Singapore Zoo and Night Safari

We are spending our 3 days in Singapore mainly resting up but yesterday we ventured out to the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. Through the internet--once again I can't emphasize what a lifesaver having the laptop has been--we found out about an express bus which goes directly to the zoo and back from the night safari. We headed out to the zoo about 1pm and got there just before 2. As this was the first day of the Chinese New Year the place was absolutely PACKED with people especially families with lots of little kids. In hindsight this was not a good day to go to the zoo but we didn't really have a choice as our few days here coincides with CNY. We walked around looking at the animals and by about 4pm got to the far end of the zoo where the children's water park and play area is. We remembered this from our last visit and this time had brought the kids bathing suits with us so they could play in the water park. The water park has as its central feature a stairs and multiple slide feature with a large bucket of water which continuously fills up and periodically dumps its load. This is very similar to a feature in one of the pools at Wet n Wild on the Gold Coast, Queensland except that there are warning bells as this bucket fills up so the kids all gather below it for the dump. In Qld there was no warning and the water (in April anyway) was quite cold so getting dumped on was not a pleasant experience. Here the water is warm and the kids love it when the bucket dumps on them. Other than this feature there are all manner of water fountains/squirting devices and the kids all rush from one to the other. The majority of the kids we saw yesterday were pre-school and primary school aged. I don't know where the families with older children were--probably visiting relatives.

The kids area has greatly expanded since we were last here 7 years ago. There is now a carousel, small petting farm, pony rides and other attractions we didn't fully explore. The zoo also seems bigger but I can't put my finger exactly on what changes have been made. The eating area at the entrance to the zoo certainly has expanded with more eateries & seating. There was very very little last time.

The zoo closes at 6 and at that time we walked about 3 minutes over to the Night Safari entrance to eat dinner. The Night Safari also seems to have expanded over the past 7 years and there are more eateries and gift shops there. The Night Safari is supposed to open at 7:30 for tours and by 6:30 we were dismayed to see the waiting line to get on the safari trams extending all through the eating area. We thought it would take an hour or more to clear. But then the line moved and soon everyone was gone. I'm guessing that special early trams were put on for tour busses and that everyone in the line was from booked tours. Thank goodness for that! We got in line for the safari tram just after 7 and were surprised to find that the trams were already operating. It didn't take us long to get on one. The safari trams are an easy and educational way to see the Night Safari. The route that the trams take is a long one and there is one stop where you can get off and walk along a trail to view some of the smaller animals. We saw sugar gliders, badgers, leopards including a clouded leopard, Asian lions, various sorts of deer, bats, hippos, giraffes and many other sorts of animals. There was an emphasis on SE Asian animals but there were plenty of African and South American animals as well. At the end of our tour we boarded the express bus for a quick and inexpensive trip back to our hotel.

Singapore stopover

We left Shanghai in freezing temperatures yesterday for our 5.5 hour flight to Singapore. Our plane was one of the new Boeing 777s. As this flight wasn't the one we'd originally booked onto we were seated separately in groups of two in the same row but on opposite sides of the plane. Other than by going through the kitchen half way down the plane there was no way for us to visit each other. The staff were originally a bit annoyed with Jade for cutting through the kitchen but then when I explained to them that our family was separated and this was the only way we could see each other they were fine with it.



We had a comfortable flight and landed in Singapore at 1:30 pm to find the temperature was a humid 32C. That's a huge change from what we were used to in Shanghai and a whole 50+ degrees higher than Harbin! We are not prepared for these temperatures as we have only one or two t-shirts and no other summer clothes. I'm hopeful though that the heat will help us get rid of our coughs. Mine is still the worst, Jarrah's seems to have gone now and Jade is only coughing slightly.



On our way to the hotel we passed the Singapore flyer, Singapore's new observation wheel and the world's largest, to see that it is not operating. According to the taxi driver it has some mechanical problem which has closed it. That's a shame as we had hoped to ride in it.

Shanghai shopping and pandaphone probs

A cold front moved across China over the night and brought freezing temperatures with it to Shanghai today. The wind outside is icy although there is no rain or snow. We took the maglev train and subway again into the city to do some shopping--mainly gifts for people who have been looking after our home for us. Of course we wanted to buy traditional Chinese crafts as gifts. I'd seen an incredible selection of these types of things in Beijing on Wangfujing Street and presumed that Nanjing Rd would have a similar selection. Boy were we disappointed! There was almost nothing traditionally Chinese available to be found. We came across one store called Pearl City which had a variety of Chinese goods. But nothing like the selection of Beijing. The store was even partly boarded up--ie sections of some of the floors weren't being used. I don't know where the Chinese goods are in Shanghai but they're not on Nanjing Rd and we didn't have the time or inclination to go looking all over the place for them. We did make a couple of purchases which fit the bill, however, but I was disappointed in not being able to choose from a wide selection.

After this we had lunch then walked around some of the nearby streets. Even one block away from Nanjing Rd. the buildings are all pretty run down. Some are so derelict they are boarded up. I think with all the publicity about its glittering skyscrapers the fact that Shanghai still has a massive job ahead of itself to fully modernise gets a bit hidden. I know there are parts of New York City that are also pretty decrepit. I had thought, however, that Shanghai had come farther than it has in the past 7 years in its massive task of renovation and renewal. The view we had from the Oriental Pearl Tower was one looking out on a massive bomb-like site/building site. It's hard to tell which.

So Shanghai is still a mixed bag of new buildings and old. Beijing on the other hand seems to be much farther ahead in its modernisation. In Shanghai though people don't hawk and spit on the streets like they do in Beijing and many other Chinese cities.

So this is our last day in China. We will be in Singapore, hopefully recovering from our colds/flu for three days. I expect that whatever hotel we end up there will charge us for internet usage. In China free hotel/hostel broadband internet access has been a given (except for the Majestic Hotel in Nanning).

Now, what of our pandaphones? They were delivered to us at the Majestic in Nanning and the original arrangement was that we were going to leave them at the hostel where we were going to stay in Shanghai. When we cancelled our booking there and booked in at the hotel at the airport I thought it would be easy to just notify pandaphone that we were leaving our phones here. But then--a problem! The hotel won't let us leave the phones with them for pickup! They just don't want to take responsibility for them. In fact one of the hotel staff suggested that I just keep the phones! He obviously has no concept that their value would be charged to my credit card! So there have been a number of calls to and from pandaphone today and chats with the hotel people but all to no avail. It seems ridiculous that pandaphone's office is in Shanghai, we are in Shanghai but there is no way for us to leave the phones here! So we have to take them with us back to Australia and then mail them to the United States. We can't even mail them back to China from Singapore as the Chinese postal system doesn't allow phones to be mailed. Maybe pandaphone should think of opening up an office in Australia?

Shanghai--Nanjing Rd, the Bund & the Oriental Pearl Tower

Today was the first of our two full days in Shanghai. I didn't say in my last post that we'd given up on making our way to the hostel we'd booked. I was just too tired to go all that way with our bags. So we opted to stay at the airport hotel. There are actually two hotels here at Pudong Airport--the Motel 168 and the Ease Hotel. The two hotels are located half way in between Terminals 1 and 2. We compared prices and booked into the Motel. Then to our surprise we were taken across the circular driveway between the two hotels and given rooms in the Ease Hotel at the same discount price as the motel. We're up on the 8th floor which is non-smoking. The hotel is absolutely lovely, very modern in style and surprisingly we can't hear any airport noise! From our window I look out onto Terminal 2. If it wasn't so foggy I'd see more take-offs and landings than I do. Oh, I've just looked for both of these hotels and they don't seem to be on any websites that I could find anyway. So I'm presuming they are not ones that you can pre-book. But it's nice to know they're there.

Anyway, in the morning we went down to breakfast which we had to pay 20Y for (very cheap!). We soon discovered why it was so cheap. There really wasn't much to it--a few slices of bread--but a toaster which Harbin hadn't had--congee, fried rice, fried noodles, a spicy sweet and sour chicken--not exactly breakfast fare. After breakfast we took the maglev train (a high speed monorail) in towards Shanghai city. We had a thrilling ride and had as our fellow travellers a group of flight attendants from British Airways who were into joking and laughing. It was their first time too on the maglev and they carried on about it. The train reached a top speed of 430 kms and it tilted during its run. When another maglev train passed it there was a woosh and a bang which made me jump as it was on my side of the train.

The Maglev Train

After we got off the maglev we farewelled the Brits who were taking taxis and we took the ordinary subway into the People's Park. We visited the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall which contains the world's largest city model and which we visited last time. The exhibition has, of course, been updated and now devotes at least one floor to the upcoming Shanghai Expo in 2010. The buildings proposed for this expo look fantastic.

The Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall

City Model of Shanghai

From the expo hall we wandered through a maze of underground boutique-type shops. Nearly all of the shops are aimed at young women in their teens and 20s and they sell clothing, jewellery, accessories, wigs, skin care products, fashionable shoes, etc etc. There is surely an oversupply in China of these types of shops. We looked for somewhere to eat and ended up in a Japanese noodle restaurant! From there we wandered down Nanjing Rd to the Bund and then took the pod like train through the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. That was an unusual experience! No, you don't see any water or what is above you. Rather they have lined the tunnel with different sorts of lights to make you feel that you are on a journey through space or through volcanic magma. Once on the other side of the river we bought tickets for the Oriental Pearl Tower and went up to the second pod of the tower for a look out over Shanghai.

The Oriental Pearl Tower from the Bund

That done we took the subway then the maglev back to the airport where we had dinner. Oh I'll leave you with this bit of puzzling Chinglish.

Travelling on

During the night the slight tickle I'd had in my throat morphed into something more. Jade slept with me again (in a single bed) as she'd had a fever at the Ice Festival. We're also sleeping in the hardest beds we've come across in China. I swear we have only a thin layer of covering over a wooden base to sleep on. On top of that our room is hot and stuffy even when we turn the heat down. We have to turn it totally off in order to sleep comfortably but then the room gets stuffy and that gives me a headache.





Anyway, during the night I developed a fever and body aches. This is what the kids have had but it took me getting it to finally realise what it was--the flu. The one shot we didn't have before our trip was a flu shot. I struggled through the night then early in the morning I got a face cloth and wet it for my forehead and went to the other room and slept in Jade's bed. I felt very weak and extremely tired. I had no interest in getting up or eating or anything other than sleeping and I had no idea how I was going to manage getting down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast never mind packing my bag, going to the airport and flying. Paul took the kids down to breakfast. Jade was totally recovered from the previous evening and was bright and bouncy again. I dragged myself down about 15 minutes later and ate a tiny bowl of cereal and a glass of juice. Then I went back up to the room and laid down on the bed again while Paul and the kids packed the bags and made ready to be picked up at 11. My illness meant that I hadn't gone back to the Russian shop next to the hotel to get a Babushka doll.





Fortunately we had arranged for a transfer to Harbin's Taiping Airport because I know I couldn't have coped with the whole exercise of getting a taxi. Since I'd taken panadol at breakfast I began to feel much better and was OK by the time our van arrived. We had a guide, Catherine, arranged by OCDF but she had never been with an adoptive family (or even another family with kids) before so was very curious about us. Her English was OK but not at the standard of that of other guides. I think the guides with better English go to other cities in China where there is more demand.





When we got to the airport there were long queues to check in (well long for a little airport like this) and we were evidently running a bit late because our flight time had been changed--and we hadn't been told! I hate to say it but another black mark for OCDF from us. Even our guide Catherine was unaware of the time change for our flight. I've just checked the Harbin departures website for yesterday and our flight was scheduled to depart at 12:35 instead of 1:15--ie 40 minutes earlier. We should have been informed of this. Thankfully we had Catherine with us to barge into the check-in queues and rush our bags onto the plane. If we'd been on our own we might have missed our flight. We farewelled her and then went through security still unaware of our scheduled departure time. I went looking for a toilet and found a small gift stall with--yes--Babushka dolls! So I got my doll after all. A bit of a strange souvenir from China!

My doll still unopened. Evidently there are 7 dolls in all.

We then walked to our gate where everyone was lined up already. When we got on we found the plane was just over half full. For some reason the four of us weren't seated together. Two of us were in row 21 seats E and G, one was in row 23 seat E and the last in row 24 seat C. With such an empty plane we don't know why we weren't seated together. The kids were the ones in row 21 and as we discovered there was no F seat so they were together. Still a child should be seated with an adult for safety during the flight. Anyway we swapped seats and I sat next to Jade in row 21 and Paul swapped so that he and Jarrah were effectively together with only the aisle between them. There was one other foreign family on the flight and they were also separated. When I sat down there was a middle-aged woman sitting next to me. Her seat was originally the aisle seat but she swapped with me and Jade so Jade was on the aisle and I was next to her. (This was in a 4 seat middle section of an Airbus 300.) I don't think this woman had ever flown before because she had her tray table down and also paid extremely close attention to the flight safety demonstration. Then when she saw us put our bags under the seat in front of us made a comment that--oh, you can do that! (She said something to this effect in Chinese.) Just as the plane was taxiing she jumped up from her seat and dashed off to change her seat again. From what Paul has said many people were swapping seats left and right after the plane closed its doors.

We had an uneventful flight and landed in Pudong Airport in Shanghai. Because of my illness and just general tiredness from the kids we discussed trying to get back to Australia early. In Shanghai we rang Singapore Airlines to find out that this wouldn't be possible--all flights to Melbourne between now and next Tuesday were fully booked. Instead we decided to cut our time in Shanghai short and have a Singapore stopover. So we are now leaving China early on the 24th for Singapore.

St. Sophia's Cathedral and another visit to the Ice Festival

The night before we went to the Siberian Tiger park Jade came into my room complaining of a fever. We don't have a thermometer with us but I could see she was feverish. I gave her some panadol and got her to strip off to her undies to try to cool down. It looks like she's got the same illness that Jarrah came down with last Friday in Beijing. By the morning she was fine. I decided to start both kids on the antibiotics we brought with us, not really knowing if they would do any good but figuring they wouldn't do any harm either.

Today both kids were tired and run-down so we decided to leave them in the hotel room playing DS and computer (I'll say again the laptop has been a godsend!) while Paul and I went out for a couple of hours to walk around Harbin. We left them with one of the Panda phones so they could contact us if needed. We haven't used the second Panda phone that much as mine has served as the main contact phone for friends and tour guides but the second one has come in handy the few times we have separated to do different things.

Paul and I walked about 7 or 8 blocks to see one of the sights of Harbin--the Russian styled church of St. Sophia. The cathedral no longer operates as a house of worship. Now it is an art gallery displaying photos of historic Harbin.

Outside the church of St. Sophia--that's me in the red jacket

Paul inside the church

The church is in dire need of restoration. Much of the interior paintwork and even the plasterwork is gone. Despite hearing about Harbin's Russian connections we haven't seen one Russian face since we've been here. Even the salespeople in the Russian giftshops (where I have been shopping for a Babushka doll) are all Chinese. Supposedly there are a few thousand Russians in Harbin who came here during the Russian revolution.

The kids called while we were out so we headed back to the hotel to check on them and rest up for a second visit to the Ice Festival.

By late afternoon Jade wasn't feverish and was sure she wanted to go to the ice festival so we grabbed a taxi and headed off for a few hours. We went to the ice chair skating first as she had wanted to do this again since the first time in Beijing. The chairs here were single ones and the ice was covered with snow and this made it hard going. In her weakened state Jade found she didn't have the energy to push the chair and gave up. The rest of us had a go as well but with the snow I also found it tough going. Jarrah and Paul also did the ice bikes while Jade and I watched. Then Jarrah and Paul went to the long ice slide where they had to queue to go down it. The minimum age for this was 14. Paul offered to take Jade with him but she and I went into the Nescafe hut for a hot chocolate instead. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the boys to come back. In that time we met up with an American couple who also had fled the cigarette smoke to the back of the hut. There are very very few foreigners in Harbin and most are in tour groups. The statistics for the ice festival are that 90% of the visitors are Chinese and 10% foreign. I think even the 10% mark is overrated.

I mainly wanted to revisit the ice festival to take more photos as my camera battery had given up the previous time. I later figured out that this was due to the cold rather than to me not charging it sufficiently. So this time I kept my camera inside my coat and only pulled it out to take a photo then quickly put it back inside my coat.

Unfortunately it soon became obvious that Jade's fever had returned and that she was very sick so after about 2 hours we left the ice festival, got in a gypsy cab with another group of people and returned to the hotel.

Here are more ice festival photos:

beautifully lit up 'trees'

This series of 3 photos gives an indication of the changing nature of the lights on some of the sculptures.

Visiting the Siberian Tiger Park

The Siberian Tiger Park Gift Shop

Today we visited one of the main tourist attractions of Harbin--the Siberian Tiger Park. This park houses well over 100 tigers in a free-range environment. They are supposedly being raised for future release but the condition in which they live is not really a natural one. There are too many tigers in each enclosure and the way they are fed--either pieces of meat given to them through the bars by tourists or whole live animals delivered into their midst--is not one which will hone their hunting skills. This park is not so much a scientific breeding centre as the panda centre in Chengdu is. Rather it is a farm producing tigers for parts for Chinese traditional medicine. At this time there is a ban on the use of tiger parts so evidently any dead tigers are kept frozen in case of a future rescinding of the ban.

Now that we have all of that nastiness over with you can admire some of the photos of the tigers! (Travel through the park is by safari bus or on overhead walkways.)

Two tigers--a famous Chinese song!











We travelled to the tiger park by taxi. It was quite easy. The Harbin taxi drivers are wonderful!

Yesterday we had our first hot pot meal of the trip and we really liked it so we went back again for dinner tonight. We're just getting the hang of it but it is healthy (with plenty of roughage), warm, filling and cheap! We are thinking of getting a hotplate and hot pot to bring home with us.

Enjoying hot pot in Harbin

Harbin/Haerbin and the Ice and Snow Festival!

Me at the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

Yesterday we arrived in Harbin by train and made our way to our hotel--the Songhua Gloria Inn--near the Songhua River. We had the usual helpful people wanting to carry our bags by trolley when we got off the train but we turned them down and headed off. This was probably the easiest station we've arrived in as there were no stairs or other obstacles to manage our bags through. As we approached the exit doors we saw a huge crowd of people outside looking into the station--obviously not able to enter. We didn't know why they were waiting or whether they were all there to sell something but when we got outside we found ourselves mercifully free of sellers--no maps (we still haven't seen a tourist map of Harbin in English) or other items and only a couple of gypsy cab drivers. One even approached us at the taxi stand and said he had a taxi but the one he pointed to already had a driver. Cheeky! We went out into the taxi ranks--the taxis were lined up about 5 ot 6 deep--and the first one we approached jumped out of his cab to open the boot and put our bags in. No asking us where we were going, no 'being on a break', no refusing to take us. Thank God we're out of Beijing!!!!

At the hotel we had an additional stuff up. The Danish group were checking in and the staff behind the counter were very busy and ignored us for a while. I got our passports out (which you need to show in China to check in) and tapped them on the desk. I wanted the staff to know we weren't with the Danish group. Finally one of them looked up and went to check our booking. She was unable to find a booking in our name! But it turned out that their sister hotel--the upmarket one--was next door and possibly that was where we were booked into. So Jade and I walked outside and around to the other hotel to find that we weren't booked in their either! Uh oh! Hotel-less in fully booked Harbin during the Ice Festival. I rang the travel agent in Beijing and asked her what had happened. She checked with her staff member who had made our travel arrangements and called me back. It turned out we were booked into the hotel we had first gone to but not under our name but under the name of the travel agency, OCDF. She also rang the hotel to tell them this. Jade and I walked back to the hotel and we all checked in, relieved.

Our hotel is not at all of the standard of the other three we've stayed in but it is comfortable and very conveniently located. We have rooms next to each other but not adjoining. The hotel (and its restaurant) do not have non-smoking rooms/areas (this seems to be a foreign concept here) but our rooms are not smoky. After getting to our rooms we rested up for the morning then went out to look around in the afternoon. We are just near the Songhua River and there are many activities there available--large ice slides, dog sleds, pony and coach rides, ice chair skating, ice biking, etc. It was difficult to just go out and have a look as we had all sorts of sellers after us--ladies with various knitted beanies and mittens, others selling pony and carriage rides. We walked around a bit including past Zhonghai Park which had Disney-themed ice carvings then returned to our rooms to prepare for the evening.

At 6:30 our friends John and Emma whom I knew from Monash University (John was my language exchange partner for two years and Emma is his girlfriend who also studied there) came to pick us up go take us to the Ice and Snow Festival--the really big festival of ice carvings. We had a fantastic two and a half hours there. The place is unbelievable--much bigger and better than I had imagined. I also didn't realise that the lights in the carvings flashed several colors. We rode ice bikes--harder than it looks--and the kids and John and Emma slid down many of the slides. I had a problem with my camera as it lost charge maybe due to the cold (it was getting down to minus 20C overnight) so I ended up taking some photos with the kids' camera and they didn't come out so well because it was snowing. (The flash caught the snowflakes.) I want to go back again and take more photos and I'm sure the kids want more sliding time!!!!

I'm getting a bit tired of writing so I'll let the photos speak for themselves!

The Entrance to the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

Inside the entrance gate to the festival

The fantastic sculptures at the ice festival




One of the smaller sculptures. The lighting changed color from red to blue to green.

A Day of Waiting and Uncertainty

Yesterday, Saturday was the day we were to take the overnight train to Harbin but the lead-up to the journey wasn't as easy as we thought it was going to be. Saturday morning rolled around and we still didn't have our train tickets. We phoned our travel agent several times and were told that she had someone who was standing in line at the station trying to buy our tickets. She hoped they'd have them soon. Then we got a call that the person buying the tickets had managed to get three of them scattered all over the train and they were trying to get the fourth ticket. She kept expressing optimism that everything would work out. By this time Paul at least was beginning to have doubts. We checked the internet to see if flying was an option but all flights to Harbin were fully booked until after 10pm the next day so we were committed to the train.

Just before 12 noon, our check out time, we got a call that the person buying the tickets had finally got a fourth ticket. So we were all on the same train but all separated into different carriages and sleeping cabins--obviously not the result we had booked or were expecting. Still we were told by the agent that she and another staff member would meet us at the station and help us to exchange our tickets with other passengers so that we could all be together--or at least so that we could be two and two--one child with one parent. We checked out of the hostel and put our bags in storage. We had hoped to meet up with our friends the Turners again before we left Beijing but the uncertainty over our ticketing and Jarrah's illness made us decide to wait in the hostel's restaurant for the afternoon. It was a pretty boring and uncomfortable time. At 6:30 our friend Henry arrived to drive us to the station. He found a place to park right in front and helped us with our bags. We rang the travel agent and met her inside the station after going through the security screening process. She took us to one of the waiting rooms to sit until closer to boarding time. We tried to chat with Henry as this would be the last time we would see him for a long time but it wasn't the relaxed send-off that we had planned on.

Beijing Railway Station at night

Finally it came time for boarding and the ticket swapping exercise. It turned out that at least one of the tickets we held was in carriage 3 and others were in carriages 13 and 14. So the agent had a job ahead of her trying to convince someone in carriage 14 to swap all the way down the train to carriage 3! Most people seemed to be travelling solo so that at least made the swapping process easier. We just tried to stay out of the whole thing and let the agent and her co-worker do all the work and worry. Finally she had us two and two and in adjoining cabins--a workable solution. She left us at this point as neither cabin's other occupants had arrived. (We had arranged for early boarding to make the swapping process easier.) When the other occupants arrived we first swapped Jade in with Jarrah and me. Then finally we asked the last occupant of the cabin with three of us if she would swap and let Paul come in. She readily agreed--possibly to her detriment as she went into a cabin with a baby who cried during the night.


Our train trip was lovely and uneventful. There was no morning wake-up coffee as the train from Xian to Beijing had had. Still we were happy the whole exercise had worked out and that our journey had continued as we had wanted it too.


The reason for the difficulty the agent had with obtaining tickets is due to the demand for train tickets in the lead-up to the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. We certainly knew that travel was difficult at this time--which was why we had made our travel arrangements eight months ahead of time and pre-booked train and plane tickets. All of this doesn't seem to matter, however, when it comes to the train. I don't understand why overseas tourists who have pre-booked tickets are placed in the same position as locals who haven't when it comes to the availability of train tickets.

Sign on the side of the carriage

Our train had a large group--maybe one or two carriages full--of a Danish tour group. I imagine that they didn't have the same difficulties we had in obtaining their tickets. Is the Chinese government only concerned about making travel arrangements for overseas groups smooth but not those for individuals or families? Hopefully others who travel at this time of year in the future won't have to go through the worry and uncertainty and inconvenience that we did.

Oh, one other comment about the train. When we arrived in Harbin at 7:04am we were a bit slow in gathering up our things and getting off the train--reasonable with two kids, one of whom tends to take their time in moving. One of the train staff came repeatedly and banged on the window, angrily telling us to get off the train. Once was OK. But he came back again and again-seemingly at 30 second intervals--getting angrier and angrier each time. Finally I yelled back at him that we had two kids and he was making one of them cry. I don't think he really cared. It seems that Chinese trains only allow 5 minutes or so for all passengers to get off before they are taken away for cleaning for the next trip. If you are on your own with one bag that's not a problem. But just try to get kids moving and several bags off in that time!

Beihai Park

The white pagoda, a landmark in Beihai Park

Last night Jarrah woke up with a fever and he seems to be coming down with a cold. Luckily I have plenty of medicine to cover this! In the morning Jade complained that her feet were tired from all the walking so Paul and I decided to leave the two of them in the room while we went out. I wanted to have a look at Beihai Park as it has been one of the talking points in my Chinese classes over the years and we hadn't seen it last time. We took a taxi to the northern gate of the park. About 60% of the park is covered by a lake and there are quite a few buildings within it as well. Many were built by the Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century. He seems to have done quite a bit of building in many areas we've visited.

The main focus of the park other than the lake is the white pagoda on the top of the hill on Jade Islet. The pagoda was presented to the Emperor by the Dalai Lama in the 1700s. At its base is a Tibetan Buddhist Temple.

There is limited chair ice skating at the base of the pagoda and we also had the option of using an ice bicycle to cross the lake. We opted out because we weren't sure if we had to return the bike to where we rented it. We also thought that 30Y just to cross the lake was a bit expensive.

It was about 1:30 when we finished seeing the park and were then faced with the usual situation trying to get a taxi to take us back to the hostel. The ones parked in the car park outside the park gate were all on a break and they sent us across the road. We ended up walking to the back of the Forbidden City where we tried a couple of taxis there and were also refused. A motorised rickshaw (like a motorbike with a box with a benchseat inside it on the back) came along and told us 30Y. I bargained with him and clearly said 15Y in Chinese and he motioned for us to get in. This was our first experience in this type of vehicle. When we got to the corner of our street I gave him the money and thanked him. He started to argue that we owed him 30Y and got out of this vehicle to argue further. We just walked off. How predictable and tedious!

Back at the hostel we met up with our friend Chris, the English teacher who is also going to Harbin, and I had a chat with him. We exchanged phone numbers and are going to try and catch up with each other at the Ice Festival.

We rested for the remainer of the day. We still don't have our train tickets but are being reassured that we will get them tomorrow. How last minute can things get? If the Chinese government want foreigners to come to China then there have to be better arrangements for those of us who book trips 7 and 8 months ahead of time. Surely we have priority in getting our tickets over the locals who are trying to get them on the spot? Fingers cross for tomorrow!

CCAA visit and shopping on Wangfujing Street

Building where the CCAA is located

This morning we taxied to the new location of the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs )where we were scheduled to have a short tour with one of the staff. The building is a modern glass high rise and the CCAA and Bridge of Love Adoption Service occupy eight of the floors.

Outside the CCAA building

Sign on the building





Building directory showing the CCAA on the 11-16th floors

On our tour we viewed the area where files are received and logged in, the review department, matching department and the archive department. In the archive department we were able to see an example of an archived file. Some of the staff members we met had been to Melbourne as part of the 2007 CCAA visit and we recognized them from that time. They were glad to see Jade and how well she is doing and one person remarked that we looked like a family.

Active files in the logging in room

It was a privilege to be able to visit the CCAA and we are grateful for that.

After our visit we took the subway to Wangfujing Street and had some lunch. Paul and the kids then took a taxi back to our hostel so that the kids could rest a bit. They have been doing quite a bit of walking these past few days and wanted some 'down time' to rest and relax.

I took the opportunity to do some shopping. There is a tremendous amount of Olympic souvenirs still around. Some of it is large stuff for corporate buyers to purchase and display and some of it is small. The set of 5 Olympic mascots are going for a song now--90Y--and we have seen people everywhere carrying them home. I love looking at the traditional Chinese crafts but the amount of stuff available is overwhelming. When I get overwhelmed, especially when people are pressuring me to buy, I tend to come away with nothing. I did purchase a green knotted necklace with jade beads on it for a jade pendant I bought the last time we were in China. Later I bought 6 silk cushion covers for our family room. By the end of the day I was exhausted from all the walking. My I must be getting fit.

Temple of Heaven and last day of gymnastics

The recreated 1920s-30s style Qianmen Street

Waiting for the subway at Chongwenmen station--note that the platform is separated from the tracks by a barrier as Singapore and Hong Kong do.

This morning we got a move on early so that we would have time to take in the Temple of Heaven and return to the hostel in time for Jade's last scheduled gymnastics training schedule. We walked down our hutong then crossed the main street (Meishijie) and walked through the beautifully renovated section of our hutong to Qianmen Street--also beautifully renovated but a much wider boulevard with tram tracks running through it. All of the shops on Qianmen St were empty. I believe this is the touristy hutong which was being built for the 2008 Olympics but which wasn't finished in time. It seems to be all ready to go except for having empty shops. I found this article about it on the web:



http://www.tour-beijing.com/include/showtravelnews.php?news_id=2125



We took the subway to a stop at the southern side of the Temple of Heaven park only it was a bit too far south. We had to walk for about 20 mins or so to get to the park. Once inside we walked straight through along the central axis and admired the buildings. I think they all have been restored. One which was done in 2006 is starting to have some of its paint flaking off already.

Entrance to the Temple of Heaven

The Circular Mound Altar

Standing on the Circular Mound Altar--when you say anything here your voice resonates

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests--the main building in the complex

We took about two hours to see the whole complex then tried to get a taxi back to our hostel. This time it only took two refusals before we found someone who would take us. Thank goodness! We ate lunch and then got ready to go out again. Jarrah had decided to stay back in the room so only Jade, Paul and I went with our guide Cecelia and driver Mr. Li to the sports school. I took Jade in and paid for her training (Y100/hour) then met Paul outside again and we walked next door to Hou Hai Lake where many people were ice and chair skating. Many of the schools are out now for Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) so there are lots of kids around. I planned to find a coffee shop and read while Jade trained. Cue Starbucks situated immediately between the school and the lake--perfect! Paul went for a walk. I had a lovely time to myself--probably my first on the trip--and sipped a cappacino and read my book. I'm reading Barack Obama's second book, The Audacity of Hope, and really enjoying it. When Jade's time was up I went back to the school to pick her up. Paul met us there with fairy floss/cotton candy for Jade and we climbed into the van for our ride back to the hostel.

The sports school viewed from across the street

That was it really. A pretty simple day. We are now just about done with our major activities for Beijing and starting to think of our next stop Harbin. So far our travel agency has been unable to obtain our train tickets for this leg of our trip. It seems many students are travelling home for the Spring Festival and the trains are booked out. So even though we booked months ago--about last May--the local students get priority over us. We are very hopeful that we will be able to take the train but won't know until Friday--the day before we travel. If we can't get the train then we'll have to fly.

Forbidden City, Wangfujing St and more gymnastics!!!!

Outside the Forbidden City

We dawdled a bit this morning, getting up about 8am and finally leaving our hostel at 9:45. We walked to the Forbidden City, about a 15 minute walk away, and entered it under the picture of Chairman Mao. We walked through a number of gates and past stalls selling souvenirs. Paul has been looking for a Chinese Army winter hat with faux fur but has been having trouble finding one that will fit him. They all seem to be marked size 1 but vary in size despite that. He found one that fit him OK and got it for a good price. Then Jade started looking at Chinese Empress hats and found one she liked. We debated whether or not to get it because it is going to be awkward carrying it but then decided to go ahead. It is really gorgeous!

Empress Jade!

There weren't too many people bothering us to buy things as we walked in--a few said they were students who wanted to practice their English and guide us for free--yeah, sure! Others asked us if we had been to the Great Wall and there were PLENTY of freelance guides who would gladly have taken us on a tour. We'd been to the Forbidden City before and were really quite happy to walk around ourselves so we declined.

We walked through the complex--it really is massive--and were very impressed with the restorations made on the outside of the first main hall. The paintwork is marvellous! You can even see from this distant photo how vibrant the paintwork on the eaves of this building is. It was restored in 2008.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony

Here is another building which has also been restored.

After we left the Forbidden City there were a few people waiting to sell things including rickshaw drivers wanting to take us on a hutong tour and others offering tickets to various shows. We waved them off and headed east towards Wangfujing Street for a late lunch. On the way a beggar came towards us. He had no hands.

We had a nice walk through a hutong area on the way. I love the way the walls are made of grey bricks and the sidewalks/footpaths are also gray. It gives these areas an ancient look. Many hutongs, especially those in the northern parts of Beijing are beautifully clean. The hutong we are in is in a more 'natural' state. The hutongs are very lively places with lots of little shops of all kinds and people walking here and there all the time.

When we got to Wangfujing St we discovered that part of it had become a pedestrian street. This part is two blocks away from the hotel we stayed in in 2001--the Crowne Plaza. It's changed its name now. We looked at a few noodle places then opted for Maccas including ice cream cones at 2.5Y each. With time running out we had a quick look around then stumbled onto a Beijing 2008 store selling the Olympic mascots. There in the window were the 30cm size mascots we'd wanted last year to add to the two the kids already had. They didn't have Huan Huan (the flame) but we picked up NiNi (the gymnastics mascot--of course) and BeiBei the swimming mascot. (The kids already have the panda JingJing and the antelope YingYing.) Oh my goodness, where are we going to fit these things in?????? We've been so good about not buying large things--or really many things at all. Today we blew that with the hats and mascot dolls.

By then it was close to 2:30 and Jade and I had an appointment to view some female gymnasts training with Mr. Zhang, whom we'd met on Saturday. We walked towards the end of the pedestrian street where there must have been 20-30 taxis waiting. I had the address written in Chinese and Mr. Zhang's phone number as well. The minute they saw us the taxi drivers did their best to send us away. First sending us to the farthest taxi at the front of the group. He and several of the taxis near him were on a break so they sent us back. We went from taxi to taxi. Some deliberated before turning us down, others waved us off as we approached. This taxi thing is getting annoying!!!!! We crossed the street and asked a few more taxis in another place. Finally a female driver let us get in the cab. I called Mr. Zhang who gave her directions. Then she agreed to take us. I had a jolly time with her chatting. She was a real earthy woman who cleared her throat with the best of the men. (Luckily she didn't spit.) As we headed towards Tiananmen Square she complained about the traffic so I asked her if she didn't like Tiananmen Square. She answered very patriotically that she loved Tiananmen. Then I recalled a Chinese children's song about the square and tried to sing it. She took over singing another song but I said, no, that wasn't it and she then sang the children's song. I hummed along with her as we drove through the square. Here you can hear the song:

http://www.imeem.com/idz/music/-5O7S38u/chinese_child_i_love_beijing_tiananmen/

and here you can see the lyrics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Beijing_Tiananmen

When we left the taxi I gave the driver a tip for agreeing to take us. Then Jade and I entered the address which had a stadium and a number of buildings. We had no idea where to go. I asked a few people and was sent a bit too far in one direction then someone finally pointed us to the right building. I was talking with Mr. Zhang on the phone as we walked towards a building then saw him on his phone. Relief! He was very welcoming and took us into the gymnastics hall where we saw about a dozen girls training. These girls were aged from 12 and up and from the skills we saw were at the 'top, top' level as Jade describes it. Jade was invited to train too and changed into her leo. She did some bars work including jumping from the low to the high bar--her first time--and some trampoline for about half an hour. Since she wasn't being coached and she was also tired from all the walking she stopped to watch the big girls. They were just AMAZING! After being told at the other school that I couldn't take photos I was reluctant to ask but did towards the end of our stay and got a few photos of the gym and a few of the girls. The girl training on beam in something like a tracksuit is training that way because she weighs too much and this is how they get her to lose weight. We've noticed scales in the two gyms we've been in. Weight seems to be something that they watch strictly here. That's tough on the girls.

bars

beam

At the end of our stay Mr. Zhang walked us out to the gate and helped us to get a taxi. Once again we had a problem--this time because we wanted to go to a street which is one way the wrong way! It always seems to be something! Finally with much discussion between the driver and Mr. Zhang we were off. The trip took us to the second ring road to an area not far from our hostel. Much to the relief of the driver I said that we would get out and walk across the pedestrian bridge and up the one way street ourselves and so save him the drive. Thus ended our day!

Silk Market and Jade's Gymnastics training

Today we enjoyed breakfast cereal in our room for breakfast after a new friend whom we'd met in our hostel's restaurant brought some back for us from Wangfujing Street. I still have a full box of Special K Forest Berries from Australia which Jade has been carrying all over China for me so I had that. Jarrah had Corn Flakes and Jade had Cheerios. Paul had some bread and spreads as he's not into cereal.

Then we walked to Tiananmen Square again to the Quanmen subway station and took the train to the Silk Market. The Silk Market is a 9 floor indoor shopping centre filled with individual stalls. We entered it in the shoe section and were bombarded with people offering us shoes as we walked through. Paul said it was like running the gauntlet. We then separated so that Paul could look for silk ties and I would take the kids to look for Gameboy games. The bargaining was tough but the kids got what they wanted for a fraction of the Australian price and Paul got three ties. I had little time for myself but did manage to buy a wallet. I'll have to go back another time to have a proper look around.

Jade outside the sports training school

After shopping we took the subway back to our hostel, grabbed a quick lunch and were picked up by our guide Cecelia and driver Mr. Li and taken to the Shichahai Sports School for Jade's gymnastics training session. Jade's session ran from 2-4pm and we got to watch a bit at the beginning. Once we were sure she was OK we went on a tour of the school's facilities. The sports school trains elite sports people in a range of sports including tennis, badminton, table tennis, volleyball, Kung fu, boxing, gymnastics of course and others. We were told the school has about 600 students ranging in age from very young children to adults who have finished their schooling. We got to see a number of sports in training but were not allowed to take any photos of them. At about 3:30 we returned to watch Jade a bit more and I was surprised to find that she was still on the balance beam. According to the Chinese method of training the athletes train on one piece of equipment each training session. There are no rotations as we were used to in Australia. We hadn't expected this at all and hadn't been told about it. I asked if they could be sure that Jade trained on a different piece of equipment on Wednesday during her next training session and they agreed. In addition, they moved her to vault training for the last half hour. Jade has hardly had any training on vault and had no idea how to run or jump correctly. Her legs and arms were all over the place but the coach (through our guide) told her how to run, what to do with her arms and how to manage her jump. When Jade was later asked what apparatus she wanted to train on on Wednesday she chose the bars and vault. It seems that the Chinese methods of training involve concentrated repetition whereas the Australian methods involve variety. When I told this to our friend at the hostel tonight he said that obviously the Chinese methods are the ones that work! Why are things done differently in Australia? Is it to keep the children's interest in training that they are given variety each session? Or is there more parental pressure in Australia on the coaching methods whereas in China the coach is seen as the one who knows best? Just some questions I ask as you do when you experience different ways of doing things.

Warming up for her training session--this was the only photo I was allowed to take

We caught our van back to the hostel. Paul and I headed off to a supermarket to get a couple of things and I had an incredible find--Yunnan tea!!! I've been looking for Yunnan tea after falling in love with Twinnings Yunnan just before they took it off the market. I've looked on the internet and in the US but no luck. I didn't think to look for it in China but luckily I've stumbled across it. I'm having a cup now and wondering how many boxes I can bring back with me??

Tiananmen, Mao and Olympic skating!

Our hostel--the 365 Inn near Tiananmen Square

Today was another interesting and non-touristy day. We walked from our hostel to Tiananmen Square which is about 10 minutes away, with the plan of seeing the square, visiting Mao's Tomb if it was open, then meeting our friend Henry Zhang at the Monument to the People's Heroes. To get to the square we had to cross the street and the only way to do that was to walk through a subway/underground walkway. When we got to the bottom of the stairs we discovered that we had to go through security screening of our bags and ourselves in order to enter the square. It was not an invasive process and we were soon on our way. We walked to Mao's Tomb and saw a steady flow of people coming out. None of them was carrying a bag and I remembered reading that bags weren't allowed in. We walked around the building to the opposite side where people were going in and saw a sign with the rules which included no bags or cameras and that ID was required. We hadn't brought out passports with us so I asked if we could go in without them. The guard told me we could but that we had to check our bags.

Jarrah at the exit of Mao's Tomb

The baggage room was across the street adjacent to the Chinese Museum and was in its own building. We crossed the street--there was a zebra crossing--and stood in line to check our bags. I heard someone in line say that it was 2Y per bag. fine I thought. What I didn't realise was that cameras were extra! When we got to the counter the woman there asked how many cameras we had and we had to show her each one. I'm not sure why cameras are so important. (Maybe they are on the look out for people with more professional equipment who may be filming something without permission? It's only a guess.)

Then back to the square and into the queue for Mao's Tomb. The line moved quickly and soon we were inside to the first room with a marble statue of Mao seated. In front of this many many people had left single yellow flowers in memorium. Then in the next room we saw Chairman Mao's body lying peacefully within a large glass enclosure. The guards kept everyone shuffling through steadily. We shuffled in past the foot of his body and along his left side and then we were out and into a small gift shop. We walked back around the building and across the street to retrieve our bags then walked to a public toilet in the next building and was surprised to find a gift shop! I don't think I've ever seen a gift shop in a toilet! They had all sorts of Mao memorabilia including a video screen showing historic footage of red guards marching. I took a photo of the gift shop!

Gift shop of Mao memorabilia--in a toilet!!! Ladies to the left, men to the right

We crossed back to Tiananmen Square again--going through screening again--and went to the monument to meet our friend Henry. It is a long story as to how we know Henry. Suffice it to say that we met him via the internet just before he came to Melbourne to study for one semester 7 years ago. We spent some time with him when he was in Melbourne and have kept in touch with him since. It was great to see Henry again after so much time. We piled into his car and headed off with him to the university where his father teaches and his parents live as we were all going to go to lunch together. The name of the university is Beijing Jiaotong University. Henry grew up there and did some of his studies there but also studied at another university in Beijing. Henry parked the car and we walked into the campus where the kids saw something they love--a frozen lake. Some students were walking on the lake and the kids couldn't resist doing the same.

The kids couldn't resist walking on water again!

Then we walked to a restaurant on campus which is for faculty members and got a lot of looks from the diners as we walked through the main dining room to a private room where we met Henry's parents. Henry's parents were lovely. His father is an engineering lecturer and his mother is a middle school Chinese teacher. They ordered lunch including a variety of fish, pork and vegetable dishes. Another one was Beijing duck. We had a nice chat over the meal then said our farewells and went with Henry back to his car.

Henry and his parents with us in the faculty dining room . You can't see it here but there was a large flat screen TV on the wall to the right of the photo for our use.

Henry then took us to the Olympic site and we saw close-up the Birds Nest and Water Cube and also the stadium where the gymnastics was held. Our friend Mara had told us that there was a temporary ice skating rink in the Olympic Park and the kids were absolutely itching for the opportunity to ice skate. We found the rink just near the broadcast tower and Jade, Jarrah, Henry and I rented skates while Paul watched and filmed us. We skated for about an hour. Jade and Jarrah had never ice skated before. Jarrah was pretty good right off because of his rollerblading experience. Jade started out hanging onto the wall at the edge but caught on fairly quickly and by the end was skating pretty confidently. I had a bad fall soon after starting, falling backwards and slamming my head into the ice. After that I realised that I had to lean forward a bit and managed to keep my feet the rest of the time. We finished up at 5 and then Henry drove us back to our hostel. It was yet another unique and memorable day in Beijing.

At the Birds Nest Stadium