BEIJING

The most immediate impression of Beijing is one of vastness. The city extends apparently without limit across the flat landscape, this week under a lowering blanket of smog. The scale is set by the paved field of Tiananmen square, 800 by 500 metres, where we began our visit on our first day. We had our photo taken with some Chinese visitors... In the centre stands a massive square column – the Monument to the People’s Heroes. To the south is the mausoleum where the body if Mao lies in pickled state, to the west the enormous People’s Congress (unoccupied for much of the year). Most imposing of all, behind the massive, dark red Tiananmen gate to the north, are the 9,999 rooms of the Forbidden City – the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing emperors between 1420 and 1911.

There are other vast public spaces. The Tianan (Temple of Heaven) stands in a park full of ancient, gnarled cypress and juniper trees, some 2 square kilometres in extent. Here the Emperor would come each year to pray for abundant harvests.
We came across a duet playing a Chinese lute and a sort of glorified mouth organ under one arch of a gate, while not far away another man sang melancholy Portuguese airs to a guitar.

The elaborate summer palace of the colourful 19th century empress Cixi stands at the end of an artificial lake over a mile long (we walked round it!). It was built with funds appropriated from the naval ship-building programme, and by an irony the park contained a naval academy (presumably they trained on the lake!), which was closed down after the poor performance of the navy against the Japanese.


We travelled to the summer palace by dragon boat, which leaves from the huge soviet-style Exhibition Centre. With 20 minutes to wait we ordered a cup of tea – out of a sense of duty, as beer was less than half the price! We selected ‘peony ballad’ from the menu, and when it came (in a glass, with a second glass to pour it into through a strainer) it was quite colourless and almost tasteless. Our dragon boat meandered up the canals, past the zoo, with two trans-shipments, and we were amazed to see several men swimming – apparently for exercise – in the murky waters.

The wide main streets stretch for miles. Whole blocks contain a multitude of businesses selling identical or similar products, and there are acres of dereliction where the old hutongs (alleyways, read: slums) are being knocked down for development. Some of these blocks are already lined along the road fronts with new office or residential buildings, while within the ground resembles the aftermath of an air raid.
The whole city is in a fever of excitement and activity to get everything ready – and looking its best – for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Mature trees are being transplanted wholesale to major streets, and a taxi-driver proudly showed us the work in progress of the Olympic village.

And scurrying through the streets and parks about their pleasure or business are the 12,000,000 official residents of the city – and perhaps a quarter or half as many again who are not registered. We have been ‘joined’ on our walks by a number of young people anxious to practice their English. But the majority of those with whom we have practical contact speak no more English than we do Chinese, so sign language and smiles are the common currency of our communication and misunderstandings are frequent. We entered a pharmacy to ask for directions to find a foot-massage and almost bought corn-dressings! When we finally got to the foot-massage (strongly recommended for weary feet) Magda, who had been once before so was an expert, was adept in negotiating the price and waving away the ‘extras’.

All thanks to our charming hosts Archie and Mary, who made our stay very easy and agreeable and solved a series of knotty problems, as well as taking us to a reeling party!

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La primera impresion de Beijing es su vasto tamano. La ciudad se extiende, sin termino aparente, a traves del un paisaje plano, bajo una capa de smog peor que la de Santiago en Marzo. La escala ya esta defininida por la plaza de Tiananmen, 800 por 500 metros, donde empezamos a conocer Beijing. En el centro se levanta la columna cuadrada del Monumento a los Heroes del Pueblo. Al sur se encuentra el mausoleo que contiene el cuerpo preservado de Mao, al oeste el enorme Congreso del Pueblo. Lo mas imponente es la Ciudad Prohibida, protegido por el masivo porton de Tiananmen, con sus 9.999 habitaciones – el palacio imperial de los emperadores Ming y Qing entre 1420 y 1911.

Existen otros espacios publicos enormes: el Tianan (Templo del Cielo) se levanta en un parque, lleno de arboles antiguos, de unos 2 kilometros cuadrados. Aqui llegaba el emperador todos los anos para orar por una buena cosecha.

El Palacio de Verano de la emperatriz Cixi (una figura del siglo 19) se encuentra al borde de un lago artificial enorme (dimos la vuelta a pie!). Se construyo con dineros recolectados para un programa de construccion de naves para la armada. Ironicamente hubo una academia naval en el parque – supongo que entrenaban en el lago – el cual fue cerrado despues del fracaso de la armada frente a los Japoneses.

Viajamos al Palacio de Verano en bote, pasand por los canales donde habia gente nadando en el agua sucia – aparentemente tomando ejercicio.

Las anchas calles principales son muy largas, con cuadras enteras dedicadas al mismo negocio, y varias hectareas de destruccion donde estan anivelando los antiguos barrios pobres para su ‘desarrollo’. Todos se estan preparando para los Juegos Olimpicos del 2008.

Y entre medio corren los 12,000,000 de residentes oficiales de la ciudad, mas otra cantidad desconocida de no registrados. Cuando caminamos por la calle, es normal que se acerque un joven anxioso por practicar su ingles. Pero la gran mayoria no habla mas ingles que nosotros chino, entonces nos entendemos a traves de sonrisas y gestos. Entramos a una farmacia para pedir direccions a un boliche donde realizan masajes de los pies (recomendados para los pies cansados), y casi tuvimos que comprar unos remedios para zaballones! Llegados al negocio, Magda, quien ya lo habia hecho una vez, se demonstro experta en negociar el precio y evitar las ‘extras’.

VANCOUVER ISLAND

The island is named for Capt. George Vancouver, who surveyed and charted the whole of this part of the coast over three summers in the late 18th century. He has 2 cities and an island named after him, an achievement seldom equalled by a "mere commoner". However he blew his career in the navy when he had midshipman Thomas Pitt - a young cousin of the Prime Minister - flogged twice while under his command! Probably richly deserved...

We went by bus a few miles along the south coast to the liitle town of Sooke for a couple of days. One morning we hired a canoe and paddled round the bay, which was most enjoyable, accompanied by seals, glaucous-winged gulls and Canada geese. Then we took two walks along a trail which follows a railway line: in 1864 gold was discovered up the Sooke river valley and a mini rush occurred. A mining town named Leechtown boomed for a few years and the line was built to serve it, with a gas-powered train drawing a couple of carriages and rejoicing in the name of the "Galloping Goose"! The trail still retains the name.


We returned to Victoria for a night where we enjoyed a walking tour guided by Ian, from Bradford(!) who has lived there for 17 years. The town of Vancouver grew from a trading fort (1848) to the capital city of the new province of British COlumbia, with splendid civic buildings, in a mere 50 years, driven by Sir James Douglas of the Hudson's Bay Company; many of the splendid buildings, including the Legislature (1898) and the Empress Hotel (1908) were designed by an architect hailing from Bradford, no less, Morson Rattenbury.

We returned to Vancouver for the ten hour flight, with a 9 hour time-change, to Beijing, over Alaska and Siberia. Fantastic...



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La isla lleva el nombre de Capt. George Vancouver, quien hizo mapas de la costa a fines del siglo 18. Dos ciudades y una isla llevan su nombre - excepcional por un mero capitan.

Viajamos en bus unos km por la costa sur de la isla al pueblo de Sooke por un par de dias. Una manana arrendamos un kayak para dar la vuelta de la bahia. Fuimos a caminar dos veces en un camino que habia sido un ferrocarril: en 1864 se encontro oro en el valle, provocando una fiebre de corta duracion. Una ciudad de mineria, Leechtown, florecio por algunos anos y se construyo la linea, con un tren a gas de dos vagones, nombrado "Galloping Goose"! - el "ganso que galopa".

Volvimos a Victoria para una noche donde disfrutamos un tur de la ciudad con un guia ingles, quien vive alla hace 17 anos. La ciudad se fundo como fuerte para el comercio(1848) y dentro de 50 anos se habia convertido en la capital de la nueva provincia de British COlumbia, con esplendidos edificios civicos, bajo el mando de Sir James Douglas de la "Hudson's Bay Company"; muchos de los edificios, incluyendo el parlamento provincial(1898) y el hotel Empress (1908) fueron disenados por un arquitecto ingles, Morson Rattenbury.

Volvimos a Vancouver para el vuelo a China, diez horas con cambio de 9 horas, volando sobre Alaska y Siberia. Fantastico...

FRASER VALLEY TO VANCOUVER ISLAND

On our first day in the Fraser Valley we went to Fort Langley, founded in 1827 by the Hudson's Bay Company to ensure their hold on the lucrative beaver fur trade - for beaver hats. The fort was a simple and self-sufficient settlement trading with the indians on behalf of the Company. It was here that the founding of the colony of British Columbia was proclaimed in 1858, in the face of incursions from the USA, to protect the interests of the empire. The reconstruction has been sympathetically done and the staff are very well informed - there was more information than one could absorb in a few hours.

When (cheap) silk hats replaced beaver, and the fur trade languished, the Company turned to salting salmon - much of which was sent to Hawaii! They made their own barrels with birch hoops, and there was a cooper on the spot to show how it was done.

We found a B&B in Harrison Mills named Fenn Lodge. It was a hunting and fishing lodge built by one Charles Fenn Pretty in 1903 - he had arrived from Toronto some years before with 17 cents in his pocket and made a fortune. The house was bought from his descendants by Dianne and Gary, who have done it up and furnshed it most sympathetically. To stay there feels like being a guest in an English country house - with a Canadian twang! Maple syrup with the sausages for breakfast!!

The humming-bird feeders attracted a constant stream of hovering jewels - we smiled in particular at the aggressive little Anna's humming birds which always wanted to keep the feeders for themselves.

Our next visit was to a beautiful plant collection - Minter Gardens...
We also visited a museum which had been the general store of the huge Harrison Mills sawmill until about 1970. It was taken over to become a museum at that time with its complete stock, and I was delighted to find a set of tiddley-winks identical to one we had at home when I was a child.

From the Fraser River we drove across to the Vancouver island ferry and sailed for Nanaimo, half way up the east coast of the island. The two hour crossing was calm and pleasant, and then we drove right across the centre of the island to Tofino on the west coast. It was a beautiful drive over two mountainous ridges. The second was higher and we drove much of the way through a downpour; however as we cleared the last pass the sun came out and we saw magnificent, craggy, snow-covered mountains towering above us. Shortly afterwards we saw a black bear beside the road, and the day was made.

We had a day in Tofino walking and looking at indian carvings and other artworks. Indian art has taken off in the last fifteen years or so as the 'first nations' as they are known have recovered their confidence and gained a better recognized place in society.

On our final day with Walt and Pat we drove down to Victoria, capital of BC, and found a delightful bed and breakfast at Arbutus Hill with Donna and Jos. It was set on a hilltop surrounded by Madrone (arbutus) trees. These large trees with silky green bark are in fact members of the heather family! The bird-feeder attracted a great selection of local song birds.

After a truly hearty breakfast (as advertised) the next day we said goodbye to Walt and Pat, who headed for the ferry back to Seattle, while we headed out of Victoria for the next installment.


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El primer dia en el valle del rio Fraser, fuimos a conocer Fort Langley, fundado en 1827 por la empresa britanica de comercio 'Hudson's Bay Company', para asegurar su control del comercio muy interesante (economicamente) de los pieles de castor. La fuerte era un centro de comercio - simple y auto-suficiente - que permutaba productos como frazadas con los indios a cambio de pieles. Se ha realizado una reconstruccion muy bien hecha, y los guias son muy bien informados.

Cuando el comercio de pieles dejo de ser interesante, empezaron a producir salmon preservado en sal, el cual se exportaba, entre otros a destinos, a Hawaii!

Encontramos alojamiento en un hostal que fue construido en 1903 para la pesca y la caza por Charles Fenn Pretty. Este habia llegado de Toronto, algunos anos antes, con 17 centavos en el bolsillo, y se hizo rico. La casa fue comprado a sus descendientes por los actuales duenos, Dianne y Gary, y resulta muy agradable. Es como alojar en una casa de agrado inglesa...

Despues visitamos un jardin hermoso - Minter Gardens...

Tambien conocimos un museo que habia sido el almacen (pulperia!) de un aserradero enorme. Se vendio para museo, con la existencia completa, alrededor de 1970, y contenia muchos itemes que yo conocia en mi infancia.

El otro dia, tomamos el Ferry para Vancouver island, el puerto de Nanaimo, en la costa este - dos horas de viaje en mar. De Nanaimo cruzamos el centro de la isla a Tofino, en la costa oeste. El camino paso por los cerros, y por mucho del viaje llovia a chuzos; cuando salimos del paso hacia la costa se despejo rapidamente y tuvimos una vista impresionante del cerro alto, rocoso y cubierto de nieve, arriba del camino. Poco despues encontramos un oso negro en el camino...

Pasamos el dia en Tofino paseando y mirando arte nativa - madera tallada, piedras, tejidos etc.

El ultimo dia con Walt y Pat viajamos a Victoria, capital de la provincia de Columbia Britanica, donde alojamos en una casa muy simpatica en un bosque de arbutus. Al otro dia, ellos partieron para Seattle en el ferry y nosotros dejamos Victoria para la proxima etapa.

TORONTO TO VANCOUVER

We spent our last day in Toronto wandering round the old centre. The city suffered a fire in 1849 when most of it was destroyed but there are a number of buildings from that date - both private houses and civic edifices (e.g. St Lawrence's market and St James' cathedral) - and a few older ones. We visited the victorian conservatory with a fine collection of plants.

Our train was due to leave Union station at 0900 on Tuesday morning, so we arrived in good time, only to leave 40 minutes late! We were in 'Comfort class' - which was the least comfortable available (!) but quite acceptable, with reclining seats and the famous viewing dome.

Three days - in rough terms 24 hours of the forests and lakes of the Pre-cambrian Shield of northern Ontario, 24 hours of prairies and 24 hours of the Rockies and down the Fraser River into Vancouver.


Wildlife out of the windows included a couple of black bears, a coyote, a bald eagle, a big white hawk or owl - unidentified. In the Jasper national park we saw elk and bighorn sheep, and there were lots more bears which we didn't see as they were all on the other side of the train...


The fellow passengers on the train were a good mixture. The most notorious was a Finn born in 1930 who didn't stop talking from Toronto to Winnipeg (30 hours)! The first 20 minutes of his experiences as a child in the war were quite interesting, the rest was not.


We arrived in Vancouver nearly three hours late to find Walt and Pat waiting for us. They were Magda's "parents" when she stayed with their family in Seattle for a year after leaving school. Now about 80, they drove up to spend this week with us, because our plan to visit them in Seattle failed. We are thoroughly enjoying their company, and their boundless enthuiasm for everything seems barely diminished by their reduced manouevrability.

They took us straight off to see the anthropological museum in the University of British Columbia - a tremendous collection of totem poles, masks, baskets etc from the local indian tribes. We were lucky enough to hear an indian women chanting the national song of her tribe, standing under a totem pole. As the melody rose and fell, although the words meant nothing, one felt contact with a distant and ancient society which still survives against all the odds in the world of space travel and the internet.

From there we drove up the Fraser valley a few miles to the village of Chilliwack for the night.

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Pasamos el ultimo dia en Toronto paseando por el centro antiguo. La ciudad sufrio un incendio en 1849, siendo destruido la mayor parte, pero existen algunos edificios de esa fecha, tanto casas privadas como edificios municipales (ej. el Mercado de St Lawrence y la catedral de St James), y algunos mas antiguos. Conocimos un invernadero de la epoca victoriana, con su coleccion de plantas.

El tren debia salir de la Union station el dia martes a las 0900; llegamos temprano pero salimos con 40 minutos de atraso!

El viaje era de tres dias - 24 horas de los bosques y lagos de Ontario, 24 horas de 'prairies' -llanos- y 24 horas de las Montanas Rocosas, bajando por el valle del rio Fraser River hasta Vancouver.

Del tren vimos hartos animales silvestres, incluyendo osos...

Los demas pasajeros eran bien mezclados.. Habia un finlandes nacido en 1930, que no dejo de hablar (apenas para dormir!) desde Toronto a Winnipeg (30 horas)! Los primeros 20 minutos de sus experiencias como nino en la guerra fueron bastante interesantes...

Al llegar a Vancouver (con 3 horas de atraso) encontramos a Walt y Pat. Son los 'padres' de la Magda - ella quedo un ano en su casa en Seattle despues de salir del colegio. A la edad de 80, manejaron desde Seattle para pasar esta semana con nosotros, ya que no pudimos ir a su casa. Lo estamos pasando muy bien juntos, y su entusiasmo es infinito!

Con ellos fuimos al museo antropologico de la Universidad de British Columbia - una tremenda coleccion de totems (como rehues), mascaras, cestas tejidas etc de las tribus locales. Tuvimos la suerte de escuchar a una india cantar la cancion nacional de su tribu, parada al pie de un totem. Con la melodia que subia y bajaba, sin entender las palabras, se sentia un contacto con una sociedad distante y antigua que lucha para sobrevivir en el mundo de viajes en el espacio y del internet.

De Vancouver subimos el valle del Fraser al pueblo de Chilliwack donde pasamos la noche.

Niagara Falls

We had a fantastic day at Niagara Falls! After two hours drive from Michelle's house, we spent ten minutes looking at the Falls.


Then we drove up to the botanic gardens a few miles north up the Niagara River Gorge. The gardens themselves were quite interesting, with a collection of mainly native trees, a little rock garden and varied herb garden; but the highlight was the Butterfly Conservatory, which I recommend to anyone who makes it to this neck of the woods.

There is a good explanatory display before you go in and then you enter a glass house filled with vegetation, including quite large trees; the temperature and humidity are all carefully controlled and fans create local breezes. There is a stream with a waterfall (this sounds like an idealised description from a mediaeval romance!) and the air is alive with butterflies. Their brightly-coloured wings brush your face and hair, and they frequently settle on your shoulders and clothing. Plates of juice or putrefying fruit are set out for them to feed on. The colours and the sheer numbers are amazing, and in one wall there is a hatchery where the pupae are hung up, having been brought from their native countries in that state.

Later we drove on along the Gorge side which is lined with some lovely houses and not a few wineries, so we did a little tasting.

Arrived at Niagara-on-the-Lake, we wandered round the pleasant little town, founded by loyalist refugees in 1778. By chance we came across the Shaw Theatre (actually quite well-known hereabouts). They were doing "Saint Joan" but it was sold out. However we got tickets for the associated Royal George Theatre, for "The Circle" by Somerset Maugham. We had time for a quick dinner in a restaurant before the show, which proved to be most enjoyable... The theatre was quite small and well preserved, I guess around 1850. The direction and acting were good, and the actors had even learnt (fairly) authentic British accents!


Pasamos un dia fantastico en Niagara Falls! Despues de manejar dos horas desde la casa de Michelle, miramos el famoso salto unos diez minutos.

Despues de eso, fuimos al jardin botanico un poco mas al norte por el cajon del Rio Niagara. Los jardines son bastante interesantes, con una coleccion de arboles - nativos en su mayoria - un jardin de hierbas, etc; pero lo mas interesante era la casa de las mariposas.

Al llegar, uno ve una exposicion interpretiva; luego uno entra en un invernadero lleno de vegetacion y de arboles; la temperatura y la humedad estan controladas, y existen ventiladoras para crear corrientes de aire. Un esterito baja por las piedras y cae por un salto. El aire esta llena de mariposas - alas coloridas te tocan la cara y el pelo, y vienen a descansar en la ropa y los hombros. Se les colocan platos con comida: jugos, o fruta a medio pudrir. Los colores y la cantidad de las mariposas son impactantes. En una pared hay una zona para las pupas. Las traen de su pais nativo y las cuelgan para que completen su metamorfosis.

Mas tarde seguimos lo largo del cajon, donde hay unas casas hermosas y unos productores de vino.

Llegamos a Niagara-on-the-Lake, y conocimos la pequena ciudad fundada en aprox 1778 por gente leal a la corona inglesa, que venia arrancandose de los republicanos despues de la declaracion de la independencia de los EEUU. Por casualidad encontramos un teatro y compramos entradas para una comedia de un escritor ingles, William Somerset Maugham, de 1920. Tuvimos tiempo para una cena rapida en un restorante agradable antes de la presentacion. El teatro era de mediados del siglo 19, muy bien preservado; la presentacion estuvo excelente...

ONTARIO

We were reunited as planned in Toronto where Geoff and Michelle now have us in care!

We all spent this weekend - with Michelle's children Emily and Nicolas - in the delightful family 'cottage' near Bala a hundred miles north of here among the lakes and forests of the Pre-cambrian shield.


We canoed on the lake and walked in the forest. The trees are just breaking into leaf - making tree identification tricky - and spring flowers are coming out on the forest floor, especially masses of white and red trillium (a sort of lily). We saw a number of birds, although identification was a bit weak! Prominent were the splendid piliated woodpecker, blue jays, and Canada geese with their young.



Magda organised the children in a play. They ran out of lines after the first scene but the costumes were sensational!


Nos juntamos en Toronto, donde estamos alojados donde Geoff y Michelle!

Pasamos el fin de semana pasado - junto con los hijos de la Michelle, Emily y Nicolas - en la encantadora 'cabana' de la familia a 150 km al norte de Toronto entre los lagos y bosques de la zona.

Hicimos kayak en el lago y fuimos a caminar en el bosque. Los arboles estan brotando - lo que hace dificil su identificacion - y las flores de la primavera estan empezando a salir, en especial cantidades de trillium (un tipo de lirio) tanto blancos como rojos. Vimos varios pajaros, pero me hacia falta un libro para su identificacion! Entre ellos un carpintero grande, parecido al carpintero magellanico pero con blanco en la cabeza ademas de rojo.

Magda organizo una obra de teatro con los ninos. Se les oldvido el texto a poco rato, pero los trajes eran sensacionales!

FINALLY PHOTOS - BVI (2)