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Well the tour has moved on, and to a somewhat different world - China.
We flew into Beijing where we were welcomed by the new terminal built for the Olympics, apparently the biggest in the word. WOW, absolutely incredible!! little did we know this was the first of many amazing buildings we'd see built for the Olympics.
The airport runs like clockwork and the huge amount of staff seems ridiculous, going through customs wasn't as smooth as we'd hoped as the girl at the desk was convinced that i (Kris) was not the person in my passport. After half an hour in a private room with 5 people taking additional photo's of me as well as analysing my signature to that in my passport, i was allowed through!! Shaky start...
Beijing is not necessarily a pretty city although we were surprised at the amount of greenery and parks. As far cities in China go, Beijing is the most traditional and therefore what it lacks in beauty is certainly made up by being extremely interesting! We did the tourist bits up front, Tain'men square, Forbidden City, Lama Temple etc. With China'a controversial past these all made for great visits. The
View of Beijing
Notice where old town ends and the new development begins! forbidden city in particular showcased the lives of the Emperors and gave a glimpse into the days of ancient China.
The weird side of Beijing comes to a head when walking around the food markets, if you are into strange eating then this is your place....locusts, scorpions, sea horses on sticks, bats (at least thats what the looked like), snakes, worms, pupa plus all sorts of things we couldnt even recognise. You do however get some quite good stuff, dumplings, lamb/beef kebabs, spring rolls....but then again you still not sure exactly what you eating!! I was brave enough to try a few things although Kath was put off food altogether.
We spent a fair amount of time in the silk and pearl markets which are absolute mayhem and a true test of our bargaining skills. We were obviously sucked into buying all sorts of things - clothes, pearls, electronics etc. We were convinced we got great deals!! Time will tell....Also managed to squeeze in a shoulder, neck & foot massage - will be making the most of this in the next couple weeks.
A highlight of Beijing included a 9km hike along the Great Wall, we walked
Food Market
Chinese delicacies!!! from Jinshanling to Simatai. Besides being exhausting it is truely incredible, the terrain is extremely rugged and to think of the brick and stone that had to be carted up these mountains before the building even started is mind boggling. Its no wander it took over 100 years to build!!
The growth and development in Beijing is exactly how you imagine it, cranes dominate the skyline and there are very impressive skyscrapers all over the place (although not nearly as many as Shanghai) which evidence the booming economy. The sad thing is that the government have destroyed a lot of the traditional 'hutong' areas to make space for all the development. The main Olympic and other stadiums are outstanding, in typical Chinese fashion all the stadiums have been completed months before their deadlines. The hype for the olympics here is huge and everywhere you look there is something being said about it. China are out to impress the world and politics aside i truely think we in for a special event. I just hope the earthquake disaster does not have a negative influence. We have found the Chinese people to be very polite and humble and those that can
speak english (younger generation) are very helpful and friendly.
From Beijing we headed for Xi'an on the overnight train. This is quite close to the earthquake region, they had quite bad tremors although luckily no damage. The big (and probably only) highlight in Xi'an is the Terracotta Army.It was incredible to see the army in the exact location where they had been buried around 2000 years ago.There is still a huge amount of excavation work to be done e.g. in the one pit they have only uncovered 1000 soldiers but there is estimated to be around another 5000 buried.The whole concept is mind-boggling & its amazing how many modern techniques were used in those days.The following day was spent in Xian walking around the city although it was far too hot and muggy!!!At night the city certainly seems to come alive & not many tourists around.
Next stop & where we are at the moment is Shanghai - this place is chaotic, so many people & it is a shoppers paradise.There are shops after mall after plaza.Its famous for the Bund, a promenade which runs along the Huangpu River & was very influenced by the British in the
The 'Nest'
As the stadium is known to the locals. past.This side overlooks a very modern, new age Pudong area on the other side of the river which has one of the tallest buildings in the world.Yesterday we spent fighting the masses & walking along the promenade, today we did the other sights including going to the 88th floor of the Jinmao Tower (3rd tallest building in the world).
We have found China to be extremely cheap & the best places to eat are always down the alleyways with the locals. The food has been great and its interesting how the food changes quite drastically from city to city.We are both stilll trying to master eating with chopsticks!!
Well thats it for now.From here its off to Hong Kong tomorrow where we will be meeting up with my folks.
Hope you all well!
Cheers for now
Kath & Kris
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