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Published: November 30th 2006
Beijing Hotel Room
This old house had been transformed into a hotel.Hi all and welcome back to China, my temporary home, the land of cheap eats, immaculate counterfeit goods and straight pubic hair.... whoa, low brow start…. kinda get the feeling this entry is going down hill early. I do apologise for the tardiness of this installment but plenty has been going on here and I hope I can use this time to fill u in on the recent goings on. Firstly, as I mentioned in my last blog, Ash was coming over to visit. She arrived on the 7th of November and left just this week on Monday the 27th after a bit of a kafuffle which I will elaborate on later. In a nutshell, (sorry mum I know u hate that expression, but at the end of the day it all comes out in the wash, HA!), all idioms aside, Ash and I had a great 3 weeks here in China and certainly utilized the time we had around my sometimes frantic work schedule.
In 3 weeks we managed to get around and see most of Qingdao (the city im living in) and we also managed to organize a weekend away to Beijing which was magnificent. We only had
The Forbidden City
This is the Forbidden City, home to many emperors and willing concubines back in the day (14th century onward) 2 days in the Capital and certainly left no stones unturned. We left early on a Friday morning and after a 50min plane trip we touched down in the former Peiking. Inner Beijing is home to aprox 20 million people, the population of Australia in one city! Just on population, China has 1.3 billion people, Hence the 1 child policy! If you currently have a second child in China they are not permitted to go to school nor can they get a social security number to work, EVER! They basically dont exist which is pretty sad. Unfortunately in China, particularly Beijing its common to see a lot of homeless children who seemed to have been abandon or are begging with their parents. Sorry to put a slight dampener on things there, but its a harsh reality, certainly and eye opener. So Ash and i arrived in Beijing on the Friday at 8.30 and were able to arrange trips to the Great Wall & the Ming Tombs when we landed in Beijing for the following day.
After about a 40 min drive we arrived at our hotel which was a very old chinese house (as seen in the picture) that
Mao Zedong Memorial
Ash and i outside the Mao Zedong memorial center. This place is just across the road from Tiananmen Square. Heavily guarded 24/7. had been preserved and transformed into a hotel by a Sydneysider believe it or not. The room was ideal, as was the location. Without a minute to spare, Ash and i dumped our stuff and prepared for a long day of walking and exploring some of the worlds oldest and amazing sights. About two blocks away from the hotel is what the Chinese call "Goo Goong" (thats an approximate spelling attempt). Translation, its "The Forbidden City". A city built at the beginning of the 14th century to house Emperor of the time and his many concubines. Each Emperor had a wife, then several concubines which are women who he used for entertainment. Its said that some Emperors had up to 3000 concubines and would spend time with a different one every night. Puts Gene Simmons to shame. The Forbidden city doesnt look like much in the pictures but it was quite amazing. It has 999 different rooms. Only 25% of the city is open to the public, but Ash and i barely scratched the surface, its enormous.
After our trip to the Forbidden City it was time to hail a cab a go down the road to the renowned
Tiananmen Square
Most well known for the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989 where over 2500 students were gunned down by tanks etc during a democratic protest. Tiananmen Square. Across the road from Tiananmen square is the the Mao Zedong Memorial Museum (As seen in the photo). Several people were milling around this area but no one is allowed in i dont think. The place is absolutely swarming with guards among curious onlookers from all around the globe. Speaking of which, guess who decides to rock up?? I thought i had come to China to escape the shackles of reality TV which is forced upon us all back at home, but then that gay farmer bloke from big brother shows up with his partner. Fair to say me and Mao took a back seat for a moment! Without further a due, we walked under the road via subway and went over to check out Tiananmen Square. To look at its not much, just a massive wide expanse in the center of town with some memorial statues, but it certainly has a somewhat errie presence. There was guards marching around all over the place who were less than friendly. The whole time i pestered Ash to let me ask a guard for a photo but in the end i agreed that it was better not to have my
A pretty Great Wall
Well this is one of the 7 wonders of the world (not me, the wall). I know i dont look that excited but i was just frustrated because i forgot my slinky teeth smashed in by the butt of a rifle.
So the onto the significance of Tiananmen Square. As most of you know, there was thousands of protestors (mainly students) massacred there back in 1989. They were protesting for democratic rights i believe, that was until the government decided to bring in some heavy artillery and put a stop to it. It's said that 2600 people were killed and 3000 seriously injured. Every since then Chinese people have thought twice about voicing their opinions. And they call it the Peoples republic??? This topic remains largely taboo in China and few people will actually talk of it. Seems the government as done a decent job of 'sweeping it under the rug'.
With Tiananmen knocked off the list Ash and i thought it would be an adventure to experience the Beijing subway train system. After this locomotive endeavor i must say that Connex need to take a good hard look at themselves. Ash and i had no troubles at all navigating our way across the Beijing rail system. It was just a pleasure to use! So basic and so regular, loved it! The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping in
Everybody Loves a Slinky
Everybody wants a slinky
you gotta get a slinky
slinky slinky slinky
Go Slinky Go! this enormous 5 story plaza full of counterfeit goods, Ash was in heaven. After hours of bartering with various merchants we retired back to the hotel as happy consumers ready for a huge following day.
With our tour guide picking us up at 8 that morning it was an early rise in preparation for "The Great Wall" etc. After checking out of our hotel we were picked up in a mini bus and headed on what proved to be an epic journey with 9 other tourists. The others were from all corners of the globe: Spain, Columbia, Philippines, India and one Chinese fella. They all seemed like a good bunch! Just between you and i, i was fairly stoked that there was no Americans in our tour group. The Americans i have met so far on this trip have done nothing to enhance my opinion of them. Lets not get into race wars though!
Without harping on too much, both the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall were fantastic, particularly the latter. I would urge anyone who is in the general Asia vicinity to visit it sometime if you can. Its just a truly remarkable piece of engineering.
Long Distance
Hopefully this picture gives you some kind idea of the size of this thing and the terrain it was built on. Quite amazing. The wall at one point stretched for 6000km across the north of China. It was built in order to keep the dirty Mongolians out, contrary to what a recent advertising campaign may have you believe! Many peoples entire lives were spent building this wall so shmucks like me could walk all over it and take happy snaps. If the workers attempted to flea from their work they were maimed and buried in the wall!! Barbaric! They say that over 3000 people were killed building it and that is no surprise when u think about the winters they have here and the treacherous terrain they were forced to work in. As Amesy mentioned in his email to me the other day, not to sure that there would have been many RDO's or 1hr smokos taken back then! Back to the wall's purpose. As i mentioned it was designed to stop Ghengis Khan and his cronies invading and in the end proved largely ineffective. The wall needed to be constantly guarded and with it stretching 6000km it was fairly impossible to keep all bases covered. Enough about the wall! It was great, and i do urge you all to see it sometime
Ash and I
This is just as Ash and i were decending down the wall at the end of the day! Just about the only moment we could get a photo without a hundred bustling chinese going past in your lives if you can!!
With Beijing knocked over, Ash and i were absolutely spent. Our flight back to Qingdao was 10:30 that night which meant a midnight arrival back in my temporary home town. Ash was due to fly out of Qingdao the next morning so our trip had rapidly come to a close. Upon arrival however we noticed that Ash's ipod was no where to be seen. After searching high and low we concluded that it must have been pinched in Beijing! Unlike myself, Ash was sensible and bought travel insurance so hopefully she is able to claim on that. As a result of this minor hiccup Ash was able to re-schedule her flights and have a few more days in Qingdao. Unfortunately i had to work for the majority of it but we utilized our spare time as best we could by eating out most nights and shopping furiously. Never have i seen one person shop so much in my whole life!! Ash also came to sit in on a number of my classes. My students all fell in love with her and spent most of the classes asking her questions about her family and
Work Bus
This is the bus i take to work everyday. As a result of this sign our conversations on the bus are fairly lacking. Restricted to "Hello, how are you?" "I dont want my fried rice too spicey" "thank you" mother country!
When it was time for Ash to finally leave she attempted to check in her luggage which weighed 36kg! 16kg more than the required amount. Not only this but the "lovely" people at Dragonairlines wouldn’t left ash on the plane because her ticket had not been upgraded from the original which was scheduled for the week before. At this point i was in a taxi on the way home reminiscing over a great few weeks. As soon as i got home i got a phone call from Ash's mum telling me that Ash is on her way back! A bit of a blessing in disguise because if she was allowed to board she would have paid $40 aus per extra kilo of luggage. We spent the next few days re-packing luggage and shedding kilos like a boxer pre fight. After hacking through thick thick thiiiick red tape at Dragonairlines head office, Ash was set to fly back to Terra Nullius on the Monday. Thankfully her second attempted at escaping the PRC was more successful that the first and now she is home safe back in Aus.
Before Ash arrived in China i was coping with being away from home far better than i ever anticipated. I had some days here and there where i wish i was a little homesick, but i thought it woud be a lot worse. As i said to mum and dad on the phone the other night, i think Ash visiting symbolised everything i have back home which i miss so much. Just small things that you perhaps wouldnt think twice about when your home but mean so much. I guess if anything this trip has made me appreciate these really simple things in life. I miss all my mates back home so much as well as mum & dad and of course Ash. I knew i would but never knew to what extent. The Sunday just gone was Gazzas birthday, happy birthday mate! Missing you heaps, hope you had a great day on Sunday and im sure u celebrated in true Horner fashion on Saturday night. I have only been away for a few months, cant imagine being away for any longer.
Just the little things im getting over now. Every morning when i step on the bus i have 30 eyes which stay fixated on me with minimal subtly, i feel so outcast! Its just me and my ipod! I often have my deepest of thoughts on the bus, not sure why, i think its the point where i feel furthest away from home for some reason. The fact that even if i wanted to say something to these people they would have no idea what i was talking about. Its like a different world, difficult to explain. There is 1.3 billion of them and only 20 million of us. Some have never even heard of Australia. In the beginning it was sort of a cool novelty, but that has certainly worn a little. As for the language barrier that is taking its toll and my chinese has kinda hit the wall a little!! Its getting colder and colder here with the mercury heading minus in the next few weeks!! Perhaps thats why i miss home so much!! 30 degrees, the ashes etc!! Anyway guys, thank you all so much for reading again, means heaps to me. I miss you all so much. It looks like that i will be home at the end of January. Sorry for subjecting you to my whinging for the last few paragraphs but i find this my best release!! All the best everyone!! Be great to hear from any of you if you get the chance to drop me a line!
Take Care
Tom
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Ash
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THE Australian Female who IS addicted to Retail!!!
Well...Yet another superbly written blog!!! And for obvious reasons it was very close to my heart!!! I had the most amazing three weeks!!! And im so glad that I lost my ipod and that they wouldnt let me leave! Massive blessing!!! Thanks for putting the trip into words, u summed it up perfectly!!! Love you and cant wait till u come home!!! And i promise to ride the bus with u in Australia, cos I know ur going to miss that sooooo much!!! xox