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Published: February 20th 2006
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17th December - 9th January
Xian
One of the old capitals of Beijing—under the Qing Dynasty. We visited the famous terracotta warriors, of which there are believed to be around 6,000. Many are still being unearthed. We also visited a special wildlife reserve where we saw golden monkeys, leopards, wild boars, eagles, golden takins and…pandas!
We were able to get close to Yang Yang, a giant panda, and rub his back through the gate. We were astonished at how playful and agile pandas are. Yang Yang effortlessly shredded one observer’s shoe. The bear rolled over on its side with back legs in the air and reached through the gate with his front paws. The shoe victim was safe the entire time and considered it an honor to play with the giant cute bear.
Shanghai
A massive city with up to 15 million by some estimates. We met up with Fiona’s friend Yemei and walked around some of the sights including the Shanghai Planning and Exhibition Center, People’s Square, Nanjing Road and the Bund, the latter of which still houses some former colonial buildings. We went inside the HSBC bank which exhibited British imperial grandeur through its
Yang Yang
A four year old Giant Panda ornate architecture. Across the river we could see the skyscrapers of the Pudong Area, including the Pearl Oriental Tower, Asia's largest TV tower.
CHRISTMAS in CHINA
Yemei and her family and friends went out of their way to make Christmas special for us in China. They had decorated their home with a Christmas tree and prepared a lovely dinner on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed Yemei's mum's home-cooking with traditional Chinese soups, dumplings and river crab, and then finished off with an ice-cream cake that Yemei's friends brought over - the closest they could get to Christmas cake.
We opened presents and cards that had been received. Thankyou for remembering us everyone! Thanks to Sandra and Jeff for the towels - a well thought out and timely gift! Yemei's niece, Yue, who is 3yrs old loved the Reindeer chocolate carrot game as did all the adults, although we had to explain who Rudolph was!
We also stumbled upon a Christian church, the James Moore Memorial Church, in the centre of Shanghai. On Christmas Eve we noticed many people entering and leaving the church. After enquiring, we learned that there was an introductory talk on Christianity. Exciting to
Rubbing Yang Yang's back
Please note the conditions are actually very good although from the photos you might not think so. These animals are well cared for by specialists and very happy. (-: see in the middle of Shanghai. We returned on Christmas day hoping to attend a service. We stood in the crowded cloisters and tried to participate as much as possible. Some songs were recognizable in their melody, but we still have more work to do in our Chinese vocabulary. All in all, it was a wonderful way to worship on Christmas. When we left the church, a member of the congregation was excited to see that Marcus was American. The man told us the story of the church's founding and support by American missionaries in the 1920s to the present.
On Christmas day Yemei's family took us to Zhangzhou, known as Shanghai's Venice, China's oldest water village. You will understand when you see the photos ...
Hangzhou / Suzhou
These garden cities were excursions from Shanghai and are some of our best memories of China. Both cities exhibit Chinese garden styles. It is truly an art form which seeks to combine the perfect rocks, trees, ponds, fish, bridges, sculptures and pagodas in confined spaces. For example, banana trees are planted next to a pagoda meant for reading because the rain falling on the wide leaves is soothing
for contemplation. The designers name certain features after references in Chinese classical literature. Many gardens have interesting names, such as “The Humble Administrator’s Garden”. The “humble administrator” was a former courtier who was dismissed for his lack of tact in the civil service!
Maybe someday we can have a wee Chinese garden in our back yard?
Three Gorges
This was a long awaited part of our trip through China. The Three Gorges are on the Yangtze River in Central China and are infamous for their traditional Chinese beauty. As China develops at a fast pace, areas along this river offer small snapshots of older China with terraced hills and rice paddies. The gorges risk losing much of their features once the Three Gorges Dam is completed in 2009. The Chinese government claims that the dam will provide up to 1/3 of China’s electricity and that the landowners in the flood-path will be compensated.
We longed to see the gorges before this project is completed and some of the scenery is lost forever.
We bravely travelled Third Class and were the only English-speakers on the boat! Our bunkmates, especially a Chinese police woman being transferred to
People's Square, Shanghai
Christmas Eve, Fiona, Marcus and Yemei Wuhan, took care of us and bought us a few treats at the stops. That English-Mandarin dictionary was getting used some more.
'The Bells' (midnight of New Year for non-Scots) was spent viewing the dam itself, floodlit by the electric lights its power helps produce.
The cruise ended in Yichang and we took a bus to Wuhan. We toured a few temples in Wuhan and visited the famous Yellow Crane Tower.
Shenzhen
We were delighted with the warmer weather of Shenzhen, which is across from Hong Kong. We had a few days in Shenzhen and decided to go at a slower pace. Cici, Fiona’s friend, took us to some lovely restaurants in the evenings after her work. We visited the beach (which was surprisingly too cold and windy for enjoyment) and the newer development of Shekhou. Shekhou boasts a number of Western restaurants to cater for the oil-based foreign workers there. We confess that we indulged in "Subway" sandwiches.
HONG KONG
HK is now part of China but is regarded as a separate administrative district. We had to proceed through passport control into HK and were granted special HK visas. Marcus was granted 3
On the Bund, Shanghai
Fiona, Marcus, Yemei and Eric with the Yangtze River and new Pudong area in the background months; as a Brit, Fiona was granted 6 months - the ghost of Britannia lives on!
Our first impressions of HK were overwhelming. It is basically a spectacular, modern London in Asia. The city is dynamic and clean. New double decker buses cruise through streets, well kept trams clank across the city, shop signs in English and Chinese are suspended in every possible location. And of course, the skyline--a narrow band of high rises--recalls scenes of New York.
We met up with Fiona's friend, Maggie, from the Oxford English Centre, who showed us around HK Island and Kowloon. She took us on the peak tram to the top of the hills overlooking the skyline to get some magnificent views. We also shopped for bargains at went Stanley Bay and Ladies Market (sells stuff for men too!). Enjoyed the traditional English pub at Stanley Bay and the variety of international food available throughout the city. We visited the space center museum and attended an Imax-like film on the human body.
On 9 January we took the impressive, fast underground line to the HK airport and flew to Bangkok, Thailand...
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