New Years Eve in China

Weather improved considerably today. Less breezy with plenty of sun.

Walked up and down Nanjing Street and stopped in a few mostly empty malls. Apparently, taking photos in some of the malls is prohibited, but that didn't stop us from taking a few pictures. That is, until a stern announcement came over the PA system reiterating that no photos are allowed. Silly.

This afternoon, went to the pool and just relaxed for a few hours.

Tonight, the hotel is having a special dinner, so opted for that.

Enjoy the holiday!

Jing'An Park and Temple

Walked around these areas of Shanghai today.

Still some snow on the ground from last night's storm. People seem to consider the snow a rarity and were taking pictures of the snow that hadn't melted.

Lots of kitties in the park!

Sunny and breezy today, about 38 degrees.

Shanghai Snowstorm!

Just cold enough...

First foray around Shanghai

We're staying in the Jing'An District of Shanghai. This is a dizzying large city of 23 million people, so for the first part of our stay, we'll limit ourselves to this giant neighborhood.

So, today was the day to get our bearings straight. Walked around the 2 main features of this area: Jing'An Park and Nanjing West shopping street.

The park is large, well kept, and fairly quiet. Looking forward to further exploring, especially the giant temple that sits in the park.

Nanking Street is a massive lane of every store you can imagine. Nearly 5 miles of malls, restaurants, shops, and more.

We avoided the rain and found the best yet: the famous Shanghai soup dumplings. Essentially a pork dumpling with the soup broth on the inside. Inside out dumpling soup. Coupled with a side of spicy cucumber and fried anchovies, a perfect lunch.

More tomorrow...

Leg 21 transport done

Last train journey of the trip is complete and we made it safely to our hotel in Shanghai.

Clouds and fog equal no photos for now except the Shanghai South Train Station, one of the largest in the world. The waiting room has seats for 10,000 travelers.

The mileage:

leg 21 distance: 1010 miles from Guilin to Shanghai.

Total miles to date: 21375.

We'll be here for a week or more, so lots to report after recovering from the overnight train.

Leg 21 begins today

Today begins leg 21, the last land-based travel, the last train trip of the journey.

We'll be riding the T78 overnight train from Guilin to Shanghai, followed by a stay in Shanghai.

Note that Flickr updates may be delayed as China Internet access to certain web sites is, well, to put it nicely, subject to certain limitations.

Flickr site updated

The Flickr set has been updated to include the last of the Vietnam photos, including photos from our stay in Hoi An.

Check it out here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37975783@N03/

Or, click on the link to the right.

Li River tour

Spent Christmas Day on a tour down the Li River to Yangshou. Plenty of unusual limestone mountains and caves to see.

Today marks the 4-month point of the trip. 20000-plus miles in, 5000 or so to go!

Christmas Eve party in Guilin

The hotel held a party this evening. About 1500 people, huge buffet, all kinds of entertainment: choirs, comedy, quick change artists, magicians, singers, gangnam style dancers.

Ate tons and had a great time!

Guilin day 1

Spent the day walking around the markets in Guilin followed by a climb up the peaks at a couple parks.

Great weather, partly sunny and about 55 degrees with a slight breeze.

Leg 20 transport done

Train transport from Hoi An to Guilin, China is complete. Between Hanoi and Nanning, China we were the only passengers. Here's the mileage:

Hoi An to Hanoi train: 560 miles.

Hanoi to Guilin train: 405 miles.

Total for leg 20: 965 miles.

Total miles to date: 20365.

Looking forward to exploring the central Chinese city in the mountains.

Part 2 of leg 20 underway

Survived the 12 hour wait for the M1 train with flying colors: stowed the luggage on the safe and cheap storage at the train station and spent the day walking around the Old Quarter lake with numerous stops for shade, coffee, lunch, and ice cream.

The 2nd part actually involves 2 trains: Hanoi to Dong Dang and a stop to pass through customs. Then, because the track gauge varies from Vietnam to China, we hop on a Chinese train for the final run to Guilin.

By the way, this train is just the engine and 1 sleeper car, and as of this writing, we are the only passengers.

World is safe!

To our friends and family on the other side of the international date line: the world didn't end, all is well at 9:44 AM on December 21 in Hanoi.

And, the coffee is pretty good...

Part 1 of Leg 20 complete

We made it back to Hanoi, no problem. Found a comfortable seat in the train station to camp out while we wait for the M1 train to Guilin, China.

Leg 20 begins today

Leg 20 begins today: a 2 train journey from Hoi An to Guilin, China.

Part 1 started with a quick taxi ride from Hoi An to the train station in Danang. Danang seems like a town that is modernizing: new skyscrapers are going up everywhere as are new suspension bridges across the river.

Next is the overnight train from Danang to Hanoi. Same deal on tickets: we bought 4 so that we could have a sleeping room to ourselves. The train runs along the central coast of Vietnam and should provide some nice mountain and South China Sea views. Not many stops for the SE4 train: Hue, maybe one other town, and then Hanoi.

Long layover in Hanoi should insure no problems making the connection to the second train on this leg.