The weather today was one of those days which illustrated why Canada is so green. Rain and then some more …. We are staying with Sue in Rossland – a mountain-biking and ski resort, though there was little evidence of either on a day like today. The origins of Rossland are as a gold mining town and there is still evidence of the old gold mines, though...
With only a few hours driving to do to get to Rossland, we decided to spend the morning in Osoyoos. The area is known as a dry, shrub-grassland is one of Canada’s most fragile and endangered ecosystems. Given just over ten inches of rain and snow a year, it is classified as desert. Given that we are driving through the rockies and mountain ranges, this seems...
Having not slept stunningly, we decided to make an early start and headed off about 6.30am. We decided to head for a place called Bridal Falls – just under a couple of hours drive to the east of Vancouver. There we found a restaurant called Ranchers and were inducted into the long process of choosing what you want to eat. Having selected perogies, egg and...
Well – we are finally off … First stop Canada, though it was nearly the last stop Heathrow as we had messed up with the ETA required for entry into Canada. When we tried to check in, they let me check in, but not Anne. After much to-ing and fro-ing, they realised the issue and helped us apply for the ETA at their ticket desk. IcelandAir staff were really...
Our final train today ….. We spent the morning wandering around the area close to the hotel and found a lovely market area, so spent some time there indulging in some retail therapy. Around midday we headed off to the station. The stations for the bullet trains are always slightly out of town and they tend to resemble airport terminals. Even the terminology is...
A full day of sightseeing in Shanghai today …. We started the morning with a trip to the Bund. The Bund is a waterfront area in central Shanghai and looks directly over the new financial district of Pudong. The word Bund literally means ’embankment’ and it is an area along the bank of the Huangpu River. The road by the river is one of the most...
Another day, another bullet train. This one was marginally faster with a top speed of 305 km per hour and took 6 hours and 10 minutes to do the trip from Xian to Shanghai. Once in Shanghai, we were bussed to the hotel in the French concession. This area was ceded to the French as part of an agreement in 1849. The agreement ended in 1943 when the French, under...
Terracotta day today – lots and lots of it ….. In fact, according to some estimates more than 8,000 terracotta warriors, 130 chariots and over 600 horses. The terracotta army is about an hour’s bus ride outside Xian. We started early – about 8am and in the way were dropped at a terracotta warriors workshop. Actually, drop the first four...
Another day, another train …. This one, however, was different. This one flew at the speed of a bullet – well, a bullet train anyway! From having got used to clattering along and bouncing around at a maximum of 80-90 km per hour, all of a sudden, we were doing 300 km per hour. The big difference was that we really knew on previous trains that we were...
A second day in Beijing today and, being a Sunday, we got to watch the Chinese at play. One of the things the locals like to do is apparently to head out to the Summer Palace to the north of the city. This was also exactly where we headed as well! The summer palace, like many things here is UNESCO World Heritage listed. Its origins are in the Qing Dynasty which was...