Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Ok first of all we have a little confession to make- 2 weeks ago we had to come back to the UK for a couple of days so that I could do interviews for my social work masters. As it would have been impossible to see or talk to everybody and we didn't want to offend people we agreed with each other that we both wouldn't tell anyone at all. As it was a combination of jetlag and bad colds prevented us from getting out of bed anyway except for me to attend the universities and the interviews were seriously stressfull- whole day affairs that felt like X factor whittling down 1000 applicants down to 30 places. The good news is that I was offered a place everywhere and so now know that I will be a full time student in September! By the time that was over it was time to leave again- so I repeat no offense is to be taken please.....
Anyway with that over and done with when we returned to Beijing we decided to move hostel to stay at Red Lantern in the busier Hutongs. These are a type of narrow streets or alley, formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences.Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. It is a buzzing and vibrant place full of life and the best place to experience the real city. The other advantage was that the hostel had heating hooray so we actually had a toasty little room in a very old courtyard residence. The Jetlag this way has been an absolute killer- we have been back for over a week and I am still unable to get to sleep until 3am which is making me feel pretty bad. So the first day we were trying to cope with that and did very little except go to a Kung Fu show at the "Red Theatre." It was most definately aimed at tourists but was still fantastic. It showed the progression of a little boy to the abbott of the temple and all the different styles of the art as well as the classics like lying on blades and smashing metal over their heads. My favourite was when they showed all the different animal styles- the kids doing the monkeys looked exactly like them. Afterwards we came back and got something to eat at the restaurant next to our hostel which turned out to be dog meat central as well as the usual turtle, donkey, intestine, feet and innards. The menu was full of dog meat soup, stew, fried etc etc all with lovely pictures above it. I had about 3 spoons of rice, Charles had something he told himself was beef and we called it a night.
Another late start the next day as we didn't manage to sleep until 6am despite taking some nightol to help us. We needed to get a train ticket from Xian to Chengdu for later in our trip so got someone in our hostel to write everything out for us in Chinese on a piece of paper and headed to the train station. Conveniantly for Charles it was also right next to the cheap cheap trainer market so he picked up another couple of pairs to send home- he now has enough in total to shoe a caterpillar! We stood in line in front of huge boards that we didn't understand a word of and a security guard tried to tell us we couldn't buy tickets there. He turned out to be right- when we got to the front of the queue the guy showed us his computer screen which showed up all blank for the days we wanted- as it is nearly Chinese New Year (14th Feb) everything is very busy. Because we had only got the lady in the hostel to write down one day and time we couldn't ask about any other alternatives so had to walk away! When we got back though we were told that we could try again when we arrived in Xian as there might be more tickets here.
The 2nd February was our last day in Beijing so we decided to go and see pickled Mao. Although he died 30 years ago he was embalmed and now lives in a huge mausoleum in Tiannaman square. Apparently lots of people believe this seriously affects the feng shui and that he should be buried properly according to Chinese custom. There is a lot of controversy about whether it is actually him that gets displayed to the public though- before his physician started the process he was worried that it might not work so a waxwork was made. This lives alongside him in the refrigerator that he is lowered into every night so noone is sure which one you see. We didn't get to see either though. Despite our guesthouse assuring us he was receiving visitors after getting there on the subway and trekking across the largest public square in the world it was all shut with lots of guards outside. Dissapointing- we'd missed pickled Ho Chin Minh and now him. From there we decided to try and visit the underground city buily by Mao in a Russian fearing fit. In the event of attack, the plan was to house forty percent of the capital's population underground and for the remainder to move to neighboring hills, and it is said that every residence once had a secret trapdoor nearby leading to the tunnels. They were built from 1969 to 1979 by more than 300,000 local citizens and even school children, wind for over 30 kilometers and cover an area of 85 square kilometers eight to eighteen meters under the surface. It includes around a thousand anti-air raid structures, hospitals, schools and accomodation stores, restaurants, clinics, schools, theaters, reading rooms, factories, a roller skating rink, a grain and oil warehouse as well as barber shops and a mushroom cultivation farm. To supply construction materials for the complex, centuries-old city walls and towers that once circled ancient Beijing were destroyed which many say is the biggest loss to the city as it would undoubtedly be a world heritage piece if it survived.
Anyway we got to the nearest subway station to try and find the entrance. We walked round and round and round in circles. We couldn't ask anyone for directions- noone speaks English and noone will play charades pointing in the right direction even if you show them the name in Chinese. I was getting more and more frustrated- determined to see something on our last day this was really winding me up. Eventually we found someone who spoke some English who misunderstood us saying underground and directed us back to the subway- ahhhhh so frustrating! We then found a Marriot hotel and a concierge who spoke English who informed us that the tunnels had been closed since February 2008- why were they in the new and updated 2009 Lonely planet then? We instead followed signs and went to see a small piece of surviving city wall in a nice park to calm down a bit then headed back into the subway to go back to the hostel and collect our things to get the night train to Xian. Hilariously in the subway I had to help two Chinese people to use the ticket buying machine which made me feel very proud as it was in their language- a true local!
When we got to the train station the crowds were unbelievable. Literally thousands of people carrying huge amounts of things were queueing up outside to get through the scanners and go in- we saw why we had been told to arrive an hour before our train! The whole process is seriously well organised though- when you eventually get into the station there is a huge board with all the train numbers on it and loads of waiting rooms. You see which waiting room is for your train (thankfully numbers are written the same in Chinese) and then sit down. When it is time to board your train it is called and then you go directly through there onto the right platform where it is waiting for you. It was the only time in our lives that we had legitimately travelled first class on a train but we thought the extra 20 quid was worth splashing out- the difference between our sleeper and the one below is 4 instead of 6 people, locks on the door, nicer toilets and an overall cleaner more pleasant experience. Considering it was cheaper than getting the train from Bristol to London for a 12 hour ride on a nice soft bed with cosy duvet we felt it was more than worth it.
We found our cabin which had some men chatting in it who we assumed would be our cabin mates. They smiled at us and motioned where to put our stuff and how to unfold the steps that help you get onto the top bunks we had booked. However about 10 minutes later two young guys arrived. There was a big kerfuffle as they saw us and the train lady came in her big posh uniform and they shouted at each other for a bit- we can only assume that they were actually meant to be in there (the first guys dissapeared) and didn't want to share with us foreigners. In the end the lady put their stuff under the bed and pushed them in the door. One of the guys dissapeared down the corridoor and on returning said "hello welcome" so he had obviously been off to learn some English! "Nihau" we replied and there were big smiles all round, another question in Chinese from them and we shook our heads- that's where the conversation ended! They were very sweet though- one gave us two marshmallow biscuit things out of his bag. I searched in mine to find something to give back and found some horrible diabetic toffees I had bought at the airport by accident. I'm sure they're great if you are diabetic but I think toffees are supposed to be made with sugar. Anyway I gave them a couple each and they went down brilliantly- the guy on the bunk below me ate his and his friends one after the other leading me to pass down the whole bag.
After all that activity the train had set off and it was 10pm so we settled down in our bunks to read until falling alseep with the train gently rocking us- a lovely feeling. At 7am the radio blared into life with adverts leading me to be very confused about the time as we weren't due to arrive until 8.30. We all drifted back to sleep until the official train lady in her huge jacket and hat burst in, shouted some Chinese at us and changed the hot water thermos. After watching the world go by out of the window we got off the train in Xian at another jam packed train station- you walked out to the equivalent of an airline departures hall with hundreds of people behind barriers all staring and pointing at us. Our first priority was to buy our onward ticket for four days time to Chengdu as we were panicking about how to get there after our Beijing attempt. Charades directed us to the office and as we faced a board full of Chinese again we realised with increasing panic that we had lost the piece of paper with what we wanted written down on it. in the end I had to walk round to find a tout trying to sell us tours who spoke a little English and persuade her to help me buy a ticket in exchange for 10yuan (1 pound) I just hope we have the right thing- we'll find out tomorrow.
Onward ticket in hand we walked out of the station area to try and get a taxi to our hotel- we waited where there was a stand and approached every taxi in the line for about half an hour but they all just shook their heads or hands at us before we'd even told them where we wanted to go- it was so frustrating. It wasn't because they couldn't understand us as we were pointing to our destination on a map and it was written in Chinese! Everyone else was just jumping into cabs but they will not take foreigners- even a policeman motioned no and to walk but it was about 3 kilometres and we had our huge packs! Again a tout came to our rescue and shouted at a taxi driver to take us so we climbed in and arrived at the Ibis (now luxury for us) shortly after. We booked the Ibis at the steep price of 15 pounds a night for heat and a nice bathroom in a good location and it's been great. After a wash and brush up we headed to a noodle shop they recommended where everyone giggled at us behind their hands and noone wanted to serve us- something we are becoming very used to. We pointed at the bowl of noodle soup the lady next to us had and I pulled my little note that says "no meat- pig cow chicken" out of my pocket. It has to say that as there is no generic word for meat and if they do speak English people say "yes but with bacon?" you say no "with ham" no and it goes on and on as they cannot believe you wouldn't eat meat- something they associate with being very poor in the cultural revolution. Anyway so I pull out my no meat sign and the guy shakes his head- not possible. Ok then I will just pick it out. And then I see him making the noodles behind the counter ingrediant by ingrediant and putting the meat on top. So why couldn't he make it no meat? I'm afraid it has happened to us everywhere with a lot of things and that generally there is a no can do attitude here. The soup and noodles was delicious however although the meat looked very dodgy- not pork not beef- uh oh not....dog ahhhhhhh. After making pig noises at the waiter he nodded that it was that but one will never know.
We then headed onto the Bell and drum tower which are in the centre of the city and are said to be the best conseved of it's kind in the whole of China. The bell tower used to be used to mark the start of the day and the drum would beat at the end. We went to the bell tower first- when you climb up it you can (just about through the smog) see the roads that stretch down to the four gates (North, South East and West) in the ancient city wall of the Ming dynasty. There were also displays of artifacts that had been found round and about like cooking pots and jewellery. It does make you think about things you have found in your garden- some of the "ancient ming dynasty bracelets" looked just like a curtain ring to me and I probably would have thrown it away if I'd found it! We watched a demonstration of traditional instruments and then headed through the underpass to the drum tower nearby. What should we see being sold at hundreds of stalls around it- only the original version of Tutu Kueh- the Chinese cake I discovered and loved in Singapore. This one has no coconut filling- instead it is staemed and then rolled in a treacle like substance then peanuts and sesame seeds- delicious- We bought one each and then I had to go back for another! The drum tower had an interesting collection and we also got to see a drum peformance which was good- mainly to watch the peformers try and hold it down when they were cracking up with laughter.
After a long walk back to the hotel we went to a restaurant opposite for dinner. I decided not to drink tea as normal (served in abundance at every meal) as I didn't want to contribute to my insomnia so I tried to order a lemonade. "sprite, sprite" I asked to no avail. She looked around quizically at all of her colleagues who pesented me with a notebook and pen to write it down. I wrote down sprite. Much head shaking then the notebook being shown to everyone and lots of giggling and pointing at us. Charles ordered a Coke and I tried to gesture that I wanted a soft drink not Coke. 10 minutes later our drinks arrive- a Coke for Charles and with no trace of recognition a Sprite for me. "sprite" I said pointing at it (it was written on the side the same as well as Chinese.) She looked at me quizically so I took her notebook and showed her what I had written and the side of the can. She nodded- more giggling, laughing and pointing from everyone- I've no idea if she ever understood!
On Thursday we decided to visit the big wild goose pagoda. Again no taxi would pick us up although we didn't wait long before we decided to get the bus. When it arrived at the stop however it was absolutely jam packed. I mean ridiculously full- when people think the tube is busy they haven't seen this- 3 people per seat and a lot of rearranging required for the door to open. No worries however there apparently was room for two more as we got jammed in and then charged double for our ticket- we weren't really in a position to argue and it was only 10p anyway. After a few stops we had been pushed round to the front of the bus where very usefully there was a big metal bar to stop you being pushed through the windscreen. Being there also enabled us to see the sign that said limit 16 passengers and to turn our heads and count at least 35 that we could see!
Xian is the start of the ancient silk road and the big wild goose pagoda was originally built in 652 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It functioned to collect Buddhist materials that were taken from India by the king Xuanzang. Xuanzang started off from Chang'an (the ancient Xian), travelling along the Silk Road and through deserts, finally arriving in India, the cradle of Buddhism. First built to a height of 60 meters (197 feet) with five stories, it is now 64.5 meters (211.6 feet) high with an additional two stories. It was said that after that addition came the saying-'Saving a life exceeds building a seven-storied pagoda' which I think is probably a bit more well known as a proverb here than in London. Anyway you can explore the temple it is housed in which has another bell and drum tower and a stunning relief made of Jade depicting scenes from Buddhas life as well as climbing up lots and lots of stairs for a view over the city. Halfway up we stopped to watch a man taking rubbings of "buddhas footprint" which is there in the stone and got talking to Grace- an English student at university. Everywhere someone has been able to speak a little English they are desperate to practice with you as they find it very hard. Grace negotiated a good price for us and we continued up the stairs with two copies in our hand at a quarter of the price originally quoted!
After exploring the area thoroughly we went to get some dinner and treated ourselves to some Japanese food as a bit of a break. It was really good and even had a nice toilet hooray! Afterwards we walked back to the square in front of the pagoda where we had heard that there was a fountain show with music and lights. Nothing prepared us for what happened though- it was like something in Las Vegas. Hundreds of fountains coordinated in time as classical music came out of the speakers and the stunnind pagoda was lit up behind it. It was quite hard to comprehend that you were seeing something of that scale in a city you hadn't heard of until a week before and even weirder when you learn later on that in Asia it holds the records for being the biggest Tang-culture square, the biggest fountain and waterscape square, and the largest-scale sculptures area. In the world, it has the most benches, the longest light-belt, and the largest-scale acoustic complex. Unbelievable huh?! In shock we got the bus back to the Ibis and lay awake for a few hours before going to sleep as we have become accustomed to.
Yesterday was the day we had been waiting for- our visit to see the famous Terracotta warriors. Instead of getting a tour we decided to get the local bus to the site which is about 45km out of town. Finding the bus was the only problem. We knew it went from the train station but weren't sure where however after spelling the number out on my fingers to a policeman we got pointed in vaguely the right direction. We found it and hopped on where we were charged 7RMB (70p) compared to a 200RMB each tour! Along the way the bus picked up David who, as per usual, used us as an oppurtunity to practice his English. "you are English yes?" he asked. We told him we were and our names etc. He then said "I knew you were English as soon as I saw you- you are typically Anglo Saxon looking." Quite hilarious that noone here can see at all that Charles is half Chinese. In fact we have been the victims of a racist comment you hear a lot in the west- when we climbed the great wall we had to wear an id card around our neck as "all you foreingers look the same to us!" Of course it wasn't helped by the fact that we tried to prove it by Charles saying his Chinese name but them just looking at him like he is talking in martian- he doesn't even know how to pronounce it!
Forty five minutes later and we were in the carpark. We climbed out the bus and walked the twenty minutes to the entrance only to find everyone there already had tickets. We had to turn round and walk back past everyone saying "hello hello lookin in my shop" back to the car park to buy them. On the way Charles stopped to buy a drink and picked up an iced tea. "10 Yuan" the shopkeeper said. We laughed- that was a ridiculous price. When she saw us she said "ok 8" and we gave her 5. It is funny to even barter for a drink in a shop and made us think about how man foreigners just pay the price- it is only 50p you are haggling over after all. Later on we met someone who said they had haggled over the price of noodles in a cafe when they were being overcharged. They always start at a ridiculous price for absolutely everything but as long as you keep a smile on your face you can get the price down to a more reasonable level although you will still be paying double what a local would.
Eventually we got into the complex. First we headed to the information centre where there was a great exhibition with all sorts of things collected from the hundreds of other sites around the area. On ascending the throne at the age of 13 (in 246 BC), Qin Shi Huang, later the first Emperor of the whole of China, began work for his mausoleum. It took 11 years to finish and represented everything that he had in life to be taken to the afterlife. It was the size of a city complete with city walls, stables, animal parks, officers as well as huge trenches to house the Terracotta warriors lined up in battle formation. There is still a huge part of the area that has not been excavated including Qin Shi Huangs actual tomb and lots of theories about what treasure may be found there. There's a good reason why it hasn't been touched though- To prevent outside invasions, Emperor Qin Shihuang ordered a full range of precautions. It is said that besides poisonous mercury, booby traps with automatically ejected arrows were installed in the tomb chamber to deter would-be robbers. Anyone who dared to break in would certainly die a violent death. Most people believe that the crossbows would still shoot arrows if they are triggered and this seems to be backed up by the general opinion of experts.
In the late 1980s, a stunning large bronze chariot equipped with life-size horses was unearthed outside the west wall of the underground palace of Emperor Qin Shihuang. It was still in perfect condition because of a coating of chromate was found on the surface. This coating served to make bronze weapons rust-resistant and is actually a process that a patent application was put in for in Germany and America in 1937- quite amazing that the Chinese were already doing it 2000 years earlier! Recently, a pit for sacrifices was found between the inner wall and outer wall of the tomb complex. Covering 600 square meters, the pit was 40 meters wide from east to west and 15 meters long from north to south. Most of the articles excavated were pottery figures of courtiers, musicians and acrobats and these are all on display in the main building.
After learning about all of these things and seeing another exhibition on how their museum was the best in the world we went to look inside the pits. At the entrance to the first sat the farmer who had first discovered some pottery when digging for a well. He looked very proud but is obviously now pretty elderly. We wondered why it was that he sat there all day- is it because he has nowhere to live after the requisitioned his house to build the museum?! The first pits we went into were actually the last to be excatvated and are still being worked on- you can see half warriors and horses in the bottom waiting to be unearthed. The true spectacle is in pit one where hundreds and hundreds of them stand in battle formation. It is well and truly stunning. The detail of the men is amazing- no two are the same and they all seem to have expressions on their faces. After walking round and round we headed out not quite believing what we had just seen. Of course every stall outside had minature ones for sale (well small compared to the real thing but still 1ft in height) and of course it seemed like a good idea at the time to buy a pair to post home as they were only 4 pounds each. More on that later.
On the bus home which took double the length of time picking up lots of locals along the way we met 2 guys who are working here as teachers. We spoke to them for a whike about what they had found interesting in the culture and the losing face thing was truly oustanding for them. It is so important to be right in the culture that it overcomes everything else and one guy had some funny examples. We think that is why no taxi will pick us up and noone will talk to us- they are worried they might look silly if they can't communicate with us. We're the ones that feel silly though for not learning a word of their language so it is quite frustrating. Overwhelmingly by far the worst thing here is the racking of phlegm in the throat and spitting. I can't even describe it. It's not a oh I've just eaten something disgusting I have to spit it out job, it actually sounds like everyone has tuberculosis as they hack away constantly and project huge globs of phlegm EVERYWHERE- On seats, buses, restaurant and hotel floors to name a few places men and women alike.
Today this has taken up most of my day as well as other admin. We also went to try and send our warriors which was quite hilarious. After half an hour trying to describe bubble wrap to reception at the hotel they said it was impossible to buy anywhere and just to take the stuff to the post office where they would wrap it for us. Goodness we caused a riot in there. A lady who spoke some English came out and kept saying "you cannot send it will break" over and over. I explained that if they broke we would have to piece them back together like the real ones but that didn't stop everyone in the room getting involved- members of the public peering in our box and expressing their opinion- people shouting very loudly at each other. In the end we got told to go away, wrap them up ourselves and go back tomorrow and poor Charles had to carry the seriously heavy box all the way home! Anyway now it is dinner time- another meal another adventure- think this must be one of my longest blogs yet!
- comments
Philip Crikey, really interesting - I think Ive been to China now just reading your blog. Well done on getting your place. Love dad.