The India I expected from day one…Agra

December 5, 2013 richardpieper Leave a comment

Safe to say New Delhi and I hate each other.

Arrived in Agra and the world immediately changed. Cab driver was honest, helpful and genuinely pleasant, our accommodation is 100 meters from the east gate of the Taj Mahal and a close walk to a bunch of good eateries. The Taj Mahal is the most expensive attraction at 750 rupees per person to get in. We were thinking that this was overly expensive until we did the conversion and discovered that it was $13.25 each. The ticket office opens at 6am and the gates at 6:30 so we headed off to watch the sunrise at the Taj Mahal.

I know many people who have been here to visit the Taj Mahal and every one of them has told me that I must go…the place is amazing…and the photos you have seen don’t do it justice…they were all right…and if you are making a bucket list…what they said. We rocked in at dawn with the early morning mist and hung around watching the building change as the sun rose and the mist burned off. They claim that the best times to see the Taj Mahal is sunrise and sunset…300 meters from our hotel is a rooftop restaurant where you can watch the sun set over the thing and get a great feed.

After the Taj Mahal we headed off to Agra Fort. Now everyone heads to Agra for the taj but the Agra fort loses nothing in comparison. Between the two, we both went snap happy and may have actually taken more photos of these two than we did of the lumps (which is no mean feat). The fort is an incredible sight and is worthy of a trip to Agra just to see it, let alone that pesky taj thing.

An interesting element to this was as we walked into the Agra Fort. Through the gates I saw a bird of prey (not sure if eagle or hawk) with a creature in its talons (not sure if squirrel, pigeon or monkey) flying off. for the ensuing 2-3 hours we watched these birds circling and swooping…a fascinating watch.

We followed this up with a trip to the “baby taj” (Itimad-ud-Daulah the tomb of Mizra Ghiyas Beg, whoever he was), an afternoon of blogging and the evening on aforementioned rooftop watching the sun set over the Taj Mahal.

Met 2 Aussie girls and the 4 of us sat on the roof drinking “big juice” and eating curries. For those who did not pick up on it there are many unlicensed restaurants where alcohol can not be served. So we drank “big juice” that happened to be manufactured by kingfisher a company with the same name, as it happens, of a well known local beer company.

All things considered a fantastic day…and what I had hoped India would be like before we arrived.

The next day we slept in and headed over to the Kanir Bazaar. This place is everything that you ever imagined an Indian marketplace would be and more. Block after block of alleys with a shop every 2 meters and the constant buzz of hawkers, horns, horses, dogs, cows etc.

One aspect that we have not chatted about is the local wildlife. Coming here I had an expectation of random cow sightings on the streets (which happen every few minutes) but I did not expect the other wildlife that abounds here. Coming from a country without squirrels I was overjoyed to see my first squirrel on arrival. The monkeys are everywhere and the range of beasts of burden covers the gambit.

India

New Delhi etc

December 2, 2013 richardpieper Leave a comment

Well I have found my range in India…expect it all to be totally messed up and on occasion you may be pleasantly surprised. We headed out for the HOHO bus that is due to hit each site every half hour…after waiting over an hour we rang the number and were told “yes five minutes”…20 minutes and about three of Richards finest tirades later we abandoned all hope of the bus and headed for the metro to get to the red fort. On the way the phone dude rang jill to tell me my SIM card had been activated and was ready for collection but not for another hour. So after standing on the street corner outside the Nehru museum for 90 mins I had another 60 mins to kill before I could get my phone connected.

We started towards the phone dude but stopped at Indira Gandhi’s house which had been turned into a memorial as it was the site of her assassination. Then off to get the SIM card. Now in Australia we believe (or at least I did) that in a telecommunications sense India is well advanced, and while all else may not be right the comms would be good. So I was quite surprised to find that they had never seen the iPhone 5 and there was no such thing as a nano SIM card to fit it. I watched the dude take to the SIM card with scissors and a nail file for about 15 minutes before deciding I did not want his bodged up job jammed into my phone, never to be able to be retrieved, thereby wrecking both the sim and my phone.

I told him to forget it and that I would once again forego connectivity. At this point he advised me that the SIM card had 250 rupees of credit transferred to it which I owed him money for. I was about to launch into my 5th or 6th tirade of the morning…shut up…paid him the $4-5 and walked away.

On the positive side I have mastered the local tuk tuks and am saving myself much walking in the doing so. Tuk tuk to the metro, metro to the red fort a fort built in the 1y600s out of red sandstone and the site where the indian flag was raised for the first time after independence in 1947)….and a great afternoon had by all from that point on.

The next day we had a cruisy day where I got to fulfil a long held wish of mine. Many years ago my father relayed to me a story where he had a shave from an Indian barber, and he did not have to shave for days afterwards as the man had grabbed and contorted the skin so as to cut off the beard 2 inches underneath the skin. Many years ago I tried it in Australia at a chain hairdressers by the apprentice hairdresser who was the girlfriend of a mate… and it was…surprisingly.. an unmitigated disaster.

We saw a by the road barber and I stopped in for a haircut and a cut-throat razor shave. At the end when I asked for the bill he answered “as you like”. These are frightening words that you hear quite often here in India, as I am certain that I will pay well over the going local rate but the theory is that you pay what you believe that the service was worth. So I ended up paying around 10 times the going rate (I asked when I got back). But this was still about one third of the Australian price for a haircut alone and I was happy. This was not of the calibre of shave my father received but the experience was great. Bottom line is that if I had been really tight I could have had a shave and a haircut and have had change from a dollar. Either way, I left clipped and happy.

We had our first Indian train journey as we did the New Delhi to Agra run. It is about 200 Kms and was to take us about two and a half hours on the super fast train. Five hours later we arrived. As a final parting shot at me for my many tirades New Delhi threw one last curve ball at me before leaving. As we got in the tuk tuk to head to the station we got a flat tyre…while transferring to another tuk tuk I stepped off the gutter to load my bag…foot hit uneven ground…ripped my ankle to shreds… Twisted, swollen and throbbing ankle…

New Delhi and I will never be friends.

India

New Delhi

November 29, 2013 richardpieper Leave a comment

Not an auspicious introduction to India. We got off the plane and headed for the ATM then to the hotel. On the advice of all of the travel sites and books they suggest taking the prepaid taxi option to avoid the arguments and dramas of the hawkers etc. so we paid 800 rupees (about $16 and a 100% markup) and got the prepaid cab from the “government tourist travel bureau”. Well that was a disaster. After taking about 45 mins to do the 15 km drive, the road was blocked off (outside the US embassy) and we had to go to the tourism bureau to check availability of road access while also discussing our future plans in Delhi. Needless to say this was the scam that all the books talk about and the road next to the US embassy is always blocked. The to and fro went on for a bit but we did not not fork over any extra cash or sign up for unwanted services.

When enough was enough we got quite snakey with the driver and he backed down and took us to the hotel. We had in fact driven around it about 4 times but with no context of the world we had just landed in and no GPS to guide us we were at the mercy of this shonk. He had the nerve at the end of all this to ask for a tip to cover the extra distance that he had to cover. He got a mouthful from both of us and no tip. We both got out of the cab mighty annoyed, tired and hungry.

After swearing wildly and casting vicious aspersions on an entire nation and it’s people we checked in and headed out for a meal. After a lengthy walk we found an area and settled in for a feed. We had a mushroom paneer, raita, and a mutton curry with 2 naans and a paratha washed down with 5 kingfisher lagers for about $20. The meal was excellent with the minor exception of the mouse running across the room half way through (actually happened). We headed home, a little calmer, deciding not to damn an entire race on the back of a poor first up Impression. A good night’s sleep and the world would commence anew tomorrow.

I woke to find that my wife had spent a not inconsiderable amount of time in the bathroom overnight then we headed down to the included breakfast. Toast, egg (with chilli), conserves and a banana washed down with the sweetest coffee on the planet (undrinkable). Internet access atrocious. Made the decision to get the HOHO bus (hop-on, hop-off for the uninitiated) which will hit the 26 big tourist sites around town for a single fee.

We decided the HOHO bus could wait until tomorrow and headed out and actually had an ok day. We were trying to arrange local SIM cards so we could get our GPS and dodge the shonks. Indian government bureaucracy made getting a SIM a 2-3 day odyssey. Hopped the metro to Connaught Circus where the world is full of shonks and the “government tourist travel bureau”. There is actually one “government tourist travel bureau” but based on the word of the shonks there are about 70 on Connaught Circus alone. So far we are both massively unimpressed with India, we have held off on posting this for 3 days in a row now as we wish to see the positive in things but after 3 days we have been lied to, cheated and attempted to be conned on about ten occasions.

We are hoping that the initial hassles are a New Delhi thing, and that when we get out of the capital we will see the true nature of both the people and the land. Agra is the next port of call so the Taj Mahal etc may be the saviour of my mental health. I cannot express how disappointed I am at this point. I have Indian friends, neighbours former colleagues and employees and they have all been fantastic. I love the food and the images of the sites look spectacular. This was the leg that I have most been looking forward to. I truly hope that this is a rocky start to what will be a great experience.

Can’t decide in which city of the world the honking of horns is worst…New Delhi maybe not #1 but it is up there…certainly in the top 5.

China

Farewell (for now) to China…hello India

November 26, 2013 richardpieper Leave a comment

Guangzhou was mainly spent doing the tourist visit thing and noshing on at various food stalls. There was a 3 lane road around the corner from our hostel which at night turns into an arcade of alfresco dining, while still trying to masquerade as a road. We found a clay pot specialist that is so cheap that it is ridiculous. One night I had a noodle and dumpling soup followed by a clay pot of pork, rice and veg, while Jill had 2 bowls of noodle and dumpling soup (it is really good) all washed down with 2 x 600ml bottles of Pearl River Lager and when the bill came we had to fork out a total of 45 yuan ($8.06).

My wife has taken to muttering to herself. She spends large portions of her time with her face buried in a computer screen asking herself bizarre questions. Now being a good husband, on occasion when she articulates the question rather than muttering it, I offer answers to her queries. Now she seems to think that I am not contributing to the planning phases by offering such advice and i on the other hand believe I am providing the answers to vital questions that she clearly needs help with. By way of example this afternoon she was staring at a map of Chennai and asked where is the airport…I promptly responded that it was the place where all the planes land. Apparently this was not helpful to her majesty.

Our last day before leaving China saw a huge cold snap. Temperatures plummeted, it was wet, windy and cold. We hid out in our hostel and made preparations for that which was to follow. We did our last street food hit (back to our clay pot man) who likes us so much he is now giving us the locals discount. He must be. We paid 25 yuan for 3 mains and a beer. On a little side note…we ran into a Sri Lankan couple while in Guilin and were talking about my love for the street food. Their answer to me was…and I quote…”we are from Sri Lanka… we have many germs in our stomachs…we did not even eat the Indian street food”.

I may need to rethink my dietary approaches.

China

Yangshuo to Guilin and on to Guangzhou

November 22, 2013 richardpieper Leave a comment

We were planning to do the bike ride around the Yangshuo region to check out the lumps up close and personal. Given our affinity for bicycles and our not yet battle hardened bottoms, it was not something we were looking forward to but it really is the best way to see the area. In a series of classic avoidance techniques we (both) dragged the chain on getting out of the room, went for coffee while we posted the rafting post (including mucking around with the pictures), discussed whether we should ride the bikes to breakfast or walk etc.

After walking to and from breakfast (another $7 feast) we bit the bullet and headed to reception to book and pay for our bikes. At this point the girl asked what type of bikes we would like, we inspected the menu…and there it was…the electric bike. About 20 yuan a day more ($3.50-3.80) expensive, same sights but less of that pesky pedalling. Now we had seen these in other cities, you do the first few pedals to get momentum and then relax until you hit a hill or something then you need to give it a helping hand.

We went down to collect our bikes and was told to follow the dude. About 700 meters later after zigzagging the backstreets we hit a dodgy alley and he headed on down it, opened the shed and there they were…fully electric mopeds…charged and no peddling required at all. Now anybody who has spent any time in Asia is aware of the chaos that is the streets and traffic…and China is no exception. A little more ordered than some and less than others. A land where pedestrians, bicycles, mopeds, motorbikes, trucks, busses, wheelbarrows and food carts all try to occupy the same space simultaneously…and we were now motorised.

Our first 5 mins or so were frantic as we tried to head away from the busy areas to get a feel for our hogs. This achieved, we felt brave enough and headed back through town and then generally downstream following the river as best we could. Being a small town we were on the open road in no time and were happily feeling the wind in our hair (no helmet laws here). Cruising the back roads of China amid the lumps…not bad at all. A bit more comfortable on the hogs and we opened them up…I got mine up to 44 kph.

Yangshuo is a renowned destination for “adventure tourists” with many caves, hikes, rock climbing and lump mountain biking. We rode past them all, except we weren’t sweating…it was another great day. We headed back to Guilin for a night (BBQ night again) so that we can jump over to Guangzhou for our next leg into New Delhi, India. We took the bus back which was much cheaper but nowhere near as fun or scenic as the bamboo raft to get there.

We are in China for about another week and it has been fantastic…and we will be heading back a couple of more times…but we are both getting ready for a change. The constant honking of horns grates on your nerves after a while, and the urge to throttle the guy who is heavy on the horn is growing with each passing day. Jill is also starting to pine for real chocolate. China has an odd version that even in pre-packaged items like a snickers bar is very different.

We have moved onto Guangzhou now and spent the first day hitting the Chen Clan Academy, Nanyue King Mausoleum, and the catholic cathedral. Day two hit the zoo followed by the Sun Yat Sen Memorial. Couple of days of ticking the tourist boxes really. The zoo was good but the panda exhibit was as much of a fizzer as Beijing, nowhere near the excellent quality of Chongqing. I did however get fairly close to a panda, but had to watch out for his killer moves (and I smiled for those having a dig). Lots of tigers and lions etc.

The really sad part was the behaviour exhibition hall this was bears walking tightropes, monkeys on bicycles, macaws playing basketball, and a tiger jumping through hoops. This is a throwback to a time long since passed, and rightfully so. We were hoping that these were old animals that grew up performing and were finishing their lives doing what they know. It would be appalling to think that this was still going on today. On the up side they looked well fed and happy enough, but it was disconcerting to watch.

China

Bamboo Rafting and Lumps

November 17, 2013 richardpieper Leave a comment

Well today was possibly the best day that we have had since we left Australia. We left Guilin this morning to do the 73 Kms down the road to Yangshuo but rather than doing the road trip we did the leisurely bamboo raft ride down the LiJiang River. Now these were not really bamboo rafts, they were eight 4 inch poly pipes strapped together with two park benches on them, all powered by a whipper snipper with the chord replaced by a propeller.

That said, we slowly and quietly trundled down the River past all of the lumps (karsts). Now my main issue in Guilin was that you could not really get any good photo angles on the lumps without people or buildings getting in the way…problem solved. This was about 3-4 hours of ever changing landscapes, on the River, with no obstructions. Wow. At the end of the day we had over 100 photos of lumpy landscapes and had had an awesome time.

On arrival in Yangshuo we checked into the flashiest hostel we have come across. We are paying about $24 a night for both of us to stay in a hostel room that is on a par with and often better than a $200+ a night room in Australia. I certainly had worse rooms while travelling with the AFP and it is better than most novotels. The room directly looks out onto lumps and has an observation deck with almost 360 degree views of the town. We checked in, went for a noodle feed (about $5 worth) and then went to join the next leg of our journey from Guilin.

The next leg involved seeing some of the traditional farming and fishing etc (staged but who really cared) and an actual bamboo raft ride. About 15 km outside Yangshuo is a village where they have a 600 year old bridge and fishermen using cormorant birds to fish for them. Basically they tie the cormorant’s throat shut and send it hunting for big (ish) fish that the birds cannot swallow as their throats are tied. The dude then plucks the fish from the bird’s throat and sends the cormorant off again. Not the way that they still do it but a fascinating watch nonetheless. This was followed by a real bamboo raft pushed along by an old dude with a stick and a feed the water buffalo session. Possibly the most amusing part of the whole day was the sheer terror of a Chinese woman who was trying to feed the world’s tamest water buffalo. She screamed, she squealed, she ran, she cringed… It was almost as if my sister Karin was to hand feed a spider. The poor buffalo just wanted a handful of corn husks.

Now it must be said that Yangshuo is a soulless, plastic, tourist town in the midst of great natural beauty. Everything evil that tourism brings is here, knock-off shops, staged markets, touts, KFC, McDonalds, neon, laser light shows…the lot. Despite this it is clean, neat surrounded by lumps…and you can ignore the other stuff. There is a strip of bars and restaurants claiming to be from every country of the world which are charging obscene prices for everything. The German bar is charging 168 yuan for pigs knuckle and sauerkraut (bear in mind that we had noodles and dumplings for two for 12 yuan). The beers are about 40 yuan each while our ones at the hostel are between 7 and 12.

We wandered the streets for a meal that night and found a great feed in a back alley (as we usually do). On our return journey the bride was in need of the amenities. I have been practicing my Chinese but no matter how many times I told her to ask for directions, she would not believe me that the Chinese word for toilet was “Shi Thou Se”.

China

Guilin

November 17, 2013 richardpieper Leave a comment

The next morning we hopped an early morning flight to Guilin. Upon arrival I immediately fell in love with the joint. The drive from the airport showed a bunch of natural rock outcrops/hills/mountain things (karsts) that dotted the entire area (titled by me as lumps). We checked into the best backpackers that we have hit so far (Wada), rolled across the road for a feed and on the recommendation of the staff we had the local specialty of Guilin mifen (rice noodles with some other stuff added). Two big bowls cost us 7 yuan throw in 10 dumplings for 5 yuan and we were both stuffed for about $2. This was followed by a walk around the local area to acclimatise and Friday night is all you can eat BBQ night at the hostel for 40 yuan a head. This got considerably more expensive as the BBQ needed to be washed down by copious quantities of Tsingtao. But at 12 yuan for a 600 ml bottle it wasn’t that bad.

Day 2 in Guilin saw us in a van and headed to the Longji rice terraces otherwise known as the “dragon’s backbone” about 2 and a half hours out of town, on the most bone jarring road imaginable. Jill and I were in the back seat of a hiace style van directly above the axle and by the end of the day, kidneys were bruised and fillings were dislodged. Ignoring the drive the rice terraces were spectacular. Basically over the last 2000 years the locals have been cutting terraces into the sides of the mountains for the purposes of crop cultivation. Needless to say you can create quite a few terraces in 2000 years.

Day 3 saw us extending our stay by another day as this place is so good. The next leg was sorted to head to Yangshuo which is about 2-3 hrs downstream from here. On the advice from the fantastic girls at the hostel they reckon the way they would get there would be on “bamboo raft”. We are not really sure what this means but at this stage we will be taking a journey on a Chinese River on a bamboo raft of some sort. On the hostel front…they have a policy that if you drink 12 beers then you get a free wada shirt…we now have a pink one and a white one.

Day 3 also saw us doing the local wander around town. Most of the tourist things are a close walk and overall it is not too strenuous as the place is flat. Today saw us visit the twin pagodas, get some good shots of the lumps (karsts), check out the elephant trunk hill and generally just wander around while I got food from almost every street stall I could find.

Now if you remember an earlier post about my ordering food when I am hungry…the rules now apply to Jill too. While I was grazing on street food Jill was not, so when we stopped she had free reign over the meal. We had the largest and the most expensive meal that we have had since hitting China. The first dish was the nobbly bits of a pig, followed by the rest of the pig in round 2, and then the duck turned up, the whole duck, on the up side Jill has worked out the sign language for doggie bag. Below was what was left after we had eaten for about an hour.

China

Wuhan

November 14, 2013 richardpieper Leave a comment

Cruise over…we were dropped in Yichang, a city with little to it, so we battled our way through the dodgy taxi services only to find that there were no legitimate taxis anywhere near where we got dropped off. We got in a dodgy van and headed for the train station which was about 40 mins away. This was achieved after getting out of the first dodgy van and threatening to walk about 5 times to the ultimate driver of another dodgy van until a price was agreed and settled on. After this the trip was uneventful.

The lovely staff on the boat had written 2 notes for Jill in both Chinese and English. They were “please take me to the train station” and “can I have two train tickets to Wuhan”. Believe it or not the train ticket went off without a hitch, we got lucky and the girl behind the counter spoke English too. It was a fast train going almost 300 Kms in about 2 hours (including about six stops to pick up others). We got to Wuhan at taxi change over time and had to wait about 90 mins for a cab to take us about 2 km at a cost of about $1.40. It was dark, the city was strange, we had no idea how dodgy it was, nothing was in English and Jill’s google maps was not working…we decided to wait for the cab.

Wuhan is a huge town – actually a combination of three cities but today we headed off to the “Yellow Crane Tower” and the surrouding parklands. The entire area is impressive and offers some beautiful views over a city that is relatively not polluted by China standards. Jill swore that she had seen blue sky and was pointing furiously at the sky. The nett result of this is that she has adjusted her mental concept of what blue is and a pale smog grey will suffice now.

The first thing you hit is the 8 meter statue of Yue Fei (a 12th century general) and a horse that was pretty cool. Then a few archways to the left you come across the “millennium lucky bell” which for a small fee you can ring by ploughing a huge suspended log, wrapped in velvet, into it. A bit further along we hit the main attraction which was the “yellow crane tower” a big thing on the top of a hill waiting to be climbed. Now having done this a few times, I started to count the number of stairs that I climbed as we entered the bottom of the hill. By the time we had left the park (and climbed the tower) I had done 910 stairs, this was in addition to the hills and slopes we walked up and the extra 320 stairs and 2 km walk to get there in the first place.

The tower provided the best view of the city and was worth the climb. The trip back saw us wandering through some of the prettiest parklands I have ever been in, this included koi ponds and a really funky waterfall into a stream (remembering we are in the middle of town) running into the pond. The whole thing was really peaceful and upon exiting we were greeted with a taxi that had run over a moped. The ambulance took away the moped rider and the bike and the cab stayed in the middle of the road for the next 20-30 mins until the police came. This in essence screwed up traffic and had everybody honking more than they normally do.

China

Cruising the Yangtze

November 13, 2013 richardpieper Leave a comment

My assessment of Chongqing was about spot on in terms of the time required. We did a free walking tour of the city with the hostel staff which was interesting enough apart from the 15kms that it involved (remembering that Chongqing is build on a mountain so there were many hills and stairs). The museum was free and was all about the relocation of the towns, relics, artefacts etc when the dams etc were made. We had the Hotpot that evening which was definitely an experience however not as traumatic on the chilli front as advertised.

The cruise was put together by Jill’s favourite travel agent Wonder Wang. In all honesty this was the blokes name. She took the first call and had it followed up by e-mail confirmations. Need less to say I had numerous comments and each time he rang or e-mailed these comments and commentary grew. The cruise started off well enough with a 9pm departure and an overnight trundle down the river to Fengdu the site of the ghost city. This was the most obscene, tourism, money making venture ever put on the planet. The original Buddhist and Taoist temples were smashed during the cultural revolution during the 1960’s with just 3 bridges and a partial temple left. So…they fully rebuilt…what they thought…should have been there (whether it belonged or not).

As such there was a series of 20-30 year old buildings, with full gift shops incorporated into their design (something that is always present in temples). Another had a kitchen with a bakery built into it, this room immediately followed a story by the tour guide of offerings of crackers to the gods for prosperity, longevity and some other thing. These crackers were then (surprisingly) for sale in the bakery. As it was the ghost city…in 1999 they added a bunch of statues to depict the theme. Grotesque looking things that did not mean anything other than it was an artist’s impression of blah. In addition the names of the landmarks include: ghost torturing pass, last glance home tower, no way out bridge and the river of blood.

The actual story and mythology of the journey to the underworld incorporated with the ruins was very interesting and would have been enough. The purely commercial rebuild was obscene. We were there in off season so there was about 25% of the people that would be there in peak times. Despite this we were like cattle being shunted from one tourist pen (temple) to the next. It was only a 3 hour trip but it could not end soon enough for either of us. A further example was the construction of 2 new exhibits that will be opened in the future. One was a recreation of a pagoda and the other was a 5 storey, Besser block head of a Taoist statue that had been painted yellow. These were partially constructed and were perched up a hill and will no doubt be vital photo opportunities for future generations.

The cruise continued and we sailed through the three gorges which were pure and unadulterated and magnificent. The first was the Qutang gorge which is a spectacular 8km stretch…about 2 hours later the Wu gorge appeared along with the Goddess Peak. Atop this peak was a temple thing that Jill delighted in prattling on about how she would never get me to walk the stairs to reach this. Needless to say that the zoom on our phone cameras could not even capture this thing it was so high up ( you could barely make out the staircase). After lunch we did a Sampan sail around one of the Yangtze River tributaries (Shennong Stream). While on a warm, dry day this might have been great but on a cold, wet and windy day we were seeking the hot shower upon our return.

That night we passed through the series of 5 locks to lower us the required 175 meters. An impressive piece of engineering no matter how many times you watch it. When this is combined with the electricity generating turbines the dam really is an impressive piece of kit supplying about 4% of China’s energy needs. Such projects are vital as solar is not an option, as we have seen the sun 3 times in the last 4 weeks. From here we entered the last of the gorges the Xiling gorge a 76km stretch which once again was lovely.

Our three gorges experience was done on a 5 star boat and was terrible. It was a tour group mentality, made for the aged, at the pace of the weakest link, it was entirely formulaic, there were 15 minute photo opportunities before being shuffled off to the next, and the whole experience was generally miserable. The food was a western interpretation of Asian and an Asian interpretation of Western in a buffet format, that did not work on any front.

This was a bit of a warts and all post. The natural elements were spectacular and were fully worth it, the technological aspects of the dam and locks were also great. The bolt on tourist stops were atrocious both in their composition and execution. Jill has long waxed lyrical of my intolerance for such things, however every time I searched for her during an organised excursion she was hiding in the corner playing candy crush on her phone in an attempt to boycott the herd mentality. Overall we cruised the Yangtze River for over 600kms and saw some incredible natural beauty.

China

Chongqing

November 6, 2013 richardpieper Leave a comment

Well we took another overnight sleeper carriage from Xian to Chongqing which again was very good. The reason for coming to Chongqing was that this is the departure point for a 4 day cruise down the Yangtze River through the 3 gorges and other generally good looking things. We had planned to do a side trip to Chengdu to check out the Pandas but our extension in Beijing kinda threw a spanner in the works on the timings.

As it turns out we have about 5 days here in Chongqing which on the face of it seems about 3 and a half days too long. The main tourist attraction is the Szechwan Hotpot. Which you can find almost everywhere so is not a real challenge. The main challenge is to be able to order and eat one without irrevocably destroying your colon. Now many of you would be aware that I am not shy of chilli and with Mike, Brad, and the occasional Scotty (sometimes fuelled by and other times quenched by beer) however this trip is pushing even my limits at times. I think mum’s mate from Sydney is the only bloke I have met who would do this comfortably.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/images/photogallery/2009/chongqing-hot-pot.jpg

On our first night in Chongqing we took an evening stroll along the Yangtze River to find a meal and then further again to let the meal settle and see what else was to be seen. We walked along the River bank, for about 8 Kms, and admired the obscene amounts of lights that get lit as they have a full time light show on ALL of the city buildings. Chongqing is a river city at the junction of the Yangtze and the Jialing rivers built amidst the mountains, as such it is steep, very steep. Now we have recovered from our stair traumas and are getting fitter each day with the walking etc…but steep is a whole other challenge. On the up side we have learned to walk to (or close to) exhaustion and pay the $2-3 cab fare back.

On our hike up the mountains (or city streets – depends on your perspective) this morning we had the best dumplings that I have ever had. Now, both fried and steamed dumplings have been a breakfast staple and we have had many including some great variations but today’s were sublime. On our walk yesterday evening, our side of the River was really dull and the other side looked really good. So we took the cable car from one side to the other. As it turned out our side is the cool side.

There is a zoo here so I will go and get a panda and tiger fix in (probably tomorrow). They sell a type of hoodie meets vest thing here that looks like a panda and we are wracking our brains to think of somebody who would appreciate such a thing. Dylan and Sky (Sao) come to mind but they are both too little and the others are all too big. The other challenge would then be to traverse the china postal service to send anything back home.

The next day came and went and we did in fact hit the zoo. It was incredible. Initially we were a touch disappointed when we got to the panda exhibit as the first exhibit was of an empty pen with a sign saying that this was Ling Ling’s pen and he moved in 2003. The second was a similar story but Yum Cha or Dim Sum or something had moved in 2007. The third pen had a panda up a tree. You could get a photo of the white blur of a panda’s ass (which we got) up a tree. We decided to see the rest of the zoo and come back later. The rest of the zoo was sensational with a minor issue of pen sizes for some bears (the only blight on an excellent zoo).

There was a tiger that took exception to a bird in his enclosure and was stalking it like prey and pouncing (unsuccessfully). His other 3 mates were in their own enclosures but were much less animated. The lion had a roaring session (not while we were watching but it could be heard throughout the park) that sent Chinese people racing for the enclosure. The orang-utans were old but were still way cool. And there was a horny pig getting his rocks off in the petting zoo. All of this was in addition to the regular zoo fare of elephants, zebras, camels, ostriches, monkeys, birds etc.

4 hours later and we gave the pandas another crack. The blur had left the tree and was munching on some bamboo but was mostly obstructed. An old couple came past with a guide they had hired who said that they would get better pictures from the other six upstairs…other six…upstairs…what the…I became a stalker waiting for them to leave so I could follow them to this mythical place that was…upstairs.

I didn’t have to wait too long and around a corner we went…then there were stairs to a gift shop…then another corner…and then the mystical stairs of which he spoke. Upon arriving atop the stairs six (count em six) open pens with platforms covered in fresh cut bamboo each housing seemingly famished great pandas munching away. All in clear plain sight, no camera impediments, no throngs of tourists just happy pandas having a feed. Claudia Naug would have been in utter bliss as we stood for about 30 mins watching, photographing and videoing them.

A final point on the zoo. It costs 30 yuan in peak season and 20 for us as it was off season. So based upon today’s exchange rate we got hours of entertainment for $3.46 each. These costs blow out considerably when you add the 4 yuan each, each way on the train. Jill had a 15 yuan ice cream and I had an 8 yuan mystery meat on a stick. All this adds up to the fact that 2 people had a 25km train journey to a zoo, paid entrance, got fed and got home for $13.66.

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midliferadventure

The India I expected from day one…Agra

New Delhi etc

New Delhi

Farewell (for now) to China…hello India

Yangshuo to Guilin and on to Guangzhou

Bamboo Rafting and Lumps

Guilin

Wuhan

Cruising the Yangtze

Chongqing

Travelling the world in a pre and post COVID state