Shandong Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

They were many and varied. We had a few great nights out, ranging from formal dinners to pizza at the Sailing Club. We also went shopping quite a lot, Adam and I went to the Aquarium, and Adam, Laura and I visited some of the plush hotels for a look around (OK, to use the toilets). I also lost my wallet. I was buying pirate DVDs in the underpass and couldn't find my wallet. The poor woman who owned the shop was holding her hands up in horror - I knew she hadn't nicked it, so I left the disc…

The road we took to Heze became markedly improved (wider and more smooth) once we entered Shangdong province. The highway systems in Shangdong were a pride of the Shangdong people. The drive from Kaifeng to Heze was between 2-3 hours.We overnighted at Heze, a smaller town than the all other cities we have visited. It was famous for peonies, but we did not stop at their gardens to see them due to time. Since it is a relatively smaller city, the hotel we stayed here was not equipped with a bu…

People i met here, who contributed to and improved my trip: Juliana (Russia) When we arrived in Tai'an, we knew there was a lack of cheap accomodation, but this soon went from bad to worse as the one cheapish hotel was fully booked. The next on the list, Yuzuo Hotel, was listed at 300Y ($40), for its worst room. When i went in to ask what rooms they had available, they only had the deluxe 900Y a night rooms. I explained this was way out of our price bracket. The receptionist gradually w…

So we were walking on the HK road and we passed by Club New York. We decided to go in because 1) it's NY!!! Both Alex and I are from NY. 2) We read about this place somewhere and it was supposed to be good, and so we went in. The place was in a hotel. It was nicely decorated. It was quite packed when we walked in. There was good live music; the band played a wide range of music. We got a table near the stage. we ordered each person but Alex a tequila shot. It was wonderful. We just sat around…

We got into Tai'an and took a taxi to a hostel recommended by the guidebook, but immediately got the WNF-YJF policy. We decided to check out a travel agent mentioned in the guidebook nearby to see if they could find us lodging, but that too was no longer there. Frustrated, I checked the copyright of my guidebook... 2002. Well no wonder! Looming nearby was a 3-star hotel. Our opinion of China dangerously low, we shrugged and gave it a try. It turned out to be just what we needed. The r…

Since Miriam had decided to go with Oyvind on his travels through China, Anette and Cecilie decided to jump on the ferry for South Korea today rather than on Friday 12 as planned. It was supposed to leave at 4pm but was delayed and didn`t set out until 7 pm. Took about 16 hours but we lost track of time after just a few minutes because we crossed over to a different time zone and even the clocks on the ferry showed different times. We had booked 2nd class fully prepared to share a room with m…

Pictures: http://goodfarmerchen.smugmug.com/gallery/3046651Yesterday I climbed Tai Shan, which is one of the 5 sacred Daoist peaks in China. It's famed for its sunrise and oceans of cloud (though unfortunately I saw neither while there), and also for being the most climbed mountain in China. In terms of creation myths, Tai Shan supposedly sprang from the head of Pan Gu, who separated the heavens and earth while they were still swirling together at the beginning of all things. It's said y…

  Tracy and I embark to the bus station and jumped on one as it was rolling out of the service area.  We leave at 9:00 and with dad's flight arriving in Qingdao at 11am it was just enough time.  As usual, I doze off immediately on the bus (too excited the night previous) but Tracy is wide-eyed awake... nervous.  I relay again how gregarious and affable dear ol' dad is, she doesn't believe me.   Two hours later, on the highway near the airport…

Torino-Paris-Beijing: then Qingdao (Tzingtao), Xi'an, Tongchuan, Chengdu, Wenjiang, Nanjing, Shanghai, Bangkok and way back, Paris-Torino. Me and my working partner Bruno

The few decent pictures I have from a month in China, Man I wish I had a digital camera back then...

My travels in and around China in 2008

We left Victoria on June 2nd and went to San Fransisco (my favorite american city) then off to Hawaii (AGAIN!!! Very tired of that place!) then off to Sasebo Japan, Shanghai China, Qingdao China, Chinhae (Puson) Korea, Tokyo Japan and finished off at Dutch Harbour Alaska before getting home on Sept 15th.

Confucius was not only a very wise man but also a rich man or at least he made his family one of the most influential and richest in the whole of China. The riches of the Kong family can be best seen by walking through the Kong mansions, this is like a minature forbidden city. They could build their own "forbidden city" as they were free of taxes or any other levies even today the influence of the Kong family is beyond imagination. They could block a proposed railway station in Qufu as it wou…

We went to Dongyang this morning to visit my friend’s grandfather.  Dongyang is in the countryside and the air was significantly better.  It was nice to compare and contrast the city with the countryside.  Along the way we saw people selling sugar canes.  My friend’s mom bought a bunch for RMB$20.  They were very sweet.  We arrived at her grandfather’s place and spent a bit of time there before hiking up the mountain nearby to go to a temple.  …

  Train# Dep Arr From To Hard Soft Seat K95 23:08 05:37 Beijing Fushun $19 $29 $16 T92/T93 22:59 04:39 Guangzhou Shenyang $19 $29 $16 Taxi Y5 from station to city and Y7 to mountain Y4-10 drop off back in left luggage stand. Beside ticket office is a tourist window (24h) will sell english map Y5 Bus #3 to mountain [station - beginning of mountain] Bus to Qufu Y15 every 30min during daylight. …