May 2008 Archives
The torch’s route will pass through the San Li Dian District, east of downtown, through downtown, along Bin Jiang Road, near the Li River, and down Li Jiang Road, east of downtown.
The Olympic Torch Relay will pass a number of Guilin’s hotels including: the Guilin Plaza Hotel, the Guilin Golden Dragon Hotel, the Hotel Universal Guilin, the Guilin Park Hotel, The Sheraton Guilin Hotel, the Guilin Lijiang Waterfall Hotel, the Golden Elephant Hotel, and the Guilin Aviation Hotel. Visitors staying at these hotels who have tour schedules for May 6th will need to leave their hotels before 7:30am.
From 7:30am to 1:00pm roads used by the torch relay will be closed, and all vehicles are forbidden to enter the city proper, except for local busses and vehicles involved in the torch relay.
- A strong earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale has rocked Wenchuan in Sichuan province, some 92km northwest of Chengdu on May 12th. The earthquake took place at 14:48 Beijing Time and sent thousands of people rushing out of buildings and into the streets hundreds of miles away in Beijing and Shanghai. The temblor was felt as far away as Vietnam and Thailand.
- About 1,200 pandas -- 80 percent of the surviving wild population in China -- live in several mountainous areas of Sichuan. The earthquake hit one of the last homes of the giant panda at the Wolong Nature Reserve and panda breeding center, in Wenchuan county, which remained out of contact till the morning of May 13th.
- Although it was difficult to telephone Chengdu, the citizens in Chengdu still can send messages through MSN saying there were power and water outages there.
- The earthquake also rattled buildings in Beijing, some 930 miles to the north, less than three months before the Chinese capital was expected to be full of hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors for the Summer Olympics. Li Jiulin, a top engineer on the 91,000--seat National Stadium -- known as the Bird's Nest and the jewel of the Olympics -- was conducting an inspection at the venue when the quake occurred. He told reporters the building was designed to withstand a 8.0 quake. "The Olympic venues were not affected by the earthquake," said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing organizing committee.
- The Tourism Administration of China made the announcement that all travel services must stop organizing any tour groups to visit Sichuan province for safety’s sake, while those travelers who are in Sichuan areas should be helped to leave as early as possible. The information we have received says that the conditions in Sichuan, especially in the areas around Chengdu, Wolong and Jiuzhaigou are not good for traveling. Chongqing however has had no problem, so Yangtze River Cruises are still available.
We have a number of tour groups visiting the area affected by the giant earthquake that hit China. The moment we found out where the earthquake was based, we immediatly called all of their tour guides to make sure that everyone was safe. We have been in touch with every person in these groups and are pleased to announce that all of them are safe, and quite happy. In fact one group laughingly told us that it was quite the adventure. All of the groups traveling with us are our top priority. We are doing everything we can to ensure that their visit to China is uninterrupted by the earthquake.
Important Notice: A strong earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale has rocked Wenchuan in Sichuan province. But the large earthquake that hit China Monday hit in a fairly lightly populated area. Other cities in China are relatively untouched. So it is still safe to visit those cities in China.
For anyone wanting more information, China Odyssey Tours has a 24 hour customer service line and we would be happy to answer all of your calls.
Please feel free to call us at: 1-800-773-0862
With China Odyssey Tours, You Are Not Alone In China
We here at China Odyssey Tours would like to thank you for your emails and phone calls of concern due to the large earthquake that hit China. We are fortunately located in the South of China, and although we did feel the tremor, it was barely noticeable. We thank you for your support in this time of crisis, and our hearts go out to those in Sichuan Province during this, their hour of need.
On Monday May 12, 2008 at 2:28 p.m. local time, China had its worst natural disaster since an earthquake rocked in the country in 1976. Western China had a massive earthquake which was estimated to have had a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter Scale, and lasted for 3 minutes. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, 10,000 people have been killed, and untold numbers have been trapped in piles of concrete and steel. The quake,s epicenter was located just outside Chengdu City in Sichuan Province. Over 80% of structures near the epicenter were destroyed according to Chinese officials. The quakes tremors could be felt as far away as Vietnam, and another smaller quake was set off in Tongzhou district, on the outskirts of Beijing over 900 miles away, although no damage was reported. Much of the affected area has been cut off from the outside world making accurate figures difficult. The earthquake had disrupted air traffic control in western China, but flight services were restored by Monday evening.
China’s Tourism Administration announced that all travel services must stop organizing any tours to Sichuan Province for safety,s sake, while those visitors already in Sichuan Province should be helped out of the area as early as possible.
Premiere Wen Jiabao flew to the region to offer support. He visited one of the local hospitals where patients were trapped inside the building and was seen shouting encouragement to them. American President George Bush said in a statement “I am particularly saddened by the number of students and children affected by this tragedy” and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge sent his condolences to Chinese President Hu Jintao saying, “The Olympic movement is at your side, especially during these difficult moments.”
