emilyonearth

Well hello there! What excitement have we been up to over the last couple of weeks!? My life has been so busy that the idea of waiting until the end of the holidays to update you all in one big post is quite daunting, so I’m going to break it down into two parts. I call this “part one”. I’m quite original. I’ll also include pics along the way rather than at the end, it seems easier.

So! January eighteenth Sarah and I hopped on a plane up to Harbin. Harbin is a wee town with an urban area of about six million people in the North-East of China. It’s become pretty well known for its Ice and Snow Festival each year. Of course, to hold such an event you must live in a pretty cold place, and when we arrived it was a cool -27 degrees celcuis. Highlights in Harbin were, of course, the ice, numerous warm drinks, and heated floors at the hostel. We walked down to the river, which had frozen over, around a couple of ice parks, and went to see Harbin’s famous St. Sophia Church too. While we were walking around one of the ice parks we made friends with a Chinese soldier whose name, if I remember correctly, was Barry. He had only been in Harbin as long as we had, and had been placed there for the army. Lucky for him, he likes the cold.

 

Next stop was slightly warmer (though still rather chilly) Beijing. Here we went to all the main tourist stops – much more pleasant in the winter, I must say! We also went to a different part of the Great wall than the last time I went, and I enjoyed it a lot more. Last time I went to Mutianyu, which, while not being the most touristy part, has largely been restored within the past 30 years, and due to its proximity to Beijing, is a popular choice for visitors. This time we went to Jinshanling, in the province just outside of Beijing. There has also been some restoration work done here, but far from to the same extend as those parts closer to Beijing. You could also walk a lot further along it than at Mutianyu. Just to top it all off, our van of eight people were the only people there! One thing I didn’t see last time that I did this time was Mao. Like, actual Mao. Well, in reality I agree with the conspiracy theorists that it isn’t actually him, and just a wax copy or something… He was just too pink to be dead! So that was an experience… Oh! we also went back to the Summer Palace… Turn out in winter time the lake freezes over! And of course people decide to walk / toboggan on the frozen lake despite signs not to…

 

Next stop: Xi’an. My absolute favourite part of Xi’an was the Muslim Quarter. Street food galore. Yum. The buildings were pretty awesome too, especially all lit up at night time. It’s also one of the few cities in China to still have its city walls, and you can go touristing up on them. Now, in 2007 my family did the Central Otago Rail Trail, and I swore I would never ride a bike again. Then, when I worked at Toyworld, I went back on my word, and attempted to bike to work. It was disasterous, and once again I ran away from the bicycle world. In October I rode a bike in Thailand. It was a bit shaky to start, and I’m really not all that confident turning corners on one of those contraptions, but I didn’t make a fool of myself, and I don’t think I even ran into anything. Now, once again, I rode a bike – this time along the top of the Xi’an city walls. The fact that there was no traffic probably helped, but it was rather pleasant! Had a bit of a sore bum the next day, but it could have been far worse! Oh! I almost forgot! The Terracotta Warriors are in Xi’an too, so we went to hang out with them for a bit. Quite a few of them, really! I also met an old woman working as a bathroom attendant who fussed greatly over me, tugging my clothes and asking how am I not cold! I’m pretty sure she thought I didn’t know how an air-blowing hand drier works, as she grabbed my hands and rubbed them together for me under the air stream. Lovely :D

 

And so after Xi’an we came to our last stop: Shanghai. We were wanting to see the Chinese New Year celebrations here. Turns out they’re more of a big deal in little towns though, so we were a little let down. The smog was so thick you couldn’t even really see any of the fireworks, though you could definitely hear them as people were letting off boxes and boxes of them in the middle of the streets. So we had a bit of a relax in Shanghai, wandering around, going down to the old town, and seeing some of the new years lanterns they had set up, and just hanging out really. Nice relaxed end to two weeks in Chinaland!

 

So yes! I guess that’s the end of part one. I really should be packing for part two right now, so I shall run, and leave you with one final photo – these delightful apples I found in the supermarket today. I don’t know how they make them like that, and I probably don’t want to…