Category: China

How Travelling Has Increased My Environmental Awareness

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Global warming and climate change are two things we keep hearing about frequently. Unlike some high authority figures, it’s not something we should be ignoring. However, it’s always been difficult to really grasp the effect global warming is having. It’s easy to get caught up in our day to day lives of finances, work, and personal relationships. My most recent travels have opened up to my eyes to the impact our livelihood is having and has increased my environmental awareness. Air Pollution in China Since being home, the question I often get asked is “How was China?” By now, I’ll admit that I …

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My Hangzhou Travel Guide

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I lived in Hangzhou for ten months. While many people have lived here much longer than I have, I’d like to think I got to know the city quite well. So much so that I’ve put together this Hangzhou travel guide. I hope you enjoy visiting as much as I enjoyed living there. While I can’t offer lots of history about places, nor suggest places to stay, I can recommend places to see, where to eat/drink, and how to get around the city. Hopefully, all these things will help if you’re planning on travelling to Hangzhou. Why should I travel …

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Visiting The Great Wall of China

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It would have been rude and ridiculous for us not to visit The Great Wall after living in China for 10 months. With five days left before our visas ran out, we headed to Beijing for one final adventure. Despite speaking to friends and reading many other travel blogs, we simply could not decide on whether we should take a tour to the wall or make our own way there. One favours seclusion and cost, the other convenience. After asking each other 10 times in one day “What shall we do about The Great Wall?” We finally decided on a …

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6 Things I Will Miss in China

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Our flight to leave China is getting closer and closer. It’s been a whirlwind experience with some great memories. What will I miss about this fascinating country? 1. The Hospitality of Locals Before coming here, I heard some hearsay about how rude Chinese people can be. Firstly, China has 1.3 billion inhabitants so you really can’t generalise. Secondly, I have received some wonderful hospitality from people here. From being invited to people’s homes for meals, being shown around hometowns, and even just somebody on the street offering me some soothing cream for my mosquito bites. Even with my limited Mandarin speaking skills, …

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6 Things I Will Not Miss in China

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Tomorrow I’ll be leaving China. It has been a truly incredible experience and I’ve learnt much about the culture and history. However, there are some things that I can safely say I will not miss from this country. 1. Pollution Pollution in China is bad. Not everywhere and not all the time. Spring has brought with it cleaner air, as well as humidity and rain. Still, the day before Christmas eve, the PM2.5 level reached over 400. This basically means the air is “hazardous” to breathe. Of course, not every day was like that but, in the winter months, I would …

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Getting Off The Beaten Track in Panan, China

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Unless you speak and read sufficient mandarin, and have access to a car, it’s difficult to get off the beaten track in China. This is why we were thrilled when our Chinese friend Edmund invited us to his hometown, Panan. Upon Googling the town, Wikipedia wasn’t very useful. The story of how we met Edmund is not your average tale. It was one day after a heavy night of drinking that Mitch and I craved a pizza. We hadn’t been in China very long, so with my limited Chinese, I headed to Pizza Hut (Mitch was too hungover to make the 10-minute …

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