tjhyde.co.uk

I’ve found myself with a spare evening so I thought I’d finally get around to updating you all about my travels, even though I’m sure most of you have already seen the photos on Facebook.

First up was Beijing.  I stayed there for 3 nights and if I could only use one word to describe it that word would have to be ‘massive’.  Honestly, the scale of the place is absolutely mind-boggling.  Everything is huge.  The buildings, the sprawl.. everything!  After visiting a little restaurant down a back alley on the first night we went the train station the day after to get some tickets and then had a wander around a tiny part of the city and ended up in the national art gallery, where there was a Turner exhibition on with loads of paintings on loan from the Tate!

The next day was the Great Wall of China.  We ended up going to Badaling, which is the most reconstructed and touristy bit of the wall, but it still didn’t dissapoint.  Again, the scale of the thing is amazing.  You can see it snaking on along ridges for as far as the eye can see.  Also, if you ever go yourself be prepared to be asked countless times to pose for photos with Chinese folk.  They love taking photos of Westerners!  AAnd that goes for everywhere, not just at the Great Wall.  I lost count of how many times I posed for photos.

Next up after that was the Forbidden City, which is the old Imperial Palace.  I know I keep saying this, but again, it’s massive!  Close to 10,000 rooms, loads of huge open courtyards.  Very ornate as well.

Then after a 15 hour train journey we reached Xi’an, the ancient capital, surrounded by big walls.  There we saw some gorgeous temples and pagodas and spent a nice relaxing afternoon in the gardens of a Buddhist temple (before trekking round in the boiling heat trying to find somewhere to eat, ending up in a place where the waiter could barely understand what we wanted.  Very frustrating!).  It’s from Xi’an that we went to visit the Terracotta Army, which was an awesome sight.  Line upon line of life sized terracotta figures, all stood to attention.  Words can’t do it justice really, especially not in a brief summary like this!  Xi’an also brought what was possibly the silliest moment of the trip, but still brilliant.  Due to a mix up and a bit of bad planning we each ended up lugging our entire possessions (getting on for 20kg) half way up a mountain and back down again in the pissing rain.  Well worth it for the spectacular views though.  I also met a Chinese guy half way up who started talking about United!

Then a 22 hour train journey to Hangzhou.  That was a killer!  Hangzhou itself is a lovely place though.  Really relaxed vibe in parts of it, and there’s a massive, and beautiful, lake right next to the city.  We didn’t do as much here as we did in Beijing and Xi’an, which was a welcome break really.  We visited Longjing to see the tea village there and ended up having a cup of tea and something to eat in what was basically some old woman’s front yard.  And then we went for a wander around what appeared to be a Chinese national park.  Not quite like one of our own though.  All rebuilt houses and roads through the scenery.  Still, it was nice enough!  We also ended up in a jazz bar one night, which was expensive compared to the rest of the places we’d been to, but it was a tad more civilised I must say!

And then back to Beijing for one last day, when I finally got to enter Tiananmen Square, which, surprisingly enough, is massive!  I could have gone to see Mao’s body as well, but the queue was huge and I’d been told it’s not really worth the wait, so I didn’t bother.

And then home again!

And for any of you who are interested, here are the links to some photos…

Beijing and the art gallery
The Great Wall
Beijing and the Forbidden City
Xi’an
The Terracotta Army
Hua Shan
Tea village and countryside outside Hangzhou
West Lake, Hangzhou
Beijing again

And there you have it!

Gone to China.

Back in two weeks.

x

I’ve added a new, and slightly whimsical, page to the site…

Five word film reviews

Check it out!

…from my last post, here’s a video of Ben Goldacre on Newsnight doing a fine job of questioning the ‘scientist’ that wrote the ‘paper’ about social networking and it’s affects on health…

And here’s a fantastic article from the aforementioned Mr Goldacre.

Is it me, or is it very disheartening to hear the Director of the Royal Institution (for so long a bastion of reason and scientific endeavour) using the phrase “There is no evidence…” If there’s no evidence do you not think it might be best to stay quiet instead of shouting from the rooftops?

And for Dr Sigman to state that his ‘paper’, entitled “Well connected? The biological implications of social networking”, was “not about social networking” was just the icing on the cake really.

Having said all that, Goldacre and Paxman do a good job of pouring scorn on the whole thing.

Now if only that happened more often. One things for certain, if it did happen more often the Daily Mail and Express would be a lot thinner!

They’ve really outdone themselves this time!

Facebook causes cancer

It’s almost too good to be true.  I had to double check that I’d not been tricked into visiting a spoof site.  The only thing that’s missing is a link to falling house prices.

It’s disappeared from BBC Interactive and iPlayer now, so if you didn’t see it you’re too late.

But, because I’m kind to you, here are a couple of videos to show you what you missed out on…

If you missed it I urge you strongly to seek it out somewhere.  It’s awesome stuff.

So, after seeing that Stagecoach are running a Saturday service over 2 of the busiest days of the year, and suffering as a result, I decided to write ANOTHER letter of complaint. This time I’ll let you read it too!

–

Dear Sir,

Once again I feel I must complain about the service your company provides to its paying customers.

Quite frankly I am disgusted with your decision to only provide a basic Saturday service on your routes on 22nd, 23rd and 2th December.

When I got to the bus stop at Piccadilly Gardens just after 5pm tonight I was greeted by the sight of a single 231 with a large group of people waiting to board. This was coupled with a large number of people waiting for a 216. Shortly after I arrived, the 231 was full and was forced to leave the stop with 15-20 people still waiting to board. Roughly 10 minutes later a 216 showed up and again there was a rush of bodies trying to board the bus, and again it was forced to leave the stand whilst there were people, who had been waiting for as long as 10 minutes, waiting to board.

I appreciate that your drivers may want a break over the Christmas period but for a great many people the first three days of this week represent a normal working week and I am appalled that you think it is reasonable for customers to suffer this lack of service. As I have said, I appreciate that your drivers may want a break, however this is the same in all lines of work and sacrifices must sometimes be made. If you cannot find enough drivers to cover the regular timetable then I suggest next year you do not authorise as many holidays. This is the only reason I can see, other than your own greed, that you would run such an abysmal timetable during a period where commuters must also share buses with the large number of shoppers.

It is quite clear that whoever came up with the idea of running a depleted timetable during such a busy period has no experience of using public transport every day.

It is with some interest that I note that your competitors, First Bus, are able to run to a full timetable on 22nd and 23rd of December and also run to an expanded Saturday service on 24th December. May I suggest you take note of this yourself when it comes to planning next year’s Christmas timetables?

However, I must commend you on one thing; you are providing a shining example of why public transport should be taken out of the hands of private enterprise and be put back in the hands of people with the public, and not shareholders, in mind.

I look forward to receiving your reply to this letter and hope it is of more use, and less contradictory, than your reply to my previous complaint. As before, a copy of this letter has also been sent to the GMPTE for their comment.

Yours Sincerely,

John Hyde

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Let’s see what kind of response I get this time!

I went to see Billy Bragg last night.  At the Bridgewater Hall of all places!  It was a really good night.  The setlist was brilliant too.  I can’t think of many songs that he didn’t play that I wish he had, apart from maybe Tank Park Salute (though I’d probably have cried like a baby) and Help Save The Youth Of America, but you can’t have everything!

We did get The World Turned Upside Down, A New England, Waiting for the Greap Leap Forwards, Levi Stubbs’ Tears, Accident Waiting To Happen, There Is Power In A Union, NPWA, The Milkman of Human Kindness, Greetings To The New Brunette… (and that’s just mentioning my favourite songs!)

And as a little treat, what with being in Manchester, he got Badly Drawn Boy out to play Walk Away Renee.

And if you’re bothered, here are a couple of vids…

I really, really hope there was an easily offended old woman flicking through the TV channels at about 11pm last night.  And I really, really, really hope she stumbled upon E4.  Because if she did, she’d have seen a zombie having it’s head rather graphically caved in with a fire extinguisher.

Now I only hope this happened because I’d love to a) read the letter of complaint, and b) see how Ofcom dealt with it!

Anyway, Dead Set was just as good as I thought it would be.  Mr Brooker is a rather splendid chap really.

And if you missed the first episode last night, the DVD of the whole series is out on Monday.

Buy it.

(Coming soon, a piece about gaming today and choice.  I have the idea, I just don’t have the time, what with the recent influx of great games!)

Completely out of the blue I decided to have another look and see if the article I mentioned in my other posts about the loudness wars had come back online.  And lo and behold, it has!

So, without further ado, here it is….

Imperfect Sound Forever

It’s a long read.  But it is worthwhile, if a little depressing.