The Hereford Times

A month in China

10:53am Saturday 1st March 2008

Feeling slightly apprehensive and just a little bit queasy I boarded the BA039 flight to Beijing on the 3rd of February to start my "around the world" trip and now the first month of my adventure is almost over.
The time has flown by and so much has happened in the past four weeks it is difficult to know where to start. I am travelling with two friends called Daisy and Penny, who I met at Reading university and who I graduated with last July.
With different expectations we found ourselves sat in a hostel in Bejing on the first day feeling quite tired and strange as China is eight hours in front of the UK. We made it to our hostel with the help of a friendly Mongolian man and our ability to wave and point and ask directions from helpful locals.
Beijing is fast developing city and one with many different dimensions. They are gearing up for the Olympics in the summer and everything is aiming towards that with posters every where promoting "Beijing 2008". We were staying in the the business part of town where the streets were wide with huge, impressive buildings and we wondered where the stereotypical Chinese back streets were with little old shops and dingy looking buildings. We did, how ever, come across these later.
We went to a tea house which was an interesting experience as the lady served us tea in the traditional manner. Firstly she rinsed the cup with hot water and then she poured out hot water for us in a very elegant manner. I had green jasmine tea which was a flower that opened up and rose to the top of the glass. We felt very sophisticated until we put our back packs on and returned to our four bed dorm,
One of the first things I had to get used to was the spitting. As I walked along the street I could hear hacking and coughing until they manage to get enough phlegm up to cough on the street, or as it sometimes sounded like, on the back of my jeans. We also had to get used to people staring at us. We got asked on a number of occasions to have out photo taken with the locals. I am not quite sure what the point of this was as I imagine when they looked through their pictures they would wonder who the random white people were!
On one of our first days in Beijing we went to the zoo which was a bit dingy. We mainly went to see the pandas, of which there were three, and who were very fluffy and chewing on a lot of bamboo. They seemed relatively comfortable but the big cat enclosure was uncomfortable viewing as there was a long hall with tigers, pumas, lions and jaguars enclosed in prison type cells with nothing inside to entertain them. They seemed to be on a rota as to when they were released into the enclosure outside and some of the animals looked very bored and frustrated.
On the way to the zoo we walked past a lot of smelly little alley ways and dingy shops. There seems to be a problem with the drains as we would suddenly smell a disagreeable waft of toilets. This made the street markets selling food undesirable. I found it is a city of contrasts as on the on hand there are glitzy, large buildings and just behind the facade there are slums which hardly look habitable.
We went to The Temple of Heaven which is a large cylindrical temple built in 1420 by Emperor Yongle. It does not have single nail in its structure and it was used to sacrifice animals to the gods to ensure a "bumper" crop. It was set in a large park which was very nice to stroll around in, even though it was very cold and I had to wear so many layers I looked like the Michelan (wo)man.
That evening we met our tour group which consisted of five Austalians, three Kiwis, one Irish, one Welsh and three other English who were all very nice! Now we were on a tour we started to stay in much more luxurious accommodation and to our suprise we stayed in twin rooms with en suites the whole time. It was Chinese New Year's eve and we went out for a huge banquet. I have never seen so many fireworks and firecrackers. They were going off every where, even in the road setting off car alarms. The sky was alight with fireworks deep into the night.
We went to the Forbidden city the next day which was where where the Emperors lived and it was forbidden for the public to even go near its walls until the end of the last century. There are 800 buildings and over one thousand chambers so although truly spectacular the buildings all looked very similar and we rushed through towards the end.
The night life was interesting as karioke was very popular. The first bar we went into had a Chinese lady singing "Hey Jude" by the Beatles which was actually very good. The next bar had a Chinese man with long hair rocking out on his guitar which was highly entertaining.
One of the best things I saw in Bejing was the Summer Palace. After getting lost on the way and asking directions on a number of occasions yet still managing to get on the wrong bus we finally arrived at the palace. It is further out of Bejing's city centre and was where the Emperors and Empresses woudl go for reprise. There was a large lake which was frozen and on which Daisy and I walked across and did a few skating poses. The scenery around the palace was stunning and ignoring the masses of people it was a relaxing and pleasant place to be.
On the Saturday the tour group left Beijing and headed to a section of the Great Wall. Our tour guide, Roy, was very informative and helpful and made everything very easy for us and more importantly we never had to carry our back packs too far.
We trekked for 10km along the wall, which balances on rocky mountains across the high mountainside. The scenery is breath taking as there are mountains all around you as you walk. There were some quite steep climbs and some parts of the wall looked as if they were crumbling away. It is not suprising that so many men died building the wall as it is an extraordinary feat of arcitecture. It took four hours to walk and we arrived at our guesthouse the other end, which is where I had some of the best Chinese food, including sweet and sour pork!
The rooms were nice but the heating was practically non existent and as it was freezing many layers were needed that night. A small section of the group got up at 5:30 am the next day to go and watch the sunrise from the wall. At 7:20 am after two hours trekking the sun had still not come up and as we were leaving the hostel at 9am the group decided to go back down. Our tour guide, Roy, stayed there and told us afterwards that it rose just ten minutes after we left.
That evening we caught the overnight train to Xi'an, which was an interesting experience. The train station was rammed with people and we were practically pushed along with the crowd in order to board our cart. The beds were in sections of six with a top, middle and bottom bunk and no door on each section. There was little room to move around but it did not matter too much as the lights were turned off at 10pm!
Xi'an has a population of 6.8 million and is one of the few Chinese cities which still has its city walls. Although historically rich in culture I found Xi'an less interesting than Beijing and the pollution seemed worst and it was not as accessible.
However, we did ride along the city walls on rickety, old bikes which was really fun and gave us brilliant views of the city. The Muslim quarter was really interesting and was brimming with food stalls selling meat and fish on sticks and sugar blown in mouse shapes! It had a really good atmosphere although we did were not brave enough at that point to try the food.
I also went outside the city to see the Terracotta Warriors. They were discovered in 1974 by a farmer digging a wall. The farmer was actually on site signing books and having photographs taken. If you had not paid for a photo he would put a fan in front of his face. The warriors were made to protect Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (259 to 210 BC) when he died. Each one is different as they were modelled on an actual person who served the Emperor. There was a vast hall with the warriors in a pit facing the public as you walked in. They were actually destroyed by an uprising after the Emperor's death so they are being painstakingly put back together piece by piece. As a result it is a working progress and there is still much to discover.
Our next port of call on our grand tour was Shanghai which seemed a lot more fashionable and hip than the other two cities. The skyline is bursting with sky scrapers as far as the eye can see which is an impressive sight. We took a stroll along the Bund which is a stretch along the river that looks across at the Pearl TV Tower and on the side of the street there are large colonial buildings. We went to see the theartre to see The Shanghai acrobats who were amazing. They were so athletic and bendy and very entertaining as there were a number of scenes with different ages and themes. One of my favourite acts was a couple performing a love story with a ribbon which was very moving and effective.
After our longest overnight train journey we arrived in Yangshuo at "Fawlty Towers" hotel which was not at all similar to the Torquay branch and had no Chinese Basil Fawlty. The town was small and accessible and the most touristy place we had been with "West Street" catering for the Western world needs.
Roy did however take us to a random little house for breakfast one day. We ate in what semed to be someone's bare front room and we sat and tried to eat Yuam Shou wich was nuts, onion and sesame covered with green tea. Only one member of the group managed to finish theirs as it was an acquired taste.
I went for a cruise along the Li River which gave me the opportunity to view the gorgeous scenery surrounding the area. Either side of the river big limeston peaks which looked like the tips of large mountains towered above us. It was very relaxing and it was good to see the wonderful countryside.
After Yangshuo we rode our bikes, which I felt was rather brave considring the traffic, out to a small village just outside of the town. We rode through the village and saw the Chinese locals sitting and playing cards which they seem to do a lot of. I noticed that in each of the front rooms there was a large TV even though the rest of the room looked relatively bare. The village reminded me of days past in England (besides the TV) as there were small hay lofts, vegetable patches and chickens roaming the dust track road.
From our base in the village we rode our bikes around the countryside. At one point we stopped to buy an apple from a market where nearly every stall sold apples. It was very much like this through out China with stalls selling exactly the same thing as the one next to it. It made me wonder how they managed to make money.
It was refreshing to be out of the city and we next went to the Lonji Rice Terraces which are near Guilin. We got a bus to Langshuo on a mountain road whichI was extremely pleased to get off as we teetered to near the edge on a number of occassions.
We walked to our guesthouse which had no electricity or water because of a storm they had endured but the views were definitely enough to enjoy the experience. The rice terraces were based on the earth's contours and it is amazing to think how much work must have gone in to make them. The village people were so friendly and welcoming and called hello to us and we walked past. The villages in that area are famous for the women who never cut there hair and dress in a traditional manner. The next day we paid two of the older ladies to carry our coats on the journey to the next village called Ping An which was a four hour trek. Ping An has suffered problems because of the storm which ruined much of their bamboo, which is an important fuel source, and which cut off their electricity. The day we arrived they mended the electricity but unfortunately that night there was a fire in the village which burnt down two house. We watched with apprehension as all of the villagers ran down the hill to help. The whole village is made of wood so they were worried it would spread but fortunately they manage to keep it under control.
On Saturday the 23rd of February we caught our last overnight train to Hong Kong. We had one more night with the tour people so we went to the many local shopping markets. On Monday we had to venture off to find our own accommodation. We ended up in a large tower block called Chungking Mansions and which was described in our guide book as "fit for demoltion." It was like a small town in itself as there were lots of shops on the first two floors and restaurants and as many hostels as you can imagine on the next 14 floors. The three of us shared a two bed room but we had an en suite of sorts! We soon got used to it. As Hong Kong is renowned for its shopping and we were poor travellers who did not want to fill our back packs any more we spent the days enjoying the sunshine and ambling the streets soaking up the atmosphere. Hong Kong island is for the super trendy and has a buzzing atmosphere. The business quarter has sky scrapers stretching along the river gave great views. Our China leg had come to an end and it was with excitement we left Hong Kong on the 28th February to fly to our next destination. Thailand.