My girlfriend and I just got back from... China!
She was there studying for six weeks and I joined her for the last week of her stay. It was an experience, I can tell you that.
Unfortunately, I got tonsilitis on the trip over there. Fortunately, Shanghai has good western style outpatient healthcare in their new hospitals. Unfortunately, it seems you can become alergic to penicillin after six days taking it, so I came home with that new delightful allergy. Fortunately, I got to fly back with my girlfriend, so the flight back was much nicer than the flight out. Also, I was medicated enough to sleep most of the way back.
In between, however, we saw all the "must haves" on our planned itinnerary and a couple of "nice to haves":
In Shanghai:
1. The Shanghai Museum
2. A circus show with motorcycle stunts. Six or so cycles in a mesh ball running around. Crazy!
3. The Bund district along the river
In Beijing:
1. The Great Wall (the section Clinton visited apparently).
2. The Forbidden Palace
3. The Temple of Heaven
4. Tieneman Square and the Great People's Hall
5. An amusement park:
Beijing Ammusement ParkSupper Cool-Cool Bear
The "Roller Coaster" roller coaster was down for repairs. They also have an impressive double decker carousel. The first I think I have seen anywhere.
6. We stayed in a historic quadrangle house in the hutong ("alley") district done up as a bed and breakfast.
In Suzhou:
1.
Suzhou Museum (their new building designed by I. M. Pei)
2. The Humble Administrator's Garden
The bed and breakfast in Beijing was interesting and historically significant, but the area of the city it is in is a maze of uniform, grey, narrow alleyways that are very hard to navigate after dark. It abuts a nightlife district with nightclubs and restaurants, so if you can make your way there, you can get back to the bed and breakfast, but it is a bit spooky and dark.
Beijing and Shanghai have much different feels, too. Shanghai is more up and coming and modern, while Beijing is more "lived in".
It was very useful that my girlfriend speaks Chinese (two or three dialects), as there were several situations where it was very necessary (finding and getting to the hospital, for example). Despite much effort on the part of the government in China, Enlish is not very widespread and the fluency level is only moderate where it is present. Her ability to speak to the local residents greatly enhanced our dining pleasure as well, as the older locals who only speak Chinese are the best source of information on good places to eat.
On our return, of course, our luggage was misplaced along with 30 or so other peoples'. So a fun time was had by all.
On the whole, a very good experience, but I would recommend not going at the end of August. Especially during a heat-wave. Ouch! Very hot and humid.
As I have time, I will upload some pictures from our trip.
