Traveling day twenty four

Let's not speak of it. Let's not speak again of the delays, and the hours in airports, or the $13 hot chocolate we refused to buy so we had to sneak out of the cafe before ordering. Let's not speak of the rounds of card games we had to play, or the can of beans we were offered by the airline after a four hour delay. Let's not speak of the man who hacked his way through an entire flight. Let's not speak of our seats which were near the toilets so every time someone flushed it was like a small waterfall release behind our heads. Let's not speak of missing our connecting flight in Sydney (even though we were given express passes through immigration and customs). I will give a big shout out to Qantas who looked after us so well and helped us get home.

Let's block that day out.

Because at the end of the 25 hour trip

We were home.

old railway bridge on the lake near our host's house in Wuhan

Traveling day twenty-three - in which we shop until we stop

Crazy Market day.  Imagine Crazy Clark's
spread over ten blocks, with each street featuring a different product - hair accessories street, sewing machine street, toy street, sticky tape street, scarf street, leather jacket street, homewards street....I
always wonder how any of the shops make any money if they are all together.  I guess the sheer numbers of people in China ensures that there are enough buyers for the sellers.
I did some prop shopping in the market, and we had a very local lunch at a street cafe with a
lady who had the lungs of a trained opera singer, and a young chef with a carefully folded newspaper chef hat.  Delicious food cooked right in front of us with ingredients we had picked out from the containers on the table.

choosing what to have for lunch

love his newspaper chef hat

old apartments being demolished to make room for new ones

wires...Chinese style

I have loved hanging out with my friends here in China and re-connecting with some friends I met last time.  It is definitely worth investing in relationships, the pay-off is so amazing.  Each time I travel it is also a good time to do some self-examining and personal growth.  And make it less about me.

My mind is turning to home, and I am keen to get there.  But there are two days of full on travel to go......Australia is a long way from China.

Onwards.

traveling day twenty-two - in which we immerse in Chinese culture

A tea ceremony with Chinese local friends started the morning today, after a long public transport trek across town.  We sat at the back of a little shop in the Tea Market, and were treated to many different sorts of tea.  I started guessing the season and year of the tea like a wine critic just for fun, and got three and a half answers correct out of four (the half answer was because I said Autumn 2013, which obviously hasn't happened here yet but I meant now, which is Spring 2013).  I bestowed upon myself the title of Tea Prophet and made Sweeping Tea Statements.  Our lovely tea host did not quite know whether to be extremely polite and take me seriously or just laugh.  Tea is taken very seriously here in China.  I may have discovered my hidden gift of telling when a tea is grown just by the taste.  I bought a little sugar bowl at the shop as a way of saying thank you for all the lovely tea, and for putting up with my Tea Generalisations.

'This green tea was from the Spring 2013 crop' (Tea Prophet - Catriona Pine)

This is a Tea Pet.  You pour leftover tea onto it and it brings you luck.

Friends that drink much tea together, visit the bathroom together for the rest of the day.

The Yangzte River through Wuhan.

All the tea had made us peckish, so we popped into Food Street for some excellent Chinese street food.  Interestingly, on this trip I had planned exceptionally well for any gastro difficulties that may arise with all sorts of pills and potions.  However, our stomachs have been extremely fine (we are careful to drink bottled water), and we have all had varying degrees of the sniffles and pollution cough.  Next time I am packing cold and flu tablets.

Granny eating...something...in Food Street in Wuhan

mmmmm banana pancakes

Yellow Crane tower in Wuhan.  Tourist shot.

 To pack in some more Chinese culture we stopped at the Yellow Crane Tower, Wuhan's premier photo spot.  Or lookout tower, depending what century you are in.  I chose not to walk to the top.  It is pretty high.  But Deanne and I imagined the tasks that would be set here if the Yellow Crane Tower was on the Amazing Race.  We have been pretending we are on the Amazing Race for some of the trip, and dividing up the tasks.  Deanne is excellent at navigation, and I would eat most anything.  We would take turns doing the height challenges, and cane the puzzle challenges.  We have thought about it a bit....

view of Wuhan from Yellow Crane Tower

view from up the Yellow Crane Tower

Texting Girl Under Willows At Yellow Crane Tower.  I bring you art.

In the afternoon we were picked up by a family I had met last time my family were here.  They have twin girls with disabilities, and are struggling with what to do with them.  The girls have moderate learning difficulties and mild cognitive difficulties, and do not fit into the Chinese education system.  They stay at home with their mum and their little brother (who was allowed to be born under the one child policy because his sisters have a disability).  We played some games with them, and talked about strategies for them to learn daily skills and improve language and learning.  It was a good visit, but a bit frustrating.  I am not sure of the availability of support for these students in China - I kept thinking - surely there are millions more children like this, and why are they not in school?  As a thank you for our time Deanne and I were taken out to dinner by the family, who ordered a proper Chinese banquet.  Everything was delicious, and everything was new to me.  I felt blessed by them, and hope the girls are able to make a good life.

The twins at dinner with a whole fish we consumed.

Deanne with one of the twins we worked with

the whole family took us out for an excellent Chinese dinner

Tomorrow we go to the crazy market.  I plan to shop for props.  Then we start to come home on Friday!

Onwards.

Traveling day twenty-one - in which I finally eat many dumplings

It was so lovely to see my school friend again who lives in Wuhan.  We are staying with her family for a few days while we check out the city and do some volunteering.

This morning we took a bus trip to see a Buddhist temple.  Interesting.....not sure I loved it....at all.....

And this afternoon Deanne and I had a wonderful opportunity to catch up with some of the Chinese locals I met last time I was here.  We visited the kindy that they run, and gave a talk about storytelling and literacy (planned and prepared that morning).  They had excellent questions, and are running a very innovative kindergarten program for China.  It was wonderful to follow up on relationships from 18 months ago and see dreams becoming little realities for these forward thinking strong people.  We were going to catch the bus home, but Deanne and I were taken in a taxi right to our front door.

Talking about guided reading, puppets and storytelling at the kindy

participants in storytelling workshop

teachers at the Chinese kindy

walking to dinner

loved visiting with her!

mmmm dumplings

 For dinner we had many plates of dumplings.  Love them.  There is really nothing like Chinese dumplings and beer for dinner.  Mmmmmmm (*wiping drool off my mouth*).

Tomorrow we are being taken to a tea market.  And I will get an opportunity to visit with some more kids with disabilities.

Onwards.

Traveling day twenty - in which I rediscover my mad bike skillz

We had a morning to fill in Xian before we flew to Wuhan, so we decided to catch the bus to the old city wall where you can hire a bike and ride all around it. 

Catching the bus is great on China - I completely rely on the kindness of strangers to tell me where the stop is, and the buses are frequent, cheap and go everywhere.  Brisbane could learn some lessons on public transport from China and Kyrgyzstan.

We hired bikes. And helmets.  We were the only people wearing helmets.  Crazy Australians.  The ride was 14 km around a rectangle of wall punctuated by ramparts and watchtowers.  The ramparts were 120 m apart, because apparently an arrow can be shot 60 m, so there was no space you could attack the wall that was out of arrow range.  There was even a moat.  I didn't see crocodiles though.  The riding surface was cobblestones, so my whole body shuddered a bit as I was riding.  Let's just say for once I was glad of my extra posterior padding.

looking down the city wall in Xian

riding!

spied on some Chinese dancing ladies over the side of the wall

We had to hang around for a while for the plane to Wuhan.  Traveling involves a lot of waiting.  And then some more waiting.  Then.....some waiting.  I enjoy people watching and making up stories for them.  It passes the time.  I get the most homesick when I am waiting.  If I am away and doing something it is fine, but waiting does my head in a little.  Maybe waiting is good for my character.

We arrived in Wuhan late, but very happy to see my friends.

Onwards.

Traveling day nineteen - in which I take almost as many photos as there are Terracotta Warriors

Today was the day we got to do the most touristy thing on our trip - chosen by Granny.  We hired a driver and an English speaking guide to go and see the Terracotta Warriors, apparently the eighth wonder of the world (according to our guide).

Things I learnt about the warriors that I didn't know:
- the same emperor who commissioned the warriors for his tomb also built the Great Wall of China - Emperor Ch'in (where the name China comes from because he unified the tribes/took over everyone else).  He was a BIG thinker.
- there are about 8000 warriors - four different types of men (generals, middle ranking officers, archers and infantry) and one type of horse
- you can tell what rank each soldier was by their hairstyle
- all soldiers had moustaches.  All.
- each warrior was individually carved and their faces were modelled on real people
- they were painted bright colors, and when the colors are exposed to oxygen the colour fades and peels in about 15 seconds, so they have left some still buried
- the army was discovered by farmers in 1974 - and there was one of the original farmers sitting at a desk at the entrance signing books (for a fee)
- the soldiers were standing up in specially constructed wooden corridors
- the emperor suddenly died while he was inspecting his tomb - so they stopped working on it and buried him
- the tomb was attacked by a general 100 years later and all of the weapons that the Terracotta soldiers were holding were taken
- some of the weapons had chrome plating - invented by the Chinese 2000 years before anyone else
- they are uncovering entertainers, acrobats and musicians closer towards the actually tomb after the soldiers
- the emperor's tomb has not been opened - it is still sealed up and protected by a river of mercury, poison darts, and booby traps.  I am pretty sure Indiana Jones would have a go.

getting ready to go see the Terracotta Warriors

oh yeah - there's heaps of them!

a bronze chariot that was found in the tomb

the front three lines of the warriors.  Otherwise known as the cannon fodder.

The warriors were fired in the kiln without a head, then the head was placed on after.  Like Lego.

Unrestored warriors.

I quite liked the terracotta horses and chariot drivers.

Spot the difference.

The only complete warrior to be found - this Lucky Archer.

Our guide was excellent, and he took us to a local resturant after our Warrior visit because we were fainting from hunger.  We were a tourist attraction for the locals I think, especially when we asked for noodles with no chillies, no even a tablespoon because we can't really mean NO chillies.

We have also become alternative communication users when we are out in the streets of China.  I get the hotel staff to write vocabulary in Chinese characters for me, and I use these to talk with people eg where is the toilet, no chillies please, this s my hotel.  Our vocabulary is limited, but we have been able to catch a bus, eat, shop and go to the loo.

Tonight we went and checked out the Drum Tower, Bell Tower and Muslim quarter in Xian.  Lots of action, food, neon lights and people.  I was approached to have my photo taken with some strangers.  I tried to look nonchalant, like this happens all the time.  We had tasty tasty Chinese street food.  We were also stopped by a couple of girls who were doing their grade eight girls doing their English homework - they obviously had to interview foreigners in English and tell them a prepared speech. They were good, but didn't understand me when I went off script and joked and asked them questions.

Down the street in Xian.  This was a clear day.

The Bell Tower in Xian.

I am unreasonably excited about seeing tulips in the park in Xian.

Annie and Deanne in the Muslim Quarter in Xian.

the Drum Tower in Xian at night.

Tomorrow we have a morning in Xian, then off to Wuhan to visit with friends. Nearly home!

Onwards.