A Londoner In China

I am so excited that, in a few days, I am off to experience the wonders of China, travelling independently with @blackrainbowblade. Being a somewhat older traveller, how I will cope with the long days of travel will be very interesting. Watch this space!

[londonerjackie]

A wonderful day in the mountains....and a little shock at the end of the day. 

8th September (Thursday).

A wet, warm day, but the scenery was so spectacular that it really didn’t matter. We woke at 8.45 today, after a good sleep. I was surprised it was so early considering the night before! The beds are hard but still comfy. We had a surprising breakfast: a gruel of rice and quinoa, an unidentifiable vegetable, capers, strange bread and an egg.The hotel is in a fabulous location, just outside the gates of the national park. We bought a compulsory 4 day park ticket and walked all the way to the Yangjiajie cable car. There was meant to be a shuttle bus but we did not see one. Had we caught the bus, we would have missed the beautiful huge butterflies everywhere.

 When we arrived at the too of the cable car, Chinese tourists and tour groups were everywhere. You just have to accept this is how it is in this land of selfies. We walked on the little paths around the mountain, gazing rapturously at the fabulous rock formations through the haze and rain. It was a shame that the weather was wet as the light was flat and grey: not the best for photography. It didn’t matter as such a lovely place could not be spoilt by anything.

 Food has been interesting today: our second KFC of the holiday. It was that or either really bad looking street food or a suspect buffet.  KFC did do a decent coffee! It is a very popular café for the Chinese. In the evening we ordered pork and green pepper. Shame that the pepper was in fact green chillies. Obviously they are a local delicacy as you see them growing or  drying on the ground everywhere here.

 This is a truly beautiful hotel. Clever Nat for finding it.

 …….

 Just had people bursting into our room! Such a shock but a mistake. Nat and I are fabulous screamers!

[londonerjackie]

Let down by our hotel, a terrifying ride in a taxi and the wonders of Zhangjiajie.

7th September (Wednesday)

Where do I start? It is 12.30 on Thursday morning and I am shattered, thirsty and hungry. We have travelled unbelievably far and are ‘celebrating’ by drinking beer and eating noodles in our somewhat amazing hotel, the Eden Village in Zhiangjiajie. We are in the middle of mountains, surrounded by crickets and other insects making a cacophony of sound. It is quite amazing. The journey here was nothing short of an adventure.

In Beijing we had ordered a taxi at 5.30. Sadly our hotel let us down badly by forgetting to order it. It was so important because, without the transport connections, our holiday would be ruined. We threatened the girl with charging the hotel for an over night stay and for the cost of first class bullet train tickets. That made her move. Having ordered one that did not arrive in the required 10 mins, she ran out into the street. One was hailed, and we then had a terrifying thrilling 10 minute ride to the station. Even the taxi driver seemed proud that he had condensed the ride so much from the normal 30 mins!.

 Finding out how to collect the bullet train tickets from Beijing West was hellish, but we got there in the end, and found ourselves in the very comfortable train with huge seats, and our own trolley girls! It was a real pleasure to sit for nearly six hours watching the world go by. In the case of the country side to the south ofB Beijing, it is amazingly uniform: just huge agricultural fields as far as the eye can see. It is broken up by grey concrete towns, with no old building in sight. Is this the legacy of the Mao era? The buildings are all purely functional with no thought of making them in any way picturesque/ beautiful.

 Finding the bus station in Changsha was another problem too. We had gone to the local bus station, which was wrong. A kindly policeman marched us through the station to the long distance bus queue, and one ticket girl spent her time chasing after us after our two attempts to get the wrong bus. The coach was really impressively comfortable but horribly delayed. We then had to wait, with lots of male taxi drivers, for our pick up, with them always trying to lure us to their waiting car. We eventually found our driver, a woman, and there then proceeded one of the most frighteningly fast drives I have ever had, through the dark unlit streets and then on to unmade mountain roads. We arrived to find that we were expected to walk up an almost vertical hill to the hotel. Luckily a boy carried the suitcase, as we could barely carry our own! 

This hotel is so beautiful. It is lovely to think we have four nights in this magnificent place.

[londonerjackie]

Gardeners in Yuanmingyuan park.

[londonerjackie]

6th September (Tuesday): a walk in a park and a mock European monument destroyed by us British (and the French too). 

I slept so well it was amazing. If I walked the Great Wall of China every day I would not have insomnia! We lazed in the morning, just wandering over to Starbucks form breakfast and coffee. I had a hot chocolate croissant. At the moment we are in our hotel, the Beijing Wang Fu Jung Jade Hotel (hostel!). We then took the subway to Yuanmingyuan Park.

 The Chinese subway system appears way better than ours. Firstly there is the air conditioning which feels fresh rather than smoggy. The trains are more  frequent, bigger and also have wifi. The Brits may believe they are the greatest, but it is very apparent that we are not.

 At the park entrance, I received a discount again which is always the biggest advantage to being older. It was a staggeringly beautiful place, with enormous lakes full of waterlilies, and lotuses. Traditional little boats could be hired. There were all sorts of pretty bridges and weeping willows. Ladies planted amongst the flowers. The only disappointment were the ruins of a ‘mock european’ construction. It  had been designed, with a total lack of taste, by a Spanish architect lay Jesuit brother called Guiseppe Castiglione and a  French missionary called Michel Benoist. The two worked for the emperor for thirty years in the 18th century. Benoist was famous for his fountains and I later found out that some statues of animals, which we did not visit (unfortunately), were, in fact, part of a clock he built. Each animal would spout water for an hour a day. The building remains did look awful, and being tired was not helping. In the 19th century the British and French destroyed the buildings during the second opium war. What nice people we were!

[londonerjackie]

The Great Wall at Mutianyu. What a stunning place. 

[londonerjackie]

5th September (Monday) An Expedition to the Great Wall. 

After a night partly awake worrying about EVERYTHING we had a glorious day. We  went on an organised tour to Mutianyu Wall (The Great Wall of China). I had been to Badaling before so it made sense to do something different. Our coach was full of very well travelled young people, as the tour consisted of people from you youth hostels. We met a couple of Canadians from Toronto, a Mexican girl who was about to walk to Everest base camp, and a man who had done a London to Beijng rally….all world travellers, as we are!

 It was restful being in a coach, but the guide, Tony, was determined to frog march all of us. The government ( I assume) dictated that we had to go through a shopping centre so we were dropped off, almost ran through the place, and got on the coach again. We travelled to the wall by cable car. We agreed Nat would go at her own speed to cover as much ground as she could, and I would go at mine. Mine was slow but I was amazed by what I managed. After walking slowly up and down there was a wall of steps. Hundreds of them leading upwards. I debated at the bottom whether to go on. It was very steep and endless. In the end I decided to give it a try. By counting in groups first of 50, then 40, 30, 20 with a rest in between, I persuaded my poor body to get to the top. Phew!  I felt so proud of having got so far, especially as the guide had patted me gently and said ‘take care’!

 The return trek was quite difficult. Being down hill meant that you acquired jelly legs. If the stairs went up you found it exhausting, but the views were utterly beautiful and the weather was perfect for photography. I was very happy to get to the café near the cable car and be able to have a Coca Cola…a real life saver. A few minutes later Nat turned up looking absolutely thrilled. She had walked much further, beyond a variety of signs warning she should not be there, to finally walk on the old, tumbledown wall. Glad she had the amazing experience.

  We ate at a tourist restaurant – tepid vegetarian fare that seems to have had repercussions for both of us. We slept fitfully on the coach, then again on the bed in the room. I could not wake up! We eventually went to a local restaurant for chicken stir fry, sweet and sour pork and rice. Now we are at the Crowne Plaza enjoying  the wine and listening to a girl plays ng the piano who does not know about key signatures

[londonerjackie]

A ‘mutton hot pot’ in Beijing, and a little about pensions in China. 

In the evening we went to a mutton hot pot restaurant, which would not have been allowed in England! We really did not know what to do, so we dived in, ordering plates of fillet beef, mushrooms, green veg and some yellow bean rice. This came with hot water to drink (!), and various seasoning of pickled garlic, salted nuts, onion, a green herb and a garlic oily dip. When it all arrived it looked so much. We discovered that everything shrank when heated in the pot and we had a glorious meal. The food was so fresh and tasted just wonderful. The ‘pot” had a central column that was the source of heat, and around that was boiling soup in which you dipped the food to cook it. It cooked in no time. It was just scary that if your hand slipped you would probably lost a finger through a massive burn!

 As the night was still early and we had a wine craving, we walked a little way to the Crowne Plaza hotel and found a glass of Australian. Yum. Nightlife in this part of Beijing is fascinating. There is definitely an outdoor street life which we don’t really have, due perhaps to our cold weather. There is a church near to our hotel, with a square in the front. Every evening people gather in groups to dance, perhaps salsa, or jive, and also to exercise. We also saw some fan dancing on the street in traditional dress. I imagine these pursuits are free, but there seen to be teachers and students…a mystery.

 I looked up the retirement age for women in China. It was very difficult to find because a lot of the sites are blocked. I did discover that it appears for office workers 55, and for manual labourers, 50: astonishingly low, but their life expectancy is not above 74. There is discussion to raise the age, especially as there is an aging population and only one child to look after the parents. I would love to look into all this when I get home.

[ileftmyheartintokyo]

兵馬俑 by Eiki Yasuda Via Flickr: The Great Terracotta Army of China’s First Emperor 「始皇帝と大兵馬俑」展

[londonerjackie]

Tiananmen Gate and top security: Beijing after our Forbidden City visit. 

After our lunch mentioned above, having walked the whole of the outside of the ‘ city’,  we made our way back to Tiananmen Gate: weirdly the Chinese were more precious about this place than the city itself. We had to hand our bags in at ‘security’. They are very very security conscious everywhere and bags have been through endless machines and we have had body searches too. The gate tower was  a big highlight for me: the view over Tiananmen Square was amazing. It is so vast and this is where Maozedong stood to address the crowds. (I have a sneaky photo of the microphone he used!). You had a real feel of the communist era from this place which always fascinates me. I adored it!

Getting back to the hotel was knackering. Thank goodness for a nice long rest, a beer and a coffee!

[londonerjackie]

Dragon, lion? It has hooves!

[londonerjackie]

Red, Red and more red in China. It is very pretty1

[londonerjackie]

The amazing colours of the Forbidden City

[londonerjackie]

Cleaning the Forbidden City. It’s going to take a VERY LONG TIME!

[londonerjackie]

4th September (Sunday) Sadly my tummy has decided not to,behave, possibly the creamy meal last night of pasta, chicken and mushroom, compounded by eating beautiful dumplings and doughballs in the grimiest looking café we could have found. Perhaps the many locals there had hardier Chinese tummies than my poor little English one! We have been sitting in our hotel room since about 3 having a rest: nothing to do with my tum and everything to do with the miles we have walked in the past few days in the hot sun. Nat is blotto! Just making a nice cup of coffee to revive us.

Today was the Forbidden City. It was hugely crowded but not as bad as the guide books had suggested. We did make a little blunder in getting on the wrong queue and ending up buying tickets for the main gates, but that turned into a blessing.

After acquiring the correct tickets (nat’s was 60cy and mine was all of 17: sometimes I love being my age!) we made our way into the main complex. In the centre it thronged with tour groups but we found that, if we went to the side, it was virtually empty. I could not tell you where we went: it seemed many areas were  for concubines, dowager empresses, empresses and other women, but each building and area were equally as beautiful. I cannot name the highlights, but the details in the buildings, which I did not have time to view on a tour on my last visit in 2002, were exquisite. I shall have memories of red, yellow, green and blue roofs (combinations of colours), weeping willows and  long red corridors. Dragons of every shape and size abounded and I loved them. The sheer size of the place is magnificently impressive. At the end we came across a beautiful coffee shop where we drank London priced Lattes. It was great to just sit.

[londonerjackie]

A Visit to the the Temple of Heaven, and a scary moment with a corrupt taxi driver!

3rd September (Saturday) We walked and walked today in the blazing sunshine. ‘Mad dogs and Englishmen……’ The gates of the city loom over Tiananmen  Square. We visited this remarkable old building and took in as much history as the Chinese dynasty names allow.

After a long long walk and much asking of the way we arrived finally at the Temple of Heaven. Gasping for food, we plodded to the end of the park to find the the café: I had dumplings in water and Nat noodles, all washed down with ice cold beer. I have drunk so much liquid: at least 2 litres!

The Temple of Heaven is a beautiful complex, which the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, from the 15th century,  used to give sacrifice to God. Animals were sacrificed in an enormous brick oven. The High alter consists of circular rings. Circles represent God and squares the earth. The circular buildings are Higher than the square ones to show that God is higher than the earth. The temples are beautiful.

We rode home on the subway. Nat has downloaded numerous maps of Beijing and somehow we found ourselves back at the hotel. Not so lucky en route to our next destination, a ninja restaurant. We hailed a taxi, having been told the fare would be about 20 CY. After a long time the meter had gone up to nearly 40CY, and it dawned on Nat that something was wrong. She started shouting at the taxi guy, who then said he would turn off the meter and charge us 80CY!   He then  pulled up at the side of the road. Nat got out of the car and I followed. To our astonishment he just drove off without crying out for his money, but with his trunk open. Later we read that this was to hide his number plate! What a lucky escape for us though. Scary. We ate at a lovely café/karate dojo for very little: to go to the loo I must have walked 10 mins down the alley with a young girl working at the café. It was squat loos with no doors! She said that the houses, because they were so old, did not have toilets so everyone shared!  Afterwards we  walked the 2 kilometres home down little side streets. I think I have calmed down now but the taxi scam was scary at the time.

[londonerjackie]

Chinese policeman? Beijing.

[londonerjackie]

People sitting outside the Forbidden City in the evening.