Day 1 – 3 in China consisted of many things including the Terracotta Warrior and Horses Museum, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Bell Tower, Xi’an city wall and city centre of Xi’an.
The Terracotta Warrior and Horse Museum, five pits of history encased in stone. Three pits held over 8,000+ soldiers and two pits of 600+ horses and chariots. It was most definitely a sight to see.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Bell Tower has it’s only little myth to the story, every step climbed added a year to your life, but every step down you lost a year of your life – kind of pointless hey.
The city centre of Xi’an was something to die for, with light shows on the main fountains every night, the friendly locals are always willing to help and the opportunity to ride a bike on the ancient city wall was an experience I will never forget.
*Be sure when you’re in Xi’an to try the dumpling banquet with over 30 types of dumplings.*
Day 4 – 6 in Beijing consisted of The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City.
The Great Wall is exquisite just to look at and definitely takes your breath away (literally.) Climbing the Great Wall is definitely a must do because once you reach the first tower, you can see a view of the whole valley of where it is situated and it is a stunning view. Local markets are also held on the wall and you can buy local made souvenirs.
Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are a must see. Tiananmen Square is the main square of Beijing and separates the Forbidden City and the Tiananmen Square Gate. The Forbidden City takes roughly around 2 hours to walk and it looks like the movies, the intricate designs on the roof, the colour scheme that represented the Dynasty it was built in and the feel of royalty, had me thrilled.
*A MUST is to see the Golden Mask Dynasty show, it was and still remains to be my favourite Chinese musical to date.*
Day 7 – 9 in Shanghai consisted of the Shanghai Museum, Huangpu River cruise, and lots of gardens and shopping.
The Shanghai Museum gives you an overview of China’s whole history through the Dynasty’s.
The Huangpu River Cruise at night is a spectacular way to see Shanghai at night. With a full course dinner on board and then free reign of the ship for a couple of hours to take amazing photos, I would not have wanted to see Shanghai any other way.
Shopping and gardens are a big thing in Shanghai! You won’t exactly find malls as such, but long roads of shops with knock-off bags etc. and you can usually barter for the price you want. The gardens in Shanghai are absolutely spectacular, they take pride in keeping their gardens as pristine as possible and love when tourists admire their gardens.
*Visit Nanjing Road for lots of shopping both bartered and not.*
Day 10 – 12 was spent in Chongqing, the most heavily populated city in all of China.
Chongqing Zoo boasted the cuddliest White and Red Pandas I have ever seen. Going through the city you can tell how densely populated it is, with housing everywhere and the only greenery you were seeing was at the Zoo.
Day 13 – 16 was on board a river cruise liner scaling the Yangtze River from Chongqing to Yichang.
The Yangtze River cruise is by far the lush part of China, all scenic with minimal stops. The major highlight of this trip is going through the three different gorges which then connect to the Three Gorges Dam being the largest river in Asia.
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