4th August 2005
China was a last minute holiday for my girlfriend (Melinda) & I. We had been told by work that we needed to take some holidays as soon as possibly but the question was where? After a few late evenings trying different holiday options we decide to hit China for two & a half weeks. The plan was to see Beijing, Xi'an & Lijiang before finishing off with Shanghai.
We left home on the evening of the 4th of August (Mel's Birthday) flying with Singapore Airlines. After 17 hours of travelling we touched down in Beijing International not knowing what to expect. We passed by the communist customs officials quite easily & before too long we had bartered a taxi price & were off to our hotel. We decided to go budget for this trip & opted for a few cheap hotels in good locations. Now that I think about it, cheap & China shouldn't be used in the same sentence it sounds really stupid.
Our home for the next five nights was the Wang Fu Jing Da Wan Hotel which is a 2 star hotel located right in the heart of Beijing. It wasn't too bad for the price even though it did have a bath tub covered in mould and we kept getting phone calls from the front desk trying to sell a special massage in the room. Of course anytime they got Mel they would hang up but when I answered they would try to give me the line, "Yu wan massage in ya woom...... massage in ya woom!" Needless to say I never took them up on there more than dodgy offer.
That evening we decided to make our way to Tienanmen Square to check out the action. It was 5:00pm & the sun was still sitting high in the sky & although we were extremely tired we felt as though we shouldn't hit the hay just yet. After wandering for a few hours with no real sense of direction we ended up hitting one of the high walls of the Forbidden City which told us we had arrived. We made our way through a few courtyards & grand gates before being stopped by a few soldiers from the People's Liberation Army. It was sunset & they were performing a flag lowering ceremony which involved the flag bearers marching across the blocked street with a small army unit behind them. They began to march through the Heavenly Gate & straight towards us so I decided to catch the action on film. Not knowing if this was allowed I sat low in the crowd & filmed the army procession. I know a lot of countries in the world don't allow you to capture military events on film & I figured that China was probably one of them. But I wasn't hassled & there were a few Chinese people doing it so what the hey!
After the army procession had passed we made our way through the last gate & finally into Tienanmen Square. It was amazing! It had a very unique feeling that's really hard to explain. It was late dusk, the lights of the square were lit up like Christmas & we had a whole lot of jet lag. This was one of those moments that you just stand there & think.... F**K, I'm in China! After snapping a billion photo's of the giant Chairman Mao photo we decided to call it a night. It was 10:00pm & the Square was shutting down so there was no real place left to go.
The next day we decided to go for an early morning expedition in search of the square again. After some very wrong turns we managed to get pointed in the right direction by a very friendly non-English speaking police officer. It's not hard to see how this is the biggest square in the world. As we wandered around we slowly made our way through the "Heavenly Gate" & towards the Forbidden City again. We entered the city with our included audio tour & the other 4 million Chinese tourist here to see this ancient wonder. The Forbidden City took 14 years to build & covers 720,000 square metres. It contains dragon statues, colourful temples, lakes, gardens & a few sets of stairs with intricate detailed carvings. After strolling in awe for about 3 hours we decided to seek shade from the 36 degree heat & peace from the 36 thousand tourists.
That afternoon we went to check our emails at the Internet cafe & it was then that I found out that the brother of my ex girlfriend had died in a car accident. It definitely hit home & I began to think about cutting the holiday short & heading home. I spoke to mum on the phone that evening & after a few words & some serious thought I decided to stay on & finish the holiday. There was nothing that I could do by going home & that part of my life was finished anyway.
Over the next few days we checked out other famous Beijing attractions such as the Lama Temple, The Temple of Heaven, The Summer Palace, The Hutongs, Beihai Park & The Bell & Drum Towers. One thing I noticed on our many walks about China is how active the older generation is. Parks, streets & malls are regular gathering places for these elderly hooligans who enjoy activities such as bat & ball dancing, fan dancing, tai chi, meditation, kite flying, hacky sack, badminton, jamming on panpipes & belting out a tune on a 4 string Chinese guitar. A little more active than a few cold one's down at the bowls club. It's a shame the pollution's so bad in China as I'm sure the average life span would be a lot longer if they could breath properly.
The Great Wall Of China
One afternoon after a big day of sight seeing we were walking home when a crazed Chinese man with glasses & a bubbly personality jumped out of the bushes & began to give us a spiel about trips to the Great Wall. He promised a spot where there would be no tourists & he said it was one of the most stunning spots to see the Great Wall. After knocking him back a few time he then went for the final sell by producing a photo album which showed him & other westerners at The Great Wall having a fantastic time. A few shots were in summer but most of the photo's were taken in the winter, when the wall was covered in snow. He even produced a book with written compliments & references by all his western customers. We had been trying to figure out how we were going to get to The Great Wall & it looked as though our ticket had come in the shape of this crazy man call Ting. So after a little thought we agreed to go with him the next morning for a day trip to remember, or so he promised.
We were up at the crack of dawn waiting for our ancient adventure to begin when a van rolled up & out jumped Ting. Once again he had as much energy as a 6 year old on a caffeine & red cordial hit. We then proceeded to pick up a few more people before Ting said "this is the driver & he will take you. Have fun, bye!" Before we could ask him why he wasn't coming, he was gone & we were left with our friendly non-English speaking driver. So off we went. We drove for about 2 hours passing through the constantly changing scenery before making our accent up the mountains towards The Great Wall. We were still about 20 minutes away from our stop when we looked up & saw the Great Wall following the winding mountain tops. It looked so ancient & a little intimidating.
As we arrived we all filed out of the van to followed out trusty Chinese guide. It was exactly as Ting had promised, there was the wall & not another tourist in sight. All we had to do was crawl under the barbed wire fence & pass the "DO NOT ENTER, VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT" sign before we could begin our long climb to the top.
After climbing up the 1 kilometre vertical mountain we had reached the top. In one word AMAZING! in 2 words VERY DANGEROUS! I could now see why they weren't letting anyone in this area. There were parts of the wall that had just fallen away down the steep cliffs. But I must say this was one of the most memorable things I have ever experienced. Here we are in the middle of no where standing on one of the most amazing man made structures our world has ever seen & it amazingly enough wasn't covered with tourists. About 10 of us were there to explore at our own free will for a few hours. After taking our photos & video we decided to explore a little more. We made our way across some very shady areas to one of the higher peaks were we could see the wall running for miles & miles. We sat for a little to just take it all in before exploring, taking photos & filming as much as possible. Next thing we knew it was time to make our way back down to the van for our journey back to Beijing.
The Great Wall should be on the itinerary of every traveller to Beijing & I can't recommend enough to try & find a tour that allows you to get away from the hundreds of tourists in the more popular spots like Badaling. By seeing the wall where it's crumbling and a little overgrown gives you more of a sense of how old it is & therefore makes it more amazing. Badaling is good if that's all you can get to but you will share the experience of the remade wall with about 700 other tourists.
Xi'an
9th August 2005
I was really excited about visiting Xi'an. Seeing the Terracotta Warriors in real life had been high on my list for a few years prior to this trip and now I was only a few hours away.
We taxied it back to the airport in Beijing for our flight to Xi'an with China Eastern. We flew into Xi'an airport at about 2:00pm after lengthy flight delays & made our way to the exit. As we stepped out we were literally in the middle of nowhere so we organised an airport bus to take us to the main street with in the wall's of Xi'an. Our driver didn't speak a great amount of English so we figured once we hit civilisation that would be good enough. About 45 minutes later the bus pulled up across the road from a big Bell Tower surrounded by some big name hotels so we jumped off.
Once we had our luggage we took off down the road following our Xi'an tourist street map. We walked so far that we actually hit the city walls & still had no sight of our hotel. Bloody Chinese street maps I thought, & we turned around to head back. We had a good feeling that we were on the right street but where the hell was our hotel? After about 15 minutes of pacing the street front back & forth we asked a few friendly taxi drivers for some directions but they didn't understand & couldn't read our interpreted map. I swear nearly every sign in China has the same 15 letters, & if they are different it's only ever one letter which makes it near impossible to find your way around. Back down the street we went for the third time. Past the Hyatt, past the empty lot, past the new construction, past the .... "what's that? It's our hotel!" Our hotel (The Canaan International) was actually set back from the main road & they were building another one in front of it which made it hard to see.
After about 1 hour of looking it turned out that the hotel was right in front of us. For our accommodation in Xi'an we opted for what was suppose to be a four star hotel. As we entered the lobby it looked as though they were still finishing off some of the fittings of this recently built hotel. After we checked in we were taken up to our rooms where we were pleasantly surprised. Not only was it new but it was the Four Seasons compared to our Beijing hotel.
The first thing we organised was our day trip to the Terracotta Warriors. We decided to book it through our hotel because they could speak a little English & we just wanted it done. They said the guide knew English & we would spend the day visiting a few temples on route to the Warriors. All sounded good so we booked it before hitting the streets to see what else was on offer.
We walked along the tree covered streets checking out some of the local boutique stores. We dared not venture into any of them though for fear of having our ears drums blown out by the extremely high pitched Chinese pop music that belted from every store. We eventually made our way to the centre of town to go inside the Drum Tower. Acting as a round-about the well lit Drum Tower can not be missed. That evening we had dinner in a place I never imagined I would in China. McDonald's! After such a long & uneventful day it just seemed really easy. Surprisingly enough it was OK & we didn't get sick. I don't even eat McDonald's at home so this meal was totally unexpected.
The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn for our full day trip to see the Terracotta Warriors. We decided to start the day well as we didn't know when our next food stop would be & if it would even be edible. We crossed the road from our hotel & lined up at the Hyatt's super cheap, super tasty buffet breakfast. Mmm it was good & just what we needed for the long trip ahead. We made our way back to the hotel where we were picked up by a bus driver with no English skills. He drove us around the block & down the street before herding us out of his van & onto the sidewalk. After a few minutes of confusion we worked out that this is where the actual tour bus would pick us up from.
Now if anyone has been to China or any other Asian city you will know about Asian tourists. This is a very broad generalisation & I know it may sound bad but they always come across annoying & unwilling to wait there turn. Don't even get me started on the tour leader with there annoying little flag. The flag is suppose to make it easier to spot your leader in a crowd. But when there are 19 other group leaders with the same flag it just adds to the mass confusion. After being shoved to the end of the line a few times, we were pushed onto a bigger bus where to our surprise there were 2 other western tourists. They were from Ireland & as confused about the whole situation as we were. About 15 minutes later our bus was off & our guide was pointing things out in Chinese. Yes that's right... Chinese. Not a word in English. But really we didn't care as long as we got to see the Warriors. There is something nice about being oblivious to the chatting going on around you.
After a few hours on the road we stopped off at a road side Temple that was worth a visit. The Temple sat at the foot of a mountain & contained pagoda's, lakes & ancient buildings. We spent about 30 minutes wandering around but never really new what the significance or meaning of this place was as our guide couldn't speak that much English & as far as using our Lonely Planet, we had no idea where we were. It was however a beautiful temple & we were more than happy to take a few photo's & break up the long drive.
The next stop was at a road side cafe (shed). No doubt this place was run by one of the tour operators family. Just like hundreds of tourist experience in hundreds of countries we were bought here to try & spend some of our money. The food was alright but the entertainment was better. As we ate our fish & relaxed from the midday sun, a Chinese woman & Chinese man started to yell at each other. Then before we knew it they had to be pulled apart as she started to throw punches. More yelling continued with food being thrown & then they were done. After the entertaining stop we were back on the road.
The Terracotta Warriors
A few more hours down the road we arrived at the museum. Now if you want to see the Warriors maybe try & do it outside of Summer. We were there in August which was peek summer season & believe me it was hot. The Terracotta Army is located in the middle of nowhere & was discovered in March 1974 by local farmers drilling a water well. As we made our way to the entrance we jumped into the electric golf carts provided & wizzed up the path to the huge buildings that that contain the ancient armies. There are quite a few buildings here, the first of which we visited contained ancient weapons that were found around the site. We weren't sure how much time we had here so we cut this visit short & headed for the Warriors themselves.
As we walked in I was amazed & stunned at the amount of figures & horses that have been unearthed. Well over 8000 have been found so far. All of which are contained in several buildings around this complex, except for the ones given to several museums around the world. Each warrior is completely different to the next. They vary in height, build, face shape, body position, hair styles, armour & each held a different weapon. We spent quite a bit of time here before making our way to the next building to see the rest. You can not come to this fascinating country with out visiting Qin's Army. After about two hours here we made our way back to Xi'an where we were happy to call it a day.
Whilst we were in Xi'an we read that a great spot to check out was the Muslim Quarter which wasn't far from our hotel. After getting a little lost we decided to by some icy cold water as it was extremely hot once again. A young man of about 18 years sat outside the main shop with his fridge, so we decided to buy our water from him. We pondered over our map trying to figure out which way was which, before asking the friendly shop assistant for directions. He then ran inside the shop & yelled to the man behind the counter. After a few short words he turned to us & in broken English said "I will show you". He led us down the road & around the corner before pointing & repeating "One Hahnjed meters, One Hahnjed meters". He then smiled & waved before returning to his tend to his shop.
As we made our way down the street we could see a few small signs pointing to a mosque. We knew we were in the right area as most of the people were wearing the traditional Muslim attire. We were heading for the Grand Mosque which is only accessible through a few winding streets full of markets. As we entered the Grand Mosque gardens the call to prayer began. The locals started to enter to carry out their religious prayers & we were quite pleased to find that we were allowed to stay & watch. The ceremony began with a speech from the prayer leader followed by several moments of prayer. Whilst this was going on, I thought it funny that just outside the main hall itself stood an 8 year old Chinese Muslim boy texting on a mobile phone. After a little while we made our way out of the Mosque & searched through the ever winding street markets full of crazy crap.
That evening we went for a walk out to the city walls. It was sunset & we decided to climb to the top & just stroll along the perimeter for a while. It's a great thing to do at sunset as the wall has Chinese lanterns lit all the way along which creates a mystical kind of vibe. There's not that much to see here though but it's worth a visit non the less.
On our last morning in Xi'an we decided to visit another of the cities main attractions. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda located about 4 kilometres from the centre of downtown. We got here in the early morning which was good because there weren't many tourists around. The Pagoda sits in the middle of some beautiful Chinese gardens, which we spent an hour wandering through. The Pagoda itself is a holy place for Buddhist to visit. We joined the other adventures people for the climb to the top which offers fantastic views of Xi'an (on a clear day).
After sitting in the gardens for a while we decided to head back to our hotel & get ready for our long trip to the hill city of Lijiang.
I was really excited about visiting Xi'an. Seeing the Terracotta Warriors in real life had been high on my list for a few years prior to this trip and now I was only a few hours away.
We taxied it back to the airport in Beijing for our flight to Xi'an with China Eastern. We flew into Xi'an airport at about 2:00pm after lengthy flight delays & made our way to the exit. As we stepped out we were literally in the middle of nowhere so we organised an airport bus to take us to the main street with in the wall's of Xi'an. Our driver didn't speak a great amount of English so we figured once we hit civilisation that would be good enough. About 45 minutes later the bus pulled up across the road from a big Bell Tower surrounded by some big name hotels so we jumped off.
Once we had our luggage we took off down the road following our Xi'an tourist street map. We walked so far that we actually hit the city walls & still had no sight of our hotel. Bloody Chinese street maps I thought, & we turned around to head back. We had a good feeling that we were on the right street but where the hell was our hotel? After about 15 minutes of pacing the street front back & forth we asked a few friendly taxi drivers for some directions but they didn't understand & couldn't read our interpreted map. I swear nearly every sign in China has the same 15 letters, & if they are different it's only ever one letter which makes it near impossible to find your way around. Back down the street we went for the third time. Past the Hyatt, past the empty lot, past the new construction, past the .... "what's that? It's our hotel!" Our hotel (The Canaan International) was actually set back from the main road & they were building another one in front of it which made it hard to see.
After about 1 hour of looking it turned out that the hotel was right in front of us. For our accommodation in Xi'an we opted for what was suppose to be a four star hotel. As we entered the lobby it looked as though they were still finishing off some of the fittings of this recently built hotel. After we checked in we were taken up to our rooms where we were pleasantly surprised. Not only was it new but it was the Four Seasons compared to our Beijing hotel.
The first thing we organised was our day trip to the Terracotta Warriors. We decided to book it through our hotel because they could speak a little English & we just wanted it done. They said the guide knew English & we would spend the day visiting a few temples on route to the Warriors. All sounded good so we booked it before hitting the streets to see what else was on offer.
We walked along the tree covered streets checking out some of the local boutique stores. We dared not venture into any of them though for fear of having our ears drums blown out by the extremely high pitched Chinese pop music that belted from every store. We eventually made our way to the centre of town to go inside the Drum Tower. Acting as a round-about the well lit Drum Tower can not be missed. That evening we had dinner in a place I never imagined I would in China. McDonald's! After such a long & uneventful day it just seemed really easy. Surprisingly enough it was OK & we didn't get sick. I don't even eat McDonald's at home so this meal was totally unexpected.
The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn for our full day trip to see the Terracotta Warriors. We decided to start the day well as we didn't know when our next food stop would be & if it would even be edible. We crossed the road from our hotel & lined up at the Hyatt's super cheap, super tasty buffet breakfast. Mmm it was good & just what we needed for the long trip ahead. We made our way back to the hotel where we were picked up by a bus driver with no English skills. He drove us around the block & down the street before herding us out of his van & onto the sidewalk. After a few minutes of confusion we worked out that this is where the actual tour bus would pick us up from.
Now if anyone has been to China or any other Asian city you will know about Asian tourists. This is a very broad generalisation & I know it may sound bad but they always come across annoying & unwilling to wait there turn. Don't even get me started on the tour leader with there annoying little flag. The flag is suppose to make it easier to spot your leader in a crowd. But when there are 19 other group leaders with the same flag it just adds to the mass confusion. After being shoved to the end of the line a few times, we were pushed onto a bigger bus where to our surprise there were 2 other western tourists. They were from Ireland & as confused about the whole situation as we were. About 15 minutes later our bus was off & our guide was pointing things out in Chinese. Yes that's right... Chinese. Not a word in English. But really we didn't care as long as we got to see the Warriors. There is something nice about being oblivious to the chatting going on around you.
After a few hours on the road we stopped off at a road side Temple that was worth a visit. The Temple sat at the foot of a mountain & contained pagoda's, lakes & ancient buildings. We spent about 30 minutes wandering around but never really new what the significance or meaning of this place was as our guide couldn't speak that much English & as far as using our Lonely Planet, we had no idea where we were. It was however a beautiful temple & we were more than happy to take a few photo's & break up the long drive.
The next stop was at a road side cafe (shed). No doubt this place was run by one of the tour operators family. Just like hundreds of tourist experience in hundreds of countries we were bought here to try & spend some of our money. The food was alright but the entertainment was better. As we ate our fish & relaxed from the midday sun, a Chinese woman & Chinese man started to yell at each other. Then before we knew it they had to be pulled apart as she started to throw punches. More yelling continued with food being thrown & then they were done. After the entertaining stop we were back on the road.
The Terracotta Warriors
A few more hours down the road we arrived at the museum. Now if you want to see the Warriors maybe try & do it outside of Summer. We were there in August which was peek summer season & believe me it was hot. The Terracotta Army is located in the middle of nowhere & was discovered in March 1974 by local farmers drilling a water well. As we made our way to the entrance we jumped into the electric golf carts provided & wizzed up the path to the huge buildings that that contain the ancient armies. There are quite a few buildings here, the first of which we visited contained ancient weapons that were found around the site. We weren't sure how much time we had here so we cut this visit short & headed for the Warriors themselves.
As we walked in I was amazed & stunned at the amount of figures & horses that have been unearthed. Well over 8000 have been found so far. All of which are contained in several buildings around this complex, except for the ones given to several museums around the world. Each warrior is completely different to the next. They vary in height, build, face shape, body position, hair styles, armour & each held a different weapon. We spent quite a bit of time here before making our way to the next building to see the rest. You can not come to this fascinating country with out visiting Qin's Army. After about two hours here we made our way back to Xi'an where we were happy to call it a day.
Whilst we were in Xi'an we read that a great spot to check out was the Muslim Quarter which wasn't far from our hotel. After getting a little lost we decided to by some icy cold water as it was extremely hot once again. A young man of about 18 years sat outside the main shop with his fridge, so we decided to buy our water from him. We pondered over our map trying to figure out which way was which, before asking the friendly shop assistant for directions. He then ran inside the shop & yelled to the man behind the counter. After a few short words he turned to us & in broken English said "I will show you". He led us down the road & around the corner before pointing & repeating "One Hahnjed meters, One Hahnjed meters". He then smiled & waved before returning to his tend to his shop.
As we made our way down the street we could see a few small signs pointing to a mosque. We knew we were in the right area as most of the people were wearing the traditional Muslim attire. We were heading for the Grand Mosque which is only accessible through a few winding streets full of markets. As we entered the Grand Mosque gardens the call to prayer began. The locals started to enter to carry out their religious prayers & we were quite pleased to find that we were allowed to stay & watch. The ceremony began with a speech from the prayer leader followed by several moments of prayer. Whilst this was going on, I thought it funny that just outside the main hall itself stood an 8 year old Chinese Muslim boy texting on a mobile phone. After a little while we made our way out of the Mosque & searched through the ever winding street markets full of crazy crap.
That evening we went for a walk out to the city walls. It was sunset & we decided to climb to the top & just stroll along the perimeter for a while. It's a great thing to do at sunset as the wall has Chinese lanterns lit all the way along which creates a mystical kind of vibe. There's not that much to see here though but it's worth a visit non the less.
On our last morning in Xi'an we decided to visit another of the cities main attractions. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda located about 4 kilometres from the centre of downtown. We got here in the early morning which was good because there weren't many tourists around. The Pagoda sits in the middle of some beautiful Chinese gardens, which we spent an hour wandering through. The Pagoda itself is a holy place for Buddhist to visit. We joined the other adventures people for the climb to the top which offers fantastic views of Xi'an (on a clear day).
After sitting in the gardens for a while we decided to head back to our hotel & get ready for our long trip to the hill city of Lijiang.
Lijiang
I'm not sure what made us choose Lijiang when we were planning our trip but I'm glad we did. I think we read something about it & then saw thew photo's which pretty well made our minds up. This is an amazing little town that should be on the itinerary for most people.
We took a flight from Xi'an to Chengdu & then on to Lijiang. We arrived into Lijiang airport at about 10:30pm & took a taxi to the old town. If you ever go to Lijing make sure your hotel is in the old town otherwise there is no point in even visiting because the old town is the attraction.
We managed to find our hotel quite easily & after settling in we grabbed some dinner & went straight to bed. As we were both starting to feel a little under the weather. The next morning Mel was very sick & unable to get out of bed. I'm not sure what it was, possibly something we had eaten on the flight or from dinner the night before. I also had a bout of Beijing Belly but I wasn't as sick as Mel who was at the throwing up stage. Mel decided to skip the day of sightseeing & just take it easy, resting in bed. Good idea I thought, we were after all here for 4 days & there would be plenty of time for sight seeing once she was well. I decided to venture out for a look myself but was limited to the places I could go as I had to make a few visits to the restroom at times & the only one I knew of was in our hotel room.
Lijiang is beautiful & its quite obvious to see why the whole town is on the world heritage list. The buildings are ancient wooden buildings that have been knocked around a little. The streets are cobblestones & the paths follow winding canals through out the town. After strolling for a while I decided to venture up the nearby hill for a great view of Lijing.
Lijing is situated at the foot of one of the highest mountains in China, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Lijiang has a very old history & it's still inhabited by the Naxi people who were the first to settle in the area more than 800 years ago. A view from small hill in the middle of town makes you think you have stepped back in time. The town is quite big & each bend gives way to a new experience or a must have photograph.
Mel actually ended up being quite sick for 2 days so most of the time I spent around the old town was solo. I went to an evening music performance by the traditional Naxi people which was good & worth the visit. But when your not use to listening to Chinese music it can get a little ear piercing & even at times sound like someone is killing a cat. There was one man who sung for them though & I must say I was more than impressed with his voice.
Once Mel was well we went for a walk out of the old town to a spot called Black Dragon Pool Park. This is a small park which has lakes full of fish & beautiful gardens full of blooming flowers. On a clear day Jade Dragon Snow Mountain reflects in it's crystal clear waters to produce an amazing photo opportunity.
On our last day we organised a private trip though our hotel out to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We were both feeling a little sick still so we didn't want to mess about with a day tour that would take us to six other places. Our guide tried to pull into a few shopping malls & temples along the way but we just stayed seated & insisted that we go directly to the mountain. Our driver agreed & nodded his head a our request to go straight there. But about 10 minutes down the road he pulled the taxi over to another shop & asked us to get out. We did & he took us in & just pointed to Oxygen in a bottle & then pointed at the mountain. Now if you've been to China you know that this the type of crap they try to sell to stupid westerners all the time. So once again we said no & just pointed back at the mountain. He got the idea & it wasn't long before we were off & this time with no more stops.
Once we arrived at the foot of the mountain he went inside with us & bought our entry tickets & then pointed to another bus which would take us to the gondola. We thanked him & some how managed to understand his meeting point directions. A short drive up the hill & we were standing in line for the Gondola. Now let me just say, I wasn't feeling well by this point & Mel was still getting over few days of sickness. I'm not the biggest fan of Gondolas to begin with so I wasn't overly looking forward to it. I'm not scared of them, I just don't like it when they stop & you do that swinging thing similar to Ferris wheels. It's no so bad if they are the big twenty people gondolas but these were small, four seater cabs & let's face it we're in China! Whats the safety standard like seriously.
After some stunning views & a few head down moments we reached the top. As we stepped out of the cabin I felt like my head was going to explode. It appears that the Oxygen in a can wasn't a stupid gimmick. I really felt like it was harder to breath with the high altitude. The next gondola behind us pulled up & the people began to hop out when one of the girls fainted from the altitude. That's when I really started thinking "god dam where is my crappy Chinese Oxygen can when I need it". We walked around for a little bit before deciding to line up in the extremely long down line. There wasn't anything to see up here except jagged rocks covered with a little bit of snow. There was no view of the land below because the top of the mountain is covered in clouds most of the year. After getting back down & feeling the ever better for it, we found our ride & headed back to Lijiang Old Town for dinner.
That night we had dinner at one of the places we had eaten at before. They had a good menu, we didn't get sick last time & the Lonely Planet highly recommended it. We were shown to our table in the back not far from the kitchen. After placing out order we just sat back & though about the trip so far. Next thing I knew here was our food, looking & smelling as god as ever. We slammed it down & ordered a few more drinks whist we let our delicious meals settle. All of a sudden something caught my eye just over Mel's shoulder. "If you enjoyed dinner don't look behind you" I said. Of course the natural thing to do is to look behind you & that's exactly what Mel did. "Oh My God!", Mel said. Just behind here was the biggest rat I have ever seen in my life. Now I know this is Asian & I have seen rats in & around Asian restaurant before but this one looked disgusting. It was missing so much hair & was lumpy all over with parts of looking like it had just fallen off. "Cheque Please", we said & decided to go for a stroll to forget about what we had just seen. It could of been worse though, the rat could of came our whilst we were eating I guess.
Lijiang seems to get even more beautiful once the sun goes down. The streets are lit with lanterns & mood lighting beams from every store front. We finished our visit to Lijiang with Mel sending a dream/wish candle down the river & off into the distance.
We took a flight from Xi'an to Chengdu & then on to Lijiang. We arrived into Lijiang airport at about 10:30pm & took a taxi to the old town. If you ever go to Lijing make sure your hotel is in the old town otherwise there is no point in even visiting because the old town is the attraction.
We managed to find our hotel quite easily & after settling in we grabbed some dinner & went straight to bed. As we were both starting to feel a little under the weather. The next morning Mel was very sick & unable to get out of bed. I'm not sure what it was, possibly something we had eaten on the flight or from dinner the night before. I also had a bout of Beijing Belly but I wasn't as sick as Mel who was at the throwing up stage. Mel decided to skip the day of sightseeing & just take it easy, resting in bed. Good idea I thought, we were after all here for 4 days & there would be plenty of time for sight seeing once she was well. I decided to venture out for a look myself but was limited to the places I could go as I had to make a few visits to the restroom at times & the only one I knew of was in our hotel room.
Lijiang is beautiful & its quite obvious to see why the whole town is on the world heritage list. The buildings are ancient wooden buildings that have been knocked around a little. The streets are cobblestones & the paths follow winding canals through out the town. After strolling for a while I decided to venture up the nearby hill for a great view of Lijing.
Lijing is situated at the foot of one of the highest mountains in China, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Lijiang has a very old history & it's still inhabited by the Naxi people who were the first to settle in the area more than 800 years ago. A view from small hill in the middle of town makes you think you have stepped back in time. The town is quite big & each bend gives way to a new experience or a must have photograph.
Mel actually ended up being quite sick for 2 days so most of the time I spent around the old town was solo. I went to an evening music performance by the traditional Naxi people which was good & worth the visit. But when your not use to listening to Chinese music it can get a little ear piercing & even at times sound like someone is killing a cat. There was one man who sung for them though & I must say I was more than impressed with his voice.
Once Mel was well we went for a walk out of the old town to a spot called Black Dragon Pool Park. This is a small park which has lakes full of fish & beautiful gardens full of blooming flowers. On a clear day Jade Dragon Snow Mountain reflects in it's crystal clear waters to produce an amazing photo opportunity.
On our last day we organised a private trip though our hotel out to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We were both feeling a little sick still so we didn't want to mess about with a day tour that would take us to six other places. Our guide tried to pull into a few shopping malls & temples along the way but we just stayed seated & insisted that we go directly to the mountain. Our driver agreed & nodded his head a our request to go straight there. But about 10 minutes down the road he pulled the taxi over to another shop & asked us to get out. We did & he took us in & just pointed to Oxygen in a bottle & then pointed at the mountain. Now if you've been to China you know that this the type of crap they try to sell to stupid westerners all the time. So once again we said no & just pointed back at the mountain. He got the idea & it wasn't long before we were off & this time with no more stops.
Once we arrived at the foot of the mountain he went inside with us & bought our entry tickets & then pointed to another bus which would take us to the gondola. We thanked him & some how managed to understand his meeting point directions. A short drive up the hill & we were standing in line for the Gondola. Now let me just say, I wasn't feeling well by this point & Mel was still getting over few days of sickness. I'm not the biggest fan of Gondolas to begin with so I wasn't overly looking forward to it. I'm not scared of them, I just don't like it when they stop & you do that swinging thing similar to Ferris wheels. It's no so bad if they are the big twenty people gondolas but these were small, four seater cabs & let's face it we're in China! Whats the safety standard like seriously.
After some stunning views & a few head down moments we reached the top. As we stepped out of the cabin I felt like my head was going to explode. It appears that the Oxygen in a can wasn't a stupid gimmick. I really felt like it was harder to breath with the high altitude. The next gondola behind us pulled up & the people began to hop out when one of the girls fainted from the altitude. That's when I really started thinking "god dam where is my crappy Chinese Oxygen can when I need it". We walked around for a little bit before deciding to line up in the extremely long down line. There wasn't anything to see up here except jagged rocks covered with a little bit of snow. There was no view of the land below because the top of the mountain is covered in clouds most of the year. After getting back down & feeling the ever better for it, we found our ride & headed back to Lijiang Old Town for dinner.
That night we had dinner at one of the places we had eaten at before. They had a good menu, we didn't get sick last time & the Lonely Planet highly recommended it. We were shown to our table in the back not far from the kitchen. After placing out order we just sat back & though about the trip so far. Next thing I knew here was our food, looking & smelling as god as ever. We slammed it down & ordered a few more drinks whist we let our delicious meals settle. All of a sudden something caught my eye just over Mel's shoulder. "If you enjoyed dinner don't look behind you" I said. Of course the natural thing to do is to look behind you & that's exactly what Mel did. "Oh My God!", Mel said. Just behind here was the biggest rat I have ever seen in my life. Now I know this is Asian & I have seen rats in & around Asian restaurant before but this one looked disgusting. It was missing so much hair & was lumpy all over with parts of looking like it had just fallen off. "Cheque Please", we said & decided to go for a stroll to forget about what we had just seen. It could of been worse though, the rat could of came our whilst we were eating I guess.
Lijiang seems to get even more beautiful once the sun goes down. The streets are lit with lanterns & mood lighting beams from every store front. We finished our visit to Lijiang with Mel sending a dream/wish candle down the river & off into the distance.
Shanghai
We arrived in to Pudong International Airport in the late afternoon. After grabbing a ride from one of the many waiting taxis we began the long drive down town.
Shanghai is a city on the rise. The skyline is dotted with cranes, half finished buildings & high rises. Our hotel was located one block off the main shopping street called Nanjing road. After settling into our room we made our way to the busy pedestrian mall to see what was happening in this so called "Paris of the East".
Nanjing Road is lined with billboards & neon lights advertising everything from perfume & Coca-Cola, right up to the weather & Gucci. As we made our way down the jam packed street, it just seemed to have a vibe. There were fake watch sellers trying to rip you off, men on balconies playing saxophones through loud speakers, music belting from each store as well as Las Vegas style lights that would catch your eye & draw you in.
As we neared the end of the street the lights gave way to a construction zone. After walking a few blocks further we hit the Bund on the Pudong River. This is where the magic happens every night at about 7:00pm. Once the sun has settled behind the pollution & the night has set in, the buildings across the river create a light show which attracts a few hundred people every night. We were a little bit early for this event so we decided to stroll for a little. As we meandered along the waterfront past the children, beggars & the children sent to beg we pulled up a prime position where we could wait for the impending light show to begin. We took a look over the edge & down into the "silty" brown water to be confronted by every type waste known to float. The Pudong is exceptionally polluted but all you really have to do is take a look at the air to realise it's not just the water in China that the problem. China has 16 of the top 20 most polluted cities in the world. This isn't something to be proud of but maybe they will work on that small problem after the 2008 Olympics. I'm sure we won't see any world record set at the track & field events.
Shanghai is a city looking towards the future. You can tell this by simply looking at the buildings. Their futuristic, bold & pushing the bounds of modern day architecture. A really good example of this is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower located across the river in Pudong Park. This was the first building to spring to life with the lights as 7:00pm rolled by. Before we knew it the whole water front was lit up & cameras where flashing. That evening we strolled back to our hotel via Nanjing Road when we noticed that the neon temperature sign was reading 36*C. No wonder we were sweating. It was 9:00pm at night & we felt like we'd been locked in a sauna. Thank god we had A/C in our room & needless to say we had that puppy cranking on high all night long.
The next day we decided to go & see one of China's most famous natural attractions..... the Panda. The only place we could do this was Shanghai Zoo which we read was an OK visit. We jumped in a cab & about 25 minutes later we were at the zoo. Now we didn't really know what to expect & to be honest I was expecting bad but I must say nothing could of prepared me for what we saw. I have never seen a level of human to animal cruelty like this before. The animals that we saw were skin & bones, had no room to move & most of them just stood there in a hypnotised state with the expression of broken & beaten on the sad faces. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse we entered an area where they keep at least one breed of every common or well known dog. They were scared, unable to walk & some of them were clearly ill & close to death. I then saw a German Shepard like my dog back home & was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of hatred for the Chinese. These animals are merely objects to collect to this heartless, uneducated nation. Most animals are seen as food in China so trying to get it through to them to understand love for nature & the art of being humane is a dead end road. If dad beats & eats the dog then surely little Jimmy can do it to. This seems to be the mindset of Chinese people unfortunately. I saw several animals getting things thrown at them to entice them to move, even if they were unable to. This was enough for us & we decided to leave after our short 5 minute visit.
Before leaving Mel really wanted to see a panda. This is China's animal so we thought it would have to be treated better than the rest. As we strolled past the open fields of flowers, grass & trees & then past the small 1 x 1 metre cement cells that contained Golden Retrievers we came to the Panda enclosure. Someone needs to be shot for the treatment of this supposed national icon. Across from a huge field full of grass & bamboo sat a Panda in a small fully concreted enclosure. The only vision he had was though a dirty glass window that was constantly hit by adults & children to try & make him move. The Panda was spread out on the floor face down with puss running from his eyes & no life in his limbs. There even came a time where he urinated on himself as he was to malnourished to move. I think the world needs to put huge amounts of pressure on China's so called Government to put a stop to this. The only problem I suppose is that they don't see anything wrong with it. Hopefully with the Olympics in 2008 there will be more light shed on this cruelty & perhaps something will finally be done.
That evening we decided to spoil ourselves with dinner at one of the finest & highest restaurants in Shanghai, The Grand Hyatt restaurant. Located across the water in the Jin Mao Tower, the Grand Hyatt starts on the 53rd floor & runs right up to the 87th floor at the top, making it the highest hotel in the world. To get over the other side of the river we had to take another one of Shanghai's tourist attractions, the tourist tunnel. As you head down a very steep escalator on the water front you are herded towards a glass carriage which can fit about 15 people. It then takes off into the long dark tunnel under the river which is where the magic happens. They keep you entertained for a while with all kinds of laser lights, smoke machines & wavy, wind blowing men. Before we knew it we were on the other side & heading for the surface again. We made our way to the Jin MaoTower & took the express elevator to the 54th floor where Mel enjoyed a huge Aussie steak with vegetables & I ate from the tasty buffet. The view from here is amazing but from what I hear, a visit to the 88th floor observatory is much more impressive. We finished the evening with a trip to the top of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower for a view of the Bund by night.
The next day we decided to take some time out & just relax with a visit to one of the local markets. We bought a few of the tourist must haves such as Chinese saxophones, Iraqi most wanted playing cards & framed personalised name writings. The next afternoon we flew out 2:30 pm headed for Brisbane, Australia. China was an amazing place to visit & one of those places that you think ...wow... I've been to China. One day I may go back to see some other sights or perhaps revisit some of my favourites.
Shanghai is a city on the rise. The skyline is dotted with cranes, half finished buildings & high rises. Our hotel was located one block off the main shopping street called Nanjing road. After settling into our room we made our way to the busy pedestrian mall to see what was happening in this so called "Paris of the East".
Nanjing Road is lined with billboards & neon lights advertising everything from perfume & Coca-Cola, right up to the weather & Gucci. As we made our way down the jam packed street, it just seemed to have a vibe. There were fake watch sellers trying to rip you off, men on balconies playing saxophones through loud speakers, music belting from each store as well as Las Vegas style lights that would catch your eye & draw you in.
As we neared the end of the street the lights gave way to a construction zone. After walking a few blocks further we hit the Bund on the Pudong River. This is where the magic happens every night at about 7:00pm. Once the sun has settled behind the pollution & the night has set in, the buildings across the river create a light show which attracts a few hundred people every night. We were a little bit early for this event so we decided to stroll for a little. As we meandered along the waterfront past the children, beggars & the children sent to beg we pulled up a prime position where we could wait for the impending light show to begin. We took a look over the edge & down into the "silty" brown water to be confronted by every type waste known to float. The Pudong is exceptionally polluted but all you really have to do is take a look at the air to realise it's not just the water in China that the problem. China has 16 of the top 20 most polluted cities in the world. This isn't something to be proud of but maybe they will work on that small problem after the 2008 Olympics. I'm sure we won't see any world record set at the track & field events.
Shanghai is a city looking towards the future. You can tell this by simply looking at the buildings. Their futuristic, bold & pushing the bounds of modern day architecture. A really good example of this is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower located across the river in Pudong Park. This was the first building to spring to life with the lights as 7:00pm rolled by. Before we knew it the whole water front was lit up & cameras where flashing. That evening we strolled back to our hotel via Nanjing Road when we noticed that the neon temperature sign was reading 36*C. No wonder we were sweating. It was 9:00pm at night & we felt like we'd been locked in a sauna. Thank god we had A/C in our room & needless to say we had that puppy cranking on high all night long.
The next day we decided to go & see one of China's most famous natural attractions..... the Panda. The only place we could do this was Shanghai Zoo which we read was an OK visit. We jumped in a cab & about 25 minutes later we were at the zoo. Now we didn't really know what to expect & to be honest I was expecting bad but I must say nothing could of prepared me for what we saw. I have never seen a level of human to animal cruelty like this before. The animals that we saw were skin & bones, had no room to move & most of them just stood there in a hypnotised state with the expression of broken & beaten on the sad faces. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse we entered an area where they keep at least one breed of every common or well known dog. They were scared, unable to walk & some of them were clearly ill & close to death. I then saw a German Shepard like my dog back home & was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of hatred for the Chinese. These animals are merely objects to collect to this heartless, uneducated nation. Most animals are seen as food in China so trying to get it through to them to understand love for nature & the art of being humane is a dead end road. If dad beats & eats the dog then surely little Jimmy can do it to. This seems to be the mindset of Chinese people unfortunately. I saw several animals getting things thrown at them to entice them to move, even if they were unable to. This was enough for us & we decided to leave after our short 5 minute visit.
Before leaving Mel really wanted to see a panda. This is China's animal so we thought it would have to be treated better than the rest. As we strolled past the open fields of flowers, grass & trees & then past the small 1 x 1 metre cement cells that contained Golden Retrievers we came to the Panda enclosure. Someone needs to be shot for the treatment of this supposed national icon. Across from a huge field full of grass & bamboo sat a Panda in a small fully concreted enclosure. The only vision he had was though a dirty glass window that was constantly hit by adults & children to try & make him move. The Panda was spread out on the floor face down with puss running from his eyes & no life in his limbs. There even came a time where he urinated on himself as he was to malnourished to move. I think the world needs to put huge amounts of pressure on China's so called Government to put a stop to this. The only problem I suppose is that they don't see anything wrong with it. Hopefully with the Olympics in 2008 there will be more light shed on this cruelty & perhaps something will finally be done.
That evening we decided to spoil ourselves with dinner at one of the finest & highest restaurants in Shanghai, The Grand Hyatt restaurant. Located across the water in the Jin Mao Tower, the Grand Hyatt starts on the 53rd floor & runs right up to the 87th floor at the top, making it the highest hotel in the world. To get over the other side of the river we had to take another one of Shanghai's tourist attractions, the tourist tunnel. As you head down a very steep escalator on the water front you are herded towards a glass carriage which can fit about 15 people. It then takes off into the long dark tunnel under the river which is where the magic happens. They keep you entertained for a while with all kinds of laser lights, smoke machines & wavy, wind blowing men. Before we knew it we were on the other side & heading for the surface again. We made our way to the Jin MaoTower & took the express elevator to the 54th floor where Mel enjoyed a huge Aussie steak with vegetables & I ate from the tasty buffet. The view from here is amazing but from what I hear, a visit to the 88th floor observatory is much more impressive. We finished the evening with a trip to the top of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower for a view of the Bund by night.
The next day we decided to take some time out & just relax with a visit to one of the local markets. We bought a few of the tourist must haves such as Chinese saxophones, Iraqi most wanted playing cards & framed personalised name writings. The next afternoon we flew out 2:30 pm headed for Brisbane, Australia. China was an amazing place to visit & one of those places that you think ...wow... I've been to China. One day I may go back to see some other sights or perhaps revisit some of my favourites.
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