The Breakroom > The Water Cooler
Dot and Stew's China Adventure
andreas:
Wonderful photos Stew!!!! thanks for sharing :beer:
sbwhart:
:nrocks:
Thanks for your interest Chaps
Here's a few more pics of the caves at Gulin
One of the things that fascinated me was the transport system, traffic seemed to flow like a stream flowing around a bolder, traffic lights were optional green, amber, red all mean go, their was no lane discipline, and as for the bicycles the majority of which were battery driven they were just like a herd of stampeding cattle that didn't give way for anything.
This pic was taken early in the morning before the traffic really got going you can see the bicycle lane has been stopped by a man with a red flag, they just wont obey the lights, when the traffic really pics up they just overwhelm him and keep going. At the bottom right you can just see a new subway under construction, (not a sandwich shop a mass transport system) :loco:.
This is the fast train we did a journey of about the equivalent of Manchester to London about 2 hrs:- 1st class one way for £12.
It hit a top speed of 200 km/hr, they are building a faster high speed track that will have speed of over 300 km/hr
A goods train
We passed a train loaded with military vehicles I didn't think it wise to take a pic, but what interested me was that each vehicle had a driver sitting in it even though they were loaded on a railway wagon :scratch:
They call these strange things "local Mercedes"
A up dated version.
Most of the bikes and scooter look like Japanese clones.
I've never seen cars transported like this.
Came across this in a museum its how they use to cast bronze pots with a clay pattern and mold.
We flew out their in an Airbus A380 its got three camera one above the cockpit, one on the tail plane and one pointing to the ground, each passenger seat has a TV for watching videos etc, you can also access these cameras and watch the plane taking off and landing etc, I took this pic of the screen as the plane was making a course correction at 40,000ft, you can see the curvature of the earth.
I've tried not to be political with this thread, but one of the most disturbing thing that happened was when it was announced that the Nobel Piece Prize had been awarded to a Chinese dissident, we were watching the BBC world news channel the presenter got as far as saying "The Nobel Piece Prize has been awarded to the Chinese dissident" and the signal was cut off, we swapped over to CNN they did the same thing, and they kept doing it every time it came on.
I think the next pics demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Chines system.
I just wonder what would happen to any one who printed a t shirt taking the piss out of a Chinese leader.
Stew
Bernd:
Stew,
Thanks for taking all those pictures. Some very nice pics there.
Sure gives you a different persepctive of a once thought of third world country.
Looks like you had some good weather too. Did you go around by yourself or did you have a guide?
Bernd
andyf:
Fascinating, Stew.
I've only been to China proper once, back in 1981 on a day trip from Hong Kong via Macao. Conducted bus tour, taking in house of revered Sun Yat Sen etc. Hardly saw another motor vehicle except for tiny 3-wheeled tractors pulling little trailers in the countryside, where labour in the fields seemed mainly manual, and ducks were everywhere. In the towns, hundreds of pushbikes proceeding six abreast, all tinkling their bells at one another. Other abiding memories were of the way folk stopped and stared at our mainly European party, especially the tall redheaded one, two guys by the roadside skinning a dog, the strangeness of seeing Christmas decorations in the canteen-like place where we stopped for lunch (it was between Xmas and New Year) and the embarrassment of a couple in the party from LA but of Chinese extraction, when they had to ask for a fork for their young son, who couldn't manage chopsticks. That taught me how to say the Cantonese for "fork", which has come in useful in the UK on the odd occasion when my coordination has suffered from spending too long in the pub before going for a Chinese meal.
:bugeye: It looks like the place has changed a bit during the last 30 years....
Andy
sbwhart:
Bernd
The weather was very good it sort of wrong footed us our research suggested that it would be around 15 C or colder so we packed warmer clothes, in reality it was 20 plus and very humid hence the heat haze in some of the pics. When we arrived in Baygine it was a public holiday, every ware was packed with people visiting the city, the odd ones would stare at you or stop and listen to you speaking English with the guide. We met a Norwegian family who were traveling with their blond haired children who kept getting pestered by people who wanted to take pictures of the kids. When we first arrived in Baygine the air was nice and clear because of the public holiday, but the day we left everyone was at work and you could eat the air with a spoon.
We went on a private tour with a Guide and a Driver, but we did have about 30% of the time unguided, our daughter who works for the travel company "Travel Bag" arranged it all including the Hotels, Internal flights, and the personal Guides, who met us at and took us to the airports/railway stations and saw us safely aboard, they also took us around the sites, they were all official guides who spoke good English, and they had considerable clout at the attractions, and take us to the front of any queues, something I felt a bit embarrassed about.
They also gave good advice on how to deal with the traders and would tell us what a fair price was to haggle for. One trader tried to cheat me when we first got their, it was at the Great Wall I'd agreed a price of 75 Yuan (£7.50) for an item, I took my wallet out handed him 100 Yuan which he stuffed in his pocket, but he had spotted I got US $ in my wallet, and promptly started shouting that he wanted $75 (£75) their was no way the cheating bastard was going to get $75 out of me, and he wasn't going to hand back the 100 Yan he had in is pocket, he was getting very in your face but I was standing my ground giving as much as I took, the guide who was some way away with my wife came running back, I explained to her over this guys shouting what was going on, she turned round and gave him a right mouth full in Chines he went very quite and meekly handed me the 100 Yuan, the guide explained that she told him he was a dishonest trader and a shame on the Chines people and if he didn't hand back the money she would report him. From then on we were very carful not to let anyone see our money.
A bit of a plug for my Daughter:-
She works at the Travel Bag Nutsford office if any of you wanting a tailor made holiday just give them a call and ask for Kirstin Hart and mention me and she will arrange a holiday to your own requirements any ware in the world.
If you PM me I'll pass on her telephone number and email address.
Stew
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