China Travels | Phil & Sabine's Excellent Adventure
October - work hard and play hard!
1st – 6th October
The beginning of the month saw us back on the road again. 1st October is a national holiday in China to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Schools have about a week off, so as usual we decided to take advantage of the holiday period, packed our bags and set our sights on visiting Qinghai Lake, China’s largest inland saltwater lake in Qinghai Province.
Getting train tickets for a holiday period is neigh on impossible. The simple reason is that there are too many people wanting to travel at the same time and a public transport system not big enough to support this mass movement of people. Another difficulty is that train tickets can only be purchased either 10, 5 or 3 days in advance from the train station or ticket offices in towns/cities. It is difficult to gage on which day you can buy your ticket from as it seems a bit random. Consequently, you go to the ticket office only to be told that they are not on sale yet and to come back the next day. You go back the next day, only to be told that the tickets for the day you want to travel are now sold out! It really is quite a balancing act to get the right day in order to get the ticket that you want. With the help of a friend in Xian, we managed to get some train tickets from Xian to Xining where we would then catch a bus to Qinghai Lake.
We left Xifeng to catch the bus to Xian. As I was at work in the morning, we decided to catch a later bus so decided to go for the 1 o’clock. We arrived in good time, an hour before departure, only to be told that there were no more tickets left. You see what I mean, you need to book in advance if you can…. There was another bus at 14.40 so we bought tickets for this one instead. Time can pass by slowly if you are waiting and unfortunately, our 14.40 was delayed by almost two hours due to heavy traffic. We eventually boarded the bus, already feeling weary, with still another 6 hours of travelling in front of us. Living where we do, it takes almost a day to reach the nearest big city, to which you have to travel, before you can really start your journey. At 21.30, we arrived at our hostel, quickly checked in and then met up with some other volunteers in a bar for a drink. Walking back to our hostel, it dawned on us tat we hadn’t really eaten anything since lunchtime and so we stopped off at 1AM to eat our favourite street food “shao kao”. Fantastic. We were feeling the effects of a few beers and the October air still felt mild and balmy. A good end to rather a long day!
Before travelling to Qinghai we spent a couple of days in Xian (we couldn’t get the train tickets we wanted) but this is never a hardship. We chilled out at the hostel, ate some more shao kao and did some sight-seeing. We visited the Ba Xian An Monastery (Temple of the Eight Immortals). As its name indicates, it is mainly dedicated to the legendary Eight Immortals Han Zhongli, Zhang Guolao, Han Xiangzi, Tieguai Li, Cao Guojiu, Lv Dongbin, Lan Caihe and He Xiangu.It is the biggest Taoist temple in Xian and is a famous Taoist architecture in northwest China.
The beginning of the month saw us back on the road again. 1st October is a national holiday in China to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Schools have about a week off, so as usual we decided to take advantage of the holiday period, packed our bags and set our sights on visiting Qinghai Lake, China’s largest inland saltwater lake in Qinghai Province.
Getting train tickets for a holiday period is neigh on impossible. The simple reason is that there are too many people wanting to travel at the same time and a public transport system not big enough to support this mass movement of people. Another difficulty is that train tickets can only be purchased either 10, 5 or 3 days in advance from the train station or ticket offices in towns/cities. It is difficult to gage on which day you can buy your ticket from as it seems a bit random. Consequently, you go to the ticket office only to be told that they are not on sale yet and to come back the next day. You go back the next day, only to be told that the tickets for the day you want to travel are now sold out! It really is quite a balancing act to get the right day in order to get the ticket that you want. With the help of a friend in Xian, we managed to get some train tickets from Xian to Xining where we would then catch a bus to Qinghai Lake.
We left Xifeng to catch the bus to Xian. As I was at work in the morning, we decided to catch a later bus so decided to go for the 1 o’clock. We arrived in good time, an hour before departure, only to be told that there were no more tickets left. You see what I mean, you need to book in advance if you can…. There was another bus at 14.40 so we bought tickets for this one instead. Time can pass by slowly if you are waiting and unfortunately, our 14.40 was delayed by almost two hours due to heavy traffic. We eventually boarded the bus, already feeling weary, with still another 6 hours of travelling in front of us. Living where we do, it takes almost a day to reach the nearest big city, to which you have to travel, before you can really start your journey. At 21.30, we arrived at our hostel, quickly checked in and then met up with some other volunteers in a bar for a drink. Walking back to our hostel, it dawned on us tat we hadn’t really eaten anything since lunchtime and so we stopped off at 1AM to eat our favourite street food “shao kao”. Fantastic. We were feeling the effects of a few beers and the October air still felt mild and balmy. A good end to rather a long day!
Before travelling to Qinghai we spent a couple of days in Xian (we couldn’t get the train tickets we wanted) but this is never a hardship. We chilled out at the hostel, ate some more shao kao and did some sight-seeing. We visited the Ba Xian An Monastery (Temple of the Eight Immortals). As its name indicates, it is mainly dedicated to the legendary Eight Immortals Han Zhongli, Zhang Guolao, Han Xiangzi, Tieguai Li, Cao Guojiu, Lv Dongbin, Lan Caihe and He Xiangu.It is the biggest Taoist temple in Xian and is a famous Taoist architecture in northwest China.
We caught the 19.50 train from Xian to Xining. On most long distance trains, there are different tickets you can buy. The most expensive are the soft sleepers; two upper and two lower bunks in one compartment. The next is the hard sleeper; two upper, middle and lower bunks in one compartment. Thereafter are the soft and hard seats. Let me tell you that the “hard seats” really are hard and are to be avoided at all costs unless absolutely, no other choice (availability of other tickets and finances) demands you travel this way. We had two hard sleeper bottom bunks. For the average Chinese person, these are the most desirable as they represent good value and it means you don’t have to climb any step ladders to get to your bunk. However, the bottom bunks, in our opinions, are not so enviable. The bottom bunk, unofficially allows everybody and their “uncle” to come and sit on your bed to play cards, drink tea, eat sunflower seeds and have a cat nap. Of course you don’t know who these people are, but this makes no difference. Skilfully, we negotiated an exchange with an elderly couple who had the two middle bunks. They were delighted; not only did they not have to struggle to get up the step ladder to get into bed, they also had the privilege of the bottom bunk where they could eat, drink and play to their hearts’ content.
The following day, we woke up bleary eyed in Xining. I got up at 6.30 to go to the loo. It was occupied and whilst I was waiting, the conductor knocked loudly on the toilet door and demanded the person leave immediately as were approaching the station. The lady must have been in full flow as a few minutes later she came out and was assaulted verbally by the conductor for taking so long. The lady looked shame-faced, did not respond but returned silently to her compartment. The conductor angrily locked the toilet door and proceeded to walk down to the end of the train, muttering as she went. In my experience, when a person in China has a position of power, it often gives them some sort of carte blanche to treat others with little or no respect. It is often totally unjustified, but happens in most walks of life. The lower down the pecking order you are, the less respect you are shown by others. When you are given a tiny bit of power, albeit it minimal, you then invariably mistreat others, the way you have been mistreated on so many other occasions. It becomes a vicious circle.
Xining is the capital of Qinghai Province. It is a multi-cultural city with about 37 nationalities living here, though it is only the Han, Hui, Mongour and Tibetan who are numerically significant and who influence the local traditions and customs. On arriving, despite our hunger, the first thing we did was buy some bus tickets for the return journey back to Xifeng. We patiently waited our turn, only to be told that it was too early to buy them and that we would have to come back in two days. Already we had compromised our journey time from Xian to Xining by having to set off two days later than what we wanted, due to the availability of tickets. If we waited two days in Xining to buy our tickets, we would have no time to visit the lake which was another 3 hours away. If we went straight away to the lake, we would run the risk of not getting a bus ticket for our return journey, thus being late back to work. We are often faced with these dilemmas where travelling in China. This is why travel here is so difficult. Our tummies were rumbling and so we decided to take the risk and leave that same day, not before eating a substantial bowl of noodles to give us sustenance for the next leg of our journey.
Xining is the capital of Qinghai Province. It is a multi-cultural city with about 37 nationalities living here, though it is only the Han, Hui, Mongour and Tibetan who are numerically significant and who influence the local traditions and customs. On arriving, despite our hunger, the first thing we did was buy some bus tickets for the return journey back to Xifeng. We patiently waited our turn, only to be told that it was too early to buy them and that we would have to come back in two days. Already we had compromised our journey time from Xian to Xining by having to set off two days later than what we wanted, due to the availability of tickets. If we waited two days in Xining to buy our tickets, we would have no time to visit the lake which was another 3 hours away. If we went straight away to the lake, we would run the risk of not getting a bus ticket for our return journey, thus being late back to work. We are often faced with these dilemmas where travelling in China. This is why travel here is so difficult. Our tummies were rumbling and so we decided to take the risk and leave that same day, not before eating a substantial bowl of noodles to give us sustenance for the next leg of our journey.
Our three hour bus journey cost 28.50 RMB each (about £2.80). Before long, the bus was out of the city and traversing the undulating, lush but imposing mountainous roads. In the distance were snow capped mountains and already, we could feel the mild October days in Xian fade into the distance. Qinghai Lake is 3,200 M above sea level and we had come prepared with our thermals, waterproofs, scarves, gloves and hats. After a couple of hours, we arrived at a small Tibetan hamlet. The best thing about this place was the shop names. They were written in three languages; Tibetan, Chinese and English. I can’t vouch for the other languages, but the English translations were entertaining if anything else…..
Our next stop was a slightly larger hamlet and with easy access to the lake. As we weren’t too sure of our precise destination, we decided to disembark. Our next task was to find somewhere to stay. The place looked like a bit of a one horse town, but we were hopeful. We looked at a couple of places to stay, but they seemed expensive to say they were extremely basic and dirty. The third place was just about acceptable and with some bargaining, we agreed on a price of 140 RMB (£14) per night for a room with a bathroom of sorts. There was no running hot water, in fact for one whole day, there was no water. As is often the case in rural China, you are given a thermos flask with hot water and a bowl, and hey presto, you have your own bathroom.
Qinghai Lake is quite remote and therefore living costs are quite high here. Despite the huge lake, there are regular water shortages and a bowl of noodles which ordinarily costs 5RMB in Xifeng, costs about 15RMB here. By early evening the temperature had dropped quite dramatically and we quickly returned to our room to put on our thermals before heading out to get some food for the evening. Even in winter there is minimal heating in buildings. There is a simple motto; If you are cold, wear more clothes. We ate in a nearby restaurant and I have to say that generally, the food we eat in China is freshly cooked and tasty. That was not the case here; it was awful……. Not to worry, we won’t eat there again. On a positive note, the service was good and the waitress was friendly…..
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Once we had settled into our “new place” we wandered around to look at the possibilities for the next day. The Qinghai Lake Park was only a few minutes walk away but at 100 RMB each a ticket, we decided not to have too close a look. Leisure attractions are always incredibly expensive in China and by nature of the price system, they have become elitist. The only people we saw coming in and out of the park were rich Chinese tourists for whom 100RMB so merely a bit of small change. How did we know they were rich? Their expensive designer outdoor clothing and camera as well as their huge SUVs were a bit of a clue!
The following day, we hired a couple of bikes for the day at 30RMB each. The bikes looked great but on closer inspection, they all needed some sort of repair; no brakes, buckled wheels, only one gear, rotating seat. After choosing two, and repairing them, we set off for the day. Yesterday, just before we arrived at the lake, I noticed some of the locals standing beside the main road and a track, waving flags to oncoming traffic. It looked as if the track may lead to the lake. We asked at the bike rental place and they confirmed that if you cycle down the main for about 3K you could pay the local 10RMB each and access the lake this way. Perfect! We help the locals and we don’t get ripped off. So off we cycled down the main road. We found the first “entrance”, paid our 10RMB each and the cycled down the lane. At this point, my rear while was wobbling quite severely. I stopped only to notice that the bolts at either side had worked themselves loose. At one of the farms, I asked someone if they had a spanner, and they kindly fixed it for me. Just so happens, that it was this man’s farm where we gained access to the lake. We walked our bikes across a muddy field and then cycled down another track leading to the lake. The view was magnificent. The water was crystal clear, the sky was blue, the distant mountains were snow-capped. It was a perfect picture postcard scene. Some of the locals were offering horse riding along the lake.
As the day progressed, the weather turned warmer and warmer. We cycled back to the main road as it was a little difficult to cycle much further and along to the next “entrance” point. We paid our nominal 10RMB each and then cycled towards the lake. We took some pictures, cycled a little further and then stopped for lunch whilst admiring the scenery. We were just about to leave when we were approached by two local “young guns” on a motorbike. They started to demand money from us because we were allegedly on “their turf”. Initially, they stipulated 1000RMB. When they sensed that this may have been a little too high, they retracted somewhat and insisted upon 200RMB. We played the stupid foreigner and told them that we didn’t understand and that we didn’t have any money. Oh, yes and that we were not going to give them any money. There was a bit of a stand off. One of them started to get a bit aggressive. We stayed calm and stood firm. After a short while, they got bored and realised that they were not going to be successful with their bullying techniques. To allow them to save face, we agreed to go back the way we came. They then went and hassled some more tourists further down the lake…… We, however, continued to enjoy the lake until our little legs would cycle no more.
The next day, we had an early start in order to get back to Xining by the afternoon. There are no such things as tourist information offices here or bus timetables. As is often the case in China, you ask five people the same question and you will probably get five different answers. Simply because, they don’t want to admit to you that they do not know the answer. In their minds, any answer is better than no answer. However, this is not soooooo helpful. In response to the question, “What time does the bus go to Xining tomorrow morning?” we had one person say 8AM, one person say 9AM and two people say 10.30. So by definition, 10.30 seemed like the best answer. However, that was too late if we were to catch our connecting bus back to Xifeng. We decided to wait beside the road at 8AM and to either catch some sort of bus or to hitch. We were in luck. At about 9.30 AM a minivan stopped and off we trundled back to Xining. It was quite comical as all the other passengers were Tibetans, dressed in traditional costumes, puzzling over why we looked so different. Two and a half hours later, we arrived in Xining. We crossed our fingers that there would still be some bus tickets left for the sleeper bus back to Xifeng. Fantastic, it was our lucky day. Knowing that the bus went via Lanzhou which would take about fours hours and knowing that from Lanzhou to Xifeng was about eight hours, we calculated an arrival time of approx. 3AM the next day. Expect the unexpected is yet another motto we have come know. It was closer to 8.30AM the following day. It was an endless journey with the bus stopping and starting, waiting for passengers and then trawling the city streets for yet more passengers. Were we glad to be back - it felt as if we had been away for weeks!
7-17 October
We organised our first (this semester) Chinese lesson this week with a local university student (Jean). With info and help from an American colleague, we've also begun martial arts classes. On Friday mornings we cycle to the university campus and take part in Wu Shu and Taiqi classes with the students. Jet Li has no worries (yet), due to being unable to understand all the instructions we basically watch and copy. It's tough on the body - we usually walk a little strangely on Saturdays due to aching legs! We visited a rural primary school that we've had contact with previously.
We have of course also done a bit of work too! Ray, I and another VSO volunteer who works at the university taxied there to give some multimedia items and books donated by Ray's friends in another province. The kids were delighted and will hopefully benefit from this. We also did another English Language Improvement Training.
We organised our first (this semester) Chinese lesson this week with a local university student (Jean). With info and help from an American colleague, we've also begun martial arts classes. On Friday mornings we cycle to the university campus and take part in Wu Shu and Taiqi classes with the students. Jet Li has no worries (yet), due to being unable to understand all the instructions we basically watch and copy. It's tough on the body - we usually walk a little strangely on Saturdays due to aching legs! We visited a rural primary school that we've had contact with previously.
We have of course also done a bit of work too! Ray, I and another VSO volunteer who works at the university taxied there to give some multimedia items and books donated by Ray's friends in another province. The kids were delighted and will hopefully benefit from this. We also did another English Language Improvement Training.
18-24 October
I am continuing my work with teachers in two Xifeng middle schools, two afternoons per week. The teachers welcome the training, ideas and support but often have little or no time to apply what they have gleaned as time is taken for other tasks within school. I enjoyed helping out another Xifeng teacher (Paula) with her class this week. She was keen to really help her students with general life problems so we and Bine devised a PSHE-type lesson to allow discussion of everyday frustrations and difficulties. Chinese students receive little pastoral support in school (unless they are lucky enough to have a caring teacher like Paula).
We're still trying to push things along but it's tough going. Our main aim for this semester was to help teachers in rural primary schools. This is happening but organisation is hard work (but needn't be). We planned and delivered the first Rural School Training this Saturday. After being collected by a teacher from the school where we were training, we set up our 'stall' using the school's computer and TV and trained about two dozen primary teachers from three schools. Lunch was a few bols of noodles at a local restaurant in Peng Yuan. Arriving back at the school to continue the afternoon session we discovered only two teachers waiting. As we mulled over the possible reasons, the headmaster came to tell us that the other teachers couldn't train as they had to go to a funeral-type gathering because a colleague had recently died. So a half day it remained.
25-31 October
It's been getting pretty nippy lately. The heating hadn't yet been switched on (the whole of China, give or take, gets switched on during November). We needed to keep warm so while we watched a movie one evening we lit out bar-b-que to take the chill off. We wouldn't do it again. We suffered a headache each the next day from the fumes!
Last Friday evening a neighbour invited us for dinner. We had traditional, home-made, flat bin zi (like a tortilla) filled with spring onion and egg together with a soup made from a cereal. It was a nice evening. After the meal, we sat and watched some English TV which is a rarity for us, mainly because we don't have a TV! I have to confess that whilst watching TV because it was quite cold in the flat, our neighbour put a blanket on mine and Bine's knees. Not something I would typically do on a Friday night in the UK. But you know, when in Rome, I mean China....
We are going to make an effort to learn how to make a few more Chinese dishes before we leave. In fact, our new NV, Morvan, is a good cook and has offered to teach us in return for an insight into some western meals - deal!
Saturday brought the second Rural School Training for three more primary schools. This time we were picked up by Education Bureau staff and delivered to Wen Quan. This week things went more to plan. Most participants stayed the whole day and benefitted from a more holistic training. Afterwards we were taken for a huo guo (hotpot) meal at a flash restaurant in Xifeng. Yet another occasion of too much food!
I am continuing my work with teachers in two Xifeng middle schools, two afternoons per week. The teachers welcome the training, ideas and support but often have little or no time to apply what they have gleaned as time is taken for other tasks within school. I enjoyed helping out another Xifeng teacher (Paula) with her class this week. She was keen to really help her students with general life problems so we and Bine devised a PSHE-type lesson to allow discussion of everyday frustrations and difficulties. Chinese students receive little pastoral support in school (unless they are lucky enough to have a caring teacher like Paula).
We're still trying to push things along but it's tough going. Our main aim for this semester was to help teachers in rural primary schools. This is happening but organisation is hard work (but needn't be). We planned and delivered the first Rural School Training this Saturday. After being collected by a teacher from the school where we were training, we set up our 'stall' using the school's computer and TV and trained about two dozen primary teachers from three schools. Lunch was a few bols of noodles at a local restaurant in Peng Yuan. Arriving back at the school to continue the afternoon session we discovered only two teachers waiting. As we mulled over the possible reasons, the headmaster came to tell us that the other teachers couldn't train as they had to go to a funeral-type gathering because a colleague had recently died. So a half day it remained.
25-31 October
It's been getting pretty nippy lately. The heating hadn't yet been switched on (the whole of China, give or take, gets switched on during November). We needed to keep warm so while we watched a movie one evening we lit out bar-b-que to take the chill off. We wouldn't do it again. We suffered a headache each the next day from the fumes!
Last Friday evening a neighbour invited us for dinner. We had traditional, home-made, flat bin zi (like a tortilla) filled with spring onion and egg together with a soup made from a cereal. It was a nice evening. After the meal, we sat and watched some English TV which is a rarity for us, mainly because we don't have a TV! I have to confess that whilst watching TV because it was quite cold in the flat, our neighbour put a blanket on mine and Bine's knees. Not something I would typically do on a Friday night in the UK. But you know, when in Rome, I mean China....
We are going to make an effort to learn how to make a few more Chinese dishes before we leave. In fact, our new NV, Morvan, is a good cook and has offered to teach us in return for an insight into some western meals - deal!
Saturday brought the second Rural School Training for three more primary schools. This time we were picked up by Education Bureau staff and delivered to Wen Quan. This week things went more to plan. Most participants stayed the whole day and benefitted from a more holistic training. Afterwards we were taken for a huo guo (hotpot) meal at a flash restaurant in Xifeng. Yet another occasion of too much food!
By popular demand, we also had our second "Halloween Party" in Xifeng. This year's was bigger and better in the sense that we invited more people and the costumes were of a higher calibre! It was great to see how many people had dressed up. We had prepared some food, but pretty much nearly everything that could have gone wrong did. Not sure why or how, but we managed to pull it off nonetheless. We appeared to have a lot more kids than we invited. The word must have got round that we were having a party and the kids for the nearby flats gatecrashed. They seemd pretty harmless until they started jumping on the furniture.....
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