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Post by Sir Smeg on Aug 18, 2006 8:41:41 GMT
Well, phase one of the journey is complete. Reggie has made it as far as Shanghai Pudong (Mmm... Puding) airport on the east coast. I hadn't expected to start my blogging so soon, but I still have 3 and a half hours to spend in this airport, and this indecipherable mandarin internet explorer costs me 0.3 RMB per minute. In my sleep deprived mind that works out quite cost-effective, but no doubt Kev will have had something to say about that by the next time I visit.
Heathrow wasn't nearly the nightmare I had anticipated it would be. Few people were flying, and the queues were short, though the security checks were thorough (By British Standards). Passed the time of day with a pleasant security girlie - swapping notes about travel, volunteer work and Pandas and Orangutans particularly - while she turned my hand luggage completely inside out, rearranged my careful organisation and confiscated my toothpaste. She'd only been on the job for a week, said she. 'Talk about starting at the deep end', said I. Then, insult to injury, a band of half naked, balding, sweaty, loud English Geezas joined the end of the queue. She'll have earned that trip to Borneo by the end...
The flight itself was not particularly worthy of note. Was in the middle row, so denied view from the window and decided to ignore the TV - Hilary Duff was pouting in the middle of it. Dinner and breakfast were EXACTLY the same, only one contained prawns in a beef sauce, and the other consisted of beef in a beef sauce. Still, I saw the omlette on the plate next to mine and became immensely glad I'd gone for the oriental option. Slept fitfully for about 6 of the 11 hours, disturbed halfway through when the ageing Korean woman to my right decided that my shoulder was more comfortable than that of her husband. Toyed with the idea of waking her, but decided that this scenario was preferable to another conversation consisting of me pointing at a map and taking requests to 'speak more srow andu distinctury'.
Arrived in Shanghai Pudong (Mmm...Puding) to little fanfare, but much unintelligeable shouting - fortunately I was able to discern the words 'Xi'an' and 'Boahding Pahs'. Said 'Ni Hao' to all airport staff I encountered. They pretended I hadn't.
And that now leaves me here in a small, glass internet centre totally dwarfed by the big, glass terminal building. And this is where I will leave you for now. I'm off to read my book about the Greek hermaphrodite. And eat Pork.
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Post by kevx3 on Aug 19, 2006 10:31:18 GMT
Congratulation let me be the first in this thread to wish you a wonderful journey filled with pandas. oh i wanted to ask you going to Canton (not Cantha you GW junkies ) or Hong Kong as part of your trip? Also if you get that feeling of unease while standing in an elevator full of people don't worry about it the chinese are just jealous of your height . crap i forgot to mention before your trip if your taking a flight via france avoid the potatoe and cheese option.... urg itll make you wanna throw up, turbulence not included. and this indecipherable mandarin internet explorer costs me 0.3 RMB per minute. In my sleep deprived mind that works out quite cost-effective, but no doubt Kev will have had something to say about that by the next time I visit. quote] yep you are totally right.... you gotta love the prices over there . but 0.3 RMB per minute? that maybe cheap by english standards but thats quite expensive over there.... smeg your gettin' ripped off . Have fun!
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Post by Sir Smeg on Aug 19, 2006 10:57:14 GMT
Day one is by no means complete, but I only have this short window within which to post my findings. Arrived in Xi'an at 22:10 yesterday, and made it to my Xi'an HQ at 12:10. Lots of other volunteers here to make me feel at home, on various projects including caring for orphans, the mentally handicapped, and museum goers. Here I will spend the weekend in good company, going out to see the darling Pandas (Including, but not limited to, Ping-Ping, Ding-Ding, and Miao-Miao ^o^) on monday.
This gave me a little time to appreciate Xi'an itself, of which I've only seen the shopping quarter so far. Went to a market where nearly everything was alive - frogs, tortoises, crabs and eels (The latter being impaled casually on spikes and gutted from head to foot by blood saturated young girls, or crusty old men dangling cigarettes over their work).
Ate barbecued squid tentacles covered in chilli fragments and buns containing 'Hot and delicious weat and wushrooms' from terminally enthusiastic vendors before descending into the epilepsy-inducing world of a Chinese supermarket. Also visited the only bits of cultural heritage available in downtown Xi'an - the Bell Tower, and the Drum tower - each containing numerous find examples of their namesakes. And high-class souvenirs ( Though the number of westeners I've seen here has not exceeded 20). I wouldn't really want to live here, though. Xi'an is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and though it's not hard to breathe, the sun is perpetually blotted out by an overamorous blanket of smog above the city. Aside from that, it's pretty well kept and clean - but no suburban single-family homes to be found here. High and lowrise apartments jostle for space with business buildings, melting into the sooty fog in all visible directions.
This evening I am heading off to see a Chinese dance extravaganza with dinner included. Piccies on the way, hopefully, but Imageshack is being pretty stubborn about uploading them...
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Post by Hatter on Aug 21, 2006 0:36:22 GMT
Seems very interesting, but I agree with you. I won't ever live there. I like the thought of suburban homes with little gardens and... I guess you get the picture. And please take many many piccies of the panda. We all love them. Furry, squishy rodents love big, furry pandas. Oh, and how was that curry-covered tentacle thingy?
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Post by Moo on Aug 21, 2006 2:07:29 GMT
Really? I thought Xi`an is famous for It`s terrako..... terra...cota (?) army? (blahhh Have no clue how to spell it...) which me and ben manage to convince to hold out a copy of PC gamer magazine.
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Post by Sir Smeg on Aug 21, 2006 7:39:26 GMT
Well, I've arrived at what is to be my home for the next month. Not only are there Giant Pandas here, but also Golden Monkeys, Red Pandas, Golden eagles, wild boar and some wierd kind of giant goat thing. It'll be fantasic to live alongside them, but I do worry at how little animal empathy the Chinese contractors put into the building of the enclosures... many are predominantly concrete, with absolutely no vegetation. I may have to inquire into this - but I'm not one to make waves: I'm here at their indulgence.
But first let me fill you in on the previous day, which was most successful. Xi'an is home to a vibrant muslim community, and one of the highlights of this is a bustling market area, with dried fruit vendors, street chefs and tea shops jostling for space with stalls selling assorted bric-a-brac. Needless to say, all the communist propaganda has gone to my head, and I purchased myself a fine Man-bag with the red star emblazened above the motto 'To serve the people'. This goes very well with my new pocket watch (one of those on the long chain!), in which resides chairman Mao himself, his right arm waving in time with the passage of the second hand. More future purchases will be coming from this market, since the shopkeepers are receptive to a bit of haggling, and can often be cut down to about 1/3 of their original asking price. If you're stubborn enough, and immune to puppy-dog eyes.
Back to the current situation. I'm living in a perfectly respectable, though little haphazardly put together hotel nestling under some fine green mountains. The Pandas are a few hundred metres away, convenient for whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing. I'm not quite sure what that is...yet. Still, the night is young.
...which reminds me! Excitement overload! One of the young females is long pregnant, and due to deliver any day now... which in Pandas is a very big deal. Time for me to don my Midwifing hat.
Wai Ren Xiong-Mao Fu! (To serve the Panda people!)
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Post by Sir Smeg on Aug 23, 2006 2:04:34 GMT
Hm. The blog continues. More for my own amusement than yours, I'm beginning to suspect. Hey ho, It's good to have this to look back on. Now I just hope I can fill it out with some bloody photos...
Last night was an interesting one, to put it mildly. Us three Panda peeps and New Zealander (Martin, Myself, Michelle and Haikai, just in case I forget in years to come) were chilling out on the balcony, alternately reading and conducting broken conversation with a young dude from the village, whose famiy makes noodles. (Bing Lee) Then, bounding up the stairs comes a middle-aged apparition in bright red, followed by a weaselly little soul in a police uniform. This man never gave us his name, but quickly made it clear that he was respected by every person in Xi'an and the surrounding towns. Clearly a big player in China. He ordered his bodyguard in blue to get a couple of beers, seeing that we were already supplied with our own. We then proceeded down a very long evening of him talking about himself (We had to rely on our young friend to translate - and every sentence took about 5 minutes to decipher), drinking beer, and toasting his achievements. Highlights of the evening were when his bodyguard disgraced himself by coughing beer over himself, promptly being dismissed by the enraged official for the rest of the night. Then the bit where the official demonstrated the time he'd piloted an apache helicopter - by getting up (Breaking his bottle), placing his hands on an invisible joystick and charging around the balcony making helicopter noises. The bit where he barged into Michelle's room (Who had by then retired to bed) and used the toilet noisily and messily. The bit where he had to go again, found her room locked, so went off the balcony. The bit where he told us (we think - there was a lot of miming involved) how many men he had killed with his handgun - two. The bit where he proclaimed his favourite American was mike Tyson, and his favourite Brit was David 'BigHam'. He then got up and demonstrated how to bend it like Beckham, Headbutt it like Zidane, and Make a bloody mess out of it like Tyson. This went on for several hours, us totally stranded, until he tried to take a drink and found there was no more. He tried to find a cigarette and found there were no more. He then rose bodily from his seat. Hugged us all. Once again misidentified all our nationalities, and lurched down the stairs, hawking and spitting on every 5th step. With the night finally quiet we could retire to bed.
In other news, I now know exactly what my tasks are at the Panda centre. At 8:00 every morning the Pandas are swept out, poop-scooped, watered, and have their bamboo replaced. This is followed by elevenses of apples, milk and big wheaty cakes. I assist Mr. Cheng in these duties, employing a 'monkey see, monkey do' strategy. Learning a few new Mandarin words every day, but most are so alien to me that they slip right out of the sieve that is my brain... Lunch is served at twelve, like all meals containing no meat! I'm gonna waste away here - I'm not a sodding Panda. After the sustenence we have a couple of hours grace until the afternoon shift, which is exactly the same as the morning one, only the old Pandas get water while the young ones still get medicinal milk. Pandas drink milk like old women drink soup ^_^
Hoping to start English lessons soon, but we only seem to have on willing student so far. Still, two on one tuition is a lot less daunting than a full-on class. I'll keep you posted.
Word of the day: Yichuanxie = Geneticist.
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Post by Hatter on Aug 23, 2006 3:30:43 GMT
On weekends, try to stack up on meat. Preferably something you can trust. (I hope there is a fridge in the hotel.) We don't want you to waste away, and the squishy shoulders are more tempting than the bony ones. Trust me.
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Post by Edem on Aug 23, 2006 7:25:06 GMT
Hm. The blog continues. More for my own amusement than yours, I'm beginning to suspect. Hey ho, It's good to have this to look back on. Now I just hope I can fill it out with some bloody photos... Gah! I only kept myself from spamming this thread so it stays clean and everyone can read it without my stupid comments! And since I usually read through the "10 most recent posts" I guess the view count won't increase. But this doesn't mean I'm not interested... So, when will the photos come? (And if you still have problems with posting them, send them to me in email, I put them to a good place and send back the links so you can insert to the post.)
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Post by kevx3 on Aug 23, 2006 11:33:15 GMT
remember dont hide food THE MONKEYS WILL FIND IT.
no wait.... wrong country.
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Post by carlbunkle on Aug 23, 2006 20:02:36 GMT
ooooohhhh... so many words copy is going back to do his assignment again >.<
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Post by Edem on Aug 24, 2006 9:26:15 GMT
WHERE'S THE UPDATE?! D:
(Yep, we ARE interested!!!)
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Post by Hatter on Aug 25, 2006 2:26:06 GMT
Well, up till now I stayed awake every night to 5 in the morning. It was painful, but I could hear about the pandas and of course make sure that Smeggy has not wasted away on vegetarian food. Still, today is the day I already have "ytrewq" etched into my forehead, properly drooled on the keyboard (just joking, it's still functioning, so no drool whatsoever, thank gods )... and now I go and sleep. Smeggy, keep us updated and take care.
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Post by Sir Smeg on Aug 25, 2006 13:34:32 GMT
Sorry for the lack of updates recently: life in Lou guan tai has been rolling inexorably forward.
The three Pandas in my custody, Shue Shue, Ding Ding and little Chao Chao have been very hospitable, accepting occasional tummy rubs and behind-the-ear scratches as a trade for panda cakes and delicious crunchy apples. Mr Cheng, their keeper, and I have been pushing forward with impromptu English and Mandarin lessons, so my vocabulary grows imperceptibly every day.
Have been prevented from climbing the surrounding mountains by the standard of the weather, which has decided to combat any homesickness I might have by mimicking the English springtime. As soon as it dries up I'm heading straight for those Daoist temples and Pagodas where Lou Tse first set his verses down on paper.
We have befriended our amateur interpreter Bing Lee since the night he spent translating the drunken egotisms of our distinguished guest. His sister owns a noodle house in the town, and he has taken it upon himself to provide us with as many noodles as his sister can make - really good ones, too. Cold and lacking meat, but the beansprouts can actually be described as such: they really sprouted from beans. After that we visited his small section of farmland and we recieved an entire box of unripe kiwi fruits (originally Chinese in origin, apparently) hand picked straight from the bush. I will have to find some suitable parting gift for him when my time to leave finally arrives.
I returned to Xi'an this evening, just in time to take part in a 'community forming' excercise. Our part in bringing the Xianites together was to play a game of musical chairs - the little children fighting for their right to sit down and settling any discrepencies with a silent and serious game of 'Rock, paper, scissors' - and us singing 'There was a man - he had a dog, and Bingo was his name-o!' with more volume than tone...
I am planning to head for the Terracotta warriors this weekend, whenever that can be arranged. That, and eat some goddamn meat for a change...
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Post by kevx3 on Aug 26, 2006 20:03:24 GMT
haha i read that as "Community farming" .... too bad. smeg careful of the meat we chinese eat anything and everything off an animal . nothing goes to waste and you can get any part of the animal promptly filleted and cooked in china .
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