2007 MONKEY MAGIC+ WILL MISS BEIJING

"Born from an egg on a mountain top, Monkey is funky and never stops, he knew every magic trick under the sun...."

If you are in Australia you probably grew up watching Monkey Magic.

That TV show is based on the Chinese classic "The Journey West"

The TV show Monkey Magic that showed on the ABC in Australia in the 90's
was made in Japan. The guy who played monkey is still famous in
Japan - last year in Tokyo i saw him on tv all the time.

The book: The Journey West is comprised of 4 volumes.

I love the way it is written.............

"Before heaven and earth were divided. Heaven and earth were one;
All were a shapeless blur, and no men had appeared.
Once Pan Gu destroyed the enormous vagueness.
The separation of clear and impure began.
Living things have always intended toward humanity................


The Monkey Kings real name is 'Sun Wu Kong'

Nowdays there are cartoon books on Sun Wu Kong and morning cartoon shows for kids.

All Chinese children know who Sun Wu Kong is.

I think the monkey king is still depicted in the Chinese operas.

As for monkey paraphanalia I have only seen little statues with a big hand and monkey standing on the hand (carved in wood).

He is also used in advertising in China. He is an instantly recognisable character.

I LOVE MONKEY. Sun Wu Kong!!!!.

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QING TOMB PHOTOS

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QING TOMBS ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!

4TH SEPTEMBER 2007

Well I had quite a day


took a road trip out of Beijing to Hebei province to visit the Qing Tombs.

I went with two friends from BLCU a Swedish girl and a Spanish girl.

The tombs were impressive and it was fun getting lost and confused along the way

trying to work out transport etc etc with the Chinese vocab of a 2yo.


SO right at the crack of dawn we ventured to the far far far away long distance bus station.

mangaged to actually buy a ticket eventually (its harder that you think using Chinese)

the bus station had technology that i can remember from the 80's
remember black screen on your computer with white writing.
remember those printers where the paper had perferated holes along the edge. the printing
came out fine grey dots to make up words.

also every question i asked the lady she couldn't answer

"how long will it take to get there?" "I dont know"

so the magical mystery tour!!!!

So as for the tombs, they are nestled amongst a sea of green trees with a beautiful mountainous blue sky backdrop, Today the sky was clear Wedgewood blue except for a few perfect white fluffy clouds. The views from the tomb were great as I looked over 1000s of those pine trees you see in Chinese ink paintings that look like fluffy clouds.

The place was so majestic. Long walkways. It was like the Emperor could walk in anytime leading a procession of servants, concubines and soldiers. Some on horses, some on foot, some carrying the Emperor's belongings.

I thought I was sick of the Qing dynasty but this has changed my mind. This was a little different than other Qing stuff. but also after being in the Tang dynasty for a while (Xian etc) its nice to see some Qing again.


There is a long path leading to the tombs.

The path is cobbled stones.

Along the side of the path is large white marble statues.
They are in pairs. with the matching pair on the other side of the path.
The pairs included. elephants, horses, dragons and some people.

The statues of two men had long plaits. they had shoes that curled up at the toe. they carried a purse. the statue was really detailed and really appealled to me,

So we wak along this path. over a beautiful classical chinese bridge. a wide bridge.

The path seems to get wider and wider unti it is pretty much a gigantic square with the space to gather a large army .

There are arches. maybe about 9. there are mountains in the background. and temples in the distance. I see these little temples on a far away mountain and think 'what is over there? I wonder what that temple is?"

You walk through the arches and then over 3 wide bridges going over water
Im sure the Emperor would have walked over the middle bridge.

then it opens up into a huge square. with a smallish temple in the centre of this square. so much space. the temple is red with a yellow room. there is a turtle statue inside.

further along there was a temple displaying what they wore, their seats etc etc.

What really appealled to me was there was many paintings of one Emperor engaged
in all his hobbies----

-- meditating, reading, doing martial arts, painting, rowing a boat, watching flowers, calligraphy

I thought he had some pretty good hobbies


ive forgotten his name. but the paintings were called --- "emperor *****" favourite hobbies

He looks like my perfect match :) I love rowing boats

I thought I like him.

The other thing that was great today was that we got to talk to heaps of people.

It took 3 hours one way. So 6 hours on a bus we chatted to heaps of people.

Plus I had to read all day because we were out in the sticks were there is no English at all.
So that was good

My friends were at the same level as me so we all tried to speak.

Although I can read more so I translated the menu for them
and was able to tell why different entry tickets were different prices
could read the name of the place so we got on the correct coach. etc etc

It was awesome all the challenges of today. like the last bus left from a different town at 5pm.
so we had to really know where to go and lots of stuff. i feel good.
sometimes i just feel i know nothing and i study for no results but sometimes
i feel i actually achieve something with my language learning.


If you go to Beijing go to the Qing Tombs (the Ming Tombs are older and more popular)

but the Qing Tombs are special because they are not a major tourist fare
(they are but not as much as the Ming Tombs)


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I WILL MISS BEIJING TERRIBLY




Went for a walk to Peking University. Had a stroll in the grounds

sat by The Nameless Lake 闻名湖 - its green and expansive with willow trees refected in the water

there are rocks near it and people sit in contemplation - the environment seems to invite that

there are white marble bridges crossing over parts of the lake

I read a historical book set in Prague ＋ Germany. read The China Daily with Bush & Hu on the cover

met my friend for lunch.


When I first entered the gates of Peking Uni I noticed how very Chinese it is

unlike my uni which is a sea of foreigners.

i thought - i wish i went here

but we had lunch and all the food was SO oily

I took one look and thought - this is the food that comes with unpleasant after effects

so I am glad i don't go to that uni because the food is aimed at the Chinese stomach
which is tougher than mine


Met my language exchang partner. I really like him.
He told me his religion is science
He is the one studying lasers
He grew up on Hainan Island
He said my Chinese has improved since last week

Oh yeah -- as I sat by The Nameless Lake I started to feel a bit sad thinking about NOT being in Beijing

all the things I CANT do in Australia

There is so much history here - i will miss that

There is so much I will miss

I am very fond of Beijing. It has gotten under my skin. I love Beijing.
I have some sort of connection to this place that I felt when I landed last year (on holidays). (February, 2006)

I actually shed a few tears