It was a total of about two weeks long. First part was a Ritz tour. We have never tried a real "tour" before so this was the experimental part of the trip. We flew into Beijing and spent three days there. Our excellent guide and tour manager was Jeffrey. He had video and photo assistance from Miss Wang. Next was Xian and the terracotta soldiers. We killed about a day getting to Shanghai for about 20 minutes and then on to Hengzhou for spend about a day. Last day was in Wuxi and Souzhou.

The food was generally good with a few minor exceptions. If you want a king-sized bed, be prepared to fight for it and lose sometimes. Cigarettes are a government monopoly in China so smoking is rampant, get used to it. If you are a competent driver, never sit in the front of a vehicle, it'll drive you nuts.

All in all a nice tour. As is often the case, there were waaaayy too many stops at "arts and craft" installations. China is shot though with them. Problem is that there is lots of craft and zero art. Oh well...

We stayed for an extra week at our flat in Shanghai (Pudong) with Jane's parents. Lots of journeys over and under the river to the bright lights of Nanjing Rd.

I took lots of pictures. Believe it or not, these have been painfully gone thru to condense them. I know, it doesn't seem that way.