Day 11
Xian is a walled city. It is a complete city wall that stretches around the city for 13 kilometres. Every year there is a marathon with competitors from all over the world. We walked a little way around the city wall stopping to watch the people in the park. Men sitting in a circle on very low stools playing cards or mah-jong. Ladies taking fan dancing classes. Lots of Tai Chi classes here and then. Rows and rows of table tennis tables with people playing on most of them. No wonder they are so good at it. Also rows of pool tables lining the street too. Taking your caged bird out into the fresh air is a national pastime. It’s always the men with the birds. They arrive at the park on bicycles with one or two birdcages balanced on the handlebars. The cages are covered with a cloth cover The cover is removed and the cages are hung in the trees and sometimes the men are teaching the birds to sing using a whistle.
Each morning the streets are lined with people carrying the tools of their trade. There are men with bamboo and straw brooms, ladies in white coats and cleaning equipment, men with handmade barrows, men with paint rollers on long handles, an assortment of trades. They are all waiting for someone to stop and offer them some work.
The traffic is thick. Policeman stand on a candy striped box in the middle of the road blowing a whistle trying to make some sense out of the chaos. Cars go down the road the wrong way and push their way in front of our bus. No-one follows the lane markings. We asked our local guide why have lane markings and she said so the police know who’s in the wrong when the accident happens. The roads are full of people on carts, bicycles and mopeds carrying many passengers and enormous loads. It's all great fun to watch.

Another close up of the warriors.

A kneeling archer.

A close up of the warriors. Each one has a different face, no two are alike.

An artist at work painstakingly painting this vase.

Day 10.

We set off from our hotel early this morning and our first stop was a pottery factory where they make terracotta warriors from tiny ones to life size ones. They showed us how they make the statues and how they are fired in the kiln. We watched some men painstaking painting intricate designs on these huge vases and pots.
We then went to the site of the Terracotta Warriors. The first pit we visited was pit number 1, the largest. You enter a building a bit like an aeroplane hanger and there below you is a massive pit full of terracotta warriors and horses. It is just the most amazing sight.
There are three other pits almost as large. All of these soldiers and kneeling archers and horses were placed there to guard one man, the first emperor of the first dynasty when he died. He had this built for himself before he died, he spent most of his reign building it. It was a temple. He himself is buried further away and as yet they haven’t excavated his tomb. It is a mound covered in grass and they’ve x-rayed it and know it is full of treasures but the technology to preserve it isn’t there yet so they are leaving it for the time being.
The site was discovered by farmers in 1974 and archeolgists began excavating. They discovered that the temple had been burnt down and the warriors damaged and broken. A lot of them have their heads missing. Many of them were in pieces and have been painstakingly put back together again. This work is still ongoing and will be for a long long time.
The destruction of the temple was done by the farmers revolution in about 200BC roughly. It was covered in ash from the fire initially and then thousands of years of dust from Mongolia kept it buried until 1974.
It is just the most amazing sight. Definately one of the highlights of the trip. The other being the 3 gorges.

Here is a photo of pit 1 of the Terracotta Warriors. There are 4 pits, 3 of which have been excavated and the 4th pit is currently being left until they have more technology on how to preserve the colours.

This is the series of barges they joined together for us to walk over when we disembarked in Chongquin.

Isnt she cute. Mother and baby in Chongquin

another panda enjoying some bamboo.

These are a group of red pandas.

Isnt she cute. This is Ya Ya.

Here's the bridge at Chongquin that spans the Yangtze River.

One of the small sampans that we went on.

Day 9

Today we disembarked the ship shortly after breakfast. I got up very early this morning to repack and attend my 7am tai chi class with Dr Wu. Today he showed us some shadow boxing.
Our boat arrived in Chongquin last night. It sailed down the river and dropped anchor in the middle of the river and we had a magnificent view of the city and this fabulous bridge that everyone agreed looked just like Sydney Harbour bridge. It was covered in coloured lights that changed colour every few minutes, red, blue,green and yellow.

Chongquin is the largest city in the world. It has a population of 30 million people. I have never heard of Chongquin.

The port is also very large and there were many boats docked there this morning which is why we didn’t get our own dock. Much to my horror we had to moor up to a barge that was connected to a series of very small barges that were joined by these metal planks which jostled about and bobbed up down precariously and were wet and slippery just to add to the fun. There were about 8 of these barges before we were finally on solid ground. Then it was up more than 100 steep steps to ground level. Fortunately we didn’t have to carry our suitcases. There were stick men for that.
Stick men are people, men and women, who have come to town from very poor rural areas of China. They have no education and are in need of a job so with a bamboo pole they carry on the shoulder they get work down on the docks and around town carrying things balanced on the poles or in large baskets they hang on either end of the pole.
Chongquin is hot and humid in summer. The temp gets in the mid 40’s with 100% humidity. There is a very thick fog/smog and they only see the sun about 100 days a year and today wasn’t one of those days. The ground everywhere was wet with the humidity and smog but fortunately it wasn’t hot. Our guide told us that it is so unusual to see the sun that when it does come out the dogs go crazy barking at it.
The city is huge. There are many sky scrapers. They have a copy of the petronas towers of Kuala Lumpar, the empire state and Chrysler buildings of New York and our Sydney Harbour Bridge. There are millions of apartment buildings, some new and some really shabby run down looking ones. Some of them are at least 30 levels high.
We pass many slums. Lots of building sites with rubbish and rubble and in there are some makeshift dwellings, these belong mostly to the stick men. There are 3 million stick men in Chongquin.
We see small housing developments where people are living in derelect old buildings and the mud is unbelievable. Here and there are road side stalls selling watermelons and oranges mostly but occasionally hot food on sticks.
We arrived at the zoo and went straight to the panda enclosures to see the giant pandas. They are so cute. They were all very active climbing up trees and one female called Ya Ya was fast destroying a Banyan tree, just ripping branches off and eating them. Others were lying on their backs with pieces of bamboo on their tummy and lazily eating them.
We also saw the rarer red pandas that are related to racoons and really don’t look like pandas at all. I took a large number of photos. I will put some on the end of this.
We left the zoo and we went to a local restaurant for lunch. Chongquin is famous for spicy hot pots so that is what we had. In the middle of the table they put a container divided in two,on one side boiling oil to which has been added a large number of chillis and other spicy ingredients and on the other side a milder broth, also boiling. To this you add, meat, fish, vegetables and tofu till it is cooked. You then attempt to retrieve the food from the hot pot then dip the cooked food into a bowl of sesame oil which helps to cool it as well as add flavour and then eat. It was an interesting experience.
After lunch we then went to the airport for our flight to Xian (pronounced She Ann) and we arrived there at about 5pm.
Tomorrow we are having a full day excursion to see the Terracotta Warriors.

Here's a pic of the Wu gorge (witches gorge).

Here's some boats that are in the lock at the 3 gorges dam. We toured the site. It is unbelievably huge, bigger than the panama canal.

This was our cabin on the Victoria Anna, the boat that we spent 4 nights on sailing up the Yangtze to see the 3 gorges.

Whilst on this ship I am unable to upload any photos as the connection, a phone connection, is too slow. I will upload some photos of these magnificent gorges.

Today we are in the port of Fengdu. It is very foggy and wet.

Day 7
This morning it looks quite miserable outside. There is a very thick fog and it is very grey out there but at the moment it is not raining. After breakfast we will be walking to Tiannamen Square and then make our way to the airport for our flight to Chonquin where we will board our ship for our four night cruise on the Yangtsee.
On our way to Tiannamen Square we pass a large number of people cleaning and polishing everything in sight, mopping the gutters, polishing the rubbish bins, scrubbing the fences. If only they would stop them from spitting.
At 8.30am the roads are choked with traffic. Did you know that every single day 1500 new cars come on to the roads in Beijing.
There is actually not a lot to see in Tiannamen Square. The tank has long gone, only a lone soldier guarding a roped off raised square platform marks the spot. There is a large square building housing the remains of Mao Zetung and a line of people, 4 abreast snaking its way around the square in an almost never ending line. We were told 9000 people an hour from 8am till 5pm file past Mao抯 body. It is free for the people to view Mao抯 body.
Our flight from Beijing to Yichang took just over 2 hours.
When we arrived in Yichang we learnt that all vessels on the Yangtze were unable to move and our ship was many miles downstream. There was a very heavy fog which had bought everything on the river to a standstill. We had bus pick us up from the airport and take into the town where we had to wait for another bus which would take us to meet the ship.
We had some free time in Yichang to take in some of the sights. We walked through the park and watched some elderly men playing mahjong and another group of men who had birds in cages hanging up in the trees. They had whistles and were teaching the birds to sing. That was fascinating. We were then watching another group of men down at the waters edge taking a dip in the Yangtze.
Then it was time to board the bus for an hour and half ride to meet up with the ship. The fog and mist were very thick and it was beginning to get dark by this stage and the bus set off on the winding road with a lot of trucks, buses, cars and an assortment of tractors pulling carts, bicycles with carts, 3 wheel vehicles and people simply walking in the middle of the road. Anything goes here, there are no rules. If you are bored with driving on one side of the road, you simply change sides. We were certainly kept entertained for the next 1 ?hours. Just after 8pm we arrived at the ship and the crew were ready and waiting for us. Dinner was ready so we went straight into the restaurant whilst our luggage was brought onboard and taken to our cabins.
Almost immediately after dinner we went to our cabins and were soon ready for some sleep. Our cabins are very nice and each one has it抯 balcony and ensuite.
Day 8
Today was our shore excursion to the 3 Gorges Dam. It is huge. Larger than the Panama Canal. There is of course a lot of controversy about the project and millions of people have been relocated. Our local guide told us he is happy in his new city of Sandouping. The government has given him a very large house with a 揻ive star toilet?and his father is now a businessman as he runs a small supermarket. He then tells us that the bus driver is a good man, he is a member of the Communist Party. You then wonder if the guide is telling us what the Communist Party wants us to be told.
We return to the ship and as the fog has now begun to clear there is enough visability for our ship which has been stationary for 4 days (prior to our trip) to begin sailing into the 3 gorges. We have passed through the first two gorges this afternoon. We sat out on the top deck and took millions of photos of the towering mountains and precarious farmlets dotted along the way. There is also quite a lot of coal mining in the gorges. They build these almost impossibly sheer staircases high up the cliffs and mine for coal on an almost vertical cliff face. They have built dirt roads that wind their way up some of the mountains but for most of the gorges the only way in and out is by boat and these chinese farmers are like mountain goats they way they climb up these impossibly steep slopes to tend their crops perched high up the cliffs.

Day 9
This morning we entered the Wu Gorge, the witches gorge. It is renowned for its magnificent scenery. The lush mountains were shrouded in mist which enhanced its reputation with legends, rocks shaped like goddesses, animals and buddha抯. There are shrines, temples and pergodas high up on the cliffs. The mountains rise vertically from the deep emerald coloured water hundreds of feet in the air. Some of the mountains are a sheer cliff face dotted here and there with caves and it was here in the Wu gorge that we saw some hanging coffins. The hanging coffins of the Ba people are 2000 years old and are sitting precariously on ledges at the mouths of the caves hundreds of feet above the water. No one knows exactly how they were placed there.
Our ship docked and we transferred to a ferry for a cruise down one of the tributaries we were then transferred into smaller motorised sampans for travelling down the exquisite lesser three gorges. Here we saw, monkeys and goats as well as the occasional farmlet perched precariously on the mountain. There are lots of snakes in there too apparently. I wasn抰 really fond of the sampan ride as every time another sampan or other boat went past our little sampan would rock from side to side. I was relieved to return to the ferry.
We have just passed through the final of the three gorges, the Qutong Gorge, the shortest, narrowest and rockiest of the 3 gorges. It is only 500ft wide. The depth of the water in the gorges is about 130 metres, 80 metres deeper than they used to be. The cliffs rise about 1500 metres above water level. The gorges go like this, Qutong Gorge is the most magnificent, the Wu Gorge the most beautiful and Xiling Gorge is the most dangerous.
Each of the gorges is stunningly beautiful. Some are covered in a thick forest of green whilst others are a sheer limestone cliff with holes and caves. The jagged rock often resembling grotesque figures and shapes, it is easy to see how these legends grew.
I have been attending early morning Tai Chi, led by the ships doctor, Dr Wu. He takes the lessons very seriously and gets a little agitated with people who cant follow his steps. Me getting the giggles this morning did not impress him at all. I shall have to try harder tomorrow morning.
Last night the crew put on a fashion parade of costumes throught the ages. It was absolutely stunning, a very professional show. We saw esquisite costumes from the Ming and Qing dynasties

Day 6

We woke up this morning excited at the prospect of our visit to the Great Wall. We looked out the window and discovered thick fog and rain, oh no. We kept hoping it would clear up later. Our trip to the wall took about 1 ½ hrs, a little longer than usual due to the heavy traffic and the appalling weather which was getting worse by the minute.
Our guide informed us that the only way up on the wall was by a cable car. My heart sank, I hate cable cars. I asked if there was any way we could get on the wall without the dreaded cable car. There were a few other people like me and it was decided to split into two groups, a walking all the way group and a cable car group. We set off with our umbrellas and within 15 minutes we were on the wall. All I could see was a sea of umbrellas but we forged ahead and began to climb some steps. It was freezing cold, windy wet and the fog completely obliterated any view, but we were on the wall.
At first it was easy. What was all the fuss about. Soon it became steeper and steeper. I began to hold on to the brass rail which was like holding onto a block of ice as we climbed higher and higher, it began to get slippery but we forged ahead breathless, it’s impossible to stop and rest on the steep uphill bits as there’s a tendancy to topple backwards
Eventually reaching a flat bit, some of our small group decided we had, had enough and as we could see absolutely no view we turned around and came back down. That wasn’t easy either. Gripping the icy railing we tottered down the steep parts. Some people were running free fall down the steep bits and using the crowd as a means of stopping. Fortunately no one crashed into me.
I was going to ring people from the wall, but with an umbrella in one hand, fending off the hoardes and hanging on to the icy railing with the other hand it became impossible.
We eventually made it back to the entrance and waited there for the remainder of the group. We then met up with the cable car people. Colin had made it to the top of the cable car section, but like our group had zero visability and turned back disappointed and bought a book showing pictures of the wall on a good day.
I cant say it was an experience of a life time but it was exciting to actually be on the wall. We will come back one day and climb it again, on a fine day.
After the wall we visited the Ming Tombs. In the grounds there is not much to see, just a big hill as the actual tombs of the Emperors, the last 13 Ming Emperors, are about 30 metres underground. There is a large ornate burial hall and inside is a display of many treasures, including ornate jewelry, hats and beautifully embroidered coats and jackets.
We then walked down the Sacred Way, which was absolutely beautiful. It is a very wide boulevard lined with weeping willow trees and statues of animals. When an emporer died his funeral procession went along the Sacred Way.
We have been really surprised by Beijing. It is very clean and neat. There are lots of parks and gardens with beautifully manicured flower beds. The streets are very wide. The people are very friendly and the streets really come alive at night with brightly coloured lanterns and neon signs in every colour.
We look out our window each morning and can see a small park nearby where many chinese practice early morning Tai Chi and we can see the roofs of the Forbidden City and the drum tower and the bell tower in the distance.

Day 7
This morning it looks quite miserable outside. There is a very thick fog and it is very grey out there but at the moment it is not raining. After breakfast we will be walking to Tiannamen Square and then make our way to the airport for our flight to Chonquin where we will board our ship for our four night cruise on the Yangtsee.

Day 5

Today our tour officially began and we headed off early this morning on foot to the Forbidden City, so called because it was off limits to ordinary citizens for 500 yrs, the entrance to which is right opposite Tiannamen Square which at about 8.30am was already teeming with people. There were huge crowds converging on the entrance to the Forbidden City and we surged forward with the crowd of mostly chinese tourists, millions of them.
We entered the Forbidden City which takes up approx 72 hectares and was home to only one man, the emporer who had many wives,or concubines, six levels of concubines headed up by the Empress and there were many eunuchs. Twenty four emperors from two dynasties ruled here, the Ming and Qing (pronounced Ching). There are no trees or shrubs within the walls of the Forbidden City, no where for your enemies to hide if they got in. The city was surrounded by a very large moat so unlikely anyone could get in any way. The ornate and brightly coloured buildings had yellow roofs, only the emperor was allowed a yellow roof, the walls were red which is a lucky colour, green for the harvest and blue for the heavenly god.
We were not able to enter any of the buildings we had to look through doorways or in the case of rooms with furnishings through glass windows. We saw beautiful brocade bedspreads in gold and red and beautiful blue Ming vases in glass cases.
We walked from the East gate to the West gate stopping to look only at the most significant buildings as there are 800 buildings. In each of the courtyards are these huge brass incense burners, nearly 400 of them in total. Some of the courtyards were on several levels and the balastrading on each level had dragons and drainage holes through the dragons mouth, so when it rains water pours from the mouth of the dragon.
We spent several hours in the Forbidden City with millions of Chinese tourists who took a great interest in the Western tourists and we frequently found ourselves being photographed.
After lunch at a local restaurant we visited the Summer Palace and thought we might escape the crowds but no such luck. The summer palace sits alongside the Kumning Lake which was full of dragon headed boats taking tourists for a ride around the lake. We visited the hall of benevolence and longevity that you could only peer in unfortunately, at the hardwood throne. The courtyard is adorned with bronze animals, dragons and lions and some mythical creatures. We walked along the long corridor, about 2 kms long, which is adorned with paintings on the cross beams. The structure itself is painted in red, green and blue. The nearby hills and slopes are decorated with temples and as we left the Summer Palace we saw the marble boat.
Our final stop for the day was the Olympic site and a look at the birdsnest building.

Tonight we walked downtown and went to a famous peking duck restaurant and of course had peking duck. This restaurant has been operating since the mid 1800’s and currently serves up 300 ducks a day and they have 5 restaurants selling over 400 ducks every day. After dinner we went for a wander downtown and for a stroll past the street full of street stalls selling all sorts of food on sticks. Meat, fish, fruit, whatever you can put on a stick. The stalls were very colourful with their red lanterns swinging in the breeze and the uniformed staff in their red and white uniforms.

Day 4
This morning we had to get up at 5am and make our way to the airport for our flight to Beijing. We arrived at Chiangi, probably the best airport in the world. It is fast and efficient, extremely clean, and bright and shiny. Apart from the usual duty free shops and restaurants, there are movie theatres, hairdressers, gymnasium, day spa and even a swimming pool to help fill in the time while you wait for your flight.
Our flight to Beijing was 5 ½ hours long and a couple of movies helped to fill in the time. We arrived in Beijing at about 4pm and were welcomed by bright sunshine and no sign of the smog we were told to expect.
Beijing is officially home to 14 million people but it is believed to be more like 18 million people. Our drive to the hotel from the airport revealed a well laid out city that is clean with wide avenues and as we got closer to our hotel the traffic got heavier. They have a system here a bit like our odds and evens system for watering, if your number plate has a one and a seven you cant drive your car today, tomorrow it will be 2 and 8 and so on.
We are staying at the Grand Hotel Beijing, and it certainly is grand. It is a former imperial palace and many of the original features of the palace are still evident today. There are several fountains in the central atrium surrounded by balconies draped in overhanging ivy. A grand piano sits in the middle of the room and a young lady plays the piano of an evening.
Our rooms have a view to the west and can see the Forbidden City. We are alongside the widest and longest boulevard which goes from east to west right across the city. It is packed full of traffic and is named The Boulevard of Everlasting Peace.We had a welcome meeting tonight in one of the meeting rooms. We have a local guide and a tour director and all together our group is sixteen people. Fifteen Australians and one New Zealander.

Day 1

We left Sydney on Singapore Airlines at 8am in the morning. When we arrived at the airport and went through security there was a man there argueing with security staff who were about to confiscate his cigarette lighter that was shaped like a toy gun. He’s just won the idiot of the year award for sure.
We arrived in steamy Singapore and were met by our mini bus which efficiently whisked us away to our hotel. We checked in and then had a rest before being picked up for the night safari tour.
When we arrived at the night zoo we were put on little trams that take you through the various enclosures with the animals who are more active at night. There is minimal lighting and it is quite eerie as the tram winds its way slowly through the rainforest area that is almost dark, the lighting resembles moonlight so you do really feel you are wandering around in the dark.
After our tram ride we returned to the central area to watch a show which was a fire eating performance from about ½ dozen performers from Borneo. It was quite spectacular to watch these men and women twirling these lanterns of flames and the men perform extraordinary tricks with huge flames billowing up from their mouths, the heat from the flames was quite intense and you instinctively step back as these huge flames light up the sky.


Day 2
Today we had a free day to wander around Singapore at leisure. We bought a hop-on hop-off bus ticket for $6 each which entitled us to unlimited bus rides from 10 in the morning till about 8pm. We wandered around Little India and Chinatown in the morning visiting the various temples and mosques in the area and being a Sunday they were especially busy, particularly the temples, lots of worshippers with their joss sticks and incense perfuming the air all around us.
We visited the historic Raffles Hotel and thought we might have a Gin Sling in the Raffles Bar but at $29.00 a drink we thought better of it and had an iced coffee in Starbucks across the road instead.
Later in the afternoon the bus dropped us the Botanic Gardens and we wandered around there for a while. In the middle of the gardens is the Orchid Garden which was stunningly beautiful, so many different varieties of orchids, some we had seen before and many that were new to us. We spent a good hour walking around the garden and admiring the orchids.
In the evening we went to Boat Quay and Clarke Quay in search of a restaurant for dinner. There are literally thousands of restaurants lining both sides of the river festooned in millions of pretty fairy lights. We finally settled on a Caribbean restaurant as we didn’t want anything Chinese as we will have plenty of that during the next 19 days.
Day 3
Today we went on a day tour to Malacca in Malaysia. We went on a bus that took us over the causeway and into Malacca. We had a group of six people only and a great big bus We had a local guide to show us the sights of Malacca. We visited a couple of Chinese temples which were very ornate with a lot of gold and dark chinese wood. Next to the temples are shops were you can buy everything you need for your prayers, flowers, joss sticks and paper to burn. You can buy paper money, cardboard cars, cans of tiger beer, coke a cola, lemonade all made from cardboard. These are all items for the after life and you can give them, you burn them for the deceased friends and relatives.
We also visited the ruins of a church from the 16th century which overlooks the city and out over the straits of Malacca. Around town were hundreds of pedlo cycles all decorated ornately in brightly coloured plastic flowers.
It was a long day. We left at 8am this morning and returned tonight at about 8pm. Tomorrow morning we leave early for the airport and our flight to Beijing. We will arrive in China early tomorrow afternoon to begin our tour of China.