Day 55 of 111. Shaanxi Provincial Museum, Xi’an, China We visited the museum of the area. Shaanxi is the province and Xi’an is the capital city of the province. This area has been where 73 different emperors have had their palaces and burial grounds and therefore has been an amazing area for relics of the…

Day 55 of 111. Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Xi’an, China After an early breakfast at the hotel, we drove a short way to the pagoda which is right in the old city. This is a Buddhist Temple that dates back 1300 years to the Tang Dynasty. This pagoda was not destroyed and rebuilt like many,…

Day 54 of 111. Xi’an City Wall, China In the city, the city wall dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1300 A.D.). It has been modified and restored over the years, but it is amazingly intact. It is a huge wall with a top surface that is large enough to stroll or even bike (you…

Day 54 Of 111. Xi’an, China This city is the site of 14 different dynasties so it is a center of history and culture. The traffic and the air quality are two noticeable aspects of the travels from the airport to the hotel. China depends largely on coal to produce energy. Also, many/most families have…

Day 53 of 111. Lingyin Temple Near the West Lake is the oldest intact Buddhist temple in China. There were four major temples, but three of them were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. The massive size of the buildings and statues in these temples was impressive, but we were also lucky enough to be present…

Day 53 of 111. Hangzhou, China When we arrived in Hangzhou on the bullet train, we boarded a bus and drove to the West Lake. This lake is very popular with tourists and since it was Sunday, there were people everywhere. We boarded a moderate-sized boat for our 45-minute cruise with a tour guide telling…

Day 53 of 111. Shanghai, China We woke up today in Shanghai, China. It was fun to look out the window and see an interesting skyline. I thought that the colorful characters on the shore say Welcome to Shanghai or something, but our guide says they mean Starbound ⭐️, oh well! We had a bus…

Day 50 of 111. Beijing, China Tian’anmen Square was exciting to see because of its grandeur and infamous history. It is a large square with the classic image of Chairman Mao on the one side. The monument of heroes stands up in the center of the square. There were Italian as well as China flags…

Day 50 of 111. Beijing, China We toured The Forbidden City in Beijing. We entered the South Gate and exited the North Gate and walked about a kilometer in between. The scale of the complex was impressive, but thinking back to the grandeur it must have had when being used really made us think. The…

Day 49 of 111. Xingang Port and Beijing, China The plan was to eat breakfast very early (5:00 a.m.), pack, and be ready for our overnight excursion to Beijing at 6:00 a.m. The weather was very cold but the roads were unsafe due to the fog and ice. So, we ended up waiting for nicer…