A Visit to China

China is a place to be visited. Although we have not visited the big cities like Shanghai or Beijing, we have been lucky enough to visit some other areas in the country and some smaller cities in the south east of China.

The smaller cities in China are not what we would call small but are the size of our major cities here in Australia.

We visited many temples. They are very beautiful and have such wonderful architecture.

A temple in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, China

It still feels incredible that I was standing in this temple to take this photo in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province.

Fujian Province is on the eastern coast of China. Taiwan is just across the sea from there. Fuzhou City is the capital city of Fujian Province.

We took planes, long train rides, many taxis and buses in our journey. The train rides varied from the fast train between Fuzhou City and Xiamen in a brand new fast train going at 200km an hour to a long ten hour ride in and out of the mountains. There would be a few seconds of sunlight then we were back inside a mountain again and again and again.

A train ride is certainly a way to see the countryside in China, passing through the cities, country towns and farmlands. It is a big country.

Although Fuzhou is a large city of 5 million people, it is not a place where international visitors frequent and we were the subject of many photos - like thousands.

If you get the chance to visit this wonderful place, take the opportunity. We were lucky enough to be taken there by a good friend who comes from this city and is used to travelling in the country and so we saw the real China.

We ate in the streets with the people, we bought local food from the ladies who plied their food on the buses when they stopped and we ate fish balls out of an old steaming tin can off the back of a bicycle in the city.

We visited the back alleys, had foot massages, a hair wash and cut at 5pm on a Sunday afternoon (oh, so different to home). We ate at countless restaurants from the flash and expensive to lavish meals at 10am to McDonalds - again, so different to home.

After four and a half weeks we were ready to return home with lots of good memories.