One, Big China

China is pretty big. 

It covers a very diverse area, and the people from different areas are very diverse. Even beyond Hong Kong and Taiwan the concept a single unified China is something I struggled to get my head around. Our guides would often reference dynasties from hundreds of years ago and say “they unified all of China.” 

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Historic, since 1982

China is old.

They have a recorded history going back quite a while. Though there ██████ are some notable ██████ blank spots ██████ in that history.

We visited a lot of places that were very old, or at least were old at some point. China seems to have a new found pride in its history, or █████ at least █████ parts of ████ it.

On the way to the Great Wall we visited the Ming Tombs. Our guide explained that a number of the tombs were destroyed during the cultural revolution. What was left hadn’t been completely excavated.

Ming Tombs
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All the Ponts!

Pont in French means bridge or span, we would see a few of them today.

Each morning there would be a new and interesting car parked out the front of the hotel. The Tesla Model X had come down all the way from Norway, I think the Citroën was a little closer to home.

Today we were picking up a rental car for a couple of days to visit some areas outside of Nimes. On the list today was a visit to the museum and replica of Chauvet Cave near Pont d’arc. We had a set time to take a guided tour of the replica cave, so we needed to get our rental car as soon as the place opened.

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