China

I was going to blog while I was on vacation in China but the government had just blocked all access to Google :( That was certainly a blow to any attempts. Another problem that occurred was the lack of time. We were so busy every day that there was no time to blog even if I had had the capability! So I’ve decided to put a few things together.

First of all an itinerary.  This itinerary is not exactly what we did. Mainly because we added in a trip to my father-in-laws village. The trip cost us 3 full days and unless you are interested in carved rock it’s probably not worth the time. I’ve also taken out a few things that we visited and thought were a waste of time and added some places that were on our itinerary but we never got to. Also keep in mind that we traveled with two children which means that if you don't have children you can probably fit more into a day!

This is a very sparse outline. I hope to add further blogs with more details about what to look out for and how to get to places. 

Our travel plans took us first to Hong Kong then to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xi’an and finally Beijing.

Hong Kong

Day1: Victoria Peak Garden. The Edward Youde Aviary. The museum of tea ware. Pool.

Day 2: Walking Tour. Western Market. Cat street bazaar. Man Mo Temple. Pool. Star Ferry. Light Show.

Day 3: Pak Tai Temple, Wanchai. Bank of China Tower. Chi Lin Nunnery. Nan Lian Gardens. Temple Street night market.

Day 4: Hong Kong to Shanghai (by air)

Shanghai

Day 5: Yuyuan gardens and bazzar. Shanghai Town God’s Temple. Shanghai Museum.

Day 6: East Nanjing Rd. The Bund. Shopping.

Day 7: Shanghai zoo. Shanghai to Hangzhou (by train)

Hangzhou

Day 8: Lingyin Temple. Ziyun Cave, Sunrise Terrace, Baopu Taoist Temple, Baochu Pagoda.

Day 9: Boat trip to the island “three pools mirroring the moon” on the Hangzhou lake. Quyuan Gardens. Yuewang Temple (Mausoleum of General Yue Fei).

Day 10: Bike around southern part of lake (Jingci Temple, Leifeng Pagoda).Tea plantations.

Day 11: Free day! Catch the night train or a plane to Xi’an.

Xi'an

Day 12: City walls. Muslim quarter. Great Mosque. Muslim quarter by night.

Day 13: Terracotta Warriors.

Day 14: Bell tower, drum tower, ice skating! Catch the night train to Beijing.

Beijing

Day 15: Lama Temple, Confucius Temple and Imperial College, Hutong alleys.

Day 16: Great Wall

Day 17: Tian’anmen Square, The Forbidden City.

Day 18: Temple of Heaven Park, drum tower, bell tower.

Travelling with Children

Before we had children me and my husband loved to travel and we were determined to continue travelling despite the difficulties that arise from having little children. I will never forget the first vacation we went on with our 4 week old first born. We were camping around Big Sur, California and we left our poor child (unintentionally) in the tent all by herself when we went to brush our teeth. We just totally forgot that we had a child! We remembered her pretty quickly but it was certainly the beginning of our travels with children.

What we've figured out over the years is that the key is in the planning and you can't plan too much. We used to pack our vacations from dawn to dusk and make the most of every moment. We had to cut down by at least 50%. Kids need to be fed regularly and those short legs just can't manage a 4 hour walk across a city. Since the kids were of an age to understand and to care (around 4 years of age) we've always tried to have a theme to our journeys. Yes, of course it's an educational theme! Now that my oldest is 10 years old we have to find a different way to keep them occupied. Basically we have to find activities that interest them and of course for longer trips they have to keep a journal.

All of this takes a lot of time but believe me it is well worth the effort. To be on vacation and have grumbling kids who are bored out of their brains or tiered and hungry is a nightmare and makes it not worth going on vacation at all.
So here I've decided to keep track of our short and long vacations with the hope that they will be helpful to others who happen to be travelling in the same direction. Since it's summer I'll have to start with places we are going to but if and when I have the time I'll add in some blogs of places we've been and things we've seen.