Merry Christmas

Christmas' come and Christmas' go, 2015 was no exception. The prodigal son came home for a visit, the Tauranga contingent had an 'orphans' Christmas and the grandies went to Napier. The pictures tell the story.

birthday week

It's been a busy week with a quilt to finish for Iggy's second birthday. Amazing what can be achieved in one week of school holidays. And baking to do for the joint birthday party. 

Eye Spy II

Unbelievably it is time to make an Eye Spy quilt for Iggy! He will be two in October so it's time for me to rattle up a quilt. I'm going to use the same plain grey as I used with Max's and am experimenting with a zigzag rail fence design - an eye spy quilt but not A-Z. Should I ever have more grandchildren I will need to go fabric shopping again! - only scraps left of all the cutest prints.

被禁止

被禁止 (forbidden) is not a word that is used very often in modern language. It's probably a translation thing but so many of the English signs in China contained the word 'forbidden',  to the extent that it became a bit of a joke. It seemed to me that in a country where there are so many rules, where so much is or has been 'forbidden' the Chinese people are not really rule followers. Overall it was a very mind expanding trip, my views on China have definitely shifted. We all live the lives we do because of China and yet we can be very scathing. The Chinese government is working hard to provide for its people. We ignore or dismiss China at our own peril.
Just a few more images and then that is that.

Daniel's Laneway apartment block. He's the only european living there, on the 6th floor.

 Apartment view dominated by unique clothes lines.

Daniel's apartment from the door, bathroom on left. Small but adequate in a city of 25,000.000.

 Xintandi, my favourite shopping spot.

Luxury shopping mall window display.

The one on the left (Shanghai World Financial Centre)  is the one I went up, the one on the right (Shangahi Tower) is the new tallest building in Shanghai, the middle one is the Jin Mao tower. 

The perspective is deceiving. That's China.

wuzhen

Wuzhen is one of the many water towns outside Shanghai that has been turned into a tourist attraction. Apparently there are other towns that people still live in but Wuzhen is mainly restaurants, shops and lots of tourists.There are 400 million middle class Chinese who are now exploring their own country and history and many were visiting Wuzhen the day we did!

 Girls dress up in national costume for a photo shoot.

 Reflections

the great wall

We travelled up to Mutianyu to access The Great Wall. It's was the 'must do' element of my trip, a place that had always intrigued me but which I never imagined I would ever see. Mutianyu is a slightly more remote location but worth the effort as it was much less crowded than Badaling where most tourists go. We stayed at The Brickyard Retreat and were up on the wall early and walked up to Tower 21. It was quite a mission, the last section being incredibly steep. Coming down was scary and I must admit to some sore muscles in the following week. However it was worth it!

 Very happy to have made it up on The Wall.

 This is the guy who sweeps the wall.

 That's where we were heading.

Friendly local we met along the way.

It was steep!

 The Wall.

 Fun with windows and the GoPro.

 Heading down.

beijing

Beijing had a very different vibe to Shanghai and it became apparent that there is quite a rivalry between the two cities. Shanghai is the flashy 'western' city, Beijing the Communist Capital.
We stayed at the Jade Garden hotel which was a Communist Party building in a former life, being a residence to the 'gang of four' during the Cultural Revolution.Tiananmen Square was vast, the so called June the 4th Incident (六四事件) of 1989 a world event etched in my memory. There was an almost tangible 'serious' feel to the place.

The Forbidden City was massive, crowded, and to be fair, like nothing I had ever seen before. We did a rickshaw tour through the Hutong also, down the many alleyways of traditional siheyuan courtyard houses. And I tasted my first ever Peking Duck in Beijing's Da Dong Roast Duck (大董烤鸭店) restaurant. It was divine. Beijing felt like China.

Peoples Statue Tiananmen Square

 Looking from Tiananmen Square towards Chairman Mao, Forbidden City.

The vastness of Tiananmen Square

Entering The Forbidden City.

Where Emperors walked.

Chinese version of the domed ceiling.

Rickshaw ride through the Hutong.

Chef cooks Peking Duck at Da Dong.

bullet trains

We travelled by bullet train from Shanghai to Beijing. That's 1300km in 4hrs 55 mins, max speed 300kph. Very easy and comfortable travelling and it gives you an insight into rural China. There is no let up to the air pollution, it is grey and dull all the way. It had been National Tomb Sweeping Day the day before and we noticed many graves with flowers, often in the middle of crops. There was one main crop grown which over time we deduced to be spring onions: right colour right size and the only vegetable present in every dish you buy. Huge power stations/factories came and went as did housing developments. They don't build one new high rise apartment block, they build a group of 10 or more and there's another similar project in every direction that you look.

 Tombs in the fields.

 Trees being planted en masse.

 Old style homes with crops to the doors.

 New style homes being constructed everywhere.

Huge coal powered power stations everywhere contribute to the air pollution.