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A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Guilin, China by TravelPod blogger Mikeandjill titled “National Day Holiday 09/30 – 10/08″. TravelPod is a company of TripAdvisor™. Mikeandjill’s travel blog entry: “Our first holiday of the year coincided with our first paycheck of the year. How convenient. The National Day holiday, which celebrates the founding of the Peoples Republic in 1949, provided us with an 8 day holiday after a mind-numbing 30 days of work. It is, however, our last real holiday until Chinese New Year in February, 2010, when we will have a month off. Time to get in to a routine here and save some yuan. We spent the holiday in the province of Guagnxi, in southern China. Sadly, the first 2.5 days were spent with a Chinese tour group in Guilin and Yangshuo, thanks to an invitation from our neighbours/Chinese family, the Tans. At the time of their rather vague invite, we had not yet made plans for the holiday and would have found it exceedingly awkward saying no. We learned a lot on this trip. Firstly, we are not tour groupies. I think we knew this in advance but it was definitely reinforced big-time throughout the 36 hours we spent in Tour Group Hell (TGH). Don’t get me wrong, we saw some beautiful places – the views of the karst peaks in Guilin were ridiculous and biking among the rice paddies in Yangshuo was a blast. Furthermore, the Tans are becoming family friends and our time with them away from TGH was a lot of fun. They don’t seem to be the …
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X 2000 is the brand name of Sweden’s tilting 200 km/h high-speed train class X2, which is constructed by ADtranz and operated by SJ. It was launched in 1990 as a first-class only train with a meal included in the ticket price, and free use of the train’s fax machine. There is a bistro on board that serves snack bar-style dishes. The trains were initially used sparingly to avoid breakdowns. From 1995 the trains were used more intensively and second class was introduced. The train’s designated top speed is 210 km/h (but during a trial with double locomotive units in 1993 it reached 276 km/h), but the maximum allowed speed in regular traffic is 204 km/h (127 mph) since the signal system (and systems like the catenary) are not built for more for safety reasons, and as it shares the track with regular trains and as most of the lines it uses were built in the mid to late 19th century. The 19th century railways Stockholm-Göteborg/Malmö are relatively straight, since they were planned the shortest way without taking intermediate cities into account, and the landscape is relatively flat. Other 19th century railways are generally curvier. In comparison to other high-speed trains, the X2000 is not particularly fast; but compared to regular train services, it cuts journey time by about 25% – enough to make it competitive with airlines on many routes. It typically averages about 150 km/h (90 mph). The fastest part is Katrineholm – Skövde, a distance of 180 km (approximately 112 miles …
