China Part 5: Pandas, Poets and Planes

And we reach the last of my China blogs!

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I also took weekend numero 3 in Chengdu to finally get around to seeing some Giant Pandas.

The Sichuan Giant Panda sanctuaries are also on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and although the Chengdu base is not included in that listing, it is surely of equal importance. Today, the Giant Pandas are found only in 3 provinces, and there are fewer than 1000 of them left – and 80% of them are distributed within the Sichuan province alone. So you can see why their care is so important - it would be terribly sad to lose such beautiful animals to extinction. 

And they are really beautiful (and so, so cute!)

We walked around a bit and saw some tiny, tiny baby pandas in what looked like incubators (Pandas are born around 1/900th the size of its mother. They can weigh as little as 50-120 grams, and they look like little pink rats. By the time they are six months old, they are fairly large and completely recognisable as pandas. An adult panda will weigh around 100-150kg; so really, their rate of growth is simply astonishing).

Baby Panda!

We also saw some cubs under a year old, who were just adorable and reminded me of toddlers. We got to the base really early in the morning, because once the sun gets up, that’s it – its too hot for them and they’re all taken inside – and we were able to watch them being fed. Two of the pandas were sitting on a platform and eating bamboo, of which there was enough to go around, but they just wouldn’t share it, and kept snatching the same bit of bamboo from each other, and playing tug of war with it. It was hysterical.

There was another panda in the same enclosure who decided to climb a tree, but he (or she) just couldn’t get comfortable, because (s)he was climbing and twisting and wriggling, and at one point was hanging out of the tree, upside down supported only by his/her legs.

They’re very beautiful and entertaining animals and I’ve come home with a mind to give some money to WWF when I can afford it, because it really would be a tragedy if they were to go extinct.

We also got to see some Red Pandas (who did not look like what I expected, being more reminiscent of foxes than pandas) and some Black Swans, which really surprised me, and was actually a little bit creepy.

The beginning of the week saw a spate of volunteers leaving China to go home, which was a real shame as we had a really lovely group going. Speaking of the other volunteers, it actually occurred to me lately that my one month in China was more Erasmus and international than all of the 10 months I spent in Paris combined. There were Brits, Americans, French, an Italian, Norwegians, an Australian and probably a few others that escape me right now.

That week had lots of ups and one very big down, when I was walking to the metro one morning. It was tipping it down with rain, and I suddenly felt a weird tug to my side. I turned to look, and caught a man with his hand literally in my handbag, trying to nick my phone. I have no idea how he managed to get the zip open without my even noticing – My bag was tiny, I kept it very close to me, and I was walking pretty fast to get out of the rain – but I was extremely lucky that I turned around when I did, or he’d have lifted it and been off. I wished I’d yelled at him or something but I literally was just so gobsmacked that me and the pickpocket just had a bit of a staring match for what felt like forever but was probably only a second or two before he bolted, the tosser.

Mid-week, there was another PA Social. We went to a Tibetan restaurant, which was really cute. When we got there, we all got shown into a separate room, with low benches and tables, and ordered a range of Tibetan food including a really spicy dish which was actually lovely, and Yak Sausages.

That’s right, Yak. And they weren’t half bad either!

That night was Jane’s last night in China, so we went out afterwards to a bar near this bridge, which I thought was pretty cool, although the river smelt appalling:

And we had a lot to drink. And that is the night summarised!

The Friday of that week was the last day of my internship, which worked out very nicely, since it meant I had a long weekend with which to do some frantic sightseeing and cross as much off my ‘to-do’ list as possible! I initially had a mega weekend lined up which would have involved staying overnight in a mountaintop temple, but unfortunately it all fell through, so I had to fill my weekend with other things instead, starting with, on the Saturday, Du Fu’s Thatched cottage.

Du Fu is considered to be one of the greatest Chinese poets, and set up a thatched cottage in the park in the Tang Dynasty, around 759, where he was apparently inspired to compose more than 240 poems. The original building is obviously long since gone – what’s there is completely modern – but it’s set within a beautiful park (beautiful – and quiet! A real contrast from People’s Park down the road). …

Inside the thatched cottage: gardens are quiet; streams are winding; bridges and pavilions are interwoven; trees reach for the sky; plum trees and bamboos stand side by side; and classical architectural styles bring you a strong cultural atmosphere. 

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/sichuan/chengdu/dufu.htm

After that I went to Qinyangong Taoist Temple, which is the oldest Taoist temple in Chengdu. It was built during the Tang Dynasty, and is also known as the ‘Green Goat Temple’. It's another working temple, full of intricate pavilions, dragon carvings and bright colours. They all have a deep significance in terms of Taoism, but I didn't see any tourist leaflets or anything like that around, and as what I read on the signs next to each thing of importance has now been forgotten, said significance is now, sadly, lost on me completely, although I did recognise what I am 99% certain were the animals of Chinese New Year fame and the Yin/Yang symbol.

That night, I finally made it to Jinli Old Street, which is an old market street stretching for over 300 metres through Chengdu. It is full of tea houses and stores which are an utter tourist trap for foreigners and Chinese alike - embroidering, carvings, other handicrafts and such things. It was crowded with people (crowded should be China's buzzword) but also utterly charming.

But best of all was the Sichuan Opera. Now, this isn’t opera like you’d get in Covent Garden. It’s not even opera at all, really. And it’s held in a tea house (although unfortunately, the tea was way too bitter for my taste).

Sichuan Opera is more of an entertainment show, and it is particularly important in Chengdu Culture. There are a few clips in this video that I made – watch it to the end for the best bit!

The last two clips are of something called ’face changing’, and it was pretty amazing. They change their Sichuan opera masks in magically quick succession, by waving their arms about and swishing their clocks, the mask on their faces changes over and over again. Apparently, this idea started about 300 years ago. They wear full face, painted silk masks in layers, and they pull them off one by one. It was pretty awesome to watch because you just couldn’t see him do it! My other favourite part was definitely the shadow shapes. I didn’t manage to record all of it, because the memory was running low on my phone, but that was also pretty awesome. I’m so glad I got to go.

On my last full day in China, Noémie and I finally got to go and see the Leshan Giant Buddha (yet another UNESCO World Heritage site).

The morning started in stress. For all that China is rapidly catching up with the rest of the world in a lot of areas, it can be so behind the times. Example One: E-Tickets have apparently not made it there yet. We turned up at the coach station in the morning, and joined the longest, loudest, most chaotic queue I have ever seen. Everyone around us looked confused, which did not bode well for us, as it wasn't like we had the advantage of speaking Chinese, and (obviously) it was boiling hot.  And then when we finally got handed our tickets, and got onto a bus, there was a few absolutely heart stopping moments where it was clear to utterly no-one where the bus we were sat on was actually going. 

It actually reminded me forcefully of this extract from Jerome K Jerome's wonderful 'Three Men in a Boat':

"We got to Waterloo at eleven, and asked where the eleven-five started from. Of course nobody knew; nobody at Waterloo ever does know where a train is going to start from, or where a train when it does start is going to, or anything about it. The porter who took our things thought it would go from number two platform, while another porter, with whom he discussed the question, had heard a rumour that it would go from number one. The station-master, on the other hand, was convinced it would start from the local.

To put an end to the matter, we went upstairs, and asked the traffic superintendent, and he told us that he had just met a man, who said he had seen it at number three platform. We went to number three platform, but the authorities there said that they rather thought that train was the Southampton express, or else the Windsor loop. But they were sure it wasn't the Kingston train, though why they were sure it wasn't they couldn't say.

Then our porter said he thought that must be it on the high-level platform; said he thought he knew the train. So we went to the high-level platform, and saw the engine-driver, and asked him if he was going to Kingston. He said he couldn't say for certain of course, but that he rather thought he was. Anyhow, if he wasn't the 11.5 for Kingston, he said he was pretty confident he was the 9.32 for Virginia Water, or the 10 a.m. express for the Isle of Wight, or somewhere in that direction, and we should all know when we got there. We slipped half-a-crown into his hand, and begged him to be the 11.5 for Kingston.

"Nobody will ever know, on this line," we said, "what you are, or where you're going. You know the way, you slip off quietly and go to Kingston."

"Well, I don't know, gents," replied the noble fellow, "but I suppose SOME train's got to go to Kingston; and I'll do it. Gimme the half-crown."

Thus we got to Kingston by the London and South-Western Railway.

We learnt, afterwards, that the train we had come by was really the Exeter mail, and that they had spent hours at Waterloo, looking for it, and nobody knew what had become of it."

Anyway, stresses aside and confusion overcome, we finally made it to Leshan.

The first thing I'll say about our experience at the Buddha itself, is that it resulted in the best 'Worst English' sign that I saw during my month in China, and I really regret not taking a photo of it. For one reason or another, we didn't get to Leshan until quite late in the day, and so we planned on seeing the Buddha by boat.

We walked over to the booths where tickets for this were sold, were a solemn looking Chinese lady pronounced 'No boat'. We asked why, and she pointed to a sign which was clearly there for the benefit of English speaking tourists, and which proudly announced:

BE LIMITED EXPORT

Que blank faces on our part. 

Bless the efforts of whoever tried to put that sign together, but that doesn't really tell me anything other than a little about foreign language education in China. A few more questions and some deciphering of severely broken English, and it was established that the water level was too high for the boats to run safely, or something like that. I'm not sure how Be Limited Export is supposed to indicate 'Danger' to tourists, but there we have it. 

Initial plans scuppered, we payed to go into the scenic area on foot and climbed up towards to Giant Buddha. Unfortunately, the only part of him we got to see was his head, because after half an hour of standing in the queue that would lead us down to his feet, it became clear that we'd never get to the end of said queue without waiting there overnight, which obviously wasn't an option.

Still, his head was very impressive, and by not waiting in the queue we got to see a bit more of the park than we would have otherwise, so maybe it was for the best.

Have a few pictures - they'll describe it better than I ever could.

And after that... well, before I knew it, it was the 5^th August. I had to give a presentation to a group of people with Projects Abroad in the morning, but then the rest of my day was devoted to packing and getting ready to go home. I had planned to fit one more thing in, but it just proved to be impractical in the end. Late that night, I left my keys in my safe, headed out to grab a taxi and before I knew it, I was at the airport, and then I was connecting in Doha, and then I was back at London Heathrow and zipping homebound down the motorway. I was lucky that I had an evening flight, because I was able to sleep (or try to sleep) through most of it and it made the journey go that much quicker.

So that’s it! One month in China, blogged about in rather more installments than I had originally envisaged. I’m glad to be home, and I’m looking forward to getting back to London and finishing off my degree - but I had an absolutely cracking month out in China and I don’t regret a second of the past year, even the things that didn’t pan out how I would have wanted them to.

On the 31^st I’ll upload my final blog post looking back on the 12 months that have passed since I first got on that plane headed for Paris (fastest twelve months of my life, no question).  

Until then –

Vicky xx

Je parti Paris; je vol à Chine.

I've been back home for just over one week now and although I have actually posted twice since then, I've only just realised that I should probably post about my last few days in Paris before coming home!

On the Tuesday of my last week, I had to wait in all day, because I elected to send two suitcases home by way of www.sendmybag.com ... I'd recommend this company, if you're ever in a similar situation. It wasn't expensive, and my bags beat me home, so it was very convenient. Luckily, it was also a boiling hot day, and it wasn't really a hardship to stretch out on the balcony with a cocktail and an ice cream or two. 

I had thought that I would take the few days after that and cram them full of things, but I actually found that I had done 98% of what I wanted to do already, and so I was free to chill a bit, which I needed more than I realised. This year has been exhausting!

I ran some errands - got my confirmation of departure form signed at Assas, closed my bank account and the like - but Wednesday consisted mainly of a long period sat in the sunshine in the Jardin du Luxembourg - again, no great hardship on my part!

Thursday - Parisa and I began cleaning our apartment from top to bottom in preparation from.moving out, and I went to Notre Dame one last time, mainly to light a candle for a recent family loss, but while I was there I finally stumbled across Kilometre Zero, which I had looked for and failed to find on every. single. prior visit, so that was an unexpected bonus.

Oh, and I finally got to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night - cutting it mighty fine, I grant you, but at least I did it!

Then came Saturday morning. I headed for the airport bright and early, immensely thankful that the French Air Traffic Controllers strike was called off early, and feeling a little bit sorry for myself...

I mean this is ten months of my life we're talking about here! It went so fast, and although it was a real mountain at times, I made it to the top and I loved it. So yes, I was a little bit sorry to be leaving, although it was lovely to be back in Blighty with my family, and just in time for my younger brother's 17th birthday.

That's it! My year in Paris is up - but my year abroad isn't quite over yet! Before I will count myself as officially "ex-erasmus", I'm jetting off to Chengdu, in the Szechuan Province of China to spend a month there, working at a law firm during the week and exploring in my free time!

Now, the furthest east I have ever been before is probably Poland, so this should be a real experience...

I leave tomorrow (ahhhhhh!) so this will be my last post for July, but I'll resume posting in August to finish my year abroad blog off properly.

Vicky xx

Pâques, coupes de cheveux et la famille...

This post is a little out of the norm - this is a year abroad blog, after all, and I'm not abroad right now - it was for that reason that I didn't bother to post when I was home for Christmas or anything like that. But I feel like sharing, so a post is going up anyway :)

For the first time in a little over three months, I'm home and back with my family, which is really just so very lovely, because in all honesty I was getting to the stage where I was about to tip into full mental breakdown if I didn't have a break of some description! And obviously, I missed them and my friends.

Next time I'm in the UK, my time in Paris will be over ...

I've already been here a week! I had an early morning flight out of Orly last Saturday morning, which was just perfect really because I was home and cup of tea in hand by 11am. Downside - I had an exam until 10pm the night before which did mean I was pretty tired, but luckily, getting to go home offset my rubbish sleep deprived mood haha. 

What have I been doing now I'm here? The biggest thing would have to be my haircut - a few weeks back, I decided to donate my hair to the Little Princess Trust - http://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/ - they're a charity who provide real hair wigs, free of charge, to children across the UK who have lost their hair as a result of chemotherapy. Anyone who watched Comic Relief last year might remember that Jessie J had her head shaved - she donated her hair to the same charity.

This was actually a pretty big deal for me, because as anyone who knows me could tell you, I'm pretty attached to my long hair, and whenever I go to the hairdresser, cutting my locks short simply wasn't an option.

Nu-uh, no way josé.

But then I saw a video on YouTube of someone else who had decided to do it, and I googled the charity...

Fact is, when I was seven, and even now for that matter, I know that if I were to lose my hair for whatever reason, I'd be utterly devastated. I thought about it - a lot. Long story short: as my hair is [was] very long, I had plenty of it to go around. My hair also grows faster than anybody's, so it's not even like my hair will be that short for long.

So - I talked myself into it and decided to share the hair love. I got the chop. Here's the before, during and after:

My hair has not been this short since I was about 3 years old - seriously - so it would have been pretty devastating if I hadn't liked it. Luckily, I actually don't mind my short new do, although I already know that I'm going to grow it long again. I prefer it that way, and there's a lot more you can do with long hair than short. I've also realised, since I washed it for the first time, that short hair actually takes work. I thought it would be more manageable now, but nope!  

Still, never mind - that's my good deed of the month taken care of and I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Easter Sunday is tomorrow [Happy Easter, if you celebrate it] and the rest of my time at home is going to be spent in the company of my textbooks [booooooooo] and my family - I've had a few lovely days out, at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, and elsewhere too.

Yesterday, of course, was Good Friday. We were planning to go and see my Nan and Grandad in Essex but then my Dad had to have an operation so that was off the cards. Me, the mother and brother went to see my other Grandma for the day instead, and we also went to see the new Muppet Movie :P

And being Good Friday, I've obviously been scoffing lots of Hot Cross Buns. One of the best parts about being home is the lovely large quantity of food that I've missed while in Paris - and I'll be stocking up before I head back to France next Sunday!

Vicky xx

Quelle est la date de ton anniversaire?

Did anyone else have to sing a song in which that line was sung, repeatedly, to quite an annoying tune, when they were learning French in school?

I mention only because this weekend I turned 21! That's right, the last big birthday anyone experiences before you hit the big 3-0, and it all goes downhill from there ;)

As I think I mentioned in my last post, I went out - not last weekend just gone but the weekend before that - to celebrate my birthday in Paris with the 3 other girls from QM and a few others, when we had a meal in the very gorgeous looking seafood restaurant, La Bar A Huitres in Montparnasse (although there are a few more elsewhere in Paris, I think)  

The outside fish bar at La Bar a Huitres looks so tempting... *drool*

We had a lovely meal. At €44 for three courses, I didn't think it was too badly priced actually, although (somewhat sinfully given we're living in France) we passed on the wine which almost certainly would have considerably pushed up the bill.

I had a risotto for starter, with mussels and octopus, and it was absolutely to die for. Really, I probably could have eaten another one, it was cooked beautifully and very moreish! 

Me with my Risotto :)  -  Pic taken by Rachel

For main, I had Moules Marinière which was also very verrry nice, and they weren't skimpy on the portions either, hooray!

These. were. delicious.

And for pud, I had (my first ever) créme brûlée which was set slight at our table and was also very nice (if a little alcoholy still, even after the flames had stopped).

The others tried a range of things as well... Fish Soup, Giant Shrimps, Cod, Monkfish and lots of other gorgeous looking meals were delivered to our table.

In which Paris lives up to its name in terms of excellent Cuisine. Pics all taken by Rachel

They also serve up some amazing (if pricey) seafood platters which were were all eyeing up a bit enviously, and generally there's just so much more on the menu (given to you on iPads!) that I want to try, so I'm planning to go back in February when my best friend comes out to visit :)

After the meal, we headed over towards Bastille for drinks and then our newly-enlarged group headed over to a club called Wanderlust.

It was actually a pretty cool club, but not having entirely thought through my choice of footwear for the evening, my heels had basically crippled me by this point and most of my energy was going into staying standing!

That's not to say that I didn't have a good time at the club, I did. A large part of it is outside, right on the banks of the Seine, and the music was really good.

Anyway, to cut what could be a very long story short, I had a wicked good night.

Then, this weekend just gone, I made my firs trip home since I left on August 31st for my actual birthday! I flew back to Southampton from Orly (which, I'm sorry, is a humungous pain to to get to. The Orlyval is so expensive. I may have to try the OrlyBus next time instead).

Travel Essentials. Who needs a toothbrush?

Anyway, at home I had an absolutely brilliant birthday. I completely spoiled by my family, and I was surprised three times on the day itself when my Grandma, Aunt and then later my two absolute best friends (who I wasn't expecting to see until Christmas and February respectively) all turned up to surprise me at one point or another.

I am a very very  lucky girl!

It was such a brilliant weekend that it made it really hard to head back to Southampton airport and fly back to Paris yesterday afternoon, probably harder than it was to leave for Paris in the first place!

Still, I'll be home again (by Eurostar,5£&/ time) at Christmas which in all honesty, isn't that far away - we'll be in November come Friday, which I cannot believe. And when I'm here I do have a good time and I've got lots of fun things still to look forward to.

So, that was my birthday, done both Paris style and UK style. Hope everyone else had as good a weekend as I did, and I'm sure I will post again soon!

Vicky xx

PS. On a side note, the Bar Society president from my first year at Queen Mary has been missing since Friday. Posting it here on the off chance someone reading this knows something that could help - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-24733082