THE wall

What can I tell you about the wall that you don't already know? No, it can't be seen from the moon. There is no 'single' wall and it was not built all at once, but is instead a number of sections across the country, many intersecting, built using different materials and methods by different dynasties. And it is a pain in the arse for the Chinese to maintain.


The section I visited was found between Simatai and Jinshangling - 110km NE of the city. It took about 3 hours to get there and is a 10km walk within this section. Much of it is unreconstructed and it took the group 2-3 hours to cross. Many parts are extremely steep, the wall taking a path between the steepest points of the range and the steps often ridiculously spaced. Often we were scrambling up with hands and feet. The views were amazing, unfortunately, I don't think photo's do it justice.
Dead tired by the end of the day and another early start for the next day. Thirty six hour train journey to Monglia.... I'll sleep on the train.

Beijing

Beijing is just huge. I know it's well known, but really! About 15 million inhabitants and the size of Luxembourg. It is a nightmare to cross above ground. I caught a bus back from the summer palace just to check things out and found it to be a long and painful journey. There are some roads which are about 6-8 lanes across (difficult to tell, as no one stays in lanes and things get very messy). The subway, however, is a thing of beauty. I keep stopping to question why China has such great public transport and I can't get it in Melbourne. An express train to the station at least!

Anyway, in the end I only had 2 days in Beijing (you need 7, I'm told). One day was to see the wall, so only one other precious day was available. Forbidden city? Sounds like a bit of a bore. Tiannemen Square? It's just there. An expanse of concrete where the state slaughtered their own and hosed away the blood. Little appeal. So the summer palace it was.

The summer palace sits around a lake on the outskirts of central Beijing. The emperors of various dynasties would hang out there, you guessed it, in the summer. It has been destroyed and restored (you want details and historic facts, you've got wikipedia) and is now where locals and domestic tourist flock to on a weekend. I was there on a weekend and a 31 degree day. I wasn't handling the hoards very well. Domestic tourists can be loud and push, use umbrellas for sun shade and don't mind poking you in the head with them.








It's pretty amazing and I'm glad I visited, but was also very glad to leave.






Not wanting to waste any of my precious time, I signed up for an acrobat show in the evenings and was not disappointed. Highlights included a girl working on a suspended hoop - extremely moving and graceful performance, and a metal sphere with motorcycles riding around within it simultaneously, at ridiculous speeds - a gut wrenching, mental performance.

Brown Skies and warriors - Xia'an

A quick zip in a plane and I landed in the north of China. Xia'an. Home to the famed terracotta warriors. With only 2 weeks in China and not having 36 hours on a bus to spare, I opted for air travel. Xia'an was depressing on first impressions - a particularly bad day of air quality, everything appearing brown. It prompted me to gloomily ponder the price of "economic progress".

I settled into the hostel, hooked up with other travellers and decided on a self run tour to see the warriors. Still feeling a bit under the weather, I made it out to the large complex to check out the workings of a child's imagination.

On returning to central Xia'an, me and a French traveller decided to explore the Muslim quarter and were rewarded with entry into the peaceful gardens of a Chinese mosque.

Most fascinating was the Chinese architecture, being so used to Arabic representations of Islamic structures. Outside the walls fo the mosque was a different story. Crowded streets, souvenir and food stalls, meat meat meat -grilled or even lying around in chunks on concrete.

We tried some street foods and sampled all manner of desserts.



Sated and extra extra tired, we headed back to home base and were treated to the bell tower lit up at night.
I really, really have to get some rest. But Beijing tomorrow and I need to see the wall!

Dali, food and shopping

The bus to Dali took me through some amazing countryside and I tried to take photo's between sneezing and blowing my nose.

I felt no shame in repeatedly blowing my nose in public as I was in a country where citizens regularly hojked phlegm through their nasal passages and throat to deliver the contents at your feet.

The bus dropped me outside one fo the town gates. Which? Was the big question. East, West, North, South? If I could figure that out, I could figure out where my accommodation was. It was hot and I wandered around fruitlessly with a heavy backpack and a runny nose. An Australian man experiencing a mid life crisis chanced upon me and was able to sort out my quandry. He pointed out the streets for good noodles, bike rentals and tourist tat, leaving me to attend a massage appointment.

The gods smiled on me again. I received an upgrade in my room at no extra cost. Private ensuite and big comfy bed. Much needed, as I spent enough time over the next few days in it.
Old Dali sits in a slice of land between a mountain range and a lake. This generations Shangri La where ganga abounds and washed out, scabby westerners wander about having long forgotten where they were going and when they were supposed to be there. I was hoping to do some outdoor exploring, but it wouldn't be happening.

However, Dali is a really pleasant place to be and I ventured out for short spells to eat and shop.

The idea here is that you pick ingredients from the basins and tanks and they make you a meal. the lady kept gesturing to the fish tank and I kept averting my eyes. Although I do eat fish, I couldn't face the immediacy of what was being proposed. I would point the finger of death, take a seat and the same googly eyed, fried in garlic and chilli face would be staring back at me within moments. Because you know there'd be no smoke and mirrors, 'let me just fillet this for you ma'am' business about it. Out the front of many restaurants in China you will find cages and tanks with all sorts of animals for your eating pleasure and yes, dog can be served upto you in a restaurant if that is your want. My favorite story is that of a traveller who was encouraged by a local to try the river rat "Very tasty.... also...... very cute!". How's that for a sales pitch?

I went the tofu, mushroom and morning glory option. I then learned that rather then combing the ingredients to make a single dish, they made a dish out of each.
All really tasty, the cook had opted for a range of flavours - garlic, ginger and chilli with each respective dish. I made a valiant attempt to at least make a dent in the contents of each plate, moving food around strategically when this failed.

The next day I was fascinated by the method used by a street vendor to make noodles and decided I had to try it.

She attacks gelatinous masses with a special grater like instrument to produce the noodles.

















She spoons on crushed peanuts, pickled vegetables and a variety of sauces and you have a really tasty, spicy meal for about 50 cents.







Some of you are aware of my new obsession. Knitting and even more so, yarn. I was so excited to come across a shop and my spirits were lifted by the purchase of a lovely blue bundle of yarn. That's OK. You don't have to understand.

Lijiang

The overnight bus to Lijiang was a sleeper - with bunk beds, pillows and duvet included. It felt weird and unsettling thoughts about nasty spinal injures had to be chased away.

I arrived in Lijiang bleary eyed, realising a cold was brewing.

Lijiang, is in effect, a cultural theme park. During a time past, the old town was inhabited by the local Naxi people. Following an earthquake, much was destroyed. The government decided to restore the old buildings and recoup through tourism. Many Naxi sold up and moved on, their homes turned into souvenir shops. Although the winding alleys and canals hold some charm, they are crowded with largely domestic tourists and the stalls number 5 variants, repeated ad nauseum. For a few yuan, you can get your photo taken with a 'real' Naxi, sporting furs and
sitting on a horse.

It becomes even more farcical when you step outside the perimeters into Lijiang proper and are confronted with a buzzing town, teens sporting Duran Duran haircuts and crazy dye jobs. Old town Lijiang soon becomes very distasteful. Overstimulating and tacky. Maybe it was my cold talking, but I wanted out.

Kunming

I left the sleep village and chilled out Yangshuo. Even the 'crazy' traffic wasn't that crazy once you took a closer look. You have all manner of transport - big, small, human or petroleum powered in the same space. But no aggression. Beeps were to say "I'm here". A dance of give and take, push and yield based on mutual awareness rather then self absorbed " I've got right of way and I'm going somewhere important". I felt safer cycling amongst this, then going down Collins Street on the way to work in the mornings.

Kunming is an up and coming Chinese city with lots of high end branded clothing stores and malls. Traffic is much more orderly, with designated bike/moto lanes. Many chinese seem to be opting for electric scooters, gliding soundlessly through the streets - kind of back to the future style - but not quite at the hover board stage.
I headed up a mountain for the day. Shopping malls hold cursory interest. At the top of the mountain "amazing views of Kunming" (Rough Guide, 2006) can be found.
It seemed to be the place to escape on the weekend, particularly a garden which held a much coveted area of lawn. Grass glorious grass! As with much of China, Kunming has many construction zones, things are being pulled down with view to putting something else up. As a result, lots of rubble is left about and the air has high levels of dust particles. I empathised with the need to escaped.

Dotted about the mountain route were temples from don't-ask-me-which dynasty. I came across a sequence of engraved wooden panels within one of them.

On closer inspection, I found these familiar faces.



















Monkey! Pigsy!



Knackered, I opted for the shuttle back to town.

Chao ling and around

I decided it was time to get some sleep and forego-ed a 6 hour bike ride with the others. Instead I spent a few hours strolling between villages and taking in the scenery.
Most homes had electricity and many had satellite dishes. At one point it seemed that all the T.V.'s were tuned to the same thing. Swooping dramatic music. The ladies of the village were putting their feet up for a spell and taking in a soap opera. At the same time, a couple of pale English girls trundled past me on a tandem bicycle, headphones firmly planted in their ears, loudly asserting "Emmerdale! No, I never really liked Emmerdale...."

Despite some creature comforts, working the paddy fields did look like back breaking work.

Village and river life

Lacking sense, I wholeheartedly agreed to a 4 hour walk down the Li River. A German, Englishman, Mexican, French Canadian and Australian headed out to see what they could see....see, see.
After a long day of tramping, we thought it would be a good idea to take in an evenings entertainment. Muddy boots and all, we headed to a riverside ampitheatre to watch Sanjie Liu's (of Beijing Olympics opening ceremony fame) show. Upto 600 performer, undertaken on bamboo rafts and platforms on the Li river. A pretty impressive act of choreography, it's main feature being lighting and use of space. Here's a photo taken on my shoddy camera from a great distance.
Food, much needed, was in order. I chose a dish the waitress didn't believe would be to my liking as a foreigner. I had to plead to be allowed to have it.
On returning to see how we were going, she asked scepticallyl if I enjoyed it and pulled a face when I said yest. Apparently she dislikes the dish (example 3).

Guilin and the Li River

By the time I reached my accommodation in Guilin it was around midnight. I quickly organised a trip down the river to my 3 night stay in a village amongst the karst mountains. There, I would take in the scenery and get my bearings after a frantic start to the trip. Eyes drooping, bed beckoning, but I needed to cash up first. ATM across the road they say. Standing at the edge of a pitiful excuse for a zebra crossing I surveyed a dimly lit 4 lane expanse with cars, bikes and lorries coming left right and center. "You want me to cross that! But I don't even have a high visibility vest!". My brain had finally flipped. (Moments later, the higher cortical function centre kicked in..... "Did you just say high visibility vest?".

The next morning I boarded a bamboo raft and spent a few hours making it down the river towards Yangshuo. It was quite misty, the karst mountains looking washed out, but impressive none the less. Note the raft's PVC "bamboo" piping.

We pulled up at some point to be unceremoniously handed over to villagers hawking mandarins and ornamental ducks. Spying the possibility of food under one gazebo whilst marveling at the PC, printer and digital SLR set up under another (how do they power that down here??) I followed my nose to a much needed feed.

What followed was tuck tuck, bus and some kind of bicycle ute transfer before I finally reached the village of Chao Ling.

My favorite view.

And a village it was. Mud brick homes, livestock, chickens, ducks. The neighbours were having some kind of celebration. People coming and going, occassional bursts of music.. a composition involving a clarinet like wind instrument, cymbals and drums.

The sensible thing would have bee to pull up a hammock and say Ahhh! I've arrived! Instead I'd agreed to meet a fellow bamboo rafter in town for dinner. I extended the invite to my roomates and found myself, after a bit of umming and aaaahing, riding the 4km into Yangshuo town down unlit rural Chinese roads, sans helmet and high visibility vest.
We sat down to a much anticipated meal and beer (585ml 'stubbies'). I jumped at the chance to try an authentic szechuan dish but was sorely disappointed. My fellow szechuan loving friends - what chillies there were, were inedible, and the heat they tried create by drowning all the ingredients in pepper. A visit to Szechuan house will definitely be a high priority as soon as I get back. One of the other diners was advised that he should order a pork dish, as he was too skinny and it would fatten him up (example 2).

The trip home on the bike was peaceful and otherworldly. Riding through mist, sucking in the smells, frogs croaking. Magic. We rolled down the laneway past our neighbours who were still at it, but significantly more beer infused. The repetitive tune started and stopped abruptly and was now randomly punctuated with "howwwwwwwwwwwww". I could only guess at the significance.

Guangzhou

It so transpires that the night before I landed in Guangzhuo I didn't get a wink of sleep. I tried to get some at the airport - failed. So there I was in a big, noisy, smelly brown city with half a day to spare before a flight to Guilin. And it started raining. Luckily in China, your needs are anticipated by the enterprising and I had an umbrella before the 10th raindrop hit. Shelter, tick. Food. Oh Shit. Negotiating my first non meat meal - sleep deprived.

First sign of food after 1.5 hours of tramping - outside displays of photographed dishes - I was in. "Come what may" I said. Kapow! Shazam! A VEGETARIAN restaurant! The waitress warned me sternly and I grinned from ear to ear.




The gods smiling on me and a body full of wholesome food, I set off to explore my first glimpse of China.

There's a lot of shopping to be done in Guangzhou. Whether you're a teenager checking out shops run by other teenagers with 'doof doof' music blaring, in the market for some dried seahorses and lizards for magic potions or jade pieces - Guangzhou is the place to be. I bought myself a watch so that I wouldn't miss planes and experience for the first time the Chinese habit of advising what's best for you. Despite the shop assistant thinking I need more mauve in my wardrobe, I walked away with a watch in black.



In my wandering I stumbled across a temple. A quiet place, sloping eaves, red lanterns, incense burning and a peaceful courtyard. It was at this point it hit me. Holy Fuck! I'm in China. Those tin tin comics have a lot to answer for.

Singapore

What is this place? Cheesy shopping malls, contrived entertainment precincts, theme parks, chewing gum is illegal, drug traffickers are murdered. A weird east/west hybrid.




How often were these things occuring??? Lips?!

A Polar bear was born into the tropics. No mean feat, I imagine. He didn't seem too pleased with his lot. My visit didn't seem to provide any solace either. Yes. I do know this. I speak polar bear.




Subcultures a bit thin on the ground. But that's just me, the inner city dweller looking for them. Tattoos amongst youth seem to be discouraged. I spotted a poster asking them to forego ink to instead leave their mark by running a marathon. Clever marketing, eh? Try selling that one to the Fitzroyalty. That's never gonna happen in skinny jeans half way down your ass.

I chanced upon a transvestite amongst the 'jeans west' casual wear population. Most impressive was the stockings, wool suit set, Jackie O glasses and wig she was sporting. In that humidity! Extraordinary.

There are significant Indian and Muslim populations with neighbourhoods to explore and eat in. I stayed in the Islamic hood - wafts of apple tobacco, the call to prayer from the minarets and great food. For awhile, I happily forgot I was in Singapore.