In Shanghai, we explored the famous shopping district — Nanjing Road, the Bund, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, and QiBao Ancient Town. In Beijing, we covered Summer Palace, Great Wall, Ming Dynasty Tomb, Tianmen Square, Forbidden City, and Wangfujing Street. In Hangzhou, we circled around the amazingly beautiful West Lake.

A lot of things have been changed in China from my last trip 5 years ago. Nowadays, traveling in China has become much more easier.

First, there are bullet trains connecting cities together with reasonable cost, running at 200 km/hr. It takes a night from Beijing to either Shanghai or Hangzhou. The traveling time between Shanghai and Hangzhou has been further reduced to 75 minutes from 90 minutes 5 years ago. The train stations become much cleaner, especially in Shanghai.

Second, there are McDonald, and KFC everywhere. Food in China is relatively cheap, even after the recent price hiking. In China, a meal in McDonald costs 22RMB — about 3 dollars, compared to $7~8 in US. If one goes to some local restaurants that don’t look very clean, the cost could further be reduced to 4RMB, which is a little bit more than 50 cents. On the other side, one can enjoy a really good meal for less than $30.

Third, there are restrooms everywhere and the streets become much cleaner. It is not only for foreigners, but also for local travelers. Even though it was not the right season for traveling, we still saw a lot of visitors wherever we went. The whole traveling industry will be the next biggest thing in China once Chinese have more flexible vacation time as what we have in US.

Now, let’s look at lodging. The best way is to live in a hostel, which, most likely, provides tour groups for foreigners. The second best choice is to book a hotel via ctrip.com, which requires a local cell phone number for membership. (Besides, there will be a ctrip/HYSTA event in Feb 2nd.) Both hostels and hotels are clean and the cost is less than 200RMB per person per night. Of course, rich visitors could try expensive 5 star hotels that provide English local maps and costs more than $100 a night per person. Hostels and hotels allow people to check in luggages and even expensive goods while they are out for sightseeing, but they might not provide tooth paste and tooth brush.

All in all, traveling in China is pretty exciting and relatively cheap compared to US, except the expensive airline tickets.

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Shanghai, as the biggest city, population wise, in China, roots its history back to Song Dynasty (AD 960 – 1279), as a busy seaport. Eventually, it outgrew its original political jurisdictions to become the center of finance and trade in mainland China. What people might not know is that in the 1930s and early 1940s, over 20,000 European Jews fleeing Nazi persecution found refuge in Shanghai, one of the few places in the world that allowed their entry at that time. Shanghai will hold the next World’s Fare in 2010.

Beijing becomes famous long before it wins 2008 Olympic. As the capital of China for the last three dynasties, the city is history rich. It first became the capital of State of Yan, one of the powers of the Warring States Period (473-221 BC) with the name Ji. Most of historic temples/palaces were constructed in Qing Dynasty, except Great Wall, which was done in Ming Dynasty. Forbidden City, Great Wall, and Summer Palace are places worth visiting.

The city of Hangzhou was founded about 2,200 years ago during the Qin Dynasty, it is listed as one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China. Hangzhou was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty from the early 12th century until the Mongol invasion of 1276. The Venetian Marco Polo visited Hangzhou in the late 13th century and referred to the city as “beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world.”

I will share my journey here with everyone!

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The parade was full of Irish step-dancers, bands, musicians and Irish spirit. The main color for St. Patrick is always green with colorful Irish dancing dresses blooming like flowers. Young girls put shamrock stickers on their smiling faces. However, their noses were red due to the cold weather.

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Last Saturday, it was warm and sunny, which was a nice day for Chinese Lantern Festival. I went to San Francisco by Caltrain. From San Francisco station, I walked along 4th Street, truned right on Market Street, and took Stockon Street across China town. At the end of Stockon Street, I turned left on Columbus Avenue, passing Washington Square until reaching the bay. After visiting Ghirardelli Square, I headed back by taking Columbus Avenue, and then Montgomery Street. At the corner of Market Street, I observed Chinese New Year Parade. After taken enough pictures, I relocated myself to the famous Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where a flickr event was happening. Spending some time there, I walked back to Caltrain station and headed back home.

I never thought that it could be so easy to enjoy city life in San Francisco — by public transportations and by walking around with my cameras. The round-trip time on the train was 2 hours and 40 minutes, while I entertained myself with all sorts of podcasts in my iPod. Definitely, I need to enjoy city life more in the future. Further, I have found a map of Bay Area public transportations, which could be useful for new people to San Francisco Bay Area.

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Before the trip, I was living in crunch time. The movie “Gang of New York” and the tragic 911 might be the only two sources for me to have some ideas. I DO know that it was the capital of United States before and friends DO suggest famous places to me, which include Time Square, Empire State Building, Wall Street, Liberty Stature etc.

In the first day, I started from Time Square, walked to the 5th Avenue, matched towards Empire State Building. It was about 10 street blocks far. Luckily, I caught New York Public Library on the way. Since I like to read, I am always interested in public libraries, not to mention that New York Public Library is one of the world’s leading libraries. It is stunningly beautiful inside and out. Hopefully, my pictures could reveal its charm. Later, atop of Empire State Building, I enjoyed the 360 degree panorama of the whole city.

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In the second day, after figuring out New York Subway System, I headed toward Manhattan Financial District starting from Grand Central Terminal. Due to the schedule, I didn’t make my trip to Liberty Stature. I walked through Wall Street and visited Trinity Church at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street. Then, I took shots of the famous Charging Bull in Bowling Park. I did miss NYSE due to the construction work in Wall Street.

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When I visit a place, I like to understand the culture, the history, and the tradition behind people’s day-to-day life. My unpreparedness actually served this purpose very well, which forced me to talk to local people to find the right direction. That’s how I realized that it is not easy to find a local New Yorker. It was not easy to find a person who knew the road.

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