china part four

Terracotta army

Huge and the surface only just scratched. If you do one in your lifetime come and see this!!! Words cannot describe it so I won't even try. Mega pictures taken.

Off to lunch!

Buffet style. Had a sensible amount to eat for once.

Wild goose pagoda was the next stop. This a buddist temple and quite an important one too. Learnt that this was where tripitaka (he of monkey) fame returned with the buddist scriptures and translated them into chinese for the first time. Not many pics as its a holy place. This buddism thing seems to have some good things going on.

Next stop was the city wall.hell of a wall. 13km long. Takes an hour to bike round. Next up was a silk factory tour. A rug takes a year and a half!

Next off shopping. Technology is not as cheap as you would think.

Back to the hotel and then off for dim sum dinner.

china part three

Day 4

Up packed and then breakfast. Checked out of hotel. Very good hotel the shangri la. Highly recommend. And so, off to the zoo.

Another load of pictures. Especially of the pandas. It is such a shame thar we are content to cage these magnificent beasts up. The zoo is ok but for someone not into them its almost upsetting.

After the zoo we headed to the airport and the flight to xi'an.

Cannot fault the airline at all. New airbus a320 not some shabby old boeing.
Got to the hotel, another shangri la but not as plush as in beijing. It is the best hotel in the city so cannot complain. Full of ruddy yanks. Had dinner in the hotel then went for a walk. Not much open. Had a couple of drinks and then bed.

A bit about Xi'an. Dusty and definitely poorer than beijing but loads of building going on. One of the more industrial cities I am told.
Its coming on though so be warned.

I am loving this,not just the sights but the people and attitude too. We should learn more from them.

china part two

Day 3

Up,up and away to the summer palace today. Then to temple of heaven, lunch . Tiannamon square and the forbidden city.

The summer palace is not far from the hotel comparatively so didn't take too long to get there. What a complete surprise! When describing a palace I think of one building not a complete complex of buildings designed around an emporers wishes. This one has it all, a man made lake and mountain with classic buildings everywhere. Throw in a corridor that's nearly a km long overlooking the lake and its awe inspiring. Then take a boat trip over the lake to an island with a marble bridge to it. There's plenty of pictures cos I can't describe it enough.

Then to the temple of heaven.

You don't see too much as you go through a public garden which was very busy with the chinese enjoying their pastimes. You do get a point where you walk through a gateway and suddenly there it is. Just jaw dropping. It has been done up for the olympics and is truly resplendant matching the colours as it was. Loads of pictures.

Restaurant for lunch then to tiannamon square.

Chairman maos memorial was closed so we couldn't go and see him. The square itself is large but doesn't impress as much as you would think. However its the entrance to the forbidden city.

Frankly you're not ready. Even if you have seen the last emperor film. It just goes on and on. You just cannot imagine it. Imagine buckingham palace with nobs on. Its awesome . Come and visit.

At night we had a genuine peking duck meal. Just like home but sliced not shredded. Try the skin dipped in sugar. A very pleasant surprise. After a walk out and a pudding we retired looking forward to the zoo tomorrow .

holiday in china part 1

Day 1

Flight to beijing ok. Got pretty good sleep for once on a flight. Got to the shangri-la round about 4.30 after a bit of a cock up with the transport and an hour taxi ride. First impression of beijing? Take london and double it. Vibrant and busy and that's a sunday!
Had a few drinks in the lobby bar and a fantastic cantonese meal in the restaurant. Food cheap, drinks not so cheap.
Slept soundly in king size bed.

Day 2
I guess this is where the sight seeing really starts. Great wall and ming tombs.
Had a great buffet breakfast at the hotel. Then met up with david our tour guide. Private tours,no sharing with loud yanks. Off to great wall at badaling via the jade factory. Fascinating how they carve a piece of stone.
As we approach the great wall the mountain gradually come into view with a steepness and craggyness that is reminiscent of literati works. Then you see the wall and nothing really prepares you for it. Much bigger than you think it would be and in places much steeper too. When we got to badaling we climbee the wall going left rather than right which is less crowded. We climbed to a height of 868m along a stretch called the hero way. Took plenty of pictures and picked a stone. Nothing I can describe can truly do it justice. Simply awesome. After coming down we went for lunch. Huge meal very good. Went round friendship store and got some goodies.

Off then to the ming tombs via the sacred way.

Sacred way used to be 7.5km but is now only about 1. Very tranquil and much less crowded than the ming tombs but so worth it.

The ming tombs. Magnificent and built at a time when we were living in not much more than mud huts in england. Classic asian architecture I would imagine. Breathtaking, again plenty of pictures until batteries ran out. There was a gate which david explained only emporers could pass through. We of course didn't pass through but plenty did, especially yanks. David seemed saddened by this lack of respect and I have to agree. If you are going to somewhere like this please respect the history. China was a civilization 400 years before america was founded. Think and learn before you come.

Thought of the day. There where statues of lions and elephants in the sacred way. As lions are from africa and the elephants were indian, did the chinese travel the world in the 14hundreds?

At night we had tea and then went to the beijing opera. Very different from western but just as beautiful. Back to our hotel and a walk to get water and then a goodnight drink in the bar.