10 October 2013, The Dorsett Mongkok.
Took a long train trip out to Tin Shui Wai
this morning to do what is advertised as a 'heritage walk'. To be fair, in a
city as modern as Hong Kong, it was ok as a heritage experience, particularly
so as the whole thing was the work of two local families who wanted to preserve
some of their past. The distance from the city has probably kept most tourists
away and is perhaps a good thing in some ways. Sadly, the lack of visitors has
meant that some areas of the walk have been let go a bit. As an historical
experience it was a bit of a fizzer, but just to get out to this small remnant
of rural village life in old HK was worth the effort for us.
Hong Kong is, of course, very compact, which
probably amplifies the impact of the infrastructure and buildings. In some
places it is just overwhelming. Freeway ramps cross over multiple metro lines,
trams and buses flood the streets and the housing and business towers fill the
sky. Tokyo staggered us on our first visit and for vastness it still makes New
York look like a country town. HK's impact is different. The harbour is a great
setting, much like Sydney and San Francisco and the surrounding hills somehow
soften the harshness of the hundreds of tower blocks.
Later in the day we took the Star Ferry from
Hong Kong island back to Kowloon for one of the best harbour views in the
world. The omnipresent haze was fairly light and so we had some great views of
both sides of the harbour.
Even later on, we had a great dinner at an
unnamed cafe just up the road from our hotel. Obviously not a tourist hit, the
locals led us here. It was full-on packed and the food was fantastic and they
had beer! The damage was about $20 for three courses and two very large bottles
of beer. Who said Hong Kong was expensive?
11 October, Bridal Tea House Hotel,
Mongkok
Due to a minor error in booking our hotels, we had to move from the Dorsett to another hotel just around the corner. Ouch! This is is probably the worst hotel we have stayed in in our many months of travelling Asia. One night won't kill us, but what a shocker! Old, half complete, across the road from a major construction project (not their fault we guess) but at more that AUD $100 a night, easily the worst value we have ever had in Asia.
Not phased by our digs, (you only sleep
there) we set off to the outer island of Cheung Chau on the fast ferry. A 20
minute ride for the grand sum of $92.40HK for both of us ($13AUD), we were
among a small handful of western tourists destined for a day on an island. When
the ferry landed it was pandemonium; for some reason everybody has to be off
first. We headed around the small harbour away from the crowds for a look at
the more original parts of this fishing village. Hundreds of fishing boats of
all sizes bobbed about in the harbour and if we imagined the smog wasn't there
it could have been a Greek island (well, almost).
The markets were full of stalls with fresh
(read alive) seafood, just in from the boats. We were easily seduced by an old
dear at a sea front restaurant, and settled in for a four course seafood lunch.
All good except that eating extremely small crabs is more than a simple skill!
Wading in the warm waters of the almost
deserted beach on the other side of the island, it was hard to imagine that
Hong Kong was just 20 minutes away.
This is our last night in Hong Kong. It has
been fun and not at all as expensive as we had expected. For example, this
morning we dined on danish, muffins and buns from a bakery just over the road
from our hotel. Total cost AUD$2.60. Our seaside seafood lunch was AUD$30,
including a big beer. And, while on money issues, the 2 way MTR Tourist Pass is
an absolute bargain. We had our return airport express fares and 3 days travel
on the MTR for AUD $35 each, then we got AUD $7 back on returning the card. The
return Airport Express fare is AUD $10, so we got 3 days MRT subway and bus for
AUD $18. Insane! And did we use it!
Off to Beijing tomorrow..
12 October, Tian An Rega Hotel, Beijing
After the usual confusion getting tickets
sorted on arrival, we finally hit the subway and found our exit station. More
confusion on exit, as there always seems to be; stations are so disorientating!
Weaving our way through the crowds on the street, we realised we were going the
wrong way when the Main Gate to the Forbidden City emerged from the chaos. The
Chairman was our clue. We were definitely in Beijing.
Now settled in our hotel, which is a major
step up from last night's disaster, fortified by a couple of Tsingtao beers, we
are doing our washing and preparing to conquer the Middle Kingdom!
13 October, Tian An Rega Hotel, Beijing
Sadly, the first thing that hits you about
Beijing is the smog. The pollution is unbelievably bad. Our eyes were stinging
after the first few hours and visibility was no more than a couple of hundred
metres. The second thing is the people - zillions of them lining up for the
main attractions in our area, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tens of
thousands of black heads were swarming along the broad footpaths every where we
went. In the subway, things are reasonably civilized, but crowded nevertheless.
And it is Sunday!
We skipped the square and the Forbidden City
today and jumped the subway for what we thought would be a serenely peaceful
few hours wandering about a couple of temples and the ancient Beijing Drum and
Bell towers. The temples were temples... sorry but Asian Buddhist temples all
start to look alike after a while, a bit like European Cathedrals. The Drum
Tower was quite fascinating, with several crafty ancient machines used to
measure time so that the drums could sound out the hours to the good folk of
old Beijing. We were treated to a great display of drumming on replica ancient
drums. Apparently, some nasty western colonialists took great pleasure in
puncturing all the original ones with their knives and swords in the very early
20th century. Such a civilized bunch.
A wander through the hutongs, the original
urban villages of Beijing, took us the rest of the day, ending with a stroll
down some beautifully wide boulevards that would do Paris or Vienna proud,
except for the dense smog!
Most of the hutongs have been destroyed and
replaced with high-rise apartment blocks,. But some areas are now being
preserved and others are being 'reconstructed' in the old style. It also seems
that the hutongs don't have sewerage connections to all dwellings as there are
public toilets every 100 m or so. From the smell, a visit to one is not a
recommended part of the hutong experience.
The poor in Beijing seem to face a wealth
gap that is much greater than faced by their counterparts in the west. Affluent
middle class Chinese are able to pay big city prices that are not too much out of
line with the west, while the millions of urban poor seem to live in a parallel
economy where vastly inferior food , clothing and general items are all they
can afford. It also seems that the socialist ideal of a reasonable life for all
is failing many as homeless people live on the fringes here, much as they do in
large western cities.
We have mastered some Mandarin and are able
to say thank you, 'Seeya, seeya', not too hard for Australians to master. Now
we are on a quest to teach some manners to 1.3 billion Chinese. We might have
to come back.
14 October, Tian An Rega Hotel, Beijing
Chatting with our 8 year old grand-daughter
about our pending trip to China, we asked her what we might find in China.
Expecting things like the Great Wall or Pandas, we got instead, “Chinese”. We
probably shouldn't have expected anything less than the obvious from a fairly
precocious 8 year old. But she was right on the mark.
Today we tackled the Forbidden City, the
dynastic home of the Emperors of China. Not much of a trip for us, because our
hotel is right beside the Forbidden City and just up the road from Tiananmen
Square. The crowds were nothing like the day we arrived, but still a challenge
for us. The City is just enormous. We had to shuffle along at a fair clip to
get through it all because it closed at 12:00 today.
For some crowd relief, we grabbed some rolls
and a sort of Chinese pizza from a street stall and walked through the new park
that borders the walls of the Forbidden City. Peace at last.
Up until today the smog has been terrible,
but with a drop in temperature and a bit of a wind, the sky gradually cleared.
What a difference! By the time we had trained it out to the Olympic village
just after lunch, there was blue sky and sunshine.
It takes a bit to get a real WOW out of us
these days, but much of what we have seen in Beijing is WOW territory. Just the
scale of everything is jaw-dropping. The newer parts of the city (and that is
most of it!) are open and spacious. High rise buildings are set back from the
streets, with gardens, wide footpaths and main streets that are a normal city
block wide. Of special mention are the subway advertisements that flash past in
the tunnels between stations. Imagine the old flip card moving pictures you
could create by flipping the corners of a pad to create the illusion of
movement. Now envisage a line of illuminated screens in a darkened subway
tunnel as your train speeds past creating a moving video image using the
flicker factor of the carriage windows. Just.. WOW.
Almost 40 years ago we visited Europe for
the first time. We were of course enraptured with the history, architecture and
culture. But we also remember feeling that Europe then was very much the 'old
world', just a little less dynamic and modern than home (Australia) was. Since
that first visit we have been around a bit and seen a lot of the world and in
more recent times travelled extensively in Asia. So where exactly do we think
is the New World of the 21st Century? Our bet is definitely not in
the West.
America beware the rise of the Dragon!
15 October, Tian An Rega Hotel, Beijing
Up early today to catch the local local bus
out to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. We had been told that the bus
station was difficult to find and the journey was too complicated for
non-Chinese speakers to attempt. So of course we decided to go. Aside from the
challenge, the fare was an attractive $1.20 each way for the two and a half
hour trip as opposed to $100 or more for a tour bus. Having checked out the bus
station yesterday afternoon, (it took us an hour to find it!) we caught the
subway to connect to the bus stop in plenty of time for the 08:30 'Special Tourist Bus 867'. Confusion reigned
supreme at the bus station with hundreds of country folk rolling in with bales
of 'stuff' to sell on the street and a few bewildered tourists, both Chinese
and European, studying maps and tablet devices. Very soon, however, we were all
pulled into line by a four foot nothing Chinese conductress who sat us all down
in a neat waiting queue. Any attempt to move position or stand up was greeted
with a torrent of Chinese which could only be interpreted as threatening.
We fell in with three young guys, an
American, a Bulgarian and a German who had attempted this journey yesterday,
only to spend the whole day roaming the outer suburbs of Beijing on a series of
bus-lines that led them everywhere except the Great Wall. Understandably, they
were a little 'gun shy' of the whole Beijing transport system and managed to
transmit some of this to us as the arrival time of the bus slipped past. About
40 minutes after the appointed time we were finally herded onto the No 867
Special Tourist Bus by what was probably the last of Mao's soldiers of the
Cultural Revolution.
Our long journey through the suburbs of this
enormous city was well worth the price. Mile after mile of well-laid out, wide
streets and motorways lined with modern factory and housing blocks slipped
slowly by as we negotiated extremely heavy traffic for the 50 kms to the Great Wall.
The smog that had greeted us on our first
day in Beijing was totally gone today. The sky was crystal clear and visibility
was almost limitless. Just 50 kms from the city, the Mutianyu sector of the wall is in a beautiful,
rugged area of natural forest that seems to stretch on forever. The Wall was,
of course, constructed to keep out the Mongols, but given the nature of the
terrain, they would have done well to even get to the Wall.
The good old 14:00 867 Special Tourist Bus
was early for the return journey, but the more crafty of us were in line well
before the scheduled arrival time and so, once again, foiled the dastardly
Communist plot to befuddle and confuse innocent Westerners.
16 October, Tian An Rega Hotel, Beijing
Mao's mausoleum in Tiananmen Square is just
across the road from our hotel, so we had a bit of a leisurely start to the day
and headed off to see the Great Leader. It was about 9:15 by the time we joined
the end of the queue, 10-15 people wide, that seemed to stretch for at least a
kilometre, winding left and right across
the enormous square that was the scene of the tragic quashing of public dissent
by the Red Army in 1989. Perhaps the most lasting image of those tragic days,
at least in Western minds, is that of the 'Tank Man' who alone confronted a
line of tanks in the square. There are no monuments here to these events of
course, and the identity and fate of the 'Tank Man' is not clear to this day.
Many believe he was just heading home with his shopping (he had a grocery bag)
and was moved to make his statement. Whatever his story, it is not celebrated
here and he has vanished into the swirling sea of humanity that is China.
As our queue shuffled on, we were initially
amused by the need of most Chinese to queue-jump wherever possible. Four foot
high little old ladies ferreted their way around us, teenagers slipped through
any gap available and pint-sized men shoved and elbowed their way on. After the
first hour of this shuffling tide, our tolerance began to fray and we commenced
our own rolling blockade. What was their point? The Chairman wasn't leaving
town! Fruitless as our efforts were against the 200,000 Chinese in the queue,
we gave it a good try and it kept us amused. Some Western support might have
helped, but there were only a score or so non-locals in this enormous crush. As
the second hour approached, we finally had the last security check before
entering the sacred tomb. At last the crowd settled and some degree of
solemnity descended on the masses as we approached the revered Chairman.
Yep he was still there.
Once out of the mausoleum, we were able to get some perspective on the size of the crowd in the whole square. A conservative guess would be around one quarter of a million people and just over the road at the Forbidden City another 100,000 or so were making their pilgrimage to the seat of the old Emperors. Lucky we picked a weekday for our visit, apparently it gets crowded on the weekends.
For some reason, every one of the dozens of
large flag poles lining the street around the square and Forbidden City today
had both a Chinese and Australian flag. Surely not just for us?
Our afternoon activity was far less of a
test of patience. The Imperial Summer Palace was once located well out of the
city. Today it is an enormous oasis on the fringes of the inner city. Most of the
Palace and the surrounds have been reconstructed, much of it in the late 1940s.
Seems that the Europeans who were granted special trading areas in China during
the 19th and early 20th centuries took great pleasure in
destroying important Chinese cultural monuments in retribution for any attempts
by the Chinese to take back control of their own Empire. The reaction to the
Boxer Rebellion in 1901 was especially devastating as much of the vast
assemblage of palaces, temples and other buildings here were torched by the
English and French. Seems they can work together on some things.
Touts pushing tours of attractions are a
mild annoyance in most countries, but we have finally developed a fail safe
method to cut them off short. Given the fact that 99% of the tours offered here
are in English, we have taken to feigning a lack of knowledge of our mother
tongue by responding to touts in French, German, Italian, Spanish or any other
language of which we have even the faintest knowledge. It stops them in their tracks!
“Pardon, pas d'Anglais, parlez-vous Francais'?”gets them every time! With some
practice we might even try Khmer.
17 October, Tian An Rega Hotel, Beijing
For our last day in Beijing, we decided to take it easy and visit the Chinese National Museum which is just beside Tiananmen Square. The smog today had built back up to eye-watering intensity, but that didn't stop the crowds. The queue to visit Mao was even longer than yesterday, but the Museum line was only a 10 minute wait and we got free entry as foreigners.
Security in most parts of Beijing has, on
the surface, been tight, but really, anybody wishing to do serious harm would
have no problem. Bags are checked at all subway stations, (can you imagine that
in NYC or London?) but the person on the other side of the screen is often
asleep.
At the museum, though, they were a little
more attentive. Everybody entering must go through a personal check with a
metal detector wand and a 'light' pat down.
The museum is enormous and well laid out,
but to be frank, unless you are really into Chinese art and history, it is a
bit too much, even when it is free for holders of foreign passports.
For a bit of retail therapy, we visited the
Pearl Markets in the afternoon. Not just pearls here, everything you might
imagine. Great fun to wander about and take in the atmosphere. Store holders
are mostly good humoured and enjoy a good haggle as much as we do. As a basic
rule, start at 10% of the original asking price and don't move too far above
that. For example, for a little dress for Abby, our granddaughter, we were
offered 250 yuan ($50) first up. We got it for 35 yuan ($7) and the guy wasn't
crying, so we probably could have got it for even less. Great fun!
Off to Shanghai on the Chinese Bullet Train
tomorrow.
18 October, People's Train G13, Beijing
Nan to Shanghai-Hongqaio
Current speed 301km per hour.
The journey from Beijing to Shanghai is
roughly the same distance as Brisbane to Cairns. It will take 4 hours and 50
minutes (give or take). We had no trouble getting tickets (AUD$110), as we
booked a few days ahead, but our train is full and so were all those that left
Beijing every five to ten minutes between 9:00 am and 11:00 am. After 11:00 the
frequency drops back to once every 30 minutes. These are 16 carriage, high-speed
bullet trains and they run both ways on this line on this schedule 7 days a
week.
Smog was so thick in Beijing as we departed
that it had rolled down into the tunnels of the subway. We have been lucky with
only the first and last days of our stay in Beijing being marred by heavy smog.
More than 3 hours into our journey and
visibility has improved, with city smog now replaced by much lighter haze from
millions of small fires set by farmers burning off the remnants of the stubble
from the corn harvest. Larger urban areas have, on the most part, been replaced
by thousands of rural towns and villages both new and old. Every now and then a
forest of highrise apartments looms up over the plain that is chequered with
small plots of corn, wheat, rice, vegetables, cotton and millions of fruit
trees.
Many of the older rural villages are rather
attractive, set amongst windbreaks of birch and poplar trees. Frequently, we
pass large industrial towns that scar the landscape. Guess these are where all
the stuff we in the West consume so ravenously comes from. We have also passed
a few enormous 'Ghost Cities', hundreds of complete and partly complete high
rises complete with roads and other infrastructure. Thousands of cranes tower
like their bird namesakes everywhere you look. But nobody lives there. Yet.
Super 4-6 lane highways, yet unopened, cross
the railway line every 50 kms or so. Even those that are open, and there are
plenty of them, have very light traffic away from the city centres. Much of the
infrastructure has been built for the future. Already, more cars are sold each
year in China than in the USA.
The countryside we are passing through is
obviously heavily populated and intensively farmed, but there is still a
surprising amount of open space and virgin forest.
Arrived in the mammoth Shanghai-Hongqaio
station just before the advertised time and hit the ultra modern Shanghai
Subway with a minimum of hassle. We have shouted ourselves to a 4.5 star hotel
for the last few nights in China, very nice and way cheaper than at home, but
we are in the commercial area so we are in the midst of the very Western part
of the city. Pizza Hut, McDonalds and KFC are all within striking distance.
Rest assured we won't be eating there. There are actually a few back streets
that we can explore for some real local food.
19 October, Pacific Hotel, People's
Square, Shanghai
Shanghai city seems a lot more cosmopolitan
and sophisticated than Beijing. People are generally better dressed and (just)
a little better mannered. We took the subway out to the old suburban enclave of
Qibau first up this morning. A lot of the buildings are original, but as with
many of these areas in cities all over the world, commercial interests dominate
at street level. While this may ruin the historical validity of the area, it
does draw in the crowds and finance restoration and maintenance.
Food is a little different here in Shanghai.
The amount of meat in the diet is way greater than we observed and experienced
in Beijing. Last night we ate at a large restaurant in a back street behind our
hotel. The servings were enormous and the amount of meat was beyond even
confirmed carnivores like us.
Just across People's Square from our hotel
is the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre, yet another jaw dropper. Over
four floors, the exhibition features the history of urban development of this
enormous city. The influences of periods of 'occupation' by the Western powers
in the early 20th century and the more turbulent times of the Japanese occupation
are presented in multi-media and photo displays. Naturally, the period of the
Communist revolution is also there, with all its over the top rhetoric. But the
centre piece of the whole thing is an enormous model of the city as it will
appear in 2020, just 6 and a bit years away. Simply breath-taking!
While we fairly much had the streets to
ourselves this morning when we set out at 9:00 am, this afternoon the streets
around the square were packed. Saturday night in downtown Shanghai looks like
being a buzz.
Costs in China have been mentioned from time
to time so far in this blog, but it is probably time to pass some comments on
prices and value for money. Firstly, it must be noted that we are basing our
comments on three big cities, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. Overall, prices
in China are more akin to Japanese prices than general South-east Asian prices.
It would be very easy in big Chinese cities to spend as much as you would in
the US or Australia. However, China is a multi-level economy and if you step
off the main streets you can access a second tier price structure that is
fairly reasonable value for the budget traveller. Go another step and seek out
the poorer parts of town and if you can overcome the communication problems and
what exactly you are eating, you can get prices that approach south-eastern
Asia prices.
Clothes, electronics, souvenirs etc can cost
as much as in the west if you want legitimate brands and shop in the big Malls,
but take a trip out to one of the enormous 'Fake Markets' in most cities and
bargain a bit and you can do extremely well.
Some actual examples of costs may help.
Dinner with two beers in a clean, back-street restaurant can cost from A$12 - A$30 for two. A main street
restaurant will set you back A$60 plus for the same thing. With care, costs can
be kept well down by grabbing a sandwich or a street store roll for A$1-A$2
each. Japanese convenience stores like Lawsons and Family Mart are everywhere
in Shanghai (but not in Beijing) a good pre-made sandwich costing A$1. Bargain
level Hotels can range from $30-$120 and you get what you pay for, particularly
with regard to location. Most hotels throughout Asia are of a much higher
standard, at all star levels than in the West and from our experience, they are
universally clean.
On the transport front, subways and buses
are extremely cheap. Most subway trips will cost less than $1. In Beijing, you
can travel the whole system for a flat rate of
A$0.40. All the cities we have visited have an IC Smart Card system like
London's Oyster Card. For convenience alone it is well worth the effort to buy
one at your first subway stop.
In summary, by Asian standards, China is not
a cheap destination, but with care it is good value and still much cheaper than
most Western destinations.
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