Thursday March 28

Our last full day before we head home and Kerryn has organised for a friend of hers, who has access to a car and a driver, to take us with her to the Crazy Market.  At first I wasn't sure whether this was to be a specialty market for crazies.   But no, it is just a huge crazy area of blocks and blocks of shops, as usual, set out in groups of the same type of thing. There were the clothes blocks, the toy blocks, the stationery blocks etc and in each of these we found shops selling just scarves, just huge soft toys, just pens and, to take the cake, just head bands. And on the way we drove along a street with shops of just sewing machines!    Of course, because we were in the thick of it, we see many more quirky sights.

 

This really was a crazy shopping experience, and I could have kept buying lots of useless things. However, I pulled up with one $7 watch (to replace the $350 one I lost a couple of days before I left home) and two pots of bright nail polish with cute little tops, for grand daughters.   I again had a good couple of hours people watching.

 

We stopped for lunch, after the locals asking where we might eat, at a back ally kitchen with a chef in a newspaper hat and an upfront lady with a foghorn voice. We chose whatever ingredients we wanted from her selection set out in dishes or hanging on a frame, and Herald Boy stir fried up a storm. I wasn't too excited about the hairy beans but the rest was superb.

 

Sandra and her driver were a very welcome way of getting around AND the car was a Buick again.

Home and we are babysitting the kids of our hosts, eating Chinese takeaway and playing Uno. This is a reminder of my grandchildren at home and I'm a bit homesick again. Will be lovely to see some of them for Easter.

Wednesday March 27

The sun is shining in Wuhan and although you can't see across the lake where our apartment building is situated, the nearby buildings and structures are much more lit up than yesterday.

This is one of the community areas inside the apartment complex where we are staying complete with permanent merry-go-round

 
Today we are being taken by a Chinese friend, Grace, to the Tea Market where she has a friend with a shop. The amazing thing about the cities here is that various shopping malls can be so specific to warrant a whole mall for just one thing.  After a long bus ride, and a longish train ride on the underground system that is still being built here, we walk to a large red entrance that heralds the Wuhan Tea Market.  

Spread out ahead of us is a seemingly endless corridor of little specialty shops, all displaying something to do with tea making and drinking. There are teapots, tea cups and special serving trays for doing it all the traditional Chinese way. 

 


We also see some amazing ways of bundling tea leaves, some in circles like Dutch cheeses and some rolled into logs.

 
Grace takes us to a beautiful little shop nearly at the far end of the market and we are introduced to the owner who sits the six of us down around a special serving tray and cups and we have the whole performance. We try several green teas and a "red" tea which is what they call our black tea. The serving is incredibly intricate with much washing and rinsing and pouring and many of the leaves are quite large. Needless to say there are no tea bags here.

 

But one of the most interesting things is that the left over tea is poured over a couple of tea "pets" which look like cane toads with three legs. The fable here is that they signify a great deal of welcoming in that they come in and don't go out. I'm not quite sure how three legs accounts for that!

After this intriguing three quarters of an hour, we now head for Food Street - more of this specialty stuff.   This was a bit like the Muslim Quarter in Xian but much more variety of things being cooked.

 

I finally decide to have a try of things I've seen on a stick because I now have Kerryn to help with the translation of what it is.   I choose a dough based thing, beautifully spiced and cut circumferentially so it fans out along the stick. And follow this up by sticky rice balls rolled in sesame seeds. I decide to pass on the frogs on sticks.

 

There is now just time go to Wuhan's most famous tourist attraction, the Yellow Crane Tower, billed as "the most fantastic scene under heaven".    Now I'm not sure we should go that far, but it was first built in 223, when it was lower than the present version, now five stories high with typical Chinese up turned eaves on each storey.  

 

We climbed to the top for good views of the Yangtze River and surrounding parts of the tower precincts and the city.  
Inside were some stunning tiled murals relating to the history and mythology of the tower.

 

 

Just below was a group of buildings dating from the early 1900's where the revolution was planned in 1911.   Also apparent was a big red cross atop a steeple like structure which is a big central Christian church.

Home to rest our legs after the hundreds of steps and I am able to share in the family celebration of a Christian version of the Passover supper. It was lovely to do this with three lovely kids.

Tuesday March 26

Wuhan is very cold and we arrived last night in icy rain. This morning it's back into the thermals for a bus ride to the Buddhist Temple in 6 degrees. Streets are still madness traffic wise and I do not know how people survive on bicycles. Or for that matter, how there aren't many pedestrian casualties every day with the silent electric motor scooters which drive on footpaths or up one way streets the wrong way.
 
The Guiyuann Buddhist Temple, first built in the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) is very reminiscent of Buddhist temples in Bhutan but thronging with visitors who all pay and entrance fee even to come in and worship.  I was half price being over 60!    No one revered me as an elder though.   Most of the many people are local Buddhists, there to worship.

It does take a long time to get anywhere here with the traffic and the big city and we must go to pick up Timothy from Kindy on the way home.

This evening, we go on a bus again to meet Scott after work at a great little eating house. We have magnificent dumplings and beer and are joined by Jo Jo, a good friend of Scott and Kerryn.

Monday March 25

The wall around the "old" city of Xian beckons. We had driven through one of the gates on the bus last night but have heard you can either walk or cycle the 14 Km. So it's onto another bus to the south gate and up onto the top to hire bikes, aiming for one with a comfy seat. The day is very smoggy so we are not going to see much view of the city. Hopefully we won't choke pedaling hard in the open air.  Many people are wearing masks.

The wall is thicker at the bottom, sloping in to the top but really large, probably 30 metres across the top. There are watch towers in typical Chinese architecture at each gate and other strategic positions along the wall on both sides. 

The bikes are good and we have 100 minutes to ride the four walls. There is a bit of stopping for viewing and photos but we make it with nine minutes to spare. It was a good feeling to be back on a bike and getting good exercise. The surface is almost cobblestones in parts but it is just possible to steer a reasonable course. There are tourists everywhere and at one stage we get a view of the tourist bus car park with a sea of coaches. 


There are lovely gardens, now very green and full of blossoms at places along the outside wall. 

We pass by a Buddhist temple right under the wall and it is a little burst of colour in a rather dull landscape of dusty residential buildings and shops. These are obviously old buildings because the new residential blocks of units are incredible.


 

People had told me about the building frenzy in China, but nothing prepared me for the huge clusters of 25-35 storey edifices rising, in some cases, from the "ashes" of demolished old buildings. Some of these areas must be 50 acres or more, and half of them are still under construction or just hollow shells, waiting to be filled with rooms and windows.

After coming down from the wall we stroll through the surrounding gardens, red Chinese lanterns everywhere.  

And then visit Calligraphy Street where the ancient art is being kept alive.   The many different stalls, some simply selling brushes of all sizes, were fascinating.  

 

Of course there were knick knacks of all sorts on sale - anything related to calligraphy or Chinese painting.

Back to the hotel of splendid service, the Shangri-la, to kill a little time while we wait for the Buick to take us back to the airport for Wuhan - hot chocolate.   While sitting in the lounge I suddenly notice the flower arrangement on our table, and others around us - Patterson's Curse!

Sunday March 24

Sleep in and late breakfast at a great smorgasbord here at Shangri-la Hotel.   Meet a driver and English speaking guide for our trip out to the Terracotta Warriors.   Mr Jung and Michael are all we could wish for and we are treated like royalty.  Catriona is still talking of feeling like a princess.   I'm very pleased for her to be having a few special treats.

The warriors were not a disappointment and an amazing story and ongoing eighth wonder of the world. Michael had endless stories to tell us which made the trip so much more meaningful.
Of course there were tourist groups everywhere and many of the guides were carrying little flags on poles so their group could find them in the melee. 

We learned that the warriors were first discovered by a group of farmers digging a well in 1974, when they dug up a terracotta head and thought it was a ghost and very unlucky. When their farms were taken away from them to start the extensive excavations, the farmers were given new jobs sitting at the site meeting tourists, shaking their hands and signing books. We met one who is still alive. There were miriads of stalls as we walked in and out. These have been provided, as a means of making a living, to other farm families in the area who've had to give up their land for the development of the site.The burial site of the Emperor Chin Shi Huang Di is within a couple of kilometres of the pits of warriors and they were placed in front to guard him in the afterlife. The site is a huge burial mound a couple of kilometres long in itself and Chin is buried very deep in side, guarded by a river of mercury and poisoned dart booby traps to deter anyone from digging him up. And yes, he's still in there. The Chinese are too superstitious to attempt it and maybe that's how it should be, although as Catriona suggested "I'll bet Indiana Jones would have had a go".
Chin was the first emperor to unite China two centuries BC and also built the Great Wall in the north. He started building this site soon after his reign and he died some thirty years later while visiting the site!   Sometimes planning can be quite ironic.

All around now, there is a feeling of spring and the gardens around the warrior site are beautiful.

On the way home, Michael took us to a local, genuine, new, and clean noodle restaurant where we ordered, under guidance as no staff spoke English, large green flat noodles with sauce of tomato, ground pork and vegetables. 

 Chilli was served separately so we could add for our own taste - much more successful than the Urumqi experience.

Interesting little interlude when Michael announced that it is local custom to chew a fresh, raw garlic clove with this food.  Not this Aussie!

So it was a wonderful morning and anyone coming to Xian, we could absolutely recommend the Shangri-la and Michael as a guide.

 


With encouragement from our local experience at lunch, we decide to brave the local transport and catch the bus into central Xian, inside the old city wall, to visit the famous Muslim area with narrow streets lined by food vendors. 

As darkness falls, the place is lit up by the neon lights that the Chinese love and there are throngs of people squeezed into the streets, plus bicycles, silent but deadly electric motor scooters, and even the odd car that seems to think it should also be able to fit here! 

 In this area there are also two ancient towers that told time, one with a drum and one a bell. Each heralded either dawn or dusk. They were spectacular lit up at night.

When we arrived back at the hotel of superlative service, the girls at the door were so pleased to see us back, having obviously been worried about our setting off on our own on the bus.