Wildlife

Nurse Shark in Sydney Aquarium

"Always wear sun block: Sydney is the world capital of skin cancer, swim between the flags and stay away from the spiders." This was Gary's advice before leaving us to our first day in Australia. Twenty four hours later we had already our first meeting with the local fauna. Sara deserves honorary citizenship after the baptism of Tasmanian Sea. After just five minutes on Coogee Beach she was stung by a Bluebottle, a jellyfish (or rather a 'Colony of medusoids' as the sour puff in Wylies Baths pointed out "It's not dangerous!"), known even as 'Portuguese Man O'War'. Forty minutes of screams, ammonia and cortisone later, the child started to finally calm down. Today she is fine again and proudly displays a fire-red bracelet around the lower part of her right leg as an original form of body art. Not bad as a first day, even if it could have been worse... a lot worse in fact!

Despite the fact that they are really everywhere and the most common terror associated with Australia, sharks are responsible of just one fatality per year (apparently all Japanese tourists). As far as flamboyant killers are concerned, Australians talk with much more respect of salties, the crocodiles that live at the estuaries of rivers. A few years ago there was a particularly cranky one somewhere near Darwin. One day, bothered by the engines of big off shores, he bit one and took away the whole back part of the boat. After the incident, they decided to put him to a better use and now he is stuffed and on display in a museum. Into his open jaws can comfortably walk in a man of medium height.

The ones that statistically do the biggest damage are the insects. Amongst my favourites: "Red Back", a small (-ish!) spider belonging to the family of the Black Widow, found in gardens and houses. A single bite will send you to hospital or, failing to find an antidote, to the other world. "Sydney Funnel Web Spider", even worse but they assure me it's not that common to meet one. While the Red Back behaves like a normal spider, biting only when threatened, the Funnel Web is aggressive and often comes for you. The antidote was only recently discovered and since then there haven't been any deaths associated with this spider.

Two more cute marine creatures that will kill you as quick as look at you are the 'Box Jelly Fish", a small one but carrying a mortal venom and the "Blue Ringed Octopus", an octopus that carries enough venom to kill twenty adults in a few minutes. In the right season, both of these creatures are carried to shore by the waves and they can be found on the beach. I start asking myself if we'll be able to survive the next three months!

More Photos...

... and from the water!



Sydney Harbour from the ferry


... and from Ludi and Gary's balcony.

THE Picture...

... from different points of view.

Sydney Harbour Bridge


Opera House from Circular Quay


... from Botanic Gardens


The CBD


... and again!

Randwick Residents

Another ten hour flight, Qantas this time and boy, were we impressed!, and without even realizing it we find ourselves in the second part of the trip. The lack of jet lag is a welcome change. The welcome committee came to collect us in Sydney Airport: Ludi and Gary came to meet us and after a glass of wine, obviously Australian, left us to take possession of the two rooms plus balcony that for the next few weeks we'll call home. At last we emptied the suitcases and put our things in cupboards and drawers. Nina and Sara rediscovered TV and all the cartoons they normally watch back home. The washing machine is already overworked. We are on Alison Road, in the quarter of Randwick, 20 minutes by bus from Circular Quay and 10 from Coogee beach. It's raining at the moment, but it is still hot and from the window opened on the communal garden we have already heard the first kookaburra laugh. The atmosphere is no different from many inner suburbs of London or Wexford Street in Dublin. On Belmore Road, which we discovered today, coffee shops, Lebanese, Chinese and Thai take-aways alternate to laundrettes, travel agencies and small corner shops. Grannies with their shopping trolleys, children eating ice-creams and backpackers stroll in the street, in and out of the shops. Despite the unmissable Vodafone Shop, the quarter has a very authentic atmosphere, of a place where people really live, love and work, not like an antiseptic, anonymous shopping centre. We did our shopping on foot, buying from the baker, the local green grocers that has a huge variety of tropical fruit and veggies rarely seen before. We had our first latte and made the first discoveries: a sushi bar and a shop selling Italian goods like buffalo mozzarella and Parma ham. Even Nina and Sara helped us carrying the bags. Once back home, we had dinner on the balcony and after having cooked for the first time in three weeks, we can say we have definitely settled into our new Australian life.

Five Pills to Survive China

And we are nearly at the end of the first stop, all in one piece and within budget. After having seen the Bund, the French Concession, Pearl Tower and the old city, the last thrill that Shanghai has to offer will be the Maglev Train (some are more excited than others), the magnetic levitation train that will take us to Pudong International Airport. After having kicked the cases in a fit of rage (mine) in Yichang Airport, finally we got rid of some stuff and sent home the first parcel. I am more and more convinced that the only essential things are passport and credit cards, the rest is useless. Even more, it's a burden. Anything can be bought and abandoned on the way.


Having said that, now a few lines to share the wisdom of three weeks in China:


1) Public toilets are disgusting and the place is in general very polluted. I don't have the numbers, and probably the official ones differ from the real ones a great deal, but they must be dying by the thousands of respiratory problems caused by the poisonous air of the big cities.


2) To avoid the curse of Shi Huang Di, never put into your mouth water that is not boiled or bought, not even to brush your teeth. Eat only where the locals do, even in the streets, but avoid any kind of raw food. Westerner cuisine is available almost everywhere (even chains like Pizza Hut, Starbucks, McDonald's etc), but it costs like in Europe and it is neither as clean nor as tasty as the local one.

3) Even if they spit everywhere and they really do not know how to queue, (they'll try to stampede you but if you complain firmly they politely stand aside), Chinese people are very open and curious about foreigners. We never felt threatened or in danger, not even in the dodgy parts of Beijing or Shanghai, maybe because they have a more refined, almost elegant way of stealing money from us laowei=foreigners... that brings me to the next point:

4) Always haggle every price, in shops, but even restaurants, hotels and taxis:

"How much to take me to the airport?"
"150."
"90!"
"150!!"
"90, and if you make me miss my plane I won't give you even those!!!"
"OK, 90."
Even this way, as soon as you lower your guard, and in three weeks it has happened only too often, they take you for a ride.

5) Very few speak English, the little they speak is a more or less incomprehensible form of Chinglish. Even signs and information are rarely translated. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME WITHOUT SOME CHINESE!! All the independent travelers we met had at least a bit of Chinese.

Various:
Unless you have some specific reasons, like a timetable similar to our own, avoid winter and summer as the weather is extreme.


Hotels, hostels and guesthouses:
Beijing: Novotel Xinqiao
Xi'an; Bell Tower Hotel
Chengdu: Sim's Cozy Guesthouse
Yangtze: Victoria Cruise
Shanghai: The Seventh Heaven
The only cash machine who speaks English: Bank of China
Chain of Japanese restaurants cheap and clean: Ramen Ajisien
For the first time the Rough Guide disappointed us. Imprecise and not up to date, we often had to improvise.

The heroes of our three weeks in China:
Beiyan who prevented a disaster by booking our transfers from Beijing to Xi'an, Xi'an-Chengdu, Yichang-Shanghai.
Jolin from Yatour that called on the phone to fill in the gaps in Brendan's Chinese that blocked the queue at the ticket office in the station, helped us to book the train from Chengdu to Chongqing.
Luther from Victoria Cruise, who let us out from the engine room of the ship and shouted for a taxi before we even docked, allowing us not to miss the plane for Shanghai.
Sim, because whoever can offer a bed and hot water for 5 euro per night, practically free food and make a profit, deserves to be a hero!
Brendan, 'wo de laogong', without whose irritating talent for speaking foreign languages we would have never survived 3 weeks of China without a scratch.

Thanks to all of those who left a comment, above all the new arrivals: Mauro, Luigi and Silvia, but even Max, Luz, Gio, Mamma, Ivan and Giangi. As soon as I'll be out from behind the Firewall I'll start to reply to everybody :-)

Next post from Sydney

Beijing: The Forbidden City











Tea House in Chengdu





Dian Dian




"How many of these will I have to kiss?!"




Shanghai: View from the Seventh Heaven




Loonie in Beijing Tea House




Backpackers

Pannacotta Warriors

The thing we just can't get over as far as the children are concerned is their normal behaviour. All in all, they seem to be the same, just like at home. After having fallen asleep a couple of times with their heads on the table, they got over the jet lag quicker than us. They are pleasantly surprised by the interest they generate in the locals but every now and again they complain about somebody who goes too far hugging them without permission to take a photo.
They eat more or less anything, baozi and Gong Bao chicken becaming their favourites, but given the chance they still prefer to go to McDonald's and sometimes we give in and take them there. After one of the first days, when coming back from the Great Wall we had to get off a bus in an unknown suburb of Beijing and strip Sara in the middle of the road with -5C because she couldn't keep it in anymore. They are learning not only to eat but even to go to the toilet when possible rather than when they'd like to. In general, they have learned to exercise patience because in this kind of situation, often they can't satisfy a need when it arises the same way they would at home. They walk for kilometres in the cold and the rain, they don't complain about the limited wardrobe, asking to change their vest only when it smells of Pringles.
Whenever we go out in busy cities, they latch onto our hands and don't let go until we get back to our hotel. For now they seem happy enough with our company and don't look for their friends, even if they have already sent a few emails and written a couple of blog entries for their classes. Nina acquired a passion for flea markets and haggling, Sara still prefers big department stores. They do their homework, they read Harry Potter and the Famous Five, they play with their Nintendo DSs and bicker, like at home. They are curious and interested in the new things they see, but they are more concerned with what they'll have for dessert, exactly like at home.

Chinglish

We have so far seen many examples of Chinglish but this one stands out:



After we spent the morning looking for a phantom tourist bus that should have taken us for a trip around the city, we arrived to Chenghuang Miao, another Chinatown for Chinese, where Brendan insisted in going for lunch to a place that according to the Book of Lies served authentic food. The girls and I, tired, cold, wet, and glancing longingly at a McDonalds, reluctantly followed him. When we finally arrived at our destination, we found this sign on a window of a canteen where people pushed their way through a crowd to get in:



"Dumplings stuffed with the ovary and digestive glands of a crad"



After a general mutiny we ended up in Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Shanghai

After a week in the heart deep and spicy of China we arrive to Shanghai and WOW! It's like being beamed into another universe. More modern and sparkly than a European capital, with shops and cosmopolitan restaurants at every street corner, it seems well capable of satisfying any caprice. For the following 7 days, the Seventh Heaven, found in a French guide abandoned in Sim's library, will be our home. We are on the Nanjing Dong Lu, once a dangerous quarter frequented by sailors, now the most famous shopping street in China. The first 24 hours were definitely positive: we were pleasantly surprised with the first real cappuccino after the last one drank in Sardinia last September. Later we bought 1000 Nintendo DS Games for 60 euro, to Nina and Sara's delight.

We don't have any special ambitions for the next few days, we just want to explore the city at our leisure and take it easy. The days on the river have been intense, packed with excursions and guided tours, all laced with a cold that challenged even our extreme weather gear. Keeping an eye on our daughters while surrounded by water required our constant vigilance. Whenever given the chance, Sara ran on deck mimicking Kate on the stern of the boat, maybe hoping that Leo would save her, but having to settle in the end for her parents' telling off.

Three Days on the Yangtze

Fengdu - the city of ghosts.











Gorges of the Yangtze

From Travellers to Tourists

Trains stress me out. Chinese trains send me into a panic. Chengdu Station is better than the Beijing one, but people are the same: they push, they can't queue and passing the security checks with 80kg luggage while trying not to lose your daughters is a nightmare. Luckily the only tickets left were the expensive ones (5 euro a ticket for a 4 hour journey!) so we could use the VIP lounge where we spent a couple of hours before departure. Once again we were the only Westerners around, once again people were open, curious, almost anxious to make friends. After the initial faff getting settled into your seat, the train is always a good place to have a chat, to observe and learn something about the locals. Within the first hour, Brendan had engaged his neighbours into a debate on regional variations of Chinese cuisine. Soon even another four from the next row joined the discussion and half of the carriage was happily talking food. Sara and I, without any chance to contribute, were busy doing her maths homework under the scrutiny of our travel companions who commented on every page of the maths book, giving us big smiles every time Sara got the answers right. Getting off the train, everybody helped us with the luggage.

In Chongqing, our destination, we switched worlds. At the station, the tour operator came to collect us to bring us to the boat where we'll be spending the next three days on the Yangtze River, through the Three Gorges Dam, all the way to Yichang where we'll finally catch a flight to Shanghai. For the first time since we left home we give in to the luxury of delegating all responsibility, while putting ourselves in the capable hands of the organizers of the cruise. The idea of being just passengers for the next three days is pleasant but at the same time it feels odd to stick to somebody else's timetable. Even our travel mates are different from before, mostly English speaking and part of a group tour. The contrast with the atmosphere cultural-hippy from Sim's Garden Hostel is dramatic. The change requires a mental readjustment. Apart from everything, it is simply wonderful being able to dump your dirty jeans into the laundry bag to find them magically cleaned and ironed some hours later!

Chengdu

The city is a black hole, there is no arguing with it. We got here from Xi'an by plane and immediately were suffocated by the smog in the air that sticks to your throat making breathing difficult. Chengdu seems to embody all the negative traits of China that we had so far escaped. The city is dirty, humid with a polluted fog that constantly shades the sun.

But apart from that, even Chengdu has its good side. The panda bears and the Giant Buddha of Leshan delivered on their promise. We saw the pandas from up close in a breeding colony on the outskirts of the city. It was a half day trip where we were all very taken with these giant teddies.

The statue of the Buddha was the most striking site so far. We reached the town of Leshan after a 4 hour journey in a car without any suspension. The motorway was closed due to fog and the driver had to take an alternative route through alleys clogged by traffic. Chinese people drive like crazy, overtaking on both sides, often even in the emergency lane. There seem to be no rules except the one that the biggest on the road has right of way. First buses, then cars, motorbikes and bicycles. Pedestrian do not count and every time you cross the road you take your life into your hands. Even getting off a bus, bicycles run you over without even slowing down.

The statue of the Buddha is 70 mt tall, sculpted in the mountain side and 1300 years old. It is inside a park with other temples and manicured gardens, at the end of a long staircase carved from the same rock as the statue.


The other cool thing about Chengdu is our guesthouse. At our arrival, after getting over the shock of seeing two pigs playing with a puppy in the garden, we immediately entered in the spirit of Sim's Cozy Guesthouse and mingled with its population. The washing machine is not as good as the one at home, the whole place is a bit of a mess because they just moved here, but staff are very friendly and welcoming and the food is to die for! Sechuanese cuisine is known worldwide as one of the best in China: it definitely didn't disappoint us. All dishes are very spicy because they are full of chili and sechuan pepper, but the flavours are original and well defined, the ingredients are fresh and even the vegetables don't lose their taste despite the spices. Sim's chef seems to be particularly gifted and able to concoct anything on the menu at any hour of the day or night. Here we have dinner, the four of us, with 4 euro including beer, while we sleep for 20e per night. Our favourite hangout is the Japanese style room on the second floor above the bar where sitting on the big cushions on the floor we eat, play mahjong or write a blog entry. Sara became best friends with Dian Dian, the puppy that was playing with the pigs on the first day. Every now and then he grabs the bottom of her jeans and doesn't let go until we lift her up. By now we look like real backpackers. Shame that tomorrow we have to leave.

Xi'an

We got to Xi'an after a 12 hour trip by night train. Beijing Western Station was quite difficult to negotiate. It's as big as an airport and extremely busy with not so disciplined crowds even at nine o'clock in the evening. With luggage and kids in tow it was no joke. We were the only Westerners around and in the departure lounge people were as usual keen on trying their English while others just stared at us as if we were a traveling circus. The night on the train was comfortable, much more so than the last equivalent European trip I did.




We spent the day walking around the city, one of the richest and most industrialized of the whole country. The centre is divided between a commercial area with department stores, designer shops and all the international chains like Starbucks and MacDonald's, and the Muslim quarter, a maze of shops and stalls of food and local handicraft. There we learned a hard lesson in the art of haggling. We saw a set of chopsticks we liked in one of the first stalls, for the price of 240Y (24E), found them again in another stall 180Y, bought for 140, convinced that we really clever and getting a good deal, only to see them around the corner for 65! As soon as I realized the mistake I started to say "NOOO!", more to myself than anybody else but the girl in the shop, thinking that I was complaining about the price, started to come down, "Ok then, 50, 40..." The more she lowered the price, the more I despaired. The more I despaired, the more she lowered the price. When we arrived at 35 I explained to her that I had no intention of buying because I had already bought them somewhere else. She finally understood what was happening and it ended in a good laugh. Now we haggle for everything, even bottled water. If they ask 200 we offer 20 and in the end we always win. When they part with the goods with bad grace, then you probably paid the fair price. You pay for lessons and so far we clocked up about 50E in stuff that we could surely have got cheaper.


Terracotta Warriors





Nina eating a rice pudding bought on a street stall in the Muslim Quarter. We all had lunch on the street for a grand total of 2 euro. Let's hope we escape the curse of Qin Shi Huang Di...

Last Hours in Beijing

Sitting at a table in Pizza Hut (yes, we succumbed once more to the call of the West), we pass time before boarding the train that will bring us to Xi'an. We spent the day between the Forbidden City and the Temple of Yong He Gong where Sara was fascinated by the Buddha. Between my two daughters she is definitely the one that takes her religion more seriously, while after her first communion, Nina professes herself agnostic. I was observing them today while they watched, transfixed, the golden statues and their fruit and flowers offerings, the faithful who burned incense while praying. I saw how, for the first time, they really understood what we tried to teach them all along, that different people have different beliefs but no less valid than our own and the world is big enough for everybody.

We really liked Beijing but it is time to leave it behind. Even in transit, sitting at a table of a public restaurant as the only fixed point, I strangely feel at home. I think for the others it's the same. Brendan reads his book and the girls are drawing, nobody seems bothered by the precariousness of the situation. Very early on, at the beginning of this experience, we are learning how feeling at home is a mental state and has little to do with a specific place. Feeling at home in our own heads seems to be what counts. Once that happens we realize we don't need much more.

Apologies

Due to primitive internet facilities (Chinese Firewall and limitations of the Nokia N800 that I have to share with my other half), I haven't been able to keep up with this blog. Tomorrow we'll leave China and I'll try again from Australia. In the meantime, check out my Italian blog for photos (click the "se preferisci leggermi in italiano" link on the right) and Brendan's one for stories. Try here again in a week.

Santa Claus First!

This morning, in that half asleep phase that comes before waking up completely I had a revelation. I opened my eyes and shared my newly acquired wisdom with my husband: "We should have gone the other way!"
"What?!"
"We should have started the trip on the other side! Like that we would have had an 8 month long summer!"
"Have you got something against sleeping?"
With consciousness, arrived even the reasons for the original choice: avoid the Olympics in China and winter in New Zealand, plus enjoy the Australian summer. I knew we had a good reason!

Strange days these last ones before departure. The shops are full of turkeys, hams, chocolates and Christmas puddings. People arrive to the check out with trolleys full of stuff like they were preparing for a siege or a famine. I on the other end am doing my shopping just day to day, with my little basket, careful not to buy too much stuff that I would have to chuck in a few days. At the same time, we have received more invitations for lunch and dinner in the last couple of weeks than in the previous 7 years: family, neighbours, colleagues, they all seem to want to say goodbye before we go, a real wake like with those that emigrated to America years ago.

At a week from departure I am after all quite calm. I keep asking myself if it is really the case but the answer is always the same: "I'm cool!" Except at every little itch going for cool to stressed in zero seconds. I start doing the "what if" game trying to predict the future and every possible scenario, settling eventually for the most tragic as the most probable until I find myself in a spiral of anxiety. I touch the bottom and calm down, finally understanding that I can't do anything but live one day at the time and react as best as I can according to the inspiration of the moment. In the meantime though I have wasted a lot of energy that I could have used better. Luckily for the ones who live with me all this happens inside, without consequences for the others. I'm a bit of a cold fish, the more I get nervous, the calmer I look.

Today I have learned a lesson from my 8 year old daughter. At breakfast I asked: "Girls, are you excited about the trip now?"
In between spoonfuls of corn flakes Nina answered: "No mum. Now I am excited about Santa Claus, once that will be gone I'll get excited about the trip!"
She is right, one thing at the time.

Ascoltando: Muse, Space Dementia

'Tis the Season to be jolly

The date approaches fast and a certain unease is starting to crawl over me. For the last couple of weeks it's like being at a boarding gate, in limbo. Everything is ready, enough waiting, now it is time to go. Even if it's not actually all ready and every day there is something to sort out. Yesterday for example I went to the doctor to ask him for a letter to explain the amount of medicines we'll be carrying: all legal drugs and for personal use. Ten boxes of antibiotic could rise some eyebrows going through custom. Last week we payed for the Yangtze cruise, today they confirmed having received the transfer and gave us even an upgrade: from the Victoria Rose to the Victoria Prince, bigger and more modern. Our friend Li Beiyan in Beijing booked for us the train between Beijing and Xi'an and the flights between Xi'an and Chengdu and Yichang and Shanghai (Xie xie Beiyan, I hope you are picking that restaurant nice and expensive!!). We're left with the hotel in Xi'an and the one in Shanghai, there's still time.

For once I am totally immune to the Christmas frenzy that every day becomes more intense around here. We're to the point of avoiding the city center unless absolutely necessary. Christmas carols have been playing continuously in all shops since the beginning of November, after one hour drives you nuts. I am quite capable to resist the temptation of buying beautiful and useless staff, party clothes, cashmere scarves and scented candles leave me totally cold this year. Yesterday, passing by the pet shop I have seen a new one : Santa's stockings for cats and dogs with toys and food with a Chritsmas theme.

I am not a complete King Herod, I decorated the tree for my daughters and Santa will arrive even to this house. My Christmas shopping is of a different kind. I can't pass Mahers Outdoor Shop in town without going in and every time I came out with some new gadget. The last purchases are some really thin super absorbent towels with practically no volume and 4 Sporks, knife, fork and spoon in one. I have almost fallen under the spell of astronaut food but then I told myself we're not going to the jungle and we'll be able to buy whatever we're missing on the way. My last, for now, bit of shopping was on ebay: two gadgets not to lose your children, some traking devices with an alarm that will go off if the child strides further than 25 meters. Not exactly necessary but can't hurt having them.

8 Months of Suitcases

One of the most frequent questions we are asked when we talk about the trip is: what kind of luggage will you bring for eight months?! We are allowed the traditional, as in pre-Ryanair, 20kg per person, so that's the max. We have to take into account though that we can't expect the girls to drag their own 2okg share, so Brendan and I will be the Sherpas. We have therefore decreased the allowance to two 20kg suitcases and two rucksacks, by definition lighter than the first, at least mine for sure!How to fill them up? There are things that we just have to bring with us: medicines, travel guides for all the places we'll visit and the girl's schoolbooks. Already 6kg gone, maybe even more.

We had to get into a particular frame of mind: for the next eight months clothes will be something we'll use to cover ourselves, not to dress, which for an Italian girl is particularly hard to accept, but there are no alternatives. Once accepted that we realized that we didn't need much, just a couple of changes for winter and something more for summer. In the end we always tend to use always the same things even with a full wardrobe, the rest becomes just a frame for our favourite items of clothing, a reserve that gives a sense of security but is for the biggest part useless. In our case we'll just have to identify very carefully our favourite bits, the most useful, and do the laundry often.

For the winter we have invested in trekking gear: fleeces, waterproof trousers with fleece lining and thermal vests, two changes each. We'll then pack one, maybe two changes of normal clothes. For the summer it's easier, less bulky: swimming suit, T-shirts, shorts and two pairs of trousers. As soon as we finish with something, like the summer stuff and the school books some time in NZ, we'll send it back home. It will make space for whatever we'll inevitably acquire along the way.

As fare as reading books is concerned, we'll just have to get used to read one a t the time rather than having a pile on the bedside table and once finished we'll have to "free" them into the wild, something that hopefully will help my Bookcrossing stats.