Chinese toilet....
Korean toilet....
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Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Communist China
China - the most capitalist communist country in the world.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has headed the Chinese government for almost 60 years; however, the country is rapidly opening up to international trade and foreign investment, which is probably the main reason China has become such a powerful country over the past 15 years.
The photos below show "communism" in China:
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| A typical neighbourhood found at the base of the 100-floor skyscrapers. |
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| Motorbike repair; a great advert for celotape. |
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| Everybody has a bicycle in China, but they're 50 year old bikes. |
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| Contrasting properties. |
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| Local seamstress just chilling outside her front door. |
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| Typical neighbourhood, the topless guy was washing his dog in the communal sink. |
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| Me in the blue rain poncho asking the miniature guard if I could take his photo. He said no. |
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| Big Brother really is watching, on every street corner in China. |
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| Military marching around Tiananmen Square in the pouring rain (carrying but not using umbrellas) |
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| Soldiers in Tiananmen Square; they're not too friendly. |
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| Shop delivery being taken in through the window. |
Beijing, the Heart of Communist China
31st July - 3rd August
Beijing is totally different from Shanghai. Where Shanghai feels modern, touristy and vibrant, Beijing feels oppressive regimented and dull. Although the dullness may be something to do with the heavy downpour that lasted for two full days of our time there.
In Shanghai it is evident that China is moving away from its strict communist past. In fact, it's probably the most capitalist communist country in the world. In Beijing, however, there is still a strong communist sentiment. There's a heavy military presence in Tiananmen Square in the centre of Beijing (famous for the military action taken against protesters there in 1989.) You have to go through security checks just to get onto the square and the entire area is fenced off and guarded.
Tiananmen Square
We went to the square the afternoon we arrived (in the torrential rain). In the vast empty space we headed towards the crowd of umbrellas at the far end, assuming something exciting was happening. They were however, from what I could gather, just waiting from the flag to be lowered. One Chinese spectator told me "it's so cool" - I'm not sure I agree.
The Forbidden City
The Forbidden City is where numerous emperors of China resided for hundreds of years. It's a walled city surrounded by a moat and inside the walls there are around 800 buildings which look very much the same: ornate roof, gold and red. I don't think the Forbidden City is worth the 60 yuan entrance fee, it certainly isn't better than the Great Wall and it's more expensive. On the other hand, if you like being crammed into a confined space with a million Chinese tourists looking at 800 identical buildings it could be just your thing.
Shopping in Beijing
We took the subway to the famous silk market. I was expecting a traditional market with quirky, unusual stalls and typical Chinese arts and crafts. Oh, and silk, I was expecting silk! The market was in fact a shopping mall with isle after isle of identical shops; each floor selling a different item. The sales approach of the shop workers there wasn't so much 'hard sell' as much as it was 'physically violent attack'. After showing a slight interest in a tennis racket a female shop assistant trapped Ric in the shop and started grabbing, pushing and hitting him when he tried to leave. Once he'd escaped the shop she followed him, shouting at him and trying to grab him. After that we were scared to look at anything. In every shop you had to barter. The sales women would start off obscenely high and only drop to a sensible amount once you'd walked away. I know that's common all over the world but honestly, it seems a pretty senseless way to do business; why start off asking for £400 if what you're selling is only worth £5? I suppose some people enjoy bartering but I didn't have the patience for it.
Speedy Trains
There are 1000 miles between Shanghai and Beijing and amazingly, you can get from one to the other in just 5 hours! Going to Beijing we took the high speed bullet train: two stops, 300km/hour the whole way. Returning to Shanghai we took the slower sleeper train, it was very exciting for me as I'd never been on a sleeper train before. It was lush: 4 to a cabin, each bed with its own reading light and flat screen tv, table in the middle with a kettle - I slept like a baby!
To conclude, I did like Beijing despite my negative reviews. It's great as a base from which to visit the Great Wall but it's not a fun city to explore like Shanghai is. Maybe my experience was affected by the terrible weather we had while we were there; maybe it was the strain of the 2000mile round trip we did to get there, but I found the city no match for Shanghai.
Beijing is totally different from Shanghai. Where Shanghai feels modern, touristy and vibrant, Beijing feels oppressive regimented and dull. Although the dullness may be something to do with the heavy downpour that lasted for two full days of our time there.
In Shanghai it is evident that China is moving away from its strict communist past. In fact, it's probably the most capitalist communist country in the world. In Beijing, however, there is still a strong communist sentiment. There's a heavy military presence in Tiananmen Square in the centre of Beijing (famous for the military action taken against protesters there in 1989.) You have to go through security checks just to get onto the square and the entire area is fenced off and guarded.
Tiananmen Square
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| Tiananmen Square - grey grey grey |
The Forbidden City
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| The Forbidden City |
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| The entrance to the Forbidden City |
We took the subway to the famous silk market. I was expecting a traditional market with quirky, unusual stalls and typical Chinese arts and crafts. Oh, and silk, I was expecting silk! The market was in fact a shopping mall with isle after isle of identical shops; each floor selling a different item. The sales approach of the shop workers there wasn't so much 'hard sell' as much as it was 'physically violent attack'. After showing a slight interest in a tennis racket a female shop assistant trapped Ric in the shop and started grabbing, pushing and hitting him when he tried to leave. Once he'd escaped the shop she followed him, shouting at him and trying to grab him. After that we were scared to look at anything. In every shop you had to barter. The sales women would start off obscenely high and only drop to a sensible amount once you'd walked away. I know that's common all over the world but honestly, it seems a pretty senseless way to do business; why start off asking for £400 if what you're selling is only worth £5? I suppose some people enjoy bartering but I didn't have the patience for it.
Speedy Trains
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| Left: bullet train; Right: sleeper train |
To conclude, I did like Beijing despite my negative reviews. It's great as a base from which to visit the Great Wall but it's not a fun city to explore like Shanghai is. Maybe my experience was affected by the terrible weather we had while we were there; maybe it was the strain of the 2000mile round trip we did to get there, but I found the city no match for Shanghai.
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| The Forbidden City - view from outside of the walls |
Monday, 6 August 2012
The Great Wall of China
1st August 2012
Who'd have thought you could do a day trip to the Great Wall of China for less than £10!
From Beijing you can do organised tours of the Wall; you get picked up from your hotel driven about and I think they cut up your food and wipe your arse for you too. We didn't do a tour. They're triple the price you ought to pay and you only get a limited amount of time to explore.
We took two local buses from Tiananmen Square, central Beijing, to a section of the wall known as Badaling. The first bus was the number five, which leaves from the top of Qiananmen East Road. It took a lot of gesticulating to pedestrians and allowing someone to write directions on my hand in Chinese before we found the right stop. The bus cost 1 Yuan (10p) and took about 45 minutes to reach Deshengmen outer city bus station. From Deshengmen we took the 919 to Badaling (cost: 12 Yuan/ £1.20) it took approx. 1 hour 20 minutes.
Amazingly, and considering it's one of the 'wonders of the world', the entrance fee to the Great Wall is cheaper than a tall frappuccino in Starbucks! 45 Yuan (£4.50).
Once you're on the wall you're free to roam for as far and long as you're legs will carry you. We went farther than I had planned thanks to Ric - "let's try and get to where there are no tourists" (NB. this is not possible).
At first we were disappointed that the weather was wet and cloudy. However, after climbing what seemed like millions of steps we were grateful for the cooler weather; had it been sunny we would have overheated and given up well before we got to the top of the first tower!!
My first impression of the Wall was, to be honest, not that spectacular; it didn't seem that big, it was so crowded with tourists and every tower smelt like it had been used as a toilet for the past 100 years. However, the further we trekked the more impressed I became and once the rain clouds lifted it was I was quite in awe. The fact that it goes on and on for as far as the eye can see; the dangerously steep ascents and descents; the seemingly the pointless route it snakes around the mountains.
Who'd have thought you could do a day trip to the Great Wall of China for less than £10!
From Beijing you can do organised tours of the Wall; you get picked up from your hotel driven about and I think they cut up your food and wipe your arse for you too. We didn't do a tour. They're triple the price you ought to pay and you only get a limited amount of time to explore.
We took two local buses from Tiananmen Square, central Beijing, to a section of the wall known as Badaling. The first bus was the number five, which leaves from the top of Qiananmen East Road. It took a lot of gesticulating to pedestrians and allowing someone to write directions on my hand in Chinese before we found the right stop. The bus cost 1 Yuan (10p) and took about 45 minutes to reach Deshengmen outer city bus station. From Deshengmen we took the 919 to Badaling (cost: 12 Yuan/ £1.20) it took approx. 1 hour 20 minutes.
Amazingly, and considering it's one of the 'wonders of the world', the entrance fee to the Great Wall is cheaper than a tall frappuccino in Starbucks! 45 Yuan (£4.50).
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| The highest peak you can see is the Eighth Tower, took us 30 minutes climbing to get up there. |
Once you're on the wall you're free to roam for as far and long as you're legs will carry you. We went farther than I had planned thanks to Ric - "let's try and get to where there are no tourists" (NB. this is not possible).
At first we were disappointed that the weather was wet and cloudy. However, after climbing what seemed like millions of steps we were grateful for the cooler weather; had it been sunny we would have overheated and given up well before we got to the top of the first tower!!
My first impression of the Wall was, to be honest, not that spectacular; it didn't seem that big, it was so crowded with tourists and every tower smelt like it had been used as a toilet for the past 100 years. However, the further we trekked the more impressed I became and once the rain clouds lifted it was I was quite in awe. The fact that it goes on and on for as far as the eye can see; the dangerously steep ascents and descents; the seemingly the pointless route it snakes around the mountains.
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| Up and down, so steep that my legs hurts for three days after. |
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| Amazing lady so old she probably built the wall - wasn't even out of breath after climbing some stairs that almost killed me and Ricardo. |
Sunday, 5 August 2012
Shanghai, China
28th - 31st July and 3rd August
We're not really tour bus kind of people but as we had such a short time in Shanghai and as it's such a huge place we decided it would be a good way to see everything, and for £3 you can't complain. We "hopped off" at The Bund, the river front that overlooks the financial district - check this for an impressive skyline:
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| The Bund |
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| Shanghai Old Street |
One evening we went across the river to the financial district where all the gigantic skyscrapers are. It's incredible. I've never seen buildings that big before, it was like I'd shrunk and everything in the world was bigger. We went up the Jin Mao tower to the 88th floor viewing platform. The tower is the 13th tallest in the world and is 421m high. The high speed lift from the basement took less than 15 seconds and made my ears pop. The view speaks for itself:
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| Jin Mao Tower from the bottom |
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| The Oriental TV Tower (centre) 468m |
On our last day in Shanghai we went to Jing'an temple, a traditional Buddhist temple in the middle of the city. Walking through the gate was like leaving Shanghai and going to a completely different place. Even though it's in the city centre the traffic, pollution and chaos of Shanghai seems miles away; instead all you can hear is the chime of bells and tranquil music. Gone is the smell of rotting food and exhaust fumes and in its place is the smoke from hundreds of incense sticks burning on an ornate metal carriage. Inside there are two Buddha sculptures made from jade. They were brought to China from Burma(/Myanmar) and weigh 11,000 kilograms. It's a beautiful temple and well worth the 30Yuan (30p) entrance fee.
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| Jing'an Temple |
Monday, 23 July 2012
Hwaseong Fortress, Suwon, with Jenny Burns
After a hectic and muddy Saturday I left Ric behind and took the train 30 minutes north to Suwon to visit Jenny Burns.
We went to Hwaseong Fortress and climbed what felt like 3000 steps, stopping half way to shelter from a crazy storm. The fortress is really impressive; the walk of the walls if 7km long and that's after/if you survive the steps! Needless to say we didn't walk the entire length as by the time we reached the top we'd both sweated away a third of our body weight! Along the walls there are plenty of ornate huts and temples and the view of Suwon from the top is stunning, even in the smog and the clouds. There's even a giant bell that you can ring by banging it with a huge wood log. The fortress circles the city centre but is pretty difficult to spot from street level due to all the high rise buildings, from the top however you can how it's just nestled in with among all the apartment blocks and shops.
Interesting Grandad fact provided by Burns herself: the fortress was built by King Jeongjo in honour of his father who had been murdered by his Grandfather!
The fortress was nice and it was even nicer to catch up with Jenny and share our teaching tales and travel plans. Hopefully being seeing more of her soon!
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| Jenny at the bottom of the steps (that disappear into the trees) No further pictures were taken of us because we were so gross. |
Interesting Grandad fact provided by Burns herself: the fortress was built by King Jeongjo in honour of his father who had been murdered by his Grandfather!
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| Suwon skyline. |
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| Large bell. |
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| Temple |
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| Suwon. |
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