Blue Skies in Beijing

Blue Skies In Beijing Done the big one- climbed a very small section of the Great Wall- had to almost crawl up, but a member of our group is 85 and he climbed up to the same point. It was very steep with uneven steps, but then we sat in an empty temple and watched people like ants crawling along a large section. We also had our best coffee for the holiday.It was a very big day as we had to leave at 7am to get to the Great Wall early, and then after lunch we drove by the Olympic venues. The Bird's Nest really is stunning and dwarfs the Water Cube close by. They are much better in reality than on TV. Then we went to the Summer Palace which is almost 300 acres and only 20 km from centre of Beijing but has no sign of urban encroachment. It has a huge lake, an island, a marble boat and the longest outdoor corridor in the world. All along the coridor there are thousands of paintingThe weather was sunny with bright blue skies, so much for Beijing smog. I wish we were doing what they are doing, which is building a new subway line every year until 2015. One fifth of private cars are banned on each day of theweek, according to number plate. Beijing is unlike any of the other cities, very open , a height level on buildings so no obvious skyscrapers, very wide roads (because they knocked down the old city wall!!)but with the moat still running beside the road.The day finished with a fantastic Acrobat Show, like the shows they used to bring to Australia with bike tricks and juggling and great effects.We came on the overnight train from Xian to Beijing. Xian is another intersting city with an intact city wall from when the SIlk road started here in the 1500's, it also has a large active Muslim section with a mosque where the men were streaming in to prayers,and the only English television was Al JazerraBeijing is different from all the other cities, more like Melbourne perhaps in the Melbourne /Sydney divide in Australia. Lots of young people and geared to young people but parks full of all ages exercising, playing Mahjong, badminton, table tennis, on exercise machines which are spread everywhere, ballroom dancing, walking very precious dogs,and of course grandparents with a grandchild, in fact some babies have 3 or 4 elderly people in tow, consequence of one child policy I suppose, but now the first generation of one child families are starting to marry and they are allowed to have 2 children if they are both only children. The impact of this policy is the most obvious feature of cultural/social policy I have ever seen. There are lots of stories from the young guides about the consequences, especially the demanding nature of girlfriends, who are, of course, in short supply and their capcity to demand fully furnished apartments as part of the wedding dealThe group breaks up now and goes their separate ways but we still have Guangzhou and Hong Kong
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The Great Rivers of China

Flew to Chongqing ,at the junction of the Yangtze & Jialing rivers. This is where the Three Gorges Project will impact Really big boats will be able to come up here and a lot of industrial goods can be transferred by river in future, also enough hydro for large area of China. Chongquing is very mountainous hence no bikes. It also has very few trafic lights relying on pedestrian overpasses and traffic over & under passes which saves a lot of pollution.

This was the capital during the Japanese War, which had a fair bit of emphasis. It is a very foggy city making it hard to attack. After a city tour, including a very well used central park with karaoke happening at midday Saturday, we had the visit to the General Stillwell Museum, which was his headquarters during the War but Chiang Kai- Schek had him sacked as he was too close to Mao.

The next day a bus to Dazu where there are 800 year old buddhist carvings, really detailed, carved in sandstone at 2 different locations

On Sunday we arrived in Chengdu. This is the capital of Sichwuan, where the earthquake caused such devastation in April, not that there is any sign here. It is also the home of the very spicy cuisine so lots of chilli, but as we usually eat at the Restaurant Of Many White Faces, it has been toned down , but we do get some interesting dishes. Tonight one was just like an Indian curry served in a steamed bun and lots of noodles. Our English contingent don't like the food but the Aussies do. Fortunately we have 1 Korean from Canberra and 1 chinese guy from New Zealand who understand and read Chinese a bit so that gives us some good insights and our 29 year old guide is excellent-competent and thoughtful. Chengdu is a very prosperous and modern city. We had a day trip from here to see the enormous statue of Buddha at the junction of 2 rivers. it is huge

Then the pandas . The research staton is just on the edge of this city of 10 mil, and about 50 pandas, including these unbelievable babies all together in a baby's cot, except for one in a humidicrib. Mostly they were lying on their backs eating bamboo. They really are very cute & likable..
Meanwhile the world as we know it seems to be disintergrating out there. We have just watched the Obama McCain debate which has been going all morning here. We have the morning off to get ready for 12 hour train trip to Xian. We are just missing Jon Faine who leaves there today. Listen to hear what he says on the ABC this week, because he is seeing what we see.