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Published: September 29th 2011
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Hi all, second entry. Sorry for the delay, I'm afraid we've had trouble with internet access and getting onto the blog. So this entry is a bit of a long one. I will forgive you for not reading it all the way to the end!!
I should point out that Michael has actually put in a lot of work to this one! Obviously the funny and insightful parts are mine though!!!!!
16th sept continued:
We went out for peking/beijing duck at restaurant next to our hostel. We were a little overwhelmed when a huge plate of duck was brought out to us. However determined not to offend we tucked on. however a 2nd plate of duck was brought to us and we left unable to walk and bursting at the seams.
We decided to hit the night market which was exciting and disgusting. has things like raw snake on a stick and scorpions. we both bottled it and went for noodles and dumplings (no one Chinese appeared to be eating any of the lovely bugs)
p.s we both drunkenly agreed to eat a scorpion elsewhere.
19th September
Wow! The Great Wall was incredible! On
17th we went to the part at Jinshanling and walked/climbed/scrambled most of the way to Simatai. It is an unrestored section which was fairly quiet and not overrun by tourists. It was really nice to get away from the smog for a while and breathe some beautiful fresh air. We were "helped " along our way by some local elderly Mongolian ladies who obviously wanted to "help" us so that we would buy their souvenirs. we did the walk along the Grat Wall with a Dutch girl called Kristin who was staying in our hostel room at 365 and a Welsh girl called Calore who is studying medicine at Leicester university. Each of us appeared to be assigned one of the "sexy" (Michael's description) Mongolian ladies who took their job very seriously. We were told to be "CAR FULL, CAR FULL" on numerous occassions. After walking several miles and feeling rather tired and sweaty "my" Mongolian lady asked me how old I was and then proceeded to tell me that she was 66 with a big smile on her face and she skipped up the path ahead of me. Every time we reached some steps on the wall they informed
us thatthere were 103 steps (it was always 103, regardless of how many steps!) We couldn't resist buying a souveneir as they were so nice, but as soon as we did that they ran off to find more "targets" without even a hug or a kiss 😞
Anyway it was great fun and so so beautiful - our photos will never be able o do it justice.
After an OK meal/buffet of Chinese food we headed back. fter about 2 1/2 hours of the journey we were asked to stop and get on a mini van? as it was rush hour. This was real Beijing driving. Beijing has four lane traffic going one way amd people tend to drive how they want as long as their horn works. Our favourite part of the journey was at a junction where we rolled along in neutral whilst the driver answereed his phone with traffic coming at us from at least 3 different directions. But we made it back alive with a lot of laughs and a playful driver who seemed to be having near misses to get a reaction out of us!
Spent the evening in hostel bar playing
cards. We were joined by a guy from California called London (spelt like the place) who was a little eccentric ut quite funny. Kristin and Claire joined us after they'd had the duck experience next door.
Next day we just chilled and packed ready for the train journey. The train station smelt really bad and the queue for it wasridiculous. When we finally got boarded on the train we both managed to climb up to the top bunks we had and we got some sleep before we arrived in Pingyao. We were met by a driver in Pingyao at about 5:30am and taken to our hotel. Everything looked boarded up and shut down and it was pretty cold. The driver banged on our hotel's door and it was eventually opened by a little old Chinese man who ushered us into a corner. We were told by a lady on the phone that we couldn't check in untill 12.00pm (it was 05:45!!) so we
decided to go for a walk, it was very cold outside so we quickly returned to the hotel and luckily more staff had arrived and they could check us into our room at about 7:30am. We
got to our room which was very nice with a massive bed which you could have fitted about 5 people in! Then after a sleep and shower we wandered around the streets of Pingyao which looked very different in the light of day. The streets were filled, the shoips were open and the sun was shining...we loved it!! We found a nice place to eat and had 1 big bottle of beer, 1 sprite and 2 big meals for 3 pounds 60p!!! (note there is no pound sign on this computer hence I wrote it out!!) The city itself was so so ancient and what Michael had dreamed China to be (Plus it didn't smell and the air was clear!!) Lots of little shops and beautiful city walls.
The next day we moved to a cheaper guesthouse (Harmony). We were "upgraded" for free to a private room from a dorm when we arrived...big mistake!!! It was kind of an attic room up some very very steep stairs, which was entertaining with our massive bags. It also had a very smelly bathroom with water leaking from everywhere!! If you turned on the tap in the sink a gush of water
came out the bottom of the sink!! But the room itsefl was OK and as Pingyao was o nice we didn't spend much time in there anyway! We walked to ATM machine, where Katie conveniently forgot her pin number! After that we walked on top of the city walls, overlooking Pingyao inside and outside of the walls Michael enjoyed pretending he was a ninja!! We also went to the first ever bank. There were lots of people in Pingyao with cameras as there was a photography festival on. The Chinese seem amazed by white people and take photos of us and stare all the time, they took hundreds of pictures of us in Pingyao! In the evening we wandered around and ate Lamb (?) on sticks which Katie excellently got us 1 yen off each!! We have both been enjoying lots of haggling!! We had a trip the next day so early to bed.
21st September 2011
We sat outside "Cosy" bar drinking Snow (local beer). We went to Wang courtyard which was quite impressive, although we are both feeling a little "templed out" which other travellers have also said they feel after Beijing. We then went to
some underground tunnels which were quite cool-tour guide kept snorting very loudly after she spoke (snorting and spitting are both very common habits in China, they literally spit eveywhere (mummy miller you would not like it!!) Sometimes they half heartedly aim for bins but they normally miss completely!
I (Katie) went to a funny outside toilet today by underground tunnels where there were 4 holes in the ground with very low partition walls seperating each of them and they were completely open at the fonrt. Needless to say anyone walking past would be able to see everything if they wanted to!
Kristin arrived in Pingyao having got a sleeper train, we saw her breifly for breakfast before we left for the tour. She was with an Irish guy called James (didn't get his number, sorry Kerry!!)
More people were taking photos today, waving and staring at us, shouting "hello" giggling and running away. On a couple of occasions Michael has been asked for his permission by somebody wanting to take a photograph of me...they have not asked me for permission though!! Also once or twice we've been foolish enough to smile for a photo and then
loads of people come flooding round calling their friends, pointing and taking more photos!! We are starting to feel like a rare animal species!!!
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