Beijing last day

Feel quite sad that I am going to be leaving here in about 6 hrs.  I have a taxi booked for about 2.30am Saturday morning. I also have checked in online and have a window seat this time Carmel.

So my last day, as so often happens to me at the end of a trip...I got sick.  yes, pain in the arse. (Literally.) Sometimes I wonder if it is all based on anxiety about missing the plane home or something! but anyway about 4 am I woke up with awful stomach cramps.  How can I describe them, like a rose bush was suddenly growing in my gut is a good analogy!

Anyway by about 3 pm this  afternoon, 11 hours later I was in a fit enough state to remove myself from this lovely suite and finally go and say good bye to Beijing.  Was feeling a tad pissed off, I have missed the Summer palace and the lama temple and the museum.  Oh well, I will just have to come back. But honestly I wasn't in a good condition at all fora bout 12 hours and to be honest I think it was the salad I had for starters yesterday.  it was the first raw food I have eaten since Jiangsu province with the teachers. 

Anyway I headed off for the lama temple area even though I know it closed at 4.30 pm, so I couldn't get in ,but I wandered down one of the swanky Hutongs.  It has got good reviews online. It was amazing, a bit like Little Clarendon Street with lots of alternative bars, shops and restaurants.  By chance I came across the only Vegan restaurant in Beijing and I decided to eat there.  it made me laugh because their attention to health and cleanliness was exemplary!  I took a photo to prove it.

I felt safe, so ate really well. Yummy, yummy mushroom risotto.  I was actually bloody starving, which means I must be better. 

 I then wandered off down the Hutong and ended up looking at more Pu'erh tea in a tea shop I wanted to compare prices. The girls there were very friendly and invited me to drink tea with them.  They were drinking Pu'erh themselves.  So I did join them and stayed an hour or so. I also bought a lovely bracelet made by one of the girls.  She was very happy indeed that her handicrafts were flying back on a westerners wrist to London in a few hours! They were lovely and I felt very comfortable in their shop drinking tea with them.

The guy never got involved with the conversation. just played on his phone and  after 5 minutes wandered off never to return. I I think he was trying to pull one of them and when they started to speak English he was embarrassed because he couldn't and had to leave. ( I must have pissed him off.)

The tea.

Me messing  about with the equipment.  See, I'm alive, if a little weak!  I bought the tea strainer made from gourd, just in front of the empty glass tea pot..  The blackened one in front of that is the one they used. Check out the massive cakes of Pu'erh tea just to the right in this pic.  It's made in Kunming, Yunnan and drunk mostly by the minorities and the people from the south ( and me now!)

After all this excitement I had to come back.  luckily I was just a few stops down the line on the subway. tonight was really busy. Lots of men in uniforms herding people onto the trains. The atmosphere is kept as calm as possible by lots of Bach and Chopin being piped out around the stations! yes, it actually worked for me.  Surprising. 

I said a fond fair well to the subway.  it's a good system here considering how packed the trains are.  And then wandered up my hutong for the last time.  I will miss Beijing and out of all the places I have visited I would like to come back here the most. The atmosphere is great and the way modern life exists in parallel with life in the hutongs is a unique character of this city.( hutongs  are all streets from East to West so that front and back doors open from North to South.  This is an important element of Feng shui design and means that the houses never get stale and the evil winds which blow never get trapped in their courtyards!

 The view opposite my hostel!   They incase all their airconditioners and electricity boxes in wooden cases with designs on them .  it's only because I used a flash that you can see inside the boxes. I like them. This is  a shop, not a dwelling house.

My hostel in Beijing. No outside area, but people are friendly and they all enquired about my health when I finally emerged so late this afternoon. They would have gone and bought medicine for me if I wanted it but I knew it was just a slight stomach upset.

Bye then.  That's all from China.  I aim to write a bit more when I'm back but as for now I'm clocking off and going to attempt to pack all my stuff.  Wish me luck!

Beijing day 18

Right here goes!  I've  been fannying around with photos again this evening.  This hostel/ hotel has lots of business clients so the internet connection is the best so far.  But even to move over about 15 photos has taken me well over an hour of faffing.

So, today  I woke up too early to mentalist, screaming cleaners so went back to sleep til gone 10am.  I took it really steady and decided to have a cup of my expensive black tea for breakfast.  I undid the box and guess what the woman had packed up the wrong tea for me.  The one I didn't like.  I was put out and angry.  I instantly thought it was a con and that I had been had.  But I wasn't going to have it.  I phoned up Kevin Li.  He told me there must have been a misunderstanding and he text me the instructions of how to get back to the tea house via the exit of the Forbidden Palace.  It involved reading a Chinese bus timetable but he text me the characters to look out for.  Anyway I made it!!!  I was  dead chuffed.  In I wandered.  The women were all apologetic and changed the tea and gave me some free jasmine as well.  Kevin phoned me back to make sure I had made it and told me that the girl was new and was very embarrassed. ( he had phoned ahead to tell them i ws coming.) I have to admit the two packages were exactly the same. But was it a con? I m not sure. The price difference wasn't that significant. 

Anyway, keeping on the tea theme..this black tea is wrapped up individually in little black compacted cubes.  To be honest they look like cannabis resin.  Of course they don't smell like cannabis resin but it is making me laugh!  I wonder if I will be able to clear customs OK with it?  It sure looks a bit suspect.  Oh well, let's see!!! This blog can be my insurance.  I totally believe that I bought black pu'eer tea from China and I have my MasterCard receipt to prove it! 

After my little detour I went off to the Temple of Heaven.  I loved it here especially the Long Corridor and 'divine kitchen areas 'where all the old locals were out playing cards in groups of 4 and other games which I didn't know  at all.  ( not Mah Jong, they don't play that up North I have heard.) 

Other old folk were all dancing and singing operas and ballads. ( all individually in their own little operatic worlds!).  Totally MAD and I loved it. it was like like an OAP party where expression and exuberance was expected. Looks like the old folks have the most fun here. I wandered through the massive and beautiful complex to the hall of prayer for good harvests.  The building ratios and the strict adherence to Confucian numerology were great and really fascinating but for me the whole place was let down by just far too many swathes of concrete everywhere. now it might not be concrete and might be some Ming dynasty stone, but I don't care. It looks like concrete to me!

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven. Beautiful shape and lovely inside. Surrounded by an echo wall as well. But no one can use it anymore. It's barricaded off. 

Some facts about the Heavenly Centre Stone.

Me singing with resonance on the Heavenly Centre stone.  Check out the Ming period concrete floor.  Am I being mean? Is it really old stone?  

After this I went and watched people worship around the nine-dragon juniper tree.  One of the most revered ancient trees in China.  it was impressive.   Then  through the Circular Mound Alter and the Dressing Terrace and I left via the South gate.  I then had a long trudge by road back round to the subway.  But I like  less touristy parts of town and I got lots of interesting photos on my long walk back round. (Most visitors are in groups and lots of tour buses were waiting  at this end to ship people back to their hotels.) Again not too many westerners , most tourists  at the moment are massive groups of old people.  I don't know how they have the stamina to walk around these massive complexes.  Chinese culture is not really into sitting down and taking a breather.  There is no out door cafe culture ,not even tea drinking. It is just a kind of formal ceremony done inside for you alone.  People don't just order cups of tea. Everyone carries a thermos flask full of tea or just hot water and that seems to suffice. Hard core! The only rest I have had all day was my evening meal, otherwise it has been a full 7 hours of walking or standing on the subway. People in Beijing must walk MILES.  

I then took the subway to the park.  It was beautiful.  ( I was lucky enough to miss rush hour too.  The  guys who push you onto the train were just taking up position at all the entrance doors when I got off the last train at 16.58.  V. Lucky.). The park was lovely.  A calm and beautiful oasis right in the centre of Beijing.  Totally magical. I loved it.  I walked and walked through it from South to North.  The bus information Kevin had given me earlier came in handy for this adventure. I then went up even further onto other lakes,ending up in a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant for spicy Beijing food. A lovely place with a view over the lake.  I had a scrumptious meal and I totally deserved it. The only downer was that wine was served in bottles and I didn't want to navigate my way home from a strange part of town on the subway with a bottle of wine inside me.

Anyway, I made it home. The last 10 minutes up the Hutong to my hostel were tough but I did it.  What a great day and thnk you plasters and thick socks for keeping my blisters safely wrapped up and away from further harm.  Right, time to sleep and plan my last day adventure to the Summer Palace , which is quite a trek out of town. Night .

Beijing day 17

DI have just returned to my 'suite'. I'm on the sofa with a cup of tea and I have an hour before I am taken to the Kung fu show. 

So today was great!  Up at 6.  Off picking up various youth hostellers around the city.  We are the most central, so were picked up first.

We went to a far less commercial part of the wall, a good 2 hour drive away, called Mutiamyu. The walk up was steep so we all took the cable car, so we could save our energy for the wall itself.  I am so glad I did.  MY god it was challenging for poor me and my little stumpy legs and my vertiginous brain. But I took it slowly up and along the wall and I only felt really dizzy once! I reached the end of the walkable wall section within  about an hour and a half. it was stunning, but I have to be honest and say the pollution levels in Beijing at the moment are so high that the visibility was pretty poor, which was a shame.  A great grey, foggy, dusty cloud was hanging over everything.  Pretty much similar to London in the 50s or during the industrial revolution I presume.  London averages about 25 on the air quality index mostly and on very bad days goes up to 100.  Shanghai , averages around 160 and here in Beijing  at the moment the air quality index is at 296; hazardous to health.  Glad I'm only here for a few days.  But spring is a bad time to visit this city, hence the lack of crowds. This pollution is a real downer on an otherwise incredibly interesting city. 

Anyway, when I got to the end of the walkable section it was possible, (in theory)to see the untouched for tourists, real wall curving into the distance. I could make out only  a  hundred metres or so.

I wasn't looking forward to the descent at all, but luckily I met up with a group of people who were uber fit and had even been clambering around on the unwalkable sections and they helped me down.Which  was good of them.  We all celebrated with a beer at the end and yes Lesley! I graffitied my name on the last section of the wall on a ledge.  yes, graffiti  everywhere.  Unbelievable!

Right ,as for getting down off the wall, yes, of course there was a TOBOGAN ride! What a laugh and how random.  I was behind this guy from Germany and Alex from Manchester and they were great because they went really slowly down the ride for a bit to let the pottering folk get way ahead and then said go and we then all went full throttle round all the bends till we caught up with the potterers!     I had my own tobogan but my god, did I get some pace up.  It was totally exhilarating and I loved it!  ( I kept up with the guys!) A random, Chinese edition to the Great Wall experience.

Met some great young people today.  Waitresses from London, who have jacked it all in to travel to New Zealand and find work.  A young Swedish guy who has worked for the last three years in a Volvo plant and was getting rather down.  So he looked online and found a Kung fu training centre in Southern China and has been training in Kung fu and all its disciplines here for the last 6 months. ( he has been into martial arts since a young age).  What a great thing to decide to do!!! He is very happy that I am going to the Kung fu show this evening.  He says the Beijing performance is the best in China.  ( Hence the world , I presume!) 

I also had a lovely chat to Alex from Manchester. we might meet up later too.  He has been teaching English here for a year, but has a cushy job of only working at the weekends and having the week days to travel. he has no TEFL either! Funny! Wonder what his job entails.

Right must head off again.  Will post more later.

Right, I'm back.  I've just had my yuckiest meal since being in China.  feel a bit sick actually.  Hope I will be OK.  It was a bad choice and as most Chinese eat about 5.30 I think the food had been hanging around for a while.  Oh well, let's wait and see what happens.

The show was fabulous.  it has toured Russia and the states but not in Europe.  This is probably because of our stringent health and safety checks.  (This show wouldn't pass them!). there was lots of brick breaking on heads and chests.  lots of knife waving and other deep stuff..  lots of shouting, leaping, jumping and twisting.  lots of lithe, young men bounding and flipping all over the place in lovely costumes.  What was there not to like?!!! 

The show finished at 9 and I was kind of in a quandary.  the weather is so poor I just wanted to come back here and  chill with a beer. The smog is like the fog which Britain gets in the dead of winter on a cold December night but here it's warm, over 25 degs today. So bloody weird!

So I had some shit food and now I'm home.  I do feel oK though. I think I am just exhausted from all the walking I am doing.   There sure is a lot of walking to do in China.  Everywhere is so far.  Even just crossing one road is a mission of dexterity, speed, positioning, confidence and timing.  Every time I make it over I breathe a sigh of relief!

Right,one more thing. There is a sign on my door and it's a mystery to me.  It's a helpful sign and says "please take care of your belongings inside this hostel,especially your teeth." 

WTF?   Surely this is some major typo!!  What the hell are they on about?!  Are the toothless crones of China prowling the hostels and stealing dentures at night, or what?!!!  Any ideas?!

Right, with that thought, I'm off to bed.  Night. 

I've just checked the air pollution again.  It is now to 443. Hazardous . The information doesn't go much over 300.  Good Grief. (Oxford was 73 today, not that good either I have to say.) 

 Follow my health and that of the other 22 million residents of this city at

http://aqicn.org/city/beijing/

Beijing day 16

A completely different vibe here I have to say.  To be honest on first day impressions it seems a lot poorer and rougher here.  more earthy character to the place.  A city full of migrant workers from the countryside and less trendy looking locals.  It is no way as glitzy on first impressions as Shanghai but I can feel it is a really industrial powerhouse here. A proper northern working city. The pollution is the key to that. yes, the pollution is immense.  Thick in your throat and it has a distinctive smell, which if I could bottle, I would recognise again! 

When I arrived after my 16 hour journey I felt a bit jaded but the girls downstairs have put me into their swishest double room.  it is still a bit rough around the edges but is pretty dMn good for 20 quid a night in the central capital.  it is a strange place here full of American and Canadian business men.  I got chatting to one guy this morning who was off to the North Korean embassy to pick up a 20 day visa. He said he loves North Korea and thinks all the western guff about it being a rogue state are all fabrications.  I think he needed a reality check! Maybe he is being paid thousands of dollars by the NK state. I also heard from two other guys how they were robbed by two rickshaw drivers at the end of the forbidden city route. It made me determined not to get a rickshaw.

Anyway, with  all this information and a massive English breakfast inside me (for sustenance after such a long trip from Xi'an) I went off to attack the subway.  it is a good and easy system here.  it's massive but all bilingual and easy to follow and 20p for any one way trip. I went off to tianamen East station and saw the square and chairman Mao's huge oil painting. the security was full on.  Lots of queuing and checking of bags and bodies. C hina really is on red hot terrorist alert at the moment.

I then went off to find the entrance to the forbidden city and I got chatting to Li , or Kevin is his English name.  I preferred to call him Li.  he said he was a guide and proved it with his badges and passes. So for about 15 quid ( maybe too much but I was tired.) he showed me around and spoke to me bout all the history.  he was really good and very knowledAble and as he was a follower of the Taoist belief, he  was able to give me a personal insight into the layout,numerology, and meanings of all the buildings.  I'm glad he was  with me. 

My god what a immense palace.  the history is amazing and the stories of all the emperors and all the intrigue are astounding.  I'm going to read about dowager Cixi, and about all the eunuchs and naked concubines brought to the the emperors every night on palaquins.  it's all stuff of novels, not real life!! 

But to be honest the architecture did not blow me away.  it's all a bit too kitsch and not to my taste plus there is so much concrete everywhere. Plus, if I'm honest I have seen far more beautiful stuff in other places on this trip.  But,hey we are to blame a bit, the Brits ransacked the place during the opium wars in the 19th century. The scratch marks left by the Brits on all the gold water containers are still there for us to see!

After a few hours we ended up in a tea house and I had my most informative tea house ceremony yet. I was absolutely knackered and the women made 5 different teas for me and told me the history. I loved it and I found the whole experience very restorative.  This whole tea ceremony thing is fab! So finally after much umming and ahhing I have finally bought two teas to bring home. A fermented black cake tablet tea called Pu-er.  This tea gets better with age, which I like. ( I love it now, let alone in 25 years!) And a woolong green, which i have loved since I arrived. 

Yi showed me how to use the bus, which is completely different here.  You get on In the middle of the bus and throw 1 yuan in a pot. I had some typical Beijing food, was OK but I think I have been spoilt on my trip aNd then went off for an evening show at the acrobatic theatre.  What a laugh!!!It was in the People's Theatre.  Which is an old theatre ,mostly frequented by old Chinese peasants on holiday from their villages. So I was surrounded by old Chinese crones,with a kind of  chAirman Mao look about them.  but the acrobatic show was great And the bicycle( 10 girls on one bike) and the motorcycle bits at the end were amazing.  We were all laughing  and clapping away.  Then when I was completely knackered I had to negototite a bus ride then 2 lines of the metro home,with a 10minute walk down a hutong.  But I made it!!!!!  

A hutong is a typical Beijing street. This city is still full of typical old fashioned style houses and lanes.  I love them,they re very atmospheric and my hostel is down a hutong.

Right off to bed up at 6am as I am off to the Great Wall of China!!    Yippeee. Good night.

Xi'an day 15

For the first time in China I am feeling a bit nervous.  I have been told that catching a taxi is really difficult in Xi'an and that I should take the bus to the train station.  Unfortunately no one seems able to book me a taxi either.  The prospect of getting on rush hour buses with all my stuff does not fill me with happiness. So I have decided to leave hours ahead of schedule, incase I have to walk the three or four miles through the city to the station. If I had known about this potential hassle I would have just booked a flight! 

Today has been good though.  I went up the drum tower and managed by chance to catch a drumming show.  There was one at 11 and 3pm and just by luck I arrived in the hall at 10.58! It was great.  Today I got chatting with Yi up the drum tower.  SHe was a student who had been studying in Norway and Germany. She was now home on holiday and had left her province to travel around her country on her own.  Guess what, her home province was Jiangsu, where Carmel and I had been teaching.  She wasn't from Jiangyin though, but she knew the city well. 

While we were talking a guy from Guangdong ( Canton) came up to us and started chatting in English to us. he thought we were both British.  ( Yi was dressed in such a cool style, she didn't look typically Chinese at all, so I don't blame him for thinking that.). he was called RC and also had just graduated and was on holiday from his province. So all three of us independent travellers met up at the Bell Tower!  

Both RC's and Yi's English were amazing and they  both had cAmeras the size of their heads. We left the Bell Tower and I wanted to go to the Great Mosque. It wasn't on either of their agendas but they agreed to go with me.  

Anyway, in we went and wow, it was absolutely wonderful and totally peaceful.  No one there apart from the local Cninese Muslims.  All the magnolia was in magnificent bloom and my new chinese friends were able to translate all the Ancient tablets for me. I feel totally humbled by the beauty of the Xi'an mosque. It really was stunning. Islamic  led design and architecture is still my favourite!   I will post the pics when I am home.  I also know both Yi and RC were impressed too. They couldn't believe how peaceful and beautiful it was.  There are not many tourists in Xi'an yet and locals just don't visit Mosques.

After this we went for lunch together in the Muslim quarter and then we walked off to the wall.  I left them then. (They were going to hire bikes and cycles around the top of the wall.)   I think I was  playing gooseberry on a fledgling romance!   I hope they do stay in touch with each other.  They were both lovely people.  If they get married I hope they invite me!

Right I must go and trudge across the city with all my stuff in rush hour.  Wish  me luck. 

Xi'an day 14

A great way to spend a Sunday.  I over slept, seriously overslept,and the thought of going to the museum through  all the crowds did not fill me with glee. Not even queuing in the afternoon.  I just wasn't up for it really.

I went down for breakfast about 10.30 and Maria was there with her friend John.  We decided to wander off to the the artisan district together.  So off we trotted. We went under the bell tower and down south street to the wall and turned left.  Suddenly we were in this Oxford market, trinket street.  Full of traders selling all kinds of stuff,  from old fashioned Chinese musical instruments, which were first crafted over 7000 years ago and are still being made  and played today. ( They look like eggs. you blow down them like a flute and put your fingers on holes like a recorder.) to calligraphy brushes and scrolls and artwork and jade.

It was fabulous.A great way to spend a Sunday late morning , afternoon. I bought some goodies and Maria helped me to bring the price down.  She was very good, telling me which things were fake and which were real. but to be honest,I could tell too!

We went to her friend's trendy Tibetan hippy shop and hung out there and had tea made for us.  Again very delicious.  tthe shop was beautiful  and I bought some earrings, unfortunately they didn't have any rings. 

I practised my calligraphy skills with a trader.  he told me how to hold my brush and the strokes I could do.  he said (via translation) that I had style but i was no good because calligraphists can't be left handed here!

Then we wandered off for lunch.  Suddenly Maria tells me it's her birthday when she hands her ID card over to the women at the front desk of the massive restaurant we went to.  in China in certain restaurants when you hand over your ID and can prove it's your birthday you get a free meal. I paid for johnand myself.  ( It was true too, I checked her ID.)  Funny!

So we ordered the all you can eat buffet and in we went through the swinging doors!!!......

OHMY GOD.....I had never seen a buffet place like it in my life.  Aisle upon aisle upon aisle of all types of Chinese food from all areas of the country.  I had river shrimps again!  I was in shock.  Total food shock heaven! It was almost too much.   They even had their own brewery in the corner churning out beer through valves  and pipes and tanks in the background..which I could see as well.  Just so cool!!!

It was a food paradise.  It was full of families all hanging out and buffeting together. It really made me wish my family could have been here.You would have loved it. Especially the  beer and bacon! 

We ordered the BBQ because John and Maria are students and don't get much meat.  To eat meat is important to Chinese people.   I watched John tuck away nearly a whole pigs worth of bacon. And Maria really appreciated the quality of the New Zealand butter on the BBQ ( which she had taken from the breakfast table that morning!)I must admit it ws better quality than the local butter. The BBQs are integrated into the table and you have to cook your own fresh meat, fish, vegetables and seafood.   

Anyway, I stuck to my fish, mushrooms, quail eggs , dumplings and BBQed duck. Along with lots of noodle soup, hot pot, rice cakes, kebabs , local beer and local fruit.  delicious!  We were hanging out here for hours.  A true Chinese Sunday lunch I think.  I was very lucky to have such an experience and all for under  7 quid a head.   I found out that this restaurant has won many awards inchina. And is known as the biggest  and best buffet in the province, if not this corner of China.

We then wandered back into the artisan district because Maria wanted a calligraphy brush. I have since found out tht she is not studying astrophysics but aeronautical engineering.  She studies plane engines.  We discussed the Malaysian missing aeroplane for a while.  her friend John,who could speak no English, was studying renewable energy systems for car engines. Both  very industrial young people.   But her favourite thing to do is calligraphy and mountain climbing.  She said that is why she left her province to study here because both are far more recognised , and easier to do here in her spare time.   V. Interesting.

Right I am off to meet up with Ingrid and her two daughters for a drink.  They re three women I met on the tour yesterday to The Terracotta Army, and they have invited me over to their hostel this evening. 

Tomorrow I won't be blogging because  I will be on the soft sleeper train to Beijing.  YES, I am going by train!   it's 11 hours and will be an over night adventure.  I'm going high class so hopefully nothing untoward will happen to me! ( but maybe there will be wifi on the train,who knows!) I have also booked my last 4 nights in Beijing and also a tour for the great wall on Wednesday. It looks likea. Good one from what I can see. 

Right back in a few days in Beijing..  Night  

Xi'an day 13

Thoses warriors sure are a feat of human creative perfection.  I can't put into words what it felt like to see all those hollow, pottery men and horses.  The painstaking archeological efforts involved to put all the pieces back together again too.  The mastery of both those guys over 2000 years ago and the archeologists now are astounding. (They are from 221BC not 221AD . I got it wrong before. )

Along with the eye for detail.  They have even managed to add in pottery styled wrinkles, raised eyebrows and smirks.  EAch warrior is the individual face of a guy who made the warriors. T wo guys would create each other's likeness in the moulds.  They did this because they all knew they were going to be put to death in some cruel and torturous way so this was their immortality ticket.  The guys bodies were dumped in graves and their pottery look alikes are being preserved and recreated in front of our eyes.

Jaja , our guide picked me up at 9am.  it took an hour and a half to get there and she chatted about the history. She was really interesting.  

There are thee different pits and we started with number two.  The first ( and as yet, the only intact warrior to be found  )was there. A farmer found it in 1974 when digging a new well. This warrior was an archer and he was amazing, right down to the details on the bottom of his shoes. Locals think he is magic! . 

We then went to pit 3,  which was a bit dull.  A few horses and rubble and then the joy of pit number 1 with the  warriors all inline. It was packed but was still amazing to see them all there. And also understanding that they have only just scratched the surface when it comes to what is yet to be unearthed. AMAZING! 

Right , I'm with the Wisconsin dairy farmers now.  They have just come to my table and I'm gonna chat to them. then I'm off for duck wings.  I'll be back later. 

later...due to too much socialising I haven't been able to blog so much. never met up with Maria until later.  She was out climbing mountains until past sunset.  

Highlights today were definitely the warriors, but to be honest I have learnt more about them via BBC and channel 4 documentaries. But great to see them in the flesh.

Also I got on the metro this evening to go to the Light and water display at the Big Goose pagoda.  It was fun catching the metro.  It was so swish, with double security doors like the new stations in London.  But it was very very busy.  I almost couldn't get off at the stop I needed.  I had to elbow my way through and buying tickets took over 15 minutes of queuing. Tonight is the first time I have realised how crammed  and jammed Chinese cities are.  I think it is because it is a Saturday evening.

The light show was good, especially the red lit up trees.  But the best bit was the Xi'an noodles. A speciality.  like flat sheets of lasagne.  Infact the whole dish tasted like a weirdly presented, more spicy lasagne. Yummy.  My nephew fin would have loved it.  Infact I think I was pulling the same kind of 'I love this food' kind of face  as him, when I was eating it.

The walk to the pagoda took me past the Shaanxi province museum and I am going there tomorrow.  I need to leave here at 7.30am to guarantee myself a ticket because they only give out 4000 a day. Which isn't many, surprisingly!  At least I know the journey now and can decipher stop names and entrances and exits to the metro system.  I worked it all out this evening. It's not too bad, just like playing a weird game of snap and match that symbol.

this evening I have been playing cards with the Chinese, the Americans and a Canadian Chinese guy.  he is off mountain climbing tomorrow.  he was showing me the planks on the cliff edge he will be attempting to walk along.  made me feel sick just looking at them!  Check out some images of the mountain by googling...Mount Hua shaanxi province! 

I think I am going to walk a bit of the city walls tomorrow too and go and find out the ancient mosque.   must sleep.  I'm knackered and I can't focus on the screen anymore and I have to be up at 6.30.  Night 

Xi'an day 12

Wow, I have just left the bar of the Han Tang Inn, where I am staying for 3 nights.  i have been talking to agricultural undergrads from Wisconsin, USA, who are here to learn about how the Chinese run massive agriculture programmes. I have also been chatting to Chinese Maria, who is an Astrophysics undergraduate.  She is here for a few days as her and some of her mates, (who can't speak  English) are off hiking.  She gave me some of her spicy duck wings and she was so impressed that I could eat them and enjoy them that she has agreed to take me to the spicy duck wing street stall tomorrow evening.

We met over the Friday evening dumpling making session.  lots of young students, both foreign and Chinese and me all rolling out dumpling dough. We rolled dough, filled them, pinched them together and finally boiled them for 15 minutes to kill all known germs  and we have just eaten them. They were good. I met a few Brits who had just come in from Thailand.  they were excited but were finding China difficult.  they asked me if I had ever been to Thailand and I had to tell them I was working there 18 years go. bloody hell that did make me feel old! 

So today has been yet another series of great adventures.  The flight from Chengdu was easy . But yet again when I arrived at the terminal no one was there to pick me up. Luckily I had my Chinese phone for such emergencies.  wrong terminal AGAIN.  I think they all just presume I am flying into the international terminal, not the domestic. 

The taxi ride in was interesting.  40 story high flats as far as your eye can see. It was an architectural phenomenon, but surprisingly not as grim as you would think because on ground level there are flowers, shrubs, nice walkways and even local artwork displays.

Then we went though the old walled gates  and we had arrived in the ancient capital of Xi'an.  it feels a bit like Jerusalem. A modern  city with an ancient, protected, walled section.luckily I am right in the middle of the ancient part and my god is it atmospheric around here!  Wonderful. So wonderful.

I wandered off with my map to the Muslim quarter. It was so atmospheric, like the  Istanbul market area.  Lots of Chinese Muslims, of course and it smelt different, like being in Turkey, or an Arabic country with all the kebabs and pittas breads.  But the pitta bread is disgusting here.  When I bought a Xi'an pitta I had to throw it away. I hated it.  I thought the guy was trying to poison me but I have since found out that is what they taste like! 

So I am right at the far end (or beginning) of the Silk Road The extreme end of the road which started in Istanbul.  Over 2000 years of trade  have linked these two cities.  It's so amazing  because I could taste and feel Istanbul in that Muslim quarter. Everywhere I looked was a photo opportunity.  It is just such a bloody shame that I can't post my pictures.  I'm really happy with the ones I have taken of food stalls, pagodas, shops, street life, dumpling making, eating duck wings.  Oh well I will just have to share them once I'm home.

Today I have also been to the bell tower and the drum tower, massive structures made in the Ming dynasty. I think the Ming dynasty is the most revered time in Chinese history,   a bit like our renaissance. I have also chatted to a mature art student who started studying painting at 35 in her free time. she was lovely and we had a good chat about how art is not revered in university now and how the ancient arts of calligraphy are also dying too as nobody writes anymore.  She was saying that the majority of young people have terrible writing skills these days!  Similar to the west I think. I bought two of her paintings and am looking forward to having them on my walls at home. I even took a photo of her with her paintings. 

  Today has been just such an overload of culture, every minute of the day I see something interesting.  This evening I enjoyed watching the kites which were flying so, so high.. They were really beautiful.  the only bad part of my day was the Xi'an pitta bread and this thing I bought on a stick.  I didn't know what it was and  I was just about going to dunk it in chilli when the guys said NO!  I thought it was because they thought I wasn't strong enough for the chilli but  actually it was because it was a desert dish. That sweet thing on a stick was foul too, chilli sauce might have made it better.

oh,I even went to a really atmospheric tea house today and had some Wolong for my throat. it was so lovely and really old. Ming or Tang Dynasty or something....   There was an ancient puppet theatre there too. So beautiful and it was properly OLD!  Not fake old.  The place was just full of Chinese tourists, not another westerner in sight.that is what I love about China,  us westerners are insignificant. Their tourist market is big enough just on the home front.  They make no allowances, they are not going to pander to westerners in anyway.  We have to make all the adjustments, and to be honest, that is the way it should be. And as there is no tipping in Chinese culture ( and as most goods seem to be labelled on market stalls and in shops) it's not like they fawn around you trying to suck your cash. I find this really refreshing and it's keeping me calm.  To be honest  I am not finding being here stressful at all.  I I feel like I am having a proper holiday even though I understand nothing of the language or signs around me!  Strange. 

Right must go to bed.  Terracotta warriors day tomorrow .  night  

Chengdu day 11

EYet another great day. firstly I slept SO well last night.  My best night's sleep since I arrived here. I just love my little room and I am going to miss it when I leave tomorrow.

Today I fannied about on the internet trying all kinds of combinTions to move photos across but there are just too many variables.  I just wish I had put the VPN on the work notebook before I left the UK and then I wouldn't have had this hassle. I would have just swapped my ipad for the work notebook.  Anyway, I cHatted to Lily and Daniel  over breakfast.  both of them are studying hard for their IELTS.  When they are not serving customers they have their heads in IELTS past paper books. 

I then decided to go to my first museum.  I went by taxi. With my bilingual map, which all tourists get at this place, it's a doddle and all taxis are so safe here. They even issue receipts, have a standard fare and tips are definitely not to to be given.  Tipping here is seen as an insult. Like you feel sorry for them They are proud of the service they give and don't want 'charity'as they see it.  I kind of like this attitude because it takes the pressure off me and I feel totally safe. Infact tipping is not done in Chinese culture at all.

So my first museum was expensive, over £8 to get in.  So it was dead, dead posh and full of dead classy people swanning around.  tthe building was enormous and the layout was spectacular.  I learnt lots about the Shu, a local civilisation which were a round the same time as the Greeks and Babylonians.  They only started excavating in 1994 but have found lots of graves, jewellery, ebony, elephant tusks etc. the layout was impressive but a bit too severe and formal for my taste and everything took a bloody age to walk to! Signs were in English but at the information desk no one spoke English and I never saw a single westerner there. Highlight was the temporary display on  masks in Chinese opera and all the drawings done by Kids.

After this I went off to the Wuhou temple. This was a temple dedicated to a great military leader during the three kingdoms of 220-280 AD.  Lots of great calligraphy, bonsai gardens and fat fierce looking leaders.  No Buddhas, this was a shrine to a revered commander who also invented the first paper money. 

I then wandered off into the Tibbeted district.  really interesting shops and monks and different looking people around. Really interesting prayer flags and the Tibetan language on shop fronts.  I couldn't stay long though.  I needed to get back.

I then got a bus back to the hostel, right through town in rush hour. It was  mental watching all the motorbikes, expressionless tired faces on the bus, everyone crammed in like sardines. Totally rammed to the extreme.

Got stuck in a jam opposite a funky looking pie, cake shop place where all the young staff were dressed in colourful clothing and handing out free small pies. It must have been a new store but it was unfortunately called MANUAL TARTS.  Funny image! 

Got back just in time for the opera.  I was picked up right on time in a van with just me in it. Nice smiley driver , who changed into a completely aggressive driver shouting expletives ( I presume) out the window at traffic and driving like a loon.  When we arrived, he returned back to this sweet smiley guy again. Funny.

I had a VIP seat with tea, peanuts and comfy seat one from the front.  I went and watched the actors get ready with their makeup and costumes. It was such a relaxed affair. The show was an hour and half and I loved it all!So much funnier and more interesting than other Asian operas I have sat through. This was bright, colourful, funny, clever, and even kids would have loved it. In fact quite a few were there.  I loved the music, the puppets, the shadow puppets, the acrobats and especially the mask changing  at the end.  if you canwatch Sechuan opera mask changing on YouTube. it is something to behold.  how the hell do they do it??Was brilliant! MR. Smiley was waiting for me at 10pm and he had some gifts for me: Information on Sichuan opera, bookmarks and a key ring. I was very happy and my cheer must have been affective because he didn't drive like a crazed beast on the way back. 

Again on the way back a sign caught my attention. It was huge,on a massive building, Written in enormous Chinese characters and roman ones too.  it was the ANORECTAL hospital. Oh dear, poor Sechuan people must have issues from all the chilli they eat! Right off to pack, I have a fligh tomorrow morning to Xi'an.  Night.

I took my ipad out with me this evening. Check out the tables we had with tea. a guy kept refilling my glass from a tea pot with the longest spout.   Similar to the teapots the girls in red are dancing with. 

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Leshan day 10

What a fantastic day!  I have had such an adventure.  I will write more tomorrow because it is late and my writing plans were destroyed by Aaron from Wales, who is a teacher in Chengdu. He gave me lots of information and  advice about Beijing and the wall and about education in China.  (Cheers Caterina for your advice too.). a fun evening of beers and chats.  now I am sitting with some Northern Chinese and a Japanese guy but I am just listening to them and trying to blog inside away from the rain. ( the Japanese guy went to Urumqui in Northern China and it was -25degs.) 

Right today was amazing.  I have travelled by bus, coach, three wheeled powered electric taxi , and normal taxi and lots and lots of hill climbing up steps.   I have been to see the Leshan Buddha and it was fabulous.  Think about how great seeing the biggest Buddha could be...and it was just that!

  I feel like I have been on a Buddhist Pilgramage with all the different kinds of transport I have been on today. I wish I could upload some photos , but I will try again with Dropbox tomorrow. ( I have found out that Dropbox isn't blocked here and works well for photos.). Katy sorry the guys are too busy to upload my photos to their emails tonight.

My transport was successful because I had everything written down in characters.  Even though Chengdu is a city of 15 million it runs extremely efficiently and I have found out that Chengdu is known for its queuing. so waiting for a ticket at the bus station today was busy but easy and efficient. in fact almost stress free.

The journey was two hours long and after my coughing last night I slept most of the way. Then a short  taxi ride and i was at the site.  The state translates the park as a ' theme park' but no way! This is a serious Buddhist attraction.  A Buddha of over 70 metres who was carved into the rock over 1200 years ago is a source of great awe and worship, and monks and devotees were in evidence everywhere.  By luck I met up with a student of psychology from South Africa and she was able to help me navigate the incredibly vertiginous pathways up  and down the sides of the great Buddha.  Without her I couldn't have done it. I always meet the right people when I have to! 

She was lovely but she was on a tighter schedule than me, so we parted and I headed off to the temple of 1000 Buddhas. My god, What a beautiful walk. I saw amazing tree ferns and mountains and bridges and gates and a lovely river where local fishermen were out working. But the walk was arduous and I was extremely knackered and thinking about the buses back.  I was contemplating the trek to the temple when a guy came up to me and said that there was no exit this way and  I would have to walk all the way back. This would have been impossible and was probably the reason why there were no other tourists around!  anyway he agreed to take me back round by road on his three wheel taxi for £1.50. he was a lovely guy and again I couldn't have met him at a better time.  he even stopped on the road side so I could take photos of the 300 m reclining Buddha. ( these photos were better than the ones inside the park.)  today I have been extremely lucky.  Without the people I met I wouldn't have had such a successful day alone. 

I got the bus back and again slept in true Chinese style. Everyone just snoozes  at any time. I can't believe I have been on a bus for 4 hours, sleeping has it's advantages. 

I then went to a busy noodle shop near the bus station. it was full of young women and I felt it was safe.  Again  I ate like a queen.  True bliss.  A magic bowl of noodles for a quid. ( I found out today that Chengdu has UNESCO status for its food.) 

I then got back by crammed public bus to the hostel and got chatting to Tom and Aaron.  They work at the Oxford School of English here.  Funny.  It was extremely informative chatting to them both, seeing what teaching here is really like. they were both really positive and Aaron was a passionate physics teacher.

Now I am so tired but I feel good and know I will sleep well, especially because I have asked the staff for more pillows so I can keep my head up.  I have to admit that hot water has helped me a lot.  sad, but true.

Right time to sleep, the Chinese guys around me are chatting and occasionally they pepper their conversation with ' what the fuck'. And 'Fucking mental'. All I can say is , yes, it is!

Chengdu day 9

What a great day! This place really energises me.  Of course it is so wonderfully different, yet not at all threatening.  yes, people stare at me, but hey I do mad things like take photos of buses, shop doors, food and rows of Chinese medicine and strange shoes in shop windows. 

I started my day on the terrace talking to Lily, who works here part time and is also in her third year at University studying engineering. She really wanted to study art but her parents said no and now, luckily, she is enjoying engineering and has just come back from 3 months studying in Toronto. We were talking about education and her pragmatic approach to it all and the stress that everyone seems to be under.  her attitude was really interesting.  To them it seems like there is no point in complaining, you just have to knuckle down and work bloody hard to succeed. 

I have taken such FANTASTIC photos on my camera today but can I transfer them across?!  Can I hell. it sure is a pain in the neck.  No systems seem to support each other and as I only have a VPN on this ipad I need everything here.  Anders, the guy who helped me on Sunday isn't around in the week and the others aren't as clued up.

So today I went  to WenShu monastery. it was rebuilt in 1999 and was amazing.  I've seen chanting Buddhists sat on bright yellow cushions in the main section.  I've seen women in a multitude of different ethnic dresses. I've seen women wandering around praying and chanting and giving offerings. Infact apart from one meditative guy, I have seen only women praying!  Lots of them, from old to young.  Buddhism for women is alive and kicking here.

I've seen old people in deck chairs playing cards  and mahjong under pagodas and eaten lunch in the monastery's restaurant. Which was great, I just had to point at stuff people were eating to order. Nothing in the  place was in English. Infact I haven't seen another westerner today at all. 

I've also eaten fried tofu covered in chillis and onions from a street stall.  I watched what a guy did and then just copied him. Was yummy.

I then came back to base and tried to organise photos with no damn success!  Bloody annoying!!!!!  I have such great snaps to share. I'll just have to  add them once I'm home.  But it won't be the same!

Then I went off to People's Park.  All I can say is it's way different to People's Park in Banbury.

I wandered around for ages, had some tea in a tea house. Watched families with kid. This is strange, a family gathering is one toddler and a minimum of 4 doting adults with them.  I haven't seen any little kids playing out with other kids on the street. One kid policy I suppose.

As the sun went down I was able to witness the Tai chi and martial arts.  God, itwas so beautiful.  Everyone in time. Like one big group push and pull of energy.  Everyone so focused. AMAZING.  I never took any photos, it kind of seemed a bit of an insult. Infact I saw lots of random groups of mostly oldish men and women, doing Taichi. Even on the side of busy roads there were groups of up to 10 people doing dancing with streamers, small drums, or just doing slow exercises. The Chinese are so lucky to have this kind of experience in their culture. I just hope the young people start to get involved too, otherwise it is going to die out.

I then wandered about for ages and got a bit lost.  getting lost in China is a strange experience.  I tried to get some hot pot but it was impossible due to being alone.  I would have had to order enough for 8people and that would have just been a waste.  I did notice that there was 'Cock kidney' on the English menu. umm, wonder if I would have ordered that?!!

So off I wandered again trying to match Chinese symbols on signs to my road map. more by luck I ended up at a metro station. I went down, looked  at the map able to resurface out of the right exit!

Here there was information in English. 

I then found one of the best  and oldest, tofu restaurants in town as recommended by my hostel.  it was my lucky day. I arrived 5 minutes before they closed. My oh my oh my oh my. I ate gourmet food for under a tenner. phenomenal quality and taste. The taste was out of this world. Sichuan pepper I love you!  I take back and apologise China for saying I don't like Chinese food. The stuff I am eating is consistently excellent. fresh, clean, not oily at all and totally delicious and extremely varied.  Yes, being alone means that I need to talk to my blog and I have to say( If you haven't realised ) that the food here has surpassed my expectations 100 fold!  

I then got the number one bus back. I know the route now. Buses are easy you just have to throw 2 yuan into a big postbox looking thing on the bus. ( or you use your Oyster card thingy.)  If you don't have the exact change you just ask the people behind you to give you their change and you pay for them.  I am just making sure that I have a wallet with enough lose change in.

Must go to bed now. I have to be up early because the Chengdu water service is going off for 12hours from 9am to 9pm. At least they have given us warning.  I want to get the bus out to the biggest Buddha in the world tomorrow.  (Biggest since the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha in Afghanistan.)

night 

Chengdu day 7

Well here I am. I'm the youth hostel bar drinking local Tsingtao beer in Chengdu. unbeknown to me the last week Carmel and I have been drinking export level Tsingtao beer which is more expensive, less tasty and has less alcohol in it too.  This has a much better taste!  Tastes far more bitter, which suits me.

Today I said goodbye to Carmel at terminal two. As I write she is probably landing back in the UK. We had such a great week. Cheers Carmel.  it was hard bloody work but I still really enjoyed it and we were fab travel partners together. Shame the adventures couldn't continue! 

Now I'm on my own.  the flight here was fine.  A piece of cake. but when I landed nobody was at the gate to pick me up.  I couldn't get my phone to work either but I managed to use a phone from a local woman and the taxi driver was hanging out in international arrivals.  For some odd reason they thought I was coming from japan. 

Anyway when I arrived the young lads on reception were very apologetic.  I told them that I was having trouble with my phone ( to be honest I just missed out the area code)  but they have given me a Chinese phone to use. It's as old or even older version than mine but it has a local sim.  So now I can call with confidence and they have even written the Chinese characters for ' I want to top up my card.'   this is all really useful when you need to organise accommodation on the hoof like what I am intending to do!

To add to the joy they have put my pics from my camera onto my ipad via iTunes. A piece of piss really.  So I am happy!

When I arrived in Chengdu I was shocked again by how super ugly this city is. FULL of pollution and a heavy stink of cigarettes and fumes just hangs above and around you.  I just can't breath and find even going up a flight of steps a chore.  now, this is probably just because of my heavy cold but to be honest, I'm not sure. 

I got the local bus into Chengdu this afternoon and managed to get to a hot pot noodle place and blew my head off with  a vegtastic sezuhan hot pot broth. Full of goodness and wonderfulness.  it made my ears pop, my eyeballs sweat and I couldn't finish it all!  it was great and cost a quid!  I will try and upload a picture of it

Woman boiling up my veggies from fresh. I just chose what wanted from her left. 

It worked! This is lotus root, cabbage and cauliflower all with tofu and noodles in a hot pot broth. No meat today.

I then wandered off in the dark round the central part of the city. It is so bloody high rise here.  IMMENSE.  Mao rises above it all waving down the capatilist avenue with the swanky shops on. God knows why so many Chinese come to Bicester village; they have it all a hundred fold here!

I managed to find the bus stop to get back. Even though it was after 9pm on a Sundays night everyone was out and the lights of the city were blazing down on me. It was fun being on public transport. I chatted to a young boy and he just wanted to stare at me, my guide book and map because it was all so foreign to him. He had some English and his mum was encouraging him to speak to me. He was a sweet little lad. 

I can't believe I found my way through this hub bub back to the hostel. This is a mixture of being given a good map and me rising to the challenge!

 Must sleep now. Yes, I'm off to see the pandas at 8 am. Night

Chengdu memories:

 my lovely green box of aeroplane food on East China Airways.

The contents of the green box.  The noodles were scrummy!

Chengdu city centre was full on and totally massive.

Mao in the middle waving down the street which now a heavenly paradise for

top end shopping and consumerism

some old looking speakers I saw high up in the sky! Interesting.

The entrance to my hostel.  The only place nearby with big red lanterns.

Shanghai day six

What a great day Carmel and I had in Shanghai. Because of drinking a bucket of gin the night before and not eating too much of our preordered chicken head and bone soup that evening.  (That soup was just a delicacy too far ! ) I woke up with a bit of a sore head, but nothing that two fry ups couldn't kill.

We got a taxi to the centre of town an d got on the red tour guide bus.  We decided that was the best option for one day.

It was such a beautiful spring day too. For the first time we felt really relaxed.  God, did we deserve it!

We had to take the ferry across the river to the BUND and Puxi  district. The ferry was great. Decorated with beautiful pictures of women of the 20s. We found out later that these women were the prostitutes of the time. 

There were also lots of cute kids and their parents on a day out.  it was a bonus being a Saturday. We didn't get back on the bus we just strolled along the Bund. (Check it out on line.) it sure is an amazing site. Renovated buildings from the time of the French and the Brits on one side and huge skyscrapers on the other.  Really impressive! This is a working city too.  Boats full of coal were powering up the river. You could just feel the life and energy of this place yet it also felt relaxed, safe and well cared for.  Most impressively everywhere was so clean. People here are rightly proud of their city. 

We then got back on the red bus and went right round the city. Seeing some amazing sites.  I it's such a shame I can't connect my phone to my iPad. We went to a pop up dumpling making area which was absolutely packed.  We ordered some noddles of unknown origin but they tasted good and didn't make us sick.

We then, just by luck ended up for the afternoon in Yu Yuan gardens. What a find.  Totally amazing and really beautiful. We had a tea ceremony in the oldest tea house in Shanghai. We watched the girl pour hot water over the tea pets.(wooden dragons) for luck. The tea was good too. 

We saw gingo Bilbao in blossom and it smelt lovely.  We saw amazing magnolia trees and lots of renovated temples and pools and bridges. It really was lovely in the beautiful sunshine. 

About 4.30 we headed off to find Caterina Tombolini, an old student from lake, who now works in Shanghai. We were going to take the metro but couldn't find the nearby stop so we ended up making a rash decision and getting on the back of a policeman's scooter.  We raced through the traffic at break neck speed.  It was funny as hell, but a bit hair raising too.  We didn't know if he would try and abduct us but Carmel convinced me that if this were to happen, she would be able defend us. Luckily it didn't and feeling wind sweept we arrived at the oldest temple in Shanghai at 5pm.  On time to meet Caterina. This was great, her  Chinese is excellent and we went off for dim sum in a really swish place. They really were delicious.  I'm not really a Chinese dumpling kinda girl normally but this was a totally different kind of experience.  Unfortunately my camera lost power about 2pm so I don't have any photos but to be honest, letting go of a camera and just looking about is sometimes a good thing.

Unfortunately I was absolutely exhausted by 7pm and full of cold but the good news is that it seems to be better today!  Thank god.  I was really not looking forward to flying  off with an awful stinking cold. I'd be deaf for days.  Right time to board. Bye.

More Shanghai photos from that Saturday:

My favourite photo of the skyline taken through the back seat car window

I found the pony picture on the ferry most interesting!

Futuristic start to our bus ride round the city

Chinese characters are engraved into the mounds of coal.

More coal and more coal.

one of the many strange signs.

and more coal

grandparents and grandchild.  Lots of little girls wore really frilly dresses and coats.  

Bums have to covered in fruh fruh.

locals having a chat

it wasn't very modal but it was OK for a public lav.

some powerful big wig immortalised forever

local street with lots of wires with a back drop of the powerful city

shopping centres.

shopping area. all done up to look old but all so new!!

An older looking area snapped quickly from the bus

looked a bit more original.

Carmel enjoying the sun.

The Shanghai  design museum.  When i go again I will go inside this place.

A tree as a washing line