One more week before we fly out to China. The last few months have
been filled with information gathering and preparing for the trip. The internet has been the main source of
information. Borrowed books from the local library and talking to friends who
visited China have been also been extensively exploited. Dad also started learning Mandarin but this
did not last long. A bit too tedious for his aging brain. Fingers crossed, his tiny bit of Hakka and
the countless Chinese we'll meet there will help us out. So, are we ready yet?? Well, not quite. We
know where we would like to go but we still have not finalised when and where we
will be on a particular day. Our itinerary is as follows, Melbourne -> HK -> GuangZhou
->Meixian -> Guangzhou -> Shenzen -> Guangzhou -> Beijing ->
Datong -> Beijing -> Xian -> Guilin -> Xiamen -> HK -> Melb.
We are trying to cramp as much as possible in 26 days. There is so much to visit. Some of the travel will be by coach, some by train,
plane, boat, bamboo shaft and by foot.
If possible we'll try a bike ride in Beijing and Xian as well. One of
the primary purposes of this trip is to visit the birth place of Grandpa Li,
the river where he spent countless hours swimming. He nearly drowned in there too but this did
not damper his enthusiasm. So much so that one day Great Grandma Li took away his
clothing while he was swimming. Not sure what happen next ... .