Day 15 – Monday 16 April - Some Comments

We're off to Shanghai today and it's a two hour ride so we'll add some feedback while we travel. Thanks for all the comments posted to the blog and let us try to answer some of the questions posed.

Yes, the pictures are for real and we’ve taken most of them except for the maps, for of course, when looking down, China is not actually orange with red-lines on it :) The fish are in the lake at the PanMen Scenic area in Suzhou (pronounced Su-Jo [F-ish]).

The Great Wall is big in all aspects. Apart from the staggering feat of building it along the summit line of an astoundingly rugged range of mountains which makes it pretty inaccessible to start with, hence the chair lift to even get to it, the average height of the parts which have been re-built must be 10-15m with castellations along the top and a path some 5m wide within. Think of a typical English Castle Wall (one still standing) and you’ll get some idea of what it’s like.

The toboggan seems to have been adopted as a fun way down. I guess there’s no snow, so why not. It’s good fun and a deffo must do.

No, mercifully, no tummy upsets yet – we’ve been careful not to drink the water, but to substitute beer instead and also to wash our hands very regularly. We’ve also got alcohol spray and alcohol rubs, but then doesn’t everyone?
Yep, £2.50 bought us a whole basic meal and beers in Beijing and was much nicer than a MacDonalds burger!

We’ve not given up meat yet to become vegetarians although, on some occasions, we’ve not been entirely certainl what we've been eating.

The bicycles in Beijing are just as Katie Melua says – 30 odd billion and most of them seemed to be in the same lane as us. It’s staggering, entirely mad, and I will write up some notes later on the traffic system, as this alone is worthy of comment. Motorbikes too, with entire families on the pillions including the chickens, dogs and bazaar chirpy birds.

The hotels have been first rate – it seems that 4 and 5 star hotels in China, despite costing no more than Travel Lodges in the UK are not far off the UK standards and all have had toilet paper in the en-suite bathroom/restroom. Beds are clean and rooms are smart and the staff, save for one recalcitrant female receptionist in Guilin, have been exceptionally friendly, helpful and willing to assist at every juncture. In answer to “Are you dripping wet with the sweat on your bodies”, what we do at night in our hotel room, is our own business! But yes, where we have found air conditioning has been great – especially as Hong Kong has just got very clammy.

And I’ve fixed the “Yin and Yang” which one eagle-eyed reader spotted – thanks.

Thanks again and please keep the comments coming, it makes writing the blog so much more fun!