Our ten day China tour went all too quickly and before we knew it we were flying back into Brisbane airport and home.

I thought I had a stuffy head from the air quality in the major cities we visited but it turned into a full blown cold which knocked me out for a few days on our return. Dave patiently put up with my uncontrollable coughing and a course of cold & flu tablets and lots of throat lozenges finally saw the end of it as I made my way back to our housesit in Hervey Bay.

So, reflecting on our China trip, after a month home, what comes immediately to mind.

The greenery and gardens.

We didn’t expect it to be so green! Clumps of trees were dotted throughout the cities, roadside gardens were amazing and centre road barriers were adorned with planter boxes everywhere we went.

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The residential buildings

The population of Beijing is 27 million people – that is the total population of Australia! The population of Shanghai is 25 million- almost another Australia! So the buildings go up… and out … as far as the eye can see.

The road systems

Big cities have ring roads to bypass the city centre and enable free traffic flow. Beijing has 8 ring roads! Five of these circle Beijing city, the others are outer ring roads.

As we travelled on them in our tourist bus we were in awe of the different levels of the roads – they really were ‘spaghetti junctions’!

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Safety

Everywhere we went we felt safe.

We were surprised to see bikes parked for the day with apparently no security and they were still there when their owners finished their working day. Imagine that happening in Australia! Even when they are chained up here some idiot will come along with bolt cutters and steal it!

What’s the difference? Cameras! There are cameras everywhere capturing your every move. If you did something wrong it wouldn’t be long before you’d be nabbed! And I’d hate to think what the punishment might be 😱

Accessibility to tourist attractions

This is where I really struggled! There are so many tourist buses and nowhere for them to drop passengers actually at the tourist attractions so there was a lot of walking involved. “We will walk for 8 minutes” was often a 20 minute walk away from our destination. And then we walked some more!

My legs swelled up on the plane going to China and never had a chance to recover – they actually got worse as the days went on to the point where I couldn’t wear shoes and any lengthy walking was impossible ( and very painful) for me. Within 3 days of our return home I lost 6kgs of fluid – no wonder I was so uncomfortable!

Memorable moments

Bumping into my cousins Geoff & Lynn at the theatre one night.

Bumping into Solo friends Laraine & Nancy at a toilet stop between Beijing and Suzhou – what are the odds?!

Seeing the Great Wall of China

Standing in Tianamin Square

The whole journey was a memorable experience and our hundreds of photos will keep our adventure alive for years to come as we pore through them saying “Remember this!” and, more than likely, “Where was this taken?”

Trip Details:

Trip-a-Deal 10 day Incredible China for $888 per person, all flights and accommodation included.