[tony d]

Paulm asked about my pictures of china in my wild about the world gallery. My wife and I travelled in Feb 2006 with "The Travel Collection", a subsidiary of Kuoni( the budget end of the company!) The original itinerary was for nine days ending at the panda reserve at Wolong but we also opted for an extension of five days (two in X'ian to see the terracotta army) and three in Beijing.
We started in Hong Kong, having flown from Manchester via Amsterdam. We had two nights in HK then were met by our first rep who escorted us by train to Guangzhou (formerly Canton) From there we flew to Guilin for two nights then by boat to Yangshou down the Li River for two more nights , then flew to Chengdu for a further two nights. From Chengdu we went by minibus to the giant panda reserve at Wolong. It was -5degrees and snowing at the reserve but we had a wonderful time there. We then stayed overnight at the Wolong Hotel which has no heating or hot water - the only way to keep warm was to go to bed with an electric blanket- we even ate our meals with hats, coats and gloves on!
From there we moved on by air to X'ian for two nights and then finally to Beijing for the last three nights of the holiday.
The whole trip was excellently organised and I would recommend The Travel Collection to anyone (We had been to Cuba with them the previous year and that too was excellent.
Sorry, paul but I don't know what was in the cave as we were only passing by boat!

[paul m]

Thanks - I suppose you wouldn't expect it to be warm up there in February (probably most of the rest of the year); worth it for the pandas, though - were you warned to take an electric blanket?

We'll have to use our imagination about the cave then - a dragon?

[tony d]

Hi Paul,
Actually, the electric blanket was supplied by the hotel! I had read some weeks before we went an article by Heather Angel in Freelance Photographer in which she described " the worst night of my life freezing in the Wolong Hotel" So we had been warned. Just to add insult to injury, they had every public door and window open and the snow was blowing into the reception area!
The holiday had started in Hong Kong in 75 degrees so you will appreciate that , at that time of the year, we had to take a very wide range of clothing to cater for the fact that it got considerably colder the further north we went
Tony

[paul m]

Must be an amazing thing to see the terracotta warriors, horses &c ....
Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum .... but we see pictures of bronze cranes and the like - are these on the warrior site or in the museum ... or perhaps in London at the moment?

[tony d]

They are truly magnificent to see. The Chinese have built a permanent building/museum around and over the trenches where the warriors stand. At present there are about 1000 rebuilt from the pieces broken many years ago when the pits were plundered. Since the arrival of the exhibits for the British Museum, there have been some interesting articles on the warriors in both the Sunday Times and the Guardian,
There was also an excellent dramatised documentary on tv while we were in China which a friend kindly taped for us. The first emperor became totally mad because his physicians persuaded him that he should take huge quantities of mercury to prolong his life. It had exactly the opposite effect!
We were very impressed with the way that the Chinese have ensured the future of the collection by building a permanent home over the collection, unlike the Greeks who tend to protect their treasures with corrugated iron! Having said that we are great fans of Greece and are off there in several weeks time.

[paul m]

I know what you mean about the Greek sites - recall particularly going up to Phaestos at sunrise expecting a spectacular view ... nothing but hoardings! However, at the renovation of Bassae they apparently had a custom designed tent to protect the site which some architects consider to be more impressive than the temple

Bassae
Image:BassaeTent.JPG - Wikimedia Commons


One of the few great Pelopennese sites I've not yet seen - could have done it on the last visit but who wants to see a tent!

Originally Posted by tony d

very impressed with the way that the Chinese have ensured the future of the collection by building a permanent home over the collection, unlike the Greeks who tend to protect their treasures with corrugated iron! Having said that we are great fans of Greece and are off there in several weeks time.

[Emmanuel70]

Today, the Chinese military and rescue workers continue to sift through rubble in a desperate bid to rescue any survivors, 8 days after an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan province. The death toll could mount to 50,000, and while rescue efforts are ongoing, the survivors will sleep tonight in the streets fearing aftershocks. A secondary tremor hit the province again yesterday, the 19th of May killing 3 more people. For more information please visit 2008 Sichuan Earthquake on Wikipedia.

[cwhite]

Due to some unavoidable circumstances my trip to China got canceled and thats what saved me from that mishap which claimed so many lives. Else I was destined to be there on that day. Condolences first of all to all the members of the bereaved families and words of consolation really are hard to come by. Does this also mean China's tourism would get a jolt for the time being? I understand no one would be willing to go there now but am talking about the future prospects.

[paul m]

Horrific problems. Looking on the bright side, it seems as if most of the captive pandas survived:
How China’s Pandas Fared in the Quake | Newsweek International | Newsweek.com