China Part 3 - Pingyao & Xi'an:

Pingyao (and getting there!):

Most travellers have never heard of Pingyao as it's a tiny little town in between Beijing and Xi'an with not much going on, but we heard it was a really cool place to relax in so off we went. Unfortunately we were unable to bag hard sleeper tickets on the train and could only get seated, for an overnight journey of about 10 hours this is not ideal. So imagine this, when all the seats are filled up, they proceed to sell people standing tickets and so the train was overcrowded with half of china blocking the aisles, ladies holding babies and huge laundry bags full of goodness knows what all over the place. We were stuck in the middle of all this chaos and when 4am came round and the conductor shouted “Pingyao” it was a frenzied rush to try to get our backpacks from underneath the seats and get to the door. Nobody moved out of the way and the door was blocked by about 6 people lying or sitting in front of it and by the time we finally got there the guy said it was too late and we had to get off at the next town!!! Luckily there was an English speaking girl on the train who explained this to us, and said the next town was only 20 mins away which was a relief because sometimes the train doesn't stop for hours!

We finally got off the stinky train and found a nice taxi driver to take us back to Pingyao. The only thing was that it took over an hour to find our hostel as the town has old style tiny streets made for carts not cars and he didn't have a clue how to get around it! An old lady picking up plastic bottles helped us in the end, but when finally reaching our destination we found that the hostel was fully closed up and everyone had gone back to bed (they were picking us up at the station had we got off the train!). So we sat on the doorstep like two vagabonds and watched the little town slowly coming to life and the sun rising over the the rooftops. Little old ladies were up and about first, going to the market to buy their vegetables and stretching and exercising. It was cool actually looking back but at the time we were just cold and exhausted!

Our hostel was in a building constructed for the Emperor when he was coming to visit (which in the end he didn't) so it was quite plush in an old sort of way! We had an old style bed made of bricks and period furniture, and it was accessed through a little courtyard, it was just lovely.

Pingyao has retained it's old city wall and we enjoyed walking on part of it. All the buildings within the city wall have been maintained in the old period style and we watched the smoke curling out of the little chimneys and spied on people going about their daily routine. We watched the sun setting from our high vantage point and it was all very romantic! You can go into many of the buildings which have been converted into museums describing what their use was such as the prison, bank (Pingyao was where the first currency was used), important peoples houses etc so we had fun poking around the dusty little town for a few days. When we decided it was time to leave we were told that lots of students were going back to college due to (another) Chinese holiday so there were no bus tickets left! We only got stuck for an extra 2 days and when we finally got a ticket it was at an inflated price because they were in such high demand! That is China all over, where there's a profit to made, you can bet it will be!

Xi'an:

Having finally escaped from the quaint Pingyao we found ourselves back in a large city. Xi'an is a big place as has all the usual hustle and bustle associated with a large Chinese city. The main attraction here of course is Emperor Qin's Army of Terracotta Warriors. Its hard to know what to expect from this well known tourist attraction, but one thing I hadn't considered was the size of the pits and the number of warriors. Other than the outdated introductory video (which could desperately use a revamp) the site is presented very well, getting close to some of the warriors and having a close look at the detail of the faces and bodies really brings them to life. All the warriors on display have been painstaking reconstructed as they were damaged either by looting or the roof collapsing, to try and imagine them as they were originally with colour and all standing in formation just blows your mind. There are still a lot to be reconstructed and also other pits to be uncovered but they are trying to find a way to unearth them without the sunlight bleaching their colours.

Surrounding the city is the ancient city wall, but don't let its age fool you, it is by no means modest. It protects a large part of the city and stands as high as most buildings and almost as wide. Walking around the top you get a view over the city's rooftops and can watch life on the streets far below. We also visited the centrally located Bell Tower, an ornate building in the centre of a crossroads. We were lucky as we got to see a traditional Chinese musical performance, with instruments of the olden days. We spent one evening visiting the Big Goose Pagoda, where at 9:00 every night they put on a fabulous light and water show, complete with 'Jingle Bells'! The show was spectacular and on a par with Disney shows I have seen, it certainly draws a crowd and you have to push to get a decent view.

China Part 2: Beijing

A great time in a great city:

Apart from the chaos at the train stations in Shanghai and Beijing the journey on the overnight train (10 hours) was almost enjoyable! Beijing was literally a breath of fresh air after Shanghai, namely due to the effort they had put in to reduce pollution for the Olympics, you could actually see the sun in the sky and buildings that were more than 100 meters away. Even though the Olympics had officially finished the town was still in full Olympic mode and on its best behaviour. Rumour has it that the residents of Beijing were given strict instructions of do's and don'ts including: no spitting, no begging, no wearing white socks with black trousers, and to smile at tourists, just some of the funny ones we heard. Visiting the Olympic village was a strange experience, to see the crazy styling of the Birds Nest and the Water Cube in the flesh (although you can't get that close!) makes you realise how much time, effort and money the Chinese put into the Olympics.

Our adventures took us to various temples and palaces including Lama Temple, which is a great example of Chinese Temple building at its best. The main building even holds a huge 27m giant standing Buddha carved out of a single piece of wood, which is quite a sight. We also visited the majestic Forbidden City, which for years was only accessible to Royalty and not meer peasants like ourselves! Tienanmen Square just outside of the Forbidden City is a strange mix, with more security cameras and undercover police than you can count – awaiting the revolution maybe? The Summer Palace was a highlight and is a must see in Beijing, it was built as a present to the Emperor's mother for her birthday, what a gift indeed! It encompasses a huge man made lake and numerous temples and shrines.

We were in a bit of a quandary as to how we were going to visit the Great Wall, there were plenty of tours on offer but they did seem pricey. After some advice from fellow backpackers we decided on visiting the stretch between Jing San Ling and Simatai, by ourselves, without the aid of a tour group. It meant getting a bus to another town, then a taxi to the wall. The bus journey was fine apart from the taxi drivers trying to pry us off before the final stop so that they could charge us an inflated sum to take us the rest of the way. We resisted and got off in the correct place to be confronted by 20 or more cab drivers all screaming for our trade. While negotiating a price we were found by a friendly guy from Spain called Poli who was also going to the wall, so we pretended to know each other so we could split the fare, much to the annoyance of all the other cab drivers who realised they were going to miss out. A fight almost broke out as they tried to stop us getting in a cab together and one of the other drivers tried to steal our keys!

We eventually made it to the wall having picked up a girl (Katie from the USA) on the way who was walking! So the four of us set off in the glorious sunshine and in no time found ourselves standing on one of the most incredible structures to be built by human hands. It was an extremely surreal feeling to look in each direction, to see the wall snaking across the hills and thinking of the history of how it was built, and what the Mongol's must have thought when they first saw it! This section of the wall is less visited, other than a handful of other tourists the only people about were locals trying to make a few Yen selling water, beers and souvenirs. It took us about 4 hours to trek the 10km, past parts of the walls that were nearly ruined, you had to dismount from the wall and skirt around the edge of the crumbling mess, but mostly it was in good condition. Near the end you must cross a rickety bridge across a gorge over a river, before taking a zip wire over the lake – what a great end!

No visit to Beijing would be complete without eating at the infamous Wanfujing Street market. You can buy a vast array of land and sea creatures, on a stick, deep fried. We joined a couple of Hungarian guys (Gabor and Andras) we met at the hostel, first of all we walked along to see what was on offer and whet our taste buds. Some of the different culinary delights included: Scorpions, starfish, silk worm larvae, bulls penis, sheep's testicles and I heard someone mention dog. Andras decided to try some snake, he said it was ok so Fran and I tucked in as well. We then tried some crickets, a centipede and Fran finished off with some Seahorses (yes that is Seahorses, 3 of the little fellas, and she claims to still regret it!). I have to say that nothing I tried was particularly nasty in taste or texture, but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat any of it again either!

Our last night in Beijing was spent with new friends from the hostel, Johannes twisted my arm into going out for a few drinks so we visited the area by a lake that is packed to the rafters with bars and clubs, many with live music spilling onto the streets. Being backpackers the cheapest option was to buy beers from a street vendor and soak up the ambience as we walked around. We finished the night with 2 for 1 cocktails in a bar, where we learnt a new dice game that the Chinese go crazy for!

Overall our experience of Beijing was very memorable, we would definitely recommend a visit as it is a beautiful and exciting city, which retains its historic integrity whilst also embracing the future and making tourists feel a part of it all.

Our first taste of China...

Arriving in Shanghai:

Coming to China from Japan is a massive culture shock, even more so if your first stop is Shanghai. The culture and psyche here are a world apart from that of the Japanese and you can feel it from the first time you step off the plane. Coming from the quiet, reserved, clean world of the Japanese into the loud, bustling, booming world of the Chinese is an incredible contrast. There can't be many other neighbouring countries with so vast differences. The populous here are very forward (even though English isn't very widely spoken) and not afraid to ask for a picture with the 'crazy' different looking Westerners.

Our first notable Shanghai experience was trying to get to the hotel we had booked. We had the name and address (but not in Chinese), we decided to get a taxi from the Maglev station (400+ km/h magnetic levitation train - cool!) as we weren't familiar with the town. The taxi driver started heading in vaguely the right direction before shouting at us in Chinese as he didn't know exactly where we wanted to go! Eventually we managed to direct him using the poor map in the Lonely Planet, but I wish I knew what he was shouting at us!

Shanghai is a city undergoing massive change due to the amount of money pouring into China, everywhere you look there is either newly constructed skyscrapers or building sites. The pollution is a huge issue though as even on sunny days you cannot see the sun but just the grey haze hanging chokingly over the city. The buildings around the Bund are a sight to behold, and some of the most modern and interesting architecture I have seen. The beggars and street vendors however are a pain, women holding small children and tugging your clothing repeating “money, money” remind you of the vast gap that exists in China between wealthy and poor.

Our highlights of Shanghai were the Yuyuan Gardens and bazaar, a crazy world complete with loud street vendors waiting to haggle and serene landscaped gardens hidden away from the bustle; the French Concession with its swanky and trendy bars and café's, and the incredible show Era which left us with jaws hanging open in awe of the strength and balance of the performers.

Our next stop was to be Beijing, just days after the Olympics finished. Rumours from other travellers were that the city had undergone a massive facelift and was trying hard to impress.

Shanghai in pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/phase_k/tags/shanghai/