Part 10 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Saturday, June 20 – Shanghai and Pudong For our final full day in China, Rick and I rose early and headed out to explore some of my old stomping grounds and other parts of Shanghai. The ladies slept in and indulged in the …
Part 9 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Thursday, June 18 – Arrival in Shanghai We reluctantly checked out of the Four Seasons Hong Kong and made our way back to the airport for our flight to Shanghai. This was my first time back in Shanghai since 1988 for one day …
Part 8 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Wednesday, June 17 – Bus to Stanley Market, Sunset at Four Seasons For old times’ sake, we took the #6 bus from the Star Ferry terminal across the island toward Stanley, passing our hold homes and haunts. This was a chance to show …
Part 7 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Sunday, June 14 – Xian to Hong Kong We split off from the Speizmans for the next few days. They headed toward the karst mountains and river valleys near Yangshuo and Guilin while Allie, Barb and I headed to Hong Kong. This was …
Part 6 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Saturday, June 13 – Xian The highlight and main purpose for visiting Xian was to see the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. I remembered being amazed by our first visit in 1988. I was eager to show Allie and the Speizmans …
Part 5 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Friday, June 12 – Beijing to Xian We got ourselves checked out of the Raffles and transported back to the fancy new Beijing airport. We had enough time to relax a little and explore the amenities. It beat any airport we could think …
Part 4 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Thursday, June 11 – Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Shopping I woke up early and took a walk on my own for an hour or so to take some pictures and see a bit more of Tiananmen Square and a few blocks beyond. …
Part 3 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Wednesday, June 10 – Great Wall, Ming Tombs The next day was no less ambitious as we piled into a hired car with Henry for a journey to the Great Wall. On previous trips, I had been to the Badaling segment of the …
Part 2 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Tuesday, June 9 – Beijing, Forbidden City With dawn’s early light we rose with jet lag. Barb was delighted find that the Raffles offered a full breakfast buffet, as befitting a fine hotel in Singapore or Hong Kong. After filling ourselves with eggs, …
Part 1 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Sunday-Monday, June 7-8: Washington to Beijing We flew non-stop from Washington-Dulles to Beijing on United Airlines. We departed on Sunday at 12:22pm and arrived at the impressive new Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital airport on Monday at 2:20pm the next day. The ultra-modern …