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Ellen at Jinshaling
Another wonder of the world completed! 31 hour train.... last of the Transiberia/trans Mongolia route! A change of scenery from birch trees-desert and now to Chinese mountain land. Mongolia- China border crossing took 9 hours- the customs questioned me as on my passport photo i have a slight spot on my cheek that i don't have now.. after much staring at my face they concluded it is me! As well as the nine hour wait... all the toilets were out of use and we weren't allowed out of the carriage... we were getting so desperate we had an empty juice bottle ready but luckily it didn't come to it.
We decided to get through the Russia and Mongolia by using up our spare Mongolian currency on a bottle of what we thought was screw top wine... of course it wasn't and was corkscrew.. but gave us something to do. With the help of a padlock, pocket mandarin dictionary and a pen we got in... that's a puzzle for you! Bad timing though- just as we were pushing the cork in the guard opened the door to the cabin for our passports- we looked very suspicious!
Arrival to Beijing was quite easy and we stayed in
Justine at Jinshaling
Happy to be in good company!! a hostel just across from the central train station. I remember a Chinese guy i used to know slept with no mattress.. well this is just the same- a thin roll mat for a mattress... well its better for your health!
Our first Chinese meal was a whole duck, pancakes and vegetables, very nice and didn't even get a surprise chicken foot or chick in there! The only surprise we had were some worm looking creatures in the vegetables but they were quite meaty and tasted ok.
We went to the biggest square in the world- Tinamen square- was ok- just a square with a few Chinese guards guarding the China flag and some important buildings. As its pretty symbolic we took a sit down for a while.... not noticing we were sat with the camera case open and empty... only when people walked past glancing in the camera case we realised... yet again we are looking like tramps begging. Promptly the case was put away, although a few extra rouble wouldn't be turned down!
Our time in Beijing included visiting the Forbidden city- so called because it was off limits for 500 years its the largest
and most well preserved cluster of buildings in China and was home to two dynasties of emperors called 'Ming' and 'Quin'!! It was a pretty large place-took most of a day to get around and very hot too. We were surprised at the tourists- it was all Chinese people and very very few foreigners. The evening we went to a Chinese acrobatic show which was spectacular-people going inside out upside down and all ways around. My favourite was the 'pot boys' but Justine appreciated the motorbikes especially- went from one to 5 motorbikes in a tiny hamster cage spinning round up down and all around very very clever... i took a video of it which showed it well... unfortunately then accidentally deleted it so Justine wasn't impressed! The show was full of Chinese spectators.. by now were kind of used to their mannerisms- phlem and spit everywhere- in the theatre, street, car, sacred places etc.. and manage to make quite some noise from within in the process. Another 'mannerism' seems to be an inability to queue... push, shove and stand right in front of you- on a train, buying tickets, food etc... i think i cracked it this morning... i
Shanghai
Sky scrapers amongst the pollution! think all the self importance and selfishness comes down to the fact that Chinese people are all only childs.. a good government law to reduce the population (much needed) but it brings out the traits of only children- inability to share and thinking they are the most important people.
We visited the great wall- Badaling section got up at 5am to catch as bus, was pretty quiet when we arrived but we were constantly pestered by Chinese people wanting photos of us- we were a freak show (again). Some were polite and asked but others just followed us and pointed cameras from every direction. It got too much by lunch time and we sat facing the wall with t-shirts on our heads. We made friends with one group of Chinese people proudly wearing their ' i climbed the great wall' t-shirts. They had politely asked for photos earlier in the day and then we saw them again at lunch, they gave us a cucumber each and some bread--- thoroughly appreciated!!
A famous quote is ' He who has not climbed the great wall is not a true man' Mao Zedong .... well if we weren't already true men then we are now!
We went to the summer palace- a palace for the royalty from forbidden city to go to in the hot summer months- very large ground with lakes, pavilions, gardens and temples. After a day there we decided no more temples.... in our time we have seen far more Buddhist temples than churches. Our favorite lunch was had here... pretty simple but nice- a street seller was selling sweet potatoes and pineapple.
Shopping in china means one thing.. you come home with a waving cat!
A trip to the supermarket also saved us a visit to the zoo!! As we cant quite fathom what food is in the Chinese packets we bought a selection and had a taster session- some food beyond edible whilst others were somewhat eatable.
A spare afternoon led us to visit some gardens that if you climb up overlook the forbidden city. We have a bad history with the rickshaws- her previous one agreed 3 yuan (30p) then took us to destination and claimed it was 300 yuan (30 pound).. of course we didn't pay. Another dropped us off halfway to the place and this one, we wanted to get back to our hostel. 3 yuan was agreed- by showing the money, showing the map in mandarin and it was agreed what we were paying for. He decided to take us to the nearest metro station and stop there- we told him we wouldn't pay unless he takes us to the hostel as agreed but he wasn't happy. After much argument and many spectators we gave 20 yuan for taking us part way and then got on metro for the rest!
As the Badaling section of the great wall was a bit crowded we went to a different section. 3 hour bus away. At 8 am our bus stopped for use of public squats- as i was in there i heard guns firing, lasting for a good minute. I honestly though the last moment of my life would be spent looking down a Chinese squat.. but luckily the firing stopped and it turned to be that a wedding had took place on the road outside (at 8 am) and gun firing is some kind of celebration. I can kind of see sense in gun firing at a wedding- symbolic of the end of life--- no more fun and games.. but time to be married and begin proper adulthood!!
The section of the wall was Jinshaling- much much better and a very old and destroyed section. we trekked up to the wall and then along the wall for 4 hours before we had to get the bus back again.
As the night before we were leaving Beijing.. we had plenty of spare food left that was left unopened from our taster sessions and many things come in packs. Much to Justine's disgrace i took her tramp hunting- she claims to be far too much of a snob to be charitable and give poor to the homeless but i argues no one can be too much of a snob to help others. She wasn't too keen but we found 3 Beijing beggars who will be less hungry now than last night!
Next.. a 5 hour bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai- 300km+/hr!
Shanghai is quite a place... skyscrapers of 87 floors, modern as can be and very metropolitan. We took a boat along the Juangpu river so you see the Bund at its best. Off to see Shanghai by night....
Next stop is to see some pandas.. hopefully it wont turn into a panda-mic !!!!
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mum
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Malta on Thursday
Glad you are teaching Justine a thing or two! Sounds like you are seeing loads and having fun with the Chinese, not. Dad getting excited about malta on Thursday, I think it will be alot of reminiscing. All well here, Love from mum and dad Xxx