2009 – China and Japan

A Saturday in Downtown Xi’an

Posted on by kymdt

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

On saturday we took it pretty easy and decided to wander around Downtown Xi’an. I converted my digital SLR into a fixed focal length brownie. Zooms are overrated anyway. We took a bunch of shots as we walked past the Provincial Government HQ, past the shops, auctions and street vendors all offering mobile phones. Marveled at the range of washers, air conditioners and refrigerators with interesting sizes and designs. Visited a historical monument or two and designer label shops. The Muslim quarter was the highlight with greats sights and sounds. This is where we settled down for a lunch of 20 dumplings! Finally we returned to our hotel for a peach smoothie and donut not bad eh? Anyway I’ve put together a slideshow for you.

Cheap day out in Xi’an

Posted on by helenhmk

IMG_4197, originally uploaded by Helen K.

Xi’an is famous for housing the self proclaimed 8th Wonder of the World, The Terra-Cotta Warriors. But if you are traveling independently and don’t want to catch a large bus filled with tourists that stop off at jade houses along the way, you don’t have too many options. Thankfully we read the Lonely Planet section on Xi’an. THe section is filled with good detail and explanations of how to get to places and food recommendations (Beijing chapter was not useful).

As advised by the book we went to the train station in search of a little green bus no. 915. On one side was a number of little buses… taxis, people, and lots of cars. In these situations you start thin king “What the hell are we doing?”. We then wandered through the myriad of people to the other side of the carpark, where we could see a number of buses. In between there was a green bus with Xi’an – Terra Cotta Warriors on the side, and we were ushered on. Yeah! we made it. The trip there took about an hour and cost 7 yuan (<$1.50), only pensioners get it this good back in Australia. What a bargain… why pay any more? For lunch again we followed the book and tried the local places to eat – great noodles. But beware, the drinks (beer and juice) cost more than the food itself).

Entry to the warriors was $90 yuan ($18 Aust. dollars) each, which seems pretty standard. Again we followed the book, and made sure we viewed the film, visited the exhibition hall, before actually any of the pits. The number of tourists at the site was large, but that was nothing compared to actually seeing the warriors in situ. There are three pits, the third is the smallest, and the location of the bronzed chariots. We thought pit 3 was big…. but by the time you get to pit 1 you are truely amazed and staggered by the number of warriors, the detail and workman ship in each one. They are still unearthing (even while tourists are visiting) and will be for many years to come.

Afterwards we managed to cross the road (if you saw the traffic/road you would understand), and catch the green bus back to the city. Surprisingly enough it was the exact same bus, with the same driver and conductor…. from four hours previous. This is amazing given they don’t run to a timetable. It was certainly a great cheap day out.

It’s pandaemonium!

Posted on by helenhmk



Pandas, originally uploaded by Helen K.

What do you do on your last day in Beijing? Ideally you want to see something that you can’t see in the southern hemisphere…. and when in China it is Giant Pandas! Okay.. okay… I know the Adelaide Zoo is getting two very soon – but the question to be answered is “Are Giant Pandas as popular in China as they are likely to be in Adelaide?” After visiting the zoo, my guess is yes!

There were lots of people viewing the pandas… taking photos, and jostling for space. There were separate ticket prices on top of normal tickets just to see them! I hope the Adelaide Zoo doesn’t get any ideas. Once inside there were eight giant pandas, spread over a number of enclosures. Zoo’s aren’t always the most pleasant places, but I’m hoping the housing for ours will be better than we saw. We didn’t look at much else in the zoo… apart from the Australian animals section (another example of not much thought put into design or plants). They spend a lot of money on strange large concrete/wood objects that people stand in front of and have photos taken than the spaces for the animals.

I also attempted to purchase fridge magnets (stuffed panda seemed too much), but they don’t seem to be popular here, so I’m down on my quota so far.

Shopfront

Posted on by kymdt

Shopfront, originally uploaded by kdt.

Believe it or not. This is a row of shops (quite popular too). They are ground floor apartments that have had the windows converted to doors! You can see the steps to enter.

Water Lilies at the Summer Palace

Posted on by kymdt

Water Lilies at the Summer Palace, originally uploaded by kdt.

The Summer Palace site is enormous and is best to use the many ferries to get around. We thought we’d be clever and take the boat from the Zoo to the Summer Palace. Not so sure it was a clever idea long waits and a boat change made it a slow way to get there and when we got there we had no idea where our boat had landed us and no signs in English. If there is a motto that has served us well, at least at major tourist sites, it is GO WITH THE CROWD. We did this time and we landed at small pier at which a small boat took about 20 or so passengers across to the South Island from there we followed the crowd over the 17 arches bridge and then we followed the crowd to the long corridor…. but then the crowd stopped. It stopped because the thunderstorm had started…. we need to keep moving so we could catch our overnight train so we did with our tiny umbrella’s up. It is amazing how upwardly flexible taxi prices are when the rain is falling!

Cafe Australia Style

Posted on by kymdt

Cafe Australia Style, originally uploaded by kdt.

A short review. Do not go! It is located adjacent to the Australian animal exhibit, but it doesn’t offer pie floaters or vegemite. It offers New York steak, german beer, and a few ordinary chinese dishes. The coffee we had, just to say that we had been, was alright.

No #1 Best Attraction at Olympic Park

Posted on by kymdt

No #1 Best Attraction at Olympic Park, originally uploaded by kdt.

You’d think it might be the Birds Nest or perhaps the Water Cube.. but for some young, and not so young, Chinese it is the foreigner! There were many groups from regional China who asked us in English if they could have their photograph taken with us. One photo turned into many as each member of the group asked us for a photo on there camera. We could have set up a stand and charged one yuan, but that wouldn’t be consistent with the olympic spirit, would it?

If you are reading this blog and recognise yourself in this photo, or these other ones on Flickr, leave us a comment on this post.

Dawn – raising of the flag

Posted on by helenhmk



Dawn – raising of the flag, originally uploaded by Helen K.

This morning we got up early.. 4am… to go and watch the flag being raised – along with the other 1000’s of Chinese tourists . According to the web site this was going to occur at 5:17am. The crowd of people watching this take place this morning was incredible.

We arrived around 4:50 and there was already a large number of people, approimately 6 people deep to the front of the rope line across the square. Just before it begins there is a brief announcement, and then music plays until the flag is raised. It is over quickly.

Then the usual photograph sellers magically appear touting for business, and the guards walk off leaving the tourists to rush closure to the flag for their photographs, while we walked back to the train station. Tired but satisfied in seeing the event occur.