Phili

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22 June 2006

"He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man." - Mao Zedong

It's now sixteen days into my journey in China and both Alan and I have fallen ill. We both caught a flu! And so this gives me the opportunity to update you on everything that's happened so far. I arrived here in Shanghai on Tuesday 6th June at Pudong Airport. There I was greeted with a handsome all-in-black Alan. It felt weird as I hadn't seen him for almost ten months. Later that evening we met up with Alan's friends including Kirsty who arrived a week earlier. It was'nt until the next day that we made our journey into Beijing, the capital and Olympic 2008 city. We arrived late in the evening after a very delayed and turbulent flight, we stayed at the Youth Hostelling International overlooking Beijing's Railway Station. Beijing was amazing, it really grew on me the moment we landed. It is less congested from the first impressions I got from Shanghai and the city had more greenery. We took the one hour bus out to Badaling where we started our trek along the mighty Great Wall (the horrific journey back took over two hours). The views and surrounding scenery was impressive with some areas of the wall proving very steep, I managed to trip and fall a few steps, leaving me slightly crippled that day. The Great Wall stretches from its scattered ruins Liaoning province to Jiayuguan in the Gobi Desert. Legend has it that one of the building materials used were bones of deceased workers. Much of the wall particularly in Badaling was first built between 1364-1644 and was heavily restored in the 1950's and 80's. Further walk and you can see the old ruins of the wall. The original wall began 2000 years ago during the Qin Dinasty. In the hostel, we met Jo, a room mate of Kirsty in her dorm. Together we walked around Tiananmen Square through the Gate of Heavenly Peace (where the large painting of Chairman Mao hangs) into the ancient Forbidden City, home to two dynasties of emperors, the Ming and the Qing. Ironically, we ended up searching for Starbucks which has opened a branch inside the Forbidden City. We went to the Summer Palace, an oasis of trees and lakes built for the emperors and on the last night, we tried Beijing Duck (a healthier version than those back home) and took the cycle rickshaws around the Hutong (Old Beijing), now a hidden secret vastly disappearing. Many old houses are being knocked down to be replaced by new large buildings, a fimiliar scene throughout Beijing and Shanghai. It was interesting and an eye-opener to see the tradutional lifestyle of Old Beijing. The cycle rickshaw gave an indepth view of the community during sunset in which otherwise we would have not done so. It is rumoured that this area of Beijing will have dissapeared by next year.

Well that's Beijing, I will do Shanghai another day, time for bed.

Phil
Shanghai