Chengdu

Chengdu is a smaller city, only about 7 mio. citizens ;). It doesn’t have many attractions but it has a great and chill atmosphere. Monasteries and teahouses are everywhere, bars with live music and lots, lots of beer.  The hostel we booked is fabulous, great staff and great people. We made a lot of friends there. Out of an advice we decided to visit the national park, north Sichuan. Happy to have a nice hike in nature soon, we got in the bus for a 10h journey, without complaints. Driving through majestic scenery and a lot of Tibetan villages, we arrived at the park…… and we were shocked again. Thousands of Chinese tourists were there, it was like an ant village. Chinese people with money are lazy, so to our surprise there was a bus in the park, that ships a load of Chinese to the most important places. We decided to not buy a bus ticket and walk up, hahah you should have seen the surprised and wondering faces of the staff there, weird white people. But it was a good decision not to take the ticket.  We had a great hike, ALONE in beautiful scenery.

Around lunchtime we reached the middle, and figured out that they don’t check the tickets for the bus anymore, so we did the last 20 km by bus. (Not advised if you have claustrophobia) Chinese everywhere, walking slow, punching and pushing, spiting, farting and taking lots of pics.  After one day in the really beautiful but overcrowded park we just wanted to go back to Chengdu and spend some relax days there.

We experienced a Waterpark in the biggest building in the world (Global center), and really it is fucking big. The Waterpark was awesome; we had a great time there, although we had to wear a life vest in 1.2m deep water. (90% of Chinese can’t swim). We did some K TV, for the unknowing people it is Karaoke and it was great.

Shanghai

After 5 hours in a high speed train, travelling a 1000 km we made it to Shanghai, the city where fortunes are made and broken.  From a great distance you can see it spikey shape like needles in a pin cushion. Coming closer shows the needles in their true form, skyscrapers, lots and lots of skyscrapers.  

Expensive shops and luxury everywhere. A city full of change and progress. We came to China to see the real “it”, unfortunately Shanghai is not it. This is the place where people live “The China dream”. We decided to head up to the west. Chengdu here we come.

Beijing

We arrived early morning in Beijing, our Hostel is located in the middle of a Hutong/Beijings Old part. The streets were empty, everywhere was dirt… the first shock. But you should not judge because of the first impression. Beijing needs it time. In the morning the old ladies start to clean up, people place their food stand and start to cook. The whole city starts to wake up. Life is happening on the street.  Houses and restaurant located in the Hutongs don’t have their own toilets, so a lot of Chinese have to use public toilets. In the morning you have to stand in line with the school kids, in the evening with drunken adults (what can be a lot of fun too)

Sightseeing as an European in Beijing is fun as “you” actually become the sight. For every picture we took there where made 2 of us. Some try to ask but most of the time you just notice a smiling Chinese behind or next to you. When you look around the hidden lenses are everywhere.

This phenomenon is most noticeable in the Forbidden City, the biggest temple complex of china. It’s really popular under Chinese tourist from all over the country. The temples there are beautiful. Our first encounter with the traditional Chinese architecture. It’s really beautiful but after a few days seeing more temples it’s like watching churches in Europe. Every single one is beautiful but watching all is too much.

After the overcrowded Forbidden City experience we were motivated to search for a “quiet” spot on the Great Wall. The next day we left at 6:00 am for a 4 hour journey to the Great Wall. It’s further than the common spot to go but was definitely worth it. There were only a few people and it was a real ancient part instead of rebuild like the more popular places. We hiked around and were able to make nice pictures of the wall without people on it.

Next to a lot of temples and the wall Beijing has a lot of parks, really nice parks. Every part of green in and outside the parks is really in perfect shape. They say the grass is always greener on the other side but really; I think it is!

WE LOVE BEIJING

the eleventh hour

Dear readers,


Prepareing a travel besides studying for an important exam and rebuilding a house is a tough job.
But I can tell you, it is all done.

Jeff and me, we are offical smart now. He finished his bachelor study and I finished my Matura.

It was a hard time, beeing seperated and doing our "finishing" apart from each other. There was also lot of pressure behind it.
But it is over now and we are both relieved.

Our project house in Austria is almost finished. We removed wallpaper (a real shit job), painted, laid a floor and bougth some new furniture. Thanks to all participants :)

I also squeezed a girls holiday, on Sicily in between. It was awesome and I really needed the relaxing time. Thanks girls for that great week.

Tomorrow is the big day.
Around 10.35 am we will leave Amsterdam. The first destination in Asia is China, Beijing. We will arrive there on 04.09 really early in the morning.
Bags are packed and of course is mine heavier than Jeffs ;). I am already really curious and excited and can not wait till we leave Europe.


Caro

Jeff is already exhausted, even if the trip did not start yet.

 only really important stuff packed

Tony the Pony goes on a travel :)

 hard working in the house

 girls vacation

 Etna

 Stromboli vulcano

 Tony checks the map

 

 Family visit :)

 our little house in Austria