China. More importantly first visit to the First Lounge

[bPeteb]

Boat trip was a bit quicker as we had the fast flowing river with us until we got to the lake.

Some flowers from the gardens and the fleet of boats


Body must have been recovered as it was not there when we got pack to the dock. Helen's first task was to find somewhere to have lunch. We said a packet of ships would be fine but that's not how it works - we don;t eat, Helen and the driver don't eat. At least we had less than usual. We were actually now behind time due to the decision to not drive to the grottoes.

Dainty little cup holders for our daily lunchtime beer



As appetising as it looks...



There was much discussion between Helen and the driver as we drove out of the carpark. We went down into a town then turned around and drove up and over a hill and across a bridge we'd gone under on the boat. The road we obviously planned to go along was blocked on the other side of the bridge so instead of going right we went. We'd asked Helen how long to Xiahe and she' replied with "very close". To me five hours isn't very close, and it wasn't.

 

[bPeteb]

The fateful 'go left' interesection...


It took pretty much dead on five hours. It was the longest five hours of either of our lives. The first three were spent driving along ridge tops and zig-zagging through admittedly very scenic valleys.


Dozens of small towns and villages running off the main road along perpendicular ridges.


We drove through other towns.


We spent way too long on the wrong side of the road or being confronted by trucks/cars/buses/motor bikes, tractor things doing the same thing.

It was terrifying. But as I said, very scenic

 

[bPeteb]

One thing that we'd noticed driving through the hills/mountains was lots and lots of mosques and when we finally got out onto the motorway the number and size of the mosques grew exponentially. There were literally hundreds



I knew we were at least a couple of hours from Xiahe when we finally pulled into one of the huge service station/rest stops. I just wanted the driver to have a break. Helen emerged from the loos and asked us if we felt ok. Apart from terror induced psychosis we were both fine. She was very grey and proceeded to run back into the loos and came out again to let us both know she was 'very sick'. We had some Kwells and Nurofen and she took both.

The last hour of the trip was off the motorway heading up the valley to Xiahe. It was a constant climb, in darkness, with a tired driver on what we found out the next day were completely unfamiliar roads. He slowed down and there wasn't too much traffic coming towards us but we were counting down the kilometres on MapMe as we neared the town.

I think all four of us were relieved when we pulled up in front of the grandly named Labuleng Civil Aviation Hotel.



What a lobby! I'm just going to say Tibetan's decorate using a more is more style...


Helen at reception being told that the town had lost it's water at 7:30pm with no idea if/when it would com back. We hadn't had a shower since the morning before

 

[bPeteb]

It possibly wasn't the right reaction but bursting out laughing was all I could do when we walked into


I've realised looking at this picture that it wasn't the Jiayuguan hotel bed that was super hard, it was this one. It was literally like a sheet of plywood with sheets on it. We put our laundry bags under the thin pillows and bathrobes doubled over under our hips. The funny thing was the sofa and chairs were just as hard. No idea what they were made of.



The large bottle of water was for flushing the toilet, not for drinking. We had six bottles of water for drinking, cleaning teeth. The wtaer came back on in the middle of the night.


Scatter and follow your excellency seat. Um, ok

 

[bPeteb]

Xiahe – Lanzhou

After breakfast, visit Labrang Monastery. It is one of the six great monasteries of the Geluk (Yellow Hat) school of Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery was founded in 1709 by the first Jamyang Zhaypa, Ngawang Tsondru. It is Tibetan Buddhism's most important monastery town outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

After lunch, drive 280km back to Lanzhou.

Meal: Hotel breakfast, Chinese lunch

That summarises our day quite well. After a very welcome shower and a fairly basic buffet breakfast we drove five minutes up the road to the monastery. Like with most places we visited roads were being ripped up and replaced. Maybe it's the way the Chinese Govt keeps industry ticking over and people employed? Endless public works projects?



The ticket office for the monastery followed the same subtle design style



who cares about over the top though when you have a three km long colonnade of prayer wheels! Magnificent!

 

[bPeteb]

We both have some philosophical issues with Buddhism. Al's brother is a Buddhist monk who was based at the monastery in Bendigo or Geelong (?). He's since moved back to NZ. When we've visited and taken him out for a meal he doesn't hesitate to dig into a steak! The murderous monks of Myanmar shame Buddhists. The opulence and wealth displayed in any monastery we've visited in Asia always saddens us. Neither of us are going to change these things so to this visit.

A group of 10 or so English speakers were taken around the monastery by a monk who spoke very good English.



We visited a number of the 'schools' and were quizzed on our knowledge of Buddhism and the tenets behind it. He was as interested in us as we were of him. We were left just as prayers started. The chanting and drums were mesmerising.

A wonderful morning.

 

[bPeteb]

some more from the monastery and the town



After lunch at the hotel it was back down the motorway to Lanzhou. Instead of over six hours of driving to XIahe, it took about 2.5 to go back. On the way back I noticed a sign to Three Gorges Dam. Only 57km away if the sign was right.

It was still late in the afternoon when we got back to the city. For some reason we were swapped out of the van and into an Audi A6 for the last few km to the hotel. Hotel was included but no dinner on this last night of the tour. Helen didn't even suggest supper.

She gave us our room key and said see you in the morning as transfer to the station in the morning was included.

 

[bPeteb]

Room was very nice if very compact when compared to our previous rooms.





Not super soft, but not super hard either


yes, that's a flower floating in the toilet bowl...



We went for a wander around town then had a very nice meal in the hotel restaurant. Staff quite surprised when we refused metal cutlery and used the chopsticks. Is it really that unusual?

 

[bPeteb]

Lanzhou around the hotel and nice dinner

 

[Flying_man]

Photo may be taken on mistake belief you are celebrity. One look like movie actor, one look like talk host.

 

[bPeteb]

Photo may be taken on mistake belief you are celebrity. One look like movie actor, one look like talk host.

Hahaha. That would be too funny if true Go on, who? My partner has been told he looks like Edward Norton for years. I thought it might have been my Buddha belly although no-one tried to rub it. Maybe that's what that young guy in Beijing wanted to do

 

[Flying_man]

Hahaha. That would be too funny if true Go on, who? My partner has been told he looks like Edward Norton for years. I thought it might have been my Buddha belly although no-one tried to rub it. Maybe that's what that young guy in Beijing wanted to do

Yes, my theory Ed Norton and Michael Parkinson.

 

[bPeteb]

Chengdu - Xi'an

The hotel had packed us, at Helen's request we're guessing, a great breakfast box that we were handed as we got into the car.



The 40 minute trip to the high speed rail station took 20. This drop off was the end of our Silk Road tour. It had been better than either of us had thought it could have been. Despite the ongoing language issue Helen was charming and warm and generous. The drivers got us everywhere we were supposed to go, even if on the wrong side of the road a lot of the time.

So it was time to tip. Tipping kills me but Al said we would tip so I did. Not anywhere close to the 10%+ that many American sites recommend. 600RMB for Helen and the three drivers got 100, 100 and 120RMB each. To anyone who travels to China regularly is tipping the norm now? Is it only in specific situations? In the scheme of what this holiday cost and what these people earn, questioning tipping $180 for an amazing week now qualifies me as a cough.

Security took about one minute. We had plenty of time to watch the comings and goings. No chickens on HSR much to my disappointment.



Train boarded and left on time. We'd splurged on Business Class for this trip. Situated right at the end of the train in a tiny cabin of six seats

 

[VPS]

Paris eat your heart out! They're padlocks!

Boy there are thousands of them. Thanks - still enjoying the report

 

[bPeteb]

Michael Parkinson! An 83yo Yorkshireman! My Lancastrian parents will be horrified! At the Yorkshire bit. Me a bit more about the 83yo bit

We could have done what we normally do and get public transport, or a cab to our hotel, but we didn't. I was reading a blog about visiting Xi'an and a great tour guide was mentioned. I contacted him and as he was in Europe when we visited the city he organised another guide to pick us up, take us to see the warriors, then whatever else we could see in the afternoon, most likely White Goose Pagoda, finishing with hotel drop off.

Jason was waiting where he said he would be, in the open concourse between the two platform exits. Lots, and lots of people but we spotted him before he spotted us. Another comfy Buick G8 as our ride.

Lot's of info on the city and the history of the warriors on the way to the site and then during the rest of our tour. We said straight up not interested in any kind of shopping (in case he suggested it) Partner had read best time to visit, to avoid crowds, was either as early as possible, or during lunchtime. For us, lunchtime it was.

We were taken to a restaurant near the gates for a quick lunch. Chosen due to number of staff with good English. Lots of non-Asian couple of groups followed us in.



Then straight into warriors. We got the usual "here's the guy who discovered them, buy the book and he'll sign it" so we did



Crowds not bad at all.

 

[bPeteb]

All I'll say about the warriors is wow. We could get up against the barriers everywhere we wanted to.




The size of the first enclosure is incredible.



The horses suspended on a kind of gantry in the reconstruction area reminded me of Westworld. It was fantastic.

 

[bPeteb]

To think that only a single warrior has been found completely intact (the kneeling archer).



More from second and third buildings








The crowds started to descend as we left the first building. It was a brilliant, well-timed, visit.

 

[drron]

Wow.Xian is different to the time we visited.Mind you that was 1983 and they were only discovered in 1974.No original finder to sign books then.Besides we were told the find was made by several farmers digging a well.
The problem then was the hawkers just outside the site.You were swarmed.Our son who was 8 got a little upset with all the jostling and said loudly-I said no. Don't you people understand English.Actually son they don't.A learning moment for him.

 

[bPeteb]

I'd asked about seeing two places in the afternoon - Banpo Neolithic Village and Giant White Goose Pagoda. In hindsight I wish we'd chosen Banpo but Jason said White Goose was closer to our hotel and we'd spend less time in late afternoon traffic.

Giant White Goose Pagoda was interesting but at least to us Banpo would have been more interesting.

.

Jason spent a fair bit of time explaining it all but just as with the warriors and the book, here it was calligraphy and paintings. We were running short of time to sit through the whole calligraphy 'lesson'. Having our names painted on to different grades of expensive through to super expensive paper did not appeal in the slightest so we decided just to make a token donation to the temple and that's when I discovered my wallet was missing. We wandered around looking for it and somehow Jason got us into the security office where we watched the video of us arriving and coming in to the complex. He kept saying pickpocketing is rare and insinuated maybe it was not a local/Chinese who might do it.

He'd owed me some money and handed it to me out at the gate and I'd put it into my wallet. We saw Jason give me the money but my partner was in front of me as in front of me as I put the money away. Then we walked in and were lost in the crowd. For some reason I don;t understand I had every card I'd taken to China in my wallet - two 28 degrees credit cards, my Citibank debit card, Suncorp Visa Debit and ANZ mastercard. Oh, also my driver's licence and about 700RMB. What an f*n disaster. All I wanted to do was get to the hotel and cancel everything. Jason gave the security officer my mobile number and the hotel details if by chance it had just dropped out of my pocket and someone handed it in.

I was so distraught but my partner was oh well, we'll sort it out. I slumped into the van and there in front of me poking out of the pocket in the back of the front seat was my wallet. What a bloody idiot! I felt incredibly stupid and relieved in equal measures. I must have apologised to Jason about 100 times.

Now my concern shifted to us getting to the hotel in time to drop our bags and race to the meeting place for our food tour.

The traffic thinned out as soon as we went through the gate into the old city

 

[drron]

I've done that trick on a few occasions.