China

My main memory of China will be STEPS. There seem to be a lot of them at most of the places we visited. There were no flat bits on the sections of the Great Wall we walked. When the steps stopped for a bit there was a tiled floor usually at a 75 degree or so angle. In places it was like walking over building rubble. Barbara, Judith and I visited the Jinshanling and Sumatai section first. After the cable car there was still about 150 metres worth of steep steps to get to the wall. Exhaustion before we even started!




Barbara and Judith stayed at the guesthouse the next day as Barbara had caught the usual travellers sickness. I succumbed to this once we were back in Bejing. Jacob, our guide and I visited the Gubeikou section of the wall. This was lovely. Still steep but not so many steps and easier to walk and admire the scenery. Only two other tourists – Chinese, a couple of local farmers and no pedlars on this section – a delight.



The next bit of the wall was the ruined Badaling section. Not to be confused with the touristy Badaling section, which most tours visit. Here there were a few Chinese tourists and some soldiers apparently on National Service. The soldiers were mending the road. It rained today. After Jacob and I had climbed the steps up on to the wall and taken photos, I decided not to do the 2 hour or so trek to the end of the section and back. The wall looked lethal here with gaping holes and rubble.







Back to Bejing and a flight to Xian. Before the Wall, we visited the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden Palace and Tianamen Square. During our journey, many Chinese would sidle up to us while their friends would take a photo, quickly. In the square we were asked whether we would be in the photo. Jacob, our first guide is shown explaining something to Barbara and Judith at the Temple of Heaven.




More temple and a mosque visit in Xian and of course the Terracotta warriors. We took an optional tour to the recently opened Han tombs which I found even more interesting than the warriors. The figures here are smaller but there are a lot more animals and curios at this site. The figures are naked and without arms as the arms were made of wood and the silk clothes they wore have disintegrated. Listening to our various guides – in Xian it was Sally, it soon became obvious that China has many more treasures to uncover. They will not do so until the technology exists to protect them from disintegrating.

Check out this 'tiny bird' which I snapped on the Han tomb site. I was a little disappointed to find it was a hummingbird moth. Still a lovely sight.



We had visited a Kung Fu show in Bejing and in Xian it was a dumpling feast followed by a cultural show.


A flight to Chengdu and for us a highlight of the trip. A visit to the Chengdu Research and Breeding centre for the giant Panda. We spent most of the day here.





A trip to Leshan and the giant Buddha. The photo shows Barbara and Judith on the boat in front of the Buddha which is the only way you can get a photo of the whole Buddha.



After Leshan, on to Mt Emei – the sacred Buddhist mountain.

Our only hiccup of the trip came when we were too late for the cable car which would take us to our hotel. Our guide, Jessica, was very worried and burst into tears when she told us the problem. However, she arranged alternative accommodation which was basic but comfortable and treated us to an evening meal, so we were happy enough. It was snowing the next day when we visited the golden Buddha at the top of Mt Emei. We were lucky to see the wild monkeys away from the square where tourists are allowed to see them so missed the large crowds. Walking by the monkeys with a water bottle was very hazardous as they would target the tourist and snatch the bottle or plastic bag away from them. I witnessed a monkey playing to the group of tourists watching him while the rest of the troupe suddenly appeared behind them and commenced their thefts.




A four hour ride to Dazu the next day to see the stone carvings, then another couple of hours to board our boat on the Yangzte river. This was the first time we were able to relax. It wasn’t as scenic as I had expected and I have included an ‘industry’ photo. Our trips from the boat included a trip to the temple of the dead and a lovely boat trip down the Shennong stream on the ‘peapod’ boats. Our guide shown in front of some pampas grass, sang to us on our return and sold me a DVD of the trip together with the folk songs of the region. One for the memories!







Red finally made it into the photos having spent most of the trip in my backpack. We celebrated the end of the Yangzte trip with some cocktails. Mine was the only alcoholic one!

Although we had all checked our itinerary, we all missed the fact that there was a day missing. Luckily our China guides knew what was going on. We had to miss the visit to the Three Gorges Dam and the third gorge as we had another 4 hour journey to Wuhan airport for the flight to Guilan. Here we had a day trip on the River Li to Yangsho. An overload of fantastic scenery later and we arrived in the quieter village of Yangsho. More tourists are staying overnight here instead of returing to Guilan. The amazing show ‘Impressions’ set on the River Li with the mountains as a backdrop is the main reason. The director of the show is responsible for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Bejing Olympics. If these are as good as ‘Impressions’ they will be worth watching.

We had lunch on the boat on the Li and the photo shows the cooks in one of the boats preparing the meal. Sampans would row up and sell fish, chickens and veg. I missed the shot of one of the chickens being thrown on the boat while the sampan owner tried not to crash into the bigger boat.





We saw water buffalos and cormorants on the river. Lots of dragonflies would pose for us as did the blue butterfly eventually.



The next day we flew to Hongkong and Judith flew on to UK. Barbara and I zoomed around Hongkong with the aid of the Octopus card. Around 14 pounds to travel over two days and visit most of the main sites. The Peak and the Peak tram was a must. We treated ourselves to lunch at the Peak Lookout, which is apparently a ‘Honkers institution’. It wasn’t there when I was a child but I remembered walking around the Peak which Barbara and I did on the Circular Walk. Could not resist taking a photo of the HSBC HQ and one of its original lions outside.







Finally a visit to Lantau Island. We took the ferry and then a bus to Tai O fishing village. The modern houses there were a bit of a disappointment until we followed the Chinese tours into the market where the fishing village was revealed. Another highlight when we discovered there were dolphin watch trips here – only $20 (about 1 pound 70) and 25 minutes. I managed to get this pink fin on camera then spent 20 minutes just enjoying the sight of this bubblegum pink creature fishing. It probably looks like a pink blob here but trust me it is a pink dolphin. (I have put him in twice as the photo is so small). The visit to the Buddha was a bit of an anti climax for me after this.








Barbara and I followed the sign to the ‘Wisdom path’ and found these Stonehenge like log pillars. The Chinese characters written on the pillars are the Heart Sutra mantra.

The last day we spent in the Museum of Art and having coffee and then tea at the Peninsula Hotel. I can recommend China. It is an amazing country despite the pollution. The people are very friendly and the guides could not do enough to ensure our comfort. If you are going to walk the Wall though, get very fit. Silk Steps arranged everything for us. The only company, Judith found which gave us what we asked for – www.silksteps.co.uk