Text-only version

5th April

Wake-up was at 6.30, cases out by 7am, then breakfast. Then said goodbye to the lovely crew, who had all worked so hard to give us a good trip. We disembarked at Chongqing, an enormous city which is undergoing  a lot of building, partly because the lower ground will be flooded. The population totals over 30 million, with several million in the city centre, which is largely industrial. I wasn't expecting much from what I had read, but in fact really enjoyed our day in the city. This time we were targeted by people selling maps but escaped to the coaches unscathed. We had a fantastic guide called Allen. He was by far our best, with clear English and a great sense of humour. He also talked of everyday things, such as his family and how he makes his 4 yr old daughter learn English for an hour every evening, much to her disgust. After a short drive we went on a walking tour, having stopped by The People's Hall, a massive hall and hotel. Yesterday's storm had cooled the temperature a bit so it was comfortable sight-seeing weather. There were people doing Tai sword in the big square. We then walked to the market, which was fascinating. 

Everything you could ever wish to buy to eat - and plenty more you wouldn't! Those that were feeling a little delicate that morning were advised to close their eyes at times. I was struck by how clean it was everywhere (apart from  some of the stall holders smoking over the food). We never saw litter, wherever we went.

After the market we went to the zoo where we concentrated on the giant pandas and tigers, both of which are in danger of extinction. We learned a lot from Allen. There were lots of children at the zoo and I'm afraid we tended to be more interested in them than in the animals! They had a great system whereby they all hung on to each other - the teacher would have 3 or 4 tiny pairs of hands dragging on her shirt, and in turn, each child was being hung on to by another child. 

Our next stop was an art gallery where we were given a demonstration of Chinese painting and an insight into the relationship between art and poetry. There were some beautiful paintings and we were looking to buy one but the ones we liked were all too big. We also visited an exhibition of the Three Gorges, consisting of an enormous long painting showing the gorge as it is, and where the water level will finally reach. We bought a cop signed by the artist, who was on site. There were more paintings there but we still couldn't find what we wanted. 

We had an excellent lunch - this is the Sezchuan area and the cuisine there is more familiar to us. It was quite spicy and absolutely delicious - and we had forks with which to serve the food! We had a bit of time left before going to the airport so stopped at a very pleasant park. Martyn, being very tall, caused quite a stir with the children there, who were delighted to show off their few words of English. We had been warned that he would be stared at a lot as the Chinese are not a very tall race. The Chinese were as curious about us as we were about them - and it's not considered impolite to stare, so they did!  They are great gamblers and we came across lots of groups of people playing cards or mahjong in the shade. 

On returning to the coach we saw the children again and they were giving an impromptu singing performance to other members of our group - which was reciprocated by a rendition of 'You are my Sunshine' - which seemed entirely appropriate. 

Then we went off to the airport fro our flight to Xian. The transfers were very simple - all we had to do with our luggage was collect it from the conveyor belt at the other end. The flight was half an hour late so we had quite a long wait. Although the airports are very nice - lots of space and very clean - the seats are nasty plastic and not very comfortable. The flight was only about an hour and a quarter and comfortable enough. Fortunately we had been booked to eat in our hotel - the brand new Xiqi, as it was getting quite late by the time we arrived there. Our luggage hadn't arrived so we went straight to dinner where we were later given our room keys. Dinner was good but I'd made a bit of a pig of myself earlier so wasn't very hungry and was feeling exhausted. We'd been told we'd have the option of going to a Tang Dynasty show that evening but in fact were too late. The luggage turned up at 10.15pm so we couldn't get that early a night as we had to get organised for another early start in the morning! The beds were almost as hard as those on the ship, unfortunately, but we slept well.

6th April

We had breakfast at the hotel and then left for another very full day. Our guide was Peter who was a history fanatic. He had decided we were all going to become experts in Chinese history. I'm still rather hazy about the dynasties, however, despite his best efforts. 

Our first stop was to see the Small Wild Goose Pagoda which was built in AD707. there's a large one too but it's been heavily restored, unlike the smaller one. It's in a lovely peaceful park that also contained a giant bell and a few shops. There was some lovely music playing so I bought a CD of it - luckily it was the right one. Martyn's camera failed - turned out it needed a new battery so we were relieved to be able to take some snaps with the video. I finally found a painting I liked and  bought it in a mad rush - you get a cheaper price if you say you have to leave & haven't time to buy! There was a shop selling some wonderful wooden things too but they were too big. The one shown above was my favourite.

Our next stop was at a jade factory which was very interesting although we were whizzed through the workshop - would have been nice to have had a good look at how they were working. A guide explained all about jade - the different qualities and so on, and showed us several beautiful items. We were in a huge shop, full of the loveliest things. We were spoilt for choice but were finally tempted by a jade ball - it looks like a puzzle, being carved from one piece, it consists of lots of balls within each other, with holes so you can see the previous layers. Martyn also bought me a lovely jadeite ring and earrings - we hadn't intended to splash out that much but the saleslady was very good at her job! I'd have liked a couple of jade warriors, horses or dragons but they were huge and although seemingly well-priced, with shipping included, there's always the catch of having to pay a huge amount of tax when they turn up in the UK!

Lunch was taken at a nearby restaurant. Apparently we were now in 'noodle' country and Peter was a huge noodle fan. The noodles were OK..... Then we went on to see the Terracotta Warriors. Our visit began with a surround film explaining their history, or at least, one possible version. Peter had some other ideas! These amazing statues were discovered in the 1970s when local farmers were digging for wells. The man that made the initial discovery is alive and well - and signing books in the museum shop! We'd run out of cash so were unable to buy anything. the site is vast with the pits being enclosed in buildings the size of aircraft hangars. It was all very interesting and although many of the figures have been restored, there's still an awful lot to do. 

This was the one place where we did seem to have enough time - we even managed to sit down in the sunshine and eat ice lollies!

Then we left for the airport where we found there was a delay of at least 2 hours. It transpired that there had been heavy fog in Beijing, where we were bound, followed by a sand storm and this had delayed everything; our flight hadn't even left Beijing. Regina and Avril were very good and arranged for drinks and biscuits for everyone - a relief as we were virtually cashless, not having had opportunity to change any further money. We'd managed on US$100 since the first day - and some use of the credit card of course! We were lucky in that the flight was no more than 2 hrs late - but it meant we were going to be very late for our last night's special Peking Duck dinner. In the event, some people decided to opt for a good night's rest instead and  so we split into 2 different coach loads and some went straight to the hotel. We were exhausted, but it seemed a shame not to mark our last night in some way. We went to the 'Beijing Gather Together Peking Duck Restaurant' which we were told is the number 1 duck restaurant in the city. We arrived at about 10pm, when most restaurants have been long closed. The food was very good and we were glad we'd gone. 

We finally arrived at our hotel, the Xindadu where we'd spent our first night, at midnight. Our room was OK but not quite as nice as the one we'd had earlier with less space , but with good, comfy beds, thank goodness! Didn't feel too good and had to take some Imodium, hoping it'd sort me out by morning - when we had another excursion before flying back to the UK.

Saturday 7th April

Had to be up early - what a surprise. Called at 6.15, luggage out by 6.45. Since neither of us felt too good, we skipped breakfast and dosed up on more Imodium. Martyn cashed some money so we wouldn't feel quite so destitute as yesterday! There was a big change in the weather and it was extremely cold and windy. We had our original guide, David, back again, and he took us to Tiananmen Square first. it is enormous, and very open so we were frozen and windswept. the square covers 100 acres and contains the memorial hall with the embalmed body of Chairman Mao - fortunately it was Sunday and so shut. Apparently there are normally huge queues to go and see the body. We had a group photo taken, with everyone from both groups and our guides. I had to kneel on the ground - it was freezing.

The Square leads to the Forbidden City which covers 175 acres of palaces, courtyards and gardens. It was built in the 15th Century and wasn't open to ordinary people for 500 years, hence the name. It contains a total of 9,999 rooms, an auspicious number. We had an amusing incident when going to the loo before entering the City. One of our crowd came out saying there was a huge queue for the ladies, but we decided to risk it. When we arrived there was no-one in the queue. It transpired that a guide had come along and kicked all the men out of the gents so the women could go in there to get the queue down. How very sensible! But confusing for the British men who hadn't a clue what was going on. 

You walk through gate after gate, through the outer and inner courtyards until you get to the end, where there is a garden. The courtyards and palaces are all very symmetrical and you tend to forget how far through them you have moved. Fortunately the weather had warmed up a bit but it was still very windy. We had tea in a shop but didn't buy anything, other than a guidebook which we bought outside for very little.

Our flight was at 2pm so we had to be at the airport quite early - amazing how much we packed into the morning! This time we had to check in our own baggage which seemed to take ages. We picked the check-in desk at which the conveyor decided to break down. There was also quite a wait to get through visa control so by the time we were through, it was almost time for our flight. We spent our last few yuan on some chocolate for our daughters and for Martyn's people in the office - it was disgusting though. Warning - never buy Chinese chocolate pandas. And a small bottle of water, ridiculously priced at £3!!

The flight seemed more comfortable this time, perhaps because it was daytime and we were in  better positioned seats. I managed to sleep far better than the outward flight, when I was perhaps trying too hard. We landed on time but there was  a long delay in collecting our luggage. 

Conclusions

This was a fantastic holiday that could have been made even better had we had 3 more nights so that each hotel stop was for 2 rather than 1 night. There would have been a bit more time to relax and to see the sights without being so rushed. But it was certainly good value and we did see everything we'd been promised. Other than money for drinks (especially water as you can't even clean your teeth in tap water), tips and airport taxes, we could have managed without spending anything else at all. 

The tour was of good quality and I didn't feel that anything was skimped on, other than time. I'd love to go back to see other parts of this amazing country and also to see the Yangtse when the dam is finally up and running.