Dear All,
At the moment I'm ensconced in an internet cafe in the rainy city of Yichang. The guide assures me this is a small town though the population is 1.3million! There is a wait of about 7hrs until I get onto the cruise ship; on the Yangtze River and took the rare opportunity of a break for emailing.
Arrived in China 5 days ago, Monday morning. Slept through most of the flight and arrived reasonalbly awake but sadly suffering from a cold I'd picked up the night before. Thankfully, in stark contrast to Heathrow (where I waited in queues for 3 hrs trying not to infect everyone around me) the immigration and customs in Beijing was very fast and efficient. So quickly out of the airport and into the tender ministrations of a Mr Choy, waiting patiently with my name (correctly spelt for once) on a placard. He aned the driver whisked me through to the centre of town to my hotel, The Redwall Hotel. Great location, literally around the corner from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, if not as fancy as some of the other hotels. Checked in, has a hearty lunch and then slept the whole of that 1st day what with jet lag and the cold. Thankfully had no tours booked.
Next day feeling much more human and at 8am met my guide for the next 2 days, a very helpful and patient lady named Sophia. That day we whizzed around the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, The Summer Palace and the Temle of Heaven. The whole exerience was quite fascinating and got a good insight into royal thinking over the past 600 yrs. Everything being renovated in preparation for the Olympics in 2008. The Forbidden Palace was almost finished and looked quite stunning in the original colours and designs. Huge place and the public only allowed into the central corridor where themain palaces and imperial gardens were. Tiananmen Square was suitable impressive and reinforced it's rep;utation as the largest city square in the world. Looking at the throngs of people now, it was hard to recall that such a terrible tragedy had taken place there. Of course, the topic was never broached by the guide!
The next stop was the Summer Palace and was my personal favourite. Huge compound with Kunming Lake, a couple of beautiful palaces and huge gardens, some landscaped and some not. Very peaceful and lovely place. From there the Temple of Heaven where the Emperor communed alone with the gods to bring good harvests etc. Some really stunning temples here, very vivid colours. We also had a couple of obligatory stops at various gevernment owned shops to try and get us to buy overpriced souvenirs. All of us learnt rather quickly to pay polite attention to the sales patter and wander around for a while before exiting as soon as possible.
That evening wandered around my local area back steets and just observed street life - very reminiscent of Indian street life without the dirt.
The next day we went to the Great Wall, outside Beijing. Impressive to behold and even though renovated, gave a real feeling of permanence and age. Sophia had tried to get us to climb it by quoting Chairman Mao - "you can only call yourself a man once you have climbed the Great Wall" or words to that effect. A young Australian couple and I took up the challenge. Managed to get to the highest point in about 45 minutes. About a mile and 1000ft up. Feeling rather breathless by the end of it though this provided an opportunity for the Chinese to sit with me and make encouraging signs and keep me company. A very friendly peole I've found.
That evening, I took the overnight train to Xi'An. Very good sleeper and rather plush inside compared to most other trains I've been in. Shared my cabin with 3 middle aged Chinese businessmen who were very friendly, though communication was rather minimal. Arrived after a restful night in Xi'An and straight into a full day tour to the Terracotta Army and Bid Wild Goose PAgoda. Quite a convivial tour group and had a lot of fun joking around with them. The terracotta army was very impressive to behold, and even more impressive, all 6000+ of them had completely unique faces. The sheer amount of labour involved must have been terrific. Also went to a local pleasure palace, The Hot Springs Palace, where General Chiang Kaishek was captured in the 1930s. A beautiful place, full of nooks and crannies containing flowering paths, lakes, palaces and grottoes.
The next stop was the Summer Palace and was my personal favourite. Huge compound with Kunming Lake, a couple of beautiful palaces and huge gardens, some landscaped and some not. Very peaceful and lovely place. From there the Temple of Heaven where the Emperor communed alone with the gods to bring good harvests etc. Some really stunning temples here, very vivid colours. We also had a couple of obligatory stops at various gevernment owned shops to try and get us to buy overpriced souvenirs. All of us learnt rather quickly to pay polite attention to the sales patter and wander around for a while before exiting as soon as possible.
That evening wandered around my local area back steets and just observed street life - very reminiscent of Indian street life without the dirt.
The next day we went to the Great Wall, outside Beijing. Impressive to behold and even though renovated, gave a real feeling of permanence and age. Sophia had tried to get us to climb it by quoting Chairman Mao - "you can only call yourself a man once you have climbed the Great Wall" or words to that effect. A young Australian couple and I took up the challenge. Managed to get to the highest point in about 45 minutes. About a mile and 1000ft up. Feeling rather breathless by the end of it though this provided an opportunity for the Chinese to sit with me and make encouraging signs and keep me company. A very friendly peole I've found.
That evening, I took the overnight train to Xi'An. Very good sleeper and rather plush inside compared to most other trains I've been in. Shared my cabin with 3 middle aged Chinese businessmen who were very friendly, though communication was rather minimal. Arrived after a restful night in Xi'An and straight into a full day tour to the Terracotta Army and Bid Wild Goose PAgoda. Quite a convivial tour group and had a lot of fun joking around with them. The terracotta army was very impressive to behold, and even more impressive, all 6000+ of them had completely unique faces. The sheer amount of labour involved must have been terrific. Also went to a local pleasure palace, The Hot Springs Palace, where General Chiang Kaishek was captured in the 1930s. A beautiful place, full of nooks and crannies containing flowering paths, lakes, palaces and grottoes.
That evening met up with a the Aussies on the trip, a pair of retired pilots and a teacher, and wandered around the muslim qaurter. A good experience and get a lot closer to the people compared to the tour. Bantered and bargained with the local stall vendors and shop keepers. They all showed quite a keen sense of humour and even after a hard baragining session where the price was down to what the locals paid, seemed to hold no ill feeling.
Next day a half day tour around the city walls, museum and Bell Tower with another guide. I was the only person on the tour this time which was nice as gave me a chance to chat with the guide a bit more and find out more of what normal life is like for most people.
That evening took another overnight train, also a sleeper though considerably less polished than the last one. This time shared the cabin with an agreeable middleaged couple. The lady was rather matronly and insisted on giving me food, most of which I had to refuse, following my policy of eating lightly while travelling. They were quite fascinated by my guidebook and pored over it for some time. Attempted to show them where England and India were on the world map in relation to China but this didn't seem to get through to them at all. By now getting the feeling that the vast majority of people in China knew very little beyond their borders, even the middle classes.
That brings us back to now. Time to rejoin my guide and see whether I'd like to see a sturgeon farm, the local museum or have a foot massage to pass the time. Decisions, decisions.
Hope everyone well and enjoying thermselves. Look forward to hearing more news from you soon.
Siri
At the moment I'm ensconced in an internet cafe in the rainy city of Yichang. The guide assures me this is a small town though the population is 1.3million! There is a wait of about 7hrs until I get onto the cruise ship; on the Yangtze River and took the rare opportunity of a break for emailing.
Arrived in China 5 days ago, Monday morning. Slept through most of the flight and arrived reasonalbly awake but sadly suffering from a cold I'd picked up the night before. Thankfully, in stark contrast to Heathrow (where I waited in queues for 3 hrs trying not to infect everyone around me) the immigration and customs in Beijing was very fast and efficient. So quickly out of the airport and into the tender ministrations of a Mr Choy, waiting patiently with my name (correctly spelt for once) on a placard. He aned the driver whisked me through to the centre of town to my hotel, The Redwall Hotel. Great location, literally around the corner from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, if not as fancy as some of the other hotels. Checked in, has a hearty lunch and then slept the whole of that 1st day what with jet lag and the cold. Thankfully had no tours booked.
Next day feeling much more human and at 8am met my guide for the next 2 days, a very helpful and patient lady named Sophia. That day we whizzed around the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, The Summer Palace and the Temle of Heaven. The whole exerience was quite fascinating and got a good insight into royal thinking over the past 600 yrs. Everything being renovated in preparation for the Olympics in 2008. The Forbidden Palace was almost finished and looked quite stunning in the original colours and designs. Huge place and the public only allowed into the central corridor where themain palaces and imperial gardens were. Tiananmen Square was suitable impressive and reinforced it's rep;utation as the largest city square in the world. Looking at the throngs of people now, it was hard to recall that such a terrible tragedy had taken place there. Of course, the topic was never broached by the guide!
The next stop was the Summer Palace and was my personal favourite. Huge compound with Kunming Lake, a couple of beautiful palaces and huge gardens, some landscaped and some not. Very peaceful and lovely place. From there the Temple of Heaven where the Emperor communed alone with the gods to bring good harvests etc. Some really stunning temples here, very vivid colours. We also had a couple of obligatory stops at various gevernment owned shops to try and get us to buy overpriced souvenirs. All of us learnt rather quickly to pay polite attention to the sales patter and wander around for a while before exiting as soon as possible.
That evening wandered around my local area back steets and just observed street life - very reminiscent of Indian street life without the dirt.
The next day we went to the Great Wall, outside Beijing. Impressive to behold and even though renovated, gave a real feeling of permanence and age. Sophia had tried to get us to climb it by quoting Chairman Mao - "you can only call yourself a man once you have climbed the Great Wall" or words to that effect. A young Australian couple and I took up the challenge. Managed to get to the highest point in about 45 minutes. About a mile and 1000ft up. Feeling rather breathless by the end of it though this provided an opportunity for the Chinese to sit with me and make encouraging signs and keep me company. A very friendly peole I've found.
That evening, I took the overnight train to Xi'An. Very good sleeper and rather plush inside compared to most other trains I've been in. Shared my cabin with 3 middle aged Chinese businessmen who were very friendly, though communication was rather minimal. Arrived after a restful night in Xi'An and straight into a full day tour to the Terracotta Army and Bid Wild Goose PAgoda. Quite a convivial tour group and had a lot of fun joking around with them. The terracotta army was very impressive to behold, and even more impressive, all 6000+ of them had completely unique faces. The sheer amount of labour involved must have been terrific. Also went to a local pleasure palace, The Hot Springs Palace, where General Chiang Kaishek was captured in the 1930s. A beautiful place, full of nooks and crannies containing flowering paths, lakes, palaces and grottoes.
The next stop was the Summer Palace and was my personal favourite. Huge compound with Kunming Lake, a couple of beautiful palaces and huge gardens, some landscaped and some not. Very peaceful and lovely place. From there the Temple of Heaven where the Emperor communed alone with the gods to bring good harvests etc. Some really stunning temples here, very vivid colours. We also had a couple of obligatory stops at various gevernment owned shops to try and get us to buy overpriced souvenirs. All of us learnt rather quickly to pay polite attention to the sales patter and wander around for a while before exiting as soon as possible.
That evening wandered around my local area back steets and just observed street life - very reminiscent of Indian street life without the dirt.
The next day we went to the Great Wall, outside Beijing. Impressive to behold and even though renovated, gave a real feeling of permanence and age. Sophia had tried to get us to climb it by quoting Chairman Mao - "you can only call yourself a man once you have climbed the Great Wall" or words to that effect. A young Australian couple and I took up the challenge. Managed to get to the highest point in about 45 minutes. About a mile and 1000ft up. Feeling rather breathless by the end of it though this provided an opportunity for the Chinese to sit with me and make encouraging signs and keep me company. A very friendly peole I've found.
That evening, I took the overnight train to Xi'An. Very good sleeper and rather plush inside compared to most other trains I've been in. Shared my cabin with 3 middle aged Chinese businessmen who were very friendly, though communication was rather minimal. Arrived after a restful night in Xi'An and straight into a full day tour to the Terracotta Army and Bid Wild Goose PAgoda. Quite a convivial tour group and had a lot of fun joking around with them. The terracotta army was very impressive to behold, and even more impressive, all 6000+ of them had completely unique faces. The sheer amount of labour involved must have been terrific. Also went to a local pleasure palace, The Hot Springs Palace, where General Chiang Kaishek was captured in the 1930s. A beautiful place, full of nooks and crannies containing flowering paths, lakes, palaces and grottoes.
That evening met up with a the Aussies on the trip, a pair of retired pilots and a teacher, and wandered around the muslim qaurter. A good experience and get a lot closer to the people compared to the tour. Bantered and bargained with the local stall vendors and shop keepers. They all showed quite a keen sense of humour and even after a hard baragining session where the price was down to what the locals paid, seemed to hold no ill feeling.
Next day a half day tour around the city walls, museum and Bell Tower with another guide. I was the only person on the tour this time which was nice as gave me a chance to chat with the guide a bit more and find out more of what normal life is like for most people.
That evening took another overnight train, also a sleeper though considerably less polished than the last one. This time shared the cabin with an agreeable middleaged couple. The lady was rather matronly and insisted on giving me food, most of which I had to refuse, following my policy of eating lightly while travelling. They were quite fascinated by my guidebook and pored over it for some time. Attempted to show them where England and India were on the world map in relation to China but this didn't seem to get through to them at all. By now getting the feeling that the vast majority of people in China knew very little beyond their borders, even the middle classes.
That brings us back to now. Time to rejoin my guide and see whether I'd like to see a sturgeon farm, the local museum or have a foot massage to pass the time. Decisions, decisions.
Hope everyone well and enjoying thermselves. Look forward to hearing more news from you soon.
Siri
