Video Postcards - Travel Archives - My Lifetime of Travel - Photo Index
15th May 2011
I have now finished the Photo Gallery for China - it includes photos from my first trip in November 2009 (to Guangzhou, Shanghai and Qingdao) and also my recent trip (to Tianjin, Beijing and Xian)
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13th May 2011
I am working on the Photo Gallery for China - it will include photos from my first trip in November 2009 (to Guangzhou, Shanghai and Qingdao) and also my trip earlier this month (to Tianjin, Beijing and Xian) - I hope to have it finished within a few days.
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9th May 2011
Home in Jomtien after my hectic trip to China. I also caught the flu so I do not feel the best.
The trip was really good and I am glad I decided to go to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors even though the trip was tiring. I have now crossed two things of my "must see" list - The Great Wall of China and The Terracotta Warriors - I had wanted to go and see them for many years.
The "Bullet Train" trip from Tianjin to Beijing was a non event as even though it travels at 350 kph it is so smooth and quiet you do not get any impression of going fast at all.
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6th May 2011
Back in Beijing after my long "Day Trip" to Xian (24 hours on two overnight trains plus 8 hour day tour to the Terracotta Warriors site). The train trips were OK with good beds and clean toilets etc - I slept well on the Beijing to Xian trip but not so well on the way back.
On 2nd May I went walking around Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City - it was very crowded as it was a public holiday here.
The following day (3rd May) I went on a group tour to the "Ming Tombs" and "Great Wall" which was very good - I was really surprised by the steepness of the Great Wall with some area almost vertical and several steep areas that have no steps only smooth stones - I imagine it would be very slippery and dangerous on rainy days.
On 4th May I went underground (the subway) and caught the train to the Olympic site just to have a look around.
I will post more photos after I return to Thailand on Sunday.
The Photos Above Were Accidently Deleted But Can Be Seen in The Photo Gallery for China
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1st May 2011
I am now in Tianjin, China - After flying from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur yesterday and spending the night in Kuala Lumpr I flew on to Tianjin today.
The view from the plane coming into Tianjin showed that the countryside was very dry and brown, almost desert like (there was also a sand storm going on at the time). I found this very surprising as Tianjin has a temperate climate and is on the coast.
Tianjin apparently has a population of more than 12 million but it actually seems quite small to me. I m staying in the town centre close to the train station and there is not really much around here other than a few office blocks, mini marts, a KFC and a McDonalds.
Tomorrow I catch the bullet train from Tianjin to Beijing (135 kilometres in 30 minutes).
The Photos Above Were Accidently Deleted But Can Be Seen in The Photo Gallery for China
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20th April 2011
I am working on the new Photo Gallery for this site and it is proving harder than I had hoped. I have been trying to include all the photos currently on the site but have decided that due to the quantity (more than 1,000) and the number of countries involved (21) it will be easier to have a separate photo gallery for each country.
I have just completed the first country photo gallery - Australia Photo Gallery - but it will be more than a month (or months) before I will be able to complete them all.
I have also decided to keep the Photo Index as well as the Photo Gallery as they provide different ways to view the photos - The photo gallery will display the photos, by country, in a chronological order whereas the photo index provides links to pages displaying photos taken on specific trips.
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12th April 2011
After my visit to Anek Kusala Sala (see below 6th April) I have decided that I will go to Xian on my trip to
China to see the Terracotta Warriors.
So far I have the following planned:
30th April - Fly from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur - Overnight stay in KL
1st May - Fly from KL to Tianjin - Spend one night Tianjin
2nd May - Catch the bullet train from Tianjin to Beijing (350 Kilometres per hour) - Spend two nights in Beijing
3rd May - Go on a full day coach tour from Beijing to the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall
4th May - Catch the overnight train from Beijing to Xian (1200+ Kilomtere trip)
5th May - Go on full day tour of Terracotta Warriors - Catch the overnight train from Xian back to Beijing
6th May - No plans at the moment but probably stay in Beijing
7th May - Get the bullet train from Beijing back to Tianjin and fly onto Kuala Lumpur - Overnight stay in KL
8th May - Fly KL to Bangkok and home to Jomtien
I feel tired already!
I plan to take lots of photos.
I have just purchased a photo gallery software program and hope to reorganise all of the photos on the site - I hope to replace the photo index page with a complete photo gallery of all destinations that have photos (this may take a while).
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6th April 2011
Yesterday I went and checked out a few local attractions (although I discovered them accidently and have not seen any mention in "Tourist Booklets" locally). I was watching a local TV show last week and it featured a place called Anek Kusala Sala (Also known as Viharasien) which is a temple and museum featuring Chinese and Thai artifacts. I thought it looked interesting and did some checking on the internet. The place is about 15 kilometres South of Pattaya and about 5 kilometres off Sukhumvit Road - The museum is close to Wat Yan Sangwararam which is a large temple complex built within the past 20 years - Also close by is Khao Chee Chan (Buddha Mountain) which features a Buddha etched in gold on the face of a mountain.
The trip was well worth while especially the visit to Anek Kusala Sala. Despite the fact that I will be visiting China in a few weeks I thought this museum was excellent. It has hundreds of bronze statues (most life sized) plus lots of old artifacts (including original terracotta warrior statues from Xian).
More Photographs of Wat Yan Sangwararam, Anek Kusala Sala and Khao Chee Chan, Thailand
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