Actually, that was my first trip to Guilin. Last trip from Beijing, we decide to explore other famous cities like Guilin which famous for its nature landscapes while visiting China. There was an old Chinese saying "Guilin's has the best landscape in the world!" and heard from my best friend experience, it was a beautiful place. I had high hope for this.

Since we are unfamiliar with China and its domestic transportation, less English information then from Beijing we used the same local travel agency for visit Guilin. Based on my experience in Beijing which was good, so we believed great times also would happened when we were in Guilin. We pre-booked the tour in Beijing then got it easily by phone for more detail.

Yangshuo with River and Karst Hill as Background

So it was only a couple of hours flight from Beijing to Guilin. Since Guilin is famous for its Li river then we could not leave the city without a short trip along the river right? In fact, Li River so famous that if you are familiar with traditional Chinese paintings, you will find that many has used these mountains as subjects or backgrounds. So we did take the boat and enjoy the view along the river.

The 90 km journey from Guilin to Yangshuo took a good two and a half hours. The boat trip itself was quite pleasant, tour guide always guided us along the way and at the same time gave us a little explanation about the view. We had some camera were ready to capture amazing nature landscapes that we did see along the river. After a boat journey, we arrived at the dock where everyone got off. We arrived at Yangshuo, a small town nearby Guilin.

West Street, Most Popular Street in Yangshuo

We walked through villages, along the rivers and everything we was look just perfect. This was what I always wanted to see, unspoiled landscape and locals. Although the weather was a bit cool but we enjoyed almost everything we did in Yangshuo within limited time. Really want to go back next time for spend and explore more in near future without join a local tour, just travel independently. I could image that Yangshuo was just THE place to see, whatever the weather. If I was summarized our Guilin tour, I would say a trip to Yangshuo by boat passed through Li River by far the most fun and scenic tour ever! Yangshuo has lived up to my expectations and more. Next trip, I would like hire a bike and cycle around, enjoy the beautiful backdrops and fields.

The tour that I took from Beijing to Shanghai has made our vacation memorable and organized at the same time. Shanghai as everyone knows is a modern city, metropolis city which become very elegant and beautiful at night. During several days in Shanghai, join 2 days tour including its night tour with China travel agency, made us realized the fact of beautiful Shanghai night.

First place that everyone should not miss is Huangpu River for its night cruise. I prefer to take a night cruise tour than the day time. Huangpu River is very quiet during night. Visitors could see both banks along the river both Lujiazui and the Bund, the soul of Shanghai. When the lights are all on, it is gorgeous.

View Before Huangpu River Night Cruise

In fact, Huangpu River divides Shanghai into two sections: Pudong in the east, and Puxi in the West, the old and new Shanghai which can be seen from the river. Next to the river on the Puxi side is the Bund where old beautiful European buildings still stand and on the Pudong side is the modern sky-scrappers. During the cruise trip, visitors could enjoy bright and elegant view along the river.

Another interesting place to go at night is Nanjing Road, is the largest pedestrian street in Shanghai. The street is spectacular at night as the stores let up after dark. Strolling around the street while shopping, with wide ranges of street food, snacks, and restaurants are accompanied with this night rhythm. Nanjing Road is one of the remarkable centers in Shanghai, very ideal for people enjoy nightlife of the city.

People Square Shanghai at Night

More than that, Shanghai also offers its famous music fountain at People Square, political and cultural center of Shanghai. This square is surrounded by Shanghai City Hall, Shanghai Grand Theater, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai urban planning Exhibition Hall Shanghai Art Museum and many shopping malls. Music fountain performs every night in the center of the square and attracts lots of people, both locals and foreigners. The whole square turns on a perfect picture; people are happy enjoy the performance, kids playing around, etc. For me, I like this atmosphere, everyone happy together in the middle of sparkling night. We did enjoy all of my night experience in Shanghai especially the fountain performance. Actually, whether it is night or day, Shanghai has offers a lot activities for visitors. It depends on you to explore it the most!

I just love my 1 day trip to Xian. Different from Beijing, this second time visit China to Xian was extremely interesting. It might because I did travel with great companions not alone like last time to Beijing. Surely everyone must know best place to visit when come to Xian. It is Terracotta Army. Like everyone said as the biggest archeological finding, I just want to believe that sentence is true and not thinking much about the real truth by the way. The day I came to the site, I just want to enjoy what showed in front of us.

The Terracotta Army is a whole army, current estimates say 8,000 man strong, constructed by Emperor Qin around the year 200 BC. Most of the figures are full sized and every figure is unique in shape and facial features. Fascinating project with huge idea! From this trip, I did also know that Emperor Qin (First emperor of China) ordered people built his mausoleum. It has been estimated that construction the whole mausoleum involved some 700,000 workers and took several years. I don't have any idea why would someone want to build such a mausoleum for himself, right? But it was said, the main purpose of the Terracotta army was to protect the emperor after death. So, what are you thinking now?

By the way, till now, three pits of Terracotta Army have been excavated but some archeologist believed that even more pits wait to be discovered. The site consists of a museum and three excavation pits. We started at the museum, which contained examples of what was found in the pits as well as explanations on how all the stuff was made, why it was made and by whom. We knew all the things about its history, and structures of this huge mausoleum.

After visited all three pits, we were very impressed with the whole site and really happy that we came to see this world wonder. Everyone true, a visit to Beijing should not miss Great Wall, and visit Xian should not miss Terracotta Army. It was very impressive to see all those soldiers lined up like they were ready for battle! Like they really to protect their emperor after life! It is such an incredible site, worth for visiting and you will personally discover its sacred atmosphere once step enter the site.