All quiet on the Western front

So, there has been radio silence since we landed back in the UK, and that's because it's been incredibly hectic. After nature intervened with a volcano, and delayed our homecoming by 6 days, we were thrown in at the deep end with no time to readjust - straight back to work, unpacked backpacks and boxes all over the house, mountains of laundry and other miscellaneous household chores just waiting to be tackled. Throw the wedding into the mix, and you have complete, non-stop chaos... And so the blog has taken a backseat to real life for a while.

At the risk of boring you all with the minutiae of my Bridezilla antics (my new motto being: 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'), I will restrict this first post at least to non-wedmin anecdotes - though as I seem to spend most of my time with a bridal magazine on the table in front of me, a pair of scissors in one hand and a pritt stick in the other compiling a scrap book, I can't promise that you will be so lucky next time... and apologies for that in advance.

So - of all the places to be stuck, Ben and I had to end up in QATAR. A dry state, when all you really want is a cold beer or chilled glass of wine. *sigh* On the plus side, we were staying in a nice hotel, for free, with an all you can eat buffet 7-10, 11-3 and 5-9 - so we had comparatively little to complain about when many people were sleeping on airport chairs or floors (as here in Milan airport)... or stuck in the Maldives in a 5* resort with a family of four.*

After three days in Doha, we were pulling our hair out with boredom (not just because there was no alcohol, but admittedly this was a major factor...) and we hopped on an unscheduled flight to Rome, that had letters instead of a flight number and did not show up on any departures or arrivals boards or websites in Doha or Rome. Mysterious! At least it wasn't cancelled like all of these flights...

I can assure you the flight did exist, as we arrived gleeful and safe in Rome on Sunday 18 April - the day before we were both set to start work after our respective 'career breaks'. Less than ideal - but what could be done?

I begged and begged Ben to stay in Rome for one night so I could sample the delights if Italian paaaaasta, but he adopted an unusually strict stance and we found ourselves on a (free) bus to Geneva, put on by Qatar airways for those originally destined for Geneva, Zurich or Milan. Luckily they were not checking boarding passes, and we hope there weren't two unfortunate passengers stranded as we took their places....

Seventeen hours later, with two hours waiting at Milan airport in the middle of the night, we arrived in Geneva, six hours later than anticipated, and too late for any sleep in our pre-booked hotel room. *sigh* Luckily, we were there just in time to pick up the second of our booked hire cars (the first having been cancelled while we were on the bus, due to an impromptu ban on international hire), and thanks to dad for spending hours on the phone collating info about how best to get back to the UK, and availability of trains, buses and hire cars.

During the bus ride, we also managed to pick up a couple of hitchhikers on their way to Paris, and we set off on a beautiful drive through the French country side, arriving in Paris around 5pm.... and at Gare du Nord at around 7pm - exhausted and in desperate need of a nap after a gruelling 45 hours on the move. Luckily, Ben's mum had stepped in and saved the day by booking us into a lovely hotel just off the Champs Elysee.

We went to a delicious and quirky bistro with Florian, but had to turn down his suggestion of a 25 minute hike up Montmartre as we were simply too exhausted. The next morning we breakfasted with Ben's parents at the George V hotel, before heading off towards Dieppe. 'Oh what a lot of time we have!' we thought, happily. But lo and behold, the roads were narrow and winding, and our cheese and wine stop in the Carrefour took a little longer than anticipated, so before we knew it, it was an hour before the deadline for check in at the ferry and we still had the hire car to drop off in the centre of town...

Ben dropped me off at the port with the luggage, and I completed some sneaky manoeuvres to manage to check us both in without Ben actually being there, which was a relief. While I waited for Ben to get back to the port, I was thoroughly entertained by everyone else's stories about their journeys across Europe. One man had run out of Parkinson's medication, and was desperate to get back. I overheard another guy on the phone to the car hire company: "So..... The rental agreement says I need to drop the car off in Avignon. Hmm. Yes. Hmm. Well, you'll find it in the Dieppe ferry port, with the keys in the ignition. Byeeee!"

Luckily, Ben made it back in time, we boarded the ferry and enjoyed some beers with our wine and cheese on the way. Ben's dad picked us up from the ferry port and drove us back to London. After not having seen us for so long, he was probably a little disappointed that our chat lasted about 7 minutes before we both conked out for the journey, and arreived home on Wednesday - six days later than planned. Ouchie! Here's hoping the insurance will pay out on that delay....

* Honestly, the things some people complained about.

Halong Bay

We just got back from a 3 day trip to Halong Bay, with one night spent on the boat and the second in a hotel on Cat Ba island. There were 8 of us, and it turned out that we had the tour to ourselves without having to pay the extra for the private tour option - a nice surprise! And given the extensive karaoke session on the first evening on the boat, this was probably for the best - what we lacked in tunefulness, we certainly made up for in enthusiasm.Unfortunately, the weather was (typically, for this time of year) misty so we spent a lot of time convincing ourselves that this just made it all the more "atmospheric"! Despite the bad visibility and the mist, it stayed dry and we were able to spend the day on the 'sundeck' admiring the spectacular scenery and Tola, Jess and I took a kayak trip through a low tunnel into a beautiful, sheltered lagoon area. A little cold for swimming though....!

On the second day we were taken to a cave for a 'walk' which involved wriggling on our stomachs through muddy a hole about 60cm wide and 50cm tall - twice, in both directions! This led to many a 'Bridget Jones' moment for the girls, and my skirt and white blouse were definitely not suitable attire... We got some comedy photos out of this though, and the cave was pretty cool - not that we could see much with only one torch between us!
In the afternoon, we took a boat to the over-hyped monkey island, which was a bit of a dis-fest. On the way up the hill, we encountered an angry, large monkey. Our guide waved a large stick at it to get it to move from the path, and the monkey ran at him! After this excitement, those of us at the front were armed with large sticks and a healthy dose of fear for the rest of the short walk. We later learned that tourists have been bitten by the monkeys in the past, and that the monkeys are aggressive because they have been taken from their natural habitat near Hanoi and placed on 'monkey island' as a tourist attraction! SCAM! Luckily, we all escaped unscathed.

On the journey back to Halong city, we watched Invictus on DVD - what a FANTASTIC film! Ben had a hard time selling a film about how the 1995 rugby world cup was politicised to a group of 7 girls, but I think we all enjoyed it more than he did in the end! Rent it on DVD if you have not seen it.
Back in Hanoi, we hit Bia Hoi junction before the girls all left for Bangkok and various onward destinations. Thanks for the good times, Team Benetton!

With just each other for company, we have resorted to playing a lot of cards.  Unfortunately for Ben, the games often end like this..... haha!

Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples

We spent the entirety of Tuesday at Angkor Wat, leaving at 5am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat itself, and then exploring another four temples in the complex over the course of day, before watching the sun set from the top of another temple - unfortunately I have forgotten almost all of their names... They included Bayon and Angkor Thom. We took a tuk tuk around and the breeze between temples was very welcome - it is over 35 degrees at the heat of the day and I feel like I am melting! we also had a very entertaining guide, who spent a fair amount of time telling us ancient contraception stories and his own 'intimate' stories, as well as explaining to Ben how best to pick up Cambodian prostitutes and demonstrating some strange 'dance moves'.... The rest of the time we found him to be very informative and knowledgeable, just with a large dose of bad taste. Luckily, we managed to share him around between four of us, as Ben and I had met up with Tola and Christina for the week.

The sunrise was really nice, but marred only by the several thousand other tourists who had also got up to see it - but for a World Heritage Site that sees over 2 million visitors every year, I guess that's to be expected. We had tea or coffee with condensed milk after sunrise, and eventually got breakfast at about 9am, after having walked around Angkor Wat, and marvelled at the impressive structure and the intricate detail in the bas relief on the internal walls, telling stories of the battle between Cambodia and Thailand in the early 12th century. Siem Riep, the nearest town to Angkor Wat, actually means 'Thailand defeated' with reference to this same battle.

The particularly interesting thing about the temples of Angkor is that they have both Hindu and Buddhist significance, as the king changed from Hinduism to Buddhism, also in the 12th century.

The temples surrounding Angkor Wat cover a huge expanse (it is the largest collection of religious buildings in the world), and so we headed to some more temples on Wednesday (this time in an air-con minivan - bliss!), including Banteray Srei. I found these smaller temples almost more enjoyable than the 'must-sees' of the first day, because each one was slightly different and unique - be it in colour, structure, disrepair or intricacy.

We also saw a fountain and an engraved river bed (at the top of a 2km walk up Kbal Spean in the heat!), which were very different and interesting. The river bed was engraved with 1000 lingas (small round pillars) and several statues of Vishnu and Brahma under water, and it was fun to spot them under the water. We also came across a group of men throwing things at a big green snake up a tree, which was entertaining! However, the promised oasis of a waterfall for cooling off in after the sweaty hike turned out to be shallow, dirty and almost entirely dried up - not to mention directly beneath the above mentioned snake!

Beijing explodes for CNY

After a fantastic dinner at the Ritan park branch of everyone's favourite restaurant, Xiao Wang Fu, we headed to the area around Nanluoguxiang and the Drum and Bell towers to observe the complete chaos and craziness of Chinese New Year's eve.

 

Unlike in most countries, there do not seem to be any safety regulations that govern the purchase or use of fireworks and firecrackers, or at least none that are heeded to by the general public.  Therefore, everyone who's anyone takes it upon themselves to buy hundreds of fireworks, and let them off across the city 24/7 (yes, even in daylight) for the duration of the holiday period.

These fireworks are set off (see above pics) on every street, by children and adults alike, with no regard whatsoever for nearby people, buildings, or even police cars...!  The noise is incredible, and made for plenty of amusing shouts of 'take cover!' and corresponding dives behind lampposts, etc.  But fear not, 'fire engines' are on hand should anything get out of control...

For midnight itself, we went to the bar on the 86th floor of the Park Hyatt, from which we could see the entire city exploding with fireworks.  It was amazing, and very surreal to see so many fireworks going off in every direction from a height.  The fireworks began in earnest at dusk, and peaked at midnight, but continued well into the morning, when there was a pause for a few hour's sleep, before they were resumed at about 6am - and so this pattern continued!

The chaos got me wondering about fires and accidents caused by the the Spring Festival celebrations, and I'm pleased to report (see this article) that the number was down by almost 50% since last year (when the half0built Mandarin Oriental near the CCTV tower was set on fire by a 'stray firework').  However, according to the Ministry of Public Security, that's still 7,480 fires across the country, which killed 35 people and led to direct losses worth 28.5 million yuan (c. GBP 2.7 million).  Perhaps it's time for those health and safety regulations after all....?!

新年快乐!

Chinese New Year's day fell on 14 February 2010, welcoming the year of the tiger - for all of your born in 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986 or 1998, this is your year,  so best get out your red undies!*

 

On 13th February, and after a big dim sum brunch, we decided to hit Ditan Park temple fair, the biggest and busiest new year temple fair in Beijing, during which the entire park is decorated with red lanterns.

 

I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but it certainly was not the hilarious tack-fest that was in store!  The main attraction at the temple fair, at least early on, was about 1,500 stalls selling a multitude of zodiac-related tack.  Items were mainly centered on the tiger (tiger ears, masks, costumes, toys, muffs, giant paws, etc...) but also included things clearly left over from previous years (mouse ears, toy dogs, ram memorabilia and dragon paraphernalia, etc).  We spotted a prime opportunity for comedy, and set ourselves a Y25 budget each for acquiring accessories for the day (see above pics...).  On our way around the park later, I splashed an extra Y15 on a comedy all-(Barbie Girl)-singing, all-flashing, all-dancing white and pink ram, which was worth every penny...

 

Later in the day, there were performances by dancers, people on stilts, dragon/tiger dancing etc, and a huge selection of fairground games (on which we won a red tiger toy) - so all in all, a funny and pleasant way to while away the new year's eve.  新年快乐, everyone!

 

* Traditionally, those whose zodiac year it is should wear red every day, all year long, though practically speaking some opt for red underwear in order to protect yourself against the hazards of benming nian (meeting your zodiac year)...

Celebrations - a word of warning...

When everything is going swimmingly, it's easy to get carried away.  With this in mind, here is a fable from our weekend from which several lessons can be learned.

We celebrated with (yet another) champagne brunch on Sunday.  Ben and I left our suitcase with the concierge, who asked for our phone number, because "sometimes people go champagne brunch, drinks champagne, more champagne, go 'woooh' (*crazy action with hands*) 'woooh' and forget their luggage! hahahahahaaaaa"  Oh, how we laughed with this charming man!  'What idiots,' we thought, 'would do that?'

As predicted, there was excessive champagne and huge gluttony (see above), combined with much laughter at 'those idiots' who 'woooooh forget their luggage'.... Then, still laughing and joking, we collected our luggage and headed back to the apartment.  Up in the lift we went, and what fun we were having!  Until... 

"who's got the luggage?"

"Erm, not me - I was carrying the flowers and champagne!"

"Erm, not me either" 

*moment of realisation* "THE TAXI!!!"  

Yes, that's right, we'd left the luggage in the taxi... which was long gone... in a city with c. 70,000 taxis.  That's the luggage that included our laptop, my passport with all the painstakingly acquired visas for our upcoming trip, my brand spanking new electronic Chinese dictionary.... and more.  By way of a few phone calls and a large dose of luck, we retrieved the luggage, and all of its contents.  So, what can we learn from this? 

1. Take heed of the concierge!  He is a wise man.

2. Always hold on to all scraps of paper - you never know, one might have the taxi numberplate on it!

3. Don't put your passport in your suitcase, even if you think it's safer there than in your handbag while you are testing your liver's capacity for bubbly....

Chilling in China World: a very modern family indeed...

Harbin's incredible 11th Ice and Snow Festival, 2010

Dave and I took a weekend trip to Harbin Ice and Snow festival, 2 hours by plane NE of Beijing in Heilongjiang province, where the temperature has been known to drop to -40C in winter.  Luckily for us, when we arrived at midnight, it was a relatively balmy -23C, and we happily skidded on sheets of ice across town in pimped up taxi.

 

I have never been anywhere like Harbin, or anywhere that cold and wintry, so I found it particularly interesting.  In fact, I felt like an intrepid explorer in all my layers and with self-heating wonder packs tucked under my bra straps to keep me warm from the core!

 

The Songhua river completely freezes over, and essentially provides a massive new expanse of land on which to create a winter playground, including your usual, run-of-the-mill-for-us-Beijingers chair-skating and ice-biking opportunities (see previous post), ice slides, snowmobiles, buggies and a rally track on the ice! (Very Top Gear...)

 

The ice festival was simply the most mind-boggling thing I have ever seen in China, and definitely one of the best.  The photos above give some indication, more of mine can be found here and here, and some of photographer R. Todd King (who goes every other year to take pictures!) can be found on his website, and give a good idea of just how impressive the festival is.

 

There were ice Terracotta Warriors and an ice Forbidden City (both decidedly better than their stone counterparts!), as well as other famous buildings and recognisable objects, such as the World Cup trophy, the Colosseum, the Temple of Apollo and the Great Wall of China.  All made out of ice (natch!), and with some reaching over 50 metres high.

 

The festival is now in its 11th year, and I would be interested to know whose idea it was in the first place to mine all of this ice, and sculpt it over a period of weeks in temperatures that get as low as -40C.... Rather them than me!  Of course, all the Chinese love it when the sculptures are all lit up, but I am glad we went early to see them in the daylight and the sunshine, as in the evening, while impressive, the effect is a little tacky for my tastes!

 

We also visited the bizarrely-named "Sun Island", where the Snow Sculpture Art exhibition/competition is held.  Unfortunately, the weather was quite overcast on Sunday and so the light was not the best for viewing these sculptures - but even so, they were very impressive.

 

On the food and evening entertainment front, Dave and I were a little less successful...!  First, we were exhausted by the cold weather and the lack of food (for some reason, the pot noodles and cold plates of sausage and fake cheese didn't provide much sustenance...).  Then, we headed to a bar recommended online (NB: it looked a lot of fun, with photos of people dancing on the bar etc!) but on arrival, we found it to be completely empty and freezing cold.  Top that off with a beer that is half empty before it's been served to you, and you'll understand why we polished the beers off with a quick game of "lowest card drinks" before heading back to the hotel for some quality time with Jack Bauer.  In hindsight, we may have been better off aiming for a bar which warns of the frequent and violent Korean vs. Russian brawls!

A Chinese fairground on ice: chair-skating, ice-biking and sheep-sleighs...

We took a trip to Houhai at the weekend, to see what the Beijingers get up to when the lakes are frozen solid - and what an icy wonderland awaited!  We set about hiring some skates, but instead were tempted by the other imaginative delights on offer - ice bikes, chairs with blades, carriages pulled by life size, mechanical dolls, ice dodgems and - - - a sleigh pulled by a sheep!  Yes, a giant, real-life sheep, wearing little hoof-protectors, giving rides around the ice in a small 'sleigh'.  It had to be seen to be believed, but take a look at the pictures below for an indication....

We had a lot of fun on our bikes, even though - unsurprisingly - the steering was a bit skew-whiff (and God forbid you got a wheel or blade stuck in an ice rut!) and the brakes a little ineffective.  Despite the vast range of things on offer, many people chose to brave the ice simply in their shoes, slipping all over the place but getting stuck in with the hoopla and sausages on a stick nonetheless.... a dangerous decision considering the speed everyone is careering around at!  

 

After an hour of racing around, we decided to try the chairs - definitely one of the safer ways to hit the ice, even taking into account the accompanying pair of 2-foot long spikes with handles for pushing yourself around at pace.  Of course, some bright spark had the idea of forming as long a chain as possible on the ice, led by a brave man on a bike - Cue: chaos!  Then, as if it's not enough entertainment for one afternoon, a crazy man stripped down to his speedos, sang for 10 minutes in the -6 degrees and dived right in (to the special area cordoned off for swimmers in winter, natch...).

Just another afternoon in China!  If only we had proper winters in the UK - and fewer safety regulations...