Monday, May 28, 2007
The first thing we noticed about Beijing was that it is vastly cleaner than any other place we’d been to in China so far. The roads, the buildings and most importantly the air were all spotless. There is no doubt that this has everything to do with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games next year but it nonetheless makes a pleasant change from the smoggy, dirty cities of Shanghai and Xi’an. As our overnight train from Xi’an arrived at 7.30am it was still only 9am by the time we had checked in and got settled in our hostel. We decided to make use of this full day in Beijing by renting bikes and going on a cycle through the hutongs (little alleyways) that are littered throughout the city. Since Tiananmen Square was on the way to the beginning of the bike trip (as detailed by lonely planet) we decided to visit that first. It’s the biggest public square in the world and its size is certainly the first thing you notice about it. The second thing you notice is that it’s a little bland. Save for the monument to the people in the middle it’s practically bare. But the whole point of it is its historic significance and Mao’s Mausoleum is on one of the edges. Unfortunately the Mausoleum is closed for restoration for 6 months, probably again due to the Olympics coming soon. The square also gives you the classic view of the ‘Gate of Heavenly Peace’ entrance to the Forbidden City with Mao’s portrait hanging above.
After sufficiently taking in the square scenes including loads of people flying kites, we embarked on our bike trip. It was a little daunting at first as the roads are crazy and our bikes were of the one gear variety. However it soon turned out to be grand as there are wide bike lanes all through the city and traffic police at every corner that help you make those otherwise impossible left turns. Also, and perhaps most importantly, the city is completely flat meaning you can cycle for hours without getting knackered. It was a beautiful day and the trip was really excellent. We cycled through the quaint hutongs stopping off at various places including Jingshan Park and Beihai Park. Thanks to the excellent weather these parks provided very pleasant walks. The whole day out took a respectable 6 hours and so we spent the evening getting a bit of R&R at our small yet cozy hostel. The following morning we had big plans to go visit the Forbidden City. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans. Well to be truthful it was more of a joint collaboration between Mother Nature and cheap Chinese beer. The night before we had been unexpectedly dragged to a bar by a Norwegian guy and a Taiwanese girl. While it was quite an entertaining night including a couple practically making babies in the middle of the beer garden and a Chinese guy smashing a bottle at an American girl because she disrespected his mother, it did mean we were up later than intended. In addition to this it was raining and we decided to wait around a bit for it to clear up. No point in going to the Forbidden City if it’s lashing rain. It did clear up however not until 2.30. We decided to give the city and overall miss at that stage as even if we had gone we would have had just over an hour there, not long according to Lonely Planet who recommend a whole day to see it.
It was probably just as well that we spent that day hanging about the hostel and resting our weary traveled bodies as we were up at 6.30am the following morning for our excursion to the Great Wall. There are various places at which to see the wall however it is essential to choose carefully which one you want to go to. To go to somewhere close by would be disastrous as it would be full of irritating American tourists. On the other hand it’s a pain in the ass and expensive to travel for miles to a more remote spot. We settled on a tour offered by our hostel which was excellent value for what it involved. The bus picked us up at 7.15am and drove us for 4 hours to an area of the wall called Jinshanling. This is a less visited area and is a 10km hike along the wall to Simatai, a more popular area. By hiking this 10km we were able to see various different areas of the wall as well as spectacular views in both directions. The fact that the day was a scorcher weather wise really helped matters. The Great Wall is certainly that – Great! I mean it. There has been several times throughout the trip where we’ve visited a famous place only to be disappointed either from the build up or the many tourists or whatever. The Great Wall was definitely all that and takes its place up there with the Inca Trail and diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Definitely worth a visit.
The major downside, though, is the scores of local farmers that walk along the wall with you harassing you to buy books, ice-cold water and beer. Two women in particular took a shine to us and started walking with us. They didn’t try to sell anything at first but instead offered us facts and information about the wall. At first I tried to ignore them but it’s very difficult. After a while I engaged them a little but eventually we were having full blown discussions. I knew that by talking to them I was signing myself up to buy something from them. Fi and I had a private discussion and agreed at the end we would buy something small between us. As we approached Simatai, the women informed us they would not be going any further and looked at us expectedly. We asked what they had to sell and it turned out we had 2 options – a book for Y118 or a t-shirt for Y100. Not wishing to spend that much on anything we decided to give them all that we had (Y45) for free. Well actually we had more money but it was in our bags and we certainly weren’t going to concede that fact. The women had been so nice and friendly to this point but now they turned on us. We insisted that Y45 was all we had and tried to explain that we were offering them the money for free and as such they should be grateful. They were having none of it and getting quite stroppy about it too. We very soon got sick of it and so offered them an ultimatum. Either they take the Y45 or not but either way we were leaving. They laughed at us and complained more so we walked off. Just then they grabbed the Y45 and without a thank you just walked off in the opposite direction. Ungrateful sods! It’s a very unfortunate aspect of Chinese culture that you can’t trust many of the people when they are being nice to you. People say that China is the country of the 21st century. While their economy may be growing and the government may be ploughing money into cleaning and modernizing the cities, the general attitude will have to change for them to be taken seriously as a dominant country.
The 10km hike took us the guts of 4 hours and at the end we were glad for the meal included in the price of the tour. The hike had been tough enough with some parts requiring you to clamber up at a 70 degree angle. We felt good at the end though and according to a Chinese saying “you aren’t a man until you’ve seen the Great Wall of China”. I was pretty happy to finally be a man although I don’t think Fi was as excited about her newfound sexuality. That evening we were knackered but still managed to drag ourselves around the block to a night food market that Fi had spotted a few days earlier. As ever with Chinese food, it was fried and greasy and pumped full of MSG. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t tasty! We enjoyed lamb, beef and chicken skewers as well as beef pancakes, garlic oysters and crab kebabs. Unfortunately the deep fried ice cream for dessert turned out to just be a big ball of batter – Rog would have loved it! Some of the things we didn’t try were skewered grasshoppers, rats and various other insects. Unfortunately the gruff street seller wouldn’t allow us to take a photo of them unless we bought one. Spoilsport.
We woke up the next morning to the sounds of heavy rainfall. Oh dear! It was only our 5th day of rain since we left Ireland but we were so used to dryness we couldn’t believe that Mother Nature had the audacity to throw some rain our way. This was the day we had pegged for seeing the Forbidden City and since it’s all outdoors, that plan was thrown out the window. So were most of the other things we could have done – Summer Palace, Lama Temple, Gate of Heavenly Peace etc... Looking through Lonely Planet we found only one indoor thing that we actually wanted to do which was the Pearl Market. We rocked along and spent about an hour perusing the different sizes, shapes and colours of pearls. Apart from a quick stop off at the international bookstore on the way home, that was our entire activity for the day. Thankfully the rain had cleared by the next day. It meant we could go visit the Forbidden City except although dry, the weather still wasn’t bright or sunny. That didn’t really matter though as most of the major buildings in the Forbidden City were surrounded by scaffolding and were closed to the public. This was due to restoration works for the 2008 Olympics next year which in one way is fair enough but it’s still a bit cheeky to charge a full price entrance when all the main stuff is closed. We decided to hit the Lama temple in the afternoon and although one part of this was closed for restoration too, most of it was viewable. The Lama Temple is the only Tibetan Temple in Beijing that is still in use and it included a massive Buddha at the back of it. This alone was worth seeing. It was also interesting watching the shaven headed monks strolling around doing their Buddhist thing.
For our final day we trekked out to the Summer Palace right on the outskirts of Beijing. It involved 3 trains and a taxi however it was pretty nice and the weather had improved somewhat. The Summer Palace was the playground of the emperors and empresses, where they went in the summer to escape the heat of the Forbidden City. It consisted 70% of a lake and we had fun walking around, taking a boat across the lake, watching people practice Tai Chi and climbing the ten million stairs to the top of some temple. When we arrived back to the hostel, we killed the next few hours eating and playing cards until our night train to Shenyang – Dan’s city!
We arrived in Shenyang early on a Friday morning. Dan and his girlfriend Helena were there to meet us. Unfortunately Dan had to run off to an interview shortly after meeting us however Helena was there to sort us out. She didn't speak any English but having spent 6 years in Munich she practically fluent in German. No problem for the likes of me and Fi. After sorting us out with tickets out of Shenyang for Sunday she brought us back to Dan's apartment. Now I don't know why but I didn't expect his place to be the most amazing in the world. It turned out to be a lovely spacious apartment with cool lighting and comfy couches. Not to mention the tv and sound system. We chilled out for a bit watching tv while Helena whipped us up some nice pork dumplings that Dan had bought in advance for us. How did he know I loved dumplings so much? Possibly because I spent every minute that he was in Ireland begging him to bring me to Moore St for Chinese dumplings. Dan wasn't long and when he arrived home from his interview we spent a few hours catching up and reminiscing about times in Ireland. The Chinese eat pretty early and so we headed for dinner in the early evening. Dan had the whole weekend planned culinary-wise and so we placed our stomachs in his hands for 48 hours - for better or worse.
Friday night's cuisine was Korean. It was basically a BBQ but indoors. Each table has 2 little pits in it containing charcoal and a grill. The restaurant cooks your food for you (although according to Dan you can cook it yourself if you want but it's a pain in the ass) and you keep it hot on your little mini BBQ. So the dinner consisted of an array of skewers. The lamb and beef ones were nice for sure. The rest were questionable! The chicken one looked tasty until I put it in my mouth and realised there was no meat on it. When I told Dan this he said that's because it was chicken bones. So I asked were you supposed to suck on it to get the flavour and he replied that you just chew it. As he said this he put one in his mouth and crunched away at it. It was actually chicken cartilage, not chicken bone. I tried to give it a try because when in Rome yadda yadda yadda. But unfortunately I just couldn't bring myself to eat bightsize chunks of chicken cartilage. The other skewers contained squid (ok but a bit tasteless), silkworms (like a REALLY strong piece of liver), and kidney (not too bad actually). Dan, Helena and Emily (one of Dan's friends who had joined us at this stage) tucked into everything while we politely confined ourselves to beef and lamb. After dinner we went to an authentic Chinese Karaoke bar. This place was the bees knees and they actually had some western classics as well as some Chinese ahem "classics". Dan and his mates treated us to an array of Chinese pop songs and we returned the favour with some George Michael, a bit of Britney and even some Westlife. Because Dan had a second interview in the morning and because we had started the night so early we were actually home by about 12.30. After one more beer at Dan's we headed for bed.
After Dan's interview on Saturday morning, Me, Fi, Dan, Helena and Emily travelled a bit outside Shenyang to see the botanical gardens. It was a lovely warm day with a slight breeze that gave it the perfect temperature. The gardens were actually done up really well and had lots of fun little nooks and crannies to explore. It also had adult size playground swings that provided us with great entertainment. Back at Dan's we took a necessary 2 hour rest time before heading to dinner with Dan's mother and her boyfriend. Tonight it was duck. Dan told me he was taking us to a duck restaurant which I was pleased about however it soon became apparent that duck means duck and all parts of the duck! When the food came out there was the usual meat and pancakes etc... But included in the order were duck's tongues, duck's feet and pumpkin deepfried in duck's eggs. They even brought out the bones that had been stripped of all meat for us to suck on. China is such a waste not want not culture. I mean, you don't HAVE to eat every single part of the animal! So anyway I tried a bit of everything again but mainly dwelled on the duck in pancakes. The duck's feet in particular were the worst. They had been drowned in wasabi sauce - presumeably to disguise the ducky footy taste - and Fi and I had nightmares about them for days afterwards. The great thing about the meal though was getting to meet Dan's mother. We had a great auld chat via Dan and I enjoyed embarrassing him by making him tell his mother he was a lovely boy.
After dinner, Dan used his contacts to get us into a cool club. Clubs in China are completely different to those in Ireland.
1) Everything starts a lot earlier and we arrived there around 8.45.
2) Most clubs have a band who play for half the night. The band at our club were really really good. They had these great Asian hairstyles, the sound was excellent and although normally I'm not a fan of Asian pop, the players were actually really good and it's always good to see a bit of live music. They even played some western favourites like YMCA and I Will Survive which got us all up dancing.
3) You have to buy beers in bulk. When we got there we ordered 18 beers between us. This is because it's rude to order only one because it means that the table servers are running around all night getting one beer at a time.
4) Everyone sits. Well not everyone but the vast majority. If you turn up to a club in China and there are no seats left, you go somewhere else. Even when the groovy DJ from Hong Kong came on later in the night, still everyone sat! Totally bizarre but there you go.
5) Despite everything starting so early, clubs will remain open until the last person leaves. We left our club around 1am but it's good to know we could have stayed until 7 if we wanted!
After the club we went to a restaurant where some other of Dan's friends were. The restaurant had stopped serving food but for some reason it was happy to stay open and let us drink for a few more hours. It was a great part of the night sitting around this table and chatting to Dan and his mates, most of which had English and some of who had lived in Toronto.
On the Sunday morning we woke up fairly late as you can imagine and had only a minimal time before our bus back to Beijing. Even still, we managed to spend that time wisely and we got to do one thing that I hadn't yet done in China - Chinese pancakes! These were another thing that I used to beg Dan for when he was in Ireland. He always told me that the ones in China were much better than those on Moore St and he was right. What a hangover food! Shortly after we bid farewell to Dan and Helena and boarded our 8 hour bus back to Beijing. It was great to have seen Dan in his city and it's amazing how 2.5 years after seeing someone you can just slip right back into it. It also means that 2.5 years is a very short time and if that's the next time I see Dan then I'm sure it'll come around before I know it. Peace out brothers.
Me and Fi at the Great Wall of China
Me at the Great Wall again
At a club in Shenyang with (from left to right) Helena, Dan, Emily, me, Fi
Having dinner at the duck restaurant in Shenyang. Clockwise from left to right: Dan's mother's boyfriend, me, Fi, Dan, Emily, Helena, Dan's mother
Er... Dan. Looking a bit like a Bond villain.
Me and Fi with some Terracota warriors at the Botanical Gardens of Shenyang
Me and Dan at the Botanical Gardens in Shenyang 
Me and Fi at authentic Chinese Karaoke in Shenyang
Dinner at the Korean restaurant in Shenyang. On the left Fi and me. On the right Emily, Helena and Dan.
Me at the forbidden city in Beijing. The only good part that wasn't covered in scaffolding
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The next day we decided to rent a car and drive a circuit through some of Cairns’ nearby rainforest terrain. It was a beautiful drive and as well as seeing some proper rainforest and some redneck Australian towns we also stopped off at a Crocodile farm. The farm contained about 10 crocs that were taken from the wild. These ones were protected and couldn’t be used for meat or leather however their young would be farmed to produce just that. While the young ones destined for steaks and belts were kind of cute, the big ones were enormous and more than scary. The farmer who showed us around enjoyed scaring the shit out of us by aggravating the crocs to jump and bite at the fence. When I asked jokingly if I could enter one of the enclosures to get a close up photo he immediately swung the gate open and allowed me in. I was forced to swallow the lump in my throat and lie in the bed I had just made. Everybody was watching and I couldn’t back out now. I made a half decent attempt to get close to the giant croc but once he spied me and moved his head in my direction I stopped and refused to go further. Fortunately Fi was quick in taking the photo and I legged back out of the enclosure faster than you could say Streuth!
After the tour of the farm we were allowed to hold the baby crocs and the snakes. The baby ones were cute – probably because the tape around their snouts prohibited them from engaging in any anti-social biting activities. The snakes on the other hand were a different story. They wrapped and coiled themselves around you and although they weren’t squeezing, you felt that if they even squeezed with one muscle you would suffocate. Thankfully I avoided that fate and we moved on. The other major attraction we enjoyed on our tour was the fig tree. Well technically it was the lack of a fig tree. What happened over the last one hundred years is that a parasitic tree wrapped itself around the fig tree. Slowly the fig tree died away leaving the parasitic tree coiled up with nothing inside. It’s quite bizarre and you can go inside it and play around like you’re 7 again. The final thing of interest on this trip was a visit to a waterfall where they filmed a timotei ad a few years ago. It involved a nice young lady taking a shower under the waterfall with some timotei. We had great fun trying to recreate the ad in a way not quite as sexy as the original.
The next day we were off back to Sydney for our last 3 nights in Australia. We decided to spend this time visiting a sheep shearer called Storky who lives in Hill End – as redneck as the name suggests! Craig, Fi’s mate, met Storky on a holiday there a few years ago and has been going back once or twice a year since. Unfortunately Storky does not own such new fangled gadgets such as a mobile or the internet or a facsimile machine. So the only way to get in touch with him and let him know we were coming was through the bartender of the local and only bar in town. Oh and her name is Maxine, of course. As we set off with Craig on the 2.5 hour journey to Hill End we were in good spirits. However as we approached the tiny village (population 70) in the middle of nowhere we became a little uneasy. This was not helped by the stares of the locals as we entered the village pub/hotel. Craig assured us there was nothing to worry about and urged us to get down to Storky’s gaff asap as he heard a rumour from a gentleman sitting outside the bar that Storky was at home. Sure enough the man was right and as we pulled up to Storky’s place, Craig asked us to try and not laugh when we met him. Well that was a recipe for a disaster. Our first glimpse of Storky confirmed why his nickname was what it is. I don’t think I’ve ever met a skinnier man in my life. I just wanted to buy the bloke a big mac! He said he had some stuff to do and would meet us down the pub later. Fair enough.
It was early in the afternoon and although we were eager to get to the pub and introduce ourselves to the locals we decided that a walk first would be prudent. The village is very nice but very old fashioned. It really does look like something out of an American western. This is probably because it flourished way back in the gold rush of the 19th Century. Once the gold was gone, no more thought was given to poor old Hill End and it stands today exactly as it looked 150 years ago. You have the saloon and the grocery store and the inn. It even has a police force of exactly one – the sheriff! As such the walk was very pleasant and we entertained ourselves by enforcing rules like “We can’t walk past that sign until we hit it with a rock”. Back at the pub the sun was just setting and we had definitely worked up a thirst. Soon enough Storky turned up and we set about getting to know him. Unfortunately, like the inhabitants of so many other places in the world with a population of 70, Storky mumbled and talked very fast. I probably only understood about 15% of what he ever said and I nodded and smiled my way through 2 hours of conversation.
Things were going well and the night was turning out to be pretty good until – the bar closed! At 10pm! We were well pissed off but there was nothing we could do. We stayed up chatting till the insane hour of 12 before going to bed. After all, we were up early in the morning to shear sheep with Storky. We had arranged to meet him at his place at 9.30 and thanks to the breakfast service being rather poor we were slightly behind schedule. At 9.40, Storky rocks up to the bar looking for us asking why we weren’t at his at 9.30. We mumbled an apology, taking care not to enrage a man of his stature, and wondering where he inherited his German style of punctuality. We followed him on down to his and watched in awe as he sent his sheep dog to round up the sheep. I had seen it on TV before but never in real life and it truly is an impressive thing. One man and his dog. And a load of stupid sheep. Quality! The dog had them rounded up pretty sharpish and we all headed into the shearing shed. Shearing shed?! It was more like an abattoir and not for the first time on the trip I was put in mind of the film Wolf Creek. I tried to put such thoughts out of my head as I watched Storky setting up the torture equipment, sorry, shearing equipment.
The sheep looked as scared as I was and I felt pity for one who was particularly woolly and could look forward to starting the winter without the thick coat he had been growing all summer. Just then Storky grabbed the sheep by the hooves and dragged him towards the equipment. Although the sheep was afraid he had obviously been through this before and knew that resistance was futile. We watched on as Storky expertly and silently shaved the sheep. It took him about 7 minutes to do one sheep and at the end of the first one he looked up at his captivated audience and simply said:
“One shorn sheep.”
We were very interested now and eagerly asked if we could try it. Unfortunately he wasn’t too happy with us having a go however he did let us pose with the sheep and the shearer making us look like the experts we weren’t. After the shearing session Storky mumbled something about tin and chops and being busy and not wanting to highlight his speech impediment we nodded and smiled and left him to it. I personally didn’t want to wait around and see how Storky could get busy with a tin and some chops. We decided to head back to Sydney via the blue mountains for a quick gawk. They were ok but the eerie blue that surrounds them, apparently from the eucalyptus trees, was pretty cool. We were now up to our last night in Sydney and Australia and we honoured the plans we had made with OJ and Trigger when we were in Cairns. We had a lovely meal in a Thai restaurant before heading to one of the funky bars along the waterfront. The next morning we were off to China!
We were very excited about China and thought we were being clever downloading directions to the hostel from the internet before we left Sydney. We know now that this was futile and it takes more than just some directions to get where you’re going. After collecting our luggage we exited Shanghai airport and looked around stumped. All we could see were Chinese symbols and had no idea where to find “The number 5 bus to Dan’an street”. We used a combination of Chinglish and hand signals to get ourselves aboard some kind of bus however we didn’t know where the bus went and where to get off. About 40 minutes into the bus journey we spotted a sign saying Dan’an somethingorother and decided to get off. It turns out we were close but not that close. After a lot of walking with our heavy backpacks and asking directions from some Canadian Vietnam veteran whose sanity was to be debated we actually made it to the hostel. As it happened, the hostel extremely pleasant and comfortable and made all the hassle worth while. Being tired we decided to go out and get some food and hit the sack.
So began our second Chinese adventure – ordering food! We found a little eating establishment near the hostel that looked good. When the menu only consisted of Chinese symbols we realised this was going to be harder than we thought. The waiter had not a word of English and through making a few gestures and some animal noises we managed to order something although we hadn’t a clue what. When it arrived we were delighted to note it was not dog or rat. Just some kind of Chiken curry and some veg and some pork and some rice. Not the tastiest meal ever but we were glad it was something slightly recognisable. Our first proper day in Shanghai was spent doing the obligatory tourist stuff – walking the Bund, viewing the strange but impressive futuristic looking architecture and checking out the various gardens and bridges and thousands upon thousands of carp. We read in the lonely planet that one particular place was generally regarded to have the best steamed dumplings in China and therefore the world. Being quite partial to the odd dumpling myself we strolled down there. Unfortunately it was a Sunday and the world and it’s Chinese mother were there queuing for dumplings. However I had to try the best dumplings in the world and so offered to stand in the queue while Nikki and Fi went shopping. They arrived back 20 minutes later and the queue had barely moved! I told them to go off again and see what happened. When they arrived back 30 minutes later I had moved up a little but at this stage I was determined to see this through to the end. After 1 hour and 20 minutes of queuing I finally made it to the top. You’ll be pleased to know that it was all worth it. The dumplings were divine and I ordered 32 just to be sure. I didn’t want to still be hungry after 16 when I queued for so long and in any case they were only 1euro for 16. I made it to 29 before my stomach literally couldn’t take anymore. Still, as Fi told me, an impressive feat.
That night was Nikki’s last night travelling with us so we decided to go out for dinner and drinks. This was our first taste of China in a proper restaurant and they actually had an English menu – heaven! We ordered an array of dishes with my input being the duck and pancakes. Whenever I am forced to think of my favourite meal I never think of duck pancakes. However every time I have duck pancakes there is no question as to what the ultimate taste sensation is. So I am hereby declaring that my favourite dish in the whole world is crispy duck pancakes. Mmmm! After dinner we headed to a blues bar that I had read about earlier in lonely planet. Apparently they had a jam session every Sunday night and as it had been nearly 5 months since I had touched a keyboard I was gagging to play. Sure enough the band were good and friendly and they were more than happy to let me play with them. We jammed to a slow Muddy Waters number in A and I was in heaven. My chords and fiddly bits during the verse were fine but when it came to my solo, 5 months of abstinence were evident and I couldn’t quite perform to standard. I wasn’t bad by any stretch but definitely not as good as I could be. Still it was great to tinkle the ivories again and the piano was of the beautiful, big and slightly out of tune variety – perfect for the blues.
The next day was strange with Nikki gone and we decided to head out and see some museums and the futuristic buildings up close. No later than 5 minutes after we left our hostel we were approached by a couple of young girls of about 20. They were students from Xi’an and they started chatting to us in English. This wasn’t unusual as Chinese people value the English language very highly and often ask westerners if they can chat to them for a while to practice their English. We walked and chatted for a while and they were very pleasant. We told them we were going to the urban planning museum and they said they were going there too. When we arrived at the museum they told us they also wanted to go to a traditional Chinese tea ceremony which was beginning soon and did we want to go with them and then to the museum after. We thought why not, after all the girls were very charming and friendly. At the tea ceremony a woman greeted us who didn’t have any English. The girls told us they could translate for us and we all sat down at a wooden table in a small room. The décor of the room and the woman were all nicely traditionally decorated. Before the ceremony started, the woman explained through the 2 girls that each tea we sampled would by Y38 (about 3.80 euro) and snacks were Y30 (about 3 euro) a plate. We thought this was pretty pricey but the setup seemed kind of cool and if this was a traditional Chinese ceremony then we were all up for seeing it. After we agreed to it the woman assured us that we would be eligible for a student discount making each tea only Y30 each. We were delighted with that and settled in for an afternoon of tea sampling.
Throughout the next hour the woman explained to us all the traditions and etiquette associated with tea. We sampled 6 different kinds of tea and had a great time laughing and joking about it all with the girls. At the end we were asked if we wanted to purchase some tea to bring home at Y100 a bag but we declined as we had already racked up quite a bill with the 6 samples each and a few plates of snacks. We settled up the bill which came to around Y250 each (25 euro) – not that expensive really but very expensive for China and especially since we were on a budget of 35 euro a day and I didn’t like tea at all! As a final farewell we were given yellow and red thingys which the girls told us we were to hang off our bags for good luck. We were happy with the experience of traditional Chinese tea ceremonies and left the place. Outside we asked the girls if they would like to join us for lunch but they were eager to get on to the museum and so we bid them farewell but not before swapping email addresses. Over lunch we reflected once again on what a pleasant experience we had just had.
A few days later, while on a tour visiting the Terracotta army in Xi’an, an English couple spotted the red thingy hanging off Fi’s bag and asked if she got it at the tea ceremony in Shanghai. We started talking about it and soon it was apparent that something was very wrong. It seems the couple had had exactly the same experience and I mean exactly the same. They were approached by students on the street who wanted to practice English blah blah blah. As we talked about it more and more it was obvious we had all been tricked. At the beginning I refused to believe it was a scam as I had seen the girls pay for a couple of bags of Y100 tea. The guy of the couple asked me if I had actually seen them pay and as I cast my mind back I remember one of the girls giving the woman her card and the woman asking her outside to enter her pin. Doh! We never actually saw the girls giving any money over. Also it seems the red and yellow thingys we were given were to signal to other students pulling the same scam that we had already been scammed and not to approach us. And there we were happily wandering around Shanghai with our red and yellow thingys hanging out all proud! The English couple had even swapped email addresses with there scammers too. Feckers! It wasn’t the money so much – it was after all only 25 euro each. But the fact that we thought we had met some really nice friendly people really got to me. The deceit was despicable. Normally Fi and I are very savvy travllers and we don’t believe anything the locals tell us like that. But this was the best scam ever and they pulled it off with sheer brilliance. I defy anyone to not believe their innocent looks and friendly natures.
Anyway, this brings me to our time in Xi’an. We had two days there and spent the first day visiting the city. Xi’an is the only place in China that still has the original city walls still intact although some parts have been restored since the 700s. We climbed the stairs to the top of the walls and from there rented bikes. We spent the next 90 minutes cycling the 14km circumference (or girth as the signs advertised) stopping every now and again to get a good view of Xi’an. After the bike ride it was dumplings for lunch again in an establishment whose menu included “fragrant young intestines”. After lunch we visited the Muslim quarter including the Great Mosque which was nice quiet and serene and surrounded by beautiful gardens. Perfect for relaxing under the warm spring sun with a book. The next day we took a tour to see the Terracotta warriors. Unfortunately any tour in China will have one good thing on it and is padded out with a load of other crap things in an effort to charge money. The tours often involve plenty of “toilet stops” at well stocked souvenir shops while you don’t get much time at the actual sights themselves. In this case we were forced to see the terracotta factory (yawn), a less than impressive history museum and a hot springs that you couldn’t even swim in – what’s the point?! Finally we reached the highlight – the terracotta army. Although they were still impressive, they just didn’t have the impact I expected. There was supposed to be 6,000 of the things but I could only see a few hundred. While the ones that were there were cool, I expected to see miniature warriors as far as the eye could see. Oh well. At least by taking the tour we got to the bottom of the Shanghai teahouse scam.
One thing I forgot to mention was a quick trip to Hangzhou about 2 hours south of Shanghai. Hangzhou is the country’s number one tourist destination for Chinese people and we spent one night here before going to Xi’an. It basically consists of a lake called the West Lake – there are 36 so called lakes in China *slaps head*. We took a boat tour out to an island in the middle. It was all very pleasant indeed but the weather and the smog made it a not too memorable experience. The highlight actually was the dinner we had there. The food was not so spectacular but the menu in the place was the most incredible display of Chinglish I have seen to date. So good in fact that we decided a photo was insufficient and at the end we walked out with the menu stuffed into Fi’s handbag. Where else could you buy “The hedgehog hydnum mushroom seahorse cooks the soup”? It sounded like something out of a Bill Bailey sketch.
We are currently in Beijing (blog entry coming soon) and China continues to get crazier and crazier. I love this country and its people and its culture despite their flaws ie constant spitting and pushing and shoving. There is no such thing as a noun in China that is not preceded by an adjective. Everything is lucky or joyful or special. I only look forward to what the rest of our stay in Beijing brings us as well as a weekend in Shenyang with Dan. Stay tuned!
At the entrance to the Forbidden City in Beijing with the famous photo of Mao on the wall
At the Terracotta Warriors just outside of Xi'an
Posing at one of the structures at the Great Mosque in Xi'an
Cycling me bike along the city walls of Xi'an
Jamming with the house band at a blues bar in Shanghai
Me and Nik with Shanghai's futuristic skyline in the background
Checking out some traditional Chinese sounds in Shanghai
A typical street scene in Shanghai - spot the golden arches!
Me with the blue mountains in the background (Sydney)
"Shearing" a sheep in Hill End
The General Grocer and Produce Store in Hill End
The Royal Hotel where we stayed at Hill EndWednesday, May 09, 2007
My first dive as a certified diver
One of the turtles we swam with on the Great Barrier Reef
Me on the set of Neighbours in Melbourne
Me, Fi, Nik and Brizer (Fi's cousin) at the 12 Apostles along the Great Ocean Road
Kangaroo petting at the Koala reserve in Sydney
A koala bear at the reserve in Sydney
Taming a baby croc in Cairns
Getting to grips with a killer python (slightly exaggerated) in Cairns
Keeping a safe distance from a MASSIVE croc in Cairns
Looking nervous before our night dive with sharks on the Great Barrier Reef. Why do I seek out so many species of dangerous animals?!
Looking incredibly sexy at Kings Canyon
Me and Fi at Uluru (Ayer's Rock)
Having the beers in a dodgy hick Aussie bar
Our makeshift dwelling for the first night of camping at Uluru
The Essendon Bombers V Collingwood Magpies game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on ANZAC daySunday, May 06, 2007
When our alarms went off at 7am for our first day of diving school I thought about how many early mornings I'd had on the trip. I thought this was supposed to be a holiday and all we seem to do is get up early for flights/trips/tours etc... Anyway at least this was exciting even if it was school. I was going to learn to dive! Something I've been patiently waiting to do ever since I got a taster of diving in Turkey last September. The first morning was spent in the classroom watching cheesy learning videos presented by a guy with a ridiculous Irish/American accent. It was all very interesting but I kept looking at the pool outside and wondering when the hell we were going to get to jump into it. Shortly after lunch my wish was granted and after donning our very attractive wetsuits we were given a lesson in how to assemble scuba gear. Soon we were in the pool and practicing all sorts of skills like putting your mask on and off under water, taking off and replacing your mouthpiece under water, clearing your sinuses etc... The morning of the second day was spent with more pool skills and at lunch time we headed to the store to get kitted out with wetsuits, BCD's (Buoyancy Control Devices), masks, snorkels and fins for the boat trip the next day. That afternoon we had our classroom test which I passed with 94% :) We had yet another early morning the next day as the van rocked up to pick us up at 5.45 am. By 7am we were on the boat and cruising the 3 hour journey to the Great Barrier Reef. I have never been sea sick before and I had bought some sea sickness tablets the day before only because Gonzo (our instructor) was adament that we would definitely get seasick. Just as well because an hour into the rocky journey I felt fairly queasy. Thankfully I managed to stave it off and as soon as we arrived at our first dive site we were in the water and descending... I think that first dive we went down to around 14m. When we resurfaced Eva, the genius Dutch cook,had a slap up lunch prepared for us which we wolfed down. An hour after this was our second dive. During these dives we had to kneel on the ocean floor and repeat the skills we had learned in the pool. It is quite disconcerting when you're kneeling on the ocean floor 14m deep and you have to take off your mask and all of a sudden water is all over your face. Also for some reason when taking off my mask I took the regulator out of my mouth too giving me no way of breathing. I had done well in taking each off previously but now that both were off at the same time and I couldn't see or breathe I began to panic ever so slightly. Thankfully I calmed down and remembered the procedure for recovering your regulator when you lose it and did so. Phew! That was the most scary part of the whole course.
As dive trainees we only did 2 dives on the first day and spent the rest of the day snorkelling, swimming and relaxing on the boat. Oh and eating all the wonderful food Eva was cooking up for us. The second day was the toughest with 4 dives. After the first 2 on the second day we were fully certified divers. That means the next dive was our first one without the reassuring prescence of an instructor. Eek! We decided to go in a group of four and after a few minutes the nerves eased and we were fully enjoying our first proper open water dive. That night we were scheduled for a night dive. Of course this was with an instructor as you can't do a night dive until you have the next level of certification. Before the night dive Fossie, the skipper, started throwing silces of bread into the water to drum up sharks. Sure enough just before we got into the water we saw the silhoutte of a pack of sharks circling the boat. Well damned if you and damned if you don't I thought as I plunged into the shark infested waters. Thankfully they were but reef sharks and extremely docile and just curious. The night dive itself wasn't the greatest. Even though we had torches it was still very difficult to see anything. We did however see Brian sleeping under a piece of coral. Brian is a female turtle who is the same size as a hefty dining table and 120 years old. After a day choc full of diving I was knackered and went to bed at the ridiculous hour of 9.30. I managed to drag myself out of bed at 5.45am the next morning for the first dive of the day but after that I had a slight headache which I decided was cause to sit out the next dive. The third dive on the last day was the last dive of the trip and ended up being the best. We saw clow fish (nemo) and sea turtles swimming for the surface. Not to mention another shark or two for good measure and this dive site was also the best coral so far.
I decided to head the sea sickness off at the pass as it were and went to bed for a kip before the boat even started making its way back to Cairns. I managed to sleep through 2 hours of the 3 hour journey and thus avoiding any nausea. Stepping onto land after 3 days on a boat is weird and even now, the next morning, I still feel like I'm swaying back and forth. Last night we went for dinner and drinks with the diving crowd and all the instructors and crew. Although it was a good night we were all wrecked from 5 days of diving and we finished up at a respectful hour.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Just back from a day at the lagoon in
We arrived in
“Because Chrissie’s parents are lazy people and can’t be bothered going all the way inside every time they want a beer.”
Fair enough! After spending some time there making good use of the outdoor fridge we headed to a bar for some food. After that it was on to another bar which had more of a club feel to it. We had a fantastic night with some really lovely people and the beautiful part was when I woke up the next morning Nick was already on the go whipping us up some bacon, toast and grilled tomatoes. Delish!
It was tempting to hang around the beautiful house all day reading the Sunday papers and making civilized conversation but the Great Ocean Road was calling and we’d already spent a great deal of the day sleeping. We still had over half of the road to complete and it was the part that contained most of the interesting stuff to see including the twelve apostles. Although it was a pretty overcast and dismal day we still got a pretty good view of the apostles. We also got to see the beach where surfing all started and some pretty cool cliff, rock and sea anomalies that created massive waves with big splashes and big crashes. We had just seen the blow hole when darkness finally arrived and Brizer decided we were well in need of some food. He casually suggested fish and chips but when we rocked up to the fish ‘n’ chips joint it was apparent that fish and chips were always on the agenda. To give you an idea of the kind of establishment it was, here is a sample of a conversation that took place between me and the woman who ran the joint:
Me: “What kind of fish is the fish?”
Woman: “What do you mean?”
Me: “I mean is it cod or whiting or…”
Woman “It’s just fish, mate.”
It went down surprisingly well and by the time we arrived back in
The
Sure enough the women’s voices weren’t hoarsed in vain and the pies ended up thrashing the bombers. The rest of ANZAC day was spent much in the same way as Paddy’s day is back home. We knew we were getting a flight to
Thankfully we didn’t miss our flight to
We actually slept surprisingly well but were up early to make the final 60km to Uluru. After arriving there we swiftly set up our tent on ground that was far more soft and springy than than that at Curtin Springs. However we were slightly nervous about the signs all around the campsite that read
"Don't feed the Dingoes."
There are dingoes here?! Around lunchtime we headed into the national park to see the rock that everyone was making such a big fuss about. It was pretty impressive as it was just this great big rock with nothing else around it for miles. We decided to be the respectful travelers and not climb it at the wishes of the aboriginals. We also refrained from photographing the spiritual hotspots of the rock and enjoyed a pleasant but hot 3 hours walk around the base of the rock. Sunset was spent at the Olgas, some other rock formations nearby but sadly was quite average as sunsets go. Nothing like that we experienced on
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