Shangri-La's China World Beijing

... Climbing the Great Wall was a physically challenging task at times. Steep hills and small steps are scattered throughout. Chinese soldiers must have been super-fit back then. In a way, I was glad to squeeze in a "workout". Even though we had seen many pictures of this particular attraction, it was still mind-boggling to think about how the wall was constructed without bulldozers or other modern construction equipment. We hiked up and down the ...

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... swimming.<br><br>3. Lama Temple - home of the Tibetan monks and the 18-meter statue of Buddha carved from a single sandalwood tree (which landed the Guinnes Book of World Records).<br><br>4. Lunch at a Hutong area - Beijing's disappearing 700-yr-old alleys and courtyards. <br><br>- Where we had a hard time asking for ice for our drinks..hahaha<br><br>5. Bell &amp; Drum Towers - built in 1240 to announce the time (drum at night and bell during daytime)<br><br>6. Beihai Park ...

... by a cooperative medical insurance network though they still have to shoulder at least half of the medical costs. But Zheng Gongcheng, a professor with Renmin University of China, is worried about the gap between rural and urban regions, as income disparity has continued to widen. China's Gini coefficient, an internationally accepted measure of income inequality, is estimated at 0.47. Anything more than 0.4 is considered "alarming". The coefficient was 0.3 in 1982 and 0 ...

... my request. The new S-Bahn train was opened only a few days ago with several trains a day to the north west of Beijing and there is a station right at Juyongguan where I want to go. However, I am told that the train will only pass by those stations during the cycling events and will not stop at all. WHY??? Because there is a cycling event on, so the station is closed. So goes the logic of the Beijing Olympic Officials with transportation. With no luck with the train ...

Tiger Leaping Gorge, we set of early in the morning and arrived in the town of Qiaotao which is very small and a place nobody would stop unless attempting the Tiger Leaping Gorge. We headed to Jane's cafe, had breakfast and left our bags in her luggage leaving department for 5 yuan each. Once settled we headed out on the trek with paper maps and enough clothes for two days and some energy snacks like Snickers. mmm. After 5 minutes we ...

... best ever. The scenery was sublime the entire hike, and the weather was awesome too. The photo's don't really do the scale of the George justice and I would recommend this hike to anyone contemplating it. Again, if we had more time, we would have liked to stop at the Halfway Guesthouse. It looked to be the nicest of all the guesthouses we passed along the way. It would also break the hike into much more manageable distances. Onwards to Lijiang now...

... Gorge Flowing through Shigu Town, the Jinsha River is flanked by the Yulong Snow Mountain to the east and the Haba Snow Mountain to the west. From the top of the Yulong Snow Mountain to the bottom of the gully is a drop of 3,700 meters, making it 1,800 meters deeper than the Colorado Grand Canyon, while the Haba Snow Mountain slopes gradually in its upper regions and is steeper further down. The mountain is 5,396 meters above sea level and the lowest point on ...

... until I luckily bumped into an Israeli couple who were staying there. My first proper day in the city was spent chilling, searching for a decent camera shop and visiting the black dragon pool park. A beautiful spot (if a little expensive) to kill a few hours and unwind. As it happens I also bumped into a few guys I met a couple of weeks ago so we shared stories over a few bottles of local beer. On Sunday morning I set of ...