A Tour Guide Tai Chi Lesson Moment in China

I just had to share this funny yet useful impromptu moment as provided by our wonderful tour guide from Chengdu. We were walking around Leshan Buddha site at the time. In a moment of rest she started to go through some Tai Chi. At which point someone mentioned they'd like learn how it went. And this was the funny basic series she provided to us. I'm sure its legit as a training method when introducing the artistic form to kids. I don't mind, I'm a big kid, and it brought on a smile. And as my former chiropractor always used to say. Why do we stop skipping? It's good for us, and it brings a smile.

Forevermore I will always remember Tai Chi as slicing the watermelon in half and offering half to each side.

Thank you Alina for this wonderful moment of levity on the trip. 

Chongqing was lighting it up!

I took the opportunity to visit Layess, my former Brisbane flatmate, as a part of my Panda trip. The idea was that I could make a side trip to her home city of Chongqing from Chengdu. It was about 2 hours by train. This was easy enough to complete in theory. I just had to figure out myself how to get there.  Which meant navigating the long distance trains myself after managing to buy a ticket. Easier said than done.

The first step was easy. I just had to retrace our trip from the Chengdu Train station we had arrived into. Then I just had to board the right train at the station. It was fairly easy on the way to Chengdu. But then we had guided instruction on what to do from the tour. Although we didn't actually have the guide with us every time we were inside the station we were seemingly under the safety blanket beingtold what to expect. This trip has no such support. I was alone and had my memory to rely on.
 
I had no ability to book my train tickets online as this is not something China had seemingly allowed for. A tourist doing their own thing. For starters, outside the country it seemed like there was a geographical block stopping me find the train schedule and website, and then once inside the country I realised the website had no English. Probably due to tourism being very domestic focused in the past. It seemed only at the train station could you buy train tickets in English from a machine. But I only ever bought suburban tickets via these machines. Never tried for these longer intercity trains. Before traveling I did find websites of tour services offering to book tickets. But well they just seemed a bit risky. As it wasn't a government train website. Instead I had Layess sorting out me, the inept tourist. I had to defer to her skills booking the ticket once she had my details. Only it also created a secondary problem. Electronic tickets are somewhat unheard of. Especially as you would normally pay using Wechat, and show your identity card to board with a paper ticket. I relied on showing the ticket photo online to the ticket inspector in the manual queue line each time. Which although it worked, seemed against the system.

Chongqing is a huge city. Layess had moved here for work. Previously Layess had met up with me in Hong Kong on a previous trip. However this time I was there with her in China! I didn't really understand how big Chongqing was until I visited. Our tour guide had thrown the number of 30 million at us as an education of the city size. But that was just a number without comprehension. Reality is this city was literally a supersized New York in size. Suburb after suburb of residential towers. This is not just a city centre based metropolis. This was Chongqing. If it wasn't already built here it was under construction. I mean I could see that there were whole suburb redevelopment projects underway here to cater to the newest expansion of this city.

I had 24 hours in Chongqing. And well there wasn't much time spent sitting back. Layess did have some plans for me but I was still the relaxed sightseer I am. I had mere provided a short list of 2 or 3 items I had read about as must sees. From there all I thought about was catching up on stories, food, and then perhaps starting to get in a tourist shopping experience. Having been in the country a few days I realised quickly that even if I did find a fashion bargain I wasn't going to find it in my size. I'm still way bigger than the average Chinese guy. So I gave up early on buying fashion here.

Our quick fire tour of the city after lunch took us to the city centre and the Liberation Monument. Then we explored the point where the rivers join. Which also hosted a brand new shopping centre. After this we went exploring for the Cable Car. By error I think we found some ancient tourist old town centre. But this had been closed down. I suspect in preparation of being the next redevelopment area. Hence our walk ended up being a dead end and a massive retrace. This only added to the relief of actually getting on the Cable Car. From the Cable Car the plan had been to catch a ferry back across town. Only the Ferry drivers seemingly deemed the last ferry to be 6:30pm and not 8pm as expected. So again we needed to make new plans. All good.

Layess arranged for us to meet her friend for dinner at a restaurant. I did though the night before put a dampener on the intended plans when I announced I wasn't a big fan of Sichuan Pepper. I was peppered out in Chengdu the night before. So dinner ended up a chicken soup like affair.

After dinner we took a taxi again to the river and my most recommended sight of Chongqing. The view to the Hongya Cave. When this is lit up at night the view is spectacular. We took in the view from one side of the city over to the site. And then walked over the bridge to this maze of building only to admire the city area we had just left with all the building lit up with flashing displays of light. I'm pretty sure that China needs only to switch off these light displays for a night to save the planet. I doubt it's all solar powered.

The last highlight of the night though was introduced to me as we attempted to escape the night lights. A stairwell with piano steps. Oh my this was so cool. Give me 5 minutes here alone and I would have broken my ankles. But at least I would have made some quirky music attempt in the process.

The next morning was my Chinese breakfast experience. But first up it was the Train Station that swallows trains. This building was designed above a train station. And as a result its design looks like trains just go inside a residential apartment building. It's not the newest building around. But it still gathers a crowd of sightseers out to take that video shot. From there we headed further up the mountainside to find breakfast at a cafe Layess knew. This was more traditional Chongqing fare. Some sort of breakfast. I thought it was some sort of Congee. But this had Sichuan Pepper mix to add in along with dry noodles. Started off fine. But the pepper flavour overpowers quickly. Luckily Layess also got me some sort of side dish with sweet rice balls. This allowed me an escape. But I can at least say I tried it. I wouldn't do it every day. But I tried it. After breakfast we took in the view from the park at the top of the mountain. Overlooking the city from all 4 sides. A great view, and it assisted understanding that Chongqing is just massive.

Chengdu AP. That's After the Panda's

 

Chengdu as a destination wasn't just about Pandas. I mean sure if I left Chengdu and all I could say I saw was the Panda Base I'd still feel a sense of achievement. However There was much more to the 3 nights on the tour in Chengdu, and then the extra nights I stayed there after making a side trip to Chongqing.

Immediately after the tour of the Panda base we went for a lunch at perhaps the most basic of the restaurants we visited whilst on the tour. Unfortunately for our guide this restaurant was awkward. There was no menu in English, and she hadn't really explained to us it was cheap. We were seemingly locked into a group lunch experience unknown relying on the guide to order. The main table which was mainly non vegetarians was fine. A mix of hot and not so hot dishes came out. Although we were still tentative about what to expect. However the vegetarians at a second table (due to the group size) were left to the whim of the hosts too. So they got the same long bean dish we did, with Pork. And then a bevy of spicy Sichuan pepper dishes. Chinese understanding of vegetarian is well limited it seems.

After lunch instead of going back to the hostel we were directed to Wenshu Monastery. It was raining by now on and off. These conditions were not surprising for Chengdu as it is referred to as a very rainy city. In fact the women of Chengdu are considered the most beautiful because they experience less sunny days. On the flip side, when Chengdu is in sun, the residents celebrate. Wenshu Monastery and gardens were nice to walk around. However it would have perhaps better to incorporate a visit to the tea gardens. I suspect it wasn't because most of the tour group was continuing on into China and there were later plans in the tour to do such an experience.

This evening was the night of the Chinese Opera. Or well the Face Changing Performance. The tour arranged to pick us up and then drop us at the performance just prior to the start. Before taking our seat we had enough time to see the performers getting their makeup on, and get a cigarette whilst in full costume. The performance included about an hour of different scenes involving music, comedy, and performance art. The highlight though for me was the shadow puppetry of animals.

The next morning was going to be a quiet day for me. However in the end I found myself convinced into going to see the Leshan Buddha. I was going to skip the trip as there was to be a long transit to Leshan of 2 hours. And well to me it seemed too long just for a Buddha. But the group intent on going really needed that extra person to get it over the line. Without a forth person it would have been prohibitive to arrange a private transfer, and result in an overly long public bus ride. But if I was to join, then the tour guide wouldn't fit in the private car. Which I wasn't so keen on. As I argued why go to the place without a guide, and no explanations. It was heading for a train wreck. Fortunately though the driver arrived in a van, and we could fit the guide. We all won, or well mostly won. The tour proceeded and we had a good day. However the return itself was terrible taking 4 hours after traffic in Chengdu ground us to a halt.

This evening was the night of the Sichuan Hotpot. We headed out to a local hotpot restaurant. With very little understanding of how it worked we managed to get a fill of hotpot. The restaurant though considered us cheap as we 13 people barely ate a the amount of what 2 to 3 locals would consume. The cost was based on per stick and the bill was only about 30 Yuan each. We had been told to budget 80 per person. I think if we did it a second time we would have at least paid double. First time around we were hesitant, were very individual in our stick selection, and uncoordinated in placing them into the hotpot itself. We had too many at the table also. Experience is such an advantage when it comes to hotpot.

The next morning I said farewell to the tour group as I was off to Chongqing. However a day later I returned to Chengdu for 2 nights on my own. I had booked the end of my trip in the Sofitel Taihe thinking the rule you should keep to is always end a trip on a hotel high. As this is the last thing you'll remember. Never go down in quality as it'll end a trip on a down note. The first evening back in Chengdu I just walked up to Tianfu Square from the hotel. The next day though was my big day with my local friend Ruby. Ruby was able to take the day to show me Chengdu as this was the Mid Autumn festival day off. The day started with a trip to the Narrow and Wide Alley. Here was supposed to be my experience of the local traditional culture and some exploring in a very touristy area of the city. However it was pouring with rain. Horrendous weather had set in. So it was more a sprint between shelters. The whole day of festivities had obviously been ruined throughout the city.

Lunch was a highlight. We went to a local noodle place. I tried 3 types of noodles. One was their interpretation of a Dan Dan Noodles which is the local noodle dish the guides say to try. This was great. Or well it reminded me of Spaghetti until my mouth as numb from the Sichuan Pepper. Might I mention I've decided I'm not a fan of Sichuan pepper. Although they say to be scared because of the heat I wasn't put off by the heat. It was the numbing effect of the pepper I wasn't a fan off. I like chili. But this would make even water taste weird. We continued to explore around the city until the evening where we ventured to a Shanghai style restaurant for dinner. This was nice. No Sichuan pepper in sight. I had a great day. Ruby really took care of me.

The final day i explored Chengdu myself. The weather had improved somewhat. But then I also had be be careful not to get lost, or destroy my clothes as I was without access to a hotel room and my bags. I stocked up on Pandas for the trip home. A late flight out of Chengdu, and my trip was over. Note I have one more blog post for this trip as Chengdu straddled both sides of my Chongqing side trip.

 

Visiting the Chengdu Panda Research Base. The baby Panda Video

Name one person who wouldn't want to visit to the Panda Research Base. This was in the morning of our first full day in Chengdu for The Dragon Trip tour. We spent about 3 hours in the centre all up.

Click the video to see the baby pandas, not so baby pandas, and the red pandas. Below is just a handful of photos from the day.

Baby pandas, baby pandas. Everyone stop life now, and check out the baby panda photos. 

Panda Dating - How do the pandas find love

Ha. I made a quirky little video presentation from the plaques of the panda we saw in Chengdu.
Just a bit of harmless fun.

What do you get for 20 Yuan? A pretty good destination. That's what.

Yangshuo. Where is Yangshuo? That's exactly what most of you would reply. Or well some of you might add in a few might add in a few extra words. But same context of the response. My prior knowledge of China growing up was pretty limited. All we really learnt of Chinese history growing up focused on the Great Wall, the Mongol Empire, and Genghis Khan. If I were to refer to something more modern in history I'd admit to knowledge of the opium wars and then the resulting treaty that virtually created Hong Kong. But heck when I was young and learning of China I had no understanding opium was a basically heroin, and the British were basically a bunch of olden day methheads in the 1840s.

Any description of China before this trip would omit any detailed understanding of the natural beauty of China. Sure I knew that pandas came from China. But it's only in recent times I even understood that you needed to go to Sichuan, and in particular Chengdu if you expect to visit them. The Yangtze or Yellow river might have rated a mention, but more for dam construction and nation building rather than natural beauty. However times are changing. And with the goal of pandas confirmed I needed a path towards them. This path would take me through one of the more beautiful regions of China, Yangshuo in the Guilin Province.

Visiting Yangshuo for me was the first time I have seen anything more than the big cities of China. After all my only previous trip to China visited only Shanghai. Here in Yangshuo the growing middle class of China was itself experiencing the explosion of wealth and leisure time. They were coming here in droves looking for a domestic destination to fulfil their insatiable appetite for travel. We in western countries were only now just starting to visit this place in larger numbers. The word is spreading that China still has some nature left, and it can be beautiful to see. Perhaps it helped that Bill Clinton visited in the 1990s.

Our guide for Yangshuo Chunping, or as we were to call her, Ping was extremely proud of Yangshuo. In fact she had turned her back on the big smoke to stay in Yangshuo as she loved the lifestyle it afforded her. Her first speech to us on the bus towards Yangshuo Ping highlighted a Chinese saying that our entry city to the region, Guilin, was the most beautiful place under heaven. But Yangshuo was more beautiful. For Ping the decision to stay here was also highlighted later when explaining the currency. If you want to earn the big dollars in China you need to go to the big cities. But it costs less if you want to find natural beauty. The big dollars in Chinese culture were the 100 and 50 Yuan notes. So these notes have pictures of historical places of significance. The Great Hall in Beijing, and the Tibetan Palace in Lhasa. The smaller notes have the natural beauty. Yangshuo and the Li River was the location depicted by the 20 Yuan note. Hence after researching my upcoming trip getting a photo in front of the point depicted on the 20 yuan note became a priority. The goal was achieved! 

However Yangshuo wasn't just a one night wonder on the way to Chengdu. Here we actually spent 4 nights. Admittedly the first night was a late arrival and then only dinner at a restaurant called Lucy's Place which cost us only 40 yuan each. Reality is we only spent enough time in Yangshuo to be travelling around comfortably without rushing the destination.

The first full day here was one of might eagerly anticipated events of the tour. The Cooking school. And well it didn't disappoint. First port of call of the lesson was the local markets. And well this included the surprise for me of the region. They sell dog meat in the markets. I'm sure I just freaked out many of you by merely placing this photo here, but sure enough they do sell and eat dog. I just don't eat dog. And well the presentation like a hanging glazed Beijing duck wasn't doing it for me. On reflection it probably should not have surprised me they eat dog in the region as we weren't really that far from Northern Vietnam. In Vietnam they ate dog mainly as a delicacy at weddings. Here the display suggested it need not be such a special night. These markets did though show off the great local vegetables, especially my favourite, their local eggplant. This we would experience quite frequently in the meals we'd have in this region. The garlic eggplant dishes we had in Yangshuo were the best.

Before leaving the markets I got to experience my first encounter with a more Chinese breakfast, or well one we westerners would find easier to adapt to from experience, the steamed bun. We stopped at a local bun seller who proceeded to sell us 2 buns for 3 yuan. or well about 70 cents. Through our cooking school guide I thought i asked for a pork bun, and an onion bun which was supposed to be sweet. I actually got handed some sort of red bean bun, and the chive bun due to my pointing. Sadly they looked better than they tasted, thereby failing to achieve satisfaction. Being steamed buns they were a pretty dry, and doughy experience. Not horrible. They just needed some moisture based filling to eat them. But this is what some locals do eat for breakfast. I wasn't totally disappointed though. After all we were heading back to go cook lunch, and my trying the buns was ticking off the experience list.

Cooking school was the standard tourist experience whereby the local cuisine is made to seem so easy. It would result in the future purchase of cooking ingredients back home, to then result in utter failure to replicate the success of the controlled environment. I accept this. Fortunately I eat a lot of Asian food and therefore should be able to utilise whatever ingredients i buy later before wasting any food or condiments. Thanks to the typed recipe leaflets I able to confirm we cooked Stuffed Mushrooms with Vegetables and Pork, Steamed Dumplings with the same Vegetables and Pork, Gong Bao Chicken, and Braised Eggplant with Garlic and Chili paste. We left the restaurant quite full, satisfied we were now masters of Chinese cuisine.

In the afternoon some went off for kayaking before the brave few returned for an early evening cupping massage. After previous year's Italian kayaking debacle I chose to have some down time exploring the city on foot instead. Although sore and tired thanks to not being 20 anymore, indications were it was just the cupping massage on offer, and not any regular massage, so I gave it a wide berth. And boy was I glad I did. It was not described as pleasant, nor enjoyable. And the marks, oh my. The Internet education of what these can look like, and how long they last is all true. I was looking at these 4 brave souls for the next few days with their massive welts on their backs and shoulders. They had provided me with great delight to see the result, without the personal pain of experience. They were like giant 3D chequerboards. You could read braille off their back like a horror story. My suggestion was that we could set them up at either ends of the train carriage and play team battleships on the next long rail journey. "D4, that's a hit". We all joined again for dinner that night at some place Home Cooking Restaurant recommended by our guide. Again this was again a great cheaper opportunity to experience a multitude of local dishes. This was okay but not as nice as the first night.
 
The 2nd full day was the big day of local trips. The morning saw us in our not to miss included activity for Yangshuo, the bicycle through the countryside with the bamboo rafting return down the river. This rafting experience was set up mainly for the tourists. Yet it doesn't disappoint. Also in the river they would traditionally conduct Cormorant Fishing. This is where they would train birds to catch fish in the water and return to the boat. Obviously the birds throats are tied up so they can't swallow the catch. However this ancient practise isn't done nowadays thanks to technology making fishing more efficient. It's now only a tourist photo. One we really didn't see. We did see people fishing from the shore only.

That afternoon was out trip to Moon Hill. Another tourist experience of nature involving a natural arch that you walk up a near vertical hill of stairs to get to. All a part of travel these hill climbs. Nature's way of saying you have to work before you get to experience great beauty. Funny moment occurred at the top of the hill where we were greeted by a bunch of entrepreneurial older ladies who had a business built around providing drink refreshments to the tourists who would climb up. Apparently whichever lady offers you drinks first seemed to take ownership of you. And if you look like a strong contender to buy a drink before leaving the upper area of 2 lookouts then you get extra attention in the form of a fan lady fanning you to cool down. I was definitely an owned commodity of great potential. My fan lady was busy fanning away, instructing me to see her after our groups return from a visit to the second viewing platform. After her great service i felt it rude not to accept buying the 5 yuan cold water.

From the Hill we moved onto the most unusual experience of my trip to Yangshuo the Cave, and mud baths. Our guide had warned is prior to the visit that sometimes the locals would try to take photos of us in the baths. That she would be there so shoo them away. What she had not anticipated was the fact that this place had become tourist central the day of our visit. There were tourist buses everywhere. With groups of streaming Chinese tourists bustling through the caves in a giant Congo line. At the end of the caves there were mud baths. These mud baths were portrayed in the tour guide as a not to miss experience. What was not covered in the trip guide was the fact that these bathes are just mud pits next to the walking tour path. And if you're a tour group of mainly female 20 to 30 year olds of European decent then you are like animals in zoo. And if you're a Chinese man in a tour group then you have no social understanding of the definition of a creeper. The number of times our guide had to stop them from lingering taking what they saw as bikini mud wrestling was amazing. And then they would also need active intervention to be stopped from filming, pushed to move on, from the mud rinsing off area at the end of the baths. Too many 1970s soft porn films on the Internet for the Chinese men it seemed. They wouldn't stop after being told once. Then needed multiple times telling off. They were shocking to be asked to keep moving. I exited earlier than most as I recognised my role in the tour group was that of big brother and it would take an angry bigger older foreign guy telling them to keep moving with a hand over their phone camera for them to get the message. Our 5 foot nothing Chinese guide just wasn't enough.

The final full day saw only a few go out to take on the rock climbing optional. This left most of us with the morning off to explore the city before returning for our day trip out to a local village. This local village trip experience had been created by a former guide as an opportunity to give the tourist a more local experience of country life, and then put some money into the local village through a local home dinner experience. They incorporated this trip into a visit to the Li River where we'd get our 20 Yuan note photo. So to me this was a must do. With photo completed we visited the family home sitting down to a dinner. Our entertainment though was quite the proud local. I believe it was the 5 year old daughter of the family whose home we were in. She had barely started school that week and was keen to take us through our first informal Chinese language class. After prodding from our guide with whom she was familiar with she was encouraged to overcome her shyness to take us through counting the numbers, and then reciting back some basic words like mother, father, and uncle. After this she then took a liking to me as the only guy in the group and wanted to show me her game. Noone could understand her rules, or her explanation. I proceeded to lose the game which as per most children's games lacked logic. But hey we had fun, and it put a smile on the child's face to be interacting with the tourists.

After our return there was time to walk the streets and even find some second dinner. Seemed some of us were still a bit peckish after our early evening village dinner. This time a cafe another had seen in a guide book. This was the venue of the best dish I had in China. Twice cooked Pork. It was fairly spicy with sliced Chili and not capsicum as I had thought they were when the plate arrived. But oh boy it was fantastic. Luckily they had removed all the chili seeds.

 

Our final morning in Yangshuo saw most of us wake up before down to conquer the small hill in town with the little temple like viewing tower. Alas some of us had attempted to find it days before and failed taking a wrong path and only ending up on a smaller hill during the heat of the afternoon. However at 5:30am we were missing the light of the dawn in an attempt to see a sunrise. We experienced success in a photo shoot but the heat haze would start early, and most of us left before waiting out the hope of an actual sun appearing. After all we needed to be packed and ready before 8am. Some wanted to find breakfast before. Which I had learnt from the morning before was quite hopeful. I could barely get bacon and eggs at 8:30am the morning before. Chinese people don't do mornings. Shops seem to only open at 10am if you're not at the markets. This morning departure had the extra complication of the major triathlon in the region. So instead of a pick up we had to carry our bags our to a pickup point the bus could access. Unfortunately this ended up a 2 km walk and not 500m as had been expected. Our path cutoff resulted in a major reversal and walk around. Oh my the swearing that came about one time when a few had reached breaking point, was quite the event. Understandable the frustration but there wasn't anything Ping could do. She had fortunately allowed an extra hour for departure. We used 45 minutes to make our escape. I think even Ping was getting flustered with the effort. And with that Yangshuo was over. Hopefully Ping does make it to Brisbane later this year. I've told her my place is here if she needs a place to stay and a local guide.

Catching up in Hong Kong

I had visited Hong Kong before on a stopover from Europe on the way home. That time was a quick stay in part to see friends, and to then also get a taste of the city without committing to a long stop. This trip with the goal of getting up into China it made sense to revisit Hong Kong, and then also get a chance to see friends I had short changed last time. I enjoyed Hong Kong the first time as it's a great mix of East meets West culture and food. Unfortunately for me it wasn't all fine blue sky. This was hot and humid end of typhoon season Hong Kong. Not that I minded to much. It had been so long since I had seen rain in Brisbane. And my lagging winter cough needed the humidity to help it disappear.

So my time here in Hong Kong was partly exploring the tourist zones I had missed, and then exploring the taste buds. I managed to fit in some Michelin rated noodles restaurant, and visit some great Dim Sum catching up with friends during the stay. Initial plans to go into the far reaches of Hong Kong in search of tourist spots had been curtailed by the weather and concern of protests. Heck I even considered going to see the Basketball World Cup in Shenzhen across the Chinese border. After all it was just there. A train ride away. But instead I just walked the neighbourhoods to take in the visual picture of skyscrapers and people everywhere. And yet in this wall of people I still found it sometimes difficult to find a central shopping district. As I learnt Causeway Bay was one area I didn't realise the importance of in this regard. I couldn't find any shopping of significance in the Central area. I had been looking in the wrong place and direction. Not a difficult problem to solve when the subway comes every 3 minutes and then you start to think like Hong Kong and start to look up and not just out.

The final morning in Hong Kong marked the start of the main event. I had booked a tour up into China with "The Dragon Trip". A budget backpacker based tour company that would get me up to Chengdu and the Pandas via the Yangshuo countryside. I was only doing their short trip. But that didn't worry me. It was getting me to where I wanted to be. I was paying just that little extra to get my own private room. That was a good call. The Dragon Trip use a slightly different format to most tours in their design. Instead of staying with one guide throughout you are assigned city guides. With each transfer you are left alone on the trains until the next stop. Sure some may like the one point of contact but heck this must of been a huge saving to the cost, and then also allows for guides to be local experts and not just generalists. Our first day with the tour was more about getting the correct documentation sorted for a China border crossing rather than actually seeing much. It was lucky I've seen the Peak before in Hong Kong as this time there was total cloud cover for what was supposed to be the highlight of seeing Hong Kong before heading over the Chinese border by train.

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