Day 1 Beijing
We arrive into a hot and humid Beijing at 10am local time on the 10th of September. We are shattered after our flight as it's still the middle of the night to us. Frank (the Westernisation for his name he tells us), our guide for the few days we will spend in the city, meets us at the airport and takes us to our car and driver. One of the first things we noticed about Beijing is the slight "fog" from all the pollution. The second thing is the crazy drivers. It appears that you can drive where you want it's almost eye wateringly bad with cars, buses, taxis, scooters and people all vying for the same spot. Thankfully we arrive at our hotel (the Marco Polo) in one piece and check in. After a wait of around 35 minutes we are allocated our room (which isn't bad considering check time isn't until 2pm), unpack and have a brief rest before being taken to the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon. The main temple building there (Hall for the Prayer of Good Harvests) is quite simply a marvel it's made entirely of wood and not a single nail has been used. The colours are vivid. Back to the hotel for a rest before dinner and an early night I think we were in bed for 8.30pm!
Day 2 Beijing (11th Sept)
An 8.30am start with a visit to the Sacred Road at the Ming Tombs. The road itself is very peaceful with lovely cypress trees, cicadas and birds singing. There are some fantastic stone statues of various animals and court officials guarding the road. The Emperor's tomb itself is very dull. It's incredibly plain with no decoration in there at all. It's not worth singling out for a visit on it's own, I'd guess the fact that it's on the way to the Great Wall is the reason for it's popularity. After lunch we make it to Badaling and the Great Wall. Not ones for following the herds of tourists we chose the less walked north path (turn left at the main entrance). Some of it was incredibly steep but it was well worth it as we have some fantastic shots of the wall without anyone else in them. It really is stunning up there and I can't imagine how they did it. Of course you do get hassled by the usual tourist tack stalls selling the " I climbed the wall" T-shirts but I guess it's to be expected at the most popular point on the wall. Frank also took us to a copper vase factory where the workers lived on site. I'm not big on these government factory tours but this one was surprisingly interesting plates, vases and even pictures made from copper that was painted, fired and then polished. (On the subject of those places - wed read about these trips before leaving and as we hate being shepherded anywhere on holiday had agreed to broach the subject (if we could) with each guide. Frank seemed quite receptive but then when we said no to the Jade factory and he sneakily took us there for lunch!) Had the obligatory Peking Duck dinner in the evening and another early night!
Day 3 Beijing (12th Sept)
We set off from the hotel and walked through Tiananmen Square to the Forbidden City. The square itself is boring, and for me will forever be associated with the violence that occurred there yet many Chinese tourists see it as a pilgrimage and flock to see Mao's corpse. The queue was hundreds long. The stories and history of the Forbidden City and very interesting and Frank, who has been a full time guide for 3 years, is a good storyteller. However you soon feel a sense of deja vu and all the halls and living quarters follow the same Feng Shui pattern. The Imperial Garden on the other hand was a revelation. It's set away from the palace and was our first introduction to a Chinese garden. It's vastly different from what we in the West would call a garden and I found it beautiful. The rock and water formations are at the same time interesting and calming and the various seating areas help you to see the garden from different angles. Shame about all us tourists! After lunch we visited the Summer Palace and for me this was my favourite place in the city. You really could spend all day there wandering about. It seems a world away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The various palaces and rooms have been beautifully restored and Kunming Lake is huge. After admiring the Marble Boat that Empress Cixi had built (using misappropriate palace funds) we took a boat over the lake to the Marco Polo bridge and looked at the many stone lions on top of the bridge to see if we could stop any with another tiny lion in it's ear as apparently it's lucky if you do. Needless to say we lucked out. Before dinner we went to a Kung Fu show, which was great fun. We had dinner in the hotel and I had a slight problem with the chef. As the special for that night you basically helped yourself to some of the many ingredients on display and he cooked them for you. I made the mistake of wanting noodles with seafood and he told me no, not together. Noodles for soup only. Put them back. It was hilarious. I ended up with chicken noodle soup and stir fried seafood and then picked the noodles out. All part of the fun.
Day 4 Xian (13th Sept)
Flight from Beijing to Xian takes off in time and we are met in arrivals by a lady this time called Agnes. It's lunchtime and we are starving so after quickly checking in to the Bell Tower hotel we head off for something to eat. It's very overcast and is raining ever so slightly. Agnes tells us that a lot of this is due to pollution. We visit the Wild Goose Pagoda, which smells wonderful with all the incense being burned in the various buildings. It's a shame that the weather is so poor as we just know the photos aren't going to come out well. We have a walk on the city wall and get to know each other a bit better. Agnes is a teacher and part-time guide is much more laid back than Frank was. We tactfully mention our "we are not here to shop " spiel and she explains how the government shops work each guide has to take a group to one factory during their time with them. They have to fill out paperwork and get it stamped by someone in the factory/shop to prove they've done taken people there. The Chinese do so love their paperwork. We agree to drive into one tomorrow so she can get her stamps but will not go in and she's happy with this. We also see signs of poverty for the first time when we are up on the wall - a tiny rundown apartment block where Agnes tells us that up to 4 generations of the same family will live in a small 1 bedroomed apartment without an inside loo. You can see right into them and makes me count my blessings. Dinner this evening is a new experience as we have a private dinner in a small room at a local eatery where we are served a variety of dishes and Chinese tea by two very attentive ladies.
Day 5 Xian (14th Sept)
What a great day we had today. The Terracotta Army is a sight I won't forget in a hurry. The first sight of the main pit almost takes your breath away. They are magnificent. It's incredible to think that the large area you are looking at is still so far from the Emperor's tombs. Man what an ego he must have had. The detail on the figures are amazing they are all that famous terracotta brown now but there are pictures there from when they were first uncovered and you can see just how brightly painted they were. What with the colour and all their weaponry and armour etc. they must have been a sight. Sadly now the exposure to the air had taken most of the colour away. We arrived early enough to miss the busloads of people that arrive mid morning and certainly made the most of it as we spent hours there. After lunch we head back to the centre of town and the Muslim Quarter. The market there is great fun with lots of stalls selling all the tack any tourist could ever want but surprisingly you don't get hassled. In a certain part of the market you'll find the entry to the mosque. It's been there since the 12th century, is still used today and is made entirely from wood. It's a pretty place and all you can hear is birdsong, hard to imagine you are the city centre. Unfortunately after that we have to take a detour to a pharmacy as I've been a bit of a "mozzie buffet" and have 3 rather nasty bites on my legs. My garlic tablets and Avon SSS ain't working here. Thankfully we have Agnes to explain what I need.
Day 6 Chengdu (15th Sept) My legs are throbbing today, not ideal for travelling onto our next port of call but hey ho! We arrive in Chengdu at 2pm and are met by our guide Louie. She takes us straight to our hotel (the Tibet), which is the nicest one so far and has a simply stunning bathroom. We have a lazy afternoon before Louie collects us in the evening to take us out to a hotpot restaurant. Hotpot is a big thing in this province and it's a "must do". You sit at your table and in the middle is a gas burner, they bring you a huge cooking pot with two basic Ëœsoups" in the middle container is the hot soup and in the outside container is the mild soup. They then give you various plates of food with meat, veg and other unmentionables (which are optional for wimpy tourists!) and you dip it into the pot and cook it at your table. We are the only Westerners in the place and I feel like I've had my first Ëœproper" Chinese meal.
Day 7 Chengdu (16th Sept) After breakfast we head off to the Panda research centre, which was our main reason for coming to Chengdu. They have a breeding programme there and we were lucky enough to see a tiny 2-week-old cub in the nursery. Altogether there were 4 cubs in the incubators, plus more being nursed by their others that you could watch on the webcams. After that we went to the main enclosure and I was amazed at how close we were to them. I'd sort of expected them to be in the distance but they weren't. One of them was asleep over a beam but the other two were quite active. The undisputed star of the show though was JinJin, who has just had her first birthday and is going to one of the symbols of the Beijing Olympics. She was really lively and was playing with her keeper. I was so lucky as we got there just when a VIP party were being allowed over to meet her and Louie arranged for me to go over. You have to wear plastic baggies etc. to protect her but I was allowed to touch her fur felt thick and coarse. The keeper took some great pictures with my camera. It was an unexpected and thrilling experience. They also have some red pandas there which are much more cat-like. After a fantastic morning we went to the Wenshu monastery and had a brilliant veggie lunch where some of the veg was Ëœfake" meat, it was all beautifully presented. There is also a great teahouse there and we just had to stop by, as by now we were really into Chinese tea. Tea houses are very popular gathering places and people will spend many hours in there with their friends drinking tea and playing cards or mah jong or gossiping. You can also have your ears cleaned and so we just had to try it. The guy was most amused that some tourists wanted to have a go. It's a strange feeling he has lots of different implements ranging from one that looks like a Qtip to one that resembles a mini screwdriver. It's not unpleasant and your hearing is fantastic afterwards.
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Edited by
puddleduck2
2009-01-25 15:00:56
