Suzhou – 28 December 2011

Suzhou is a “small” city (11 million) not far from Shanghai and just over 30 minutes on the high speed train. It is variously known as the Garden City; the home of silk; the Bridge Museum; and the Venice of the East. This last descriptor is rather generous and is simply based upon the fact that the town was originally built on canals.

Canals imply bridges and the 354 old bridges give rise to the Bridge Museum nickname. As the production centre for the vast majority of Chinese silk the third nickname is self-evident and the last nickname is due to the 65 Chinese gardens that have been preserved in the city.

Our first stop was at the canal where we boarded our “slow boats to China” to be serenaded as we were transported along some fairly dismal canals to the Garden of the Couples Retreat. Chinese gardens have a rigidly formal informality about them and as mentioned before must incorporate rocks, water, plants and buildings and both the gardens visited today were not simply gardens but residences where the buildings scattered through the gardens were actually the functional rooms spread throughout the complex.

After a visit to a silk factory where we learnt how the 1500m silk thread was extracted from the cocoon and woven, along with the obligatory buying opportunity we had another Chinese meal and moved on to the second garden, the Garden of the Masters of the Fishing Nets. Fishing had absolutely nothing to do with the garden, it was simply that the retired official who built it wanted to adopt the “simple life” and the life of fishermen were synonymous with simplicity. The two gardens were wonderful examples of the art of Chinese gardens and very different to that which would be seen in Europe.

As we had a couple of hours before the train was due to whisk us back to Shanghai, the tour guide suggested we visit another part of the city where they have preserved some of the old buildings and with them, the traditional markets. Most of the old city has been flattened and replaced with high-rise apartments so the city fathers, in their wisdom have protected a couple of enclaves to keep a link with the past.

The market was very interesting with live fish, crabs, shrimps, chickens, pigeons, ducks, quail and various other species for sale along with vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruit and all manner of freshly cooked delights. The historic buildings were all converted to shops and it was very pleasant strolling along without the hard-sell of some of the other tourist areas.

Once the high-speed train had whisked us back to Shanghai we were on our own for dinner so we set off from our hotel in a different direction and within a couple of blocks had immersed ourselves back in “real China” with street markets, not unlike the one we had experienced in Suzhou. A bright, clean local restaurant attracted us so we stopped for dinner as there was English as well as Chinese on the menu. We could have selected “Same tasty dish”, “Serve hot” or “Double bacteria on hot iron dish” as well as dog and various other dubious options but we played it safe and enjoyed another very cheap and filling meal. Curiously, the most difficult item to acquire on our two solo dining expeditions has been rice.

Exploring Shanghai – 27 December 2011

Leaving the hotel at 0900 was a relative luxury after the previous few mornings and we headed first to the Shanghai Museum for a whistle-stop 90 minutes. One could clearly spend a lot more time there appreciating all the porcelain and bronze objects illustrating the historical skills of the Chinese artisans. It is fortunate that there are still some fine works that have not ended up in the collections in English stately homes!

Another shopping opportunity was provided when we stopped at the pearl centre. This opportunity was taken full advantage of by a number of the women in the party.

It has been most interesting to see the various different dishes that have been offered at the Chinese restaurants we have been taken to. The only common factor has been white rice but today's lunch even challenged that norm as we were offered “brown” soy flavoured white rice.

The “old” Chinese quarter of the city was our next stop where the buildings are about 140 years old and exactly what one expects from Chinese style architecture. We had a short time to wander around before heading to the Yu Yuan Garden; a fabulous masterpiece of Chinese garden design, incorporating water, rocks, plants and buildings.

It is not surprising that Mr Pan who paid for the construction over 18 years was bankrupted shortly after. No expense was spared in creating an artificial mountain and an artificial forest on the 2 hectare site which he started as a place for his elderly parents to walk in.

We were offered the choice of another tea ceremony or, for an small extra charge, the chance to visit the viewing gallery on the 85th floor of the Jinmao building: the viewing gallery was the unanimous winner. Completed in 1998 the Jinmao Tower is now the second highest in Shanghai. It will move to third place in 2014 when the building across the road is completed.

Not only is the view to the outside fantastic, the view down the inside to the 55th floor is amazing. The internal atrium is part of the Hyatt hotel which occupies floors 55 through 84.

Another Chinese meal and then a very impressive Chinese acrobatic show rounded off the day.

Off to Shanghai – 26 December 2011

The 0500 wake-up call was a bit of a shock but once we were on the bus at 0600 to beat the morning Beijing traffic the trip went very smoothly until we were on board the plane for our two-hour flight to Shanghai. After arriving in Shanghai and sending our bags on to the hotel we were taken to lunch at an ethnic Chinese restaurant and then to the Temple of the Jade Buddha.

The Reclining Buddha is relatively small and seems to be stuck in a shop area as a bit of an after thought which is curious since it is the rarest form of Jade. The larger jade Buddha is afforded all the prominence and glamour that befits its rarity and history.

Shanghai is an extremely impressive city and the major financial district has been built on the east side of the Huangpu River over the last 20 years. A great way to appreciate the city is from the river, so a short boat trip on the river had been arranged as our next activity.

From there we were dropped at the hotel which was near to the junction of the Huangpu and Suzhou Rivers and thus very close to both the Bund and Nanjing Road, which we set out to explore. As darkness fell, the city buildings and the passenger boats on the river became a fantastic light show.

Having enjoyed the lights we walked inland up Nanjing Rd to see the sights, window shop and find somewhere local to eat. Christine had a hankering for Chinese sweet & sour chicken and cashews. As we walked along a side road off the Nanjing Road, all the restaurants had touts outside, tempting us in. None of them seemed familiar with Sweet & Sour, except one women, who assured us she could deliver, even though it was not on the menu.

They had a similar meal, but with peanuts instead of cashew nuts. She came in to the restaurant with us and told the waitress what we wanted. There was some discussion over our desired dish and eventually the lady took the waitresses' order pad and wrote on it then promptly disappeared down the street. A few minutes later she returned with a bag in her hand, presumably the new;y purchased cashews to meet the customer requirements. It was a delicious and extremely cheap meal and so we retired to the hotel well satisfied with the day.

The Great Wall – 25 December 2011

“We Three Kings of Orient are” felt quite appropriate this Christmas morning as we visited the Summer Palace just outside Beijing. Three times the size of the Forbidden City, but mostly covered by the enhanced natural lake, this was the residence of the Emperor for seven months of the year. It is a fabulously beautiful setting with the pagodas, temples and quintessentially Chinese bridges dotted amongst the trees. It is a “Willow Pattern” fantasy on a grand scale.

After lunch and the obligatory shopping trip to a Jade factory we finally set off for the Great Wall. There are a number of sections of the Wall that have been restored and opened to tourists, in all about 20% of the 5533 miles that were originally joined together to create this defensive masterpiece. The point was made, at the entrance to the section we visited, that the Wall which was originally designed to keep foreigners away is now a huge draw-card welcoming foreign visitors.

From the car-park we took the gondola for the short ride to the Wall itself, arriving close to Tower 14 of the Mutianyu section. From there we could walk left to Tower 24 or right to Tower 1. We chose to walk uphill so that we could return on a downhill when we were tired.

Having arrived at the Chinese flag on Tower 24 we chose to ignore the “End of tourist area” sign and climbed on further to another tower. Clearly quite a few tourists do this as there were two vendors further along this forbidden section of the wall attempting to sell us drinks, postcards and trinkets. One did feel quite sorry for them having carted their wares all the way to the top but their location of choice was decidedly odd.

The sun was setting as we boarded the bus, extremely satisfied with the experience of walking the Wall in such wonderfully mild and clear conditions and being winter, without the hoards of other tourists.

All that remained to finish the day was the special Peking Duck dinner that had been arranged for the evening and then it was into bed ready for the 05:00 wake-up call.

Beijing City – 24 December 2011

Tianamen Square was our first stop and beginning at the Qian Men Gate (1360) we walked past Chairman Mao's mausoleum and down to the Forbidden City (1420). Although, at 98 acres, Tianamen Square is the largest in the world it is only about half the size of the Forbidden City.

Much of the Emperor's old palace was refurbished in time for the 2008 Olympics so we enjoyed the benefit of all the work done for that deadline. The Forbidden City encompassed 999½ rooms as heaven was believed to had 1000 rooms. We never got to see the half room so not quite sure on how that would be translated into reality. But even with almost 1000 rooms, they still did not have space for a toilet, apparently.

With gate after gate, reception halls and finally the throne room and then the living quarters, it takes quite a while to simply walk from one end to the other, without taking in all the side rooms and courtyards etc Everything is in mirror-image symmetry as befits the Chinese ying-yang philosophy.

Leaving the Forbidden City we were taken to the first of our retail experiences, tea. After a most entertaining and quite tasty Chinese tea ceremony, and the opportunity to buy, it was time for another Chinese meal and then it was off to the Heavenly Temple, a circular structure built on an artificial hill.

More retail opportunities were provided when we stopped at the Silk Market which has diversified well beyond silk.

Our evening treat was a visit to another hotel where there is a show giving a taster of Chinese Opera. After an audio-visual overview of Chinese Opera, four well known scenes were described in English on the screen then played out by the actors accompanied by English sub-titles on side screens.

Although the costumes and painted masks were quite spectacular, the high-pitched female voices and the accompanying stringed music rather grated on our western ears. The best piece was an assassin and his target fighting one another in the “darkness” in a tavern. The choreography of the fight between these two who “could not see” one another but occasionally “bumped” into each other was very well done giving a most amusing effect.

China – 23 December 2011

The 10 hour flight to Beijing passed relatively quickly, thanks to the helpful check-in boss. When we checked in, we checked the leg room in our Air China flight. When we queried the answer of 44”, the helpful boss must have decided to make good her answer, by releasing 2 bulkhead seats (reserved to the last minute for families with a bassinet), and we were able to stretch out for a pretty good (although fitful) sleep.

As the flight approached Beijing, we kept looking for the Great Wall. As we learnt at school, that it can be seen from space, we expected it to be easily seen from the air. Sure enough, there it was, winding over the hill-tops, complete with guard-towers. It was exciting to get this first glimpse of a man-made phenomenon we had known of most of our lives.

What did surprise us, was how long it seemed to take to fly over Beijing. But when our tour guide explained that Beijing has the same area as Belgium, then that made sense. (She may have been a little over enthusiastic as web research says the area of Beijing is 16807 km2 compared to 30528 km2 for Belgium.)

Everyone on the tour was very happy to accept the offer of a couple of hours at the hotel to recover before the first optional outing which most of us took. We were taken to the old part of the city where the streets are too narrow for traffic so the transport through the Hu Tongs was via rickshaw.

The traditional, single level, dwellings behind the high walls fronting the streets are based on quadrangles with strict adherence to the compass points for the various room uses. We were privileged to be able to visit a private home to show us the typical arrangements inside a quadrangle and although the land value in central Beijing would make the place worth more the £1 million the residence did not include a toilet, public facilities on the street provide the necessary relief.

After a fairly average Chinese meal for dinner we walked across the road to the Olympic Green park and down to the Bird's Nest stadium. Although it was bitterly cold it was great to have a look at this fantastic structure a close quarters.

Before being delivered back to the hotel we had a wander along the food market selling all manner of deep-fried delicacies; rat, silk-worm cocoons, centipedes, scorpions, snakes, sea-horses and so forth.