Well I guess I owe two appologies. One for China and one for Japan. So heres a really quite summary for ya`ll cause if I try and play catch up for the whole trip Ill be back in Australia and still writing about India!
China was the most bizarre place I have ever been. There was a lot of good stuff but also a lot of not so good stuff. I met my parents and sister Shan at the Shanghai airport around 11.30 thenight we all flew in. It didnt take us long to work out that not many people spoke english and we were in way over our heads. We arrived at the hotel only to discover that they had over booked. The staff started trying to shove Shan and I into a taxi but we had no idea what was going on at this stage, we were tired and quite apprehensive. They ended up ringing our tour guide to interpret, this stage closer to 1 in the morning. We ended up staying at another hotel for the night, leaving mum and dad behind, not sure if we would ever find them again! The place was real dingy. We got in the elevator and it reeked so bad of smoke that I was sure Id have cancer by the time we reached our floor. The walls were paper thin. Shan could hear the couple next door having sex all night (I fortunately slept through the whole thing). When we woke up in the morning and looked out the window we saw we were right in the heart of the slums. Houses that are just not fit for people to live in. I had never seen anything like it and by this stage was starting to wonder what the fuck I had got myself in for.
I am pleased to say that after that things improved considerably. We spent a lot of time in Shanghai just wondering the streets and taking everything in. Its so different to back home that I cant even begin to describ it. The food is varied, from things I would never go near with a ten foot pole, eg eggs boiled just before the chick is about to hatch so when you crack it open there is a boiled baby chook inside, to some of the most delicious things I have ever tried, much better than China town in Melbourne! The eggplant and tofu where out of this world.
We did all the major tourist attractions. The Great Wall was incredible. You see all the pictures but its just not the same until you are actually there yourself. Standing up at the peak of snow capped mountains, with s stone wall stretching as far as the eye can see, winding precariously along the jaggered mountains edges, well you can really understand why there is so much hype.
The Terracotta warriors were equally impressive. The undertakings of an absolute lunatic, but none the less, beautiful. And again impressive just for the sheer volume.
Other than those two, my favourite thing was hiring bikes and just zigzagging through the streets. Only the side streets though, I am sure I would be dead if I had ventured near the main roads. The first hire place the guy came with us so he could repair the bikes along the way. Don`t laugh. We needed him more than once or twice.
I have skipped so much here but as I said, gotta play catch up so thats all on China for now. Japan coming soon....
China was the most bizarre place I have ever been. There was a lot of good stuff but also a lot of not so good stuff. I met my parents and sister Shan at the Shanghai airport around 11.30 thenight we all flew in. It didnt take us long to work out that not many people spoke english and we were in way over our heads. We arrived at the hotel only to discover that they had over booked. The staff started trying to shove Shan and I into a taxi but we had no idea what was going on at this stage, we were tired and quite apprehensive. They ended up ringing our tour guide to interpret, this stage closer to 1 in the morning. We ended up staying at another hotel for the night, leaving mum and dad behind, not sure if we would ever find them again! The place was real dingy. We got in the elevator and it reeked so bad of smoke that I was sure Id have cancer by the time we reached our floor. The walls were paper thin. Shan could hear the couple next door having sex all night (I fortunately slept through the whole thing). When we woke up in the morning and looked out the window we saw we were right in the heart of the slums. Houses that are just not fit for people to live in. I had never seen anything like it and by this stage was starting to wonder what the fuck I had got myself in for.
I am pleased to say that after that things improved considerably. We spent a lot of time in Shanghai just wondering the streets and taking everything in. Its so different to back home that I cant even begin to describ it. The food is varied, from things I would never go near with a ten foot pole, eg eggs boiled just before the chick is about to hatch so when you crack it open there is a boiled baby chook inside, to some of the most delicious things I have ever tried, much better than China town in Melbourne! The eggplant and tofu where out of this world.
We did all the major tourist attractions. The Great Wall was incredible. You see all the pictures but its just not the same until you are actually there yourself. Standing up at the peak of snow capped mountains, with s stone wall stretching as far as the eye can see, winding precariously along the jaggered mountains edges, well you can really understand why there is so much hype.
The Terracotta warriors were equally impressive. The undertakings of an absolute lunatic, but none the less, beautiful. And again impressive just for the sheer volume.
Other than those two, my favourite thing was hiring bikes and just zigzagging through the streets. Only the side streets though, I am sure I would be dead if I had ventured near the main roads. The first hire place the guy came with us so he could repair the bikes along the way. Don`t laugh. We needed him more than once or twice.
I have skipped so much here but as I said, gotta play catch up so thats all on China for now. Japan coming soon....
posted by Anna at
7:01 am
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