Xi'an

We had a few days to spare this week so we went to Xi’an, a 2 hour flight from here. Domestic flights in China are easy and usually on time. Check-in closes 30 minutes before take off and the main hassle is getting to the airport through the Kunming traffic and ever-present roadworks. At the other end of the flight, the airport shuttle bus took us straight to our hotel in the city centre. (We had been advised not to use taxis in Xi’an.)
Our main reason for going was, of course, to see the Terracotta Warriors (or "worriers" as they were described on a packet of postcards we bought.) So we signed up for a trip which included a visit to a silk factory and another tourist attraction, the Big Wild Goose pagoda. This is actually a large Buddhist temple complex with the pagoda as its focal point. The pagoda is modelled on an Indian pagoda of the same name, so called because a wild goose is said to have dropped dead at the site! The visit led to some interesting conversations between ourselves, the local tour guide, (Sean - good Chinese name!) and the American Jewish couple who made up our small group.
At the silk factory we were fascinated to watch the fine silk threads being unwound from the silkworm cocoons. The larvae are used for food and each cocoon yields over a kilometre of thread! Before we left the factory there was the inevitable opportunity to buy the products.
We had seen the excellent warriors exhibition at the British Museum last year which was a good introduction to seeing them in situ. It was so impressive to see the rows of thousands of warriors, horses, etc. which were uncovered by chance in 1974. A farmer made the discovery while digging a well and when we arrived he was on hand to sign copies of the guidebook. He is a lot richer now but looked as if he might have been happier as a farmer.
Our hotel was in the tourist area with lots of shops asking tourist prices. Just over the road was Starbucks which we don’t have in Kunming so we treated ourselves to several lattes while we could. We enjoyed wandering among the fascinating variety of shops and stalls in the nearby Moslem quarter. It was there that we were accosted by a couple of female students who are studying Business English at one of the 75 (!!) universities in Xi’an. They told us that they make a practice of speaking to foreign visitors in order to practise their English. They were good company as they helped us to identify the mysterious objects we came across and encouraged us to bargain for the best prices - not very British! We must admit we introduced our new friends to MacDonalds. They were a bit puzzled by the ‘jam’ in their beefburgers – so were we until we managed to identify it as melted cheese!
We are now back in Kunming where it is getting warmer but still not really hot - Kunming is known as Spring City - and looking forward to seeing Richard and Hazel Padfield visiting from Gloucestershire next week

Some of the Terracotta Warriors

.......... and some who escaped to seek a new life in the city!!

Easter Wekend in China

Easter greetings! Actually, Easter weekend in China is not very different from any other weekend, so it has been good to tell our Chinese friends about how we celebrate it in England, including the flying of kites on Good Friday. You didn’t know that was an English custom? Well, it is in our part of Cheltenham!

Last weekend was cold and the blankets we thought we had put away for the summer were back on the beds. This weekend is warm again with hot sunshine mixed with thunderstorms. Good weather for rainbows. One thing Yunnan has in common with England is the totally unpredictable weather!

We had heard nothing from Andrew Hay since the death of his mother following a fall in a storm at sea on their trip to Scott’s base hut in Antarctica. Her father had been part of Scott’s team which was the reason for the trip. Sadly, she died a few days before arriving at the base hut, so Andrew had to complete the pilgrimage without her.

Several weeks later the ship arrived back in Auckland and, with considerable difficulty, Andrew was able to make the arrangements for his mother’s cremation and to obtain the necessary paperwork to take her ashes back to Spain for the memorial service, a job which was completed only hours before his flight was due to leave.

On the flight from New Zealand to Thailand, Andrew developed deep vein thrombosis in his right leg and was unable to walk for several hours, so he rested in Bangkok for 24 hours before continuing his journey to Spain, exercising vigorously all the way. After the memorial service, he and Anna were planning to take a few days holiday in Spain before returning to Norway, but severe chest pains put Andrew in the hospital trauma ward with a pulmonary embolism resulting from the DVT. He came out of hospital last week and has been banned from flying for a few months so cannot go back to Norway for a while.

He had planned to come out to Kunming in May which would have given us the opportunity to discuss progress on the water projects and make plans for the future. I had hoped that together we could recruit a local person to continue making the circuits for the UV light water purifiers after I leave at the end of July. Something we need to be thinking about. We are still hoping Andrew and Anna will return to China before we leave.







Another of the many examples of Chinglish we see every day. Can the dogs read?

The Erhu Man is Back

One of Judy’s memories of the first time she led a school trip to Kunming was the atmospheric sound of the erhu (pronounced Ah Hoo), a traditional two-stringed instrument being played outside the university hostel. We have seen and heard the elderly erhu player many times since then and he has become a friend. We enjoy his playing and usually put money into his collecting bowl as we pass, although he seemed a little puzzled during last year’s school trip when he found in his bowl a ticket for lunch at the hostel which Peter had accidentally dropped in! We have a theory that the erhu man is actually a university professor who enjoys playing the erhu in his spare time.
For some weeks there has been no erhu music outside the hostel. Maybe he was ill or perhaps too busy lecturing! However, we are happy to report that the strains of the erhu are once again drifting into the windows of the hostel. On Friday Peter came across our friend sitting in his usual place and there was a shaking of hands and smiles on both sides!

Saturday was a school holiday. It was "grave sweeping day" when many Chinese visit the graves of their ancestors. Many shops were still open, however, so clearly not everyone does this - perhaps the journey would take too long. Judy’s school arranged for Saturday’s classes to be rescheduled to Monday but none of her pupils could make it, so the holiday was, unusually, a holiday.

March has been an extra busy month for us both which is one reason why there has been a bit of a gap in our blog entries. April looks like being a bit quieter.

We visited Kunming Zoo, in spite of the guidebook’s warning that it wasn’t a place for animal lovers. The guidebook was right, although the park itself is a very pleasant place for the human visitors. The birds and butterflies seemed happy enough but conditions for the large mammals (elephants, bears, lions, wolves, etc.) were far from ideal. But the yak looked healthy and we liked the way he had his hooves neatly together.

Later this month we plan to visit Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors. We went to the impressive exhibition in London last year and are really looking forward to seeing them in their original setting, as well seeing the rest of what Xi’an has to offer.