China, Take 3

The first time I traveled to China, I lived in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces in the south, staying in two star hotels. We took a smoke-filled bus over rickety old bridges through a freak rainstorm to a roach-infested hotel in a dilapidated factory town.


The second time I flew to China, I went sightseeing around Beijing and stayed in the Chinese equivalent of a Motel 6.


On this past trip to China, I stayed in 5- star hotels serving lavish Western breakfasts and traveled with tour guides who were available 24-7 to meet their clients' every need.


Suffice it to say, I'm not getting more rugged in my old age.

In fairness, this most recent foray into China was intended as a family vacation, and the most amenable option to the majority of the Lee Family was one which included accommodations and amenities of a certain standard. According to our itinerary, we would travel to nine cities over the course of fourteen days. Little did we know a surprise tenth city would be awaiting us.

The planned itinerary was as follows-
March 20th to March 23rd- Beijing (北京)
March 23rd to March 25th- Xian (西安)
March 25th to March 28th- Guilin (桂林), Longsheng (龙胜), and Yangshuo (阳朔)
March 28th to April 1st- Shanghai (上海), Suzhou (苏州), and Tongli (同里)

You may want to zoom in on this one

So on Saturday, March 17th, I finally got around to all the packing I had been putting off, and on March 18th we headed up to San Francisco. As tempting as it was to simply experience China vis-a-vis the Chinese population and communities of San Francisco, we departed for Beijing the afternoon of March 19th and arrived the following evening- bleary eyed and hungry but ready to venture back into the middle kingdom.

Random China Link: How Chinese People View Other Parts of China



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