Anyway, Kunming is an intermediate stop before getting into some of the prettier, more traditional Chinese towns and villages in southern China. Everyone was starving by the time we arrived at 2pm, so tour leader David took us to a local restaurant for cross-the-bridge noodles - you get a big bowl of boiling chicken soup and then raw noodles, meat and veg, stick it all together, and get busy with your chopsticks. It was pretty good. But then we had 5 new members join the tour today so did the sociable thing and went for a group meal about 4 hours later. David took us to a different place and we told him we just wanted something light, so he rabbited away at the waitress in Mandarin and what should turn up 5 minutes later but exactly the same dish we were still digesting. You can have too much of a good thing. There was also some weird performance going on while we were eating which appeared to consist of Chinese people dressing in different world costumes (cowboy, Mexican etc.) and singing badly. So we repaired to a nearby bar and got stuck into a bottle of Absolut vodka. Everything seemed much better then.

written by  phileasdogg on November 3, 2008 from Kunming, China
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
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Anyway, we climbed up Mt Emei today, where we were promised spectacular views from the summit. Sadly, we could barely see each other by then, thanks to the persistent rain and mist. Hey ho. All good training for a longer 2-day trek next week.

Slight issue within the tour group emerging. The female half of the Canadian couple is a feisty little one and as she keeps reminding us all, has done 12 trips with this tour company before. Anyway, she reckons a couple of the entry fees that we've been charged for should be included within the overall cost but the way she puts this to our Chinese tour leader David has all the subtlety of a knee in the crotch. It says in our tour notes that one of the worst things you can do to a Chinese person is disrespect them in public, but that doesn't stop her from shouting her mouth off to him in front of the rest of us. He seems a pretty easy going guy but I wouldn't blame him for slipping some superstrength laxative into her noodles.

Anyway, got to the very nice city of Xi'an which was once China's capital city, and went to see the Terracotta Warriors, a vast underground network of 6000 lifesize soldiers protecting the tomb of the first Emperor of China in about 200BC I think, but only discovered in 1974. The scale of it is immense and must have taken tens of thousands of men to complete. Each individual piece is unique and manufactured to a very high standard, probably because if the craftsmanship wasn't up to scratch then the poor craftsman risked having his head lopped off. Anyway, all very impressive and worthy of its "Eighth Wonder of the World" tag.

Also went for a bike ride around the 14km city wall surrounding Xi'an. Nice city, shame we've only got one night here really.

Had a look round the Olympic stadia a couple of days ago and the Bird's Nest stadium is fantastic. Also went to see Tiananmen Square which is just, erm, a very big square. With a lot of CCTV cameras. And had a 2 hour drive outside of Beijing yesterday to climb about a million steps (or so it seemed) to get up to the Great Wall and then climb along it. It's hard enough to get to, so building the thing is a pretty impressive achievement. But it was a beautiful autumnal day and the views were fantastic. And followed that up with a trip to the theatre to see 'The Legend of Kung Fu'' which was part fictional story, part acrobatics and part kung fu, and was actually highly entertaining.

Now off for some Peking duck and then it's the night train to Xian.

Unfortunately, another contrast with India is that it's dropped about 20 degrees in temperature, so have had to dig the fleece out of my rucksack. Think my carefully manufactured tan is going to disappear very rapidly.

Wandered around the Forbidden City today, the best preserved area in the whole of China, where the rulers of the Ming and Qing dynasties spent their time, only venturing outside its walls when absolutely necessary. It's beautifully preserved and hugely impressive. Had planned to go to Tiananmen Square afterwards but it was 5pm by the time I'd finished looking round, so will do that tomorrow instead.

But so far, so good.

A few people told me before I arrived that India was like Marmite - you either love it or hate it. I wouldn't say that I was at either end of those extremes, but it is a difficult country to enjoy, especially if like me, you're not religiously or spiritually inclined. The infrastructure is poor, there appears to be no semblance of order to anything, and yet in spite of that the bureaucracy is overwhelming. Perhaps most frustratingly they don't seem to attach any great value to their culture and history. I'm sure they do, and I'm just measuring it by Western standards, but it's a shame to see so much litter, pollution, sewage and the like everywhere. One of their major problems is that the population is growing faster than the country can support (half a billion more people in the last 50 years) and it's hard to see them becoming a global superpower (as seems to be frequently predicted) until they can address that.

On the plus side, the food has been great, the prices are fantastic if you're a Westerner, and the people are unfailingly friendly, generous and optimistic. It won't be a country I'll rush back to, but I'm glad I came. Now to tackle the other emerging superpower, China.

written by  phileasdogg on October 22, 2008 from Chennai, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
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Anyway, starting to turn my thoughts to China now, where I will find myself deposited in less than 48 hours. Goodbye curry, hello sweet and sour dachshund.

written by  phileasdogg on October 21, 2008 from Mamallapuram, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
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But at least driver Dan is a happy man. We've finally been reunited with co-driver Jim and the transmission part sent from the UK 3 weeks ago, he was in an air-con room, and Chelsea were playing on ESPN. Happy days.

written by  phileasdogg on October 19, 2008 from Tiruchchirappalli, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
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