China Holidays Blog

The last programme has now been transmitted and what a brilliant conclusion to this fascinating series it was.

The title of this programme Tides of Change gives us a clue as to its contents. With a coast line that stretches nearly 2,000 miles from the Yellow Sea in the north through the East China Sea and finishing in the South China Sea we see a huge variety of bird life and the numerous bird sanctuaries that exist along the coast line.

I am not a ‘twitter’ but I would just love to see the sight of the migrating Cranes – can you imagine what a sight it must be – I was so surprised to hear that an estimated 3 million birds migrate along the Chinese coast .

The programme also gave us tantalising glimpses of the tea plantation and terraced field of rice cultivation – I have been lucky enough to see many such areas within China and I can assure you that they are indeed just a beautiful as they were shown on Wild China. What is difficult to appreciate on a TV programme is the quietness of the areas, well away from the crowds of local tourist.

I was fascinated to hear that the Chinese tourism industry was worth an estimated £75 billion to the Chinese economy (from my experience I would guess at least 75% of this income comes from the local Chinese exploring their own country) rather than hordes of overseas visitors

Well – I will now need to find something else to do on Sunday evenings – let’s hope the BBC soon do a repeat run of the programmes.

Programme 5 gave us an insight into the life of pandas in the wild. Before anybody asks us to arrange to see pandas in the wild I must say that the footage that the BBC showed last night was unique; as a tourist it is impossible to see Pandas in the Wild.

We do have arrangements with Wolong Panda reserve to enable our clients to work as volunteers in the research station – this is a great experience for those people who really do want to get up close and personal with a Panda.

For me the best bit of last nights show was the segment about Jiuzhaigou and Mount Emei, these areas are little explored by westerners although popular with the city dwelling Chinese.

As the programme announcer said at the start of the programme “this edition of the series was filmed before the recent earthquake”, I am afraid much of what we saw last night has now be devastated and many thousands of the population have been displaced as well as countless people, in these rural areas, having lost their lives.

Please keep an eye on our web site www.chinaholidays.travel for the latest news about the recovery that the population in Sichuan Province are making and when tourist can again visit this lovely area of Wild China.

It is now a week since the huge earthquake struck Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province at 14:28 on 12 May 2008. We have received contact from many clients who have been in touch with us to express their concern and who have asked us to pass their sincere condolences to all those who suffered from this disaster.

We are very grateful for all your immediate and wholehearted concerns showed towards the Chinese population who have had their lives shattered by this sudden earthquake

The 8.0 magnitude quake was powerful enough to be felt throughout China. But, luckily people from areas relatively far away from the epicenter have not been affected in any great way.

All Tourists visiting Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin, and Shanghai are well and safe, as these cities are all quite a distance from the epicenter. Most of the guests have decided to finish their tours as planned. Our guests who happened to be near the epicenter have evacuated with the help of police and the army. The Chinese government has carried out “Disaster Contingency Plan” to ensure that people who were suffering could get immediate help.

As a tour company, we have been keeping in touch with all our guests since the quake happened. We are happy to report to you that none of our guests are in any danger.

Up to now, big cities like Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin, Shanghai and more are still safe tour destinations, but we do not recommend any tours to areas in Sichuan province until it is officially announced safe. To be specific, Chengdu, Wolong and all the other areas in Sichuan should be avoided for the foreseeable future.

No Olympic venues were affected, and the huge Three Gorges Dam, which is roughly 400 miles east of the epicenter, was not damaged; Our Yangtze River Cruises will depart as planned for the rest of the season.

More detailed reports about the conditions near the epicenter can be found through many channels it does seem as if reporting of the disaster has been candid and thorough by both the western and Chinese media.