{with Mao}

I'm back with new updates from my wonderful vacation to my home country, China! In case you're wondering, "You're a Chinese, weren't you from and familiar with China?" The answer is no. I've never been to China. I was born in Hong Kong. It used to be ruled by the British back in the days before I immigrated to Canada, so I am not all that familiar with their culture and pretty much...everything. But I must say, I'm glad I went and with my family on this 10-day trip through Jacco Tours. We travelled all the way to Hong Kong first, a 14-hour direct flight and then a 4-hour flight to Beijing immediately the next day. Then, we toured around Nanjing, Wu She, Hang Zhou, Shu Zhou and Shanghai by bus (I know it sounds a lot of travelling  back and forth but Chinese people generally like to waste no time, even when it comes to vacation). Although, there was a lot of walking and early morning calls but the fun thing was that we got to travel together with a group of fun and friendly fellows from Canada as well, including a lot of them who are not even Chinese. Seeing how impressive some of them get from understanding the history of our ancient artefacts and architectures, I can't help but to feel proud of my home country. 

If anybody is planning to go on a vacation, just to explore and experience about the culture, China is one of the best places to visit (I mean, really, the Great Wall is somewhere one must visit for at least once in their lifetime). It is that breathtaking and the climb to all the way up is a great workout challenge. As our old Chinese sayings say, "You'll never become a real man unless you've walked the Great Wall". 

Here are some of the selected pictures out of the 2000 that I've taken during the trip.

{ Beijing }

I learned that people in China don't follow traffic lights. It was terrifying for us just o get to the other side of the street even when the pedestrian lights are on. Cars, bikes are going from all kinds of directions. You'll even see a car parked on the sidewalk! So be very careful when you are crossing the street when you're there.

{ Wu Zhen }

During the trip, we also went to this 1000 year old town called Wu Zhen. They called it the Eastern Venice. I've yet to been to Venice but this will satisfy me for now.

{ Hang Zhou }

{ Wu Xi }

{ Shanghai }