Advantages: Great Sights, Changing Culture.
Disadvantages: Difficult Language

...with fantastic views and a real feeling of amazment that you are indeed walking on the great wall. A word of warning is in order in that some of the sections are very very steep and require decent fitness. These are the main highlights, we also visited Peoples park, where people sing patriotic songs in large groups (but it rained unbelieveably hard) and the Summer Palace where there are amazing lotus ponds and in fact the largest man made lake in the world. We also visited Ming Tombs where you can see among other things genuine Ming Vases and Golden Chopsticks. Xian = From Bejing we flew to Xian, one of th most important historical cites in China. Important because they are still finding huge amounts of artifacts through archeological digs, important because the emperors Winter Palace is there and important because it houses... Read review

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Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

...I do not exactly keep it a secret that I am an Exeter City fan ( result at Shrewsbury!), but I also have a soft spot in my footballing life for Crystal Palace. I believe that people should be able to support at least two teams in their life. First you must always have a soft spot for your local team, no matter what level they are. If it is Liverpool or Livingstone, Real Madrid or Rochdale, especially the smaller clubs need your support. In there I also believe there is a place for another team, one bigger in the top few divisions that you watch out for the results, see a few games and generally have a soft spot for. Some may disagree, say you should be loyal to one, some may also call it glory hunting. I have very little time for people who do support team when they are winning. If they buy the shirt they call them supporters... Read review

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Advantages: Architechture, good value for moneym not too busy
Disadvantages: bit off the beaten track, not open Saturdays

...When you think of royal residences in the London area you think of Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace and perhaps the Tower of London or Hampton Court. No one would mention Eltham Palace even though it is where the young Henry VIII spent the vast majority of his childhood.. Eltham Palace is in a far flung corner of suburban south east London thus is a little known gem far far away from the touristtrap of central London. It's a palace with a difference as it is more cosy, intimate and at first sight not very royal at all due to the new 1930s wing. You may recognise the interiors as it has been used in films and television programs set in the 30s such as I capture the Castle and Brideshead Revisited. Eltham Palace is a fascinating building architecturally, with a very interesting history. It's actually half medieval Great Hall... Read review

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Advantages: too many advantages
Disadvantages: some modern stuff break the environment

...This palace has buit in Qing Dynasdy, many Kings in Qing Dynasdy use to live in this palace. It has been rebuilt many times in order to showing for tourist. it is one of the most famouse attractions in Beijing and even China. Thousands of people go to visit the imperial palace everyday, it attracts lots of foreiners as well. From this palace, I have learned a lot of Chinese history, especially the Qing Dynasdy part. It located just in the middle of Changan road, not for from the shopping place, at the time I have been there, I went by underground, which cost only 3 yuan. I have been there 3 times, each time I was gaining different experience. One interest thing is I find a starbucks in the imperial palace, it is not very good though, it break the whole environment at all. Because this palace is a very traditional structure, I think... Read review

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Advantages: Central location, nice breakfasts
Disadvantages: Expensive rack rate

...and Piccadilly stations quite easily, and the Arndale and Market Street shops are only 10 minutes walk away if you know where you’re going (or ask a helpful local…ask me and you might end up in Rusholme as a ‘joke’). China Town is up the road, and there’s a good selection of other restaurants near by too. There is a 24 hr chemists a minute up the road for those 24 hour chemical emergencies, and there’s a newsagents next door to that which does a roaring trade in hard to find imported chocolate bars. All being said, the location is not bad. The Palace is quite an institution in Manchester, and if you walk past it early in the evening you often see tux-clad men and tarted up women tottering inside. It hosts a lot of balls, corporate functions and weddings but I wouldn’t really say it’s the type of place you go to stay otherwise. For one thing, it... Read review

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Advantages: See the history, experience the wonder
Disadvantages: none

...Giggle, giggle, chattter, chatter and lots of pointing. We were the centre of attraction for the hordes of little Chinese school children as they walked in orderly fashion around the Summer Palace, near Beijing in China. This was the first time I realised we were foreigners in their country. The little ones, were very amused at our small party of three Kiwi's (New Zealanders) and they showed us in no uncertain terms that we were a bit of a rarity when we visited, to learn more about their Chinese rulers' way of life. The Summer Palace is an attraction where being fit and able to walk long distances is definitely a bonus. It is spread out around huge Kunming Lake with the most beautiful ornamental 18-arch bridge, temples and palaces. Hearing the names of the Summer Palace, Imperial Garden's features is enough to describe... Read review

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Advantages: Lots to see and do, the great wall, Forbidden City
Disadvantages: Pollution, not the best weather in March, people spitting everywhere

...A short summary This is a travelogue about the trip that my wife, Nikki, and I took to China (Beijing, Xi’an and Hong Kong) in the period from March 15th to March 29th 2003. We first spent 7 days in Beijing and we got to see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and so on. From Beijing we took an overnight train to Xi’an and our main goal there was to see the Terra-Cotta Warriors but we also got to see a few other things. And from Xi’an we flew to the city of Shenzhen and from there we took the boat to Hong Kong (HK), where we stayed for about 5 days. In HK we visited Ocean Park, Victoria Peak, the Space Museum and so on. Prelude A couple of years back we thought about going to China and as luck would have it we ended up in Florida instead :-). Well, this time around we were more determined... Read review

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Advantages: An insight into a totally different culture and way of life.
Disadvantages: Language barriers, Staring, Queuing, Cold.

...seen enough Buddha's to last us a lifetime by this point and I had a bad cold which didn't help. The caves aren't that amazing as many of the Buddha have been stolen over the years and they are opposite an ugly quarry. As for Datong as a city, it is a hideous, grey and dull and we got out as fast as we possibly could.... Finally we headed to Beijing, our final destination. Sadly the weather was bad here and we were sad to be leaving and therefore we didn't do as much as we should have…. But of course we did take a trip inside the Forbidden City and to the Summer Palace both of which are must see sights in Beijing, although I was sorry to see that there is now a Starbucks inside the City walls which horrified me… Thankfully we picked the one good day to take a trip out of the City to see the Great Wall of China (pictured below), which... Read review

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Advantages: Beautiful pictures, great deal of info
Disadvantages: Inaccurate maps, dated information

...Have you ever heard anyone say: “I am going to DO Europe before I go and DO Asia and America!” Did you ever think to yourself: “What on Earth are they going to DO with or to these countries?” Well you have probably never thought of this that way but to me it came funny how the word DO equals VISIT in the cool-dude-of-a-backpacker language. I was going to become one of these people. And call me pathetic but cool is very high on my interest list. If I got to DO something, I DO it in style. And I was going to DO China. I can’t really say that the Lonely Planet guide to China made me want to pack my bags and fly to this colossus of a country on a first plane available. I always wanted to go there and by the point of the purchase I had already made it as far as Singapore on my way to China. It was my boyfriend (and a great travel buddy... Read review

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Advantages: Great cultural and historical perspectives
Disadvantages: Incessant grumbling of author becomes tiresome

...In recent years, China has, for me, lost some of its mysterious aura which has intrigued travelers for years. With the Beijing Olympics not far away, China is starting to open up to the outside world and is now at the heart of all kinds of statistics, used to illustrate just how much China is changing - that it is the world's biggest consumer of steel or that it has the fastest growing number of mobile phone users, for example. Paul Theroux's "Riding the Iron Rooster" was published in 1988; he had spent one year traveling China by train, covering the whole country in a series of trips (the "Iron Rooster" is the name of just one of the trains he travels on) during which he gave his impressions not only of the country and its customs but also the Chinese people. The trip takes him from the frozen forests of Manchuria, through the wilds... Read review

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