Final days in Guangdong

The last few days have been spent relaxing, dining with family and friends and attending wedding dinner number 3. Walked around the local village market and then realised with horror that the flight is tonight, not tomorrow!! The 00.40 flight from HK always catches us out, we forget that means go to HK Thursday NOT Friday as the 00.40 is Friday morning. This is the fourth time in succession that we have made this mistake, you would think that we would have cottoned on to it by now!?
Good return flight and slept for 10 of the 13 hours so arrived home 10am and went to bed usual time and awoke usual time next day so was not beaten by jetlag this time.
If you would like to see more photos of the trip please copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/83799077

Xiqou Mountain

Today we visited Xiqou Mountain which is the home of the largest seated Buddha in the world measuring in excess of 60m tall, quite a spectalcular piece of engineering formed in copper sheeting as the external envelope. A bit similar to the Statue of Liberty in that you can climb up inside to viewing points within it. The whole thing sits atop the mountain which lies twixt Shunde, Longjian and Foshan with fabulous views over the adjoining lake, village and the city.
It was quite a climb, I lost count of the steps, but well worth the effort.
I did a rough calculation last night and estimate that we have travelled over 5000 miles within China this trip! No wonder my dear wife was feeling a bit tired when we returned to Guangdong Province!!
We had a most enjoyable lunch yesterday with former colleagues of my wife, who as usual, presented me with gifts of the highest quality tea!
Another lunch and a dinner tonight too. My wife has lost 2 kilos weight this trip but I have not lost ANY, it is unfair, I have tried really. I was hoping a diet of rice, vegetables and not much meat, no alcohol to speak of and no cake or chocolate biscuits would do the business.

Chongqing to Guangzhou

What I really like about the Chinese Railways is provided by the existence of a Communist State!! Surprisingly they have a 2 tier system in place for the "priviledged classes" whereby you are allowed a separate waiting room and are allowed to board your train if you have purchased "upper class" tickets, or in some stations merely pay an extra 15 RMB (about £1.40) to gain entry to the "VIP" lounge which usually sports easy chairs, sofas, a bar serving fresh coffee or tea and various snacks to consume there or on the journey. This is well worth it as the ordinary class waiting areas are invariably tremendously overcrowded with insufficient seating, can be dirty, very noisy and when permitted to access the platform resembles a stampede of Wildebeest crossing a crocodile infested river. Also some very dubious looking characters wander around looking for easy plunder and quite a few "professional" beggars who are persistent to the degree of justifiable homicide by the unfortunate traveller who is their target, especially westerners who are considered rich beyond imagination by the beggars. Sometimes infants are used (trained) for this purpose and on one occasion when travelling from Beijing to TaiYuan I was accosted by the same woman each end of the journey!!! Presumably she "costs in" the price of a ticket for her trade as to even gain access to the platforms without a valid ticket would be almost miraculous as the Chinese Rail officials are vigorous and aggressive in their scrutinising the travellers who are funnelled through the substantial barriers twixt waiting areas and platforms.
So British Rail, PLEASE take a laef out of the China Rail book and re-introduce First Class Waiting rooms!! (Why on earth did they do away with them in the first instance?)

20 hour train journey from C to G but very comfortable and the "facilities" were very clean for once thanks to the scrupulous attention of the smart, polite and friendly conductoresses who attend each carriage.

The scenery was very attractive on the trip with a variety of landscape being framed by the carriage window, mountains, huge rivers, forests, terraced hills, wide valleys and lots of paddy fields. The peasants seem to be benefitting from more income nowadays as their dwellings gradually improve from mud structures to brick clad reinforced concetre framed buildings. This is to protect from earthquake damage. While we were in Chendu there was an earthquake in the province but we felt nothing on the 16th floor of the hotel.
The evening of the day of our return to Foshan saw us at another wedding dinner, near Shunde, in a village. There were at least 500 guests in the outdoor dinner with the caterers cooking upon fires and stoves inthe open too. They did very well and the service was slick. We ate amongst other things crocodile and snake, the former being a bit tough but the latter quite delicious. Neither tasted like chicken!!


Today we will be at yet another wedding dinner, this time my wife's cousin is the lucky lady.
It looks like i will have to return to Beijing late December for another meeting, bit of a nuisance just before Christmas.
Looking forward to a few relaxing days in Canton province before returning to the UK.

Chongqing

This City is so large that it is a county also and in some ways a bit like Hong Kong architecturally and layout but around a river not a bay.
Execellent meetings with Deputy Director of the Board of Trade then the Dean of the University who agreed for me to give a lecture next visit and finally a meeting with Chairman of the Board of a large investment and property development company. Also chairs the Chongqing Conservation Board. All agreed for future co-operation.
Fairly tiring day and a bit hectic but rewarding.

So this is Sechuan Province

Well, since Beijing had a brief stop at TaiYuan capital of Shanxi province and met some delightful people who could speak English, which was nice for me.
Then on to Xian where we met Becky who I had not seen since 2004, who also speaks English quite well. While there we did the obligatory trip to see the Terra Cotta army, which was an interesting and worthwhile visit. Very well designed buildings and visitor center. Also went to the Bell Tower and Drum Tower in the City Center which are beautiful buildings from past dynasties. Xian is a pleasant city and the people friendly and polite.
Moved on to Chengdu capital of Sechuan province, where they like very hot and spicy food. Again a lovely city and quite "laid back" by comparison with other cities so far visited. Met the brother-in-law and his brother-in-law plus his wife who looks more Japanese than Chinese and is extremely beautiful and charming. Nice to see Chen again as it is 3 or 4 years since we have seen him as he works away from home so much.
The weather has not been very kind except for a few hours of sun at Xian but there is a cold wind mostly which makes for a lot of dust. We had to go and see the Giant Panda research center yesterday and I must admit the creatures are very adorable to watch, especially at feeding time when they lay on their backs and get stuick into some serious bamboo crunching!
Now to go and get and write some postcards.

Visited the Emporers Summer Palace this morning which I did not get to in 2005 as I was unwell that day when my son went there! I am so pleased to have seen it at last as it is so splendid with a beautiful lake, temples and pavilions. There were still a lot of people there despite being "off season" but not so many westerners.
We then went to the Nest area and found that VERY busy and only 50Yuan admission! It is a superb piece of architecture and engineering BUT seems a lot smaller than when watching the Olympics on TV. Well worth a visit.
Having a relaxing evening tonight as meetings again tomorrow, the Chinese companies work Saturdays. Also lunch date with friends. Then leave Beijing Saturday night to go to Chengdu via TaiYuan and Xian.

Beijing

It is very cold in Beijing right now but there was some sunshine yesterday. The hotel is newish and the taxis have trouble in finding it, as they did with the Shanghai one too!!
Had a very good but nerve racking meeting yesterday with PRC Government officials.
Going to "The Nest" today.

China Progress

Nanchang was an interesting City but not inspiring, whereas Shanghai was fairly inspiring architecturally but overwhelming with people and traffic, moreover I was tailed by a street gang of 6 men in their 20's in the style of Fagin's pupils.
Managed to elude thm eventually but a very uncomfortable experience and far TOO MANY people in the city (I was told 40 million!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
We managed to track down a new bar & restaurant recently opened by Wayne Ho, the cousin of Gary Ma who runs a UK restaurant which we frequent for its fabulous Cantonese cuisine.
Wayne treated us to a lovely meal prepared by his own hands of a local speciality and we really enjoyed the experience. He will be back in the UK next April so we will meet again then.
I wont be rushing back their too soon although I do have a conference there in 2010.

By contrast the old capital of China, Nanjing, is superb and very beautiful and of a more human scale wit no noticeable beggars or petty criminals encountered. I was given the royal treatment by very kind hosts, the president of the company which I was visiting acted as chauffeur and treated us to lunch and dinner and then the Dean of the University where I was giving the lecture also gave us a wonderful meal the next evening. We lunched with the head of drugs from Nanjing hosptal on the last day and apart from some spicy dishes too hot for my delicate palate, the local food is extremely good,, especially the smoked duck.
We move on to Peking (as still referred to here) next.

China Again

Great flight to Hong Kong, very impressed by HR Terminal 5, a bit like Lok Sen but bigger.
Weather not as good as expected by day 2, must have brought it from UK! Still it is good to see the family and friends. A Bonus was that we were able to attend the Wedding Dinner of Ling, a very pretty girl and David her fiancee, a great guy. Also spent time with Cat and her fiancee Pang, both delightful couples.
Visited factory at Nanhai then to dinner with English Language School owners and head teacher to discuss prospects with Lorna and the UK company.
Today we go to Guangzhou then to Nanchang by overnight train to see Jimmy.