The Great Wall

Posted by Didier Van Bellinghen on July 3, 2013 · 4 Comments 

After a long 14h ride on the train from Xi’an, I finally arrived in Beijing West.  Of course you can also take the high speed train but the first one leaves around 7am so I chose the night train to have 3 full days in Beijing (aka Peking). I would stay with Lee, a 26y … Continue reading →

Category ASIA, Beijing, Beijing, CHINA · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

The host

Posted by Didier Van Bellinghen on July 2, 2013 · 2 Comments 

The Dragon Boat festival was on and that means it was a nightmare to find a free seat / bed on the trains to Xi’an.  So in the end I had to opt for a flight.  This time I flew with Juneyao Airlines.  I must say there are better than Spring Airlines because for the … Continue reading →

Category ASIA, CHINA, Shaanxi, Xi'An · Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

The pick-up

Posted by Didier Van Bellinghen on June 27, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

When people told me about the city of Suzhou, they sang the praises of a quaint thousand year old city with canals, old streets, gardens, courtyard parks, … In a way, Suzhou’s ancient heritage has been preserved but the city has grown into a major city with numerous skycrapers & large boulevards.  I arrived by … Continue reading →

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Venice in China

Posted by Didier Van Bellinghen on June 27, 2013 · 4 Comments 

Shanghai is surrounded by many ancient watertowns and so after talking to some locals, I decided this morning to visit Wuzhen & Hangzhou.  I took the train in Shanghai HongQiao Railway station to TongXiang (50Y – 40 minutes) than the bus K282 to Wuzhen (5Y – 20 minutes)  Finally a free shuttle from the new … Continue reading →

Category ASIA, CHINA, Hangzhou, Wuzhen, Zhejiang · Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

The dorm

Posted by Didier Van Bellinghen on June 21, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

Shanghai doesn’t need any introduction.  Known as a huge & modern metropole and with it’s population of more than 23 million souls, it is the largest city by population in the world!  For centuries a major administrative, shipping, and trading town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 1800’s due to European recognition of its favorable … Continue reading →

Category ASIA, CHINA, Shanghai, Shanghai · Tagged with , ,

Floating Mountains

Posted by Didier Van Bellinghen on June 21, 2013 · 1 Comment 

The plan was to go from Yangshuo to the ancient town of Feng Huang but I heard it was not that good & not worth the long travel. So I decided to skip it and travel directly to Zhangjiajie, getaway to the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, known for it’s unique ‘Stone Peak Forest’ or ‘Floating … Continue reading →

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Fairyland

Posted by Didier Van Bellinghen on June 18, 2013 · 1 Comment 

Meeting so many people in Hong Kong was a nice experience and I easily could have spent more days around there, but I was eager to explore the land of Dragons & Emperors. Travelling by yourself in China is quite challenging as there’s almost nobody that speaks English. Furthermore most of the signs are in … Continue reading →

Category ASIA, CHINA, Guangxi, Guilin, Longshen, Ping'An, Xingping, Yang Di, Yangshuo · Tagged with , , , , ,