Merlion & Unrelentless brokering

Today was our final full day in Singapore and so our last opportunity to tick off the remaining sightseeing boxes we had established for ourselves here. Singapore city itself really isn’t that big so we felt confident with another full day we’d be able to clear the list.

Number one: Chinatown.

We had found a cool little map that had a walking route around the area – pointing out various stop offs/landmarks we should visit along the way. This tour took us to several Chinese temples, but by far the most impressive of those we saw on this journey was the Sri Mariamman, Singapore’s oldest Hindu temple. Founded in 1827 it served as not only a place of worship but a home for many South Indian Hindu immigrants until they could find work and a permanent residence in their new home of Singapore. The temple itself was exquisite, paintings and Indian deities covered the walls and ceilings, some huge but intricately carved and all vibrantly coloured. We were visiting during some kind of ceremony…exactly what was taking place we had no idea, but it was fantastic to get to hear the music and see the community of the temple actively worshiping.

Our last stop was the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.

Two gods guard the entrance on both sides of the main gate.

A hundred monks chanted in unison in prayer as we entered.

We visited the top floor and entered a room which held the Buddha’s tooth. A glass divider blocked us off from entering the showcase which is made entirely of solid gold. The other 28 Buddha’s are there in worship of the relic of the original Buddha’s tooth.

Next we wanted to make our way to Clarke Quay.

We had seen the Merlion from the top of the flyer the day before but wanted to have a closer look. The Merlion is a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. It is the trademark symbol of Singapore. The fish body represents Singapore’s origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means “sea town” in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore’s original name Singapura, meaning “lion city”.

Grabbed a quick drink… and we were off.

We wandered along Clarke quay through the numerous bars and restaurants stopping off briefly to soak it all up at one of the pubs before heading back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. On our way we found Singapore’s St. Patricks Cathedral

and the House of Parliament

Our final, and perhaps somewhat most anticipated check point before dinner was to go to the famous Raffles hotel to throw back a Singapore Sling. The hotel is just one of he many tributes to sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder and ‘father’ of Singapore and it is here that the Sling was born. The hotel itself is a big white colonial building, the Long Bar differed somewhat, not quite so elegant but much more fun. We sat at the bar, ordered the famous cocktail and tucked in to the bar nuts, throwing the shells on the floor as tradition dictates.

After one it was time to head out to dinner to meet an old school friend of mine, Helen, who moved to Singapore with her husband Nathan a couple of years ago. Dave having never met either of them before picked them out of a crowd (who knew English people have a look?) we made our introductions over a drink and then decided to head to a Moroccan place for dinner.

Finishing up the last of our meals we decided that as it was our last night and with the coming weekend in Singapore being a bank holiday in respect of the countries 48th birthday we absolutely should play out a little later tonight. Nathan’s idea was to take us to the worlds highest alfresco bar, 1 Altitude. No sooner had this been decided did the heavens open and a 10 minute torrential down pour ensued. This meant we would probably not be able to make it out on to the 282m high open deck of the bar but we could still see the vistas from the inside bar, 2 stories lower, so we went for it.

What happened once we were inside can only be described as incredible. The roof bar was strictly closed due to the weather for safety. The whole outside area, accessed by a separate lift, was closed to the public. Nathan, determined to make good of his offer to show us the highest outdoor bar, went on to harass the manager for a full 45 minutes until he had obtained both his personal and work phone numbers, but it didn’t stop there. He told the manager some woeful tale of how his friends from NYC had their hearts set on seeing the view from the top and how our trip to the city would be incomplete without. He continued to purchase drinks for the 4 of us, more than had maybe been purchased cumulatively all night by the other customers, before the manager caved and gave us our own private, escorted viewing of the deck. It was completely stunning.

We fell in to bed laughing at the night and at what the persistence of a single man can achieve!

Swinging Singapore

We woke knowing exactly what was on our agenda our first morning in Singapore, nevertheless we had no idea what to expect. As we rode the train to the bus station it began to hammer down with rain. We had managed to escape the worst parts of Typhoon Jebi but it seemed that we could not completely shake her. The rain persists through out our bus ride but it did not deter us. Months ago, while planning, we were hopeful to get to Borneo and see the one place in the world where wild orangoutangs still live in the wild. Unfortunately, the cost and number of travel days required made it impossible. Shortly after, Hayley said that she had booked the next best thing…breakfast with Orangoutangs at the Singapore zoo. Dave hoped that this meant orangoutangs would be clumsily fumbling over themselves trying to make us a cup of tea while we all shared a bundle of bananas but, in truth, we didn’t know what we had gotten ourselves in to. We walked in the zoo and made our way over to the restaurant just in time to see our friends arrive.

The weather had deterred a lot of people but there was still a nice size group. The family of orangoutangs consisted of a daddy, a mommy and three babies. While the crowd raced to get in line we enjoyed our buffet breakfast. We never understand at airports, or anywhere else for that matter, why people race to get in line when they can just wait for the queue to disperse. When the line was next to empty we made our way over. The first thing we encountered was a beautifully patterned ball python. Dave has always wanted a snake but, as you can see, will need to get a little more comfortable handling one. Unlike Hayley, who made it look effortlessly. Then we met our new friends and asked them if they would take a picture with us.

As it was still raining, we headed over to the sea lion show which was just about to begin to take some cover. After the sea lion performed a number of tricks they asked for a guy and girl volunteer from the audience. Dave quickly put his hand up unaware of the task. They handed the girl a frisbee and told her to throw it to the sea lion. From 10 feet away, she nailed the throw. When Dave walked up cockily they told him that this spot was where girls throw but since he’s a big strong man he had to toss it from a man’s spot. The zoo keeper stood a top of 50 stairs about 40 yards away. His first throw splashed in the pool about 10 feet short of the mark. “You throw farther.” The zoo keeper said to Dave (great advice). The second throw had the distance but was sailing a bit to the right. The sea lion jumped off his perch, waddled as fast as he could and made an unbelievable diving catch! The crowd went crazy, Dave likes to think for his throw.

The rains let up and we spent the rest of our morning wandering around the zoo. It is an open zoo so only hidden barriers, moats or glass separate you from the animals.

Hayley loves turtles and these two decided to give us a show.

Did you know that Komodo Dragons will eat their own babies? The infant Komodo’s have to live in a tree for the first few years of their lives until they are a minimum of 3ft, big enough to outrun fully grown Komodo’s.

Peek-a-boo.

Some of us get mad when we are tired.

Hayley underwriting or Dave trying to calculate a projected premium….

The orangoutang exhibit is the largest open space of its kind in the world. Tree canopies are all above you, connected by ropes for the Orangutan to play and swing from as you walk by. They literally walk right over your head!

A few more pics….

We left and headed over to the Singapore Flyer. At 42 stories and 541 feet high, it’s the tallest observation wheel in the world, 16 feet taller than the Star of Nanchang and 98 feet higher than the London Eye. It provided a great view of all of Singapore’s skyline.

That evening we dined at an out door restaurant. fatty’s, which claimed to be home to the Original Chili Crab, Singapore’s signature dish. We don’t know for sure if it was the “original” but it was finger lickin good.

Hong Kong, Typhoons, Friends and Buddhas

We touched down in Hong Kong to a grade 3 typhoon warning. ‘Jebi’ was due to be giving the island it’s fair share of wind and rain over the next few days…not the best sightseeing conditions perhaps, but this wasn’t going to deter us!
By the time we had finally navigated our way to our hotel after being dropped off, in the rain, by a non English speaking cab driver that pointed in the direction of our hotel all we were fit for was a drink, dinner and an early night.

Day 2
We woke up to a drizzly but humid morning, grabbed some breakfast and headed out. Our first port of call was to be the Man Mo temple. This temple is Buddist and dedicated to the civil god of literature and the god of war. As we neared the grounds we could smell the incense from blocks away and knew we were approaching. Inside the temple hundreds of cone shaped incense coils burned from the ceiling.

From there we decided to brave to local transport and hopped on a double decker tram. If you are sitting on the top, be sure to keep your arms and legs inside the tram as you come to within inches of other passing buses and trams. Our first stop was the HSBC HQ. Construction was completed in Nov of 1985 and at the time was the most expensive building in the world. Stephen and Stitt sit outside guarding the main entrance, people stroke their manes and paws in hopes of good fortune and prosperity. We went inside to get a birds eye view of the famous atrium. We did but after occupy Hong Kong in 2011, when protestors made this their home, security has now blocked access to the viewing gallery.

We set out for a ferry ride around Victoria Harbour to see the skylines of Hong Kong and Kowloon. When the ship stopped 5 minutes in to our hour ride we realized we caught the commuter ferry rather than the tour boat. By now the rain looked to be quickly approaching so we decided rather than venturing further into Kowloon we should head back to the island.
To our luck Jebi held off just long enough for us to make it to the covered ticket office of The Peak. With an altitude of 552m it is the highest mountain on the island. We wanted to purchase a 360 degree pass to the top but the sales woman told us there wasn’t much point as the view would be non existent in this weather. Hoping for the best we took the traditional tram to the summit. At times the incline felt as though the tram would not be able to handle it and slide back down the rail but the old girl held strong and got us to the top. The weather in a typhoon changes in seconds, we were fortunate to be able to get a glimpse of the skyline from above just before the clouds rolled in covering the sky.

After 20 minutes the rain and cloud didn’t seem to be subsiding so we decided to go for a bit of pampering…
Massages in Hong Kong are very cheap but also very different. The masseuse nearly fainted when Hayley went to pull her dress over her head. It was then we learned that these massages are done fully clothed. They placed a towel over the area of body they were working on and went at you. Pushing, pulling, digging and kneading it was anything but relaxing and enjoyable. With that said, once we were finished and left our bodies felt relaxed and tension free. The muscles may have been knot free or just relieved that the trauma was over.
We showered and prepared to visit an old friend who moved to Hong Kong two years ago, Shephali. This was our big chance to finally wear those heels and dress shoes we’ve been lugging around for weeks. The wine bar we met at was only 2 blocks away but when heavens open up and your in a typhoon even the shortest of walks becomes treacherous. The streets flooded within an instant as what seemed like softball size rain hammered down. Over a bottle of red, we told Shephali of some of our traveling adventures (and life in general) as well as listened to her exploits in Hong Kong the past couple of years. Soon enough the rain subsided and we headed to out to dinner with some of her friends at a wet market, a popular traditional local area with numerous different restaurants. It gets the term “wet” from the water used to wash the floors and dishes, keep the fruit and vegetables fresh and keep the fish alive.
Ben and Miranda, a married couple from down south, could not have been any nicer. A few dishes were already awaiting us when we arrived. Charlie, a friend of Ben, came to join shortly after. After dinner we headed to Nirvana, a local karaoke bar, with a live band. After listening to the same woman sing horrendously for three consecutive songs we decided we needed to show this bar how to Karaoke. Hayley and Shephali were brave enough to go up first with a phenomenal version of Pretty Woman.

“Mercy!”

Dave and the boys followed up strong with You’ve Lost That Love and Feeling and Sitting on the Dock of a Bay.

“And I said baby. BABY! Baby. BABY!”

“Bring it on back, now bring it on back, now bring it on back!”

By 2am we had to call it a night in attempts to have some what of a protective next day.

Day 3
We woke up a little later than our usual bright and early regime (and hurting a little too truth be told) We decided to head out to Lantau Island, home to the largest sitting Buddha in the world. We took a train to reach the island where we then had to take a 30 minute tele-cabin ride over water, lush forest and water falls.

We met one of our favorite travelers to date on the cable car ride. The car holds 8 people, when we entered it a sh*t storm ensued. A short, stocky, Chinese woman in her 40s proceeded to throw the biggest temper tantrum on her husband as soon as we got in. Not sure if she wanted him to grab our side of the car or what but, gauging by the other 4 Chinese girls in the car reaction, the expletives flew out of her mouth. When the camera man came to take every groups picture she crossed her arms, pouted, grunted and turned to face the corner making the picture impossibly. Just the way we wanted to start a half hour voyage.
Even from a distance the Buddha was impressive.
After taking the Ngong Ping 360 cable car, fourth longest cable car in the world, we walked the path towards the Buddha. Our first attraction was a museum of other prestigious cable cars worldwide.

A Budhi tree is where Buddha sat, contemplated life and gained enlightenment.

All of the Twelve Divine Generals watch over a specific two hours of each day and don a unique weapon and animal upon their helm. They line the pathway to the Buddha.

Three women to each side of Buddha offer him gifts of: a lotus flower, incense, lamp, ointment, fruit and music. This symbolizes the Offering of the Six Devas.

A gate entrance and 244 steps later and we had made it.

Made of bronze, it stands 112 feet tall and weighs in at 250 tons. The pictures do not even do it justice.

The Path of Wisdom has 38 halves of trees in the shape of an infinity symbol with the writings and teachings of Confucius.

Another cable car and subway ride later and we were in Kowloon. We visited the famous Temple street market where you can find anything from Peking duck to live fish to Angry bird iPhone covers.

Took a ferry ride back to Hong Kong and watched the neon lights of the skyline dance across the harbor.

Even with typhoon Jebi surrounding us we managed to have a great time in Hong Kong.

Qibao Old Town Shanghai

For our final day in the oven that was shanghai we decided to get out of the city a little and explore the ancient town of Qibao. The town was built in Northern Song Dynasty (960-1126) and grew into a prosperous business center during Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911). Qibao is Chinese for ‘seven treasures’ and is the only town of its kind left in the greater Shanghai area.

Qibao turned out to be as quant and beautiful as it did utterly bizarre. On arrival to the gates of the old town you could purchase individual tickets to the various ‘attractions’ inside or a multi pass ticket to all 6. We decided to go with the latter option.
First stop the bell tower. The bronze bell is housed in the three storey high structure. Legend has it that the bell appeared from out of nowhere one day after days and nights of a huge storm. This created a sense of mystique around the town as though the gods had personally delivered the bell to them.

Next the Cotton Mill. Qibao became renown for its quality cottons and as such royalty would send for their garments to be made by the skilled craftsmen within the town. This exhibit was also home to some of the scariest mannequins we have both ever seen. There was definitely one or two screams as they almost appeared to move and come to life in front of our eyes. Mind you we were the only two people in this “museum” at the time.

The trail next led us through a market street selling everything from angry bird slippers to baby ducklings skewered and deep fried for a mid morning snack. We declined a purchase for both items and made our way to the Shadow Puppet display. This art is still highly revered amongst the Chinese, seen as a dying professional trade. One of the most famous puppet masters grew up in Qibao and the town still celebrates him and and puppetry as a whole. The original puppets were made out of animal skin and later paper. We couldn’t believe it when we were lucky(?) enough to be right on time for a live shadow puppet show. We took a seat in the very small theatre (there was room for max 15 people). There was a frosted screen separating the audience from the puppet masters and musicians which would provide the accompanying music to tell the story. The show started very dramatically with symbols and drums (we were very excited at this point…) and then the puppet appeared and seemed to do very little apart from sit and stand up in a chair and mumble Chinese for 10 minutes straight. We of course had no idea what was being said but even with the wildest imagination it was difficult to conjure up any kind of exciting storyline. Just when we had given up hope, put the camcorder away and already seen one person leave the theatre things seemed to get going. Some serious fighting was taking place between the man that had been sitting in the chair and numerous other characters. He was successful at killing his rival, regardless how many there were, every time. This went on for another 5 minutes and then some drums and symbols again and the lights went on. Utterly bizarre but once in a lifetime…I hope.

Next we found the miniature museum full of everything a little girl could dream of for her dolls house, all hand made by a local expert. Thousands of pieces were displayed through the gallery.

It was not on our original tour but when we came across a local museum for the famous Zhang Chongren we had to check it out. He has completed some beautiful pieces for various presidents and celebrities, but Chongren is perhaps best known for his creation of the cartoon character Tin Tin.
Our final stop was the cricket house museum. The reason for this display still slightly eludes us, all we did make out was that cricket fighting is a bit of a big deal in this town even today. Sadly we didnt get to see any cricket duels on this occasion but we did get a picture of a statue of three boys pointing at crickets.

After a long morning we had promised ourselves a traditional Chinese tea so made our way to the best looking tea house we could scout out, sifted through the 10 page menu and then picked out 2 different types whom names best suited the both us of. Hayley had the Queen of Beauty and Dave tried the Wondering Warrior. What transpired was the art of the traditional tea ceremony; how it should be handled, poured, and drunk is really rather complex and exact. There was lots of swirling from one cup to another and then back again resulting in the perfect pipping hot cup. The end product was no milky cup of Tetley, but the experience was fun and unique.

After a very long cold shower we had a bottle of wine at the hotel and headed out to dinner. Dave attempted at ordering in Chinese but instead of beef being brought to our table there was a huge bowl of seafood. Lesson #6 (Dave) just point to the pictures and stop ordering in Chinese. We had a delicious beef soup which we cooked ourselves table side accompanied by some very nice sushi. Went to bed dreaming about Hong Kong.

Scorching Shanghai

We took an early morning flight out of Beijing to our next destination; Shanghai. The 90+ degree heat in Beijing did not even prepare us for the heat wave that was plaguing Shanghai. The city is hotter and more humid than Beijing in a normal season, however; we were fortunate to be there when they were having record breaking temperatures. The picture attached was our coolest day. Every other day was at least 100 degrees which felt anywhere from 115-120 degrees.

We ventured out on our first full day with our hearts set on Yuyuan Gardens. Most sane people did not dare to leave their house in this heat but we had a city to tackle and only a few days to do so. The pellets of sweat leaked out of every pore of our body the second we left the hotel. Yuyuan Garden translates to “Garden of Peace or Garden of Happiness.” Its construction was completed in 1577 by a government official, Pan Yunduan, who built it for his parents to enjoy the tranquility of their old age. An exquisite giant 5 ton jade boulder is the centerpiece of the garden. Legend has it that it was meant for the Imperial Palace in Beijing but was salvaged after the boat that carried it shipwrecked off the coast of Shanghai before reaching its final destination. Before we even made our way in to the garden we had to see what all the commotion was about on the nearby bridge. People were feeding hundreds of the largest most colorful Koi fish you can imagine. They wrestled on top of one another fighting to catch the food pellets that people tossed in the water from the bridge above.

The garden itself had multiple temples inside with intricate stone carvings of dragons, lions, phoenixes and samurai warriors which watched over the garden and its inhabitants.

A giant dragon was carved atop a stone wall which divided the garden holding a pearl plucked from the seas in its mouth. In Chinese culture, a dragon can not only fly the skies but swim the seas as well.

We left the Garden and strolled around the City God Temple. It originated as an honoring place for Jinshuan or “Golden Mountain”, an island off the coast of Shanghai. During the Yongle era of the Ming dynasty it was converted into a City God Temple. During the Qing dynasty, the temple grew so popular from residents praying for fortune and peace that it led to many businesses being built. The area and surrounding streets turned into a market place which still remains today.

After a bit of old Shanghai we set our sights on a bit of new. We headed downtown and caught a boat ride around the Bund and downtown financial seaport. We had seen the skyline the day before but, if its possible, it was even more impressive on the boat ride. As the boat made its way along the river buildings 80 stories high emerged from behind other buildings where they had been hidden due to the perspective you had. The skyline seemed to take life and morph before our very eyes as we sailed.

The day ended in the French Quarter of the city, it was designed after the Champs Élysées in Paris. Shi Kumen houses were constructed similar to row homes or brownstones. A statue of three women lie in the center of the neighborhood symbolizing: strength, wisdom and prosperity.

The evening ended with a drink a top the Grand Park Hyatt in the Jinmao building in a bar called Cloud 9. Until recently, when the Ozone bar in Hong Kong overtook it, Cloud 9 was the highest bar in the world. The only sad part about this visit was due to the heat wave the entire sky line had to be powered down so the city would not experience a black out. Nevertheless, having drinks at the top of the world on the 87th floor, was an unforgettable experience.

Summer Palace and “Acrobats”

Truth be told, we wanted to visit the Summer Palace after seeing the Great Wall but with the mist and haze surrounding us we decided to save it for our last day in Beijing. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky when we set out for the Palace, originally named the Garden of Clear Ripples, it was designed after many classical garden architectural styles in China. In 1888, Empress Cixi “diverted” 30 million taels of silver from the Chinese navy to fund the reconstruction of the Garden and turned it into her summer resort.
We purchased our all access ticket and headed inside. Suzhou street was the first of four boxes to check on our ticket (literally holes are punched in your ticket once you visit a site so make sure you fill your boots because there is no re-entry) The street of shops and stores are situated on a canal filled with green tinted water reflecting off the leaves and lily pads. Within 5 minutes Hayley deemed it her favorite place in Beijing.

After climbing a series of staircases and jostling with tourist over the best spot for a picture or just to make our way to the top of the “Four Great Regions”, we made a detour to avoid the crowds.

This leisurely stroll around Kunming Lake led us underneath weeping willows, pines and peach trees was possibly the best part of the day. Kunming Lake is man made and covers approx. 75% of the grounds so it made a perfect pathway to view everything from afar.

We crossed over a dozen different bridges: the Stone, Bambi, Lake Dividing, Mirror, Silk and Jade Belt bridge to name a few. The Jade Belt was covered with white walls and the reflection of the green lake and leaves made it look as if it were made out of Jade.

The Seventeen Arch bridge was by far the most impressive and marked our way back to the main path. It was designed to look like a rainbow and is covered with 544 uniquely shaped lions.

The Bronze Ox, cast in 1755, was placed at the east edge of the lake as oxen are believed to control floods. This guy protects the Palace from the lake flooding.
The Royal Statue guards the east entrance.

The Wenchang gallery was our second of four stops on our ticket and is the largest gallery in the palace. A long walk down the Long Corridor ranges across nearly the entire lake on one side. It is covered with decorated pillars, walls and ceilings and led us to the Garden of Virtue and Harmony.

Had to make a brief stop when we heard a show was being performed in the theatre where emperors and royalty used to be entertained. This girl is definitely not winning America’s Got Talent any time soon with her singing but her dancing was a little more impressive.

After six hours wandering the grounds we wanted to call it a day but the Tower of Buddhist Incense box had not been ticked. It was our last destination and difficult to find. We could see the temple resting on top of the hill nearly every where we went but we struggled to find the entrance. In a fit of heat driven frustration we nearly abandoned it entirely but then the stairs finally emerged. A dozen cases of stairs was probably the last thing we needed at this point in the day but we continued the trek upwards. A large golden Buddha was the centre piece of the temple and shone like the sun atop the hill looking over the entire city of Beijing.

We left the Summer Palace, but like any other day, we were not yet finished. Hayley had read a ton of reviews about the Acrobatic shows in Beijing, it being our last day we had to check one out. We took the subway to the other side of town and found the Chaoyang Theatre since it was supposed to be the best show the city had to offer. We bought the cheapest tickets possible but some how ended up front row center for the performance. After the first act we realized why, if something goes wrong its going to go wrong on you!

The show started with a bang. A man continued to pile up chairs, one on top of the other, and do hand stands or horizontal poses while suspended in the air. After 10 chairs we thought that had to be it but he proceeded to get at least another 5 on top of that.

Then came the plate spinning glow in the dark girls. Each spun 8 plates a piece. They ended their set by climbing on to each others heads and doing a split, all the while never letting a plate fall. At the end of the performance a girl remains on stage and slows down her spin to demonstrate just how easily the plates could fall.

This duo have won awards all over the world for gymnastics and circus performances.

Watching eight girls create a pyramid while riding bikes was not nearly as impressive as watching a dozen of them pile on to one bike.

The Grand Finale was the Circle of Death. We have all been to the circus and seen 2, maybe 3, motorcycle riders get into a steel ball and do loops and twists. The first 5 entered the cage one by one and the crowd was on the edge of its seat. Suddenly, 3 more riders drive on to the stage and the ball filled with 8 motorcyclist! The lights in the theatre went off as we watched on. Glowing in the dark with their horns blaring they circled each other in a stream of flashing lights as they drove 25mph.

Our time ended in Beijing with dinner across the street from our hotel at Mr. Shi’s dumpling, we were even graced by an appearance and musical performance by Mr. Shi himself. When the beef and green chiles was brought to the table the waitress said, “You like very spicy, yes?” It was a question we would’ve preferred to have been asked when we ordered it. Not sure if we misunderstood the waitress or she was having some fun with us but we both definitely heard her say that the green ones were the hottest, they were but did not compare to a bite of the red pepper which took both of us about 20 minutes to recover from. Fantastic dinner and day all around.

The Great Wall

One of our primary reasons to go to China on our trip was to get the opportunity to walk along the Great Wall. Supposedly seen by space and dating as far back as 206 BC, it is still considered one of the greatest man made structures stretching an incredible 31,070 miles (the earth circumference only measuring 24,854 miles). Many people think that it is one single structure however there are are several different sections which have evolved over various Chinese dynasties with the intent of protecting the northern border. It is estimated that the death toll in building the wall is as high as 1 million earning it the name of the longest cemetery on earth!

From Beijing our closest point of contact was at the section in Badaling. This was about a 4 hour round trip from our hotel so another nice early start with a private driver who could easily negotiate his way there (finally a day without getting lost!). When we first woke up to the 6.45am alarm clock there was a wet mist in the air…still new to Beijing we couldn’t be sure that this wasn’t the norm, but packed our trusty waterproofs just in case. As we made our way towards the wall rain began to fall, nothing torrential, but with it the morning mist seemed only to thicken. Ever optimistic we thought maybe as we climbed we’d get through it or the sun might even put in an appearance and burn it off just in time for our arrival.

Unfortunately we were not in luck and when our driver finally pulled over and announced we had arrived the visibility still was pretty poor. We were advised by our hotel front desk that the best way to navigate the wall was to take the chair lift to the top. As instructed we purchased our round trip ticket.

The chairlift whisked us up to one of the walls turrets in around 15 minutes. We could only imagine the view you could get traveling up on this, ours being masked by the mist. It did however make the approach that much more exciting, knowing any moment we’d suddenly be on top of it.

We had both seen the iconic pictures of the Great Wall where you can see it snaking in to the distance for what seems like forever; the day we picked to go this wasn’t the case.

The rain had now stopped but the cloud and mist hung around the wall and as such we only had visibility from one turret to the next. We wandered along the wall with only a couple of other people, stopping to take photos not capturing another soul in them…this was when we realized the beauty of going on not the clearest of days. You avoid the hoards of other tourists, you are not in 100 degree heat climbing from one stretch of the wall to the other (you are climbing, it was a work out) and you get to amble along at your own pace and just take it all in.

Once back at our hotel we had a little time to play with before dinner so thought we’d have a look at the famous Beijing drum tower and bell tower. These two towers were how the city kept time up until the final empower Pi Yu left the forbidden city for the last time. The bell would be sounded at dawn and the drum at dusk. We were lucky enough to catch a showing of the dusk drumming which now takes place once again involving 5 drummers (there used to be 27) all beating the large drums in unison.

Forbidden City

Today was a complete step back in time, our goal the Forbidden City. We knew little about it and what to expect but we were very excited to find out what it had in store for us. After missing the bus stop blocked off by large walls we decided we had arrived and got off at the next stop. We wandered into a very nice park and immediately found a group of 100 people singing what appeared to be Chinese church music(?) Now we were certain we had found it. A set of stairs appeared and we began climbing upwards. There were 5 separate temples along this hill, the two yellow sat on the opposite side of each other at the base of the hill. Two red temples rested above and at the peak was the Blue temple displaying a very large golden Buddha. This was the biggest of the 5 and gave a perfect view overlooking the Forbidden City.

At this point we realized we were not even inside the Forbidden city yet. We had only made it as far as Jingshan park, the imperial garden that sits to the north of the Forbidden Ciy.

Climbing back down the steps we found the tree where Emperor Chongzen hung himself after 400,000 rebels revolted against him and attacked the walled city.
Up until this point only royalty, military, neighboring lords, wives and concubines and Shoguns had been able to enter the city. He fled into the park and killed himself. This ended the Qing Dynasty’s reign over China.

Following the moat and the outside walls we came upon the entrance to the Forbidden city and Tianaman Square, the largest public square in the world. Quickly after entering we thought we were celebrities as small groups of people would grab our arms and ask if they could take a picture with us. Interestingly enough, girls mobbed Hayley and guys flocked to Dave, each person wanting their own individual picture taken with us. It was amusing at first but got very old very quickly and, “No” was not an option. After a lap we finally made it to our original destination.

The pictures do not even give the sheer size of the Forbidden City any justice or true perspective. Each path led us to two more paths and each massive temple was immediately dwarfed by the next and only half of the full area is currently open to the public (the other half is currently being renovated)

In addition to the temples and gardens the city had to offer there were various exhibits within. One Emperor had a great affection for Western clocks and all his guests would bring him one upon their visit as a sign of respect and gratitude. They all now create the Temple of Clocks.

There is 1 of only 3 Dragon Walls remaining in the entire world inside the city.

A hall of ceramics displayed some pieces dating back more than 3,000 years.

The lions outside the temple guard the left and right side of the entrance, this is common for many of the temples. Under the left paw of the left lion is an upside down cub symbolizing the Emperor’s fertility. The other lion held a globe displaying the Emperor’s power and strength.

An elephant bows in an anatomically impossible position to convey that even the largest of all land mammals recognizes the Emperor’s unearthly power over all beings.

The dragon and phoenix stood atop of all four corners of each temple. The number of beasts between the two denoted the importance of the temple.

The evening finished in the beautiful Dali Courtyard where we braved a set menu of the unknown. Everything, whether we knew what it was or not, (sometimes better not) was delicious. A very successful first full day in Beijing.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Examined our itinerary the day before and realized our flight out of Nagoya was 9:25am, easy enough. The dilemma was the first bullet train out of Kyoto did not depart until 6:14am. This not only meant that we needed to time everything perfectly but needed the gods on our side as well.

We woke up at 5:15am, grabbed our bags, had a taxi waiting for us and got to Kyoto station by 5:30am. This was more then enough time to buy our tickets and catch our 6:14am bullet train. Arrived in Nagoya just before 7am and looked around for the subway to the airport. Tried asking one of the ticket sales men but not only did he speak very little English but he put fear into our hearts when he asked us which airport we needed to go to. There was a 50/50 chance and checking our ticket the only reference to the airport was “Nagoya.” With time ticking away we decided to go with the International airport. As luck would have it, an express train to the airport arrived as we walked on to the platform. We weren’t sure if we were headed to the right station but our timing was going as well as we could’ve hoped.

More than 30 minutes later, a little over an hour to go before our flight took off, we arrived at the airport station hopeful to see our flight number on the departure board. Sure enough, there it was. A woman came over the loud speaker announcing a final boarding to our flight as we waited to check in. Once all our visas and passports were cleared the check in lady pointed to the boarding time on our tickets which we were seemingly already 10 minutes late for. Flew through security and boarded our plane.

We were very surprised when we were coming in to land an hour and 45 minutes early of our official landing time. It seemed we had made an unexpected (to us at least) landing in Qingdao. Three security checks, a bus ride and an hour later and we were back on the same plane, next to the same people we had been prior to exiting. Another 55 minutes of flying time and we landed in Beijing. We thought it was hot but would learn 90 in Beijing is not hot at all (different story.)

Quickly we learned that Beijing is not Tokyo. There are approx. 20 million people in Beijing and it seems that 4 million of them occupy the airport lifts. The day prior we had done our research and decided to get a train from the airport into the city. What should’ve been a 20 minute journey turned into nearly an hour of solicitors trying to rip us off. The cabbie tried to charge us quadruple the price. We tried to broke a deal buunsuccessfully. The nicest man was the rickshaw man that tried to pull our bags off our backs and put them in the rickshaw. How he planned on carrying us and the backpacks while smoking a cig at the age of 72 is beyond us.

In the end, we finished the voyage with another subway ride and a 15 minute walk down several back alleys (we were on the right course this is just where our hotel was) Amidst the frantic pace and chaos that is Beijing we found our safe haven in our tucked away hidden gem of a hotel.

Kyoto Kraziness

We can’t quite say we planned This portion of the trip poorly because we didn’t. Months ago, when we planned to visit Kyoto, we decided we would leave Tokyo first thing on our last day giving us two full days there. Unfortunately, we forgot this plan and spent our last morning at the fish market so we didn’t arrive in Kyoto until 3pm. We tried to see some temples but nearly all of them close shortly after 4pm so we decided to abandon sight seeing for the day. We grabbed a bottle of wine, found a spot for dinner and plotted our course for the next day.

Trying to squeeze everything we wanted to see into one day we found a near by bike shop and rented two of the finest carriers they had. The next 9 hours went a little something like this…

Rode to Higashihonganji Temple in 10 minutes. The largest wooden structure in the world.

5 minutes later reached Kyoto Tower.

40 minutes of riding got us to Matsunootaisha Gate.

Arashiyama was well worth the 15 minute ride to get there. The view was absolutely stunning, everything we pictured Kyoto to be.

Kitanotenmangu took another 45 minutes to get to but this shrine was different from the previous temples we had visited.

Kinkakuji, the “Golden Temple” is a UNESCO site and the most visited temple in Kyoto.

Understandably so, the grounds are beautiful and the bright gold temple lays in the middle of a small lake. Hayley also caught a glimpse of one of the thins she’s been dying to see, an original Japanese tea hose. The poor girl hasn’t had a proper brew in nearly 2 weeks and just the sight of the tea house put a smile on her face.

Unfortunately, the sweltering weather didn’t render itself to hot tea drinking.

A half hour later ride to the Nijo Castle. This castle belonged to the Shogun, the military dictator appointed by the Emperor to rule.

20 minutes later we arrived at the Imperial Palace but time wasn’t on our side at this point and the Palace had just closed.

We decided to visit the Gion Area, a part of the city where the Geisha and Kabuki originated. It’s now a heavy tourist area which houses many shops and restaurants. On our way we found the Heianjingu temple and made a brief visit.

Unexpectedly, we ran into a few other temples we were recommended along the journey.

The Gion Area was mobbed with people so we had to hop off our bikes and walk them through the shopping high street. Along the walk we lucked out and walked past one of the few Geisha girls that still call this ancient tradition their profession.

It was nearly 6:30pm and we needed to get the bikes back before the store closed at 7pm. Peddling as quickly as possible we bolted through most of the length of the city in about 15 minutes…unfortunately, it was in the wrong direction. We doubled back at an even more insane pace to return the bikes with just enough time.

After a long days work we ventured into a restaurant which had only pictures as our guide. The chicken dish we ordered turned out to be tofu (hopefully) but was delicious along with everything else. We called it a night and prepared for a very interesting morning.