Summer Palace & the journey to Xi’an
October 17th, 2009 by admin
We landed in Xian this evening and made the trip to the city with our new guide Neu(sp.). During the trip he enthralled and amazed us with his life story: during the start of Mao communist rule of China (from 1949 to 1980) he was in the Red Army, he was 16 in 1966 and throught his time during those terrible years he saw awful things and experienced a time of utter craziness. He was brought up throughout his entire life to love Chariman Mao and it wasn’t until he was 30 until when he was finally given the opportunity to essentially think for himself. It was an incredible journey listening to a remarkable life story. Needless to say he’s a happier guy now and I thanked him for sharing his story with us. We arrived at the hotel quite late and made a b-line to the bar and restaurent for dinner.
Oh hang on… I haven’t mentioned our morning at the Summer Palace, this morning, before the flight. The Palace built by the second to last Emporer (who was in fact an Emporess, the last emporers mother) who spent the entire Navy budget on this incredible lake side palace, which includes court yards and stone guardens galore. The weather was fantastic and hot! We wandered around along by the waters edge taking our time looking at the scenery and finally jumped on a dragon boat across the lake before lunch. A proper touristy day and a pleasure to see some stunning views.
OK, back to Xi’an. Xi’an has the only remaining city wall (Mao destroyed the rest). We past through the magnificent West gate of the wall to enter the city properly. A seemingly out of touch city from the impact of the last fifty years of Chinese cultural troubles, Xi’an contains relics of the ‘old’ China stretching back to roughly 4000 BC (I know!).
…I’m waffling, more tomorrow when see the city wall itself, AND the TERRICOTTA ARMY!!!! …bit excited! Nite.
P.S. Our hotel is again stunning an we can see the city wall and South gate from our huge panoramic window. Bliss!
The Great Wall!
October 16th, 2009 by admin
Today we took a trip to visit the great wall. It was a long drive out, but Chen filled it by telling us about the countryside and other information about Beijing (he seems to know everything there is to know about Beijing).
We got the cable car up to the wall itself and Liam and I had the pleasure of riding in the seventh living Buddha’s cable car (he wasn’t there, he just rode in it once so the marked the car with a sticker), which was pretty cool. Much cooler than riding in Bill Clinton or John Major’s!
Anyway, I digress, as you’d expect the wall was stunning. We were there early and there were no other tour groups there when we got there. This was great because it gave us time to take some pictures like those you see in magazines of the wall, but also to enjoy the champagne which Chen had brought along to celebrate the trip. We the wandered the wall for two hours which progressivally got busier and busier before returning to the centre point for sandwiches.
On the trip back we fought our way through the tat sellers, before returning to Beijing for a stop at the birdsnest and watercube Olympic stadiums. We used our visiting time well be having our own Oriental Travel Egg and Spoon race outside the birdsnest. I won bronze!
Home now to pack because tomorrow we leave Chen and Beijing for Xi’an!
Ricshaw Ride, Tiannamen Square & The Forbidden City
October 15th, 2009 by admin
Woke up early with the jet lag still in our heads, ready for a long day with much to see.
We started by returning to the Hutong district where we met our Hutong guide, Grace, and went on a rickshaw ride through the tiny streets. It’s an amazing pocket of old China right in the middle of a massive city. First, a short stop where Grace (who talks about herself in the third person a lot) explained the history of the Hutong aswell as some of the design freatures of the houses/courtyards and stopping evil spirits entering the buildings.
From there we went to meet Mrs Zaio(sp.) who took us into her home and talked more about the history and the way of life in the Hutong (she shares her house with her brothers family, her parents and her cousins family as well as her own). Then it was back on the bikes to return to the bus.
The forbidden city is vast and beautiful. Hard to imagine it without all the people, but the shear size of the place means it’s not too crowded.
Writing this, we’ve Just got out of the “Legend of Kung Fu” show. Absolutely brilliant, combination of Kung Fu fighting, gymnastics and ballet and then the cast posed for photos at the end, which was fun.
Tags: crowds, show
