We have found a company in China who can facilitate our China Itinerary-

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 A very good friend has used this company to tour Beijing from Shanghai….her recommendation came from a friend who lives in Shanghai who has used this company for his own touring. Our friend said they were very reliable, she was met in Beijing by a lovely lady who spoke good English.

Our friend is also a traveller infact they are travelling India at the moment, having spent 3 months in South America last year….so they know the difference between good and bad experiences. Having been really good friends for over 40 years we trust their recommendations and they trust ours….Thanks Caz and Geoff for this contact…

The company they have used is licensed…

James who I have been dealing with at the company has forwarded me a picture of their tourist License.

This is the ground tour James has put together for us….

北京百迎国际旅行社有限公司 

百迎国旅   BEIJING BAI YING INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL SERVICE CO.,LTD

              BYITS​   Tel:010-64680949        

 

Day 1

19th Sept

 Beijing

 -Arrive at Beijing Daxing Airport(arriving at 14:12PM)

– Driver meets you outside the exit,holding name board

– Transfer to Beijing Legendale hotel by driver

– Check in and free at leisure 

Day 2

20th Sept

 Beijing

Have breakfast 

– Free activity – the hotel is within easy walking distance of many attractions –
(The Tian’an Men Square and Forbidden City)

– Foodie evening tour by yourselves
Recommended place:Ghost Street/簋街

Day 3

21th Sept

Beijing

Have breakfast and guide meets you in the lobby

– Visit the Summer Palace in the morning  

– Lunch 

– Visit The Temple of Heaven and take Hutong tour By Rickshaw in the afternoon

Day4

22th Sept

 Beijing

– Have breakfast and guide meets you in the lobby

– Make a morning excursion to Badaling Great Wall – including cable car up and back

– Lunch

– Visit Badaling Wildlife Park in the afternoon

– Return to hotel

Day 5

23th Sept

 Beijing

 –  Have breakfast 

–  Free Activity
Recommended:Acrobatic Show(Show time:16:00 and 17:30, please choose)

Day 6
24th Sept

 Beijing-Xi’an

– Have breakfast and check out

– Transfer to Beijing West railway station for Xi’an（Train info: G365, 09:55-14:05, 1st class ticket）

–  The driver meets you outsie the exit and then transfer to Xi’an Sofitel Hotel

– Check in and free at leisure

Day 7
25th Sept

Xi’an

-Have breakfast 

–  Free Activity 

Recommended places: Grand Mosque,Bell and Drum Tower Square ,Muslim Street and Grand Tang Ever-bright Mall

–  Evening foodie tour/ Or evening show (Only driver available)
Recommended: Dumpling banqut and Tang Danasty Dancing/唐乐宫

Day 8
26th Sept

 Xi’an

-Have breakfast and guide meets you in the lobby

– One-day Terracotta Army tour 

–   Return to hotel

Day 9
27th Sept

Xi’an

-Have breakfast and guide meets you in the lobby

–  One-day sightseeing tour(City wall, Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Xi’an Museum)

– Return to hotel

Option:

– One-day sightseeing tour(Qinling Wildlife Park)
Re: Wildlife can be seen in Qinling area, But it is foribidden to go there right now , we will know final result  this summer holiday if the park will reopen or not

Day 10
28th Sept

 Xi’an-Chengdu

–  Have breakfast and check out

–  Transfer to Xian North  railway staiton (Only driver available) heading to Chengdu(Bullet Train info:G3433,09:04—13:07,1st class ticket)

–  Upon arrival, driver meets you and then transfer to Somerset Gaoxin Chengdu hotel

 -Check in and free at leisure; The rest of time free & easy

 Day 11

29th Sept

 Chengdu

– Have breakfast and guide meets you in the lobby

– Drive to visit Chengdu panda Base（0.5 hour）, One of the most important research and breeding centers (Electric cart included)

 – City center to stroll along Kuanzhai Alley 

– Transfer back to hotel ,free time 

Day12

30th Sept

 Chengdu
-Have breakfast and guide meets you in the lobby

– Drive to Leshan Giant Buddha (2.5 hours) 

– Visit Leshan Giant Buddha by climbing mountain or boat trip 

– visit Leshan Suji ancient town(乐山苏稽古镇)  

–   Drive back to Chengdu hotel , Free and leisure

 Day 13

1st Oct

Chengdu-Dujiangyan 

 –  Have breakfast and guide meets you in the lobby

–  Visit Dujiangyan Panda Base （1.5 hours）

–  Lunch 

–  Dujiangyan Irrigation System 

–  Drive back to Chengdu hotel , Free and leisure

Note: traffic jam often occur during national holiday , especially for National holiday .

Day 14

2nd Oct

Chengdu-Beijing

–  Have breakfast and check out

–  Transfer to Chengdu East raiwway station heading to Beijing(Only driver available)  Bullet train info:G1013,08:29-19:07,1st class ticket

–  Upon arrival, driver meets you and transfer to Beijing Legendale hotel

–  Check in and free at leisure

Day 15

3rd Oct

Beijing–

–  Have breakfast and check out

–  Transfer to Beijing Daxing airport (Only driver available)

–  End of 15-day China tour

 What’s Included:

 

• One (1) Professional English-speaking local guide

• One (1) 5-seater car and accompanying driver for all land transfers indicated in the itinerary​

• Admission fees to places mentioned for sightseeing tour in the itinerary​

• All relevant trip taxes, local duties and surcharges​

• Drinking water throughout the tour itinerary

• Bullet train listed in the tour itinerary

 

 What’s not Included:

 

• Personal telecommunication and laundry charges

• Personal Travel Insurance

• Additional excursions & activities not mentioned in the itinerary

• Round trip international flight 

• All meals indicated on the itinerary as B (breakfast), L (lunch), and D (dinner)​

• Accommodation in Bejing,Xi’an and Chengdu

• All gratuities for drivers, guides and local support staff

James has also put together 3 sets of prices for this itinerary- one for each part.

The Beijing section costing approx £904
The Xi’an section costing approx £725
The Chengdu section including train back to Beijing costing approx £1239

The total cost for the ground tour would be approx £2868 ( approx due to exchange rate fluctuations. If we add that to the flights which are approx £1500 and the hotels we have selected with breakfast are approx £ 1229. The total cost would be approx £5597. We could of course make this cheaper by staying in cheaper accommodation. We have however chosen accommodation which is popular with English speaking visitors with the hope that some of the staff and the menus will be in English.

We have asked James several important questions ….these are ….

1) how do we pay you? Do you accept credit card? 

2) When do we pay you? Before we arrive in China? Or with Alipay when we arrive?

3) Do you provide us with a letter which enables us to get our visa? Or is our itinerary  enough for us to get the visa?

4) Does the person who takes us to the train station put us on the correct train and the correct seats? If not how will we know the right train and the right seats to sit in as I believe all notices are in Chinese and not many people speak English so it’s not so easy to ask someone. 

5) can you book tickets at acrobatics show or escorted food tasting walks, or a meal in a locals home? Or would we ask the hotel to do this?

6) Would we be able to post to our website while we are in China? Or would we have to just log every thing and do it when we get home? We don’t want to do anything which is not allowed and we worry we might not know what is and what isn’t allowed.

James has been very quick in replying to our emails, we usually get a response the next day – due to the time differences…. If you are wanting to book a trip through James his email address is 36075568@qq.com

We will let you know the response to our questions…..we still hope to do this trip this year although due to the amount of preparation and questions I have we may push it back to next year. James is aware of this and is happy to help us and any of our readers who are going to embark on a trip to China.

Pause in posting about China…

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Sorry for not continuing going through our “ Want to do and see” in China. We seem to have hit a brick wall with DialAFlight…. Having had many years great service from Rosie Price and thoroughly recommending her to every one….since she has left the company we haven’t had the same level of service at all….Rosie would facilitate our desired itinerary by booking through an on the ground agent. When they couldn’t match price the hotels Rosie would book the hotels through booking.com. She would also always give us a price regardless of whether it was higher than we predicted or not…..BUT having waited 3 weeks for a quote on our itinerary our response was “Sorry we can’t help you” …..grrrrr…so now I’ve put it with a local independent travel agent to see what they can do for us…then if they can’t help we’ll start the long hard slog of contacting a variety of other agents and putting the trip out to tender……Not ideal….but these things happen…. SO I’ve stopped planing until we know we can actually find a company to manage it for us…as it’s our first time in China we don’t really want to go completely solo for many reasons…not least because we don’t want to miss out on sights, struggle to buy train tickets and get on the right train etc, etc….

However we have a 3 week trip around Scotland planned for May…so I’ll post the planning document in the near future…

2 J’s latest publication…available from Amazon for pre order now and bookshops from the middle of February….

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50 Gems of Bedfordshire

Introduction

The county of Bedfordshire is one of England’s smallest, occupying an area of under 500 square miles. Around 750,000 residents call the county their home, with approximately half of them living in the two largest urban areas, Luton and Bedford, the historic county town. All too often, visitors to the county do little but pass through. The county is blessed with good north to south road and rail transport links, with the Midland Main Line railway and both the M1 and A1 artery roads all aimed at travelling as quickly as possible. 

For those with more time on their hands, Bedfordshire has a great deal to offer to both the county’s residents and visitors. The county is well known for attractions such as Whipsnade Zoo and Woburn Safari Park. These are two of the UK’s bestopportunities to enjoy getting up close to a wide variety of animals on display. The county is also home to a number ofmagnificent stately homes such as Luton Hoo, Shuttleworth House and Wrest Park.

We have travelled extensively across our home county and, in this publication, we have selected fifty lesser known ‘Gems’ that we believe are worthy of a closer look. These gems have been chosen with the whole family in mind, with anyrestrictions on access for the less mobile highlighted asappropriate. From scenic walks to lesser-known visitor attractions, we hope the reader will be tempted to get to know the County of Bedfordshire a little better. This publication can be used as a standalone guide, or in conjunction with our earlier Amberley title ‘Churches of Bedfordshire’ which also explores a cross section of towns and villages with their parish churches as the focus.

We urge the reader to pay particular attention to those places featured that have limited visiting or opening hours or restricted to certain times of the year, some more so than others. An early check on the internet is recommended to ensure getting the best out of any such visit. Other selections, particularly involving the county’s many ‘green spaces’ are ideal for those spur-of-the-moment decisions. Either way, we both hope you enjoy browsing through the pages of this publication as much as we have enjoyed compiling them

Our China Holiday planning continues – leaving Beijing and exploring Xi’an -Part 1

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It’s relatively easy to get to Xi’an either by plane or high speed train. We intend to travel from Beijing to Xi’an by train. It takes between  4h 10m to 6h 45m for high-speed (G trains)from Beijing West to Xi’an North. It costs about £60 each for a single ticket. These can be booked a couple of months in advance online with Trip.

Xi’an

Xi’an is the  capital of Shaanxi Province in central China. In past times it was known as Chang’an (Eternal Peace). It is situated at the eastern end of the Silk Road’s and was home to the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties’ ruling houses.  The city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu. Its total population is around 12.95 million. 

The City Wall 

Xian’s original city wall was started in 194 BC and took 4 years to finish it enclosed an area of 36 km sq (13.90 sq mi). During the Ming Dynasty a new wall was constructed in 1370 which remains intact to this day. The new wall and moat would protect a much smaller city of 12 km sq (4.6 sq mi). The wall is one of the tourist sites in Xi’an. 

The Terracotta Army 

Xi’an is also famed across the world for the archaeological sites found in Xi’an’s surrounding plains. This is where you find the Bingmayong (Terra Cotta Army), thousands of life-size, hand-molded figures buried with China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang  ordered the construction of the Terracotta Army and his mausoleum, just to the east of Xi’an , almost immediately after his ascension to the throne. The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting him in his afterlife. It is said to have taken 720,000 people to build it.

The Terracotta Army figures’ excavation is regarded as one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century. It had been underground for more than 2000 years before farmers digging a well in 1974 uncovered what is now considered one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world.

The first part of the Terracotta Army site to be discovered was named Vault One. In 1976, two other vaults were uncovered about 20 meters away, and were named Vault Two and Vault Three.

In December 1987, UNESCO selected the Tomb of the First Emperor and the Terracotta Army Vaults as a World Cultural Heritage Site.

Today the museum consists of Vault One, Vault Two, Vault Three, and The Exhibition Hall of the Bronze Chariots. The most popular vault with tourists is Vault One. This can be crowded but is the best place for photographs.

Vault One is the approximate size of an airplane hanger. It is said to have contained over 6000 terracotta figures of soldiers, horses and chariots, but today there are less than 2000 on display. However it is still a very impressive site. All soldiers and horses face east in a rectangular formation, each soldier is  armed with either a long spear or a dragger. Close behind is the main force of armored soldiers are 38 horse-driven chariots. Every figure differs in facial features, expressions, clothing, hairstyle, and stature. The scene provides a lot of  detailed artifacts in line with the military, cultural, and economic history of that period. The Vault was opened to visitors in 1979. 

Excavation and restoration is still ongoing at vaults two and three.

The museum can be found at 1 Terracotta Road, East Third Ring Road, Yunlong District, Xuzhou City.  It  takes about 1 to 1.5 hours to travel from downtown Xi’an to the Terracotta Army, which is located approximately 40 km away in the Lintong District. The fastest option is a taxi or Didi (approx. 40–50 mins)This costs approximately £12.60. Allow a half day for your visit. The museum opens from 8.30am to 5 pm. Tickets can be booked online with Trip at a cost of about £8,50 per adult . This helps to skip the line and is a little cheaper than the £12.50 on the official website. It is worth checking to see if over 65’s go free, this is the case in some of Chinas tourist attractions. We will probably take a small group Viator which includes a half day visit to the museum and a lunch with a local family for £65 for us both. 

There are also other visit options available some include making your own mini warrior to take home with you…it sounds intriguing but we prefer the family food option!

Places of interest we want to see and things to do on our proposed forthcoming trip to Beijing China…Part 4

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If you are reading this and you’ve been to Beijing please comment with any additional places to see and things to do, which you really enjoyed, so we can all enjoy your knowledge. The two activities below are two on our “must do“ list. We also want to do a rickshaw/tut-tut tour but we’ll source that when we are there.

Walking Foodie Tour

Foodie tours in Beijing, often focus on the historic hutong neighborhoods, and offer immersive culinary experiences, including evening food tours to sample local Han, Mongol, and Muslim cuisines. The tours take you off the beaten path and eat where the locals eat. They are walking tours in the oldest neighborhood of Beijing, you wander through the lively local neighborhood while sampling a delightful array of dishes, including Zhejiang Mian noodles, soup dumplings, potstickers, candied mulberries, and crepes You eat at local, family-run eateries that you would never find on your own.

Most tours last approximately 3 to 4 hours and are designed to take visitors away from tourist traps. There are a variety of prices for the tour most start around £40/£50 per person. If you want it to include peking duck you will pay a lot more. Hotel concierges can generally organise these tours or you can book with companies like Viator, or Beijing ground tour company. 

The Red Theatre Acrobatic Show

Red Theatre Beijing Acrobatics is a showcase for the best of China’s “Acrobatics”. It entertains with breathtaking acrobatics and cultural spectaculars. The show starts with Plate Spinning pagoda bowls, Jujitsu, Partner Stunts, High chair, Ballgame, Shoulder Ballet, chair stacking, and daring motorcycle acts. The acrobatic show combines traditional Chinese techniques with modern, immersive lighting, music, and dance. 

It starts  at 16:20 and 17:30 every day and last for 60 minutes. You are expected to arrive to the theatre 20 minutes before the show to get started. Red Theatre Beijing Acrobatics Address: No.44 Xingfu Avenue, Dongcheng District, Beijing. The cheaper seats sell out very quickly. The better seats are usually combined with either an elaborate banquet, peking duck experience or dumpling supper. A basic ticket, seat only costs about £25-£70 per adult.

Our next Places to see and things to do in China will be in Xian.