Before arriving in China I was bewildered by modern navigation systems and Google maps that could predetermine every road and every turn in our journey, leaving no room for spontanity and the unexpected. Reality proved me wrong. I am still unsettled by the fact that all those narrow village and …
Yesterday’s straight empty road on the Canal embankment stretches ahead of us on the next day as well, once we had left the petrochemical factories at the outskirts of Gaoyou behind. To our left is the Canal with the barges, to our right – ponds, villages, patches of blooming rapeseed, …
After 25 km of strenuous exit from the newly emerging Yangzhou we are finally on the road that leads direction north along the Grand Canal. And what a road it is! – as if designed for bikers: new, empty and quiet, shaded by trees. The traffic is accommodated by the …
Almost three weeks in China have already passed, but we still have not achieved our goal of starting out early, that is to say before 11 am (see Reisen mit Kindern I). Instead, with every day our departure time becomes later and later. This excludes from our daily program the …
“Taxi!“ You all know that classic movie scene where a guy in a crisp business suit throws his arm out and yells, “Taxi!” and one instantly appears. May be in New York, but not in Nanjing. On the way out of Nanjing the family ways separated again. We decided to …
It is a mixed experience to visit physically a certain place, with which one has been familiar only through descriptions in old literature. The previous night I reached Mt. Mao in the Jiangsu province, which I knew from texts written 1 500 ago as one of the most sacred Daoist …
I wake up to the monotonous drumming of rain. How relaxing, how peaceful,- after all that early morning drilling and hammering in Shanghai,- and I lull back to sleep. Suddenly I open my eyes widely: We are in the ancient water town of Nanxun. And it rains! There is a …
Easter Sunday. Even in China this day could not pass without the traditional Eastern brunch and the search for Easter eggs. The hearty brunch, comprising even painted eggs, and chocolate bunnies, and croissants, courtesy of our hosts, stretched long beyond the planned departure time. But, finally, here are we, ready …
Some people travel to China in order to discover new horizons; I just had to go two metro stations away to enter the unknown. The Terra nova for me is called “Sport Department“. My jogging is limited to running-pushing the Stroller to get on time in the Kindergarten, my workouts …
With every day I gradually emerge from the early medieval age and get more and more tuned to the forthcoming biking in modern China. I even had a look on our Facebook page, for the establishment and maintenance of which Volker should take all the credit. I clicked on Our …