Nathan's Insights

World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas

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  • World Trip 2006: Day 146 – Yangtze River, China

    Monday 21 August 2006
    Highlights: Little Three Gorges, Hanging coffins

    The highlight of today was easily a visit to the “Little Three Gorges” and area that before 2003 was not really possible to visit due to low water levels.   Now however that the water level has been raised about 70 meters we could go in on a small boat.

    It was interesting to see very high bridges that will shortly be submerged and the building activity to replace them.   We went pass a small island that still has a working farm.   The local farm has until October to get his harvest as the water level will be raised again by 25 meters and the little island will cease to exist. The Chinese government for the most part is permanently removing farms from the hills/cliffs on the sides of the gorge.   I’m not sure how farmers have managed to farm this land given the extreme slopes.   The plan is to fill this old farm land (the bits not submerged) with trees to help keep the land together and help the environment (which is needed in China).

    During the 5 hour visit we would see wooden coffins in the sides of the cliffs (they call them hanging coffins).   A local people, who have now disappeared, used to down this type of burial.   How they got the coffins into these places is anyone’s guess (the government is still trying to figure it how actually).   Unfortunately some of these sites have already been submerged (the coffins are taken to museums). Brett proved a brief introduction to Chinese history in the afternoon, and we all got to laugh at the ‘talent’ show in the evening.

    Most of the ferry guests are older people on a very different type of tour to my group, however to their credit they did perform during the talent show while my group (correctly) just watched 🙂

  • World Trip 2006: Day 145 – Yichang and Yangtze River, China

    Sunday 20 August 2006
    Highlights: Difficult overnight Train, Boarding Victoria 2 (cruise)

    Well the overnight trip to Yichang could not have really been worse.   The train itself was very old however we managed to get the windows open which helped cool the air down to around 26-28 I’d say.

    I’m not sure why I was effected (maybe the food the night before) but around 4 am I woke up and could not get back to sleep.   I had chest pains which I put down to the hard bed at the time.   By the time the train trip ended at 10 am I could barely stand.   Luckily my group carried my bags to the waiting bus.   During the bus trip I found myself getting much better and I carried my own bags to the ferry. Despite not be 100% I did actually have lunch as I thought it good to get some food into my system.   I also had dinner as well (but not a full dinner).   I realised later that actually throwing up would have been a good idea.

    We travelled on the Victoria 2.   I shared my room for the first time with our Tour Guide, Brett, and as a result I got to watch his collection of ‘The Family Guy’ on his laptop (seems I continue to be lucky).   The highlight I the day was going through the ‘lock’ system so our ferry/boat could be raised.  We went through 6 locks and it is amazing how fast the boat gets lifted.   I’m guessing we went around 70 metres higher. The surrounding area of the river is stunning and it promises to get better tomorrow when we get deeper into the Three Gorges area of the Yangtze River.

  • World Trip 2006: Day 144 – Luoyang, China

    Saturday 19 August 2006
    Highlights: Longmen Grottos, White Horse Temple, the Smiling Buddha

    Another incredible day this time in Luoyang.   China just keeps on coming with memorable moments worth cherishing, today I got to see both the Longmen Grottos and the White Horse Temple which are both UNESCO protect sites. The Longmen Grottos was a 400 year project of cravings of the different versions of Buddha and are over 1,500 years old.   Watching the “smiling” 17 metre Buddha from across a river with people ascending up the stairs to visit was the perfect metaphor of people trying to achieve enlightenment.   The scale of the creations of the Chinese is almost overwhelming, everything is just so big.

    After this I went to the White Horse Temple, the birth place of Buddhism in China.   It is the place that two Indian Monks came to China to translate scriptures into Chinese and the temple is just under 2,000 years old.   There are now over 21,000 Buddha temples in China but this is the first one.   Luoyang was the site of both these places as it was once the capital of China for over 600 years (recently it was for a brief period during World War II).   The city is currently building a new centre, and again the scale is incredible, they build everything at the same time, government buildings, schools, parks, everything and it looks great.   China, in certain places, is starting to show its new wealth. Opposite my hotel right now families have gathered in a park (it’s 9.20 pm) and are dancing and playing together.   I witnessed this in Xian as well.   The sense of family in China is everywhere as is community.   It seems to be a nicer and safer place during the day once everyone was stopped trying to earn money.

    I sometimes wish we had this sense of community in western society. I now have to wait for my 1 am train to Yichang, the train ride will go for about 9 hours followed by a 2 hour bus trip after which point a shower will be in order 🙂

    I’ll then start the Yangtze River Cruise which goes for 3 days and get to see the first massive world project of this century the Three Gorges Dam (it will provide 10% of China’s power and will be visible from space).   The first half of the China tour has been very intense and tough (with heat and humidity), the second half promises to be more peaceful and about nature.

  • World Trip 2006: Day 143 – Xi’an to Luoyang, China

    Friday 18 August 2006
    Highlights: Xi’an Great Mosque

    Today I visited the Great Mosque in Xi’an before our afternoon departure to Luoyang starting with a walk around the many local markets of Xi’an  (they had Saddam Hussein playing cards from the Iraq war).

    The Mosque is very unusual, in some ways hidden among the streets and vendors but once found (I got lost) it is definitely grand.   The Mosque is really a combining of Chinese style with tradition Muslim designs something I’ve never seen before.   They actually had a funeral on later so the place was very solemn.

    The local Muslims don’t actually wear all the standard clothes of the religion, for example the women mostly just wear a white hat but you can see their faces.  Obviously the Chinese don’t really support the Mosque, the roads around it are unpaved (really the first time I have seen this) and in urgent need of repair.  After my Mosque inspection I headed off to the very impressive city wall which is a total of 14 kms long.   Most Chinese city don’t have these walls anymore due to the Communist Party expanding most cities under 5 year plans, Xi’an however missed out and are now reaping the tourism benefit.

  • World Trip 2006: Day 142 – Xi’an, China

    Thursday 17 August 2006
    Highlights: Terracotta Warriors

    We go into Xi’an early in the morning after managing around 5 hours sleep in my clothes during our overnight travel (and I like everyone had sweated in their clothes). We immediately headed off to see the Terracotta Warriors arriving there just before the doors opened at 8 am.

    The Warriors were discovered by accident in 1974 and they were created around 2,200 years ago for the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang and it took 37 years to create.   There are over 6,000 life sized sculptures each with different faces.   Originally they were painted but once exposed to air it takes less than 1 hour for the paint to disappear (the wooden weapons have long since gone).

    The locals call this the 8th wonder of the world and I’d probably have to agree.   Qin Shi Huang’s tomb still has not been opened as there is no way to do this at present without destroying the tomb (this appears to be the original plan to keep people out).  At times you would swear that the warriors are looking right at you.   Apparently it took over 400,000 people to work on this project.

    Back in Xian we all headed quickly for a long shower and a change of clothes.   During the evening I witnessed the locals out in mass just enjoying the colder (i.e. 30 degree) weather at night.   The city looks great at night, very modern but with ancient buildings standing side by side.