So far it has been amazing, plagued by illness (of course, mostly mine) but amazing. The people on our tour are all lovely...despite first impressions suggesting otherwise. China...well I don't really know how to describe it, it is truly...well...bizarre, as are the people. The mistake I believe a lot of us make when thinking of the Chinese, is, to put it simply, to think of the Japanese. The reputation many of us seem to share a belief in, is that it is a serene, smiley, respectful, helpful race. This is on some parts true...for the most part they spend their time ignoring and insulting westerners (apologising for our presence on tours/boats/buses/etc and calling us "White ghosts"), even if said westerner does speak Chinese, hocking (yes spitting mucus)-anywhere, chain smoking-anywhere and shoving...er....anywhere.
China as a country is a complete juxtaposition, in its entirety. In the towns and cities dwellings seem to be made of apparently near dilapidated buildings, whilst in smaller more rural, out of the way places, buildings are gleaming white. New is always placed next to old, beautiful, next to unsightly, traditional next to modern...actually modern completely bastardising traditional-there was a Starbucks in the Forbidden City for goodness sake, THE FORBIDDEN CITY OF THE GREAT MING DYNASTY HAS A STAR BUCKS IN SIDE IT!!!
There are also very very dark, sinister undercurrents very much apparent in the running of the country, news, TV and internet (and probably now this email) are still very much censored. One of guides told us the story of his wife having to go into hiding for the first 6 months of her second pregnancy for fear of the governmental spies finding her and... eradicating the problem. While they have finally introduced contraception as a means of backing the governmetal regime of one child families (two if you are from the suitable background), which is very much advertised through smiling bill boards (yet another contradiction of the reality of the situation) it is seemingly not free or easy to find.
The government's position on many things such as religion and communism V's capitalism, Taiwan, religion, sexuality etc etc seems amenable, but again is all lead by the steady stream of the undercurrent.
Another of our guides seemed unable to answer many of our questions when she showed us around Tiananman Square...it later transcribed that in fact many of the street sellers with in the square are actually working for the government and a ready to alert the guards if a foot is put wrong, especially with questions regarding Chairman Mao. Dark, all very very dark.
But oblivious to all that, its been lovely!! I spent my birthday up the Great Wall (all be it a bit sickly and sorry for myself), have seen the Terracotta Warriors- all 8000 of them, had crafted in about 200BC. I've trekked mountains to reach monasteries, seen many a temple, been to beautiful parks where people do what they love with the people they love in complete abandonment (thai chi, ball room dancing, other dances, chanting, singing, playing instruments and games; its just beautiful, so atmospheric). I may have plotted the abduction of one or two beautiful panda cubs in a reserve (Er...and children for that matter...puppies, and the occasional kitten), been harassed by monkeys, seen an 80 foot high Buddha, sailed the Yangzi River and its gorges (AGAIN a bit sickly and sorry for myself), bathed in wine (amongst other things) flavoured sulphuric pools and had a session of cupping (OUCH) and massage (YUM).
I am also, unsurprisingly of course, a bit of a celebrity over here. Some, more jealous folk, may try to simplify it by putting it down to the colour of my hair but I know the truth. People do have a tendency to point and stare and take photos (all very well...sort of...except on those days of feeling sickly and sorry for myself, when it seems to be exceptionally rife). I have actually gotten a little too comfortable with it and started, out of the kindness of my down-to-earth, unaffected heart, posing for these photos. This rather bit me on the bottom when it became clear that one guy actually, just wanted the scene behind me....oooops!
Only me!!!
BLUSH
All in all, a non too shabby trip thus far...the only thing that really worries me is, despite booking the "intrepid" tour, NOT the "comfort" tour, we really have been roughing it the way people expect surrey girl to...what happens when we are thrust, blinking into the big wide word on our own....
Wish us luck!!
No comments:
Post a Comment