I had to pay 20 ￥ （approx。 3 dollars）for the publication rights to this journal entry （all spelling is original-in more ways than one）
On the 22 we arived in pingyao， walked around the station and found that the doors had bycycle locks on them。 But we weren‘t the only ones。 there were at least six other people with us and all the officers inside did was lagh at us。 Some people walked up and down the doors looking for one without a lock， but there were none。 So it’s ten thirty， the guy from the hotel is waiting for us on the other side of the building， and we don‘t know what to do。 finally a conductor came and unlocked one of the doors for us。 When we finally got to the other side a guy with a sign saying “ALAWRITCHI” came up to us and brought us to a little electric cart he had waiting for us。 So we all squeezed into this cramped cart with our bags and after awhile we decide he’s not taking us to the hotel， He‘s taking us around in circles and that got my parents going all “are you sure this is the guy from the hotel” and “I thought you were following him”。 So my parents were geting all worked up until my brother said “of course this is the guy from the hotel， don‘t be stupid， I was following him” and at that moment， as if on qeue， we stoped and the taxi driver said “walk from here”。So we walked down the street to the hotel and were given a very warm welcome and some very warm tea by the owners。 We then had dinner， wich was quite good， and got our room where I fell asleep right away。
The next day we met the puppy， a tiny dog the colour of coffee full of milk。 He also had one white stripe that ran halfway across his shoulders。 He would sit and let you pet him for hours。（well，I bet he would， mum didn’t give me that long）。 after breakfast we climbed up and walked along the city walls。 When we were leaving we noticed a dog coming out of the hotel next door， a really scruffy dog that was supposed to be white but looked brown beacause of dirt。 When we looked off the wall we saw another dog like it。dad said “Look， it‘s the dog from next door， I didn’t think it would come this far” and so mum said “It‘s not the same dog， that’s just what dogs look like here” so the rest of the way Jacob and dad and I were looking for dogs that looked different， saying things like “that one is brown， not white” and “that one is huge， and black”。 That annoyed mum a lot。
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
Heading for Beijing today
We have been to Pingyao and now Datong since the last post. In Pingyao we stayed in the guest house with the nicest hosts you could imagine. They kept giving stuff to the kids like drinks and peanuts. There was only one internet connection for the whole guesthouse so we couldn't really stay on for very long because someone else was always waiting. We are in one of the HUGE internet cafes you find in China. Actually this one only has about 50 computers (the other 46 people are smoking). We have been in internet cafes with up to about 200 computers.
Pingyao is a beautiful little city. They have an almost intact city wall that is about 6km (don't believe the link it says 64 km) in total. You can climb up and walk but not all the way round as a couple of places have caved in. They seem to be in the process of rebuilding it. It has a much more authentic look than the one in Xi'an. The guidebook had said that large parts were missing in Xi'an(3 yrars ago) and it is intact now. It is quite obvious that it is new construction in a lot of places. The one in Pingyao had bricks falling out of the facade all over so it looked old. Apparently Pingyao was quite poor so it didn't get torn down and rebuilt like so many other places. It has a lot of old buildings and has been designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO. It was well worth going to. We were there for two days and rented bicycles each day to cycle round the town. It is what you think of when you think of China. It is the only place we have been to that had old architechture over most of the old town. We took a side trip to the Wang family courtyard which was a walled enclosure for about 250 members of the extended Wang family built in the 1700's. The kids got tired after two hours but it would take 3 or 4 hours to see everything. We had the option of going to the Qiao family courtyard where they filmed Raise the Red Lantern but the guy at the guesthouse said the Wang courtyard was 5 times bigger and better. I think the kids would have been fine at the small one.
The night before last we took the night train between Pingyao and Datong. We arrived at 5.15 in the morning. The kids were still tired so we found a hotel and let them crash. The first hotel we went to had indescribably bad toilets. We would have had to share and I couldn't even look let alone think of using them. We went to another hotel across the square and it seemed great in comparison. It is still dirty (I will do another post on the pollution soon) and the plaster is falling off the walls, but what the heck, I don't feel like being ill when I use the bathroom. Actually, I am sure it was once a luxury hotel. It has really nice architecture with a grand staircase from the lobby to the second floor. It is just that it was probably a luxury hotel in the 50's.
Datong is really a nasty place with two fabulous attractions. Yesterday we went on a bus tour to both. They are the Yungang Grottoes and the Hanging Monastery. The tour was good but the two venues are in opposite directions from town so you are on the bus for a total of 4 out of 8 hours to see the sights. The grottoes were very impressive. They cover about a kilometer of cliff face but half of them are "under renovation". A lot of chinese sites are being fixed up for the olympics next year. I think that is why they fixed the walls in Xi'an. We were talking to a guy that had been to the terra cotta warriors in 2003 and he said they were surrounded by huts. They now have huge new buildings around all the dig sites. The half we saw were impressive enough to make the trip to Datong worthwhile. There were 20 caves open and about 7 of them had huge Buddhas or Boddhisatvas several meters high carved out of the rock. Some of the caves had elaborate carvings all round and a couple of them were painted as well as carved.
The Hanging Monastery was built by monks 1400 years ago by lowering themselves down the cliff on ropes. It was certainly a labour of devotion. When you are in it, you just hope it lasts 1400 and one years. It is obviously very old wood. Some of the passages are outside with just knee high rails and a drop of 20 meters off the other side. They have set out a route so you cover the whole thing but everyone travels in one direction. I am sure that in high season, you would have no choice of the pace you travelled in. There is probably just a slow shuffle all round.
We are catching the train to Beijing at noon today.
Pingyao is a beautiful little city. They have an almost intact city wall that is about 6km (don't believe the link it says 64 km) in total. You can climb up and walk but not all the way round as a couple of places have caved in. They seem to be in the process of rebuilding it. It has a much more authentic look than the one in Xi'an. The guidebook had said that large parts were missing in Xi'an(3 yrars ago) and it is intact now. It is quite obvious that it is new construction in a lot of places. The one in Pingyao had bricks falling out of the facade all over so it looked old. Apparently Pingyao was quite poor so it didn't get torn down and rebuilt like so many other places. It has a lot of old buildings and has been designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO. It was well worth going to. We were there for two days and rented bicycles each day to cycle round the town. It is what you think of when you think of China. It is the only place we have been to that had old architechture over most of the old town. We took a side trip to the Wang family courtyard which was a walled enclosure for about 250 members of the extended Wang family built in the 1700's. The kids got tired after two hours but it would take 3 or 4 hours to see everything. We had the option of going to the Qiao family courtyard where they filmed Raise the Red Lantern but the guy at the guesthouse said the Wang courtyard was 5 times bigger and better. I think the kids would have been fine at the small one.
The night before last we took the night train between Pingyao and Datong. We arrived at 5.15 in the morning. The kids were still tired so we found a hotel and let them crash. The first hotel we went to had indescribably bad toilets. We would have had to share and I couldn't even look let alone think of using them. We went to another hotel across the square and it seemed great in comparison. It is still dirty (I will do another post on the pollution soon) and the plaster is falling off the walls, but what the heck, I don't feel like being ill when I use the bathroom. Actually, I am sure it was once a luxury hotel. It has really nice architecture with a grand staircase from the lobby to the second floor. It is just that it was probably a luxury hotel in the 50's.
Datong is really a nasty place with two fabulous attractions. Yesterday we went on a bus tour to both. They are the Yungang Grottoes and the Hanging Monastery. The tour was good but the two venues are in opposite directions from town so you are on the bus for a total of 4 out of 8 hours to see the sights. The grottoes were very impressive. They cover about a kilometer of cliff face but half of them are "under renovation". A lot of chinese sites are being fixed up for the olympics next year. I think that is why they fixed the walls in Xi'an. We were talking to a guy that had been to the terra cotta warriors in 2003 and he said they were surrounded by huts. They now have huge new buildings around all the dig sites. The half we saw were impressive enough to make the trip to Datong worthwhile. There were 20 caves open and about 7 of them had huge Buddhas or Boddhisatvas several meters high carved out of the rock. Some of the caves had elaborate carvings all round and a couple of them were painted as well as carved.
The Hanging Monastery was built by monks 1400 years ago by lowering themselves down the cliff on ropes. It was certainly a labour of devotion. When you are in it, you just hope it lasts 1400 and one years. It is obviously very old wood. Some of the passages are outside with just knee high rails and a drop of 20 meters off the other side. They have set out a route so you cover the whole thing but everyone travels in one direction. I am sure that in high season, you would have no choice of the pace you travelled in. There is probably just a slow shuffle all round.
We are catching the train to Beijing at noon today.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Hua Shan - scenic beauty spot extraordinaire
"Hua Shan - when you have seen this mountain you need visit no other". Jacob saw this on a travel poster somewhere in China. It is of course not quite the case, but it is fabulously beautiful nonetheless. It is another place with scenery that is a bit different than any other place I have seen. These are granite mountains - huge expanses of granite with small trees and other bits of greenery hanging on for dear life. Some emperor a thousand or so years ago wanted to visit the sacred mountain, so they hacked pathways and stairways all over - up the mountain and between the five different peaks. I would have hated to be either one of the stonemasons or (heaven forbid he decided to do this - the bearers of his litter). I wouldn't like to see it on a busy day, though. I feel horror when I think of what it would be like with thousands of tourists on top. Especially Chinese tourist who push all the time (apparently there is a campaign to train the tourists before the olympics next year and they all get stiff lectures from their guides on etiquette). I could just imagine myself or one of the children being nudged off the precarious paths.
It is possible to walk up to the top from the village below (if you follow the link I gave you it says it takes 10 hours to get up and between the peaks - these would be an absolutely gruelling 10 hours). Luckily for us there is a bus to the Austrian built cablecar. When you are in the cable car, you just pray that it is also serviced regularly by Austrians, or at least someone who knows what they are doing. It is the steepest cablecar I have ever seen and the pure granite doesn't make for lots of trees below you. There are some, but not so you get any false sense of security from them. You are painfully aware that you are hanging on by a thread (albeit an inch thick metal thread).
There are all these old men carrying loads up the mountain. One had two watermelons as well as a crate of drinks. They suspend two loads on either end of a pole and carry the pole on their shoulder. They all looked very old, but I expect it is like the Nepali porters. If you asked their age, you may be surprised how young they are because carrying heavy loads up steep mountains every day seems to take a lot of years off the end of your life. I am not sure how much they make from carrying their loads up, but I just hope beer and watermelon are really expensive on the far peaks.
From the cable car you can walk to the other peaks of the mountain. We explored the peak near the cablecar and went halfway to the second peak before we had the mutiny. Yesterday it was Heather's turn. If we had had more time, we would have probably spent a night up at the top and explored the peaks for another day. When we came to China, I thought we had a lot of time, but now we are having to be really stingy with the itenerary and feel we are running around and only brushing the surface. We could have easily spent another few weeks here to do everything we are finding we want to do. Some people seem to be trying to do China in two weeks which seems really crazy to me now.
It is possible to walk up to the top from the village below (if you follow the link I gave you it says it takes 10 hours to get up and between the peaks - these would be an absolutely gruelling 10 hours). Luckily for us there is a bus to the Austrian built cablecar. When you are in the cable car, you just pray that it is also serviced regularly by Austrians, or at least someone who knows what they are doing. It is the steepest cablecar I have ever seen and the pure granite doesn't make for lots of trees below you. There are some, but not so you get any false sense of security from them. You are painfully aware that you are hanging on by a thread (albeit an inch thick metal thread).
There are all these old men carrying loads up the mountain. One had two watermelons as well as a crate of drinks. They suspend two loads on either end of a pole and carry the pole on their shoulder. They all looked very old, but I expect it is like the Nepali porters. If you asked their age, you may be surprised how young they are because carrying heavy loads up steep mountains every day seems to take a lot of years off the end of your life. I am not sure how much they make from carrying their loads up, but I just hope beer and watermelon are really expensive on the far peaks.
From the cable car you can walk to the other peaks of the mountain. We explored the peak near the cablecar and went halfway to the second peak before we had the mutiny. Yesterday it was Heather's turn. If we had had more time, we would have probably spent a night up at the top and explored the peaks for another day. When we came to China, I thought we had a lot of time, but now we are having to be really stingy with the itenerary and feel we are running around and only brushing the surface. We could have easily spent another few weeks here to do everything we are finding we want to do. Some people seem to be trying to do China in two weeks which seems really crazy to me now.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Terra Cotta warriors -- very impressive
I finally have something to write about after slacking off a bit. Heather was talking to another traveller the other day and she said "sometimes I wish I could just be on holiday instead of having to be a tourist all the time". We decided to lay a bit lower for a day or two. It was my birthday on Friday and I got a chocolate bar and a packet of instant mocha drink which we added hot water to on the train. The first half of my birthday was still on the train coming to Xi'an from Chengdu. In the afternoon I decided that for my birthday I wanted to be alone and do whatever I wanted. Since it was 37 degrees, I went out VERY briefly and decided that whatever I wanted ran to nothing much.
Yesterday we went to see the terra cotta warriors. They are as impressive as would imagine they are. There are just so many of them and if you look, no two are the same. Each warrior has a slightly different set of clothes, hair and face. I can imagine how many potters must have worked putting the army together. Those emporers sure put on a show. It is possibly no wonder they were overthrown semi-regularly over history.
Today was really enjoyable. We took a taxi to the south gate of the old city and climbed up onto the city walls. At the top we rented bicycles and cycled around the rebuilt walls. The circuit is 14.7 Km altogether. It took 100 minutes, which, coincedentally is the exact amount of time they rent the bicycles for (without late fees). Jacob had a bit of trouble with his kickstand which made him less than blissful, but for the most part it was a highly successful outing. We had to purchase expensive drinks to keep everyone going but that is to be expected when you are actually doing something a bit active.
We had promised the kids we would rent bicycles some time in China and were beginning to think we had made a mistake. There is no such thing as a bicycle helmet in this country and the roads are a bit hectic to say the least. I think the only person I know that may be able to drive successfully in this country is my sister Philippa. All others would be mowed down in no time. The city walls were a perfect place to cycle because they are almost empty and flat all round. They are a bit bumpy, especially in the older parts. Heather said it was a bit like a computer game where you had to choose your path to avoid the hazards. I thought that was a particularly telling remark.
After the walls, we went for lunch (it had been at least 3 days since the kids had pizza so we went to that kind of restaurant) and on to the two towers of Xi'an. They are the bell tower and the drum tower . One was built to announce the beginning of the day and the other the end. A kind of city alarm clock. For a small fee, the children were allowed to ring the bell and strike the drum. At the end of the day Jacob said he thought we had done quite well as tourists, and Heather was thrilled we got to cycle, so a good day was had by all.
Yesterday we went to see the terra cotta warriors. They are as impressive as would imagine they are. There are just so many of them and if you look, no two are the same. Each warrior has a slightly different set of clothes, hair and face. I can imagine how many potters must have worked putting the army together. Those emporers sure put on a show. It is possibly no wonder they were overthrown semi-regularly over history.
Today was really enjoyable. We took a taxi to the south gate of the old city and climbed up onto the city walls. At the top we rented bicycles and cycled around the rebuilt walls. The circuit is 14.7 Km altogether. It took 100 minutes, which, coincedentally is the exact amount of time they rent the bicycles for (without late fees). Jacob had a bit of trouble with his kickstand which made him less than blissful, but for the most part it was a highly successful outing. We had to purchase expensive drinks to keep everyone going but that is to be expected when you are actually doing something a bit active.
We had promised the kids we would rent bicycles some time in China and were beginning to think we had made a mistake. There is no such thing as a bicycle helmet in this country and the roads are a bit hectic to say the least. I think the only person I know that may be able to drive successfully in this country is my sister Philippa. All others would be mowed down in no time. The city walls were a perfect place to cycle because they are almost empty and flat all round. They are a bit bumpy, especially in the older parts. Heather said it was a bit like a computer game where you had to choose your path to avoid the hazards. I thought that was a particularly telling remark.
After the walls, we went for lunch (it had been at least 3 days since the kids had pizza so we went to that kind of restaurant) and on to the two towers of Xi'an. They are the bell tower and the drum tower . One was built to announce the beginning of the day and the other the end. A kind of city alarm clock. For a small fee, the children were allowed to ring the bell and strike the drum. At the end of the day Jacob said he thought we had done quite well as tourists, and Heather was thrilled we got to cycle, so a good day was had by all.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Now that WAS a big buddha
Well we went to see the big(gest in the world?) Buddha near Leshan yesterday. He is one impressive sculpture. I am staggered by the dedication of people when I visit sights such as this, or the cave temples near Ajanta and Elora in India, or the great cathedrals of Europe. The vision of the end, not achieved within the lifetime of either the workers or the people that fund the work. This took 90 years to carve. Some of the caves in India or the cathedrals in Europe took hundreds of years from start to completion. Generations carve or build, the first entire generation probably seeing very little progress toward the goal they believe in. Today we cannot see even a few years ahead to help our polluted world.
We headed from the hotel armed with the name of the bus station we were supposed to leave from and arrive back to in Chengdu. We got to Leshan with no problem. The bus station here in Chengdu is much more formal than we have seen before. You actually buy a ticket for a specific seat on a specific bus. In the other places, we have just arrived near the bus station and been greeted by frantic people yelling the names of their destinations to us to see if that is what we are looking for. If you want to go there, you are rushed onto the bus and the bus continues. One person drives the bus, another herds the passengers. The conductor leans out the door as you are leaving town, constantly yelling the name of the destination at passersby. If someone is interested, the conductor jumps off and hurries them onto the bus. We rushed out of Yangshou the other day with only a handful off passengers. By the time we got to Guilin the bus was full and had been full for quite some time. Some people got on and some got off but the bus remained full. I am not sure how the contracting works on those buses, but the people really seemed invested in getting passengers onto their bus.
When we got to the bus station in Leshan, we were immediately set upon by touts and taxi drivers. I tend to get really anti being herded in those situations. My instinct was to get away and walk in the direction we believed the buddha to be. Too many people trying to pull you in their direction. Just then a city bus stopped and the driver obviously wanted us to get on. We decided to do it and for 4 yuan (a total of 65 cents) we all got a ride. We were not sure where we were going, but the driver seemed to enjoy having us on his bus. He kept passing other buses, honking and smiling and pointing us out to the other drivers. We figured that the worst that could happen was we went for his whole circuit and ended up back where we started. There was no language between us except gestures. It turned out he knew what he was about and he dropped us off at the gate of the park where the big buddha is.
They have built a whole thing around it and imported lots of other buddha statues to put in caves. They have also carved the worlds largest reclining buddha (we saw another world's largest reclining buddha in Thailand, but that one was free standing and inside and this one was carved into a cliff face). You walk through a very pleasant park and up and down hills, through a huge temple to get to the actual big buddha. You can climb right down beside him on the cliff face. Luckily they have installed a hand rail on the outside of the set of stairs. Centuries ago when the stairs were put in, you would have to be REALLY stout of heart to use them.
When we got out of the park, we had plans to maybe stay overnight in Leshan. We also considered taking a boat ride to see the buddha from the river. At the gates, another bunch of people were trying to get us into their conveyances. One said we could catch a bus back to Chengdu. Faced with trying to find a hotel and a restaurant there or returning back to the hostel we like (with a restaurant the kids love in the lobby and a washing machine we can use), we chose to come back. The first person that tried to get us on her bus admitted her bus was going to the wrong bus station in Chengdu. We were then going to take a taxi into town when a woman from across the street told us her bus went to the right one. We waited in her shop (buying snacks and water of course) while we waited for the bus. We were assured by 3 seperate people that we were going to the right place. When we arrived at the wrong bus station in Chengdu, I still wasn't really surprised. It so happened that there was a Chinese American from Boston on the bus with her husband. She wasn't willing to sit down and take it and she insisted that the driver make good. After a heated debate, he put us in a minivan and sent us to the other place. We would have just given up ourselves, which is what I am sure happens every day.
We headed from the hotel armed with the name of the bus station we were supposed to leave from and arrive back to in Chengdu. We got to Leshan with no problem. The bus station here in Chengdu is much more formal than we have seen before. You actually buy a ticket for a specific seat on a specific bus. In the other places, we have just arrived near the bus station and been greeted by frantic people yelling the names of their destinations to us to see if that is what we are looking for. If you want to go there, you are rushed onto the bus and the bus continues. One person drives the bus, another herds the passengers. The conductor leans out the door as you are leaving town, constantly yelling the name of the destination at passersby. If someone is interested, the conductor jumps off and hurries them onto the bus. We rushed out of Yangshou the other day with only a handful off passengers. By the time we got to Guilin the bus was full and had been full for quite some time. Some people got on and some got off but the bus remained full. I am not sure how the contracting works on those buses, but the people really seemed invested in getting passengers onto their bus.
When we got to the bus station in Leshan, we were immediately set upon by touts and taxi drivers. I tend to get really anti being herded in those situations. My instinct was to get away and walk in the direction we believed the buddha to be. Too many people trying to pull you in their direction. Just then a city bus stopped and the driver obviously wanted us to get on. We decided to do it and for 4 yuan (a total of 65 cents) we all got a ride. We were not sure where we were going, but the driver seemed to enjoy having us on his bus. He kept passing other buses, honking and smiling and pointing us out to the other drivers. We figured that the worst that could happen was we went for his whole circuit and ended up back where we started. There was no language between us except gestures. It turned out he knew what he was about and he dropped us off at the gate of the park where the big buddha is.
They have built a whole thing around it and imported lots of other buddha statues to put in caves. They have also carved the worlds largest reclining buddha (we saw another world's largest reclining buddha in Thailand, but that one was free standing and inside and this one was carved into a cliff face). You walk through a very pleasant park and up and down hills, through a huge temple to get to the actual big buddha. You can climb right down beside him on the cliff face. Luckily they have installed a hand rail on the outside of the set of stairs. Centuries ago when the stairs were put in, you would have to be REALLY stout of heart to use them.
When we got out of the park, we had plans to maybe stay overnight in Leshan. We also considered taking a boat ride to see the buddha from the river. At the gates, another bunch of people were trying to get us into their conveyances. One said we could catch a bus back to Chengdu. Faced with trying to find a hotel and a restaurant there or returning back to the hostel we like (with a restaurant the kids love in the lobby and a washing machine we can use), we chose to come back. The first person that tried to get us on her bus admitted her bus was going to the wrong bus station in Chengdu. We were then going to take a taxi into town when a woman from across the street told us her bus went to the right one. We waited in her shop (buying snacks and water of course) while we waited for the bus. We were assured by 3 seperate people that we were going to the right place. When we arrived at the wrong bus station in Chengdu, I still wasn't really surprised. It so happened that there was a Chinese American from Boston on the bus with her husband. She wasn't willing to sit down and take it and she insisted that the driver make good. After a heated debate, he put us in a minivan and sent us to the other place. We would have just given up ourselves, which is what I am sure happens every day.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Chengdu and onwards by train
We did make the train and there were no problems. I had successfully procured the right tickets. The whole process of catching a train here is really quite fascinating. Each train that is going to depart from a station is given it's own space in a waiting room where everyone gathers, kind of like an airport. This space is assigned about 2-3 hours before boarding time. When the train comes into the station, everyone gets up together and goes to the train. For the first train we took, a guard led us through a warren of tunnels. The whole body of us had to stop at one point at the intersection of two tunnels until a few people ran past frantically, presumably to catch a train about to depart. After they had passed, we carried on in procession through the tunnels until we came to our platform. For the train yesterday, our train came in to a platform alongside the waiting room and we were let out like thoroughbreds from a gate to race out onto the platform to find our cars. It really felt like we were indeed racing, even though I am sure the train would never have left with people still streaming toward it across the platform.
We are in Chengdu and it is unbeleivably polluted. It makes New Delhi seem as the Swiss alps... This morning we went to the Panda Research Station. We had been told it wasn't a zoo but I am hard pressed to tell the difference, except they only have two species of animals in cages instead of a wide variety. The kids loved it. When we were about to leave the hotel for the car to take us there, I thought maybe someone had burned toast in the restaurant they have in the lobby, but I quickly realized it was just smog outside. You can literally see it in the air throughout the whole city. It is sort of scary. We are going to see the biggest buddha in the world (this one carved in a rock face). I am not sure how many biggest buddhas there are in the world, but this is the second one to make the claim in as many weeks. Actually we are also going to make a side trip to the largest RECLINING buddha as well....
We are going to Xi'an on Friday so I can spend all of my birthday on a train, just like mother's day. Actually the trains here are as nice as any I have been on, and I have always loved train travel. They run on time and are really clean (at least when they set out -- the asian toilets are scary after 25 hours - why IS the floor wet, I HOPE it is water, you think desperately). People come by collecting garbage and sweeping the floors regularly and the berths are really not bad places to spend time - although they are not exactly comfy - they make better seats than beds.
We have so far had what are called hard sleepers. They come in sets of 6 with a small table near the window. They are open to a narrow corridor which runs down the side of the train car and each set of 6 berths has a 15cm wide table with two fold out chairs beside it in the corridor. We have promised the kids that for our last journey we will get soft sleepers. They are sets of 4 berths with (presumably) cushier mattresses in closed compartments. We will have a compartment to ourselves instead of having to share with one or two others in the hard sleepers. Actually we have only had one other person both times and have pretty much had the run of the section by sheer volume of both numbers and noise.
We are in Chengdu and it is unbeleivably polluted. It makes New Delhi seem as the Swiss alps... This morning we went to the Panda Research Station. We had been told it wasn't a zoo but I am hard pressed to tell the difference, except they only have two species of animals in cages instead of a wide variety. The kids loved it. When we were about to leave the hotel for the car to take us there, I thought maybe someone had burned toast in the restaurant they have in the lobby, but I quickly realized it was just smog outside. You can literally see it in the air throughout the whole city. It is sort of scary. We are going to see the biggest buddha in the world (this one carved in a rock face). I am not sure how many biggest buddhas there are in the world, but this is the second one to make the claim in as many weeks. Actually we are also going to make a side trip to the largest RECLINING buddha as well....
We are going to Xi'an on Friday so I can spend all of my birthday on a train, just like mother's day. Actually the trains here are as nice as any I have been on, and I have always loved train travel. They run on time and are really clean (at least when they set out -- the asian toilets are scary after 25 hours - why IS the floor wet, I HOPE it is water, you think desperately). People come by collecting garbage and sweeping the floors regularly and the berths are really not bad places to spend time - although they are not exactly comfy - they make better seats than beds.
We have so far had what are called hard sleepers. They come in sets of 6 with a small table near the window. They are open to a narrow corridor which runs down the side of the train car and each set of 6 berths has a 15cm wide table with two fold out chairs beside it in the corridor. We have promised the kids that for our last journey we will get soft sleepers. They are sets of 4 berths with (presumably) cushier mattresses in closed compartments. We will have a compartment to ourselves instead of having to share with one or two others in the hard sleepers. Actually we have only had one other person both times and have pretty much had the run of the section by sheer volume of both numbers and noise.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Yangshou until tomorrow
We haven't done much today because it has poured with rain off and on all day. All the people that tried to sell us postcards yesterday were trying to sell us umbrellas and rain ponchos today. Give the people what they want... After the 5th person approached me, I dug the rain poncho out of my little pack and every time one of them held one in my face to try to sell it to me, I showed them mine. It seemed to keep them at bay. They just thought I was nuts for not having it on, I suppose.
The kids actually love it here, looking at all the trinkets and gee gaws. We also discovered a used book store and managed to trade in 5 books for 3 plus $8. I thought it was good to encourage that sort of store. It certainly helped Jacob. He gets really freaked out when he is down to less than 3 fat books in hand. He has actually not been reading much for a day or two, I think because he was worried that he might run out before he could replenish his supply. He now has 3 1/2 fat books and one normal size one to tide him over. As soon as he had the new books he started reading them while walking down the street again. Heather got a cross stitch kit and I am working on a crochet collar from Godey's ladies book. I hope with all these reinforcments we will be armed well enough for the 25 hour train journey to Chengdu tomorrow....
The kids actually love it here, looking at all the trinkets and gee gaws. We also discovered a used book store and managed to trade in 5 books for 3 plus $8. I thought it was good to encourage that sort of store. It certainly helped Jacob. He gets really freaked out when he is down to less than 3 fat books in hand. He has actually not been reading much for a day or two, I think because he was worried that he might run out before he could replenish his supply. He now has 3 1/2 fat books and one normal size one to tide him over. As soon as he had the new books he started reading them while walking down the street again. Heather got a cross stitch kit and I am working on a crochet collar from Godey's ladies book. I hope with all these reinforcments we will be armed well enough for the 25 hour train journey to Chengdu tomorrow....
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