31st January - Beijing

Today was a late start as we tried to recover from climbing the Great Wall.
We headed off to the train station to book our seats for Xian so we could see the Terracotta Warriors.

I wont repeat what is also on Alison's blog, but I will add that it was chaos on a very large scale.
There is a link to her site on the right of the page ( Informed Adventures ).

After our visit to the train station, we headed back into town to look around some of the shops.
Most of you will already be aware that I dont do shopping unless it has a plug on the end or its fun.
We went for fun and decided to see what the real Chinese buy to decorate their homes.

This is a small selection of phones on sale in one of the stores.
Based on the price, I can only assume that with money comes bad taste because these phones cost over £200 each.
This doesn't seem that bad, but compare that with the coats we brought which only cost £7 each !



You could have also gone for a 5 foot plastic ship made to look like it was made from Jade !
I cant understand where they manage to display these as their home are all so small.
You dont see any houses, and the flats dont look that large.



The evening was spent standing in the freezing cold watching the guards lowering the Chinese flag.

Update From Beijing 30th Jan 2006

The 29th January was the start of the Chinese new year - Year of the dog.

The Chinese new year is comparable with Christmas as its all about family, a bit of religion and loads of over eating.

The day for us started with a display in the hotel



The joke was lost on most of the guests.



After the display, we headed to a local park where a festival was in full swing.

Entrance to Datai Park - Beijing






Taxi anyone !!!



These are super sized joss sticks.



After leaving the park, we went for a bite to eat in a local restaurant.
This little dish is meant to be spicy beef with veg.
Someone needs to tell the Chinese that chili doesn't count as a veg !!!
Needless to say it blew my head off.



30th January 2006

We booked a guide and headed to the Great Wall Of China.

The Great Wall Of China

There were two directions that you could take along this section of the wall the wall.
The easy one or the hard one.

The photo above shows the easy route, which is why it was so crowded even so early in the morning.

Needless to say we opted for the uphill climb !



They even sold T-Shirts with "I did the Great Wall"
We declined.




And that Bag Lady keeps turning up, this time there are two of them !!

More Food From China

I thought that you might want to see some more tasty little snacks from China.

I never even knew what a silk worm was, I certainly wouldn't have thought that you could eat one.



What about a nice little Sea Horse ?



I am not sure if your meant to eat the tails of the scorpion - Yum Yum !!

Beijing 27th January 2006

Day 2 - Beijing

Well we have settled in quite well.
I woke Alison up nice and early, so that she could have a haircut at the same place that I did !!

For some reason unknown to me, womens haircuts take 10 times longer than mine and cost 20 time more even in China.
Well we finally got to the Forbidden Palace by mid day and headed towards the sign that stated that they offered not only English commentary, but that the commentary was by James Bond 007 ( Roger Moore ).

First con of the day !

We entered the Forbidden Palace listerning to a headset with a Chinese girl talking us through each point of interest.














After leaving the Palace, we headed for the shops, as were absolutely freezing !
Those UK pac a macs just dont keep the chill out.

Well we had a result.
Two new coats for £14 !
I am sure that we were ripped of, but who's going to argue for that price!

Now feeling warm at last, we decided to check out some of the food stalls that had set up shop near Tianamen Square.

Any idea what these are ?



Answer = Frogs Legs





Well what about these then ?



Two snakes and two snake skins ( Why waste what someone might buy ) .

Finallyy, any ideas what these are ?



If it has legs then they eat it.
The more the merrier !!!!

Beijing - China 26th January 2006

Beijing

What a contrast to Japan - Complete chaos !

On arrival at Beijing airport, we attracted every taxi driver in Beijing trying to take us to the city ( It must have been Alison's red pac a mac ).

Our instinct was to ignore the taxi drivers offers, and to take public transport.
What we hadn't bargained for was half of China trying to visit the same location for the Chinese New Year!

Today was our first real view of Beijing.

In short, it has too many people and you cant see what your looking at due to the smog.

On the upside the food is excellent and you can have great fun haggling for a few pence off everything that you buy ( See the hair cut photo ! ).

Things are a little cheaper here which is good.
We looked at some coats in a store, which ranged from £7 to £12.

If we can find some that come in supper size then we might have a month where we are warm.

We have seen some strange signs about their chicken over here.

In the more upmarket places, their chicken has been through quarantine.

I take this to mean that they are battery chickens that couldn't have come into contact with wild birds !!

An indication of the smog levels.

If you can get up close, then you can actually see the colour of the buildings.

I cant wait to see what things look like during the New Year celebrations as they have just lifted the ban on fireworks in the street.

One of the many lions guarding the Forbidden Palace.



I mentioned earlier that you could haggle for anything.
Well I have just learnt that you should do this after your haircut and not before!
I created great amusement trying to get the guy to understand the words Clippers and number 3.
I finally ended up with the clippers, but the number of the guard was lost in translation.
The length of my hair was dependent upon ththicknesses of his comb, which seemed a tad too small for this time of year !!
Needless to say that Alison who was planning a trim herself declined !!!



I am not sure if you were allowed to take these photos, but watching them goose step was quite a site.

Tokyo - 24th January

Our Last Night

All good things must come to an end, so it's good bye Japan and hello China.

Alison's last chance to do the washing herself - She insisted !!!
It also proves that under those paca - macs there are clean clothes

Once Alison had completed her chores, I suggest a nice hot Jacuzzi.
What I didn't mention was how you had to get to it !!!

1/ Dress like Japanese house wife.

2/Wade through the snow that hadn't been removed from the ladies changing room - This is a man's world !!

The flip flops looked rather cold :)

But the wait was worth it.

See you next from China.

Chow for now.

Tokyo 23rd January 2006

Well when I said that it had snowed, I meant it.

A photo for all of you still at work for O2.
Its the competition at night.

We finally found the location where neon was everywhere.
You could buy anything that you could think of with a plug on the end of it.







Purely taken to show Japanese dress sense and nothing to do with the fishnets !!!

More Toilet Fun From Japan

More Toilet Fun From Japan

Well we arrived in Tokyo last night with a snow storm in full swing and found that the tourist information was closed, so we were unable to book a hotel.

After a bit of fussing around, we ended up staying the night in the Station Hotel, which funny enough is right on the station !!

We only ventured out to the closest shops as it was freezing and we only have our pack a macs with us – Oops !

Well after a very good nights sleep, we have woken up to a lovely bright day with the snow still covering the building tops, but the roads and paths look to be clear.

I decided today to give the jet wash a go on the toilet !!

I turned the seat heater up to full and rested myself down watching all the buttons light up in turn.

After doing what comes natural for most men by 9am each day, I hit the shower button.

Not quite a jet wash, but a funny sensation all the same.

This is when I started to think about what I had done.

What are you supposed to do to dry yourself off ?

Use Alison's Towel Of Course !!!

Have a nice day !

Iwakuni 20th January 2006, Japan

After a lazy day yesterday, we opted to catch a train for Iwakuni.
The guide book seemed to rate this area of Japan quite highly, referring to the ancient Kintai bridge, Iwaken castle and the Kikko park to name a few.

What they didn't mention was that you shouldn't go there in winter !
Not only was it cold ( See photos of me and Alison ), but the park fountains were not turned on, all the water features had no water and the Castle cable car was running on winter times.
It was a day out though and we did get to use our rail passes again on the Bullet train.

Iwakuni castle
So the guide books say, this castle was located further back into the mountains in ruins.
When the Japanese government decided to restore the castle, they also decided that it would be better to move it so as visitor would have a better view of Iwakuni !

Could you imagine if Stone Henge had bad views, so the government decided to shift it !



Two views from Iwakuni castle



Kintai Bridge



Me on Kintai Bridge
Do you like the gloves ?




Alison on Kintai Bridge



That bag lady is back again

On arrival back at Hiroshima we decided to try more Japanese food
This is a traditional dish made from shredded lettuce, noodles, egg, meat and soya sauce all resting on a pancake.
It actually tasted OK, not the sort of thing to crave over but probably the only dish that has taste so far.

I thought I would throw the next one in for fun.
Its a department store !



Finally, I found the lowest urinal in the world.
No more standing on tip toes !

Why aint you clicking ?

Alison has just checked her advert clicks and with great joy informs me that she is winning by $1.25

 

Your country needs you or should I say that I need you.

 

Keep clicking and help me to get ahead by a mile.

 

For those that do, there is an incentive.

It will go towards the first drinks on my return.

 

Click

Click

Click

 

 

 

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Hiroshima 19th January - A Lazy Day !!

A day spent doing very little

Today was spent doing very little, in some part to have a rest of temples but mainly due to the need for clean clothes ( Remember we only have hand luggage ! ).

It took Alison little time to master the art of Japanese electronics, working out which dial to turn and how much each machine costs.

I have promised her that she can have a service wash like in Eastenders when we get into China ( I know how to spoil a lady ! ), but for the time being its a DIY job.

After the washing was completed, we decided to have a late lunch and headed off to Hiroshima Station food court.

All the restaurants advertise their meals with either photos or actual food on the outside.

Much the same as Spain used to be, but this isn't for the tourist.

Alison was up against it again with this choice, as you will notice that there isn't much for a Veggie.
She finally worked out what she thought was a plate of veg plus a plate of cooked greens with a peanut covering.

I decided for steak again, and thought that I would share a small amount of Alison's veg.

Meals in Japan is not served altogether.

It arrives as soon as its hot, leaving you the choice to either let it go cold before your veg etc turns up or just tuck in and wait for the next plate.

This is the meat dish that I ordered.

It tasted as good as it looked and for the first time we sat eagerly awaiting the next plates.

The next plate was veg, which in no way resembled the plate on the outside.

And then came Alison's main dish.

She tucked in and just turned back at me with one of those looks.

She wasn't quite sure what she had eaten, but it wasn't peanut sauce !

Any ideas ?

Well after much searching in the guide book, we found what she had eaten.
Sea Urchin Roe - The un-born eggs of a sea urchin, just what the doctor ordered for a vegetarian.
That's what you get for being fussy !

After such a hearty meal, we headed back to the hotel on foot to burn off our food.
Alison decided to hone her photography skills and started to snap at the latest car trends over here.

Before you laugh too much, remember that petrol costs have rocketed and that most of the cars in the UK now come from Japan.
One of these could be on your drive sooner than you think !!

A nice little Mazda

What about a Honda - Any takers

I have no idea what this is, but I think that it is aimed at Mini owners.
This must be the hot 850cc version with all the mod cons added such as reclining door mirrors

The choice wouldn't be complete without a Nissan

And finally for anyone thinking of a new motorbike, what about a new naked moped without any panels.

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