CHONQUIN ONWARDS TO XIAN

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So!

Picture the scene, having only just escaped almost certain death trying to cross the Yangste on foot we were now all taking shelter in our bus on the edge of the harbour, the inclement weather buffeting our vehicle and Stu spurting blood all over the spot.

(See earlier blog if you dont know what the heck I'm on about).

Over the last week I've spent a fair bit of time with Stu and Rich, and though I think there is still stuff to realise, have had time to kind of suss their characters.

Rich is the more rumbustious of the two, (sure that's a word), little bit more adventurous, outgoing, a bit more boystrous shall we say, where I'd be inclined to suspect Stu might be a tad more sensitive in a crisis.

So there's Rich leaning over the chair in front of Stu who is nursing his arm asking what Rich thinks, who in turn, (though genuinely concerned), wasn't always being helpfull by poking the injury and saying stuff like... 'bloody hell Stu I can see bone!'

Stu was trying his hardest to be a brave little soldier, but in truth I think, what with the pain and all, was finding the situation somewhat stressfull.

Then in the midst of it all, like a knight to the rescue from the back of the bus appeared Colin Mahoney who all but cried 'LET ME THROUGH I'M A RECENTLY QUALIFIED NURSE', and instantly took charge of the situation.

(Gotta say I was mightily impressed)!

B2 pulled out his first aid kit and it was quickly decided they'd have to take Stu to the hospital and that the best course of action was to drive us into the centre of the city and leave us with the bus to fend for ourselves while B2 and a local guide took Stu off to the local hospital.

For the record I've never heard of Chonquin, and I'd challenge most of you to admit that you have either, BUT IT'S MASSIVE.

Earlier that morning as I'd gone for my morning constitutional on deck I'd watched it emerge from the mist and was struck instantly that though I'd seen lots of big Chinese cities on the Yangste over the last few days this was in a league of its own.

It's quite frankly monstrous.

It has a population of 32 million, 100,000 of whom die in road accidents every year, (which probably is just as well).

Unlike the other cities, though very modern with skyscrapers etc it also has much architectural going for it.

(I think in a decade after the ever affluent chinese travel more and see other Cities around the world there will be further reformation of their new bland connerbations to give them all the architectural design and flourish that out cities have).

Chonquin though already has that and is a city not to be taken lightly, (I find it kind of disconcerting that it sits on the planet so unnoticed by the rest of us, it's like if nobody knew about New York)!

We drove through the driving rain and parked in the cities massive central square where B2 and the local guide took Stu of in a taxi, (supposedly Rich was meant to go as well, but somehow failed to get in the taxi)?

We meanwhile had been left on the bus with a few options which given the driving rain and the fact a large amount of the bus were hung over from over excess the night before were only taken by a few of us.

Myself, Liza Pringle, Rachel, Susan, Anne, Lisa and Scott, (who had to borrow my spare waterproof cos he'd ambled bleary eyed into the storm that morning wearing only some shorts and a vest), all trudged across the sodden square towards the three gorges museum with the architecutal might of the city hall behind us.

(Very impressive building, big and all pagodaish)!

half way across the square we saw a taxi drive head on into a car and all hell break loose as traffic tried to bypass the accident, (probably just a normal day in Chonquin we thought).

The museum was very impressive, (in fact you'd be hard pressed to find owt in Chonquin that isnt), and though only some stuff had English as well as chinese writing that was ok cos I don't do much reading in museums anyhow.

Most entertaining was a 360 degree theatre telling the story of the 3 gorges and most amusing, (or disconcerting depending on your take), was the bit of propaganda at the end.

As the movie played out from the dawn of time to the building of the dam we suddenly found ourselves standing in the ruins of one of the demolished cities on the river.

For a moment I thought this was a poignant moment showing recognition of the homes and lives that had been upheaved to make way for the new hydro electic project.

But then suddenly there was a rumble and a huge explosion and the two empty tower blocks that were before us dissapeared in smoke and fire before the screen was lit with sparkly lights and the scene of destruction was replaced by a big new sparkling city further up the mountain, (where the water is going to be), and in the towns squares all the local people were dressed in national costume dancing around the fountains singing, smiling and waving.

It reinforced all Lisa the journalists notions of the Chinese regime but I'm still not sure. I think if the Governement wanted to knock my house down and move me I'd be pretty peeved but then again if they replaced it with something bigger than I have with all mod cons, (which a tour guide the other day assured me to the point of exhaustion that they had done in her case), then maybe I could be talked round to it.

Either way the display made me smile.

After the museum, (we had a lot of time to kill), we went back across the square, gathered a few slightly recovered partygoers from the night before and set off on a new mission to find KFC.

Yes they have that, and given the state of the group it seemed a much better option that trying to go more local in our choice.

Actually I was at the local outlet here in Xian today as well.

It's just easy, they give you pictures to point at, and if your in a hurry sometimes it just saves a lot of hassle.

It don't mean I've not eaten plenty of chinese food, in fact I think I've eaten too much. It's deceptive in that you have lots of little dishes on the table so think you aint eating much but the odds are I've been doubling my food intake recently and am feeling the effects.

One thing though as a mark to the ingenuity of human evolution necessity has dictated that I master chopsticks!

I don't know when it happened, I just suddenly registered the other day on the ship I automatically reached for them instead of the knife and fork and could use them with ease.

When we got back to the bus again Stu was back and stitched up, and we set off through the rain to catch our flight to Xian.

After a meal in the Muslim quarter in Xian last night I spent most of the evening trying to find this internet bar, which now tracked down is rather strange, it's like a modern day Opium den, and given how cheap it is, (if this is costing me owt at all), cant be certain it aint really a cover for something more illegal?

We had today free to wander and as I'd not forged my own path since Hong Kong got up early to do that.

Unfortunately the rain had followed us from Chonquin and now in the early afternoon the streets are wet and the umbrella sellers are out in force.

The quaint rural settings of earlier are now long behind us.

Xian is a busy bustling modern metropolis where 21st century affluent Chinese welcome the new consumer age their living in and buy up with gusto everything that emulates their western counterparts.

There are still differences but much harder to notice, there tendancy for public spitting is one, (as well as just letting their toddlers do stuff in the street that I would be fined for at home if I was caught letting my dog do), but all the time there is a senstation of progress and affluance and a desire to succeed, purchase and display.

The language barrier is getting worse as well, Hong Kong I had no problem, Yangshou is enough of a tourist town to have a fair mix of partial English speakers, but outside of the tour busses to chosen sights there are very few westerners walking the local streets here and I've given up assuming anyone speaks English.

I get through via sign language and general persevearance.

As a westerner I'm generally ignored more in the city as well, though I do catch adolescents laughing at me behind my back occasionally, (though maybe that's just me), and for the first time I'm encountering beggers.

Not street hawkers like I found in the countryside, but genuine beggers like the disabled and malnourished you find in India.

Gotta say I'm surprised I'd have thought the local authorities wouldn't want there nice shiney towns messed up by these folk and would have dealt in some unpleasant way with it. Further I'm curious to know what systems exist in China for those unfortunate enough to find themselves without a job or be encumbered with a disability.

I'm also intriegued by local modern housing, I've seen lots of adverts in the underpasses for modern flats for the young upwardly mobile and I think from the floor plans they show we're probably looking at the future for our young homebuyers as well.

We aint talking spacious dockland developments here, but small functional duel purpose homes almost like posh bedsits. Give it 100 years and people will look at people like me living in my modest home with its three bedrooms and two bathrooms and imagine it in much the same way I think what it must have been like to live in the large servant ran town houses of the Victorian era.

Sorry am I getting all theological?

Anyhow, there was a lull in the rain today, so I took the oportunity to bike along the city walls of Xian.

The walls are old, wide, (we are not talking Carlisle Castle here), and encompass a large part of the central city.

It took me an hour and a half to cycle all the way round. Given todays weather and the lack of folk on the wall I was sort of reminded of the front at Silloth, but dont let me put you off, if your ever in the area it's well worth doing, and strange when you stop and look beyond the battlements to the people below rushing around like ants.

In the afternoon I mooched around the Muslim market beating off stall holders trying to sell me stuff and eventually buying a new bag.

I do this every trip, end up buying something too big to go in my rucksack so have to buy another bag to carry it home.

If your ever after borrowing luggage, I'm the man to see.

There are other things to do in the centre of Xian but given the rain I opted not to bother.

The big thing to do is the Terracotta Warriors which we are visiting tomorrow but I wont be able to report back then, cos we're on the night train to Beijing that evening.

It's my last sleeper and my last destination, (though I'm there for a few days yet).

Bobby Pringle is on at me to organise a football match in Tianaman Square!

No doubt they'll have internet access there so I'll report in then.

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