This day was spent entirely on the Chengdu
metro, and we did so much walking that by early afternoon, each of us had
burning feet.
Our day began with a visit to an ancient Chinese
village – wonderful architecture and much of interest. I was particularly taken by one building that
hosted displays from Chinese opera, one of the main cultural traditions. On display were fantastic costumes, masks and
jewellery. We visited a tea house where many
students keenly bought up packets of Chinese tea to take back home.
We then went to another village of
traditional architecture. I can’t work
out whether it is truly ancient architecture or mostly reproduction. Either way, it was wonderful and we spent a
couple of hours there, wandering, photographing and of course spending
money! I managed to tick off many gifts
to take back home.
From there we caught the train to the
Global Centre, until very recently, the world’s largest building. It was only opened in August 2013, its
opening having been delayed because of around fifty men involved in its
construction being jailed on corruption charges. Its size and opulence was
breathtaking but I found it just too much! Of course every surface was high
gloss and glitz– the floors, the walls and the ceilings. I imagine that the
flooring alone would be worth billions of dollars. Many of our group had been
keen to experience the artificial beach and the ski slopes, but were
disappointed to find that those facilities are only open to hotel guests. We had a tantalizing glimpse of some of the
massive TV backdrop to that section. It
features an ever-changing sky line, with birds flying through a beautiful blue
sky with fluffy white clouds. At other
times it changes to magnificent sunset. In both cases, it’s the sort of sky
that would never be seen in Chengdu which is choking with pollution! Some
students went ice skating and some to the movies, but many of us just planted
ourselves and our burning feet at a coffee shop and spent our time there. For a while, I walked on the whole floor of
the building which has children’s clothing, but I soon gave up any idea of
shopping when I saw the prices.
I alone was given a real treat when one of
our Chinese students invited me to accompany him to the top floor where he has
a friend who works in an antique gallery. She got a clearance to take just two
people there, so one of the Chinese girls and I were the lucky ones. It is
where one can go, by invitation only, to buy priceless antiques. I just can’t believe that his friend, who
would only be around thirty at the most, has such a prestigious job. She walked
us around murals, vases, statues, silk paintings, furniture, jewellery etc worth
hundreds of thousands of dollars. I
don’t know whether or not she thought she might have a potential customer, but
if she was, she was sadly mistaken! I
could only look and gasp. Fortunately I
was permitted to take photographs, many of which I am very pleased with.
We did not leave the Global Centre until
5:30pm, which meant that we travelled back to our hotel in peak hour. The squash on the train was unbelievable! At
one stage I commented to the students I was with, that I had experienced worse
on Melbourne trains, but then within a few minutes, there were about half as
many people again who got on. We were
just swept along with the tide of bodies, pushed deep into the carriage,
without any need to hold on because there was no chance of falling down!
Unable to face another Chinese banquet or a
night of socializing until midnight, I retired early and had a good night’s
sleep, preparing myself for another full on day.
No comments:
Post a Comment