Day 42 - Saturday 13th May - Xi'an

The day broke warm and cloudless. We were off to see the Terracotta Warriors. It should also have been a portent that this would be the first time I suffered from Hay Fever on the trip.

The background to the story was that these were discovered in 1974 when a group some villagers were digging a well. Since then significant archaeological work has been done in the excavation of the site and protection of what has been found.

The Warriors were put in place by Qin Shi Huang was Emperor in the 3rd century BC. He was responsible for uniting China – read defeating the armies of all the other independent kingdoms and then trying to bring the place into a unified, cohesive state. By and large he was pretty successful and his reforms were far reaching. But it seems as though he was a tyrant and not well liked by the peasants who were continually being drafted into either the army or onto some construction project.

I am not sure if he was terrified of retribution in death, or he thought that he would continue to rule after death, but he protected his mausoleum with this army of terracotta soldiers. The whole grave site took around 14 years to build and involved around 700,000 workers (the population of China at the time was around 10 million).

The pits containing the army were covered with wooden beams, grass matting and then covered with dirt. Subsequently Qins enemies sacked and burned the place so that the wooden beams collapsed onto the Army crushing most of the hollow terracotta figures. So that when dug up very few were intact and most had to be reassembled from the pieces.

Today there are 5 pits, housed in aircraft hangar sized pavilions. The place is landscaped and capable of handling the masses of tourists who visit. As you will recognise, we were there on a Saturday and the weekends are the busiest time. While westerners were quite visible, the majority of visitors were Chinese tourists.

Pit 1 is the largest. It is said to contain 6000 warriors. But only 2000 have been reassembled from the pieces. The other 4 pits are smaller and contain other relics.

Unfortunately because of the significance of the archaeological find and the crowds, you don’t get to view anything up close. Its sort of like being at Olympic Park to watch the Rugby with 10,000 of your most intimate friends as you jostle for a position to view the spectacle, but not for too long as someone will be waiting to move you out so that they can take their selfie in front of the Warriors.

We also visited Qin’s mausoleum, which is a large tree covered hill. Its said to be untouched as its booby trapped and contains rivers of mercury. Apparently Indiana Jones has not been here yet.

Overall, if this is what someone travelled to China to see, I think that they would come away feeling a little underwhelmed.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped off to hire a bike and ride around the walls of the old city. We sort of got muddled with the distance and thought that the allocated hire of 2 hours would be ample. But in the end managed to return them just in time. We are becoming avid readers of all the terms and conditions for any activity we do as they are most amusing and on many occasions ignored. In this case “Old men over 60 were prohibited from riding the bikes”. Old women over 60 seemed to be excluded from the prohibition. But the operators were ready to take our money without question. Once on the bikes, there was a prohibition on riding the bikes on ramps. There were many up and down around the wall, so as we were prohibited from riding the bikes in the first place, we just ignored this directive and while we struggled up some, we zoomed down all.

The hot dry climate promotes the consumption of cold beer. As the muslim quarter has none we went elsewhere searching for our evenings sustenance. We ended up in a mostly empty, small bar which opened onto the colourfully lit, tree lined street drinking Paulander beer and listing to Jack Johnston sing in the background.

For dinner we ended up in a small dumpling restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet. English was absent, but we soon sorted out that the staff were trying to tell us that the 60 dumplings that Loris had ordered was too much for the 2 of us, so we settled on a plate of 20 (the standard plate quantity) and a beer. Total bill AU$5.

We wandered back to the hotel through the wildly lit, bustling streets and off to bed. But not before we stopped off to buy a light weight T shirt at the Under Armour shop. Same price as AUS, but I needed an extra very light top that was quick drying after washing in the hotel shower.         

Day 41 - Friday 12th May - Pingyao to Xi'an

Because the cars were parked outside of the city walls and we had a bit of a haul with the bags, we had a later start and a short drive to the Shuanglin Temple. An interesting place.

Like in France during the Revolution and England during the Reformation, China faced incredible destruction of temples and important works of art during the Cultural Revolution. Somehow this place escaped it.

While it has some incredible Ming statues and ceramics, they sit there today pretty much untouched for hundreds of years, which means under a thick layer of dust. The colours faded, but still visible. While marked on the map it does not seem to be on the tourist route yet. I am not sure whether its lack of money or knowhow on how to attack the renovation and preservation of the statues.

While we climbed a bit in the morning to nearly 1000m, the terrain was an unwinding of the previous day – plateau then gullies and we descended back down to around 300m. Every now and again we would come across another ravine, some approaching the size of the Grand Canyon, but the road did not dip or deviate. The roads went straight across on bridges that were hundreds of metres above the valley floor.

Terraces abounded on the hillsides, but today they seem to be growing cypress pines. The revegetation program seems to be widespread.

We crossed the Yellow River and into Shaanxi Provence (not to be confused with Shanxi Provence which we had just left). The Yellow River, which is described as the mother river of China, was little more than a trickle in a wide river bed ready for the rains to fall and snows to melt in Tibet.

On the Shaanxi bank was one of the largest industrial complexes I have ever seen. It looked like it was kilometres of petrochemical processing. Of what we are unsure as there is no oil in this area, just lots of coal. Black, grimmey and smoky. It was not what you usually see on a river bank nor the introduction to a new province.

At lunch in a truck stop we settled for noodles. Locally they are the nearest thing you’ve seen to spaghetti. No water or broth, just noodles in a bowl and add your choice sauce. As usual the bowl was big enough to feed a small army, all for the princely sum of AU$4. Loris was struggling to eat hers with chop sticks, so she was just digging in, twirling and hoping to pull up a mouthful. The family on the next table took it on as their personal mission to teach her how to use the chop sticks properly and master the art of noodling with chop sticks. Given the language barrier it was an interesting discussion.

We had not left the lunch stop for long when I noticed that the exhaust noise was getting louder and louder. We had blown an exhaust coupling gasket that sits in the joint between the exhaust manifold and the exhaust pipe. It got worse pretty quickly, especially when the accelerator was planted. Luckily it did not affect the cars performance, rather just the comfort inside and outside of the car.

At the last tollgate we were pulled over at the usual police check. I was a little concerned that they were going to look at the vehicle road worthiness, but instead it was just a simple and polite check of documents, and no defect notice.

We arrived in Xi’an at 1730. Possibly the worst possible time. The tollway emptied into the main road through the city and we had 11 kilometers of noisy, slow grinding bumper to bumper Friday evening peak hour traffic to get to our hotel.

When the name Xi’an comes up, I immediately focus on the terracotta warriors and don’t think too much about the town itself. Recollection tells me that in a previous life as Chang’an it used to be the capital of China and the start of the Silk Route, rather than thinking about the 8m people who currently live in a modern bustling city. I’m told that today it’s a manufacturing hub, although we did not see much of that. We did see enough multi story high rise buildings to house all of the population and the streets of high rise office towers that would put Sydney CBD to shame. Tourism is only a very small part of the local economy.

When we went out for dinner, the first thing we noticed was the change in demographic. There is a strong muslim influence. The food has changed as well. Lamb is prevalent. Rice is absent. The English translation of the local delicacy is a Chinese hamburger. Shredded lamb on a flat bun. BBQ skewers are also common.

We are staying in the centre of town and are surrounded by shopping malls and designer brands. Prices in Zara, Uniqlo, etc are all the same as Australia. The shops are crowded. The muslim sector, a series of narrow alleys full of food stands was absolutely packed. The noise louder than an MG without and exhaust. The light show was brighter than Vivid.

This was not what we were expecting in Xi’an.    

Day 40 - Thursday 11th May - Shijiazhuang to Pingyao

What you can buy in the hotel room. There is a prize for telling me what the bottom middle product is used for and how its applied.

Soon after we left Shijiazhuang we entered Shanxi Provence and started climbing. The vegetation became sparse and the landscape was dry and full of eroded gullies with terraces waiting for rain to plant the next crop.

Shanxi is noted for a couple of things: coal and associated power stations and red sorghum used for making Bijou, the local fire water. With the coal and power stations comes pollution. We climbed to around 750m and the air remained hot and dry.

The gully country was dotted with small villages with houses dug into the mountain side to escape the full ravages of the summer heat and for insulation in the winter. These single story dwellings were a marked contrast to wealth we had seen on the coastal plain.

Checking out the farmer's produce.

We had 320k drive to our destination Pingyao, the best preserved walled town in China. Again on a World Heritage Register. The Chinese seem to take great pride in the fact that a place or a mountain is on a Heritage Register. I have been wondering whether this is a kickback against all the destruction that took place during the Cultural Revolution.

The ravines gave way to a flat plateau where the intensity of agriculture increased again. We made good time and arrived at Pingyao around 1.00pm leaving the afternoon free for exploring the town. Not only is the 6k long wall of the town well preserved, but a lot of work is going into the preservation of the character of the town. While the main streets are faced with new buildings made in the old style, once you get into the back alleys, the village becomes pretty original to the point of crumbling. As usual there is the dichotomy of the commercialisation of the main street, but it does not take too much scratching of the surface to find old people living in quite spartan and original circumstances.

We were fascinated by the vendors doing the rounds. Not selling to the tourists, but to the shop keepers. A farmer on a tricycle loaded with cabbage and other vegetables, another with a trolley loaded with small dried shrimp calling as he went around, and the shop keepers coming out to inspect. In the mornings, it was a donkey cart navigating the back alleys, collecting the waste. There is no sewerage or running water in many of the older places.

The history of Pingyao goes back a couple of thousand years, but most of the current construction dates from the Qing Dynasty. Despite being an isolated place with no real reason for being there, it holds a special place in Chinese commercial history with a number of banks originating here in the early 1800’s, which established branch networks across China and into India and Russia. There does not seem to be much evidence that these banks created much wealth for the town as there are no grand mansions.

Today, not only does the town make its money from tourism, but its also noted for its vinegar which looks and tastes much like a balsamic. Local green Bijou is also noted, with many shops devoted to its promotion. A small shared bottle is as far as the group ventured.

But it is tourism that will help to rebuild the town. While we saw a couple of other westerners in town, it was crowded with local Chinese tourists mostly on group tours.  

Day 39 - Wednesday 10th May - Beijing to Shijiazhuang

A late start to the day was planned, This gave us much needed time to just catch up on stuff. Some work on the car, update the blog, chill out or do some more exploring of Beijing.

We had originally planned to use the time to see more of the city as the couple of days we have spent here have given a very cursory experience. However, when we look at all the stuff that was mounting up around, it was decided to use the time to catch up on things.

I had receiveda delivery of spare parts in Shanghai to replace those used in southern China. The new electronic module needed to be fitted to the spare distributor and all the parts needed to be stored. Plus the car needed to be checked over as things were coming loose: the bonnet locking mechanism was about to fall off (not a good look when you are zooming down the highway at 100), the passenger door was no longer lockable, easily fixed by tightening the retaining screws for the door lock.

You will also have noted that a week of blog has also been added and photos sorted. It is taking me about an hour to write up each day and then the phot up loads vary and can take up to 5 minutes each. This is after running them through Photoshop first to downgrade the size.

We also had media with us for much of the afternoon. Otherwise known as the “Tony fan club”, they had done a piece for the evening news the day before and were doing some more stuff on our journey. It seems everywhere we go Tony is known and knows a lot of very interesting people who he ropes in on occasion to talk about what they are doing or about some place. A diverse group ranging from potters and ceramic artists through to conservation architects.

Our route today was just over 300k on tollway to Shijiazhuang, a nondescript town of 10m people that was located the right distance from Beijing for our stop. When we did get away it was 2 turns and we were headed out of town onto the G4. Our late departure mean that we were headed into peak hour traffic and were going to be driving in the dark before we reached our destination. Luckily the Beijing traffic kept moving. Once on the tollway things moved freely.

Shijiazhuang is actually south of Beijing. We turn west tomorrow.

As we headed away from Beijing the pollution grew. The smog thickened, reducing visibility, giving a striking sunset and both our eyes and noses smarted. We were headed into the industrial heartland of China. As the sun set, the lights of industrial plants lit up the horizon. 

This was our first effort at highway driving after dark. The cars thinned, but the number of trucks remained constant. Not sure whether the cars felt unsafe or they were all home having dinner. We learned quickly that the locals don’t worry too much about having their lights on high beam. Most of them drive this way constantly, blinding you in the rear vision mirror. Unfortunately self dipping rear view mirrors were not invented when MGs were made, so the options were to turn the mirror towards the roof and not know who or what was zooming up behind, or be blinded. The choice was generally the latter lunatics still abound.

By the time we reached the hotel my eyes were sore from both the smog and the lights. So it was a quick beer and off to bed.

Day 38 - Tuesday 9th May - Beijing

We were to play tourist again today with a visit to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.

Our guide proudly told us that Tiananmen Square could hold half a million people. It was nearly full when we arrived at 0900 and they were all headed for the Forbidden City. Tiananmen was built by Mao and holds his Mausoleum and bounded by the Great Hall of the People (Parliament House). There are police, security cameras and other surveillance devices in every direction. Even bag scanning to get into the vast open Square. Maybe they don’t want anyone blowing up the gardens?

We followed the crowds across the road and into the Forbidden City, the home of the Emperor and office of government until 1911. I think the last Emperor actually lived there until 1924, although having been thoroughly usurped by that stage.

The complex is vast. Getting around by bike would have been better, but with the crowds, you would not have moved far. Old Chinese, school kids and tourists crushed each other for a peak at some object mostly hidden from view in one of the major halls. Rugby training once again came to the fore. As the tour evolved our interest moved from the highlights of the Forbidden City to people watching, or more precisely the crowds in the Forbidden City.

Unfortunately our tour did not take us to the small museums that flank the great halls. I think these were virtually empty.

We decided to wander off at the end of this and miss the bus trip out to the Summer Palace. After being whisked from one tourist attraction to the next by bus, both of us felt that we had not come to grips with Beijing, so headed off on foot through the hutongs around the Bell and Drum Towers. The Towers which either boomed or peeled out the time of day for the city from the 14th century to the 1920’s were well off the main tourist track.

The hutongs are the old communities. Narrow, winding alleys and mainly singly story houses. Sewerage does not appear to be connected as each block had its own shared community toilet. From the old and decrepit to the newly gentrified, they housed the old and decrepit and the young and hip. The new Maserati parked outside of one seemed to indicate a direction for the future. Some alleys were dedicated to quirky designer shops, cafés and tea houses, others were just residential. Some had been converted to boutique hotels, while old traditional restaurants added and air of authenticity next door. We wandered for a couple of hours until we found the Great Leap Brewing Company and enjoyed a cold Pale Ale with the young and hip in a shaded courtyard.

I think that you haven’t got to grips with a city until you’ve mastered their public transport, so coming back to the hotel we decided to attack the subway system. Our biggest challenge was to find out what the nearest station was and then let the ticket machine do the rest. 3 trains and 2 transfers later we found ourselves 100m from the hotel.

Dinner was booked at a small, traditional Peking Duck restaurant in one of the hutongs. Lonely Planet gave the food high praise, but suggested that the toilets old be visited for amusement, not for use. We arrived at the appointed hour to find that there were a couple of interpretations of a booking. Ours was that they would have a table ready for us. Theirs was that they would have a duck reserved for us. Needless to say their interpretation won as our Chinese communication skills still leave a room for improvement.

After an hour we were ushered into a space that would have been more at home below decks on an old greasy trap steamer. There was an open fire at one end which was being stoke with ducks, a main dining room and a number of adjoining open spaces with staff washing up or preparing other dishes. But cleanliness was at a premium. There was a tap and small basin with spasmodically running water and a dispenser of some caustic looking goo for us to wash our hands before we handled our food. Thoughtful.  

We had the duck three ways. Breast with pancakes. The other bits fried with salt and pepper and the guts made into a soup. Needless to say the food was good and the experience an education.

Tomorrow after a late start we are on the road again, but this time headed west.

Local recycling service

Local sign writers work all hours.

How green is Beijing? Electric car being recharged overnight directly from a tree!

Day 37 - Monday 8th May - Beijing

Originally we were to drive the MGs out to the Great Wall, but after our experience of Shanghai peak hour traffic we decided that this was imprudent. I think there had been some thoughts of photo opportunities of MGs and the Great Wall, but that was not going to happen in Beijing. A bus was organised to take us around for the day.

Breakfast was a similar experience to the previous day. Except that the dining room was full of westerners. We had not seen so many in nearly 3 weeks – well for the most part we had not seen any, so a significant congregation was a bit of a shock to the system. But while they were looking in vain for the muesli we headed straight for the congee and eggs. But there was a sop to the tourists, the orange stuff at the juice bar was cold juice and tasted vaguely of orange, rather than warm orange cordial. They also had something called Hawthorn juice which was tasty.

Beijing seemed to be the first stop for most and all were wandering about in a jet lagged daze.    

The Mutianyu Great Wall is around 70k from down town Beijing. The bus trip out took a couple of hours in slow, grinding traffic for a significant part. This part of the Wall is set in a mountainous area with almonds and chestnuts trees growing on every available piece of ground.

To get to the Wall there is the obligatory Ticket Office, souvenir and food shops and the bus stop to the chairlift. We could have climbed up to the Wall, but elected to take the chair. From there you are only allowed to walk a couple of kilometres in either direction. The Wall was built by the Ming in 1406 and then repaired in 1987. What was 1406 wall and what was 1987 wall was unclear. But safe to say that any invaders would have struggled to get through from what we saw. The Wall sat on top of steep ridges, which I assume were barren of trees back in the day as they would have needed every skerrick of wood to stoke the fires to keep warm in winter. While there were some undulating sections to walk along in others the stairs seemed to rise twice the distance of travel.

I walked both directions that we were allowed and a bit further as the barricade was easily surmounted. The path back down the mountain was virtually unused except for a few farm workers who were making their way up the mountain. Not sure whether they could not afford the chairlift or were off to look for almonds.

We were told that, as this section of the Wall is a bit further out of town it does not get as many tourists as other closer sections. Lucky, as there were enough there. A mixture of Chinese and European.

The Ming tombs were next on the itinerary. There are 13 on the complex. We visited two. Not quite in the class of the pyramids, they are significant structures. We are gradually getting a handle on the quite complex subject of Chinese history, at least at a high level. 

In a quick synopsis of the last 9 centuries. The Ming (Han Chinese) replaced the Mongols (Ghingis Khan and his clan) in 1368. The Ming Dynasty collapsed in 1644 and was replaced by the Qing Dynasty (Manchurians from the north) which lasted until 1911 when replaced by the Republic.

As you will note from the above, the Wall was built to keep the Manchurians out. And it seems to have done this for a couple of hundred years. 

Day 36 - Sunday 7th May - Tai'an to Beijing

It was to be an 0800 start for our 510k ride into Beijing. The first shock we got was when we jumped into the lift to go down to breakfast and being confronted by 5 boys all around 185 - 190cm tall dressed in white track suits with red highlights. Had the Chinese basketball team moved in over night?

We turned into the dining room to discover that there was a whole school of kids there. Not a spare seat or table (and the place was vast), queues at every food serving point, all dressed in the same white track suits with red high lights. Peter from our group had managed to secure one table and was having to defend it vigorously from the invaders. Some in our group came and turned in retreat.

The kids were all polite. They queued in an orderly fashion (unlike their parents on the freeways), and those that forced their way through Peter’s barricade to our table spoke good English. They were from a school in Beijing and had arrived overnight to climb Taishan. By 0730, the dining room was empty, except for those on our table who were still recovering from the melee.

The dryness of Qufu and Tai’an gave way to the continual belt of wheat and trees as we descended the mountains onto the coastal plain again. The sky also seemed to clear, with patches of blue and a watery sun peaking through the muted haze.

At 0930 a call came over the radios that one of the drivers was in lots of pain and that the Navigator was going to take over. After a bit of back and forward, our morning stop and refuel was rescheduled for a truck stop 20k down the road. Phone calls back to Australia to paramedics were scheduled and after much consultation the prognosis was probably kidney stones.

The decision was made to continue to Beijing as that’s where the best hope of medical treatment lay. Out came all the pain killers and numerous bottles of water for the infirmed. Drivers were reshuffled around the cars and we set off again.

The drive was smooth until about 70k from Beijing where we hit a police road check. The 3 lanes quickly morphed in to 4 as cars decided that the emergency lane was moving faster. By this stage the temperature was around 30c and the cars did not like sitting, idling in stop/ start traffic, as it was more stop than start. The only option was to turn the motor off, wait, restart and move forward before someone from the adjoining lane decided that your lane was a better option and barge across. For an hour and a half we edged our way forward. The first car with our guide Green, stopped, showed documents and was quickly off again. The next 4 cars just waved to the police and drove through, ignoring the hand gestures and shouts. The police then decided to stand in the middle of the road to stop the last 3 cars who thought that running over a policeman was probably not worth the effort. Drivers licence, rego and passports were produced. The police wandered off with all. Green was summoned on the radio and then spoke to the police who really just wanted to check that we had a valid hotel booking and reason for being in Beijing.

We were told that this was all pretty much standard procedure and that the locals were used to this level of security around Beijing.

Sunday afternoon and the run into Beijing was relatively speaking smooth. Traffic was heavy, but constantly moving and our sticky rice manouvers meant that no one got lost.

While the we checked in to the hotel at around 1730, the ailing one made a B line for the emergency section of the large hospital just down the road . The diagnosis was confirmed as kidney stones. To cut a long story short, by 1030, the infirmed one was back at the hotel after having had an ultrasound scan to confirm the diagnosis and work out the treatment plan, transfer to another private hospital, see the Urologist and have the kidney stones blasted. Normally in Australia I understand that this procedure would have been done under general anesthetic, not so here. Needless to say there was a considerable amount of pain. But the patient is still alive and hopefully on the way to recovery. We were all amazed at how quickly things could be achieved here, and for a cost of under AUD1,000 for all the scans and treatment.

Day 35 - Saturday 6th May - Qufu fo Tai'an

Our group met at 0745 to go to the Confucian morning exercises. Lonely Plant describes it as a raucous din. The summary was apt.

Confucius lived in the 5th century BC. He was a student of Lao, who was the founder of the Taoist religion. Confucius (this was his Latin name, his Chinese name was Kong) developed these ideas into his own philosophy which he taught in Qufu to the children of the poor. His descendants (oldest son) lived in the family compound until 1949 when they scarpered to Taiwan with Chang Ki Shek and the Nationalists. The main branch of the Confucius family still lives there.

The temple compound contains no relics of when Confucius taught there. Instead temples and stele were added in later times by Emperors to show their respect. There is even one built by Ghingis Khan. The place faced significant destruction during the Cultural Revolution of the 60s, rebuilt during the 80s, rehabilitated in the National psyche in the 90s and a significant tourist attraction for the Chinese post 2000.

After our tour we headed off for Tai’an located at the foot of Taishan, a mountain of significant religious importance. Although the mountains dominate the local landscape, it was not until we were a few kilometres away that we could actually see their faint outline such was the dust and smog.

From its base to its summit are a series of temples. The committed can climb the path and pay their respects to show devotion at each of the temples on the climb. There is in fact very little path, rather there are 7000 steps to the summit. We just climbed the lower 4000 to the base of the gondola which will whisk you up to the summit and the final temple where Confucius is said to have prayed.

The temples are a mixture of Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist. And at times its difficult to work out whether they are Confucian or Buddhist as the images seem to contain a mixture of both elements.

Its obviously a popular past time to climb the mountain and these days it seems to be the duty of every member of the Chinese population, although very few seem to be devout. They seemto be there for the journey rather than spending any time praying, although we came across a few who had not only climbed, but were then descending backwards (ie still facing up hill). By the expressions on the faces of those who reached the Temple of Heaven (where the gondola started), the general population could do with some more stair climbing exercises. Surprisingly today there were no high heels and Sunday best dresses, maybe that's just a May Day thing.

As is usual at all these tourist spots there is no shortage of food, drink and souvenirs to be purchased along the way. Cold water, Coke, beer, cucumbers and watermelon, bells and medals to say you have made it up the Stairway to Heaven. The pace of the climb was slow as you wove through the grimacing crowds hauling their unfit bodies to the top.

Although the levels of pollution had thinned somewhat by the time we reached the base of the gondola, we decided that the climb was the main part of the exercise and that as the gondola was closing in 45 minutes, we would save the $40 return trip.

I think I have mentioned previously the cost of visiting tourist attractions in China. At this location we paid CHY60 (AUD12) park entry (this was half price because of our advanced age). Once you got to the Temple of Heaven, you could walk back down or take the bus CHY35 (AUD7 – no discount for the aged). And you also had the option of the gondola for another CHY100 (AUD20 – no discount for the aged) each way. Plus the cost of parking (usually CHY10 -15 if available) and what you spent on food and drink on the way up (prices inflate the higher you climb).

The practise of entry fee plus an add on bus ride to actually get to the attraction is par for the course. I am not sure how the rural population or factory workers manage to afford these.

By contrast, the local bus from the foot of Taishan back to our hotel cost CHY2 (40 cents). The hotel was big, modern, with acres of car park and miles from the centre of town. It seemed as though we were the only ones there. Getting to it on the bus we passed the usual miles of new town house and apartment developments. It would seem that there can’t be many people in China living in old apartments anymore.

Because we were so far out of town we decided to eat in the hotel restaurant. A simple meal of dumplings and grilled lamb on skewers. The place was deserted except for our group.  

Day 34 - Friday 5th May - Shanghai to Qufu

Last crossing of the Yangtze

We were headed to Qufu, the home of Confucius. It had been determined that 0630 was the appropriate time to depart Shanghai to try to miss the traffic.There had also been a miss calculation of the distance we had to drive. It was 780k not the planned 500.  Luckily its day light at around 0515, so not a big challenge in rising early and packing.

The couple of cool, damp days in Shanghai were appreciated. A chance to wear long pants comfortably and in the evening add a vest.

The countryside north of Shanghai was a continuation of the coastal plains. Flat and rich green. A sea of wheat divided by trees and a multitude of small villages. We crossed the Yangtze for the last time and headed into Shandong Provence, described as the agricultural heartland of China.

The freeways are lined with trees. It appears there has been a significant push on greening and beautification. The trees also have been planted to try to mitigate the effects of dust storms coming in from the Gobi.

We were making good time until midday when the traffic came to a halt on the freeway. There was no escape. After about 15 minutes we decided that this would be our lunch stop. Out came the chairs, crackers, tinned tuna and peanut butter as we settled down with the locals in the middle of the roadway. There were the obligatory groups of locals wandering up to examine the cars and watch us eat. After lunch I walked for a couple of kilometres to see what was happening. I got to a point where I could see for another 1k, and there were still a wall of trucks parked. Drivers sleeping in the cabins. I decided to walk back.

By that stage I think we had determined on the basis of the number of police cars that had gone past that there had been a truck smash blocking the highway. In Australia in these circumstances you would ask a truck driver as he would have been in contact by radio with others and the word would have passed around. No so in China. While the truckies all have phone, there are no CB radios.

After 2.5 hours we were underway again. By late afternoon the countryside had dried a lot. The air had changed from blue to a dusty, hazy brown. We had to turn our lights on to b seen. At first we thought we were encountering the smog of Beijing, but I think it was more a dust storm.

Wheat gave way to intense vegitable growing and acres of green houses. Grapes were also prevalent.

Our entry into Qufu was down a wide dusty main road lined with landscaped gardens and manicured trees.The down town area near to the Confucius Mansion indicated that this town (population 600k) hosted a lot of tourists.    

Day 33 - Thursday 4th May - Shanghai

The group went on a bus tour of Shanghai today. Loris and I decided to opt out and do our own tour. The subway system in Shanghai is first class. I think that there are currently 14 lines with another 7 under construction. Clean, fast, efficient, cheap and easy to use. We were on and off them all day long. The first ting that I noticed and had not seen previously were the ads they were running in all the tunnels. You will be used to ads on the tunnel walls of stations, but not the tunnels while you are travelling along at high speed. The challenge is to make the ad move along with you at the speed of the train so you can read it. I could not work out whether they were projecting the ad on the tunnel wall from projectors on the train, or there was some LED panel technology in the tunnels and somehow the adds moved along the screens at the speed of the train.

We started off with a walk up Nanjing Road to the Peoples Park. This section of road is now a pedestrian mall dedicated to every designer brand in the world. At 0900 cool, wet and deserted as most of the shops had not opened. In a few the management had all the staff lined up at the doorways in military formation giving them their morning pep talk (I’m learning a lot here).  We were headed for the Shanghai Museum. Its Chinese paintings date back 9 centuries and its ceramics collection has pieces dating back 6.5 thousand years.

The paintings are nearly all monochrome and reflect a close link to calligraphy. There are those painted in the official style and there were the few who broke loose and used some colour.

The ceramics collection showed the transition from unglazed pottery to the development of glazes and fine porcelain. From the 11th Century the Imperial Kilns were set up in Jingdezhen and more than half the collection was devoted to work from this city from both the Imperial and folk kilns through the Ming and Qing dynasties. It put into perspective our visit to Jingdezhen and its place in the history of ceramics.

Museumed out we headed for the Tianzifang alleys with artists shops. Unfortunately the artists were out numbered by the bars, tea houses and restaurants. The Chinese love their food.

So we finished off the day at a quirky little private museum. The Propaganda Poster Museum which traced the history of Propaganda posters from the 1920’s through their zenith in the 60’s to the 90’s when they died a natural death with the change of government policy and leadership. Given that most of this type of material was printed on poor quality paper and the posters stuck up in the streets to communicate government policy, it’s amazing that the museum had managed to gather a collection of over 6000 posters.

We finished the day with a visit to the Bund and its dazzling light show. Unfortunately, like on previous occasions I have done this, we were accompanied by about 100 million local tourists and trying to take selfies in the best spots. We tried for dinner at the Peace Hotel in its famous Jazz Bar. The band has been playing their continuously since the 30’s and I think the musicians are the originals (oldest 94, average age 76). Unfortunately all the tables were booked so we only managed a short interlude.

Although westerners are relatively common in Shanghai, English is still not pervasive. Dinner was one of those experiences where we had no idea what to order and as it was a hot pot, how to cook it. Google Translate came to the fore with waitress and those ordering barking into the phone with sometimes amusing results. In the end I think we got what we asked for and were happy with the results.