We just returned from an incrdible 2 week land trip to China! (Not sure, Karen, if this belongs in another section, so please move it if appropriate!) Still jet lagged, but happy to be home and want to share a bit of our trip with you.

We used points to fly Delta Business Elite from Ft. Lauderdale to Atlanta and then into Seoul Korea. From there, Korean Air to Shanghai. After a week in Shanghai we flew China Eastern to Beijing and pretty much reversed the trip to get home. Door to door each way was about 26 hours. The flights were all wonderful and remarkably on time! Biz Elite on Delta was fine but the Korean Air and China Eastern in first class were awesome. Both were only 2 hour flights, but in each case, a multi course meal was served, with french wines and gracious service. What a pleasure!!

Shanghai was wonderful, the city seems to have doubled in size since our previous trip there 18 months ago. This time we stayed at the Royal Meridien on the Club Floor. It was fantastic. Perfect location, gorgeous contemporary suite and impeccable service!

The earthquake occurred the day before our arrival. We happened to be on Nanjing Road when the 3 minutes of silence was observed to begin the three day mourning period. There are no words to describe the horror of this. Tragic beyond belief, but also inspiring in watching this incredible nation come together. To say we felt insignificant is such an understatement.

We managed to spend time and money in the markets and restaurants. Loved the dumpling restaurant at the Yu Gardens. The knock off market from our previous visit had been knocked down (pardon the pun!) and pretty much relocated to a multi story building. Same kids, yelling 'Lady, lady, want to buy a lewwee weeton.... Yup, I felt like I was right back in that same Jerry Lewis movie!

This was our first time in Beijing. Absolutely loved the city. It is congested beyond belief, but so exciting! The pollution is intense, but the streets are spotless and lined with roses everywhere! Not sure if the profusion of flowers is in preperation for the Olympics or just the norm. We stayed at the Peninsula and thanks to the AmEx FHR program were upgraded to a gorgeous suite.

Wandered over to the food stalls the first night where they sell all these incredible and very different foods. Even the scorpions looked delicious. No kidding. Huge pots of delicious looking vegetables, beautifully arranged fried scorpions and I'm not sure what else. I don't think I want to know!! Our favorite food experience was the Peking Duck at a restaurant called Da Dong. Yup. Duck at Da Dong. Ahhh...so many restaurants, so little time!

Thanks to Marcie, Ngaire and Anne, we found "Beijing Jane" and booked her for three days of wonderful touring. She was fantastic! We did all the usual sights and loved every moment! My legs are still weak from the walking. The Temple of Heaven was awesome, the Forbidden City beyond anything I could have imagined, and the Summer Palace was breathtaking! Probably the most exciting was taking the chair lift up and the toboggan down the Great Wall. My heart is still pounding!

Our too short visit was so full of exciting sights, moving moments and treasured experiences....will share more later....after I catch up on sleep and hugs from my doggie!!

WOW, it souonds like a fantastic trip, minus the long flights.. But you are right, the foreign airlines treat you much better than the American.
Glad you enjoyed it,
Lynn

Welcome home, B! Sounds like a wonderful trip. Thanks for the report.

Bonnie, It sounds like you had a fabulous trip. Hope to get to those places some day. Would love to see pics if you plan to post them somewhere.

Thanks for sharing.

Bonnie,

What a great trip you had! Thanks for your report.

Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip, Bonnie! Our time in China, especially Shanghai, flew during PANDA.

Bonnie - what a great trip! Thanks for bringing back all the great memories.

Welcome home!

Cheers, Anne

Bonnie, what a terrific trip. I'm glad the earthquake didn't ruin it for you. Sure would love to see your pictures!

Guess I'm not as young as I used to be :rolleyes: Still recovering from jet lag....but can hardly complain about that problem!! Thanks for all your good wishes. I do have lots of pictures, and will attach a few when I figure out how to do it!

Bonnie, we'd love to see your China pictures. So happy Jane worked out well for you. We really enjoyed her too !!

Bonnie -


Here is a link to a post of Karen's with picture posting instructions. As you can see - I really want to see your pics too! LOL

Thanks, Robert...will give it a try ;)

Bonnie, the easiest and fastest way to do it would be to just upload them to our Kodak gallery. You don't have to resize them or anything like that, you just click on the ones you want and choose upload.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Welcome.jsp

Our username there is cruise@yahoo.com and the password is cc

Saved again....by KAREN!!!

Ok....I did it, I think ...23 pictures (Managed to take over 400 :D , so just sharing some highlights for now!)...

Not sure how to put the link right here, but it's at www.kodakgallery.com and you all know the rest.....

Yah, you did it!! Great pictures, Bonnie! Your view from your hotel room was to die for and I think you have the nicest smile I have ever seen!

Thanks, Karen! You are the BEST!!!

Great pics!

WOW! Awesome pics, B!! Thanks so much for posting.

Bonnie what great pictures! They bring back memories when Bob & I were in China more than a few years ago.

Susan

So many places to see and so little time. I can't stand thought of not going anywhere this year. I never gave China much thought but now I am interested. John and I really have to be thankful for all the wonderful cruises we have taken in the last 12 yrs. We are so grateful that the prostrate cancer is gone and we can think of traveling again next year. And, we are thankful for Ngaire and her crew and all the wonderful LCT friends we have made. Can't wait to get going again. We keep reading everyone's posts and love reading about all the experiences you've all had. Other than Ken and Ngaire; i think Marcie and Tom are the number one travelers. We have enjoyed everyone's posts. Keep them coming! ;) Judy

Bonnie - ahhh, the memories. Thanks for sharing the pictures! (recognized a lot of those sites from PANDA). How long was your wait for the restaurant serving the soup dumplings?

Wonderful pictures, Bonnie - oh, what a view from your hotel room!!!!!

Thanks, everyone for all your comments! So much fun to share!

Masaki, we ate at the restaurant at Yu Gardens that is actually a regular restaurant. It had the little dumplings that you can get at the 'take out' part, and a lot of other items, including the soup dumplings. The little take out window, which is kind of around the corner from the entrance to the main restaurant, had a looong line. We went there the second day, waited only about 15 minutes...Delicious!!!!

Kristin and Karen, yes, the views from our hotel in Shanghai were awesome! Our suite was on the 46th floor....I truly felt like we were in the clouds! In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that the views from our suite at the Peninsula were significantly less than spectacular. In other words, 'interesting' at best. Actually, we overlooked a pretty ugly apartment building, but it was kind of fun watching some of the people coming and going. I think the Peninsula is only 14 stories...and we were on 8.

Thanks Bonnie.
Great pictures!!

Bonnie, I bet the indoor ambiance/amenities of the Peninsula made up for the lack of a view! :)

Bonnie - I remember seeing that restaurant at Yu Gardens ... and I remember seeing that line snake around the corner! :) Glad you only had to wait for 15 minutes!

Yes, Kristin, the ambiance and amenities MORE than made up for the lack of view. And given the periodic smog, I don't think we would have missed much even if it had been spectacular!

While on the subject of hotels, while we loved the Peninsula, I do think that next trip I'd try the Regent. Location is almost as good, the hotel is obviously much newer, and I know many of you had great experiences there. The service at just about any 5* hotel in Asia seems to have such outstanding service! What a pleasure!!

And yes, Masaki....only 15 minutes. The first day, the line went forever and as best we could figure out, the wait was almost an hour. That motivated us to try the restaurant upstairs, which, as I said, was sensational!!

Bonnie - great photos, thanks for sharing them. We didn't make it to Yu Gardens - we need to go back.

I see you found the Beijing food stalls - did you try anything exotic? We saw lots of crispy critters to choose from...

Dena

Dena, the food stalls were amazing! Such an abundance of food...vegetables and yes crispy critters, all so beautifully displayed! While the fried scorpions and sauted centipedes didn't exactly excite me, there really was so much that looked delicious. I did have a vegetable pancake thing that was wonderful. After talking with a few people (our guide, Jane, and the concierge people at the hotel who all adamantly shook their head NO and warned of bad cooking oils) I decided to pass on the food there. Actually I'm a pretty fearless and adverturous eater....but common sense prevailed. I just didn't want to risk getting ill while on vacation. I do think, though, that a few more visits and I would have tried more of the goodies!