Trekking across Central China

The Pandas at Chengdu Research Base

Around Xi'an

We left the red level smog alert in Beijing behind to explore two cities in central China, the ancient capital city Xi’an and Chengdu, home of the Panda Research Base.  Due to our race to reach Hanoi for Christmas we only had a few days to explore Xi’an, a ‘small’ Chinese city of nearly 9 million people.  Xi’an contains an entire 9-mile rectangle of 14th century walls, watchtowers and gates that stand 40 foot above the city.  Walking the walls gave us great views and showed us the contrast of ancient temples and huge high rise blocks in the city centre.  We then explored the bustling Muslim quarter of the city with its narrow streets and vendors cooking all manner of food on fires that spewed from open gas pipes on the side of buildings.  An even bigger threat to our safety however was avoiding the array of mopeds and rickshaws trying to plough us down every 5 metres and that red lights are regarded with as much respect as no spitting signs on trains.  Unfortunately whilst exploring the Muslim district I experienced my first Chinese nappy - also known as a hole in children’s trousers to allow them to defecate wherever takes their fancy!  Staying in the ironically named Facebook Hostel (there is still a Chinese ban on google and Facebook - and my blog!) we managed to negotiate the local buses with the staffs help, although with sometimes limited success. Having failed to reach the History Museum we were successful in seeing the unique Terracotta Army, 8000 life size pottery warriors buried with Shi Huang, the "First Emperor" of the 3rd century BC Qin Dynasty. The statues were buried with him to help him conquer the after world and were only discovered in 1974 when locals were building a well.  Watching the archaeologists working to uncover more of the huge site and seeing the warriors lined up in their ranks was a breath taking sight and helped to lessen the pain of the train ride we took that evening.

The ancient city walls at Xi'an

We set off with low expectations for the train following our last journey but we clung to a small hope that it might be a little better and could surely not be worse.  How wrong we could be.  We had accepted we would be squashed on the top tier of the bunks again but unfortunately we were above a 300 year old women that resembled a wrinkly testicle who coughed and spat phlegm with such ferocity and frequency it sounded like gun fire in a trench.  Thankfully her husband gave her some old newspaper to hock into but that did not stop others who gleefully spat all over the train.  Taking refuge above the grime and chaos on my bunk I was berated by an incensed lady because my feet were above her head (a mark of disrespect as feet are dirty and a taboo subject in China). Unfortunately I didn’t have the language skills to point out to her that I was on the top bunk and as she was about a metre tall I therefore had little choice about my feet being above her.  Even taking the culture difference about feet aside I would have been far more concerned if I was her with the seed husks, spit and cigarette ends littering the floor than my feet!   I huddled further onto the bunk to avoid offending more people and took solace in listening to the blaring French accordion playing through the speaker just above my head, trying to imagine being on a boat punting up the River Seine rather than the smoke filled carriage of a Chinese sleeper train.  After a surprisingly decent night’s sleep we were woken at 7am to bright spot lights and a deafening crescendo of music from the speaker that played a mix of Chinese rock ballads and love tunes.  As the morning dragged by the train attendant kept delving into his battered suitcase containing assorted junk and fake electrical products to try and make a little extra money, roaming the carriages trying to flog his wares.  A particularly ridiculous demonstration with an electric razor to his trapped audience would have made Del Boy proud!  We mercifully arrived in Chengdu praying that the Panda Sanctuary was worth the journey!

Thankfully we had a great time in Chengdu which just emphasised the highs and lows of travelling in China.  Arriving in the afternoon we went to the Wenshu monastery, an oasis of tranquillity in the heart of a bustling city.  The smells of the incense drifting through the beautiful wooden temples helped us to recover from the previous night’s experiences and were exactly what I had hoped to see in Asia.  We walked back to the hostel past a huge statue of Mao overlooking the most expensive collection of western clothes and jewellery shops I have ever seen.  I am sure he would have been delighted!  The following morning we set off early to the Panda Research Centre just outside of the city to see the Pandas being fed.  It was easy to see why Pandas were not doing too well in the wild when we learnt a little more about them and watched them in action.  The beautiful animals are very playful and social as cubs, in sharp contrast to their adulthood when they live a solitary life in huge areas of jungle so they can find enough food when they have to eat 25% of their own weight every day!!  Due to not getting enough energy from their food the bears lounge about like stoned teenagers, munching on bamboo whilst occasionally scratching themselves or having a little wrestle for entertainment.   A Panda fight resembles a stand-off in a pub that takes place at about 4am, where the antagonists are so slow and uncoordinated they eventually just fall over exhausted after about 30 seconds of action, much to our amusement!  The research centre has successfully rescued and bred 140 Pandas for the endangered species and is a very important site in the fight to help them survive the destruction of their habitat in the region.  After spending a great morning we hurried back to the city to catch our final hard sleeper train in China, praying for a better journey than the last!