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Archives for August, 2016

Some Pictures of Planes

August 31st, 2016

I went to the Eastbourne Airshow a few weekends ago with my mum. It’s a bit of a tradition: we’ve been to almost every one for the last 15 years or so. Here are some planes we saw!

Biplane

Biplane

Typhoon

Typhoon

Weird plane

Weird plane

Stunt plane

Stunt plane

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Cambridge

August 27th, 2016

A few weeks ago I went to stay with a friend who lives in St Neots. Now, St Neots itself does not have a whole lot of attractions except a nature reserve and a pleasant market town centre, but it is close to Cambridge so I went there for the day on Sunday.

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I can’t remember the last time I went to Cambridge. Certainly not since I started this blog and perhaps not since I was a small child. Had some fun wandering around taking photos of the old buildings.

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I met up with another semi-local friend and went punting. Whilst fun and excellent upper body exercise, I don’t think it’s the career for me. At least I didn’t fall in or lose the pole.

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Beijing

August 23rd, 2016

Due to an unexpected hiccup at the factory I had to extend my trip by a week and so had a weekend to do some sightseeing. Now, this being my fourth visit to Suzhou I’ve done most of the attractions of the city and surrounding area, and plus there was a typhoon threatening to ruin my fun. So I decided to go for a more outlandish adventure and after work on Friday I hopped on the high speed train to Beijing.

I’ve written before about China’s awesome high speed train network but where else could I pay just £50 to travel 1100km in a mere five hours. It probably beats flying: with all the faff of getting to/from the airport, delays, etc. Plus the views are a lot better from the train.

I got to Beijing really late but I was staying near the station so that wasn’t a problem. Even that late it was over 30 degrees outside. Summer, it turns out, is not the high season for tourism.

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Saturday I went for the obvious top tourist attractions: Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. At first I thought it would be fun to go see Chairman Mao – is mausoleum is in the centre of the photo above – but I didn’t want to queue for hours in the 35 degree heat with no shade.

Before I went I was worried about by the air pollution horror stories I’d heard and considered buying one of those fancy 3M face masks. But even though it looks quite hazy in the photos the air quality seemed better than Shanghai. Apparently it’s worse in the winter.

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The Forbidden Palace is soo big. By the time I’d done the central palaces, the six western palaces, and the six eastern palaces, I’d seen enough palaces. There was probably more to see but I was exhausted from the heat and it all got a bit samey after a while. Had dinner with a former colleague who lives there now.

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On Sunday I was really tempted to try going to the Great Wall. But it apparently takes over an hour and a half from the city and it was going to be crazy busy on a sunny Sunday. So instead I went to the Temple of Heaven which was quite interesting to wander around with an educational audio guide. Like the Forbidden Palace though, it was uncomfortably hot and almost totally lacking in shade. :???:

Communism Theme Day

August 14th, 2016

I seem to be visiting China every few months at the moment. Which good for accumulating air miles but since I always go to the same area finding new things to do at the weekend is becoming harder. So on the Sunday after my arrival in Shanghai, slightly jet-lagged, I went to a museum seldom visited by foreigners: the Memorial of the Site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

In the exhibit you learn all about the evils of the colonial powers and the heroic deeds of the revolutionaries throwing off the shackles of bourgeois oppression. There’s also lots of spots where you can have your photo taken with revolutionary leaders. Actually, the exhibit is surprisingly educational, and has information boards in English.

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This is a diorama of the aforementioned First National Congress, which took place in the building which now houses the museum.

Afterwards I went to the Shanghai Propaganda Art Museum. Now I’m a bit of a fan of the communist propaganda poster, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The museum is quite small and hidden in the basement of residential tower block which is difficult to find, but still definitely worth a visit. Not allowed to take photos though.

Tintin and the Mysterious Snowman

August 8th, 2016

I found this little probably-not-genuine Tintin book on a stall in Jixi Longchuan a few months ago. The original story is obviously “Tintin in Tibet” but the Chinese title – which I read as 柛校的“雪人” – was initially a bit of a mystery. 雪人 literally “snow-man” is clear enough, but what is 柛校? The only unhelpful thing my dictionary has to say about 柛 is its unicode code point. Inside, it turns out the actual title is 神秘的“雪人” or “mysterious snowman” and I’d been confused by the font. And there was me thinking I’d found an interesting investigative blog post topic. :-(

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Tintin’s name in Chinese is 丁丁 “ding-ding” which incidentally also seems to be Tinky Winky’s Chinese name as well.

The dialogue is an incey bit beyond my reading level at the moment, but it’s somewhat understandable. Better than my failed attempt to read Doraemon anyway.

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