the essence of china
Emma Brady and her boyfriend travelled on Intrepid’s Essence of China trip in July and are still raving about the experience…
“China!! What a country, even after talking to people about it who we’d met along the way we still weren’t sure what to expect? What we can say after spending 3 weeks here is that it’s truly amazing and every single person we have met and talked to has been super friendly and helpful and every place we have visited has been a pleasure!
Our three week Hong Kong to Beijing trip was led by our leader Bobo from Intrepid Travel. Bobo made sure we, and the other 10 in our group (1 Welsh, 2 great Danes, 2 German, 2 English and 3 Aussies) had a safe and enjoyable trip through China. To be honest it was a god send having Bobo doing all the organising, ordering our food and general making our trip easy.
We took in 7 cities, 5 overnight trains, 2 nights on a boat, 3 nights in monastaries, 10 nights in 3/4 star hotels and countless buses.”
“Beijing was our final desintation. But no rest for the wicked! Bobo had us all up early visiting the great wall, Olympic stadium, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and a acrobatics show. The Great Wall was a definite highlight – clear blue skies and great scenery. It was surprising to see very few tourists on this part of the wall (Jinshanling to Simatai) and at times we had the wall to ourselves!
And so our 3 week journey had to come to an end and all that was left was to have a final group meal and hit the bright lights of the Beijing bars to talk about our travels and say our goodbyes. Everyone went their seperate ways but our trip continued in Beijing. We spent our finals days bargaining at the silk market, relaxing at the brilliant Pecking Youth Hostel and cycling through the hutongs of Beijing. Oh, one more thing, Beijing is famous for crispy duck pancakes but like most of the food in China it was nothing like “English” Chinese! – They eat everything – Duck Tongues, Chicken bones, Dogs, Intestines, pigs throat and every part of anything that moves!
Overall, we have throughly enjoyed our adverture through China – our favorite parts was the actual ‘travel’ through China – The overnight trains were brilliant and meeting the friendly people who made us feel more than welcome was the best!”
Tour China with Intrepid on trips like these great small group adventures:
Essence of China Northbound – 21 days Hong Kong to Beijing
China in Depth – 28 days Hong Kong to Beijing
