Shanghaied!

Something just snapped in me yesterday as we travelled through the yellow rapeseed fields from Yichang to Nanjing. Maybe it was the smoking, spitting, shouting, shoving migrant workers at Yichang railway stations. Or the polluted air, the disturbing sameness to the cities and the farms. Or frustration at my inability to speak the language or to freely travel around without relying on others. Even the food. Or all of the above. Suddenly my tolerance of China disappeared. I found myself wishing I were somewhere else.

I certainly did not want to be on that train. As we walked up the steep steps to Yichang railway station we were surrounded by peasant workers, belongings wrapped in makeshift bags of sheets. The Chinese push in whenever possible, don't give way. I've learned just to barge in and not care if my backpack takes bystanders out.

Not knowing where to go we passed our bags through the x-ray machine and entered the general waiting room. It was a scary experience, surrounded by crowds of people whose appearance was that of those shouting, shrieking drug addicts you sometimes see on the streets of Sydney. But I guess that this is often a new experience for them too and most are probably very nice people.

Backing out, the security guard pointed us in the direction of the "soft class" waiting room. A helpful local had to point out ts entrance behind locked doors. The soft class attendants ushered us straight to the train, not even bothering to check our luggage.

The soft sleeper cabin was a lot less comfortable than the cabin we travelled in from Hong Kong to Bejing. Four narrow, hard beds arranged in two bunks. Dodgy looking linen. The carriage toilet a dirty squat.

The old couple we shared the compartment we very nice and kept offering pomelos, apples and sunflower seeds. Thankfully they didn't like smoking either, for the overcrowded train contained plenty of smokers in the corridor in defiance of the no smoking sign. However the lady insisted of leaving the door open most of the time. This may have been a good thing as she kept coughing through the night (and no hand to cover the mouth, of course). Probably going to get tuberculosis, SARS or fish flu from her now.

The train stunk of urine and cigarette smoke. It was NOT comfortable whatever the Lonely Planet might say. We couldn't face another night of this, were already worn out from many late nights and early mornings, feeling a bit unwell.

We decided that we were willing to sacrifice some sights for more "stop" time to rest and recuperate. So I rang the wonderful Zhou Yan at CITS on the mobile and cancelled our itinerary post Nanjing, moving forward some nights in Shanghai.Thanks to the wonders of modern mobile technology (2.5G here) I was even able to email the instructions and receive a reply to my mobile phone.

Arriving in Nanjing at about 9:30am we quickly booked an onwards midday ticket to Shanghai (easy!), then spent the next hour in McDonalds near the huge train station. We did try a dumpling place first but it was full and we couldn't order.

The young lady who served us might have spoken English, but their toilet belied the McDonald's legend. It was a squat and it was dirty, with an overflowing rubbish bin of shit covered toilet paper. From the tray cover I'm also concerned about the source of their beef. The cow looks mad and on hormones.

The extensive canal system was visible after Nanjing, which barges chugging up the waters or decrepit boats just sitting there doing nothing. I would love to take a cruise up the Great Canal, just to observe life on either side.

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It is good to be in Shanghai. This three star hotel might be a bit far away from the centre of town, but it's got a light rail stop, plenty of shops and a park nearby. Catching a proper modern metro again was also a good feeling, despite the number of interchanges.

We stopped at Renmin Square and walked along Nanjing Road East until we hit the Bund. From the riverside you can see ultramodern Pudong with its famout Pearl Tower and another, much lower, skyscraper showing video on the side of its walls.

I don't want to give the impression that the Chinese are an awful people or that China is a boring place. It's not and we have met many wonderful Chinese who have brought a smile to our faces with their friendliness and helpfulness.

I think we just need some time to rest and get used to the cultural differences again. I'm certainly exhausted after that train ride and I'm certain tomorrow will find us enjoying China once more.

Three Gorges

"I haven't had enough sleep!" screamed my body as the alarm clock rang. No choice! We were meeting our guide Shirley down at the hotel lobby at 6am for our tour of the Three Gorges after only 3 hours sleep.

It was misty, or smoggy, as usual as we drove out in our van on the hour long trip to the docks. Faint silhouettes of mountains suggested beautiful scenery, although our eyes kept shutting, stealing more sleep.

A steep staircase flanked by two huge funiculars greeted us at the docks. We had to clamber over docked river cruisers in order to reach our sleek hydrofoil. We found three seats near the front as the boat filled up with workers in transit between the river towns. This was a working transport boat, not a tourist cruiser.

Through Xiling Gorge we passed hills yellow with rapeseed flowers or boxy new concrete homes clinging to the steep edges of the valley. The hydrofoil sped past flat, narrow ships transporting all manner of goods, from phosophorus to trucks, along the river.

Long Wu Gorge was the most spectacular with steep geologically folded cliffs and tall forested peaks, each with a name.

The last of the Three Gorges was Qutang. While the scenery adjacent to the river was not as impressive as Wu Gorge, the dramatic mountain range surrounding it loomed large behind the smoggy air.

Throughout the journey we could see a pale strip a few metres high running along the waterline. The water level in the dam has actually dropped from summer, as the water supply is locked up as ice in the mountains over winter. The water colour is a clean blue green now, but once the ice melts it will turn muddy brown again. Signs show that ultimately the water will rise about 15 metres higher than the current level, submerging more of the scenery.

After some negotiation between Shirley and the boat crew we were dropped off at the base of Fengjie. A yet uncompleted bridge loomed tall over the small fishing docks. Shrimps covered the roofs of the small fishing vessels, drying in the sun. We ate carp straight from the boat and noodles under a tarpaulin, the fishermen noisily playing mahjong at another table.

More steep stairs led us up the hill to Fengjie, White Emporer Temple. A noble had a vision of white mist rising from a well in the form of a dragon. As a dragon is the symbol of an emperor he went about making himself king of the region, with the help of a brilliant strategist.

The temple is a quiet place suited for contemplation, with ponds, pavilions, blossoming trees and some beautiful views over Qutang Gorge. The complex is surrounded by peeling red walls and fading but colourful reliefs and contains black steles of poetry inspired by the beauty of the gorges.

After walking back down to the fishing docks we discovered that the boat would not arrive for a while. It was an opportunity to chat with Shirley about life in China. We came away thankful for living in a first world country, how it gives us some many more opportunities. There are so many restrictions on realising your full potential in China, so much competition for resources, the familial duties which bind your choices. Even the disparity of wages means that it is difficult for young Chinese to travel overseas, something which they would benefit a lot from, giving them an opportunity to discover alternatives.

We were forced to find seats in the dirty rear of the boat for the ride home. Smoke from the engines frequently entered the cabin and the windows were cracked and patched. There was not much opportunity to view the scenery and all of us slept for a while, exhausted by the early start.

On our ride back from the docks to Yichang we passed the giant dam locks, were told of an even bigger "ship elevator" to life tourist ships all the way from the base of the dam to the top in one movement.

The expressway back to Yichang took us past some magnificent scenery, looking down to the Yangtze River with a backdrop of mountains. This was where Mao had swum across the river, proclaiming that the dam should be built, though the process started long after he died. From one view the mountain tops appear like his facing looking upwards, so this area is considered auspicious for the dam.

Shirley pointed out to us that our hotel was just across from the public square, recommending that we go to the top floor of the only department store for a food court. We followed her instructions and indeed had a delicious dinner. We had very pleasant wander back to the hotel past groups of people dancing, or just walking around relaxing in the colourfully lit square. A "magic fountain" reflected the many lights at its base as alternate sections sprayed water into the air.

Prior to Yichang we were doubtful about using the services of a local guide, thinking that we would just get a prepackaged spiel and run between the sights. But we greatly enjoyed talking to Shirley and she really went out of her way to make our stay here very pleasant. Thank you!

This will probably be the last post here until we reach Shanghai. In a few hours we will be on the overnight train to Nanjing for a day, then another overnight train to Huangshan. A night up the summit of Huangshan, then an overnight train to Shanghai. It promises to be very tiring!

The effects of globalisation on the Chinese culinary experience

We have been naughty. Very, very naughty. In our defence I can state that we were only following the instructions given to us by my colleague P2. But really, there is no excuse for our behaviour in a province with such reputation for its cuisine. For today we ate at McDonalds.

We made a mistake staying two nights and three days in Chengdu. We could easily have seen the sights we wanted to see in two days and spent more time in Shanghai or Hong Kong, but that's what you get for rushed planning in a travel agent's office.

The hotel finally kicked us out of our room after midday. We wandered through the centre of the city aimlessly, through posh department stalls to markets in narrow laneways. At Tianfu Square a big statue of Mao stood, right hand raised, in front of the Sichuan Museum of Science and Technology.

We were tired of walking and had no small change for lunch at the street stalls. So, heads hung in shame, we climbed the stairs up to the McDonalds overlooking Tianfu Square and the Mao Statue. There's a message there somewhere, though I'm not certain if I know what it is.

Using the picture card at the counter for language loosers like us, we ordered a medium spicy chicken sandwich (chicken breast roll) meal, a pineapple sundae and a sweet taro pie. The chicken was real chicken, the french fries not so good, the Coke Coke. But the pineapple sundae was really nice, must be the synthetic pineapple flavour. The taro pie, like an McDonalds apple pie on the outside, had purple and white chunks of taro, a root vegetable, on the inside. Very good!

So we went back and ordered chicken nuggets and a pineapple pie... It was good.

We wandered back to the hotel, past the GiGi bakery where a pastry chef was doodling around with the cream, making what looked to be an animal. She smiled at us, not having any idea what she was making either. We sat around in the hotel lobby for a while, bored.

Later we walked to a nearby Sichuan fast food restaurant and order a meat (or was it tripe?) bun and local style fried rice. Most of it remained on the table uneaten. It was too hot, but also the flavour was not to either of our liking. The only really good Sichuan food we ate was at the Fishermen Village at Leshan. Sadly, the McDonalds and the Pizza Hut meals were enjoyed far more than the local fare.

We would have left Chengdu with disappointing memories for the day, but as we sat there in the lobby a couple of musicians began playing a Chinese flute and lute (pipa?). The male flautist provided strong melodies while the female lute player's finger literally danced over the strings. It was both beautiful to listen to and to watch.

For RMB10 each we caught a bus from next to the hotel to Chengdu airport. I was amusing to watch the taxi touts chase us as the bellboy wheeled our luggage out the bus. The looks on their faces as we caught the bus said it all.

Chengdu airport is pretty nice. We bought a few lo quats from the fruit stall prior to security. The helpful staff even let us try the fruit first. Sweet, a little like an apricot.

We were bused to the Sichuan Airlines ERJ-145 sitting far out on the tarmac. It was a small jet, three abreast and the service was basic, with water, peanuts (The Lingdom of Foods) and sour dates. But the flight was pretty smooth and there were good views of Chengdu as we took off.

Yichang airport shut down straight after we exited the airport. Ignoring the taxi touts we caught a minibus to the city for RMB20 each. The driver said he could take us to our hotel, the Xixzhou (and how do you pronounce that?). After a long and bumpy ride past industrial wastelands and into a city preparing for sleep we were told by another passenger, a young lady, that we should get off and catch a taxi for a short ride to the hotel.

The taxis were trailing right behind us, so it was easy to catch one, the cost was, just as the lady said, RMB5. The hotel staff don't seem to speak English, but we were met in the lobby by "Shirley", our very chirpy young CITS tour guide for tomorrow. I have to say that I'm highly impressed by the CITS service we've received thus far, despite the impression given by some travel references. Should be a fun day cruising up the Yangtze tomorrow.