China - The first cow stomach

Day 6

Hello everyone!

We were told before arriving in China that it was very difficult to book train tickets in the country. With that in mind we had booked in advance on the internet. One advantage of this was that they had the option for a soft sleeper, meaning that we had an OK bed and only four people in our cabin. We have heard some horror stories from people who travelled on a hard seat or, even worse, standing on an overnight train. The things are packed, so that would be torture.

So packed, in fact, that there were three people in our cabin when we got on our 16 hour train to Chengdu. It was duly resolved, and we ended up talking to the remaining boy, a university student called Ron Peng, for a while before sleeping.

Being a longer train, we decided to experience Chinese train food. The menu had no pictures (surprising) and no English (less surprising), so it was a wild guess. Two bread rolls, vegetables and rice porridge was what we got. Asian cultures don't do breakfast very well. We tried to order tea - failed.

Some after 2.30pm we arrived in Chengdu. As with Xi'an, there was only one main reason for coming here, but that had to be done in the morning, so we were staying the night. Three consecutive overnight trains wasn't particularly appealing anyway.

Sichuan province has had a rough couple of years. The Tibet protests and crackdown spilled over from the West, and they had an horrific earthquake in 2008. It may have affected the state of mind of the people. We saw a woman doing backstroke whilst walking, and we were witness to a little girl squatting at the intersection of a major junction.

This all happened as we strolled around the city. We saw the biggest statue of Mao in China, which wasn't really that big, before heading to People's Park to drink some tea.

As soon as we sat down we were accosted by men putting things in our ears. It's a thing, apparently. These people are famous for...cleaning ears. With my wax problems, I eventually relented, and they got to work. Particularly strange when he twanged a music toner against the long wire in my ear. Think I'll stick to the NHS in the future.

Sichuan is famous for its cuisine, so we decided to try the Sichuan hotpot that evening. Not like your standard Lancashire version, that's for sure. They bring out a dish which is only liquid oil - the darker one is the spicy one - and then you cook your raw meat in that liquid so that it the fiery flavour is infused into it. The choice of meats was interesting. We had beef, fish, battered pork and...cow stomach. The other two had eaten this in Korea, but I have not had this in a long, long time. It looked odd, and was difficult to chew, but pretty good, and certainly nicer than the pork. The hot pot as a whole was probably the nicest, most flavoursome meal I've had thus far in China. I do love a 1Y dumpling, though.


Relatively early night. The reason? Tomorrow - PANDA WATCH.

Love you all

Matt

China - The first Terracotta Warrior

Day 5

Hello everyone!

Though it seemed like we had barely scratched the surface, it was time to leave Beijing. We didn't have enough time, and wanted to see as much of the country as possible to get a truer experience of China. Hypocrisy reigns in that statement, however, as we only wanted to see one thing at our next destination - Xi'an.

To get to Xi'an from Beijing requires a flight or, if like us you have little money, an overnight train.Though Matt and Kelly were new to this phenomenon, I have done this a few times when backpacking around Europe, so I sort of knew what to expect. The other point to make is that there is always someone worse off than you. We had managed to reserve beds - a lot of people only had seats or were standing.

This was the first of two back-to-back overnight trains for us, to enable us to move at a swift pace. This was the shorter of the two, weighing in at a mere 11 hours. We arrived at Beijing's giant West railway station, marvelled at the sheer number of bodies, and then were on our way.

The sleepers have four beds, so we are guaranteed a stranger each time. Due to a mix-up, Kelly was in a different room, so Matt and I had two older Chinese women staring at us. We tried making conversation. It was tough, normally resulting in us pointing at something in our Lonely Planet that had the Chinese writing. Still, a half-decent sleep later and we were in Xian for a 12 hour detour.


We left our bags at a hostel before hopping on a bus to see the sight that had taken us out here - the Terracotta Warriors. One of the most famous archeological discoveries in history, they consist of thousands of life-size army figurines, each with a unique facial expression or hand gesture. Their creator, Qin Shi Huang, ordered their creation to protect him in the afterlife.

There are three main 'pits' that house the Warriors. We attacked them in reverse, thus leaving the biggest for last. The middle pit was surprising, in that most of it is still yet to be unearthed. Before I came I didn't realise that this was a work in progress.



The third pit, the first we saw, was amazing, with warriors and horses dotted around, but it was naturally the biggest pit that was the most special. The way they are lined up is spectacular. It is a big pit as well, and definitely worth making an effort to see the 7,000 plus warriors.

They are about 35km away from the city, so we had to get a bus back to Xi'an. It wasn't particularly fun, as our driver seemed to be paid for the number of times he could honk his horn. He must have made a fortune when we were on board.

From there the three of us, plus a German called Milo, went to see a giant goose pagoda. It was big, but we opted against the steep 50Y entrance fee. Instead, we marvelled at the amount of Western food outlets behind it. We then ended in the taxi of a wannabe F1 driver. No drivers seem to use their mirrors - he is not an exception.

We were too late to scale the city walls so got some food in a very local establishment. Ants running along the floor etc. But a big bowl of noodle soup, three big dumplings and beer for 10Y - about $1.50 - meant that we were not going to complain.

It would have been nice to stay longer in Xi'an, but we had a new attraction to attack. With this in mind, we hopped on our second overnight train in a row. Destination - Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Love you all

Matt

China - The first teahouse

Day 4

Hello everyone!

You may recall last time that I stumbled in at 6.30am. We were leaving at 8am for Tianenman Square, so I decided to fight through and charge my camera on the computer downstairs.

My head lifted from the keyboard. 'Good sleep?' I heard someone say from behind me. 'What time is it?' I ask. '11.30'. BUGGER. Totally missed the meetup. I found out later that Kelly had tried to wake me - twice - and got a response along the lines of me being amazing, before my head crashed onto the keyboard. Modest as ever.


Nonetheless, Tianenman has to be seen, especially by a Modern History graduate. So I dragged myself over to the world's largest public square to see it with my own eyes. It is impressive in its own right, but made more so by the surrounding buildings, such as the Mao Memorial Hall and the National Grand Theatre. Most impressive, however, was the Gate of Heavenly Peace - the place with the big Mao painting.


Behind this beast is another major attraction of China - the Forbidden City. The history of this place? It was home to two dynasties - Ming and Qing. It is a vast place, and is pretty cool, but I always felt a bit underwhelmed when I was walking around. I think I hyped it up too much in my mind; being 'forbidden', I thought it would be truly special. Still worth a visit though, even though there were loads of people.


I decided to go up the hill behind the Forbidden City to get a better view. I was buying a ticket when I heard someone shout 'Matt' in a familiar accent. I turn around. Not a white person in sight, but I wasn't expecting one. It was a Korean accent, and a short distance away from me a group of teenagers start shouting 'Sorae-gu'! This is short for...Sorae High School. Amazing. Some of my students had found me in Beijing. They were on a church trip. That made my day. I can't escape them!


After hiking up and seeing a big buddha, as well as the City, I was heading back to the subway when two Chinese people started speaking to me. I walked and talked for a bit, before they said they were going to get something to drink. Why not, I thought, and we ended up in a teahouse.

I've since been told that this is a popular tourist scam, as the tea is normally extortionately priced. I can normally pick a scam, however, and this seemed different. Firstly, they were tourists as well, from near Qingdao. Secondly, they were the ones that wanted to stop the tea ceremony before me, after realising the price. OK, you say, that could have been good acting. But they paid their share and then hung out with me for almost two hours afterward, which only ended when I said I had to get back. We exchanged emails and are hoping to meet in Qingdao. Not a con, just naive on all sides.

The ceremony itself was awesome. Not worth the price - one-third, my share, was 400Y - but I am glad I did it, as it was a great, authentic Chinese experience, Through my translators, the tealady explained each tea, its history and its health benefits, before we tasted them. I was also taught about the etiquette and the importance of Buddhism - the first cup is washed over the Buddha. It was great to get to know some Chinese people as well.

That's a wrap for Beijing. I've really enjoyed it, and there is so much more I didn't see or experience. Having a couple more days would have been perfect, but its a great incentive to come back - something I definitely want to do.

Love you all

Matt

China - The first turtle

Hello everyone!

Whatever we did afterward, it was ultimately going to pale in comparison to our earlier exertions and marvelling at the Great Wall. I thus went hunting for souvenirs.

You are expected to barter - negotiate - in China. Well, in most places. I found an amazing sports tracksuit with 'China' written on it in Mandarin for 150Y. Too much. 60Y, I say. 'No bargain' is the response. I eventually go up to 100Y. 'No bargain' is the increasingly angry reply. I tried on two later occasions with no joy. Hopefully I will find it cheap elsewhere.

Some shops sell interesting T-shirts, such as this 'ObaMao' effort. What my childish mind found funnier was Beijing's take on the 'I♥NY' t-shirt. It simply says, loud and proud...I♥BJ. I don't need to say any more. They didn't have it in my size, which devastated me, but Matt is sporting his here.

The way that many Chinese men wear t-shirts, or any clothing for the upper torso, is funny and fascinating. When it is hot - and it has been every day so far - many of them have a habit of rolling it up to form a sort of croptop. Only they don't make it into one - instead, it rests on their large bellies. We are trying to see how many sly pictures we can get of the 'belly shot'.

A total of eleven of us from the hostel went for dinner, again by the lake. The second page of the menu had...a baby turtle. Well that had to be done. As well as millions of other dishes, as usual. Including the amazing chillied greens.

Soon after, we had a turtle on the table. A whole turtle. Matt was given some gloves, and removed the head. The meat is under the shell. It's actually really good, and really tender. And didn't last long, either.

Matt and I decided to make a night of it, so headed to a bar near the hostel. Beer and shot for each round. The first shot was called called liquid cocaine. The bargirl soon joined it, and after a short while it was last orders. She suggested that we all go out, so she hopped on a guy's moped and we piled into two taxis. We never saw her again.

I started speaking to a Chinese girl in our taxi. She spoke English with a French accent, which was incredibly sexy. I spent the rest of the night chatting with her, and we didn't realise that everyone else had long left the bar. I don't go into details in these blogs, but what I will say is that, based on this experience, Chinese people seem less willing and more conservative than Westerners. So, whilst this girl was a great kisser, I was back at the hostel alone at 6.30am. Amazing 24 hours.

Love you all

Matt

China - The first Great Wall

Day 3

Hello everyone!

If a person is asked to name one thing to see in China, I think at least 90% would give the same answer. Sure, there is the Bund, the Terracotta Warriors, the Three Gorges Dam, but the vast majority will say, in any language, one thing - the Great Wall. Today we were going to tackle it.


We had wanted to do this independently, but it was too difficult to organise, so we opted for the trip done by the hostel. Two buses, carrying about 35 people, thus set off at around 8.45. The destination - Jinshanling. Obviously the Great Wall is quite large, so there are different sections you can go to. Badaling is the most popular, as it is closest to Beijing, so thus the most crowded. We got lucky, as Jinshanling is where we had wanted to go. The bus headed about 100km north of the capital.

We caught a glimpse of it upon our arrival. Me and Matt bought hats - I bartered hard for 15, Matt paid 35 - and we began to hike up to the Wall itself. This is where cloud cover was invaluable - it was 33'C, so the Wall would have more challenging if the Sun had been beating down on us.

We were walking from Jinshanling to Simatai, which is 7km and 22 towers in total. It is spectacular. There were very few people, so we could take our time and truly appreciate every aspect of this giant structure. How they managed to build this is astonishing.

Some of the Wall can be quite challenging, but nothing beyond our (ahem) athletic ability. Some even wore clothes not really suited to the task at hand, such as this girl's shoes. I cannot explain the grandeur of this place in words, so will let the pictures do it for me.
















About two-and-a-half hours later, myself and an American called Nick were sprinting up to the final tower, and we had hiked along one of the most spectacular sights man has ever constructed. We had to get back down and avoid some T-shirt sellers that I may have offend with my uber-hard bargaining, before getting on the bus back to the hostel.

I had the feeling, as I star-jumped on the Wall, that I might have just experienced the highlight of my trip. I don't care about visa issues, I don't care that you have a job or a kid. I don't care if you are lazy. No excuses. Go to the Great Wall of China. Believe the hype.


Love you all

Matt

China - The first Peking Duck

Day 2

Hello everyone!

The first full day, and time to explore. We had a fairly busy schedule whilst here, as there is a lot to see and experience. Beijing is the size of Belgium, after all. First stop for four of us - the Summer Palace. Sean was elsewhere, and Tom...didn't show.




The Palace was once the chillout zone of the imperial kingpins throughout the centuries. The centrepiece is Kunming Lake, which is shielded by a wonderful and idyllic collection of temples and trees. It is a place of stunning beauty.

We spent the best part of four hours wondering around, including hiking to the highest temple on Longevity Hill; the Buddhist Temple of the Sea and Wisdom. I do love the names of these places - filled with positivity and spirituality. We ventured as far as the Marble Boat before deciding to head back. The story behind this is that the Empress at the time, Qixi, demanded this be built, from the entire budget of the Chinese navy. Not the greatest decision.

We could have spent a lot more time at the Summer Palace, but had a tight agenda to stick to. Next up - the Olympic arenas. China was the most recent host, in 2008, and though I didn't really see too much of the showpiece - busy in Prague - I was eager to see the stadium.


It is ridiculous. I still can't get over the fact that you cannot see any stone within the structure. The metal looks rugged, violent and brilliant in the flesh. The Water Cube was less impressive, but I'm sure it was great when lit up. We all agreed that the Olmypics seems to have transformed this city - it would have been fascinating to visit before 2008.

Whilst there, a local woman sheepishly approached us and asked for a photo. We happily accepted, and soon enough a line was forming for them to get their photo with the strange foreigners. At least they asked. On the subway, Matt noticed that a girl was slyly trying to take a picture of him. I waved at her, and then she grew a pair and asked. We found these two instances especially strange as they occurred here, as opposed to the countryside, where they may not see many Westerners.

We briefly returned to the hostel to pick up our absent duo and then headed to a restaurant. Only one thing on the agenda - Peking Duck. I'd asked the hostel for a recommendation, so there was little issue ordering it. Problem getting drinks, though. You may remember I recently went to a Korean island. On the way we tried a 'mystery Chinese liquor' that tasted like petrol. Well, we now know that this is called baijo, and that it is China's national spirit. And that it still tastes like petrol.

The duck was incredible, though they didn't bring the whole thing onto the table. Two ducks, loads of greens - including a chilli and green bean combo that I am now addicted to - noodles, beer and baijo...for 50元. $7US. Ridiculous.

A quick trip to the supermarket afterwards was quite enlightening. Chocolate is kept locked behind a glass pane - Britain take note. We found Korean food. We saw a boy in a shopping basket. We saw turtles - that may not seem special, but wait until a later Beijing blog. And we saw, bought, and drank, pineapple beer. That was it for beer, though. We had a Wall to scale in the morning...





Love you all

Matt

China - The first cockroach

Day 1

Hello everyone!

And we're off! As usual, I wasn't on top form, having gone to a baseball game the previous night with a co-teacher. Yet at a little after 9.30, we were on a bus to Incheon International Airport to begin our Chinese expedition. Excitement - HUGE.


Let me introduce you to the team that is going to take the Red Giant by storm. My awesome American friend Kelly is my normal travelling partner in crime, and was not going to miss this trip. We were joined by our friend Matt, another American who lives in Kelly's city, Bucheon. For the first part of our trip we were being joined by three more people - a Canadian called Sean and a South African called Kelly, who both work in Korea, and also Kelly's Australian friend called Tom, who has been kicking it in China for a while.

But for now it was the three of us who were standing in a long queue at check-in. A two-hour plane ride later - complete with very bumpy landing - and we had touched down in the capital, and our first stop - Beijing! This is a place I have wanted to see for a long time. A lot of people feel the same, but there are many things that make people hesitate about visiting China. One of them is the language, and I have to agree - it is very intimidating. It looks scary, and sounds scarier.

Our first encounter with this was on the subway from the airport, when we couldn't work out how to buy a ticket. Very little help, no English from them, no Chinese from us - stalemate and frustration. The mood lightened somewhat when Matt inexplicably dropped all of his money, and soon after we had tickets and were walking down Nan Luo Gu Xiang, the street of our hostel.

Getting to this juncture introduced us to a fascinating aspect of China - the traffic. There is lots of it, as in all big cities. However, I've never before experienced a city where it is more dangerous to cross on a green man than a red man. We almost got flattened by a bus, two taxis and approximately 56 bikes and scooters.

The volume of bikes was not something I was expecting - partly because of the smog - but I guess it is the cheapest, albeit most dangerous, method of maneouvring around the city. This, in tandem with the greenery and strangely relaxed nature of the people we walked past, created an atmosphere I would associate more with a continental European city.

After we had checked in and had our first beer - the one on the plane cannot count - we were preparing to head out for dinner, when we saw the strangest thing. A man walking an animal down the street. A GOOSE. The man was taking his pet goose for a stroll down a major street in Beijing. Incredible.

Following on this incredible theme, we found Tom & Sean, and had some authentic Chinese food at Houhai Lake. We ate like kings - kebabs, beef, pork, greens et al - for the princely sum of £7. We also had some less orthodox food here - the heart and cartilage of a chicken. The former was fantastic; the latter, less so.

We ended our first night on a rooftop bar across from the hostel. At one point I went to the public toilet outside - more on those another time - and spotted a familiar face on the street. It was South African Kelly! Her boat from Korea had finally arrived. The sextet was now complete, although a couple of hours later we were in bed.

China is packed with street vendors, and we were drawn to one such establishment as we walked back. It seemed to stock three things - bees, cockroaches and scorpions. It had to be done. I chose the cockroaches, handed 15元 - $2 - to the man, and bit into the dead insect.

It tasted of...salt. Salt and MSG. THe texture wasn't too hard, and not as crunchy as I thought. I'm not going to say it was nice, but it helped to kick off this trip with a bang.


Love you all

Matt