Chinese Cracker!

Natalie Poat on 29 June 2009
Having visited many areas of the Far East, China has always been high on my list of countries to visit and I was delighted when I was awarded a place on an educational trip to the country.

We had four days in Beijing which allowed us to visit many of the sights including the Temple of Heaven - I loved the grounds the best, as groups of local people gather to sing songs together and play unusual instruments, whilst others play cards or danced. Other sights included Tiananmen Square which is the biggest public square in the world and was full of people making their way to the Forbidden City or queuing to enter Chairman Mao's Tomb. Our guide gave us a good insight in to the history of the Forbidden City and the lives of the Emperors that lived there - it was fascinating.

Our next adventure was a pedi-cab ride through the narrow lanes of the Hutongs - these were created by the closely built quadrangular homes in the city's inner city areas built in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. We had a delicious lunch with a local family and discovered more about their lives. We also managed a visit to the "Birds Nest" stadium and "Water Cube" which were two of the main venues of the Summer Olympics in 2008.

We had a longer visit to the Summer Palace on the outskirts of Beijing, which was the Imperial Family lakeside retreat. One of the highlights was the marble boat on the north shore which is a folly built by the Empress Dowager with misappropriated funds from the Chinese navy! As well as these historical sights we also managed some shopping in the pedestrianised Wanjuang shopping area, a visit to the night food market where scorpions and beetles were on offer to tempt us and a visit to a local restaurant where we sampled the local speciality, Peking Duck!

No trip to Beijing would be complete without a trip out to see the Great Wall of China. We drove three hours out of the city to Jinshanling Pass which is less crowded and developed than many areas of the Wall and we virtually had the wall to ourselves as far as the eye could see. It was a magical experience seeing the collection of watchtowers and ramparts as the wall snakes its way across the skyline. We flew to Xian, known for being the closest city to the Terracotta Warriors. This ancient walled city is interesting as it was once the capital of China with Bell and Drum Towers and a beautiful mosque, which we reached by walking through the Muslim quarter of the city. I was blown away by the Terracotta Warriors - the story behind them and the sheer number of them. It is unsurprising that they took 38 years to make. It is a shame that they were all smashed within 4 years of the Emperors death and that the archaeologists have not yet found a way to preserve the fabulous colours!

We flew south to Guilin, often called the "city in the painting", as it is one of the most beautiful parts of China. The surrounding countryside of rice paddies and limestone karst hills around the Li River is straight out of a Chinese landscape painting. Our cruise down the river was just magical as we meandered between the limestone peaks and bamboo fishing villages. The cruise ended in Yangshuo where we bartered at the market stalls. The day ended with a demonstration of the traditional practice of cormorant fishing.

Our final stop was Shanghai - a city of the future with its many skyscrapers, yet still full of history and great places to visit including the Shaghai museum. We took the Maglev train in to the city from the airport and travelled at an astonishing 431km per hour! During our stay we took a night tour with a cruise on the Bund, a walking tour through Xiantiandi and topped it off with a trip to Partyworld for Karaoke - a very popular past time.

I don't really have enough words to do the country justice and we only had a short time at the sights but it was a great snapshot of the country and I will definitely be going back!