Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya
 
Today we decided to relax and spend the day walking around Yinchuan's inner city streets to get to know the city a bit more. Last night I found two street signs that told us were we were situated on our map but we still had no way of knowing which way to hold our map.
 
After a few false starts and about half an hour we found ourselves on course.
 
We slowly wound our way down some back streets checking out some hotel prices and finally found ourselves standing before the Yuhuang Pavilion which is at the cross roads of Yuhuangge Jie and the city's main shopping street, Jiefang Donglie.
 
The pavilion is very similar to a normal city Bell or Drum Tower.
 
The entrance fee was fifteen Yuan and it pretty much allows you to walk around and if you are on time then you will get to see a Chinese Puppet show (shadow puppets). As we weren't on time Luo Wei and some young girls decided to give us a puppet show instead. This added more of an attraction to the visit and of course to the needless entrance fee as where else can you get behind the scenes and do such a thing.
 
The pavilion also offered a museum type room that displayed some Xia and Hui artifacts.
 
From the pavilion we then walked west one block to the city Drum Tower which sadly for us remained as closed and empty as it was as the writing stage of the 2007 edition of the China Lonely Planet.
 
As I had finished all my novels and had been without for quite sometime we decided to head to the foreign language book shop to see if it actually did offer English novels or like most, simply offer Chinese student English text books. The first floor didn't look promising but thankfully the second floor had several shelves of English novels and happily for me more than just simple Penguin classics that had been simplified. I left with two new novels and Luo Wei left with half a years worth of English magazines.
 
We then decided it was time for a romantic walk around Zhongshan Park.
 
Let us compare Yinchuan's park to most other parks in China especially in the north of China. Zhongshan Park offers fields of green grass, lakes of water and forests full of leafy green trees and the walk ways even offered plenty of room to walk.
 
All in all, the park was a great place to bring your peachy babe and frollock and play!
We decided to make Luo Wei a Skipper for the first time in her life and hire a boat to see as much of the park as possible.
 
Yinchuan City, strangely it reminds me of Melbourne city.
 
It is a very relaxed city so I must agree with the Lonely Planet on that fact. All streets offer plenty of room to walk, it is very modern yet retains a lot of its past. You can buy almost anything you desire yet I must disagree with the Lonely Planet on one thing and sadly this one thing is a very important thing for foreign tourists.
 
Somewhere in the LP it states that Ningxia Province is the last province that would contemplate ripping off a foreigner. Sadly from our arrival this city has chosen to place us before people who have chosen to do their best at not only ripping myself off but without a second thought ripping off Luo Wei as well.
 
From hotel staff to eateries, my wallet doesn't feel safe here.
Strangely though, it is pretty much all the usual stuff that the Chinese try.
Sadly is the fact that Luo Wei is with me this time and for her own people to do such a thing to me with her beside me is too much for her to contemplate.
 
One example is;
 
Today we flagged a taxi driver down and he pulled up along side us (holding hands mind you) and when she asked how much it would cost to go to the Haibao Ta the taxi drivers response was simple;
 
What do you care!
You are with a foreigner!
 
Last night we went for noodles and chose from a picture board at the back of the noodle bar. When we went to pay they tried to charge us much more and then pointed to a menu list on the side wall. Strangely the list was small with no pictures and what we chose from was a large list with pictures and prices. They told us that the picture board was old and that the menu board was the new one.
 
I told them to Fark Off and gave them the amount we ordered!
 
This behavior is very normal to me but I notice it as I have traveled so far and wide and have been here for so long. Most visitors to China wouldn't even notice it just like the Japanese tourists who visit Australia. They have no idea that they pay double or sometimes triple the price for beer and seafood than a normal tourist who visits the Land Down Under.
 
Thankfully the year I left the Gold Coast there was a huge police crack down on such things. Sadly most Australians I knew said, 'They are Japanese and if they want to come here they can pay what we want them to pay'. Sadly being a traveler I disagreed with most of what they said and never bothered to contact any of them again.
 
Not so strange was that 99% of them had never left Australia nor their own town or state!
Enough of that and on a funnier note!
 
On the way home last night we dropped in to a small store to grab some beer and water and beside us were two excited Chinese girls talking about water. I knew that much as I know the word for water and a few others but I had no idea 'what' they were talking about.
 
Luo Wei told me about it in fits of laugher afterwards!
 
One of the girls was going on and on about how hot it was going to be the following day and suggested many times that they purchase and store much more water 'than usual'. The other girl was all for helping her and was saying;
 
Ok!
How much water?
I am here to help you carry as much as I can.
 
The excited girl then grabbed two small 400ml bottles of water and said;
We must get these Two Bottles!
The other girl kind of went.....
.....Huh?
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Motley Crue
The album was 'Girls Girls Girls'
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Yinchuan City
 
Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, lies to the west of the Yellow River and to the east of Helan Mountain. The landform is divided into two main parts, the mountainous region in the west and south and the plains in the north and east.
 
The average altitude of Yinchuan is 1,100 meters (about 3,609 feet). Lying in the central section of Ningxia Plain which is irrigated by the Yellow River, Yinchuan holds abundant water resources and enjoys the reputation of 'a land of fish and rice in the frontier'.
 
The city that has a history of more than 1,300 years was originally founded in 678. It was called Western Xia from the establishment in 1038 by the leader of Dangxiang ethnic group and had created splendid culture as well as gorgeous architecture.
 
Yinchuan is a multi-nationality city including Han, Hui, Manchu, Mongolian, and Chaoxian peoples. Among them, the Hui people account for 26.3 percent of the total population and they have maintained the traditional folk customs and life style that are unique to other ethnic group.
 
A brilliant culture has contributed to Yinchuan being a famous tourist city. There are over 60 historical sites including mosques, pagodas, pavilions, temples, and imperial tombs as well as natural scenery such as Helan Mountain, Sand Lake Scenic Resort (Sha Hu) and Shapotou, etc.
 
Here you can taste the local dishes or snacks of rich Islamic flavor, such as Yangrou Paomo and Shouzhua Yangrou. Hotels of different grades are available to visitors, providing you warm and comfortable places to relax yourself.