A Red Panda
Video clips of Giant and Red Pandas
PETER'S LETTER (6)
Hi Gang and devoted readers,
Have just had a great evening out here in Chengdu. We prevailed upon our lovely local guide, a self-proclaimed Chengdu “Spicy Lady”, to take us to a Hot Pot restaurant and have been treated to a very Schezuan meal of every thing done in steaming stock complete with chilli chilli and extra chilli! Thankfully there is a centre section un-chillied that you can use and then dip into the chilli mixture if so moved. I fear that everything that moves through my system within the next 24 hours will be somewhat fiery. Still, a small price for a great National Day out!
Literally millions of people out and about today, not taken to waving the red flags or chanting holding the little red book, but just representatives of the new and affluent China making the most of public spaces and the first day of their week off. I must say that apart from the nuisance o traffic congestion and crowded walking there is a great plus of being in the presence of warm and friendly humanity. Sometimes travel does quite a bit to negate the innate racism that is in all of us.
So, we’re finally back to the lowlands and I must say that I am feeling a much better person for it. Keir thinks that he wasn’t greatly affected by the altitude and he certainly didn’t slow down any. The Lord Buddha must smile on the good! The train trip was a very enjoyable though the others in the group said that it didn’t live up to the expectations of a great tourist train. Perhaps I wasn’t expecting that, certainly very clean, comfortable and smooth running. The dining carriage was overpriced, serving un-inspired food for which there was no menu available to foreigners but there was to the locals. I decided that it is essentially designed for the locals so they haven’t quite worked out how to cater to those contrary Westerners who demand more. Keir and I shared our 4 berth cabin with a lovely young couple of Hong Kong Chinese who spoke good English and were interesting objects for Keir’s tales of everything that happened since childhood. No, not really, they laughed a lot and seemed to enjoy the trip as much as we did.
The scenery is spectacular in that high plains semi-desert way- treeless for most of the Tibetan section and as we climbed to about 5075m you can understand how no self-respecting tree would live there. Beautiful snowcapped peaks on the 'horizon and the occasional freshwater lake and rubble-strewn streams that obviously carry plenty of water after the spring melt. Lots of yaks and nomadic herders though complete with motorcycles and their modern versions of yurts (tents). Colour if not a great deal of movement as we rattled along under 100km/hr. The railway itself is a modern marvel of engineering, all sorts of special construction to combat the effects of the cold and the permafrost in the subsoil. Plus environmental things like allowing for the annual migrations of the antelopes and not destroying the local ecology. Nice to see the Chinese sensitive to these things.
Arrived in Xining on time and were whisked away to a hotel for a couple of hours to clean up and change and then to another of the daily big meals. This one was interesting as it was in a Muslim place and something of a change from Tibetan fare. Not a yuk butter smell within range of my nose!. The guide was kind and competent and at his suggestion we took in a local museum which was extremely good. The couple of exhibitions we saw dealt with weaving and the Tibetan religious objects that we’d been seeing in situ for th last week. At least this time it made more sense cause they had labels and the gallery expert was very informative about the detail. All through the interpreter of course but it was good to have it make some sense. Not sure that can understand 1% of what Tibetan Buddhism is supposed to be but in my next life as an insect I might get some insights!!
We also wandered the streets of the modern city with lots of locals out for the day- the usual colourful markets and stalls plus a very grand public plaza where kites were flying and some sort of National day stage was being prepared with banners and suchlike. Great on spectacle still. In the evening we flew to Chengdu on an excellent Air China A319 flight. Just over an hour and a full aircraft but nothing to complain about in any way. I think that the foreigners who come for the Beijing Games might all be pleasantly surprised if they have the same flying experiences as we have had. We have 2 more flights to make so let’s hope that my praise doesn’t come back and bite me!!
Tomorrow is visit the Pandas day…all go awww gee, how sweet! Still one has to do these sort of things if only so you can say that they smell bad or have bamboo breath or rally are all cute and cuddly. In the afternoon we are going to see a statue of The Great Buddha. And you didn’t even know that Buddha was from Queensland did you? I have seen one in Kamakura in Japan which was impressive but this is bigger and doubtless comes with more blessings/ credit points. I can’t imagine the Chinese being as devout as the Tibetans so I might be spared the smell of y.b. After today’s outings to a couple of shrines and places habited by ancient poets I am expecting nothing but pleasant parks and suitably impressive architecture of old China. I do sometimes wonder what the China of a couple of centuries hence will have to show the tourists…concrete motorways and apartment buildings.
Love to all from us both,
P
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