Shangri-la baby!

It's been quite a long 24 hours so I'll just do a quick update.
I left Shanghai (and the big Chinese cities) last night and did it by catching the worlds fastest train to the airport. The Magelev train is levitated on magnets and it took about 7 minutes to travle the 35 kms to the airport. It was definately the appropriate way to say goodbye.
I caught a flight to Kunming airport which arrived about 11.30pm and stayed in what was supposed to be a hotel but left a lot top be desired, I only got a few hours sleep as my next flight was at 6.50am and by about 7.45am I was in Shangri-la.
It was great flighing in through the clouds - we didn't have to come down to far as it is 3300 meters up and my sandles and t-shirt weren't really warm enough when we got out!
My shoes are back on and I'm glad I bought some thermal type stuff before I left as I think the nights are going to be pretty cold.
The sky is blue again and the air is fresh.. The sun actually gets quite warm as the day goes on so its really nice and great to be in the country side. This is a Tibetan area and there are alot of Naxi people around as well who wear distinctive clothing - mainly hats and headwear that is mostly bright pink and looks great.
I must have been quite excited as I hired a bike and visted a huge Lamastry (the biggest in SW China) (14 km return) and then climbed some more hills to get to a National Park area (16 kms return).
Thats my altitude training which should make me quite fit! Climbing those hills at this altitude made me think of the tour de France - not that I was going with any speed at all.
Having been up since 5 am I'm pretty tired and sure that I will sleep like a log. I'm not sure when I will be able to post and get photos up as the country side doesn't have quite the internet setup that the cities have.....night!

The big, big city and no I don't want to buy a watch thanks..

Well it's raining in Shanghai today, its amazing how quickly the temperature has dropped - so it's definitely time for me to leave. It's a week since my last post and I can't believe how quickly time is going.. even though it doesn't seem like I've done that much.
Shanghai is a big, big city and there is debate as to whether or not it's culture is the 'real' China.
It is 'the New York' of China and does have it's own culture but it definitely isn't like the traditional Chinese culture that the west knows - but that of a big city, which is ok, but not something I'll miss while on my holidays. Today my journey to the cities of China ends, and tonight I fly west to the Himalaya's and maybe some fresh air!
I decided to take it a bit easier in the big city and have had Thai massage, oil massage and cupping all done to help me relax. Massage is big in China and reasonably priced so it would have been rude not to try it all out. The cupping was a bit more thorough than I've had before, but helped loosen up some tightness I got while playing 18 holes of golf with Kane on the gold course attached to his villa. It was another great way to relax and you have to have a caddie, which just adds to the relaxation!

I spent a couple of days in central Shanghai checking out some of the local attractions but I have to admit the intensity and crowds made these fairly draining days out (hence the excuses for massage and relaxing!).
Last Friday was museum day. I started out at the Sex culture museum which has won quite a few international awards. A lot of the exhibits were a bit of fun and it was also good in that it recognised that women in Chinese culture have not always been treated very well. From there I caught the 'Bund sightseeing tunnel' under the Huangpu river which was nice, cheesy, multimedia fun with special lighting and music flashing into your space age carriage, before heading to the Shanghai Museum.
There was a big queue to get in but it was worth it as there was an amazing collection of bronze, sculpture, ceramics & porcelain, artwork & calligraphy, jade, furniture and minority costume, with some stuff dating back to the Neolithic age. I particularly liked the sculpture and jade and was surprised at how interesting the history of porcelain was!
I tired out by the early arvo and headed for some late lunch when I was accosted by more overly 'friendly' Chinese on the tea scam. One poor French guy was in the process of bailing some of them up and warning other tourists about the tea scammers which is really the only bad side of Chinese that I have experienced over here. Generally the people are really friendly and helpful - even if they don't know how to queue and spit a bit!
So I headed to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition center which was pretty cool. They have massive models of Shanghai, and you can also see all the plans for the future development of Shanghai and all the different areas or precincts. It was particularly Chines how some of the multimedia for the New Technology Precinct wasn't working! There was also a large section on the 2010 Expo which is going to be in Shanghai and the location for that looks amazing.
Over the past week I also spent time on the motorised scooter having a look around Hongmei lu which is where Kane and Sam live, and had fun trying out the public transport - and being helped out by friendly locals..
I also spent an afternoon in the French Concession area of Shangahi and the old town to get a bit of a feel for the town, the highlights as always, was going into the parks and seeing large groups of people doing Tai Chi together, playing cards and games and ballroom dancing together. It was really fun to see a couple of traffic police ballroom dancing in their uniform in the park. That evening Kane and Sam and I went out to a flash Japanese restaurant for some really yummy food - which is another part of the French Concession and Shanghai.
A big thanks to my friends Kane and Sammy for letting me stay with them and check out the ex-pat lifestyle in Shanghai and also hi and bye to Thomas and my new girlfriend Sophie...

If you are looking to buy a watch, some bags or jackets - theres lots of people who are willing to help you out in Shanghai. I made the mistake of not coming to China to shop... My backback feels big enough already!

back to shanghai - recovery

I had a bit of a sleep in Wednesday - I think I needed a rest after yesterday's walking. After walking past a bike rental right near the uni (where were you yesterday?!) and also walking past a restaurant I had been looking for, for the last 2 nights, I wandered to the Jiming Temple which was first built in 527 AD. It has been rebuilt a few times since, but had a fantastic large bronze Buddha that has been moved here from Beijing. The lake area around the temple looked great as did some more areas of the city wall that are still standing. I met Kane around lunchtime for the fast train back to Shanghai for some more holiday!

The long walk..

I only had a day and a half in Nanjing so I had to decide on what to do with my time. There is a large national park area in Nanjing that is host to many of it's historical sites and after being in big cities for a few days, day 1 was an easy choice. It is called Zhongshan or Purple Mountain National Park. I read an interesting book before I left home for China called 'Socialism is great' which is an autobiography about grwoing up in China in the eighties, and the author talks about climbing Purple Mountain and what it means to the local Chinese.
I got Chinese buffet breakfast with my room at the uni and it was good to give that a try and try some Chinese breakfast. I couldn't deal with congee first thing though..
After that I had a bit of a brain snap. I had already decided that I wouldn't muck around as I had limited time, and that I would ideally hire a bike and get to the park early. Apparently the park is really big and there was lots of ground to cover so I wanted to save my strength. That was the plan, but after walking for an hour I realised that I was nearly at the Yangsee river which was the wrong direction to the park... For some reason now that I'm in China I feel the need to keep walking/moving... maybe its all the people around?
I jumped in a taxi and it took me to the mausoleum of Dr Sun Yat-sen. He's the guy I first learnt about in HK and is credited as being responsible for freeing China from Monarchy and starting the Republic in the early 1900's.
I was in a bit of a grumpy mood but decided to interact with a few people to help fix my mood, there were plenty of Chinese tourists to take photos for and I met a schoolkid which then turned into meeting all the schoolkids in his group.
From the mausoleum I caught a shuttle bus to the 'scenic area' of the mountain. There are many things to look at here including an amazing beamless hall that was built in the 1300's with no wood or beams, some temples and a pagoda. From here (which is the right hand area on the wikipedia map) I started walking back towards the mausoleum (central area) and then decided to follow a path up the side of the mountain instead. (you can see what I thought I was walking up next to the blue roofs)
The shape of the Purple Mountain is like a dragon and as I headed up it started to rain. It was quite steamy in the rain but I pushed on as there were a few sites above the mausoleum that I wanted to visit. The higher I went the more dragons breath (clouds) moved in and the less visability I had - soon I couldn't see more than about 20 metres ahead. It was tough going but all of a sudden I found myself at the top of the mountain - where the cable car tower is located which is on the left hand side of the map! (I kept thinking of Miranda from Picnic at Hanging Rock) It was quite strange to find myself right across the top of the mountain - everything was shut on top of the mountain because the visability was so poor and the cable car was shut down too but it also meant that there were very few other people up there which was a nice change!
I visited a few sites on top of the mountain before I thought I better start heading down, as time was getting away from me. It was a long walk down and again my directions didn't quite work to plan. I tried to head down into the Ming tombs area (on the left of the map - below the cable car) but after a long walk and it starting to get dark I found myself at the entrance to the park on the very far right of the map! It was amazing to come out and see large sections of the Nanjing city walls which are 5 stories high, still in place.
We had been warned not to try to get a cab between 5 and 7 and it was about 5.45 so I thought I would head in the general direction of the university. It was interesting being on the street at peak hour and again before I new it, I was not far from the uni. I remembered a foot massage place that I found in a lane way when I was wandering around last night, so I headed for it as my feet were pretty sore. 1hour foot massage with a pedicure was awesome (and so cheap) so I managed to get a quick bit to eat and stagger home to rest my little feet! Looking at maps I must have covered well over 12 kms for the day which seems silly with bikes and cheap taxis - but none of these things were easily available. Regardless it will all be good training for hiking in Leaping Tiger Gorge later in my trip!

Pudong and the train to Nanjing

My mate Kane works in Pudong in Shanghai, which is the New District on the opposite side of the river to The Bund, and the old areas of Shanghai that begun developing in the 1840's. The decision to develop Pudong happened in 1990 and it is the site of all the new fancy buildings in Shanghai including the much photographed Pearl Tower.
An early start and I had breakfast in town before heading up the tallest building in Shanghai - the second(?) tallest in the world behind one in Taipei. The Shanghai World Finance Center only opened in August this year and I headed up to the 94, 95 and 100th floor to test my vertigo. The experience is fully multi-media supported and very space age as well and it was a buzz. It was a cloudy at the top (I think it is often) so my viewing was limited but fun.
I hit the ground again and negotiated my way through the Pudong streets down to the Pearl Tower. I went into a museum in the base of the tower that is a museum of Shanghai and it was interesting to see how Shanghai has developed from being a International settlement with concessions for British, French and Japanese - to now being China's financial center.
I wandered down to the river to look across at the Bund before meeting Kane and getting to the station for our train to Nanjing.
It was a fast train to Nanjing - reaching speeds of over 250kph and took about 3 hours to get to our destination. Kane checked in with his business friends at the Sheraton and I was lucky enough to have the car continue to drive me on and drop me at the university. I got a room in a hotel run by the uni for a really cheap rate and after having a bit of a walk around in the dark trying to orient myself - I eventually chase a restaurant to eat in because it seemed busy. I think all the meals were for sharing in that restaurant but I had a pretty good go at eating food for 2 (it was yum) before heading back to bed.

Holiday in Shanghai

Friday was a lazy day - I was a bit tired from the train journey, so I took it pretty quietly until my old mate Kane got home from work. We just wandered up the road to his local 'bar lane' where there is a bunch of restaurants and bars, for a meal and a quiet drink... I should've known not to go out 'for a quiet one' but I did fall asleep very quickly when we did stagger in after 2am.. It was great to let go and relax - the most relaxed I've felt for a while.
Needless to say, after so little drinking practise for so long, Saturday was also a quiet day. We played with the kids and took it easy.
Sunday took my overseas 'cultural' trip to another level in that there was a spare ticket to go to the 3rd Shanghai Formula One Grand-prix. When in one of the populated and busiest cities in the world, why not push your anxieties about being in noisy, crowded places to the limits by going to the Grand Prix?!
It was a pretty interesting experience and I'm glad I've seen one, but I don't think I'll be rushing back. The Chinese organisers haven't quite got the logistics worked out, in that we had to fight to get some real food, and drinks of any sort were sold out in our section within 30 minutes into the race. The pollution in Shanghai is pretty bad and by the end of the day my eyes were sore and I felt pretty 'dirty' from the smog. The experience of driving home in Shanghai traffic made me understand why Ex-pats employ a driver to take them anywhere.
Kane is going to Nanjing for work tomorrow for a couple of nights so I will head along too. Nanjing used to be the capital of China, before the capital was moved to Beijing in the Ming dynasty, so I think that I have to go and check it out. It will be strange for me to switch back to 'backpacker' mode for a couple of nights before heading back to Shanghai for some more ex-pat living.

Seeya Beijing

I just couldn't help myself.. My last day in Beijing and I just had to get some more Ming'in in! I think it has something to do with the millions of tourists here but I just couldn't sit still, so I hired a bike again and headed out to see a few more Ming Temples.
In the same general area I was staying were 3 old temples from different religions - all built in the Ming style. A Taoist one (7th century), a Muslim one (10th century) and a Buddhist one (7th century) - all pretty old! The highlight for me was probably the Taoist one - there were a lot of Taoist monks around and they have so many deities, and temples to honor so many of them too. The really great thing about 3 of these 'little', hidden away temples was the lack of crowds, so it was almost relaxing!
Afterwards I went off looking for the city Drum and Bell towers on my bike, but I got a bit lost - a long way from home, so I decided to haul myself back, eat another delicious Chinese meal, and get to the Station for my overnight sleeper to Shanghai.
Beijing Railway station was crazy - lucky I got there early and found my way through the crowds, onto the sleeper. Sleeper trains are a pretty comfy way to travel (except for other passengers snores and early morning conversations!)
I can't believe now I'm in Shanghai.. Beijing went so quick and I was just getting the hang of it!
It's really nice to be back in the land of Ex-pat luxury with my friends Kane and Sam. Battery recharge coming up!

summer palace walk

summer palace walk
Originally uploaded by nezzajohnson

Be warned!

summer palace buddhists

summer palace buddhists
Originally uploaded by nezzajohnson

Buddhist temples on top of the hill at the Summer palace

The Summer Palace

Well Tuesday ended up being a bit of a write-off. I woke up with no energy at all and then remembered that I was supposed to be on holidays too!
My chest infection hasn't quite cleared up in Beijings pollution so I decided to try have a day of putting my feet up.
I decided to move out of the hostel I have been staying in, to a hotel across the road that is cheaper and cleaner..
After that (and a huge brunch) I went for a walk to the west - I haven't checked that direction out yet.. I bought some cream for my damaged feet and saw the Performing Arts centre which looks like a massive spaceship. I had a massage and bought a couple of DVD's which I went home and watched after a huge early dinner.

The Chinese Hotel is much noisier than the western hostel, but I had a good sleep and got up planning to go to the Summer Palace. I was thinking about riding a bike out there, it would have taken 1.5 hrs and I didn't quite have the energy, so I decided to get a cab. I jumped in one and pointed and gestured at the meter continuously. The driver wanted to charge me 100 Y to get out there, only when I threatened to get out he turned the meter on.
It was amusing how he pointed out things to my left a couple of times and then when we finally arrived at the Summer Palace the meter said 120 Y.. (he was distracting me from signs we were passing on the right). I knew that 120Y was too much, so I wrote down his taxi driver's rego number from the certificate in the cab and threatened to report him when he suddenly dropped the price to 60Y - which is what I expected.. Not an ideal start to a relaxing day!
When I got into the Summer Palace there were the biggest crowds I have seen so far anywhere! Unfortunately I can't get my photo's off my camera tonight, so if you want, you can see more of the Summer Palace here. It is pretty impressive - 4 times the size of the Forbidden City and it has large gardens and lakes. It became the home of Dowager Cixi (the Dragon Lady). She was still in power at the end of the Qing dynasty when China became a republic. She was interested in photography when it was first invented, and there were some really interesting photos of her and the palace from 1897-1908. I also saw some great Jade, porcelain, bronze and other artwork from the museums collection - some of it dating back to BC.
It was great to check out, but after another day walking around for 6 + hours I was exhausted.. The big question was the journey home and dodgy taxi drivers.. Good old Lonely Planet told me about a public bus that goes to my neighbourhood so I decided to do the local thing. The cost was 2 Y (less than 50 cents!) It was great to be in with the locals, although it was peak hour and so the ride took about 1.5 hours in traffic jams.. My feet were falling off and I popped into a local restaurant for dinner that I had seen a few nights ago.. A large group of Chinese came in so I moved around on my table to let them all sit together a the table next to mine, and before I knew it a few of them were sitting with me too! It was really great to meet some Chinese who were also tourists here in Beijing.. They were here just for the day to go and see Chairman Mao's tomb. It was a really good way to finish my day in Beijing - with the locals - I'm feeling a bit more settled in now and ready to move on to Shanghai on the overnight train tomorrow. Beijing is a great city - so much to see and do, but it is time to go - so much Ming/Qing Dynasty architecture does begin to look the same after a while - the magnitude of everything here is amazing and must be seen to be believed. I'm Ming'ed out on Beijing for now and getting down to Shanghai and back to the Ex-Pat lifestyle for a bit will help me kick the holiday mood in.

Beijing by bicycle

I woke up feeling a bit rough today from drinking beers last night. With my sore feet I decided that a bike would be a good option.
The pollution is not very good today and visibility is down but getting around on a bike was fantastic. This is the only way to see Beijing and although it is a little scary on the road at first you soon work out the way the road system works. There are large areas for bikes to ride in and cars some time end up in these sections too - no one travels all that fast when things get congested so I never really felt too threatened..
After checking out the moat and canals at the front, I rode north of the Forbidden City and it was great to see some of the other, larger Hutongs up there. I found my way to Beihai Park which is another massive park associated with the Emperors and Dynasties. There is a large White Pagoda in the park and quite a few temples dedicated to Buddha. It is also dominated by a lake.
There were lots of Chinese visitors here as well and I somehow managed to walk around for a couple of hours.
I had a most delicious bowl of Vietnamese Pho for lunch and then, to keep the Buddhist theme going, headed over to the Lama Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in Beijing. It was home for one of the Royal Prices in the past and again was pretty impressive. There is a Buddha that is 3 storeys high - carved out of a single piece of wood and some amazing statutes and ornaments. The temple was packed with a lot of locals burning incense and cowtowing before the many statues and effergies of Buddha but it was well worth visiting. When it started to rain a bit as I left I decided to call it a day and return my bike for now..

The Temple of Heaven

Well today is Sunday and I've decided I need to take my foot of the accelerator a little.
Being Sunday what better day to check out the Temple of Heaven - a large park in Beijing that has a couple of temples in it that the emperors used to go and prey and make sacrifices to Heaven at. I walked down to where I thought it was and found it after a little while.
The Temple of Heaven is really impressive - it is a circular, 3 storey, wooden building and the grounds and buildings were really nice to check out and walk around in. (I'm not going to post pictures here because the Ming Architecture looks a bit the same after a while - you really need to come and see the size of these places to really appreciate it properly)
One of the highlights of being there was seeing all the local Chinese people - I'm guessing because it's Sunday there were lots out and about in the parkland. Large groups would gather together and do exercise & chanting together, do some dancing, play something like hackysac - or have a group singalong - the group singing was fantastic and the enthusiasm people sang with made me nearly burst into tears!
I was feeling pretty good so I thought I would wander around some areas of Beijing that I haven't been before - it was a beautiful day and eventually I that decided I better eat. Time to try the ordering food thing again - I cheated a bit and picked a restaurant that had a menu with pictures. After ordering, I worked out that pictures don't really help anyway, because although I got the greens right, the dish that I though was a picture of beef with chili on it came out and it wasn't beef.. There were lots of small bones and not too much chili in it too (something to do with the chef coming out and looking at me when he was cooking?) It tasted OK so I got through most of it - when I made it back to the hostel I found out that I had eaten 'Spicy Duck' - not really spicy but I was pleased to find out it wasn't a completely unexpected animal!
I found my way to the remaining section of the Beijing city wall which was interesting to check out. Walls are definitely a big part of my interpretation of China - all the different city walls, the Hutongs are surrounded by walls and of course there's the Great Wall.
So much for taking my foot of the accelerator though - I covered what felt like a huge area on foot again today - when you look on a map though the area is really quite small!
My feet are not happy and I now have split and bruised heels.. Silly. (I wonder if that has anything to do with wearing shoes!) I decided that a few beers were required so I had some with Wayne and Ali from Newcastle/Sunderland. They just got married and are travelling for six months or so - before that Wayne has been in Iraq since 2003 and his book on his experience is coming out soon..

Beijing Day 2 (Saturday)

I decided last night after a great day in the Forbidden City that I had to keep the tourist energy up so I booked to go on the hostels 'Secret Wall' tour.
This meant the end of my first 'Days without Shoes' count. It had been 11 days since I put a pair of shoes and socks on, but today sturdy footware was required.
I left the Hostel at 7.30am in a mini bus with 8 other gwai lo's. It was interesting to see Beijing Streets but also pretty scary as it seems line markings and traffic lights don't mean much some times..
After a couple of hours we picked up a local guide from a village and not far from there we got out and began to walk up the side of a mountain. It was pretty tough going and a couple of young guys had to stop for extra rests (too much beer last night?).
After 40 mins or so we made it onto the wall. This was the wall as it is now - without being 'done up' for tourists. We had driven past some of these modified sections on the way and the amount of tourists we could see was reminding me of Central Beijing yesterday.
It was great to have just our group (and maybe 5 others) walking along this section of the wall. Zheng yesterday was calling the wall 'the longest graveyard in the world' because of the amount of people who died building it, and seeing the landscape today I can see how hard it would have been - even walking parts of the wall was really hard because of the steepness and undulations in the landscape. The landscapes and mountains looked great.
After walking for a couple of hours we made our way down into a village and had some regional food for lunch. It was pretty tasty - nice and spicy how I like it and mostly vegetables. It was great to eat some local food without having to try to read a Chinese menu!

Beijing - Day 1 (Friday)

I was woken quite early by the street sounds of Beijing (Radios and construction noise) I stayed in bed for a while as I was still pretty tired and still shaking the end of a slight chest infection. I decided during breakfast that it would be a good day to see Central Beijing, namely Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. I thought it would be good to go on a Friday in case there were a lot of local visitors on the weekend.. I got up to Tianamen Square and there were thousands of people everywhere and a massive queue to get into Chairman Mao's mausoleum. I started off by going up into the National Gate which is the largest gate in Beijing and is what remains of one of the many city walls. It was worthwhile and gave a good view of Beijing.
I decided not to queue to see Chairman Mao's body so I made my way through Tianamen Square to The Forbidden City. There were people everywhere - I just kept envisioning Moses parting the red sea as I walked (all day long) and made it through the people without getting to agro!
Just outside the Forbidden City a guy approached me and asked if I wanted a guide.. It felt like a good option so after a bit of bargaining Zheng and I went in. Zheng is a lecturer on the Qing Dynasty so he had lots of knowledge about the city. He also explained that - due to the weather - now is the mostly popular time for people to come to Beijing from all over China.
Guide Books suggest that you spend half a day or so in the city - my tour was for 1.5 hours - so Zheng and I moved through pretty quickly. He gave me a really good overview of the city and what the different sections and buildings were for (there were 9999 rooms when it was first built and many palaces and hall and temples). We didn't even go into the first 3 main halls as they are empty - the relics having been moved to Taiwan with the Nationalist party when they left Beijing in a hurry chased out by Chairman Mao. We had a better look at the back court of the city which is where the emperors and their families lived and the 'ruling' was done. I also heard a lot about 'the Dragon Lady' who was formerly a concubine and ended up ruling China for a long time from 'behind the curtain'. Which is a reference to the curtain that she would sit behind while her son and then nephew sat in the throne. We also saw some of her artwork (calligraphy).

Zheng then took me into a small hall up the back of the city and introduced me to an artist who is a nephew of the last emperor. It sounded like a bit of a scam but they showed me some books on him, his name was long and this was inside the official Forbidden City so I was convinced, and bought some calligraphy and had my photo taken with him.
Zheng left at that point and I decided to wander around the city. The size of it was amazing and I was really impressed - it's the best kept temple/ruin that I have visited and the fact that it is in the middle of Beijing is awesome. I had a look through a lot of the old wings where artifacts from the museum are kept - everything from clothing to musical instruments and weapons. The gardens were great and I most enjoyed the jewlery exhibition (I paid extra for) where there were some amazing stones, crystals and golden Buddhas.
Whilst I saw heaps, the day was getting quite long and I missed lunch running around in excitement, so towards the end of the day I decided to leave, having not visited all the different temple and palaces inside. Whilst I did see lots, you might of noticed from this blog that I didn't get to the Gate or the Hall of Literary Brilliance. What an awesome place though and I'm so glad I have visited it.
After exiting the city I wandered over to the park\garden behind the Forbidden City - Jingshan Park. This is walled as well and it well kept. It was nice to have a wander around and get to the top to look out over the forbidden city.
I was on a bit of a high and maybe a bit tired after no lunch when I think I got introduced to one of Beijing scams. I met a nice bloke who was visiting Beijing from northern China for a few days. We wandered around the gardens and talked about what to do and see in Beijing when he suggested we have some tea. I thought it would be nice to enjoy with a Chinese person but was quite surprised at the prices for the tea. The tea ceremony was interesting but it was definitely the most expensive pot of tea I have ever bought and my friend couldn't tell me anything about the cultural experience I thought I was having.. His story was really good up to then and although he bought some tea I have a feeling it was taken back. I know to be wary of this now and it's also a good excuse to make sure I eat Lunch!
Speaking of missing lunch - by the time I made it back to the Hostel I was starving so I went out and ate half a duck for dinner - Peking style of course.

Hong Kong to the Mainland

Well another 5.45am start to head into Central HK with Steve. Today though I'm heading to the mainland - Beijing. I was a bit nervous about the Chinese border guards but everything went really well and the whole flight experience was easy. The only thing that was a bit strange was the Chinese flight announcements. When you are flighing along and there is a bit of turbulance, the announcement is "Can all passengers return to their seats and fasten seat belts. We have a problem" it doesn't make you feel so safe!
I did a bit of research while I was waiting at the airport in HK about places to stay in Beijing. I decided on a hostel that is in one of the Hutongs - which is an old style of neighbourhood in Beijing - for the cultural experience and because these Hutongs are disappearing. I memorised the way to get to the hostel and really surprised myself in that I caught a public shuttle bus and then the tube to Quaimen (just near Tianamen Square) in central Beijing. Everyone was telling me that English isn't a problem in Beijing but I can tell you that most people don't speak any, so getting to the station I wanted, straight off the plane, for $3, in an hour I was pretty happy with myself. I then couldn't find the hostel so I got my 'Hutong experience' walking around looking for 3 hours. Eventually I met some Germans who explained that there are new roads that are not in the Lonely Planet map, and who took me to the hostel. There is a restaurant across the road that has a menu with pictures in it so I had a bowl of noodles and crashed out very early.

Lamma Island and Dr Sun

Today is my last day in HK so I decided to head out and check out the 3rd biggest Island in the group which is called Lamma.

(you can also see where Clearwater bay - where I'm staying - is on this map)

It was a 40 minute ferry ride to Lamma and I got out to Sok Kwu Wan (in the middle of the Island) around 8am.  I walked southern section of the island first and it seemed completely deserted.  I saw 2 old ladies and a couple of dogs in the 2 hours it took to walk around.  There are no cars on Lamma Island so it was pretty peaceful but other than the Seafood restaurants at the harbour the Ferry docked in, it seemed as if the Southern part of the Island was slowly dying.  There were lots of ruins and the amount of rubbish on the beaches (after Mo Tat Wan) wasn't nice.

After having a look at the Tin Hau Temple in  Sok Kwu Wan I headed North.  This way was a different story and the first beach that I came to was immaculate and even had a few lifeguards on duty.  It was a pleasant but slightly hilly walk up to the Northern port Yung Shue Wan and I bumped into more and more people the further I went.  The town when I got there was really nice and made me think it was like the Asian version of a Greek Island town or even somewhere on the Amalfi coast!  There were quite a few tourists who were staying there and holiday type shops as well as lots of restaurants.  I had a delicious Cantonese Seafood lunch of spicy Squid before getting the ferry back to Hong Kong Central.

I headed back up into the Soho district in Hong Kong for the afternoon and went to the Museum of Dr Sun Yat-Sen.  I didn't know anything about him but it was interesting to find out that he played a big part in the Chinese revolution around 1900 and the abdication of the Qing dynasty.  He was the first president of the Republic of China in 1911.  There was also an exhibition of photographs from an American photographer who came to take pictures of the revolution which was pretty interesting.  As I wondered back to meet Steve I found the more romantic looking street markets which was a nice way to finish my visit to Hong Kong.

A big thanks to Steve and Lou for having me stay with them here in HK.  Tomorrow I'm on a flight to Beijing and China proper!    

Cheung Yeung

Tuesday was Cheung Yeung in HK which is a public holiday. It is based on a story from the Han dynasty when an oracle advised a man to take his family to a high place to escape a plague. When he returned the man found every living thing had died. Not much celbrateing but lots of locals go walking in the hills...

It meant that Steve got half the day off. I had a lzy morning as I have a bit of an infection in my chest or throat - could be from walking in and out of air conditioning all day, a result of my reflexology unlocking something or the air quality here - or a bit of them all I think..

We headed into the Kowloon Cricket Club in the afternoon for a family outing which was nice and relaxing - we played with the kids, watched a bit of cricket and then I had a Vindaloo to try to get my system moving a bit! After tea Lou and kids went home and Steve and I had a look around Kowloon which is a bit different from HK Island. It feels more local (chinese?) and a bit more relaxed than Hong Kong Island. We checked out the Sound and Light show which happens everynight in Hong Kong - where all the office buildings on Hong Kong island light up and put on a show to tinnie music. It was good to check out and seemed very appropriate for Asia - the Green lasers off the top of a few buildings was the best!

lhwcw1

lhwcw1
Originally uploaded by nezzajohnson

Looking out over Lobster Bay

buddisttemple2

buddisttemple2
Originally uploaded by nezzajohnson

The Bays

Well Monday morning and Steve would have been hurting a bit today after last nights schenanigans!  I decided to check out the local area and go for a walk around the Clearwater Bay and Lobster Bay areas.  

On the road down into the village on Lobster Bay there is a Buddhist temple.  It was a pretty steep walk to get up there and I was quite surprised at the size of it all when I entered the grounds. There were some older buildings that look like old apartments there but there is also a new shrine being built as well as some large statues being finished off.  In the first entrance to the property (there are 2 driveways) I spoke to a local 'worker' who told me that the Buddhists have been there since the 60's and that their 'Master' also lived on the property.  I walked down to a second building and noticed that there were a number of elderly people in there - some smiled and waved at me and I realised that it was a home for the elderly that was run by the Buddhist Nuns and Monks.  I worked further up the hill property and came across a large temple. It was really impressive inside with lots of statues and gold and a couple of local Cantonese people came over for a chat.

After leaving the centre I headed to the top of the road overlooking Clearwater Bay and then walked down another road to the Clearwater Bay Country Park.  This was a kind of National Park looked after by the government that had a BBQ picnic and kite flying areas.  I did a tree tops walk in the Park (and saw lots of 'lost' kites in the trees) and then found the Lung Ha Wan Country trail walk which was a long walk over the top of the mountain behind Lobster Bay where I am staying.  It was quite tough going but the views of the surrounding bays and Islands was spectacular - I though that my photos wouldn't turn out because of the heat haze/pollution but the few shots I did take look ok.   Here are a few shots

After so much walking I decided to take it easy for the rest of the day and got to spent a bit of time with Charlie and Thomas (Steve and Lou's kids).

seafood restaurant

seafood restaurant
Originally uploaded by nezzajohnson

Charlie outside a restaurant in Sai Kung

G&T at the Country Club

G&T at the Country Club
Originally uploaded by nezzajohnson

Having G&T at the club

Hong Kong expat lifestyle

Well, I've really started my holiday now and have been living the life of luxury for the past few days.  My last post was a lazy Friday recharging after transit and that night I headed into central HK for Friday night knockoff with the expats.  I had a few beers with some old friends of Steve's (who I have met in various places around the world)  Cormac and Phil.  After a quick burger Steve's wife Louise came in to meet us and we headed to a nightclub/bar where one of their neighbours was playing in a battle of the bands.  There wew nine bands playing and the winner will go on to represent China in a world wide competition...  It was pretty fun but I'm not sure if the neighbours band (called Uranus) will go onto represent China particulaly as they consisted of 5 big (or in their words - overweight) Englishmen.  It's been a long time since I had so many drinks and it was fun sitting up with Steve and talking rubbish till 4am - until the next day!

Things turned out alright though as the next day Charlie (Steve and Lou's oldest son) had swimming lessons so I went down and spent the day at the country club by the pool.  It was nice and relaxing and great to cool off in the pool and recover.  I heard a number of the expats say both on Friday night and Saturday that "once you have lived in HK it's hard to move anywhere else..  If you are here for 3 years you probably won't leave".  Expats and wealthy locals can buy memberships to local clubs and it is a bit like being in a holiday resort all year round..

Sunday we had a bit of the Typhoon weather washing over us so it's been pretty rainy.  This morning we went down to Sai Kung which is a local fishing village and it was interesteing to see all the old junks and boats in the harbour.  There were some pretty interesting seafood restaurants too.  As the rain kicked in we popped up to Murray and Laura house (in the same block) to watch Murrays team Manly in the Rugby League Grand Final - they smashed Melbourne so he was pretty happy.   It's raining pretty heavy tonight but hopefully the weather will clear for Tuesday.

Departure..

Well, the journey has begun..

Wednesday night in Melbourne and my sister Fleur was picking Dad up from the airport so I went out with her a little bit early and said farewell to Dad too.

It was kindof good checking in early, except I got a bit of a lecture from the Qantas check-in lady about not having any visa's or return tickets.  After starting to get anxious waiting around for so long to board, I forgave her as I was up the back of the plane where the economy seat rows reduce to just 2 (from 3) and there was no one sitting next to me.  

There was a bit of turbulance during the flight but I did manage to lie down in my seating arrangement and get a few hours sleep after watching the Scorcese movie about the Rolling Stones called 'Shine a Light' (which I thought was a great title to start my trip with).

After landing around 6am I was into central HK by 8am and I met up with my mate and host Steve.  I put my backback in his car and headed for the day out to explore.  (this was my second day in HK after being here 5 years ago)

HK is pretty crazy.  Walking the streets is like no where else because you're not really walking the streets.  I first headed up into an area called Soho where there is a permanent escalator (kilometers of it) built into the hillside to help people get around.  The only problem was the escalator was coming into town for people coming to work, and I was going the other way.  (A good workout after sitting in the plane.)  

I then headed for Steve's travel agent and it was really easy for him to organise my Chinese visa and I booked a flight to Bejing next Thursday. 

I had a look around the Sheung Wan area and I thought looking at the food markets might be nice but they weren't really, so I headed out to check out the piers and learn about the different island you can visit.  Thats the plan for next week.

I then decided I should cross the harbour and have lunch in Kowloon.  It was a really long walk to Kowloon Ferry and again walking the streets was pretty different.  If you walk at street level you quite often get stuck as the roads twist and turn around.  There is an elevated walkway that snakes across town at around the second floor level and you walk through a large range of shopping malls and office buildings - in and out of the heat.  The outside sections tend to have quite a few smokers on them too.  Eventually I made it over the Ferry terminal and realised how easy it would have been to just catch the (underground) train, but not as interesting I'm sure. 

Some pictures of Hong Kong

Once I hit Kowloon I was after noodles, and the place I went to had a big line out the front so I kept walking and was feeling pretty tired.  I was thinking how sore my feet were (and have been for a week or so) when I looked up and saw a foot massage/reflexology sign so in I went.  It was quite painful but well worth it.  My feet are still recovering the next day, but they have loosened up a lot and another session in a week or so and I recon they'll be great.

After wanding around Kowloon gardens and visiting more unromantic food markets I got a seat at the noodle shop and had some great noodles and spring rolls.

I then wandered around Kowloon for a bit longer and got the Ferry back over the HK Island.  

I wandered through Wan Chai just to remember what it was like last time I was here and got physically dragged into a Lady Bar very briefly..  I wasn't really interested in a drink at that time and after little sleep last nightit would have been very danagerous!  I slowly wandered back into Central before meeting Steve after his work day and heading back to his house and the family.

Steve lives out at Clearwater Bay in the New Territories.  It was and interesting drive out and there are not many houses nested in amongst the forrest/park which is a nice change from busy Hong Kong.  We had a yummy dinner and I slept very well.

Today I'm just relaxing - sitting looking over the bay and getting prepeared for full time holiday/travel mode.  Steve and Lou and I will spend the weekend with the kids, Charlie and Thomas, probably do some walking in the local parkland before a Typhoon is due to hit Sunday!  It will be nice to see some real rain again as it's been a ling time between drinks back in Melbourne.