China 2018 ~ Trip of a Lifetime!

Many of our previous students who returned to China had said, “Come to China to see us!” AND WE DID! We had no idea how wonderful this trip would be ~ but indeed it was ~ as you shall see.

It was no small accomplishment for our Chinese friends to meet us at each train station or airport, then send us to the next destination to meet other friends. We joked that we were like a baton in a relay, but they never dropped us. We saw China in a way that was beyond our wildest dreams ~ with Chinese friends to accompany us. We can’t thank them enough!

We hope you enjoy these pictures of your beautiful country.

Six cities ~ 18 days ~ south to north

Guangzhou
Meizhou
Shantou
Nanjing & Yangzhou
Qingqao
Beijing

They say that a great vacation should have all of these elements: beauty | good food | friends | exercise | education

I might add to the list “new experiences”. Using all of those criteria, this was a perfect trip!

Chinese Food

Traveling from south to north, we were able to experience the wonderfully healthy and fresh foods of China. We added a few pictures of all the meals that we shared and I am sure you will recognize many of your favorite dishes. We enjoyed all the food and this is the first time we ate only with chopsticks for 18 days!

Hakka Park, Meizhou ~ delicious and beautiful

Hotels

We stayed at a Hilton in Guangzhou and Beijing because we have a special rewards honors account with Hilton. In both cases we enjoyed our accommodations.

In Meizhou, we stayed at the Hakka Resort International Hotel which was quite lovely since the buildings depicted Hakka architecture. In Shantou, we stayed at the Regency Hotel and our favorite thing at this hotel was their breakfast! We especially loved our hotel in Nanjing the Xuanwu Lake Hotel because it was across the street from the lake and a beautiful park surrounded by the Ming Wall.

In Qingdao, we stayed at the LeMeridien and it was a beautiful hotel in a good location to walk in the city to the May 4 Square.

In each location, the staff was very friendly and we felt they made special effort to help communicate with us through our Chinese friends when we needed more assistance with a translator.

History and Activity

These go hand-in-hand on this trip. From climbing the mountains to see Qiaoxi Village to hiking to the top of the Nanao Island to climbing The Great Wall, a lot of the opportunities to visit historic sites involved physical exercise! We walked and walked and walked to see Nanjing’s Museum and other sites. Of course in Beijing there is a lot of history in seeing The Summer Palace and The Forbidden City.

Trains

While in China we rode three trains. We highly recommend traveling from Guangzhou to Meizhou by the green train. While it is a 5-hour train ride, the countryside is beautiful and the train is very comfortable. We also traveled from Nanjing to Qingdao and from Qingdao to Beijing via the high-speed G train. These trains are very efficient. We loved all of the trains!