Summer holidays!

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Holidays have arrived - at least for us! Jerry finishes work tomorrow and I finished a couple of days ago. We've had a pretty light teaching schedule this month due to all the exam periods. All the Grade 1 and Grade 2 students start their end of year exams on Friday for 3 days, then they head home (with homework!) for 10 days holiday. Though it is summer holidays in China in July and August the headmaster of the school has decided that all the students need to do more revision ready for next years classes so they all must now return to the school for one month during the holidays to study. They will then have another fortnights holiday before the new school year starts on September 1st. This also means that the teachers will also lose a month of their holiday period. We are contracted not to work in July and August so can take the time off and enjoy ourselves. We even get a travelling bonus (1100 yuan each) and half pay whilst we travel!

Tomorrow we leave by overnight train (hard sleeper) for an eleven hour trip to Shijiazhuang, a city three hours south of Beijing. From there we need to catch buses or trains about another 5 hours to reach Pingyao. Pingyao is surrounded by completely intact city walls - 6 klms of them - and is a maze of narrow streets, with no high buidings or cars are allowed within the city walls. It is a very well preserved traditional Chinese town and is full wonderful old Chinese architecture - a pleasant change from the cement and white tile covered buildings that line most Chinese city streets. We are really looking forward to spending time there. I have booked a hotel (it is in a traditional courtyard house) for 5 nights. From there we'll catch a train to Beijing where we'll spend 3 days on our own before joining the Intrepid tour we booked via Devin in Australia. We were able to pay for a third of the tour with US dollars which we converted from our Chinese earnings. When we are in Beijing alone we will be visiting the Summer Palace which from all reports is magnificent, though incedibly large! I only hope that the temperature in Beijing is a little cooler then the current 43*!! China is currently experiencing one of it's hottest summers on record.

Our intinerary is as below -cut and pasted from their brochure.
July 9th & 10th Beijing with tour

One of the world's great cities and China's capital, Beijing is a great place to explore. We have a guided tour of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square and take a day trip out to a remote section of the Great Wall at Simatai (approx. 3 hrs by bus each way). During free time in Beijing, you could hire a bicycle and get lost in the back street hutongs, visit other famous sights such as the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace, eat, shop or just relax in one of the many restaurants. Late on day 3 (11th July) we depart on an overnight train to Xi'an (approx. 13 hrs). Becoming part of life on the train is a great way to come face to face with the country and its people.

July 12th Xi'an
The Imperial centre of China for 2000 years, Xi'an is now a vibrant city and we have plenty of free time to check it out. The Great Mosque is a wonderfully serene place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and splurging in the evening Muslim Quarter food markets is a must! The centre of Xi'an is surrounded by an enormous city wall which can be climbed for a small fee and is best seen while the sun sets over the city. Xi'an is also our base for visiting the amazing Terracotta Warriors. These soldiers have been buried for over 2000 years and are all facing east in battle formation, complete with horses and chariots. We have a full day here to explore (approx. 1 hour drive each way from Xi'an). On the evening of day 5 (July 13th) we board an overnight train for Lanzhou (approx. 13 hrs).

July 14th, 15th & 16th Xiahe
Situated in the Yellow River valley, Lanzhou stretches for nearly 30 km along the banks of the river. We transfer onto a local bus for a long journey through Linxia to the remote town of Xiahe (approx. 6 hrs) in the Tibetan grasslands. Xiahe is home to the Labrang Monastery, one of the largest Tibetan working monasteries outside of Lhasa, and set in a beautiful mountain valley. It is a town that leaves Intrepid travellers raving! It's a stunning place to just sit and watch Tibetan nomads come into town on horse and cart, others on pilgrimage dressed in their finest traditional attire, and monks dressed in their saffron robes hooning around on motorbikes. The prayer circuit forms a complete circle around the entire Labrang Monastery and we can accompany the monks turning the prayer wheels and sending our prayers to heaven. Xiahe is a marvellous place to wander around and really gives you a feel for the Tibetan way of life. We take a day trip out to the grasslands surrounding Xiahe, allowing us to experience traditional ways of life in the nomadic communities. On these vast plains we can visit a remote village school, and meet friendly, hospitable people.

July 17th & 18th Langmusi
On day 9 we make the 8 hour journey to Langmusi, a magically peaceful town on the Sichuan-Gansu border. We stay in basic Tibetan style accommodation where luxury facilities are scarce spending a day visiting monasteries and observing Tibetan life on the fringe of the plateau. We visit a Tibetan school for the chance to teach some English or just play with the kids, and there's plenty of free time to relax in the peaceful surrounds of Langmusi. (From all reports this town is one of the highlights of the tour - very remote and beautiful. Many of the groups have been able to watch a sky burial here - I don't know that I would like to though)

July 19th, 20th & 21st Songpan & Jiuzhaigou
Heading south on a bus trip to Jiuzhaigou (approx. 12hrs), we wind through the high mountain passes and grasslands on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. We make day treks amongst some awesome scenery of gushing mountain streams, pristine lakes and verdant forest in this national park. This is a fantastic opportunity to really get out there and experience the wonders of the local environment as we cross valleys and travel through gorges. We may go on an overnight horse trek here!

July 22nd & 23rd Chengdu
We board a local bus to make the long, winding journey down the Tibetan Plateau to the city of Chengdu (approx. 12 hrs). Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province. The city's traditional flavour and history is well preserved in its lively markets and teahouses. The Panda Sanctuary is just out of the city and we spend a morning there to learn about the efforts made to preserve this endangered species and to see them feeding and playing. Our accommodation is very central and there's some free time for you to set out and explore the streets, squares and gardens of Chengdu.

July 24t, 25th, 26th & 27th Yangshuo
Flying from Chengdu to Guilin (1 hour), we transfer to the small rural town of Yangshuo by bus (approx. 1 hr). Situated on the Li river and surrounded by spectacular limestone karst scenery, this is a beautiful place to relax for a few days. We stay in Yangshuo on night 17 and then spend two days travelling through the surrounding countryside on bicycles. This is a superb way to experience grassroots China and meet some of the lovely people who live off the land. The views are great too! We stay overnight in a village guesthouse so be prepared for basic conditions. Back in Yangshuo we have one more full day to relax in cafes eating great food. The more adventurous can head out into the countryside for more exploration.

Jerry and I leave the tour here as we have decided not to go to Hong Kong for the last 2 nights. It is too expensive to get back to the mainland again - most people will fly back home from Hong Kong and we don't have to!

We plan on going to the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces near Longshen from Guilin and then travelling around some of the minority villages in that area for a few days before returning to Guilin and flying to Dali in Yunnan Province. In Yunnan we will spend 3 weeks or more (if we have any money left!). We definitely will be visiting Lijiang and travelling by bus up to Tiger Leaping Gorge and Zhongdian and hopefully Deqin on the border with Tibet. We'll return to Kunming and either fly to Wuhan from there or dependant on time and money we may go via Leshan and Emie Shan.

A big trip but we are really looking forward to it! We will actually be higher than we have ever been on this trip. The mountains around Deqin are 6740 metres high and whilst we're travelling in Sichuan Province near Songpan we'll be at 3500 metres minimum for about a week. Both of us are looking forward to experiencing some of the Tibetan lifestyle which is very different from our day to day Han Chinese living.

This week I managed to open a Chinese bank account - on my own - so that if we have a problem with one of our cards we will at least be able to access part of our funds. I now have no problem paying our tax and the phone bill monthly - things do get easier once you understand the process. A couple of days ago I bought the sleeper tickets on the train - though we have bought tickets to Wuhan without problems before this ticket was much harder to purchase. It took nearly all day!!!! Over the weekend one of the teachers looked up a Chinese railway guide on the internet for me and gave me a couple of train times. Jerry and I went to the train station (half an hour away) and tried to buy tickets on one of those trains and gave up in the end - we couldn't make them understand what we wanted. It is so frustrating. They gave us a note which translated to "We have no sleeper tickets left." So at least we knew that we could buy sleeper tickets - though only hard sleeper tickets, not the expensive soft sleeper ones.

On Monday one of the teachers took me into a travel agency in our city to buy the tickets - they tried to tell me the only train that went to where we wanted to go left from Xingyang - 2 hours by small bus from Guangshui - and that there were no sleepers available and that the trip would take 17 hours! They also wanted 50 yuan each ticket for selling them to me - and that was above the price of 230 yuan each ticket!!! I refused to buy them and upset the teacher with me a little but it was Jargon (the teacher that is loud and assertive here) so I wasn't too worried about upsetting him. Anyway I went home and spent 2 hours on the internet and eventually found a site which gave me some train times above what I already had - there were dozens of trains but only 4 I found that stopped in Guangshui.

Next I went back to the railway station, waited in a queue for an hour and then spent half an hour with my phrase book and sign language trying to buy the tickets - and I ended up getting the tickets I wanted! 173 yuan each - 11 hours on a sleeper arriving at 5 in the morning. The staff (all 6 of them and only 1 window open) were actually very nice and everybody got very excited when the tickets were printed - probably because they were glad to see me go! By this time the queue behind me was really long but they were very patient - queues are a part of life here - and they all wanted to check my ticket after I bought it. The local Chinese poor people are really nice! 2 and half hours after leaving the apartment I got back - with the tickets to Jerry's surprise - he didn't think I would have any luck buying them! I felt like I'd won a battle In a war - totally wrung out though on a high!

We also received a parcel from Australia a week ago that my sister posted to us on 12th April. The address was correct and it had a great big airmail sticker on it. We had thought it lost (or stolen) and had accepted that we weren't going to receive it! It was full of items that we had asked Ginny to buy for us so we were very happy to get it! Renee has flown back to Australia now as she has finished her contract with the Junior Middle school so that leaves Jerry and I the only foreigners in the city now. The other school has had inquires re the 2 jobs so hopefully by the start of the school year there will be another two westerners living here again. We miss both of them heaps!

Our train trip tomorrow shall be interesting. The hard sleeper carriages are divided into small doorless compartments. Each compartment has 6 bunks - 3 each side - and the prices are all different. The top bunk is the cheapest with the bottom bunk is the most expensive. There will be 4 other people sharing with us- hopefully they are not heavy smokers and don't play cards all night. There will be squat toilets and a hot water urn at the end of the carriage. Most tourists would travel soft sleeper, which has 4 beds in a compartment that you can lock. We are travelling hard sleeper on our Intrepid tour so figure we need to get used to it. Soft sleeper is nearly as expensive as plane fares on many routes. We are a little concerned about our luggage and hope nobody steals a bag when we are asleep. Still we've had no problems in China so far so will hope for the best.

Jerry and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary yesterday - where have all the years gone? I will update this site as often as I can whilst we are travelling. I probably won't be able to upload any new photos until we return to Guangshui as it is quite time consuming. I am trying to find a photo website to put some bigger copies of photos on. I've tried a few out but they are not much bigger than the photos on this site so haven't bothered using them. If anybody knows a site I would appreciate the name. Take care ! Love Linny

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