On a trip to Turkey with friends in 2008, we were guided by a Turkish man called Barish Ackabar. Barish is essentially a mini Cliff Curtis, a Kiwi actor who played Uncle Bully in ‘Once Were Warriors’ and any bad Arab or Central American drug dealer in recent big budget Hollywood blockbusters. Barish not only looks like Cliff, but he also has a thick Kiwi accent from numerous tours with Antipodeans through Turkey and innumerable re-runs of ‘Once Were Warriors’ on the bus DVD.
It was in Turkey that Barish introduced us to the concept of ‘Travellers, Not Tourists’. No doubt aimed at getting some street cred with the 30 of us on the tour, the concept was probably a little cliché but intended to remind us that we’d booked a cheap tour and wouldn’t be piggy-backed around Turkey. There would be long bus trips, local food and a lack of air conditioning, but we would experience the real Turkey as any other local travelling the route. So our second blog from China starts with a real traveller’s story...
Our last blog had us in Beijing, on the eve of departure to Xi’an in the mid west of China. Our Chinese Lonely Planet is over a thousand pages long and the skim reading of it suggested booking train tickets early, but we obviously didn’t heed that message well as we ended up spending half a day in Beijing trying to organise onward travel after the ‘sold out’ sign on trains to Xi’an was shown to us. Fortunately, the Chinese Railway is pretty forgiving on cancellations (unlike airlines), and just as we were about to re-route ourselves completely two seats to Xi’an on the night we wanted in a class known as ‘Hard Seat’ became available through cancellation. Yes please, don’t mind if we do, see you later Beijing, Xi’an here we come...
The trip to Xi’an is a 12 hour overnight affair. We got to the train station, chucked back a few dozen dumplings between us and waited to board. Boarding was a bit of a stampede, and as we waited at the back of the queue for our carriage we were trying to understand what all the commotion was about. We soon learned that the ‘Hard Seat’ carriage has seating for 180, but China Railways also sells standing tickets which are for the afore-mentioned ‘Hard Seat’ carriages and the key is to get on quickly and nab a piece of floor space. So as we clambered over Chinamen, Chinawomen and Chinakids to our seats, smashing them in the face with dangling straps from our over-packed bags, we realised we were again ‘Travellers, Not Tourists’.
This however was taken a bit too far over the course of the 12 hour overnight trip. First up, there was the community spirit which meant trying to squeeze extra young, old or frail commuters into your row of three seats (fine for Mat who was sandwiched between window and wife, not so good for Caros sandwiched between husband and numerous locals). We were also wondering what running the gauntlet to the toilet would be like, but this question was quickly answered when a young lad stood up and urinated into an empty drink bottle in front of us.
After a while, the general hubbub became background sound and Mat was able to grab a few winks of sleep. This didn’t last long as the air conditioning failed, and Mat awoke to find Caroline wide eyed and surrounded by all-but nude Chinese who’d ripped off every item of clothing bar the nut-huggers. The air conditioning issue was soon resolved when a guard braved entry to our carriage and got a venomous bollocking from the locals (pretty sure the c-bomb was dropped, Mat chipped in with ‘Dude, it’s hot! Turn on the air conditioning!’ which seemed to help things along).
Getting some dumpling based sustenance before the train trip
Now Xi’an is a lot smaller than Beijing, but for scale it is still bigger than New Zealand. Our interests here lay with the famed Terracotta Army, a 6,000 strong army of terracotta statues surrounding the tomb of some bad ass Emperor (don’t have Lonely Planet to hand). It was only discovered some 40 years ago when farmers were digging a well for water – amazing to think that such a massive undertaking had been buried and forgotten about.
It is only fair to say this is a very impressive sight, but having visited a few impressive sights over the past 4 years we were a little disappointed, mainly with the way it is being presented. It would have been fantastic if there was an opportunity to get a little closer to even a few of the statues, but all visitors are kept at a fair distance from the army and the massive hangar in which the site is housed means the lighting is pretty bad. Add to this the way in which everyone is herded round the sight, we left wanting more which is probably a bit harsh, but it is the feeling we got.
Our second day in Xi’an was fantastic as we followed the recommendation of the London based Hitchcock’s and checked out Hua Shan (Mount One) which is a limestone mountain with 5 peaks that is pretty sacred to the Taoists. Opting for the ‘travellers’ option, we spurned the tour companies and took local transportation to the mountain which is a couple of hours out of Xi’an. Our day here was dominated by dodgy pathways, great views, hard yacker and some outrageous sweating (we shouldn’t complain though – there were some old timers lugging 40kg loads of water up the mountain to sell on to the sweating day trippers). The paths on Hua Shan are cut into the limestone rock and in most places definitely would not meet with Occupational Safety and Health requirements.
One of the main things to do at Hua Shan is to engrave a padlock and find a little spot on the mountain to leave your lock (there are numerous linked chains between the edge and sheer drops of 300 metres plus, so plenty of spaces to leave a lock). So Caroline and I found a nice little spot, 5 metres below the highest point to leave our padlock.
Caroline trying to find Mark & Kels padlock (to no avail).
In position, ready for the Caralins or the Sippings to locate on their travels.
While in Xi’an, we managed to stumble onto a Chinese BBQ which was located in nothing less than a car-park in the CBD. Everything about the set-up shouted ‘DODGY’, but we decided to give it a crack as the smoky aroma put us in a trance. This is another Ackabar moment - ‘Tourists’ don’t eat at these places but ‘Travellers’ do. ‘Travellers’ will also generally get quite ill as a result of the decision to eat at such a location.
The basic premise of the BBQ was that you chose a couple of massive side plates (edamame, fried noodle, fried rice) while meat on skewers went on the BBQ, meat on skewers got walked around the car park, and people grabbed meat on skewers and ate them. And so we took a seat, sign languaged ourselves some fried noodle and hoed into pork sausages, chicken wings and other mystery meats. At the end of a meal like this, ‘Travellers’ start to wonder what the cost will be. So as the waitress counted up the bare skewers, we awaited the outcome. Unlike the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the answer to our question was not 41 but 33 Yuan (about £3). All we knew was that:
· 1Bb +4Ss + 4Bs + 1 Sp = 33, where
o Bb =Big Beer
o Ss =Small Skewer
o Bs =Big Skewer
o Sp = Side Plate
We formulated a probable answer to this equation on the way to Hua Shan, and having avoided any intestinal issues as a result of the meal decided to return for a second night and test the formula. On the second night, we went:
· 2Bb +2Ss + 6Bs + 2Sp = 42
From Xi’an, we travelled onto Chengdu which was another ‘Hard Seat’ situation, though thankfully this 17 hour trip was a mid-week day train so the congestion was a little more bearable. The trip was pretty un-eventful, though the early signs were not good when the young woman directly across from us smiled at us and then promptly went the big vom into a plastic bag. We deduced a mild case of pregnancy and forgave her welcome.
Our foray into Chengdu was aimed at getting close up with some pandas – Chengdu has a world renowned panda breeding centre. The visit was well worth the relatively significant westward diversion as we got to see about 2% of the global panda population. Was also an informative foray that has us well armed for a panda section at any pub quiz.
Genetic analysis has confirmed that panda’s have all the characteristics of the bear family, despite the panda deciding to use none of them. Their diet of bamboo is akin to a human diet consisting solely of popcorn, where the nutritional value of their food barely covers metabolic needs. Then there is the awkward situation pandas face every 25 years or so when bamboo plantations die off. Given their diet isn’t energy rich, pandas tend to sit round and starve as they don’t have the energy to move to a new bamboo plantation. Then there is a general reluctance to procreate, hence the endangered status of pandas in the wild.
For those based in SW11, there also a special moment when the Red Panda was met with some Chinese Red Pandas.
Before we checked out the pandas, we spent some time in the local markets checking out the locals going about their business. E found ourselves mesmerised at an intersection where people passed through on bicycles and scooters transporting all manner of things. It was really impressive the loads people had strapped to their bikes, with 1st prize going to the guy with two washing machines on the back (highly commended to the guy with what appeared to be 4 20 inch TV’s).
Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan province, and thus the capital of Sichuan cuisine (consider yourself schooled). While here we partook in a Sichuan hotpot, which is a boiling broth within a massive wok on your table to which you add veges and meat and cook to your liking. Oh, and the broth is generally a molten magma mix of the spiciest regional offerings, designed to clear the sinuses, make your eyes water and generally cause the heart to beat much quicker. We went ‘Tourist’ on this and opted for a two ringed wok, with the fire juice contained in an inner ring of the wok and a more palatable mild broth on the outer ring. We did give the inner ring a good nudge though and by the end of the meal had lost all feeling from our nose to midway down the neck.
From here, we head south east to Guilin and Yangshou which promise to ma more agricultural than the cities we’ve visited thus far. A 26 hour train trip awaits, though we’ve managed to get beds in ‘Hard sleeper’ so looking forward to the travel experiences that await.
And while we have the mic, a big shout out to Brett & Carrie (engaged – apparently Julian’s do marry); to Jo & John who have the next generation of Makos supporters in the oven; and to the Front Man from Melic for doing the dirty work again!
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