SV Olivia

No, non ci siamo arenati, abbiamo solo fatto un viaggio (via terra) in Cina, 1 dicembre 2011

Il cambio del monsone porta sempre tempo incerto e piovoso quindi abbiamo deciso di parcheggiare Olivia a Singapore e farci un viaggio via terra in Cina.

Abbiamo cominciato da Pechino, dove faceva freddo e abbiamo dovuto comprare dei giacconi imbottiti alle bambine (il primo della loro vita!); la Grande Muraglia e’ veramente impressionante; la giornata era tersa e sotto-zero. Io e Nadia ci siamo divertiti a scivolare sull ghiacccio sulla cima del muro.

Thursday 1st December
We have had a whirlwind trip around China covering 5 cities in 2 weeks.

We started in Beijing where the girls from the tropics decided it was like living in a freezer! 

The Great Wall lived up to our expectations, it was breath-taking. 

While Anna, Julia and Cara clung to the wall on the icy parts having learnt the hard way, Nadia and Enrico had a great time 'skating down'! 

The Forbidden City was interesting and even more so when we were able to decipher what our guide was saying! 

La Citta Proibita e’ stata molto interessante anche se le bambine erano letteralmente assediate dai turisti locali che volevano fotografarle (data la pelle bianca).

We trekked out to the Olympic Village to see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube and then took a rickshaw around the Hutongs.  

The girls were great, taking the bus, walking miles, figuring out the subway and exploring the city.

Nadia's favorite past time was trying to get the Chinese guards to break their stance and wave or smile at her!

Nadia ha provato ad attaccare discorso con tutti i soldati che montavano la guardia sull’attenti; alla fine uno di loro e’ scoppiato a ridere.  Era cosi’ soddisfatta che ci ha implorato di comprarle un cappello militare che ha poi portato per il resto della vacanza (vedi foto). Infine abbiamo fatto una visita al complesso Olimpico e al Temple of Heaven.

Next stop was the Terra-Cotta Warriors in the ancient capital Xi'an.  Emperor Qin Shihuang who unified the six warring factions in the country into a unified China around 200 BC (not always though popular means)  wanted to become immortal and believed he could rule even after death.  He ordered 7,000 - 8,000 warriors to be made and buried near his tomb.  No two warriors have the same facial expression and once they were complete, the emperor had the artists killed so that the skill and knowledge to produce more would be lost.  Qin Shihuang was also responsible for initiating the building of the Great Wall.


Xi'an (Chang’an) was formerly the destination of thousands of foreign Silk Road traders.  We visited a silk factory which was very interesting as we learnt that a silk worm (actually a caterpillar) spins silk from it's mouth.  Once the cocoon is complete, the pupa is surrounded by 1.2km of raw silk thread. The cocoons are boiled for 20 minutes and then the thread from 10 cocoons is spun into one thread.   Double cocoons (ie: 2 pupae inside) are boiled and then stretched to form quilts.  The silk moth obviously never comes to life in the process.  We all learnt a great deal and decided that it counted for at least a few hours of humanities in home school!

Dopo Pechino siamo andati a Xian che era la capitale nel 280 AC sotto l’imperatore Qin Shihuang che doveva essere un tipo fuori dal commune (e un pazzo scatenato): e’ stato il primo a unificare le sei fazioni che si combattevano in Cina; ha iniziato la costruzione dlla Grande Muraglia ma soprattutto si e’ fatto construire una tomba che si estende su 50 ettari. Parte delgli ornamenti pubblici sono i famosi guerrieri di terracotta; Qin Shihuang  se ne e’ fatto produrre 7-8.000, uno dierso dall’altro. Poi non prendere rischi, ha fatto seppellire vivi nella tomba gli artisti che avevano creato le statue.

We flew on to Kunming to explore the Stone Forest in Shilin.  

Partiti da Xian siamo andato a visitare la Foresta di Pietra a Kunming; e’ un labirinto naturale di roccia dove le bambine si sono divertite moltissimo.

It was absolutely amazing and we found ourselves in several labyrinths of stone, lost but longing to explore what was around the next corner or through the next passage, not wanting to retrace our steps to get out.  After close to 4 hours walking, the girls' feet packed in and we headed back to the hotel.

Next stop was Lijiang in the South West, home to the traditional Naxi people.  We stayed in the picturesque Old Town and wonderful Enrico (who did all the planning and booked all the flights and hotels) booked us into the most amazing hotel I have ever stayed in.  It was a traditional Naxi house set on a hillside with amazing views and different courtyards and rooms to explore.  We were all in heaven.  The Old Town is stunning and well worth a visit.

Dopo Kunming siamo andati a Lijiang, nella bellissima provincial dello Yunan. Questa e’ la zona montagnosa dove c’e’ anche il sito originale chiamato Shangri La (il paradiso in terra).

La citta vecchia di Lijiang e’ come una piccolo Zermatt cinese; tutte le costruzioni sono in legno e nello stesso stile. E’ estremamente turistica ma al tempo stesso e’ tenuta con sorprendente buon gusto.

We flew on to Chengdu to see the Pandas which was amazing.  We saw babies, sub-adults and adults and just seeing the wonderful animals brought smiles to our faces.

L’ultima tappa e’ stata Chengdu, capoluogo della provincial dello Sichuan. Chengdu e’ famosa oltre che per il cibo piccante, per il panda. Ci sono alcuni parchi molto ben tenuti dove I Panda si riproducono in cattivita’.

Siamo tornati a Singapore il 1 dicembre all’una di notte, esausti ma soddisfatti.  

We got back to Singapore at 1am on Thursday 1^st Dec, exhausted!  Singapore still feels like ‘home’ to us particularly with Bill and Vanessa’s hospitality.

Whilst the trip to China has not been without its tough moments (I had to accept that we were travelling with children and were not 20 year old backpackers), we have had some magical moments.  Enrico and I are happy that the girls have been able to get a glimpse of China before closing our chapter on living in Asia.

We are now working on getting Olivia ready for our next 4 months at sea.