*tallie*

Hey guys. I have just returned this morning from a two week tour around China. (Luckily, even though we landed at Heathrow, we werent affected.) I have to say China is one of my top 3 places in the world now after this trip.

Everything about this trip was fantastic. I went there with an open mind, with many people giving negative and positive feedback on the place, and it totally blew away my expectations.

the impressive bits
I visited; Beijing, Xi'an, Guillin, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. The food was scrumptious. The people were all very friendly and helpful, and the shopping was brill. (and i hate shopping.) The airports no matter the size were amazing. The buildings all over had inventive architecture. My favourite places were the first three. They were the most clean. The last two seemed like they were trying to copy the west including the litter. (though still not much)

Beijing's 'highstreet' made the UK motorways appear tiny. 4 lanes each way and then 2 on the outside as slip lanes. Made the American city roads appear small. Their motorways were bigger. The great wall is amazing to walk, the pandas are cute.

Xi'an - the terracotta warriors are cool: and the mini warriors for another emperor have a more impressive exhibit.

Guillin the stone forest, thats spectacular. Very picturesque.

Shanghai filled with Skyscrapers not a single one seemed the same built..shapes were all so different.

Hong Kong was just one large shopping mall honest.

One final thing that i really cannot get over was the public toilets: they were soooooooo clean! Sure they had the eastern style (hole in the floor) that westerners hated but it was the most hygenic toilets ive ever been in. You didnt touch a thing because everything was automated. The flush, the soap dispenser, the tap and the hand dryer. Can you get more modern than that?

I can see why now China is going to be considered the most powerful nation soon.


I would highly recommend for people to visit this great place!

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rikk22

Hong Kong's airport is MASSSIVE!!!! Gosh, when i went to London, we stopped by there and changed planes. For all that is alive, why couldnt they just make a shortcut, because what we had to do was walk in a huge U-like way down to the next departure boarding gate. It was very tiring. I had this back pack that had about alot of stuffs in it (my old lappy, some presents for my mums friends and all that jazz). It was hell to carry it all the way to the boarding gate.

Anyways, me and my mates are goin to beijing for the Summer Olympics! Woooo! Maybe u can tour us around. Ive only dreamt of walking on the great wall! and yes pandas are WAY CUTE!

i bought a charity panda to support their welfare and i got a plusie toy

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piriquito

I lived in Beijing for seven years and I haven't experienced anything elsewhere that could top those experiences. There were a few negative ones, but that was back in 1996-1997. That place is an absolute paradise.

One thing you (tallie) didnt mention, probably because you didn't go there, is the city of Harbin. Its in Heilongjiang province (the northernmost province in China) and has freezing winters (I'm talking industrial freezing temperatures) and boiling summers. We went there in early 2002 (winter) and it was the most spectacular experience ever. The ice sculptures, the slopes, the camera freezing, and the winter park were so spectacular. There was even a group of senior citizens who were doing synchronized swimming routines in an outdoor pool. There was also this one really tall building, with a freakily fast elevator (I think it's top speed was 2 storeys a second - faster than anything I'm used to) and when we got to the top, there was this platform where we could walk on and it looked as though we were walking on air.

In short, China is amazing.