Travelogue :  Wanderlust : Travel in broken bits

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Each time i visit China, I think that its going to be the last visit for me. But saying that, I've been to China times so far. The first visit was in 2001, I fell ill , major flu and Beijing was engulfed in a horrid sandstorm for most of the time. Not fun.
In 2003, I visited Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou. Totally enjoyed the shopping !!! Weather was very nice and cold. Hangzhou and Suzhou are the must see places around Shanghai, the former for the picturesque lake and Suzhou is known as the Venice of China. for obvious reasons.
In 2004, I was sent to Shanghai again for the 2003 HPC recognition event. So, this time we decided to not only cover Shanghai but extended our trip to fly to Beijing and cover Forbidden Palace, The Ming Tombs, and ofcourse the Great Wall of China.
One incident I remember is that at the hostel we stayed in Beijing, quite a shocker to me was that they wanted all payment in cash so whatever I had went in paying for my room. So...big panic !!! the ATM machine swallowed my Malaysian ATM card...well in the end I used my credit card for getting me food..and I had lots of Starbucks :p and then borrowed some money from my friend FoongYen to cover my tours.
All in all was good fun, word of advice , if u ever go to Beijing take good shoes with you..and be prepared to walk a lot. My feet were all swollen after covering the Great Wall and Forbidden City back to back !!

i loved the forbidden palace. and i loved it more after i came back home and watched the "Last Emperor" again...i could really imagine how life must have been inside that huge maze of houses and palaces and courtyards..