A Great Wall

So sorry to dash all your dreams but we can't actually see the Great Wall from space but this fact does little to take your breath away when it comes in to view towering above you snaking its way across the mountains. Although not a continuous structure, as it was built in different sections during different dynasties in China, it runs for over 8,800km north of the city of Beijing. Built to protect China against the might of the Mongolian horsemen it now symbolises the wonder of a civilisation that has existed for thousands and thousands of years.
My initial visit to China was during a time of adolescent immaturity and naivety, and this led to a visit of the section of the wall at a place called Badaling. Here the area comes fully equipped with a KFC and lots of souvenir shops! This is perfect for the tourist with a tight schedule and lots to see, but anyone with a thirst for beauty and a recommendation of a tourist group that will lead you off the tourist trap needs to take advantage of it. Tony runs his own tourist business and the driving motto is sustainability and preservation. After guiding us through the old streets of Beijing he was now going to lead us up to what felt like the top of the world.

Very stylish as we set out but I was very grateful for this hat later

We left Beijing at 8 and travelled the 2 hours to the beginning of the hike, which was a section of the wall open to the public but little known by tourists. The sun was blazing down and the sky was a clear blue - the perfect day for a hike. We made our way gradually up the side of the hills gazing up as our destination got ever closer. Half way up we stopped in a cave where the inside temperature was about 15 degrees lower than outside - the perfect natural fridge! The view across the rolling hill was breathtaking and looked like it had not changed in centuries as noting broke the ever extending greenery.

Rolling hills on all sides as we climbed

We reached an entry door for the wall and climbed up onto the watchtower to gaze across the vastness and beauty of the wall and the countryside around it. A well deserved packed lunch was enjoyed enjoying the cool air and immense magnificence of what we were seeing.

Entering onto wall


The intensity of beauty

But there was more to see and more ground to cover and so we started out walk along the wall covering a distance of 4km along the wall, and it just kept on going and going! In one of the watchtowers Tony showed us a stone that had a story inscribed on it that dated from the 1600s and told of a soldier coming to the wall to give a message to the soldiers on watch duty there from the Forbidden City. History was alive and standing in a watchtower for the near future as it was far too heavy to move. We descended from the wall at another door and made our way slowly down towards the meeting point for the bus. In all that day we covered 8km but it felt like walking on the footsteps of thousands of years.

We all climbed the wall together

The magnitude of this experience is not easy to put into words but must experienced for oneself, but my eternal gratitude goes to Tony and Charlene for sharing this expereince with us.

A three day wedding

All the trips, the fun and the laughter was all made possible by the very special event which fell right in the middle of the 2 week trip - the wedding of Charlene Wang and Tong Chen. Charlene is one of my chicas from the Dhaka days, and my regular readers will recognise her from earlier posts :-) After Bangladesh Charlene moved to Beijing and while there she met a very special man called Tony Chen and on May 21st they exchanged their vows in a wonderful setting. Well the wedding was in fact 3 days involving a little Bangladeshi culture and a traditional Chinese banquet!
Linda apa brought 5 saris from Delhi and she along with Sarah, Anna, HC and Melanie prepared and performed a hit Bollywood dance at the Halud evening. The evening was a lovely opportunity to meet all of Charlene's family and friends from all over the world. The Indian restaurant also had phujka(amazing Bangladeshi snack) so I was a very happy girl. The evening also came with a lady from india who painted mendi/henna onto lots of hands.


The bride and groom in their halud outfits


The Bollywood ladies

Saturday was the big day and there was lots of running and prep after the morning spent in the Antiques market (previous post). We had been warned by Charlene that come what may the ceremony was starting at 4 and so no late arrivals would be acceptable so we got there at 3 :-) The setting was amazing in a restaurant beside a lake with a huge garden - it could not have been more perfect. The sun was glorious and I still smile at the image of the ladies in their dresses and the men in their suits all sporting sunglasses, maybe I am used to Irish wedding where wedding attire and sunglasses seem strange together!


Cool chica


Bouquet

My favourite part of the decorations was the broccoli centre to the bouquets which just added a little je n'est ce quoi :-)
A sneak preview of the bride brought a tear to the eye as she looked so beautiful in her white dress and wonderful jade necklace - we get the theme of the wedding as green right?! Then after but a short wait Charlene walked down the aisle of the garden arrangement led by her father on one side and her mother on the other, it was a heart warming moment. The ceremony involved a beautiful poem by Tony's 'New Zealand mum', a wonderful arrangement of poems by various members of the wedding party and a lovely song sung by a friend of Charlene's from the US.


Vows


The cake - yummy!

The ceremony was swiftly followed by the most amazing array of finger food - note to self if I ever get married make sure there is finger food right after ceremony it makes guests so happy! We also enjoyed the delicious cocktail made by Charlene's high school friend Paul who not works in the drinks industry - it was a mixture of vodka, lime and ginger and I can't sing its praises enough. The speeches as we tucked into a mouth watering dinner, were moving and humourous as the story of how Tony and Charlene met was shared, and the realization that marriage brings change into so many different people's lives.
The dancing began, delicious cake was consumed, as was various mixtures of drinks and as the night wore on the bride showed us the magic of her wedding dress as it divided into two allowing for proper dancing to commence. I danced and danced even entering into a 'not to leave the dance floor' agreement with 3 others until the night was done - we succeeded!


Dancing

The after party moved onto Bed Bar, a novel idea of using the old opium beds as seats in the bar - far too relaxing for my energy that night! But the night was young and after waving the bride and groom off we proceeded to move the after after party to a KTV location. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this really funky invention you are in for a treat - you and a group of friends get a room with a tv and lots and lots of song options and a few microphones. Way too much fun available!!! It was bright and 5am as I crawled into bed.....
Only to get up 3 hours later to head to the third and final part of the wedding that involved the traditional Muslim Chinese banquet. The word for the day was most definitely FOOD and lots of it - by the end of the event there were 10 levels of food piled up on the table in front of me and included all kinds of yummy dishes from fish to tofu to red bean balls. I politely sipped the banquet wine but was unable to consume it all! We watched as Charlene and Tony presented their respective parents with tea an important part of the wedding ceremony, this was followed by a display of traditional dancing where the spinning made me dizzy and finally Derek the best man gave a speech in Mandarin which everyone seemed to appreciate.


Banquet outfits

The three days had been a fabulous mixture of cultures, foods and people, but we expected nothing less from Charlene and her new husband Tony.

Bits and pieces from around Beijing

A total of 6 fun-filled manic days were spent in Beijing, a major part that consisted of a special wedding but I'll get to that :-) Arrival in Beijing Thursday morning at 8am brought home the magnitude of this city where the queue for taxis went on for 400 metres, and no I am not exaggerating! But sometimes there are advantages to being a tourist and we managed to secure a van which sauntered passed the still extensive queue.
After settling into our apartment and eating a well deserved breakfast, we headed to my old haunt of San Li Tun. I spent many a happy night enjoying the nightlife of Beijing and was looking forward to seeing how the area had changed. Where in 2000 and 2001 there had been a scattering of foreigners in the area there were now hundreds of people from all over the world. The calculator was the tool of trade in the hours spent wandering the markets in the summer of 2000, but now the market vendors could converse in several world languages! A few hours of wandering around the markets amongst the never ending abundance of clothes, shoes and various stuff, a well deserved dinner was required. We visited a famous Peking duck restaurant where I was told the duck was amazing :-) the rest of the food was great so I take the general consensus as true. The night concluded with a trip to the bars of SanLiTun.


The CTV offices an incredible building


The ladies taking a picture of the incredible building


Duck dinner


SanLiTun fun

On Friday Anna and I headed to District 798 which is located near Beijing University Art Campus and is an amazing few blocks of galleries of photography, sculpture, painting and shops full of pretty pretty stuff :-) It was hours of fun admiring the sculptures dotted around the place, eating a really good cheese sandwich and sifting through the pretty arty shops.


Anna with a statue we met :-)


This one is for Michael


I love this one


Saturday morning was time for 'Dirt Market' which is essentially an antiques market but it is really lots and lots of nicknacks, and lots and lots of fun! Linda, Anna and I had the best meal in a Muslim Chinese restaurant below our apartment block. I move forward to Sunday afternoon after the wedding banquet when HC and I paid a visit to eyeglasses city. Yes they have a whole block dedicated to glasses, in fact there a number of them around the city. Sunset was then spent back with the group watching the event of lowering the flag on Tianamen Square a site of so much pain in recent history and yet at the same time a monument to the magnitude of the nation as the square is full of people from all over China who have travelled for the daily event.


Lovely lunch

The Great Wall will get an entry to itself but here I will include the delightful tour lead by Tony himself around the old neighbourhoods of Beijing. It was Monday morning and after the fun of getting 6 people ready and out early (5 of them ladies!) we arrived at the meeting point a few minutes late but ready to explore. The small Hutongs of Beijing are a testament to the rapid changing landscape of the city. On one side of the road are towering over us were the new glass covered sky scrapers casting a shadow over the old houses from the time of the Emperors. We learned of the famous people who had lived and built here in the past, and of the recent history where large villas were divided to house lots of families moving to Beijing. The rest of Monday consisting eating and being pampered! We had the second lots of amazing amazing dumplings ordered by the bride herself and that evening we ate in a typical Hunan restaurant. The afternoon consisted of a full Chinese body massage which is something everyone should experience, followed by an amazing foot massage while looking at the most beautiful Chinese man I have ever seen - he looked like a young Genghis Khan! Unfortunately he wasn't doing my foot massage so all I could do was admire from afar!


A typical 'well-off' family in the Hutong


Kids being kids


The groom and our fantastic guide


Making noodles the traditional way

Wednesday morning was our departure for Shanghai, but my 6 days in Beijing and really experiencing it from the perspective of people who live there left me wanting more!

Arrival in Beijing and trip to Xi'an

A brief 36 hour stop in Beijing involved reunions with old friends as well as meeting the groom for the first time. Charlene and Tony took us all out to an amazing vegetarian dinner Chinese style - it involved a tofu fish that actually looked like a fish! Our second day in Beijing involved a trip to the Forbidden city, and I have to say even third time around the place is amazing. I certainly am glad that I never had to live there but the beauty of the buildings, the dragon mosaics and the rock garden never cease to amaze.


A view over the Forbidden City


Posing in the Forbidden City

We headed to West Beijing train station to catch the overnight train to Xi'an. HC, Anna and I ended up sharing our carriage with the opera section of the Chinese army! Yes they have an opera division in the army :-) We were actually sharing our 4 bed cabin with Fu (the rest of his name was far too complicated) who spoke a little bit of English and was eager to chat to us. He also managed to serenade HC in both italian and Chinese.


Fu and HC on the train to Xi'an

Our hostel in Xi'an met us at the train station and its location in the old city near the Muslim quarter was convenient and the hostel was a lovely little haven. We wandering the streets of the Muslim quarter enjoying the street food and all the life and colours. I also amanged to find my father's favourite dumpling restaurant, which was as good as it had been back in the summer of 2000! We also managed to squeeze in a very bizarre Chinese massage details are best left to be explained in person! Back in the hostel we made ourselves at home on the roof and I dug into some surprisingly good Chinese wine and took part in the craziest table quiz, during which we met Tom the young German and two Irish people - I know in the middle of China what are the chances! The following day we set our to the taracotta warriors which are about 30km outside Xi'an. A lot more has been uncovered since I was last there in February 2001 but they are still as amazing as the first time I saw them. I was disappointed to see that the old market surrounding the site had been done up into proper organised shops but I guess somethings are inevitable. Back in Xi'an a disappointment of no vegetarian dumplings lead Anna and I to experience Pizza Hut Chinese style and aside from a confusion with the sizes the pizza and wine were good. A few hours on bar street and the excitement of the first few days caught up on me which lead me home and caused me to miss the fist trip to KTV (karaoke TV) but not to worry I would make up for this later in the trip.


yummy dumplings


Those amazing 'old' boys :-)

Our final day in Xi'an and we set off for the city's old wall, which had been in disrepair when I was there in 2000/2001 but now it was complete and a trip included a performance by a group of very tall very handsome Chinese soldiers from the time of the emperors :-) The best was yet to come with the an hour cycle around the wall seeing the extend of the old city as it was in the time of old. Three tuctucs took us to the train station to catch the overnight train back to Beijing and to the wonderful 3 day wedding that awaited - details will follow shortly.


Performance from times past


Cycling on the old wall


Well earned break in a Tea Emporium after all the cycling

China and a wedding - overall impressions and thoughts

Top of the Great Wall after a incredible hike to a section not on the tourist trail and led by Tony


The bride and groom and I


Three of my favourite chicas and I in the Forbidden City

The last time I was in China was February 2001 which was during my last year in undergraduate degree. My initial visit had been the summer of 2000 during which I taught English for 3 months and carried out my undergraduate thesis on women and marriage. My main memories from both these trips but particularly the extended 3 month stay, is SHOPPING! I was 20, young and naive, and I found the world in which I was both confusing and difficult. I left in February 2001 contend that my thesis was going to be interesting and different, a cupboard full of new clothes, but no real inclination or thoughts of return. Since then my life has taken several interesting courses and has certainly been very full of interesting places and people. In 2004 a friend and I went to visit some other friends in Hong Kong and a seed was planted that maybe I should one day return to the mainland and revisit my experiences of 2000.
The best days of the past 10 years were predominantly in a very small over-populated country in Southern Asia, and in this country of Bangladesh I met some of the most amazing people I have come across so far in my life. Charlene Wang was one of these and this May I had the great pleasure of being invited to her wedding to Tony Chen in Beijing. As well as being one of the most amazing heart warming wedding I have been to the 2 week holiday gave me the opportunity to re-experience China and the immense changes that it has gone through in the past 10 years.
A friend asked my upon my return if while in China I felt that I was in the world's next superpower and my answer was a very emphatic yes! It is hard to put into words why I am so certain of this except to say that the country gave me an overwhelming feeling of taking the 'best' of Western culture but making it overwhelmingly Chinese. People seem so confident in their country and identity, something which I sense slipping away more and more each day in Ireland. The economy is certainly booming and economic success oozes from all angles. The efficiency of the three cities I was in as well as the transportation infrastructure between them was impressive. The environmental awareness, at least on the surface, was outstanding and could teach us in Western Europe a lesson or two.
I left China with a new found thirst to learn more about the country, the people and the language. I know there are many political, labour and human rights issues that cannot be ignored, but at least in my opinion it is not as simple as to say they have got it all wrong because there is so much that works and that is most importantly the Chinese way of doing it. In an increasingly uniform world I found this refreshing and intriguing.
The trip involved three cities and several events and specific posts on each will follow......