The 'Big Journey' - Jan-Feb 2001
For the month long Spring Festival holiday, we travelled north as far as Harbin, with two other Project Trust volunteers, Tanya and Nina.
Below you'll find our itinerary followed by a full description of the journey. If you want to read it in sections, click on any underlined place name.
If you have already read the first part before it was updated (at last!), then start from Hangzhou (Tuesday 9th January), however I have added some new photos.
Leave Zhaoqing and get a train to Guangzhou, then…
Guangzhou to Hangzhou (known as the Western Lakes, supposed to have very beautiful lakes and gardens), 28 hrs on train
Hangzhou to Huangshan shi (town of the most famous mountain in China Huangshan), 5hrs on bus
Huangshan shi to Huangshan (the mountain itself. They say that if you visit this mountain you don't need to visit any other in China because it is the most beautiful!),1½ hrs on bus
Back to Hangzhou on buses as before.
Hangzhou to Ningbu (for the ferry to Putoshan)
Ningbu to Putoshan (very lovely little island, a nature reserve), 3 hrs on boat
Putoshan to Shanghai (the best way to arrive in Shanghai as you get to see the amazing skyline just as the sun is rising), 12 hrs on boat
Shanghai to Nanjing (the old capital of china, lots of historic influence), 2 ½ hrs by train
Nanjing to Beijing (nothing needs to be said, the capital city speaks for itself), 18 hrs by train
Beijing to Harbin (to freeze our butts off and see the ice festival, the tiger zoo and the Japanese germ warfare plant), 22hrs by train
Harbin - 22hrs by train to Beijing - 35hrs by train to Guangzhou and back to Zhaoqing to begin term again.
The blow-by-blow description
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| At the school gate ready to set-off |
Tuesday 2nd January
Finally set off for Guangzhou after harassing the school to pay us. 1.45hrs
on the bus and we arrived at the main station only a hop-skip from the
train station so we went and joined the very scary queues to get a ticket
to Hangzhou. Managed to get them for the next day at 4 pm but hard seat!!!!
Then went and bedded down in YH as before after visiting a very nice temple.
Wednesay 3rd January
Got up early and went to see the tomb of some dead emperor or other, can't
remember the details but quite interesting and lots of artefacts in the
museum. Then whilst ordering lunch disaster struck we checked the tickets
and found that they were for 1.53pm and not four - we had missed the train.
B----- B----- B-----. Nothing to be done but try and salvage the situation
by going to the train station. I fought my way to the front of the information
queue and they told us to go to a desk where we managed to get our money
back but no train that day. Alex managed to get us other tickets for the
next day at 1.53 again but hard sleeper this time. three times the price
but well worth it. we spent the night in another YH next to the station.
Thursday 4th January
We were finally leaving the horrible smelly Guangzhou and there was no
way we were going to miss the train again. So were there 2 hrs early.
Great train trip that turned out to be 23hrs and not 28. So once in Hangzhou
we discovered the cold. It is bloody freezing and there are trees with
no leaves, all very disturbing. We decided that we had arrived in Russia!!!
After many random bus journeys we finally got to the right bus station
and got a bus to Huangshan Shi a 3 hr very bumpy ride. At one point we
went over a bump so hard that I hit my head on the luggage rack above
and had a headache for 3 days after - not pleasant. From now on I hold
onto the seat in front very strongly near bumps!! They dumped us outside
a very cheap and freezing hotel where we stayed the night.
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| The countryside around Huangshan from the bus |
Friday 5th January
We got on a bus to go to the mountain Huangshan. 3hrs later we arrived
and dumped our heavy bags at a hotel and set off up it with lighter ones
for an overnight stay. Have to mention at this point that it had been
raining and very miserable ever since we arrived in Huangzhou, so we began
our ascent in the worst conditions. This was 7km directly up a steep rock
side of steps, rather unpleasant for Alex and I having not done any exercise
for the last 5months!! Tanya and Nina seemed to race up. However, we all
admitted once we arrived at the top finally that we were thoroughly dead
and the clouds that had surrounded us the whole way were no help. Also
we were totally soaked to the skin and cold because our waterproofs were
utter crap.
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| In the worst weather possible we crack a smile before the long ascent |
We managed to get a discount on our mangy room as it is very low season but we could not find any decently priced food anywhere and got totally conned with a tiny plate of egg fried rice for 20Y. We were not impressed. But we did discover that the hotel public loos had a hand dryer so after spending several hours in there, we were dry and feeling more cheerful.
Saturday 6th January
This morning made the miserableness of the evening all better. We got
up to see the sun rise and it was the most spectacular view I have ever
seen. It had stopped raining and the clouds stretched out beneath us in
the valley like the sea. The sun was rising behind the taller peaks in
front of us and it was generally just totally amazing - but bloody freezing
even though we had all our clothes on and huge army jackets that the hotel
had provided.
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What greeted us in the morning. Well worth
the effort!
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 And
yes, it was cold |
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We made it to the very top and, although in
agony, the views were the most amazing.
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The day began with the 14 km descent, or rather huge steep hikes up to 1860 m and down and then up to 1864 m again. Alex's cold had developed into a bad one and she was having great difficulty breathing. My right knee began hurting in the morning and as we continued, it gradually progressed into total agony so that I was heaving myself up the steps on the hand rail and going at nil m.p.h. down them. We were both a complete state, also due to lack of food. On the way down the sheer rock face of 1864 m Alex neatly puked into a nearby bin. There was no way either of us were going to get down the rest of the way in time to get the bus back to the hotel in Tunxi (huangshan shi). After stopping for lunch, the break in the cold made my knee sieze up completely ;and I could hardly walk normally. So we left Tanya and Nina to practically run down the steps, whilst we hopped into the cable car. I must mention though that the sights we saw hobbling up and down those peaks were the most beautiful and stunning ones ever. The sun was out and shining brightly and the clouds surrounding them just made the views amazing. Every time I stopped I could not believe what an amazing place Ii was in.. Once down in the cable car, we had to hobble another 4 km back to the hotel where we met the others and managed to negotiate a cab/mini bus to take us back into Tunxi. Arriving back in familiar quarters with cheap food, we gorged ourselves and then had our first shower since Guangzhou!!
Sunday 7th January
We got on a bus back to Hangzhou at 9.15 and arrived back here at 3 pm
after an extremely and more-so-than-before-even bumpy ride through more
amazing mountains and countryside. Every inch of available land has been
cultivated. Here we have found rooms in Hangzhou Uni for a reasonable
price and will be here for a few days to visit the sights before moving
on. My knee is still total agony and if iIstop using it for long it siezes
up and it is very painful. Walking up and down steps is just a big no-no.
Also stiffness extraodinaire has set into all of us so not only am I the
biggest cripple of the group but we are all walking like freaks as our
legs are suffering bitterly from the enforced mountain struggles. Are
having a great time though so all worth it but don't know how we will
survive further cold as here is bad enough - 1-4degrees max!!!
Lots of love from your very much crippled daughter
Tuesday 9th January
Finally managed to find the bank and change Traveller's Cheques after
much hassle. Then went for very nice walk along a causeway in the famous
West Lake. In the middle of the lake is the Zhejiang Provincial Museum
which we found very interesting as it was our first. They all have the
same things, bronzes, coins, paintings, furniture, jade etc, but bloody
cold. So went for lunch where having chosen the cheapest thing on the
menu, we were presented with four bowls of pork fat - disgusting and made
us much more careful in ordering in the future. Then back along the lake
to some bloke's mausoleum that turned out to be closed! We did loads and
loads of walking in Hangzhou, considering we were still all very much
crippled [from climbing Huangshan Mountain]. Walking along the lake was
like going along the river at home on a winter's day - sunny and cold.
Very nice but had to walk fast to stop us freezing.
Weds 10th January
Hangzhou Uni was really nice to stay in and we got washing and sleeping
done. Also could check out at 2 pm so went to the Temple of Inspired Seclusion
in the morning. Our first temple and so once again we were very interested
and respectful. Tanya and I walked up a hill to another pavilion as our
legs seemed to have got better - bad idea! Anyway time passing and had
to get back so jumped on a bus only to get totally lost and have to get
a very expensive cab back so we were in time not pay an extra day. Nina
literally ran back to our rooms whilst I hobbled slowly behind.
Then we all heaved our bags on to our backs and headed for the bus station. We were off to Shaoxing with the promise of a nice little town with lots of bridges and cheap accommodation (according to the guide book). After a very expensive bus ride, we arrived on the outskirts of an industrial estate that reminded us of Calais - why were we here?! According to Alex's map reading, our hotel was a short walk along a very polluted main road. It turned out to be the road back to Hangzhou and once again we were lost. With the help of a crowd of locals who quickly gathered when we stopped, we managed to convince a tax to drive us to the cheapest hotel in town - not an easy task as they only want to take foreigners to places with at least 3 stars.
We arrived in a trading back street and were directed to a corridor off it. We had arrived in the cheap accommodation we were promised. For 14Y a night, we got real China - loo downstairs across the 'lounge', wobbly creaky stairs up to our rooms that were nearly roofless with only some bamboo matting to protect them and separate them. It was the coldest night we had the whole trip and with all our clothes on, in our sleeping bags and under the quilts they provided, we were still shivering. I learnt pretty quickly how to sleep with my head buried deep inside my bag, screw breathing, I was cold! Extra bonuses also came with the rooms in the name of two mad, sex-starved Chinese blokes next door to Tanya and Nina who kept up a running imaginary commentary all nigh in their five word English vocab. It was an experience to say the least but an enjoyable one and we got to have a good couple of games of pool in a random games room that night.
Thurs 11th January
Set off at 6 am the next morning as the sun began to rise and our quiet
departure turned out to be rather a noisy one as Nina tripped over a bike
that knocked a random door over - BANG, CRASH the owner wakes up - oops!!
Two hours later the sun had risen and we were in Ningbo on the coast waiting
for our boat to leave for Putoshan. Couldn't believe it was still so early
and we had done so much! Ningbo was a nothing place really and after visiting
a soon-to-be-demolished church, we ran with our food for the boat bus.
They were none too happy to have to wait for us. Ferry over was as usual
a closed in little thing with blaring Kung Fu VCD playing. I read and
the others slept. Arriving on Putoshan itself was very nice though. It
is a beautiful nature reserve island covered in temples (4,000 monks once
lived there!). You have to pay a hefty entrance fee to get in though which
we were not best pleased about but due to this we decided to stay two
days. Had managed to secure a reasonably cheap room with a tour woman
on the mainland, 100Y a night for a three-bed room (Nina got left with
the floor!). It was luxury and we took advantage of the shower and heated
room to relax.
Still early we missioned it off to see our first temples and harass our first monks, or rather be harassed by them wanting us to kowtow to the buddhas! The view out over the sea from the huge statue of the Goddess of Mercy was amazing and we spent much time contemplating on rocks before watching the sun set over the beach opposite our hotel. The weather was lovely, our legs were sorted and we were very happy. Now all we had to do was find food. Some big bowls of noodles and egg fried rice later we were tucked up in bed, collapsed after our long day's activities. After it got dark there really was nothing to do but return to our room and sleep - not complaining. We were so active visiting places and walking absolutely everywhere (2Y buses are too expensive for us!) that at night we were too tired to go out and be social, so just collapsed.
Fri 12th January
Today our faith in monks was altogether lost and our original images of
them shattered. A random grey monk - high ranking, stay well clear - approached
us speaking English and asked us if we could talk. Thinking it might be
interesting to finally find out something about the religion. Turns out
he was more interested in us becoming his girlfriends than furthering
our education. We beat a hasty retreat and headed for more temples. Having
visited three yesterday, the layout was pretty much familiar and the two
others today embedded it deeply. We climbed up to the top of Putoshan
(=mountain) from which the island is named, to get to one and spent more
time sitting outside it talking and harassing random monks, than actually
visiting it. After establishing that monks are not exactly the holiest
of holiest, we had a good laugh with them making jokes and exchanging
pisstakes at each new temple.
We took the wild tour back down the mountain along a random path we discovered that took us past lots of old fortifications - anti-Japanese we presumed as they were in the right place. Then we trekked it for two hours back home via the 100-step beach which we clambered down huge boulders to get to and once again watched the sun set. The views from the island were truly amazing.
Sat 13th January
Our ferry to Shanghai left at 3 pm so we walked for miles into town to
visit yet another temple. Here, being in town, it was more populated than
the others and the monks were more 'fashion conscious'. One had swapped
monk shoes for trainers! We didn't want to see any more temples and in
fact avoided any further for the whole trip. So after dragging ourselves
away from buying monk shoes, we stuffed up on food before our long trip.
The idea of going to Putoshan first was so that we could get the ferry into Shanghai just as the sun was rising over it. However with an 11 hour trip beginning at 3 pm, we would be arriving way before sunrise. Also, as per usual, we had bought the cheapest tickets possible, so cheap in fact that they only allowed us on the boat, we didn't even have seats. We'd been told we would have no beds but naturally assumed there would be chairs we could sit in - nope. The canteen or karaoke room were the only seats available and after we got chucked out of there, we were guessing it was the corridor for us. We kept showing our tickets to the stewards and the only response we got was 'mayo' [mei you] a horrible word that we learnt to hate with a passion as it got wined or shouted at us way too often on the trip (it means 'NO'). Anyway we pretty much understood there was nowhere official for us to go but even when we pointed to the floor they said 'mayo'. So in the end we got really pissed off and just stood around getting in the way and annoying them until they put us in a 4-bunk cabin, luxury, for no extra cost - hee, hee! So we had somewhere to sleep even though the cold pretty much put paid to that happening.
Sun 14th January
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| A normal eatery |
Well, we arrived in Shanghai at 5 am, not as early as we had calculated but still in the dark and with nowhere to go. Luckily though the cheapest hotel/YHA was not far away and we trudged along the Bund in the dark passing the occasional early-morning mad freak doing tai chi or rather attempting to freeze to death. It was f-ing freezing and it was only because we had to carry our huge bags that we didn't freeze altogether. Luckily when we arrived at the hotel it was open and we settled into our very nice dorm room with excessive heating to wait for the sun to rise.
With the day begun, we got breakfast and then walked to the Shanghai Art Museum. It was totally empty and we were really worried by this until we realised it was only 9 am! There were some really nice modern art paintings and it was heated - bonus! But I was so tired that if I stopped to look at things I kept falling asleep. So we found a small restaurant to rest and re-fuel in. It was too cold to stay outside for long so we kept building hopping and next went to the Shanghai Museum. It was really well laid out and everything was very beautiful - but identical to the other one and in our tired states probably didn't really best appreciate it. Also there were way too many Freaks (our name for foreigners) around for our liking. They were tall, white and very scary, so we beat a hasty retreat and after some noodles returned to our warm beds.
Monday 15th January
Today the first thing we did was buy huge silk coats under Molly's recommendation.
We looked hideous and unlike what Molly said, they weren't even that warm
but over our fleeces and many other layers they kept the chill at bay.
Our first stop was the Shanghai Grand Theatre which you automatically have a guided tour around. It was so impressive and new and modern that we just had to go and see something there. The best bit though was that we got to see them practising in the Ballet Studio. Alex and I could have stayed there all day but we dragged ourselves away to check out the box office. There were no cheap seats left (they were doing a ballet that night) so we left it and walked to the old part of town to spend loads of money on silk. I bought a silk dressing gown, short dress and bag!
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| The Grand Theatre |
But as we were warming up again with some hot soya milk (we actually like the foul stuff now!) Alex decided she had to go to the theatre no matter what and we decided to follow her as she literally ran all the way back across town to get the tickets. We saw a youth ballet production called Wild Zebra and it was truly amazing. They were so good, the costumes were wonderful and we just thought that overall it was fantastic. The only disappointing thing was that the audience were crap. They didn't clap at all and at the end I got stared at for clapping for more than 2 secs, it was really upsetting as the performance had been so good.
Tue 16th January
Today began with a wild goose chase to find the bus station. The guide
book says that not many foreigners leave Shanghai by bus and I'm not surprised.
It took us ages to find it and when we finally did, they wouldn't let
us get a bus from there and sent us off in a cab to another posher one
in town. That was the first cab we'd been in here because the centre of
Shanghai is so compact that you can walk everywhere.
Tickets purchased, we jumped on a bus and went to the French quarter of town. We got off the bus when I spotted a nice coat shop where we proceeded to buy three wonderfully warm long sleeping bag coats. Nina bought one too in a shop on the way home. This pretty much cleared us out of funds but was well worth it because we never took them off. After finding a bank, we headed back towards the Old Town to buy more silk. but on the way we found a French bakery where they sold REAL bread, not the sweet yeastless stuff they have here. We all fell on the shop and spent about 10 mins smelling it all. Everyone must have thought we were totally mad but it was pure bliss to smell fresh bread again and eat it after we all bought a loaf each!
Last purchases for the day were a length of silk to make a top from and a long Chinese dress that needs adjusting slightly according to the shop assistants who delighted in all having a long and detailed conversation about how my chest wasn't big enough and I should wear a padded push-up bra with it!! Tanya also bought a short silk dress that is truly indecent in length with splits even higher, but who cares, they look good!
Wed 17th January
Got our luxury 5 hr bus to Nanjing at 7.30 am and then got totally gassed
by a bus driver who refused to turn his engine off even though his exhaust
was pumping fumes right into the toilet entrance. Here Nina won the worst/strangest
experience prize for having to share the squat toilet cubicle with another
Chinese woman - apparently not the best experience ever!!
Our fist mission when we got to Nanjing was to get our train tickets out up to Beijing. So we walked along the road quite a way to the station - we always seemed to be walking miles with our increasingly huge rucksacks on! After waiting in the queue, we managed pretty easily to get tickets with my usual method of writing down the city we want to go to and the date, and hoping for the best when we point at hard bed that Rachel had written out for us before we left. No such luck on this occasion though, as there were only hard seats left. Oh well it would be an experience.
We found the Nanjing University Foreign Student accommodation pretty easily and settled into our luxury rooms - TV, 3 beds, safe, heating and loos down the hall. After Shanghai we had vague amounts of heating in all the places we stayed which was pretty lucky as it just kept getting colder.
Went for a walk in the evening and by clambering up a side slipped embankment we discovered a nice park where we watched the sun setting behind the trees - it was just like walking in Richmond Park in the winter with all the fallen leaves and tall 'dead' trees.
Dinner took us to a normal, cheapest we could find rice/noodle place and it was here we first discovered the scanky glutenous rice they have up north. But we soon got used to it and it was coming home to normal rice that gave us the biggest shock - yep we are very particular about how rice is cooked these days!
Thurs 18th January
In Hangzhou we had discovered the most wonderful food ever for breakfast
- pancakes with egg and other weird bits. Delicious - and make an excellent
meal at any time of the day so whenever there was a street stall near
enough to our accommodation we gorged ourselves.
Today we began the day as per usual with a long trek to our first visiting place - the Presidential Palace - and had our first history lesson on the re-unification of China by Dr Sun Yat Sen and the later Taiping Uprising. We further this at our next stop, a museum and garden, a memorial to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Here we pretty much ran out of steam and gave up on museums for the day. Instead we walked to the gate of the old walls of the city. We wanted to have a walk along them but decided it was way too expensive to get in and instead found a different section of the wall where, unfortunately, there were no steps to get up. So followed a rather amusing display as first some Chinese guys piled stones up in a corner and dragged themselves up and then dragged - quite literally - Nina and Alex up after them. Tanya and I followed our of reach of the blokes and pulled ourselves up after getting some good photos of the others with legs dangling!
Walking along it, we discovered there was a much easier way down that led into some back streets. In a market along here we finally discovered the much-searched for furry ear warmers and set off home in a little tin box motorbike-thing quite happily. An hour later we were still in it because the driver had no clue where we wanted to be and took us to every university entrance he could find. In the end he got somewhere we recognized and we directed him back before collapsing exhausted into bed.
Fri 19th January
First stop was the memorial to the Nanjing Massacre (Japanese invaded
killing 30,000 innocent people.) It was very sad. The got a bus to Dr
Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum where we managed to pick ourselves up an extremely
annoying boy. At this point it had started to rain quite heavily so we
didn't even get the great views we were promised. From here we were going
to try and head out to some random bridge I had got a fixation about seeing
but in the end the traffic was too heavy and we were too tired. Getting
up early, walking miles and miles and miles, walking slowly round museums
and going to bed late totally kills you. So we found food instead and
hung around until it was time to go to the station.
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| Nanjing train station waiting room |
Our train to Beijing left at 9pm so we joined the crowds in the waiting room early and amused everyone simply by being foreign! After missing the train in Guangzhou, we always arrived at least an hour early at the station and checked the tickets multiple times before that.
Hard seats really weren't all that bad as long as you didn't mind not sleeping. I read all the way and then dozed for a bit at about 4 am until the lights were turned on full again at 6 am.
Sat 20th January
12 hr trip dropped us in Beijing at 8.45 am in the snow. We had arrived
in the capital city of China and it was snowing. It was great. Two bus
rides later we arrived at the cheapest backpackers' hotel which turned
out to be not all that cheap and very crappy. But hey, it was a bed and
we were all sleep walking. But it was about 11 am and so lunch time. In
big cities it's impossible to find good, cheap food anywhere nearby so
we trekked for quite a while before finding a Muslim restaurant.
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| Nina posing with the Temple of Heaven |
From here Alex went back to bed and Tanya, Nina and I vaguely revitalised with food, walked off, for miles and miles, to see the Temple of Heaven.It was very beautiful and unlike all the millions of other ones we'd seen, so more interesting. Also being covered in snow gave it extra appeal. Beijing was totally and utterly freezing and when we first arrived, we couldn't stand still to talk for fear of freezing. My hands and toes were constantly cold unless I walked for about ½ hr in which case they warmed up.
I collapsed and snuggled under my sleeping bag at about 7pm. The 10-bed dorm we were in was pretty damned cold too, so jumpers and leggings remained on.
Sun 21st January
The Forbidden City was our mission for today. Peter, an Australian med
student arrived in our dorm this morning and asked if he could tag along.
He remained with us for the rest of our time in Beijing! So we headed
into town on the bus. Going anywhere in Beijing involves going to Tiannamen
Square first. So as we crossed it we took the compulsory tourist snaps.
From the TV and descriptions in books, it sounds massive, but is in fact
disappointingly small. Mao's Mausoleum in the middle takes up most of
it.
The Forbidden City was pretty huge and we splashed out on the audio tour which made it all more interesting. I definitely think the roofs of Chinese buildings are the best bit as they always have strange creatures perched on them. The snow provided an excellent backdrop and we spent until early afternoon there.
Then Peter wanted to go to the silk market and Alex, who was still slipping and sliding around in her heels, needed to get some sensible shoes. So we all headed off up there. (You can get everything not only silk there.) It was an excellent market where you could have spent a fortune but unlike my previous major spending, I resisted and came away empty handed!! Also there were way too many foreigners there accepting ridiculously high prices so all the traders were pretty evil and not as friendly as you normally find.
Our next mission was for Russian fur hats and as the Russian market was nearby, we decided to check it out. Unfortunately though, as we paused on the corner of a street, an evil man came and ripped Tanya's bag off her and although we ran after him, it was dark and we couldn't see which way he went. Our joyous mood had been overshadowed and we just wanted to head back. Instead though, Peter convinced us to report it to the police who had turned up. 10 mins later, we were in a police van with armed police heading for the Station. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea. An hour later, we were still waiting for an interpreter to turn up. So I made the most of our time there playing with the policemen's hats. Finally the bloke turned up and Tanya and Nina went off with him to get an insurance claim report and Alex, Peter and I headed back to the hotel. Another long day.
Mon 22nd January
Last night we signed up to do the Great Wall Tour so got up reluctantly
early after having had no sleep anyway because a schizophrenic who was
in our room had gone mad during the night. first thing we did was move
to a 4 bed dorm and then boarded a minibus for the 3 hour trip to the
Wall.
It was absolutely spectacular. The countryside and hills surrounding it were covered in snow and then there was The Great Wall of china perched on the highest and sharpest peaks and ridges stretching away into the distance for miles.
We climbed all the way up to the 14th tower even though the woman who followed us up selling things didn't want us to go past the 13th. The view from the top was breathtaking and the climb up was quite enjoyable too because my knees held out and I was actually able to go up and down fine which made me very happy! We went up on the wall and back via a different path to get down quicker skating on a few frozen steams on the way.
It was a great day and probably the best thing we did in Beijing, but even better was that we got to sleep throughout the whole night when we got back to the hotel!
Tue 23rd January [Chinese] New Year's Eve
Our aim for today was to get our train tickets for Harbin and then head
on to the Summer Palace where we had heard you could ice skate on the
lake. In the end we never did any 'real' skating the whole holiday but
did quite a bit of skating without skates on the roads and pavements that
were all covered in ice.
Managed to secure hard beds up to Harbin on 25th and were just about to move off when Alex got a call from the Hong Kong boys saying they had just arrived in Beijing and were heading to Tiannamen Sq to find us! We had all kind of been planning to meet up but hadn't heard anything for definite so it was quite a surprise.
When they arrived, Alex went back to the hotel with them and Tanya, Nina, Peter and I supposedly headed off to the Summer Palace where we would meet the others later. However, we got somewhat distracted by a silk shop and about 1 hr later emerged with our pockets much lighter!
In our wanderings to find the bus stop, we were witness to slight unrest in T. Sq as a woman waved a banner at a group of tourists. A Chinese man quickly snatched it off her and handed it to one of the many guards patrolling. We then expected him to run after her and shoot her down or something but nothing happened. As nothing major seemed to be happening, we asked the guard about it and he shook his head and mentioned Falun Gong. This was the first we heard of the group that made headlines when four of them set themselves on fire in Tiannamen Sq later that afternoon. Since then our school has put a notice board up against them and the students are having lessons about it. We were there just before it happened!!
Anyway, we finally made it to the Summer Palace and met the others wandering on a huge frozen lake that was quite amazing. we also met up with a German and Russian from our hotel so headed home for free beer and dumplings in a rather large group.
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| Tanya, Alex, Nina, Russian bloke and German Bloke on Summer Palace's frozen lake |
That night was interesting to say the least. Free beer for an hour and half-price drinks afterwards made us all very merry and the bottle of whisky that Alex won helped us along. We all had a really great laugh and after having avoided or just not been in contact with foreigners for so long it was quite strange to have the whole hotel bar full of them, all celebrating together. Certainly Chinese New Year turned out to be a much bigger event than our actual New Year.
Wed 24th January
Didn't get out of bed until about midday when I finally ventured out to
get pancakes with Rob. The whole hotel was nursing hangovers and I don't
think much sightseeing got done today.
Nina, who was the most awake out of all of us, wandered off and never came back. so when Alex, Rob, Jamie, Tanya and I finally decided we should do something, we headed p to Tiannamen Sq in search of New Year action. We picked up Kev, a Liverpuddlian staying at our hotel, on the way. It was whilst standing in the middle of police and military that we discovered what had happened the night before as Alex's Mum rang up worried about us. So that explained why everyone was being checked in and out and all the subways were closed off. It was scary but also thrilling to think that we had been so close to a controversial outburst.
By this point it was already dark and we were getting worried about Nina, so Tanya and I headed back to the hotel to find her. we came back with both Nina and Peter and when we found the others again went off to have Peking Duck. Something that just had to be done as we were in Beijing (Peking). However, we were really too knackered for it and didn't think it was particularly nice anyway - you can get better in England!!
So for our last night in Beijing, we headed back to the hotel early and stayed up chatting in the bar until we could no longer keep our eyes open.
Thur 25th January
Once again got up late, only leaving enough time for lunch before we packed
up and headed to the station. Our time in Beijing was up. Rob and Jamie
came to the station too to get their own tickets out but we couldn't find
Peter anywhere to say goodbye. Got an email later from him saying he was
back in Oz eating real food and soaking up the sun. All the Ozzies we
met on our trip complained bitterly about the cold and although it bothered
us too, we didn't mind it quite to the same degree.
Had a nice bed on the train so after catching up on some of my diary and analysing the events of Beijing with the others, I slept all the 20 hrs up to the northern-most provincial capital.
Fri 26th January
Harbin was disappointingly uncold. After all we had heard about not being
able to go outside for more than 20 mins, I was surprised when stepping
off the train we didn't freeze instantly. Instead, the only effects of
the cold - apart fom being constantly frozen - was that our nose hairs
froze when breathing.
Anyway, after finding a hotel the next task was to get air tickets out again. Easier said than done. There was no way we were getting back to Beijing and the only way we could get home was to go hard seat all the way (48 hours!). Once we'd finally got the tickets sorted, we had time to waste. How were we going to stay occupied in Harbin for 5 days?!
That afternoon, we went to visit St. Sophia's Russian Orthodox Church which was really beautiful. But the best thing was that on the way back we discovered a French bakery that made pastries and was where we spent many hours relaxing over the next days.
Sat 27th January
Woke up early but frozen as the heating in our room was crap and there
were major draughts. So we set out to see the tigers in the Siberian Tiger
Park. We didn't just get to look at them from a distance either. We actually
went into their enclosure. OK so we were in big minibuses with thick windows
but they came right up to the bus so that if you opened a window, you
could touch them. They are truly the most beautiful creatures ever and
seeing them well-kept, but fat, made it even better.
After the bus tour, we walked along a raised walkway through cages where recovering tigers were kept. This time you were only separated by wire mesh and when the tigers jumped up to get the food you could give them, they were quite literally touchable. Their beauty and grace for such large animals is amazing.
From here we went to a park full of snow sculptures. The fact that the weather wasn't as cold as it could be meant that we got to go and see many things. Not saying it was hot though as we were constantly freezing but if you kept moving it was just about bearable! I think the lowest it got was -20º C.
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| Me in front of snow sculpted soldiers for the snow festival. |
Everything in Harbin was made from ice from benches to street lamps and when they were all lit up at night they looked excellent. Also because of Spring Festival they were rather obsessed with firecrackers and se them off constantly anywhere in the streets.
Sun 28th January
We found travelling pretty knackering and by the time we got to Harbin
all we wanted to do was to sleep for a week. Today that's pretty much
what I did. Getting up late we had lunch and then got a bus out to a small
town where the Japanese during the occupation had had a Germ Warfare Camp.
Although a gruesome thing, the museum was small and not highly informative
as all the descriptions were in Chinese. So after wandering around the
town a bit and seeing the old boiler rooms, we jumped back on the bus
and slept all the way back to Harbin.
Back in town we booked our ski trip for the following day - getting hard seats home was the excuse for the mammoth cost. The we went wandering for ages to try and find a market that never materialised before getting an early night.
Mon 29th January
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| The dudes are off to ski |
Our skiing day began extremely early in the freezing cold as we dashed from cold hotel lobby to warm minibus. It took us 3 hrs to get to what we had been told was the best mountain for skiing. On arrival after totally boiling to death and being talked to non-stop by the guide in Chinese (yep, we'd given in and taken a tour trip - never to be repeated!), all we could see were flat nursery slopes with even the few surrounding hills not being very high. In fact, after lunch as were to discover, we had paid a fortune to simply be stuck on the minciest little slope ever for not even the 2 hrs promised. In the end it worked out fine though because once we'd joined the mayhem and got some skis, Tanya, Nina and Alex went up and down the slope quite happily and I ventured slightly higher up in between being the official photographer and laughing my head off at the madness occurring in front of me. One woman could just about get up the lift before heading in a straight line straight for the fence where her skis came off and she flew head first over repeatedly!! A short but sweet little bit of skiing that made me look forward to the possibility of going properly next year even more.
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| Oops, everyone fell off the lift. Yabuli mountain. |
After our 2 hrs were up we expected to get back on the bus and head straight home, but oh no, we were stuck with the group who the guide carted off to two other places to weedle more money out of them before we were finally allowed to take our tired bodies home.
Tue 30th January
Our last day in Harbin began late with a huge and very good lunch before
we set off to bargain our way through the shops. The others got several
furry hats and bits to give to friends and Tanya and I bargained hard
for a big Army winter coat --everyone wears them up north because they
are so cheap. OK, so it was the last day of the holiday and we literally
had no more room in our bags but we just had to have one for prestige
value! Finally coming back in the evening, we got 2 for 70Y (£7)
and in the official shops they would have cost 110Y each.
We spent the rest of the day wandering, finally got to the email place when it was open and then once it had got dark went to the ice festival - the whole reason for coming to Harbin. It was pretty amazing with a whole full-sized pagoda made of ice and everything was lit up from the inside with neon lights. We did a tour of the whole park and took a few shots of the most impressive sculptures before going for another huge meal with 20p beer (650 ml) and stocking up on vast amounts of food for the journey home.
Wed 31st January
D-day for our hard seat trip home. We left Harbin as it began to snow
heavily (temp risen to -8º C) and as we boarded the bus to the station
a huge number of firecrackers were set off behind us - out with a bang.
The train was even more hard seat than the first one with totally vertical backs, only slightly padded, and to make it worse, the soldier who was sitting near us informed us that it was not a 40 our journey as we had thought, but 48 hrs!! So we settled down to reading, catching up on our diaries, listening to music and generally harassing everyone around simply because we were foreign.
The scenery was white, white, white and we couldn't even see out of the windows for most of the day as they were all iced up.
The later it got, the more people joined the train and by 11 pm, the
aisles were crowded with people going to Beijing who had no seats. We
arrived in Beijing at about 2 am and reduced the passenger load leaving
more breathing room and space for the smoke to disperse. The men were
chain smoking constantly, so by the end of the journey we were so immune
to it and the air was so thick of smoke that we didn't even realise if
someone lit up next to us!
I managed to get a bit of sleep as I nabbed the window seat but woke up
at about 8 am being boiled to death by the heating they had suddenly decided
to switch on.
Thur 1st February
Today passed very quickly as we made friends with our closest travelling
companions. Nina drew them all whilst I received food from them and grew
quite a liking for their strange sausages that everyone else said were
foul.
The night, however, was much longer as I got no sleep whatsoever because my back was in agony each way I tried to sleep. In the end I gave up and just watched everyone and wrote some more as I waited for the sun to come up.
Finally, at 9 am we arrived in Guangzhou Station in a much more bedraggled stage than we had left it. It was also cold and rainy - welcome home! After some food where we discovered the huge difference between northern sticky mush rice and nice grainy southern rice, took note of all the girls and boys wearing flares, took in the greenery and smoky fumes and realised we were back in our part of the world. We got on our last bus and headed back to Zhaoqing for a long hot shower and a good night's sleep.
Travelling was over and as we said goodbye to Tanya and Nina who we had been with for a month, we looked forward to the new term and all the post that awaited us.
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and we brought back the lovely hats and army
coats we bought in Harbin
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THE END!
Back to the Top one last time!