China Trip: Ice Festival at Harbin

In January I again flew to China, this time to visit the Ice Festival at Harbin. The exchange rate in February was 12.80 Yuan to £1.

After an overnight stop in Beijing we flew with China Air to Harbin which is one and half hours flying time from Bejing. I think the pilot thought he was driving a sports car, he started off down the runway before we had even sat down!. But the times I have been to China and taken flights and trains, the transport has always left and arrived on time. We discovered that on all internal flights there is an airport tax of 50 Yuan.


Arriving at Harbin we were met by our guide Zhao Yang, none of us could pronounce this and she told us to call her Chow. We drove through a snowy wonderland into the city of Harbin. We are stopping at the Holiday Inn.

Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang province and it is 238 miles northeast of Beijing. Its Manchurian name means 'where the fishing nets are dried'. The average temperature stays below freezing for five months of the year. Until the turn of the century it was just a fishing village. Then the Manachu Dynasty agreed to let Tsarist Russia build a branch of the Trans-Siberian Railway through Harbin. With the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 about half a million Russian emigrants fled through Siberia to Harbin, consolidating the Russian appearance of the city with stucco houses and churches with onion domes.

From 1932 to 1945 Harbin was under Japanese occupation, followed by one year under the Soviet army. In 1946 the Chinese Communists took control of the city.

When my case arrived I donned my long johns, thermal vest, moon boots, several layers, gloves, scarf and hat. Even though it is sunny outside the temperature is -22

We drove down to the river. The mighty Songhua River runs through Harbin from west to east. At this time of year the Songhua freezes over and becomes an ice skating rink and winter playground for ice yachting, sledding, sleigh rides and lots more for the local people.

A long runway of ice for sledding sweeps 160 yards down the riverbank and on to the bed of the river. We watched the locals speed down with shouts of glee. One of our party went down the slide, we all just stood and admired his courage.

The ice looked a bit grubby here. There were sleds for hire pulled by German Shepherd Dogs who all looked well fed and happy. We walked down the very slippery river bank which was solid ice, onto the frozen river. It was really difficult to keep from slipping over and we were all hanging on to anything we could, including each other.

Down on the ice we had a sail boat ride which was a bit disappointing. We sat on this sail boat and were then pushed along the ice by a couple of chaps. Not what I imagined an ice yacht ride would be like at all.

We went into the pool area to watch the swimmers. The whole of the swimming pool had been cut out and was in the middle of the river, so making an ice pool. The diving boards were ice steps. There were lots of swimmers who came out, paraded round the pool to the shouts and applause of the spectators. One by one they dived into the pool, most of them doing the most ungainly belly flops which looked very painful. They swam up and down in the freezing water. Then out came another group. Men and women. In all we must have watched 30 or 40 swimmers come out to dive into the freezing waters.. Some of them were obvious favourites with the crowd.

We went on to a shopping street. At this point I realised that Harbin is not geared up to the tourist. We could find no postcards to buy, and no guide books on Harbin.

The highlight of today was a visit to the ice sculptures. Chow got us there in time to see the ice carvings in daylight and then, as it got darker, on came the lights and the ice sculptures really came to life. They are so beautiful and as we went round corner after corner more and more beautifully coloured carvings came to light. It was far better than I was expecting.

Ice sculptures at night were anazing, just like being in fairlyland
The next morning as I pulled back the curtains I discovered that it was snowing, hard.

Got all dressed up in my heavy thermal wear which I will certainly need this morning. As we left the hotel it was still snowing heavily. The snow here is a dry snow we could just brush it off our jackets, therefore staying dry. It was so dry that it was almost impossible to make snowballs although we did try!

This morning Chow took us to a snow carving park. The snow carvings were of animals, bridges and buildings. We had such fun here going down the ice slide and having a go in the snow cars it was like being children again. It snowed hard all the morning and we loved it, we felt that this is what we had come to Harbin for.

We went on to the tiger park and saw lots of tigers all looking very fat and sleek. The Chinese have a big breeding programme here in an attempt to try and save the tigers. We saw a lot of young cubs. We drove into and round a compound watching the tigers playing in the snow. We then walked along a walkway and looked down at lots of tigers who were enclosed in huge compounds. We were a little startled to see a box of live chickens half way along the walkway. Chow told us we could buy a live chicken to throw to the tigers - needless to say, none of us did.

Tigers in the snow

After lunch we went to the Ice and Snow Carvings down on the river. These carvings are much bigger than any others we had seen. Some of them were huge. There was a carving of the Sphinx, Arc de Triumph, The Matterhorn, a huge Tibetan Monastery and lots more. Some of the carvings were of huge buildings, it was wonderful. As it got dark the buildings were all lit up, it was like being in fairyland.

Photography was not easy as it was snowing heavily all day. We certainly needed all our thermal gear on today. Some of the surfaces were very slippery and we had to be very careful how we walked about.

I went into a bookshop to try and get a guide book on Harbin. Nobody spoke English. Trying to explain that what I wanted was a guide book on Harbin with English translation was impossible, and not surprisingly ended in total failure! Hand signals didn't seem to work in this instance!

I managed to get some postcards today but Harbin is not a commercial tourist area. None of us have seen another western face so it is not surprising that we are getting a lot of people staring at us, not with any animosity but with curiosity.

The next morning the sun was shining and our first stop was at the children's play park. Onthis site there is a miniature railway which is operated by the children, although not in the winter months. The railway is the only one of its kind in China. Small trains carry passengers of all ages from 'Harbin Station to Beijing Station' - a distance of just over a mile. In real life the distance is 862 miles.

It was very cold this morning even though the sun was shining. One of our parties beard froze up and the inside of my glasses had ice on the inside. We are all carrying our cameras inside our anoraks to try and keep them warm.

People were playing table tennis, outside There were 4 tables and they were all being used. It was strange to see people playing table tennis outside surrounded by ice and snow.

We watched people clearing snow and ice from the roads. They are chipping the ice up with hoe-like tools, this is like painting the Forth Bridge. Apparently all the citizens have to spend an hour a day clearing away the snow and ice and that includes the schools and universities.

There is a great system here at traffic lights. When you arrive and the lights are red there is a 60 seconds countdown so you know how long before the lights change. It is the same when the lights turn green so as you approach the lights you know how many seconds you have before the lights change. This is a great idea and it would, I think, save a lot of feelings of frustration with drivers.

We went to the Swan Hotel for lunch. On the menu was chips. We all got very excited to have chips and they soon disappeared.

The indoor market was closed to day so we visited St. Sophi'a. A Russian Church. This is a typical Russian, onion domed church. Inside, the walls were full of old photographs of Harbin. There were lots of pictures of white Russians. Interestedly there was only one picture of a Chinese and that was a picture of a coolie. I took a picture of a model in the church and then discovered that no photography was allowed!

Outside I took a photograph of a bush that had pink pieces of paper stuck on to make it look like blossom. We have seen quite a few bushes done like this and the pieces of paper are always pink.

Tonight we have a Russian banquet. Having sampled Russian food in the past I do wonder what 'banquet' will mean!

Minus our thermals we left the hotel for the Russian Banquet. Walking the 200 yards to the restaurant from the coach we felt very cold without our cold weather gear on. It is minus 30 tonight and I realised how my cord trousers and thermal long johns had protected me over the last few days.

The whole time I was in Harbin with temperatures of -25 and -30 I never felt cold. Unlike the UK it is a dry cold and our thermal gear, hats, gloves and scarves were enough to keep us nice and warm.

The meal was superb. Lovely white fresh bread, caviar, soup, goulash, beef, chicken and pork dishes. Everything was very tasty.

The Chinese hotels run a very good system for e-mailing home. All the hotels have a business centre and for a very small amount you can type up and send an e-mail home. The receptionist changed over the typing from Chinese to English. I was tempted to send home an e-mail in Chinese!

I left all my postcards, 30 in all, at the reception desk of the Hotel with the money for postage. Only 3 of those cards arrived and I suspect that the bell boy or someone in the hotel pocketed the money. We had all been trying to buy stamps for our postcards home but could'nt find any.

The Ice Festival at Harbin is superb all of the 16 in our party thought it much better than they had expected. The ice and snow carvings are beautiful and much bigger and better than we imagined them to be.

China Trip: Repulse Bay

Off to the airport for our flight to Xi'an (Shi-an). We land and meet our guide, Ming. We had an interesting ride from the airport, passing a lot of burial mounds which have not been opened up yet. Xi'an was the starting point of the Silk Road. Driving though the usual rush hour traffic we arrive at our hotel the Xian Le Garden Hotel.

The next morning we go off to see the City Wall. The rectangular City Wall is nearly 8 miles long, and so thick that two-way chariot traffic could travel the roadway on top. We climbed up lots of steps into the Drum Tower. Steps seem to be the norm everywhere you go in China, but it was worth the climb. The Drum Tower dates from 1370. Drums were beaten to signal the night curfew and, in the morning, the opening of the city gates. The view up the length of the wall and over the City, even on this dull morning, was superb. There is a moat, and Ming remembers swimming in the moat as a boy, though it is dry now.

Next stop is the Jade carving factory. We saw people carving the Jade which has to be carved with water dripping onto it. The Jade carving that were here for sale were excellent.

We were now off to what is one of the highlights of our tour. With so many highlights, it is difficult to pick out one or two, but this one is something special, the terracotta army. We went into a "Circle-vision" cinema and watched and very good film on how the terracotta army came to be here. It was very colourful and well done.

The exhibition is awe-inspiring. The packed ranks of life size warriors, each of them bearing the distinctive features of the men they were modelled on, standing with their horses under the sweeping roof of a protective exhibition hall. The warriors of the Qin Army stand in battle formation, infantryman and archers, officers and their horses guard the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. At the rear of the main hall there are ranks of figures that are only partly excavated, the heads and torsos half out of the earth. You can see where the heavy wooden heams used to support the roof and how the beams have collapsed, burying the terracotta army. An arched structure resembling an aircraft hangar has been built to protect the dig from the weather. Walkways permit tourists a bird's eye view of the site. We walked right around the site marveling at this special place.

Terracotta Army

We went inside three pits. We saw work going on, still uncovering more of the army and artifacts. It was incredible to see the archaeologists working with fine brushes, clearing away the dirt. The one thing that I couldn't get out of my mind was that this amazing find is over a mile from the Emperor's tomb. What, one wonders, lies between the terracotta army and the tomb. And what will they find when the tomb is eventually excavated. Qin Shi Huang was a pretty evil and cruel emperor, and Ming told us that the Chinese, being very superstitious, are frightened of opening up the tomb as they are concerned about releasing any evil spirits that is in there.

On the way back to the hotel Ming told us "The Chinese have a saying: When leaves die they fall to their roots, Chinese people like to go back to where they were born to be buried". Patti told us, "Brides, in the old days, were given pomegranates and wished as many children as seeds. Today, the bride is give a peach"!!

Waking up the next morning, the weather is still gloomy. Our first stop is the Little Wild Goose Pagoda. As we entered the garden there was a man with a sword doing his Tai Chi. This Pagoda has 13 floors at the moment. When it was built at the beginning of the 8th century it had 15 tiers, but the top tumbled down during an earthquake in the Ming era. Ming told us that all pagodas have tiers with uneven numbers. The pagoda was built to honour the Buddhist monk Xuan Zang, who first brought the Buddhist scriptures from India to China, and to house the 1,335 volumes of translations that he spent virtually the rest of his life producing.

We found a couple of large bells that, if you felt so inclined, for 20 yuan, you could strike. Some of us had a go. The bigger one was huge, but was also a huge disappointment and didn't make much noise at all, though the smaller one was better. Better still, hanging in another building just across the way, was a monstrous drum, which, for 5 yuan, you could strike "six times for good luck". I gave it six good whacks, and the effect was tremendous; the whole atmosphere shook!!

We then went on to Ban Po Neolithic village. This was an incredible discovery from six thousand years ago, when a village, evidently thriving, occupied this farmland. Traces of habitation came to light in the 1950's when workmen were digging the foundations for a factory. A museum and a viewing hall cover the area today. From a series of walkways you look down on the outlines of houses, ovens, storage areas and graves. There were some clay jars in which they used to bury their children. This exhibition was well presented and the signs were in English as well as Chinese; it does help!

After lunch we drove to the airport for our flight to Guilin. When we landed at Guilin we met our guide Wang. It looks a beautiful area with fantastically-shaped limestone hills. We are stopping at the Gui Shan Hotel.

In the evening we went and saw the cormoront fisherman. We boarded a big boat and chugged down the River Lei with a cormoront fisherman on his raft just out from the boat. At the front of the raft there is a lantern whose light attracts the fish.

The water was quite shallow and perfectly clear. The cormoronts caught lots of quite big fish. There is a piece of string tied around their necks which allows the cormoronts to swallow the small fish but not the big ones. The birds are ordered off the fisherman's raft and in they go swimming round. When they catch a fish they are ordered to board the raft which they do quite happily. The fisherman then gently squeezes the bird's neck - like squeezing a toothpaste tube - and out pops the fish into the basket. The birds only work at night as the light attracts the fish then; they sleep and rest up during the day. Training these cormorants is a highly skilled job and the art is handed down from father to son. A trained cormorant is worth a lot of money.

Wang collected us from the hotel the next morning. He told us that Westerners used to be called Long Noses by the local people. They now call us hello's they will say I saw 10 hello's today because everyone calls out"Hello" to us all the time.

We boarded the boat for our Lijian River Cruise which took us through spectacular scenery for about four hours. The strange shaped hills were misty as, we were told, they usually are. The geological history of Guilin goes back several hundred million years. The area was under the sea when an upheaval raised it. Later is was again flooded, then lifted again in further cataclysmic events. The alternation of sea water and air through the millennia created limstone formations, vulnerable to erosion into pinnacles and mounds and peaks that captivate the imagination.


Strange Shaped Hills

We saw some cormorants sleeping on their rafts that were tied up beside some rickety looking houses. There were a lot of buffalo, obviously feeding on the river weed; they were wading into the river and putting their heads right under the water to graze on the weed.

We passed young boys who called out to us to throw money for them to dive for. We saw women washing clothes and people bathing in the river. Boys came alongside in their raft-like boats, with carvings, trying to sell them.

As we left the boat we were given love balls which are balls of silk with tassels on. This is what was on the side of the love ball box, I quote....."Throwing a ball made of silk. is a folk traditional entertainment activity. It has a long history with thousand years. The colourful and beautiful ball is an authenticating object that zhueng nationality girls to express their sincere love and a symbol of lucky. The hearts of the girl the person she is in love with will be linked by the ball lightly - they will be the happiest persons." I think that all means - that love balls are good luck to lovers.

The next morning we flew to Guangzhou (Canton). We met our guide Mr. Yang. We then visited the Chen Family Temple. The wooden carvings on the top of the temple were very ornate here. We watched a fascinating demonstration with a pottery jug; when you put hot water into the jug the pattern, which was a dragon, changed from black to red.

Our hotel in Canton is the White Swan Hotel. The hotel overlooks the busy Pearl River. After an overnight stay at this 5 star hotel we left for the railway station to catch a train to Hong Kong.

On the train the loos get locked one hour before we reach Hong Kong! We arrived in Hong Kong (Kowloon Station). The platform is very crowded. We are taken to our hotel The Hong Kong Hotel on Kowloom. Kowloom means nine dragons, Kowloon has eight peaks (and the Chinese have it that there is a dragon on every hilltop), and the ninth was named after the boy emperor Ping, who, because of his regal status, also qualified as a dragon.

We went out to explore Hong Kong, which means "Fragrant Harbour." The territory extends well beyond Hong Kong Island and includes the Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories and 235 outlying islands scattered across more than 1,130 square miles in the South China Sea. Hong Kong's most valuable asset is its deep water harbour which buzzes with luxury liners, container ships, sampans, pleasure yachts and ferries.

The following morning we went on our Hong Kong Island Tour. Our first stop was up to the peak. The Peak Tram climbs the 272 metres up to the Victoria Peak in about eight minutes. Once we reached the top of Victoria Peak the panoramic view of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the surrounding islands is terrific. There is an interesting fountain here, jets of water fly up into the air, squirting randomly out of several dozen holes in a flat base. You never knew just where the water was coming, or when, or how many jets there were going to be at any one time.


We drove to Repulse Bay. The beach here is one of Hong Kong's most picturesque. Hong Kong is full of skyscrapers and one of the high rise buildings had a big hole in the middle of it. That, said our guide, is to let the dragon through. The Chinese are a very superstitious nation and they believe that the dragon, living on the hill, must have a way down to the water to drink, so that is why there is a big hole in the middle of this sky scraper.


Next on to Stanley market. Great fun and just what one would expect of this famous market in Hong Kong. We went on a sampan ride to see the boat people of the fishing village of Aberdeen. We cruised out and around the boat people. There are fewer boat people now than there used to be, another ten years and there won't be any boat people left in Hong Kong. We saw squid hanging up to dry. The people live on the boats and are actually working fisherman, who go out and fish the South China Sea.

Finally we went to the jewelery factory where craftsmen fashion works of art from gold and gems. In the evening we took an evening tour. The tour starts with an exciting ascent on the bullet lift to Hong Kong's famous Revolving 66 Restaurant, located on the 62nd floor of one of the tallest buildings in Hong Kong. The revolving dining room is perched at 700ft above sea level offering an unobstructed 360 degrees panoramic view of the whole city and harbour of Hong Kong after sunset. We were amused to see at one point there was some scaffolding up outside; we all cringed at the thought of working so high up. It took about an hour and a quarter for the restaurant to do a complete revolution.

After dinner we went to the Open air Night Market in Temple Street in Kowloon. We passed lots of stalls selling everything under the sun. We saw lots of men and women who were telling peoples fortunes. We saw artists performing and playing music and singing.

We then got on to a ferry for a Harbour Cruise. We cruised on a large Chinese junk where the drinks were all free. That sounded fine, and it was true, but queueing to get a drink took so long it wasn't worth the bother. We cruised right up to the airport runway, and watched the big jets taking off and landing. It looked a bit hairy, just as though they were using the harbour-side street as a runway. There is a new airport under construction and due to open next year, but it somehow won't be the same though.

We really enjoyed our holdiay in China, it is one of the best holidays we have ever had!

China Trip: Grand Canal, Suzhou

After lunch we said goodbye to Mrs Chee and boarded the boat for our journey down the canal to Suzhou.

This trip down the Grand Canal was quite superb. The Grand Canal project begun 2,400 years ago creating an inland waterway stretching 1,113 miles from Beijing to Hangzhou. It is the largest man made canal in the world and it took 300 years to make.

The canal is very busy with some huge barges constantly passing us and being passed by us. Sometimes up to 10 or so barges were tied together in a long line and hauled by one tug, pretty difficult to control, I should think. The people in the boats were smiling and waving to us. We travelled 26 miles up the canal and the whole way we saw heavy barge traffic. Some of the barges were so heavily loaded that the wash from our boat looked as though it would sink them. We arrived just after 4pm at Suzhou (Soochow).

Suzhou means 'Plentiful Water'. Marco Polo found the inhabitants better traders than warriors. So much silk was produced, he reported, that every citizen was clothed in it.

After meeting our guide Eugenia we went to our hotel, Suzhou Hotel.

In the evening we went to the Suzhou Evening Garden Entertainment. It was a strange evening, we followed Eugenia round and round the gardens which were called Master-of-Nets Garden, in and out of different rooms and pavilions. There were eight different little performances, lasting about five minutes each. We heard and saw old musical instruments played. Classical Opera and drama. Some of it was very good, some not so good. The costumes were very colourful. There was one dance which was a beautiful girl with two white ornate fans pretending to be a butterfly in the garden, that was very good and her movements were so fluid. There was a sketch between a thief and a magistrate which was quite funny. And two men heavily made up with masks and with gorgeous clothes; they performed, and wished us all good health and happiness. We were all given sandalwood fans that smelt lovely.

Next morning we visited The Suzhou Silk Embroidery Research Institute. This place was quite incredible. The embroidery was unbelievable, it was so fine and the pieces done were incredible.

Some of the pieces looked photographic. There was a kitten with yellow eyes which was alive. We asked one of the women if they were still working during the cultural revolution, she said they carried on working but embroiled things like Chairman Mao. The pictures that were embroiled were double sided but stitched at the same time. I have never seen such beautiful embroidery anyway in the world.

We asked about the ladies' eyesight as the work was so fine. They all do eye exercises three or four times a day and not one was wearing glasses. Eugenia showed us how to do the eye exercises and told us she also did them night and morning.

Eugenia also told us how, as academics, she and her husband were sent to work on the land and were sent to quite different parts of China. They only managed to see each other once or twice a year.

After lunch we visited a factory that made sandalwood fans and also silk painted fans. We watched the intricate fretwork being done on the fans and then the master burning the pattern into the sandalwood. Eugenia told us "Americans buy everything, British look at everything, the Japanese copy everything and the Chinese eat everything"!!

The Market here was very good, nestling under the shade of the trees it was pleasant to wonder from stall to stall, we bought some teapots here. There were plates with Mao's picture on.

As we said goodbye to Eugenia at the railway station she said to us "I wish you good holiday, good luck, good happiness and good friends who will watch your videos and films when you get home", we all roared with laughter at the last bit. We were sad to leave Suzhou and would have liked to stay longer, quite my favourite place so far. We are on our way to Shanghai.

Arriving at Shanghai station we were quickly transported to our hotel The Lansheng Hotel.

Dating back a thousand years, Shanghai is five times the size of Los Angeles and home to over 13 million people. Heavy industry coexists alongside rich farmland. The Huangpu River which we can see from the hotel runs through the middle of the City. The river traffic is a motley flotilla of modern container ships and ocean going junks, their sails the colour of grime, of packed ferries and convoys of barges, warships, rusty coasters and bobbing sampans. China's prime port began a thousand years ago as a fishing village on mud flats near the Yangtze River's outlet to the East China Sea. Between 1937 and 1945 Shanghai was occupied by Japanese troops. In 1965 the Cultural Revolution was sparked off in Shanghai.

Our guide in Shanghai is Mr Chai who tells us the Cantonese eat everything on four legs except tables. And only very wealthy and famous people have cars here; all I can say is there must be a lot of famous and wealthy people here!!

Our first visit this morning is to the old city and Yu Yuan Garden, this garden is the only classical Chinese garden in Shanghai. Outside the garden walls, a large pond is besected by the Nine ZigZag bridge, so shaped to baffle any evil spirits. This links to a 400 year old teahouse which a a favourite place for the locals to take tea and cakes. There is a big dragon statue at the entrance to the garden.

The shopping here is brilliant. We watched an artist painting pictures of childrens names, the chinese lettering was interwoved with dragons and flowers, it was very clever and beautifully painted. Several of the group were having paintings done and they would be delivered to the hotel this evening.

We visited the Peace Hotel and went up to the 11th floor, where there was a wonderful view over the river and the City. The Peace Hotel has been a Shanghai landmark for nearly a century. The first owner of this hotel was Victor Sassoon. This was where Noel Coward wrote his play 'Private Lives', and in its heyday the hotel welcomed Charlie Chaplin and George Bernard Shaw on their visits to China.


The Huangpu River

We strolled along the Bund watching the traffic on the river. We had a Mongolian dinner tonight. The form here is you go along and choose what you want, fish, meat, vegtables, sauces etc, you then take your plate to the chef who puts the lot into a very hot wok and cooks it for you.

After dinner we saw an acrobat show. The show was fast and colourful and the best bit was the lion dance at the end.

Mr. Chai told us about his life. He was a red guard during the Cultural Revolution, until they sacked him because of his parents. He said we should all read the book 'Wild Swans' as it is really true and just like it happened to him and lots of people like him. Most of us had read this book before coming to China. It is the only book I have ever read twice.

Our first stop this morning is to the Jade Buddha Temple. This temple houses two priceless jade Buddha statues, one in the seated position and the other reclining. During the Cultural Revolution the only reason that these statues survived was: when the Red Guards came searching for religious artifacts to burn or destroy, the monks pasted pictures of Mao all round the jade Buddhas and all that the Red Guards saw was monks praying to Mao, so the Jade Buddhas were saved from destruction.

We then visited a silk carpet factory. If we had had more time hear we almost surely would have bought a carpet. We saw the weaving and cutting being done. A 9ft x 6ft carpet was about $350. They were very, very beautiful and the subtle mixture of colours was outstanding.

China Trip: Gate of Heavenly Peace

We travelled with the travel Company Kuoni and were escorted from London back to London. Our English guide was Patti. We met our Chinese guide, Jack, who is the representative of C.I.T.S. which is the China International Travel Service. He seemed surprised that we were on time as the Chinese call China Airlines (CAAC) "China Airlines Always Cancelled!!" Everwhere we went in China we had a representative from C.I.T.S. The first thing Jack taught us was to say hello in Chinese it is pronounced 'knee how'.

Our hotel is the Grand View Garden Hotel. We changed some traveller cheques into Yuan. When we were there the exchange rate was 12.80 Yuan to $1. It is now 13.60 Yuan to the $1. We had a relaxing day to recovering from the flight.


Grand View Garden Hotel

Our first visit was to Tian An Men Square. The first thing that struck me was the hundreds of bicycles, I have never seen so many people going about their business on bicycles. In the U.K. we have bike lanes in some towns, here they own the streets!

Tian An Men Square. Called the biggest plaza on earth it covers 100 acres. I noticed there was a long line of people, the line must have been at least half a mile long. The were filing into the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall which contains the embalmed body of Chairman Mao who led the Peoples' Republic for 27 years. He led the country through periods of famine and ideological disaster, culminating in the Cultural Revolution, when millions died in great purges and leftists world-wide quoted the 'Little Red Book'. Through it all, China became a Great Power. Twenty years after he passed from life into legend, Mao still haunts the dreamscape that is China. Over his life, the messiah of China's communist revolution has decayed into a household god.

There were lots of people in the square. There were some colourful kites being flown, one, that looked like a bird - actually, very like a kite - was very realistic. The Parliament building is also quite impressive. We were given plenty of time to wander around on our own. There were a lot of red flags flying on high poles which looked very colorful. On the north side of the square is the Gate of Heavenly Peace which leads into the Forbidden City. On this gate was a huge picture of Chairman Mao, which seemed to dominate that side of Tian An Men Square.

Tian An Men Square

We went into the Forbidden City. This is a huge complex, 175 acres of palaces, courtyards and gardens, all walled in a rectangular island. The Forbidden City was off-limits to ordinary people for 500 years, and quite a lot of it is still off limits to us.

We walked through courtyards and peered into a lot of the buildings. The buildings inside the City were of ornately carved wood and on the gables of every roof, on every corner there were carved animals to ward off evil spirits.

In some of the buildings there were displayed glassware and clothes but the items were dusty, the rooms dingy and everything was poorly displayed. We went into the gardens which were for the concubines who were not allowed out of the Forbidden City. These gardens were the only place the concubines were allowed to go.

At lunch we had our first experience of eating with chopsticks. We all managed quite well although the tablecloth was more than a little grubby when we had finished. Lot of dishes were brought along at intervals and you helped yourself to what you wanted. Most of the time you had no idea what you were eating, but most of it tasted pretty good. The soup arrived halfway through the meal, as did the water melon, but that, we are told, is par for the course. Most of us enjoyed the first of many such meals we were to have.

After lunch we went to the Summer Palace, the Chinese call it the Park of Nutured Harmony. A beautiful palace by a lake, the lake is called Kunming Lake and it is surrounded by 700 acres of parkland and lake. There is a wooden covered walkway nearly half a mile long which is decorated with landscape paintings of Chinese legends; many were damaged during the Cultural Revolution. We went on a boat ride out into the lake which was the best way to view the beauty of the Palace. There was a long bridge which has seventeen arches, most impressive. There is a marble double-decker 'boat' beached at the edge of the lake, the Empress Dowager Ci Xi squandered the naval budget on this folly.

Jack talks a lot about the ways of the old people and the young people. His mother, who during the cultural revolution was often short of food still asks him today "Did you eat breakfast".

In the evening we went to the opera. The opera was quite different to English opera. The actors are very heavily made up and ornately dressed. We would describe it more as a cross between mime, ballet and acrobatics. The first story was about an innkeeper who lost his guest in the dark and was trying to find him as he suspected he was up to no good. The miming, timing and acrobatics were remarkable and very funny. There is a story board by the side of the stage telling you the story, the English narration was very Chinese! The last act we saw was a beautiful display of acrobats, mime and gymnastics. It was all very colourful.

The following day as we crawled along in the Beijing traffic we watched people doing their morning exercises. We also saw quite a lot of couples doing what has become very popular, ballroom dancing, it seemed strange to see couples dancing in the parks and squares.

Our first stop was a cloisonnes factory. Cloisonne has a long history of several hundred years, and was very popular as far back as the Ming dynasty. The manufacture of cloisonnes is a complicated process, namely; base hammering, copper wire curving, soldering, enamel filling, enamel firing, polishing and gilding. We watched people working at the different stages of the cloisonne.

We then visited the Ming Tombs of which there are 13, but we couldn't go into them. The Sacred Way to the tombs starts at a great marble gateway. Beyond this is the main gate with three archways, the middle passage was only used once in each reign - for the delivery of the emperor's remains to his tomb. From there you walk up a long avenue of stone animals, mythical beasts and warriors. There was a party of school children laughing and giggling, they looked very smart in their yellow hats.

After lunch we went on to one of the highlights of the tour, The Great Wall at Badaling Pass. We had two hours to wander along the wall and explore. It was exciting to walk along the wall. The first elements of the wall system were built more than 2,000 years ago. The wall is about 3,700 miles long, and it is said it is the only man-made landmark visible to the naked eye from the moon. The wall here is 7.8 metres high and about 5 metres wide and is built with rectangular slabs of stones and green bricks. We walked up and down the steep undulating wall going through several of the many watch towers. The ladies loo was dreadful here, the worst so far. The loo's have become a major talking point everywhere we go, especially for the ladies, they go from bad to worse and worse still!


The Great Wall

This evening we are having dinner in the famous Peking Duck restaurant. This is the original restaurant that was started by the chef to the Emperor. The meal was excellent and the crispy duck was delicious, and better than the "Peking Duck" proper, that came as a later course.

The next morning we looked out of the window and it is raining. The cyclists going to work are all wearing different coloured capes as they pedal past the hotel.

First visit was to the Temple of Heaven. As we went into the grounds leading up to the Temple of Heaven there were two men, one was talking to a tree which Jack had told us about; it is a form of meditation. One man was practicing tai ji - a sort of slow balletic movements.

The Temple of Heaven was a splendid building but it was unlit inside and we were not allowed in so it was difficult to appreciate the real beauty of it. The circular, blue tile roofed building is called the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. The emperor was carried here in a solemn procession in the first lunar month of each year to pray for a bountiful harvest. There are 12 columns which represent the months and four central columns which represent the seasons. As we left the grounds we saw a colourful ladies musical aerobic lesson going on which we stopped to watch.

We took a one hour 30 minute flight to Nanjing. Our guide in Nanjing is called Julia, easy for me to remember that name.

We stopped off at a local market and as we went into the market a troupe of schoolchildren came down the road, we were obviously a source of great interest to them as they were to us. The market was mostly birds in cages, including a hawk, fish, mynah birds and some chipmunks. All, we presume, for the pot. This was not a tourist market and there were a lot of local people buying.

Nanjing is not on the normal tourist route and this became obvious as we walked around, we were stared at and people were obviously curious about us. We found that a few 'knee hows' worked wonders and the locals were full of smiles.

Nanjing is one of the six ancient capitals of China and sits on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Nanjing means Southern Capital. In the 20th century a series of dramas overtook Nanjing. It was here that Dr Sun Yat-sen formed the first Chinese Republic, and became the first president. Chiang Kai-shek made it his capital until the advance of the Japanese troops drove him out in 1937. The 'Rape of Nanjing' was added to the catalogue of Japanese war atrocities. Around 1,000,000 died in the first four days. The Japanese left in 1945. Not surprisingly Japanese tourists are not popular with the older people anywhere in China, but especially here. In 1842 British troops and gunboats laid siege to the city in the first Opium War.

We are staying at the Nanjing Grand Hotel. The hotel has 26 stories; we have breakfast tomorrow on the 24th floor!! There is a marvelous clock in the entrance to the hotel, it is impossible for stills photographraphy because at certain times of the day it opens out and to music, two little people appear and bow to dragons that come out on each side, the performance lasts about three minutes, with something happening all the time. It makes superb video with the movement and sound.

In the evening we went to the Chinese Instrumental orchestra. It was a really good evening, very lively and very well staged. Founded in 1963, the Nanjing Chinese Musical Instrumental Orchestra is one of the few professional orchestras in the country that gives performances of typical Chinese music with tradional Chinese musical instruments. Lots of the traditional "Chinese music" was surprisingly full of melody and harmony.

Our first stop the next morning was to the Nanjing Museum. This museum displays colourful ancient pottery, elegant figurines and a famous jade burial suit which is 2,000 years old . There are two jade suits, one is at the British Museum (1996), on loan for the Chinese exhibition which was on then. The jade suit that was on display in London is held together with gold threads and was made for the Emperor. The one on show here is held together with silver threads and was made for the Empress. The museum was well presented and the explanations of the artifacts were in English which helped no end!!

Next stop was to the Mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Chinese Republic. We walked up the tree lined avenue to the top of the hill and were then confronted with 392 steps up to the actual memorial hall. As I was not feeling too good this morning and needed to go and find a loo we left the others toiling up all the steps to see the mausoleum. On the way to lunch we saw the original city wall. To cement the stones together they used sticky rice and sand mixed together. We visited a pearl farm. A fresh water oyster was opened for us and inside there must have been at least 20 cultured pearls. We had the chance to buy pearls if we wished. But what created most of the interest from the female point of view, was the Pearl Cream. Patti is always commissioned to take some home to her mother. Most of us bought some. We had lots of rude comments from the male members of the party about what it could or could not do for us ladies.

We then visited the Yangtze River Bridge, an impressive double decker bridge. The top tier is for cars and the bottom tier for trains. There are only three bridges over the Yangtze River and this is the longest - 1,577 metres over water, a little less than a mile. Julia told us that during the cultural revolution, to walk across the bridge you had to quote from Mao's red book to the Red Guards before they would let you cross. Julia's mother couldn't read so the family had to teach her some quotes before she could cross the bridge to visit her two daughters.

It was a misty afternoon and we took the lift right to the top of the tower. It gave us an impressive view up at the top of the tower of the river and bridge. The Yangtze is a busy working river with a lot of boats moving up and down and the bridge was heavily used by both road traffic and trains.

We drove to the railway station and caught a train to Wuzi. The train is very spacious and comfortable. The Chinese train drivers are like the car drivers, very noisy. As they come through the station they blast their horns and make a great din.

As we left Nanjing we were offered coffee by the train steward, British Rail could learn a thing or two from the Chinese. The train guards come along selling silk pictures, ties and scarves and did good business.

On route we saw lots of coolies and the odd buffalo in the fields working the rice fields. I was surprised at how much water there was. We were very much in the Yangtze flood plain area. By the time we arrived at Wuxi (Wooshee) it was dark. We met our guide Mrs Chee and went straight to the hotel, the Hubin Hotel.

The hotel is very beautiful and is on the shores of Lake Tai. Wuxi means 'no more tin,' a reference to the depletion, a couple of thousand years ago, of the local mines. Posting cards home is fun in China. Chinese stamps have no gum on them so you have to go into the business centre in the hotel and put glue on the stamps before sticking them onto the postcards, a messy business.

After a good nights sleep we went out to visit a silk factory. We saw the whole of the silk worm process. Inside the factory it was very noisy and we saw all the silk being taken from the silk worm cases. The factory was so noisy that we had a job to hear Mrs Chee's explantions, but we got the general idea of what was happening.

We then went to visit the Ji Chang gardens. It is amazing to see these gardens in China. You walk along a narrow, busy, smelly road teeming with people, go through a tall wooden gate and you are suddenly into a tranquil quiet large garden with lakes and lots of large colourful carp and Koi. The gardens are split up into different sections so there is no one place where you can view the complete garden. Different parts of the gardens were used for different things. Some places were just to sit and paint, or play musical instruments, or just to walk around and enjoy the trees and flowers. There are lakes, arched bridges, gaudy pavillions and covered promenades as well as open walkways. Like other gardens we saw later in the tour, this one depended much less on plants, and much more on water and stone, than those we are used to. Parts of the gardens could, indeed, perhaps just as well be described as "grottos".

I really liked Wuxi. The canal is busy and there is so much to see. The Grand Canal runs right through the centre of town. We crossed over the canal on a bridge and there was an old man wearing a Mao suit.

We walked around with Mrs Chee, looking into peoples' little houses. We were being stared at here, the little children were really sweet. Mrs Chee said not to worry if the people turned away from us, they were not used to Western people. But they were not in the least hostile, and it was great to be able to see a bit of the real old China; it won't be here for much longer. I would have liked to stay longer here.