I had a much needed summer holiday on Waiheke Island in Auckland’s harbour. New Zealand is my recharge-place. It took me a week to get rid of my 2015-stuff*. Then it took me a week to unfurl and feel the lightness that came with letting things go. And then, I had a week to enjoy my holiday. […]
I’m not sure what is most impressive about the Terracotta Warriors; the fact that this art work was created in 209 BCE, the epic scale of the army sculpted to protect Emporor Qin Shi Huang, or the incredible detail and individuality of each soldier. The army was discovered in 1974 when a farmer drilled a well and […]
Like other cities in China we visited, Luoyang’s old city, temples and pagodas are surrounded by constant high-rise construction. Luoyang’s streets are massive and seem endless. Skeletal new apartment buildings covered in cranes and scaffolds pop up in every corner of the city, where whole suburbs are being built all at once, from the ground […]
The main must-see on my China list, standing on the Great Wall was truly awe-inspiring. We went early to the Mutianyu stretch of the Wall to avoid crowds and haze, but it was still a little hazy. After Huangshan our legs were still pretty shaky, but otherwise Mutianyu is a great choice for those […]
It’s funny, there is an exhibition on the Forbidden City running in Melbourne at the moment. I decided to spend the extra few bucks to come to Beijing instead. I learnt some things (thanks audio guide thingie): The Forbidden City is super old (construction started in 1406). The emperor was believed to be an ambassador […]
There are few occasions where I might say, the weather is too beautiful. Climbing in Huangshan, the Yellow Mountain, we had sunshine and blue skies, missing what is locally called the “sea of clouds” around the iconic jagged peaks, which gives the illusion that the rocks are floating in the heavens. Stone steps are carved throughout […]
