Next stop Suzhou

After spending 2 days in Jiaxing I took the train to Suzhou. I had to queue for about 40 minutes to buy the train ticket and the only train remaining was a slow train which would took 3 hours. My Chinese friends from Hangzhou met me at the train station in Suzhou and helped me find my hostel. Then we went for dinner and in Chinese tradition they order lots of different dishes that we all shared.

Dinner in Suzhou

They explained that I used chopsticks like a child does i.e. I hold them in the center rather than the top but I still manage to eat with them. Even eating the peanuts you can see above. They were staying in a different hostel so we arranged to meet at 8:30am the next day at the north bus station to go visit Tong Li.

Tong Li

Tong Li is about 40 minutes by bus away from Suzhou and is known for its system of canals similar to Venice.

Canal in Tong Li

Outshirts of Tong Li

We walked around the village for a few hours and visited the various gardens and museums. Most of the time people were staring at me and I only saw one other westerner through the full day. I have come across Chinese opera a few times on this trip, but this was my first time to see a live performance. It was a free outdoor performance so I didn't have to watch for too long...

Chinese Opera

Friends

Jiaxing, not in the Lonelyplanet

After Hangzhou I went to Jiaxing with Chinese guy (Shaun) that I met in the hostel. Jiaxing was his home town and not in my lonelyplanet! He suggested that I go visit there and he would show me around. We arrived in the afternoon and had dinner with his family. They did not speak English but they were very interested in me and where I was going and what I was doing so he spent his time translating their questions and my answers. Like Hangzhou there is a night market in Jiaxing so we went there in the evening and met his girlfriend who worked nearby.

Night view of Jiaxing

The next day we did a tour of the city visited a pagoda which gave good views over the city. Most of the day people stared at me as they were not used to seeing foreigners.

Pagoda in Beijing

Jiaxing from the top of the Pagoda

Jiaxing is located on the south lake which is considerably smaller than the west lake in Hangzhou but still very scenic.

South Lake in Jiaxing

Next Stop Hangzhou

After spending too long in Shanghai I decided to go to Hangzhou and Martin went to Hong Kong to take a flight to India. Hangzhou is to the southwest of Shanghai and is ranked as one of the top 10 scenic cities in China. One of the most popular sights in Hangzhou is the west lake.

West Lake in Hangzhou

View over West Lake

I spent two nights in Hangzhou and for one of the days I hired a bicycle from the hostel and cycled around the west lake. I met some Chinese students in the hostel who took me for dinner and later took me to the Wushan night market. Here we tried lots of different food from the various street vendors, some I had come across before in China and some I had not.

A warm fruity eggy drink

Pork and Ostrich Skewers

Using a Chinese-English dictionary we translated various words so I could understand what we were eating. The following was translated as "Beggars Chicken" and it was a small chicken wrapped in leaves. It also came with plastic gloves so you could eat it with your hands...

Beggars Chicken

Beggars Chicken up close

Expo Challenges the World

In my first blog post about Shanghai I mentioned that they were busy preparing for the World Expo 2010. All over the city there is construction work taking place on both new and old buildings. As a result the majority of buildings are covered in scaffolding.

Construction work in Shanghai

As you can see from the picture the scaffolding is made from bamboo. It is used on construction sites throughout China so it must be safe but when you see it up close you would have your doubts about this fact!

Bamboo scaffolding in China

Another part of the preparation for the Expo is the addition of more Chinese/English signs throughout the city. Below are two signs that I came across in one of the parks. I'm not really sure what they mean...

Civilization play park

We glitter civilization

Subway Sandwich TV Live in Shanghai

One of the top tourist attractions in Shanghai is the Live Subway Sandwich TV.....

Subway Sandwich TV

Next stop Shanghai

Shanghai is quite different from any of the other cities I have visited in China so far. At times when walking around Shanghai you could easily think you are in New York or London. There are lots of skyscrapers and large parks.

Shanghai skyline

Then at other times you are quickly reminded that you are in China. The following two pictures were taken from the same location but of opposite sides of the road.

On the right we have skyscrapers and a nice park

On the left we houses where locals live

Shanghai are busy preparing for the World Expo which will take place later this year. As a result there is construction work going on almost everywhere. During my time in Shanghai I did a walking tour of the city and the guide explained that many of the old buildings were being demolished to make way for modern buildings for the expo.

Soon to be demolished

Making way for modern buildings

Similar to Beijing there are lots of parks in Shanghai and the locals regularly use them. Any parks that I have visited always have people (mainly elderly) playing cards, dominos, flying kites, practicing martial arts and dancing.

Playing cards in the park

Dancing in the park

Xi'an and the Terracotta Army

Xi'an has one of the oldest and best preserved city walls in China. The wall surrounds the city and is 12 m high and around 15 m thick.

Xi'an City Wall

The hostel I stayed in was located at the entrance to the south wall and here it was possible to hire out bikes and cycle around the wall although they don't like you cycling down hills.

Don't cycle down hills

Walking the wall takes about 4 hours but cycling takes a little over 1 hour.

View from Xi'an City Wall

Xi'an City Wall

On my second day in Xi'an I went to visit the Terracotta Army, for those of you not familiar with them is a quick overview. In 1974 local farmers discovered terracotta figures dating from 210 BC near the  Mausouleum of the First Qin Emperor. The terracotta figures are contained within 3 pits, according to current estimates there are  8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses.

 

Terracotta Warriors

Finally here is a picture of Xi'an that taken from a foot bridge on our way back to the hostel after visiting the Terracotta Army.

Leaving Beijing

After new years day the weather got worse and worse in Beijing. It was no where near as bad as the weather we had encountered in Siberia or Mongolia but in Beijing people are not prepared for such weather. After two days of snow we decided it was time to go somewhere warmer.

The street near our hostel

Xi'an is an overnight train journey from Beijing and is home to the Terracotta Army so we choose that as our next destination. One of the girls (Sophia) who worked in the hostel was going to the station to meet her brother so we decided to go with her as she could help us if we had any difficulties. The journey there was fun as she spent most of the time throwing snowballs at us or at random people she passed on the street. No one seemed to mind and outside most of the restaurants on our street the staff were making snowmen.

Snowball fight with strangers

Martin trying to avoid snowballs

Snowman on the street outside a restaurant

Buying train tickets in China was easier than Russia, the staff were friendly, they didn't shout and the tickets were much simpler than Russian ones. Our train was later that evening and went from a different station that the one where we got our tickets. It was not possible to get to it via Metro so our options were bus or taxi. Due to the bad weather it was very difficult to get a taxi and the buses were full.

No taxis and no buses!

The train station was very large and very busy with crowds of people everywhere. Our train was delayed by about 2 hours due to the bad weather.

Beijing West Train Station

I think it is a restaurant but the chef looks like he is a mechanic....

After visiting the Forbidden City we went to Jingshan park and then we decided to get some lunch. Here is the bowl of noodles we had, looks nice doesn't it? Looks like it came from a restaurant.

Noodles for lunch

Once we left the park there were lots of restaurants where the staff were out on the street trying to get us to go in. We decided to avoid these as the prices were high because they restaurants were targeting tourists. So we kept walking and eventually ended up in a non tourist area.

Not for Tourists Street

Eventually we came across something that might be a restaurant but we were not sure. There were a few people inside eating and the chef came out to us. Well we think he was the chef but he could have been a mechanic based on the dirt of his white overalls. Anyhow he gestured that we could come in if we wanted.

Not for tourists restaurant

The interior was quite basic, there were tables and stools and chopsticks and that was about it. They did not have menus or did not speak English but that didn't matter as they only served one dish - noodles. Through hand gestures we communicated that we would have some. I sat and waited for my food while Martin took some photos of the place and the locals laughed at us.

Laughing at the locals laughing at me

Martin took some photos of the kitchen and then the chef guy signaled that he could take more photos and should take some from the outside too.

This is where they prepared the noodles

View of the kitchen from the seating area

At this stage the chef guy pointed to Martin and indicated he could take some more pictures of the kitchen if he wanted. Well we think that is what he was trying to communicate to us.

Cooking Noodles

 More Cooking

The food was great, it cost approximately 80 cent and everyone was friendly. Makes a big change from Russia. Here is the finished dish again...