A GUIDED TOUR – 3 Days (17 - 19 November, 2019)
Tailor-made travel with Graham Elsom
Experienced travellers are always on the lookout for something different.
Keep an eye on these columns!
Graham has been travelling all his life and is always seeking something special and unusual.
The Pearl River Delta has become one of the leading economic regions in China and is a major manufacturing centre of the world. It is only a few years, let's say thirty-five, since it was rice paddies, market gardens, fish farms and duck farms.
Despite the creation of massive new cities and expressways, which are interesting in themselves, there are still a good number of very interesting places and architectural treasures remaining, reminders of "Old China".
The places of interest visited illustrate the former glory of this ancient part of China. Thousands of years of Chinese history are embodied in the region. Among things that can be found is a spectacular quarry from the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD), the tomb of a king who ruled from 137 BC to 122 BC, a superb ancestral hall dating from the Yuan dynasty (1271-1386) and several ornate Qing (Ching) dynasty (1644 -1911) scholars’ villas.
Often maligned as an uninteresting city, this short tour will show you that Guangzhou, formerly Canton, could eclipse Hong Kong as the most spectacular city in southern China. The city of 13 million has totally transformed itself in the past twenty five years. Much of the urban squalor has been replaced by soaring new buildings and landscaped gardens.
Being more than 1000 km from the national capital, Beijing, Guangzhou often ignored imperial edicts.
The last dynasty, that of the Ching Emperors, began to decay and crumble in the second half of the 19th Century.
It was in Guangzhou that the great Chinese revolutionary, Sun Yat Sen, engineered the Ching dynasty downfall in 1911, ending more than 2000 years of imperial rule. Subsequently, Chairman Mao Tse Tung spent a great deal of his time residing in Guangzhou.
Canton, with a history of more than 2800 years, was China’s foremost trading port for centuries and any visitor to the city today might believe that the new Canton, Guangzhou, is striving to restore that former pre-eminence. It is the biggest city in southern China.
Long before the emergence of Shanghai, Canton was transacting international business. The first foreign contacts were with the Indians and Romans who arrived here as early as the 2nd Century A.D. By the 8th Century, during the Tang Dynasty, many foreign traders, mostly Arabs, were living in Canton.
For itinerary details click here
Contact Graham graham.elsom@jebsenholidays.com for further information about these or any other travel plans you might be considering.
Written by GRAHAM
Having lived and worked in Asia for 40 years, I have travelled extensively to off- the- beaten-track locations in Asia. I like to think of myself as your man on the ground in Asia.
My passion is for the less travelled, more remote and interesting locations, which many simply bypass. It is the local culture, architecture and heritage in which I am most interested.
I always wanted to be a Travel Consultant. My favorite geography teacher sparked my interest at a very early age.
My very first job was with the world’s oldest travel company, Thos. Cook & Son. I joined them in 1962 in Melbourne, Australia.
Later, I founded my own travel agency, Concorde Travel in Hong Kong, from 1978 until 2016. We have now merged with one of Hong Kong’s oldest and most prestigious companies, the Jebsen Group, founded in 1895. This allows me to devote more time to my favorite pastime, Travel Consulting.
I have a special interest in smaller and more adventurous cruise ships. These enable you to escape the crowds and visit often unexplored and truly pristine destinations. I have been intrigued that the Virtuoso map will not let me include some of the more exotic places I have visited. These are spectacular destinations, but one or two of them might require a bullet proof vest these days:
Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti), Koror (Palau), Saint Helena (British Overseas Territory), Phu Quoc (Vietnam), Aden (Yemen), Turpan and Macau (Peoples Republic of China) and Port Lockroy (United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust).
In these days of mass tourism, careful planning is required to ensure that one’s exploration is an enjoyable and memorable experience.
I hope you will let me help you to find these roads less travelled. All you have to do is let me know about your own special interests.
Please feel free to email me at graham.elsom@jebsenholidays.com
Having lived and worked in Asia for 40 years, I have travelled extensively to off- the- beaten-track locations in Asia. I like to think of myself as your man on the ground in Asia.
My passion is for the less travelled, more remote and interesting locations, which many simply bypass. It is the local culture, architecture and heritage in which I am most interested.
I always wanted to be a Travel Consultant. My favorite geography teacher sparked my interest at a very early age.
My very first job was with the world’s oldest travel company, Thos. Cook & Son. I joined them in 1962 in Melbourne, Australia.
Later, I founded my own travel agency, Concorde Travel in Hong Kong, from 1978 until 2016. We have now merged with one of Hong Kong’s oldest and most prestigious companies, the Jebsen Group, founded in 1895. This allows me to devote more time to my favorite pastime, Travel Consulting.
I have a special interest in smaller and more adventurous cruise ships. These enable you to escape the crowds and visit often unexplored and truly pristine destinations. I have been intrigued that the Virtuoso map will not let me include some of the more exotic places I have visited. These are spectacular destinations, but one or two of them might require a bullet proof vest these days:
Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti), Koror (Palau), Saint Helena (British Overseas Territory), Phu Quoc (Vietnam), Aden (Yemen), Turpan and Macau (Peoples Republic of China) and Port Lockroy (United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust).
In these days of mass tourism, careful planning is required to ensure that one’s exploration is an enjoyable and memorable experience.
I hope you will let me help you to find these roads less travelled. All you have to do is let me know about your own special interests.
Please feel free to email me at graham.elsom@jebsenholidays.com
“Crash! Bang! Shatter!” the sound of quite a lot of crockery crashing to the floor emanates from the kitchen. Or should I say galley? For I find myself on a ship, a car ferry in fact, on my way to the fabled Mediterranean island of Menorca. I look out the window and the horizon keeps going in and out of view in a rather alarming way while big waves wash against the windowpane. But the sun shines blithely from a cobalt blue sky. It’s the Mediterranean!
Fancy a trip to Europe? Do you want to see everything the continent has to offer but worry that you don’t have enough time? Come to Mallorca! It is Europe in miniature.
Tailor-made travel with Graham Elsom
Experienced travellers are always on the lookout for something different.
Keep an eye on these columns!
Graham has been travelling all his life and is always seeking something special and unusual.
Presented by Graham Elsom
Experienced travellers are always on the lookout for something different.
Keep an eye on these columns!
Graham has been travelling all his life and is always seeking something special and unusual.
Presented by Graham Elsom
Experienced travellers are always on the lookout for something different. Keep an eye on these columns! Graham has been travelling all his life and is always seeking something special and unusual.
