China - Again and Home

We were determined not be hijacked and to pursue our quest to see something of 'normal' China even though we knew there could be no such thing. We also knew that life in a city would be a far cry from life in rural areas.

Our first task was to get from the airport to the hotel. We had tried to book a tour from the airport but had failed in that. The girl at the enquiry desk was just about able to understand us and wrote the name of the hotel, in Chinese, on piece of paper to give to a taxi driver.

It was dark and wet and the taxi driver quoted us a fare of 300 yen. How he managed to see in a very dark city in the pouring rain was a miracle but he got us to the hotel. Once again it was 'Hotel Splendid'. The night concierge attended to us. We had our piece of paper, which was not in Chinese but somehow she managed to fish out our paper work. Next there was the issue of paying a 100 yen, refundable, deposit. I tried to explain that I knew that were very early in registering and did not expect to be able to go to our. But, to our room the bellboy took us.

This was the first time in any hotel, in any country that we were provided with two pass keys. How wise. The hotel was not quite up to the standard of our first one but it was well appointed. It was off a 'street' of rooms. From the central walkway there was a bridge over a deep void. Once inside we found Bali style decor. The sitting area had had a couch, table and TV. This area was separated from the sleeping and washing area by reed screen. The toilet and bath and shower were combined at the end of a dressing area. The bedroom had two double beds and its own TV. Off the bedroom was a small balcony overlooking the exciting looking pool and buildings opposite. Unfortunately it was too wet and cold to sit outside.

We rested for the next three hours and about 9:00 we decided to venture out. Having discovered that there were no tours available from the hotel we consulted with the hotel staff who consulted with one another. A map was produced and words in Chinese and English were circled. A taxi was called and the hotel gave the driver his instructions. Once more, weaving through the rain and other traffic we sped away. This was a complete mystery tour and we had no idea what we would find at the end of the drive. However, the driver deposited in a car park in front of the Yuntai Gardens.

Now we were on our own. From this point to our return very few of the people spoke any English and what they did understand was pretty minimal. So, with no choice, we headed for the entrance gate, paid our 10 yen entrance price and we did verily enter.

Stretching from the entrance gate to the top of the first hill was a series of waterfall and fountains. The Baiyun Mountains were barely visible in the background. The mountains were mainly in a square made by four major roads. Our hotel was now directly north of us on the top, east-west road and the gardens were set in valley at the south of the mountains.

Although this was a botanical garden with many labelled specimens it also looked like a very gaudy theme park. A floating art work by a French man was in the shape a mathematical symbol 'which symbolizes the infinitude of the universe.'

Dutch representations were seen in plenty. There was large 'Roman' structure and attempt at visualizing a Red Indian structure.

Some of the constructions looked distinctly romantic and were obviously designed as back drops for wedding photographs.

The greenhouse had a modern shape and housed a good range of plants.

Apart from this strange signs there were others that had even less meaning; at least in English

Now it was time to leave the safe confines of the garden and go out into the wider Chinese world. First up was finding lunch. One restaurant was soon rejected. Tanks of sea creatures lined the windows. We witnessed a cook using a net to remove a fish and then use the edge of the net to kill it. We did not stay to see the gutting and cooking process.

We found a 'KFC' looking cafe. There was no English but there were pictures. One looked like noodles and pieces of beef. We pointed at the picture twice. We failed in our attempt to order tea or coffee and so we pointed at orange 'Fanta' twice. Next came the chopstick problem. It is funny how hunger can help you develop a skill which we had given up on in the Japanese restaurant in Auckland.

High quality furniture in the 'Greasy Chopsticks'

I wanted to get nearer the shops that we had seen on the other side of the 10 lane main road. On the way to the road bridge we passed a sad looking group of old buildings which seemed scheduled for demolition. This kind of replacing old with new is going on a pace. Over the bridge was more of the real China that I was looking for.

The next hazard was a road. It had white stripes across and could have been taken for a pedestrian crossing. However there was no way that the traffic would stop. There was no point standing by the kerb. Even being on the crossing made no difference. 

All along the both sides of the main road for about half a mile were rows of tiny shops. Each shop sold specific parts for specific cars and people happily walked about with things as large as car panels.

A dry alley between the shops for clothes drying

 Further down we used a bridge to cross back but I had forgotten that to get back to the gardens there were several of the white striped crossing. Fearfully we got back. However there were no taxis and no one to understand what we wanted. The solution was to do some waving and eventually a driver pulled up for us. Fortunately we had a card supplied by hotel which said in Chinese and in English 'Please drive me to the Yihe Hotel'. It also gave the address in both languages. As I write I am looking at the card which to me seems confusing, but obviously made sense to the taxi driver.

Had it not been so wet and miserable we would have walked out the hotel grounds and down the street or around the large pool area. Our best option was an afternoon of relaxation. 

The hotel had a Chinese restaurant and a 'Western' restaurant. Having had a Chinese in the day we thought that we would go Western. This meant going out through the pool area and into another building. It was not raining at the time.

In the restaurant the tables were laid out with a spoon and chopsticks. About the only thing western about it was that the menu was in English. We went for the chicken and vegetables. While wondering how we were going to cut up chicken with chopsticks the waiter arrived with a knife and fork. He asked if we would like water. Back he came with glasses. The glasses were hot and the water was warm. Later on in the evening we would be offered water in the same manner. The food arrived. It was not a hen, but it was an overgrown chick which had been splattered flat on the plate. The vegetables consisted of a piece of broccoli and fries to be covered in a spicy sauce. We picked off as much edible meat as we could. The sauce was tasty if not actually gravy.

We then ordered sweet. Mine was a coffee cake with a bit of strawberry on and was called 'Black Forest Gateaux'. Irene had cheesecake which had my cherry on the top.

Having paid we left to find that the rain was very heavy. A member of staff, seeing our plight, showed us a back way in. We went through a conference room set out for presentation from Lamborgini and then on through a tiled corridor which looked as if it would lead us to a kitchen or a chicken mortuary. We exited back into the pool area.

Sleep was not easy. I did not trust the alarms we had. A little before 5:00 am we got up washed, packed and was in the hotel foyer by 6:00 am. A taxi was ordered and off we set as the day got lighter. This time we paid 100 yen.

At the airport we did not have the protection of the hotel staff. An official looking man whisked up our bags and took us to a pay desk where we paid 20 yen for his service. I put a few yen in a beggars bowl. He was strategically placed next to the pay desk. Our man took us to check-in and then he was looking for a tip. He took what we wanted to give him which was not what we wanted to have.

Following the disappearance of a plane, flying to China,only a few days earlier, security was tight. My travel bag with camera and chargers were thoroughly examined and our passports checked at least 4 times. This was reassuring.

Once air-side the time went quickly and we boarded. Unlike the flight from Auckland to China when Europeans were in the minority, the ratio was a little different on the journey Heathrow. 

It was a long tiring flight. The day consisted 4.5 hours before the flight, 12.5 flying hours and followed by 5 hours travelling from the airport. We had little sleep during the 22 hours of travel.

But spending valuable time with our Kiwi family was well worth it.

I don't think we will do China again.

Last Post of 2014 from Kiwi Land

As I write this we are waiting to leave and fly home. This will be a summary blog of our last few days here.

We made it to Hanmer Springs having giving a lift to a French architect who was walking the tracks from the far north of New Zealand to the far south. We only climbed a little hill in Reefton.

The snow was not there when we went to bed

Then we travelled on to Christchurch. At New Brighton the sky was blue, but the roads reflected the earthquake damage. We then drove on to Governors Bay. The hail was heavy and sharp. We got to our motel just as the heavens opened and continued through the next day, accompanied by damaging winds up to 138 kph. This was a 100 year event.

The next day we visited the city and went on a bus tour.  As it was pancake day we had a lunch of pancakes but they came with bacon, banana and maple syrup. The earthquake damage was significant. We got soaked walking through the city to the cardboard cathedral. There is no shelter on the walk. There are no buildings except in 'Restart' where we got cash.

The following day the rain continued and roads began to flood, the wind was still strong but the plane took off. The weather in Auckland was so different.

On Thursday we were back to our normal routine which was shopping, a paddle and watching the after school netball.

In the evening we went for a final visit to our friends Stefan and Debbie. He was travelling through Christchurch three hours before us on a visit to Invercargill. He is very hopeful of getting a job as a metallurgist in the large aluminium plant there. 

Making a card decoration for Zoe's birthday cake took me most of the morning. Once more we walked down to St Heliers.

There was an early start on Saturday as we all prepared to go to Zoe's birthday party. This was at a place called 'Jump' It was a large area of trampolines. On the way back we had lunch at a 'Coffee Club' after buying kapok at Spotlight.

Once again the house was busy early. Zoe was out at a sleep over, but Sally and Ian were busy getting ready for a barbecue when staff from Sally's office were calling in after they had completed 'Around the Bays'. We drove off to church and after coffee and a good conversation we went to Sylvia Park to purchase our presents to take home.

 I went with Ian to pick up Zoe at Riverhead. The four adults went off to Auckland to have dinner at a Japanese restaurant where the chefs cooked dinner on a hot plate at your table.

Sally was the only one to catch a piece of egg in her mouth.

On Monday we started to pack and take final photographs.

Emily, Sally, Zoe and Ian

Today the packing continues. When the cleaners came in we went down to St Heliers to take the last library book back and a last paddle. Now we wait.

South Island Adventure - Part 2

I forgot to mention that a fellow resident was an elderly Kiwi who arrived in a bright red 45 year old Packard which he had purchased new. He certainly took a lot of care of it. He had paid more so that his car could be seen from his window. He also covered the whole car with a sheet. He had driven from Auckland down North Island, used the ferry and drove down from Picton. He was headed for the Nelson Motor Museum which he enthused about.

We did not share his enthusiasm and our destination was to be the Abel Tasman National Park. More precisely, we were headed for Kaiteriteri which is the base for the Abel Tasman Shuttle. The purpose of the boat was to take passengers to any of a number of bays where they could sit around and wait for the shuttle back, or they could walk through the park or back to base.

The beach was golden and the sea clear and bright blue. There was no resisting a paddle after coffee and cake. We walked to the end of the bay and spent time watching tiny fish swimming near us.

The shuttle proved too expensive for us but we spied a pea-green boat which offered coffee and a cruise. I counted our money and found that we did not have the $50 needed to catch the 12.30 sailing. I called out to pilot that I would like to book for the 2.30 sailing but needed to go back to town and collect funds from the ATM. He asked my name and the deal was done.

I forgot to say that the road up from Motueka was decorated with road works. It is rare to see lights used. It is more common for workers to have 'Stop' and 'Go' signs. I think that these men must have begun to recognise us, given the extra times that we passed. I should mention that it is quite common to see women road workers.

Having collected our supper from the super market and our lunch from the bakery and, of course, our money, we got back to the boat. We were invited on early. It was the first time we had paddled to board a boat. Once settled down at the rear of the boat Dave, the boatman, collected our money. He told us that four other people had booked places and asked if we did not mind waiting a few minutes. The outcome was that the three of us set sail.

The wind was quite strong so Dave asked us if we would like to join him at the front of the boat. We sailed along the bays and headlands until we came to an unusual rock formation known as 'Split Apple Rock'. Here the boat headed towards the beach. The anchor was thrown out and Dave bought out the selection of teas, coffee and biscuits.

A house on the beach. It has never
flooded but will not get sun until October 

Dave and Irene

Split Apple Rock

  

Dave was a character. He was two years younger than us. Before starting his boating business he had been a prison officer and a teacher. As are most people, here and in the UK, he was cynical about politicians and government. He told us about the last time his boat licence was due. He had sent his application off in good time, the office had lost it and ask him to reapply. He now had to say that he had no sailing experience for the last six months. This meant that he would have take a course at his own expense. After heated exchanges his original application turned up.

He also had a view about the Mauri and trotted out the man in the street's version of how the Mauri removed the original Moriori people by eating them. He told us that he was racially prejudiced. He trotted out some facts which if true would not make him prejudiced. However, he was honest enough to confess to that kind of prejudice which makes him judge all Maori in the same jaundiced way.

Dave had warned us that we would not be able to land back in the same place. As we cruised back the shuttle boat passed us and then we saw it run aground and back off. Both boats landed around the headland. Everyone paddled ashore and across the streams that were running across the beach. 

A bit windswept but happy

Dave returning us to shore

Dave waving us goodbye

 Our evening meal was fish pie and I had doughnut ice-cream.

March is the start of Autumn here. It is not usual for snow to fall as early as it did. There was a marked temperature difference between 28th Feb and 1st March. So, at the start of Autumn, we headed into the mountains. After stopping for morning chai at Murchison we then went on to what was called the longest swing bridge in NZ. I actually thought that it should be 'swinging' not swing.

We were at the Buller River. This area is important to the history of NZ as it was an early source of gold. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/8625/spoon-dredge-buller-river-1895. The car park was at Buller Gorge and two means of crossing were on offer. Most people used the swing bridge, but a brave few used the 'Cometline'. Although I chickened out of crossing the bridge Irene felt perfectly safe and stood to pose. This lack of fear of height took me by surprise.

After having lunch by the road we drove on until we came to another bridge over the river. This was a steel girder bridge over a very beautiful part of the river.

Just before lunch we arrived at the tiny town of Reefton. When we first came to NZ eleven years ago I had read that its population was just over 1000. There was no change to this. You could almost imagine the town clerk regularly updating the number on a board as babies were born, old people died or others moved away.

The main street was wide and lined with wild west looking buildings. Little was open and by mid-afternoon it was mostly deserted. We had a little walk up out of town and looked to cross its own swing bridge. This time I was the brave one. Although it was shorter and had thick wooden boards to walk on Irene was not happy out the number of boards that were broken and the use of three ply to repair them.

Irene stopped at the broken planks. I can't think why.

Inangahua River from the bridge

Next to the bridge I spied one of those amazing Kiwi licence plates.

Having had a walk out of town we headed for the Alfresco Villas. In this place we had a shared kitchen. The whole place was open to the air. Our room felt like an ice box. It was here we learned about the dramatic temperature change. We were told that the previous day the temperature was 30 degs but the day of our arrival had started with fog at 3 degs. The room was quite small in an Edwardian House with high ceilings. Our room was not going to get any sun. The bathroom was a shock. It was well equipped. Heating came through two radiant light about 10 feet above. The then disappeared through the two inch gap at the bottom of the outside door.

We had the room with the centre window

Fortunately we were only going to be here for one night. Before going off to explore more of the town we switched on the little heater. It proved to be quite effective. Opposite the shops was a replica of a gold refining workshop. The 'bearded miners' were not to seen, but there was nothing to stop us wandering about.

On the other side of the street was an art gallery. Three artist used it to work, display and sell there work. They took turns to man the place and we entered in to a good conversation about art as she explained how she found inspiration in the things about her. We talked about the colours of autumn in the mountains. She preferred to use the word 'passed' rather than 'died' about some of the pictures that she had done.

From there we walked to the other end of town to use the road bridge to cross the Inangahua River and walk along the opposite bank. One of the houses looked very derelict and rusty cars littered the front 'garden'. Eventually we came to the swing bridge and crossed safely.

Being Saturday we had decided to have a sit down evening meal. This we did at the 'Alfreso Eatery'. We even ate it out side. The meal was 'Prohibition Pork' (named after a mine in the area) which was washed down with a bottle of Monteiths Summer Ale. While we sat we read about the owner who had come to teach in the town about 25 years ago.

The meal ended somewhat embarrassingly. The waitress came to tell us that card payment machine was not working. This was strange because earlier we had paid for the accommodation with it. This reminds me that this motel was the only one that we could not book in advance. Paula sent me an email which simply said the room is booked just come to the eatery to pay.

So what to do about paying for the food. I said that I did not have enough money and I did not feel like walking to the ATM at that very moment. The solution that the waitress came up with was that I went to the machine in the morning and put the $64 through the mail box before we left. There are no locks on mail boxes.

We had quite a warm night's sleep. I found the cash in my purse and some paper to wrap it up with and write on it what it was before putting it in the box.

We then drove up to the mining museum. It was further out of town than we thought. The first visitors (a posse of American tourists) were already inside. So we just tagged along with them. It was fascinating to hear Pete talk about the history of the town. As the Americans gathered to make their way up to the 'Gold battery shed' I found a moment to ask about paying him. He did not seem too bothered and invited us join the rest of the tour at no extra cost.

The stamper is a set of steel hammers which pound the gold bearing quartz. The powder is washed down and treat with cyanide and mercury to remove the gold. Up until 1970 the bank manager had a furnace to melt the gold and pour it into moulds. Pete also took the opportunity to show us one of the generators which made Reefton famous as the first NZ town to have electric lighting.

We followed Pete back to the museum and he expressed the cynicism about politicians that seems to be so common. Because we were showing so much interest he took us into the holy of holies; namely the archives. In a properly heated dry, secure room. There were the original documents from the beginning of mining in the area. He had a sad tale to tell about the historian who had been using the archive to write history books. Apparently, the sixty year old man had gone off to North Island on a tramping holiday. Unfortunately he had not told anyone where he was going. After a few days an alert went out on the media. A postie then spotted the man's car and alerted the police. But it was too late.

At least the containers were sealed as the cyanide was
extracted.

His particular cynicism was reserved for the way that the government were handling the closure of the large mine. Very soon it would close, prematurely. Already people were leaving town. But he was convinced that life for Reefton would carry on.

And so we left sleepy Reefton with a mixture of sadness and hope. Our next destination would be the thriving holiday resort of Hanmer Springs with a population of 800.