China Shanghai

The city of Shanghai was a totally different feel from Beijing. It looked more like any modern city with the surrounding skyscrapers. Also, it has a very unique characteristic with the old 18th century European style buildings. It is supposed to be the next New York with the world's tallest building. It is not quite New York but in 20 years it might be. There was construction everywhere. However, when you went to some of the older parts of town you could see a different side of the city. Also, on the last day I took a train out an hour outside of the city to Suzhou. I spent the day out there viewing life along some of the old canals.

The places I went were the Bund, Shanghai Oceanarium, Yu Gardens, French Concession, and many more temples and shopping streets.

Yu Gardens

The Bund

People, Parks, and French Concession

Suzhou

China Beijing

It has been a long time since my last post, but I hope people are still checking in every once in a while. I went to China because it's now a country that many are talking about as the economy continues to grow and it starts to become more open to other countries. The other reason I went is it has so much history and so many cultural sites that it was very interesting. It was similar to what I expected, a large city with many people (20 mil approx), but it was very interesting to see how the old city was and how it is now changing. You get a real sense about following beliefs and structure that have existed for centuries, as the palaces are all built the same and everything has a particular purpose. Many of the artifacts and palaces date back to the 1300's and some go back even farther. However, their life is not that different than ours from the aspect that they just try to make a living and enjoy the rest of their time with friends and family. It was hard to communicate as there is little English spoken and so it was difficult to get a real feel for the people. However, I had two guides that were very good and I learned a lot about the people and daily life.


I will give the highlights of the places I went since there were so many. I went to the Great Wall, , Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Drum and Bell towers, many parks, and a couple of shows. The trip was exhausting as I tried to fit everything in, but it was worth it. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

The Great Wall

Tiananmen Square

Forbidden City

More Temples,Palaces,Parks, and People