Sichuan photos

Some more photos from our trip.

Winter holiday (part 2)

So, we had gone to Juizhaigou having heard that the National Park area there was quite beautiful, and thinking that winter would be a good time to go and to escape the hordes... Well, we were right about that, it was beautiful. It was also extremely cold (imagine your fingers going numb after less than 5 minutes outside, even wearing gloves), and a little bit like a ghost town! Still, I'm glad we went when we did.

We got into the park without too many problems, apart from having to shell out a small fortune for the ticket and also for the buses that run round the park. As it was winter, it wasn't very busy, so we had to wait a little while before our bus set off into the park. We were dropped off at some lakes and told that the walk would take about 40 mins and we would be met at the car park at the bottom. Now Rick and I were not keen to be herded around like good Chinese tourists, so we abandoned the rest and wandered up the road a bit, took some photos, wandered along the paths a bit etc. At one point 'our' bus drove past with everyone else on it and the guide signaled to see if we wanted to get back on - we didn't. She looked disappointed...

When we finally arrived at the carpark meeting place there was just one man there with a radio. He asked us where we were going and we told him, even showing him on the map. As we walked off we heard him speaking into his radio about 'two foreigners'. A bit further along the road a green park ranger vehicle pulled up and asked us where we were going and did we want a lift...

This was pretty much the pattern for the next two days. Occasionally we succumbed and had a ride on the bus, but that was mainly just to get in and out of the park. Most of the time we played hide from the ranger / convince the ranger that we have enough clothes, food and intelligence to make it by ourselves without the aid of a bus and a guide!!! Honestly. We met a French couple and they had a very similar story to tell.

But it was worth it - truly beautiful. Clear, bright blue lakes, some lakes frozen over and dusted with snow, ice falls, brilliantly clear skies. Marvellous.

After Juizhaigou, we took a bus to Songpan. It was one of the most beautiful bus rides I've ever taken and it was also probably the coldest. [It was occasionally a bit scary too, but I was expecting that]. We arrived in Songpan and I felt like I was going to die of cold. We staggered down the main street and into a noodle shop. I'd eaten food on the bus, but need to eat more just to get warm.

We had gone to Songpan to go horse riding, but sadly all the horse riding places were closed. So, we just stayed there a couple of nights, relaxed, hiked up to a temple on a hill, drank tea in a tea garden, watched as blood flowed down the river (from the town's abbatoir - niiiice!!) and enjoyed the sunshine. When you get to that part of China, you see lots of people wearing traditional Tibetan-style clothing, with very brown, very weather-beaten faces.

We had a brief encounter with the police, but the police officer who spoke to us was very friendly and spoke reasonable English. He also kindly gave me the rules for foreigners checking into hotels - all in Chinese. Great.

After Songpan we took the bus back to Chengdu via Wenchuan and also therefore via the earthquake zone. We saw lots of crazy stuff: bridges broken in half and tipped into the river, houses destroyed and falling down, massive rocks the size of a small house by the side and even in one case in the middle of the road. We also saw one part of road that was completely bent up by the movement of the earth. We saw lots of tents and temporary housing - clearly a long way to go until the area is fully back to how it used to be.

A couple of nights in Chengdu, enjoying Pizza Hut, KFC and Starbucks (sorry!) before a flight back to Changsha (not train tickets because it was quite close to Chinese New Year by then). We sat on the runway at Chengdu for nearly two hours after being delayed boarding as well. It was pretty foggy, so I guess it was visibility problem. Anyway, we arrived late in Changsha and so missed the easy bus that goes directly to Pingxiang. Instead we had to get a bus into town to the train station and we caught the fast train back. Just.

Exhausted, but a good trip all in all.

Yang Shi Mu - photos

Here are some photos to go with my previous post.

The last one is after the wedding.

Please note that I avoid taking photos of the litter and filth that is to found up the mountain, but I really wish now that I'd taken some as it all looks a bit too nice on my photos! The scenery is very beautiful, the litter is an absolute disgrace.

Weddings, mountains, forest fires and a brush with the law...

The weather forecast looking promising, we decided to head for the hills. Rick put the plan to his Chinese friend, Joseph, a keen photographer. After some confusion, we understood Joseph's plan. He had a wedding to go to on Tuesday morning, near Yang Shi Mu, a local mountain. He suggested that we also went to the wedding and then climbed the mountain with him.

He had to stay in the town where the wedding was the night before (I think it was called 'Wanlongshan', but I'm not sure), so we set off on Wednesday morning, having arranged to meet him. All went reasonably well - apart from one of the bags falling off the bike and into the filth just after we set off, and Rick having to reclaim ownership of his sleeping mat from a local who'd picked it up out of the road thinking it might be useful!!!

We met up with Joseph just before lunchtime on the morning of the wedding. As we rode into town it was like being in a cowboy film, or something. You know the one where someone walks into a bar and instantly it's silent and everyone stops what they're doing and looks round? Well, it was a bit like that. Even with our helmets on people spotted us as 'laowais'. On the way through we passed lots of tables set out by the side of the road, with people sitting round them.

We waited on the edge of town and Joseph called in a little while to say he'd arrived, so we went to look for him. Sure enough, Joseph and the wedding we were looking for were at the place we'd seen the people sitting round the tables in the street. We pulled up on the bike. More staring. And when I say staring I mean that EVERY SINGLE PERSON was staring. Hell.

The bride arrived to a barrage of firecrackers and we all ate what turned out to be a good meal. We got away with drinking only a tiny tiny bit of the evil baijiu and a little later were on our way in a mini-van up the mountain.

We got out where the road ended and walked [or in my case struggled] up the path, which was mostly concrete steps. Rick and I had decided to take camping gear and so we were quite heavily laden. That night we slept in a 'hotel' (more of a mountain hut) and ate dinner there.

The next morning we got up reasonably early and tramped around taking photos and carrying our heavy bags everywhere. The weather was beautiful - warm and sunny and the views were pretty reasonable (a bit hazy as usual, but not too bad).

In the early afternoon Joseph set off to climb down the mountain and we went off to find a good place to camp. We camped that night in a beautiful, quiet spot, with amazing views. It wasn't cold and it was almost as light as day in the moonlight.

The next day we had a quick look at another area where you can stay. Unlike a lot of the mountain, this place was clean and tidy, with no litter to be seen. [I spent much of the trip up and down the mountain feeling saddened by what people do to beautiful places in China, dropping litter everywhere].

We walked down the mountain and then out along the road, back to the town where we'd been for the wedding. The road itself was about 16kms and most of it was downhill. Our legs got more and more like jelly as we went on and it was difficult to resist the numerous offers of lifts we got from the motorbike taxis and even an ambulance at one point! No-one could really understand why we wanted to walk and we had to be quite firm in our refusals.

At one point a white four-by-four and a black government-type car passed us on their way up and stopped. We didn't think much of it as people often stop near us, if only to have a better look! However, it turned out to be Joseph and some of his photography friends who come along to take photos of a tree which had come into blossom. I think it was a kind of magnolia tree and it smelled really nice.

We made it back to the motorbike and had to refuse more offers of food and accommodation etc. from the people who'd kindly been looking after it.

On the journey back to Pingxiang we saw that the plume of smoke we'd seen as we were coming down the mountain was actually the product of a fairly long strip of forest fire that was being fanned by the strong wind that was blowing. I was horrified by the noise and the sight of the huge flames and also by the apparent lack of action to put the fire out. A few people seemed to be watching and we saw one police car, but little else. Some of the houses back directly onto the forest area.

Eventually we arrived home safely - tired and a little stiff. However, we decided to return this yesterday morning to look at what had happened because of the fire etc. As we got close we could see big areas of the hillside blackened by the fire, but some trees poking out from the blackness, clearly still alive. The fire also seemed to have stopped before it got to the houses and in one case had actually gone round a house and carried on.

We went up one track into the blackened area to have a closer look and to take some photos. On the way up we saw some police officers coming down - two on foot and three on a motorbike. On the way back down we also passed a couple of police officers. A bit later on and further down the road we met a police mini-van coming the other way. They flagged us down and asked for ID. Rick had his driving licence (as always) but I didn't have any ID. Now, as far as I'm aware, you're always supposed to carry ID in China. However, as ours is our passports plus Foreign Expert Certificates, we don't generally bother when we in and around Pingxiang. It's always seemed to be an unnecessary hassle and likely to lead to completely wrecked passports!

Might have to have re-think on that one, though...

We ended up having to go to the police station, fill in some forms (I managed to write my Chinese name on the form, after a fashion!), drink some tea and explain our whereabouts over the last few days. Rick spoke to our contact in the English Department and he also spoke to the police. We found out that they were investigating the forest fires and unfortunately we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and without ID.

In the end they seemed satisfied with the information we'd given them, and invited us to have lunch with them! Soooooooo typical for China. Get taken to the police station and questioned, then invited for lunch.

As a postscript, under any other circumstances I'd have been pleased with how much Chinese we managed to understand and to reply to. Sadly, I wasn't really in the mood for feeling very pleased with myself...

Motorbike exploring

From being very cold, then very rainy, the weather here has actually turned quite pleasant. It's fairly mild and the sun has made it out from the clouds the last few afternoons. So, of course, we've been out on the motorbike.

Exploring the countryside around Pingxiang can be quite a depressing experience at times. There are a lot of poor areas and a lot of areas where coal mining is the main industry and everything is, well, black. However, the sunshine makes a big difference. Everything looks brighter somehow.

A couple of days ago we went for lunch at our Head of Department's house. It was very pleasant. Quite a few teachers from the English Department and we managed to avoid drinking the dreaded homebrew and instead had a couple of glasses of a very reasonable Chinese red wine. Before and after lunch we were entertained by a couple of the kids playing the piano. As far as I can see, it's becoming more and more popular in China for kids from reasonably well-off families to learn to play the piano.

After lunch we set off on the motorbike. We headed to a temple that Rick had spotted up on a hillside. We parked up and then went up some fairly steep concrete steps. Close to the top there was a small building and a wooden shelter. Inside there was a Chinese couple and lots of fireworks, paper money and incense sticks. The woman told us to sit down and brought us mugs of Chinese tea, which was very welcome. We made a bit of small talk with her in our bad Chinese. They were clearly surprised to see foreigners going up to the temple. She was making something out of gold paper - not sure what, but she seemed to say that they were something that people put in their houses.

Anyway, she tried to sell us some fruit, which we didn't really want, so Rick bought a bottle of water.

We continued up to the temple, which was a riot of red (see pics) and virtually empty. There were a couple of other visitors and a couple of men who obviously lived and worked there (and had their washing hanging out to dry!) Beyond the temple, the path continued up to the top of the hill, which gave a reasonable view over the surrounding area. It would have been a spectacular view, but it was a bit hazy and the light was going a bit. I was almost in Chinese woman mode with my (almost) unsuitable footwear. My achilles tendon's been giving me trouble, so I've been avoiding wearing my walking boots, which seem to make the problem worse. So there I was, climbing up the hill, tramping through the mud in my long, black leather boots. At least they don't have high heels, like the boots one woman was wearing to make the ascent!

Then the day before yesterday we also went out on the bike. We started by having lunch at a local restaurant, which we go to fairly often and where the people are very friendly. Then we set off out of Pingxiang.

At one point we passed something which I've never ever seen before in China. Pulled in off the road there was a big truck with a stage built on top of it. There were people performing some kind of play \ opera on the stage and a really big crowd of people watching.

We also found our way to another temple, which was part-built into the rock, with a massive limestone cave inside. It was very impressive. There seemed to be only one monk there, but he was very friendly and we had a bit of a chat with him. [When I say 'chat' in relation to Chinese people, it is always the same basic questions which form the limit of my repertoire. However, I like to think that my repertoire is expanding...]

And finally, yesterday we went to have lunch (and also dinner) at the home of one of the Chinese English teacher's elementary school teacher. The Chinese English teacher, Bob, is 45, so we're going back quite a few years. He grew up in a small village and was one of the first from the village to go to university. In fact the very first in the village was his elementary school teacher's son. The son was welcomed back from his university studies by a party from the school who had taken a truck to the train station in Pingxiang and taken a band, flowers etc.

It was really this son's home we went to. His own son and niece were both back in Pingxiang for the holidays. Both are usually away at university - one in Tianjin and the other in Hangzhou. I'm sure we were mainly invited round to give the youngsters some practice with their English (both were pretty good, incidentally), but we had two good meals, some interesting conversation and, as always, a warm welcome and an invitation to return again whenever.

I really hope that some day I have the opportunity to repay some of the kindness I've experienced in many different places when I've been travelling and working overseas.

Cheese!!!

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but cheese is not that easy to come by here in Pingxiang. You can get slices of 'plastic' cheese in the supermarkets, but as far as I'm concerned, that's only acceptable for consumption in dire emergencies!! I understand that you can get pizza (or some Chinese version of pizza) in the Western-style bars / coffee shops here, but I haven't tried it yet.

So I miss cheese. Obviously, I can live without it, and mostly I have to, but it's a real treat when I get to have some.

We've just been to Changsha, the nearest big city, for a couple of days. This means that I got to go to Pizza Hut and MacDonalds - yippee! Sadly they don't have Starbucks there yet (not that I'm a big fan of Starbucks, but it's nice to go to a proper Western coffee place and have a big mug of nice coffee...) Pizza Hut is also not my favourite place for pizza, but I'm not going to start being choosy about this!

We also went shopping in the French supermarket, Carrefour. Last time we went they had a very disappointing selection of cheese, but this time they had Brie, Emmental and 'sharp' Cheddar. I had to buy some. You don't get much for your money, but I'm going to enjoy it sooooooooo much. I also got some 'normal' bread, that is bread that is not sweet (most Chinese bread is).

We also managed to find our way to the place where they dug up a 2100 year old Chinese woman. We'd already seen her well-preserved body in the Provincial Museum in Changsha on our last visit and this time we managed to find our way to the burial mound. This used to be outside the city when it was excavated in the early 70s, but is now just a suburb and surrounded by shops and houses. We had the position of the tombs marked on our map, but in reality it was really quite difficult to find - no signs or any indication in fact that they were there. They're in what are now the grounds of a hospital, which carries the same name as the tombs, but this was the only clue... Anyway, it was great to see the place where they were discovered and then to return to the museum afterwards to have another look at the coffins and the body.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawangdui

In Changsha we stayed in a hotel called 'Motel 168' (http://www.motel168.com/En/). It's a chain of hotels, which I'd read about on someone else's blog. The price was not the cheapest, but seemed reasonable. We figured the standard should be consistent as well as it was a chain. It turned out to be pretty good really. The room could've done with re-decorating, but on the whole it was a lot cleaner that a lot of hotels we've stayed in, despite having a carpet (these are generally very dirty and badly looked-after).

One final thing, as it's been Chinese New Year, lots of people have been travelling all round the country, going home, or to other cities to visit family and friends. It truly is a massive operation. Even though it's really all over now, the bus and train stations are still busy. Travelling to Changsha and back, we were aware of the soldiers at the station, basically on riot control. This might seem a bit mad, but when you see the way people push and shove, it's definitely necessary. There were also a lot of police officers on duty at Changsha train station, making sure everyone was queueing at the ticket windows in single file (I got told off for not adhering to this!) and I even saw one policeman telling a man to put out his cigarette! Amazing. I've never seen that before...

As a PS, I've just been shopping in Pingxiang and found a bakery that was selling French sticks. They don' t have a crusty outside like true French baguettes, but the taste is good. Yippee!!