Galaxy Babe has a treat for us. Her friend, Gordon Watson, went to China, and they'd like to share his report.

It was very gratifying to walk up to the Air China check-in desk at Heathrow and be greeted by name by the tour company rep; however the reason was I was the last male to arrive, rather than any deriving from ill-earned fame. The group had the use of a complementary lounge and it was when I had my hand round a gin and tonic that I really felt I was on holiday, after the long train journey to the airport.

The flight itself, at nearly 10 hours, was long, but we arrived on time at Beijing. After immigration formalities we had a monorail trip to baggage reclaim and eventually emerged from the airport to be greeted by our Chinese guide Mark and head off into the heavy traffic towards the city centre. The road to the city was lined with an endless row of office blocks, interspersed with apartment buildings, as expected in a city the size of Beijing.

However, it was not a direct run to the hotel but instead we went to our first attraction, the Temple of Heaven on the way there. This was built around 1520 specifically for the Emperor to ask the gods for a good harvest and all other things bountiful. Sacrifices were made (thankfully of the four rather than two-legged variety) to encourage them. The temple itself is made of wood, and built in such a way that the support is a ring of giant timbers around the inner rim, leaving a completely clear inner sanctum. Admission to this site is free for local senior citizens and many of them gather in the long covered corridors that lead to the temple, playing what looked to be some rather serious card games. One group was singing and on the way out they were doing a Chinese version of Beautiful Dreamer so being a singer, I of course joined in, not in Chinese I hasten to add. I thought I would try some Handel on them and started The Hallelujah Chorus which quickly transposed into Glory Glory Hallelujah much to everyone's amusement!
From there we went to the hotel and after an enjoyable meal, the first of many using a round table and a 'lazy Susan` for the many dishes on offer, it was time for bed as I had had little sleep on the plane and this was finally catching up on me.

Friday 26 Oct

Perhaps firstly, a comment on the hotel, the Grand Gongda Jianguo. From the outside it looks not dissimilar to the many other tall, anonymous buildings that are everywhere in this city but internally it is spacious and calm. A pianist tinkers away on a mezzanine level overlooking the lounge area and the rooms are very well appointed. Some of the group complained about the temperature in the rooms and traffic noise but that is a matter of individual preference for the one, and which floor you are on for the other.

Today, we were forewarned, was going to be a busy one and that turned out to be quite accurate. It was however full of variety. On the downside, a heavy pallor of smog hung over the city and this meant we did not see some of the great edifices at their best. To describe all that we saw and experienced would make this narrative overlong so I will sum up the main points:

First call was Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden Square. The teeming hordes today (typical daily total about 50,000) made quite a comparison to imperial days when dutiful eunuchs crept between the inner sanctum and the concubines' quarters to summon whichever one the Emperor wanted to attend to his manly needs. The whole site encompasses about 650 acres and we were only able to journey down the central spine. We were told about the Dowager Empress Cixi, who started life as a concubine and got to the top of the imperial tree. She had so much cunning and guile that she must have been a cross between Catherine the Great and Lucretia Borgia, however the Qing dynasty did not survive long after her death in 1908 and the republicanism movement under Sun Yat Sen soon swept away imperial rule. It made a brief return during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria when they installed the puppet ruler Pu Yi (as portrayed in the film The Last Emperor).

We then repaired to a restaurant for lunch and headed for Beijing Zoo to see the giant pandas. At first, it looked as if we had arrived at panda siesta time as although they were visible, they were taking it very steady. Then their standard fare of bamboo shoots was delivered to an open area where two of them resided and I obtained some delightful video footage of feeding.

Next stop was the summer palace and by now, the smog had reduced visibility even more. As the name implies this was where the imperial court decamped when things warmed up and consisted of a huge man-made lake with an island or two created from the spoil. The work involved to do this must have been enormous, like putting the efforts of the 'navvies' who dug out our canals by pick and shovel all in one place. We crossed the lake in a large dragon boat and ambled around the palace grounds before going to another restaurant for dinner.

Our last visit was to a Chinese acrobat show. Most will know of the gravity-defying feats in these shows, with spinning plates and umbrellas, young men who seem able to throw themselves throw the smallest and highest of hoops, but it is still a jaw-dropping vision and was an excellent way to round off a busy day's experience of Beijing.

Saturday 27 October

The sun was clear this morning so presumably the temperature and humidity balance meant no smog. First stop was a silk making factory but before we entered the shop we were able to witness the morning dance of about 100 or so ethnic minority Chinese who have a dedicated area nearby. It resembled something between tai chi and line dancing but it was a refreshing start to the day both for performers and onlookers.

Inside the factory shop we were shown the process of extracting the silk thread from the worms but it was really a warm-up for the sales pitch to buy silk duvets, covers and a whole raft of other silk goods. I contented myself with a one foot square hanging rug depicting a panda; others went for the duvets and I can foresee some serious suitcase cramming at the end of the holiday.

Next stop were the Ming Dynasty tombs. Like the Pharaohs, the emperors liked to be remembered once they had gone on to better things and the area we were taken to was the Chinese version of the Valley of the Kings. Just one tomb had been excavated, that of the one who built the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace (see above). The buildings are mainly a series of pavilions leading to a huge burial mound which was covered in juniper trees. We learned that when an emperor died 30 of his most favoured concubines were slain and buried around him, vertically so their stoic servility could continue in the afterlife. Although there were a fair few people there, the place did have an air of quiet dignity about it and there were some quite informative displays about what the emperor had achieved in his reign, including exploration as far as East Africa, apparently.

After lunch in a huge barn of a restaurant above yet another buying opportunity, it was time to visit the Great Wall. As you would expect, it is a highly-commercialised operation and very busy, as this site at Bandaling is the nearest section to Beijing. Most people try at least to get to tower number 8, going right from the entrance, but if you turn left it is easier going. Like many constructions of this scale, it is proof that you can build anything if you have enough hands to do it, witness the pyramids, the Inca temples and Hitler's Atlantic Wall in France, Jersey and Guernsey. However one has to concede that it is an outstanding example of construction engineering, given the terrain it had to cross. But like many such defence works before and since it was never really put to the test as politics changed during the period of building.

To make the theme park enthusiasts feel at home the place has piped music everywhere, a cable car and a sort of tracked ride down that resembles a mini roller coaster. But you can't blame the Chinese for wanting to make the best of what they have inherited and everything is well looked after.

The day finished with a traditional Beijing Duck dinner, coupled with some culinary instruction on how to go about consuming this very traditional dish.

Sunday 28 October

Today the pace of life slowed down a little although it was still an early call so we could board the 08.05 train to Chengde, a city about 250 km north east of Beijing. Our guides shepherded us through the morning crowds and we settled in our pre-booked seats for departure. It was a 4 hour journey and once we had cleared the concrete conglomeration that is Beijing we were in a very rural China. Any moderately flat land that there was – little enough as it was a mountainous region – was put to use for crops, mainly maize, and there was clear evidence of terrace cultivation, at least in the recent past. Quarrying was quite frequent too and life, from the train at least, was conducted in a rather less frenetic manner than the city.

On arrival in Chengde, we checked in to our comfortable hotel and after lunch visited the Imperial Summer Resort. This was built in the early 18th century so the Imperial Court could leave behind the oppressive heat of Beijing between May and October and comes across as a serene and restful place and the Empress Cixi (see above) was very fond of the place. It boasts a beautiful lake (this time a natural one!) set in a delightful park with elegant pavilions and footbridges setting the scene for pleasant walking, which many of the locals do, as it is a public park now.

Last stop of the day was a shop where we saw how those superb paper pictures were created; the owner cut out exquisite butterfly shapes whilst our guide, Lily, briefed us on the background of the art. In the evening after dinner we were entertained by a lively and talented troupe of schoolchildren, who delighted us with their versions of Jingle Bells and Auld Lang Syne as well as traditional Chinese music and dance.

Monday 29 October

Today was the first one that the weather looked overcast but undaunted, we set off for the first of two Buddhist temples that the main part of the day's itinerary.

The temple of Putout Sect was built between 1767 and 1771 for the Mongols who came to pay their respects to the Emperor – this area has a strong Mongolian influence even today. It is modelled on the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet and has a series of courtyards and terraces that lead the visitor ever upwards until, 347 steps later they have a commanding view of the Chengde area. We were amused to learn that hundreds of what have been windows were actually only decorative and blocked to ensure the lamas were not able to peek out and see the things they were missing as a result of their calling!

Now it was time to leave the well-trodden tourist trail for a real artistic treat. Lily, our guide for Chengde, took us to meet the Professor of Art at her alma mater, Chengde University. As she explained to us some very simple characters in the Mandarin language, he created the most beautiful picture using traditional methods. Afterwards we were invited to purchase some examples of his, his colleagues and his student's work, with the revenues going to the university and we were glad to do so. It would have been so easy to take back multiple pictures, such was the high standard on offer, but my suitcase was already looking full and we are not yet halfway through the holiday.

A high quality lunch in the same location as yesterday followed and we went on to the second temple, the Punning Temple, a smaller establishment than this morning's visit. This is an active temple and many lamas (with their mobile phones, like everyone else the world over!) were in evident. We saw prayer wheels, large incense troughs and one of the largest wooden Buddhas in China – weighing in at about 347 tonnes, it is an awesome sight to behold.

The first real free time of the holiday followed but I was content to have a nap and update this account with a cup of jasmine tea by my side rather than indulge in retail therapy. Tonight we are going out for dinner before returning by bus to Beijing tomorrow ahead of our flight to Xian where the Terracotta Army awaits us.

Wed 31 October

This morning we left our very high-standard hotel in Xian for a special welcome ceremony at the city wall. Many of China's old cities had immense walls to guard against whichever aggressors threatened but most have been knocked down as they are an impediment to the march of progress in this country. Fortunately, this is not the case in Xian and the 14km wall is still completely intact, although additional gates have been created in recent years to ease the flow of traffic, which needs all the easing it can get – in Xian 800 new cars take to the roads every day.

A traditional welcome ceremony– quite a colourful and rumbustious affair, had been arranged for our group and we were presented with a key and passport to the city. From there we progressed to the Hua Qing Hot Springs. These seem to be dedicated to the favourite concubine of the first Tang emperor Taizong, Yang Guifei, and there are two very distinctive statues of her, one of which is in the form of a marble fountain. Around the courtyard are a series of bath houses formally fed by the springs, in a strict pecking order of emperor, concubine, princes and ministers.

Lunch was in a large establishment which combined a dining area with an extensive shopping zone. It was the brainchild of a local farmer who spotted an opening when the Terracotta Army site was beginning to take off, as he happened to have a property on the road twixt city and site.

So it was we came to the Terracotta Army itself. Fast becoming China's best known attraction, it is a breath taking sight. But first, on the matter of its discovery, thereby hangs a tale! In 1976 a farmer, Mr Yeung, was digging for a well and came across a terracotta face as he laboured away. Overcome by ingrained Chinese superstition, he thought it was Old Nick himself but calmed down when he reported his find up the chain of command. Archaeologists then took control and began the painstaking task of excavation, which of course is still on-going and will be for many decades to come.

The discovery was linked to the tomb of the first and only Qin emperor, Qin Shi. He came to the Qin throne at the age of 13 and subjugated all the other states `as a silkworm devours leaves' as the great Han historian Sima Qian put it. He substituted the harsh authoritarian philosophy of 'legalism` for the more esoteric Confucianism, burning all books (even burying alive some of their authors) save those on farming and the law.

His sudden death at 50 precipitated panic amongst his ministers to the extreme that they drove his corpse around in an imperial carriage to try and fool the people that it was business as usual.

The warriors are spread between 3 pits, each of which has been covered with a hangar-like building. Pit 1 has the largest number of soldiers, and restoration is a slow job because of damage both by the passage of time and that caused in the chaos that ensured in the aftermath of the emperor's death. The other two pits show best the progress of restoration and many of the soldiers are still buried under the collapsed and by now, petrified, wooden beams that were used to cover the pits.

The smallest display building has excellent examples of restored individual soldiers, half-scale models of two types of chariots and an exhibition about the discovery and building of the museum.

Altogether, a wonderful experience. Oh, a postscript concerning Mr Yeung. As a reward for his discovery, the government, in their munificence, gave him a basket of eggs (well, times were hard in those days). He is now 76, and having learnt to write his name, spends his retirement in the souvenir shop signing copies of the glossy book on the Terracotta Army museum. No photos allowed, but we heard that if you slip him a few yuan, he's happy to oblige!

In the evening we viewed the colourful spectacle of a Tang Dynasty folklore show, with lithe girl dancers, energetic men with fierce masks and instrumentalists – an exhilarating experience.

Tomorrow, after a brief tour of Xian, we return to Beijing for a night stop before journeying on to the start point for our cruise down the mighty Yangtze River.

Thursday 1 November

This morning we were taken to one of China's biggest jade factories – jade is found in the Xian area – and after a brief introduction to the semi-precious stone it was time for another buying opportunity! As befits work of this quality, prices are quite high but even if you are not tempted to fill up your jewellery box, the items on display have to be admired for their intricate artwork.

From there we moved on to the Small Goose Pagoda which was built in 707 AD to house sutras brought back from India. It is situated in a peaceful park with a number of pavilions; a shop in one of them offers your name in Chinese script written on rice paper, a service I took advantage of. In the grounds there is a replica of a large bronze bell which visitors are invited to ring for a small charge. The information board told us that if you ring it loud enough it will send a message to your relatives and friends saying that all is well with you, so I hope you were all listening despite the fact that it was about four in the morning for most!

We then took to the skies again to return to Beijing and the next morning we were up at 4.45 for a long day's travelling by air and bus. We saw a different side of China; the paddy fields, ponds full of carp and lotus flower plants tended by rural peasants so atypical of the country. A 21st century contrast was provided by us passing close by to parts of China's 300kph high-speed railway system, which cuts journey times by up to 75%; great swathes of concrete curved their way relentlessly across the countryside.

Finally we arrived at the start point for the final leg of the trip, the cruise down the Yangtze River on the Victoria Anna which on first impressions seems a well-appointed and comfortable vessel.

Saturday 3 November

The Yangtze was grey and wet this morning so things were not looking too good for our visit to the Three Gorges Dam project, or as our guide, Susan, put it “here we have two types of weather – foggy and very foggy”. After crossing a bridge which was almost a twin of the Humber Bridge – indeed the cables for it came from the UK illustrating that there are still some things we are good at making – we headed for the main viewing area, eventually attaining the highest point via a series of escalators. As I mentioned above, visibility was not good so we had to be content with photographs of photographs and a model of the whole project. Later we saw the small ship locks (which the Victoria Anna will pass through later today as she heads upstream) and the large ship lock, which is under construction, and will take vessels up to 3000 tonnes when it completed in 2015.

The simplest way to sum up the dam is by using its statistics, so here goes:

• 2335m long
• 18m wide at the top, 130m at the bottom
• At its peak, 30,000 workers building it
• Has created a 600km (400m) reservoir, with storage capacity of nearly 40 billion Cu m of water
• 570,000 hectares of farmland flooded plus thousands of villages, towns and small cities
• 1.3 million people relocated to make way for the dam
• Cost US$28 billion
• Human cost – 120 men died during construction
• 26 generators can produce up to 18200 megawatts per annum

You cannot help but admire the tenacity of the Chinese in conceiving and building this huge project; however, it is not without much controversy. Issues concerning pollution, preservation of archaeological sites, silt accumulation and the effect on the traditional life of the river are hot topics both in China and abroad. Only yesterday, BBC World News showed a clip featuring a fisherman who had been paralysed after being beaten up by police thugs after protesting about the effect the dam had had on his livelihood.

We live in a power-hungry world and no more so than China, whose quantum growth rate of 8.5% per annum can be translated into an ever-increasing need for energy. There is no doubt that this dam will reduce dependence on fossil fuels, but there will still be a cost to the environment in other directions. One cannot deny that it has given the region a huge boost in tourism not just overseas ones like us but the Chinese too as they clearly take great pride in their country's achievements, and want to see for themselves what has been attained. Future tourist-based projects include a golf course and a 'real snow' indoor ski slope similar to the one off the M62 near Huddersfield.

In the afternoon the sky had brightened and we paid a visit to a traditional tribal area up a tributary gorge of the river. This was a truly magical experience and we saw manual boat haulage harking back to pre-dam days when fierce currents had to overcome to get up river; many examples of traditional costume, music and village culture; cormorants squabbling over a meal; a brief encounter with some elusive Macaw monkeys and a performance of a the rituals surrounding a village wedding. It is easy to think of some of these visions as being somewhat artificial but it is no different from a themed attraction in the UK such as the Beamish Museum or the reproduction French settlement at Fort Louisburg in Nova Scotia. All bring to life a period of history as it really was and this one was in an enchanting, natural setting. Back on board, the day ended with a colourful display of Chinese fashion throughout the sequence of dynasties and also that relating to some of the ethnic minorities of the country. It was put on by staff from different departments of the ship, with much elegance and panache.

Sunday 4 November 2012

At 7.15 this morning the Victoria Anna entered the Wu Gorge, a stirring sight as the sun slowly dawned on the lake. You have to try and imagine the lake more as a river, far below its current height to picture the scene before the dam was completed to get some idea of the vast changes that have taken place to the landscape in this region in the last 30 or so years.

Our excursion on a smaller boat later on in the morning brought this home when our guide, with the aid of photographs of pre-dam days, related to us, with some sadness, how her family home for generations was now under 100m plus of water. We were seeing the other side of the dam in both senses, not just the sheer beauty of the gorges, but also for the profound effect it had made to the life here. In herculean efforts to save the silt-enriched fertile soil, farmers carried it up from the doomed river banks to the higher ground to try and maintain crop yields; you would have to see the sheer angles of the cliffs to appreciate the enormity of this task. We were told of a village in the hills above this point of the gorge with many centenarians, where the typical retirement age was close to 90, indicative of a way of life in sharp contrast with the fervour of Beijing.

This is not to detract from the joy and wonder we experienced as we moved up this gorge; a 2000 yr. old 'hanging coffin' was pointed out – the local Chinese believe entry to heaven is more certain if you are nearer to it. The trip became quite an adventure when we transferred to a sampan and sped up to the narrowest section of the gorge.

After lunch, we were given a talk on Chinese medicine by Dr Xu, the ship's physician. A brave volunteer with a shoulder problem endured treatment by acupuncture, vacuumed glass jar, energy point stimulation and a vigorous massage – not for the faint-hearted!

The after-dinner entertainment this evening was again provided by our very talented crew including dancing, a magician and a very tuneful nine piece band who gave us both traditional Chinese music and their interpretation of western style rhythm.

Monday 5 November

A damp and overcast morning greeted us and I was glad of the 7am Tai Chi session to stretch the arms and legs ready for the day's climb ahead. To what, you may ask? The answer is “The Ghost City” a temple area on top of Ming Mountain opposite the city of Fengdu, which we had arrived at earlier this morning. A combination of 350 stairs and a long steady tarmac incline brought us to the top and we were grateful for the regular breathers at information stops by our guide. At each level many gilded images of Buddha and his cohorts could be found and at one, there was an intriguing set of little bridges which gave you a choice of the promise of wealth or health, depending on which one you chose to cross.

Later on, there was a model of all the horrors you expect if you did not live a good and morally-correct life; this made the torture chamber at Madame Tussauds look like a playpen by comparison.

At lunchtime we sailed off for our final port of Chongqing, a voyage that will be accompanied by a basic Chinese lesson this afternoon for those inclined that way, and the chance to dress up as Emperor and Empress tonight for anyone with further desires to go native.

Tuesday 6 November

This morning the Victoria Anna docked in Chongqing, which at 40 million people, is one of the world's largest cities. Morning mist restricted visibility, but we could just pick out the large array of high risers pushing their way ever upwards. The city was badly bombed by the Japanese in the last war, and we were taken to a traditional-style building that had survived. Our guide was a cheery young lady who had us helpless with laughter when she regaled us with amusing stories of traditional Chinese courting practices. The building itself was full of interesting 'nooks and crannies' including life size figures illustrating some of everyday life of times past.

From there we went to a park in the upper part of the city, once the grounds of a large house. The weather again reduced our view but that was compensated for by our participation in a traditional tea ceremony. The intricacies of tea and its correct preparation were carefully explained and we were invited to sample three distinctly different varieties; my own favourite was the lychee. On the way back our 'advance party' came across a group dancing in a small pavilion off the access road and joined in; the language of mutual enjoyment is universal.

Some of us were initially reticent to sign up for the evening's scheduled excursion, billed as 'Chongqing by Night' as previous travel in Beijing and Xian conjured up visions of a tour locked in traffic jams. But wait – a real treat lay ahead. After dinner we began by strolling around a pleasantly-pedestrianized shopping area where all of modern day cosmopolitan China lay before us. Children – the 'little emperors/empresses arising from the strict one-child only policy, played happily as they meandered with their doting parents between the florescent glow of the designer stores. No mobs of bawling youngsters offered threats; true we were stared at sometimes as objects of curiosity as we have been all over China, but not in an intimidating way. Even though China has been open for tourism for over 30 years, a western face is still rare.

Later, Andy, our guide, took us around his city on the coach, pointing out distinctive buildings. Then came absolute delight as we returned to the main square (we had called there in the morning) to see hundreds of people winding down their day by dancing or doing tai chi in large groups to music that echoed from every corner. The final call was the waterfront to watch brightly-lit river cruisers – including the Victoria Anna on her return voyage down the Yangtze – gliding over the rippling waters of the river.

The following morning saw us take our final internal flight to Beijing ahead of our last night on Chinese soil before returning home.

Last Thoughts and Reflections

China for me has been an amazing experience. From this point on I will have a much enhanced appreciation of the way of life and mind-set of this huge proportion of the earth's population. It is a country that takes great pride in a glorious past, which it takes great care to share with a curious world. At the same time it is a country on the move, both horizontally and vertically. Car ownership, that well recognised bastion of individualism, is increasing at a quantum rate and the drive to provide everyone with a decent home fuels a frenetic construction programme. In Beijing, traffic jams have all manner of two and four-wheelers weaving in and out of them and traffic lights are, as one guide put it “just a suggestion”. It is a nation on the move, in more ways than one, and there is no doubt that the sleeping tiger of past eons is now fully alert and prowling the world stage.

As for the tour itself, it has been fast-paced at times, with many early starts and long days; however there is no other way to see such a vast country and even then we have only covered a part of it. Gastronomically speaking, it has been like “going out for a Chinese” twice a day for a fortnight, nevertheless, despite some variance in quality, the taste buds have had some interesting new experiences. The river cruise was more relaxed and the diet widened to include more Western preferences. In summary, this truly was the 'journey of a lifetime'.

Galaxy Babe

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