China - The Middle Kingdom

Chapter 9 - Beijing

The lights went on suddenly and the bus stopped- we were in Beijing! It was 3am and we hadn't expected to arrive until 7am. We had crossed the Gobi desert by train and passed the Mongolian-Chinese border the day before. We then caught a sleeper bus (literally bunkbeds on a bus!) from the border town, Erlian, to Beijing. The town on the Mongolian side was tiny compared to the sprawling city on the Chinese side. The contrast was stark and immediate.

We forced ourselves awake and directed a taxi driver to a hostel in a hutong (basically a small alleyway or road containing a maze of one-storey houses and workshops typical of Beijing). Either the hutong had been demolished to make way for Olympic developments or the driver was useless- we thought the latter was more likely! We did, however, pass Tian'anmen Gate in the dead of the night to find the famous portrait of Mao Zedong staring back at us. Finally we settled for the Far East Youth Hostel in a hutong south of Tian'men Square (famous for many things including notoriously the massacre of democracy protesters in 1989). It turned out to be a great choice with all of the mod-cons we had missed in Mongolia (we're definitely getting soft).

After living on mutton most of the time in Mongolia, we were quite happy to stuff ourselves on western food for a change- and there were plenty of options! Throughout out stay we variously ate at KFC, McDonalds, a french cafe, and had pizza. We shamefully enjoyed all of it and ate loads of chinese food to even the balance, including the famous Peking duck.

The area around Ritan Park (east of the Forbidden City) was quite interesting. We've nicknamed it 'Little Moscow'. Many shop signs are written in Russian and local chinese also speak the language - Laure was very happy to practise. The park itself was extremely well landscaped and in one pagoda we found several old chinese men flying kites. The kites flew as tall as skyscrapers. They could almost interfere with air traffic!

On a visit by canal boat to the Summer Palace northwest of Beijing we met a 7 year old Canadian girl of chinese origin who could speak 5 languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, English, French and Spanish). Her mother and aunt offered us dried sour cherries and orange peel and we spent most of the afternoon with them. The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) is stunning. A huge lake is surrounded by hills and landscaped gardens dotted with temples and pagodas as well as a marble boat. Some of the temple topped hills give great views of the capital. The day was concluded in extraordinary fashion- speed boat through the canals of Beijing with the sun setting through the smog behind us.

Our visits to the Forbidden City, Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven were all enchanting in their own way and were 'must' visits. The Great Wall is probably the worlds biggest ever 'white elephant' project- not once did it prevent an army from invading!

In Beijing we met plenty of other travellers, some of whom were taking summer breaks, others were taking a 'year out' like us. We even met a couple of Mexicans, one of whom had lived in Bourges (where Laure lived for a while and went to secondary school). One night we went to the Sanlitun area (northwest Beijing) where all of the modern chic bars can be found. We smoked a shisha pipe, drank beer and soaked up the atmosphere with an American and a New Zealander. Most bars had karaokes or live bands (many karaoke singers bawl western top songs and would not get into the top 1 million of Pop Idol runners up!).

One thing we couldn't adjust to in China is the national sport of spitting. To spit like a chinese man takes years of dedication and practice.

Chapter 10 - The Yellow River Basin

Using the coal dust polluted city of Datong as a base we visited the 'Hanging Temple', the Wood Pagoda (oldest wooden building in China) and the Yungang Caves. I would be surprised if China doesn't have the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world. These places certainly deserve their status, although this also turns them into tourist honey traps.

The Hanging Temple is a remarkable Buddhist Monastery that hugs the side of a cliff in Shanxi Province, and is supported by an ingenius network of wooden beams. The monastery was moved further and further up the cliff to avoid flooding, however, now the river has been dammed, the threat has receded.

The Wood Pagoda was built in 1056 during the Liao Dynasty. It has withstood numerous earthquakes and looks like it can withstand many more. It is a great example of ancient Chinese architecture using Feng Shui principles to favour the spirits. The surrounding town (Yingxian) looks like it was thrown up in a decade and isn't too appealing. The crafts in the local stalls were more antique in nature and we couldn't help haggling for a hefty wooden Buddha that caught our eyes as well as a 'ruyi'. A ruyi is an ornament given by a lord to his concubines- the size, material and detail of which denotes their rank.

The site that impressed us the most was the site of the Yungang Caves. The caves contained the most impressive works of sculped art we've ever seen. Work on them began in 453 CE and finished around525 CE. They are literallythousands of images of Buddhas ranging from 'the size of your little finger' to 'bigger than your house'. We entered one huge cave not knowing what to expect then looked left to see an awesome large stone Buddha looking patiently ahead. To be alone in this cave with this gargantuan piece of art was an experience we'll never forget.

As we progressed through Shanxi Province we passed through Wutai Shan (not before a bus ride during which it broke down twice - once on the side of a mountain), an area of scenic beauty, full of monasteries and sporting a gigantic white stupa. Tour groups come from all over China to visit the temples; including a group of deaf people, Buddhist nuns in grey robes, amongst the usual red and yellow cap wearing fanatic sightseers with their flag waving tour guides! Monks here seemed very devout- evidence included one who prostrated and touched his forehead on every step on his way up a holy mountain. I smiled and thought 'rather you than me' but secretly I was impressed!

Pingyao, although very touristy, had a great ambience. A Qing Dynasty city with a fortified city wall surrounding it. It managed to escape the worst excesses of the wanton destructionof all things 'old' during the Cultural Revolution, and since has brought pots of tourist revenue to the modern Communist Party. Tour groups often crowd the main streets but they can be easily lost down the discreet side alleys. It was in this way we met the second group of chinese deaf people. I managed to communicate with a lot of repetition and second guessing! The PIP (Pingyao International Photography) festival was on the verge of starting when we arrived and Laure got photographed by professionals at our hostel.

No culture vulture could possibly visit China and have the cheek to bypass the Terracotta Army near the ancient capital of Xi'an. We did our duty and took a peek. 2000 Terracotta Warriors, horses and chariots have been uncovered so far, complete with bronze weapons (swords, spears, bows, crossbows and shields). The army was buried near the Emperor Qin Shi Huang to accompany him into the afterlife. Each warrior has different facial features (to match those of living warriors at the time) and holds a slightly different posture and the army faces east towards Qin's old rivals. Emperor Qin's tomb lies nearby and is yet to be excavated. It is supposedly booby trapped by mechnically operated crossbows with poisoned arrow tips and has an underground landscaped garden with rivers of mercury flowing around it (abnormal levels of mercury have recently been found in the soil...!). Indiana Jones himself couldn't have hoped for a better find! The chinese 'indiana' was actually a peasant digging a well and got more than a bucket of water in 1974! Legend has it that the 700, 000 workers who built the Terracotta Army were slaughtered afterwards to guard the secret of their location (worked pretty well if you ask me- hidden for more than 2200 years!). With a strong sense of imagination you can immerse yourself in the history of this immobile army- however the hordes of flesh and bone tourist armies make this extremely difficult. Now it was time to go to Chengdu in Sichuan Province...

Chapter 11 - Sichuan province

The approach to Sichuan Province displays an awesome change in the landscape. At one point a flat dusty plain stops and the mountains start- there is no gradual transition. The vegetation starts to become greener and more tropical.

We stayed in Chengdu, the province’s capital for several days. We relaxed a bit in an excellent and great value backpackers hostel called Sim’s Cozy Guesthouse; but unfortunately our visit was overshadowed by the organizational nightmare of getting the right tickets to go to Tibet (as well as visa issues…we won’t bore you with the details!). Eventually we decided betray our ‘overland as much as possible’ principles and accepted Henri and Marie’s (Laure’s stepfather and mother) offer of a plane ticket to Shenzhen (just across the border from Hong Kong). We did, however, have several days to kill before the flight. We used this time to visit the Giant Panda breeding Research Centre in Chengdu, Huanglongxi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonville) and the Great Buddha at Leshan.

For once we managed to beat the other tourists to a site of interest and it really paid off at the Panda centre. Giant pandas are extremely endangered, being only 1,200 of them left. We had a real wow moment when we saw some newborn pandas in incubators. After being ‘templed-out’ it felt great to see something different.

Huanglongxi is known for its Qing dynasty streets where the famous ‘roof jumping in the night’ scene was filmed in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Here we met a Polish guy who was more than happy to have met and travel with 4 Polish girls, all of whom depended on him for English translations! Here we ate catfish in a spicy Sichuanese sauce next to the river while the manager of the restaurant borrowed our Mandarin phrasebook to translate her menu. Her ladyfriends had a giggle over the chat up lines section, one of them being: “You look like a cousin of mine.” (one good reason not to chat someone up!). The temple used in the movies (CT, HD isn’t the only one!) is not surprisingly very atmospheric, though jumping off the roof is not really recommended!

The Great Buddha at Leshan is now the largest Buddhist sculpture in the world. A devout monk blinded himself to convince the Chinese authorities to provide funds for it (so you better appreciate it!). Luckily for him, his eyeball destroying efforts were not wasted. The area was packed with tourist around the actual statue but we took the more discrete scenic walk towards it, and the Great Buddha was very impressive up close. The recent cloudy and miserable weather was now getting on our nerves. Time for sunnier climes…