WIBlog - Travel News from Where I've Been: The A-Z of Traveling Across China

I was a guest blogger for the Where I've Been Blog, click on the below link to see what I wrote:


WIBlog - Travel News from Where I've Been: The A-Z of Traveling Across China

The Three Gorges is Anything But Gorgeous

Who ever said that the Three Gorges on the Yangze River have been an inspiration to artists and poets must have either been on crack or these said artists must have been painting very dark and depressing images.  

From the moment we left Xi'an, it all started going wrong. First, we boarded a 15 hour overnight sleeper train to Chongqing, which really isn't so bad, the beds are actually comfortable and I managed to get about 7 hours of sleep. Nevertheless, it is a long time to travel. Then after our 15 hour train journey, we had a 5 hour coach transfer, followed by a half hour taxi transfer to the dock, where there was no boat. Great! We were told that the boat is a bit delayed due to bad weather, and that it would arrive in 4 hours. That's more than 24 hours in transit, no shower, stranded in the middle of nowhere Chongqing region --how lovely. 

Our arrival in Chongqing got quite a reaction from the locals. Did we really look that bad?

Our boat was supposed to be docked there, but wasn't. The body of water in the distance is the Yangze River.

One of the ways we killed time was having an early group dinner. Our local guide told us that the town we were in was famous for its "hot pot" style food, so that's what we ended up having for dinner. We went to the restaurant on the opposite side of the dock, and the restaurant itself was surprisingly nice and modern yet the prices were in-line with other local places (approx £4 per head without drinks). It looked promising. The table I was sat at ordered a "non-spicy" chicken hot pot that we all shared. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Chinese "hot pot", it's a large pot of spicy (even if it's listed as non-spicy) broth and bits of chicken, beef or fish, vegetables, noodles, and/or tofu mixed in. I like to call it "the pot of surprises", as I was surprised to find an entire chicken head in my soup ladle, and another person found a chicken foot. In China, no part of the chicken goes to waste.

This was the surprise I found in my soup ladle, a chicken head. It's a more exciting surprise than the one you find in a Cracker Jacks box, that's for sure!

Hot Pot with it's "surprises" -deeericious!

I'm quite adventurous when it comes to food, but I do draw the line at chicken heads, feet, and chewing on cartilage. At that dinner, I ended up sticking to the steamed rice and tofu. The traditional hot pot (AKA "pot of surprises") was by far my least favourite dish I've sampled in China.

After a fail dinner, we ended up walking around town and drinking beers until our boat finally arrived at 9:30pm. We were all so ecstatic at the thought of finally being able to shower and sleep on a normal bed. Sadly, the boat did not welcome us with open arms as we were hoping. We found cockroaches in our room and no running water in any of the rooms. Could this part of the trip get any worse? We were told that the boat had to switch off the running water whilst it was docked overnight, so that meant no use of water until 6am the following morning. After being in transit for more than 24 hours in 33C humid weather, this is the last bit of information you want to hear. But somehow we all managed not to lose our cool and we just got on with it. It's all part of the adventure, right?

After a full night's sleep and a lukewarm but very much missed shower, we went to the upper deck to see these famed gorges. As we passed by the first one, my reaction was: "Really? That's it? And what's so beautiful about it again?". Perhaps I'm a bad judge of natural beauty, but I honestly didn't see what the big deal was.

Chinese flag and the gorges

Really? That's what all the fuss is about with these Gorges?

We spent a few hours on the upper deck reading and playing cards --there really wasn't anything else to do on that boat. We waited until the boat docked at a small town called Wushan, where we had a few hours to stretch our legs and beat our boredom. Wushan was built only 10 years ago, as a result of the destructive 1998 Yangze floods which left millions homeless. For a "town" that's only 10 years old, it surprisingly has 600,000 inhabitants and feels like a massive thriving centre on par with a capital city in Europe. But then again the scale of things in China is about 100 times larger than us Westerners can relate to in our home countries. 

The Chinese love their stairs! Look where this set of stairs end.

The small town of Wushan

A view of our boat docked near the Wushan port

This is certainly not the entrance to the Love Boat!

There wasn't really much to see in Wushan, like any other busy town it had a selection of shops, a market, no landmarks as it was a new town-- that's it really. 

The following morning our boat trip finally had come to an end -hallejlujah! We packed our bags and left the boat at 7am, I couldn't be happier. However, the discomforts were not over yet. It was going to be another long journey until our final stop in mainland China, and that train departed in the late evening from a town 6 hours away. So what were we going to do with an entire day of time to kill?  We had no choice but to visit the Three Gorges Dam. Personally, I wasn't interested to pay the rip off entrance fee of £23 to spend 2 hours at a dam. Yes, £23! You can feed the entire Chinese army at the night market with that money. Well, it was either cough up the money and see the dam or sit on the bus, when we had a good 6 hours drive on that very bus to the train station. I chose the former.

To be frank, the Three Gorges Dam is quite impressive when you see it in person. And when you see the stats, it really is a feat of engineering marvel. It has the largest power stations in the world, with a maximum power generation capacity of 100 billion kilowatts/hour. The dam is 2,3 km long, 185m above sea level, 124m thick at the bottom and 15m thick at the top. It took China 15 years to build the dam, from 1994 to 2009. It is has been in operation for the past couple years, but work is still progressing on a ship lift, which will move ships from one side of the dam to the other in under 30 minutes. When the ship lift will be complete in 2014, it will hold the world record for the largest and fastest ship lift. The Chinese never cease to impress with their innovations.

An aerial view of the dam

My view of the dam on a typical hot muggy summer's day

After our visit to the Three Gorges Dam, we had an oh-so-pleasant 6 hours coach journey. Again, we entertained ourselves with card games and gambling for beers playing "Liar's Poker". We arrived in Wuhan (not to be confused with Wushan), and we embarked on our 15 hour over-night sleeper train to a modern town called "Guilin". From there, we had a 1.5 hour coach journey to our final mainland China destination, which was one of the most picturesque stops on this trip, Yangshuo. Finally, the nightmare of the Three Gorges started to fade away in the distant past.

Xi'an: It's Not All About the Terracotta Warriors

Before embarking on my trip to China, I didn't do much detailed research on Xi'an. All I knew was that it was home to the Terracotta Army and home to one of the best dumpling restaurants in China (according to a few friends who've been there). For some reason I assumed Xi'an would be calm quaint village. It was anything but that. The "village" of Xi'an is inhabited by over 8 million people, which is the same population as London. It's also a very modern city with it's own international airport which makes LAX look like a dump, many brand new shopping centres, plenty of globalised retail outlets and food/coffee chains (5 Starbucks shops!), and a metro system being built. Xi'an was certainly a far cry from being considered a small sleepy village that I originally assumed it would be.

The Starbucks near my hotel where I had my morning caffeine fix. The Chinese aren't really coffee drinkers, they prefer tea, so finding a good cup of joe was a mission. If I saw a Starbucks, I had to stop! It was like a godsend.

Another thing about Xi'an that took me by surprise, is the big Muslim community. I didn't think any city on our route across China would have a Muslim population, I thought it would be purely Buddhist. Islam was first introduced to China in the mid-7th century to Northwest China by Arab merchants and travellers from Persia and Afghanistan. Those travellers settled and married the local women, so that's how it started in the northwest, Shaanxi region where Xian is the capital.

The Muslim Quarter is a must see in Xian, it has an expansive market where you can find all kinds of Chinese souvenirs (silks, chopsticks, and cheesey bric-a-brack) as well as fresh fruits, sweets, pastries, and handmade art. It's a bargainer's paradise! Rule of thumb, start the bargaining at 10%-25% of the price they quote you. Yes, they inflate their prices so much in the markets as they expect you to bargain with them! It's a game they love in mainland China.



Entrance to the market in the Muslim Quarter in Xi'an

Regional folk art

A series of birdcages. Each cage would have 1 male bird, the next a female; that way they sing to each other

Me in Xi'an's Muslim Quarter

A massive stack of steamed bun pans

Vegetarains & Vegans, cover your eyes! We made a wrong turn in the market and went down butcher's alley, There was a lot of raw meat and animal carcasses piled everywhere in not the most hygienic conditions. In the 36C heat & humidity the smell was not the most pleasant.

Apart from the market, the Muslim Quarter is also home to the oldest and best preserved mosque in China. The Great Mosque of Xi'an was built in 742 under the Tang Dynasty, it features a unique combination of Muslim and traditional Chinese architectural elements. 

Me at the Xi'an Mosque

Right next to the Muslim Quarter is the famous Xi'an Drum Tower, overlooking the city. It was built more than 600 years ago during the Ming Dynasty. The Drum Tower, as you would guess, contained a number of drums! Back in the 1300s the drums were beaten at dawn and dust to mark the beginning and end of each day. Nowadays, it houses a drum museum and there's a drum performance put on every so often for tourists. 

Xi'an Drum Tower. This photo was taken from Starbucks -that's globalisation for ya!

The Drum Tower had a sister building called  the Xi'an Bell Tower. It was built during the same time as the Drum Tower during the Ming Dynasty. There are a few outlandish legends (all pertaining to dragons) as to why the Bell Tower was built. In these days, it serves the exact same purpose as it's sister building.

The Bell Tower performance

"What about the food?" you ask. Ah, that my friends, was something that my tummy happily reminisces at the thought of local delicacies in Xi'an. Firstly, my travel mates and I tried the famous dumpling house, which is not only claimed to be one of the best in China, but they're famous for making dumplings in the shape of what's inside them. So we had to try it out! And the verdict: win!

Me & the ginormous gold dumpling

Chicken shaped dumpling, guess what kind of meat was inside?

Seafood dumplings meant to look like sea sponges and corals

hot pot

Xi'an is also famous for their lamb soup, called "pao mo", I had to try it! The best pao mo was served in small cafs in the Muslim Quarter. My Mandarin speaking friend brought me and another Westerner to one of these hole in the wall places which according to the locals, had the best pao mo in town. The moment we walked in, everyone stopped eating and stared. Obviously, that cafe didn't get many Westerners, and not a single thing was written in English, forget trying to communicate in English. I asked my friend if she could teach me how to say, "I would like one of those please" in Mandarin, which I said awkwardly to the girl behind the counter. She giggled and smiled. I gave her my 20 Yuan ($3), and she gave me a token with the number 77. She said out loud "shee shu chi", and I repeated it. When I went back to my table, I listened intently for my number to be called. I thought I heard it, and jumped and screamed as if I got called to be the next contestant on the Price is Right. "Oooh that's me!". And yep, I got it right. The staff high fived me and the locals smiled at me. Once when I sat down to try the soup,  my taste buds were dancing and singing! It was an awesome day.

Pao Mo in all its glory

Since this is blog entry is about Xi'an I probably should mention the Terracotta Warriors, the main attraction of the region of Shaanxi. For those of you who aren't familiar, the Terracotta Warriors are a collection of 8,000 life-sized warrior statues made of terracotta clay. They were built in 200BC as burial art for the first Chinese Emperor's tomb and were meant to protect him and his wife in their afterlives. The amazing thing about the Terracotta Warriors is that they were only first excavated 37 years ago. So they have been underground untouched, no one knew about them for over 2,000 years! Now they're a World Heritage sight and the main reason why Xi'an is on the China tourist map. 

Look at the intricate details on the soldier's face.  Can you imagine how much work that must have been to create 8,000 of these?

This is a colour photo of the Terracotta Warriors when they were first excavated in 1974. Notice that the colours are still in tact after 2,000 years.

When in China, do as the Chinese do! That means take photos when there's a sign that says "no photo"

Lastly, my travel mates and I had the wonderful experience of going to a local karaoke place when we were in Xi'an. Our local guide was a big fan of karaoke, and it is a big trend in China, so might as well try it out. He knew exactly where to take us, and it was a place that resembled a five star hotel with granite and chandeliers. We had our own room which came equipped with several microphones and instruments (tambourines, maracas, etc). It was a very posh affair, that's for sure! My memory of karaoke bars back home were always in grotty cheap bars. We ended up having fun straining our vocal chords and giving each other headaches, of course, much alcohol was needed to get everyone's participation.


That's pretty much everything from Xi'an. From here our next stop would be on a boat in the Yangze River to see the famous Three Gorges. As usual, this would require 14 hours on a sleeper train to Chongqing. Followed by a 4 hour coach transfer, then a 30 mins bumpy taxi ride to the dock, and about a 4 hour wait for our boat to arrive. This is when things started to get a bit uncomfortable and not so fun....

Shanghai - A Scene from Blade Runner

Bright multi-coloured lights, computerised voices coming from every direction, millions of people coming and going like blurred photography, skyscrapers towering over from every corner; this is how Ridley Scott envisioned the future. The uncanny resemblance can be found in the city of Shanghai.

I fell in love with Shanghai within the first 24 hours. Firstly, I was taken away by the beautiful contrasting architecture. On one side of the Hangpu River, is the modern skyline of the Pudong (Financial District of Shangai), and on the other is the art deco European inspired architecture. It's a feast for any architecture lover's eyes!

 

The skyline of the Financial District overlooking the Hangpu River

 a close up of the Oriental Pearl Radio & TV tower

The art deco European style building on the other side of the Hangpu River along "The Bund" promenade

 This is the futuristic looking river boat we took to see all the skyscrapers lit up at night. Each building a different animated light display.

Here is part of the lightshow in action. The photo doesn't capture an iota of how magnificent and large scale this is in real life.

 ...And another photo of the amazing lit up skyline from the river front.

The art deco buildings on the other side of the river were also lit up showing off their old style grandeur.

I was not only taken away by the architecture, but the multitude of colourful lights everywhere was so magical and yet so predictable of China. The main shopping promenade, Nanjing Road, is a prime example of that. It was overloaded with colourful neon signs, millions of people, and electronic voices coming from every shop you passed by. I felt like I had been transported to the future, a future where China is the leading super power and everything is electronic, just as it's depicted in the film, Blade Runner.

 Nanjing Road

Nanjing Road and the crowds of people

 

 lit up neon signs on Nanjing Road

 trying not to get lost on Nanjing Road!

Transformer themed clothing in a shop window

"Kung Fu", a local fast food chain, serving noodle dishes, rice dishes, dumplings, etc.

Sticking to the futuristic theme that Shanghai seems to don so well, I was impressed with a very kitschy tourist trap called the "Sight Seeing Tunnel". It's a tunnel undernearth the Hangpu River where you sit in a small slow moving pod, witness an impressive colourful light show whilst futuristic electronic music is played in the background, and you ride into the future! So it's not really a sight seeing tunnel per se, it's more of a trippy lightshow tunnel for tourists.

 

Modern futuristic characteristics of Shanghai aside, the city boasts of old Chinese tradition as well. One such example of this is the Yuyuan Gardens. The gardens were built back in 1559 during the Ming dynasty; they have survived several centuries of natural and war disasters as well as enemy occupations. To this day Yuyuan Gardens is a national landmark and a prime example of Chinese gardening and landscaping that is immitated in private gardens throughout the world. This sight was my absolute favourite throughout my entire journey in China! My collection of photos hardly capture the breathtaking beauty of the Yuyuan Gardens, it must be witnessed in person.

koi fish

 

  a view of the Yuyuan Garden rooftops and a skyscraper in the background

The dragon details on the rooftops were exquisite. Chinese tradition states that the dragon symbolises power, strenght, and good luck. It has been typically used as a symbol for the Emperor.

Just outside Yuyuan Gardens is the famous Huxinting tea house and Yuyuan Market. The tea house was built in 1784, and it is the oldest in Shanghai. I had the most amazing cup of oolong ever here!
 

 Huxinting Tea House and the zig zag bridge

As for Yuyuan Market, it is also worth perusing. The market itself is all contained within the picturesque Chinese architecture from the Ming dynasty. You can find market stalls as well as retail shops selling a massive range of souvenirs all at very negotiable prices. When in China, you must bargain!

 

 green bean, custard, and jelly sweets in a sweets shop

 A fashionable young couple posing for the camera

During my short stay in Shanghai, I felt like a trip to the zoo was a must. I had to see some pandas in China! If I had more time I would've stopped in Chengdu, where the Panda Conservation Centre is based. Since there was no time such a detour, Shanghai Zoo will just have to do. I'm an animal lover, and I'm usually quite skeptical about taking animals out of their natural habitat and being placed in small confined spaces. But I was actually pleasantly surprised how well Shanghai Zoo treated the animals, they all had a lot of space and were very well fed. It's only the zoo visitors that should have been carefully monitored!

 a googly-eyed gold fish

 

 a kid goat

 This sign was complete unacknowledged by the visitors! So, what did they do to the bears?..

 ...they fed the bears! This wild grizzly wasn't too happy as he was being fed sweets and chocolate by the idiotic visitors.

 A Red Panda up in the trees

 A Giant Panda behind thick plexiglass to protect him from the harmful visitors.There are only about 3,000 giant pandas left in the world. They are very much protected and well taken care of in China.

Bambi

 Baboon

So that was my little sampling of Shanghai; it certainly wasn't enough and it had me thirsting for more. What I saw of the city, I absolutely loved!.. The modern aesthetics, the right amount of global influence mixed with Eastern culture, the fast paced exciting city vibe, and the ease to move around the city so effortlessly. Shanghai sets the pace for the rest of China in terms of business, modern culture, entertainment, modern cuisine, and fashion. For any sci-fi fan, it is like Blade Runner come to life!


Next stop, Xian, home of the Terracotta Warriors and the best dumplings in China!

The new bullet trains @ Shanghai train station. The one on the left is what I took from Beijing to Shanghai. We got to our destination in 5 hours rather than 15, at an average speed of 320 km/hour