Monthly Archives: October 2014

Xian..warriors and City walls

Posted on October 17, 2014 by julieallen36

The next day we were allowed a lie in and met up for breakfast at 8am. The Grand New World hotel is indeed quite grand and it’s clearly used by a lot of tour groups and mostly European and Australian this time. Breakfast was a little calmer than in Beijing..in fact everything here in Xian is a little calmer. Thank goodness.
We met up with Ellen and Mr Wah and we were on our way out for a very busy day. Firstly we had to drive out of the city centre and about an hour south to get to the site of the Terracotta Warriors. It’s actually a vast city and once again really bustling. The traffic here is interesting as Mr Wah and all the other drivers spend their time weaving from one lane to the next just to gain a tiny advantage. But just like India, it all seems to work perfectly well.
The amount of development going on here is really incredible. I know we read about this back home but until you see the vast numbers of tower blocks going up even in Xian, I don’t think you can appreciate it.
The other result of all this development, I think, is that the city is filthy. Once again there is no litter or mess as such, it’s just that everything gets covered in a layer of dirty. Thick dirt and after a day out in the city I think our lungs were too. The sun didn’t manage to breakthrough the smog today and I wondered if it ever did.
Anyway…other things we passed on the way to the Warriors were once again lots of western looking shops and malls and then, in contrast as we escaped the city centre, we passed lots of roadside stalls selling pomegranates. This is apparently the pomegranate capital of the world.
We arrived near the archeological site where a whole town has developed around it. There are four hangar like structures to explore and Ellen led the way. As we entered the first and original hangar the huge expanse of the site became apparent. You immediately get the scale of the place and it was amazing to be stood seeing this ancient army of the Qin Dynasty back in 210BC. Ellen enthusiastically explained the history to us and I do know that it wasn’t until 1974 that the farmer discovered the site. In total there are 8000 warriors, 130 chariots and nearly 700 horses buried here.
This very first view right up the hangar was stunning but very, very crowded so when we saw the opportunity to go up the red carpet and get right in front and have our photo taken, Jane and I said yes. To be honest there was a picture of Tony and Cherie Blair doing the same thing and I thought we should too! We ain’t never coming back Jane, I said. This was really cool as after having our photo taken we were then allowed to wander about and take out own photos and get just a little bit closer. It did feel very privileged just for a few minutes.
Well now we were very excited and virtually skipped about the rest of the site. We saw what the site looks like when they first open it up and how the Warriors are broken into many pieces and then we saw how they painstakingly piece the puzzle together to recreate the original. It takes two years to mend a warrior. We enjoyed looking at all the different types of warrior and of course all their different faces which, as you expect all seem very lifelike with individual expressions.
There were three more halls to explore which showed different states of uncoveredness but the first one was by far the most impressive. Of course we had to make the most of having our photo taken with the replica warriors as well before it was time to leave.
By the time we’d finished we needed a coffee break and Ellen explained that there was no Starbucks here. However, we did find a nice Subway which served up a perfectly respectable takeaway Cappuccino.
Next stop on our day was back to the city and a tour of the city walls. Ellen explained that there were different options here and we could choose to go around the walls either by foot, on bikes or in a golf buggy. We chose the bikes and after some serious health and safety guidance from Ellen, off we went. The walls are 12 metres high and something like 15 kms in a square all the way round the old city and were built in the Ming Dynasty.
The views weren’t much to write a blog about what with the smog and the tower blocks but we enjoyed our free time. We didn’t get quite as far around as we thought we had before it was time to turn back and in fact had just ridden from the North Gate to the West Gate. It was a really enjoyable way to spend the afternoon but we weren’t finished yet..
Next stop the Muslim quarter. This is in fact one main street where the ethnic Muslim minority offer all sorts of different street food. It was a really lively and colourful spot. We watched them make the special toffee, selling fried whole squid on a stick and making tiny fried eggs. Then we came back through the covered alley which was the flea market. Joyce got her bartering head on here and we managed to buy some quality tut before we arrived back at the van.
In the evening the action didn’t stop. We’d booked in tonight to watch a show in the hotel and eat the dumpling banquet. More of which tomorrow…..

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Terracota Warriors, Xian | 5 Comments

Xian…city with a heart

Posted on October 16, 2014 by julieallen36

The next day we had to be up really early ready to transfer to the airport and catch our flight to Xian. Everything went smoothly and our new guide dropped us to the airport and check in was going well until they X-rayed our bags behind the counter. Suddenly the security guard was making a bit of a fuss and shouting at our guide. Enid was summonsed to go and explain the contents of her suitcase. The security guard was convinced that she was a very heavy smoker ..poking his finger at her saying she had two lighters hidden in amongst her pyjamas. They started unpacking her bag in that humiliating way they do and there was a lot of tooing and froing between Enid’s bag and the X-ray screen. Enid was denying everything and Joyce, Jane and I pretended to have nothing to do with Enid. We didn’t really fancy being locked up for 10 years in a Chinese Women’s prison (although Jane has always been a fan of Bad Girls so maybe she wouldn’t mind?). Eventually the offending item was discovered. It wasn’t a lighter after all but two mosquito bite zappers which apparently meant Enid was innocent after all. Once he’d made a phone call to his General the security guard let Enid loose and we were free to go.
After this the flight itself was very mundane and in a couple of hours we were landing in Xian in the smog. Oh yes this is a smoggy city and it just goes to show how lucky we were in Beijing.
We met our new guide ‘Ellen’ who was another young student type and also Mr Wah who was our driver. Immediately we could tell that Ellen was going to be a much better guide, she was really lovely and engaging.
They took us to our hotel The Grand New World in the centre of Xian and then almost immediately we went out to visit the Little Goose Pagoda. This is a 43 storey pagoda which had been split in two twice by an earthquake and then pushed back together. It was a peaceful spot with nice gardens and it made a change to be away from the madding crowd.
We watched some ladies doing a square dance which was very balletic and then enjoyed Ellen teaching us how to count to ten on one hand the Chinese way.
In the evening we went out to eat at a restaurant Ellen recommended. We were a bit worried as she seemed very reluctant to recommend anywhere outside the hotel. However, this place Na Jia Lou was close to the hotel and we merely had to risk our lives crossing the main road with five lanes of traffic all going in different directions and no apparent way to know when it was safe to cross. Somehow we made it and then also found the restaurant by checking the Chinese symbols on our piece of paper against the restaurant sign. The place was packed and the staff came out to pull us in! It was full of locals -who by the way all tend to look Mongolian up here- and clearly a popular choice. There were no other Westerners in here but after a good stare they all settled back down again. The big man who looked like a Mongolian Triad member did seem to think that the way I used my chopsticks was worth a titter.
We ordered beer -a good start- and then studied the English menu with pictures. We had the most excellent feast ordering:
-twice cooked shredded pork with chilli sauce and onions
-sweet n sour spare ribs
-beef and rice with way too many chillies
-bok choy and other green veg
-sweet potato chips with toffee (yes, I know, really)

We didn’t order the spicy donkey, the squirrel fish, the twisted chicken gizzards or the snakehead stew. We also avoided anything using the generic term ‘local meat’. Call me a wimp if you like but I’m sticking with the toffee chips which were absolutely amazing.
It was a great night and I’d already decided I was going to like Xian. It’s a big city with 8 million people living here but it seems to have a nice heart.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Xian | 5 Comments

Dynasty- the new Beijing soap

Posted on October 15, 2014 by julieallen36

Having returned from the Great Wall rather late we didn’t much feel like exploring so Jane, Enid and I just went back to Cafe 1901 for coffee and cake. Joyce meanwhile stayed in the hotel room watching Batman on the TV.
After a better nights sleep we had to be ready again at 7:30am for another packed day around the sights of Beijing.
Today we started our tour at the Summer Palace. This was the Summer residence of various emperors over the ages and was a short distance from the centre of the city. When we arrived there were rows of coaches already lined up and crowds of people waiting to go in. Most of the people are Chinese tourists of all sorts. School groups, olds groups , tiny ethnic minority groups. It was very loud and hectic and really rather unpleasant. Lots of the Chinese tourist guides speak to their groups through blaring electronic systems and unfortunately their voices sound rather aggressive and screachy.
In we went and walked around some old rooms and looked at some brass lions etc. The buildings are very splendid from the outside but nothing much to see inside. An impressive feature here is the long corridor which is in fact the longest painted corridor in the world (official Guinness book of records). It is open to the elements and runs alongside a large lake. It is 728m long and covered in 14,000 scenic paintings. I’m sure back in the days of the Emperor it was very tranquil but today it was packed with rowdy tourists. Still the views over the lake were pleasant enough.
We learned a bit about the various Dynasties (Ming, Qing, Tang, Song, Jin, Liao) and how they’d lived in this Palace. Well, the others may have done but once again I am afraid to tell you that I wasn’t listening. I think I really will have to catch up by watching The Last Emperor when I get home. There was, however, a lot of talk of the Dragon Lady who seemed quite a good character and was famous for keeping the Emperor of the time in check.
To finish our visit here we had a trip on a large Dragon Boat. This was at last a little more peaceful and we had good views back from the Kunming lake to some of the other buildings on Longevity Hill.
After our visit here we needed a coffee break so Yan said we could have one in the Forbidden City. On the drive over here we had a brief stop at a flyover where we got a view of the Olympic Park and the Birds Nest stadium. Then onto the next stop -our official Tianenmen Square visit.
This started in the Public toilets which obviously most guide books tell you to avoid. We braved it anyway and to be fair it was ok. We of course all had to queue to use the one Western style loo with a seat as opposed to the 30 squat style cubicles. The sign that said ‘no sitting’ did slightly confuse us. I imagine they just didn’t want people making themselves too comfortable in here.
Right- into the square we went and part of it was closed off today. We’d already sussed that this was something to do with the Tour of Beijing cycle race and just as we arrived the whole entourage rolled into the square. It was an impressive sight although nobody we recognised. We then walked quickly through the square without any guidance from Yan. I think she figured we’d already visited ourselves and so we could just whizz through. This suited us fine as we needed coffee and were already getting weary.
On we went under the big main road and towards the entrance which is next to the big picture of Chairman Mao. There was a lot of security around here including some very poor undercover detectives.
Once in we then proceeded to go through a series of very large gates and walls moving from the Outer Outer courtyard, to the Outer Inner Outer Courtyard, through the Inner Outer Outer courtyard…..you get the idea? Yes lots of different areas that all looked very similar. Yes this building was bigger than that building but basically….all the same! It went on Forever.
Apparently what was ‘Forbidden’ here was having a cup of coffee until you’d gone into some sort caffeine detox trance. Yan just kept us marching forwards.
Of course this made it all the less likely that I would learn anything about Emperor Ming (isn’t he a character from Flash Gordon?). Apparently there was talk of concubines and eunuchs and all sorts of goings on. In each courtyard Yan invited us to look through the windows into the various rooms. Enid wanted to get her duster out because all we could see was some rather dusty old furniture. Hm.
Eventually we arrived at the Hall of Mental Cultivation. I wasn’t really in the mood for that so it was lucky that it actually turned out to be the Hall of Coffee and Snickers bar. Hurrah… I was human once more. Jane decided to go for the slightly more dodgy option of pink sausage on a stick. Like a hot dog only tasting of Chinese Five Spice. Nasty. Joyce and Enid meanwhile marvelled at the wonders of 40p Sprite.
Fully mentally cultivated we now continued our wander. Finally coming out into the small Emperors Garden. He had a bit of a funny idea of gardening as mostly the garden was full of large volcanic rocks. There were, however, some really beautiful old trees.
This completed our tour for the day and we were dropped back at the hotel nice and early. After a bit of a breather we ventured back out to find a restaurant for the night. Now I know we’d turned up our noses at Burger King the day before but today we opted for Italian. Another of Jane’s recommendations up in the Hutongs in the HouHai area of the City. This involved a taxi ride and we began to wonder about our choice when the first 3 taxis refused to take us to this address. We think it’s just because they get paid a fix amount and this was quite a way out in the rush hour traffic. Eventually the hotel doorman found one who would take us and off we went. We got dropped off on a main street and the taxi driver waved his hand vaguely down an alley. We braved it and wandered in and this was more like the Hutongs I’d expected. It was a dark alley with mopeds and people walking around. Just a short walk along we found the quaint lights if this tiny Italian ‘Mercante’. We had a lovely meal and a couple of glasses of red and all was right with the world. It really felt like could be back in Florence. We made it safely back too which is always a bonus I find.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Beijing, China | 9 Comments

Grumpy on the Great Wall

Posted on October 14, 2014 by julieallen36

Ok so having had a night of interrupted sleep we had to get up at 7.00 in order to be ready for our first full day in Beijing. You’d have thought sleep would come easy after all the excitement of the night before but no. At 3am in the morning my mind was racing and literally wouldn’t finish a sentence. Plus it was stiflingly hot as apparently it is a Government ruling that we are not allowed air conditioning in our room. So instead of refreshing air the vent is in fact pumping out heat. Too much heat. Then at 4am Jane’s phone decided to ring with an incoming call. Excellent.
Oh my dog I was tired by the time I could get up. Oh and still jet lagged obviously- so I was right up for it. We went down for breakfast where it appeared that the world and his wife had joined us and I ate some cereals and an egg and toast and immediately started to feel nauseous. I really am quite poor at being over-tired.
We met up with Yan again and piled into the van. Off we went to the Temple of Heaven where hundreds of people had already gathered to watch some old folk doing their morning exercise classes in the shade of the trees. Actually it was all rather civilised as different groups of people practiced traditional tai chi, sword tai chi, ball tai chi and our favourite badminton racquet and two ball tai chi. Jane was convinced to join in and enjoyed it so much that we actually purchased our own set. Then we walked up to the Temple itself where it turned out all the people hanging about weren’t actually queuing to get in, they were really just there for the social. They were playing cards and dominoes and some of the women had their own knitting circle.
In we went and saw the temple and Yan told us some stuff about it. I’m afraid I couldn’t really hear her so all I can tell you is that the blue tiled roof is a reference to the God of Heaven but apparently it’s not religious which seems odd. It did look rather attractive though in the sunshine today and yes..the blue sky.
Next stop for us today was a rickshaw ride around the old area of Beijing called the Hutongs. Now I’d heard about this and thought it might be a nice contrast to modern Beijing but I’m not really sure about where we got taken. Yes it was narrow allies but there just seemed to be a load of building work going on. The visit to see the nice man’s traditional courtyard house was a pleasant interlude though.
After this there was a bit of a change in our itinerary and we drove all the way out to the Great Wall of China. This took about an hour and a half during which time we all fell asleep in the van. We drove to a section of the wall called Mutianyu. This really was in a most attractive area with mountains silhouetted all around. Even so it had something of a theme park feel to it -having to catch a shuttle bus to the cable car to then get up onto the wall itself. Mind you we were glad of it as our poor bones ached from all that walking the day before. Pathetic old folk.
Up we went and agreed with Yan that we’d be on the wall itself for an hour and a half. It was pretty busy as we started out but really compared to what I’d seen it could be like on TV..this was nothing. Even so taking photos was quite stressful and this combined with jet lag it is quite a combination. I was proper grumpy and seemed to turn into someone other than my normal self. This is not good really when what you are doing is something your partner has always wanted to do. Oh dear, sorry Jane.
Anyway, the scenery was wonderful and yes we are very privileged to be able to visit. But really did we need a Burger King?
No, we didn’t but we did need something so Yan recommended the dumpling place. We were the only ones in here and had some delicious dumplings and little fried pie pancake things. We were slightly nervous when the chef treated us to some additional fried things especially when Yan laughed timidly. However, she said they were only pork so we all tucked in. I think they were….
On the way back we experienced one of Beijing’s other delights. The traffic. It took us nearly two and a half hours to get back. It was awful bumper to bumper all the way. One thing we are beginning to realise is just how many people there are here in China!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Beijng, China, Great Wall of China | 1 Comment

Staying up in Beijing

Posted on October 13, 2014 by julieallen36

Off we went in search of Peking Duck. Jane had found a recommendation for the best Peking Duck in all of Beijing in the Beijing Times. It was just a couple of blocks away from our hotel and sounded fairly simple to find.
We desperately needed to stay awake to try and adjust to the jet lag. By now it was dark but it felt very safe walking about.
We walked along Chongwenmen Dajie and then off up Taijichang Dajie which eventually led into the bright lights big city that is Wangfujing. Wow now this was exciting. This was modern, brash, lights, brand names. Crazy stuff. I loved it. It was really busy even though it was Sunday night and had a real buzz.
We walked all along here and finally found the corner on the map that looked as if it should house our restaurant called Xiao Wang Fu. Turned out it was housed in the rather upmarket Crowne Plaza hotel! Still we’d walked along way and decided to go for it. It was actually a very smart place and the food was very decent. Whether this was the branch that had won the best duck award…I doubt it. Still two beers later and the jet lag was drifting away.
Happily we decided to wander back again and got too involved with various groups taking photos. Jane and Joyce even joined in with the flash mob dancing outside the church!
Then we decided to take a detour down the backstreets as I’d read that this turned into a streetfood market at night. It was great, really lively and all sorts of stalls selling all sorts of things. Scorpion kebab anybody?

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Beijing, China | Leave a comment

Hello China! Beijing first impressions

Posted on October 12, 2014 by julieallen36

We have arrived here in China after our flights via Zurich. It was 5:15 in the morning when we arrived and we were ready for bed…so we that’s exactly where we went. Our hotel is the Novotel on Chongwenmen Street and it’s one of those ‘could be anywhere’ experiences. How lovely!
We met our guide for our 3 days here at the airport. She is called Tan and she seems to be a quirky student all dressed in pink and black stripes. She was a bit late arriving at the airport to meet us so that wasn’t a brilliant start but never mind, I’m sure she’ll be a smart kid. Although she needs to stop trying to sell us the interesting Kung fu show.
We had four hours kip and then awoke completely unrejuvenated ready to attack the outside world. We decided that the best thing would be to take a stroll down to Tiananmen Square as it is just down the road our hotel is on. As its Sunday the streets are relatively quiet and although it isn’t smoggy, it was overcast and actually got a bit chilly. It turned out to be quite a way down our road to the square and we passed lots of government buildings on the way down there.
Then having passed through the subway security checkpoint we found ourselves in Tiananmen itself. It is huge and dominated by several monuments and buildings. There were also some really colourful flower beds and a giant flower decoration. There also was the iconic picture of Chairman Mao on the walls of the Forbidden City. I think we’ll learn more about all this on our official tour tomorrow but for now it just felt slightly odd.
It’s just not quite what I’d expected. The area we are staying in is like being in Canary Wharf with giant corporate skyscrapers, tatty looking apartment blocks and leafy streets that wouldn’t look out of place in Paris. Everywhere is very clean with no graffiti or litter. And then the roads themselves I’d expected to be full of bicycles still. But no they’re full of very modern looking cars and, yes, a few bikes and mopeds but not so much as you’d notice.
One thing that hasn’t let us down is the hacking cough of the Chinese people. First noticed waiting outside the ladies loos at the airport and then heard along the way ever since. My particular favourite was the chap who welcomed us to the Spa here at the hotel. He showed us in and introduced us to his female colleague who then led us in to have a look around. As we walked off he had the biggest bronchial hack you have ever heard. I was already starting to go off the idea of coming back for a relaxing massage when we were the shown the women’s Spa Area. Not for us the lovely looking sparkling blue pools. Those were for the men only. Us women had to put up with a tiny, smelly plunge pit. Oh I don’t think so thanks.
On a slightly more positive point the kids are absolutely adorable as I’d expected them to be. Unlike their adult parents who just stare and don’t smile- the kids haven’t learned this yet and are full of shy smiles.
We finished the afternoon by sneaking into an American style coffee bar called 1901 Cafe. It was comforting to be in familiar surroundings I have to say.
Tonight, however, after a little rest, we’re venturing out again in search of the best Peking Duck in Beijing.