Exotic China - by Peggy

We enjoyed a very interesting visit to China from May 26 to June 11.  We had several different experiences.  For the first week, we were participating in the program for the Great Wall Marathon, which Tom successfully completed!  Then we set out on our own for two weeks of touring to see the terra cotta warriors at Xian, visit Chengdu and Chongqing, spend some time in giant panda country in the Sichuan province, take a three-day cruise down the Yangtze River and shop till we dropped in the modern city of Shanghai.

China is a big place and we were fortunate to have the opportunity to see both the large cities of Beijing and Shanghai and rural areas between various cities and the mountainous panda region.  We very much enjoyed our contacts with Chinese people -- they are friendly, diligent workers and made all the travel difficulties we encountered worth the trip.

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