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Published: September 18th 2006
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This is my first entry, of many, letting you know my exploits over the last three weeks. In this time I've visited three countries, six cities, and done a lot along the way. Arriving in Beijing was a massive culture shock but I soon learnt to cope - with a few mistakes along the way. The locals are really friendly but it does take them a while to stop staring at the strange people!?
The trip started in Beijing where we met the rest of the group we are travelling with through China, the group was led by 'Big Nigel' (a 6'6" Aussie monster), then there is Samwise (a wise old traveller), Sophie (a London socialite), Peg-leg (he has a wooden leg), Egor (looks like he should have been named Egor), Dorothy (an Aussie copper who looks like a Koala bear), Keen and Keener (they are'atheletes' so run everywhere), and Richard and Judy (I can never remember her real name). They are a very diverse bunch, and despite the nicknames, are a good crack.
Beijing was a crazy city with cars, bikes and people flying all over the place - crossing the road is a task and a half.
We did a lot of sightseeing, mostly around Tian'an men Square and the Forbidden City, which were very interesting and extremely beautiful. We finished our visit to Beijing the traditional British way...we got pissed...all a bit of a blur!
After Beijing we headed to the Great Wall for a two day, as the brochure says, 'light-trek'...rubbish! We trekked along about 20 miles of the wall over two days. You might think 20 miles isn't far, but it is when large parts are through jungle, into Inner Mongolia, up mountains (officially large hills but they felt like mountains) and down valleys, all in 35 degree heat - as you can see from the picture we got a sweat on! Even the parts that we did do on the wall involved a couple of thousand stairs with a 40 foot drop either side (Mum I survived so it's too late to worry). It was by far the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done. The pictures will not do the Wall justice, the part we walked is over 2000 years old and it truly is a wonder of the ancient world!! After seeing it you realise Hadrian did not
build a wall, the Chinese built a proper wall. To end the trek we took a zip wire off the edge of the wall over a large reservoir - very scary because Chinese safety standards aren't...well, they don't exist...good fun despite the risk of death!
Our next stop was Xi'an, to see the Terracotta Warriors. Like the Great Wall they are another wonder of the world. The 1st Emperor of China had over 10,000 of these warriors and horses built to guard his tomb and them buried them??? Each warrior has a different expression/look so it really looks like an ancient army lined up for battle. After the building of his tomb and warriors was completed he decided bury all 700,000 of the workers (mostly alive) so they could not tell its secrets - just think if the King of England had done the same to the people who first built Northampton, we may never have discovered it!?!? I'm not saying if that would be a good or bad thing!
After seeing the Warriors we went to a local charity for the mentally handicapped. We had lunch and they put on a show for us...and a show it
was! Quote - "Mary loves to dance, we just play any music and she dance's" (I'm not making this up) and she did but in a very provocative way with every male in the room - it was just wrong. Despite the inappropriateness of some of the show, they really loved performing so it was nice to give something back to the locals.
The next stop was Shanghai , where it was very strange to see traditional British buildings in between traditional and modern Chinese architecture. The highlight of Shanghai was watching the acrobats, they can be summed up in two ways; 1) the women shouldn't be able to bend like that, and 2) the men are f**cking nutters! At one point they were flying through the air and grabbing onto a rope with, well their crutch...ouch!
After leaving Shanghai we had a 28 hour train journey to Yangshuo. Now the journey was fairly comfortable with your own bed and a restaurant, but the smell!?!? To really understand the smell I need to explain two aspects of Chinese culture; firstly Chinese farmers, of which there are many on our train, have different hygiene standards to others...basically they don't
have any! Only showering once a week is the general rule. Secondly, they do not have toilets like we know them, they just have a hole in the ground which deposits the waste straight onto the tracks - gives feeling the wind blow through your hair a whole new meaning! SORRY! I think you get the picture, it wasn't pleasant. A few Imodium and some Tiger Balm on your top lip solves the problem and I ended up having the best night sleep for a long time - I just curled into the foetal position and got rocked to sleep like a baby.
Yangshou, our next stop, was the perfect place to get over the train journey - a small town surrounded by mountains. Most of my time was spent in the 'Amazing roof top bar of the Marvellous Monkey Jane' - that is it's actual name, a bit of a mouthful. The highlight was when Monkey Jane convinced us to try snake! First they brought the live snake to your table to prove its fresh then, once they have killed it, they give you a shot of snakes blood - it was mixed with a local alcohol and
does very strange things to you!? Next you have soup made from the snakes bones and finish off with snake meat stir-fry. It was all surprisingly nice!
The visit to China came to an end in Hong Kong. I haven't got a great deal to say about Hong Kong as most of the group had chronic sickness and diarrhoea (luckily not me) so we didn't do much.
Overall I have really loved China, the place and especially the people are great!! Next stop Vietnam...let the adventures continue.
Miss you all.
Andy x
If you want to get hold of me just send an email to my hotmail address (not through this website).
P.S. - Mum/Dad-I've just realised you might need to censor or edit a few areas before you show the Grandparents.
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ben whybrow
non-member comment
wow
looks ace mr campling....can't believe your gonna miss boxing day for your world travels though....!