Surprising Shanghai Pt 2

Asia » China » Shanghai
October 19th 2010

Published: October 19th 2010

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Chris and Lisa

Big Belly Buddha

or an old B&W photo of Chris?

The following day was day trip 2, an early start this time as we were headed out to the City of Hangzhou, wrapped around Lake Xi Hu, a place where no lesser person that Marco Polo commented “A voyage on this lake offers more refreshment and pleasure than any other experience on Earth”, some accolade even on the understanding that he said it before a night on the Guinness was possible. Unfortunately for us, and in keeping with the weather so far this trip, it tipped down for most of the day. The rain, the low cloud and the mist denied us the chance to truly understand why this is one of the most popular destinations in China. Weather apart, we hopped on a bus (10p) and went to visit our first monastery, and yes Matthew it did involve a big hill, but at least this time it was cool. The area of Feilai Feng, just in the base of the mountains (hills) on the west side of the lake, are some of the most famous sights on Hangzhou. The name means “The hill that flew here” so named after a Buddhist devotee who upon arrival here thought he recognised the

Still Scary

after all this time

hill from one back home in India. The main features of the area are the rock carvings, copies of Buddha from all over China and the hundreds of Buddhist sculptures carved into the limestone, dating from the 10th to the 14th century. We wandered on past ‘Big Belly Buddha’ on to Lingyin Si, one of the largest and most important temple complexes in China. It’s about 1700 years old and once had 3000 monks, 9 towers, 19 pavilions and 75 halls. Although it’s a working monastery still it’s a pretty commercial setup. There’s an impressive array of huge gold Buddhas on show, they may espouse getting rid of all your worldly possessions but they are also quite keen on being on the receiving end. On leaving the temple we realised that payback for not Googling the weather report was the purchase of yet another umbrella to match the two we already had in Shanghai. The No 7 bus deposited us back on the lake shore and we visited the tomb of Yeifei, a Song general (no not Simon Cowell) who is revered in modern China because of his unquestioning patriotism; something the modern rulers are keen to replicate among the

Mystical Temple in the Clouds

or just rubbish weather?

population. A stroll through his marvellous memorial brings you to the spot most Chinese were keen to be pictured in front of. A wall with calligraphy saying “Be loyal to your country” - well got to be done hasn’t it!

As the weather was still conspiring against us we passed up Marco’s advice and didn’t take the tour on the lake, not a lot of point in zero visibility, instead we took a slow stroll along Bai Di, one of the 2 causeways on the lake, even in the rain it was lovely and half way along the causeway we spotted a ‘Costa Coffee’, there can’t be many better views from a Costa. Suitably caffeined up, we continued our walk around the lake, finally ending when the showers turned torrential. We ate at a restaurant recommended in Rough Guide, although we nearly gave up because, while obviously popular, the ordering system seemed to be tell the cashier what you want and exchange cash for vouchers then head over to the numerous cooking counters where you swap counters for delicious looking dishes. The only problem being no pictures, no English words, no menu - no chance. One final plea for

Another Big Buddha

a menu got us directed upstairs to a huge seating area that offered waitress service and a menu with pictures. And yes it was great. A quick stop at Hangzhou’s answer to the Bellagio musical fountains, not too bad, then off to the station with no dramas this time. Yep, Hangzhou is definitely a nice city despite the weather and if it is fine has enough to spend a few days here but like many places in the rain, well you know what we mean.

Yeah, a lie in. No weekends for us busy people so it’s a rare thing these days. We then had a relaxed day looking around a few bits of the city that we had missed. That evening we headed off to one of the must do things in China, the acrobats. While looking online for a show we had stumbled upon one in the North of the City that had rave reviews and we read that seats could be purchased on the day and were only a fiver, got to try that then. ERA Intersection of Time - stupid name but what a show. We were like little kids again, constantly crying wow and

Watching the Acrobats

smiling so much our cheeks hurt, these absolutely amazing acrobats didn’t just defy gravity but physiology as well. An incredible series of acrobatics held together by the theme of China through the ages culminated in something we won’t ever forget. Chris remembers as a kid seeing the riders on the wall of death at Stourpaine Bushes show and being gobsmacked by the bravery, a few years later this was followed by seeing a rider in a steel ball that was about 12ft in diameter, this was special. Well the finale started with a rider entering the cage and doing all sorts of breathtaking manoeuvres then to our amazement another rider joined the 1st and rode like crazy around this sphere, weaving intricate patterns. Incredible. Then a third joined in, fantastic. Then a fourth, then a fifth ….. this stunning spectacle continued until all 8 riders were rocketing their motorbikes round a tiny spherical cage. Words cannot describe the wonder of seeing this, worth coming to China for that’s all we can say.

Shanghai at the moment is even busier than normal because it is hosting the latest World Fair. A tradition that started over 150 years ago in London

Magnificent Centrepiece

Chinas Pavilion

with the Great Exhibition (possibly the last time Crystal Palace was great) it’s an event that showcases the world to the world. This Expo’s theme seemed to be Cities. Off we toddled and on the metro on the way there the Expo news flashed up on the TV screens (yep, TV on the Tube) and talked about 225,000, wow that’s a lot of people to have visited expo already since it opened we thought. Only when we arrived and started wandering around did we realise that the figure was the number that had already gone in that day. Apparently over ½ a million people visit every day and the expo is open from 1st May until the end of October. The exhibition is spread over 2 sites either side of the river with the West side being mainly the Nations of the World Pavilions.

China’s own magnificent edifice naturally takes centre stage, its Oriental Crown, like an inverted seven story pyramid, showcases the magnificent, prosperous, new China. We didn’t go in there as you have to get to the gates at 5am to queue for one of the 100,000 tickets on offer. Wandering past the Aussie and NZ pavilions

Great Piece of Art

but a good use of the deficit?

with their long lines of devotees we headed off to see what the UK had to offer. Stuck right out on the edge of the Europe zone, we approached and saw the queue snaking just past the sign that said waiting time from here 3 hours!!! Well only two ways to go here, firstly join the queue or take a leaf out of the Asian book, go right to the front, flash the passport and insist that our taxes paid for this therefore we shouldn’t have to queue. Guess what…. it worked. Once inside, the pavilion was confusing, on one hand it was a beautiful piece of art, millions of stems or reeds poking out from a shell with the inner end of these acrylic rods all containing an individual seed. Quite lovely, quite surreal but I’m not sure what it all does. On one hand if the idea of the pavilion, like most of the others, was to encourage people to visit the UK, then it failed miserably to get its message across. If it was to persuade people that British companies are the solution to their problems, again it failed miserably. If it was to showcase all that

Seedy Rods

The inside of the UK pavilion

is great about the UK, yep, failed. But, and it’s a big but, if somehow it’s demonstrating that the UK has the answers to the City of the Future, that being at one with nature is essential as we move forward and that this ‘Seed Cathedral’ is a small glimpse of the bio diversity projects critical to man’s survival here on Earth, well then it succeeds. The only problem we have is that with the country facing a fairly dire financial situation should we really be spending money on highbrow idealist art projects or should we be trying to persuade the world that the UK is a great place to invest. Greater minds than ours have faced this challenge.

Well, off to see what the rest of the world has to offer. The queues at the big countries were far too large to waste the day so instead we took the opportunity to visit pavilions we probably would never visit, Bosnia Herzegovina and Angola were just 2. A quick slide through Tunisia and on to Slovenia, which is somewhere that’s now on the list for these 2 travellers, looks lovely. A trip to say Saba Di to those in

Cant really believe

we actually went back to Cambodia

the Laos pavilion and a see you soon to Vietnam preceded a ferry trip across to the other side of the site and, finally managing to get a schedule of events, we realised we were just in time to see a great display by some Shaolin Warriors, just like David Carradine you wouldn’t mess with these priests. We hung around to watch the, admittedly pretty pathetic, nightly carnival parade, and eventually bushed after walking around the world we headed on back to the real world. It was a very impressive showcase on the world, billions having been spent showcasing the great and the good, the point, not sure but it’s bound to be about business. Oh and a few nice pieces of art as well ;-)

Our last day in Shanghai was spent trying to finalise the arrangements for the next few weeks. We headed off to the station for yet another bout of queuing, only to find the tickets that we wanted to buy don’t go on sale for another 4 days. We headed back to the Hostel to consult the Googleworld, fill in the blanks in the diary and get packed ready to move on. While browsing

5th Avenue

Have you sussed the setting we used Anna?

the internet it turns out that we hadn’t asked the right questions at the station ticket office, it was only certain tickets we could not buy, our train from Beijing to Xian had been on sale for about a week now and when we returned to the ticket office the following morning, you guessed it, sold out.

Mainland China is tough, we aren’t sure if we would advise people to try to travel independently, sure the transport is cheap enough but access to it is very limited. No online sales and the language barrier has certainly made the trip a challenge. The food isn’t too bad but ordering is tough, even in a KFC. Beijing next will probably tell if we’ve bitten off more than we can chew or if we are getting into the groove.

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