Latest posts
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Temple of Ancient Monarchs Li Dai Di Wang Miao in Beijing
Saturday, the 21th of January 2017 Today is another day of brilliant blue skies and sunshine in Beijing. Three weeks into the new year the weather is freezing cold, but due to the icy winds the air is clear again and you can see the mountains surrounding the city miles away. Naturally, we always want…
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Winterly Temple of Heaven in Beijing
It’s our first week back after the Christmas holidays and I have to say the weather treated us very nicely. Over newyears our friends who didn’t return home as well as the German media repeatedly reported the devastating smog situation in Beijing, and I already expected the worst. Fortunately, we brought the clean air back…
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Roadtrip to Panlongshan Great Wall, Gubeikou, Beijing, China
Having a drivers licence in China (or a boyfriend/girlfriend/good friends that don’t mind bringing you along who have one) turns out to be of great great advantage when living in Beijing. On weekends you can spontaneously rent a car (i.e. from Avis near Dongzhimen for 290 RMB/day), pick one of the many sightseeing spots that…
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Five Day Trip to Seoul, South Korea
One of the banes of living abroad (and especially in China) are visa runs – being forced to leave the country simply for the purpose of renewing your residence permit. So why not use the compulsory trip to catch up on some long due traveling, in our case bridging the 1000km distance from the Jing…
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Heilongtan National Scenic Area – Beijing’s Black Dragon Pond
Some 60 k out of Beijing one can visit the Black Dragon Pond, or Heilongtan, in Miyun district. The area is marked by a collection of small ponds of clear water, that are fed by a well somewhere in the mountains above. It is a nice change to the busy city life in Beijing proper,…
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The World’s Largest Glassfloor Viewing Platform now opened in Beijing
On May Day 2016, the world’s largest glass floor viewing platform opened in Beijing. Of course we went, and here is how we got there: A few Saturday’s back we took the early morning bus 635 (or 117, whichever you prefer), riding to Dongzhimen. From there, we interchanged at Dongzhimen chuniuzhan (the hub station) to…
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Hexigten Global Geopark, Inner Mongolia, Northern China
Photo documentary from our road trip to Inner Mongolia. The second stop took us to a UNESCO geopark.
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A Week in Hong Kong – Part I
Hongkong really surprised us and it wasn’t like Mainland China AT ALL! Admittedly, I didn’t really know what to expect, but I guess I just assumed it would be at least similar to other (Chinese) capital cities I visited or lived in before. Since we chose early March to travel there, the weather situation in…
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Tianning Temple Tower
The other day we accidentially discovered a small buddhist temple in Beijing’s Xicheng district. It was a beautiful day, we just came back from the old CCTV Tower and saw the tip of the pagoda while riding past in a bus. Although it was surrounded by the usual overdone new structures that you also find…