China Trip 2018

September 2018
A trip to China for my brother's wedding. Flying solo, sadly leaving my wife and newborn boy at home.
A whirlwind trip, just 9 days; Beijing, the Great Wall, Taiyuan, Xinzhou, the wedding, and back home.
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  • Flying Solo.

    September 18, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Travelling around the world has been one of the best things I've done in my life. I've been to over 200 cities on every continent except Antarctica.. This trip to China will mark around my 60th country visited.

    There are few things that I could imagine being more fulfilling and enriching than the freedom, experience and adventure of travel. One such thing happened earlier this year. After the loss of our first boy - Hendrik a year earlier, Natalie and I were able to welcome his little brother Ryland into the world on the 8th of May this year.

    It wasn't an easy start to life for Ryland or his parents. Our little man was born at just 24 weeks + 5 days (around 4 months early), measuring 32cm and weighing just 888g. For months he needed breathing support, extra medication and 24 hour hospital care. After 115 days in hospitals, Ryland was eventually able to come home and start his life with his family. That was barely two and a half weeks ago.

    Family is important. I have two younger brothers. Years ago, middle brother Jared started dating, and then moved in with lovely girl from China named Yuan. They always flagged that any potential wedding ahead would be based in China, especially with Yuan's parents and majority of family living there. I always indicated an enthusiasm to be a part of such a wedding. Time passed, and after years of living together, Jared finally got around to proposing. The gears of wedding organisation started to slowly turn, and between the tragic loss of our boy and a trip to Japan, a date was set in place, which we all agreed to. I considered it might be an opportunity to visit a handful of countries in the region I'd yet to see. Taiwan, maybe Laos, maybe South Korea?

    This wasn't to be. The timing of such a date didn't work out so well. A month after we returned from Japan, Natalie discovered she had a passenger on board, due not far from the wedding date.

    It made for a very difficult situation. Now, to attend my brother's wedding, I'd have to leave my wife and newborn child behind. That's what I'm having to do. I'm striking a balance, between not wanting to be parted from my family for long, and not wanting to miss both my brother's wedding and an opportunity to explore the world's most populated place.

    Both my brothers, their partners and my parents are already there now. Tomorrow I'll be flying to China for just 9 days. Four by myself, in and around Beijing, a transit day to Taiyuan, and then four days with family around the wedding in Xinzhou. That way I can be at the wedding, see China, and be reunited with my family before too long.

    For all my adventures over the last decade, it's actually been 12 years since I took off on overseas trip completely solo. In 2008 I toured Asia with family, in 2010 I set off for the World Cup in Africa with friends and since 2011, I've had Natalie by my side to share overseas travel with almost every year. It'll be a shame not to be able to share this trip with her. I'm fairly certain little Ryland isn't quite ready or interested to catch the travel bug just yet.

    I'm curious to see what kind of experience China will turn out to be. For such a short trip, there seems to have been a lot of work organizing it, none more so than the Visa. China will be a unique experience in that it's the first country I've been to with extensive internet censorship. No Google. No Google Maps. No Yahoo. No search engines basically. No Facebook. This will mean trawling through Chinese based browers/ search engines/ mapping sites and alternate communication methods. It remains to be seen what internet will actually work over there, this blog website included. My communication methods appear restricted to Whatsapp, WeChat and Hotmail.

    The last few months I've been focused on Ryland, watching him grow and strive from such a fragile beginning. Unlike most trips, I've hardly focused on this one at all, or given it much thought. Now however, it's here, and I hope to make the most of it. I'll be exploring Beijing myself for a couple days, then doing a guided hike out to the Great Wall, heading along a wild wall (un-restored) section. I'm looking forward to being a part of a different culture, especially in the context of a wedding. I'll hope (internet availability and functionality pending) to be able to post daily blogs on this site, including a few photos and comments. I'll look forward to everything ahead, and getting back to my family in just over a weeks time.
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  • Day 1

    The Journey to China

    September 19, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    I made it. Its around 1.15am local time. That was a long haul. Up at 5.30am to travel with the family to Tullamarine for a 9.30 flight to Sydney.
    Theres bo denying that was an extra difficult goodbye... but lil Ryland was kind enough to dish out a great cuddle and some smiles.
    My domestic flight was pretty good. Front row window seat of economy meant loads of leg room. Getting from flight to flight was tight. The Melbourne-Sydney leg was delayed so by the time I landed in Sydney and changed terminals, my international noon flight was boarding..
    Sydney to Beijing was a long 12 hours. The seats were very tight and seemed to recline less than usual. A few movies and long chat with my neighbour, a Chinese born New Zealand citizen named Shuo made the time eventually tick by.
    I touched down in Beijing around 10.30.. The airport was huge and impressive... getting through customs, fingerprinting, transferring terminals and getting my bag was all relatively pain free. My preorganised "cab style" pick Up was even there waiting for me..
    He didnt speak a word of English but seemed friendly enough. First impressions of Beijing - no road rules, busy but not as busy as expected and very smoggy. The drive from airport to city centre hotel was about 40min.
    The internet is tedious as expected with no google or Facebook. This blog app works, but im not yet able to map my location as Google maps doesn't work ofc.
    I think ive outdone myself again for hotel room... its ridiculous... probably biggest yet, maybe bigger than my house.
    For now, I need sleep badly. I should get up at a reasonable time to get to Tiananmen Square and the forbidden palace.
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  • Day 2

    Walking Beijing in a Day

    September 20, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Im getting old. Still, I covered an huge amount of ground today, probably walking 25-30km, seeing the "top 5" attractions in Beijing (according to lonely planet), and much more in between.
    In truth, I'd only planned to see a couple things, but once I got going, I didn't want to stop! I had a good sleep and set off from the hotel around 9am. Thankfully I opted to wear sunscreen, bring plenty of water, a physical map and bring my passport along. Turns out many of the attractions of the day required a passport for use as a entry ticket.

    It was a warm smoggy day, with the sun peeking out now and then, around 26c. The primary and main destination of the day was the Forbidden City, via Tiananmen Square. Getting there from the hotel took around an hour by foot, map in hand. The most baffling part of that journey was seeing an elderly local in a Richmond Tigers cap.

    The queues and crowds for the palace were substantial, but nowhere near as dreadful as I hoped. I got a quiet start by coming in through a side entrance and seeing the Temple of Imperial Ancestors.

    The Forbidden City itself was a lot bigger than expected. It was grand and ornate, but I found over time, a bit repetitive. There were dozens of temples, buildings and structures, but most looked the same. A Russian couple actually randomly reiterated this point to me which ironically speaks volumes given that I found much Russian architecture to be about the most boring and repetitive anywhere! I did pick up an audio tour for 40yuan (fyi 5yuan = 1aud approx) which did make the palace more interesting to hear of the history and many stories the venue has to tell. I also paid extra to explore the treasury but was a bit underwhelmed.

    I exited the north gate of the Palace and continued north into Jingshan Park (5yuan). This was a pretty botanical garden with a towering hill in the centre. A climb to the top offered impressive panoramic views of Beijing. Well, views made slightly less impressive by the smog, clouding the view. From the top, to the north, in the distance, I could see the Drum Tower which was well reviewed. It was only 12.30ish so how long could it really take to get there?

    Not too long. Maybe an hour or so. There were two popular attractions here, side by side, the Drum Tower and Bell Tower. I picked up a double ticket and headed first to the Drum Tower. These both looked very different but one thing they had in common for tired legs was a steep narrow, steep and high step passage to the top viewing platform. Fortune favoured me as 10 minutes after arrival at the Drum Tower a drum performance was scheduled which was very impressive.

    As much as I enjoyed the drum performance, I really likee the Bell Tower building, tall, narrow and imposing. The bell inside (after another climb) was huge, but there wasnt much else to see.

    With the time only around 3pm, I figured I could still wind through hutongs and side streets to reach the Lama Temple a few kilometres to the east. Eventually I got there, via random alleys and hutongs (old style suburbs).

    The Llama temple is known to be one of the most magnificent Buddhist monasteries outside of Tibet. It was a busy complex with many actively praying and lighting insense here. The final temple housed a triple story giant Buddha which was very impressive.

    With wobbly legs, I made my way to the nearest train station to catch the metro about eight stops to the nearest station to my hotel at Chongwenmen.

    I spent the evening up on the hotels rooftop bar enjoying a cocktail before wandering to a nearby mall to dine at a restaurant. Tomorrow, should be a bit more relaxed. I plan to head out to the Summer Palace and visit the Temple of Heaven. Saturday I'm off to the Great Wall and Sunday I depart Beijing by train off to Taiyuan.
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  • Day 3

    A Summer Stroll.

    September 21, 2018 in China ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    After yesterdays leg breaker, I'd planned and expected today to be more casual. I should know better. Thats never how it works out. Especially solo. By myself, I can see more and go further without consulting or hesitating, but at times I wonder whether Nats advice to rest, eat or slow down might have been wise, rather than my impetuous and adventurous enthusiasm wearing my legs to exhaustion. I've certainly learned that good experiences are more treasured and remembered when they're shared.

    It was a warm one again. High 20s- 30c and clear blue skies. I left the hotel around 9.30, in a different direction, bound for a different metro station to map out a few different blocks around the hotel. The bakery breakfast and ice water coffee wasn't great, but moving on.

    The train ride out to Xiyuan in the north west of Beijing for the Summer Palace probably took around 40 minutes. It was a further 15 minute walk (not really signed) to find the Palace. Entry (all access) with an audio guide cost 100yuan (60+40) and the latter required a 50yuan deposit. The gps audio didn't work near as well as the forbidden city and wasnt as interesting.

    The Summer Palace was shades of the Forbidden City, spread out, in hilly forest, by the water. The highest temples were probably the most spectacular, the trek up the many stairs to them being fairly awe inspiring. A major problem with this complex in its entirety was just how poorly signed it was. Many of their signs, directions and distances were outright false, if not misleading and deceptive. When the punishment for such deception is backtracking or climbing hundreds of steps in the wrong direction/ for no reason, this got annoying. I probably most enjoyed the lilies and tranquility of the aptly named Garden of Harmony, and the tower of buddhist insense which offered great views.

    Once I had my fill of the Summer Palace I headed back to Beijing Central via metro. I figured I'd get off at Qianmen and walk around Tiananmen Square proper, having just walked alongside it yesterday. It's a big square. Not too much to see or do there but some interesting monuments and buildings.

    Rather than reboard the metro, I figured Id just hoof it South, all the way to the Temple of Heaven. The good part of this decision was the walk through Dashilar and Qianmen Street (busy shops). The bad part, was that I'd not factored in how big, and how much more walking thered be at the Temple of Heaven when I arrived with weary legs.

    Ultimately, the Temple of Heaven was probably the highlight of the day. The Hall of Prayer for good harvests was towering and a little unique. The Round altar down south was also different. Further appealing was how pretty the entire complex was, basically a big botanic garden. Once I'd finished and turned back north to walk to the hotel, I really enjoyed the refreshing summer breeze between the trees filled with sparrows and these noisy blue winged magpie like birds.

    I certainly made use of the bath in the hotel when I crashed back here. After a few hours of rest I set out to find dinner, roaming around a few blocks and through a few malls. I eventually settled on a Chinese place, ordering a stewed fish and fried beans with chili. The latter was delish, but former 99.99% tiny bones. I've really had a hard time finding any appealing local food or even quality western or hybrid cuisine. I guess ill stick to western and get the authentic experience in Xinzhou soon enough.

    I've been pondering many observations and unique elements to China and Beijing today. Ill post them in the coming days. For now, rest and sleep. Im up.at 6.40am to head to the Great Wall.
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  • Day 4

    Wonder Wall.

    September 22, 2018 in China ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    Its awesome when a wonder, landmark, museum, attraction or place has such a high reputation, that leads to high expectations, and those expectations are easily met.
    Such was the case today.

    I had a private tour from Beijing to the wall and back. Pick up was at 7am, and the drive out took about 2 hours and 40 minutes.

    The route for the day was about 12km of "wild wall" from Gubeikou to Jinshanling. "Wild" in that the vast majority of Wall we'd see today was original and unrestored. The distance from Beijing and difficulty of walk also meant for minimal crowds/company.

    The hike itself took around 4 hours.. and aside from the first and final half hour, we probably saw less than a dozen people. Another reason for this is between Gubeikou and Jinshanling, theres a part of the wall that falls onto current military territory and is inaccessible. This means an hour off road "detour" down into the valley through jungle and thick vegetation. This was fun in itself, most notably a snake emcounter and discovery of an old, remote home, abandoned around 30 years ago.

    The views of the walls were spectacular, towers seeming to stretch on and on forever. Hiking it was sometimes perilous and nerve wrecking, with very high steep stairs, slippery dirt descents and high, narrow exposed sections of the wall with steep edges. Nonetheless we (my guide Henry and I) completed our route without incident and 4 hours later returned to our driver to head off for a nearby local lunch.

    This was definitely the best meal Id had in China so far - Eggs (like an omelette) with peppers, kung pow chicken, pork with onions and onions with chili all with rice. I even made do with chopsticks, not my finest skill. We washed that down with local beer and began that 2.5hour drive back to Beijing.

    By the time I got back, after the last three days, my legs hardly carried me from car to hotel bath. Hours later after a little revovery I set out to explore some extra territory and find some dinner. In yet another huge mall, I found just one Western style restaurant, a "sizzler".. which was decent but underwhelming.

    Now Im in bed, exhausted, half packed, for my last night in Beijing. Tomorrow morning Ill check out, look to pick up tickets for a bullet train and head for Taiyuan, with Jareds wedding just days away.
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  • Day 5

    Heading West

    September 23, 2018 in China ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    I woke, finished packing and checked out of the New World Beijing Hotel. Sad to leave such a fantastic room, but satisfied enough with my time and experience in Beijing and ready for the next experience.

    Today I'd head about three hours west by Bullet Train to Taiyuan (initially). Getting there was about a 20 minute walk with pack and daybag to Ciqikuo metro station. From there, about a 30 minute metro ride on line 7 to Beijing West station.

    A bit about Beijing metro - In short, its fantastic. Colour coded, numbered, well laid out, regular trains, easy to navigate and understand, no different to the Tokyo or London systems. The trains run every few minutes and have that designated automatic door docking spot behind glass so you know where to wait. There are just seats along the carriage walls so most of the time you'll be standing!

    A unique feature of the train network was advertising screens outside the train, on the inside of the tunnel wall, visible through the windows as the train speeds by. The major annoying part of the metro was every entry to a station required a full security check with scanners for bags.

    Once I arrived at Beijing West my challenge was to find the place to pick up tickets I had prebookee for my bullet train. With previous advice, I exited at B South, went outside and guessed where the ticket hall was near a blocked off/ closed down ticket area.

    After a brief wait in a "business class lounge" (free orange drink and cookies) I headed to carriage 8, seat 1a for my business class (highest class) train ride. This ticket cost me around $100aud. It was pretty deluxe! 5 seats to the cabin, set apart that recline into beds. The trip came with lunch which was OK.
    The train whizzed us off to Taiyuan mostly travelling around 300km/p/hr.
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  • Day 5

    From Tourist to Guest

    September 23, 2018 in China ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    The train rolled into Taiyuan right on time, around 2.25pm. Here I headed for the West exit and found Jared, Yuan and her second cousin waiting for me to transport me an hour north by car to her home town of Xinzhou, where her parents lived, my family was staying, and the wedding would be held in a couple days time.

    An opportunity here to talk about traffic in China. It'll appear fairly erratic and wild by Western standards. Speed limits are guides, indicators are optional, horns are plentiful and cars go anywhere at any given time! Mobile phone use when driving is standard, and milimetre collision evasion is expected. You've got to constantly on your toes. Its chaos, but works. When crossing the street, a "pedestrian crossing" is a suggestion.. you've got to walk briskly, confidently and cautiously. If you can predict who is going where and weave between a car and bike, you can assume (and hope) they won't hit you.

    Busy traffic delayed our arrival in Xinzhou a little but we arrived without incident at the hotel I'd spend the next four nights; Funhua Jinglun Hotel. It's basically the grandest, most Western Hotel in the city, organised by Yuans (bride to be) parents. Its nice, and Im on the 23rd floor. I was pre warned about the lack of aircon and its the clear standout issue.

    By 6pm, we headed by 2 taxis (myself, my youngest brother Brody and his fiance Alyssa, my parents, Jared and Yuan) to Yuans parents apartment about 10 minutes away to meet her family and enjoy dinner and drinks. Yuans family home was lovely and her parents were gracious guests leaving us all well fed with plenty of home cooking (noodles, duck, soup, pork etc). The family dog (Jui jui) s a sheep like spawn of Satan but loveable none the less. There were many shouts of Gambei (cheers) as we tried Chinese white wine, some beer and whiskey.
    We saw plenty of excellent pre wedding glamour photos of the bride and groom to be, not before the family albums and baby photos came out. By 11pm we had taxied back to tbe hotel to rest up.

    I'm exhaustes from my Beijing adventures and content to relax, feast and experience true local over the coming days. If Beijing had the fewest Western tourists I've seen for a big city, Xinzhou has none... Tomorrow, afternoon wedding rehearsals! For now, sleep.
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  • Day 6

    The Day Before

    September 24, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    No alarm was set this morning, which started at a leisurely pace. I met my parents, Brody and Alyssa downstairs in the lobby for a "Western Style" buffet breakfast. Well... Western it wasn't. There were some fried eggs and "bacon".. with a bit of bread, steamed pumpkin, wonton soup and that steamed corn thats so popular here. Washed down with a grape juice/ flat coke flovoured syrup it still filled a hole.

    We spent a few hours wandering XinZhou, through some shopping malls and streets. We are literally an exotic species here. I've never experienced anything like it anywhere in the world. We stopped for a "Chinese burger" and in turn stopped dozens of passers by in their tracks.. as they would literally stop, stare and grin at us from behind the cafe glass windows, like one would at a zoo... one guy pulled out a cigarette and basically got within 20cm of my dads face. It's not particularly pleasant.

    Westerners don't exist here, and have no real reason to ever come to this place. After an afternoon break, we piled into cabs to head tp the wedding venue to rehearse and plan. There was initially some major conflict between the "popular/celebrity" celebrant and the bride and groom to be.. largely stemming from a miscommunication about the bride's white and traditional Chinese red dresses, and procedural incompatibilities between procedure, tradition and process of Chinese and Western culture.

    Eventually, after 4.5 hours, enough compromise, practice and agreement had been made to satisfy a wedding plan. With the time drawing late, we settled on KFC for an unglamorous but delicious final family meal before Jareds big day. Tomorrow we look forward to what should be an interesting and memorable experience.
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  • Day 7

    Wedding Day

    September 25, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    The big day finally arrived. It was a grand occasion; busy, hectic and lively from start to finish. We started off in the hotel around 8am, in the elaborately decorated room of the bride and groom for an extensive photo shoot.

    By around 9.30, we filed into wedding cars to be transported to Yuans parents apartment complex. On arrival, we were greeted by a spectacular dancing dragon show. After arrival in the apartment, the Mallegrom family was invited to a brunch feed with Yuans family.. and many more photos were taken.

    Then, back into cars and off to the wedding venue. There, we were greeted again not only by dragons but a vehicle with what looked like rocket launchers on its room that would deafen us all with a relentless barrage of fireworks.

    The wedding was set up for around 300 people.. and once the red envelopes had been handed over, we were ushered into the venue proper. It appeared some Chinese relatives had tried to steal our table, but once that was rectified, we were seated to await the commencement of proceedings.

    Food flowed before cutlery, just piled plate on top of plate. Nothing was ever cleared, as beer cans, peanut shells and litter soon cluttered and piled up on table and floor alike. The wedding ceremony was preceded by a few acts of singing, violin, harp, drums and flute before we got underway just after noon.

    The compromised and somewhat disjointed ceremony was largely effective and flowed without too much incident. My dad made the effort of memorizing his speech in Chinese to surprise the bride and groom. Sadly, perhaps 50 or less of the 300 attendees cared or even paid any attention, many talking loudly, drinking or feasting. Most didnt clap or stand when prompted via translation.

    The final touches of the wedding were a lovely coming together of the happy couple. Surprisingly, minutes upon conclusion of the official ceremony, 80% of the crowd trampled each other for the door, leaving a trashed garbage dump behind. By 2.30pm the venue was mostly empty. A few friends and family remained to toast the happy couple and enjoy some drinks; beer, red wine or "white wine" (45% spirit). I wasn't a fan of any.

    In time, drinking escalated and my parents and I opted to head back to the hotel. A couple of us went for an evening walk for a late dinner. Overall, the wedding was certainly memorable and different. It was a pleasure to be there for my brother and nice to see the bride and groom enjoy themselves so.

    Tomorrow is my last full day here. I think we have a bbq afternoons meal planned in a more rural setting.
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  • Day 8

    Rural China

    September 26, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    The chaos and drama of yeaterdays wedding softened to a casual, leisurely start to this morning... at least initially. Around 8.30 I headed downstairs, equipped with phone, wallet and room keycard slip (with breakfast vouchers and keycard inside).

    Downstairs, I handed over my breakfast voucher to gain access to the buffet and met my parents, Brody and Alyssa for bread and a fried egg "Western breakfast". Then I got up to leave, picked up my wallet, phone and... no keycard. The whole slip was gone. Baffling, as I hadn't been anywhere to lose it.

    We explained the situation to staff and managed to get a second key (the other key remains in the room electric slot to try keep the room "cool"). This was fine, but when I returned to my floor there was a shady random local, loitering in a hall chair with view of my room.. coincidence, or had he found a lost room key to 2307?

    With Yuans translating skills we eventually had staff cancel all previous room keys, check those, and issue fresh ones. This was fun and killed a lot of the morning. By noon we had cars to take us 20minutes from the big city of Xinzhou to a small rural community with many of Yuans extended family.

    The town of Xin Wang Zhuang may well have once been a thriving farming community... now it feels 75% abandoned and much in disrepair. Still, many live here in little fenced blocks/squares that house a dozen or so. We'd spend a few hours here with locals, first eating wedding food leftovers, then a delicious charcoal bbq, kicking a ball around and playing cards.

    Following that, we visited the homes of some other friends, met a young newborn baby, (around Rylands size), visited a well maintained temple complex, and wandered about neglected cornfields, picked and tasted peppers, and poked around many abandoned homes. By late afternoon, as sunset approached, we bid family farewell and headed back to the city.

    Our final full family meal on my last night was arguably one of the best Chinese meals I had there. It was a private dining room and we feasted on things like; fish, prawns, chicken wings, donkey meat pastries, beef chunks, and Chinese burrito things. Red wine from a decanter to wash it down hit the spot.

    After dinner, dad and I went for an hour or so around the streets. For a city of 3-4 million, I've never seen a place with so little of interest. It was still good to stretch the legs.

    I'm half packed for tomorrow's long journey home. We hope to visit some markets in the morning. From there, its a China Eastern flight from Taiyian to Beijing. Then 6 hours... then Beijing to Sydney with Qantas, and again on to Melbourne arriving 4.50 on Friday.
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