February
1st 2007
Hong
Kong, or Fragrant Harbour as is it's literal
meaning from it's days as an incense producer,
nowadays produces more pollution than sandalwood!
As the plane descended through the endless
mist, we soon realised it was the smog of
the city that was clouding our view of it
as we landed with a bump. We checked into
our miniature room (sometimes it's good being
a short-arse!). Shortly afterwards our scaredy-cat
hopes of joining an organised tour to get
from Hong Kong to Beijing were dashed when
we scoured the travel agents for one-way deals.
We were going to have to do it without a Chinese-speaker
holding our hands.
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Team
Relton
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Floating
Restaurant |
Keira
had managed to evade the 'Out-laws' for a
whole six months but they finally tracked
her down on their way back from Australia...and
we were really pleased and excited to see
them. They were also pleased to see us, despite
us dumping on them more stuff to take back
to the UK, along with the rest of the junk
we left in Australia for them to pick up.
This included the OZ 'Wicked' van free gifts
of handcuffs, whip and feather tickle stick
which we had planted as a surprise. They weren't
shocked (we don't know what that says about
us?), but the Australian customs personnel
had something to say about it!! Luckily, they
just about managed to escape the rubber-glove
inspection!
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Lindsey
& Team Relton
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Keira
and her birthday guardian |
We
certainly made the most of the 2 days we had
with them. We went on a Hong Kong Island tour
taking in the city highlights including Victoria
Peak (where we couldn't see much but learnt
about the Feng Shui of the financial capital),
Stanley Market, and took a sampan (traditionally
a fishing boat) round Aberdeen Harbour. That
evening we rushed back out to meet Lindsey,
G's parents' friends' daughter, who lives
in Hong Kong and who took us to the exclusive
HK Cricket Club for a slap up meal, including
a whole roasted duck with pancakes.
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G
and his concubines
(on the reflexology path)
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We
are family.... |
But
there is more to Hong Kong than just the city,
as we discovered the next day on our second
tour, encompassing highlights of the area
named "The New Territories". We
got to meet our birth-year warriors who are
said to guard over you, at a vibrant temple
for worshippers of Confucianism, Taoism and
Buddhism. We stopped at a concrete jungle,
otherwise known as the "walled village",
where a small patch would cost the equivalent
of a small mansion in Europe, and walked through
their much-needed park which included a reflexology
path where the whole tour group took their
shoes off and had a walk.
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Hong
Kong night sky
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Typical
Hong Kong |
We
also went to a small and very peaceful village
close to mainland China and on the way back
we stopped at a small fishing village. We
managed to squeeze in a quick wander along
Hong Kong Harbour by day and by night and
also a meander through the local Kowloon park.
We said goodbye to G's parents and after an
emotional farewell we cheered ourselves up
by buying two tickets to see the HK Philharmonic
Orchestra the following evening.
On
our last full day in HK, we dragged ourselves
out of bed to go swimming before brekkie with
the golden oldies at the Olympic-sized pool
nearby, applied for more jobs and then made
our way to the HK Cultural Centre for the
Wagner concert which concluded our memorable
stay in Hong Kong. After being bombarded with
advertising and neon lights during our time
there, we were glad to leave the commercialism
of Hong Kong behind, if a little nervous to
be making our way into the realm of an alien
world. We clutched our phrasebook tightly
and boarded the plane to Wuhan, China.
Hong
Kong Wrong
Night becomes day
With a different sun
Reflecting modern life
Blurring into one
Flashing lights, neon signs
Advertising overload
Simply too much to take
Information implode
Universal balance lost
Hard to find your way
All meaning disappears...
It can't be good Feng Shui? |
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Hong
Kong Cultural Centre
|
22nd
February 2007
We
arrived in Wuhan, eastern central China, and
it soon became apparent that for the first
time on the entire world trip, we were the
only westerners for miles around...and didn't
we know it! From the moment we stepped out
of our lovely, safe hotel, we were stared
at, giggled at, pointed at, shouted at, and
even chased! At one point, while we were taking
a stroll down the river front, entertaining
the locals with our freak show, a toddler
and her grandmother accosted us and the little
girl proceeded to tug Keira's fingers apart
as if checking that she was real whilst trying
to say "hello" in broken English.
One thing we noticed about the pre-school
community was their ingenious 'irrigation'
system, whereby no matter how many clothes
they have on, there is always a convenient
gap underneath for their waste to be discharged,
wherever they may be! During our couple of
days in Wuhan, we were pleasantly surprised
at how much we were enjoying being the only
foreigners and spent most of our time walking
in the park area by the river, flying our
70 pence kite, using the free public exercise
equipment, and taking in the local artwork.
We also checked out the local cuisine at the
hotel buffet and 'chickened-out' on the turtle,
frog, snail and tongue dishes.
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Cute
Chinese girl...(the little one!)
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Row,
row, row your boat... |
By
now you may be wondering why on earth we were
in Wuhan in the first place. And so were we
when we found out that the boat we were supposed
to be getting down the Yangtze river from
there to Chongqing didn't exist at that time
of year! Whilst searching for hours for the
guidebook's "unmissable" ticket
office, we stumbled across a vibrant market
selling plants, fish, turtles and many cute
rodents, kittens and puppy dogs. We just hoped
that they were for pets and not dinner! Eventually
we did manage to book ourselves on a 'cruise'
from another city which took three bus journeys
to get to. Leaving the luxury of our hotel
behind, we crammed into a minibus for a short
journey and then boarded a coach which we
were pleased had a toilet on board. So we
were a little perplexed when a little boy
with waste-disposal hatch installed, decided
to pee in the aisle of the bus and nobody
attempted to clean it up! The pee sloshed
about in the middle, making G need the loo.
While he was in there, what happened is best
described by K's journal entry: "This
[the pee] I could just about cope with, but
when the guy in front of me coughed up a huge
whopping phlegm and proceeded to spit it on
the window next to him and then spread it
across with his fingers, and the stench of
bad breath began to waft back and linger in
my general area, I nearly vomited!" G
arrived back shortly afterwards and to quote
from his journal: "Credit where credit's
due, he did try to wipe it off with the curtain!".
In fact, we have noticed many slightly unpleasant
cultural norms: Hacking and spitting at every
opportunity seems socially acceptable; queuing
is an alien concept; public toilets don't
always have partitions; volume in general
is 20 decibels louder; and personal space
is non-existent. Our last bus journey before
the 'cruise' resembled a Guinness World Record
attempt or perhaps a new Olympic event to
see how many Chinamen we could get inside
a bus. One guy who was ranting and raving
and who had severe anger management issues
seemed a bit scary...then we found out he
was our driver!
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Our
"First Class" toilet
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Need
we say more...? |
We were relieved to arrive at our 'first class'
cabin on the boat after a game of push and
shove, only to be hit with an unrelenting
rancid stench coming from the squat toilet-come-shower
attached to our room...Living the dream? (We
dread to think what the economy class was
like) Eyes streaming, throats burning and
the gag sensation upon us, we made the best
of a bad situation by opening the window to
let the freezing cold air circulate, in vain.
We spent the next 45 hours enduring the journey,
confined to our cabin as the communal areas
were few and far between and either crammed
to the rafters with ogling Chinese or playing
excruciatingly loud and bad music, charging
10 Yuan for the privilege. So we tried to
admire the views...of the fog, mist and pollution
from the concrete factories we could occasionally
make out on the river bank. With that plan
out of the window, we rocked back and forth
in the corners of the room, in between eating
pot noodles which we were convinced were dog
flavour. We did however venture out on a few
occasions, and had some interesting encounters
with the locals, including a 20-minute exchange
with an audience of 20 where G managed to
find out that due to poor visibility our arrival
time was unknown. Three friendly teenagers
with limited English came to our aid and promised
to tell us when we were about to arrive. They
were true to their word, and 8 1/2 hours late,
we arrived in Chongqing. Apart from our hotel,
what we saw of the city wasn't great, although
to be fair, we couldn't see much since the
air was so polluted it created a permanent
haze.
Some
people want to be noticed
To stand out from the crowd
A Westerner in rural China
Will stand out 'Clear and Loud'
No matter what you wear
How you walk, talk or sing?
An undercover spy...
Would have trouble blending in
I kinda liked the interest
The blatant curiosity
The pointing, the staring, the intrigue
No concept of privacy
"Helloooo" they yell at you
"Laowai" ...the foreigner
Like an alien from outer space
You'll really cause a stir
But sometimes you need to escape
Some relief in the toilet will do?
No luck, the partitions are so low
Your neighbour can watch you poo! |
There's
not much more to say about Chongqing, and
after a couple of days we flew to Xi'an, gateway
to the Terracotta Army, and a lot more besides.
Here we were much less the object of people's
amusement as we hit the tourist trail. With
only a short time in Xi'an, we crammed in
the inner-city highlights in one day, starting
in the heart of the town with the Bell Tower,
quickly followed by the Drum Tower. In ye
olden times, the bell would ring to herald
the dawn and the drum would be banged at dusk.
We wandered the narrow roads of the Muslim
quarter with its cramped, half-timbered buildings
which had a village feel rather than a sprawling
provincial capital. We tasted some interesting
local bread - cajoled into the shop by the
character outside, and wandered around the
antiques market, resisting the urge to buy
a machete. The alleyways reminded us of York,
as did the next part of the walking tour,
the city walls. Due to more fog and pollution,
we couldn't see much from them except a few
tall cranes (construction projects being a
regular feature in china), although we were
impressed by the construction of the detailed
and colourful New Year's celebration displays.
We descended the wall and made our way on
to Shuyuanmen, a cobbled street, something
of an artist's quarter, which reminded Keira
of the set of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,
because it looked as if it had been built
yesterday, like most of the 'historic' buildings
in China.
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Chinaman
silhouette
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Helpful
Chinese girls |
The following day we finally got to see one
of the real wonders that attracted us to China
- the Terracotta Army. It was discovered in
1974 by a peasant farmer who was digging in
search of water. They were built in about
250 BC to guard Emperor Qin Shi Huang's tomb
upon his death. It is unknown how many warriors
there are although 8,000 of them, believed
to be only a fraction of the total, have been
unearthed, and are 'displayed' on the exact
site they were found, in large hangers for
the millions who visit each year. Archaeologists
who have the mammoth task of piecing together
the giant jigsaw puzzle of broken limbs and
headless torsos have discovered every warrior's
face is unique and is based on an actual General,
Officer, Archer or Cavalry Soldier, who posed
for the artists. And you wouldn't want to
have been one of the artists, or even to have
been involved, as you would have eventually
been murdered simply for your awareness of
the secret project. The unrestored areas looked
a bit like a war zone with dismembered body
parts - ironic really since they were built
to protect the Emperor but looked as if they
had lost. On the way out, we got to meet Yang
Zhifa, the farmer who discovered it all, although
to be honest it could've been anyone!
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Back
streets of Chongqing
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One
of many.... |
On the same day we also visited a fascinating
excavated village from the neolithic period
which was reminiscent of a back-to-basics
Yorvik Viking Centre. We briefly went to the
site of Emperor Qin's tomb and watched a cultural
performance about his life. Starving and exhausted,
we were glad to get to the 1,000-seater restaurant
which we had to ourselves, for a late, late
lunch. Our bellies filled, we found we were
at Chang'an, the start of the Silk Road which
was a trading route that wound its way to
Europe. During a tour of the silk factory,
we were enthralled by the magical silk cocoons
with their soft thread that is used by the
Chinese authorities in their bullet-proof
vests. We couldn't resist treating ourselves
to a hand-made, pure silk-stuffed, king sized
dust mite-proof duvet! Our last stop was at
Huaqing Pool, basically an imperial pleasure
resort where the Emperor and some of his 5,000
concubines used to bathe in the mineral-rich
hot springs. It is also famous for the 'Xi'an
incident' in 1936 and for the tragic tale
of Emperor Xuan Zong and his concubine Yang
Guifei (Google it if you're interested). We
left Xi'an, taking our last but one flight,
and arrived in the capital, Beijing. We were
pleasantly surprised to be able to see clear
blue sky as it had eluded our journey in China
so far, despite our guide in Xi'an insisting
there was no pollution.
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G
& cool Chinaman
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Antiques
market |
Much of our time in Beijing was spent distracted
by job-related activities, searching and applying
for them, two telephone interviews (for K)
and lots of preparation. Luckily though, we
had two weeks in Beijing and therefore had
time to see all the main sights in between
the boring stuff, and even timed our stay
to coincide with the Chinese New Year celebrations.
Our first real taste of Beijing was a performance
of the Beijing opera, or as the guidebook
said, "a bastardization" of it,
which was still entertaining with elements
of martial arts, acrobatics and slapstick
but surprisingly not much singing. We had
hoped to see a more authentic version but
after searching for hours for the venue which
we eventually found closed, we decided a tourist-friendly
version would suffice.
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More
New Year preparations....
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Rebuilt
ancient street |
We spent Valentine's Day on the Great Wall
of China holding hands...with other people!
Namely, our two Chinese souvenir sellers-come-guides
who successfully helped G face (but not conquer)
his fear of heights. The pictures we saw before
we went, and the photos we took on the day
really don't do it justice. It was far steeper,
scarier and more spectacular than they depict.
Just to put the wall into perspective a bit:
it is approximately 5,000 kilometres long,
was built between the 5th century BC and the
16th century AD, and was the brainchild of
the same Emperor who built the terracotta
army, as a defence against barbarians (it
seems he had a bit of a complex!). Thousands
died in pursuit of his dreams. The section
of the wall that we visited was between Jinshanling
and Simatai, most of which was not restored
and scales a landscape of high hills flanked
by deep valleys. The trekking was hard going
to say the least as the steps (where there
were some) were crumbling and uneven with
no walls to barrier off the edge, so the scenic
stroll turned into a bit of an ordeal. However,
on the many times we did stop to catch our
breath and take in the scenery, it was truly
stunning - an amazing feat of engineering.
After a couple of kilometres, we took a scenic
detour with our guides where we got to see
a bit of the local farm life and a view of
the wall from the valley. Once back on the
wall, and approaching the end of our 8 km
trip, we came across a break in the wall where
a suspension/swing bridge hung across a river...G
was ecstatic! With no going back and the end
in sight, he ploughed on and we finally reached
our destination. On our way back to Beijing,
the inevitable finally happened. After many
a treacherous bus journey, we eventually had
our first accident...at the mighty speed of
1 mph. A tiny bump with a taxi, but from the
reaction of the driver, the arrival of the
police, and the fact that we had to change
buses, you'd have thought it was a write-off!
I
scaled some of the Great Wall
And I'm proud to tell you so
As I was scared half to death
Because of my vertigo
My ordeal felt like an eternity
I was overcome with fear
I just wanted to shout out loud
I'm a tourist, get me out of here!
No turning back, no place to hide
Onwards and upwards the only way
I should have felt love in my heart
Not pain on Valentines day
"Why am I doing this?"
I asked myself a million times
As I gripped harder and harder
The hands of my concubines
In the arms of two Chinese Angels
Perhaps, who saved my life
Not how I imagined St Valentines
Our 1st as Husband and Wife!
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When
we got back to our hostel we knew we were
going to ache the following day. The following
day, oh how we ached! And for a few days after
that too! After a much needed day of rest,
we headed to Tian'anmen Square, the physical
centre of the city, the symbolic heart of
China - a great public square covering more
than 40 hectares which has witnessed events
that have shaped the history of the People's
Republic from its inception. Perhaps its most
recent well-known incident was the indiscriminate
killing of thousands of protesters during
a demonstration against a lack of freedom
and widespread corruption in 1989. Many of
the survivors are still detained to this day.
We visited Tian'anmen Gate and stood in the
same spot as Chairman Mao, when he delivered
the liberation speech to the Chinese people
in 1948. We took the obligatory photo stood
under Mao's portrait and as everything else
was closed, we flew our kite in the square,
closely watched by some guards who obviously
thought we were spies. After a number of unsuccessful
attempts to try Peking duck in Peking, we
managed to find a suitable restaurant with
the help of our mini-tank and driver (see
pic). We ducked into the dining area and went
a bit quackers, ordering half a duck with
pancakes, duck spring rolls and duck dumplings.
We hadn't quite had our fill of Mao so the
next day we went to see the man himself to
look him in the face...if it really was his
face that is! We lined up solemnly outside
the ugly building that is his mausoleum in
the centre of Tian'anmen Square. A weird experience
followed:
The
famous Mao, The Chairman
Modern China's architect
Arises daily from his freezer
Line up, pay your respect
They file up in their masses
Wait for their special view
It's the only time the Chinese
Can form an orderly queue
No joking around, no giggling
No talking, don't even cough
Try to forget the rumour
That his ear fell off!
A man who wanted to be cremated
And who always had his way
Ironically, is pickled forever
For once they didn't obey
Like a Madame Tussaud's exhibit
Like wax, a face so smooth
In the heart of Beijing lies a corpse
That nobody dare remove
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That evening we cracked open a couple of beers
and took part in the Chinese New Year's Eve
party at the hostel. With our traditional
red envelopes containing some English coins
and a bag of sweets as gifts at the ready,
we joined the staff in the customary preparation
of dumplings. The free food and drinks were
flowing and both staff and residents enjoyed
a fun evening of festivities including speeches,
bad karaoke and a cheesy variety show in the
background. We were even coaxed to the stage
to hand out our gifts which the Chinese contingency
went crazy for. Our last "gun-bay"
(cheers) said, we made our way upstairs for
some much-needed sleep. No chance! The night
sky, as far as the eye could see was filled
with fireworks and fire-crackers with the
aim of scaring off all the evil spirits and
preventing them from entering the new year.
If that didn't work, nothing will, as we've
never seen or heard anything like it in our
lives.
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Bell
Tower, Xi'an
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Pit
no. 1 |
A tad hungover, we got some fresh air and
paid a visit to the Forbidden City, something
that in its hey-day no Chinese peasants were
allowed to do. G was a little worried, as
the original male occupants who weren't Imperial
family or high ranking officials, were castrated
to ensure the authenticity of the Emperor's
off-spring. Unfortunately for those involved,
Confucianism held that disfiguration of the
body impaired the soul so the male servants
(eunuchs) kept and carried their testicles
in bags hung on their belts in the hope that
they would be buried whole. With too much
time on their hands, many of the reigning
Emperors that inhabited the Forbidden City
over the years took to collecting trophies
of their wealth, including jade, porcelain,
clocks and thousands upon thousands of concubines
(the latter weren't on display). Every night
the Emperor chose a girl from his harem by
picking out a tablet bearing her name from
a pile on a silver tray (that's if the wife
didn't choose one for him). It was such a
palace of debauchery that every 10 years they
had to do a stock take to see how many new
additions there were. We strolled around the
vast walled complex and saw a fraction of
the 800 buildings that the 'sons of heaven'
(Emperors) resided in. Before we left we had
our family name, Relton, translated into Chinese
and carved into a block of jade bearing a
pig (the Chinese symbol for the year 2007).
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The
faces of the warriors
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G
& some restored warriors |
Our final excursion before our epic journey
to Mongolia and Russia was to the Temple of
Heaven. The temple, completed in 1420 was
conceived as the prime meeting point between
earth and heaven. Heaven was considered round
and earth square, thus the round temples and
alters stand on square bases. The Emperors,
intermediary between earth and heaven, performed
animal sacrifices here as they prayed for
the year's harvest at the winter solstice
- the most important ceremony of the imperial
court calendar. We actually thought it was
a bit dull as the fog had descended, there
were hoards of people, the bulk of interpretive
text was in Chinese, and access to the elaborate
interiors was denied. We moved on to a nearby
park to share in the holiday spirit with the
locals who were enjoying fairground amusements
and acrobatic performances. In the evening
we took a stroll along the night market and
sampled some of the interesting delicacies
such as meat on sticks, kebab burgers, some
not banana dough balls and crisp sugar glazed
fruit sticks (our 5-a-day?). But we weren't
brave enough to try the baby shark, barbecued
scorpions and other insects, although we were
intrigued by the deep fried "ice cream"
which funnily enough looked a lot like the
not banana dough balls! Mongolia here we come...
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They
lost the war....
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Us
& the farmer who discovered the
Terracotta Warriors? |
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Emperor
Qin's mate (alias some bored Chinese
bloke)
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K
& guide, Xi'an |
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Original
(restored) roof
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Wanna
brew? Showing off at the Beijing Opera |
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Just
stay still! Acrobatics at the Beijing
Opera
|
That's
what we call a 'travel' wall! |
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Trust
us, it's steeper than it looks!
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What
a picture... |
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G
and his valentines day concubines!
|
You
are having a giraffe! |
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8th,
9th and 10th wonders of the world
|
Rural
Great Wall...stunning! |
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Travel
Wall?
|
Smiling
but legs are hurting really bad! |
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Great
Wall of fear
|
G
suspended in fear! |
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Ice
views from the wall...
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G
overlooking Tian an men Square |
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Tian
an men Gate-crashers
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Spying
my kite in Tian an men Square |
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Another
mode of transport...a ickle tank!
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Mao's
Mausoleum |
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Dumpling
masterpiece!
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Chinese
New Year Dumpling...making! |
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Be
gone with you evil spirits!
|
Inside
the Forbidden City |
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Dragon
attack!
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Nice
hat G? |
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Jade
carving
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Temple
of Heaven |
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'Ave
it!
|
Quiet
moment in Longtan Park |
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Fruity!
|
Chinamen
Chinese Chess |
