Singapore Day 2

Bird park tour

Lunch time at Albert center! Crowds and stalls

Markets again

Packing

Meet Simon for coffee

Dinner at hotel

Wander around by myself

Home to finish packing

Day one Singapore

Red bus sightseeing
Lost ticket botanic gardens
Heat
Simon lunch
Lil China Town
Little India
Camera man haggling
Night safari

Two Days in Tianjin

View from our hotel window!

Well we're on the bus traveling back to Beijing after two days in Tianjin, a port city south of Beijing. The boys have played here in under less the ideal conditions. The synthetic pitch was very poor quality and looked as if it has been abandoned, but on the contrary, they are obviously used by many and no money for upkeep. There was gravel, rubbish and broken glass on the pitch in some places and  the rubber beads which at one point must have had some sponginess to them, were now baked rock hard in the sun and sat on top of the worn down grass, which made the boys slip dangerously around as if they were playing on gravel. Any of the boys that went to ground, not just ours, ended up with bad grazes.

Boys match under a grey sky.

Of course, the other difficulty has been the ever present thick haze that covers the skies of Tianjin. In the afternoon of the day we arrived the smog was so thick, and the city so dirty and run down, that it reminded me of a scene in the movie blade runner! Dirty grimy smoggy, run down, crowded and flashing neon signs in Chinese script. All we needed was for it to start raining acid rain for it to be complete! The boys have played two games here, yesterday a game against the under 15 boys which they won 5-1 and today against the under 17s that we drew 1 all. The conditions were equally poor for our boys and theirs of course, but our boys would have been slightly more disadvantaged due to the sheer shock factor. This is just the way it is here and I'm sure our boys thank their lucky stars for the life they have back home in as Australia.

Local markets in Tianjin.

The bus trip down to Tianjin through the Chinese country 

side was certainly an eye opener. The vegetation and roads are 

covered in grey pollution and there is rubbish laying on the ground around the old villages and in the water ways, which by the way, are also covered in blue green algae. It's only when you see the men sitting round fishing in them that you wonder if the water could possibly sustain any life.

The traffic here in China is also something to experience (or not, depending on how strong your ticker is!). Beijing is like most other cities, in that it has massive freeways, pedestrian crossing's (Cross at your own risk there!), lights though usually only the bare minimum, and foot paths, though unlike in Australia they are not necessarily just for pedestrians, but for cars to park on also. I guess the thing that stands out most is that cars rarely use indicators, instead preferring to sound their horns to let other vehicles know that they are changing lanes or coming through, not unlike India. However, on the road in China it seems that cars doing u turns, changing lanes or merging have just as much or more right of way than other cars travelling forward. 

The Great Wall

Boys at the top!

Hello my love, just lying here completely exhausted from a most amazing day. Calling you this morning from the great wall, was quite a surreal moment. I loved sharing it with you....was it 'as good for you as it was for me baby! ;-) Little did I know when I spoke to you, that not long after, I'd be struggling to get to the top tier and shortly after that, my legs would be so fatigued that by the time I stopped half way down to rest, my legs would be spamming! I hate to think how they will feel in the morning, even after some ibuprofen and stretching! Offered to pay Gareth the physio for a leg massage later, he only laughed! I said I wasn't kidding.... He laughed again. No deal!

Yay! Made it!

On our way!

Yes, it was an amazing structure and yes it was an incredible view, but the whole way up and down all I kept thinking was, what an incredibly effective security device it was and I kept wondering at how anyone wearing any kind of armour and carrying any kind of weapon could traverse the wall let alone carry out any kind of an attack on it.

Once again a great moment and something else I could tick off on my bucket list, if I had one. By far the most awesome and memorable thing we've done in China! 

Jade Horse carving

On the way up to the wall we stopped off at the government run jade factory. Our guide made a big deal about these government run factories, regarding their pricing, authenticity and quality. These tours usually consisted of a15-20 minute speil about the history and production of the item and then the hard sell starts. At the jade factory they start you off in a smallish room where the price of things ranged from hundreds to tens of thousands. After I had a bit of a laugh to myself and thought, this is going to be a quick shopping trip for us, we wandered off into the main room where prices were more reasonable. Admittedly the pieces were amazing, and I had no idea that jade came in so many amazing colors. If it hadn't been for the usual hard sell, looking at the pieces and admiring the spectacular sculptures would have been a real pleasure. One of my lasting impressions was of an American couple who were looking at some spectacular jade sculptures and arguing over which piece to buy. Incidently the poor henpecked husband lost out in the end, but the two pieces they were arguing over were tens of thousands of dollars!

On the way back from the wall, we stopped for lunch at a huge rest stop area which was you guessed it, another government run 'factory'! This time it was a Cloisonné factory and one again we had the tour first and then the gift shop. A lot of the parents were fed up by this stage because we're rushed through the sights and then left for hours in these gift shops. We spent 2 hours at the jade factory in the morning, were given 1 hour at the wall, and them 2 hours at the Cloisonné factory! Not happy Jan!!

Well, I'm falling asleep as I'm typing this so it's bed time for me. Will hopefully sleep soundly tonight. I'll finish this day off in the morning as we have an early start and check out at 11. 

Summer Palace

The long pergola

Good morning my love! It's been another long day here for us, very busy. As usual, up early and back to the hotel late. I'm sitting here in bed watching the Japanese news channel while I'm writing this.... at least I can understand what's being said even if it's not what's happening here! :-) The day as you know started out with us pilfering bags full of pastries from the hotel again. We then went out to see the Summer Palace. Once again, very run down, dirty and unimpressive. Same building style and colors as the other temples, and no real beauty to speak of. The most impressive part of the building, was the long corridor, which was about 780 meters long It is basically a long covered pergola, built so that the emperor could spend long walks out in the open even during the wet summer. The other point of interest was the cobbled stone path next to the paved path. It was like a mosaic made out of coloured pebbles, though all very grey looking now, and was laid so that the emperor could take off his shoes and walk bare foot along it so as to massage his feet. The ancient ancestor to the masseur sandal! 

Monkey and his followers

On the dragon boat with Nan

I took some photos of the covered pergola for you, because the ceilings were decorated with illustrations of famous novels, so of course there were images of Monkey. I think it was the most crowded of all the places we've been to so far. We also got to ride on a dragon boat ferry across the lake to the other side, where your mum connected with an elderly Chinese lady about 80 yrs old and had her photo taken with her. Oh, and on arrival into China at immigration your mum and I were the first to line up pretty much, but our officer was the slowest and most disinterested and so we ended up being the last to go through! We were getting so frustrated and upset with the immigration officer, it was all we could do not to scream at him once we finally got to the front of the line! Your mum went through before me and I noticed he said something and smiled and laughed, then, he looked over slightly embarrassed at the officer next to him, who also chuckled. When I finally got through, I asked your mum what he had said and she said he he had looked up at her surprised and said, 'oh, beautiful'! Needless to say she was chuffed and forgave him his previous sins! :-)



After the Summer Palace, we were taken to what we were told was going to be a 'tea ceremony', which I was keen to see, having participated in many Japanese tea ceremonies. Unfortunately, it was just tea tasting and a sales pitch, similar to the silk 'factory' tour yesterday and the Jade factory tour we'll go to tomorrow on the way to the Great Wall. The boys will join us at the Wall tomorrow so we can climb it together. After Dr teas tea house, we went into the Houtong and had the nicest lunch we've had yet. It was at the home of a family who have lived in the Houtong district for 4 generations and was prepared by one of the ladies who lives there now. It’s famous for being "home cooking" and had the feel of a small village home like the small one's on Santorini.

Our Opera singing chef

At the Houtong after an amazing meal

The cook was very friendly and there was one other tourist group there at the same time as us. They are only open for lunch and the food was delicious. The atmosphere great too! Everyone enjoyed it! The food was quite different to what we had been having and your mum not only loved the food, but the "impromptu" Chinese opera performance by the cook after we had finished eating. :-) She pulled out of her pocket her Samsung Galaxy phone, selected the music and away she went! Very cute! She also gave us a short history of the area and her family. The small houses had tiny kitchens, couldn't believe how much she was able to prepare in a kitchen the size of our laundry! And no bathrooms! Every 50 meters or so along the streets, there were communal baths and toilets. 

After the boys soccer match in the afternoon, we went to dinner with them in the Embassy district and though the meals were mostly identical to the ones we're getting at all of the restaurants, they were better quality. While we were waiting to leave, the men got hold of a menu, something we haven't seen yet, and the meals that were on it were various and delicious looking. It was then that we realized we've been getting the basic banquet meals wherever we've been!

Temple of Heaven

Hey my love, sorry I missed you, but we've been out on the town after dinner. I wanted to go out to see some of the real Beijing, so Geoff escorted your mum and I around the local area for an hour or so. Was really interesting. Saw lots of local food traders on the street, and lots of local smells, and did a bit of window shopping. Geoff and your mum bought a couple of things, clothes and bags.

The toilets here have left a lasting impression on all of us. I'm continuing the Barlow tradition of compiling a comprehensive list of loos in Beijing. In the last couple of days, I've been to 5* loos and I've had to endure -5* ones as well. Actually today I have seen the worst EVER! Felt sick to my stomach so think -100* maybe. Didn't actually use them, got out as quick possible. After yesterday's visit to the toilets in the dormitories at the boys school, I didn't think it could get any worse. I was wrong!

Stretching out of the Silk Cocoon

Anyway, enough about loos. I'll tell you what we did this morning. We went to the Temple of Heaven; again stark and not much to see. No gardens or grass, much like the Forbidden City. Oh yes. We went to a silk factory and saw the whole process from start to finish. Had no idea what was involved, but was amazed that there's not much skill in weaving the thread, or more appropriately unweaving. Your mum and i splashed out and bought a silk doona each, summer weight.

Then after a very ordinary lunch we went to the Dodgey Brothers store for some more shopping - knock off bags and electrical good. That was an amazing experience as I said to you on the phone. Our guide made a phone call when we arrived, a guy came out of the 'exit' door to meet and escort us down a dark dirty stair well, down 5 flights of stairs to a carpark. At the back of this dingy dirty carpark was a door. He knocked and a guy opened the door and let us in. He quickly locked the door after us!

Oh and by the way, on the way to the temple of heaven, there was a park similar to Inokashira Koen, and we saw a very large amount of locals in groups, singing, dancing, juggling, taichi-ing and doing other stuff such as playing cards, crocheting, knitting and of course mahjong while socializing. Was an incredible atmosphere and more fun and interesting than the temple itself! :-)

In the morning we're off to the Houtong district and tea ceremony. Keen to see how that differs to Japanese ones, and then the Summer Palace. Hopefully catch up in the morning and have time to chat a bit. XX

To Beijing and Beyond!

Tiananmin Squre team photo

Hi all, it's been a week since we left OZ!  So much had happened by the second day of the tour, that we all felt as if we'd been here over a week then!  Now, however, we can already feel the end of the tour coming all too quickly!

Has been a whirlwind tour so far, so there hasn't been much down time to be able to blog. Also, as access to social media sites are blocked in China, we haven't been able to Facebook, blog, twitter and even email, until today. I’ve found a way around emailing, so finally able to get stuff "out of the country"! :-) 

I won't write too much, only that China has been nothing like what I feared and a lot of what I expected. I've been able to type a quick summary of our days to spike on Skype, so I've cut and pasted that at the bottom of this email for anyone that's interested.

The main points of interest have been of course the climb up the Great Wall, which I'm still suffering from 2 days later!! :-0  Arguably, the most surreal moment so far was calling and talking to Spike from on top of the Great Wall!.

Coming in to land

Haze over Beijing

The shocking air pollution in Beijing. However, after being in Tianjin for a couple of days, we now realize how good we had it in Beijing! I'm currently sitting in our room with stinging eyes and stuffed sinuses and Helen has one very bloodshot eye which came on today, that we are treating with eye drops.  The traffic, which we thought was chaos in Beijing, but now realize, was at least organized chaos. Tianjin on the other hand is totally disorganized chaos! Helen has said that the drive into the city was the most frightening experience she's ever had to endure. No line markings, cars weaving in and out jostling for pole position dangerously close and horns blaring.

Anyway that's all for now, it's 11:30pm here and I have to go down for breakfast at about 6:30am, so need to get some rest. Apologies for the impersonal group email, but all I can manage at the moment. Oh I forgot, the soccer has been good too! Grants playing well and has improved over the stay. Has scored 4 goals and got a few assists. The team has won two and lost two and they still have 3 games to play. 

OK better get this off, love to All! See you back in oz in about a week! XX