Occupy Central - Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement

Being in Hong Kong this week, I managed to walk down through the Occupy Central site, where tens of thousands of students are camping out to protest the democratic process in Hong Kong, whereby they can vote directly for their Chief Executive, rather than having a group China approves for election. This pro-democracy fight is to seek to be governed by the people Hong Kong choose. This protest began in September, and is now into it's 55th day today.

The yellow umbrella has become a symbol of the protest, mainly because of it's use to protest the unarmed protesters against pepper-spray yielding police, who were in full riot gear trying to move the protestors along just 6 days into the mass sit-in. The everyday Hong Kong umbrella was their protector.

The symbol of the umbrella, and the vision of one protester walking through a cloud of tear gas with an umbrella raised, has been likened to the image of Tank Man in the Tiananmen Square. Powerful stuff!

Walking through the protest area was pretty easy, as many people were walking in, and very many office workers were sitting eating lunch around the tents. Lending their support.

The set up of the site is pretty impressive - there are recycling waste stations, there are several First Aid tents, and all the way through there are structures build to allow safe passage across the usual road barrier between lanes. There is a Social Work tent.

Students are the majority of those camped, and so in the middle of it all there is a study tent and library, which seemed to hold the most people when I walked through.

In addition to all this are the amazing art displays, and powerful and inspiring slogans of peace, hope and freedom. The Lennon Wall is a stairway covered in post-it notes filled with messages.

The umbrella symbol is used everywhere in the pro-democracy signs and messages. And then, it's also used in art, such as this sewn-together canopy between two of the city's elevated walkways.

It was inspiring, walking through the protest. So much symbolism, and the sheer volume of people camped was so impressive! Many people, of all ages, were around making art or gathering in discussions in tents or communal areas.

The camp sprawls along a major multi-lane city arterial, and then creeps through side streets to position in front of several key government buildings. It has disrupted traffic, and access to many buildings, for all these months.

The day I was there was the first day where protesters where ordered by court order to move some of the camping set ups, for access to certain buildings. Bailiffs were reportedly moving some people along, who were peacefully complying. An article that I read quoted one of the organisers of the protest as saying that perhaps it was time to start moving along, and beginning a new direction for the pro-democracy movement.

I saw police gathered, moving barricades in a certain area. A heavy media presence was there, and added security in the same area.

I hope things from here remain peaceful, as is the aim, as well as the continued voice and fight for Hong Kong democracy. In a world that seems so often politically apathetic, this protest has reminded me that people can stand up for things that matter, than mean something, with the right, motivated leaders.

I was sent this petition after posting some of my photos on Instagram - check it out and throw them some support.

Lamps in Tiananmen Square

I still can't believe we had the chance to stand in Tienanmen Square, just last year! A vast space of concrete, in front of the Forbidden City, with the hustle of life and crazy traffic rushing all around it.


I could spend hours just going over my photos of my travels, and probably do! This shot was taken on our first night in Beijing, out of a taxi window, and is one of the pics I have that I didn't use when I first blogged about this trip. It seems I am a little enchanted by light fixtures on my travels, as it seems to be a feature of the array of photos I have collected over the years.

I have actually just discovered where I have stored a lot of my photos from my time in the UK, and travels around Europe, so there are bound to be many posts like this in the future.

This picture on the left is what one of the light posts looks like in the smoggy daylight, back in China.

I had actually tried to get a panoramic shot of the square from the City, to take it in and keep forever, but a bus jumped into the middle of the three frame shot, and ruined it. So this vision, like so many amazing moments when you travel, is stored away in my memory for keeps!

Visiting Sydney

Arriving in Sydney and meeting Melissa, Greg and Nick at the Opera Bar with it's breathtaking view across the Harbour on New Year's Eve Eve, had all the anticipation of the days ahead. Of course, the cricket was the plan first, and then Melissa came to us with the NYE idea. And then the Wilson's helped us out with accommodation, and my couple of days in Syders was sorted.

Drinks in the barmy air, with the House and the Bridge either side, Belinda and Ross came and found us too, for a drink. Was such a beautiful evening!

Melissa and I ventured into town the next day, after Brunch at the Wilson's recommended local, and managed to see the people lining up for hours to grab a spot for the fireworks. We were headed, though, to the Art Gallery of NSW, and the visiting Terracotta Warriors.

Having missed them by 3 minutes earlier in the year, the display in Sydney is of 8 Warriors, one of each of the distinct and enchanting soliders. A full chariot, and several other horses, along with rooms of other artifacts - this exhibit and the main room gives you a notion of what it would be like to see in X'ian....ahhhh, another time...

New Year's Day the 4 of us headed to Manly, across on the ferry, and stayed on the beach and then the pub for the day. Perfect way to nurse a NYE hangover. The next day I went down to Coogee, and caught up with Belinda and Jess at the end of their roadtrip, and the Spry's, for dinner and drinks.

Shanghai

Arriving at Beijing airport the next morning like contestants on The Amazing Race, we needed to figure out the best option to get to Shanghai, so that I could still make my flight home in a couple of days. Checking both terminals, and eventually settling on a flight direct to Shanghai, we made our way to meet Dom a little earlier than originally planned.

Greeted by Dom, with little Sabi baby, was so exciting, having not seen her since her wedding. Meeting the new addition to her family, possibly the cutest baby ever, and then getting a picture of her world here in China, was very special. It was also such a treat to stay with her, in her lovely home, after our big trip, and Belinda, Jess and I were delighted.

Dom took us out to one of her favourite spots for lunch, and then we wondered through the laneways of cute little shops, catching up. Popping back to the house, and picking up little lady Jazzy on the way, we then prepared to go out for the evening. Dom took us out for Teppanyaki, before we wondered along the Bund taking in the lights and sights of Shanghai.

The next day, the very last day of my big trip, the 4 of us went in to visit the Yuyuan Garden, and the surrounding bazaar. Such a little piece of peaceful, beautiful Chinese garden, in the middle of the bustling city.

Having to say goodbye to the girls, after such an amazing trip, as I prepared to get out to the airport to go home, and then to Dom, Jasmine and Sabien, marked the finale to this most amazing time away - starting in Paris, and covering such a large scope of the world.

I caught the Maglev out to the airport for my flight home, which travelled up to 300 km/hour, making the trip from right in the city of Shanghai to the airport fly by in about 8 minutes. Wow!

Beijing

Arriving in Beijing as our final stop of the Vodka Train, back in June, it was both exciting to be in this much dreamed about city, and sad to be near the end of this totally incredible trip. The 7 of us, Belinda, Jess, Jonesy, Mark, Karl, Harris and I, had had such an amazing and enriching trip....and had such fun doing it!

Taken to our hostel by our Honcho, we discussed and plotted our last couple of days, before going our for dinner and the most delicious Peking duck ever. That night we met another Vodka Train group, preparing to head back the way we had just come, and we all trekked out to the bars along Lake Hou Hai.

The next morning was our Great Wall of China experience, before continuing the day with a tired, but awe-struck walk through the Forbidden City and then Tienanmen Square. Climbing to the top of the temple at the north of the City, we took in the smoggy view of Beijing, and the vast City complex of palaces, before walking through it. Arriving at the front of the City, and the Square, we took in this much famed space in the middle of the bustling city.

Heading our for our final big night together as a group, we found a bar strip in Old Street, where we could watch the second of Australia's World Cup matches. Soon ditching the over-priced beers on the main strip, and seeing another loss, Harris found us a little club where our night really kicked off.



After farewelling the Irish lads, who flew home the next morning, Belinda, Jess and I trekked out to see the Summer Palace. Although given the state of us, we are each lucky for camera-memories captured! We were out in the outskirts of the city, and thus, got to see blue sky for the first time in a couple of days, and take things very easy wondering around these grounds.

Back into town, and a final glimpse of Tienanmen Square, we met up with Harris at the hostel, and walked down to take in the weird and wonderful smells and sights of the Night Market.




We had a final dinner with Harris, to include Peking duck, before Belinda, Jess and I had a thwarted attempt to get the train to visit the Terracotta Warriors. Alas, missing the train by 3 minutes, we encountered our only real hiccup of the trip - and as experienced travellers, coped with it exceptionally well!

Having an overnight train booked, and then a flight from Xian, with the missing link we needed to investigate the options - but finding no trains for the rest of the night, and the offer of a standing train the next day, we returned to our original hostel, to the shock of Harris, to figure it all out the next day.

The Great Wall of China

So back to my massive trip this year, with my last related post seeing us getting into Beijing on the train. One of the biggest highlights happened the next day, being our visit to The Great Wall of China.

A minibus took the 7 of us (Belinda, Jess, Harris, Jonesy, Mark, Karl and myself) outside of Beijing in the morning, to the Mutianyu section, promised to be one of the most scenic by our China Vodka Train Honcho. The anticipation was building in the group, despite a couple of the crew having visited the Wall before on other travels.

We were dropped off at the carpark at the bottom of the section, and directed to the entrance where a choice of stairs or the Cable Car was quickly made. The ride up in our little glass bubble to the top gave us a tiny glimpses of the structure marked as one of the Wonders of the World.


Starting our walk of the section, we took in the awe of the expanse in front of us, being the tree-covered mountains, ribboned with this amazing man-made structure all along, winding over each rise.

One of the better preserved and intact sections, Mutianyu is also reportedly remarkable for it's watchtower structures, which we walked through on the several kilometers of Wall we covered. It was also reportedly not as crowded as some of the other sections, so whilst we didn't have the Wall to ourselves, we had the opportunity to take in in our stride, and experience it fully. So overwhelming, really!

Negotiating uneven steps, and then slope sections, passing through the watchtowers - this day was such an amazing experience. Something I've always wanted to see, and it was awe inspiring to actually be walking along the Wall.

Now, of course, the Chinese have thought of everything, and so rather than walking down to the bottom of the section to finish our visit, we took the Slideway! Yes, a toboggan each had us sliding all the way back down to the little markets and carpark. This was just the morning of a pretty special day in Beijing....

The Train To China

Another massive night, this time after all swearing we would have an early night after the final night in the Ger, put the success of catching our train in jeopardy, but MG somehow got us there in time. Dancing to totally random Mongolian pop and techo music in the bar at the front of our hotel, after being booted out the back door from one of the many Irish bars, we all seemed to get very carried away. Such fun!

A whole lot of napping started out this leg of our train trip from Mongolia to China, before we came to darkness with the timezones and the sheer distance covered. This also meant that the true Gobi Desert passed us by in darkness, which is a shame. The border crossing this time consisted of passport checks, but also a wheel change for the whole train...while we were on it.

Quite a bit of shunting around, and waiting, our carriage was eventually rolled into a shed where we where lifted up, and the wheels below were replaced with a different size, to fit the Chinese rail lines. It was quite bizarre seeing the section of train next to us being raised, or merely being noticeably lower than us when we were raised, with travellers that we had met waving to us from that disconnected part of the train.

A few rounds of vodka shots, our last of the Chinggis batch, saw out Mongolia for us.

Not thinking we were being inconsiderately loud this night, and given the fact that we were being displaced onto a new set of wheels at midnight, and therefore everyone was still up and about for the experience, we were totally bemused by the group of French tourists in our carriage waking at some ungodly hour and singing hymns (or something) at the top of their voices, imitating our group's laughs and voices, before they got off the train a few stops before us. The French are funny buggers, aren't they!

This leg of the trip was actually the least local mingling of the train trip, with large groups around our 2 allocated cabins this time. Nevertheless, we were excited to wake in a new country, ready to explore a new city.

*This post was meant to be published yesterday for NaBloPoMo, but no chance to be anywhere near a computer! NaBloPoMo fail!