Part 2
Part 3
Although the weather was not clear on the tour of the Rhine Valley and we could not see the region as post cards depict it the mists lent an eerie and mysterious air to the many old castles forbiddingly standing guard over this old trade route through time. The denizens of these strongholds exacted tolls on the passing traders. The occupants changed through the centuries with conquerors destroying and reconstructing them. We visited the only one that had never been conquered, perhaps because it had never been attacked. To climb the steep rock steps and enter the old Marksburg Uber Braubach/Rheim Castle gave one an uncanny feeling of the hard life of those times. We were shown the sleeping rooms, eating halls, kitchens, blacksmiths’ shops and the armoury. Even the instruments of torture for miscreants were preserved on display, the rack, the wheel, the iron mask and similar items
We booked our Athens plane flight for a fortnight’s time, being warned to be at the airport one and one half-hours early because of strict security checks. Roaming the streets we found the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain
In our roaming today we happened upon a very modernistic art gallery display of enigmatic sculptures displayed with a weird musical background. We saw many imposing buildings and statues and then wandered round archeological diggings immersing us in the era of the Roman Empire. Our next pause was at the Colosseum where our imaginings really took us back in time. Walking is the way to see things and feel history, supplemented of course by reading and talking to people. On our way home we saw a procession with thousands upon thousands of young students marching in protest. They were demanding more say in decision-making in education with better schools and better prospects ahead of them.
For the weekend we walked widely seeing the Colosseum again and managing to lose ourselves. This was not a great difficulty as we found a Metro station and caught the nearest train to our hotel. We did not encounter many English speaking Roman citizens to ask directions from. Our impression of the city generally was that it was very run down with many drab buildings and poorly maintained streets. It seemed harder to get to know than many places we had been, but with patience we believed that it was worth persisting in our search. The glory that was Rome was certainly there and worth uncovering.
We searched for and found the only banking company that gives a cash advance on Visa card – The Bank of America and Italy. Security precautions against crime were a big factor in city life. We wished to enter one bank to cash some travellers’ cheques and this is what occurred. At the entrance Maude entered a cylindrical glass cubicle and was bathed in light, like the beaming down apparatus on the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek. Next an inner door opened and she walked into the bank area. Then it was my turn. I entered the cubicle, was bathed in light, a red light flashed, a side door opened, something was said over a speaker in Italian and I found myself out on the street again. I remonstrated to Maude through the glass screens but she shrugged her shoulders; apparently nobody had time to tell her what was going on. Other people came to the beaming chamber and were allowed through and there was I on the outside frustrated. After some time a young man was rejected with the red light and I watched him. He then placed a bag that he was carrying in a locker with a numerical locking system. He was then allowed entry. Copying him I then entered the cubicle, punched three numbers and placed a plastic bag I was carrying in another locker. The inner door opened and I gained entry at last. No one carrying anything was allowed into that place. After all this we found we were in the wrong section anyway and would need to go next door. Exiting by the beam ray cubicle I punched my three numbers to retrieve my bag with no success. The young man I had copied meanwhile came out and retrieved his bag with ease. After another five minutes of me gesticulating and generally jumping up and down one of the clerks came and opened the locker with a master key. Ho hum! I suppose someone had to provide entertainment for the bank employees’ day. When we returned to our hotel late on the Sunday afternoon the huge double doors were locked. We had to press a button, upon which a television camera was trained on us. After recognition the lock clicked and we entered – talk about “tell ‘em Joe sent you”.
We set off by coach for Florence at seven in the morning to return at nine thirty in the evening. The driver Santino and the guide Vittorio soon made sure we were soon chatting with Raka, a young lady architect from New Delhi, Margot, a teacher from Germany, Carlo, a business man from Hamburg. A young Pakistani doctor from Glasgow and an Indian couple. The drive on the Autostrada was fast and comfortable and we were soon at Michaelangelo Square above Florence from which we had a good view of the bridges of the Arno and the city skyline. A red dome and white tower showed us where the religious centre was, a dark belfry identified the political centre. Another prominent building was Santa Crucia (The Holy Cross Church). Our city guide was Beatrice who first took us into the Academia Museum where we viewed the five unfinished works of Michaelangelo, called the prisoners because he said, "Inside each block of marble is a figure waiting to be released.” Here we also saw the magnificent statue of David. In Paradise Square we viewed Our Lady of the Flowers Cathedral with its beautiful exterior facade of various marbles; a unique Florentine phenomenon of the eleventh century. Next we saw the Bell Tower designed by Giotto in the fourteenth century. The Baptistery – Church of St. John the Baptist has a Golden Door dating back to 1425 – 52. When Michaelangelo saw this he said, “This is what the gates of Paradise must look like.” So the door is called Paradise Door. The Uffizi (16C.) was built as the administration centre for the city and later was converted to a museum of art. Here we saw:
Botticelli: “Birth of Venus”.
“The Primavera” (Spring). Mercury with the three Graces.
“Adoration of the Maggi”.
Leonardo Da Vinci. “Annunciation” and his “Adoration of the Maggi”.
Rafaello’s Works.
A wonderful highlight was a restored round picture by Michaelangelo with amazingly bright colour. To see such a work was to appreciate the genius of the artist. In the Church of the Holy Cross (Santa Croce) we viewed the burial place of the revered Galileo, Michaelangelo and Machiavelli and a memorial to Dante buried one hundred kilometres away. In the disastrous flood of 1966 that destroyed and damaged so many priceless works of art in Florence the water rose to a level above our heads where we stood at the entrance to the church. Our guide pointed out a carved depiction of the Ark at the doorway and told us that this was the level that the waters had risen to. At lunch the subject of crime arose. All our coach companions had had close encounters with the topic. While she was descending the Spanish Steps, Raka was attacked by street children and robbed. Next day she had her bag with all possessions snatched from her in the street. A young friend of the doctor went out after dinner at night to have a look around. He was pulled into a doorway by thugs and forcibly robbed of all he possessed. Apart from the harrowing stories of misadventures we all had a very good day together with much interesting conversation. Our guide Vittoria became more animated and fuelled with wine as the day progressed. She was quite a character. We returned home richer in experience at the end of our interesting day.
Next day we received a batch of letters, always a thrill. We spent the day shopping for food, eating, reading, writing and preparing for an excursion on the morrow. Good things happen. A small child in the street with his young mother was jingling coins in his hands when he dropped them all. Two young men picked them up and gave them to him adding some extra coins so he ended up richer. This was a happy scene. We took our tape recorder to a shop because it was not working. A young lady fixed it and cleaned the heads. She would not take payment and offered us sweets instead.
On an unparalleled excursion we took a guided tour to the Vatican. We bought a beautiful book to help us preserve memories of the museums, galleries and the Sistine chapel. The next day we took another guided tour to two Basilicas, the Holy Stairs, the old Appian way, Domine Quo Vadis Chapel and the Catacombs of St. Callixtus. The eerie tunnels extended far under the ground and were a gruesome reminder of generation after generation entombed therein. The same day we booked all flights that would take us up to Hong Kong and went out to dinner at Trattoria – Pizzeria Andrea where by now we were being treated like family guests.
A Saturday morning and we walked a long way buying some paperbacks at the Lion and Economy bookshop. Then we caught the Metro to Termini and visited the market at Emmanuelle Square – a great place something like the Victoria Market, but to us more exotic. We bought all sorts of fruit and vegetables, cold meats and cheese. We dined like royalty in our room.
On Sunday December 15th we visited St. Peter’s Square and St Peter’s itself. The crowds in the Square were evidence of how great a draw card the famous place was. We were fortunate enough to be present at a service with all its grand ceremony. The choir and soloists were a magnificent combination with the organ and perfect acoustics. This was a wondrous visit.
Our last night in Rome we had dinner at our friendly family restaurant where we had been made so welcome. We paid a very small charge for the meal and departed after complimentary liqueurs on the house.
After an excellent breakfast in good company the next morning we went to the Greek Commercial Bank to purchase travellers’ cheques and were given a run around that you would have to see to believe. We were sent from counter to counter being ignored at each until a senior person noticed our plight. Then even with his help we still had great difficulty. First we had to obtain cash and then buy the cheques from that. They kept our Visa card customer copy of the transaction and insisted on retaining it. We had to create almost a major disturbance to get a photocopy of the customer copy. After two hours of bumbling the transaction was completed that usually took no more than a few minutes. It was quite an amazing experience. Anyway, after this we had a happy day. We had our lunch at a working man’s taverna at the meat market. We walked about a lot, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and feeling much more secure than we had in Rome. We had our second evening meal at a pleasant restaurant in the same street as the hotel. We had a lamb dish in white sauce and stuffed tomatoes topped off with honey pancakes, ouzo and coffee the meal went well at $A11 altogether. At night we strolled around the streets adjoining Constitution Square (Syntagma). Our hotel was right on the Plaka, full of interesting little shops in narrow winding streets.
The hotel was quiet and comfortable so we were relaxed. Breakfast was buffet style with the choice of as much food as one could wish for – cold meats, fetta cheese, butter, three choices of bread, jam, cereals, cucumber, sliced cheeses, tea, coffee and fruit drinks. We were able to take some food with us to supplement our lunches. With other purchases we had good lunches. We bought a pair of opal ear rings, three spring clip letter holders and six decorative bottle openers to give as gifts on our return to Australia. Wandering the streets of the Plaka we admired the variety of wares full of local character. We walked half way up the Acropolis only to turn back when it rained. On this wet afternoon we rested and read our books.
Walking the Stadiou and neighbouring streets to Omonia Square was fun mixing with the local population away from the main tourist haunts. We sat at a table and drank coffee in the sunshine watching mohawk hair styled hippies dancing and singing to a large gathered crowd. Soon a police van arrived and moved them on at the same time dispersing the crowd. People-watching was always a fascinating past-time. We bought a copy of the Athens Star in English to catch up with local news. We went to a matinee film in English also.
Sunday December twenty second was our fortieth wedding anniversary. We walked up on to the Acropolis despite fairly heavy rain, visiting the University Museum on the way. Byzantine and post Byzantine art of the 12-14th centuries was colourful and very well preserved. The Parthenon, Temple of Athens Nike and the Acropolis Museum were a must to visit. The Parthenon “This jewel of the ‘Golden Age of Pericles’(built in honour of Athena patroness of Athens) is the focal point of Athens. To look down over Athens from the Acropolis is to look down through history into the past. With some imagination one can erase the modern skyline from view and picture the remaining buildings surrounded with the movement and life of the ancient Greeks. We walked home through the jostling crowds of the flea markets imagining how much busier it must be in the tourist season when all the world visits Greece. At night we had dinner at our friendly restaurant where our friendly English speaking waiter toasted our anniversary with complimentary ouzo all round.
With improved weather we walked from Sintagma along Iridou Attikou past the President’s residence where the guards in their distinctive uniforms of long white woolen hose and short skirts stood on duty. We saw two more later, pacing with high leg steps through a ceremonial march as they guarded the tomb of the unknown warrior – an impressive display. A memorable visit to the Athens Stadium, the site of the first modern Olympic Games was a highlight of the day. What better place could there have been for such an occasion with the Acropolis and the Parthenon dominating the city. While we present men were using pressure hoses to clean the marble steps to their original sparkling white. At night we spoke to a Greek man in the hotel lounge who had unsuccessfully applied to immigrate to Australia three years before. He was a civil engineer but said that he, like most Greek people, felt very insecure, fearing a loss of their livelihood at short notice. He said Greece needed industrial growth if it was to improve economically and it was currently in the grip of inflation. Our personal experience was that we found it cheaper to eat and stay there than any other place we had been in Europe. Though the Greek people had been through hard times the atmosphere was friendly and welcoming, we sensed none of the tension so evident in Spain and Italy. Perhaps Greek people are more philosophical with a background of culture that goes back so far and that still pervades the city of Athens in these times.
The following did not detract from our relaxation and enjoyment of our stay but some how seemed to add to it.
SOUNDS OF THE CITY AT NIGHT.
Our general custom was to sight see during the morning and spend the afternoon reading and relaxing, going to our friendly restaurant for the evening meal, then having a cup of cappuccino in the hotel lounge with some TV or a chat with fellow guests. In the late afternoon or early evening just as the cool of night is steadily encroaching there is a ticking noise in our room, soon identified as hot water coming up into the heating pipes. Occasional hammering and rushing noises allow all rooms to know when toilets are being flushed or showers are being used, not to be confused with the pneumatic drill and hammers being used in the neighbouring building while reconstruction works are going on in readiness for the coming tourist season. The street outside does not add much to the sounds in our room, just an occasional noisy group whose speech always sounds as if an argument is going on but is really only the normal excited tones used so often for mundane communication. A background of distant traffic susurrations can sometimes be sensed rather than heard. When retiring for the night we hear a tap-tap tapping from the room above that continues intermittently for some time. We surmise that it is the tapping heels of a lonely guest perhaps pining for home and loved ones or grieving over some upset. Why would some one be like this the night before Christmas? While sound asleep I suddenly awaken with a fear that an intruder has come through our noisy door that scrapes on the floor every time we use it. With beating heart I lie still, tensing my muscles and releasing adrenaline for an assault to come. After some time I realize the noise was the creaking of the bed as Maude changed position beside me. Lying and waiting to return to sleep I hear the singing and shouting of a late reveller returning to his home. Such are the noises of the night.
A crisp, calm, sunshine Christmas Day embraced us in its perfection. We strolled in the National Garden of Athens enjoying the sight of children feeding noisy and gluttonous ducks. The park was set out with twisting paths leading past lawns, trees and shrubbery, through a zoo exhibiting deer, lyre birds, partridges, a wolf, two lions and a miscellaneous collection of small animals including monkeys. The sunshine was so inviting on the plaza in front of the Zappeion Exhibition Hall that we just sat and watched the passing parade of people dressed up in finery, having been to church first. As the crowd grew we moved to sit at a table of the outdoor restaurant looking out over the crowd at the Parthenon on the Acropolis nearby. Sipping coffee we enjoyed listening to an excellent band progressing from jazz through pop music into Continental and Greek music. After a fine girl singer warmed us up with Greek songs a man took over with a gripping personality and a gifted voice. Soon he had small children dancing and singing with him to the delight of their parents and the rest of us. We had landed on our feet again to be entertained in this unique and charming manner. We were having a good Christmas Day, but there was more to come, as we had booked into the Kalokerinos Tavern for Christmas Dinner and a night of Greek entertainment. The tavern was “renowned for its delicious Greek dishes, its incomparable service, its Athenian atmosphere, and the panoramic view of the Acropolis.” The music, songs, guitars, dancing and good food ensured a splendid night out. We did wonder where we were as most of the audience was Japanese. On Boxing Day we returned to the same place as yesterday and lazily basked in the sun
We caught a bus Piraeus – the port for Athens – and walked a long way before enjoying a good taverna luncheon. We bought two sets of worry beads and a five in one Russian doll. Every where we went elderly Greek men were playing backgammon and drinking coffee. We lost our way a bit but soon managed to catch a bus back to Omonia Square – walking back home from there. We had spent a really good day soaking up Greek suburban life in brilliant sunshine.
I had some problem with my worry beads and had to restring them, a bit of a worry really. We roamed the Plaka and Elou Street to further discover what a huge market place Athens was. It seemed to be a matter of every one taking in each other’s washing to make a living. The invitation every where was “Come in and look. No need to buy. Everything half price. Special discount.” The sales pitch was insistent and persistent. In the afternoon we sat in the park of the National Garden people watching. Two children took our attention, a brother and sister. They were playing with a ball with the natural consequence of it lodging in a tree. It was interesting to watch the logical steps the boy progressed through before recovering it. 1. Throw stones from the ground. 2.Throw stones from a rubbish container top. 3. Poke up through the branches with a long stick. 4. Use a stick to pull branch into reach. 5. Shake branch to eventually regain the ball after such a struggle. The two of them gave a bow as we clapped them.
We were headed for Filopapou Hill when we came across preparations for some kind of show. It was a family art show with colourful kinder garden play areas, puppet theatre, play houses, a maze and other attractions. A TV video on the theme of family art was a presentation in pastel colours portraying the summer colours of Greece. “Family Life is a wholeness where the children’s art and living space merges gracefully with a family wholeness.” A Greek man, seeing our kangaroo pins said, “Hello, Australia is full of kangaroos, koalas and Greeks. No!” We had genuine moussaka for dinner at our usual restaurant, very hot, very tasty and very inexpensive.
We walked through the woodland of Filopapou Hill, a natural wooded area with outcrops of rocks and some archeological ruins. The hill commanded many fine views of Athens and was a pleasant place to idle away some hours – a place to return to. Completely rounding the Acropolis we stepped up into the theatre of Dionysus which was opened in 534BC. We sat where 13000 citizens crowded the sixty seven tiers during the Dionysia Spring festivals to experience the immortal works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. That was really visiting history’s birthplace. Continuing our walk we then paused for while for me to sketch a Byzantine church. Everywhere one walked there was some sight to arrest the attention and set imagination working.
On a walk we came across the monument of Lysicrates dating back to the 4th century BC. It served as a library from 1669 till the nineteenth century for the French Capuchin monastery, where Byron stayed and wrote his famous poem “Maid of Athens”. The frieze depicts defeat of Tyrrhenian pirates by Dionysus.
We had a quiet New Year’s Day. We watched a massing of the armed forces in the square of the Cathedral Metropolis not far from the hotel. A host of dignitaries arrived in limousines to attend the New Year’s Day service. Armed forces and police lined Metropoleus Street as a guard of honour. The gold braid outshone the sun. After this we walked around the modern area east of the city centre and drank coffee in a square.
THE INCIDENT OF THE BAR TAB.
When we paid the hotel bill for the first two weeks we didn’t notice till later that we’d paid a bar bill of three hundred and sixty drachmas. We knew this was wrong as we had always paid cash. After some thought we realized how it had happened. We recalled that when we went into the lounge on the evening of our arrival a little swarthy man had attached himself quite close to us. He ordered a beer at the same time as we ordered two coffees and took delivery the same time as we did. He didn’t pay when we did but airily said to the waitress, as we now remembered – “Put the drinks on the room number.” The waitress must have done this without us registering – our room key was lying on the table in front of us – and she must have thought the payment we had given her was a tip. It was strange at the time how he settled close down on the sofa beside us and grinned as he enjoyed his ill-gotten drink. You don’t have to think big to be a con man. We did pay the bill as it wasn’t worth going back over a few dollars.
We took our transistor radio to Sony for repair today; the volume control was faulty – possibly as a result of it being dropped when we were the victims of the bag snatcher in Barcelona. We spent the middle of the day on the boulevard at Filiro over looking the recreational beach. People were swimming and playing strenuous ball games and quite advanced gymnastics on the sand. The area was very prosperous looking with big apartment buildings overlooking the sea. A man came up to us as we sat and was very certain that his native Greece must be the best country in the world. He was most anxious for us to agree with him. Back home our little jeweller next door to the hotel beckoned us in. Beckoning was done by an action similar to patting a dog – never in our way, which is an obscene gesture in Greece. He gave us a little cake each –quite special – with a sweet and ginger taste. He showed us a ticket a friend had sent him from Australia, to be drawn in the Northern Territory on the morrow. We wished him good luck and told him we hoped he would win and remember we were his friends.
This morning we journeyed through almost three thousand years of ancient Greek civilization with a visit to the National Archeological Museum covering Ancient Greece, the Hellenistic Period, the Roman Period and jewellery of the Byzantine Period. In our minds we were able to furnish and decorate the ruins of Greece to gain an appreciation of the quality of life attained by the inhabitants of this land and islands so long ago. Many of the treasures we saw were not uncovered until the 1800’s and more are still being found to this day. Bronzes, vases, gold ornaments, gold death masks, other ornaments and vessels and weapons of exquisite design and workmanship enriched this unparalleled art treasure. Later we collected the radio; the works had been cracked by a fall.
The Apollo Coast. We caught a bus to Sounion travelling via the coast road and travelling south from Athens through Faliro, Kalamaki,Vouliagmeni and Legrina. This was a picturesque journey enabling us to see some of the area ranging from intensive tourism facilities, hotels, tavernas and sporting and boating facilities to fishing villages and olive groves. The bus terminal was Sounion where we came to the Temple of Poseidon, the mighty god of the sea. It was here that ancient sailors offered a last sacrifice to propitiate the god before leaving the comparative safety of the Saronic Gulf for the perils of the open Archipeligo. The temple was destroyed by the Persians in 480BC and rebuilt by Pericles later. “The pure whiteness of the twelve remaining Doric Columns is still as dazzling against the deep blue sky as in the days of Byron who carved his name into the marble.” We ate our lunch overlooking the Aegian Sea. The journey home was over the mountainous inland through Lavriou, Keratea and Markopoulo. The winding roads over rocky passes took us past olive groves and fairly barren farms with the odd goat and donkey lending local colour. The villages and towns gave us a glimpse into the rural life of Greece as the inhabitants went about their daily lives.
The last few days were quiet. We caught up with washing and dry cleaning at the next door laundry, wrote some letters and took in a few picture shows. On Saturday January 11th we had our last meal at our taverna “William of Orange” and were given a friendly farewell from our waiter Gianis (Yarney). We left the hotel at 23.20 hours to reach the Airport by midnight for the 2.30 take off. It was unnerving to see so many police around us fully armed. We looked down the barrels of rapid-fire guns too many times for our liking. It didn’t help that some of the young policemen were nervous themselves. The security check was strict but we not asked to open our bags. The nearly nine hour Qantas flight to Bangkok was uneventful. We were given a good supper and brunch and watched a film about Alice in Wonderland. It was a story about the Dream Girl, the original Alice visiting America for the award of an honorary degree to recognize that a century earlier Reverand Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) was born. This was an interesting insight into the relationship between the author and the child.
We took a long bus ride to the tourist authority and obtained information on places to visit and things to do. It was now mid January and we decided to extend our stay by nine days to leave on February the twelfth. Costs were cheaper here than we estimated for Hong Kong and we wanted to avoid an overlong stay in China that we thought might be too taxing physically and financially. It would also be more difficult to manage in Hong Kong over Chinese New Year with costlier heavy bookings. We booked ahead for Hong Kong accommodation, costing more than our usual budget. It would not be an easy place to find more economical lodgings. We spoke to a Caucasian travel agent that was a GI veteran of the Vietnam War. He said he had been in and out of Thailand for the previous seventeen years and spoke fluent Thai. A Middle East country had tried to hire him as a mercenary acting against the US after the war. He said he loved Bangkok and would continue to live there permanently. The street life fascinated us and we found plenty of exotic foods in wide variety. We visited a department store and a new Mall where we bought miniature ceramic animals, a blouse for Maude and new bathers for me.
For the next three days time passed agreeably, our main eating-place was a huge food centre at the Ambassador Hotel with dozens of food stalls to choose from in wide variety. It was hard to spend more than $A5 for a good meal between us. I continued to swim and idle by the pool each day. We took many local bus rides and walks mixing with the local population, an absorbing past time. The weekend market covered a huge area and was a great outing, a place to really mix in with Thai culture. We decided we would soon embark on some tours. We managed to get some interesting information on Hong Kong from Cathay Pacific Airways. We wrote and sent letters to family and confirmed our Qantas flight home to Melbourne from Beijing for March seventeen. We confirmed our Hong Kong accommodation and Thai Airline ticket.
During the next three days we visited the Grand Palace and found it had now been commercialized to the detriment of enjoying it to the same extent as we had experienced on our previous visit seven years before. We arrived about 11.30 and were told it wasn’t open to foreigners until 1.00. When we expressed disappointment a way was found to sell us tickets that had been previously used. This was obviously part of a racket as when we got in we found that other foreigners had been treated the same way. The officials on duty tried to demand a guide fee which we managed to refuse saying we were quite capable of walking around on our own. The pressure was also to push visitors into taking special commercial tours to such attractions even though they were easily accessible by public transport. The quality of tourism deteriorates under such conditions, but this seems to be the way things go with every little piece of interest seeming to have a price on it. When this gets out of hand it sends the costs soaring till eventually prospective travellers start looking for other places to visit.
We took a bus tour to Ayutthaya that was for four hundred years the undisputed centre of Southeast Asia. Vassal states from as far as the South China Sea in the east and the Malacca Straits in the south came to reaffirm their loyalty to the kings of Siam. Permission was graciously granted to foreigners to set up domicile. Portuguese, Japanese, Dutch, English, Chinese, Indochinese and Malayan villages were set up. In the middle of the 18th century disaster struck. Burmese invading forces breached the city walls plundering huge stores of gold, burning down magnificent temples and palaces and slaughtering more than 110,000 people. The visit was well worth while and a reminder of past glories demonstrated by the ruins of magnificent buildings in the Historical Park. A trip in a longboat was an enjoyable part of the day. Even here the guide tried to charge us an extra fee that we all refused to pay because it was an advertised part of the tour.
We visited the huge Sunday market with its colouful crowds and hundreds of stalls stocked with an exotic variety of merchandise. A visit to this huge venue is a must for any visitor to Bangkok The next day we caught city buses and walked long distances about the vast metropolis.
We took an excellent guided tour visiting salt pans and a factory producing coconut oil where interesting birds and monkeys were on display. A trip on a long boat took us to a floating market where foodstuffs were sold and bartered. Our next stop was the famous Rose Garden for lunch in a fine restaurant followed by a fast moving superb performance of dancing, a Thai wedding ceremony, sword fighting, comedy stick fighting, a cock fight, Thai boxing and singing amongst other acts. After this there was a fascinating elephant show demonstrating the importance of these animals in Thai culture and history. A day at the Rose Garden is another must for any visitor.
A tour bus picked up its twenty passengers from half a dozen hotels spread around the city of Bangkok. The travellers were from England, Denmark, France and Australia. The common purpose was to visit the River Kwai on a historical memory tour. The tour would include a visit to Jeath museum, a reconstruction of the first prisoner of war camp at the beginning of the building of the Burma railway. The U shaped long house construction held the bamboo slats which the prisoners slept on and suffered. There was memorabilia on display, photos, documents, clothing worn, tools, eating and cooking utensils. A sign at the entrance said “FORGIVE BUT DO NOT FORGET’. A short drive took us to the War Cemetery of the Allied prisoners of World War 11. The next stop was the bridge over the River Kwai at Kanchanababuri. Each person had his or her own thoughts but shared in a collective memory of the terrible story of those who suffered and those who died in this cruel chapter of history. Thirteen of the twenty opted to continue the journey over the jungle railway to the next destination, the Jungle View Restaurant at the River Kwai Village Hotel. Seven of us remained in the bus to continue on our way. We travelled on past roadside stalls and habitations, past coconut plantations and then on through dry rocky hills sheltered from the heat by sealed air conditioning. Most of us were dozing when it happened. There was a loud dull thud, an awareness of brakes slammed hard, an abrupt stop and a fleeting impression of a large vehicle passing by. A Thai man had rushed to cross the road in front of a bus just ahead of us to be hit by our bus outside his vision. Our bus driver immediately fled back along the road from which we’d come and we saw his figure moving into the distance. Then he boarded a utility truck that came towards us, passing and continuing on its way. We sat in the bus talking to each other with the air conditioner still running, insulating us from the outside heat. The worst scene we witnessed was the totally wrong treatment of the pedestrian. Many hands picked him up compounding any injuries he already had. He was laid on his back on the floor of a roadside shelter increasing the likely-hood of him drowning in his own blood. However we soon realized he would have been killed instantly on impact, so severe was the direct impact. No one in the bus moved out to take any action. What action could we take? How could we know how the locals would react, having lost one of their own. We could only sit and wait. After a long period of time the body was taken away, bloody and uncovered in the arms of young men in the back of a pick up truck. Had he been their friend? After another long wait a policeman arrived asking no questions and seeking no statements. Another wait and soon an open bus arrived and took us to meet with our tour group. Apparently no statement from us would have helped the driver because under Thai law the driver in an accident such as this is to blame and punished to five to ten years in jail. To hit a pedestrian is to be guilty. No pleading that the pedestrian had placed himself in front of the bus with no hope of the driver possibly being able to avoid impact would remove the need for vengeance. All the passengers finished the day harbouring their own thoughts of what they had seen, only able to be inactive witnesses. This was a day that underlined a culture shock that is to be experienced when visiting another country.
For the next three days we occupied ourselves with swimming, lots of interesting eating, reading up on Hong Kong and China and random exploration of the metropolis.
Sunday, February 9th. We lined up in a large foyer of the theatre at Tokyu Store, having purchased tickets for a much advertised dancing and singing show. We found ourselves in a dense crowd expectantly waiting admittance to the auditorium. When eventually the doors opened there was a surge of the milling throng racing to gain seats. It was amazing that some of the audience were not trampled on in the rush. The race to gain a seat caused the demise of Maude’s second pair of sandals since leaving home. I went to the back of the theatre and found them somewhat the worse for wear.
Through the crushing heaving shambles
Bravely battled two ‘farangs’,
To gain their seats was all that mattered
In spite of world worn sandals. (Farangs are foreigners).
The Royal Family and their guests sat on lounges just a few rows in front of us. The beautiful stage settings and performer’s costumes were dazzling. We were enthralled with the singing and dancing. A pleasant Japanese dinner finished off the day to celebrate Chinese New Year’s Day.
On the next two days we were entertained by street performances celebrating Chinese New Year. At the Ambassador Hotel we saw spectacular lion dancing and high pole balancing acts. We enjoyed our last Thai meals. We had enjoyed a great time in this friendly country.
We travelled on the underground under Causeway Bay, collected mail from home, obtained money from the bank and paid for our China tour. We also arranged to collect passports and visas.
Next day we travelled by hovercraft to Northpoint meeting up with Ken and Joyce. Ken was a retired Welsh primary principal and we had an interesting time comparing our experiences. They were in Hong Kong to celebrate their son’s wedding with a local Chinese girl. We visited a shop where we bought some souvenir art work cut outs. Over the next days we ate well at dim sum and other Chinese and Indian restaurants. We bought twelve card calculators, a multi function watch and dresses for grand daughters to take home as gifts. We walked to the Star Ferry Terminal and had some photos printed. We watched some TV during a bout of wet weather.
With better weather we walked the length of Nathan Road. We took a Star Ferry ride, visited Victoria Peak on the funicular tram for a wonderful view over Hong Kong and purchased jetfoil tickets to visit Macau.
The fifty-five minutes trip to Macau was smooth travelling between forty and fifty miles per hour. We passed many hilly and rocky islands that seemed to be mainly uninhabited. The islands were an interesting sight looking mysterious in haze and low lying clouds. We visited the Lisbon Hotel Casino that was big with many floors. The minimum blackjack bet was $A4.
1. Six packs of cards are slowly opened by the dealer, with many sips of tea during the process.
2. The cards are fanned out for perusal with a pause for sips of tea and conversation between the pit gang.
3. The cards are slowly mixed face down with sips between mixes.
4. Cards are made into a six pack stack with more sips of tea. The dealer fans smoke away that players have blown towards her with a hand fan showing disapproval on her face.
5. Cards are shuffled, seemingly for ever.
6. Cards are further machine-shuffled during which the dealer sips tea and fans smoke away.
7. Dealer blocks the cards using a glass tamping weight and places the decks in the shoe during casual conversation with her colleagues. The shoe has a cover over it and the dealer cuts the cards – no players are involved.
8. Six cards are burned and placed in a disposal box. Players’ cards are dealt face down.
9. Players’ second cards are dealt face down. Players pick up cards and peruse them and place them in front of the boxes face up.
10. As each player receives further cards he masks them with a card already dealt and after painstaking deliberation places them face up on the table. Very few hit on 14, 15 or 16 against a dealer’s strong hand. Many surrender receiving half their stake back. Doubling is allowed on eleven only. Very few splits were made, possibly because of the shuffling system. Players bet in big amounts, hundreds of dollars on a bet was not unusual. A player playing behind your box gains control of hitting or staying if their bet is higher than yours, taking away your control of betting and money management. When a woman kept doing this to me and then standing on 16 against the dealer’s 10 I decided on a form of protest.
(a) I placed bet.
(b) Woman placed bigger bet.
(c) I removed my bet.
(d) Dealer told woman to remove her bet.
(e) I put my bet back.
(f) She put her bet back.
(g) I removed my bet.
The woman gave up on the advice of the other players. All this created quite a sensation at the table. For a foreigner to do such a thing was a dramatic incident. I did manage to convey to the woman that she should play her own box, play behind some other poor sucker or play behind me as long as she did not interfere with my control of my box. After a shoe is finished a second game is played through with the same procedure and delays. Then the cards are discarded, a new shoe is produced and the whole procedure starts all over again. Players evacuate the table and rush to another one closer to starting. All play is in infuriatingly slow motion. Never let the hens settle on the roost seems to be the policy to keep players off balance giving the house an extra edge over them. In spite of all this we had a most enjoyable time taking all day to lose our meagre stake against all sorts of difficulties.
I recovered from a mild virus but Maude was more severely affected, keeping to the room and bed and eating very little. It was wise to lie low with the China trip coming up in a few days. I went exploring on my own a lot during this time.
On Monday 24th of February we set off to the last country in the year of travelling. Maude was feeling better again and we were quite excited in anticipation of new experiences. The train journey to Guangshou was comfortable and interesting revealing a moving scene of the countryside. Terraced fields were dotted with people carrying out farming tasks, some digging and hoeing, some ploughing using water buffalo, others riding bikes along narrow trails barely able to dodge those walking. One man digging with a spade was helped by a woman pulling on a rope to assist his action. The whole morning was like a journey through a picture book. We were served hot tea with refills of hot water from thermos flasks. Colour video was on show, but luckily not near us, real life was much more interesting studying our fellow passengers and the moving parade outside the train. Two men in uniform approached us on arrival and asked us “Where is your tour leader?” A charming young lady interrupted them and claimed us and whisked us through formalities quickly. Lam took us straight to a lunch of fried rice, sweet and sour pork, a stuffed omelet with sliced beef, a vegetable like broccoli stalks, orange soft drink and a big bottle of beer plus two slices of pineapple. After lunch our driver and our guide took us to the Guangshou Museum that unfortunately was closed. The next stop was the Five Goats statue, the symbol of the city. Five celestial beings came to earth on the backs of five goats with an ear of corn in each goat’s mouth; the celestials then ascended to heaven leaving behind the goats and corn (symbols of food aplenty). We next visited in turn the Six Banyan Temple, a religious resort, the Chenklen Temple and the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. In the Chenklen Temple we saw beautiful works of art – colourful clothing worn by Chinese minority groups – embroidery – carvings in jade – intricate carvings in wood – lions (males with mouths empty and females with a ball in the mouth that can’t be removed.
Our accommodation was in the first class White Swan Hotel where we had a magnificent room on the eleventh floor overlooking the Pearl River with barges and boats constantly on the move day and night.
A DAY OF A LIFETIME.
We became VIP guests for a day in a tourism promotion. Lan, John (a second guide), two photographers, our driver and the two of us set off for the day of a lifetime at the Nanhu tourist centre in the North Eastern suburbs of the city. First we were taken on a speedboat ride on the park-lake, then for a quiet fishing exhibition on the bank for more photographs. After this we visited the place where SunYat Sen had lived, and strolled the paths that he had trod. Then we had a hilarious session being photographed in a mocked up barbecue picnic. Evidently our hosts had gained the impression that one of our favourite past-times was the Aussie barbecue. They really had no idea what it was all about, but did have long forks and pieces of chicken to grill. The session ended with hilarity when they used petrol to get the reluctant fire going. After the fun of the morning a crowd of us sat down to a banquet in company, with friendship, talk and laughter, learning a lot about each other. We all went into the kitchen for photos of the chief chef giving Maude a cooking lesson. This was a scene of wonder to all when a big crowd gathered to join in the fun. The next scene of hilarity was in a disco dance hall set up for guests in the future. Music played and coloured lights flared. Maude and I were photographed trying to demonstrate what disco dancing was all about. Soon they all joined in and we had a ball. Another event of the day was a visit to a rifle range where it was decided we were not really army material. It was a day not to be forgotten in a hurry.
After our entrancing three days in Guangshou Gok Yen Lan made sure we had a box breakfast of toasted bread, butter, jam and hard-boiled eggs to eat in the plane. She mothered us to the airport where we sadly said our farewells – we felt that she had looked after us like a caring daughter. The airport was crowded and confusing to us as the only westerners and I don’t think we would ever have managed without Lan’s care. The plane journey was handled like a bus trip with no safety instructions and no seat belt check. The flight was smooth; every passenger was given a guava fruit drink, a pack of lollies and a tie pin with CAAC GUANGSHOU inscribed on it – Civil Administration of China. At Guilin our guide Mr. Li Jian-Lin met us and quickly escorted us to the Li River Hotel. The hotel and our room were basic but comfortable; the room was big with a fine view of the river and the encircling uniquely shaped hills. Food at this hotel was not exciting. Our driver and Lin took us to many places of interest during the day. We saw privately run shops with souvenirs for sale. We explored the Ludi Yan (Reed Flute Cave). Roaming through this gaudily lit series of caverns was like a journey to the centre of the earth. The next visit was to a special garden of miniature trees where we also met our first panda in the park zoo. The afternoon was spent walking up steps of the Decai Shan (Folded Brocade Hill) also called (Powder Silk Hill) giving panoramic views of the city, market gardens, the river and the surrounding strangely shaped hills and rock formations. The stone pathway led us through Wind Cave to great views from the peak of Elephant Trunk Hill from where we viewed Pagoda Hill, Hole in the Hill and Yang Shuo eighty kilometres south, the destination for tomorrow’s river cruise.
The Lijiang River – “Thousands of pinnacles stand towering around; a river winds its way about.” “The landscape is at its best between Guilin and Yang Shuo, covering a distance of 83 kilometres by boat. Most beautiful is the scenery along its banks, adorned with limpid waters and extraordinarily shaped pinnacles, just like a very long scroll of traditional Chinese painting.” On the way we had a fine steam boat meal and marvelled at the mystic wonderland that we passed through. On arrival at Yang Shuo our driver was waiting for us and after a look around we were soon on our way home. The sights that captured one’s imagination were the groups of people on the river- banks as we passed. What were they doing on the river-banks, down by the side of the river?
On Friday February 28th Jian Lin saw us safely on to our plane bound for Kunming, where we were met by our guide Mr. Wang Pu. Here we had our own Toyota Mini bus and driver who quickly delivered us to the Cuihu Guest House opposite Green Lake Park. After settling into our room we ate a good lunch. In the afternoon we visited local sights such as Bamboo Temple with its hundreds of statues, Black Dragon Pool with the wonderful garden and the Golden Temple. We hiked up a steep incline in Xishan (Western Hills) National Park. “ The most magnificent scene in the Xishan Hills is the Dragon Gate, a shrine hewn out on a sheer cliff. Tourists admiring Dianchi Lake from the Dragon Gate will feel relaxed and pleased with the view of its misty expanse dotted with sailing boats." Giangzhu {Bamboo) temple was first built in 1280. The temple houses 500 statues done in the 1880’s. “They are simple but varied in form, breathing the air of everyday life.” They have the reputation of being “a pearl in the treasure-house of oriental sculpture art.”
Each morning at dawn I joined the great throng of people of all ages and varying degrees of fitness in the Green Lake Park. People were engaged in all sorts of interesting activities including dancing, stick exercises and tai chi; some were alone and absorbed in their own private worlds and some were united in group-activities. My own self- conscious efforts were looked on with kind tolerance. One memory that lingers is of a young woman standing on the shore of the lake and singing plaintively across the water with a lovely soprano voice
On Saturday we took a three and a half-hour drive to Shi Li Stone Forest, the territory of the Sani minority group who retain their own customs. The drive into the higher country was through a fascinating parade of rural life - hundreds of people in never-ending throng walking, riding bikes, travelling in pony carts and cars and trucks. Some pulled loads on handcarts and some trudged along with loads on backs. We passed farms with irrigated vegetable crops, fruit orchards, brick works, villages and communes. Wang took delight in telling us many stories. One had the same theme as the film Yentl. We bought a cassette of the music of the story played by a famous Chinese violinist. He also told us a story of a lake we passed. on which no one will risk taking a boat. A poor man was in love with a girl who was also coveted by their wicked landlord. The youth went out on the lake; soon a beautiful bird led him to a place where he found a golden chain, but was warned to take only three links, one for marriage, one for a house and one to give to his fellow villagers. The wicked landlord found out about the chain and being a greedy man went to the place where it was and pulled as hard as he could on it taking many more than three links. This disturbed and angered the monster on the other end of the chain in the murky depths below. It quickly rose to the surface and devoured the greedy landlord with one gulp. No one has dared to go on the lake since. Some say that the reality is that there are sudden and unpredictable maelstroms due to the subsidence of limestone caverns under the bed of the lake. The absence of fish is due to the extremely high lime content of the water. The stay at the Stone Forest was memorable because of the long ramble through the spectacular rock formations in an atmosphere of tranquility and mystery, meeting the colourful Sani people, wandering alone through the surrounding countryside, settling down in the lodge with friendly Chinese company surrounded by a falling mantle of snow.
Next day we experienced the reality of travel in China on icy roads through snow. We encountered the amazing spectacle of vehicles slewing in all directions, sliding into each other and running off the road into all sorts of difficult situations over embankments and into ditches. Trucks with big loads had no hope and many buses were overturned, disgorging crowds of passengers with no place to go and no hope of early rescue. The roads seemed to be without camber, especially on curves. Pervading all the chaos was a fatalistic intentness on proceeding whatever the cost. It was only with great care and skill and luck that our driver delivered us home to our guest house thankful that we had not had to make our own way on a local bus as Ray and Mandy had done in their travels.
A CHINESE PUZZLE AT DINNER.
Waitress : Do you want jink?
Me : (Shrugging shoulders and opening both palms.) Jink. What is jink? I don’t know what jink is.
Waitress: (Looking baffled, just wandered off – not to return to the strange foreign guests)
Later we worked out that jink must have meant drink; however we were still puzzled as there was plenty of drink on the table at the time.
Next day we visited the zoo to see Chinese tigers, a wolf, fox and pandas (the small brown ones with tails). I walked the streets of Kunming with Wang visiting an antique store and a foreign language bookshop. There being some sort of expectation that I would buy some thing I bought a sketch map of China. We then walked a long way through fascinating old streets full of action and character, mingling with the people going about their daily business.
Tuesday March 4th. We left Wang with stamps for him and the driver, Western soap we had carried with us for his wife and some other gifts of nuts, sweets and dried mango. We had appreciated the kindness and hospitality shown to us. We flew in a noisy old prop plane over awe inspiring snow covered mountains – a bumpy flight in parts but over all worthwhile. We were met at Xian Airport by Mrs Wang Hui (this time pronounced wong). Mrs. Wang introduced us to the area with a visit to the Shaansi Provincial Museum where we saw a collection of relics from the Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties which demonstrated the rise and fall of power over the centuries, each dynasty being succeeded by invasions. One picture depicted an early uprising of peasants against their lords and landlords. A diorama presented the pleasant life of the rich in pursuit of pleasure with figures sitting feasting, watching dancing girls in a comfortable pavilion while the poor commoners stood in the snow outside without enough clothing or food, many crippled from fighting at war. There were many uprisings of the people through out history, The items displayed a high level of culture and technology through 2000 years with wheeled chariots, weights and measures, use of cog wheeled machinery and so on. We saw the twelve books of Confucious inscribed on large stone tablets. An interesting sight was the city wall of the old city of Xian.
Wednesday March 5th. We visited Huaqing Hot Spring, a place of historical importance – The 1936 Incident – the capture of Kiang Kai-shek on the mountainside behind the place where he stayed. There his own generals arrested him. The generals, along with the communists, persuaded him to fight against the common foe, the invading Japanese. We walked through his living room and viewed historic photos of the 1930’s. Huaqing Hot Spring is famous for its scenic beauty and is now a health and tourist resort with ancient and modern historic significance.
QIN TERRA-COTTA FIGURES. Surely the tomb of Qin Shi Haang is one of the wonders of the world. From the surveys the necropolis is divided into two parts, an inner and outer enclosure, which are 2.5 kilometres and 6 kilometres in circumference respectively, covering 2 square kilometres. The necropolis was discovered by members of a commune who stumbled upon it whilst sinking wells during farmland irrigation construction in March 1974. Excavations were still in progress when we visited this amazing place which is not just another discovery in Chinese archaeological history: these rare treasures of the Qin dynasty are undoubtedly destined to become one of the greatest art treasures in the world. There is much more to be found out about our human past with future archaeological finds. It is a seeming paradox that the further we move in time from our past the closer we get to it in our knowledge of early times. On our way home we visited Banpo Museum, a typical example of an ancient Chinese village in the Neolithic Age about 6,000 years ago. This site was only discovered in 1958 and includes the excavated foundations of the round shaped houses in which the matriarchal clan community lived. To see these wonderful sights is to give one a new perspective on our place in this world.
Our guide, Mrs. Wang Hui took good care of us and with her we visited Dayan Pagoda (The Big Wild Goose Pagoda) where we climbed to the top of the seven storey building commanding a panoramic view of Xi’an. She took us to a cloisonne factory where women workers earn $A22 a month decorating small vases and urns, intricate painstaking work. In the lobby of our hotel we watched one artist at work making figurines from dyed wheat flour, water and salt and others hand modelling terra cotta warriors. We walked on our own to the Small Wild Goose Pagoda where Chinese students tested their English on us. On Friday March 7th. Mrs. Wang took us to the airport sending us on our way to Beijing.
Observations: Introduction of western ideas often had a strange twist. We saw modern hotel lobbies used as storage rooms, quite a jolt to westerners’ eyes. Another unusual sight was wall-curtains beside windows extended out along the floor as decoration challenging our concept of their function.
Differences: People selling wines, spirits and beer do not need a government licence, but people selling electrical and electronic goods do.
Assignment of jobs: Workers are assigned their jobs by the government. E.g. Wang wanted to be a primary teacher but was assigned to her job as a tourist guide.
Service: In Xi’an we complained that our room had not been properly cleaned and prepared for our stay. An unsatisfactory attempt to remedy the situation led us to two speculations. The first was that the staff was surprised at us wanting a room completely swept or the bathroom floor washed and their response was quite perfunctory. The second was a management worker relationship problem. How much effective pressure can a manager exert on staff to have a job done to an internationally acceptable standard? How does one motivate? Does a worker, perceiving inequality exert a right to do a job the way he or she sees it? We had lunch with a Swedish Management consultant brought to China to address this problem of grudgingly given service. He agreed that our experiences and observations were very relevant to proper working relationships and standards in the then contemporary China. His main task was to consult and advise about effective management including incentives and overcoming passive resistance to new ideas and requirements.
Media: In Australia bad news is good news (for the journalists); it’s their living. In China only good news was good media. The bus, car and truck accidents on the iced snowy road from the Stone Forest to Kunming would have been a feature headline story in Australia. The accidents were not mentioned at all on the TV news. Our guide’s comments were: “Such things are commonplace; everybody knows they happen, so they are not commented on. Dog bites man. This is no news at all. Man bites dog. Now that is strange. That’s unusual, that’s news.” “We are short of transport and planes so our journalists wouldn’t be able to get to sites of such accidents anyway.” “There are more important things to be dealing with in our mass media.” (We noticed however, that bad news from overseas received plenty of coverage.)
In Beijing Miss Liang Hao Ling who asked us to call her Helen, met us at the airport. She was to become our kind and gracious friend for our last days in China. We were quickly settled into the Hua Du Hotel. Next morning Helen escorted us to a sea of people at the forecourts of the Beijing railway station. Merging with rivers of people flowing forward she led us to our train bound for Chengde. After a five-hour journey Mrs. Louisa Liu met us and took us through rain and snow to the Chengde Hotel. We were treated as honoured guests by the whole staff who assembled on the front steps when we arrived and on our last day when we departed. The weather settled down so we walked down the street to the local market that was totally geared to local needs with a wide range of every day goods on sale. Soon there was the sound of fire-crackers and drums. A procession of students appeared waving banners and shouting slogans. They were exhorting the population to adopt better hygiene habits. It was very common to experience people hawking and spitting in the streets. The students were working on a campaign to improve health standards.
While in Chengde we saw the tallest female wooden Buddha in the world and a Buddha with one thousand arms and one thousand eyes. We walked through the rooms of the Imperial Mountain Resort where a former Emperor had disported himself with his wife and seventy-two concubines in the cool summer seasons away from the heat of Beijing. We were shown the Eight Outer Monasteries on the mountainsides where the heads of state from countries around China met together in the 1970’s exchanging religious and other beliefs. With the visit of the sixth Lama of Tibet there was a combination of the Tibetan, Mongolian and Han architectural styles in these monasteries. The change in climate, the uniquely beautiful surroundings and the wonderful hospitality made this a memorable weekend visit. The journey back to Beijing passed quickly as we had interesting travel companions, a Chinese man, a Japanese woman, a Japanese/English speaking woman and us. We all wanted to find out more about each other and our respective countries. Our efforts at communication were a scream and the hours passed away all too quickly.
Back in Beijing we were taken to Tian’anmen Square and lined up with a huge queue of thousands to see Chairman Mao lying in state. We were escorted to the head of the queue, a courtesy we appreciated very much as it would have taken a whole day of our time otherwise. The excursion was impressive showing us the reverence the Chinese people accorded to their leader. After an excellent lunch in a luxury hotel we visited more temples that contained national treasures. Our last visit of the day was to the Friendship Store, the biggest in China. That evening Maude fell sick and we had to call a doctor. The hotel arranged for the visit of a Chinese lady doctor.
Tuesday, March 11th. Maude stayed in bed in our room. She had an injection and lots of tablets for a fever, insisting that I follow the day’s program that had been planned. I went to the Great Wall with guide Liang. After lunch we visited one of the thirteen Ming Tombs and marvelled at the quality of the building’s construction. We postponed a visit to a fine restaurant for a Peking Duck banquet in the hope that Maude would be well enough to enjoy it the following night. Our last days in China were distressing with Maude being too ill to experience the wonderful sights of Beijing and its surrounds. We now counted the few days and hours before our imminent return home to Australia looking forward to a return of Maude’s good health as she was now confined to the hotel under medication. My outstanding memory of this period is the time Liang Hao Ling spent with us doing everything in her power to comfort Maude and help us.
I don’t have any notes taken at this time so list impressions of the remaining days in summary form.
1. Attendance at a traditional Chinese opera amongst a friendly audience.
2. Attendance at an acrobatic and dancing show.
3. Peking duck banquet.
4. Walks in the neighbourhood of the hotel: prestigious foreign embassies,
anti-U.s. propaganda posters,
troops in training,
shops and high rise tenements,
washing machine bike deliveries,
daily life of the city.
5. The Summer Palace: Invite the Moon gate.
Paviliion for Perceiving the Spring.
Garden of Harmonious Interest.
Bronze Pavilion.
Covered Promenade.
The Great Stage.
Longevity Hill.
Kunming Lake.
6. The Palace Museum: Golden Water Bridge.
(Forbidden City). Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Hall of Complete “ .
Hall of Preserving “ .
Palace of Earthly Tranquility.
7. Beijing Zoo: The giant Pandas.
Our year of travel was over and we had seen a good part of the world enjoying friendship and hospitality in all the countries visited. Our varied experiences gave us a new perspective of Australia’s place in the world. We boarded the Qantas homebound plane with a great feeling of kinship and excitement that we were at last returning to the best place in the world – home.
There was a couple called Crooke
Who went round the world for a look.
Did they remember it all?
Did they recall?
Yes – they wrote it all down in a book.
(Thank you Annette).