Where to begin and where to end for this one? A tough question indeed. China is a country that both elates and saddens, stimulates and frustrates, and surges emotion of many kinds. In 23 days, I saw so much and yet so little. You cannot help but feel the palpable energy of change throughout the country and many places seem to be in a state of continuous round the clock construction.
Some of the videos are really fun so do check them out on http://www.youtube.com/user/HSGWorld. They are not edited as much as I would have liked but you'll get the idea of the places. There is a playlist for all the China videos.
The Giant Buddha of Leshan was one of my favourite sights and I walked down the super steep steps to his feet and back up the other side. He is in a beautiful park on the confluence of three rivers not far from the lovely mountain town of Emei.
Back to the beginning for a moment. Started out in Beijing where I celebrated my birthday by joining up with my tour group and going out for dinner where I was treated with an adorable birthday cake with a rat on it. I am a rat in Chinese zodiac.
I found Beijing very interesting but lacking in soul. The Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace were all impressive sights and yet diminished somehow by the immense crowds and constant din of talking...and amplified tour guides. The Peking Opera was a special treat and I was fortunate enough to catch it on a night when they were doing the "Monkey King", one of the more famous Peking Operas. The Simatai section of the Great Wall was perfect as it is a seldom visited part of the wall. It was very foggy day when we went which added to the mystique of the whole experience.
3 overnight trains and 3 nights on the Yangtze River were part of our group's travel modes during the trip. The first overnight train took us to Xi'an where we saw the Terracotta Warriors.
The 1st class trains are quite nice with 4 of us sharing a berth with bunk style beds, air con, and a nice window to watch the countryside.
Xi'an is a big college town as well as a big town in general. In fact, it never occurred to me but a town in China is frequently up to 3 million. The word city tends to be reserved for 3 million plus people. The town itself is quite attractive and the Grand Mosque is particularly lovely. This was one of the few religious sites we visited that was quiet. There were also lots of cats wandering around who seemed to enjoy the space as much as I did.
The Warriors are quite impressive and it is fascinating to see how these huge buildings have been built up around them to protect the sites. Lots of excavation is still going and, of course, they have never found the burial site of the First Emperor. All very interesting stuff.
Mt Emei and the Giant Buddha of Leshan were some of my favourite parts of the trip. We were able to see the top Mt Emei on a clear day which our tour guide said he had never seen even thought he had climbed Mt Emei many times. The spectacular blue skies were certainly a welcome sight. The altitude (3000m +) was quite noticeable while hiking.
This multi faced bodhisattva is a more recent addition to some of the very old temples and statues. I just loved the bright blue sky and all of the different roof angles.
The picture on the right is the original pagoda built by the monks in the 1st century. To be able to see it peaking in and out of the clouds was really gorgeous.
While walking back down we were treated to a sighting of the wooly monkeys, also known as Tibetan macaques.
Of course no trip to China would be complete without seeing the pandas, and see them we did at the Chengdu Research Centre where we saw 6 week old twin pandas, a four day old panda, and lots of playful adolescents. They are some of the most surreal animals I have ever seen, especially when they are just frolicking and playing. I had the pure luck to see the red pandas and their keeper right at feeding time when almost no one else was around. The baby pandas were the cutest baby animals I've ever seen. No pictures of any kind allowed but we were able to watch them playing with each other in their playpen. According to the centre, in the wild, there would never be twins as the mother would consume the weaker twin. I suppose that is one of the benefits of the captive breeding.
Chendu is also the captial of Sichuan province. I had the most delicious street food there including fantastic dumplings and spicy chicken and pork BBQd and served on a stick. YUM!!!After Chengdu, it was off to Chongqing to board our Yangtze River cruise boat, the Victoria Queen.
Here she is at one of our stopping spots along the river.
I ended up catching a bug while on the Yangtze and was lucky we were on the boat as I was able to spend one whole day in bed which is always the most helpful thing to do for me. I coughed and sneezed for the most of the rest of the trip but getting that nice day of rest of really helped.
The dam...that goddamn dam....well ok, from an engineering standpoint it is unbelievable but the environmental impact has only begun and it not good. There are 3 or 4 locks to pass depending on where your ship is positioned and it takes 4-5 hours to make it all the way through.
Approaching the dam on a boat is quite a site and pictures certainly do little to display the gigantic size of it. There are currently 4 slips for ships to enter the locks and they are building one more for smaller boats which will be moved with something like an elevator.
The views along the way were very mountainous with the three gorges being the last bit before the dam. The Yangtze is very dirty and I am still struck by the comment of one of our UK guys in the group..."there are no birds and very little life that isn't human." Unfortunately, he was absolutely accurate and it does make one ponder the progression of such a state. After all, dinosaurs were of the bird family. Nuff said.
Our ship was lovely and comfortable with all rooms having a private balcony. I had a lovely massage, practised tai chi, and got LOTS of sleep.
Everyone who cruises the Yangtze must take the dam tour at the end so you hear all about how "wonderful" the dam is and how it will help people have electricity for many years to come. There is a scary array of high power wires coming out of the back of the dam...a bizarre site for sure.
Yangshuo and the Li River. We took a lovely bamboo raft up the river here and the following day took a long bike ride through loads of farms and villagers finally ending up in a cave and taking a mud bath. This was another highlight of the trip for me.
Check out the water buffalo swimming with her baby.
Along the Li River.
We spent three days in Yangshuo and it was lovely.
The lovely little canal town of Tongli about 2 hours from Shanghai was our last excursion before the group went on their separate ways.
I loved this town!
This sleepy little village doesn't make a peep after about 9 p.m. and lots of people are up and around at 5 a.m. My kind of place for sure. Some of the canals were built 1000 years ago.
The market was quite a site with loads of gorgeous food on offer.
I spent the last three days in Shanghai on my own and had a
great time at the Shanghai Museum, Art Museum, Xuhui, and Xintiandi. I spent my last evening in Shanghai at the New Heights restaurant looking at the lovely skyline of Shanghai.
Pearl Tower in Shanghai and lovely lotus flower in a garden in Xi'an. The old and the new blending together...a bit like most of what I saw. It was an incredibly memorable trip.
I'm now in Singapore with my darling friends Carolyn and Cher Wee. I must say it was nice to arrive in Singapore and know my way around, feel really cool air con, and hear lots of English...even if it is Singlish.
"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." ___Lao Tzu
