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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: east sussex
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China holiday 2006 (pic heavy)
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Having gone to China a couple of years ago and "Done " the sites
I thought some of you might be interested. Therefore I shall, over the next few days, endevour to give a bit of a tour with a bit of information added to the pictures what I remember.
So here is a bit of a pre-amble first.
We booked with Oriental Travel in London via the internet, not the cheapest but definately well worth the extra money but wish we had gone for the 4* hotel instead of the 3*.
I was worried about sending the passports for the Chinese Visa (£40) in the post but I couldn't have asked for a better service, stamped and returned same week, something I met throughout the trip.
Yes it was a long flight and we flew with KLM so had to change at Skippol Airport. The company now uses a different airline.
Due to it being November the weather was like a summer day here but would recommend late October early November( less crowds around that time of year)
We were met at the airport by a guide and driver with car , yes we had them all to ourselves not only in Beijing but in Zian as well. Taken to the hotel 2 hours rest and we were off to visit the first of many places, boy those Chinese don't hang about.
Food
In Beijing it is very much Chinese, and to be honest you have to guess what food is on offer in the hotel resturant, but in Zian, being a relatively new city, they cater more for western tastes. but the Chinese food is totally different from what we get over here
Hotel
Their 3* is like our 1* so best to go for a 4* hotel if possible .
Transport
Don't even try , we would have stood no chance without our driver and guide, hardly any speak anything other than Chinese, suprisingly, and unless you can read and speak Chinese public transport is a definate no no.
Personal concerns
Yes, the main one was, being in a Communist country, being watched by their secret police, I have to admit here that if we were watched we knew nothing about it, correction, after getting back home and thinking about it, at breakfast in the hotel, a person walked past the dining room entrance, glanced in and walked on. That was it.
Cost
It depends on the tour company, but when we went in 2006 we were advised the average tip for the guide ( who spoke perfect English) was £6 and £3 for the driver per day. Other costs was only for bottled water for obvious reasons @10p a bottle and when we went to the great wall £6 for the ski lift. No way was I going to climb 3,000ft plus . Oh bought a back scratcher for 10p. Something very handy now the wife won't scratch any itch on my back anymore.
Finally before I start posting pictures with a little info where possible, I would highly recommend the country, not only for the sites we visited, but the people were so friendly and polite it was unbelievable. Something you don't get to such a degree in the western world.
Ok here we go. there are about 6million push bikes in Beijing but some of the more wealthy have these enclosed 3 wheel motorbikes. How they get whole families in them I don't know
Aunts- Uncles -Mums- Dads and children
Yes we did the Rickshaw (bicycle) thing In Beijing, apparently they are keeping about a square mile as it was with the narrow old streets. A mentioned in the preamble about how fast the Chinese work. Well the peddle fell off the bike on our Rickshaw, now over here to get another peddle may take days for a shop to get in, not over there no way. No sooner had we come to an exciting stop than out rushed the guy from a shop with a new peddle, not a bicycle shop either, and i swear the new peddle was on in less than a minute.
Sorry about the picture but i didn't take it as you can see.
Typical back street in Beijing, look carefully at the top above the bunting and you will see the birds nest of power cables. That is quite neat compared to some we saw. Not the type of place China wants to promote I am sure, at least you wont find it in any brochures. I sneaked this shot when nobody was about.
You may wonder why take a picture of a door? Well just above where the doors open there are 4 projecting timbers sticking out, you can just see them (look like 4x 6 sided pictures) . The significance is that those posts denote the standing in the community. The more posts the higher they are, in this case the owner would have been at least an Earl in our money. Whatever status a Chinese person was they were not allowed to marry outside their class
Oh yes a typical hired Bike Rickshaw, all licenced by the state as are the tour guides and drivers.
The first picture is of a house who you see the owner of in the doorway. The state pays him an allowance to open up his home for people like us to see inside.
Like all over the world people like to gamble. Those insects are bet on, what they do is get a paint prush and just have a single hair on the end and tickle the insects to make them jump.
the furthest jump is the winner. They are highly prized and live in the home. the house is facing inwards towards a small courtyard with another the same on the other side. This chap is well off compared to others we saw.
Right at the other end of the scale is this. Now I have to admit that I was overawed by this place, and wish I had taken more pictures. Let me explain, this is one of the palaces of the Emperors, right in the middle of a beautiful oriental park and lake. A long walk up to it and young ladies in full original costumes at the entrance, absolutely stunning never seen anything so beautiful. The room is all gold leaf as you can see. Yes we did eat there, 16 course meal. It wasn't until around 1920 that this and the Forbidden city as well as other palaces were opened up to the public.
Maybe now you are getting a flavour of why I am so happy to have gone there and would just love to go back.
Local Chinese recreation time
Thee first picture is some of the locals practicing Tai Chi ( think thats how it is spelt)
the second picture shows flag waving which seems to be another hobby I suspect it is a keep fit thing together with kicking a shuttlethingy with the feet and not with a bat as over here.
The third picture is of traditional musical instruments, there were several of these and all for their own satisfaction.
Temple of Heaven.
During the summer months the Emporers spent their time here in prayer. The building is made completely out of wood, not a singlle nail was used. Also people were listened to if they had a grievence within this temple. Yes again all gold leaf.
Outside is the raised stone where they raised up their voices to the heavens, again in prayer.
It was designed so that their voices could easily be heard by those all around.
Interesting to note that the marble sections are done in circles which can be multiplied by 9.
9 being a lucky number in Chinese culture.
Still in the same area
Notice the information is in English, all the information signs are this and Chinese only
One of the many gateways and entrances to the Temple of heaven. Why show this one particularly? Well all the gateways were in 3 arches, the centre arch was for the Emporer and Empress, the 2 outside ones for their attendants. Notice that there is also two stone lines leading from the middle arch, if any of the attendants crossed those lines into the path of the Emporer, I am sorry to say they lost their lives
Tiananmen Square (I had to look that up to spell it)
IMG]http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u217/bazza104/DSC_3341Medium.jpg[/IMG]
Showing the Monument to the warriors and the peoples parliament ( where river dance was held)
Looking towards the forbidden city. I didn't realise it was next to the square.
Approach to the forbidden city over the moat. I got moved on by one of the guards for stopping to try and get a photo of the moat itself. Seems you arn't allowed to stop
Next lot of photos are in the Forbidden city itself. Bit disappointed, not for the place but they were getting ready for the Olymplc Games and the main building in the centre was covered in scaffolding which you will see. Apparently there are 999 rooms within the city itself.
The city was designed in quadrangles with high walls , the reason being if one entrance was breached the invaders were trapped in the next section. Needless to say it was never got into.
Entrance to Forbidden City -first courtyard inside-Second courtyard
Centre of forbidden city, as i said earlier the main palace was covered in scaffolding, very disappointed.
300 tons of carved marble of animals.
This is where my sense of humour kicked in. I told the tour guide just as they were finishing it they chipped of the wrong bit and had to start over again.
At first she believed me then realised I was pulling her leg (smack)
I have left out some of the rooms here to head for the South entrance of the city
The two Juniper trees you see entwined are supposed to represent the Emperor and Empress forever being together
one of only two of the largest incense working burners in the world, the other being in Tibet.
The young lady in black on the right is our tour guide
ust to add that after the Empress was married, this was the only place she could look out onto the outside world. The scaffolding is part of the olympic granstand being built
[
IMG]
Some of the less expensive tour companies only take you to the more popular parts of the wall without the mountains. To me stepping off a bus or coach straight onto the wall doesn't give any idea of what the Chinese labourers went through to construct such a feat of engineering
First proper view of a sentry tower taken from the cable car. All the pictures are at an altitude of 3000ft + so some may be a bit hazy.
This is as far as one can go, past this point is under repair. The right hand side of the pictures is Mongolia
notice the small wall inside the walkway along the top. This was the escape route for the army manning the wall. Below some idea of how stepp the walk was in places.
Only half way up in cable car looking towards the road in and small baazar below
small bazzar I mentioned earlier, little amusing tale. Going thru here "T" shirts at the start were being sold for $5 each, by the time we got to the other end they were being sold 3 for $1, didn't buy anything on guides advise, we would have been mobbed
.
Taken out the back window of the car of one of the typical larger villages we went past, notice the overhead wiring again, great isn't it.
These people are so desperately poor, on average the wage is £25 per year, that they break off branches off the trees and lay them across the roads to dry out for heating and lighting. Education is non existant in these regions.
Jade factory
We were invited to have a look around a Jade factory on the way back from the wall.
This piece and the one below is made out of one lump of Jade
Both are in the factory main entrance. Out of interest with the horses if you stroke the head, it was supposed to bring good luck and the tail , bad luck. I wonder why? Also pink Jade is rare
Armour made out of Jade for a General who died in battle before he could collect it.
Start of decorating enamelled pots, each of the bits of wire in the tray are hand cut and bent before applying to the pots.
Pots have been fired, next stage is to hand polish on a spinning spinal. I think you will agree the finish pots are something else.
On the same day we also visited a pearl factory and sat down to enjoy the famous tea ceremony. no pictures unless Sue took some, but at the pearl factory she won a cultured pearl buy guessing how many a was in an oyster. OK you may ask how many cultured pearls in each oyster? the answer is 6. We had a chance to buy pearls as well but we didn.t
Same with the tea drinking, I never knew there were so many different types of China tea, after trying 15 different types I was only interested in finding the little boys room
Having gone to China a couple of years ago and "Done " the sites
I thought some of you might be interested. Therefore I shall, over the next few days, endevour to give a bit of a tour with a bit of information added to the pictures what I remember.
So here is a bit of a pre-amble first.
We booked with Oriental Travel in London via the internet, not the cheapest but definately well worth the extra money but wish we had gone for the 4* hotel instead of the 3*.
I was worried about sending the passports for the Chinese Visa (£40) in the post but I couldn't have asked for a better service, stamped and returned same week, something I met throughout the trip.
Yes it was a long flight and we flew with KLM so had to change at Skippol Airport. The company now uses a different airline.
Due to it being November the weather was like a summer day here but would recommend late October early November( less crowds around that time of year)
We were met at the airport by a guide and driver with car , yes we had them all to ourselves not only in Beijing but in Zian as well. Taken to the hotel 2 hours rest and we were off to visit the first of many places, boy those Chinese don't hang about.
Food
In Beijing it is very much Chinese, and to be honest you have to guess what food is on offer in the hotel resturant, but in Zian, being a relatively new city, they cater more for western tastes. but the Chinese food is totally different from what we get over here
Hotel
Their 3* is like our 1* so best to go for a 4* hotel if possible .
Transport
Don't even try , we would have stood no chance without our driver and guide, hardly any speak anything other than Chinese, suprisingly, and unless you can read and speak Chinese public transport is a definate no no.
Personal concerns
Yes, the main one was, being in a Communist country, being watched by their secret police, I have to admit here that if we were watched we knew nothing about it, correction, after getting back home and thinking about it, at breakfast in the hotel, a person walked past the dining room entrance, glanced in and walked on. That was it.
Cost
It depends on the tour company, but when we went in 2006 we were advised the average tip for the guide ( who spoke perfect English) was £6 and £3 for the driver per day. Other costs was only for bottled water for obvious reasons @10p a bottle and when we went to the great wall £6 for the ski lift. No way was I going to climb 3,000ft plus . Oh bought a back scratcher for 10p. Something very handy now the wife won't scratch any itch on my back anymore.
Finally before I start posting pictures with a little info where possible, I would highly recommend the country, not only for the sites we visited, but the people were so friendly and polite it was unbelievable. Something you don't get to such a degree in the western world.
Ok here we go. there are about 6million push bikes in Beijing but some of the more wealthy have these enclosed 3 wheel motorbikes. How they get whole families in them I don't know
Aunts- Uncles -Mums- Dads and children
Yes we did the Rickshaw (bicycle) thing In Beijing, apparently they are keeping about a square mile as it was with the narrow old streets. A mentioned in the preamble about how fast the Chinese work. Well the peddle fell off the bike on our Rickshaw, now over here to get another peddle may take days for a shop to get in, not over there no way. No sooner had we come to an exciting stop than out rushed the guy from a shop with a new peddle, not a bicycle shop either, and i swear the new peddle was on in less than a minute.
Sorry about the picture but i didn't take it as you can see.
Typical back street in Beijing, look carefully at the top above the bunting and you will see the birds nest of power cables. That is quite neat compared to some we saw. Not the type of place China wants to promote I am sure, at least you wont find it in any brochures. I sneaked this shot when nobody was about.
You may wonder why take a picture of a door? Well just above where the doors open there are 4 projecting timbers sticking out, you can just see them (look like 4x 6 sided pictures) . The significance is that those posts denote the standing in the community. The more posts the higher they are, in this case the owner would have been at least an Earl in our money. Whatever status a Chinese person was they were not allowed to marry outside their class
Oh yes a typical hired Bike Rickshaw, all licenced by the state as are the tour guides and drivers.
The first picture is of a house who you see the owner of in the doorway. The state pays him an allowance to open up his home for people like us to see inside.
Like all over the world people like to gamble. Those insects are bet on, what they do is get a paint prush and just have a single hair on the end and tickle the insects to make them jump.
the furthest jump is the winner. They are highly prized and live in the home. the house is facing inwards towards a small courtyard with another the same on the other side. This chap is well off compared to others we saw.
Right at the other end of the scale is this. Now I have to admit that I was overawed by this place, and wish I had taken more pictures. Let me explain, this is one of the palaces of the Emperors, right in the middle of a beautiful oriental park and lake. A long walk up to it and young ladies in full original costumes at the entrance, absolutely stunning never seen anything so beautiful. The room is all gold leaf as you can see. Yes we did eat there, 16 course meal. It wasn't until around 1920 that this and the Forbidden city as well as other palaces were opened up to the public.
Maybe now you are getting a flavour of why I am so happy to have gone there and would just love to go back.
Local Chinese recreation time
Thee first picture is some of the locals practicing Tai Chi ( think thats how it is spelt)
the second picture shows flag waving which seems to be another hobby I suspect it is a keep fit thing together with kicking a shuttlethingy with the feet and not with a bat as over here.
The third picture is of traditional musical instruments, there were several of these and all for their own satisfaction.
Temple of Heaven.
During the summer months the Emporers spent their time here in prayer. The building is made completely out of wood, not a singlle nail was used. Also people were listened to if they had a grievence within this temple. Yes again all gold leaf.
Outside is the raised stone where they raised up their voices to the heavens, again in prayer.
It was designed so that their voices could easily be heard by those all around.
Interesting to note that the marble sections are done in circles which can be multiplied by 9.
9 being a lucky number in Chinese culture.
Still in the same area
Notice the information is in English, all the information signs are this and Chinese only
One of the many gateways and entrances to the Temple of heaven. Why show this one particularly? Well all the gateways were in 3 arches, the centre arch was for the Emporer and Empress, the 2 outside ones for their attendants. Notice that there is also two stone lines leading from the middle arch, if any of the attendants crossed those lines into the path of the Emporer, I am sorry to say they lost their lives
Tiananmen Square (I had to look that up to spell it)
IMG]http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u217/bazza104/DSC_3341Medium.jpg[/IMG]
Showing the Monument to the warriors and the peoples parliament ( where river dance was held)
Looking towards the forbidden city. I didn't realise it was next to the square.
Approach to the forbidden city over the moat. I got moved on by one of the guards for stopping to try and get a photo of the moat itself. Seems you arn't allowed to stop
Next lot of photos are in the Forbidden city itself. Bit disappointed, not for the place but they were getting ready for the Olymplc Games and the main building in the centre was covered in scaffolding which you will see. Apparently there are 999 rooms within the city itself.
The city was designed in quadrangles with high walls , the reason being if one entrance was breached the invaders were trapped in the next section. Needless to say it was never got into.
Entrance to Forbidden City -first courtyard inside-Second courtyard
Centre of forbidden city, as i said earlier the main palace was covered in scaffolding, very disappointed.
300 tons of carved marble of animals.
This is where my sense of humour kicked in. I told the tour guide just as they were finishing it they chipped of the wrong bit and had to start over again.
At first she believed me then realised I was pulling her leg (smack)
I have left out some of the rooms here to head for the South entrance of the city
The two Juniper trees you see entwined are supposed to represent the Emperor and Empress forever being together
one of only two of the largest incense working burners in the world, the other being in Tibet.
The young lady in black on the right is our tour guide
ust to add that after the Empress was married, this was the only place she could look out onto the outside world. The scaffolding is part of the olympic granstand being built
[
Some of the less expensive tour companies only take you to the more popular parts of the wall without the mountains. To me stepping off a bus or coach straight onto the wall doesn't give any idea of what the Chinese labourers went through to construct such a feat of engineering
First proper view of a sentry tower taken from the cable car. All the pictures are at an altitude of 3000ft + so some may be a bit hazy.
This is as far as one can go, past this point is under repair. The right hand side of the pictures is Mongolia
notice the small wall inside the walkway along the top. This was the escape route for the army manning the wall. Below some idea of how stepp the walk was in places.
Only half way up in cable car looking towards the road in and small baazar below
small bazzar I mentioned earlier, little amusing tale. Going thru here "T" shirts at the start were being sold for $5 each, by the time we got to the other end they were being sold 3 for $1, didn't buy anything on guides advise, we would have been mobbed
Taken out the back window of the car of one of the typical larger villages we went past, notice the overhead wiring again, great isn't it.
These people are so desperately poor, on average the wage is £25 per year, that they break off branches off the trees and lay them across the roads to dry out for heating and lighting. Education is non existant in these regions.
Jade factory
We were invited to have a look around a Jade factory on the way back from the wall.
This piece and the one below is made out of one lump of Jade
Both are in the factory main entrance. Out of interest with the horses if you stroke the head, it was supposed to bring good luck and the tail , bad luck. I wonder why? Also pink Jade is rare
Armour made out of Jade for a General who died in battle before he could collect it.
Start of decorating enamelled pots, each of the bits of wire in the tray are hand cut and bent before applying to the pots.
Pots have been fired, next stage is to hand polish on a spinning spinal. I think you will agree the finish pots are something else.
On the same day we also visited a pearl factory and sat down to enjoy the famous tea ceremony. no pictures unless Sue took some, but at the pearl factory she won a cultured pearl buy guessing how many a was in an oyster. OK you may ask how many cultured pearls in each oyster? the answer is 6. We had a chance to buy pearls as well but we didn.t
Same with the tea drinking, I never knew there were so many different types of China tea, after trying 15 different types I was only interested in finding the little boys room
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Thank you for that fascinating write up and interesting pics Bazza! I adore China, and would dearly love to visit - second on my list after Japan! 
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Hun hao Bazza, xie xie ni... (very good Bazza, thanks...) did we read this before? Seem to recall it or similar, but excellent... hoping to drop in on friends in China next year but not so close now I am back in the UK) looking forward to pt 2
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China holiday part 2
Another day and yet more to see
IMG]http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u217/bazza104/DSC_3461Medium.jpg[/IMG]
WE havn't ever been asked to board one of these yet thank goodness
Seems a bit pointless exercise to me (read notice board)
Ok why show a picture of a glass cabinet? well this one is rather special. it is the only one in the world to have a glass top inlade with jade. To this day nobody can discover how it was achieved. The cabinet is what our indoor aquariums are now
This is a copy in stone of a wooden boat used by the wicked Empress Chi Chi ( pronounced Si Si).
Couple of things to mention about this lady, on the original boat on the top deck she had a huge mirror installed to see what was going on behind her, while if anyone stood infront to block her view they didn't live long. Why called the Wicked Empress ? ooh she was a nasty piece of work. when the Emperors small boys got to maturity, even though she was their nanny, she had them killed so she could rule instead.
The man made lake is hand dug and 7 miles square. Unfortunately it was too misty to get any good photos of the lake itself
Think that is enough of Beijing to give some idea. So next photos are of Zian
Between the two cities takes about one and a half hours flying time.
OK Zian and my first question is, How did they tell the time when they didn't have clocks or watches?
They had one each of these
The first one is what is called the bell tower,
The second picture is the Drum tower
this is about 7/8 ft tall
You can see some of the drums around the building.
Why we didn,t have time for the bell tower is because a free drum demonstartion was about to start.
20 minutes of the most amazing drumming I have ever heard. They were so fast I was lucky to even get a shot this sharp
A fraction of the historical drums on display , some going back hundreds of years like this bronze drum.
Centre of Zian as you can see a much more modern city than Beijing, mostly because of the discovery of the terra cotta warriors.
World famous Muslim market below the Drum Tower.
No I have never heard of it either. Would have liked to look at it more closely but we were on a very tight shedule for the whole trip
One of the amazing things about Zian is it is a walled city which if you walked around the top of it goes for 7 miles before you get back to where you started from. The Locals take bike ride along the top. These pictures should give some idea of the size of the wall. See the guard towers along the wall
Guard tower
Replica uniforms of the guards as they would have looked
The smog was quite thick so the pictures arn't as clear as they should really be
Like every fortified town it has to have a moat.
We also visited a silk factory, example of the intricate work done in silk
We were invited to have a go at stretching the silk across the table with the ladies, much to their great amusement. talk about needing some strength to pull it, those ladies must have rocks for arm muscles.
Everywhere we went we were met with huge grins and amazing welcome.
Oh we just had to have a look as well at a new school for under 5 year old for the better off class. Don't know why really but had a look so as not to upset.
just thought I would throw in these pictures to show we didn't hang about on the visit
Ok now for a Bhuddist Temple, yep we even manage to look at one as well. Here we happened to be very lucky the monks were actually in prayer. Our guide informed us that with all the tours she has done this is only the second time she has seen them in prayer. Oh yes females are allowed to become monks as well as children
The next lot of pictures were on some of the side prayer rooms Apart from the jade figures the pictures denote some of the journeys the Emperors did etc.
Well how was i to know I wasn't supposed to take the pictures. The woman kneeling was hiding the sign saying no pictures to be taken. She informed me after her praying. ( to late darling I had got the photos)
All the above are among the earliest saved items of their type going back hundreds of years
Moving on, if your not bored already, to the site of the Terra Cotta Army with first a vist to the shop. All the items were for sale, excpt for our tour guide here in Zian, who is seen standing infront of the warrior models, to give some idea of the actual size of them as in the pits. Oh if you feel exhausted just looking at the pictures, think how we felt going around everywhere
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u217/bazza104/DSC_3584Medium.jpg[/IMG]
Entrance to army
Quick general rundown of the place. A farmer in 1974 was digging a well on his land and found some pottery fragments. On informing the authorities they took the land off him and discovered the warriors.
Yes we did meet the farmer who was busy signing books
The building above hold the excavation site but is about a quarter of a mile from the car park right in the middle of a laid out open area. Don't panic they do have a road train for those that need.
Our tour guide with replica warriors actual size for sale. Just out of interest she is Mongolian not Chinese. She is not restricted to only one child like the Chinese are.
She was very excited because her boyfriend had landed a job at the new starbuck coffee bar which was about to open that night. She had an invite to the opening. Now I know you didn't wish to know that but the competition for a job there was fierce.
And now for the ladies here who can no longer manage a man of that size, why not try this size instead
IMG]http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u217/bazza104/DSC_3573Medium.jpg[/IMG]
Terra Cotta army Zian, (pronounced see-an) China. the ones at the back were broken by the following Emporers army. It takes about 9 months to restore each one
Restoration
[
AS found (about 15/20 ft below ground level)
Restored ready for exhibitions etc
We also took in a show at the top theatre in Zian together with a help yourself meal.
Just to finish up a few bits and pieces left out
an Emporers bed above and seat below taken thru glass
Boats hired on lake
A couple of bridges and below a typical arch with a high step to stop demons etc passing through.
IMG]http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u217/bazza104/DSC_3472Medium.jpg[/IMG
Water Jugs found in Terra Cotta pits
.
.
Hope you enjoyed the few of the many pictures I took on the Chinese tour of 2006. Some of the pictures wern't good enough to post, but maybe those that I have posted have given some idea of the tour we did. All this was done in 8 days including flights to - from and across China.
Would I do it again? a definate yes, even to see the same things again but on an extended tour. It is something that has been an ambition of mine to see the Great Wall which goes for 9000 miles across some amazing mountain ridges as you have seen in the photos.
One is not allowed to get beside the Terra Cotta Warriors and some photographic restrictions applied, ie. no flash- no tripod.
. To edit and post this lot has taken several hours work so please take time to enjoy them.
IMG]http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u217/bazza104/DSC_3461Medium.jpg[/IMG]
WE havn't ever been asked to board one of these yet thank goodness
Seems a bit pointless exercise to me (read notice board)
Ok why show a picture of a glass cabinet? well this one is rather special. it is the only one in the world to have a glass top inlade with jade. To this day nobody can discover how it was achieved. The cabinet is what our indoor aquariums are now
This is a copy in stone of a wooden boat used by the wicked Empress Chi Chi ( pronounced Si Si).
Couple of things to mention about this lady, on the original boat on the top deck she had a huge mirror installed to see what was going on behind her, while if anyone stood infront to block her view they didn't live long. Why called the Wicked Empress ? ooh she was a nasty piece of work. when the Emperors small boys got to maturity, even though she was their nanny, she had them killed so she could rule instead.
The man made lake is hand dug and 7 miles square. Unfortunately it was too misty to get any good photos of the lake itself
Think that is enough of Beijing to give some idea. So next photos are of Zian
Between the two cities takes about one and a half hours flying time.
OK Zian and my first question is, How did they tell the time when they didn't have clocks or watches?
They had one each of these
The first one is what is called the bell tower,
The second picture is the Drum tower
this is about 7/8 ft tall
You can see some of the drums around the building.
Why we didn,t have time for the bell tower is because a free drum demonstartion was about to start.
20 minutes of the most amazing drumming I have ever heard. They were so fast I was lucky to even get a shot this sharp
A fraction of the historical drums on display , some going back hundreds of years like this bronze drum.
Centre of Zian as you can see a much more modern city than Beijing, mostly because of the discovery of the terra cotta warriors.
World famous Muslim market below the Drum Tower.
No I have never heard of it either. Would have liked to look at it more closely but we were on a very tight shedule for the whole trip
One of the amazing things about Zian is it is a walled city which if you walked around the top of it goes for 7 miles before you get back to where you started from. The Locals take bike ride along the top. These pictures should give some idea of the size of the wall. See the guard towers along the wall
Guard tower
Replica uniforms of the guards as they would have looked
The smog was quite thick so the pictures arn't as clear as they should really be
Like every fortified town it has to have a moat.
We also visited a silk factory, example of the intricate work done in silk
We were invited to have a go at stretching the silk across the table with the ladies, much to their great amusement. talk about needing some strength to pull it, those ladies must have rocks for arm muscles.
Everywhere we went we were met with huge grins and amazing welcome.
Oh we just had to have a look as well at a new school for under 5 year old for the better off class. Don't know why really but had a look so as not to upset.
just thought I would throw in these pictures to show we didn't hang about on the visit
Ok now for a Bhuddist Temple, yep we even manage to look at one as well. Here we happened to be very lucky the monks were actually in prayer. Our guide informed us that with all the tours she has done this is only the second time she has seen them in prayer. Oh yes females are allowed to become monks as well as children
The next lot of pictures were on some of the side prayer rooms Apart from the jade figures the pictures denote some of the journeys the Emperors did etc.
Well how was i to know I wasn't supposed to take the pictures. The woman kneeling was hiding the sign saying no pictures to be taken. She informed me after her praying. ( to late darling I had got the photos)
All the above are among the earliest saved items of their type going back hundreds of years
Moving on, if your not bored already, to the site of the Terra Cotta Army with first a vist to the shop. All the items were for sale, excpt for our tour guide here in Zian, who is seen standing infront of the warrior models, to give some idea of the actual size of them as in the pits. Oh if you feel exhausted just looking at the pictures, think how we felt going around everywhere
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u217/bazza104/DSC_3584Medium.jpg[/IMG]
Entrance to army
Quick general rundown of the place. A farmer in 1974 was digging a well on his land and found some pottery fragments. On informing the authorities they took the land off him and discovered the warriors.
Yes we did meet the farmer who was busy signing books
The building above hold the excavation site but is about a quarter of a mile from the car park right in the middle of a laid out open area. Don't panic they do have a road train for those that need.
Our tour guide with replica warriors actual size for sale. Just out of interest she is Mongolian not Chinese. She is not restricted to only one child like the Chinese are.
She was very excited because her boyfriend had landed a job at the new starbuck coffee bar which was about to open that night. She had an invite to the opening. Now I know you didn't wish to know that but the competition for a job there was fierce.
And now for the ladies here who can no longer manage a man of that size, why not try this size instead
IMG]http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u217/bazza104/DSC_3573Medium.jpg[/IMG]
Terra Cotta army Zian, (pronounced see-an) China. the ones at the back were broken by the following Emporers army. It takes about 9 months to restore each one
Restoration
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AS found (about 15/20 ft below ground level)
Restored ready for exhibitions etc
We also took in a show at the top theatre in Zian together with a help yourself meal.
Just to finish up a few bits and pieces left out
an Emporers bed above and seat below taken thru glass
Boats hired on lake
A couple of bridges and below a typical arch with a high step to stop demons etc passing through.
IMG]http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u217/bazza104/DSC_3472Medium.jpg[/IMG
Water Jugs found in Terra Cotta pits
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Hope you enjoyed the few of the many pictures I took on the Chinese tour of 2006. Some of the pictures wern't good enough to post, but maybe those that I have posted have given some idea of the tour we did. All this was done in 8 days including flights to - from and across China.
Would I do it again? a definate yes, even to see the same things again but on an extended tour. It is something that has been an ambition of mine to see the Great Wall which goes for 9000 miles across some amazing mountain ridges as you have seen in the photos.
One is not allowed to get beside the Terra Cotta Warriors and some photographic restrictions applied, ie. no flash- no tripod.
. To edit and post this lot has taken several hours work so please take time to enjoy them.
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China Part 3 photos by Sue
Additional pictures by Sue
At the theatre in Zian
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At the theatre in Zian
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Bc
yes I have posted some images before but I have always been meaning to show the whole project. had to do it in 3 parts due to web space
Bazza
yes I have posted some images before but I have always been meaning to show the whole project. had to do it in 3 parts due to web space
Bazza
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Fascinating - I do adore the Terracotta Army ones - looks like such a fab cultural experience! <3
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Kit 1 Nikon D800 Nikkor 50mm f1.4 Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 Nikkor 105 mm f2.8 macro Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 Sigma 50-500mm F4-6.3 EX DG HSM Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM Nikon 70-300mm AF f/4-5.6G Nikon 50mm f1.8 |
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Number 3 is lovely!
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Kit 1 Nikon D800 Nikkor 50mm f1.4 Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 Nikkor 105 mm f2.8 macro Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 Sigma 50-500mm F4-6.3 EX DG HSM Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM Nikon 70-300mm AF f/4-5.6G Nikon 50mm f1.8 |
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