Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors

Dear All,

 

After a fairly pleasant journey on the sleeper train I arrived in Xian. Wow! I can't believe how many people were at the train station, it looked like hundreds were camping outside as well.

 

The Melody Hotel was in a brilliant location for getting around, smack in the centre of Xian near some of the main sights. Pretty noisy though and the hotel is a bit like the quality of a cheap 'Stag and Hen' hotel in UK but I'm not complaining really as it was only £30 per night. I had 3 days in Xian, the first I biked along the city wall and looked down on the city, I really enjoyed that and it was quite a long way. Then looked at the drum and bell tower and little street sellers. I had tea at the famous dumpling house but they weren't exactly my cup of tea, a bit bland and slimey but edible. The menu consisted of 5 different coloured tickets with Chinese written on them, I had to pick one and wait to see what I got! The Haagen Daz restaurant below helped ease them down! A great highlight of this day was the evening show seeing the dancing and music from the Tang dynasties which was great as I got to see the Long Sleeved Dancing and a Masked Warrior dance. I'm sure I could replicate some of these back in the UK. There were elements of the ribbon rhythmic gymnastics movements in the long sleeve dancing and also similar footwork to Daizu dancing. Boys would definately be able to have a go at the Masked Warrior dancing and they could make their own masks in art lessons.

 

On the second day I went to see the Terracotta Warriors. I decided to catch the local bus instead of doing an expensive western tour as I didn't really want to be taken to factories and other locations where they try to sell things, I did that in Beijing and although it is easy as you get picked up from the hotel, I decided to go it alone, a la locals. It turned out dead simple and the bus was only 70p each way. I think I saved about £28.00 doing it this way. The pit 1 (the largest pit) in the exhibition was very impressive, it's hard to believe that the figures were lying under the ground for thousands of years and no one found them until 1974. There were hundreds of soldiers lined up as if going to war. The smallest was about 1.80m which is taller than me and tallest about 2.00m. I took lots of photos but not sure the scale of them is clear. I'm so pleased I adapted my original plan and went to see them as I probably won't come back to China and they say you haven't really been to China until you have seen the Terracotta Warriors.They have been buried since 211 BC when the emperor at the time, Qin Shi Huang, who was the first emperor of China (he also started the Great Wall) died after unifying the different regions of China and introducing standardised language and a system of weights and measures. However after he died the tombs containing the warriors were ransacked and burnt down, so a lot of the figures have been broken up.It is a very impressive sight to see though, and the majority of the figures have still not been uncovered. It is estimated there are over six thousand of them in total.

 

On day 3 I went to the Big Goose Pagoda which is a Buddhist temple built in 658 AD and was 7 stories high and had been preserved pretty well. I also went to look at the Muslim quarter which showed the contrast between the rich westernised shops (lots of designer stores - very expensive) and in the middle was this little maze of streets and markets where people were living very simply and it looked quite poor, and smelled quite interesting with food stalls selling the full range of animal cuts! The ordinary people live in 'Hutongs' which are enclosed courtyards, the oldest of these dating back to around 800 AD.

 

After a return to Beijing in the sleeper train I am relaxing in the lovely Lido Hotel for 2 days before flying home. The Lido Hotel was my landmark while I was learning the dancing during the first month and I felt safe here and always relieved when I got to here on my journey as I knew my way around. I had Peking Duck last night, it was one of the nicest meals I have had since being in China. Funny though I was sitting next to a fridge where all the ducks were hanging ready to be cooked.

 

Today is my last day, I'm off home tomorrow on day 47 of my adventure. I've got my fingers crossed that the flight runs smoothly and I should be back in Blighty on Sunday night. 

 

Ally xx

Mad travelling day 10th August

Dear All,

 

What a mad day Monday the 10th August was! I had to travel from Yangshou to Guilin to Beijing to Xi'an. A journey of several thousand miles involving planes, trains and automobiles. Luckily my plane departure from Guilin was fairly early in the day, as cars cannot get to the Li River Retreat (where I was staying) between 10am and 3pm due to the market blocking the road. So I left at 9am. The flight from Guilin to Beijing was uneventful but then I had to travel across Beijing to pick up the train tickets and then across the other side of Beijing to catch the sleeper train. I nearly went to the wrong train station, I had only spotted one main station (Beijing Central Station) but luckily on  confirming with the travel agent I was told that I needed to go to Beijing West Train Station. The train departed at 9.16pm. So at 8.30pm I was trying to flag down a taxi and explain I wanted to go to the west train station by using my phrase book. Can you believe it, the phrase book doesn't have the phrase, "Please take me to the ...."?

 

Luckily it was a patient taxi driver and the penny dropped. It was like a film: the traffic was bad, the clock was ticking and all I needed was Keanu Reeves leaning over shouting "What do you do?"! Then I saw a sign saying West Train Station 1km, phew! Nearly there... However the driver decided he'd then take me on the long scenic route. I finally got out of the taxi with 15 minutes to spare but then had to run along the foot bridge only to find there was a massive queue at the entry to the station as they did security checks. So when in China do as the Chinese do - DON'T QUEUE, PUSH IN! So that's what I did: running and sweating with my case and rucksack down to the furthest platform, and to the last carriage of the longest train in the world. I finally got on to the train with 6 minutes to spare (3 mins before they shut the doors) so what was all the rush about?

 

The soft sleeper was really quite nice, I shared the room with a couple from Finland and they were friendly. The journey was 11 hours so it was good to do it at night as you don't need a hotel and you don't miss out on any valuable sightseeing time. The soft sleeper is the best, so I paid more for that I could have had a hard sleeper with more people in the room or just a seat with about 10 people sitting together. This was definitely the right choice, funny though I've never been on a train yet that has a nice toilet! 

 

Ally x

Cookery school

I had a great afternoon yesterday having Chinese cooking lessons. There were 4 of us. We went to the market to look around, saw live frogs, eels, chickens, rabbits being sold. We decided not to go to the dog section (phew) and snakes are not allowed to be sold at the market but are very popluar in Yangshuo.
The cooking classroom was good, a burner for everyone and your own set of ingredients laid out Delia style ready to prepare. We cooked 5 dishes, dumplings, fried pork, steamed chicken, fried aubergine and garlic water spinach. My favourite was the dumplings - a bit like stuffed omlettes. We then ate what we had made, and it was really tasty. They use garlic and chilli's in pretty much everything. I also got the recipes so I can try them at home - I can feel a few Chinese nights coming on, showing everyone the photos and telling the stories of my brilliant adventure with Chinese food Yangshuo style (not takeaway).

...no more Tai Chi

I have now finished the Tai Chi. I really enjoyed it and hadn't realised how relaxing and peaceful it is, even though the heat and conentration required made it quite tiring. There were three of us leaving on Saturday so we had group photos and went out for a meal on Friday night which was really nice, a rest from the veggie food!I do feel it is something I should keep up and either learn more or at the very least do at home in the evening instead of watching Eastenders! I can't wait to teach some of you and get you to relax, it would be a great lunchtime activity.

Tai Chi

I am now half way through the Tai Chi lessons. The school is very basic with a shared shower and funny squat toilets. I am so pleased I paid extra for the air conditioning as it is so hot here, it is like being in a permanent sauna. The food is plentiful with lots of vegetables but always Chinese as you would imagine.

When I arrived there were 6 of us, now there are 9 with other people from all over Europe. Some are staying as long as a month. We have 4 hours of lessons a day, starting with a vigorous warm up and stretches, then Qigong which is like relaxation and breathing technique which should complement the Tai Chi, followed by Tai Chi. Everything we do is based around the central energy (our Chi, not sure I've exactly located mine yet). All the movements in Tai Chi have a purpose, they are performed slow and as a way of maintaining health and well being but actually it is all based on self defence and the teacher shows us how it would be applied.

The teachers are very good. Mei who has been teaching me is a Master and is very famous in China, she has won many gold medals in competitions. The competitions are against opponents but in technique and form and not in combat. She has a really small frame but is extremely strong and flexible. She explains how we should not keep our energy base still and static as that does not allow us to easily change our movement if avoiding an attack. I am finding it very interesting to learn about a totally new way of moving.

As well as our energy, we hold imaginary balls and the hand movements are usually keeping our Ying and Yang. If observing it looks very gentle but it involves strengthening the deep core muscles and is more tiring than I ever imagined, plus the addition of the high temperatures. I really like the Qigong as it leaves me totally relaxed and sleepy, even though my muscles have been working. I think this would be really good to be used with children who are stressed or have anger issues.

Yangzhou

Yangzhou is beautiful, it is like another planet compared to Beijing. It is the place where the Chinese take their holidays and I can totally understand why. After reaching Guilin, I took a cruise to Yangzhou down the Li River, the scenery was fabulous, large pillars of limestone coming out of the ground. The cruise was amusing though as it is the main route for tourists from Guilin and was like a motorway on the river. I stayed at a small guest house called the Li River Retreat and will return there for a night after the Martial Arts School. I am so pleased I am staying there away from the town and the hustle and bustle. You can eat whilst looking out at the view and river.

On the cruise I met a couple and went on a bike ride with them the following day - cue more fantastic scenery and vibrant shades of green and yellow.

I went to see cormorant fishing, like on the HSBC advert where the birds catch the fish but I didn't like it very much as the birds had their necks tied so they cannot swallow the fish. It is just the best fishing technique here in this area though.

I went to see the famous light show, it was like something I had never experienced, lighting up the mountains and over 600 performers showing the culture and everyday life of Yangzhou. The man who produces the show also did the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games.
After I finish the Tai Chi lessons, I hope to take a bamboo raft down the Yulong river and also have some Chinese cooking lessons.

Swan Lake?

Just a quick message about the Swan Lake experience. Well, it was a bizarre fusion, the ballet was OK, every now and then someone dived in the pool from the high board but no fancy somersaults, just looked like they fell in with style and funny costumes. The synchronised swimming did compliment the swan sections, especially the cygnets but they changed the story slightly!

During the ball section in act II where the princesses dance their dances from different nationalities, in the original there isn't a chinese dance. In this version Tchaikovsky was replaced by some Chinese music and four ladies did a diablo routine which had some basic gymnastics in it, but not really smoothly linked with the ballet. Then at the end instead of the swan dying and the prince joining her going to heaven, the Prince had a nun-chuck fight with the evil Rothbart and won, of course, so they all lived happily ever after.

Again the nun-chuck and martial arts were a new feature.
Seeing the Water Cube and Birds Nest lit up in the dark was great though.

I leave Beijing tomorrow for Guilin in the south and the Tai Chi School. Following that I have managed to eke my money out a little further (eating cheap Chinese noodles) so I am going to get a sleeper train to Xian to see the Terracotta Army which is a massive bonus as it wasn't in my original plan. I'm not sure what access I'll have to the internet but will update the blog as often as I can so please keep following...

Forbidden City

Wow what an amazing place the Forbidden City is. I had no idea it was so big! I started at Tiananmen Square and then walked through many large gates so big you would think I was walking in a land for giants or something. I paid an English speaking guide otherwise I wouldn't have understood the history or what everything meant. I'm sure she said the city was 8km long and it certainly felt like I'd walked that far by the end. The Chinese in the Ming dynasty were true to their architectural design, everything follows the same colours and patterns and everything leads to and through the heart of Beijing which is the Forbidden City. It truly is a phenomenal thing to see and to think that so much work had gone into building something for one person, even though a lot of people lived there. When I think of Buckingham Palace, there is no comparison on size.

Olympic Stadium

Of course being a PE teacher, I couldn't visit Beijing without seeing the Birds Nest or Water Cube. Well, they are now open as tourist attractions. Interestingly apparently the money for the Water Cube was donated by Chinese people around the world and the reason they were built so close together was for the Ying and Yang. The hard metal like structure of the birds nest is balanced by the tranquil Water Cube.

They are both very impressive. The swimming pool looked quite small compared to the training pool but it wasn't, it was the vastness of the spectator area that made it look small. For a fee you can swim lengths in the training pool, but unfortunately I didn't have my costume with me. However, a new Swan Lake was being staged in the Water cube, a fusion of ballet, synchronised swimming and diving, all to Tchaikovsky's haunting music. Those of you who have known me for years know how obsessed I am with Swan Lake (but Matthew Bourne's male version) so anyway I bought a ticket for Wednesday night for a full dance experience here in China.

The Birds Nest has a massive spectator area for an 80,000 capacity. The track was covered up (almost, I found a small section uncovered) but I managed a sprint start and finish for an imaginary finish line. It was quite funny that a lot of people came and asked if they could have their photo taken with me. I wasn't aware I resembled someone famous!
Hope you like the photo of me trying my breast stroke outside the Water Cube!

The Great Wall at Juyongguan

Well I am really enjoying the sightseeing section of my stay in Beijing. I have now braved eating in Chinese restaurants, but I’ve not quite mastered the use of the chopsticks and I leave a bit of mess on the table. Also not sure exactly what to order, I had some lovely noodles the other day but not quite so sure of the beef, it is a funny texture. There was a python in a tank in one place, all a bit scary, like taking a leap of faith.

I went to The Great Wall yesterday on a guided tour. There were five of us on the tour. We visited the Ming Tombs first, then a jade factory and an enamel factory before going on to The Wall itself. We went to Juyongguan which is not the main tourist section because the guide books say Badaling gets so busy you cannot move. We walked to four towers and there was lovely scenery. I'm scared of heights and was nervous before hand as I had heard stories of dread and danger but I think this was a nice area, safe with hand rails, yes steep but lovely views. It was amazing to see how some people were in flip flops, dresses, sandals. I of course in my trusty trainers and expedition sunhat. All very hot and out of breath as it was a glorious day and a strenuous climb.

Afterwards the tour took us to a Tea House where we tasted a range of Chinese teas, I liked the lychee and rosebud one the best. I then had lasagne in the open bar while listening to a band playing.

A perfect day really!

20th -22nd July

After my dance performance I had a couple of days resting, chilling and recharging my batteries in the area around the apartment. There is a lovely park where I had a little run, read my book, listened to people singing and playing their instruments. The Chinese seem to be very concerned with health and well being.

There are outdoor gyms in lots of different places. This is me on the bike, but I passed some hutong areas with built up housing and no parks, but there was still an outdoor gym facility for people to use. Yes there were little old ladies, probably at least as old as 70, who were on the machines.

It's really unusual, there is no running water in these houses and only community toilets. I think keeping fit is probably as high up on the list of priorities as toilets are.

Finishing the dance...

I have been in Beijing for nearly three weeks now. Saturday was my final dance lesson at the Golden Dancing Academy in Chongmenwen. I was much better suited to the Daizu dancing than the Menggu dancing. From my limited experience thinking about the principles of the two styles, it seems that the folk dances are formed out of the landscape and area that they are in. For example for the Menggu dance I had to keep my head up as if always looking across the large ever reaching landscape whereas the Daizu dance required a neutral head position as this is in the southern province where there are mountains. Mary (the owner) explained that the Daizu area is always in spring where everything is beautiful and green and you climb one mountain but cannot see very far as there is always the next one in view. I learnt gestures that represented birds' beaks, butterflies and fish and the dance is about welcoming people to their beautiful homeland.

The costume looked more like a belly dance costume to me, however tonight I watched a Chinese choir programme and their were some women in similar costumes with bells and coins. I performed for the video today and Ben the teacher said I did very well. Lets hope the video is good when it arrives towards the end of September.

I had a wonderful time at the dance school and was made very welcome. Mary talked about the possibility of me taking students in the future, they could learn Chinese dancing, Chinese language and also see the sights. How wonderful that would be...

The next stage of my Beijing stay is to see all the sights and learn about the history of the temples and key places. I look forward to keeping you informed and putting more photos on the Blog. For now I will have a couple of days relaxing before hitting the crowded sights!

Final performance of Menggu (or is that Pingu?)

Well, I have now finished my Menggu dance lessons. I spent the first 3 days learning the basics of the dance style where the movements are very strong and precise but also small movements that then need exaggerating. The last two days were spent putting a dance together but with very little time for me to rehearse. The dance is about the beautiful land and life in the Mongolian region. The dance is meant to be strong, always keeping a view to the vastness of the landscape.

Mary H is really going out of her way to make my experience a good one. She dressed me up in a Menggu costume and head-dress we had a laugh at how I looked (not exactly my usual style) and then videoed me performing the dance. She says she will send the DVD in September (after editing, will probably require quite a bit of editing).

So next week I start Daizu dancing...

Meeting friends...

On Thursday 9th July I had a really busy day. First I was meeting a lady called Jane who lives in Beijing and is a friend of a colleague at the Uni. She was great and took me to her 'Hutong' where she lives which is like a hidden paradise. We sat and drank jasmine tea and she talked about some of the key places to visit.

The same afternoon I met up with Jane D my friend from work at the University of Cumbria and her friend Barb. they were on a 3 day tour of Beijing. It was so great to see them and fortunate for me that they were staying in the one area of Beijing (Chongwenmen) which I am familiar with! We got slightly ripped off by the bike taxi on the way to the Temple of Heaven but had a lovely afternoon walking around it and then we went for a look around the Hongqiao Pearl market.
The next day after my dance class we met up and went looking for the oldest tea shop in Beijing but we couldn't find it. We did get close to the entrance to the Forbidden City though. Jane was a superstar as she bought me some Nytol, shared her mosquito repellent as the critters have definitely taken a liking for my blood and gave me a bit of emotional resilience!

Watch out Strictly!!

I have now completed 2 days at the Golden Dancing Academy. This week I am learning Mengu dancing which is a powerful dance about the love of the homeland and everything being beautiful and looking out to the sea. Mary H at the Academy is making me feel very welcome. My dance teacher, Ben, has a dance degree and studied at the Beijing Dance Academy which is the only recognised place to study a dance degree in China. He is very patient. The movements are very different and not flowing, a strong stance is maintained throughout with smaller movements. My arms and stomach muscles were aching by the end of today!
I also participated in a 'Golden Jazz Class'. The Academy staff and their students are very friendly and making me feel really welcome. On my very last day they are going to video me perform - lets hope I am a bit better by then!

Day 4

Phew, I re-traced my steps from yesterday and found the right bus to take me to the station. I won't need to rely on taxis after all. I also found the Golden Dancing Academy so I'm ready and really looking forward to my lessons starting on Monday. I should stay fit, I have to walk 10km in total during the journey and 3 hours of dance lessons!

Day 3 - A proper Adventure!

Well today has definitely had it's ups and downs. I went for a little jog this morning, (the photos are views as I jogged) and I found a lovely park where people were doing Tai Chi and others were playing table tennis and badminton, I'll definitely go there again. I also decided to find my way to the subway and the right stops for the dance school. Took a taxi (very cheap) but then the subway was really expensive, it turned out that I could have taken a different route that would have only cost me 50p! A nice Australian gave me his subway pass as he was leaving and there is enough credit to last me 3 more days on the subway - what a stroke of luck. Chongwenmen is a bit like I imagine cities in America, really tall buildings and the really large department stores. I looked but resisted - there didn't seem to be real bargains.

I took the tube back - great. I got to my final stop and asked taxi drivers to take me to the Lido Hotel (a very big Holiday Inn near my apartment) and none of them seemed to know what I'm talking about. A kind passer-by helped and said the bus goes past it. So I hopped on the bus, only to find that it went past the Marriott and he'd got confused. So I had no idea where I was apart from walking in what I thought was roughly the right direction. After about a km (getting tearful at this stage, no taxis stopping for me) I decided to walk back to the Marriott as they would know. So bless them, they said I didn't need a taxi and walked me to within 400m of the hotel. Phew! what a relief, in fact had I known to take a right turn, I would have seen the signs myself.

I'm now very relieved to be back in my room. So tomorrow I'll need to try that again and actually find the dance school and source a better way home. My feet are aching...

Day 1& 2 of Ally's Adventure

Well I have arrived safely, the journey was ok, a long wait in Helsinki but this nice lady bought me a drink as I hadn't had the foresight to take a few Euros with me. Anyway, we helped each other.

The view and scenery as we were flying over China was amazing, I wish I had photo's, it really took my breath away, the mountains that were green and rugged and the rice terraces.

The apartment is spacious and nice, the best thing is the free Wifi, I even managed to link up with Dave this morning on the web cam.

I haven't slept for over 24 hours now so haven't done much today apart from unpack, have a walk and shop for groceries. Tomorrow I hope to venture a little further and try to find the dancing school which is about 15km away.

It will be a bit more challenging than I thought as no-one in this district seems to speak English (maybe that will get easier the closer I get to the tourist area) and the signs are not in dual language. I have to work out how to get to the subway tomorrow. But hey, this was never supposed to be easy otherwise it wouldn't be the chance of a lifetime.

I'll attach some photo's tomorrow - when I've taken some.
On the negative side, there are lots of cars and mad drivers, it is quite challenging being a pedestrian. Oh and yes, there probably are 6 million bicycles in Beijing.

Hope you are all well. Please email me to keep in touch.
Ally

Less than 12 Hours to go...

Ok, so I should be packing but the nerves are kicking in a little so I thought I'd update with a mesage just before I go to China. Thanks to those who are following, I hope to read some nice messages from you.

I'm pretty nervous, the train leaves at 5.45am tomorrow and I'm just hoping the plane is on time and connecting flights etc. I have almost 5 hours to wait at Helsinki so maybe a bit of browsing in the airport might be in order.

I'm due to land in Beijing at about 9.00am Thursday morning Beijing time (2:00am to you UK folks!) so Beijing is 7 hours ahead of the UK.

Hopefully the plane will be on time as Mr Wang is meeting me at the airport (If it is on time) and if I can get the video camera and wifi to work I'll give you a tour of the apartment.

Bye for now...
Ally

Only 10 Days to go!!

Dear All,

This is a first for me, both setting up a blog but also going on my very exciting dance project to China.
Hopefully you'll all be able to see pictures of me as I update my diary.
I'm dead excited but also getting a little scared. I think I'll imagine I'm in one of Enid Blyton's Famous Five books going on an adventure. Hopefully I won't come across any one eyed pirates or get locked up in a dungeon etc...

Anyway hopefully you'll send me some messages too. (I hope I access it ok from China and have bought the right converter plug for the camera etc)

Hope you enjoy following my journey, Day 1 in Ally's Chinese Adventure starts July 1st 2009!

Massive Thanks to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for recognising that children in the UK would love to learn about Chinese Dancing and Culture - plus that I can help them do it!