From little people to lots of people
Trip Start
Sep 23, 2008
1
12
40
Trip End
Oct 31, 2008
Beijing,
China
Friday, October 3, 2008
The thing about this army is their size - they are 18 inches in height. Plus, they have wooden arms which have rotted away. All in all, they look like little dolls. (Call this an army? They look 'armless to me!) The museum itself is very impressive, it's built underground and you get to walk on a glass floor directly over the burial trenches.
Then it was off to the airport to catch a South China airlines flight to Beijing.
A couple of things have occurred to me recently:
Firstly, Hong Kong was more like the China we were expecting than China itself is. The image of China is one of rules and people being told what to do. There were lots of signs in Hong Kong encouraging people how to behave. China (or at least Xi'an) does not appear to have such "suggestions". We have seen the police / military exercise control and the people did obey (to some degree).
Secondly, I have worked out the entire Chinese highway code. It is as follows:
You must know where your horn is - this is mandatory and without such knowledge you will not be allowed to drive.
It is suggested you obey the instructions of police officers (Confucius say that it is ill advised to disobey people with guns).
Lights and indicators are optional and do not need to be used for the obvious purposes (lights are totally optional on bikes, mopeds and the like).
It is suggested that occasionally we might like to right hand side of the road. However, this is not mandatory.
For those of you that have been there, imagine Cairo but with less road skills, more cars and less camels.
After a short flight we're in Beijing. It's a bright, sunny day, the temperature is in the mid 70s and, most importantly, the humidity is low.
The city centre is quite modern - lots of high rise buildings (though nothing on the scale of Hong Kong) and a lot of building work. There are a lot of Chinese flags flying (a hangover from the Olympics or because of National Day?) and a lot of signs about the Olympics. The driving remains Chinese.
There is a strong army / police presence and a lot of security checks (x-raying baggage).
We went out for a little walk that turned into a long walk. It's the end of the national holiday week so there are still masses of people everywhere. Tiananmen Square was packed, the shopping area was heaving and the restaurants were chaos. The underground made the Waterloo & City line look easy in comparison, as soon as the doors open loads of people try to get off the train at the same moment as even more people try to get on it.
The hotel in Xi'an had free internet access, the one in Beijing doesn't. So expect the updates to become less frequent (the bean counter is too tight to spend the money).
