26/9 Xian - Terracotta Warriors

Monday 26 Sept      Xi’an

Leisurely start. Huge bowls of muesli yoghurt and fresh fruit. Public bus into the foothills to the Terracotta Warriors site. The pollution is no better out here. Fracas with shrill locals who have taken it upon themselves to extort entrance fees from patrons frequenting public toilets. Only 16c but hell.

Our first stop was the interesting museum with lots of information and artefacts including some warriors and 2 fantastic bronze chariots with 4 horses which were uncovered about 20 metres from Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb.  Just a little history.  He became ruler at the age of 13 and ruled for 36 years.  He standardised measurement, currency and writing, built 6400kms of roads and canals, and conquered 6 major kingdoms thus unifying all of China. He also built sections of the Great Wall as a line of defence, all before he turned 40.  The construction of his tomb area began as soon as he became ruler and it covers 56 sq km.  Seven hundred thousand people were involved in its construction.  We watched a short movie on Qin, the construction of the warriors and the destruction of the tombs which happened during a peasant uprising 1 year after Qin died.  Pit 1 is the largest (260x95m)and contains hundreds of warriors and horses, with many more still being excavated.  Pit 2 is L shaped and only partially excavated, containing mostly archers.  Pit 3 is quite small in comparison and contains the more senior military warriors and horses.  The destruction included smashing warriors and setting fire to the wooden wall and roof supports, thus causing cave in.  Pit 2 clearly shows the roof caved in on what is underneath.  The smashed pieces that are being uncovered is one huge jigsaw puzzle and these 3 pits are only such a small area compared to what is underneath the surrounding countryside.  The site was discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974.

Long but pleasant stroll back from the site to the bus stop through a gauntlet of stalls selling plastic warriors etc etc. Fridge magnet . . [tick]. Very enjoyable to watch locals cooking stuff in very hot oil and buying it fresh from them. Watched and filmed a couple of men with wooden mallets on 4’ handles pounding a lump of toffee on a bed of nuts while the old lady rolled and folded it between blows. Had some of that too. 

25/9 Xian - Beginning of the Silk Road

Sunday 25 Sept

We weren’t totally sure when to get off because some people seemed to be staying on and there were no signs on the platform and no announcements. We rebuffed the taxi touts and found our own way to the hostel. They just keep getting better. This one has Chinese charm and class on top of all the other good things.

After a micro-nap we headed off to the ancillary attractions of Xi’an, leaving the warriors for tomorrow. This is a city of 4.5 million and the air feels like it. It’s what we expected of Beijing. And there are a few mosquitoes here. Our digs are near the old (very) city wall and we walked into the huge highrise hub of the modern city. Right in the centre incongruously are the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower – both huge pagoda-topped constructions which would look right in place in the middle of the Forbidden City. The streets were packed, being Sunday. 

Just on the offchance, we asked around for sleeping bags. We still had the slip of paper on which we had got a shop attendant to write the Chinese for “sleeping bag”. This was the product of our attempts in Beijing. J did a charade of getting into a sleeping bag and sketched a bag and a tent. The girls’ faces lit up and they wrote some Chinese characters (rather a lot), which we took upstairs in one of the huge store complexes. There the attendant immediately took us to the tents! Luckily, she had sleeping bags as well, and we made sure she wrote that down (strangely only 2 characters). We will take it to Chengdu and see how we go there.

24/9 Museums & Train trips

Saturday Sept 24th

J has gone off to the Museum while I clean up, pack, check out and sit in the foyer “watching” the AFL semi-final on the internet. We  should just about be able to get the final score before we head for the train station. In fact I found 6PR and sat in Beijing listening to bloody McGuire and Bunnings adverts. No comment on the footie.

The train trip went off smoothly. The trains were clean (except for the toilets) and very comfortable (for a day trip) but the seats did not recline at all. I had to get the conductor to bully some luggage space for us but we managed some fitful sleep. We had to shift somebody to get our seats and the 40ish lady who stayed seemed elegant and educated .  Just not in English. I suggested J should show her the Granny photos, which she pored over and pointed at and asked who was this one and that one. Then we asked if she had children. She didn’t say anything but touched the outer corner of her eye. Not sure what to infer from that. Of course, China has the 1 child policy so this horde of children and grandchildren must have looked weird and maybe inappropriate. I found myself wondering why there was no graffiti on the windows of what was very much a working class conveyance, and why none of the youngsters seemed hostile, aggressive or unstable. In general, China seems very calm, ordered, harmonious and prosperous - rather like Singapore.

Beijing was slightly murky again and after about 100km it really got foul. This was a dense post-apocalyptic fog that seemed to hover just off the ground. We were going through farming land but every now and then there were very dense high rise complexes, maybe 30 stories high maybe 30 blocks. And a few factories, some with chimneys. Our train wasn’t particularly fast but there was a constant stream of trains heading the other way, some of which were going a fair pelt.

23/9

  Friday 23 Sept 

A frustrating start to the day, with problems arranging onward bookings. Phone lines to railway jammed. Hotel travel agent not overly energetic. Eventually got booking on overnight train to Xian – no sleepers so stuck with “hard seats”!! Apparently this means something like airline chairs? Wondering how much baggage they will allow for? And about 10% of Chinese are extremely NOISY and shout all the time, for no apparent reason. It might be a sleepless night. We then booked flights to Chengdu and hostels. Hope they are 10% as good as this place. Sent email asking Chengdu hostel to book us on the 6am bus into the mountains but no reply yet. Hoping to get up there before the 1 October national holidays.

Lengthy internet search for sleeping bag outlet. About 3pm got sent to a large market specialising in sporting goods. Two stalls did have bags but no real improvement over what we have (in Perth). We will try again in Chengdu. Walked through some of the absolutely massive, glistening shopping centres in Central Beijing. One brand new one was packed with exclusive stylish clothing stores. The sort of place where they don’t display prices.

We decided to walk home past T’men square etc. The air was slightly more murky than usual but that gave the sunset a good pink hue. The office workers were just going home. All very smart and orderly. Got accosted by an effusive couple of young “art students” who wanted to take us to see some galleries. If you haven’t read Lonely Planet and go with them and have tea and cake in a tea room they take you to . . you suddenly get confronted by a bill for $300 and a few heavies who facilitate payment.

We finished off at the fruit shop, where everything seems to be below $1/kg. Grapes bananas plums and peaches.

22/9 Lost at Temple of Heaven Park

Thursday 22nd Sept

Started new campaign of noodle packet for breakfast – the buffets were just over-filling us. Caught bus to the great park called the Temple of Heaven. Noticed that the yellow clad bus stop attendants were missing. Another perfect day. We were glad to be under shade of huge and ancient trees. Such a de-stressing environment. Chinese going about doing their thing. Martial arts, whip cracking (5m long – most of it thick chain), ribbon waving (with 4 year old joining in) Richard Simmons and his girls doing very complicated western dance steps, ballroom, harmonicas (Ei-del-weiss . .Ei-del-weiss & Click go the shears boys) etc. Oh and another man walking backwards! 

This part is a bit like one of those art nouveau movies where you see the same event repeatedly through different eyes. See if you can guess who wrote what? 

This is a huge 45 hectare park/garden with a number of large walled-off areas and buildings, each of which has its own ticket office and small fee. Janine went through most of them while I sat around watching the dancing girls (with a purely cultural interest). This worked well until we agreed to meet at the North exit of the final and largest temple, without specifying a fallback strategy or a time. There turned out to be no North gate and in short we mislaid one another and ended up drifting back to the hotel separately. We had talked about the benefits of hiring mobiles for just such a situation and it was a good experience and we will need to be more careful. We have been surprised at the general lack of English among adults, although apparently children learn it at school.

The park is where the emperor came to conduct ceremonies for ensuring a bountiful harvest.  Arriving from the south, you come to the Circular Mound Alter.  Built using lots of 9’s.  Good feng shui, 9 levels, 9 columns etc.  Nice shady area with lots of people milling about and doing things.  I went into the Imperial Vault of Heaven which is surrounded by a circular ‘echoing wall’.  This court yarded set of buildings, it has 2 rectangular buildings on either side of the large round temple building.  The east side building contains an altar to the planets and the west side was to the seasons. Located Chris just where he should have been.  Set off past the 9 dragon tree, through one of the many gates and over the Danbi Bridge to the main complex the ‘Hall of prayer for good harvests’ with the ‘Temple of Heaven’ as its centrepiece.  Another admission, to meet Chris at the exit on the other side.  Very impressive building.  Largest wood structure in the world and all built without a nail.  Can see there are 2 exits, neither of them North but assume Chris will be in the shade near one of them.  Out East side, walk to west via the north side.  Nope.  Sat and waited, wandered between the 2 gates and back to where I entered – nope.  Lost in China.  I eventually gave up and bussed back to hotel by myself at 3pm and found him in the foyer. He had stood in the sun at the South gate in a characteristically patient, loving and devoted fashion until 1.30, parched and baked by the sun, windblown, persecuted by insistent vendors of balsa wood temples and raucous multicoloured lampshade hats.

We had a quiet and early night, wandering round our local streets and finding a few fruit stores. Grapes and bananas both at about 60c/kg. Who is pocketing the $13 Aussies are paying for bananas again? Planning a timeframe for the next leg to Xian and back to Chengdu, where we will branch off on other adventures.

Panda Pics

21/9 The Great Wall

Wednesday 21 Sept We walked on the Great Wall of China

We opted for western brekky today. All the usual sausage, egg, bacon, fried rice . . and broccoli. We are going to go OUR way today. We now know the stations round the Loop Line by name. Tiananmen, Tutankhamen, Twoandahalfmen, Allthekingsmen . . .OK Janine’s turn.

We followed Lonely Planet advice and caught the fast 916 bus, not to be confused with the slow 916 bus that leaves from the same place but takes an hour longer.  Luckily there was a helpful bus station person who told us which to catch.  Lonely planet tells us to get off in Huairou and take a mini bus rest of the way.  Unsure where to get off and where to locate minibus, but we are adventurous.  When our hour travel is almost up and we are in Huairou, up jumps our helpful bus station man. What was he doing on the bus? He starts announcing stops and ushering people off the bus.  Oh he is a conductor?  Cool, he will make sure we get off at right place, which he duly did.  But, he got off with us and the bus drove off without him! Wierder and weirder. Next he gets out his car keys, his car is right here, he will take us there for ?Yen.  Bit of bartering and we agreed to a price and off we went, although wondering “what is this guy’s business model?” Is he a bus employee or a taxi driver or a kidnapper? He spoke quite good English and pointed things out to us on the way to
the wall.  Arranged to meet us back in same spot in a few hours and assisted purchasing tickets for entry and cable car.  So off we set on this beautiful warm day, uphill.  Quite a climb just to get to the car.  Smooth ride straight up with views of the wall, mountains and valleys.  Beautiful.

 We have come to Mutianyu on the recommendation of a bloke we met in Chengdu and he was right, a beautiful section of the wall and hardly any people.  If you ever get here, remember to come midweek and never on a national holiday.  We arrived lunchtime hoping most of the tour buses had left to take their patrons to lunch.  After a moment of “Here we are on the Great Wall”, we headed right to the highest tower, then decided to go back the other way as it went uphill first and when we returned it would be easier to travel downhill when we were tired. 

We chose a target tower quite high up the mountain but were prepared to turn back before if we felt we couldn’t get up there.

 The surfaces/steps were in pretty good condition and the shade in the tower sections was a lovely cool respite spot. We did make it up to our target tower, overtaking some of the younger, seemingly fitter people.  Certainly was a good workout. STEEP!

  Took a million photos, such wonderful opportunities to frame the scenery. The camera is rapidly filling up with Chris’ Lotus poses and he has now “planked” The Great Wall now that everyone else has stopped doing it.

 Trotted back to the carpark, buying the obligatory “I’ve climbed the Great Wall” T shirts.  Quick bite of lunch.  Found our driver who had collected 2 French girls to share the car back to the bus stop.  He safely saw us back onto the ‘fast’ bus and we made our way back to the hotel.  We are slowly ticking off the 7 wonders as we wind our way around the world.

20/9 Jacket shopping

Tuesday 20th Sept

As Jerry Seinfeld said to George “It’s a show about Nothing. Nothing happens . . . we go shopping . . . that’s an episode”.

We got the hotel manager to fill in one of those cards that say “Please take me to . . .” in Chinese and caught the bus outside the hotel. There seems to be a bus officer on duty at each stop and they direct you to the correct stop, hail the bus and tell the on-board conductor where to throw you off. The fare for a 15 minute trip was 15c and we got dropped off right outside a huge 6 storey shopping centre devoted almost entirely to clothes. After about an hour of looking around and trying on various Chinese brand outer garments, I was almost ready to spend 260 Rmb (yen) on a slight improvement to the $18 jacket I had left in Perth. But suddenly “Columbia” caught my eye and I recognised exactly what I wanted, or at least a pirated close copy. Weatherproof outer shell and detachable fleece. The stallholder only had the one garment anything like it but it was a good fit for me so I asked her what she wanted, expecting to hear a thousand and something. 198 !!! Surely that must be $US? My evil heart skipped and I calmly showed her 200 yen . . . yes that’s right. It was like the Ikea advert . . . I wanted to scream “start the caaaaaaar”. Old instincts reasserted themselves and I suavely offered her 145.  No she wanted 198. Hell that’s $30. I handed over the 200 and we headed off to try and find another one. 

Hours later we were tired. Tired. *T*I*R*E*D* We were beginning to encounter the smelly underbelly of Chinese reality. The kids in bottomless nappies do the natural thing wherever they happen to be and some of the public toilets really cannot be described. I remembered that I had no legwear between cargo pants and a suit and bought a pair of trousers in about 5 minutes. Hell this Chinese food shrinks clothes!!! There was an interesting follow-up 30 metres round the corner to get hems sewed in  . . . a snip, a few stitches, a puff of steam and $1 and we were on our way. J spotted a little boy probably just short of 12 months, playing delightedly with a pack of cards. Hesitantly, she asked if she could take a photo, at which stage it became apparent that the woman holding him wasn’t his Mum. Parenting is a community function here, as in much of the third world. Eventually Dad said yes and baby then revealed that he was not just active and charming . . . he was a Show Pony too. His performance drew squeals of delight from all the spectators. You will not believe it, but honestly it was only at this stage that we realised that his family subscribe to the Bottomless Pants school of babywear. Yes he is a boy.

We were lucky and delighted to stumble across one of those wonderful Asian bakeries that sell a huge range of delectable pastries and breads and make fine $2 cappucinos and hazelnut lattes. This gave us the oomph to negotiate the subway under the major road outside and catch the same-numbered bus sort of back to the hotel.  We did it!! We got home and booked another 2 nights in Beijing. Tomorrow we are going to try The Great Wall. Discussed it over dinner at Happy Harriet’s. Just one week ago we were packed and ready to leave Perth.

19/9 Exploring Beijing

Monday Sept 19th

Well . . a very full day of exploring Tiananmen Sq, the Forbidden City, Jingshan Park etc. But we know you really want to hear about the nappies so straight to the point. We have been looking out for babies and (as Juliar likes to say) the science is in. Or as Bob Hawke once said “By 2011 no Chinese child shall be running around bare-assed”. But he lied too. We clearly sighted a couple wearing trousers with the backside cut right out, so that if they squat the bottom opens wide. No nappies. But there were also a lot in normal pants and nappies.

This has been the kind of day I Iove, lots of walking and exploring with perfect weather.  Our first challenge was crossing the main road to get to Tiananmen.  Down one set of stairs to get to other side of street, down subway only to find that you can’t get through unless you buy a train ticket reversed all that and crossed a side street, then down the staircase there and successfully had got to other side of busy street.  Several kite flyers trying to sell to us.  Walking towards Tiananmen Square past the chunky communist era buildings.  Lots of people milling about.  Workers placing thousands of plants and towers of flowers preparing for the upcoming national holiday celebrations.  Down another staircase to cross under yet another busy road to get to the gates of the Forbidden City.    Bought the audio guide and set off with the masses.  So many gates, bridges and temples, very interesting stories to hear and antiquities to see.  After the main sites, Chris sat for a while in the garden section and I scurried off to some of the little side accommodation sections, a real rabbits warren of twists and turns.

 Left via north gate and into a park.  Many steps to the highest pavilion which gives a lovely view over the Forbidden City and greater Beijing.  Then walked towards the lakes back south along the waters edge.

Beijing came as a surprise –clear blue skies and no apparent pollution. Most of the Chinese were wearing light jackets and it was quite cool in the shade, but warm and fresh in the sun. We were delighted to be able to have such clear views of the city.  We are not feeling crowded in by the people, it is surprisingly uncrowded.

We had a late lunch at about 3pm and watched three skinny 15 year olds demolish an incredible spread of food. Two girls and a boy scoffed their way through two football sized bowls of stew, 5 bowls of rice and a couple of other dishes. We fancied the apple with toffee and a runner was sent out to fetch three apples. We received a large mound of chopped apple dripping molten brown toffee and a side bowl of cold water. You dip the apple in the water to cool it and to set the scalding runny toffee. Very nice.

We discovered that our road is a short block from a major shopping boulevard with loads of fancy shops. Last night we discovered what lies in between . . the red light district! So many tiny little shops selling appliances. 

We went back to Happy Harriet for dinner. Her son? welcomed us in and offered us English menus. We had just decided what we wanted when she swept up and seized them and gave us the Chinese ones again. We guessed  that the prices are different. We restrained ourselves to one rice and one large meat dish, which we were delighted to find was actually Sweet and Sour. Fancy that . . they made it very close to the proper way!

You never know what is next in China. Today we watched a man strolling round the park IN REVERSE! And then there was Disco Dog - a man walking a small dog which had flashing multi-coloured lights on his collar.

18/9 Beijing bound

Sunday Sept 18th

Sedate start to catch the 11.30 Sichuan Airways flight to Beijing, which left about 2.30. The Chinese boarded with vast quantities of “cabin baggage” and we ended up with our backpacks under the seats. Luckily only 2 hour flight. We decided to take a walk on the wild side and found our own way to the hotel. The airport express was an excellent train and the city subways are reminiscent of Singapore. So are the passengers. Here they paint lines on the platform and the Beijingois duly line up along these. But the moment before the doors open, they all rush forward and block the doors. Fabulous. Our only gripe is that they haven’t got the idea about escalators. We climbed a hell of a lot of stairs getting out of the subway and crossing the big roads. With rucksacks :o(

We found our way round the loop line to the stop just South of Tiananmen square (adjacent stations include Fuchengmen and Fuxingmen as well as Xuanwomen), stepping out of the subway to a sunset pink sky backing a beautiful traditional Chinese building and sure enough the hotel was a 6 minute walk away. And it is Beautiful. For $30 a night you really shouldn’t expect this luxury. Free wifi of course. We walked out of the restaurant after 5 minutes and wandered down the street looking for a busy restaurant. A happy Chinese lady almost dragged us into her place and handed us a pot of tea while she brandished her menu. Luckily it was a lot of colour photos but it was hard to guess what the dishes were so there was a lot of improvised Moooooing, clucking and gestures of fish swimming and sketched octopi. She thought this was just too jolly. We settled for 2 dishes of ginger shitaki mushrooms and chicken (perhaps) bits in a dark sauce with nuts and spring onion. And a large fried rice. And cans of coke. After all that she asked for $10.

China is very modern western. High rise everywhere, nice cars, smart infrastructure. Western clothes, much of it trendy and some of it excellent taste and quality. Mobile phones or tablets are de rigeur. No pyjamas, bicycles or rickshaws. Ok we saw 2 this afternoon.

J is poring over a heap of papers about the Forbidden City etc with a glint which bodes ill for a day of extended dragging around the grand monuments. An early night is called for .

We understand the blog has now been published but we will not see it or any posted comments until late October. Email us instead.

13,14,15,16,17/9 In the beginning ....

Tuesday 13 September

We haven’t left yet but the holiday has started.

I finished my last (ever?) day with Geoff and went to fetch J from the Library. We ordered pizzas from Eagle Boys and enjoyed the vista across the Bay while we waited. No dolphins this time but very serene and beautiful, as always.

Paul had just arrived and we left the three “kids” while we shot down to the beach with a selection of pizza slices and a beer.  The Mandurah Mozzies were out but we shuffled and waved while we enjoyed the Supreme and the sunset. It was a perfect setup with a clear horizon and a solid cloud cover overhead. The setting sun got in underneath and lit up the cloud in a series of rolling waves, which became richer and redder. The pattern was mirrored on the water, where it alternated with silver flashes while the sun stayed up.

Aaron arrived soon after we got home to spend some time with Alyssa, who has decided over the past 24 hours that she much prefers to walk upright. All too soon it was her bed time and there were a few grandmotherly tears as she was carried off (Alyssa). Amanda rang and Paul had excellent news of Lachlan’s progression to kneeling and rocking. We are very lucky indeed.

I had shocked everyone by spreading some clothes around the lounge some weeks ago but (predictably) there were no jocks (again) and packing trailed on through the evening, along with finalising bank passwords and balances. Finally, I cleared the spread of paperwork off the kitchen counter and all was ready. Except for the bathroom. Ooooh whatever. The alarms are set for 0245!

Wednesday September 15^th

We all woke in time and I polished off the bathroom packing. Paul drove us to the airport and we sailed through the checkin process. The guy in the aisle seat wandered off and found himself a seat with better legroom. This left us 3 seats which was a big improvement but we still got little sleep on the 5.5 hour flight to KL.

The transit area was half as good as Singapore and a thousand times better than Kathmandu. Nowhere to lie down except the floor but a few reasonable snack places. Bad weather delayed many takeoffs but we left on time at 6.15. We had been given seats astride the aisle but J’s neighbours didn’t show so she had 3 seats to herself. Only 4.5 hours and not bad at all. We had seatbelts on for most of the flight because of moderate bumps but we enjoyed a spectacular lightning show. Something I had never seen before. We were high above low cloud, which had clumped up in patches either because of storm patterns or around mountains? These clumps frequently erupted in blazes of flickering light.

We shot through the formalities with lightning speed. Chinese authorities come with a grim reputation and we had qualms about some of the contraband but they seemed bent on emptying the hall. Our pickup was waiting for us and we took off on the ring road, usual mad driving.  Through lots of industrial area, then a district of neon, although not as full on as Hong Kong. Chengdu has 8 million people.  Arrived at Hostel midnight.  Very tired and ready for a good nights sleep.

Thursday September 15                 

                                                                                                                                      

Sims is a very good backpackers, we are on 5^th floor (Top).  King size bed ensuite, comes with a pair of walkie-talkies.  There is a rabbit living in and around the gardens/building, even hopping into the dining area at breakfast time.

 Nice little Feng Shui garden/pond with Koi, tortoise and rat.  So have already ticked off 2 of the Chinese star signs.  Going to have to play the Chinese Checkers game that is in the upstairs chillout area.  Little wander along local streets to locate ATM.  Very clean streets, nice shops, they were very welcoming in the fruit and veg shop and spoke English. YAY.  Bought cheap bananas. All the fruit in prime condition. The dentists were drilling out their patients right in the shop window!! Saw several of these ‘shops’ up to 6 chairs with patients in full view. Various types of medical clinics, although we haven’t seen the shopfront proctologist yet! Trying to plan Tibet trip today.

Afternoon stroll towards the city centre. Thoroughly smogged in and yet the scooters all run on battery power, as do most or all of the cars. It’s hell for the pedestrians because they creep up on you unheard – along the pavements and from all angles when you are on the zebra crossings. Minimal use of the hooter. Seemingly all very civilised and disciplined.

Babies in arms without nappies!! They wear jumpsuits with open up access to the rear end and the one mum was walking along with a finger in baby’s bum (in a manner of speaking). Actually the editorial committee is now divided over the exact design but we will clarify after further inspection. Banks everywhere – one of which had a jeep with a rack of rocket launchers fixed on the back, complete with an array of fearsome looking shells. Robbers beware!

Inevitably we popped in at Maccas. Quite restrained in the sense that the Golden Arches were not the most prominent feature for miles around. Must be resistance to capitalist cultural imperialism. The Mcflurries were delicious and less than $2. The “meals” were about half priced. (We didn’t eat there)

I’m not enjoying working with a small screen and no mouse! We had wifi access at KL and Sim’s has about 7 channels. We are in an annexe reached 5 floors up via the Bridge of . . . Death! It’s decidedly dodgy and has threadbare old wooden planks placed over even older and dodgier planks. We face the main road below but it is double glazed and pretty quiet. The whole compound is tucked away behind huge double gates . . something like Fort Apache.

Friday Sept 16^th

                                 One of the several babies in the care nursery.

Giant Pandas!! Early brekky then off in a van with the hotel party. About half a day. Yes they are soooo cute  . . and sooooo lazy. Make wombats look energetic. They have distinctly carnivorous front teeth but actually live on bamboo shoots and leaves. We saw the intensive care ward where they were nursing 1 month old pink things in humidicribs. Very vigorous grooming with brushes. Apparently pandas cant be trusted to mate or raise babies properly so it is all done clinically by humans. There are only 2000 live pandas worldwide and China “owns” them all, including any born overseas. We saw the famous one who is an ambassador of the Earth Hour movement.

On the way there we had another almost accident. This one also related to freeway cloverleaf flyover intersections. A taxi in front had STOPPED and was going sideways across the lanes to take an offramp to the right. They drive on the right here. Our driver braked sharply and had to take the ramp as well. He then spoke quietly calmly and briefly to the taxi driver. We reversed and steered back into the main flow of traffic. I later asked the guide what he had said, expecting some profound and ancient Chinese wisdom. Apparently it lacked a direct translation but her nearest attempt was exactly what most Aussies would have said. 2 words 7 letters.

We are having second and third thoughts about Tibet. It’s a heap of money to see Everest and no guarantee that it will be visible on the day or that we would cope with the 5,000+ metres. It probably won’t happen . . this time. Perhaps they will loosen up on the regulations which make it all so cumbersome and expensive.

Great excitement in the evening!! We got an email from Stephie and fired one back to invite her to get on Skype. It worked like a dream and we had half an hour or more with various children and Lachlan, who obligingly stared at the screen/camera.

Saturday Sept 17^th

Backs stiff from the unyielding bed but much more of that still to come. RAIN!! The Bridge of Death is now downright perilously slippery as well. A quiet day around the hostel, repacking to dump the 20kg bag here until we come back for it.

We are presently unable to post directly to the blog or to see it ourselves. This should change in 5 weeks.

We have booked for Beijing tomorrow. Presently at half time of the Eagles final. Not bad at all sitting here with pizza and a burger and chips “watching” the game. And what a sensational and satisfying finish! Another very enjoyable Skype session with all the kids and grandkids at Cass’ except Steph.

(Emailed to me from mum so i could post it, Steph)