Our big trip
A few thoughts and photos from our travels
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Day 107 – Three principles of the people
11th December: Xiamen, China It was our final day in ‘The Gate of China’. I tried to find a haircut in the morning but instead ended up sitting having a coffee after wandering the cool alleyways. Xiamen, especially its backstreets, is one of my favourite places in China. I wish that I wasn’t so exhausted…
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Day 106 – An island on a lake on an island
10th December: Xiamen, China Today was another low-key day on the coast. We’re both still tired and I’m suffering from exhaustion and numbness. Late in the morning, we headed out to wander. Today had proper warmth. It was 24C and sunny. Really pleasant shorts weather (something I’d later regret after dozens of mosquito bites!). Our…
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Day 105 – The Garden on the Sea
9th December: Xiamen, China Xiamen is known as the ‘Garden on the Sea’ and even in December, the city is abound with foliage and flowers. We spent today on the small, 2 square kilometre, island of Gulangyu. We were looking forward to wandering its lanes as the island is unique in China by having a…
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Day 104 – Coastal chill time
8th December: Xiamen, China Our first day in Xiamen was a quiet one. I was awoken at 10am by the musical chimes of some sort of entertainment clock in the nearby pedestrianised area! I popped out for coffee to figure it out but am still none the wiser. It surprisingly clouded in as the day…
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Day 103 – Halfway, a travel day
7th December: Yichang, China to Xiamen, China One more early start. Snacks, coffee, and lunch procured from the vendors of Yichang ‘CBD’ and a final bus taken, we were back at Yichang East station. Kaja made friends with some old people on the bus and then with a young woman at the station. Before long,…
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Day 102 – Dam(n) that is big
6th December – Yichang, China It was surprisingly sunny as we looked out over the construction site that is currently the centre of Yichang. We watched a worker climb up a tower crane, thinking he was the replacement driver, only for him to head to the top of the counterweight and do some tai chi!…
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Day 101 – The taming of the Yangtze
5th December: Wuhan, China to Yichang, China On the train west, citrus trees and rice whizzed past. Remaining in Hubei province, the journey to Yichang was a short one. We hopped on another BRT and made our way to the centre. Russian pop-up stores are everywhere here, although the goods are mainly overpriced. Presumably this…
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Day 100 – The (actually) suspended railway
4th December: Wuhan, China It was cold, cloudy, and damp today in Wuhan. We spent the morning catching up on research and writing, with trips out for coffee and snacks. I was very proud of my haul of an oat milk latte, a chocolate chip cookie, millet porridge, and two vegetable baos for a total…
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Day 99 – Wuhan, the setting of forgotten history
3rd December: Wuhan, China Music out of the window caught our attention this morning and it turned out to be a musical dust-suppression water sprayer, just like the one we saw in Wushan a few weeks ago! Today was noticeably chillier than yesterday, although still sunny, and a smog hung in the air. We left…
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Day 98 – Five years on since the world changed
2nd December: Nanjing, China to Wuhan, China We wandered around the corner to Nanjing South high-speed station. The weather was glorious once again and it was lovely to not have to get the metro. This is another extraordinary station. It’s not even the biggest we’ve been to, but the concourse is 1km across, and the…