Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Travel map
The travel map is now up to date and if we have achieved anything on this trip, it has to be kilometers!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Beijing, China
From Xi'an, we had a delightful train trip to Beijing. The trains are so comfortable that we managed to sleep soundly until 10am, a few hours before arriving at our destination. It took a bit of walking around to get to our hostel but our efforts were rewarded by being greeted by our friends Marcin and Rose. Maybe our warm welcome had something to do with the 2 kilo box of muslim sweets I carried from Xi'an to share with them.
We split our time between finding a few things for the rest of the trip and touristing around the city. We started by visiting the "Forbidden city" which was really beautiful and impressive. It is much bigger than we all expected and certainly demonstrates the unlimited extravagance of the empire. From the front gate, one enters enormous open spaces surrounded on all sides by grand and elegant structures burnt and rebuilt many times over the years. As we progressed through the layers, the open spaces became smaller and the density of buildings greater. The constant crowds of tourists (mainly chinese) accentuate this change of scale.
We then contrasted our experience by visiting the Olympic site where we were able to see the "birds nest" and "watercube" in the flesh, so-to-speak. As always, it was interesting seeing these building in real life after so much coverage and hype. I'm not going to lie, we were a bit underwhelmed by the "watercube". Its best angle is from the corner where the bulging of the bubbles is quite striking but in terms of elevation, it is quite flat and the cleaning of the bubbles in such a polluted environment seems to not have been totally resolved. The most disappointing aspect were the entries into the building which seemed very under-designed and badly considered.
The birds nest was more impressive although we wondered about the proportion of structural elements versus purely decorative. We didn't go inside as it was quite expensive. We then tried to find the CCTV building but we only had a vague idea of where to find it and were unsuccessful. We were also very hungry which didn't encourage our determination very much. We eventually managed to find it on our last day and found it quite impressive. Unfortunately, the whole site is currently surrounded by fences which made it impossible to see more than glimpses of the adjoining building which burnt last year over Chinese New Year.
We also visited the Imperial Summer Palace which would have been surrounded by lush countryside once upon a time but is now in the suburbs of Beijing. We could only imagine the tranquility and serenity of this beautiful palace overlooking an gigantic lake as we were surrounded by thousands of other tourists wearing matching caps and following the soothing sound of a guide yelling through a loud-speaker. Nevertheless, nothing was too big or too much for the emperor so a huge lake dug by hand and a marble boat were to be expected.
The next day, we had an early start and headed out to see the Great Wall of China. We hiked along a 10km long section between Jinshaling and Simatai. Getting there was a bit of a mission, especially since we were "hoodwinked" by a sneaky be-atch who followed us around all morning trying to get our money one way or another. We didn't let her and eventually got there. The walk itself was not very long but in some sections, the steps were so steep that I had to use my hands and feet to climb up. Of course, it was worth the effort. The Great Wall is spectacular and at every twist and turn, it follows the ridge like a great big snake. We congratulated ourselves for our efforts by having Peking Duck that evening in a great little restaurant where an expert Peking Duck cutter artfully placed each little tender slice on a plate for us and covered it with thin crispy skin. Yum!
We spent our very last day running around, doing some errands before heading to Mongolia. Marcin and Rose had to go to the Embassy and we all met up for a final dinner afterwards. We went to our favourite restaurant, right next to our hostel and ordered all of our favourite dishes. Unfortunately, they didn't have "Hoodwinks the type to roast Yang Bang" so we had to content ourselves with "Hoodwinks the type to rip the muttons chop". We decided not to order the "Grandmother vegetable burns the pigs intestines" or "explodes the stomach" although it was tempting. If you have no idea what I am talking about, then it is time you go and read a Chinese Menu because I assure you I am not making this up!
On this note, we headed to the train station very early in the morning and were off to Mongolia. Stay tuned for more adventures!
The next day, we had an early start and headed out to see the Great Wall of China. We hiked along a 10km long section between Jinshaling and Simatai. Getting there was a bit of a mission, especially since we were "hoodwinked" by a sneaky be-atch who followed us around all morning trying to get our money one way or another. We didn't let her and eventually got there. The walk itself was not very long but in some sections, the steps were so steep that I had to use my hands and feet to climb up. Of course, it was worth the effort. The Great Wall is spectacular and at every twist and turn, it follows the ridge like a great big snake. We congratulated ourselves for our efforts by having Peking Duck that evening in a great little restaurant where an expert Peking Duck cutter artfully placed each little tender slice on a plate for us and covered it with thin crispy skin. Yum!
We spent our very last day running around, doing some errands before heading to Mongolia. Marcin and Rose had to go to the Embassy and we all met up for a final dinner afterwards. We went to our favourite restaurant, right next to our hostel and ordered all of our favourite dishes. Unfortunately, they didn't have "Hoodwinks the type to roast Yang Bang" so we had to content ourselves with "Hoodwinks the type to rip the muttons chop". We decided not to order the "Grandmother vegetable burns the pigs intestines" or "explodes the stomach" although it was tempting. If you have no idea what I am talking about, then it is time you go and read a Chinese Menu because I assure you I am not making this up!
On this note, we headed to the train station very early in the morning and were off to Mongolia. Stay tuned for more adventures!
Xi'An, China
After leaving Shanghai, we spent a few days in Xi'an. It was not quite the dusty array of bazaars and lamb kebabs we had created in our imagination but we enjoyed this bustling metropolis of 8 million nevertheless. To be fair, it did have a lovely muslim quarter where we spent a lot of time revelling in our favourite past-time : eating. The food there was quite different to other areas of China and we had a great selection of breads, lamb and ramadan type sweets. In the gaps between meals, we did manage to visit a few sights with the obvious highlight being the Terracota army.
They are a reccurent theme all over the city but it didn't quite compare with seeing the real thing. Convinced that he would pursue his conquests into the After-life, the emperor got himself a whole army to guard his imperial tomb which, to this day, is considered too dangerous to excavate due to the complex traps built into it. In 3 main pits, still being excavated, stand entire battalions of soldiers of various ranks, horses and chariots. Most figures were badly damaged over time either by being pillaged or because of the rammed earth tunnels in which they stood collapsing and crushing them. What stands in front of us is the dedicated work of archaelogists over the last 30 years and there is a lot more to come if you can wait. The sheer number of them is striking but not as much as the fact that every single one is different. Their faces, hair-dos, postures, attire, weapons all differ in one way or another and the intricacy of the detailing is fascinating. Our army of tourists, loaded and ready to shoot dozens of photos didn't look like much in front of the Emperor's.
Heng Shan and Shanghai
From the moment we left Guilin all the way to Shanghai about 4 days later, we became the main attraction. The whole time, we did not see another foreigner and we were stared at without interruption. It's a strange feeling and it made me rethink my desires for worldwide celebrity. Some people, always in a very polite (although a bit demanding) way, asked us for photos with them (some also didn't ask and just took photos anyway), or wanted to chat and ask us about our country (America to keep it simple). When we had questions, we targetted young nerdy teenagers who speak the best english since they learn it at school but they tend to get pretty overwhelmed so it's not always successful. The attention was bearable although it takes a bit of getting used to as it was constant to the point where some people would interrupt their conversations on the street to watch us walk by...
A little bit off the beaten track, we went to Heng Shan (one of 5 taoist mountains in China) for a couple of days. The weather was pretty bad but we decided to walk up the mountain anyway, to the peak about 15km up from the starting point in town. It took a bit over 5 hours and although the path was very well constructed (it felt a bit like visiting Katoomba on the week-end so not especially adventurous), it was a bit tough going only in one direction...up. Even though we didn't get the forecasted torrential rains, the whole mountain was covered in fog and we missed out on some probably pretty nice views which was a pity. There are temples all along the way and we have a good series of misty-rious photos of various things disappearing into the fog...The winner of the day though wasn't us. A chinese girl managed to walk up the whole mountain in high heels and mini-skirt! It was a pretty good effort considering it was drizzling to pouring the whole time and the whole thing involved thousands of steps! We decided that her boyfriend must have been one stingy bastard since you can also catch a cable car to the top...
A little bit off the beaten track, we went to Heng Shan (one of 5 taoist mountains in China) for a couple of days. The weather was pretty bad but we decided to walk up the mountain anyway, to the peak about 15km up from the starting point in town. It took a bit over 5 hours and although the path was very well constructed (it felt a bit like visiting Katoomba on the week-end so not especially adventurous), it was a bit tough going only in one direction...up. Even though we didn't get the forecasted torrential rains, the whole mountain was covered in fog and we missed out on some probably pretty nice views which was a pity. There are temples all along the way and we have a good series of misty-rious photos of various things disappearing into the fog...The winner of the day though wasn't us. A chinese girl managed to walk up the whole mountain in high heels and mini-skirt! It was a pretty good effort considering it was drizzling to pouring the whole time and the whole thing involved thousands of steps! We decided that her boyfriend must have been one stingy bastard since you can also catch a cable car to the top...
Chris pre-testing a Danish city bike
After Heng Shan, we caught a night train to Shanghai which took a little bit longer than expected. The night went very well but in the morning, we found that the train had been stationed for a very long time. There was a bit of a ruckus around our bunks and we worked out that people were looking at images of a train crash on a laptop. At that point, we worked out that we may not make to Shanghai by lunchtime...(Nota Bene: we are grateful that we were only indirectly affected by the landslide train crash which occurred somewhere ahead of us) Eventually, all the passengers were made to get off the train and stand on the platform. For a short while, it seemed that we would be put onto buses to another station and continue by train from there but in a very brief instant, chaos broke out, people started running around and screaming. The train company would not honor the tickets and we were on our own. We got on a train to NanJing which, to our surprise, took 10 hours to complete the journey. We arrived around 10pm and unsuccessfully tried to book tickets to Shanghai the next morning. No one could speak English and the ticket office was a mess with, again, people running around and screaming (a now familiar sight in China). We tried again in the morning and got on a fast train around mid-day. We made it to Shanghai a little bit over 24 hours late, c'est la vie!
Quirky Netherlands
Giant Mexican flowers
The beautiful UK sea urchin/fluff ball
After Heng Shan, we caught a night train to Shanghai which took a little bit longer than expected. The night went very well but in the morning, we found that the train had been stationed for a very long time. There was a bit of a ruckus around our bunks and we worked out that people were looking at images of a train crash on a laptop. At that point, we worked out that we may not make to Shanghai by lunchtime...(Nota Bene: we are grateful that we were only indirectly affected by the landslide train crash which occurred somewhere ahead of us) Eventually, all the passengers were made to get off the train and stand on the platform. For a short while, it seemed that we would be put onto buses to another station and continue by train from there but in a very brief instant, chaos broke out, people started running around and screaming. The train company would not honor the tickets and we were on our own. We got on a train to NanJing which, to our surprise, took 10 hours to complete the journey. We arrived around 10pm and unsuccessfully tried to book tickets to Shanghai the next morning. No one could speak English and the ticket office was a mess with, again, people running around and screaming (a now familiar sight in China). We tried again in the morning and got on a fast train around mid-day. We made it to Shanghai a little bit over 24 hours late, c'est la vie!
Quirky Netherlands
Giant Mexican flowers
The beautiful UK sea urchin/fluff ball
Kiwis performing the Haka to a bemused crowd of Chinese tourists
The Elegant Danish pavilion
We spent 3 days in Shanghai visiting a few areas of the city which was fine but the most note-worthy thing we did there was to visit the World Expo. At first, it was pretty weird. The China Pavilion is suitably impressive and stands close to the main entrance of the huge site. Quite close-by were all the pavilions for Asia and the Middle-East. They were actually all pretty bad and sad except for Korea which was a surprise (North Korea had a pavilion too which we thought was strange since the expo is pretty much one big tourism promotion...). Surprisingly, Japan's pavilion was shabby and ugly. The middle-Eastern ones either looked like high-school presentations or airport terminals. In another zone a bit further from the entrance were the Americas and Europe. That was fun! The pavilions were a lot better and some were really cool although visiting any of them required patience. Chinese people demonstrated a great paradox. They refuse to stand in lines at train-stations but they are quite happy to line up for 4 hours to visit the "Pavilion de la France". We observed a lot on what makes or breaks a pavillion in terms of information, circulation and appearance. Some of our favourites were UK for its beauty, Holland for its quirckiness, Denmark for its elegance, New Zealand for its beautiful sloped roof garden and Mexico for showing an original Frida Kahlo. We gave thumbs down to USA for looking like an Audi dealership, Italy for it's monumentality and Germany for being BORING! We took 280 photos which we will arrange in a gallery and you can judge for yourselves.
The Elegant Danish pavilion
We spent 3 days in Shanghai visiting a few areas of the city which was fine but the most note-worthy thing we did there was to visit the World Expo. At first, it was pretty weird. The China Pavilion is suitably impressive and stands close to the main entrance of the huge site. Quite close-by were all the pavilions for Asia and the Middle-East. They were actually all pretty bad and sad except for Korea which was a surprise (North Korea had a pavilion too which we thought was strange since the expo is pretty much one big tourism promotion...). Surprisingly, Japan's pavilion was shabby and ugly. The middle-Eastern ones either looked like high-school presentations or airport terminals. In another zone a bit further from the entrance were the Americas and Europe. That was fun! The pavilions were a lot better and some were really cool although visiting any of them required patience. Chinese people demonstrated a great paradox. They refuse to stand in lines at train-stations but they are quite happy to line up for 4 hours to visit the "Pavilion de la France". We observed a lot on what makes or breaks a pavillion in terms of information, circulation and appearance. Some of our favourites were UK for its beauty, Holland for its quirckiness, Denmark for its elegance, New Zealand for its beautiful sloped roof garden and Mexico for showing an original Frida Kahlo. We gave thumbs down to USA for looking like an Audi dealership, Italy for it's monumentality and Germany for being BORING! We took 280 photos which we will arrange in a gallery and you can judge for yourselves.
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