'I Saw Pictures' in Asia

Photos: Kunming and Dali

isawasia — Mon, 5 Dec 2011 01:01:00 GMT

Photos: Emei Shan (Mount Emei)

isawasia — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 01:30:00 GMT

3099 m above the clouds!

Chengdu, pandas and Giant Buddha

isawasia — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:09:00 GMT

It was a great idea to move south, we must admit. It’ getting warmer and more laid- back with every city we visit, and Chengdu was the first place where sitting for hours, drinking tea and doing absolutely not much more than that, is not only socially acceptable, it seems like a way of life in here. Of course, it would be a naive oversimplification to say that everyone in the city, or in Sichuan province, is like that, or that is the rule that everyone is following.

After all, it’s big and busy city, and I doubt everyone has plenty of time to sit and drink tea. However, the social life in Chengdu does seem to be centred around teahouses, and apparently other Chinese regard the pace of life in Sichuan as being nothing more than a sign of laziness. And we ourselves felt it somehow, that the craziness of Bejing couldn’t be find in here. Maybe it’s also the warmth, more pe- we’ve already escaped the winter, there areThat’s what we thought as we were walking on the (dirty) riverside towards the temple.

The best place to slow down, drink tea, walk around and generally get relaxed was supposed to be the people’s park not far from the centre. Do you get this sometimes- you get an idealized picture before you actually see something, you expect something to be like in that idealized picture. So maybe you too, after reading the first paragraph though that the People’s Park will be just like that, slack, relaxed, laid back, chilled, calm. And maybe it normally is. But when we arrived there, the music , noise, the souvenir sellers, the crowd and general mess had hit our heads and penetrated to the brain with the force of a piano falling from the skyscraper on a mouse- chasing cartoon cat. We were unlucky enough to be there at the time of some fair- thus we became victims of our own expectations, as the fair did seem alright, and had a nice community filling, but that’s just not we were looking for at the moment.

The temple not far from our hostel was a much better place to catch a breath and drink tea. The beautiful tropical garden, full of older people playing games and chatting was charming and full of inner peace.

Very near we found a small restaurant with cheap local food, we went there twice - first time we ordered cold noodles with chilli and sugar (knowing only noodle sign, chilli and sugar was a nice surprise). However, as we wanted to try more local things we took a picture of the board with food and after translating it, smarter, we came back and ordered some more - cold noodles again, pork dumplings and noodle soup.

The rest of the city attractions was too touristy for our taste - the local streets with snacks near Tibetan quarter turned out to be an artificial alley of overpriced food and souvenirs stalls.

We went to see pandas using local transport, as we've always trying to do(saving money and observing locals, but it also takes more time). 'The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (hereafter Chengdu Panda Base) is a non-profit organization engaged in wildlife research, captive breeding, conservation education, and educational tourism.'http://www.panda.org.cn/english/us/1.htm It was a really nice experience to see these lazy and cute animals. They are endangered species, which is sad, but on the other hand, they seems so clumsy and slow so no wonder...

After pandas, we went to Leshan to see the biggest Buddha in the world. The whole thing was a bit crazy, because we didn't want to stay in Leshan, as the city is dirty and not really nice, and as we booked a hostel in Emeishan to go trekking on the next day. Because we overslept, as we stayed up late the day before with people we met in hostel in Chengdu, we had a limited time to see everything there.

Anyways, the statue is impressive and the surrounding temples in the jungle are a great place to explore and relax for hours, which we didn't have. I am still surprised that we managed to catch the last but to Emei, where we went for 2 days trekking climbing the stairs ;)

Photos: Chengdu, pandas and giant Buddha in Leshan

isawasia — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:50:00 GMT

Xi'an

isawasia — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:03:00 GMT

Although Xi’an is a place with a long history, at the first sight it feels like another big, busy Chinese city. However, Xi’an has something different. If you would be dropped off inside the old city walls in the narrow streets north of the Drum Tower, you would think you’re in a busy, Moroccan village, rather than a bustling, 2 million city. This is a Muslim quarter of Xi’an.

Lively and loud with its local market, that smelled like soya and deep fried sweets ,it was definitely our favourite part of the city. We cycled through a busy local market where muttons were an essential part of a street traffic (and a traffic jam) together with rickshaws and cars. In the market people were selling tropical fish, parrots and birds, turtles, frogs, fruits and other food, including the poor muttons.

Although, or maybe because it was so crowded that we moved in line, slowly (penguin style), we had time to enjoy all the colours and scents. Unless we found ourselves just behind a bicycle carrying a mutton tied-up on its trailer, then the ‘scent’ was rapidly becoming a ‘smell’. However, the stew that this animal was destined for (called paomo) smelled much nicer, and was indeed really tasty. You first crumble the bread (pancake?) into a bowl, and then the stew is poured over it. You can then garnish it yourself with chillies or pickled garlic, obviously spitting off the remains on the floor, as locals do.

The best food was behind our hostel, which was far south from the centre near the Big Goose Pagoda and a beautiful autumn park. Tiny streets (resembling back alleys from the early Jackie Chan films) hid local bars and stalls, where we tried noodles and beef, Chinese hamburger, steamed dumplings and steamed buns (really cheap and good for breakfast). Notably, most places didn’t have the kitchen: the woks on the coal stoves outside, just beside the entrance, played its role, which was pretty cool as you can see what you can eat inside and how it’s made.

We also immersed ourselves in the world of Moroccan- like sweets, and we tasted the Xi’an speciality, the “Eight Treasure Pudding”, which looked pretty much like a rice lollipop, coated with sugar and sesame, steamed in pots by old women in more touristy streets.

Inside the market madness, there was an oasis of peace, inside the gardens of the Great Mosque, which was quite hard to find and easy to miss in narrow streets, where you usually watch your feet or look at the food and antiques, rather than rising your head to see what’s just above you.

The touristy stuff: we did see the famous Terracotta Army, and we were quite impressed with it, especially when zooming in with our camera to see the expressions on the soldier’s faces. They really differed from soldier to soldier. We heard that people complain that the site is nothing as they imagined, as you’re not really close to the figures (unless to those exhibited in the museum, like a kneeling archer or a figure of high- ranked, fat general), and you see everything from the top. But I think we enjoyed it nevertheless, as the whole site is still an actual archaeological site at work, and it made it somehow more interesting for us. You can see the desks with papers and plans, computers and pieces of terracotta lying everywhere, though you’re prohibited from taking pictures- maybe because it doesn’t look that representative anymore.

It is also quite astonishing view, when you look at nicely lined- up, reconstructed from hundreds of pieces soldiers on one side of the hall, and as you look further to the other side, the figures become more messy, with missing limbs or heads, finally turning into a long pile of terracotta pieces. Now look at it in reverse: it now totally looks like an undead army of thousands of terracotta zombies, rising from the grave and marching towards you.We just try to forget about the way leading to the site. It was just a long line of stalls/tourist traps, bad food places and touts running about everywhere, trying to convince you that the only way back to the city is in their cab for a heavy fee.

Coming back to the city- it was also possible to rent a bike and cycle around on the top of the mentioned city walls, which date back to the Ming dynasty (renovated in the 80’s), which takes about an hour and a half. This gives you an interesting overview of Xi’an. On one side, you see new office buildings, expensive hotels and buisiness centres , while bit further there are massive buildings still in construction, and when you look inside the walls, you can enjoy the view of tightly packed blocks of flats (80’s style), though you can also see a Buddhist temple from here if you cycle long enough. Quite enjoyable ride, together with a relaxing tunes coming from the speakers, which provides a nice background music, making you feel as if you were playing a lead role in some Chinese soap opera.

So, our soap opera continues, with the next episode recorded in Chengdu, where we had a short but an enjoyable stay, and from where we later saw the giant Buddha, and climbed the Emei Shan mountain, though it is a bit of a stretch to call it climbing. There are two reasons for that, but be patient (we know we update slowly ;p) and stay tuned!

Photos: Xi'an

isawasia — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:58:00 GMT

Beijing, the first days

isawasia — Sat, 5 Nov 2011 16:53:00 GMT

Everybody is trying to kill everyone.

At least, for a second that’s what your inner life- defending mechanisms are telling you. You’re passing the road on the green light, correct, so what is that cab doing in the middle of the crossing? Why did this motorcycle almost hit you in the face? Where did this bus come from? From your left, that’s where, step back, form a bigger pack with other pedestrians, surround yourself with guys on the bicycles (the “Beijing” formation) and go. That’s just one flavour of Beijing, and we’re really, really enjoying it.

So far, we’ve seen most of the spots where the density of tourists is the biggest- Tiananmen Square, , Gate of Heavenly Peace where we waved to uncle M., Temple of Heaven and so on. For those moments there we were part of touristic attraction too, as Chinese tourists were taking pictures of themselves with us, often with uncle M. in the background.

Some places described in the guidebook that we wanted to see were just not there anymore. Beijing is under construction, and large areas are being demolished and people are relocated from their old homes. All in the struggle to make Beijing even more beautiful.

Less touristic places, our favourites: a little bar found by a pleasant coincidence in one of the hutongs (Baishu hutong, just opposite the public toilet), where we keep coming back, have not seen any tourists there so far (as, to be honest, it looks a little dodgy), and when we came there a second time, we were offered a Chinese menu, which, apart of being even cheaper than it already was (portions are huge!) had tastier choice. It’s actually a lot better than, for example, fried silk worms or scorpions, as they are pretty much tasteless, though they make good pictures so that your friends can go “wooo...gross, I totally want to go to Asia to try this!”.

Beijing looks best when seen from a bicycle. You see so much more, and you take part in the city’s almost insane flow of traffic. Surprisingly, it does feel safe somehow, as long as you maintain confidence and do quickly cycle in between that bus and a bunch of pedestrians. There’s no place where bicycle bells and horns are more used (and appreciated) than here.

A guy at the very (west) end of the street where our hostel was (Shijia Hutong) rents and repairs bicycles for 10Y for the whole day. There’s also loads of little bike “pit- stops”, scattered around, on the pavements beside the roads.

Our hostel proudly advertised a free trip to the Great Wall, provided we stay for 3 nights. We asked a member of staff whether we can go.

“Yes, however there is one thing you should know”. He leaned over his desk, face serious, and continued with a strong Chinese accent. “It is not a the Great Wall of China. It’s only a model.”

Not only MP fans will find this hillarious. We organised our own trip then. See the photo gallery for more pictures.

Also, almost everyone is trying to overcharge us, but as much as it is irritating, it doesn’t surprise us.

There will be more on Beijing, as that’s where we’re ending our trip in a few months time. For now though, we’re taking an overnight “hard- sleeper” train to Xi’an, which is a kind of success, considering how long it took us to find a special “foreigners only” ticket booth on Beijing Zhan train station.

Brought to you by us from a Tibetan Cafe on Nanluogu Xiang hutong!

(Note: we would appreciate if you could put any comments on our blog, rather than a facebook page- otherwise, we'll not be able to read them for some time while still in China:))

Photos: Beijing

isawasia — Fri, 4 Nov 2011 23:53:00 GMT