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.