And have been, for just
over a week. Our first stop in this massive country was Chengdu, in the Sichuan
Province. The 2012 Kathmandu – Istanbul group is now complete: Carolyn joined
the group in Chengdu, and we met up with our other crew members Simon and
Teresa, not forgetting Calypso (our expedition vehicle), as well as Miss
Sophie, who is our local Chinese guide, with us for the duration of our stay in
China. A full house now with 24 on board.
(Just before we get into China news, I must
add that some had a great farewell departure from our hotel in Kathmandu,
finding what they thought was a dog poo outside their hotel room door.
Reassuringly, the hotel manager informed them that it wouldn’t be dog, it must
be cat!)
3 nights in Chengdu gave us time to
familiarise ourselves with a new currency, new language, new script – not sure
if we’ll ever manage to learn much of the language or decipher the Chinese
characters, though Sophie is very patient in translating menus and teaching us
a couple of useful words.
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| Andrew E, Phil, Annie, Andrew P & Carolyn |
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| Relaxing in Chengdu |
Also, and probably one of the most exciting
things about travelling to far and foreign lands - new
food. Chinese take-out is available all over the world, but if you wish, you
could eat it 3 times a day here! It just could be a bit of a gamble what you
end up with, especially when you order off a completely Chinese menu at a local
restaurant. Noodles, lots of them; spicy food (in Sichuan), hot plates, hot
pots, noodle soup, pork – twice-fried, sweet n sour, shredded; quail eggs,
tofu, steamed buns, wantons, chicken heads, chicken feet, the list goes on. And
many dishes that we don’t have a common name for. Most of the hotels we’ve been
in so far have had the odd bit of western fare on the menu, so if you fancy a
good old English breakfast with some tea (other than green) that is possible in
the more major areas. Ordering food certainly has made for some interesting
times – Toby and Paul landed up with a whole chicken each on their plates in
Maiji Shan, and Cathy, after motioning like a chicken, ended up with an
omelette.
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| Toby tackling his next meal |
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| Is that a whole chicken? |
Some of the group headed out of the city to
have a look at their ancient irrigation system.
In Chengdu, we also visited the Giant Panda Breeding Centre and Sanctuary. While a little bit theme-park meets zoo-ish, due to the bus loads of
mostly local tourists, it was lovely to see these beautiful creatures, who
spent most of their time lazing about. We saw them feeding on bamboo, and then
having to recline afterwards! A couple of smaller pandas were perching in
trees, not unlike koalas, but the bigger ones sat fairly stationary. They also
have a breeding program at the sanctuary and we saw some infants in incubators.
Amazing that they weigh only about 100g when they are born, with no fur, pink
and really quite ugly.
There were also visits to a local opera in
Chengdu, for more of a cultural evening.
Leaving Chengdu, we had our first long
drive day on the truck. About 740km to Xi'an, but most of it on good highways,
making it a reasonable day. Xi'an has some attractive land marks and features in
the inner city, within the old city walls. There are the Drum and Bell Towers
that make for good sights, as well as the Goose Pagodas. The Muslim Quarter
comes alive at night with a big food market. The city walls, 14km in total,
also make for a nice walk (or run if you’re Nigel H), or you can hire bikes and
cycle on them, or go round in a golf-cart type shuttle. Apart from these land marks, the sight that
many people base themselves in Xi'an for, is the Terracotta Warriors, labelled
the 8th Wonder of the World. As our guide Crystal drilled into our
heads, this hidden army was only discovered/uncovered in 1974, when a farmer
was digging a well and unearthed part of this army. Built by an emperor to take with him to his
next life, there are said to be over 6,000 individually carved life-size
warriors, each one unique. There are sceptics in the group and I’m afraid we
couldn’t establish how they uncovered the whole story of the warriors, and how
it had remained hidden for so long, but it is an amazing find and phenomenal to
see these statues, each with different facial expressions. Also interesting are
the other tour groups and tour guides with their umbrellas held high for the
group to follow. Made for some entertainment when our minds wandered from
Crystal’s lecture!
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| Information overload from Crystal |
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| Too much information perhaps? Paul S relaxing after warrior overload |
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| Cycling the city walls |
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| Xi'an city walls |
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| Outside our Xi'an accommodation |
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| Andrew E & Andrew P |
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| Nigel C, returning for his second Odyssey after having done Cape to Cairo with us in 2010 |
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| Xi'an by night |
Glad to say Calypso’s bar crew stocked up
on supplies in Xi'an so for those long days when one gets thirsty, and for the
bushcamps to come, we are now fully stocked drinks-wise. Have had less success
on the grocery-shopping front – no mayo, no butter, no cheese – makes for new
sandwich combinations!
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| Bar stock enroute to Calypso |
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| Lunch stops |
From there it was a breath of fresh (and
pretty crisp) air in Maiji Shan, to chill, do some walking, and have a look at
some Buddhist statues high up carved into rock.
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| Ann S, Cathy, Anne W, Carolyn near the statues at Maiji Shan |
Another long drive partly on roads that are
still under construction, and we are in Xiahe, with the second largest
monastery outside of Lhasa, home to a largely Tibetan community. We arrived in
the rain, but woke up to a sprinkling of snow on the surrounding hills,
apparently the first of the season. We can definitely feel it. At 2,900m we have
put our sandals away and winter gear is most definitely in use. The town is
brightly decorated, the interiors of our rooms too (one even with a mushroom!),
and easy to spot are the maroon-robed monks, residing at the Labrang monastery.
More culinary delights are around to fill our senses – Tibetan specialities
including momos, thukpa (noodle soup), yak meat, Tibetan tea, and of course a
local brew too.
Exploring here for a couple of days before
we descend and start heading along the Silk Route to some of the more arid (and
hopefully slightly warmer) regions.
In the meantime, we already have a fan club
and some wanna-be new group members!
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| Paul O and his fan club |
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| Hang on, there isn't room for everyone on the truck! |
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