Part 4 -- Yi Cheng - Shanghai - Suzhou - Tong Li - Shanghai. Many amazing sites, lots of photos!

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After disembarking from the boat (complete with farewell fanfare from the brass band) we drove through the small backwater of Yi Cheng, population 4 million, many of whom are working in some way on the dam project. There's a whole university in this city dedicated to dam studies! It's a dusty, industrial city and the few hours we spent waiting at the airport was a decent chance to rest (sitting around on a boat watching stunning scenery is remarkably hard work), complete with aviation fuel odours.

A delayed flight later and we landed in Shanghai, gloriously warm and humid. A short taxi ride to the hotel introduced me to a completely different side of China to anything I'd seen previously. Shanghai is closer to a cross between Tokyo and Paris than to Beijing and it's immediately obvious that this is the centre of big business. Even with the misty night, the lights of the skyscrapers peered through the fog giving a remarkable cityscape.

An enormous buffet in the hotel including frogs, river eel, octopus and crab left me with a distinct psychedelia of dreams.

In my first year at Southampton University, where I took my PhD, one of my flatmates was a Chinese girl, Sylvia, with whom I chatting and cooked (along with a good Greek friend) most evenings. Sylvia is Shanghainese and so as the others went off to explore the Bund, I was met by Sylvia and her driver and taken to a superb restaraunt.

It was lovely to catch up with Sylvia, meet her husband and her very bubbly ten month old baby boy. I was taken aback and honoured to be asked to give her son a Western name. Before seeing him I was rather worried about how I would choose a name but as soon as I saw him I knew that he was a Ben. Once the pronounciation was settled, everyone, including Ben seemed happy with the choice. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to bring the camera so pics will follow when sent from Sylivia.

Sans baby, we headed into the Shanghai drizzle to wander around Pudong where you get an excellent view of the Bund, Shanghai's most famous street of stunning buildings, and to enhance this we took a boat ride down the river. Again a lack of pictures but I can recommend this short trip to anyone in Shanghai with half an hour spare.

Due to prior arrangements we departed company after this short excursion and I headed back to the hotel to meet the parents. Though I was fine in Shanghai catching taxis as my Chinese is good enough for that and even for the occasional chat with a driver, Shanghainese is remarkably different from Mandarin. Though close in many ways to Mandarin the peculiarities in pronounciation, including swapping some consonants and tones makes it very hard to understand for a beginner like me.

From the other's ravings it sounded like I'd missed an exquisite collection of bronzes, ceramics and ethnic clothing in the Shanghai museum but I plan to head back to the city in the near future. Unaware that we would only be staying in Shanghai for a couple of days, with perfect Chinese hosptitality, Sylvia had arrange a house for me to stay in and a driver to see me around the city. It was with great regret that I had to turn down this amazing generosity.

The day concluded with Japanese lesson 101. My fellow travellers hadn't sampled a great deal of Japanese food so I did my best to offer a decent cross section from the extensive menu in the hotel. Two hours later and seemingly satisfied customers left the table replete with suitable combinations of sushi, sashimi, tempura, terryaki, wasabi and sake, to retire after cups of coffee and tea had topped off the meal.

Early starts were growing a little tiresome by this point but I was happy to continue knowing that there were only a few days left. An early meeting with a less than forthcoming tour guide and speed freak driver started our day trip to Suzhou, reknowned for its fantastic gardens and the grand canal, another ancient Chinese project of gargantuan proportions. Some 2000 years ago the Chinese built a 1700km canal between Beijing and Shanghai, the Chinese don't do things by halves! By this point, the immense figures (a million workers on this project - 2000 years ago!!!) trip off the tongue flippantly as we witness yet another astounding feat of ancient engineering. Incorrect information aside, Ming got us to all the spots we wanted to see, starting off with two of the gardens that Suzhou is world famous for. In fact this shot is surprisingly unstereotypically Chinese. The usual Chinese garden is more simple and understated but at this, the Garden of the Humble Administrator, all guns were blazing on the clash front.

M performing his best Bond impression in one of the many moon gates.

People love to pose for photos here and I managed to sneak a picture of this woman elegantly stood in an arch.

I loved this tree, not shaped like this on purpose but quite unmistakably (at least to my imagination) like a dancing man.

and this is one of may favourite shots through an ancient window at the bamboo set against the white walls.

Back in the car we passed this biker who grinned from ear to ear as I took his photo.

We then went to the silk factory where the silk is provided by the 500,000 local silk worm farmers.
They show you the whole process of silk production from the worms themselves through the amazing process of extracting the threads from the crysalis and making the multifibred strands all the way to making silk garments and duvets.


Then on to Tong Li, the Venice of the orient, complete with a stinky tofu stand on every corner. A stunning little town and I'm sure that a full day there would take you more off the tourist trail and into Tong Li proper where a couple of hours in a tea-house overlooking the canal would be a rather fine way to spend an afternoon.

Men sit by the side of the road in the afternoon haze waiting for nothing in particular.
My party as they escaped the clutches of the local bank which held up my father and his passport for some time while he attempted to change travellers cheques. They had to run round the corner to find a photocopier in a local shop.
For a small fee you can be cycled around the city at your leasure though we opted for the pedestrian approach.

A woman and her child sit by the side of the river watching a comedy show on TV.
For a higher price you can be carried on a short tour by sedan, complete with tooting and fluting band making a racket and waking any afternoon dozers.
In one of the gardens there was this stunning maple tree with incredible colours.
The canal itself
Men playing Mahjong by the side of the road.
On the canal there is a woman who uses cormorants for fishing. The normal method is to tie a loop around the bird's neck so it can't swallow the fish. The method used in Tong Li was a lot more cruel and I shan't describe it here for the sake of sensitive readers. Anyone who is interested can e-mail to find out.
Arriving back a little shaken and jarred from the drive (the speed of which was hidden by a speedo reading a constant zero) a flurry of phone calls were exchanged to arrange another meal with Sylvia and Shelley, another friend from Southampton who'd just flown into town from Hong Kong.

From the outside, and to some extent the inside, the restaurant looked to be like a Chinese version of a fast food chain, with plastic and bright colours decorating the interior. However this extremely loud, steamingly hot, bustling restaurant served the most exquisite Cantonese food I've ever tasted. From clams, snails and crab to langoustine, various goose organs and enough vegetables to replant the Gobi, the food came in an endless supply and somehow vanished into the ravenous bellies of the travelled and the mothering. Quickly, stomachs were stilled and weary faces rejuvinated with this incredible fare.

Shelley, me and Sylvia after the amazing meal.
A walk to the the harbour at Pudong gave us a few minutes respite to let the food settle and get a wonderful view of the Bund, the other side of the river in its colonial glory. A hectic but enjoyable evening was a fitting end to the all too short Shanghai stay.
The East Pearl tower is a stunning building lit up at night near to another building that, for a little while perhaps will become the worlds tallest building. I could only fit it in on the diagonal from where we were standing.
and finally the Bund.

Shanghai is stunning and there's so much to see. I hardly saw anything of the city itself but really hope to go back there some time to explore in proper detail some of the amazing buidings, parks, restaurants and museums in this hugely cosmopolitan city.

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to be continued...

Part three of JMTA and as the days back in Beijing are already filling up I realise how much of a break I feel I've got from this long holiday.

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...and so the circus continued with cliche after thoroughly enjoyable cliche. Early risers on the boat (myself included) had a half hour of top-deck taichi at 7.30 am which on a gently swaying boat is far from easy. The taichi master insisted on constantly changing his position relative to us so not only were we standing on one leg with our arms akimbo but much of the time was spent craning our necks to see what was going on behind us. Unfortunately no photos of me taiching but imagine a somewhat dozy looking, goateed, tall English chap wobbling precariously on the back of a boat and you have a pretty good idea. Here at least is a photo of the place we were performing.
and an intriguing sign near the same point on the ship, I leave subtitles to your imagination.

and fear not, though there are no pictures of me in taichi mode there is this illustration that I don't fit into such boats with the greatest of ease
Leaving Chongqing is a lengthy affair as the municipality stretches 400km downstream. The first day's view consisted mostly of steep banks dotted with settlements, some old, some relocated above the final line to which the water will rise by 2009 and a proliferation of processing plants, power stations and factories belching out their fumes. Here's one of the bridges as you leave the city proper

and a factory on the otherwise idyllic banks
After some snaps on deck, a buffet lunch and some gentle meandering about the ship, we docked at Feng Du, the ghost city, the bulk of which has been moved from one side of the river to the higher banked opposite side. 100,000 relocated in this settlement alone. Our tour guide was relatively candid about her positive and negative views on the dam project though the overall impression may have been biased by the fact that she has been relocated to a substantially larger flat.

The temples of the ghost city remain and as you walk up the 500 or so steps you make your way through Buddhist and Taoist temples all related in some way or other to the afterlife.
Mum drew an impressive crowd whenever she stopped to paint and here I managed to get a photo of the melee.
Some of the statues in the ghost city are designed to encourage one to perhaps lead a better life, warning that certain crimes would not go unnoticed and each had it's own punishment, for instance
It's rather difficult to tell with the many sculptures and temples just how many are really there for reasons of religion and how many are there to please the tourists. Of course they're all said to be terribly old and highly important relics but I'm not convinced with some of them.

The number of steps leading up and down the ghost city were punishment enough for some and there were brief fears that a group had been left in the underworld.

I skipped the snuff-bottle painting demonstration for a much needed trip to the onboard gym to work off a few of the calories that had been adding up of late. Plus, I feel that my snuff bottle painting is already up to scratch.

After dinner a talent show staged by the crew managed to involve both of my parents showing their respective talents in musical chairs and maritime taichi. I was safely oblivious to these events until the next day as I had retired by this point to settle peacefully with a good book and a fine view of the sunset
An even sharper start (6.30) was called for as we entered the first of the three gorges. With towering cliffs and a far higher abundance of vegetation than upstream they are stunning and again the steamy haze only added to their Oriental mystery. At various points coffins hang in caves in the cliffs placed on the shear slopes 2000 years ago by unknown methods (it's proposed that 2000 years ago, the water level may have been several hundred feet higher so they may have been put there by boat, I'm surprised that such a proposition isn't easily tested).

Stunning and well worth the trip just to see them but they're not unlike the Fford's at Milford Sound in New Zealand. Unfortunately, though the haze makes them better for seeing in the flesh, the photos are somewhat diminished. It's also difficult to get a real sense of the scale of it, apart from the boat in the above picture which is a cruiser, presumably carrying a few hundred people onboard.

An hour or so later and we went through the second gorge with similarly impressive scenery. With the colossal scale of them, even though the water has already risen by 80m in the gorges I'm not sure that they would have looked very different previously.

Excursion number two left around 10 as we transferred to a small ferry for one of the narrow tributaries. More magnificent scenery was by no means growing tiresome as we docked at a small harbour to transfer to sampans, traditional boats used by farmers for centuries with some of the strongest men I've ever seen maneuvering one of the most inefficient forms of transport I've ever witnessed (the slim paddles may however have been to ease the force of each stroke so that they can manage much longer distances).

After much practice, one of the rowers managed to get the physics beard stroke to look pretty convincing

They sang traditional songs and seemed all very happy to be taking a bunch of ignorant tourists up river to marvel at the ethnicity of it all. Genuinely good fun and a real chance to see some of the somewhat 'unadulterated' traditional way of life. As we got to the rapids, the rowers jumped ship and pulled the boat from the river bank, calf muscles straining at the bit. An hour or so of this didn't appear to raise a sweat as we returned to the ferry and then the main boat to continue the voyage. Another pounding on the running machine as the Yangtze scrolled past the window justified the creme caramel for dinner.

Another afternoon of chatting to passengers, steering clear of the overpriced massages and some more reading was polished off nicely with the emperor's banquet. They play it pretty safe on the boat giving only the most Westernised Chinese food which is tasty nonetheless and washed down with a glass of wine, something I drink little of in Beijing.

The evening also included us reaching the dam and passing through the 5 locks that drop 112 m from one side to the other over the course of almost three hours. An incredible feat of engineering in itself but being trapped in a box with six other large fuming ships soon became a little overwhelming so we retired to the confines of the lower decks once the light grew dim.
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With a few minutes to go before we disembark I have a little time to finish off the cruise exploits. Another 6.30 start this morning was needed to take a short bus ride to the dam project. From an observer platform towering over the site you get a sense of proportion but a certain lack of scale of the immensity of the project. The 20GW of power are generated by 26 40m turbines produce 10% of China's energy supply. It's such a huge project with so many pros and cons that without all the information I think it's impossible to come to a reasonable conclusion on the overall balance of the construction.

Unfortunately photos which really capture the scale of it are not easy to get from the observation tower but I got a couple of snaps, first of the immense lock system
and then of the dam itself. When completed I would guess that actually standing on it would give you a bit more of a sense of scale.
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More to follow tomorrow...

This all gets horribly temporally contorted I'm afraid as this was drafted two days ago having written it originally last week!

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I'm finishing off the first day back at work which has been easier to get back into than I had expected, possibly helped by my finished caffeine hiatus (now resumed). Currently the sky is a browny yellowy red as the Gobi desert shifts a few degrees to descend on the city in another couple of millimeters of sand. The sky has a darkness, strangely eerie for this time of the evening.

Anyway, so we were up to Xi'an in jonsminitraveladventures and I seem to remember that I wrote this part of it on the boat on the Yangtze too where there was a reasonable amount of time to sit around and ponder as the sights floated past. At this point I'm foot massaged and ready to go...

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The next day was indeed a huge day of sightseeing led by a very good local guide who led us a merry dance through Xi'an's highlights. First stop was the Wild Goose Pagoda Temple which happened to be having an annual festival complete with monks chanting, waving incense and wandering around peacefully as the multitude of tourists took photos and videos and generally caused a commotion and the tour guides expounded loudly on the significance of the iconography.

The towering pagoda was begging to be climbed but time didn't allow on this occasion.

Monks monking as only monks can



Next we took the van to the 6000 year old village of Banpo, apparently a matriarchal society though the evidence for this fact appears to be on shaky ground at best. Wonderful reconstructions from seemingly simple ground plans and postholes leave me a little confused as to how accurate the extrapolations are but much of the pottery and tools from this 6000 year old agricultural society are extremely impressive. The crowning glory of their civilization is a water carrier rather like a Greek amphora but which tips cleverly in the water to fill up and then right itself automatically. Though it's a very ancient culture, from what I hear there are many more sites being found all over the world constantly pushing back the first known agricultural societies and this one is rather modern in comparison.

Onwards and upwards, we headed to the highlight of Xi'an. 2200 years ago emperor Qin enslaved 70,000 men for 38 years to build a terracotta army of ridiculous proportions in order to protect him in the next world. Only a small fraction of what is known to exist has been unearthed in the hope that in a decade or so archaeological techniques will have improved enough to preserve better the remaining sites (specifically the pigmentation on the statues which with current technology fades within a matter of hours of being exposed to the air). The largest site so far unearthed has around 6000 soldiers including archers, infantry and cavalry all organised in battle formation to protect the emperor. It's vast and it's impressive but somehow actually seeing it is only slightly more incredible to me than seeing the scale in pictures and reading the figures. I'm confused as to why this is but I suppose the point is that I was aware that it was enormous before I saw it and the actual tomb is exactly as I'd imagined. Saying that I would advise going to see it but don't expect it to exceed expectations (not that that makes much sense).

One of the sites which hasn't been unearthed contains the bodies of the 70,000 men who built it in the first place who were sacrificed once it was completed. Nor has the emperor's tomb itself, a site of reputed monumental wealth with ceilings of marble, floors of bronze and a lake of mercury. When it is uncovered it will offer some spectacular, if toxic, historical treats.

One of the strangest spectacles at the site is to see the farmer who, when digging a well in the 70s, found the army in the first place (6ft off and he would have missed it completely). Now in his 70s he sits signing autographs for the masses, a bored expression on the face of a man who on the one hand discovered one of the greatest historical finds of the 20th century and on the other went from poor farmer to presumably rich and presumably confused national icon. It all feels like a bit of a circus and one wanders how much say he gets in his exploitation.

Lunch in the site restaurant was the usual gluttonous, glutinous affair and one of the members of the tour accidentally accepted a glass of snake wine mistaking the question for an offer of a cup of tea. Not being one to let things like this go to waste I thought I should give it a go, and, well it's OK. They sell it in my student shop but I shan't be rushing out to buy it any time soon.

A final trip to the hot springs (not for paddling in sadly) where the emperor bathed finished off an exhausting but fascinating day and our last full day in Xi'an, a lovely little city (with a paltry 5 million people).

The reflective springs with the hazy sunshine as we finished the tour


So, now we're in Chongqing where we flew, in rather turbulent conditions, from Xi'an this morning. We're now on the boat which will depart in the early hours of tomorrow morning on a three day journey down the Yangtze river. As people board this rather luxurious liner a brass band of simply execrable musicality blasts them on to the deck in raucous and tuneless fashion. It has to be said however that the crews enthusiasm is faultless as presumably they were not chosen for their tuba or drum playing skills as they were interviewed for the job.

It looks like it will be a fantastic three days seeing some of China's most exquisite scenery, some of which will disappear in the next three years due to the completion of the three gorges dam project. An interesting on board, pre-trip video weighed up in pretty unbiased fashion the pros and cons of this outlandish project. Almost half a million people died from floods from the Yangtze in the 20th century alone and the dam should put a stop to this natural phenomenon. In 1998 the floods cost around 30 billion dollars worth of damage. It will also produce around 10% of China's (current) electricity demands and in a country already choking itself to death on poor quality coal fire power stations (of which one is built every two weeks), this seems to be a huge incentive. Of course there is the flip side that many hundreds of thousands of people are losing their homes and being relocated, either further up the mountains or to the cities. Many don't want to move and a not insignificant number are left with worse housing than they had before. The cost to the landscape is also a heavy one as water levels rise around 150m in some places. There are also question marks about the fact that the dam is sitting on a fault line and it has been known for the weight of dams to cause earthquakes, a possible disaster of immense proportions. There are many other pros and cons but my gut instinct from hearing many opinions is that the project is a worthwhile one, saving many millions in the future from flood risk and producing such a great deal of clean electricity.

...and as the sun sets we get a great view of the Chongqing dock side before departing in a few hours time


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OK that, abruptly, will do for now but more to follow shortly.

This place never ceases to amaze me. On a windy and cold night I stroll out of my flat to grab a bite to eat. On the way back, food in hand, I see a huddle of Chinese students standing on a shadowy block. If I were to see this in the UK I might think that some immoral activity may be taking place but the sign above the students announcing 'English Corner' removes this possibility. I go over to find out what's going on and it turns out that once a week at 7 on a Saturday evening they get together at English Corner and talk, in English, about whatever they want. I've been persuaded as the only Englishman around to join them so after I finish my dinner I'm going to wrap up warm and see what's going on on this windswept curb side. Enthusiasm abounds - glorious!

and so I return, cleansed mind, weary feet and stretched stomach accompanying the rest of me on the final leg from Hangzhou back to Beijing. I've been keeping diary on papyrus with a flamingo stylus, or where this wasn't available, on my handy notepad with a bic. It's been a fantastic couple of weeks and of course there's much to tell. As I'm aware that this blog is often read during lunches at work crouched over the keyboard with a ploughman's I shall write up jonsminitraveladventures in bitesized installments over the next week so as not to overwhelm and bore too many.

First, in brief summary, I've used all my MS paint skills to create this interactive map detailing the trip that the five of us have taken over the last 11 days.

As I wrote the contents of this blog predominantly on the move, tenses and positions may change in a confusing manner as you read, so my apologies for that. So I guess I shall leave you with the first couple of days installments for now and update next for Tuesday lunchtime.

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I'm sitting, scribbling this on the ship which will be my home for the next three days. We're in Chongqing and I'm pretty awestruck. Even for someone who lives in Beijing, the scale of this place is absolutely astounding. Chongqing has a population of 31 million and is growing at quite an unbelievable rate. Nestled on a rugged landscape at the heart of the Yangtze in Szechuan province this booming metropolis snakes and writhes up the slopes and down the valleys in clinging barnacle fashion. The number of cranes and skyscrapers leaves this relatively seasoned Beijinger somewhat astonished.

So, we're four days into our China tour and have packed in a vast amount already. I let the jet-setters off the leash for a day in Beijing and they had a great time at the summer palace while I removed the last vestiges of a cold which was threatening my enjoyment of the trip. I did head over to meet them in the evening for dinner and on the train on the way there I got this snap of a Jon's eye view of a Beijing subway.

A lovely but sizzlingly hot Szechuan meal made sure that no cold germs remained. A fine array of dishes including potted bullfrog with Szechuan pepper was a spicy challenge to all and unfortunately some fared better than others. This probably means that their taste buds are more intact but it did detract from their enjoyment of it a little. Still, a lovely meal and worth a try if you're into spicy cooking.

The next day we headed to the wall, finally, the Great Wall which is truly spectacular, truly majestic and truly crawling with tourists. You clearly only get a taster of the scale of the wall from going to one small part of it but Badaling (the most tourist-ridden site) gives a pretty decent impression. You get an idea as you see it winding through the mountains at seemingly unclimbable gradients (70 degrees in places). The scenery is wonderful and so stereotypically Chinese as to feel almost cliched. Even with the throngs it's a must see, so Dan you shall have to return to see it ASAP.

Some parts of the wall seem to have been better planned than others.

Tourists flock in great hordes, including of course myself.

Though we took a cable car to the top, the walk down is still pretty tiring and as we puffed and panted, old Chinese men and women passed us walking up looking fresh faced if a little wobbly.

Badaling was followed by a trip to see two of the 13 tombs of the Ming emperors which, though in a beautiful setting, are somewhat underwhelming. Several stories underground in their ancient sarcophagi, once you reach the bottom, the burial vessels themselves are simply unassuming boxes containing the remains of some of the most powerful people who've ruled this land. Not a spot on Napoleon's, Lenin's or Mao's tomb but worth a wonder through the gardens if you're in the area.

We were all rather famished by a long day's walking so went to one of the top Beijing duck restaurants to sample a must-eat dish. A few more culinary trials for M,D,P and M were gobbled up with gusto including duck heart which is wonderfully tender and rich. To finish off the meal a plate of fruit was produced complete with dry ice.
A somewhat unwelcome early start was necessary the next day to catch the plane to Xi'an for leg two of the journey. This was my first internal Chinese flight and as someone who isn't terribly comfortable flying these days (though I seem to be getting better again), the reputation of CAAC (crashes all around China) made me a little nervous. The hour and a half flight was absolutely fine though unfortunately complete cloud cover meant we didn't get to see any of the landscape between the new Capital, Beijing and the ancient capital (of 2000 years ago), Xi'an. The ancient city is still surrounded by all 9 miles of the original city walls, complete with imposing fortifications

and modern sentries

We were staying near the predominantly Muslim area of the city and a short walk from the hotel led us to winding streets where daily life seems to consist of building, fixing things, cooking and eating. A plethora of gastronomic delights assails the senses as you wander around with giant woks, steamers, griddles and tandoor type cookers prepare the evening meals and daily snacks. Having just eaten, our sampling was reduced to looking and smelling the fantastic looking flat breads, dried fruits, and strange cuts of meats, freshly hung and ready to be cooked.
M and D ahead walking through Xi'an's streets.


We were en route, somewhat circuitously, to the central mosque, the largest in China and another great opportunity to see not only a beautiful temple but also a place still used for worship, which is not the case for many of the temples in Beijing.
On the way back from the Mosque, M and I headed to the bell tower where the bell is free for all to ring and it seemed rather rude not to give it a go.

Due to completely archless feet, I struggle to spend all day standing up but a foot massage back at the hotel sorted me out, soothed my soles and set me up for the next day's mammoth tour. If you're coming to China I can recommend the foot massage as a perfect way to unwind without the pain of a full massage (which I often find completely excrutiating). Your feet are soaked in a spiced hot water for ten minutes or so before being covered in lotion and pummeled gently for the next hour and a bit.

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That's seems a suitable place to stop for now so I shall update more for Tuesday.

With blue skies but misty hills we're winding our way down the Yangtze on a rather fine boat. Been busy,busy,busy, much to write and many photos to post but on current extortionate internet rates I shall postpone the stories perhaps until I return to Beijing or find a suitable cafe. This has so far been an amazing eye-opener to some of the diverse areas of China in great contrast to Beijing.

Will report back ASAP.

155 days in Peking and I finally make it to the Great Wall. Much had been happening, many photos, and a few bits and pieces to chat about but for now I'm finished. Tomorrow we fly to Xi'an and so with an imminent early start and a slightly sun-frazzled brain I shall retire now and hope to be able to catch up in an internet cafe on the coming grand tour.

Yesterday was another fine day with overcast skies but perfect temperatures for sightseeing. I was floating slightly in a haze of cold caused by my bone-chilling flat which is slowly equilibrating with the outside world. Nonetheless it was great to head to the Forbidden City which I visited on my first full day in China all those months ago. This time however a friend of mine, ML, was our tourguide telling us the significance of many of the details that the guidebooks left out. I'd advise getting a tour guide if you come here. There's so much to see and understand that, though it's great just to wonder around, I think you get a lot more with some real local knowledge.

It was a good chance to get some more photos and so I shall leave this post mostly in pictorial form but give a couple of facts and figures about the Forbidden City first. When it was built (finished in 1420) there were almost a million people working on it and a million soldiers guarding them, in total they built almost 10000 rooms. The emperor had around 3000 concubines and many of them would never get to see him. He never left the palace and was in constant fear of ghosts, demons and assassins so though this was the height of extravagance it must have been a pretty tormented existence. The opening party was a modest affair with 27000 guests being brought in from overseas on the royal fleet of ships, each of which was 120m long.

All over the city are signs of the numerology which the Chinese strongly believed. The number 9, being the biggest number in the basic system had much significance and so objects are often in sets of 9 (not the 8 and 6 which are now considered lucky numbers and 4 which is unlucky. Note that the Chinese dialing code is 86 - perfect. The British is 44 - atrocious!)

The royal red makes for some nice contrasts with many of the old gnarled trees which are in the first garden as you enter the complex.

The weary travelers slowly recovering with a Starbucks bought within the palace. ML on the left.

In an attempt to get some more pictures of people, I got a snap of this guy taking in the view of the throngs of tourists, sitting patiently and looking slightly bemused by the whole spectacle.

Sleep appeared to be the order of the day and an 11 o'clock siesta was welcomed by many.

Partly because of the 2008 games, many of the sites in Beijing are being repaired at the moment. This is one of the main buildings in the complex which is undergoing extensive restoration. Note the workmen on the top right wandering around the scaffolding with no protection whatsoever. This is a pretty normal sight in Beijing.

Collecting clocks and watches, which were often gifts from foreign dignitaries, was a favourite past time of many of the later emperors. This water clock (clepsydra) is an example in what is a stunning collection of time pieces housed in one of the many buildings flanking the main palace artery.

After visiting the forbidden city and having lunch in a rather fine noodle restaurant we headed to the Temple of Heaven. Having seen it before and beginning to feel the cold wearing me down I sat in the gardens, read for a while and took a nap. There were many pensioners and local workers coming to the park purely to sleep so I got a cheeky snap of this guy passed out on one of the benches.

Today I'm resting, attempting to get over the cold before taking off to Xi'an on Tuesday morning.