Travelling (Kima)
Harbin 哈尔滨
Harbin is the most northern city in China, as such it gets very cold - down to -20°C when we were there. It is famous for the Snow and Ice Festival, which I went to see with 4 other Scholars. The Festival happens in a few different parks across the city. We went to two in the three days we were there: the Ice World, with entire buildings carved out of ice and where we went ice skating and down ice slides; and the Lantern Park, with ice 'lantern's - sculptures about human sized lit up with multi coloured LEDs. In our hostel we were treated very generously with free hotpot and beers, and we met loads of people - in the hostel we met locals, a Kiwi and a US American, and we also met some Canadians while ice skating.
'S e Harbin am baile as tuaithe ann an Sìona, le sin fàsaidh i fìor-fhuar; dh'fhàs e gu -20°C nuair a bha sinn ann. Tha am baile ainmeil airson Fèis Shneachda ⁊ Dheighe, agus 's ann air sgàth sin a chaidh mise agus 4 sgoilearan. Bidh am Fèis a' tachairt ann an corra phàirc air feadh a' bhaile. Chaidh sinn gu dà dhiubh: Saoghal na Deighe, far an robh togalaichean ainmeil Àiseanach air a gràbhadh o dheigh, an do rinn sinn spéilearachd-dheighe, agus an deach sinn sìos sleamhaineag dheighe; agus Pàirc nan Lainntirean le dealbhan-deighe lasta le LEDan. Nar hostel, bha daoine cho fialadh is thug iad dinnear is leann saor dhuinn. Choinnich sinn mòran daoine - muinntir an àite, Sealainneach, Aimearaganach agus Canadaich.
Zhangjiajie 张家界
Zhangjiajie is a small town between two national parks, famous for being the setting of Avatar. I went there with one of my friends from Scotland who came over, and we climbed the 999 step mountain, hiked around a lake in the countryside, got lost in a valley and found a practicing Buddhist temple. My friend is vegetarian, and Zhangjiajie is not the most vegetarian-friendly place, but we got by. My highlight from being in Zhangjiajie was all the wildlife that was there, like monkeys and loads of types of bird, as there's really nothing in Tianjin.
'S e Zhangjiajie baile beag eadar dà phàirc nàiseanta far an robh Avatar air a filmeadh. Chaidh mise agus caraid à Alba ann, is shreap sinn Beinn nan 999 Ceuman, choisich sinn mu cuairt loch air an dùthaich, chaidh sinn air seachran ann an gleann agus fhuair sinn Teampall Buddhach. 'S e glasraichear a tha anns mo charaid, is chan eil e furasta biadh glasraicheach fhaighinn ann an Zhangjiajie. 'S e an rud as fheàrr leam an fhiadh-bheatha a bh' ann, air sgàth nach eil mòran fhiadh-bheatha ri fhaicinn ann an Tianjin.
Chongqing 重庆
Chongqing is by area the largest city in the world, and is definitely one of my favourite places. It is full of old-style towns and there are also places with space to breath. Me and my friend were there for Chinese New Year and my girlfriend joined us afterwards. We explored the markets, monorails, cable car, the riverside, the art gallery and ate well on 'bedsheet noodles' 铺盖面, super numbing and spicy hotpot, and plenty market food. We met a traditional paper cutter in the art gallery and made good friends with some of the people in our hostel who we then went with to...
'S ann a-rèir farsaingeachd a tha Chongqing am baile as mò san t-saoghal. 'S e aon de na bailtean as fheàrr leam. Tha e loma-làn le seanbhailtean agus tha pàircean gu leòr ann. Bha mise is mo charaid an siud ris a' Bhliadhna Ùr Shìonach agus thig mo bhràmair ann an dèidh sin. Gabh sinn cuairt mu mhargaidhean, mun ghailearaidh-ealain air na aona-rèilean agus carbad-càbaill. Dh'ith sinn mòran blasta, mar eisimpleir 铺盖面 "nùdailean shiota-leapa" agus 火锅 hotpot cho spìosrach. Choinnich sinn gearradair-pàipeir dùthchasach agus ghabh sinn feadhainn san hostel mar caraidean, is chaidh sinn còmhla gu...
Chengdu 成都
In the capital of Sichuan 四川 province, we went to the Panda research base and saw adorable red and giant pandas, but the highlight of the trip was going to the Sichuan Opera, which was more like pantomime than opera. We saw people changing their clothes and masks in the blink of an eye, someone kicking tables and urns around with their feet, someone with a lit candle on their head performing stunts and so much more.
Tha Chengdu na phrìomh-bhaile Sichuan 四川. Chaidh sinn gu Panda research base airson pandathan-mòra 's -ruadha gaolach fhaicinn. Ach 's e am pàirt as fheàrr dhen turais an t-Opara Sichuan. Tha e nas coltaiche ri pantomine na ri Opara eòrpach; chunnaic sinn daoine an aodach is masg orra atharrachadh ann am blinceadh na sùla, someone kicking tables and urns through the air with their feet and someone with a lit candle on their head performing stunts (gabh mo leisgeul airson na Beurla).
Leshan 乐山
You've probably seen pictures of Leshan Big Buddha 乐山大佛 before, as it's not just a '很大 - big' buddha, but 最大的 - the biggest Buddha in the world, carved out of the mountainside. We met a Buddhist yogi, a Communist Party member and explored some of the hundreds of temples around the Buddha. Leshan's speciality food is 甜皮鸭 - sweet skin duck, which was really tasty. This was the end of our travels so the next day we got on a thirty hour train back to Beijing.
Is dòcha gu bheil thu air faicinn dealbhan dhen Leshan Buddha Mòr 乐山大佛, air sgàths nach eil e dìreach buddha mòr, ach am buddha as mò san t-saoghal, gràbhte san stalla. Choinnich sinn yogi Buddhach, ball dhen Phàrtaidh Chomannaich agus thadhail sinn corra theampall dlùth. 'S e biadh a' bhaile Leshan 甜皮鸭 - tunnag le craiceann milis agus tha e fìor-bhlasmhor. B' e sin deireadh an turais so an ath-latha gabh sinn trèana 30 uair dhachaigh gu Beijing
