PCWalton1 Posted April 26, 2018 Author #476 Share Posted April 26, 2018 The food was tasty and so was the beer. Believe it or not the menu said the dish on the right was fried chicken. At least it was chicken. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 26, 2018 Author #477 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Later we stopped at this ice cream place shop I could have a cone of green tea ice cream. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 26, 2018 Author #478 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Marie did some street dancing. Hi Sue and Jim. Enjoy the Crowne Plaza. Our current home. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyJut Posted April 26, 2018 #479 Share Posted April 26, 2018 WOW! Wonderful review and pix. Enjoyed following along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accio_7 Posted April 26, 2018 #480 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Bill and Marie, I hope you had an amazing cruise and enjoy your time in Beijing! When are you flying home? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 26, 2018 Author #481 Share Posted April 26, 2018 WOW!Wonderful review and pix. Enjoyed following along. Thanks for following along Bill and Marie, I hope you had an amazing cruise and enjoy your time in Beijing! When are you flying home?We fly home Sunday morning. We still have two full days of touring including a Chinese opera. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accio_7 Posted April 26, 2018 #482 Share Posted April 26, 2018 We fly home Sunday morning. We still have two full days of touring including a Chinese opera. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Oh wow, I'm really looking forward to hearing about that! Just out of curiosity, are you planning to post an overall ship review of Ovation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 26, 2018 Author #483 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Oh wow, I'm really looking forward to hearing about that! Just out of curiosity, are you planning to post an overall ship review of Ovation? Once we get home I will try to write up about the ship. Have to get my thoughts in order for that Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluetiger59 Posted April 26, 2018 #484 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Bill Did you need any special travel visas for this trip? Were there any medical requirements? Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare xpcdoojk Posted April 26, 2018 #485 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Bill Did you need any special travel visas for this trip? Were there any medical requirements? Paul I am not Bill but I can answer the question since we were on this similar 2nd cruise of Bill’s last year. You will need to get a Chinese Visa before you travel. We used a visa expediting company in Chicago because for the region of the USA I live in that is the Embassy / Consulate you need to use. Other states may use other Embassies. For Vietnam if you do ships tours the cruiseline provided them for us. I was told, but never fully found out that if we had stayed overnight in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) that we would need our own Vietnamese Visa. I do not know that is the case. The Chinese Visa was fairly expensive and I had to prepay for shipping both directions. If you live in a city with a Chinese Embassy you can save quite a lot of money by visiting the Embassy on your own. For us it was not convenient to do that. JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 26, 2018 Author #486 Share Posted April 26, 2018 I am not Bill but I can answer the question since we were on this similar 2nd cruise of Bill’s last year. You will need to get a Chinese Visa before you travel. We used a visa expediting company in Chicago because for the region of the USA I live in that is the Embassy / Consulate you need to use. Other states may use other Embassies. For Vietnam if you do ships tours the cruiseline provided them for us. I was told, but never fully found out that if we had stayed overnight in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) that we would need our own Vietnamese Visa. I do not know that is the case. The Chinese Visa was fairly expensive and I had to prepay for shipping both directions. If you live in a city with a Chinese Embassy you can save quite a lot of money by visiting the Embassy on your own. For us it was not convenient to do that. JC Actually that is not accurate. You may not need a Chinese Visa, we don't have one. We used the 144 hour visa exemption which is free. We just have to stay in the Tianjin/Beijing area. Saved us hundreds of dollars. For Vietnam the ship got the visa card for us that we used for both ports. It was $6 per person. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare xpcdoojk Posted April 26, 2018 #487 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Actually that is not accurate. You may not need a Chinese Visa, we don't have one. We used the 144 hour visa exemption which is free. We just have to stay in the Tianjin/Beijing area. Saved us hundreds of dollars. For Vietnam the ship got the visa card for us that we used for both ports. It was $6 per person. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Thanks for clarifying. I was told that the transit visa was only valid for arrival at airports, but since you did not do that, it was obviously bad information. That is what I was told by people in this forum, and what it states on the State Department and Chinese embassy websites. Would have been good to know. I have found a website travelchinaguide dot com that does suggest what you are doing is perfectly legit. Wish I would have found that website a year and a half ago! JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 26, 2018 Author #488 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Thanks for clarifying. I was told that the transit visa was only valid for arrival at airports, but since you did not do that, it was obviously bad information. That is what I was told by people in this forum, and what it states on the State Department and Chinese embassy websites. Would have been good to know. I have found a website travelchinaguide dot com that does suggest what you are doing is perfectly legit. Wish I would have found that website a year and a half ago! JC The 144 hour transit visa for the Tianjin/Beijing area only became available in December 2017 Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare xpcdoojk Posted April 27, 2018 #489 Share Posted April 27, 2018 The 144 hour transit visa for the Tianjin/Beijing area only became available in December 2017 Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Well, thank you again. I have been kicking myself for not being quite the awesome information person I thought I was. :confused: That should help fill up there ships as that will probably save people $100-200 minimum a person. :( I found another web page after the first, I was like how did I not find this wonderful tidbit. Thanks again. So where are you staying in the big city, we stayed at the Regent it was very very nice, good breakfast good drinks and snacks in the evening. We did a really fun/crazy tour called the lost plate tour, and the wonderful young lady who took us all over the city at night eating real China as she called it in Tuk Tuks drinking beer. We stopped at like 6 houses/restaurants and had a wonderful time. We literally were eating in people’s homes at their tables. Ended up in what is a Chinese microbrewery. Good night. Met some fabulous Norwegians tractor dealers who had been visiting Shanghai and the new Caterpiller manufacturing plant that had relocated there from Belgium, and an Australian doctor and her boyfriend. Fun night. JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindyJohn Posted April 27, 2018 #490 Share Posted April 27, 2018 This final temple was where the emperor would go to pray for the crops. He would go three times a year, spring, fall and winter. The winter visit was to say thank you for the harvest. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Sorry I was slow to find your posts but I'm amazed and grateful that you find the time to share your adventures - THANK YOU!!! When we visited this temple in 2008 we were told they had a special tie with the state of Oregon to supply replacement timbers for the temple since there are not too many trees in the world large enough. I look forward to crossing paths with you and Marie one day, but in the meantime your posts are a genuine treasure!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 27, 2018 Author #491 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Sorry I was slow to find your posts but I'm amazed and grateful that you find the time to share your adventures - THANK YOU!!! When we visited this temple in 2008 we were told they had a special tie with the state of Oregon to supply replacement timbers for the temple since there are not too many trees in the world large enough. I look forward to crossing paths with you and Marie one day, but in the meantime your posts are a genuine treasure!!!Hi, welcome. Glad you caught up. We still have a couple days to explore. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 27, 2018 Author #492 Share Posted April 27, 2018 It's Friday the 27th and bright and early we were off to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden Palace. Tiananmen Square is a city square in the centre of Beijing,China, named after the Tiananmen("Gate of Heavenly Peace") located to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. The square contains the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China in the square on October 1, 1949; the anniversary of this event is still observed there. Tiananmen Square is within the top ten largest city squares in the world (440,500 m2 – 880×500 m or 109 acres– 960×550 yd). It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history. Great hall of the people Monument to the People's Heroes National Museum of China Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 27, 2018 Author #493 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 27, 2018 Author #494 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 27, 2018 Author #495 Share Posted April 27, 2018 The Forbidden City is a palace complex in central Beijing, China. The former Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty—the years 1420 to 1912, it now houses the. Palace Museum. The Forbidden City served as the home of emperors and their households as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government for almost 500 years. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 27, 2018 Author #496 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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PCWalton1 Posted April 27, 2018 Author #499 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted April 27, 2018 Author #500 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Marie with our guide Maggie Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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