Our big trip
A few thoughts and photos from our travels
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Day 97 – The hero, the villain, and the monk
1st December: Nanjing, China We had a slow start today. It was a tricky balance as Kaja wasn’t well but still wanted to get out for a bit and I had very itchy feet to properly explore the city on foot. My burnt-out brain needed to drift and be active. Ordinarily in a place as…
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Day 96 – The southern capital
30th November: Nanjing, China Nanjing was the capital under at least ten dynasties, intermittently from 220 to 1864. This included 276 years as the centre of the Ming Dynasty from 1368 to 1644. It is the third of the four great ancient capitals that we have visited, after Beijing and Xi’An, and will be our…
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Day 95 – Inland to autumn
29th November: Shanghai, China to Nanjing, China It was time to leave Shanghai! Our journey to Nanjing began at lunchtime from the old station just one metro stop from our accommodation. I seem to have strained something in my abdomen, which made walking with heavy bags a little bit of a strain. Still, we made…
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Day 94 – The mouth of the Yangtze
28th November: Shanghai, China Shanghai is an enormous, sprawling city. I think if this was your first every point into China you’d be impressed and probably a little overwhelmed! For us it’s lacked that wow factor and feels less liveable than most other cities we’ve been through in the country. That said, it is still…
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Day 93 – The town on the water
27th November: Shanghai, China We set off on the metro for the nearest water town to Shanghai, having abandoned plans to visit the apparently “easy to get to” places a little further out. One striking thing on the screens in the metro was an animated history of British colonialism in Australia! It was pretty accurate…
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Day 92 – Crisp autumn wanderings
26th November: Shanghai, China The temperature has dropped in eastern China with the overnight rain and cold front. The next week is set to be 10-12C during the day and only just above freezing at night, although sunny and crisp. I under-dressed for the conditions as we headed out for a wander. Soon, we were…
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Day 91 – Magnetic levitation
25th November: Shanghai, China Dodging the morning showers to grab coffee, it was much warmer today. This isn’t to last, however, as the temperature is due to drop substantially tomorrow. It should still be sunny though, hopefully! After some more relaxation and admin, we ventured out mid-afternoon. The plan was simple. Ride the world’s only…
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Day 90 – The disappearance of old Shanghai
24th November: Shanghai, China Another day of the Shanghai chilled sessions. We did get out a bit earlier today though to enjoy a bit of a warmer morning. It was lovely in fact – 15C and sunny – as we hopped off the metro in Laoximen and found tea and coffee. The old Xintiandi entertainment…
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Day 89 – Private sufficiency, public luxury
23rd November: Shanghai, China This is actually a lovely neighbourhood after all. We popped out to get some snacks and lunch, again wandering into the park. Most areas have green spaces like this in Chinese cities. They are well looked after and thought-out places for people to be, to relax, to get together. I believe…
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Day 88 – Settling in to Shanghai
22nd November: Shanghai, China Today was the first day of our chilled week in Shanghai. We bought a haul of oat milk and cereals from the supermarket last night and some fruit and snacks from shops nearby, so were well set for having a very laid-back morning in the room / micro apartment we’ve got…