Friday, July 30, 2004
Guangzhou arrival and lots of other stuff!
Hello hello all from Guangzhou. The weather here is more hot and sticky than up North, reminiscent of Singapore.
Rae said 'Welcome home' to us all (o: In fact it is her birthday today. Pam gave her a lovely tea draining tray which is ideal as I've got Rae onto Green tea whilst on this trip. She just needs to buy some tea cups to go with it. This will add to the already impressive array of purchases she has acquired already! I took Rae to the Ballet a month ago for an early pressy. We will all go out for a lovely dinner tonight.
Housekeeping
Joseph, I still can't access my Freenet so if there are any bills to pay etc then do a draft blog as I can read them fine. Maybe also post in any nice emails. Dad, Ju and T, Sorry I can't reply to your emails. This is for the above reason.
Summer Palace
Lonely Planet say "this dominion of palace temples, gardens, pavilions, lake and corridors was once a playground for the imperial court. Royalty came here to elude the insufferable summer heat that roasted the Forbidden City". We took two taxis to the site from the hotel but ended up at opposite entrances! Our driver took the scenic route which was kind of good as we got to go through the back streets where the Hutongs (narrow passageways) are. These date back to the Qing dynasty and house about a quarter of Beijing's residents. We ended up meeting at the Tower of Fragrance in the middle of the site. Each Palace building, pagoda or temple starts to look similar but that shouldn't take anything away from the amazing detail and master-craftsmanship that is displayed. Its like walking through a Chinese Garden in one of the major cities of the world, but much much bigger! There are a lot of internal tourists around at the moment. I guess because the young ones are on school holiday. The tour groups are issued with tshirts, caps and bags so that they are easily identifiable.
After the Summer Palace we went back to the hotel. Rae and I tried to find an internet cafe in vain. They are not as prevalent as in Malaysia, in fact I haven't seen one yet! Pam, Bri and Aunty Pauline went out to dinner again with Danny. Danny went to school in Dunedin and some of his family live there. He organised our internal flights. (I could have mentioned that already). He took Pam et al to a wonderful Sichuan restaurant. Sichuan cuisine is very spicy.
Xi'an
We flew to Xi'an the next day. After a lot of bad stories about internal flights we went through surprisingly smoothly. You get the feeling that things have advanced rapidly over here and I guess will do so more as the 2008 Olympic games approach. Xi'an is a great historic city. It "once vied with Rome and Constantinople for the title of greatest city in the world". It was the centre of the Chinese world for many dynasties before Beijing. Hence there are great historic places to visit. The main one being the Terracotta Warriors. More about that in a mo.
When we arrived we needed a snack and in the end gave in to the lure of Pizza Hutt. Sorry folks. This is not a place I'd normally go to but you know, it was great to go somewhere familiar. Some of us are getting tired of Chinese food, although the variety has been very good, so eating Beef lasagne was fab. I also enjoyed a fish burger and fries at the hotel the day before.
The hotel we stayed in was the Bell Tower Hotel and, as the name suggests, it was just outside the famous Bell Tower. The original tower was built in the 14th century and then rebuilt in the 17th century. You can tell I've got my Lonely Planet close by can't you!
That evening we went to the what seemed like the town square. The atmosphere was great. A band was playing on a stage in the centre and lots of people were just hanging out. We ending up having dinner at the hotel though as the restaurants closed early that evening. The underpasses for pedestrians are really flash and necessary as you take your life into your own hands if you try to cross the street above ground. Lucky I have a lot of practise from Sri Lanka!
Banpo Neolithic Village
The following day Pam had booked a tour for us. This was so great and informative. Our guide was called Violet and her English was very good and she majored in English at Uni (a four year course). She was very bright and enthusiastic and handled our questions with confidence. Our first stop was the Banpo village. The Banpo people were the earliest civilised Chinese people and they lived in 4,000 BC. They were very advanced as we saw evidence of their tools, pottery and crafts, and way of life. It was a matriarchal society as it was easier for children to identify their Mums than their Dads as monogamy wasn't the in thing in those times. Its amazing what the archeologists can decipher from the items uncover and their positioning. It would be interesting to compare people from other continents at the time to see who was more advanced.
Terracotta Warrior replica factory
This was the next stop. The factory had one of only two certificates to make the official replicas of the warriors. It also manufactures ornate Chinese furniture, rugs, silk pictures, jade jewellery etc. We piled in with empty hands and piled out with bags of shopping and empty wallets! I managed to do some reasonable bargaining though.
Army of Terracotta Warriors - a highlight
Next stop was a visit to see the dudes themselves. This is the 8th wonder of the world and the Chinese government and UNESCO have put a lot of money into restoring them. They were discovered by a group of farmers led by Mr Young in 1974. Some 6,000 life- size terracotta warriors and their horses were laid in the ground in battle formation to accompany the Emperor Qin Shihuang (the first emperor to unite China) in the afterlife. Originally the Emperor wanted the army to be buried alive, I guess along with his belongings and concubines, but a shrewd General suggested that he have terracotta versions made, as killing the army would not leave any soldiers for the future. The craftspeople and soldiers who worked on the project were not as lucky as the army as they were killed so that it was kept secret. Its truely an amazing site. There are three pits you can visit. But there is probably much more still to be uncovered. Pit 1 has the most restored warriors. The building that surrounds it is the biggest like it in Asia. It looks like a huge aircraft hanger. The restorers are leaving many still underground, to preserve their colour, as they haven't found an effective and economical way to restore them yet. In the future the complex will link up to the Emporer's mauseleom. It will be impressive. I recommend going in around 5 years time. There were a few types of warriors, kneeling and standing archers, infantry, officers and generals. You could tell the difference by their stance, head gear and shoes. The detail is great and there are no two alike, in fact the manager of the complex says that if you can find two alike you can take them home! Suffice to say I didn't even try to find two alike! Also buried were magnificent bronze chariots. We also had a lovely lunch, included in the tour, there. I bought a book and got it signed by the famous Mr Young who is paid to sign the museum books. He was very cute (o:
We went to some other lovely gardens after the warriors. They were built on hot springs and were where the Emporer and his lover Lady Young (Youngs seem to be very famous over here!) enjoyed spending time together.
Tandem biking along the City wall
I had my first experience of riding a bicycle whilst on the City wall of Xi'an. Brian was in front and I rode on the back of a tandem bike. It was good to get the feeling of going at speed on the bike. I reckon that I could try by myself soon. I did kind of try but need to get the hang of counter balancing the steering as I was leaning to one side to much. It was great fun though, and Bri went quite fast! We got great views of the city at dusk. There was a narrow river on one side of the wall. This was landscaped well and close by there was an outdoor pool/snooker hall. On the other side were some run down apartments and some markets. There were red lanterns lighting the way. Lovely.
That night we had a yummy seafood steam boat which cost a mere 201 yuan. A bargain. It was good to eat light as we've had so much food on this trip!
Guangzhou
So now we are in Guangzhou. We flew in this arvo and the hotel is nice, with a pool and all. Our villages are 1 - 2 hours out of this city. Aunty Pauline feels more at home as the people here speak Cantonese and can understand her. Better fly as this may cost a lot. Sorry if grammer/spelling is bad.
Rae said 'Welcome home' to us all (o: In fact it is her birthday today. Pam gave her a lovely tea draining tray which is ideal as I've got Rae onto Green tea whilst on this trip. She just needs to buy some tea cups to go with it. This will add to the already impressive array of purchases she has acquired already! I took Rae to the Ballet a month ago for an early pressy. We will all go out for a lovely dinner tonight.
Housekeeping
Joseph, I still can't access my Freenet so if there are any bills to pay etc then do a draft blog as I can read them fine. Maybe also post in any nice emails. Dad, Ju and T, Sorry I can't reply to your emails. This is for the above reason.
Summer Palace
Lonely Planet say "this dominion of palace temples, gardens, pavilions, lake and corridors was once a playground for the imperial court. Royalty came here to elude the insufferable summer heat that roasted the Forbidden City". We took two taxis to the site from the hotel but ended up at opposite entrances! Our driver took the scenic route which was kind of good as we got to go through the back streets where the Hutongs (narrow passageways) are. These date back to the Qing dynasty and house about a quarter of Beijing's residents. We ended up meeting at the Tower of Fragrance in the middle of the site. Each Palace building, pagoda or temple starts to look similar but that shouldn't take anything away from the amazing detail and master-craftsmanship that is displayed. Its like walking through a Chinese Garden in one of the major cities of the world, but much much bigger! There are a lot of internal tourists around at the moment. I guess because the young ones are on school holiday. The tour groups are issued with tshirts, caps and bags so that they are easily identifiable.
After the Summer Palace we went back to the hotel. Rae and I tried to find an internet cafe in vain. They are not as prevalent as in Malaysia, in fact I haven't seen one yet! Pam, Bri and Aunty Pauline went out to dinner again with Danny. Danny went to school in Dunedin and some of his family live there. He organised our internal flights. (I could have mentioned that already). He took Pam et al to a wonderful Sichuan restaurant. Sichuan cuisine is very spicy.
Xi'an
We flew to Xi'an the next day. After a lot of bad stories about internal flights we went through surprisingly smoothly. You get the feeling that things have advanced rapidly over here and I guess will do so more as the 2008 Olympic games approach. Xi'an is a great historic city. It "once vied with Rome and Constantinople for the title of greatest city in the world". It was the centre of the Chinese world for many dynasties before Beijing. Hence there are great historic places to visit. The main one being the Terracotta Warriors. More about that in a mo.
When we arrived we needed a snack and in the end gave in to the lure of Pizza Hutt. Sorry folks. This is not a place I'd normally go to but you know, it was great to go somewhere familiar. Some of us are getting tired of Chinese food, although the variety has been very good, so eating Beef lasagne was fab. I also enjoyed a fish burger and fries at the hotel the day before.
The hotel we stayed in was the Bell Tower Hotel and, as the name suggests, it was just outside the famous Bell Tower. The original tower was built in the 14th century and then rebuilt in the 17th century. You can tell I've got my Lonely Planet close by can't you!
That evening we went to the what seemed like the town square. The atmosphere was great. A band was playing on a stage in the centre and lots of people were just hanging out. We ending up having dinner at the hotel though as the restaurants closed early that evening. The underpasses for pedestrians are really flash and necessary as you take your life into your own hands if you try to cross the street above ground. Lucky I have a lot of practise from Sri Lanka!
Banpo Neolithic Village
The following day Pam had booked a tour for us. This was so great and informative. Our guide was called Violet and her English was very good and she majored in English at Uni (a four year course). She was very bright and enthusiastic and handled our questions with confidence. Our first stop was the Banpo village. The Banpo people were the earliest civilised Chinese people and they lived in 4,000 BC. They were very advanced as we saw evidence of their tools, pottery and crafts, and way of life. It was a matriarchal society as it was easier for children to identify their Mums than their Dads as monogamy wasn't the in thing in those times. Its amazing what the archeologists can decipher from the items uncover and their positioning. It would be interesting to compare people from other continents at the time to see who was more advanced.
Terracotta Warrior replica factory
This was the next stop. The factory had one of only two certificates to make the official replicas of the warriors. It also manufactures ornate Chinese furniture, rugs, silk pictures, jade jewellery etc. We piled in with empty hands and piled out with bags of shopping and empty wallets! I managed to do some reasonable bargaining though.
Army of Terracotta Warriors - a highlight
Next stop was a visit to see the dudes themselves. This is the 8th wonder of the world and the Chinese government and UNESCO have put a lot of money into restoring them. They were discovered by a group of farmers led by Mr Young in 1974. Some 6,000 life- size terracotta warriors and their horses were laid in the ground in battle formation to accompany the Emperor Qin Shihuang (the first emperor to unite China) in the afterlife. Originally the Emperor wanted the army to be buried alive, I guess along with his belongings and concubines, but a shrewd General suggested that he have terracotta versions made, as killing the army would not leave any soldiers for the future. The craftspeople and soldiers who worked on the project were not as lucky as the army as they were killed so that it was kept secret. Its truely an amazing site. There are three pits you can visit. But there is probably much more still to be uncovered. Pit 1 has the most restored warriors. The building that surrounds it is the biggest like it in Asia. It looks like a huge aircraft hanger. The restorers are leaving many still underground, to preserve their colour, as they haven't found an effective and economical way to restore them yet. In the future the complex will link up to the Emporer's mauseleom. It will be impressive. I recommend going in around 5 years time. There were a few types of warriors, kneeling and standing archers, infantry, officers and generals. You could tell the difference by their stance, head gear and shoes. The detail is great and there are no two alike, in fact the manager of the complex says that if you can find two alike you can take them home! Suffice to say I didn't even try to find two alike! Also buried were magnificent bronze chariots. We also had a lovely lunch, included in the tour, there. I bought a book and got it signed by the famous Mr Young who is paid to sign the museum books. He was very cute (o:
We went to some other lovely gardens after the warriors. They were built on hot springs and were where the Emporer and his lover Lady Young (Youngs seem to be very famous over here!) enjoyed spending time together.
Tandem biking along the City wall
I had my first experience of riding a bicycle whilst on the City wall of Xi'an. Brian was in front and I rode on the back of a tandem bike. It was good to get the feeling of going at speed on the bike. I reckon that I could try by myself soon. I did kind of try but need to get the hang of counter balancing the steering as I was leaning to one side to much. It was great fun though, and Bri went quite fast! We got great views of the city at dusk. There was a narrow river on one side of the wall. This was landscaped well and close by there was an outdoor pool/snooker hall. On the other side were some run down apartments and some markets. There were red lanterns lighting the way. Lovely.
That night we had a yummy seafood steam boat which cost a mere 201 yuan. A bargain. It was good to eat light as we've had so much food on this trip!
Guangzhou
So now we are in Guangzhou. We flew in this arvo and the hotel is nice, with a pool and all. Our villages are 1 - 2 hours out of this city. Aunty Pauline feels more at home as the people here speak Cantonese and can understand her. Better fly as this may cost a lot. Sorry if grammer/spelling is bad.
Comments:
Wow all sounds amazing. Wish we were there :o) Can't wait to see photos etc. Hi to A/Pauline et al. Love T and the 3C's xoxoxo
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# posted by 
: 31 July, 2004 11:42
: 31 July, 2004 11:42