There is a Chinese saying, 不到长城非好汉 which literally translates into “He who has not been to the Great Wall is not a true man”. How did this come about? Read on to find out. So during my weekend in Beijing, I had the Sunday to visit one of China’s, and also mankind’s greatest engineering achievements, to see and climb the Great Wall of China.
My first trip behind the bamboo curtain was a business trip in 1997. It was a trip to give technical training to one of our Chinese customers who had bought our equipment. Normally, such training sessions are not stressful. But as this customer was in China, I had to give my training in Mandarin. As an indifferent student of the Chinese language, and attaining just a bare minimum passing grade in school, I was beginning to wonder if I should had been paying more attention in Chinese language classes.
Continue reading “Beijing’s Imperial Past”
This was originally featured in my earlier blog post on Chengdu and Leshan, but I’ve decided to have a separate post for this instead of having it being lost in an old and long blog post. Located in Sichuan, China, is this preserved coal burning steam locomotive that travels deep into the mountains to a unique village where time has essentially stood still since the Cultural Revolution. Continue reading “Time Travel to the Cultural Revolution – Jiayang (嘉阳) & Bajiaogou (芭焦沟)”
This coming 19th of February will be the start of the Chinese lunar new year, or also known as the Spring Festival. This day marks the start of spring and Chinese everywhere will be celebrating. While staying in tropical Singapore, you won’t get to see any change in seasons, but it gets obvious once you step out of the Little Red Dot. Continue reading “Season of Spring”
I came across this bridge when I made a trip from Wuxi to Ningbo taking the local bus. One of the longest trans-oceanic bridges in Asia, Hangzhou Bay Bridge is more than 35km long and has a service center with restaurant and hotel at the mid-point. I wonder who would want to stay on a bridge? Continue reading “Hangzhou Bay Bridge”
This is the oldest and most well known water village in China. Located in Jiangsu province and in the county of Kunshan, it is often called the Venice of China due to its numerous canals. It can be visited in a day trip from Suzhou or Shanghai. If you have never seen a Chinese ancient water village before this would be a good introduction. Zhouzhuang has a history of more than 900 years old with many houses built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Continue reading “Zhouzhuang Water Village, Kunshan”
Lantau Island is the largest island in Hong Kong. In case you don’t know where it is, you have already stepped onto it the moment you landed at Hong Kong International Airport. More well known for Hong Kong’s airport, Disneyland and the Big Buddha, Lantau is also a great place for hiking and beach lazing. Continue reading “Lantau Island, Hong Kong”
The former Portuguese colony was returned to Chinese rule in 1999 and similarly to Hong Kong enjoys high autonomy in it’s own affairs. It has it’s own administrative government and police force, and it’s own currency (Macau Pacata). Macau also has the reputation for being the Las Vegas of the east, and you will find many casinos here. Because of this, tourism and entertainment are the main sources of income for Macau. This is a nice place for a short visit and you can easily get here from Hong Kong, taking the many ferry services. Continue reading “Macau 2011”
This is a small fishing town on in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Recently, it has become more popular with locals and tourists as a getaway from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. Sai Kung (西貢) is well known for its seafood and many seafood restaurants line the seafront forming a Seafood Street. Besides seafood, visitors can charter boats for snorkeling, scuba diving or just swimming at the beaches at the nearby islands. There are also numerous nature trails for hikers. We did a day trip to Sai Kung recently in November 2014 when we visited Hong Kong. Continue reading “Sai Kung (西貢), Hong Kong”
My first trip to China was in 1998 for business and it was also my first time to Shanghai. I arrived from Beijing on a domestic flight to Hongqiao Airport. This airport served both international and domestic flights back then. Pudong International Airport was just a long term plan then, and Pudong was still mainly a backwater but with a lot of new construction projects coming up. The in-place to be was Puxi, and The Bund (外滩) was where most people hung out. The Bund is synonymous with Shanghai and is very much a part of the history of the city. Continue reading “The Bund, Shanghai – A Blast from the Past”
Beyond the Little Red Dot 