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Just like the traffic here, it takes an age get anywhere fast, like posting anything up on here! We are talking HOURS! Not minutes arrghh… Well eventually here’s some snaps of what I’ve been up to over the last two weeks, I’ve managed to Instagram them up while on a bus journey yesterday (it certainty pasted the time!), if I get a chance will add some more but for now I’m not spending anymore time on fiddling between tablet and iPhone ~ there’s too much to see haha wish they would sort this China net stuff out, it’s irritating if you wanna post up some pics to say the least! Your never know the effort I’ve put into posting this up here haha now enjoy! :p
NOTE: These are just photos I snapped whilst on the go with my iPhone, I have about 4/5000 photos to go through that I have taken with my ‘proper camera’ (haha) and they will be going up in my portfolio & various other social media sites soon ~ so keep those eyes peeled!
CHENGDU: As I wait for my tea to brew, Jasmine flavour, I’m going to try and add some caption to these pics – on iPhone and the slowest connection in the world, thanks to big brother…
BEIJING: This is the bullet train from Beijing to Pingyao, super fast and noisy as I expected! Chinese folk can be loud at the best of times 😉
BEIJING: Everyone and there dog’s has a flask full if tea here, and if you don’t have one you look like an idiot! Haha totally makes sense when you see the Chinese love for tea. I got a funky orange one…
BEIJING: This is Beijing North train station, took this photo when I thought I had plenty of time to catch train, but it ended up that there was four different stations i.e. North, South etc so missed vital train and big stress came a knockin’
BEIJING: Map of new city to explore… ahhh… one of my favourite bits about travel! 🙂
BEIJING: The Forbidden City needs no introduction. Amazeballs.
BEIJING: Selfie culture is waaaaay big amongst the students in China! It’s like ridiculous. These two went crazy on all the snapping but I managed to break away and get them to chill for a more traditional pic!
BEIJING: A hat that looks like a tea cosy? Indeed.
BEIJING: I haven’t encountered much rip-off stuff yet, most stuff is actually made here I suppose so no need to imitate it. These Nikes though haha
BEIJING: Motorised bikes are the way of getting around here, cool number plate!
BEIJING: This is in Beijing 798 Art District, good arty stuff on show around here, coffee shops and Bohemian types…
BEIJING: This is at The Summer Palace, Beijing. Beautiful girls pose in there favourite dresses waiting to be snapped – heaven does it exist after all…
XI’AN: Was walking around a shopping mall in Xian and looked what popped up haha they thought I was crazy in there, don’t think they understood the meaning 😉
BEIJING: This is rush hour on the subway in Beijing. Try carrying a big bag & knowing your going to miss your train after getting up at the crack of dawn. Fun?
SHANGHAI: The Shanghai Maglev Train – I caught this unusual train from Shanghai airport into the city centre, run’s on magnets and reaches speeds up 268 mph (as you can see I snapped this at 187mph!) real smooth, real cool!
SHANGHAI: The Tea House Ceremony – tourist rip off mixed with the traditional. I thought it was quite funny, sticking tea leafs under your eyes to ward off bags, pouring hot water over a bronze tea god toad etc – plus got to try a load of tea whilst my crazy student buddy translated to me what it all meant! haha
SHANGHAI: Ahh.. the world famous Shanghai ‘Pudong’ riverside view! personally I think it’s just as good as Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, but then again what do I know! 😉
XI’AN: Hiring a bike and riding around the 14km old wall of Xian was awesome!!! Nice weather too!
XI’AN: The Terracotta Army – nothing can prepare you for this sight. What’s more theres another two hangers of more discoveries aroud the corner and much more to come!
XI’AN: Chopstick cleaner! Now there’s an idea, saw this in a fast food Chinese chain…
Beijing:Noodles is big business here ~ check out this rack in a local Beijing supermarket!
JIUZHAIGOU: Arriving into the mountains by plane after being in the hussle & bussle city of Xi’an was pretty cool! and I was the only English person on this plane!
JIUZHAIGOU: This is one of my taxi drivers I hired in Jiuzhaigou. I’ve never experienced driving like these guys do in all my living years. Think twisty mountain paths, big trucks and coaches, overtaking at any chance you get – all at rally driver speeds. New boxers please…
JIUZHAIGOU: Snow! Yes, in the heart of China, Jiuzhaigou, it’s all very Tibetan like – lovely!
JIUZHAIGOU: Some nice folk I met from Bali at the airport and we all clubbed in for taxis to one of Jiuzhaigou’s National Parks!
JIUZHAIGOU: 9800w – mmm… Like the disco balls though! Haha
JIUZHAIGOU: Jiuzhaigou National Park. You have to go. Enough said in this matter.
JIUZHAIGOU: To get to this place took a lot of travelling and stress. I could go on but your have to trust me, this is one of the most beautiful parks in the world, it was worth the troubles! 😀
JIUZHAIGOU: Every tourist spot has tour guides for hire, your hassled left, right and centre for them. But it’s so much nicer when you meet a local to show you the spots!
JIUZHAIGOU: Ahhh.. The view from my morning taxi to the airport. This was one of the quieter bits of the journey, the rest was rally season haha
CHENGDU: Arrival in Chengdu, haze-mist just like in Beijing, you either get lucky with the weather some days or you get this in the big cities over here!
CHENGDU: ‘Moisten and soothing your heart’ my 2 hour bus journey to Leshan to see Da Fo, the BIG Budda…
CHENGDU: …and when I say BIG, I mean HUGE!!!!! Ahhh Da Fo, one if the biggest man made Buddhas in the world! This and the pandas was my main reason to come to Chengdu ever since I saw the site on a documentary on wonders of the world. Dream come true. 😀
CHENGDU: Met an awesome Tibetan family who helped me get the right bus back from Leshan to Chengdu ~ Hi to 泽仁拥中 Zerenyongzhong, or English translation ‘Orange’ & her family! 🙂
CHENGDU: These guys!!! Panda’s!!!!! Had to get up early to catch them eating and chillin’ – Although this is crappy iPhone photo I have plenty of good ones!!
CHENGDU: Taking photos of the Pandas is no easy task. Pushing in and shuving is the norm here – you’d gotta fight for your right… To snap phoooooooooootos….
CHENGDU: The alternative to a packet of crisps! Well actually they didn’t taste quite like crisps more natural and well tasty!
YANGSHOU: Woke up to this beaut of a view this morning. After the chaos and noise if constant car horns in the city’s, this is a very welcome retreat! Yangshou – reminds me a lot of Thailand, with a Chinese twist of course
YANGSHOU: Now this is what I call real hardcore photography!! 40mins climb up one of the Karst Mountains in Yangshou, very old & broken man made stairs that was quite frighting at times, then the extra sketchy climb to a radio antenna to reach this point, sweat pouring off me… but hey, what a view! This was one of my first photos that I saw of China that convinced me to come here, all this way to snap this 😀 also had this view all to myself for about half an hour before a couple if visitors arrived, see photo below…
YANGSHOU: You can’t get away from the selfies!!! Even all the way up here – check the sweatnique
YANGSHOU: Just a sample of the great mix of healthy country food, western & local served fresh in my hotel/resort the Phoenix Pagoda
YANGSHOU: Ahh.. This is the life, borrowed a bike from the hotel and went exploring…
YANGSHOU: Climbed up another Karst Mountain today. This one not so steep on the steps as the last one! What a view, even if the weather was a bit hit and miss
YANGSHOU: Come back from my trip to mountain above to a fine BBQ – Chinese style!
YANGSHOU: How I spent Halloween this year, my friend Lilly cooking me some awesome BBQ food in the mountain countryside of Fenglou village! No noisy music and not a costume in sight, was really nice! 🙂
YANGSHOU: Being fed some BBQ treats, local style!
YANGSHOU: Lucky frog! This could be dinner around here 😉
YANGSHOU: Yulong Bridge, Yangshou in the summertime, taken by Lilly
YANGSHOU: On the day of leaving the awesome Yangshou town the rain came down and I managed to put to good use my new gore tex waterproof jacket and justify to myself the price tag in the process…
YANGSHOU: This had turned out to be a very long day indeed. First I was up at 5:30am to get a one hour taxi journey to the airport out of Guilin, then missed the flight by four minutes! Yes, four and they wouldn’t let me on. Ended up getting a coach to Shenzhen which took 11 hours, then a couple if hours more to pass the border and arrive in Hong Kong. That’s one whole day of travelling. Hello bed…
YANGSHOU: My poor old £5 travel watch! worn out on this trip – lost it’s arms or legs! it’s certainly seen better days…
YANGSHOU: Friend I met on the coach took this out of the window, good photo and goodbye beautiful Yangshou!
HONG KONG: After a real long journey I finally arrive in Hong Kong! Into the madness…
HONG KONG: When I ventured out into HK the first stop was Admiralty and here I saw the protesters camping out – it’s quite a sight to see!
HONG KONG: Lennon Wall. The protesters have support from all over the world, all these post-it notes are written by the general public, and as you can see there’s quite a few of them!
HONG KONG: Just what the umbrella revolution is all about.
HONG KONG: Tank tent.
HONG KONG: I’ve seen some great art pieces coming from these protesters. This poster is quality!
HONG KONG: HK Trams! Or Ding Dings as they are know. There just great and I hope they always have them rattling around amongst the buses…
HONG KONG: A Muslim Cemetery sit’s in the heart of HK, photo courtesy of Lilly taken from the top of a tour bus!
HONG KONG: HK Big Budda! Got to this by cable car on Lantau Island, was misty weather but still a sight for sore eyes!
HONG KONG: Victoria Peak at night – probably the most famous view in Hong Kong after viewing the city scape from the river!
HONG KONG: The area around my first hotel in Hong Kong, Jordan, had a true street gritty feel about it – real Hong Kong I would say!
HONG KONG: If it’s a massage your after, you’ve come to the right place, there two a penny in Hong Kong – ‘massage, massage sir you want massage?’ on every block haha
HONG KONG: After three and a half weeks of hardcore travelling I thought I’d treat myself to a fancy room for my last night! A room with a view…
MACAU: Got the hour long ferry to Macau today, journey there was okay on the way back though, well I’ve never felt seasick in my life until today haha…
MACAU: This is the island of Macau, like a mini Las Vegas, full of swanky casinos, I spent most of my time photographing this one!
Goodbye China, you’ve been amazing! take off from Hong Kong airport bound to England and eventally home…
Journey time from/to Hong Kong/England is about 12 hours
Arrival at Heathrow after a long flight home from Hong Kong!
Travel life: I’ve learnt from previous trips to just bring a small amount of light weight & quick drying clothes so I can do my own laundry!
Travel life: This genius device is the Rav Power Wireless Filehub and coupled with a portable external hard drive and tablet I was able to back up my photos each night without the need for a internet connection!
Travel life: A ton of preparation went into this trip including making detailed itineraries for each one of the nine cities I visited, maps, 4 internal flight tickets, 3 long distance train tickets and 11 hotel/retreat bookings! phew!!!
Tickets to the all the attractions I visited on my travels around China
These iPhone snaps give you a rough idea of what I got up too, I took about 5500 pictures with my proper camera so once I’ve narrowed then down and processed them they will be up in the portfolio section!
Like the photos? let me know what you think – leave a comment below!
Enjoy,
Mark C.
Love the pictures, lots of love mum dad and louise xxx
Thanks Sis! x
All gud pics Mark….LUVVVVVVVVV dem all. Epc Yangshou…….Ive been der b4 but from Ur pics make me wanan go der again… ha ha ha.
Thank you Trisny, what an adventure! Was nice to meet you & the crew, and thanks for sending the photos – some good ones in there! Yangshou ahhh… Yes I wanna go back there!!