Round trip in China!

Finally, my summer holidays will start soon! Last Sunday I did my written exam and the best part of my sabbatical leave will begin this Saturday: round trip in China. I am not travelling on my own, but I will join a group tour. My fellow travellers will arrive on Saturday in Beijing, because Beijing is the first city we are going to visit. You might think, I have already been staying in Beijing for 5 months, so are there any places I haven’t seen yet? No, actually not, but we are going to visit the Great Wall at Badaling and the Summer Palace, which are places I will only see for the second time. The group tour is semi-organised; we are travelling together from city to city and are staying at the same hotel. When we are in a city, we can decide ourselves to stay with the group for sight-seeing or visit touristic places on our own, so it is quite flexible. The best part is that the transportation and accommodation have been arranged already; no worries at all and very comfortable! And it can be very busy in trains and hotels during the summer holidays, because the Chinese are also travelling in China.

As I have told you our first stop is Beijing, then I will travel to the following cities: Pingyao, Xian, Chengdu, Lijiang, Dali, Kunming, Guilin, Yangshuo, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, so from the north eastern part to central China and then to the south eastern part of China. The round trip is going to last for 24 days, so it will be quite intense. When I am in Hong Kong there are still 2 weeks left before I will return to The Netherlands, so I will visit my brother in Japan. I am going to spent a week in Japan, visiting Osaka and Kyoto. I have never been in Japan, therefore I am very curious about how the Japanese are; do they easily speak English? Are they hospitable? I have met Japanese people during business trips, but my experiences are variable.

I can’t wait till the round trip starts! I am very excited! But I have still a few days left, which I will use to buy souvenirs and pack my stuff I won’t need for my round trip and send it back to home. I have been staying in Beijing for 5 months now, if you ask me do I like Beijing? I cannot say I do, but I will remember Beijing as a place where I got to know the Chinese people and Chinese culture with all their pleasant and annoying aspects.