The Great Wall

We had a very early start this morning. We drove out to the Great Wall and I actually walked on it. Never thought I would get to see it let alone walk on it. Ann, Richard and I made it to the top, I was so glad my fitness level was up. You climbed steep stairs and thought you were there but once at the top there was another lot of stairs in front of you. It was so windy at the top, I thought I would be blown over. Here is a photo of Ann and me on the wall, just look at my hair!

We visited a jade factory and the tour was quite fascinating. Some of the jade carvings were spectacular. One piece the size of the wall was over 2,ooo,000 yuan.

We travelled past the 'Bird's Nest' stadium where the Olympics are to be held on the way home. Quite an unusual design.

The meal tonight is Beijing Duck - of course we all know it as Peking Duck but no longer! The duck, once cooked, was brought out on a tray and expertly dissected by the Chinese chef.

Can't say that it was my favourite meal.....but was followed by a very skillful acrobat show.

Seaweed Soup

Today we had seaweed soup for lunch.

I went for a walk early this morning and met a little old Chinese man jogging along. He said hello and I replied, he then broke out into a torrent of Chinese, which I couldn't understand, all the time pointing to my feet. It finally hit me that he was amused by my bare toes, everyone else was wearing covered shoes, I did say it was cold.

First stop today was Tiananmen Square. It was very welcome as it is very cold here. Vicki was very kind and lent me her coat as I had come without mine, well when I went ealking with bare toes it wasn't too bad. I wasn't sure how I would feel here but it was OK. We had some time to walk around and then met to have a group photo taken. I am happy to be able to have a photo of the whole group to remember them by. I also got Anne from Western Australia to take my picture in the pose that all the Chinese were having theirs taken!


The Forbidden City was incredible although we didn't see much inside the buildings. Our guide Richard told us many stories from ancient times, and believe me I wouldn't last long as a concubine, I would become very badly behaved. Everything here is being done up ready for the Beijing Olympics so the Forbidden City had scaffolding and "photos" of some of the buildings. There is such a lot of building going on, I wonder if it will all be finished by next year. The traffic is pretty horrendous as well. I think there will be restrictions on residents when the Olympics are staged otherwise it will be impossible to get around.

After lunch we went to the Temple of Heaven, the Temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. As the Emperor of China was regarded as the "Son of Heaven", sacrifices to heaven was extremely important. The temple was built for these ceremonies, mostly comprised of prayers for good harvests.

Beijing

Today we are to experience our first internal flight as we go to Beijing the capital of China and the host to the next Olympic games. We had to say goodbye to Peggy, our local guide, who told us so many stories of Shanghai life. I particularly liked the quilt story, I do hope she gets her 88 quilts! I also think the stories of Shanghai men and their hardworking life are great, I think all men should be like the ones in Shanghai and do all the house work and willingly provide their credit cards for our shopping! Peggy was so full of fun, she provided a great introduction to China for us!

Arrived in Beijing today at about 4pm after leaving at 10am. The flight 2 hours, the rest of the time was spent in queues! Our Beijing Hotel is *****. Most places seem to have these lions outside.




I know this will come as a surprise to all my old friends when they see this pic of me drinking beer, won't be a surprise for the tour group...... All I can say is that we get a free beer with each meal, how could I refuse.
We are starting to get to know each other and it looks like a it is going to be a great trip. Dinner tonight was at an Irish pub in Beijing, don't ask me why there is an Irish pub in Beijing but I suppose no different to one in Hobart! The name of the pub was Durty (sic) Nellies.

Maglev Train

Busy day today. The first stop was at the Shanghai Museum. It is superb and I could have spent hours there. I started on the fourth floor but all too soon the time was nearly up and I had to speed look to finish in time. The costumes were superb, the embroidery breathtaking.




I was very surprised to find that a plant I have at home is all over this city
(note: later on found it all over China)

Next off to the Silk Factory. With the exception of those selected for reproduction of eggs, the cocoons are treated to preserve them intact. The silk worm spins the cocoon with one continuous thread forming a figure eight so the chrysalis must be killed without damaging the cocoon. The end of the cocoon is found and then several are threaded onto a machine to collect the silk. A single thread of silk can measure up to 4,000 feet in length. The quilts made from the cocoons are fabulously light and warm.

Hmmm I think we may have visited the Yu Garden after lunch. Very beautiful, and took 28 years to create then the guy lost it all in one night at a card game. It was built with Feng Shui in mind, man created mountain behind and water in front with some beautiful pavillions.

A bit of a change of plan here as we all wanted to have a ride on the Maglev train. This train travels at 431 K/H for 1 minute, the rest is speeding up and slowing down! It goes from Shanghai to the international airport (approx 30k) and it takes 7 minutes and 20 seconds. A train passed us going the other way and all we knew of it was a whoosh and a bit of a buffeting of air!

We went across the Nangpu bridge (our local guide, Peggy, told us that this bridge was designed by a 7 year old girl who is now an architect student) and up the tallest building (Jin Mao Building) in Shanghai.

Can we keep up this pace!

There was more to come because it was also the birthday of one of our group, Mick. Many happy returns and the cake was shared by all!

Oh and guess what even more as we had a night cruise on the river to see the night lights of Shanghai, the power bill must be horrendous, thank goodness I don't have to pay it!!

Shanghai

I arrived in Shanghai early morning after a long flight for the first meeting with my fellow travellers. We were all very tired so the first information session seemed very long and we were keen to have a rest.

After lunch we went for a stroll along the Bund, which is on the west shore of the Huangpu River. The river traffic provided us with some entertainment and a boat went by with a huge TV screen.



It seemed to be a very popular spot for Shanghaiese, there were many enjoying the warm weather and refreshments from the many food stalls. One of the more interesting buildings to be seen from here is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower on the opposite shore.





We ended our first day in China with dinner at a restaurant where we enjoyed a rather strange floor show. The participants didn't seem particularly interested and as soon as they had finished they left, presumably for another restaurant to do it all again!

Up, up and away

Isobel arrived early this morning as Megan has an early shift. Nonna gave her an early morning bottle and then she went to sleep in bed with Grandpa.

We are going to have breakfast in Brunswich this morning then off to the airport. The adventure begins! I fly to Shanghai via Sinagapore arriving in Shanghai early tomorrow morning Shanghai time (two hours behind Eastern Standard Time).

Down by the riverside

Daylight savings ended today. I wasn't sure if it did in Tassie so I kept my watch at the same time all day but decided to change it back this afternoon.

Jenny, Richard and I caught the tram down to the city this morning and after a leisurely coffee in 'magnation', where you can drink coffee and read all the latest magazines without buying them, the magazines that is, we walked down to Federation Square. It was packed, there is a food and wine festival on at the moment and the whole of Melbourne were there to sample the delights. Lots of free entertainment to keep us occupied and then we walked over to South Bank for a late Greek lunch.

Melbourne

Victorians very happy today as there has been rain overnight and more rain today! Jenny has been putting buckets out to collect the runoff as there are more severe water restrictions here than in Hobart. She is wishing she had more buckets but in any case the garden has received a good soaking.

I had a very lazy morning although I woke up early and managed to order quite a few plants online. After a late breakfast I wandered into town and spent quite a bit of time in Katmandu but managed to get out without buying anything. I caught the train out to Merlyston and had a very pleasant visit with Kristen, Keiran and Viv. Viv is so much taller than I last saw him (Richard's 60th).

Back to Brunswick and co-opted to the wedding chain gang, where Jen and I put photos of the bride and groom into the guests' present (coach and horse picture frame). Oh Richard is a wedding photographer - have a look at his website. Then Jen and I had a very well deserved brandy!

Starting off

Arrived in Melbourne this afternoon to a very hot and humid day. Richard, Jenny, Megan and Isabel picked me up from the airport. It was great to see them again, Isabel has grown since I last saw her in October. She is an absolute delight, such a happy little girl even put up with her great-auntie!

Jenny and Richard took me to the Brunswick Town Hall to listen to FourPlay, a string quartet playing in the Brunswick Music Festival. They were sort of blues/rock I think, not that I am an expert on these things, everyone knows how tuneful I am!

Footnote: A message from my brother Robert (the cryptic leaving door open bit is because we were so excited we didn't latch the door properly and it was wide open when Mike came home):
Not one mention of your best brother, who started the trip by taking you to airport and leaving door open xx

PPS: of course all my brothers are the best...but they only have one best sister :)