Photos

Unfortunately, the net/computer will not let me upload photos right now.. I have posted pics from Tiger Leaping Gorge on Facebbok for those who are there, and will put some here as soon as I can! I`ll let you know when posts are updated.

Kunming

Arriving yesterday [Tuesday] I was cursing the holidays, crowds of people and the general culture barrier that made it so difficult to ask for and get the help I wanted... In the end I took a break to go and see the Bird & Flower Market, which was claimed to have all sorts of oddities and weird fauna by the Rough Guide. Normally a fairly good guide book, the market must have changed character somewhat the last year--or maybe I just found the "jade-and-other-tourist-stuff"-section? There were randomly placed booths with amazing amounts of fish, turtles, rabbits, mice, flowers and birds; and one laydy sold orchids and waterlily plants for that little garden pond you`ve just always dreamed of. All in all, I wasn`t that impressed, though. What made yesterday a great day at the end, was my meeting with the wonderful Canadian family Bissky Dziadyk, who travel with a mac and let me back-up all my photos to DVD on their computer! Today [Wednesday] I have had a lovely trip to TGC Nordica, a Scandinavian-run arts centre that my friend Tone used to work at. Sadly, nothing special is scheduled there for the holidays and nobody were there when I arrived...but it was open, and had two lovely exhibits of paintings by Yan Renkui and Zhang Xingwang. I think Kunming could be a lovely city to live in, but for now I`m getting all China`d out--travelling as an illiterate is quite exhausting, and with the cultures clashing as well, it can be..well, let`s just say it`s an experience for life.

Final stop in China: Kunming

It is China`s national day, which they--according to the Chinese I have asked--do not celebrate in any other way than having a week of holidays. Having holidays means that they travel, though; a great bunch of them to Lijiang, but some also to other places, such as Kunming. The hostel is fully booked here as well, but fortunately I had anticipated this and booked a bed (for the first time on this trip). The over-night bus from Lijiang to Kunming had two levels of beds in it (amazing!), albeit somewhat short. As we arrived at 6 am the night has been a little short, and once I can check in (i.e. once someone checks out) and give the Laos consulate my visa application, I plan on having a well-deserved nap in the city of eternal spring.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

After a day in Lijiang I caught a bus north-west, to Tiger Leaping Gorge. Hiking together with Luke (UK) for some 8 hours the first day, we finally arrived at the Half-way House at 6 pm, soaking wet from hours of rain, and with pained feet! Hoever, despite a rather rough climb andlots of water, the last stretch was fantastic, with sunny weather and an amazing view of the Yangtze river as well as the mountains that make up the gorge. The Half-way House was an ok hostel with an proper (i.e. amazing) hot shower (you learn to appreciate hot showers when you travel in China..), crammed with hikers. The breakfast menu was not impressive though--but the rice porridge went down somehow, before we hiked some 6 hours more, down to the river and then along the river, in the gorge itself, to the tiny village of Walnut Garden a bit further up the road. The view there was even more amazing, and the weather was stunning--all in all, two perfect days! Arriving back in Lijiang I have had dinner and shopped a bit; tomorrow I will explore the town a bit more before I catch an over-night bus to Kunming.

Lijiang

As all five trains were fully booked the day I wanted to go, I arrived in Lijiang (Yunnan province) by plane, at 1 am due to delays at the airport. Wandering the mostly dark streets, save a few red Chinese lanterns, the old city of Lijiang had a stunning look already. Daylight did not make it any less charming wandering the streets--sampling tea at local shops, buying some presents to send home, eating cheap, delicious food... One of my favourite places in China so far!

What to drink in China II

Thanks to local expertise, I have found yet more wonderful drinks to try!


Walnut and peanut flavoured milk was the first new aquaintance--and not a bad one! A rather filling breakfast in itself, it has a fresh nutty quality to it, and a good taste. 4/6

Chocolate milk in a bag is pretty much only chocolate milk, but you get to drink it from a bag.. A little too sweet for my liking, 3/6. Update: The second bag, enjoyed without too sweet pastries to go along with it was in fact much better, and clearly a 4/6.

Black milk turned out to be milk with everything black that is good for you...black rice, black beans and black poppy seeds. Surprisingly this combination was not disgusting, although still an aquired taste; 4/6.

Random Chinese drink in a carton; 发酵的. I presumed it was milk-based because I found it with all the other flavoured milks. However--it tasts a bit like milk with peach (or apricot?), and it is, as the Chinese characers clearly indicate, sour. (Though it is neither drinking youghurt, nor actually soured milk, texture-wise.) A little hard on the sourness, it only receives a 3/6 as a drink. (But it would probably make an excellent popsickle!)

Buddhism galore II: Emei`shan

The second part of my three days of buddhism galore was a two-day trip to Mount Emei--Emei`shan in Chinese. The mountain is one of the five holy buddhist mountains in China, and yet another of the mountains that have been stair-cased by some random, crazy emperor. I arrived in Baguo, the city at the foot of the mountain in the afternoon, planning to hike up the next morning. Unfortunately, I chose to listen to the Chinese local advice, and got a bus to the top and hiked down. Why is this not recommended? Firstly, it is much more painful. Secondly, there is a mental thin about going up a mountain. Thirdly, you can easily hike up and down in two days if you skip the rather boring summit crowded by hordes of Chinese who got the cable car up there--but this is the part all Chinese people brag about, so if you take their advice you try to do something you will not really appreciate. I hated the top and the temple, and I hated the bottom temples where the Chinese busloads skuttle along the lower paths for a few hours. But the middle--even though it was misty the whole way and rained rather heavily at times, I was soaked by the end of it and my shoes were ruined--I loved the middle! Just hiking (in stairs), no other people than the occasional local person carrying immense loads of heavy stuff past you, a monkey here and there, a snack-stand every now and then and a few temples inbetween, where you can spnd the night and get a lovely meal...it was heaven! (Or nivana, I suppose.) I spent the night at the Hongchiu Ping (Venerable Trees Terrace) having a lovely, calm eve in a bed literally 20 m behind their main temple and buddha statue.

Buddhism-galore I: Dafu, the giant buddha

The past three days have been devoted to two major Buddhism sites in Sechuan, including the giant Buddha--Dafu--close by the city of Leshan. Arriving in Leshan I met a more rural and rugged China than I had seen so far, with rickety local busses and no English but plenty of sign language used to interact with travellers. I planned on getting a ferry across from the city to a temple at the side of Dafu. However, due to my lack of Chinese and the busdriver`s lack of English I was promptly let off at the side of the bridge they felt I should be at. So, starting at the northern gate I made my way on small, neat walking roads through hordes of Chinese visitors travelling in groups (min. size seems to be the 57 people a bus takes, plus one tour guide with a silly flag and a matching hat). Passing a pagoda, a few options to look at random buddha and cave stuff and even more Chinese hordes, I found myself next to the gigantic ear of Dafu much quicker than expected. A friendly Chinese family on pilgrimage explained the easier way to explore the Dafu for me, and I promptly set off on the steep climb down to the lower path along the shore--a beautiful walk leading to a fisherman village and a temple. The Dafu was impressive enough--his ears are 7 m long, and his eyes are 10 m across, and he is by far the biggest buddha I ever saw. However, I often find it easier to appreciate the little things that differentiate China from other places I`ve been: The greatness the Chinese seem to treasure so highly--everything in China is big--will often only make me feel alienated. (Fittingly enough; the Chinese Police posters stress that aliens, i.e. non-Chinese citizens, should report where they are to them.) However, the walk was lovely, the fisherman village was scenic and the potted plant garden in front of the cave tombs was really beautiful. Arriving at the monastery I thought of skipping it; I`ve seen a bunch of temples in China already, but a local monk motioned me in and so I decided to follow. In most buddhist temples, including this one, they ask you not to photograph the holy figures. In stark contrast, the little monk (I was a head taller than him) urged me to take photos of the different buddha figures, then literally pulled me into the main room of the temple and told me what figures to snap shots of. This was accompanied by Chinese explanations, of whom the figures were I suppose, but our only common word was "buddha"--so he kept showing me all the buddhas and showed mne that Bussha can be in your stomach. In fact, he insisted that buddha could be in my stomach, and proved this by rubbing it vigourusly. As the local, slightly forced tour of the temple grounds continued, the walk got more and more bizzarre--and in the end I have no idea of whether I was actually felt up by a monk, or simply had most of my sweaty body dried off with tissues! Walking back to the starting point I was sent off with some sort of greeting or blessing, while the weird monk wandered off in the gardens, still in his own little world. I got a bus back to town. It left when it was full of people, honked appropriately as one would expect in any rural, slightly undeveloped countryside, and after a few stops a lady walked on with a live chicken in a bag and another bag of vegetables that seemed to go well with...well, chicken. I just love it when people carry chickens on busses, I don`t know why, but the sight of her simply made my day as I was heading for the long-distance bus station to get to Emei`shan before it got dark.

Chengdu: Seeing pandas and eating yak!

Arriving in Chengdu I`d greed to meet up with Fiona and Joanne (UK) whom I ran into in Xi`an. We spent the morning visiting the pandas just north of town--and boy were they cute! The park itself was not really spectacular, but the pandas were great fun to watch for a few hours. They had both great pandas and smaller red pandas, all eating bamboo and laying about dozing..

After lunch I located Jane at the Tianmen square, with the Chairman Mao statue, a famed landmark of Chengdu. We then moved on to the Wushan temple--which I had planned to skip (yet another Ming-style temple, you know)--but which turend out to be one of the best temples I`ve been to so far! Not really for the temple though, although it was only Y5 to enter and you can collect a bunch of insence sticks for free at the entrance if you wish to worship Buddha (he charges 3 sticks for a whish, apparently, but you have to come back and give thanks if it comes true), and there`s an amazing piond filled with turtles that will supposedly support the wishes of their donators as long as they live... The real treat is the teahouse inside the temple grounds, where local people come for the weekend to read, chat, play cards, and (obviously), have tea. We stayed there until they closed, moving on to Chengdu`s Tibetan streets for sightseeing and food. Entering a local eatery, there was a distinct smell of starch sheep in the room. As the food Jane ordered came to the table, the strong scent of sheep turned out to be the smell of yak--one of the main sources of food for the Tibetan people. We had some fantastic youghurt, yak meat with chili, dumplings with mashed potatoes inside (made with yak fat or milk, from the taste of it). Also, we tried some local Tibetan wine made from a special kind of wheat that only gows in the highlands. The food was delicious, so I chose to ignore the sprawling cockroaches I only noticed as we left the place...

I was originally planning on leaving Chendu tomorrow, to see the giant Buddha in Leshan and then climb Emei`shan (a holy Buddhist mountain this time)--which I still will, but Jane has invited me to stay in her home, so I`ll take the opportunity to explore Chinese everyday life here an additional day :)

Climbing Hua`shan

Hua`shan, or Mt. Hua, is one of China`s five great mountains that one apprantly has to climb during a lifetime...one of them at least. Like all other great mountains, the Qing dynasty has taken the bother to car or schissel steps into it, so you can walk to the weirdest places in high-heels, often to worship Buddha at the top, just next to the little kitchen selling noodles and pickled duck eggs. No, I am not kidding you... Odd camping and food aside, my trip to Hua`shan was wonderful. Arriving there I asked a Chinese woman my age for help with getting tickets, and she suggested we`d make the trip together. Jane turned out to be an English teacher at a college in Chengdu, and we made friends rather instantly. We cheated a bit and got a cable car to 1640 metres--then we spent some 5 hours wandering from the north, via the south and to the east peak of the mountain, with a max height of 2154,9 metres. It was gorgeous! During the day we saw numerous staircases and walked an endless amount of steps, chatted to Chinese families, hd random photo shoots with Chinese people who like to have photos with random foreigners, ate a cucumber each, met a lovely cat, and got so swaty our pockets were soaked and our money got wet... At the end of the day we literally had to run down the whole mountain (some 45 minutes in stairs) to catch the last bus back to Xi`an, agreeing to meet up again in Chengdu.

Moving south to Chengdu

I spent the loveliest day climbing the Hua`shan (one of the five great Chinese mountains) with my newfound Chinese friend Jane yesterday. I`ll get back to that--for now I`m catching an overnight train to Chendu to see pandas and find one of China`s holy buddhist mountains to climb... Be back soon ;)

Meeting new people and their culture..

I`ve found that China gives rather decent student discounts if you have valid student ID. More recently I`ve also found that it`s just as well, seeing that once I enter a smaller temple or the city walls, all the Chinese people want to take photos with me. And not just the guys, oh no! Their sisters, mothers and grandmothers want in as well. With a rather musty Norwegian girl in sweat pants and raincoat who didn`t care to shower this morning cause it`s so damp outside anyway... Another common scenario is the "Hello, you spiki Inglis? Can I speak Inglis? How are you, how long you travel China, you alone? You go where? I hope you like here, bye-bye!" that accompanies a stroll across a square or inside a supermarket. (Please note that spelling mistakes in this section are meant to indicate what was actually said.) The scene is normally replied with a "Yes; Sure (well, lets see if you can, please give it a go..); and various answers before I assure them that I like China and good-bye to you too! These chats normally last a few minutes at the max, and are always pleasant. However, my favourite so far is the (fortunately) less common Chinese man in his mid-thirties, noodlebelly neatly tucked into shirt and nylon trousers, with the Mao glasses framing his face who approached my on the Bell Tower one late evening-- "Hi, you speaka English? Yes. May I aska you, where are you from? Norway. Oooh, Norway! May I ask, are you alone? Yes, I am alone. Oooh, where you husband? I don`t have one. Ooooh, may I ask, how old are you? I`m 26. Aaaah. You no married? No, fortunately not (this was met by a puzzled look). Ah, ok, ok...where you boyfriend, he home? I don`t have a boyfriend. Ooooh, this is very unusual, you 26 year old not married, very strange. (I smiled politely at this.) May I ask you a personil qustion? (Well, what is a personal question nowadays--my age, in certain cultures, so why not..) Sure. Ah, ah, ok, so...what about the sex?" Yes, what about it? I found myself thinking, rather puzzled. As the conversation unfolded over the next few minutes it turned out this Chinese man had a theory that while any Chinese man could satisfy any Chinese women (because they demand so little), foreigners were different. In fact, he had seen foreign women have sex in films (oh great) so he knew it was different, and he wanted to try it. Was I busy this evening? Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, I simply told him my evening was all planned and politely declined his offer. However, in my innocence I assumed this man was way out of line simply because he grew up in a country short of women, and so he might not realise how to communicate with this otehr kind of people. This happened to be on the eve of the Autumn Festival, when all Chinese people gather with their family and eat Moon Cake, so I asked him why he wasn`t at home--to which he replied that his wife and 14-year-old son had to eat Moon Cake without him this year because he wanted to see the historical sights of Xi`an after a woork conference... Oh yes, aren`t they lovely. In all my years of travelling and weird offers of photo shoots with the local population, marriages and the like, this guy is the cherry on the icing. The man walked off politely enough after my no, but I doubt he thought what he asked was in any way rude to anyone--including his wife. I hope such ideas about women aren`t universal in China, although I`m afraid it`s not a unique situation: In Beijing I witnessed a woman and a man fighting over her handbag in a subway, him winning and starting to walk off after hitting her pretty badly. As the guy walked awat she screamed something and two subway guards stepped in. I expected them to take the bag back to the lady and escort the guy away. Rather, they seemed to tell the guy he could not leave the woman there and guided him back to her, urgin her to stand up and walk away with him so as not to make a bigger scene... And still, wherever I go I am met by smiles as long as I smile first (or back), and despite the fact that my Chinese is limited to saying "thank you" I have managed to manoever local buses, buy delicious food at local vendors with Chinese-only menues (or better, no menues at all!), haggle about prices with sweet little ladies selling jade Buddhas, and asking for directions most of the times whenever I`ve been lost. I suppose China is as multi-faceted as any other country, and that in time I should see more versions of its people as I tag along. Hopefully I won`t have too many more cherries to the cake ;)

What to drink in China?

China offers a range of more or less new and exciting beverages. So far I have tried every new one I could find, and here are the ratings:

Almond milk was the firs new aquaintance--with a somewhat fake taste it still had the classic "nut milk" feel and went down quite well with noodles; 4/6.

The coconut milk was as delicious as expected, with a good mix of actual coconut stuff and milk, with a lovely nutty flavour--an absolute favourite so far! 5/6.

Walnut milk is a more unusual version, but it had to be tried. After long consideration I realised that it tasts much like the shrimp chips you get in Asian restaurants. The only good quality beeing its nutty milk texture, it gets a 1/6 and is rendered rather undrinkable (although I had to finish the can to be sure of it).

Chinese chocolate milk is not really new, but a local version of a classic, an easy going 4/6, albeit a little sweet and with too much fake vanilla.

Various versions of iced green tea have however made it to an all-time favourite position--particularly the iced green tea with jasmine--and I wish Wetern iced tea producers would learn from the Chinese (although they are a little heavy on the sugar here as well..); 5/6.

Not really a drink, I managed to buy an ice cream made from iced green tea with dates and some sort of frozen nutty-milk cover today, and although it was nothing like ice cream is supposed to be, it was delicious! A good 5/6 for a cooling snack (although this might change if it turns out the water was polluted and I get sick..)

The terracotta warriors

Aquainting a pleasant Aussie traveller over breakfast, I decided to join him and look for the terracotta warriors of emperor Quin Shi Huan. Known as China`s first emperor after he conquered six surrounding kingdoms, emperor Quin is often described as a ruthess tyrant who made his emipre a standard for all modern states to come: As the first emperor to create a centralised state, issuing national standards for weights and measures, and ordering a unified script to be used for all of China. Quin also started the construction of the Great Wall, which made him even more unpopular with his subjects. However--his plan for his own afterlife is probably even more fascinating, and one of the main reason I came to China: Quin ordered the construction of an imperial city below ground. According to history written much later, it took 700 000 labourers some 36 years to complete the city--which supposedly depicts the world over ground with much grandour... The terracotta warriors were Quin`s army in afterlife. It consists of live-sized warriors and horses, made to be crossbowmen, charioteers, cavalry or infantry--and as far as we know every soldier was unique! You don`t think this is amazing? They were fired as a single piece of clay (which is still difficult to do), and so far they have excavated some 7,000 soldiers, horses and chariots. The warriors were discovered in 1974 by some farmes digging a new well, and have been excavated since, with work still in progress. Yes, that is a big toy army. The excavation sites are bildt-in, with huge halls covering them. I feel pretty confident that the park would have looked very different had it been at home, and the display could have been made much better--still, the actual warriors, standing in theur original pits where they were buried, ready for war, are an amazing sight for a pottery freak like me, and I had an absolutely fantastic day at the site. I took lots of photos, but still not able to find a net cafe where I can load them form my camera or iPod to a computer, I cannot show them to you quite yet... Sorry!

Lost in translation on my way to Xi`an

The world is suprisingly small. I spent my last day in Beijing (for now) having breakfast with two Norwegian girls from my home university before I spun off to the silk market to get a pair of shorts. (I`ve been wearing jeans all week, I`ve been warm.) I managed to insult the local salesmen with my haggling, so I take it I got decent prices. Finally managing to get all my stuff together, I caught a taxi to the Beijing West Railway Station--possibly the biggest railway station I ever saw, to catch my train to Xi`an, in the Shaanxi province, somewhat mid-east in China. Getting on the train was easy enough with a ticket marked in Chinese, nods and shakes. I had booked a hard sleeper, and was told I`d have the top bunk. As it turns out, the Chinese know how to do railway interior to fit in a lot of people; every sleeper carriage had ten compartments with six beds in each, three on top of eachother. There were no walls apart from the ones needed to keep the bunks in place, but along the open corridor there were little tables and folding seats. At the same level as the top-most bunk there was a long, continuous luggage rack. Today (Sunday) is the Moon Festival, an occasion when the Chinese gather with their family to eat Moon Cake, so the train was packed...and seemingly noone spoke a word of English, so I figured I`d be left alone for the 12 hour ride. However--knowing my train would arrive in Xi`an in the middle of the night, I pulled out my guidebook to figure out how to ask for the arrival time, so I could set my alarm. Puzzling together the given phrase "what time will the ... arrive in ..." with the signs for "train" and "Xi`an" I must have looked like a little kid trying to learn how to write all over again. As I finished one of my neighbouring passengers read what I`d written out loud (not sounding one bit like the pinyin I would have attempted if I`d spoken it) and started a conversation with me by writing in Chinese signs and then pinyin on a sheet of paper, so I could use my dictionary to look up the meaning of the words. Going on for about an hour or so, the five men travelling in the bunks surrounding me complemented my writing of Chinese signs, asked me how old I was, where I was from, told me they thought I`d been given a horrible bunk and that I`d made my tea too strong (then giggled)--and that I was a pig? The latter was cleared up when a Chinese woman working in Dubai joined the conversation and explained they meant the year of the pig, from the Chinese zodiac. We also clarified that 1982 is in fac the year of the dog, before they taught me how to say "one world, one dream" in Chinese. Then we all ate noodles, in an amazing display of individual Chinese people with a collective idea of how to do things when on a train: Wear slippers, bring bottle of tea, fetch noodle box from luggage shelf, fetch hot water at the end of the carriage, hum while you wait, slurp noodles. Chatter happily with neighbours inbetween. By 9 pm the entire carriage was calmly asleep. I got off at 4 am, already one hour delayd. Arriving at the hostel, it was easy enough to find--but alas, the door bell was out of service, and the 24-hour open reception was dark and closed. I tried to make a racket, but noone heard me, so I read for a while then slept outside the inner gater for about an hour before some early birds checked out and I got a bed at 6 am. Having slept in and had a lovely breakfast I am now headed out to ride a bicycle around the city walls, as recommended by Maja.

The Summer Palace

I spent the entire Friday at the Summer Palace just outisde of Beijing city, by the Kunming Lake. Practically a small city outside of the city walls, it holds everything your mad-as-a-hatter Emperor or Empress needs. Story has it that the craziest of Empresses kept her son locket up in a building here for 10 years while executing his will. The same lady apparently also had 108 dishes prepared for every dinner. No wonder the palace gounds also hold a god-knows-how-many-stories Buddha temple, which is actually the main structure seen on most photos from the palace. A good four steep staircases are needed to reach it, and it wasn`t all that impressive once inside--but the building is amazing. I had two boat trips on the Kunming Lake just because it was such a lovely thing to do, and as I finally walked towards the Garden of Harmony (such a lovely garden!) and the exit, I aquainted a Chinese logistics student who wanted to talk in English. I took the rare occasion that has proved to be so far--and though I never learned his name (Chinese people never introduce themselves to me by name), I found out he had a most wonderful day because he had seen so much lovely scenerey and had been able to practice his English with three different people. I suppose that`s a good standard for any day.

Yonghegong Lamasery Temple

My favourite place in Beijing so far is the Younghegong Lamasery--a temple dedicated to the Tibetan buddhism and the Dalai Lama--situated in the centre of Beijing city. The Yonghegong consists of some fiv main tmples, with two side temples to each main temple. Inbetween the buildings are little courtyards with pine trees, benches, and a sweet smell of the insence offered to Buddha from all the worshippers. The atmosphere was amazingly tranquil as I sat down on a bench with three local women. As we sat there I was browsing the pack of postcards I had bought, with pictures from all th main sights of Bijing. The local women next to me clearly peeked ovr my shoulder, and so we started the possibly weirdest and sweetest conversation I hav ever had.. As neither of us spoke a common language, I pulled out my guidebook which has th handy expression "I don`t speak Chinese" in Chinese. They laughed understandingly and seemed to think it nifty to have a book like that. Then they pointd to "American" and looked at me. I found my little dictionary and the word for Norway--and they all nodded approving, then told all the local police men who had gathered to look at us that I was Norwegian. Someone said "Norway" in English, but noone would admit to it when I asked if anyone spok English... As I started writing my postcards (the three ladies still looking, chattering and peeking at me), I found the word for grandparents, trying to explain what I was doing. The eldest lady nodded very approvingly to my writing postcards to my family--and then they asked to see the card I`d finished, chattering like a whole mad chicken farm at my Latin letters, before they smiled, waved and continued their walk to pray at the next temple.

The rest of my day included a friendly lunch with Chris from South-Kora, whom I met very randomly at a restaurant, and then a long stroll in the Houhai hutong with beers and dinner with Ivan from Serbia/Hungary and his unnamed friend from England--which was all very lovely, but nothing compard to the three ladies..

Beijing, sweet Beijing

I`ve been waiting to write more in part because I wanted to have the energy to add photos and mike it all nice (and rather shortish, but intersting)--as it turns out, after my fresh awakening at 7 am in th morning to gt started early, no technical supply in this hostel will recognise neither my camra or my iPod, so alas; no photos yet.. But I`m still happily away, so her ar a few words trying to convy the ongoing cultur shock/exprience I am in:

Tusday started early with a trip to the famed Great Wall of China. And it was great... I went ther with my newfound Scottish mates Peter and David, and a bunch of other people from the hostel. The trip to get there was long, with surprisingly civilised driving compared to other countries I`ve been to, and after a few hours of bumping along we picked up our 72-year-old Chinese guide. He, obvioulsy, only spok one nglish word; ok!--with an xclamation.. W coudn`t figure out his name, but he guided us up th hills to a section of the Great Wall that was rather rugged and worn-down. The weather was rather crap too--foggy and a bit og rain every now and then--so I found myself expecting little fun. Howver, the fog cleared up somwhat, and as we walked along the wall for som two hours its condition got better, as did its greatness. Seing it strtching into the horizon in front of me was simply breathtaking! I`ve alrady decided to do an additional trip to a differnt section whn I come back to Beijing in December.

Wednesday. I was exhausted from all the travelling and walking, and my Scottish friends had left for Xi`an--so in lack of company and the mood to aquaint new people I caved in early on Tusday and sleep lat on Wednesday. Amazing! Then, as I was eating breakfast, contemplating what tempel to see, an American guy (Mark) offered me some fruit and recommended the cheap and lovely massages offered next door. I went along, and despite my stiffness and ticklishness making the girl say "please relaxe" in Chinese all the time it turned out to be a wonderful start to my day :) Walking out I found Tian`anmen Square just up th strt from where I live. Seing that it`s a 40 hectar square, I have to say I found it rather small and disappointing. It was filled with Beijing 2008-flower-stuff, Chinese pople taking photos of themselves in front of the Great Hall of the People, and a humonguos mausoleum for Mao. To me, the best thing Tian`anman offerd was a decent view to on of the few remaining Mao portraits, and an excuse to dive into Chinese history.. I proceeded to the Temple of Heavens (where the Long Corridor is, Maja)--rushing through the buildings in only 2 hours befor closing time wasn`t all that relaxing, but the park was stunningly beautiful, and the temple buildings were vry impressive and beautiful. However, the best fun was the Long Corridor, where old Chinese people were playing cards, singing, kicking small featherd "smurfs" (i.e. "somthings") around between them that looked like "basse", listening to the radio, reading, meditating...the corridor and surrounding park had it all!

(My apologies for any lacking e`s--they`re hard to get from this keyboard..)

In Beijing

As it turned out, I was i the right street (as everyone insisted)--but it carried on for quite a strech, and the other part, where the hostel is, was the only street that wasn`t signposted... As I finally arrived I was bathed in sweat, feeling like 9-year-old who`d lost her "I travel alone"-kit, and wondering how on earth I could have been looking for a hostel for three hours without finding it! And yes, it was less than 15 minutes away--less than 5, in fact.. I propmpty celebrated my newfound home with a shower and a few hours of sleep, seeng that I had none on the airplane coming here and it was technically 7 am by my watch.

Being rather exhausted, I still managed to join a 7.30 am trip to climb the Great Wal of China. It`s been an absolutely amazing experience, but I`ll rather write something about that after dinner :)

Lost in Beijing

My arrival in Beijing seemed nothing different from my arrival in any other foreign country at first - until the language barrier got to me... I am currently lost in Beijing, most likely no more than 15 minutes away from the hostel - an utterly lost! The streets are all signposted in pinyin as well as Chinese signs--but I`ve only got the address in a hand-written version from the tourist information desk at the airport, and alas; the signs look lovely, but are there three or four of them in the street name? And more importantly, what is the street name? Coming here I was directed to go staight ahead, then make a right. Yes, still straight ahead. Yes, still straight ahead. No, back a bit... No, no, no, make a left, right round corner. Me no know where is. Go back. Go straight. And so on... I`ve come to see most of the quarter, including a busy market street where most anything can be bought for a tenner. I try to smile, but without being able to talk I think I come off as somewhat odd--so when I ask for help, get none and still smile, the local elderly people have decided I`m great fun, and smile and wave back at me, using their entre bodies.. It goes without saying that the feeling of people having an odd touch to them goes both ways :) I`ve finally I located an internet cafe and a map with English street names and machine typed Chinese signs, so here we go again! I`ve only been looking for two hours now anyway: Yes, you make east down this road! You ask anyone!

Ready for take-off in 10, 9, 8 ...

Unlike 7 am this morning I am now some 5 minutes away from having all my stuff packed...and I feel pretty set and ready to go!Over the night I've managed to wash my jeans and dry them, much thanks to innovative use of floor heating and floor mats in the early morning hours. I've also come to realise that I have promised to bring the smelliest hat on earth along for my trip, documenting its touring of Asia (takk for den, Nico!). As I got it, it was a lovely little thing. However, as daylight dawned on me and I tried to pack it, I realised it would contaminate my entire backpack...so, it is now thoroughly washed and perfumed, and I'll let you know how it goes. Finally, as time draws nearer the point where I have to leave and catch my airport express train, I now have time to think about the fact that I have no travel itinerary, so for the next 3,5 months I'll be making life up as I go... Got to!

Almost ready for take-off

As I posted the first few words yeasterday it occurred to me that a lot of my friends obviously don't read Norwegian..so here we go in a language suitable for the more simple minds ;)

I am flying from Oslo to China on Sunday 7th Sept. My plan is to see quite a bit of China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and then a bit more of China (including Taiwan) before I return to Oslo on the 22nd Dec. Hopefully whatever comes between the dates can be read and commented about here.

For now I am still in Oslo, realising that "all" my friends here now work and can only meet up during week-ends or in the afternoon. So my days are pretty open (apart from the graduate thesis I'll be handing in before I leave), but my eves are packed with fun. I am mostly not online, so give me a call if you want to reach me.