Day 11: Beijing
Our train was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 7:15 AM; around 6:30, lights and music came on throughout the cars and we got ready to disembark. We’d slept OK, though the rumble of the train woke me up quite a… Read More
Category: China
Day 12: Beijing
Waking up to yet another rainstorm, we decided to make it an “inside day” and check out some of Beijing’s indoor shopping markets. For lunch, we wanted to try a restaurant called Noodle Loft that we had seen on TV;… Read More
Day 13: Beijing
We were up at 5:30 AM, on the train by 6:15, and by 7:00 we were eating Egg McMuffins on the bus to the Great Wall. Finding the bus stop the day before had been a smart thing… Read More
Day 14: Beijing
We slept in this morning, then decided to have lunch at Huang Ting, the Peninsula’s Cantonese restaurant. We took advantage of their weekend dim sum buffet – nearly 40 items, as much as we wanted – and enjoyed… Read More
Day 15: Beijing
Having finished most of our packing the previous night — successfully cramming everything into our two original suitcases and a couple of carry-ons to avoid the complication of purchasing a third bag — we awoke Sunday morning to make… Read More
Day 1: Shanghai
We’re back in China! Our trip is book-ended with the same cities as last year (Shanghai and Beijing), but we’ll visit three new destinations in between (Chengdu, Lijiang, and Huangshan). The map below shows our intended route: Our… Read More
Day 2: Shanghai
This morning we hung around the hotel, researching and making plans for our short time in Shanghai. First on the list: a return trip to Yang’s Fry Dumplings, a tiny, blink-and-you-miss-it restaurant with dumplings so good they’d be… Read More
Day 3: Suzhou/Shanghai
Today we took a day trip to Suzhou, a city 50 miles northwest of Shanghai. Sometimes called “the Venice of the East” due to the series of interlocking canals that criss-cross the town, it’s known for its beautiful… Read More
Day 4: Shanghai/Chengdu
Today was our last day in Shanghai so we took advantage of the Peninsula for a couple more hours, including the sweet coffee machine, various Asian fruits, and as one would surely expect in China — Big Ten… Read More
Day 5: Chengdu
This morning we woke up to the sounds and smells of Cuisine Alley, a street of restaurants right outside our window. We spent some time watching the area come to life before heading out to explore Chengdu. We… Read More