Can I post some of my Chinese trip photos from last Oct here ? Also a visit to grandpa's old home and neighouring towns.
China Travel
- Thread starter SteelBird
- Start date
SteelBird
Colonel
I think I will bring both WeChat/Alipay and cash (need more smaller money). I heard about Forbidden Palace ticket purchase. I will buy it before departure. Great Wall doesn't need to book ticket in advance? I plan to join local tour to visit around in Beijing. Sound like it's not a good idea?
SteelBird
Colonel
Yes, of course. Please share your experience.
May be rename this thread to 'China Travel'?
I did a fair amount of traveling in SE Asia, but only been to China two times, both were just twenty hours long due to flight lay over.
I would like to learn more about HOW to travel in China. Where to go, what to see, good eating places, etc.
I did a fair amount of traveling in SE Asia, but only been to China two times, both were just twenty hours long due to flight lay over.
I would like to learn more about HOW to travel in China. Where to go, what to see, good eating places, etc.
solarz
Brigadier
Depends, do you speak or read any Chinese? Personally I don't like tour groups, but if you don't speak Chinese, it might be easier to join a tour group.
You can book the Great Wall in advance, but you don't have to. It might still be a good idea though.
solarz
Brigadier
If you haven't already done so, the Great Wall and the Forbidden Palace are both obligatory visits.
After that, you can explore more of Beijing, or visit other cities like Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing. I also highly recommend visiting Xinjiang if you have the time.
SteelBird
Colonel
Yes, I do speak, read and write Chinese. I don't have communication problem in China.
solarz
Brigadier
In that case, I would highly recommend going by yourself. Tours are way too rushed and you waste a lot of time going from one site to another.
In addition to the Great Wall and the Forbidden Palace, I recommend 天坛、颐和园、圆明园、景山公园. In the latter, you can get a great view of the Forbidden Palace in its entirely.
Thank you for sending pictures!Thank you, brother! you've done me a big favor.
There are two tombstones, one belongs to my grandfather, less info but more correct.
This one belongs to my parents. I'm afraid the one who carved the tombstone made some mistake. I can't even read some of the words.
First of all, I noticed that the name of the place located to the right of your grandfather's tombstone is “Guangdong Huiyang Yuechang ......”(广东惠阳约场... ... ). However, I am not sure that the last character is “村”, ”村“ does not have traditional Chinese edition and looks like a different character to me. More information may be needed on the last character.
Also, I noticed the newspaper on the ground. For the bent newspaper at the top, I checked the headline “ASEAN Car Rally departs from Nanning(东盟汽车拉力赛南宁启程)”, which is dated September 11, 2019, and tried to see what region it was from as best I could.
As well, the newspaper below is “The Commercial News”, a Chinese language newspaper in Cambodia, but unfortunately they don't seem to have an online electronic version... ...
The second picture, located to the right of your parents' tombstone, is inscribed with the words “Huiyang County(Xian), Guangdong Province(广东省惠阳县）”, which I am certain of, but the problem lies in the latter part of the sentence, which reads “约淐村揽水埳乡”（Yuechang cun lanshuikan xiang) is a guess.
Here are my thoughts:
“淐” pronunciation and “场” is the same, may be when the moment monument person's negligence, or because of other reasons and the use of homophonic characters. I think it still refers to the Yuechang village.
I'm not so sure about “揽”. I've searched all the modern dictionaries I can find so far, and I can't find a word that looks exactly like “揽”. I did find the traditional form: “欖”, which, if you combine them, spells exactly the same thing. Between the fact that it might have been easy to carve a monument or some other reason to use this “combination” of characters? Need more info.
As for “埳”, it's the most similar character I could find, and it's partly different from the inscription, but again, it could be due to folklore/the engraver or something else. More proof is needed.
Also, I noticed that in the second image, second column from right to left, “本生波罗勉县近知铭县”, where “波罗勉县近知名县”” I think is “Kamchay Mear District, Prey Veng province ” in Cambodia. Do you have any relatives from that area who can help you?
That's all I can find at the moment, if you have more information, you could provide it to me. If you don't feel comfortable, we can chat privately.
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PiSigma
"the engineer"
And the military museum! It's right on Changan Ave and got its own subway station. How can a Chinese military forum not tell steelbird to go to the military museum.
@SteelBird how many days do you have in Beijing? The new and old summer palaces, forbidden city, great wall each takes a full day to explore.
And remember to eat your share of Peking duck. For street food you can go to Wangfujing. And go to silk street for some bootlegged stuff.