Peter and I have been talking about this trip and we realized just how wrong our perceptions were of China, especially after beginning our trip in Hong Kong and landing straight smack-dab in Kowloon. We thought that China would be like Kowloon: crowded buildings, narrow roads, hot, noisy and lots of hawking.

We were totally surpised to find out that we were completely wrong. The cities we have visited different.

Shanghai - even though it has lots of high-rises, some hawking in tourist areas, there are lots of wide avenues, wide sidewalks and parks with lots of trees for shade.

Beijing - the same thing goes for this city: lots of wide open spaces, wide roads and sidewalks. Hawking is less compared to Shanghai - most locals have learned to say "Hello!" to get your attention.

Xi'an, Nangjing and Hangzhou - were wonderful surprises, very much like the other two big cities mentioned above.

On our train rides from Nanjing to Hangzhou and Hangzhou to Shanghai, we notice very modern European-style condominiums strewn all over the once-farm land at the outskirts of the city. We have not seen any of the old style homes with courtyards in our travels.

It seems that the housing of choice here is an apartment in one of the new high-rises, completey with amenities and nice shady parks in between the buildings - they are not built side by side but given enough space to put parks or lake/ponds - very aesthetic. But these units are now quickly getting more expensive every year. The real estate is booming here, especially in Shenzhen (we heard on the news). You will not find an detached single-family homes here, we think that it is not allowed here in China.