The pull of the $200,000 Cloverdale Rodeo Finals Day wasn’t enough for Cole this time around, so Jakob and I headed out of town with plenty of time up our sleeves to jag some good vantage spots in the beer garden, where I found it to be a particularly good spot for shooting, on Saturday.

After a minor verbal tussle… actually let’s just call it a healthy discussion, with event security and organisers over “long lenses”, we managed to find a great spot in the stands from where we took in the Bare Back, and Saddle Bronc Riding. From there it was back down paddock-side for the Ladies Barrel Riding, the Mutton Bustin’ and the blue ribbon Bull Riding event.

We were blessed with blue skies and plenty of sun which necessitated the need for a few icy cold, bubbly beverages. Too bad only Budweiser was on offer still… and NO, it doesn’t taste any better the more of it you drink!

Anyway, everyone seems to have enjoyed the images from Saturday, so here’s another small selection of frames I shot today! Yeeeeehaw!

Bareback Riding

Saddle Bronc Riding

Mutton Bustin

Bull Riding

Spanning this Victoria Day (May 2-4) long weekend, The Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair is a wildly popular Vancouver tradition that dates back some 122 years. Featuring shows, rides and exhibits to entertain every member of the family, the centerpiece of the whole shebang is a world-class, invitational rodeo consisting of:

• Bareback Riding
• Ladies Barrel Racing
• Clown Acts
• Saddle Bronc Riding
• Mutton Bustin
• Bull Riding

More than ably supported by the wild nightlife provided at the world-famous “Longhorn Saloon”, the whole afternoon spent at the grounds was a hell of a lot of fun.

My only gripe? That pitiful, horse-piss excuse for a beer, Budweiser, was the glaringly obvious beverage sponsor of the Rodeo and as such had exclusive rights when it came to beer selection. That’s right, you could have Budweiser or Budweiser. EPIC FAIL!

The big money finals of all the main events are on tomorrow (Monday) at 2pm so if you’re at a loose end for the public holiday, get on down and check out the action. Here’s a taste of what you’re likely to see:

Bareback Riding

Mutton Bustin

Intermission Entertainment

Ladies Barrel Racing

Saddle Bronc Riding

Bull Riding

THE END

Arriving last night in the dark, we were unable to observe the dramatically changing landscape below us and therefore were unaware of the fact that we had gained quite a lot of altitude in our journey from Kunming. In fact, in arriving in Shangri-La (formerly Zhongdian) we had arrived on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau, and consequently had arrived at around 10,800 ft (3,300m). Even before being told this by our awaiting guide, Stone, I felt the effects of the height we had reached above sea level as my head began swimming as soon as I left the confines of the plane and began walking up the ramp to the terminal. I’ve never really felt light-headed in my life, so this was a rather uncomfortable feeling for me.

To put things into perspective, Australia’s highest peak – Mount Kosciuszko is only 7,310 ft (2,228m). Does that help? Eek!

Actually, the penny now drops…

On the flight out, the air stewards were handing out these tiny packets of what Dad and I could see were pills of some kind. There was no indication on the packet, at least not in English, as to what they were, so we both made the decision to steer clear of them. Turns out they were herbal altitude sickness pills. Hmmmm… would have been good to know, in retrospect. Haha – duh!

Anyway, the light headed feeling passed almost instantly, and as quickly as we had entered the terminal, we had met up with Stone, our guide, and headed out into the unexpected cool air of the car park and our awaiting transport. As on previous occasions, Stone took the opportunity to give us a little background info on his little part of the world on our journey to the hotel.

Capital of the Diqing Tibetan Ethnic Minority Autonomous Prefecture, Shangri-La is home to a very hospitable population of around 120,000 people and consists of no less than 13 different ethnic minorities including a strong Tibetan population. The predominant language spoken is Mandarin, and Buddhism is the most influential religion practiced in the region.

Arriving at the hotel, Dad & I were both quite intrigued with what we had heard, and not really knowing what we were in for tomorrow, we were keen to get some rest and tackle the day with recharged batteries. Unfortunately, a quick check of email at the hotel revealed some work back in Vancouver that needed to be done, so I ended up slaving away for a couple of hours before putting my head down, while Dad attempted to get comfortable on the rock hard beds and push up some Z’s…

Eastern Tibet Training Institute (ETTI)

A cold night and hard mattresses meant the desired night of restful deep sleep really wasn’t to be, so we showered up, headed off to an interesting buffet breakfast and then met Stone out front of the hotel – we were a little more worse for wear than perhaps desired.

First stop of the day, and the primary reason for visiting this part of China was, as previously stated, to check out one of the “volunteer” options available to Cathay Pacific China Experience travelers – a visit to the Eastern Tibet Training Institute (ETTI).

Dad and I really had no idea what we were going to encounter, so we were looking to Stone for some guidance. He was able to tell us a bit about the operation, most of which is better explained by the ETTI website, so here’s a bit of an excerpt from the site that should communicate the organisations goals and purpose better than I can using my own words:

Founded in 2004, the Eastern Tibet Training Institute (ETTI) is a not-for-profit training center working to improve the livelihoods of remote communities in China’s southwest through training-based poverty alleviation programs.

ETTI’s flagship program is the Youth Pre-Employment Training Program. This program is designed to help unemployed rural youth find their first job. Participants receive training in languages (English), computer literacy, basic accounting, customer service and life skills. It also includes an on-the-job training component delivered in partnership with local enterprise.

To date more than 140 young people have graduated from the Youth Pre-Employment Training Program, with more than 90 per cent securing jobs before or soon after graduating. Graduates have found jobs in a variety of local enterprises. Some graduates have gone on to develop small businesses and tourism-related projects in their home villages.

Considering Shangri-La’s tourism industry is apparently booming and the town, with its beautiful surrounding natural landscapes, is becoming one of the most visited tourist destinations in China’s southwest, the whole operation sounded pretty slick and we were looking forward to checking it all out.

I can’t remember exactly what was said, or exactly when it was that the confusion became apparent, but by the time we had arrived at the Institute, there were already a couple of things that were troubling me. It all began when Stone asked what we were going to do at the school during the morning? Ummmm… we thought that was something he was going to tell us! Pair this up with the fact that apparently the students and supervisors were being brought in especially for us (on a Saturday), I was beginning to wonder if a little more was expected of us than we were aware of.

These awkward thoughts aside, we entered the Training Institute and were led upstairs to what looked like a meeting room or small classroom decorated by a large number of photos of past and present students participating in various elements of their courses. It was here that we met one of their English teachers – Mr He Ping. After asking a few leading questions about the students in the photos on the wall, we still weren’t able to get an answer out of Mr Ping as to what was about to transpire when we entered the room next door, so it was all still a bit of a mystery even when we were finally standing at the front of the class with 23 pairs of expectant 16-18 year-old eyes staring back at us.

As it turned out, somewhere along the way, the ETTI people were told that Dad and I were visiting to present a lesson. Ummm… errrr… no, no we weren’t. Standing frozen and panicked in front of the kids who had only a couple of months of English studies under their belt, there was nothing left to do than to at least introduce myself and tell them all who we were, where we were from and why we were standing before them. SUPER AWKWARD!

As we ran out of things to say, we decided to try the “do you have any questions you’d like to ask us” route. None were forthcoming, so as another awkward silence fell over the classroom, we were finally saved by “Christine” a young American woman who is currently acting as curriculum coordinator and volunteer liaison for ETTI. Realising that the information that they (ETTI) had been fed about our visit was well off the mark, she stepped in and instructed the students to continue working on a film documentary project they had started the day earlier.

As the kids moved into their various project groups, Dad and I got the opportunity to move around and take photos, ask a few questions, and pretty much get done what I always thought we were there to do in the first place…

A half hour or so of taking photos and the students were let go and asked to return to their dorm rooms which were a 20 minute or so walk from the Institute. Stone suggested we should tour these accommodations, provided free of charge to the students as part of their training, so we jumped in the car and headed off.

Considering we were easily going to beat the students back, Stone took us on a bit of a tour of Shangri-La’s main drag, and some of the more impressive buildings in the area.

Arriving at the dorm rooms, we got a quick tour of the girl’s rooms which I felt a bit weird about. I mean, we didn’t give them any warning we were coming… something I would have appreciated if I were in their shoes. But anyway, we received a quick tour before herding all the kids together to take some class photos.

All the students were super friendly and were really good about us interrupting their weekend – thankfully!

Buddhist Temples & Prayer Wheel

Saying goodbye to our new young ETTI friends, we jumped back in a car with Stone and headed to the “Old Town” in the southern part of the city. This particular set of criss-crossing streets lies at the foot of a hill featuring a Tibetan monastery and what I am led to believe is China’s largest Buddhist prayer wheel. We couldn’t just pass the monastery by without checking it out, so we spent some time scaling the many stairs, lined with brightly coloured Tibetan prayer flags, to reach the various impressive religious temples that lay at the top. Enter tough brush with altitude #2.

I had covered a much larger number of stairs a few days ago on the Great Wall of China, but these really took the stuffing out of me and I was gasping for the thin air at the top of the first set.

A number of great photo opportunities, however, awaited us as we climbed higher and closer to the giant prayer wheel. We had seen a number of females roaming around the streets throughout the morning wearing bright pink head dresses that matched their also brightly coloured traditional clothing. I wasn’t successful in taking any shots of these ladies from a moving car earlier in the morning, so I got a few good opportunities to sneak in a couple of frames while light rain began to fall and we received a short and sharp tour of the temples.

Shangri-La Old Town

With a little time up our sleeves before needing to be back at the airport, we had the opportunity to explore the old town with the goal of finding somewhere for lunch. Stone was keen for us to visit a place he knew of that would be able to dish up some traditional Tibetan dishes, so we made our way along a number of the cobblestone roads lined by cute and obviously tourist-aimed trinket shops selling all sorts of Tibetan crafts from bells to sculptures, colourful masks and beautifully woven mats and clothing.

After 20 minutes or so of wandering in the general direction that Stone had sent us in, we emerged into what appeared to be the town square. Here there were a number of open food stalls where you could buy pretty much anything “on a stick” and it seemed to mark the beginning of the restaurant district (if there is such a thing).

Apparently the square features dancing displays nightly at 8pm where locals and any adventurous tourists of all ages are welcomed to join in for an hour or so of traditional, choreographed dance.

Traditional Tibetan Lunch

By now my stomach was well and truly telling me it was time to eat, so I was quite excited by the time we were seated at a table with a view, upstairs in a really cute, family-run restaurant. As Dad, who is a lot more worried about foreign foods and tastes than I am, put it, “This time we ate local with a vengeance.”

Stone and Mr Ping, who joined us for lunch, took control of the ordering, and a number of new and interesting dishes began making their way out from the kitchen. We kicked things off with some yak butter tea (an interesting flavour if nothing else), which Dad and I rather quickly washed away with some beer! Haha!

Next it was some yak yoghurt, a sizzling eggplant and vegetable hot pot, lamb skewers, raw yak meat with an explosive sauce (honestly, this stuff made wasabi seem like a weak cousin) and yak meat dumplings.

Yup, it was yak all around for the first time (and perhaps the last time) for Dad and me. I really enjoyed it all – it was a great culinary experience.

With full bellies, it was time to head back to the airport again, thank Stone for his hospitality and guidance (despite the awkward confusion earlier in the morning) and check-in.

It seemed like the airport was only just opening for the day upon our arrival (mid afternoon on a Saturday), so there was a bit of waiting around in the departure lounge before we finally boarded our flight, bound for Kunming and ultimately Shanghai where we’ll kick off our two-day tour of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, starting tomorrow!

While not currently an available option as part of Cathay Pacific’s current tour package offerings, the Chengdu/Panda experience is something, I am reliably told, that they are working on to offer in the near future.

So with that little bit of housekeeping out of the way, let’s get stuck into today’s adventure and some photos of the cute little black and white furries.

Phillip, our Chengdu guide greeted us in the lobby of our hotel with a big smile on his face at 8am sharp. Sounds early, but it represented a welcome sleep-in of sorts for Dad and me who were perhaps struggling a little from the back-to-back early morning starts and fully scheduled days prior to today.

All packed up and ready to fly to our next destination following the days’ activities in Chengdu, we piled into the awaiting vehicle and headed off. Phillip, who spoke very good English in comparison to our previous guides, was quite obviously very proud of his home city. He gave us quite a good rundown of the history of Chengdu, now home to over 10 million people, and also a thorough description of the Giant Panda and its history and significance to the Chengdu region. He explained the reasons why breeding is so difficult for the Panda, and touched on why the breeding centre we were about to visit was set up.

In what seemed like a short amount of time, probably because we were listening to Phillip so intently, we had arrived at the centre and my camera shutter finger started to get pretty itchy – I was excited, that was for sure!

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

I had planned to give you the quick rundown on what the Research Base is all about and what they are attempting to achieve in creating and opening up such a fantastic centre to the general public, but strangely enough, their website does a perfectly suitable job at this, so here you go (quoted from www.panda.org.cn).

The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (hereafter Chengdu Panda Base) is a non-profit organization engaged in wildlife research, captive breeding, conservation education, and educational tourism.

The Chengdu Panda Base was founded in 1987, with six giant pandas rescued from the wild. Today (2008) our captive population has increased to 83 individuals from that founding population of only six. Genetic diversity in the population is sustained by the exchange of preserved genetic material with other facilities. We are very proud that we have not taken any giant pandas from the wild for 20 years. This demonstrates our unique and uncompromising commitment to the conservation of the wild ( in situ ) population and the healthy growth of the captive ( ex situ ) population.

Due to our research and commitment to animal health and welfare, 124 giant panda cubs have been born to our Base in 85 litters, 88 survived and now we have 83. To assist other institutions holding giant pandas we provide technical support and send our experts to assist with care, rearing, and breeding. So that all giant panda researchers can share their knowledge, we host the Giant Panda Annual Technical Meeting, inviting researchers from all over the world to share information to improve captive management for the conservation of giant pandas.

The Chengdu Panda Base covers an area of 106 hectares and will be enlarged to 200 hectares during the third phase of our expansion. Red pandas, golden monkeys and other wild and/or endangered species live and breed here.

Once inside the gates, the hustle and bustle of the outside world faded away as we strolled along beautiful bamboo-lined paths that led to the panda enclosures which were well sign-posted. One of the first things that struck me was just how clean the park was. There really wasn’t a scrap of rubbish or even messy area of foliage to be seen. Much like the ultra-impressive “Australia Zoo” back home, it’s evident that the staff of the centre are doing all they can to protect the pandas and other captive inhabitants from human interference (including rubbish etc). A big thumbs up for that effort!

Naturally, there were plenty of people about already by the time we had arrived and it was a safe bet that where everyone appeared to be congregated, pandas were to be seen. Our first encounter was with 4 or 5 juvenile pandas sitting on a platform about 20 feet from us, demolishing bamboo shoots like there was no tomorrow. Cameras were running hot around us so the logical step was for Dad and me to join in.

Traveling deeper into the bamboo-lined park, we found a number of other enclosures containing both adult and infant pandas – the latter being the obvious crowd favourite. I have to be honest though, the ever-so-cute little guys were pretty hard to photograph as, due to their smaller size, they kind of became lost in the bamboo branches offered to them for breakfast.

As mentioned in the quoted website description listed above, Giant Panda wasn’t the only type of panda we found while wandering the breeding centre. We also came across a number of cheeky Red Panda who had just finished their morning feed and were scurrying around, much to the delight of onlookers. These guys really are very cute and I could easily have spent a lot longer with them had time permitted.

As it turned out, however, we were on a bit of a time schedule as after about 90 minutes of time spent with the various pandas from the outside of their enclosures, Dad and I were given the opportunity to get up close and personal with one of the beautiful beasts with a VIP “meet a panda” experience.

Waiting in line at one of the enclosures with a dozen or so others, we were handed shoe coverings and gloves that we were to wear into the enclosure when it was our turn to “meet” our new, big, cuddly, black and white friend. Staff members took a few shots for Dad and me as we got about 1 minute each to pet the big guy who was quite frankly more interested in the selection of apples he was gifted, more than providing us with a perfect Kodak moment.

Regardless I think we got a great souvenir from this pretty special meet and greet. Incidentally, in case you ever get over to Chengdu to check out the pandas for yourselves, we worked out that the “meet the panda” experience costs around 500 yuan (about AUS $90).

After a really enjoyable few hours spent at the breeding centre, and a quick visit to the gift shop to pick up some souvenirs (see above) for my niece and nephew back home in Brisbane, we headed back into town for lunch. Phillip, as with all the other guides we’ve had so far, was keen for us to try some cuisine specific to the local area. So after a little consultation, mainly to work out to what degree we liked the spice in our food to be (not a lot when it came to Dad), he ordered a selection of dishes that consisted of bamboo shoots, a ridiculously yummy beef dish, an assortment of vegetable plates and an odd but tasty kind of corn fairy bread which we washed down with plenty of tea and a Tsingtao beer. Magic!

Kuanxiangzi Alley

Last stop following lunch and as a way of killing some time before heading back out to the airport, Phillip took us on a mini walking tour through a really picturesque tourist area called Kuanxiangzi Alley. Lined with an assortment of small old-style hotels, restaurants, leisure teahouses, and other tourist stores, there was plenty to see and enjoy.

I cannot tell you how much will-power I had to employ to stay out of this wicked looking bar that was taunting me with Australian beers (the Crownies and Cascade in particular) that haven’t touched my lips in over 6 months!

There’s nothing quite like getting some fella on the side of the street to give your ears a thorough cleaning out in public! Oh the things we have seen over the past few days…!

With a great day of panda and other sight-seeing in Chengdu under our belts, it was time to head back out to the airport where we said our goodbyes to our guide, Phillip, and boarded a plane to Kunming. Here we grabbed our bags, went through the whole rigmarole of checking in again and, after a quick break, eventually took off bound for our next destination – Shangri-La!

Day two in Xi’an and the Shaanxi Province promised to be a rewarding one with a trip to the world-famous Terracotta Warriors on the cards for the afternoon. Before then, however, Dad and I happily rose from our uncomfortably hard beds, filled the tank with a solid breakfast from the hotel’s buffet offering, met Andrew (our guide) in the hotel lobby and headed off in more crazy traffic for the Xi’an Museum.

Xi’an Museum

Set amongst beautifully landscaped gardens and lakes, the Museum was a modern and impressive building that we waited a half hour or so to open before we could enter and start exploring a great deal more artifacts and historically important treasures from years dating back to 200BC and beyond.

Lighting levels throughout the museum were pretty low in order to preserve the exhibits on show and flash photography was prohibited (Dad found out the hard way), so it was pretty much left to me and my trusty Canon 7D to collect a few shots here and there to share with you all.

As with most other days on our China tour, a VIP experience awaited us beyond the areas accessible to the general public and it wasn’t long before Andrew led us off to a back area in the basement of the Museum, behind electronically controlled security doors, where we eventually entered a room consisting of two official looking blokes, a standard office metallic cabinet and a large table covered in a sheet of red velvet and several pairs of small white gloves.

Show and tell time – sweet!

Our Xi’an Museum “white glove experience” allowed us to get that much closer to the kinds of artifacts that we had been marveling over throughout the past couple of days. One-by-one we were introduced to and allowed to explore in our hands, a number of ridiculously old relics presented to us by a softly spoken Museum staffer. Andrew’s translatory expertise really came into play here as we pawed a number of items including a ritual urn, a bronze drinking cup, a couple of ornate mirrors, and a tray of 8 x 250gm solid gold circular, roughly finished ingots.

The need for a security guard in our presence was more than understandable as the items we were fortunate enough to be holding were beyond priceless in the eyes of the Museum and I would assume the Chinese public at large. Again, photography was limited to one shot only, and Andrew did a good job of snapping a fairly descriptive frame for us to use to remember the experience (below).

Another half hour to an hour spent exploring the remaining sections of the Museum and it was time to exit and head out of town for the blue ribbon exhibit for the day – the Terracotta Warriors.

Reproduction Terracotta Warrior Factory

Along the way out to the Terracotta Warrior Museum, we made a quick “shopping opportunity” stop at a slick reproduction factory where we had the chance to take some cheesy warrior photos, get a tour of the processes involved in moulding, firing and finishing the various sized warrior replicas and, once again, find ourselves dumped in a maze of showrooms featuring lacquer ware, terracotta warriors in various forms, silk rugs, jade sculpture and ornaments and more.

Escaping with just a couple of quick purchases, we were back on the road headed for our final destination for the day.

Terracotta Warrior Tour

About an hours drive away along what appeared to be a fairly purpose-built freeway through market garden areas, we arrived at the Terracotta Warrior site. The endless vege plots we passed along the way gave way to a huge complex with acres of paved parking for the endless line-up of tourist coaches. Considering the cultural and historical significance of the site (I’ll try to cover that below), the masses of humanity were to be expected. It’s not like we weren’t getting used to being herded, pushed and shoved around already! Tour leaders headed every which way with their flags held high, followed by their faithful charges and we just went with the flow.

Now, those of you who aren’t familiar with this hand-crafted army of pottery are probably wondering what all the hullabaloo is? Well let me try and shed some light on the whole situation for you.

In 246 BC a young 13 year old fella by the name of Qin Shi Huang ascended to the throne of the state of Qin. By the age of 38 Qin Shi Huang had conquered the six neighboring states to unify China for the first time and cemented his position as China’s first Emperor.

Remembered and admired for, amongst others, his achievements in bringing seven states together to form a nation, standardising a common script and establishing uniform measurement and monetary systems, he was also reviled for the brutality associated with his extravagant personal projects.

From the time he became King, Qin Shi Huang set about constructing his own tomb (or mausoleum) which took 11 years to complete and sacrificed the lives of 700,000 forced labourers in the process. As part of this tomb preparation, an estimated 8,000 strong army of Terracotta Warriors, horses, chariots and other impressive items were buried around the tomb to defend the Emperor in the afterlife.

In 1974 a group of peasant farmers uncovered some pottery while digging a well in the area that is now a well established museum. The find was of great interest to archeologists who flocked to the site in great numbers with the intention of extending the digs which have so far resulted in a total of 5 pits being uncovered and worked on.

Pits 1, 2 and 3 have so far been opened to the public, together creating a museum space that covers an area of 16,300 square meters.

With all this in mind, there’s little wonder then as to why the Terracotta Warriors and Horses are considered the most significant archeological excavations of the 20th century and why the area was listed in 1987 as a UNESCO world cultural heritage site.

Archeologists can still be seen actively working on the excavation site like in the picture below which I shot towards the back right hand corner of Pit #1.

About 200 meters northeast of the massive Pit #1 is the smaller Pit #2 which was found in 1976, excavated and opened up to the public in 1994. It contained over a thousand warriors and 90 wooden chariots, and today gives visitors a good view of a number of warriors and horses.

Rounding off the museum tour, you arrive at a modern building where, in a typical showroom layout, you can get up close and view, behind large glass cabinets, some of the more complete warriors, chariots and other artifacts that have been excavated from the various pits. Impressive, but certainly not as impressive as the up close and personal introduction we had received at the Shaanxi Archeological Research Institute the day earlier.

Pit #5

Our absolute final tour and private VIP experience for the day was Pit #5 – the most recently discovered and excavated pit. Unexpectedly, the site was a good 5 minute drive away from the existing Terracotta Warrior Museum. In the literature given to us by Cathay Pacific prior to our departure, Pit #5 was described as follows:

Take a tour of this famous underground works site that is typically closed to the public. Here you’ll have the exclusive opportunity to see an armor of a Terracotta soldier that has been buried for over 2000 years. As it lays now, this armor is still in the ground as originally discovered.

What we experienced and found was… well… somewhat different. I’m going to regurgitate Dad’s recollective notes of the visit simply because I think he summed it up pretty well.

A short drive through the market gardens brought us to a narrow dirt track too rough for the car so we walked about 1km through rural settings to an ordinary looking old shed. It appeared we weren’t really expected. There were phone calls back and forth before we were granted entry. Inside the gloomy shed was a big hole in the ground with some plastic sheeting covering whatever lay in the bottom. Somewhat of an anticlimax after the amazing and impressive site already seen.

Haha! After all the build up to what we thought was going to be one final, special, private experience, we were met with a pit that had been covered up and, as we found out from one of our reluctant site hosts, was due to be completely closed in the coming weeks. Hmmm…

Considering what we had already seen throughout the day, however, we were certainly not about to argue with the last little hiccup. Instead we piled back into the car and made our way back to Xi’an Airport where we bid Andrew a farewell and boarded a quick 1 hour flight to Chengdu – China’s panda capital!

Jessica, bless her, got us all checked in with little fuss, and escorted us all the way to the security area before leaving us to our own devices. We greased her palms with some well-earned tip money, said goodbye and headed for the distant Gate 44 as instructed by our boarding passes.

Arriving at Gate 44 in plenty of time, we found no evidence of any kind on any on the available video screens that we were where we needed to be. Some cool-headed discussion and strategising between Dad and me resulted in us retracing our steps through the terminal until we found ourselves a China Eastern information desk where we, through broken English, were able to find out that Gate 41 was where we actually needed to be.

By the time we got back to Gate 41, the video displays were finally being updated and some plain English boarding calls were starting to be made. With all of this going on, we eventually worked out that Gate 43 was where we actually needed to be after all, and before long we were strapped in on our China Eastern flight and zooming up and out of Beijing’s hanging layer of pollution!

Descending into Xi’an it become painfully aware that we were going to be dealing with rain, for today at least. Arrival and baggage collection (always a stress for me who has been left without luggage on a number of occasions following flights) were painless and we headed out into the arrivals lounge on the hunt for our guide, Andrew. There were no signs immediately visible with our names on them, so Dad and I kind of hovered which is why, I guess, a slimy and somewhat aggressive cab driver almost immediately pounced on us asking us where we were headed, as his equally slimy collective began to circle like vultures.

Thankfully Andrew found us, rescued us from the vultures (which they thought was a great joke), and whisked us away to our waiting vehicle and a 40 minute journey to our hotel. The journey gave me enough white-knuckle time to finally work out how such traffic chaos here seemingly works so well. I told you yesterday that I’d divulge my theory once I had finally worked it out, so here it is. Are you ready?

Chaotic Chinese Traffic Explained

The trick is to not drive too fast. Simple. There’s relatively few traffic lights to stop you in your journey from A to B, so with those delays eliminated, you can afford to drive at a slower, constant pace and still arrive at your destination on time. You are, of course, contending with a lack of respect for any kind for white paint on the roads, scores of scooters and bicycles, and of course an army of completely fearless (or stupid – depending on how you look at it I guess) pedestrians. That’s what you have a horn for. But horns aren’t used here in the traditionally aggressive way they are in the western world. Horns are used (often) to let the people and objects around you know where you are. When the bloke in front of you starts to drift into your lane looking like he’s going to take off your front left corner, a couple of friendly taps on the horn lets him know, “Hey buddy, I’m already over here before you make that move. Thanks.”

Combine this friendly alert procedure with the slower pace and you end up with this chaotic harmony that sees everyone just kind of slip and slide in, out and around one another in a way that is terrifying to watch… but it works.

So there it is.

Forest of Stone Steles Museum

A quick 20 minute check-in and turn around at the hotel and we were back in the car with Andrew and our driver, and heading off for our first sight seeing destination in Xi’an – the Forest of Stone Steles Museum, located near the south gate of Xi’an City Wall.

En route, Andrew attempted to throw a fair amount of the history of the steles our way, so with what I was able to understand and remember, here’s my attempt at a “complete history in a couple of paragraphs or less” for your convenience and reading pleasure.

The Forest of Stone Steles is a museum consisting of around 3,000 stone slabs engraved with Chinese characters that convey the knowledge, wisdom and history of China. These steles, primarily from the Tang Dynasty each record achievements in the development of the Chinese culture and reflect the historical facts of the cultural exchanges between China and other countries spanning over 900 years of history.

Due to the sheer number of steles in the collection, the museum was officially named as the Forest of Stone Steles Museum in 1992.

Got it? Good – let’s continue.

The museum consists of seven exhibition halls which are spread throughout a walled area of land dotted with beautiful gardens and walkways – plenty of excuses to take photos which is exactly what I did.

The popular souvenir item here seemed to be ink rubbings of the more popular or meaningful steles. As part of our tour however, Dad and me were lucky enough to have the VIP experience of creating our own rubbings from scratch and getting to take those home with us. Sweet.

The process was actually a lot of fun, and between Dad and I we managed to get enough photos to be able to provide you with a bit of a play-by-play on how it all comes together.

STEP ONE – Select your stone stele

Actually Dad and I didn’t get to choose our own steles… the little fella that was setting everything up for us had taken care of that potential conundrum for us. As it turned out, Dad’s stele was the verse of Dongpo by the calligrapher Ping Xuan from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD).

I, on the other hand, completed my rubbing on a stele that was described in the following way on the accompanying plaque, “Composing verses on the occasion of the association of the same age”, (errm… ok) by the calligrapher Xu Yongjian from the Ming Dynasty (1576 AD).

STEP TWO -Apply the sheet of rice paper for the print

Again, our friend took care of this delicate step. A little water, some delicate hands and bingo – the canvas is ready!

STEP THREE – Prepare the canvas

Pretty much the last step completed by the man in blue before we were unleashed on our works of art. A little brushing to get the paper to drop nice and snug into the engravings on the stone followed by a little tapping with a rubber block here and there to push out any remaining air from under the surface of the paper.

Lastly, a bit of gentle fanning ensures that the paper is completely dry before you hit it (literally) with the ink.

STEP FOUR – Apply the ink

In a top-to-bottom, center to outwards motion, you gently tap on the surface of the rice paper with a material pad dipped in a type of ink that was smeared on a wooden paddle that you hold in your spare hand.

A couple of repeat passes and the paper reveals a striking white etched pattern against a black background. Magic!

STEP FIVE – Gently, gently, remove your masterpiece from the stele

I was convinced that I was going to screw this bit up and rip my paper at some point during this final hurdle… but to my relief it wasn’t the case and Dad and I were able to get a happy snap holding our creations. Fun times!

With our stone stele souvenirs stashed away safely, it was off to a different section of the museum grounds where we entered a low-lit hall filled with a number of large stone statues and other artifacts dating back hundreds of years to the Tang Dynasty – pretty amazing stuff. Thankfully, Andrew did his best to give us a good explanation as to the significance of a number of the pieces on display. The English translations of a lot of the descriptions were sporadic, sometimes really vague and other times non-existent.

By now, I was fairly famished after having received only a pretty ordinary “airline breakfast” while enroute from Beijing this morning. So next stop was a local restaurant that Andrew pretty much dropped us off at and ordered a huge 8 dish spread of some traditional dishes from the local area that consisted of rice, sweet & sour pork, sushi, an assortment of vege dishes and some type of cold, slimy mushroom soup kinda thing that Dad and I both politely pushed to the side after one sip. Nasty! Haha!

Every time we looked up at one another across the table with looks of, “I’m full, how do we get out of here…”, yet another dish would arrive at the table. How the heck do these little, average weight Chinese people eat like this every day? It’s madness… and yummy!

Shaanxi Archeological Research Institute

With lunchtime nourishment taken care of, it was back on the road for a short drive to a fairly inconspicuous building that housed the Shaanxi Archeological Research Institute – a high security Government laboratory where joint Chinese and German scientific talent work to painfully restore newly excavated relics found throughout the province.

Not open or available to be toured by the general public, this visit represented yet another of our Cathay Pacific China Experience VIP tours that Dad and I both felt pretty privileged to have experienced. Being able to wander through the Institute checking out many more amazingly detailed relics from a long distant Chinese past was pretty special in itself, but what made this part of the day REALLY cool was our chance to literally stand shoulder to shoulder with a couple of 2,200 year old Terracotta Warriors. This is certainly something that the hundreds, if not thousands of people we joined out at the Terracotta Warriors Museum the following day were not able to brag about to their friends and family.

Before taking off, Andrew led us into a couple of the restoration labs where we were able to see first-hand the intricate, laborious processes involved in cleaning and restoring the priceless excavated relics. I was told I could shoot one frame only while in these labs, so the one shot I did get is below along with a number of other shots we took from this part of the day.

A little weary after a long morning of historical exploration, Andrew dropped us back at the hotel around 3pm leaving us the rest of the evening to entertain ourselves. Considering pretty much every other day of this entire tour doesn’t allow for much free time at all, this was quite the luxury handed to us and we both took the opportunity to take a quick nap.

Once vertical again, we used the last couple of hours of smog dominated daylight to wander a few blocks from the hotel to a park that we had spied earlier in the day. Dad seemed a little nervous about making the one major road crossing we needed to make in order to get to the safety of the park, but we managed to find a solid looking light-controlled pedestrian crossing that a majority of cars, scooters and bikes appeared to be stopping at, so we took our chances.

The park itself lay in the shadow of Xi’an’s city wall and ran along the banks of the moat that lay between the wall and the outside world. Well presented in its appearance, the park gave us the opportunity to stretch our legs and get amongst some rare inner-city greenery, but there wasn’t a great deal around to hold our attention, so we eventually headed back to the hotel room where we freshened up, and started the monumental task of sorting through all the pics we took during the day.

Since the Cathay Pacific China Experience tour that we are on is fully guided from start to end each day, the first and really only decision Dad and I had to make was whether or not to go jeans or shorts for the day?? Dad and I both opted for shorts seeing as though we were fortunately blessed by Buddha, or whichever God it is that overlooks this neck of the woods, with blue skies and warm temps.

As 8am rolled around and the first “due-to-lack-of-sleep” yawn escaped my gob, we were met by Jessica, my airport escort from last night and our guide for the day. I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty considering whatever sleep I had had since arriving last night, there was no doubt that Jessica was functioning on less than me.

Regardless, we jumped into our clean, modern four-wheeled chariot and headed towards our first stop of the day in the middle of Beijing – The Forbidden City.

I’ll no doubt make mention of the driving/traffic situation over here (in China) on numerous occasions over the coming days. Dad and I were gasping and giggling all at once as we took in what played out in front of us during the 40 or so minute drive to the Palace’s northern gate. The roads are in good nick – everyone, whether they are in cars, on scooters or bikes, or hoofing it, use them. The various lane markings and traffic signs were all perfectly visible too… but NOBODY used them.

I don’t really know how to explain it yet (give me another day or so of white-knuckle observation time), but somehow the frantic road-based-mayhem and unrelenting horn honking works. There seems to be a hell of a lot of trust involved, but for all the mayhem we witnessed, there wasn’t a single vehicle scrape or accident to be seen.

But anyway… I digress.

The Forbidden City

Arriving at The Forbidden City’s northern gate (below), we jumped out of the car and were immediately presented with a scene, that matched exactly, all the postcards and tourist books you see from this part of the country featuring the large, distinctive, single and double eaved palaces and other royal quarters. It was at about this time that I think Dad and I both suddenly clicked that we weren’t in our respective home towns anymore.

We met up with another guide, Tina, as we approached the northern gate entrance, and together the four of us (pretty awesome tour group size I have to say) passed through the vast, imposing city walls.

Now a registered UNESCO World Heritage site due to its Chinese historical, architectural and cultural significance, The Forbidden City spans over a massive 720,000 square meters. Completed in 1420, the “city” served as the Chinese imperial palace and home of 24 Emperors, spanning the Ming and Qing dynasties over five centuries.

I could probably go on and on with structural statistics and all sorts of interesting historical tidbits relating to The Forbidden City, considering the impressive complex has so many unique and fascinating stories to tell, but Wikipedia does a much better job at covering all that kind of stuff, so check out The Forbidden City article if you’d like to read up about it in-depth.

Here’s a few fast facts for the time-starved amongst you:

• Construction lasted 15 years, and required more than a million workers.
• The Forbidden City is the world’s largest surviving palace complex consisting of numerous, beautifully kept gardens, palaces, halls and royal residences.
• The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 7.9 meter (26 ft) high city wall and a six-meter deep, 52 meter (171 ft) wide moat.
• The sloping ridges of building roofs are decorated with a line of statuettes lead by a man riding a phoenix and followed by an imperial dragon. The number of statuettes represents the status of the building.

Double Glory Palace / Shu Fang Zhai

Now I must divulge at this point that neither Dad (think I can speak on his behalf) nor I are huge buffs when it comes to Chinese history. So it’s fair to say that any of the historical highlights we encounter over the coming days will probably be met with a mixture of amazement and relative ignorance. Take, for example, our first stop this morning in The Forbidden City.

One of the things that makes the Cathay Pacific China Experience tours so unique and special is that they include a number of “VIP” opportunities – experiences not available to your everyday tourist or member of the general public. Our visit this morning to The Double Glory Palace and Shu Fang Zhai were the first two of these such VIP highlights.

The following two paragraphs are taken from the China Experience website and explain briefly these two highlights.

The Palace of Double Glory (Chonghua gong)
In 1727, the Yongzheng Emperor built this palace for his heir, the Qianlong Emperor. After Qianglong ascended the throne, he moved away, but continued to use the palace as a private meeting place for his friends and ministers.

Every New Year’s day, the Emperor would host an annual tea party where grand secretaries, palace ministers and members of the Imperial Academy accompanied Qianlong to drink tea and write poetry.

With much of the furniture and building’s arrangement still intact since Qianlong’s reign, you will experience an exclusive glimpse into the day to day lives of China’s royalty.

Shu Fang Zhai
While the Shu Fang Zhai has never been opened to the public, it has served as a reception area for Heads of State and visiting dignitaries. On this VIP tour, you’ll also have the unique opportunity to view the two stages where the Imperial family would host operas for celebratory banquets or treat specially invited officials with the tea of three purities during the first Lunar month.

Most of the furniture you’ll see inside date back to the Qing Dynasty.

While we weren’t permitted to take any photos inside the Double Glory Palace, I can tell you that some of the furniture was amazing including these delicately crafted jade murals that featured on many of the walls. I had to keep reminding myself how old all of this stuff was. Wow!

I was able, however, to attempt to snap a few shots of the ornate main stage of the Shu Fang Zhai. It was fast approaching the middle of the day by now and lighting (high contrast) wasn’t great for any kind of shots, but here’s a few of what we took, below.

More Forbidden City

With our first VIP experiences behind us, Jessica, Tina, Dad and I continued onto our next task which was to wander the remainder of the 961m long north/south axis of The Forbidden City, along with thousands of others, taking in stunning views of some of the more notable buildings of the city like the Hall of Preserving Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony and largest and most impressive building of all, the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Returning back to the public or “non-VIP” area of the city, we realised just how privileged we were earlier in the morning with our VIP mini-tours. We found ourselves darting in and out of large numbers of tourists sporting group defining, wildly coloured baseball caps and bucket hats which, of course, matched the flag being held by their respective guides. On more than one occasion I turned to Dad with a, “how lucky are we to be avoiding that circus act” look on my face. He grinned in agreement.

Dad with our Beijing guides Jessica and Tina

Escaping the crowds through the huge red, gold studded doors of the southern gate, we suddenly found out where all the masses of people were coming from. Dozens of tour buses from which hundreds of people were still spilling out from, were parked before us. The girls certainly had the right idea shuffling us through the comparatively quiet northern gate earlier in the morning.

Jessica used her mobile to call up our driver, he magically appeared, we said our goodbyes to Tina and we were whisked away to our next destination.

Hutong Visit

Not far outside the walls of The Forbidden City is a section of Beijing known as the Hutongs. Essentially a labyrinth of narrow streets and alleyways formed by lines of “siheyuan” (traditional courtyard residences), the hutong was apparently where the workers lived during the construction period of The Forbidden City.

Hutong numbers have decreased by almost 25% since 1949 when the People’s Republic of China was formed, as the traditional neighbourhoods have been gradually replaced by wide boulevards and high rises. With this in mind, our Hutong visit this afternoon was a special opportunity to get a first-hand glimpse of traditional Beijing living.

First of all we were introduced to the fella charged with preventing us from getting lost in the hutong – our guide, Will. With a quick introduction out of the way, Will led Jessica, Dad and I into the maze of crisscrossing alleyways to a residence where we caught our first glance of the tiny rooms that made up the tiny houses of the tiny people that inhabit them.

We were introduced to the lady of the house who also happened to be a skilled Chinese calligrapher. We were then invited to seat ourselves at a table in what appeared to be a family member’s bedroom and proceeded to partake in a quick Chinese calligraphy lesson covering basic numbers and a few more complicated characters. I was shuffling between camera and brush so I wasn’t doing a terribly good job at the whole thing, but Dad was told repeatedly that he was a bit of a natural and the praise came thick and fast as he built up quite a take-home library of ink-work.

As quick as we breezed into our gracious host and teacher’s abode, we breezed out again and onto a couple of awaiting rickshaws that whisked us off to another residence where we enjoyed a traditional family lunch consisting of lots of tasty, “not scary” (Dad’s words), dishes consisting of beans, shoots, cucumber, eggplant, pork and duck served with rice and washed down with tea and 7Up. Thankfully for Dad, chopsticks were optional – the one thing that I think was worrying him about this trip more than anything else! Haha!

Lunch gave us the opportunity to ask Will and Jessica a bunch of questions and engage in some casual conversation. Neither Jessica, nor Will’s English was perfect, so I’m sure Dad and I missed a few of the answers offered to our questions, but it was a lovely way to end our time in the heart of Beijing.

Jade Outlet Store

With our car and driver magically appearing at the end of a mobile phone call once again, we jumped in and made our way to the outskirts of Beijing (45 minutes or so) where an impressive set of mountains appeared and we got our possible first glimpses of the mighty “Great Wall of China”.

Before we reached our much anticipated destination, I guess in true “tour” fashion we made a surprise stop at a local jade factory and outlet store. As stated on Wikipedia:

In the history of the art of the Chinese empire, jade has had a special significance, comparable with that of gold and diamonds in the West. Jade was used for the finest objects and cult figures, and for grave furnishings for high-ranking members of the imperial family.

These facts were presented to us by a young girl who gave us a quick tour of the on-site jade sculpting and polishing studios as well as explain to us the difference between the two types of jade – nephrite and jadeite. As is traditionally the case with retail tour stops like this, we found ourselves dropped off in a collection of connected showrooms featuring a vast and very expensive selection of incredible jade sculptures and jewelery. And, as is traditionally the case with connected showrooms like this, it was near impossible to find your way out.

Salespeople 1 – Confused Aussie tourists 0

Great Wall of China

Finding daylight again with our wallets still untouched and firmly planted in our hip pockets, we jumped back into our awaiting car and made the last push out into the rolling hills of the country surrounding Beijing where we eventually found an impressive section of the 3,700 mile long Great Wall of China.

Being one of the items on my “bucket list” prior to embarking on this trip, I was pretty excited about the way we were ending our day, and indeed visit to Beijing.

Consisting of a number of different sections constructed over a period ranging from 5th century BC and the 16th century, the Great Wall was raised along the northern borders of China in an attempt to keep the nomadic Mongol tribes out. It certainly is a jaw-dropping structure in person with its 26-foot tall sections punctuated by guard towers for as far as the eye can see.

With a spring in our steps, Dad and I headed straight for the base of the wall where we were met with some pretty steep steps. I have to say, I was somewhat surprised to see just how steep the opening section of the wall from the car park was – like a Chinese style Grouse Grind!

Completing the first two sections of the wall with some pretty heavy breathing and moisture on the brow, Dad and Jessica opted to put the anchor down at a sign that basically proclaimed you were a legend if you had made it that far.

I, on the other hand, was pretty keen to attempt to get some decent photos to mark my “bucket list” moment. In order to do this, however, I felt I had to get well clear of the crowds, the cheesy gift shops and any sign of the car park and highway.

I charged on ahead and spent the next hour or so covering another couple of kilometers of the wall following it up and over a couple of extra peaks that delivered me well clear of all signs of modern day China. I think it did the trick… the following shots are what I ended up with.

The Great Wall was definitely my highlight of the day, and being lucky enough to hike the sections we did under blue skies and a warm sun was pretty cool I have to say.

Guzzling multiple bottles of water on the way back into town, Jessica took us on a bit of a drive by the 2004 Olympic Aquatic Center (Water Cube) and National Stadium (Bird’s Nest). It took two hours or more to get back to the hotel as we had to cross from one side of peak hour Beijing to the other. The traffic was unbelievable! I have a better idea of what the deal is with the traffic here now… but I’ll throw that theory at you in the morning.

Back at the Doubletree by Hilton, Dad and I showered up, cooled down, had a bit of a rest before heading downstairs to grab a pizza for dinner, and now here I am completing my first monster Blog entry! *PHEW*

Next stop Xi’an, Shaanxi province and the famous Terracotta Warriors!

I spent about 20 minutes photographing a few small groups of goslings (of the Canada Geese variety), and gave the HD video function of the “7D” a bit of a workout taking a couple of minutes of video. Returning home I somehow managed (thanks @jordanbehan for the help) to fumble my way around iMovie ‘09 for the first time and came up with the edited video you can view below.

It’s amazing to think that the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic organisers had difficulties with a lack of snow up at Cypress not 2 months ago, considering the awesome coverage they have up there right now. With that in mind, I somehow managed to squeeze out roughly 6 hours of boarding right across the resort’s 2 mountains and loved every minute of it.

Towards the end of the day I headed down into the “Bell Power Park” in the hope that some crazy talented skiers and boarders would slide through and launch themselves off the various jumps and table tops providing me with the opportunity to grab some shots. I can’t say that there were too many people coming through, but I did get the chance to talk to the resident park maintenance guys who were more than happy (HUGE THANKS GUYS!) to strap on their boards and throw down a few mad runs for me so that I could walk away with at least something.

How do I know? Well, talented Flickr photographer and obvious Star Wars fan boy “Stéfan” has spent the past year creating a photo journal (of sorts) recording the outrageous movements of a pair of Darth Vadar’s protectors as they went about their daily business in modern suburbia.

Stéfan’s project titled “Stormtrooper 365″ kicked off back on April 3rd, 2009 and concluded just last week on April 4th, 2010. I’ve been following him closely during that time as he has contorted and posed his little flexi Stormtrooper buddies and their friends in order to create a number of “little-people-in-a-big-world” creative and amusing shots.

The full 365-day gallery (see below) is fantastic and has kept me amused for many an hour over the past year. Below are a couple of my favourite shots, and the entire gallery which you can view full-screen is featured after that.

I guess the next logical step is for some creative little bugger to come along and provide witty speech bubbles for each of the shots. It’d be a big project, but a really good one! Any takers???