Hello, watch

Well! Back from China, which was awesome, fabulous and way cool, despite the worst toilets and surliest customer service this side of Baghdad. First stop was Beijing, then Xi'an, Suzhou and Shanghai, with some day-trips around all of the above. It was a confusing and fascinating place, filled with beggars and tofu, Louis Vuitton cheek-by-jowl with communist flags.

Above left: Red and coloured flags bedecking Tiananmen Square.

Right: Detail of the Forbidden City. There were soooo many people, mainly foreigners, it was impossible to get an un-crowded shot with any scope. But it was still amazing, of course.

Left: Fiona's first steps on the Great Wall. Mind you, this was after a long climb up the mountain to get to it...

Left: happy little communist in happy Tiananmen Square. Yay!

We travelled on some looong sleeper trains with our group. As you can see, we amused ourselves.

Left: calligraphy painted in water on paving stones in Xi'an. The sun was behind a cloud, so they lasted for a bit.

It was in Xi'an that we began to be besieged by people saying "Hello, watch," "Hello, Prada," etc. trying to sell us dodgy stuff. It was pretty funny at first, but became a little, er, tiring.

Left: Candles at the Big Goose Pagoda, Xi'an.

Below: the old city walls in Xi'an, still intact and strollable.

Left: the famous terracotta warriors near Xi'an. They are life-sized, and there are thousands of them across hundreds of complexes - and the archaeologists reckon they're only just getting started.

Our next stop was Suzhou, "Venice of the East" as Marco Polo supposedly called it. It was full of stunning Chinese classical gardens and canals, and much classier shops full of rich people (it's close to Shanghai).

Below: We left Suzhou by boat on the canal to get to the train station.

Last stop: Shanghai. Cooooool city. The contrasts were greatest here, as the economy is absolutely booming but the city it still half old-town slum.

Below: Us having a noice dinner for the first time since Sydney - on The Bund at night.

Left: The Pudong area (and the view from the restaurant). Testament to the pace of change: this part of Shanghai was a swamp in 1990.

We also visited an off-the-tourist-trail town near Shanghai called Xi'tang, a run-down and unrefurbished but beautiful old canal town. Incredibly interesting, despite the fact that our lack of language meant we ended up on a guided tour instead of just the bus we thought we'd paid for. As we didn't understand anything the guide said, it didn't matter so much.

We also drank a lot of tea on this trip, as you would imagine. Black tea, green tea, fresh oolong tea, jasmine tea, white tea - we probably spent more on tea than food. In Xi'tang we found an exquisite old tea-house on a quiet canal and took tea and weird sweets.

Our parting image is a weird blend of modern China with its supposed driving communist ideology, which is clearly now a sham. We had an amazing time and hope to go back, if only for the tea.

NB if you click on any of these photos Blogger will show you a much larger version.