hello
firstly apologies for saying Flic has been going to the gum, i meantof course gym. She has now discovered the playground near ourappartment that contains exercise equipment, and I had previouslyenjoyed that whilst locked out the appartment ;)
All over Beijing there are these kid's playgrounds with barbells,skiing/step machines and so on. They are designed in that big,bulky, blu kinda plasticy way so they are safe to use, but stillkinda serious. I like the idea. Might not be fun in teh snow alterin the year though, but it could help cut down the obesity crisis inthe 'west'.
In an email following this, you should be able to access some photosonline (fingers crossed) -a selection of pics, people, cities,countryside. The great wall ones will also be uploaded in the future.
So I went to China's most popular tourist (bear in mind most oftheir toursits are Chinese from other parts of China) site onprobably the busiest day of the year: the forbiddent city on theweekend of the national holiday (celebrating china's 55th birthdaytakes a whole 6 days!). But it was not too crowded. Frustratingly,and typical of China, not only are there extras inside that costmoney in addition to the entrance ticket, there arecompeting 'offical audio guides'. grr so I only chose the wrong one -the one with the chinese person talking and not the other companythat has roger moore!
Anyway its a very big, old, chinese place to visit. Previously Iwent to a rock/punk festival (just 1 day of it though) whichwas 'different' although the music was quite good. We left early andwent out drinking and clubbing in Sanlitun. I should add we alsospent a while buying the kebabs, and giving them away to the beggars(the things alcohol does to you, but hey, at least they cant tradekebabs for drugs...).
oh, so the cities...I went away for a few days into the mountains.they were very pretty and me and a yank walked half way across themand back with mroe than a little effort -well worth it though.Finally got rid of the stupid hooting that was going on int hehorrible village that has grown up in the valley. It nicely joinsall the monasteries together with a mess of crappy restaurants,stands, run-down hotels and so on. the guide book says the 4 starhotels are a few km away! rant over, on my way back we passed halfof the world's coal being moved down this one road via trucks.another fantastic bit of china. 1 long road, 1 truck every 10seconds, each truck double length, overflowing with coal, and theonly buildings are catering to the local trucking community -lovely.but its nice to see another part of China.
I was suitably impressed by a UNESCO site (1500 yr old caves cutinto rocks, a bit like Petra i guess, but not as large), beforegetting my 3rd night train in 5 nights. Now I'm in Shanghai; but imaanged another day out to ZhouZhuang yesterday (the venice of theeast) supposedly -a fantastic little town, where toursim has been agood thing and well managed, unlike in the Wutai Shan. fantasticcontrast. in fact i liked it more than the real venice (it wasquieter, less polluted),a nd even got a free concert of some kind offamous chinese music that is also somehow protected by UNESCO....
time to get to work (its sunday but all of china is working, tocatch up the days lost cause of the national holiday)
come on England!
Adam
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