Shanghai

Day 8

Day 8 (Saturday 6th June) saw us exploring Shanghai. We weren't best disposed to Shanghai after a late arrival after a 4 hour delay in our evening flight from Xian and a 1am check-in to a grotty hotel. However we only had a day so with our trusty guide Lisa (who had waited with our driver at the airport until midnight to meet us) we were up and off on Saturday morning. First stop the Museum. Interesting place with some good displays. However more impressive was the modern skyline.

In the afternoon we had a river trip and saw a little more of that impressive skyline, both new and old:

and some interesting boats moored along the quays.

And finally we headed for the Yu gardens in the middle of town. A lovely haven in a busy city:

And really the highlight of the whole day in Shanghai was the Acrobatic show in the evening. I only have a few examples but it was pretty impressive. Reminded me of the Royal Variety Performance on a Sunday night, but live!

Xian - Terracota Warriors

We flew to Xian on Thursday morning (Day 6 - 4th June) and settled ouselves into the hotel and explored the city a little by foot in the afternoon. Ate in the hotel, swam in the pool. All ready and refreshed for Day 7 to hit Xian!

Day 7

The City

First stop was up the Bell Tower and a view across the square to the Drum Tower - 2 of the more important landmarks in the city itself.

It is obvious that Xian is a modern busy city - see the video taken from the Bell Tower

Next a walk around and climb up to the top of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda! Impressive views of the city from the top.

Then a brief exploration of the City Walls and the museum beneath it - here you could see the preserved old walls of the city

Finally we thought we were getting to see the warriors but no - first we had to see a modern pottery which makes small and large ones for export. 1500 dollars US would get one to your door, or at least your nearest sea port.


Terracota Warriors

At last the warriors. There are 3 huge buildings covering the vast pits in which these life-sized figures stand. Very, very impressive and of course the photos don't do the size of the place justice.

However what came as a complete shock to us was the fact that all this had been destroyed on a raid 2 years after the emperor had died (202 AD) and every warrior and horse had been smashed to bit. So not only is this a stunning find but it is a great monument to the people who have paintakingly pieced each of these warriors back together.

Unbelievably each of the warriors were completely individual, and were painted in realsitc colours. These colours fade 3 months after the warrior is uncovered so no more are to be uncovered until they find a way of retaining the colour. And finally although I have no phots of the big buildings covering the Pits here is a photo of the very pleasant surroundings

and the building housing 2 bronze half life-sized chariots which were also found at the same time.

Beijing - 5 days in June

Day 1

An overnight flight from KL and an early check-in to our hotel (having been met by our English-speaking guide and driver at the airport) meant that we had a snooze until lunch time. Then we were up and off to see what Beijing had to offer. First stop the Panda House. Mmmm.....China's finest? This cute Panda looked happy enough outside in his enclosure eating bamboo but the others looked less happy stretched out in concrete enclosures inside. Glad to be gone I must say. Not the best start.

Next stop the Cultural Village. Interesting if a little side-lined by the usual tourists. All very quiet.

Interesting to see the new Beijing peeping over onto the old..

Note the Scara Brae influence!

The first evening saw us at a Kung Fu show which was pretty impressive. No photos allowed though so here is one from the internet.....

Afterwards dinner at a Peking Duck restuarant, which actually wasn't as good as the Joy King in Voorschoten!

Day 2

The Great Wall
A fabulous morning out. A 1 1/2 hour drive to this section of the wall which was a great way of seeing Beijing's surrounding countryside. Once parked we had the ubiquitous tourist stalls to walk past, including Mr Genghis Khan himself! A long walk up some 1000 steps took us to the Wall which stretched around the surrounding hills. What a feat - the Wall, not our walking up to it! Despite this we still found a bride and her husband-to-be getting their photos taken (NOT their wedding day - just the photo taking day, long before the wedding itself!)

What fun when we bumped into Klaas, a friend from Miri, on the wall itself.

And a fun way to come down - a summer roddelbahn:

Summer Palace

Back to Beijing for the afternoon and a visit to the Summer Palace, home of the Dragon lady - the last Empress of China.

Her 700 metre painted walkway, just to make sure she never got wet...

..and a "marble" boat - not floating of course.

And finally at the end of the day a tea ceremony.

Day 3/4

Tiannamen Square, the huge square in the middle of Beijing. Although a public holiday and lots of people milling around it still looked vast and empty. You can see the entrance to the Forbidden City in the distance. It's called the Forbidden City as only the Emperor could say who could come in.

Close up you can see Mao's photo and only the most handsome guards in the Army - hand picked for the tourists as these are the only ones that can be photographed!

I had to go back the next day to see all the exhibitions- our guide rushed us through the previous day - for some unknown reason. Howard missed these as he went to say hello to his staff in the Shell office and have lunch with them. There were fantastic gold and bronze collections, ceramics and the most impressive of all were the clocks...of which there is only the tiniest sample here.

Some restored parts....and some still to do. It is so huge it would be like painting the Fourth Road Bridge...

In the afternoon we headed for the Hutongs - the old part of town, and explored the area in a rickshaw.

I was fascinated by his feet.....

The highlight was being introduced to a house owner and being invited into his home for tea.

Day 5

Our last day in Beijing and we were off to the supposed most famous symbol of Beijing - oh well, I wasn't aware of it. Anyway the Temple of Heaven was pretty fantastic indeed but what was much more fun was the people all entertaining themselved in the park under the trees. it was like a gigantic Old Folks club with music groups, keep fit groups, dance classes, kareoke, every conceveable activity all going on under the trees on an early Wednesday morning.

Hopefully Howard has some video I can upload at some point - very amusing.

Anway the buildings themselves........built as a temple for live animal sacrifice in order to ensure a good harvest.

And finally our last night in Beijing was at the opera. First we were invited to watch the actors getting ready....

..and then the action itself. There was some English translation but the story was pretty universal. Actually very entertaining if a little high pitched!!

Other things in Beijing:

Our beer - draft beer in a bottle?:

Ghost Street for local food:

and some modern buildings:

The Birds Nest (now largely unused as it is so big - London has taken note and is making it's stadium smaller after the event) and the Watercube

And fianlly sunset over Beijing from our hotel room