Chinese New Year - Fantastic and Crazy

We have had a blast and also been completely overwhelmed too in Shanghai during Chinese New Year - a crazy week of fireworks, crowds, and all round madness. Brilliant!

 Several days of fireworks - all over the city - it really seemed like a war zone and so unsafe - but tucked inside our apartment we had a fantastic view of the goings on - some fireworks were so close they hit our balcony !!!However, the fireworks go on for hours into the small hours, so not much sleep recently!- have to send the money god back to heaven with good wishes. Still more to come at the end of the 15 day festival ...

 New Years Day (Chinese New Year) is the time to go to the Long Hua Temple - it seemed like most of Shanghai's 25 million or so residents had decided to go there too - this is the crowd trying to get into the temple - it is The best time to ask the gods for fortune and good luck.

 Around the temple there was a party/festival atmosphere - animals, food stalls, all kinds of stuff for sale (some very strange and weird things) and many beggars

 Here is Evan with our friend Alice - the next day (day 2 of the 15 day celebration) we went to a Taoist Temple - here we found hundreds of different gods - in this picture they have found the group of gods representing the horse years (Evan is a horse in Chinese Astrology) - what we didn't realise is that there is a separate god for each horse year - Evan and Alice found his very own god! Of course, the masses had the same idea, so you had to push and shove a bit to get to your god and to tie a red ribbon for good luck and prayers (like we did with mom at the temple in Zhouzhang)

 Red and gold are the lucky colors in China (White is bad luck by the way - the color of death) (If you're very interested, 8 is very lucky, 4 is very unlucky...) As it is the Year of the Snake - everywhere are red and gold snakes - here is a picture of a typical market scene at the moment

 We also went to Yu Yuan - in the old part of Shanghai - very famous for its Lantern Festival - unbelievable crowds (and we're pretty used to crowds now, but this were something else!)

 However, by night-time it was so worth it - thousands of lanterns were lit and the effect was amazingly beautiful - when the lanterns were switched on, for a few moments the crowd was stunned into silence and we all just gazed around us - fantastic!

 Some of the lanterns are huge - here is a gold snake riding on a mythical animal (forgotten the name) - half tortoise and half dragon - this lantern 'sculpture' is huge - you can tell by looking at the little people in front of it.

A street scene at Yu Yuan - most beautiful.

Today was our last day of work for a while! Tomorrow we are heading out for a day trip to a city called Wuxi - on the old grand canal that linked the old cities around here with Beijing. More later!

A glorious trip to Xiamen and GuLAngYu

We had a fantastic time on the island of Xiamen - in the south of China, fairly close to Hong Kong, we loved the warm breezes and sunshine, and being in a relaxed, tropical place.

 Downtown (pedestrianized!!!) Xiamen - bright lights, crowds and lots of interesting restaurants. Because it's close to Taiwan, there is a strong Taiwanese influence in the food and attitudes

 In Xiamen, there is a very famous canteen style restaurant - you buy tokens at a little booth, and then jostle your way to the front to make your food choice - dumplings, steamed buns and the famous peanut soup. Andy, peanut lover, had to try this famous soup ... but was little disappointed - quite sweet with bits of egg in it ... preferred the dumplings and buns - but a fun experience.

 Along the boardwalk by Xiamen beach - behind Evan is an fort built by the Germans.

We stayed on the larger, citified island of Xiamen but visited another island close by. Called GuLangYu, it is a car free tiny island that is pretty much devoted to tourism (Chinese - very few Westerners) - in it's previous life, the island was very popular with expats, who in the earlier half of the 20th Century built colonial mansions

We caught a free-for-all ferry there and back - it was OK - here is Evan looking ready to deal with the crowds!

 The island is a beautiful mixture of China and crumbling colonial mansions ... a fabulous place to wander and relax

 Evan stikes a pose along the waterfront of GuLangYu

 Some colorful GuLangYu boats with the island of Xiamen in the background

Another day we took a local tour (all in Chinese - no Westerners and definitely no English spoken (we felt brave!) to the interior of Fujian province to the land of Hakka people - famous for their round building (tulou = earth (tu) lou (stories/floors)) - an ancient style of apartment buildings built in a circle with one entrance - each family member had an apartment inside. These are very large buildings, and unique to the Hakka - some are now UNESCO sites - we got to visit several on the tour, as well as some local villages

 Fantastic to be off the beaten track and to see an area of China that is not on the tourist trail so much - though we were looked at a bit by the locals and even had our picture taken posing with one!

A tulou entrance - this one from one dating back to the 1300s - fantastic!

 Inside a tulou - the ground floors are for kitchens, next floor for storage, and then bedrooms - Hakka families still live in these buildings, and although basic, seem fairly comfortable.

In one of the villages, we visited an old, unusual 'Buddhist' temple - complete with lots of Chinese gods - this old artwork was on one of the doors and outside were several 'dragon poles' ... not sure what for but we know they are unusual - but our Chinese didn't extend to understanding Why!

Another picuresque village scene - quite a different side of China to the crowded, fast paced cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

 So we had a great time in Xiamen.

Now, we are getting ready to leave China with only 3 more weeks of work, and then another 2 weeks to relax and travel. We have plans for one more trip - to the famous HuangShan (Yellow Mountain) and back to one of our favorite places, Hangzhou.



New Year Update

Well just a brief update - we have been laying a little low over the holiday season (which is a little celebrated here) while we have been preparing to move on. Christmas Day was a typical day here, but we did have the day off -so lunch at Marks and Spencers! and some BBC TV via the internet! New Year's Day - we went on a long walk by the sea and along the Huangpo River and evening fireworks. No recent travels since the last post.

Since then we have given notice on the apartment and pur jobs, and will be leaving China at the beginning of March - we finish our contracts mid February, but because of various delays with money, etc (China ...) we are staying a couple more weeks on a tourist visa - some holiday time in China.

In the meantime, we have some leave to take - so in a week and a half we fly to Southern China for a few days - to spend some time on two warm islands - Xiamen and Gulang Yu - both very pretty and WARM - Shanghai is cold and damp and a bit snowy!

While we have been looking forward to leaving China and having some new adventures now we are definitely going we both feel sad and .... well maybe w'll come back again in the future - though not to Shanghai - to be truthful, although Shanghai is a crazy, busy metropolis we have actually pefered to quiter,more historical cities like Xian, Beijing and Nanjing to the all-out energy of Shanghai. Also, Andy especially has been really into learning Chinese - fairly fluent now including some basic reading and writing (typing)! Zen me yang?!!

Happy New Year. More to follow after our Xiamen/Gulang Yu trip.

Spirit animals, a Hilton stay and trucks vs cars

Oooooh - time for an update.

Here are some pics of our latest adventures ...

We had a great time back in Nanjing, which used to be the capital of China during the early years of the Ming dynasty. On the Purple-gold mountain is a 14th century Ming emperor tomb which has a 1/2 km + spirit walkway of stone animals and guardians up to the tomb.

 Here we are outside the entrance to the tomb - it's not only Japanese schoolgirls who can pose like this...

Nanjing is one of only a few ancient cities that still has it medieval walls, and we spent some time exploring them. Built between 1366 and 1393, what was really cool was finding the stamps on many of the bricks that showed the brickmaker's name and date - if the bricks were poor quality and broke, the emperor would know who to blame!

 Sunset over the city of Nanjing from Xanwu Lake.

Back in Shanghai, we spent a bizarre day at this satellite city Meilan Lake - based on a Swedish town - this is one of the towns that has been built to copy different European cities (we visited Thames Town based on London several months ago) - it actually seems pretty authentic (at least from a distance) - up close, it's, well, just weird ...! There are Spanish, Dutch, German and Italian towns too ... may or may not go to see them too!

We spent last weekend in a city called Hefei - 3 hours inland from Shanghai by bullet train- including some great scenery and crossing the huge Yangtzee River. The town is a little off the tourist trail, which made it a bit more interesting to visit for us. Also ... the Hilton there was having a super special deal, and so instead of our usual hostel stay, we splashed out ($75) on a room at the Hilton - and loved it. LOVED IT!

In one of the local parks we came across this procession of people who were renacting something - no idea, but it looked like they were having a blast. One woman with a (hopefully fake) moustache, a couple of others with boats strapped around them!

 On a sidewalk (the traffic there was the worst we have experienced in China) a truck and a car battled it out for dominance OF THE SIDEWALK/PAVEMENT! Unbelievable. Where could the motorbikes go?

We visited the cool underground tomb of Lord Bao from the 9th century - apparently a very decent chap who did lots of good things and now has temples and pagodas and stuff built for him.

That's all the photos. We also had a great time at a huge Elton John concert - packed full of Westerners! Andy had his final teaching assessment, our offers for next year our coming (no, we're not staying) and we're good. Planning and enjoying our final few weeks here.

November update

We've been local the last couple of weeks - walking and enjoying the fabulous fall weather in Shanghai. We found a great spot a few days ago - via metro - where the Yangtze River, Huangpo River and China Sea meet - it was also the spot where the original fishing village of Shanghai was founded, and also, from what we could make out from the Chinese only musuem, the place where the Japanese landed/invaded when they attacked Shanghai before WWII.

This week we're off to Nanjing again - we went there about 6 months ago but didn't see everything we wanted to. This trip (via bullet train!) will be aboput visiting the Purple-Gold Mountain and the Ming dynasty tombs there.

The USA election was big news here - many Chinese people think highly of Obama. We voted via overseas voting - cool! - and of course were particualry excited to see Washington State be one of the historic states to legalize gay marriage by popular vote. Great news.

As our time here starts to wind down, we're making every effort to enjoy the last few weeks left. Planning a few more trip, but nothing really big, and looking forward to seeing friends and family soon.

All, as usual, is good!

Xian - warriors, walls, mosques and little lions

Just returned from a fabulous few days in Xian - the ancient capital of China. There is a strong Muslim influence in Xian because it was the start/end of the Silk Road and so has a long tradition of Arabic influence. We spent some time in the Muslim Quarter, which frequently reminded us of our travels in Egypt.

 Most intersesting was the Grand Mosque - a large complex of Islamic buildings, but all built in a very traditional Chinese way ... We timed out visit perfectly to see the men arrive and worship

We visited the tomb of Emperor Jingdi - (188-141 BC) who was buried with thousands of mini clay warriors and animals for the afterlife. The very cool thing about this place was that it was all glassed in, so you can walk on top and next to the excavations - very interesting.

Another great thing abot Xian (can you tell we're fans?!) are the intact Ming dynasty city walls (1300's) - at the time, Xian was the biggest city in the world! and the perimeter covers 14km (we walked the whole thing too) - at night, the walls are peaceful and lit by red Chinese lanterns - beautiful!

Of course, Xian is also a modern city - with a lot of hustle and bustle. The traffic was incredibly bad at times, and crossing the road was definitely taking your life into your own hands at times.

I just loved this lion (who is actually quite small) - it seems like it is trying to look ferocious while guarding the entrance to a city park...

Of course (Of Course!) the highlight was a trip to see the Terracotta Warriors and the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (2000 + years old). There are 3 pits open - here is Pit 2 with most of the warriors not yet excavated - we could see some of them, but most remain in the hollow parts between the raised walls. It is estimated to have 1300 warriors here. All are life size. The actual tomb of the emperor has not been excavated because (apparently) the ancient story of rivers of mercury and traps are true - the soil around the hill shaped tomb has 1000 times more mercury than is normal and so opening it up could be dangerous and very costly ... but who knows what would be in there!!!

 Here is one of the warriors - it is true that each has a unique face - apparently based on individual artists who were later executed to protect the secrets of the tomb. Some warriors still had traces of red, pink, blue and yellow paint ...

 This is Pit 3 - the smallest of the pits contains many of the generals - about 72 warriors in total.

Pit 1 was mind-blowing - about 2000 warriors on display with another 4000 still to be excavated - the area is huge - unbelievable. They have also recently discovered another pit with many more warriors in.

So, there we go - Xian was fabulous in many ways - the food, the sites, the people and the history. Definitely worth a visit - we had a great time!