Peking Man Site, Near Beijing, China

As some of you know, I find the origin of the human species very fascinating, so we had to take a trip to the site of where one of the first fossilised human skulls was excavated in the early 1920's. 'Peking Man' as these humans became known as, are our ancestors (can you see the resemblance?). They lived 500,000 years ago and were identified as being well advanced and able to use primitive tools. It was cool to see the site and visit the small, informative museum.

On our last day in Beijing we squeezed in a trip to the Summer Palace - a retreat for all the Emperors and their Emperesses. More colourfully painted Ming architecture with curly-roofed temples and bobble-topped pagodas. Unfortunately, as with many sites in Beijing, a few of the buildings were covered in scaffolding being renovated in time for the 2008 Olympics, but this didn't take away from the beauty and grandeur of the place and it was worth the visit. * Mush

Forbidden City, Beijing, China

We had an early start to watch the Raising of the Flag Ceremony at sunrise in Tiananmen Square. We were a little disappointed as it was rather brief and consisted of soldiers marching around for about 2 minutes followed by the raising of the flag to the National Anthem, and that was it! It certainly was not worth getting up at 5.30 am - especially to be pushed out of the way by 'cute' little old Chinese ladies (tourists) trying to get a better look!

The advantage of getting up early, though, was that we were nice and early for our visit to The Imperial Palace, also known as The Forbidden City. No trip to Beijing would be complete without it. It was called The Forbidden City because it was off-limits to the common people, and was where the last 400 years of Emperors lived isolated from the outside world surrounded by their Eunichs and Concubines.

The architecture of the buildings was amazing most being renovated during the Ming dynasty (mostly due to fire). Our tour was fun and we rented out an Audio Guide and had the handsome voice of Roger Moore accompanying us as we explored the Palace. The Forbidden City is huge and so we took a break and I managed to slip in a quick nap jammed in amongst the other tourists on a courtyard bench (double click for the pic in our album). * Mush

Chinese Acrobatics, Beijing, China

Back in Beijing we went to see some amazing Chinese acrobatics. What strong athletes! Even little boys doing balancing tricks on each other. There was everything from hoop somersaults (pictured here), to girls balancing spinning umbrellas on their feet, to contortionists balancing stacks of glasses on each limb and heads. Impressive acts of guys free-climbing, jumping and somersaulting up large bamboo poles, juggling acts involving 9 guys etc, etc, etc. It was very cool. The audience were also allowed to take pictures and the flash photography did not seem to affect the acrobats at all. Wow!* Mush

Sunrise Sliver Over The Great Wall, Jinshanling, China

Wow! What a moment in time: sunrise over the Great Wall of China. It was a very moving moment - one that we just wanted to press the pause button so we could breathe it all in! It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and we couldn't get enough of it. We reluctantly met up with Sun Hai back at our tower for our breakfast of pot noodles and tea.

We spent the rest of the day walking along the Wall to Simatai, about 6 miles east. We bid farewell to Sun Hai and the other two girls who spent the night on another tower and took our time walking from tower to tower on the Wall. Some areas had deteriorated so much that you can no longer walk on the Wall. Other parts were particularly steep - 70 degree steps at times!!! We stopped multiple times for photos and picked a great place for lunch with a view. In all, one of the most memorable parts of our trip so far and highly recommended by us. The only drawback was being followed and hassled by many vendors who walk the wall wanting to sell you books, drinks, post cards, etc. *Mush and Stub

The Great Wall of China, Jinshanling, China

The next part of our trip I had been looking forward to for a VERY long time! One of the Ancient Wonders of the World, there are no words that can describe The Great Wall of China. It is truly and absolutely AMAAZZZING! And we had a fantastic experience. When friends Tracy and Paul and family left us to head back to Beijing, Martin and I had The Wall to ourselves. It was very humbling - just us and The Wall. We were going to spend the night right on the wall itself. Our guide, Sun Hai Long, was a funny, kind and gracious host with a really sweet wife and family who we took to immediately. After spending sunset on the wall, we had a feast of food back at his home. We then trooped up to the Wall with a couple of other travellers and organised our sleeping quarters on a couple of the watchtowers. Martin and I decided to sleep outside (you can see our watchtower hotel behind me in the picture). I think Sun Hai thought we were mad (he may have a point!) as it was rather cold! Before Sun Hai left us we watched the stars come up, and later could see the Milky Way. Then when we thought it couldn't get any better, the moon rose and changed the whole picture - making the Wall nearest to us glow, and in the distance, it became a wonderful silhouette. When we finally tucked into our sleeping bags (three each) it was around 1 am. We awoke once before the sun rose and the air temperauture was surprisingly warm and we stood in awe at the view around us. We had to remind ourselves that we were, indeed, on the The Great Wall of China. It was amazing! * Mush

Street Meat, Beijing, China

Once in Beijing we met up with some friends that we'd made in Yangshuo (Paul and Tracy from Vancouver now living in Nantong) and explored the city a little. Beijing is a huge city with large boulevards and shopping streets. 13 million people live here - it is hard to imagine that many people in one city! The infamous Tian'anmen Square is the largest city square in the world and was designed by Mao, the chairman of the People's Republc of China party, to hold a million people. His portrait presides over the north side of the square. Pretty impressive, although it is hard to wonder why he is so revered, as I have heard him talked about in the same light as Hitler or Stalin.

Our next few days took in the Hutongs - the backstreet alleyways and residential courtyards - by bicycle rickshaw, a couple of temples, and the night markets and street food. In China, any kind of food goes, and they will eat almost anything. Pictured here are starfish, sea horses, large grasshoppers, silk worms and scorpions. The latter still wriggling around on the skewers. Urgh!Sorry. But you wouldn't catch me even touching any of that selection, but the Chinese gobble them all up! * Mush

Tian'anmen Square, Beijing, China

A 28 hour train ride on what is known as a 'hard sleeper' got us to Beijing. A remarkably fun experience on the whole as we had heard it can be horrendous. Each bay of the compartment contains 6 bunk beds, 3 on each side. It was was not a bad journey and the time passed surprisingly quickly, sleeping, playing backgammon (Shesh Besh in Hebrew), writing postcards, and hanging out with our neighbours from Israel, Paz and Yifat. I brought out my Mah Jong set that I had bought in Yangshuo and proceeded to decipher the instructions. Suddenly, a bunch of little old ladies came out of the woodwork and promptly started to play with me. I think they would have prefered to push me out the way, but they were nice and tried to teach me how to say all the Numbers and Winds written on the tiles in Chinese, and then showed me how to play a game. It was very funny. Once in Beijing, we stayed in a little hutong (back alley) in Qianmen, very near to Tian'anmen Square. * Mush

Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces, Longji Region, China

We stayed in the area for a couple of days and had a great time. Our rustic corner bedroom at our guesthouse had first-class views across the valley and down into the village of Dazhai. One of the things we have enjoyed the most in China has been the people, and we hit it off with the locals at our Countryside Guesthouse making our time here even more special. Communication was interesting with their broken English and our very little pigeon Chinese. We found that actions and laughing go a long way, even managing to have a hilarious talk about 'making babies'! One of the women, Missa Pan, guided us on a long walk along the 'backbone' to the next village, Ping' an, since the maze of paths that link all the terraces make it tricky to navigate a walk without getting lost. Our four hour walk up and down the rice terraces was hard work, but worth it. With every step the scenery seemed to just get better and better! * Mush

Yao Long Hairs, Longji Rice Terrace Region, Guangxi Province, China

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About four hours north of Yangshuo we visited a very cool area still in Guangxi province called the Longji Region - the Dragon's Backbone - famous for its hillsides covered in rice terraces. These were built between 700 and 800 years ago during the Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) Dynasties. The local people here are what are known as minority people - ancient cultures of Dong, Zhuang, Yao and Miao people still in existence today. The women of one of these cultures - the Yao people - are renowned for their long hair. They cut their hair about three times in their lifetime. As part of our initial introduction to the area they unravelled their hair to reveal its full length - on average about 5 foot. As they did so they broke into song - a ritual when welcoming new people to the area. But what caught us by surprise, was the fact that not only do they actually keep the previous cut-offs of their hair (the middle lady is holding one), but they keep them ravelled up on the top of their head! That's a lot of hair! * Mush

Pagoda Sunset, Xilang Hill, Yangshuo, China

Our last few days in Yangshou have been mainly relaxed enjoying town and the countryside. One day we did another (long) bike ride and another day we took a scooter out for the day. We rode through more rice paddies and farming villages. We noticed that there was more activity in the fields this week with lots of people harvesting the rice. As we would pass by, most people would tend to say or wave hello, but reactions to us have been varied: some say hello first and are very happy to see us, some, when we smile and say 'Ni Hao" just give us a nod, and then others who look quite miserable or serious, surprise us and beam right back and make it all worth our while!

In town we have gradually got to know people - natives and travellers alike. All the staff at our "Bamboo Guesthouse" have been lovely and nothing is too much trouble! We have our regular haunts too, for food and beer. Monkey Jane's rooftop bar has been one - especially for sunset with the sun going down behind the Pagoda perched on the local hill. Monkey Jane herself has given us some Chinese lessons too, with some useful survival phrases for when we get off the beaten path. Phrases like "can I have my egg yolk runny please?"!

So as you've guessed we are really enjoying Yangshou town and we will be sorry to leave, but I think we will be back again soon! * Mush

Life in Yangshuo, China

The markets in town are interesting as well as scary just because of the produce they sell! The farmers' market has everything - from dried spices and dried snake to fresh fruits and livestock - meaning anything from hens to dogs, including the carcasses and cuts of meat on display which can be quite a shock! Sometimes at night we go for food at the Night Market (as it is curiously called). It is basically an open-air market with different stalls cooking up things like rat, chicken feet etc. They even provide teeny little chairs and tables to sit at while you eat! We tried beer fish, stuffed snails and stuffed aubergine (eggplant) - all very delicious (and only stuffed with pork and not other things! - so they said!).

There are these children, that we have heard are orphans, that circle the streets and markets trying to sell flowers. One of our friends reckons there is someone called the 'Flower Master' who the kids answer to. Apparently they get fed and have somewhere to sleep every night, but no one really questions who is taking care of them and making all this 'slave-money'. They also have a quota to meet, which is why they can be seen selling from early morning to very late hours of the night.

One recent event in town has been a big blow dealt by the local government toward the local shopowners along the main street, West Street. Apparently, they want the pavement (sidewalk) to be free of restaurant tables and mechandise stalls, and also for locals to change the canopies and roofing fixtures to the council's spec (yet again!). West Street is actually pedestrianised and so it really doesn't make any difference. It's just the council's way of getting more money out of them and controlling them. On talking to the locals we know they are upset, but the typical Chinese way is to not to show their anger, and to conform and don't ask questions. This brings me onto the 'freedom of information' that China has, and how exposure to any kind of information that would allow them to formulate an opinion about things is not allowed. So much is screened and blocked on the internet, and even we cannot access our website in the way that you, our audience, does. Even though we can't view it, friends that we have met are really suprised that we can even access our site just to update it! * Mush

Mountain Biking through Local Village, Guangxi, China

Mush and I met up with a Canadian couple (Tracy and Paul) that live near Shanghai. Tracy had to get back to work, after a battle with food poisoning and a 38 hour bus, train, bus, taxi ride she was home. Paul decided to stay and enjoy the scenery of Yangshuo, so we decided to get out on a mountain bike and see the country side more. Now, I found out that Paul has actually competed in 5 Ironman Triathlons! Needless to say, I was a little worried about keeping up. A hot day, a very out of shape body, and I was exhausted. He took it easy on me, but I really struggled a lot of the way. 45 km through the hills and villages, with some amazing views from above the valleys. All the locals were really friendly, coming out to say hello, and excited when you reply! Through terraced fields of all different colours and all the while, the limestone pinnacles behind. Made for a pretty amazing ride, but I really enjoyed the final 10 km as most of it was downhill, heading into the sunset with the silhouetted hills around. Of course, I crashed hard when I got home! *Stub

Silhouette of Water Buffalo, Li River, Guangxi, China

An early morning rise of 6AM saw us on a local bus up to Xingping. Hop on a little boat and we were off on a sunrise tour of the Li River. First stop, the view that is pictured on the 20 Remnimbi note (Chinese currency). See pics of this in our photo page. As we puttered up river, the scenery was again, spectacular. As the sun rose over the pinnacles, and light dawned upon the river, the people were out fishing, doing laundry and walking their water buffalo. Some of the beasts were swimming in the river or just lounging around. Of course, the peaks were all named things like Nine Horse Fresco Hill, or Lion Looking Over Nine Horse Fresco Hill!
On the boat were 5 other Chinese people. Two were younger girls named Daisy and Joan (their English names), and I think they must have taken 200 pictures of each other in various poses on the boat. They even had to borrow our camera with their card, as their battery ran out. It was funny to watch, but they were really friendly and walked back to the bus station with us, buying us some street meat - little fish, shrimp or crabs on a skewer, deep fried to perfection!
Back by noon and we felt like we had a full day already. A relaxing afternoon, then we headed out that evening for dinner, then to Monkey Jane's Rooftop Bar and party it up with friends until 4:30 AM. *Stub

Hot Air Ballooning, Yangshuo, Guangxi Province, China

During our bamboo raft down the Yulong, we had seen a hot air balloon high in the sky at sunset, and had thought what a cool thing to do - especially in such a beautiful place as Yangshuo. So after a couple of days we decided to splash out and venture high into the skies. It was fantastic yet scary all at the same time. I had to force myself not to think of the various things that could go wrong (rules and regulations for most things in China leave a lot to be desired and are far from those in the western world). There was not a lot of room to manoevre around in the little basket: there was myself, Martin, our pilot, Sammy, and in the corners, four massive bottles of gas. Yangshuo's scenery is amazing at ground level, but it is even more stunning from the air. Beautiful greens and yellow of rice paddies in harvest, the rivers weaving their way through the terrain, and the towering pinnacles reaching out of the ground to nip at our ankles! All just made for a surreal experience.

The gas burners controlled by the pilot would rudely interrupt the peace and quiet, and make me jump. As we got to 1000m (3000ft) it was a little hazy and visibility wasn't as good. Apart from the scenery, for me the best bit was actually coming into land. We made several attempts at landing, but drifted off course, but we didn't mind - this prolonged our one hour's flying time! When we missed a landing, the waiting ground crew would have to hop back in the truck to the new location that the pilot would radio in. It was all quite exciting and as we got lower and lower we could see the villages and people working in their fields, and wave to the children who, of course, would get very excited at the prospect of a hot air balloon about to land in their back yard. So as we tried to avoid the bamboo treetops, orchards of tangerines and rice paddies, the kids would chase us clambering over sometimes rough terrain, screaming and yelling. When we finally landed we were greeted by about ten kids all beside themselves with excitement not only about the balloon, but that we were foreigners ...with cameras. And digital ones at that so that they could see how they looked on camera! The whole experience was brilliant and it was well worth it. * Mush

"Hello. Bamboo?", Yangshuo, Guangxi Province, China

Throughout our travels there have been various, different noises and sounds that have stood out in our memories: the obnoxious warning noises before doors close on the metros and trams of Europe; the bellowing snorts from the frogs, and funky kazoo-like noises from the geckos in Koh Samet, Thailand; the high pitched clicking noises of the pedestrian crossings in Hong Kong; and "Taxi! You want taxi?" and "Tuk Tuk! You want Tuk Tuk? Where you go?" shouts from the drivers in Bangkok. Well, China has its noises too and believe me, it has a lot, and loud! From the high decibels while speaking to one another whether in the same room or on the phone, to the hacking-type spitting in public, to the roads filled with horns constantly beeping:- in our little town even the scooters and bikes beep before they overtake each other.

Well, today we had a new sound... "Hello. Bamboo?" . This came from absolutely everyone we passed in the local river villages- from kids to grannies. We took a beautiful bike ride along the local Yulong River where we passed little farming villages and rice paddies with the stunning backdrop of limestone pinnacles that this area is famous for. What "Hello. Bamboo" really means is: "Do you want to take a bamboo raft down the river?". And after about 20 miles of riding along lumpy, bumpy dirt tracks in the unrelenting sun, I was ready for a 'Hello. Bamboo'! So we did, bikes and all!

Bamboo rafting down the river was wonderful, and we could sit back, relax and admire the view. It was so serene and peaceful (at least, no one could ask 'Hello. Bamboo?' now!). Our 'driver' Man Chu Foo, punted us down the Yulong for 3 hours in the lazy late afternoon sun. Every once in a while we would have to cross over weirs and would have to heave the bamboo raft over the ledge until it see-sawed down to the water on the otherside, and then we would hop back on just in time before the raft slid into the water. We arrived at our pull-out with the glow of the setting sun gone, and only the light of a slither of moon and a big fat juicy star. What a great day! Even though I was worn out from the ride and the heat, it had been good to get up close to see Chinese rural life, and what a great way to end the day on the water! *Mush

Martin's Birthday Sunset, Yangshuo, Guangxi Province, China

Sunset from Xilang Hill
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Our next destination was Yangshuo in Guangxi province, and as we got on the ramshackled bus we were greeted by two layers of narrow chrome bunkbeds in three neat rows down the length of the bus. The sleeper bus was obviously not a tourist bus and was quite an experience! And so much for being a 'sleeper bus' - I didn't sleep a wink! It rattled and jolted and the horn beeped for 13 hours landing us in Yangshuo at 2.30 in the morning. We had not anticipated this, but thankfully finding a bed wasn't too painful as there were touts waiting for us even at that time in the morning. Martin had wanted to be in this area for his Birthday and you can see why from the pictures - beautiful karst rock formations and limestone pinnacles everywhere we looked. We spent the afternoon walking up one of the steep hills just in time for sunset. Afterwards it was off for some delicious food to celebrate his Birthday.

On our second evening in Yangshuo we watched the local cormorant fishing, where the fisherman use their cormorants to dive for fish. The birds are not able to swallow the fish as their throats are tied which means the fisherman can shake the fish free. It's a pretty ingenius way to fish and the birds seemed well looked after. *Mush

San Bu, Guangdong Province, China

We left Hong Kong by boat and headed to see Frank, a friend we had made in Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic, back in July. Frank had only just recently got back from finishing his Masters in Edinburgh and so it was great timing. He and his family made us feel so welcome and nothing was too much trouble. It was great because we were able to appreciate first hand the Chinese family way of life, and homemade chinese food. And yes, dog did get served at table (they are farmed for food like pigs here), but I couldn't try it. We had a great day out with some of Frank's family. Frank's Uncle was the man with the connections and he got us in to a couple of (Chinese) tourist areas famous for Diaolou architecture: castle-like-towers that are a mixture of southern chinese and 19-century western european architecture. There were no western tourists here or where Frank lives, so people were definitely staring at us, but we in turn were able to see what a Chinese city was like without the tourists! It was great. *Mush

National Day Fireworks, Hong Kong, China

National Day Fireworks, Hong Kong
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

We went our separate ways on the Friday morning, me to the library (to use the internet, not read), and Michelle to her Feng Shui course. When she returned, she explained to me what she had learned. Of course I got a little lost when she started talking about 'nine flying stars' and how they are in different positions in the home giving your home positive or negative energy. Apparently, these stars move around every year and the five elements (earth, fire, water, wood, metal) are used to enhance or downplay the energy of the flying stars. All makes sense to me!?????

Back to hard facts. In this photo, you can just see the Expo Centre under the tallest building. It is an impressive sight, with a curved roof and 7-storey glass window on the front. Apparently this was the place where the ceremony was held to hand Hong Kong back to the Chinese in 1997. We tried to sneak around the building for the view, but unfortunately, it was all closed off.
As we were lucky enough to be in town for National Day, I decided I wanted front row seats for the fireworks spectacle to test out my new camera. So we waited many hours at the fence and the result was some good views. They let off tons of fireworks over the city for 25 minutes. All set to music and it was quite the show. Then the masses poured out into the streets to return home creating a mass of moving people along the closed off roads. They figure about 400,000 people were at the waterfront for the show. *Stub