A short fast trip around China

A short fast trip around China

This week I had an opportunity to visit a few new cities in China.
It was a whirlwind tour, but I managed to visit 3 provinces that I hadn't yet been to.

Shanghai (I'd been there before)

This is Pearl Tower. A TV tower in Shanghai. You can get great views from the top of it. It is located in the new part of Shanghai called Pudong. The views of the city and river are pretty spectacular.

Wuhu (Anhui Province)

Wuhu is straight west of Shanghai in Anhui provence.

It seems to be a fast growing city. Lots of construction going on.

Guangzhou (Guangdong Province)

Guangzhou is one of the largest cities in China. Lonely planet says 3.4 million, but I was told somewhere around 10 million. Like all cities in china, it is a topic of great debate and depends largely on where you draw the line. Some people say Shanghai is the largest city in China (population 10-20 million). Others say Chongqing (population 40 million???). Who knows really?

Baiyun shan (white cloud mountain) is located on the northwest part of the city and has great views of the city. Well the day I was there you got a great view of smog. Everything was pretty white. The thing to do is walk up the mountain and back down, but the people I went with decided to take the cable car up and the electric car down.

As I was starting to feel pretty sick, I didn't complain. In Guangzhou I got my 2nd case of bad tummy in the 8 months I have been in China. Both times while travelling which really is not fun.

Hainan island - Haikou and Sanya (Hainan Province)

Hainan is a large island Province and is southern most part of China. It is very hot! They grow lots of tropical fruit there, Ye zi (coconut), Bo luo (pineapple), Xiang jiao (bananas), Man gua (mango), Mu gua (papaya) and jackfruit (funny looking big fruit that I don't know the chinese name for).

This was our hotel in Sanya. Very nice. The highlight was the hot spring with the fish in it. It was so cool. You sit in the warm water and these little fish came and bit you. Their little mouths were so small it didn't hurt. Actually it kind of tickled. They liked feet most of all. You could imagine that they were cleaning you or something. It was very relaxing actually. I tried to concentrate on each little fish biting me. Maybe I should try accupuncture. Why not?

Then we went to the beach and swam in the ocean. The water was a little cool at first but it was hot in Hainan and after a while it felt really good to get in the water to cool off. My friends proceeded to bury themselves in the sand.