was for those picking up and paying for their VISAs.
Hong Kong didn't impress me too much. If you like tall building, well then it just might be your kind of town. Otherwise it is pretty much a taller, more squished Shangai but much more expensive. I would have to venture a guess that Hong Kong prices are about the same as prices in the USA, seriously. They do have all the modern conveniences and most people if not everyone of the people spoke some English. And the subway system is not unlike the ones in Beijing and Shanghai, if you can read you can get around. Really, everything is printed in both Chinese and English - subway signs, street signs, etc. Pretty much the same as Beijing and Shanghai. Over all, Shanghai is still my favorite city of all the ones in China I visited.
So, except for my stay in Wuxi this has been my travels in China. Now where to?
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