Beyond the Wall

Napoli-Roma-Beijing (14/8/04)

After spending the morning sorting out the last things, we go back to Naples to my parents' for a quick lunch; the train to Rome leaves at 15:36. After two hours of travel we arrive at Tiburtina and in less than 30 minutes we're at Fiumicino. After a quick check-in we go to our gate, C31; boarding is scheduled for 19:20. At the gate we're the only Italians; there are only Chinese people who, at boarding, form a swaying mass....we'll have to get used to it. The plane (Air China) leaves about 1 h late....never mind, we're not in a hurry, we're on holiday. On board they show a string of programmes in Chinese...obviously incomprehensible.... but finally Spiderman starts...but that's in Chinese too. Resigned, we spend the roughly 10 hours of the journey talking about the pros and cons.

We arrive in Beijing at the expected time, around 12:30; we complete the long customs formalities, also passing the laser thermometer left over from the SARS period, and head out of the airport dodging the "taxi drivers" who would like to take us into the city for astronomical sums. Just outside the airport there's a desk where some officials stop tourists dazed by jet lag asking where they're headed...... they give you the ticket (16 RMB) and point out which bus to take...in our case we take line 3 which passes through the centre. After the third stop we decide to continue on foot; Beijing is an incredible, enormous city, all the signs are in Chinese and this disorients us a bit...moreover there's the impressive mass of people crowding every corner...oh well.

Fortunately the people from the website who, free of charge, acted as intermediaries with the various hotels (offering an impeccable service) let you download all the hotel information (name, street, phone no.) in Chinese.....very handy (obviously don't expect anyone to speak English, I counted very few and some who used it to extort money from you, opening with the phrase.....hello, I'm a young student....bla..bla..bla.... don't pay them any attention and keep going, though some will turn out to be extremely kind), you print it and take it with you, and when needed you show it to a passer-by and Bob's your uncle. Indeed, by showing this little sheet right and left, we manage to find our hotel, the Fangyuan hotel (not at all nice or comfortable but located in the centre).

After a bit of rest we head to the station to book a train; we arrive at the station...incredible, there are loads of people coming and going, others sitting on sheets of newspaper...a real chaos; with difficulty we manage to find the office for selling tickets to foreigners...and surprise, I can't book a Luoyang-Xi'An train from Beijing...to book this train I have to be in Luoyang (??????)....of course I could have booked it online but it cost me 100 times more and besides it wasn't what I wanted. You can get an idea of the timetables by checking the website; the timetables are right but the name of some trains has changed. After this experience we decide to eat in a restaurant near the hotel the famous Peking duck (exceptional) and a fried rice (sometimes you manage to find the menus in English); after dinner, off to bed...but clearly the bed is too small.

Beijing

This morning we wake up early (7:30), have a quick Chinese breakfast (not exactly thrilling), leave the hotel and after a few minutes we meet our legendary travel companions Dany and Sasy (they've come from a journey of about 14 hours via Helsinki). Obviously without even resting they drop their backpacks and off we go, poor things; we walk the road that leads us in front of the front gate that opens onto the majestic Tiananmen Square, incredibly huge; this square, about 2 km long, can hold 500,000 people (half of Naples) and is the largest in the world. Today is Sunday and the square is extremely crowded; there's a river of people in line entering Mao's mausoleum. Every three metres (I counted) someone stops us to sell us something, but dodging the persistent sellers, we reach the Forbidden City where a gigantic portrait of Mao is proudly displayed.

After dropping off our little backpacks and putting everything through the metal detector and X-rays, we can go up onto the central gate where you can get a stunning panorama over Tiananmen Square. We begin the visit to the Forbidden City, truly an immense place; we see the five marble bridges, the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the royal garden. The city is full of magnificent sculptures in the shape of mythological animals (e.g. dragons); there are fantastic marble bas-reliefs. Outside the city there's an artificial hill created with the earth dug out from making the moat. On this hill there's a fantastic park (Jingshan) full of fabulous bonsai; at the top of the hill stands a temple with, inside, a statue of Buddha looking towards the Forbidden City; from here you get a fantastic panorama.

The second stop of the day is the Temple of Heaven, very beautiful; we see the circular altar and the Echo Wall. The temple has a circular structure with three roofs (its image, apparently, is much exploited commercially) and the park that contains it is very large, almost 200 hectares. Towards evening, even though we're a bit tired, we go to visit the pearl market (freshwater???) where obviously you don't find only this product.

Beijing-Zhengzhou

Today too a dawn wake-up (6:15, but what kind of vacation is this??) we get dressed and quickly go knock on Dany and Sasy's door...who obviously were asleep. Once out of the hotel we try to stop various taxis to take us to Badalin where we'll be able to see the Great Wall. The starting price is 400-500 RMB but after a bit we manage to find a taxi that after heated negotiation agrees for 300 RMB. We get in the vehicle and after about 20 minutes the taxi driver changes his mind and asks us for 370 RMB...but how???? after a rather lively discussion we decide to get out and start stopping other taxis again (the beauty of do-it-yourself vacations). Finally after a bit we manage to find one for 320 RMB. After about 1 hour we arrive at Badalin but already a few km earlier you could see the walls of the Great Wall.

At the tourist parking lot we discover that the taxi driver wants to be paid in advance....how can we trust him???...after a heated discussion the taxi driver gives us his license (without which he can't (theoretically) go anywhere, plus a phone number made available by the city of Beijing where you can report smart-aleck taxi drivers) we fork over 300 RMB (20 less than the agreed price). We head toward the entrance of the wall where, after dodging hordes of vendors of every kind, we buy the ticket (very nice, complete with four stamps).

This time we go to the entrance where we discover that they let people in in waves (we'll find out later why), the wait is about 30 minutes (to be spent shopping) we go up but Sasy discovers that their tickets have been swiped so he goes back with Dany...we obviously decide to go up (also because the police "force" you to enter...the next wave is behind there). We walk a few meters on the wall, truly very steep, a real struggle; from here you can see a fantastic, wonderful panorama, you see these very green hills and the Great Wall following their slope as far as the eye can see. On the wall we discover that the Chinese have a marked curiosity toward Westerners, in fact they often ask us if they can photograph us...curious, isn't it??? At 12:00 we go back to the taxi and have it take us to the Summer Palace. Once inside we head to the lake and rent a pedal boat.

fantastic Sasy and I pedal and Manu and Dany sunbathe (less fantastic) with our speedy little boat we head under the bridge with seventeen arches we go around the little island from there we go to see the marble boat. All very beautiful from the center of the lake you can take beautiful photos of the Summer Palace. From here I strongly recommend visiting the silk market (which obviously doesn't only sell silk) you can make incredible deals. The technique is to ask the price (don't show too much interest in the item), when they tell you say ehhhhhh and walk away...they'll stop you grabbing your arm, you blurt out 1/10 of the initial price and continue the negotiation by moving a little...do this and you'll see the results. We go to the airport (taxi 85 RMB) and after paying the boarding tax (50 RMB) we take the flight to Zhengzhou where we arrive 1 hour later.

Once at the airport we have ourselves taken to our hotel (taxi 90 RMB, the city is fairly far away) we sleep at the Henan civil aviation....nice (I recommend unplugging the phone otherwise at night the "masseuse" calls..in China it happens very often even in luxury hotels)

Zhengzhou-Luoyang-Xi'An

At 6:00 we take a taxi that takes us to the long-distance bus station where we take a very comfortable bus that in two hours takes us to Luoyang. On board we're obviously the only foreigners, there's the constant of karaoke (obviously in Chinese).

In Luoyang theoretically we should book the ticket for Xi'An and go see the cave grottoes...theoretically at the station (Chinese stations are a nightmare..I still dream about them at night) there's an incredible line...nobody...absolutely nobody speaks English it takes me three, I mean three hours to make the girl understand that I want to take the local train at 18:00 and not the tourist one Beijing-Xi'An (N351) at 12:00 but nothing she doesn't get it even with the help of a very nice Chinese guy (who miraculously speaks English) I can't buy the ticket they force me to buy the tourist train (even if I had wanted to buy the ticket online I could only have purchased the tourist train)...bottom line I'm forced to take the train that leaves at 12:00 and I miss the Longmen cave grottoes, the alternative is the sleeper night bus that takes 10 hours....but considering how the Chinese drive.

We leave at 12:14 after the X-rays (in China they do airport-style checks even in train stations) and a visit to the public bathroom (I will NOT say you will NEVER forget a Chinese public bathroom NEVER) We arrive in Xi'An at 18:00 the train is very comfortable (obviously it's for tourists), by the way the English company that sold the ticket online wanted 33 pounds for the ticket, locally 55 RMB (5.5 euros!!!!!!). On the train car 12 seats 53-56 (all on the ticket) we talk, play a bit of verbal game (very nice, I recommend it) apparently also appreciated by the Chinese who admire card games (even though a version with ideograms would be needed). We take a taxi that for 70 RMB takes us to our nice hotel the Weishang (it doesn't accept credit cards). Unfortunately, a bit tired of Chinese food, we ask the reception if there's a Pizza Hut nearby...it's right nearby.

Xi'An

This morning we take a taxi that for 5 RMB takes us to the station, where bus no. 306 departs and for 8 RMB arrives at the Terracotta Army site. After passing through the beautiful entrance full of willows and with an enormous statue of Confucius, we buy the ticket for 90 RMB, first we visit the museum (nothing special) and then the famous Pit No. 1.....incredible, fantastic, there are so many statues with fixed gazes, all different even in the smallest details. Some seem to be holding weapons, you can recognize the archers, the infantrymen etc. (which of course have been lost or removed), and horses can also be seen. On some you can see a layer of yellow color that must have been the base before the final coloring. The excavations continue to bring new wonders to light; we also visit Pit No. 2 and 3, which are clearly smaller and less fascinating than the mother pit.

On the way out we head to the little market..a unique experience, I recommend it...with the usual technique (described earlier) we manage to buy excellent items at an incredible price. As for buying here, the Chinese merchants use a very amusing technique...you pass by their stall, if nothing interests you they call you over and with a (fake) furtive attitude invite you into the back room (behind the stall) and start showing you every sort of rarity (according to them), from (fake) original heads recovered from the rock caves to ancient bamboo scrolls depicting kamasutra positions...one example for all, the "original" Buddha head from the Longmen caves, starting value 50 US dollars...price paid 5 euros (though).

We arrive at the bus station, we don't want to go back to the city but to go to the Neolithic village of Banpo..of course there are no direct buses and we take a minibus that for 5 RMB (of course a price 10 times higher for tourists) drops us in a godforsaken village where we take bus 301 that drops us at the Neolithic village...all this explaining ourselves with gestures and showing the places written in Chinese in the (legendary) Lonely Planet. Unfortunately the village is closed for restoration work....ok, that's part of the game. Back in Xi'An we decide to see the Muslim quarter, a real hoot, very evocative. You must stop in a shop that writes scrolls, you must buy a blank one (I asked to write Gianc and Man) and you MUST ask to meet the master and watch him while he writes it, a unique experience.

Still walking around you'll see the legendary little cages containing live crickets (!!!!).

Xi'AN-Chengdu-Leshan

Thanks to Manu I wake up at 5:15, I go to wake Dany and Sasy (and I find them already awake...!!!!), there's a taxi waiting for us down at the hotel and for 120 RMB it takes us to the airport. After paying the usual boarding tax we take our plane that will take us to Chengdu (at 9:00). As soon as we get off the plane we take a taxi that escorts us to the panda breeding center (106 RMB, a bit out of the way), the weather is awful, it's raining heavily....we arrive at the enclosure of the oldest panda, his name is Pride (they even make cigarettes with his name), he doesn't have much desire to be seen and blissfully takes a nap. After a while Pride finally, like a true star, grants us the favor of posing for a fantastic photograph....he's a fantastic animal, we can really see him up close (max 1 m away) while he munches on bamboo...it's an incredible experience.

We continue wandering around the various enclosures, we go to the sub-adults (?????) who lie there lazily rolling around and scratching their backs. Of course we make a quick stop at the nursery where there are some very tender cubs (to enter you have to wear shoe covers)..how cute they are (for 400 RMB you can have photos taken with them in your arms........a somewhat cruel practice because they're not very enthusiastic about it). After visiting the red panda enclosures we take the only taxi to be found outside the park (it's 12:15 and everyone is at lunch) and have ourselves taken to the long-distance bus terminal. Quickly we manage to catch the 13:00 bus that will take us to Leshan. Arriving in Leshan we take a taxi that takes us to our fabulous hotel, the Jinhaitang hotel.

After a short break we go to the pier where we take a small two-story boat, all "ramshackle," that for 4 RMB takes us to the other side of the river passing by the wonderful Great Buddha. This very tall statue (70 m, the tallest in the world) was carved into the rock by a monk and is in a spectacular position, at the intersection of two rivers....guys, fantastic. A small note, boat vs tourist speedboat: it's true that the speedboat, going against the current, allows you to stay longer at the foot of the hill...but with the boat, besides paying less, it's possible to take great photos. Remember to go to the second floor and position yourself on the left side...keep your camera ready. Once we land we pay 70 RMB, we take a (uphill) little road that runs through a small bamboo forest, it's extremely hot, also due to the excessive humidity.

We enter a monastery where the entrance is "protected" by gigantic statues; inside there's a very relaxed, very beautiful atmosphere, but be careful not to get lost, you have to exit the temple and continue up the uphill road, at a certain point you'll cross a fantastic wooden bridge that will lead you, after a long and exhausting walk (bring few things), to a clearing where you can enjoy a "nice" panorama of the city of Leshan; you'll be surprised when you see the enormous head (17m) poking out from below...then, leaning over the railing, you'll see the Buddha from above in all his majesty. Fortunately we went quite late and so there were few people, so we quickly go down the narrow staircase carved into the rock. Arriving at the feet of the Buddha we can take some beautiful photos (+/- the same ones we were taking from the ferry, that's why the speedboat isn't worth it).

Since the path is one-way, we climb back up to the top of the Buddha and from there we exit, continuing to walk on the other side (there are two entrances, one on the street side and one reached by ferry...you can go through them in both directions). Exhausted, we go to the hotel to take off our shirts "dripping" with sweat (how gross!!!) and from there, a bit fed up with Chinese food, we go to a McDonald's-type place called Disco, very nice...of course it takes us three hours to order four sandwiches since nobody speaks English...the situation is made worse by the fact that the girls don't just eat a sandwich...no, one wants it without mayonnaise, one wants to know if it's spicy.....ah, women.

Leshan-Emeishan-Leshan

Incredibly today the alarm is at 9:00!!!, this surprises me, ok, we go to the bus station and take a bus to the city of Emei located at the foot of one of the four sacred mountains of Buddhism, Mount Emeishan. Obviously having skillfully dodged the usual hawkers of gadgets and those who want to escort you at an crazy price, we take a taxi that takes us to the teddy bear café. Next to this café there is a huge, super-organized and ultra-modern (!!) facility where you catch the buses that take you to the top of the mountain. Ok we take the bus that speeds at 100 km/h on a tiny road full of hairpin turns, during the two hours of travel I think my butt stayed on the seat for a few minutes....it felt like being in a washing machine.

At a certain point we stop at a kind of toll booth (in the middle of the mountain), we have to get off, take a new ticket, have a digital photo printed on it (!!!!!) taken a few minutes earlier by an attendant, and set off again.....wow we have a personalized ticket. Arrived at the top at about 3000m we head towards the cable car that will take us even higher, along the road there are many stalls (authorized) selling paintings with huge butterflies and every kind of root. At a certain point a sign appears that informs/warns us that at this point monkeys are often observed...it's true they're right there, how cute they are, there are two adult specimens and two cubs, we barely manage to take a few photos because they run away.

The cable car takes us in five minutes to more than 3000 m, we arrive at a large square with a staircase all covered in padlocks (???) evocative, we arrive at a kind of cliff where it's possible to take wonderful photographs (see mine) of a temple perched on the rock, if the weather had been overcast the photo would have turned out wonderful (you'll see it around often) with the temple towering over the clouds...too bad, maybe next time. On this sacred mountain a curious phenomenon occurs called the "Buddha's halo", a mirage where it's possible to see yourself projected in the clouds surrounded by a rainbow, the faithful consider it a calling and in the past they would fall into the void. The spectacle is exceptional, there are many temples, it's full of incense burners and enormous flaming cauldrons where you light your votive candle....mystical.

Visiting the temple a bit we realize that even on a beautiful day it's possible to see the great Buddha of Leshan, but we are really high up, furthermore we go into a hall where a monk, in exchange for a small offering (if you want, very discreetly) will write, on a yellow prayer cloth stamped with the symbol of Mount Emeishan, a prayer for your loved ones. Unfortunately time is pressing (considering that it took us three hours to get up here and about 50 euros!!!!) so we don't take the little train that would take us to the golden summit, the temple built on the highest point...but in any case we can see it from afar. We return to Leshan earlier than expected since the bus that ran at breakneck speed on the way there, on the way back, downhill, put on the turbo taking only 1 hour (!!!).

Back in Leshan, before going to the hotel, we ask for information at the bus station about tomorrow (unfortunately even the Lonely has little information on the matter), obviously as if the ticket girl would understand us, so the usual story around us four a crowd of curious people gathers trying in every way to help us but barely understands us (this is China in our opinion), someone every now and then detaches from the rest of the people to look for a Chinese person who speaks at least a little English...and after about half an hour the crowd opens up and a girl arrives (the few who speak English are only the young) who kindly tells us that the Leshan Chongqing bus leaves at 7:10 and there's one every fifty minutes, but it takes 8 hours (!!!!!!!!!) for these 300 Km. Discouraged we go to eat and quickly to bed....given what awaits us tomorrow.

Leshan-Chongqing

The alternatives were taking the plane but it left at 12:00 from Chengdu, we would surely have missed Dazu, or taking the bus back to Chengdu (two hours) and then at the station asking if there are buses to Chongqing (hours???), too many connections, we'd better risk it. We leave at 7:10 sharp, the road is a real mess, there are only potholes, or rather let's say that on a dirt road there are pieces of asphalt, anyway the driver races like a madman (a widespread practice throughout China) often then the "road" is interrupted and alternating one-way sections begin where we have to wait at least thirty minutes.

Crazy, but we are rewarded since we are immersed in the real rural China, everywhere there are countryside and rice paddies where women and men covered in mud (hard to distinguish the sex) harvest the rice, others carrying very heavy sacks of rice on their backs, others spreading the freshly harvested rice in the sun...beautiful photos abound. 5-6 hours later (and 1h late) we reach the highway (maybe the first travel option was better given the road conditions) and while the driver indulges in a wild overtaking the engine breaks down and we slow down noticeably....goodbye, this was all we needed.....with difficulty (about 10 Km/h) we exit the highway to go to the mechanic, the women take the opportunity to go to the bathroom (they haven't seen a W.C. for 6 hours), they'll come out terrified.

The mechanic seems to say there's little to be done, so he has us get back on the bus to leave....but we're not all there, many have gone to eat....but like, what time will we arrive in Chongqing...Dany, very tired and very pissed off (like a classic Neapolitan with marked problem-solving skills) gets up and goes towards the horn starting to shout and honk, she manages amid the applause of the Chinese on the bus to call back the lost sheep. We return to the highway but after a while a new stop at a new mechanic, curious "I participate" in the discussion, the radiator fan is gone, the screw holding it broke, the head mechanic sends a guy on a bike who knows where. We're there in this godforsaken place (32 Km from Dazu) waiting...and time passes....we have to forget about the Dazu rock caves.

Tired, with Sasy we decide to explore the town, after a few meters we manage to find a small bus station, we ask about the schedules..there's a bus to Chongqing soon, we jump on the bus (since the guys say it takes about 3 hours to get to Dazu and anyway we'd arrive at closing time) it's three o'clock, we arrive two hours later, we took about 10 hours for three hundred Km...not bad. Our hotel is the Cygnet hotel, nice, given that we're in this horrendous city and can't go to Dazu at least let's eat the famous (???) Sichuan fondue (that's how it's spelled), at the hotel restaurant itself.

Basically there's a table with a brazier in the center, they bring an enormous pot with a double division, a central one containing a red sauce (I would catch fire just looking at it) the other that looked like a vegetable broth, then they bring many small saucers full of little vegetables and other very strange things that fortunately we didn't know. Then fish and the main dish the legendary snake...it was there all bloody, the girl takes it and throws it into the spicy sauce....come on, we've made it this far, let's not taste it, well the flavor is "nice" (you know the nice of the type I bring a friend...and how is she???...nice), the consistency seems like that of a fig, you feel little "grains" in your mouth, the scales I imagine. After mushrooms, chicken heads, strange little fritters the girl keeps putting stuff in the fondue...at a certain point stop her or the bill skyrockets.

Chongqing-Beijing

Today our tour of China comes to an end, at 8:30 we take the plane that brings us back to Beijing two hours later. By now we know the city well, we have to see the Lama Temple and the hutongs. The Lama Temple is characteristic, perhaps the most beautiful thing is the statue of the Buddha 17m tall carved from a single sandalwood trunk. The Hutongs are the typical neighborhoods of Beijing made up of small alleys with very low little houses, cute but nothing special in my opinion. Obviously we make another trip to the silk market where we buy some fantastic Nikes for 9 euros. In the evening you must, and I say must, go to the night food market, fantastic, you'll find the guys selling everything: starfish, cicadas, scorpions, goat testicles, silkworm...all on a skewer!!!!!!....there's a modest crowd but above all there are people eating these "things" with gusto...argh!!!.

Before returning to the hotel we go back to Tiananmen Square with a rickshaw, from here we say goodbye to China, tomorrow we leave, after all it was a trip rich in emotions