ARRIVING IN BEIJING
It was pretty clear we had left Mongolia and entered China. The wild empty plains had been replaced by evidence of people everywhere you looked, whether it was fields ready for planting, buildings, factories, retaining walls and people. Even in the middle of the countryside there were still people every few minutes. The train entered into a more mountainous area and, as we were on the tourist carriage, space at the windows came at a premium. A few choice words were exchanged between people on the other tour group. It didn't impact on us though as we were happily chilling out in our compartment. We arrived in the afternoon and met our next honcho Snow. She directed us through the people and the traffic to our van which drove us to the hotel. Our van driver was good at using his horn, but as he had learned in Mongolia and continued to learn in China that is just how you drive around here. As per our usual activities when we arrived somewhere new, we rested and showered before meeting the group again.
We agreed to check out the Donghuamen night market which is just for tourists (both Chinese and foreign). The booths are full of crazy food. Jess thought we should be adventurous so she choose something for the group to share. She didn't go for the scorpions or dog that were also on offer but choose a caterpillar kebab. It was perfect as it had 5 pieces and there were five of us. Jess went first, it wasn't to bad if you can get over the texture of the skin which gets stuck in your teeth. The taste wasn't too bad. It was kind of like roast chestnuts. The boys all managed to eat theirs too but Ellie freaked out
and spat hers on the ground.
Dinner was a bit more appetising for everyone. We wanted to try the local specialty Peking Duck. We also had some other dishes with pork chicken and beans. The restaurant was pretty cool, with ingredients under glass panels under the floor and big fake trees. The duck was good but not that dissimilar to what we could get in London with the same pancakes, cucumber and sauce. Yummy though. You also get a soup made with the left over bones, a nice idea but it pretty much tasted like duck fat. Being in China we drank tea with our meal. After dinner we tried to check out another night market up the road but due to the heavy rain it looked pretty closed so we called it a night.
BEIJING - DAY 2
The last day on the tour we all wanted to see Mao's mausoleum so we caught the bus bright and early to Tianemen Square, the biggest city square in the world. Although we didn't get there quite early enough! There was a big crowd so we joined the queue and hoped to be in in half an hour or so. Turns out the crowd was actually the queue which wound its way back and forth across the whole square. We spent a good 2 hours waiting in line getting pushed, shoved and used as shields by the Chinese. Not good queuing practice like the English and its the old ladies that are the worst. Without the wardens blowing whistles and shouting through megaphones at people it probably would have turned into a free for all to the front. Everyone else seemed to be part of some tour group or another - all with matching hats. Once we got to the front of the queue we showed our IDs. The Chinese just hold them above their heads - "Here's my ID!" We passed through the security checks and declined to buy him flowers. We queued a little more and spent around 5 minutes seeing him. Like Lenin it was all a bit creepy. Mao sure is a lot more popular than Lenin though. To be honest we're not sure it was worth the wait but at least we can say we went.
It was Sami and Ellie's last day in Beijing so they headed to see the Forbidden City while the rest of us would have a more leisurely day checking out some the temples. First up we jumped on the metro to see the Lama Temple, a Buddhist temple and former Royal residence. The street leading up the temple was packed with foodsellers selling from shops, stalls, trolleys and bikes. We dodged past them all to get to the temple which was busy with people burning incense and worshipping throughout. Considering China is supposed to have no religion there were a lot more people worshipping than you would see in NZ or the UK. Snow showed us through and explained all the important bits such as the amount of animals on the edge of the roof signified who lived there. The most is 10 at the Forbidden City. We also saw the competing world's tallest standing Buddha (18 metres I think) so the Mongolian one may be taller as it was built later despite the Chinese one having the Guinness World Record (In 1990 according to the sign.) Both impressive nonetheless. It was good having Snow to show as around as you could easily get fooled into paying a lot of money on things that look like they should bring you good luck and the Chinese were throwing lots of money at. Snow showed us the genuine article which should bring good luck so we gave some small money into a box that had a strange looking animal in it.
For lunch we went to a cafe in a nearby Hutong, a narrow alley which Beijing is apparently full of. We enjoyed our selection of Chinese dishes and cold teas overlooking the Hutong from the roof terrace. Snow explained that most of the Hutong's had public toilets as many of the houses didn't previously (and some still don't ) have their own bathroom. Chinese people don't seem to need as much privacy as we are used to as many of the Chinese ladies wouldn't bother closing the toilet door and one set of toilets only had dividers. No doors at all. The Hutongs are disappearing from Beijing, being replaced by apartment blocks. China seems pretty determined to plow forward with progress at any cost.
Next we headed to the Temple of Heaven which is actually a series of different temples within a large park. It is where the Emperor used to go once a year to pray and make sacrifices for a good coming harvest. As in most parks in China it was full of penisoners enjoying their free time, playing cards or mahjong, singing, dancing and playing badminton. The Chinese seem to work pretty hard so it must be some well deserved leisure time once they retire. The size of the buildings was very impressive, but the size of the crowds of tourists was a bit oppressive, so after checking it all out we made our way back to the metro.
We stopped on our way back for an early dinner of noodles (really cheap and way too much, but yum) and turtle jelly (apparently it doesn't directly translate but its chinese medicine and they eat it instead of icecream). You mix it with fruit and it was really yum. That evening we frantically took the metro and some buses to a Kung Fu Show. We have to say we were disappointed. They were no shaolin warrior monks that's for sure. It would have been much better without the cheesy story line and some of the Kung Fu seemed to be dance moves rather than fighting moves. The hordes of middle aged Australian tourists seem to love it though.
We farwelled Sami and Ellie over a final Chinese beer that night while watching Chinese "Take Me Out" and rested up well for our next day's adventure - the Great Wall of China!
BEIJING DAY 3
It was a big one today. We met Pete that morning to head on to a tour of the Great Wall of China. It's one of those things that's difficult to do without a tour but we managed to get one without the compulsory tourist trap shopping.
Before heading out we decided to try some local breakfast. We weren't really sure what the place served but after some gesturing and pointing and before long we each had a plate full of breads. Probably should have had some stew or something with it but at least it kept us going.
The bus stopped around to pick up groups from their hotels which didn't take too long for us to get our way. We were heading to Mutianyu which is not the closset to Beijing so apparently it is better as it is not so rammed with people. It was apparently a decent stretch with more guard towers. Our tour guide was a good sport, telling us about the history of the wall, the cultural revolution, the one child policy and the current situation for people living in China. We found it interesting although the rest of the group seemed relatively indifferent.
After about an hour and a half in the bus we pulled into a carpark, looked up and saw that we were in fact below the Great Wall. When we arrived we had a choice of gondola or luge and Jess convinced the boys that we were here to see the wall not do something we could do anywhere else so after much dilly dallying from the group and making our way past the mandatory hawkers stalls we finally got our tickets and were on the peaceful gondola ride up to the Wall. We arrived at one of the watchtowers but couldn't see very far along the wall in either direction. It wasn't until we actually got on top of the wall that the sheer scale and awesomeness of it struck us. Stretching off as far as the eye could see in either direction as far as the eye could see is the amazing feat of engineering that is the Great Wall of China. We had a choice of walking uphill or downhill on the wall and for some reason decided to go with the uphill section. It was the weekend so there were plenty of people around still, so we were happy we hadn't gone to the more touristy part of the wall. As we climbed the wall the haze began to clear and the temperature began to rise. We continued on our quest from tower to tower, stopping for water and shade along the way and a view back of where we had come from and beyond. The wall sharply became steeper and although it didn't look too bad from the bottom, our lungs and legs were screaming by the time we were only a quarter of the way up. Our heads and wills prevailed and we arrived at the top short of breath and covered in sweat. This was the end of the part which was safe for tourists and as keen as we were to continue along the wall, time was against us so we had to turn back so as not to miss the bus. (It had nothing to do with the next section of the wall being even steeper than the last and, at times, cliff like...) Conscious that we had to get back to bus, we started along the wall the way we had come. This was pretty hard going so as not to fall down the hill, but we made it and caught the gondola down the hill. The Great Wall lived up to expectations and we enjoyed climbing up the steep stairs and wonky path along the wall. After a ridiculously overpriced soft drink we met at the bus where we waited for the Italians, who couldn't be bothered getting back on time.
The ride back was slow going, as we must have hit rush hour. The rest of the bus were getting foot massages so we got the bus part way before the guide arranged a taxi back for us. We were rather tired so just as well. We said our good byes to Pete, who was off on his next tour of China. We were now back on our own left to our own devices. Out came our faithful Lonely Planet again to help us decide on dinner - this time dumplings. We ordered too much but managed to eat the lot, fortunately a helpful lady stopped us before pouring vinegar on them - which we had mistaken for soy sauce. We weren't sure what was in them, but knew they were fresh because we saw them being made.
That night we headed back to the night market which was in full swing with lots more wriggling insects on kebabs and plenty of demanding sellers. "Lady you look!" One the way back we stopped to pick up a spare camera battery. The lady also tried to sell us the fakest I-Phone ever for £35. We declined.
BEIJING DAY 4
Now that we had reached the warm weather we were tired of carrying our winter coats and boots around,
so we packed them up in a box we had bought the day before to send them back to NZ. The post office was much more efficient than in England and they could speak English too - that helps especially with all the paperwork in Chinese! Not long before we were sorted and out of there (let's hope that our things arrive safely back). Today we planned to see the other big attraction in Beijing - The Forbidden City. We walked back to Tienanmen Square (still packed) and as it is no longer forbidden for visitors we entered the grounds of the Forbidden City with many other tourists and resisted the many offers of tours and trips to the Great Wall. The Forbidden City is so huge we stuck to the central path. The gates and buildings were pretty impressive and the place was just immense. We decided that with the heat and crowds we would just focus on the main parts. There are basically a series of huge courtyards with gates or temples in between We found it strange that there was so much pushing and shoving to look inside each of the temples when there was only some fancy chairs in there. Worth a look though. The nicest part was definitely the garden at the end. It would have been relaxing in its planned efficiency and gnarled trees, if it wasn't so chock full of people.
After the visit we went on a search for a nearby tea house, but Lonely Planet let us down so instead we jumped on the metro to the silk market, a seven storey building full of vendors selling their wares (both real and fake). First stop lunch which was some tasty noodles in the basement. We worked our way up the floors, past people trying to sell us clothes, jewellery, bedding, toys and souvenirs. We managed to buy a few things but its tough to look sometimes without getting coerced into buying things. We had plenty of time before our overnight train so took a leisurely walk back stopping at Ritan Park for a rest. It was full of sculptured rocks, trees and lakes and is where the Emperors used to make sacrifices to the sun. There were also lots of blossoms blowing through the air like snowflakes, which was very sweet. After making our way through another part of the city geared towards Russian tourists (fake fur etc) we arrived back at the hotel.
After a mission trying to find a cash machine which would accept our card (which was a failure) we had asked the hotel to arrange a taxi to take use to the train station but apparently that was too difficult and we had no choice but to catch two buses. Fine for us normally but they had let us believe it was much better to get a taxi. It was more difficult with our big packs and the first bus was way too full as it was rush hour so we walked to the next bus stop. Grumpy and tired we made it in pleny of time for our overnight train to Xian. The train station was huge. The waiting room we were in was bigger than Wellington railway station and was packed with people. We decided when planning the trip we might be sick of travelling on trains by now so we treated ourselves to first class. It was worth it! Our private berth came complete with comfy lounge chair and even our own bathroom. A beer from the trolley topped things off. After problems with lights were sorted we were on our way....
XIAN DAY 1
The train arrived in Xian on time. We had a free pick up from the hotel so after going past the sleeper buses (we knew they were sleeper buses because instead of seats they were full of bunks) we took a ride in the hostel van - although there was some confusion over whether we were at Hang Tang House or hostel. When we arrived our room was ready so we had a quick nap before venturing to explore the town. Although an ancient imperial seat of power there is little sign of that in Xian anymore with most of the city given over to modernisation. However, it still felt more Chinese than Beijing.
We stopped for some street side pork buns on our to the Bell Tower (which was situated in the middle of a busy roundabout) - we just missed the performance but had a good look around and got a view of the city which helped us with our bearings. This was much bigger than any bell tower we had seen so far and was in fact several stories high and covered in bells both inside and out. Wherever you find a bell there is usually a drum not far away so our next visit was up the road to the Drum Tower. It was equally as big and equally as full of drums. This time we made it to the perfomance and watched
some very talented drummers banging out some rhythms.
After exploring the tower we went to the Muslim quarter and enjoyed looking at all the different foods being sold. We tried a deep fried orange thing which had nuts and dates inside. Not bad but we weren't going out of our way to have them again. We then visited an old village house, which was actually a series of buildings and courtyards where a merchant had once lived. It was nice, but a bit run down. The highlight was a Chinese tea ceremony. A lady explained all about it and served us two types of tea; a green one and a lychee concubine tea. She had a special table which looked like a tree stump and which she poured water all over to clean. She talked us into buying some tea but we resisted the urge to buy the magic tea pot. We grabbed a snack of random meat on stick and as we were still in the Muslim area we decided to visit the Great Mosque. It was different than other mosques we had visited, looking more like a Buddhist temple and its architecture is both Chinese and Islamic. It was very peaceful considering it was bang in the middle of the city.
We decided to head south and out of the city walls to visit the Little Goose Pagoda. Our maps were not the best but we had a vague idea of where to go. We set off through the streets and quite some time later found the entrance to the park where the pagoda was. Unfortunately it was closed. At least we could see it off in the distance. A little disappointed we set off down the road to see the Big Goose Pagoda. Alas it was a very long way down many streets and in the hot sun we were feeling very frazzled by the time we finally arrived. This was a shame as the Pagoda was actually very impressive, many stories high with big fountains in front of it. Exhausted and no longer interested in sightseeing we started walking back in the direction of the city walls, hoping to find a bus to take us back to the hostel. We never saw the bus which we knew went past the hostel, so ended up walking the whole way back (via KFC for toilet and food). We rested for a few hours but something from the day had not agreed with Jess' stomach so she didn't feel like going out for dinner. Marcus made his way back to Muslim street again for some more random meat on sticks (not as tasty as earlier in the day) and picked up some supplies before heading back to the hostel for a well earned sleep.
It was pretty clear we had left Mongolia and entered China. The wild empty plains had been replaced by evidence of people everywhere you looked, whether it was fields ready for planting, buildings, factories, retaining walls and people. Even in the middle of the countryside there were still people every few minutes. The train entered into a more mountainous area and, as we were on the tourist carriage, space at the windows came at a premium. A few choice words were exchanged between people on the other tour group. It didn't impact on us though as we were happily chilling out in our compartment. We arrived in the afternoon and met our next honcho Snow. She directed us through the people and the traffic to our van which drove us to the hotel. Our van driver was good at using his horn, but as he had learned in Mongolia and continued to learn in China that is just how you drive around here. As per our usual activities when we arrived somewhere new, we rested and showered before meeting the group again.
We agreed to check out the Donghuamen night market which is just for tourists (both Chinese and foreign). The booths are full of crazy food. Jess thought we should be adventurous so she choose something for the group to share. She didn't go for the scorpions or dog that were also on offer but choose a caterpillar kebab. It was perfect as it had 5 pieces and there were five of us. Jess went first, it wasn't to bad if you can get over the texture of the skin which gets stuck in your teeth. The taste wasn't too bad. It was kind of like roast chestnuts. The boys all managed to eat theirs too but Ellie freaked out
Dinner was a bit more appetising for everyone. We wanted to try the local specialty Peking Duck. We also had some other dishes with pork chicken and beans. The restaurant was pretty cool, with ingredients under glass panels under the floor and big fake trees. The duck was good but not that dissimilar to what we could get in London with the same pancakes, cucumber and sauce. Yummy though. You also get a soup made with the left over bones, a nice idea but it pretty much tasted like duck fat. Being in China we drank tea with our meal. After dinner we tried to check out another night market up the road but due to the heavy rain it looked pretty closed so we called it a night.
BEIJING - DAY 2
The last day on the tour we all wanted to see Mao's mausoleum so we caught the bus bright and early to Tianemen Square, the biggest city square in the world. Although we didn't get there quite early enough! There was a big crowd so we joined the queue and hoped to be in in half an hour or so. Turns out the crowd was actually the queue which wound its way back and forth across the whole square. We spent a good 2 hours waiting in line getting pushed, shoved and used as shields by the Chinese. Not good queuing practice like the English and its the old ladies that are the worst. Without the wardens blowing whistles and shouting through megaphones at people it probably would have turned into a free for all to the front. Everyone else seemed to be part of some tour group or another - all with matching hats. Once we got to the front of the queue we showed our IDs. The Chinese just hold them above their heads - "Here's my ID!" We passed through the security checks and declined to buy him flowers. We queued a little more and spent around 5 minutes seeing him. Like Lenin it was all a bit creepy. Mao sure is a lot more popular than Lenin though. To be honest we're not sure it was worth the wait but at least we can say we went.
It was Sami and Ellie's last day in Beijing so they headed to see the Forbidden City while the rest of us would have a more leisurely day checking out some the temples. First up we jumped on the metro to see the Lama Temple, a Buddhist temple and former Royal residence. The street leading up the temple was packed with foodsellers selling from shops, stalls, trolleys and bikes. We dodged past them all to get to the temple which was busy with people burning incense and worshipping throughout. Considering China is supposed to have no religion there were a lot more people worshipping than you would see in NZ or the UK. Snow showed us through and explained all the important bits such as the amount of animals on the edge of the roof signified who lived there. The most is 10 at the Forbidden City. We also saw the competing world's tallest standing Buddha (18 metres I think) so the Mongolian one may be taller as it was built later despite the Chinese one having the Guinness World Record (In 1990 according to the sign.) Both impressive nonetheless. It was good having Snow to show as around as you could easily get fooled into paying a lot of money on things that look like they should bring you good luck and the Chinese were throwing lots of money at. Snow showed us the genuine article which should bring good luck so we gave some small money into a box that had a strange looking animal in it.For lunch we went to a cafe in a nearby Hutong, a narrow alley which Beijing is apparently full of. We enjoyed our selection of Chinese dishes and cold teas overlooking the Hutong from the roof terrace. Snow explained that most of the Hutong's had public toilets as many of the houses didn't previously (and some still don't ) have their own bathroom. Chinese people don't seem to need as much privacy as we are used to as many of the Chinese ladies wouldn't bother closing the toilet door and one set of toilets only had dividers. No doors at all. The Hutongs are disappearing from Beijing, being replaced by apartment blocks. China seems pretty determined to plow forward with progress at any cost.
Next we headed to the Temple of Heaven which is actually a series of different temples within a large park. It is where the Emperor used to go once a year to pray and make sacrifices for a good coming harvest. As in most parks in China it was full of penisoners enjoying their free time, playing cards or mahjong, singing, dancing and playing badminton. The Chinese seem to work pretty hard so it must be some well deserved leisure time once they retire. The size of the buildings was very impressive, but the size of the crowds of tourists was a bit oppressive, so after checking it all out we made our way back to the metro.
We stopped on our way back for an early dinner of noodles (really cheap and way too much, but yum) and turtle jelly (apparently it doesn't directly translate but its chinese medicine and they eat it instead of icecream). You mix it with fruit and it was really yum. That evening we frantically took the metro and some buses to a Kung Fu Show. We have to say we were disappointed. They were no shaolin warrior monks that's for sure. It would have been much better without the cheesy story line and some of the Kung Fu seemed to be dance moves rather than fighting moves. The hordes of middle aged Australian tourists seem to love it though.
We farwelled Sami and Ellie over a final Chinese beer that night while watching Chinese "Take Me Out" and rested up well for our next day's adventure - the Great Wall of China!
BEIJING DAY 3
It was a big one today. We met Pete that morning to head on to a tour of the Great Wall of China. It's one of those things that's difficult to do without a tour but we managed to get one without the compulsory tourist trap shopping.
Before heading out we decided to try some local breakfast. We weren't really sure what the place served but after some gesturing and pointing and before long we each had a plate full of breads. Probably should have had some stew or something with it but at least it kept us going.
The bus stopped around to pick up groups from their hotels which didn't take too long for us to get our way. We were heading to Mutianyu which is not the closset to Beijing so apparently it is better as it is not so rammed with people. It was apparently a decent stretch with more guard towers. Our tour guide was a good sport, telling us about the history of the wall, the cultural revolution, the one child policy and the current situation for people living in China. We found it interesting although the rest of the group seemed relatively indifferent.
After about an hour and a half in the bus we pulled into a carpark, looked up and saw that we were in fact below the Great Wall. When we arrived we had a choice of gondola or luge and Jess convinced the boys that we were here to see the wall not do something we could do anywhere else so after much dilly dallying from the group and making our way past the mandatory hawkers stalls we finally got our tickets and were on the peaceful gondola ride up to the Wall. We arrived at one of the watchtowers but couldn't see very far along the wall in either direction. It wasn't until we actually got on top of the wall that the sheer scale and awesomeness of it struck us. Stretching off as far as the eye could see in either direction as far as the eye could see is the amazing feat of engineering that is the Great Wall of China. We had a choice of walking uphill or downhill on the wall and for some reason decided to go with the uphill section. It was the weekend so there were plenty of people around still, so we were happy we hadn't gone to the more touristy part of the wall. As we climbed the wall the haze began to clear and the temperature began to rise. We continued on our quest from tower to tower, stopping for water and shade along the way and a view back of where we had come from and beyond. The wall sharply became steeper and although it didn't look too bad from the bottom, our lungs and legs were screaming by the time we were only a quarter of the way up. Our heads and wills prevailed and we arrived at the top short of breath and covered in sweat. This was the end of the part which was safe for tourists and as keen as we were to continue along the wall, time was against us so we had to turn back so as not to miss the bus. (It had nothing to do with the next section of the wall being even steeper than the last and, at times, cliff like...) Conscious that we had to get back to bus, we started along the wall the way we had come. This was pretty hard going so as not to fall down the hill, but we made it and caught the gondola down the hill. The Great Wall lived up to expectations and we enjoyed climbing up the steep stairs and wonky path along the wall. After a ridiculously overpriced soft drink we met at the bus where we waited for the Italians, who couldn't be bothered getting back on time.The ride back was slow going, as we must have hit rush hour. The rest of the bus were getting foot massages so we got the bus part way before the guide arranged a taxi back for us. We were rather tired so just as well. We said our good byes to Pete, who was off on his next tour of China. We were now back on our own left to our own devices. Out came our faithful Lonely Planet again to help us decide on dinner - this time dumplings. We ordered too much but managed to eat the lot, fortunately a helpful lady stopped us before pouring vinegar on them - which we had mistaken for soy sauce. We weren't sure what was in them, but knew they were fresh because we saw them being made.
That night we headed back to the night market which was in full swing with lots more wriggling insects on kebabs and plenty of demanding sellers. "Lady you look!" One the way back we stopped to pick up a spare camera battery. The lady also tried to sell us the fakest I-Phone ever for £35. We declined.
BEIJING DAY 4
Now that we had reached the warm weather we were tired of carrying our winter coats and boots around,
so we packed them up in a box we had bought the day before to send them back to NZ. The post office was much more efficient than in England and they could speak English too - that helps especially with all the paperwork in Chinese! Not long before we were sorted and out of there (let's hope that our things arrive safely back). Today we planned to see the other big attraction in Beijing - The Forbidden City. We walked back to Tienanmen Square (still packed) and as it is no longer forbidden for visitors we entered the grounds of the Forbidden City with many other tourists and resisted the many offers of tours and trips to the Great Wall. The Forbidden City is so huge we stuck to the central path. The gates and buildings were pretty impressive and the place was just immense. We decided that with the heat and crowds we would just focus on the main parts. There are basically a series of huge courtyards with gates or temples in between We found it strange that there was so much pushing and shoving to look inside each of the temples when there was only some fancy chairs in there. Worth a look though. The nicest part was definitely the garden at the end. It would have been relaxing in its planned efficiency and gnarled trees, if it wasn't so chock full of people. After the visit we went on a search for a nearby tea house, but Lonely Planet let us down so instead we jumped on the metro to the silk market, a seven storey building full of vendors selling their wares (both real and fake). First stop lunch which was some tasty noodles in the basement. We worked our way up the floors, past people trying to sell us clothes, jewellery, bedding, toys and souvenirs. We managed to buy a few things but its tough to look sometimes without getting coerced into buying things. We had plenty of time before our overnight train so took a leisurely walk back stopping at Ritan Park for a rest. It was full of sculptured rocks, trees and lakes and is where the Emperors used to make sacrifices to the sun. There were also lots of blossoms blowing through the air like snowflakes, which was very sweet. After making our way through another part of the city geared towards Russian tourists (fake fur etc) we arrived back at the hotel.
After a mission trying to find a cash machine which would accept our card (which was a failure) we had asked the hotel to arrange a taxi to take use to the train station but apparently that was too difficult and we had no choice but to catch two buses. Fine for us normally but they had let us believe it was much better to get a taxi. It was more difficult with our big packs and the first bus was way too full as it was rush hour so we walked to the next bus stop. Grumpy and tired we made it in pleny of time for our overnight train to Xian. The train station was huge. The waiting room we were in was bigger than Wellington railway station and was packed with people. We decided when planning the trip we might be sick of travelling on trains by now so we treated ourselves to first class. It was worth it! Our private berth came complete with comfy lounge chair and even our own bathroom. A beer from the trolley topped things off. After problems with lights were sorted we were on our way....
XIAN DAY 1
The train arrived in Xian on time. We had a free pick up from the hotel so after going past the sleeper buses (we knew they were sleeper buses because instead of seats they were full of bunks) we took a ride in the hostel van - although there was some confusion over whether we were at Hang Tang House or hostel. When we arrived our room was ready so we had a quick nap before venturing to explore the town. Although an ancient imperial seat of power there is little sign of that in Xian anymore with most of the city given over to modernisation. However, it still felt more Chinese than Beijing.
some very talented drummers banging out some rhythms.
After exploring the tower we went to the Muslim quarter and enjoyed looking at all the different foods being sold. We tried a deep fried orange thing which had nuts and dates inside. Not bad but we weren't going out of our way to have them again. We then visited an old village house, which was actually a series of buildings and courtyards where a merchant had once lived. It was nice, but a bit run down. The highlight was a Chinese tea ceremony. A lady explained all about it and served us two types of tea; a green one and a lychee concubine tea. She had a special table which looked like a tree stump and which she poured water all over to clean. She talked us into buying some tea but we resisted the urge to buy the magic tea pot. We grabbed a snack of random meat on stick and as we were still in the Muslim area we decided to visit the Great Mosque. It was different than other mosques we had visited, looking more like a Buddhist temple and its architecture is both Chinese and Islamic. It was very peaceful considering it was bang in the middle of the city.
We decided to head south and out of the city walls to visit the Little Goose Pagoda. Our maps were not the best but we had a vague idea of where to go. We set off through the streets and quite some time later found the entrance to the park where the pagoda was. Unfortunately it was closed. At least we could see it off in the distance. A little disappointed we set off down the road to see the Big Goose Pagoda. Alas it was a very long way down many streets and in the hot sun we were feeling very frazzled by the time we finally arrived. This was a shame as the Pagoda was actually very impressive, many stories high with big fountains in front of it. Exhausted and no longer interested in sightseeing we started walking back in the direction of the city walls, hoping to find a bus to take us back to the hostel. We never saw the bus which we knew went past the hostel, so ended up walking the whole way back (via KFC for toilet and food). We rested for a few hours but something from the day had not agreed with Jess' stomach so she didn't feel like going out for dinner. Marcus made his way back to Muslim street again for some more random meat on sticks (not as tasty as earlier in the day) and picked up some supplies before heading back to the hostel for a well earned sleep.
XIAN DAY 2
Today was the whole reason we wanted to visit Xian - the Terracotta Warriors! Jess was feeling better in the morning so we caught the local bus to the train station and then were encouraged into a bus that was apparently going to the Terracotta Warriors. For some reason the Chinese queued very nicely for the bus. Some things just can't be explained... We followed the crowds to the ticket office, which was nowhere near the entrance, so had to navigate the many hawker booths in between the two. We arrived at the complex, which was a square with big concrete buildings surrounding it. Again we resisted the offers of tours so before visiting the pits of warriors we walked around the museum to get a bit of history - in a nutshell a farmer was digging and found some warriors so he kept digging and there were loads. 3 pit fulls in fact. The museum was mostly statues which had been excavated from some of the smaller tombs. It was things like servants and animals. We had heard it was best to the visit the three larger tombs in reverse order so started with tomb number three. It had three pits which seemed to be largely excavated with soldiers and horses lined up in formation. Some seemed to be largely intact but many were badly broken. There was also an opportunity to have your photo taken in amongst a set of fake soldiers.The Chinese tourists were loving it. We decided to pass.We moved on to pit number two. This one was substantially bigger, but there wasn't that much to see as only a small part of it had been excavated to below the roof of the tomb. What had been excavated was quite badly broken. There was an opportunity to see the different types of statues up close. Once there was a gap in the Chinese hordes we managed to catch a glimpse. Then it was time to move off to the big one, situated in a huge building the size of an aircraft hanger. There were plenty of soldiers in the pits as you entered but as you got around the outside you quickly saw that a large part of the pit was yet to be excavated. There were more soldiers in the back who were in varying degrees of being reassembled, but our expectations of being met by rows and rows of terracotta warriors were not met. The reality had not met the hype this time. We made our way back to the bus station, stopping on the way to haggle and purchase five little terracotta warriors (we had only intended to buy two) and got some random meat wrapped in dough for lunch. We were again whisked into a bus which we were promised went to Xian only this one was smaller and seemed to stop and pick up people at every chance. There was a lady shouting out the window for people to come on board. Once the bus couldn't fit another person on it it did manage to make the journey back to Xian. We were happy as we had some concerns for a while there.
We had read that you could climb the city walls and walk around them. We could see people up there so it seemed like a good idea. However, after following the wall for half an hour and seeing no sign of how to get up there we abandoned that plan and returned to the hostel for a rest instead of having another day of wandering for hours.
We made our way out again for dinner, but after Jess' tummy the day before didn't want to get too adventurous on the street food. We ended up wandering around in a big underground mall until we found a Sichuan hotpot restaurant. Basically you have an element on your table and they bring you the food in oil and it cooks as you eat it. It was a big meal with loads of chilli, but still very tasty. Full to the brim it wasn't long until we hit the hay.
CHENGDU - DAY 1
After breakfast at the hostel we caught a taxi to the ariport and spent alot of time waiting for our delayed flight before finally arriving in Chengdu - Home of the Panda. A quick trick on the bus and the local metro and we were at our hostel.
No time to visit the Pandas on our first day we arrived so we arranged a trip to go early the next morning.
We went for a walk to the main square and saw a giant Chairman Mao statue looking out over everyone. After a bite to eat we decided to escape the heat in the shelter of the People's Park, where there were old people doing ballroom dancing and lots of little lakes with tea rooms around them. We decided to spend some time at one of those tea houses. You don't order tea by the cup or even by the pot. Instead you make your choice, Bamboo Tea for us, and then they bring you a glass or cup along with a thermos of hot water and you can keep drinking for as long as you. Men come around as you sip on your tea and offer their ear cleaning services. Gross eh? We though it might be worth a try but we saw one girl clenching her boyfriends hand almost in tears which put us off. We were amused, well not really, by a busker doing tricks such as balancing bottles. It was a nice way to relax in the sun. When we were done we walked back to hostel.
For dinner we decided to go to the local restaurant across the road. As soon as we came in the girls serving scooted to the back of the restaurant and avoided eye contact. Luckily one brave lady found us an English menu and we were away. The food was very tasty and full of Sichuan spice. After dinner we went to the Chinese Opera which is quite different to western opera. We watched drumming, puppets and a lady twirling chairs, tables and pots with her feet. We enjoyed the shadow puppets. Before we didn't really understand what the big deal was by someone making a bird with their hands but this was really clever; dogs, cats and owls and matching sound effects too. The highlight of the show however was definitely the face changing. The dancing come out with one mask on and then a flick of their face and they are wearing a different one. We don't know how they change their masks so quickly but that's what makes it magic.
CHENGDU - DAY 2
It was a very early start for us today as we had a trip to the panda sanctuary and the pandas sleep during the day. We jumped in a van with two Chinese girls on our tour. You could tell one of them really loved pandas as she was wearing a panda t-shirt. When we arrived the first pandas we saw were the red ones. As we had already seen them at Wellington Zoo we weren't too excited although they seemed to be enjoying themselves playing around in the trees. Then we turned a corner and came upon the real thing - Giant Pandas. Well quite small ones actually. There were two youngsters playing and falling off the branches of a tree. They were very cute and soon there were plenty more to see. A lot were scoffing their faces with Bamboo. They have to eat a huge amount each day as it doesn't have much nutritional value and they're not lazy they just have to save their energy for breeding.
One looked like he was very hungover as he was holding his head and moaning . Do you know what noise a panda makes? ek eeek ek - Yep just sounds like squeaks. We saw some more younger play fight and climb all over an older one who was not amused. They are so cute!
We also watched an informative video about the breeding centres work. We weren't there at the right time of year to see the new born babies but from the video it was probably just as well. They look kind of like hairless rats. We learnt that it's quite common for a mother to kill one of twin babies at birth because its too hard for her to look after two. No wonder they're an endangered species. There was a museum which looked pretty out dated including pickled baby pandas in jars. Yuck! The sanctuary was such a great place over all though. Highly recommended.
Since we started early we still had plenty of time in the afternoon. First we saw the Wenshu Buddhist Monastery, It was quite nice but not as good as some of the ones we had seen. It was always interesting to see how quiet they were as they were situated in the middle of busy cities. We had heard there was a good vegetarian restaurant there, however, it was no where to be found so we headed in search of some food. A combination of pointing and help from some French people got us fed. We ended up having some random steamed dumplings which were pretty good although we were getting a little tired of dumplings. Bellies full we then went on a long walk across town to visit another temple - this one Green Ram Taoist Monastery. It took a while to find but we made it through a park. It was similar to a Buddhist monastery but with more animal symbolism and historic figures featuring heavily. There were a few buildings and intersting statues of dragons.
As it had been a busy day we decided to head back to the hostel for a rest before an event we had been waiting for all trip. That night it was time for Dumpling Party! At the hostel everyone learns to make dumplings. We sat with people from China, Korea, France, Italy, Israel and of course NZ. Ours weren't looking the best but Jess got the hang of it. Marcus' ones didn't really look proper; more like a Stegosaurus. They all tasted good though and it was nice talking to some people from around the world. A nice finish to our last day in China.
https://picasaweb.google.com/JessicaLMcMillan/April2012China
Today was the whole reason we wanted to visit Xian - the Terracotta Warriors! Jess was feeling better in the morning so we caught the local bus to the train station and then were encouraged into a bus that was apparently going to the Terracotta Warriors. For some reason the Chinese queued very nicely for the bus. Some things just can't be explained... We followed the crowds to the ticket office, which was nowhere near the entrance, so had to navigate the many hawker booths in between the two. We arrived at the complex, which was a square with big concrete buildings surrounding it. Again we resisted the offers of tours so before visiting the pits of warriors we walked around the museum to get a bit of history - in a nutshell a farmer was digging and found some warriors so he kept digging and there were loads. 3 pit fulls in fact. The museum was mostly statues which had been excavated from some of the smaller tombs. It was things like servants and animals. We had heard it was best to the visit the three larger tombs in reverse order so started with tomb number three. It had three pits which seemed to be largely excavated with soldiers and horses lined up in formation. Some seemed to be largely intact but many were badly broken. There was also an opportunity to have your photo taken in amongst a set of fake soldiers.The Chinese tourists were loving it. We decided to pass.We moved on to pit number two. This one was substantially bigger, but there wasn't that much to see as only a small part of it had been excavated to below the roof of the tomb. What had been excavated was quite badly broken. There was an opportunity to see the different types of statues up close. Once there was a gap in the Chinese hordes we managed to catch a glimpse. Then it was time to move off to the big one, situated in a huge building the size of an aircraft hanger. There were plenty of soldiers in the pits as you entered but as you got around the outside you quickly saw that a large part of the pit was yet to be excavated. There were more soldiers in the back who were in varying degrees of being reassembled, but our expectations of being met by rows and rows of terracotta warriors were not met. The reality had not met the hype this time. We made our way back to the bus station, stopping on the way to haggle and purchase five little terracotta warriors (we had only intended to buy two) and got some random meat wrapped in dough for lunch. We were again whisked into a bus which we were promised went to Xian only this one was smaller and seemed to stop and pick up people at every chance. There was a lady shouting out the window for people to come on board. Once the bus couldn't fit another person on it it did manage to make the journey back to Xian. We were happy as we had some concerns for a while there.We had read that you could climb the city walls and walk around them. We could see people up there so it seemed like a good idea. However, after following the wall for half an hour and seeing no sign of how to get up there we abandoned that plan and returned to the hostel for a rest instead of having another day of wandering for hours.
We made our way out again for dinner, but after Jess' tummy the day before didn't want to get too adventurous on the street food. We ended up wandering around in a big underground mall until we found a Sichuan hotpot restaurant. Basically you have an element on your table and they bring you the food in oil and it cooks as you eat it. It was a big meal with loads of chilli, but still very tasty. Full to the brim it wasn't long until we hit the hay.
CHENGDU - DAY 1
After breakfast at the hostel we caught a taxi to the ariport and spent alot of time waiting for our delayed flight before finally arriving in Chengdu - Home of the Panda. A quick trick on the bus and the local metro and we were at our hostel.
No time to visit the Pandas on our first day we arrived so we arranged a trip to go early the next morning.
For dinner we decided to go to the local restaurant across the road. As soon as we came in the girls serving scooted to the back of the restaurant and avoided eye contact. Luckily one brave lady found us an English menu and we were away. The food was very tasty and full of Sichuan spice. After dinner we went to the Chinese Opera which is quite different to western opera. We watched drumming, puppets and a lady twirling chairs, tables and pots with her feet. We enjoyed the shadow puppets. Before we didn't really understand what the big deal was by someone making a bird with their hands but this was really clever; dogs, cats and owls and matching sound effects too. The highlight of the show however was definitely the face changing. The dancing come out with one mask on and then a flick of their face and they are wearing a different one. We don't know how they change their masks so quickly but that's what makes it magic.
CHENGDU - DAY 2
One looked like he was very hungover as he was holding his head and moaning . Do you know what noise a panda makes? ek eeek ek - Yep just sounds like squeaks. We saw some more younger play fight and climb all over an older one who was not amused. They are so cute!
We also watched an informative video about the breeding centres work. We weren't there at the right time of year to see the new born babies but from the video it was probably just as well. They look kind of like hairless rats. We learnt that it's quite common for a mother to kill one of twin babies at birth because its too hard for her to look after two. No wonder they're an endangered species. There was a museum which looked pretty out dated including pickled baby pandas in jars. Yuck! The sanctuary was such a great place over all though. Highly recommended.
Since we started early we still had plenty of time in the afternoon. First we saw the Wenshu Buddhist Monastery, It was quite nice but not as good as some of the ones we had seen. It was always interesting to see how quiet they were as they were situated in the middle of busy cities. We had heard there was a good vegetarian restaurant there, however, it was no where to be found so we headed in search of some food. A combination of pointing and help from some French people got us fed. We ended up having some random steamed dumplings which were pretty good although we were getting a little tired of dumplings. Bellies full we then went on a long walk across town to visit another temple - this one Green Ram Taoist Monastery. It took a while to find but we made it through a park. It was similar to a Buddhist monastery but with more animal symbolism and historic figures featuring heavily. There were a few buildings and intersting statues of dragons.
As it had been a busy day we decided to head back to the hostel for a rest before an event we had been waiting for all trip. That night it was time for Dumpling Party! At the hostel everyone learns to make dumplings. We sat with people from China, Korea, France, Italy, Israel and of course NZ. Ours weren't looking the best but Jess got the hang of it. Marcus' ones didn't really look proper; more like a Stegosaurus. They all tasted good though and it was nice talking to some people from around the world. A nice finish to our last day in China.
https://picasaweb.google.com/JessicaLMcMillan/April2012China
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