A Recent Trip to China took me to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Xi’an, Yichen and Beijing.

Images can be seen at www.iesphotography.co.uk/china

Just returned from 3 weeks in China on Honeymoon. Flew from London Via Dubai to Shanghai. A long trip indeed. Arrived in the baking heat and humidity of Shanghai. Took in the sights of Pudong and the Pearl TV Tower. Also walked around the Remin Sqaure and Flower / Animal Market. Took a trip at night down the Nanjing Road, but as a tourist you get hassled a bit to buy all sorts of tat.

Pearl TV Tower

Then the view from the top of the TV Tower is amazing as you can walk around the outside on a glass panel, if you have the nerve!

Took  a trip to the Yu Yuan gardens and market. Went to the famous dumpling restaurant there for soupy Shanghai Dumplings. Here are the staff making the dumplings. The take away side of the business does really well the queue was huge.

This lady was on the corner of a busy main road in Shanghai selling her food.

It was late afternoon so people were on their way home so a quick snack could be in order on their way home.

A couple of hours on the Chinese Bullet train is Suzhou. Was baking hot and humid when we went. Could be a really nice place when its cooler in the spring.

This photo is of North Temple Pagoda is one of Suzhou’s less restored and therefore more authentic, temple attractions. Built in the 3rd century, and rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty, North Temple Pagoda (Beisi Ta) towers over modern Suzhou and is a great place to get a fantastic view of the city. The temple is said to be the tallest pagoda south of the Yangtze River.

One way of getting round in China and especially to beat the heat in Suzhou was the ricksaw, these guy could be a bit to overpowering in there persistence to get you to take a ride.

After Shanghai we head to Xi’an which was our base for the trip to the Terracotta Army. Firstly we visited the Bell and Drum Towers. This shot is from the Drum Tower looking down at the bustling market below.

As Night fell the market lit up and allsorts of food was on sale. Mainly meat skewers, nuts, and Quail Eggs. Lots of nik-naks to tempted you to spend you Yuan.

The Great Mosque is one place to visit in Xi’an right in middle of the Muslim Quarter

Xi’an has a 7 miles Square City Wall. We hired bikes to ride around. We started just before sunset and ended out loop in darkness, the transition from daylight to darkness was superb, highly recommend if you ever visit. As you can see it was a little smoggy when we visited

The Main reason for going to Xi’an was its proximity to the Terracotta Army.

We ended up in Beijing which was by far the best place in China.

The Forbidden City was amazing!

This a boat going down Suzhou Street in the Summer Palace.