SHANGHAI Day 1

Yesterday we did not have time to update the blog. By the time we came back to the hotel I was too tired and we just wanted to go sttraight to bed.

We are now on our way to visit the city. Our schedule today is the French Concessions, Pudong (the shanghai City), some shopping and a drink with Radama's friends somewhere cool.

Yesterday we went to visit YUYUAN GARDENS, famed for their tranquilising harmonies of light and shade and rock and water. Chinese crowds shattered the equilibrium, peaceful sights and sedative effect of the picturesque pocket.

The garden were founded by the Pan family, rich Ming dynasty officials. The gardens took 18 years (1559-77) only to be ransacked during both the Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion. Today the restored gardens are a fine example of Ming garden design.

From there we walked through the Old Town, suburbs and headed to admire the BUND, stunning location by the riverside enjoying PUDONG (equivalent to Canary Wharf in London) on one side and the western buildings (Peace Hotel, HSBC building etc) on the other side.

It got really cold so we headed back to the hotel in the French Concessions to have some dinner and to get warm.

Shanghai has nothing to do with Beijing but the contrasts. It feels like being in Hong Kong, New York or London but I have to say that the views are breathtaking.

From Shanghai with love

HI FROM SHANGHAI!!!

We arrived in Shangai very late last night from GUILIN.
We were exhausted so this morning we are taking it easy. I'll tell you all about yesterday because it was a day to remember. The way these guys drive is the real adventure in this country. I thought we would never make it to the hotel from the airport...Radama and I shared the same nutter taxi driver and believe me when i tell you I thought I'd never see my mum again!

We are off to explore Shangai now. You are all sleeping in Europe so I'll have time later on to update you.

Carpioma with love from SHANGAI

Hi again, we headed to Putong, the Shanghai's City and we went to the Jin Mao Tower, the highest one so far, 340metres (they are building a new one almost besides which will be the tallest) and the lift only takes 40 seconds to get to the 88th floor!!!! The views from there are stunning





















Once there and after posting a postcard Radama and I had a "chat" with the F... Golden Pig...see the pic attached...well, FYI, in the Chinese Year, this one is the Golden one which happens every 60 years and it is supposed to be fantastic specially for those which Chinese Horoscope is the Pig, so some of us. So far the year for some of us it is been the worst so we decided to have a little chat with him...and perhaps he'll change it....there is still hope until February when it ends!!

Hola desde YANGSHUO

Hoy toca castellano.

Acabamos de llegar de nuestra excursion del dia. Hemos alquilado unas bicis para hacer el recorrido por los pueblecitos de alrededor. Venimos todas fascinadas con el paisaje. Es una autentica maravilla.

Yangshuo es un destino de mochileros a 65km del sur de Guilin y una base excelente para descubrir la zona rural de esta parte de China y una manera muy economica de empaparse del talante local. El rio que lo cruza es el Li.

Hemos paseado en bici por los caminos rurales que rodean Yangshuo, arrozales y los alucinantes cerros calizos cubiertos de verde y hasta el momento y personalmente, la mejor vivencia de China a pesar del dolor de culo.

La gente de las aldeas es maravillosa y muy amable, nada que ver con la gente de los pueblos mas grandes o de las ciudades.

En nuestro recorrido hemos podido contemplar (con bastante imaginacion) la colina de la Carpa Montada en un Leon ( Shizi Qui Liyu Shan) y la colina de la cabeza del Dragon (Longtou Shan).

Hemos navegado por el rio Yulong en una balse de bambu (con bicicletas a bordo incluidas) y ha sido idilico y maravilloso. A todo esto se ha unido la falta de turismo puesto que eramos las unicas personas navegando por el rio a excepcion de los locales que transportan comida y enseres en balsas de banbu tambien. En las laderas del rio hemos podido ver a familias cocinando y lavando la verdura y los cacharros en el rio.

Despues de la navegacion hemos continuado en bici hasta la colina de la luna (Yueliang Shan) que esta entre el rio Yulong y la carretera y una vez alli hemos escalado hasta arriba del todo lo que nos ha llevado 45 minutos debido a la inclinacion de la subida. Las vistas desde arriba no se pueden describir con palabras. La unica molestia, por llamarlo de alguna manera han sido las 3 mujeres locales que nos han seguido toda la caminata para vendernos agua y abanicarnos porque hacia mucho calor y la subida acababa con los gemelos de cualquiera. De todas formas, ha merecido la pena. Esta colina, un penasco calizo, se llama de la luna porque tiene un agujero en forma de luna. Para mi gusto, hay que tener bastante imaginacion pero...juzgad por vosotros mismo!! la foto la hicimos al bajar!!!tuvimos merito eh?

Desde alli hemos continuado para que Radama pudiera contemplar el arbol de la Gran Higuera. Cass y yo no hemos ido porque la verdad estabamos un poco cansadas de pagar por tanta entrada. Monica y Radama han hecho fotos y bueno, creo que no nos hemos perdido nada.

Desde alli camino de vuelta y el paisaje ha seguido siendo espectacular. Ah!! las frases de las vacaciones han sido "ESPECTACULAR" y "ENCANTADOR"...(by Radama and Katiuska).
Nos hemos cruzado con labradores en el campo, arando con bueyes, sacando agua del rio y transportandolas en uos cubos que se cuelgan de una vara de bambu y la cual se apoyan en los hombros...desde luego el bambu es un gran recurso en este gran pais, bebes jugando, gente con vacas, patos, y ladrillo, mucho ladrillo. Habia una pequena fabrica en medio de los arrozales. Estan construyendo bastante en la zona rural y segun parece las autridades locales estan demoliendo edificios para substituirlos por otros de aspecto sospechosamente moderno.

Hemos hecho montones de fotos del paisaje y tambien de la gente.

Hemos podido tener el gran placer de haber sido recibidas en la casa de una familia local que nos han ofrecido pomelo. Nos han mostrado como viven...y sinceramente...nso hemos alegrado mucho de vivir como vivimos, somos muy afortunadas y aun asi nos quejamos....para matarnos! Algo que nos ha llamado mucho la atencion es la cara de felicidad de esta gente. No muestran tristeza alguna y eso es un gran consuelo.

La unidad familiar tambien es muy impactante. En China la familia es lo mas importante y ver a los padres acunar a los bebes, jugar con ellos o abrazarlos es verdaderamente enternecedor.

Bueno, ahora nos toca ir a cenar algo y dar una vuelta por Xi Jie conocida como la calle extranjera que esta bordeada de cafes con aire occidental, hoteles y tiendas turisticas... y asi nos alegramos tambien un poco la vista con algun americanillo que hemos visto suelto. Puf, es que los chinos son muy feos de verdad!!!

Manana por la noche volamos a Shanghai pero nos espera un dia largo hasta las 21:30 que volamos ya que nos vamos de excursion a los arrozales y si hoy hemos llegado con una buena sudada y cubiertas de polvo...manana no va a ser menos. La mochila de la ropa sucia va en aumento!!!

Besos de las chinucas desde Yangshuo

FROM YANGSHUO

We landed at Guilin this afternoon, then 2 hours drive through the country side until we arrived in Yangshuo. The flight was the worst ever and thanks God it only took 1 hour and 20 minutes from Kunming. I had a very smelly chinese next to me but that was not the worse...he kept making all sort of noises and spitting all the time! I thought I was going to puke. After this experience we decided we had enough of that for a while. We need to sleep a few more hours otherwise we will end up killing a few chinese. They are really getting on our nerves.I better change the topic.The landscape here is completely different to the province of Yunnan but it is stilll stunning.

We have seen Westerners under 60 for the first time. This is a backpackers' place but luckily enough we chose to travel in the lowest season so there are few tourists around which is a pleasure.

We are staying in a lovely place, the Magnolia Hotel, in the city centre (well, this is pretty small so everything is central). All the girls are sleeping but I am taking a few minutes to update the blog.

Tomorrow we have decided to take a later start...9am instead of the normal 7ish. We need that.

We are going to be cycling most of the day to visit a few villages and then to do some bamboo rafting taking the bicycles with us. I am very much looking forward it!!! I promise to make loads of pictures as I am sure they will be worth it.

We have had a nice dinner for 72 yuans.....so 6 EUR, 4 GBP total for the 4 of us! It has been our fist meal in almost 16 hours; well, we managed to get hold of some fruit at Kunming airport and some biscuits at 7am when we left Lijang other than that just water.

With love from Yangshuo. Good night


Where is it? Yangshuo is a small county in southern China. In the 1980s, many foreign backpackers were drawn here by the introduction of the county in the 'Lonely Planet'.

Yangshuo lies in the northeast of Guangxi Province and to the southeast of Guilin City. The special geography gives it breath-taking beauty while over 1,400 years of history bless it with a deep traditional culture. The diverse ethnic minority groups including Hui, Zhuang, Yao and others, enrich it with special folk cultures represented by their various festivals; while many foreign residents add exotic flavors to its fascination.

The famous Li River traverses the county and brings it the most beautiful scenery. Along the extremely pure river, thousands of hills stand in different poses and with different expressions, such as Moon Hill, Mural Hill and Schoolboy Hill which is the natural stage of the world famous opera 'Impression on Sanjie Liu'. Streets in Yangshuo are well kept in the original style, presenting the simple and primitive atmosphere of the ancient town. West Street is the most exciting one that locals call the 'Global Village'. There are not only many foreign tourists, but also quite a number of foreign residents managing cafés and restaurants. The exotic flavor, combined with the traditional culture, make the West Street world famous.

BEIJING DAY 2- 13th November CHINESE WALL-MUTIANYU

Our trip to the Chinese Wall, Mutianyu section, took 2 hours drive from Beijing.
We hired a local guy that took us for 40 Euro return 4 of us. We left at 8am very excited about the idea of walking on the Great Wall of China.
We chose Mutianyu, the second less touristic side 80km from Beijing and one of the toughest ones.
We were really lucky as I don't think we saw more than 20 people in total so we had the great pleasure to enjoy it to the full . Located in Huairou County about 45 miles from Beijing, Mutianyu Great Wall enjoys a long history and is part of the glorious culture of China. It connects Juyongguan Pass in the west and Gubeikou Great Wall in the east. The wall was first built in Northern Qi Dynasty (550 - 557). In Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang, two famous patriotic generals, rebuilt it in order to strengthen its defensive potential when they guarded the strategic pass. It served as the northern protective screen, guarding the capital and imperial mausoleums for generations.

Mutianyu Great Wall winds 1.4 miles through lofty mountains and high ridges, many sections of which are made of granite. The unique structure makes the wall almost indestructible. It measures 23 to 26 feet high and four to five yards wide. Both of the wall's inner and outer sides have parapets to defend against enemies coming from the two sides. Some parapets are saw- tooth shaped instead of the regular rectangular form. Below the parapets, there are square embrasures the top of which are designed in an arc structure, different from the traditional round embrasures. Besides its strategically important location and compact layout, the Mutianyu Great Wall is also famous for the breath-takingly beautiful scenery. Woods cover over ninety-six percent of the total scenic area. The wall presents different aspects of beauty in the four seasons. Flowers bloom all over the mountains in spring. Grasses dress the hillside green in summer. Trees are laden with sweet fruits in autumn, and especially in October, leaves are turning red or yellow, touching the mountain tops with gold. In winter, the wall is covered by snow, making it seem more magnificent. The pine trees around Mutianyu Great Wall are well-known. There are more than 20 pines over 300 years old and about 200 pines over 100 year old. Besides, spring water at the foot of the wall tastes pure and fragrant, much appreciated by visitors.

In the evening and back in Beijing 3 of us decided to go to the opera in the HUGUANG one.

At the beginning we (I) were quite amazed because the chinese opera has nothing to do to the way we understand opera. I must say that I couldn't find any interest at all as to me it was just some guy screaming. As it went on we did enjoy it more. It was an experience worth doing it.

Back to the hotel we joined the other Chinucas and went for dinner nearby in the hutongs area where we had some delicious noodles and veggies.

BEJING DAY 1- 12th November

Visit to the FORBIDDEN CITY. We spent 3 hours visiting this stunning building, residence of many emperors.

Pictures to follow.

 

Visit to the TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

 

Shopping in the SILK MARKET- "palato pala ti amiga"

 

Radama, our chinese translator as always fantastic

 

Collapsed in bed

BEIJING- Chinucas' first meeting- 11th November 2007

We landed from Hong Kong; Cass was waiting for us as she had landed from Paris a couple of hours earlier.

We went o the hotel in a little minibus as we were 5 with bulky luggage. We had to negoatiate the price but we managed to get if for RBM 400, approx 40 euros which was not bad as it is very far away.

First impression....this is HUGE AND POLLUTED.

Driving here is soooooo dangerous!! there is no law at all, you just do whatever you want to do, full stop.

We got to a place close to the hotel, LUSONG YUAN , in the HUTONGS area but the guy couldn't drop us at the entrance so we had to walk 150metres surrounded by chinese staring at us as if the had never seen western women before.

Well I have to say the tourism is mostly chinese so you hardly see Western people.

Our hotel was a Hutong, which is the typical Beijing buiding.

The streets are packed with toilets, later we understood why.. there are no toilets inside the houses so people walk in their pyjamas to go to the loo. Don't ask about showers, we did not go in just in case!

 

We went for a walk and after 2 hours waking in the dark and freezing Beijing we ended up in TIANNMEN SQUARE with Mao's mausoleum, opposite the FORBIDDEN CITY. Amazing buidings, stunning I should say.

 

We headed down looking for a restaurant to taste Peking duck and after waiting for almost an hour we sat down.

 

CHINA, EL PAIS DEL AJO, EL CODAZO Y EL ESCUPITAJO!!

Ahora en castellano!

Hola desde la China haciendo escala en el aeropuerto de Kunming recien llegadas de Lijiang y en ruta hacia Guilin.

Esta manana gran madrugon y bronca con los chinos pero aqui estamos!

Ah! nos estamos volviendo chinas asi que no os extraneis si al volver a Europa empujamos, escupimos, nos colamos etc etc etc porq aqui no se considera de mala educacion asi que nos pasamos el dia a codazo limpio. A lo del escupitajo aun no nos hemos acostumbrado ni creo que lo hagamos porque es realmente ASQUEROSO!

Ah!! al olor en las letrinas y al estado de la mayoria de ellas tampoco. Ahi os va una foto para que nos entendais!!

Hasta ahora no hemos podido escribir en el blog por la censura pero creemos que ahora podemos ir contando algo, sino nos tocara actualizarlo una vez de vuelta en Hong Kong la semana que viene!

Besitos mil de la Chinucas!

Aqui Carpioma escribiendo en nombre de las demas!

ACCESS TO THE BLOG FROM KUNMIG AIRPORT- Monday 19th November

Hopefully you'll be able to read this.

We have been unable to post any comments in our blog due to China's censorhip...at the end of the day we are in a communist country.

 

We are in Kunmig airport, we just landed from LIJANG at 09:20 after spending 2 days there and we are now waiting for our next flight to GUILIN at 13:45

 

So far, the trip is being amazing and we have some funny stories to tell...

TO BE CONTINUED

CHINA'S CENSORSHIP

We are unable to update our blog because the Chinese authorities block the access to blogger.

Yes, you are in the XXI century and this is China...

Hong Kong to BEIJING

We are leaving early in the morning tomorrow to Beijing.
We are finishing packing getting ready to travel around China during 18 days.
We landed in Beijing and we met Cass for the first day of the trip together.
We headed to the hotel in a minibus that we rented and after struggling with the driver to communicate we arrived safely in our hotel, in the Hutons area of Beijing.


The Chinucas at the entrance of the Forbidden City with Mao on the background.

adieu paris

heading to the airport now, i'll see you in ~ 12h in mainland china!

Day 3 MACAU

We slept like babies so no signs of jetlag whatsoever. Today we are visiting Macau. It is very hot and humide here in Hong Kong but gorgeous indeed.
Macau is just 65km west of Hong Kong but predating that territory's colonisation by almost 300 years, Macau was the first European enclave in Asia. Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) since the sovereignity of the territory returned to China in 1999.
It is a fascinating mix of cultures- a fusion of Mediterranean and Asian architecture, food, lifestyles and temepreaments. It is a city of cobbed backstreets, baroque churches, ancient stone fortresses and exotic streen names etched on typical portuguese azulejos. Four and a half centuries of Portuguese Christian rule left its mark and it consists of a single diocese, directly responsible to Rome. Other than that for the vast majority, more than 90% of Macau Chinese people. Taoism and Buddhism are the dominant religions.

From Hong Kong to Macau there is a high speed ferry which only takes 1 hour and it is very popular due to the huge number of casinos there. I have never been in Las Vegas but at least was the closest I have ever been to a similar place so getting there on a Saturday was like being on Harrod's last day of sales. We had a laugh running from the ferry to be the first ones in the queue for passports only to be overcome by a couple of old chinese. Looking behind was scary with hundreds of people trying to get there at the same time.
We used a peculiar transport to get us into town...We visited the ruins of St Paul (see picture below) of which only the facade remains of this Jesuit church built in the early 17th century. Some consider it the greatest monument to Christianity in Asia.


















The Church of St Dominic in Largo do Senado is a fine example of ecclesiastical baroque architecture replacement of a chapel built by the Dominicans in the 1590s. Macau cathedral is not particularly attractive and it replaces the original one badly damaged in a typhoon.












The A-Ma Temple, the most stunning one we have seen in the trip is dedicated to the goddess A-Ma.The original temple was probably standing when the Portuguese arrived although the present one may only date back to the 17th century.

From there we walked towards the Moorish Barracks only to discover an stunning hotel, Posada Sao Tiago so we took a break there to enjoy it.

still in paris packing part 2

ok, done... yes, it took me long... but now I know it is not the packing, it is the many distractions I find while packing... I hate doing it so I find excuses to do other things... hongkong is getting up, paris is going to bed

still in paris packing part 1

hey chinucas, glad to know you made it to the other side of the world!
I'm still here, stuck packing... yes, I had the list, but it is not helping (mariazam, the list doesn't help that much, still you need to choose between this and the other t-shirt etc....) whatever... I find it boring, keep losing concentration and do other things instead of finishing...

HONG KONG DAY2- LANTAU

Just ended a very long day 2. Today we have visited LANTAU, one of the islands in the HK archipielago with its Tian Tan Buddha (the biggest seating buddha), Po Lin Monastery and fabulous beaches. You can see pics here.

In the afternoon we went to Kwo Loon. There we visited the Yau Ma Tei or Jade Market and the Tin Hau Temple dedicated to the goddess of seafarers and the district of Mong Kok (Prosperous Point) in Prince Edward MTR, a very congested working class residential area and one of the busiest shopping districts where we could enjoy Yuen Po street Bird garden (the Chinese have long favoured songbirds as pets), the Flower Market (streets full of wonderful flowershops) , Tung Choi St market (the place to get any fish you'd like to for your aquarium) and the Ladies' Market, the place to get a hand in fake stuff. We were too tired for that so we headed back to HK to have dinner in a lovely Thai restaurant as the options were too occidental (Spanish, British, Moroccan, Lebanese...)

Impostors

It has come to my attention an unusual fact...

Having lived here for some time now, it does seem I am shocked by the sights of my own home town...

Are there any impostors operating at this sight?

HONG KONG DAY 1

Finally we arrived to the most spectacular and amazing place I have ever seen. From the airport we took the train to Hong Kong passing Kowloon. We came to Radama's place, had a quick shower, got changed and we left to Kowloon by ferry to enjoy some gorgeous cocktails with stunning views from the Intercontinental Hotel surrounded by British, American and few locals. What can I say?? it is breathtaking!! this city is superb, classy, glamorous etc etc etc. People have stunning looks, women are so stylish that made us all feel as we need a makeover. It has nothing to do whith what I was expecting. In one word it is just amazing. Enjoy the view from the pic above!xxx

this will be the most cybernetic trip we've ever done... organized via skype/ google chat/ google groups (so much google.... hm... should we worry about that?) and now recording our daily adventures in this blog...
catiusca is already on the plane... our london girls (in the end there are 2 but ana will only do the hk-beijing part) will do the same tonight... for 2 days I will be the only chinuca still on european soil...
they are all leaving without having detailed the exact items in their luggage in our group tool... I only know, from carpioma's post, that she seems not to want to do any hand washing... I am planning to follow my very good friend's (again another maria, was maria a common name in the 70s in spain?) advice and have already written down an extensive list with every item I need to take along with me... friday night I plan to put in the suitcase what is in the list without losing any time thinking 'and what about also taking this additional pair of shoes'... it should reduce the packing time from my average 3h (and please, this is not because I pack too many things but because I have this need to achieve perfection in packing, the exact number of items, not more no less) to 1h I hope

today paris was grey and polluted, I guess beijing will be more of the same

we are writing in english to reach a more extensive audience but we should perhaps add spanish paragraphs for our beloved one generation ahead family

good flight to the ones just boarding and to the one in the sky!

The final countdown....London to Hong Kong

Today is the day. Leaving from London at 21:55 with Ana Gonzalez and Monica from Madrid so we will all meet up at HK's airport. Radama will be waiting for us. Cass is joining us in Beijing on the 11th.
I have already packed...and my suitcase it is sort of depressing...medicines and knickers and it is almost full. I never thought I could carry so many knickers, bras and socks in 1 piece of luggage and not any knickers, of course, but M&S' packs of 7...cheap and 100% cotton...wow!!!
We are supposed to spend time in the most glamorous places in Asia and all I am going to wear is trekking gear....oh well, my high heels will have to wait for me in London.
I am thinking about the day I come back...I have already booked Shavata and Claudio...how pathetic is that?
I am very excited. I am finally visiting my beloved Radama in HK!! I am going to walk in the Chinese wall!! I am going to see Shanghai, Beijing and...gosh, loads of Chinese!