Tourism tourist Journal Entries

6 creative works found

• Who Would Like To Work In Bourke NSW Australia In The Tourist Industry?
  by JulieMahony

  Hi All, Here is an opportunity to work in Bourke, NSW Australia in the Tourist Industry. Below I have added the application form. Bourke …

  Hi All, Here is an opportunity to work in Bourke, NSW Australia in the Tourist Industry. Below I have added the application form. Bourke has been in draught for near on 7 years but our weather has now turned around. We are thriving on tourism and this is a job that is begging for someone who is diligent, likes to take on challenges and a chance to experience life in the outback of Australia. All the information you need is below for your perusal. If you know of anyone who would like to have a go at this position, please, pass this on to them. You are free to copy and paste this application onto a new document or to direct anyone to this journal entry. If anyone is genuinely interested and you are not able to copy from here, please bubblemail me and I can email it to you. / Just to remind you, my husband and I are the Captains of the paddleboat, P.V. Jandra which you can see in my photos (JulieMahony) and I am also on the Advisory Committee for the Back ‘O Bourke Exhibition Centre, who are wanting someone to fill this position, and that is why I can send this invitation out to you. If you have questions, bubblemail me. Bless you all and thankyou. Julie. Developed: January 2008 1/3 / POSITION TITLE: Manager, Back O’ Bourke Exhibition Centre / POSITION NO: 08/01:07 / DEPARTMENT: Back O’ Bourke Exhibition Centre / GRADE: Grade 6 (Entry to Step 4) / Current Salary Range $1153.60 – $1384.32 pw / RESPONSIBLE TO: General Manager / SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: Historian, PV Jandra Deckhand / The Manager of the Exhibition Centre will work closely with the General Manager and Council / staff to ensure the future of the Centre. / Primary Job Purpose / · To direct and supervise the operations and programs of the Back O’ Bourke Exhibition / Centre. This includes Human Resource and Finance management. / · To ensure that the Centre consolidates its position as a major cultural and tourism / facility and national museum / · To ensure the effective development of the Centre and associated business streams / in the short, medium and longer term, including the implementation of an appropriate / strategic and business planning framework that secures the facility’s future viability / · To engender and maintain a culture amongst the staff and volunteers that produces a / harmonious and effective working environment and a positive interaction with visitors / · To represent the interests of the Centre to key partners such as Government, / sponsors, the museum, tourism industries and the local community / Key Selection Criteria / Proven ability to prepare and manage budgets / Proven ability to manage human resources / Proven ability to communicate effectively / Experience in managing tourist related businesses / Ability to work effectively within a team / Experience in marketing tourism products / Car licence / Key Challenges / · To develop and sustain a vibrant, high-quality cultural and tourism facility in a rural / setting / · To maintain and further develop high standards in all areas of service delivery / · To maximise funding and sponsorship contributions / · To optimise marketing opportunities for the Centre / · To act as an effective advocate for the Centre as a major regional and national facility / to all internal and external stakeholders / · To effectively liaise with the local community and tourism industry to develop / ownership, involvement, support and repeat visitation / Developed: January 2008 2/3 / · To develop effective management and operating systems for the Centre / · To manage Human resources / · To develop the skills and capacities of staff and volunteers / · To ensure the seven day a week operations of the Centre / · To meet the appropriate ethical and legal requirements of managing such a facility / · To ensure long term viability of the Back O’ Bourke as a major regional and national / museum / GENERIC PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS / Ethics/probity / All employees are required to carry out their duties in a professional and ethical manner / stepping aside from decision making when there is any potential conflict of / interest. / Equal employment opportunity / All employees are required to comply with Council’s Equal Employment Opportunity / (EEO) criteria. / Public image / All employees are to adopt work practices with the public which reflects positively on / Council and adhere to Council’s Code of Conduct. / Performance appraisals and training / All employees are to advise on training needs, career aspirations and actively participate in / formal employee appraisals. / Cooperation / All employees are to co-operate with fellow staff to help achieve Council’s mission and adhere / to relevant awards, codes and practices. / Occupational health and safety (OHS) / · to ensure that before commencing a task or project that, in consultation with the / involved Council employees, all foreseeable hazards have been identified; / · with regard to the identified hazards that there has been an assessment of the risks / undertaken; / · to be satisfied that the approach adopted for undertaking the risk assessments is / suitable for producing dependable risks assessments; / · in consultation with Council employees, risk management procedures be developed to / control the risks to an acceptable level; / · be satisfied that the adopted risk management procedures represent workable / solutions for controlling the assessed risks; / · with regard to the proposed risk management procedures ensure that there is / available the resources, technical expertise and skills to enable staff to implement the / proposed risk management procedures; / · where necessary advise the appropriate staff member of any identified training / requirements to enable Council employees to carry out the relevant risk management / procedures; / · in reviewing the hazards identification, risk assessment, and the risk management / procedures to be adopted by Council, consideration will be given to other persons who / are not employees of Council and who may be at the workplace. / Record keeping / Developed: January 2008 3/3 / All employees are required to make and keep accurate records of activities that indicate the / business of Council in accordance with the established policies and procedures. All / employees must be aware that records exist in many forms including but not limited to paper / based, electronic, digital and photographic. These requirements are proscribed by the State / Records Act. Any employee who fails to make or keep appropriate records or who destroys / records without proper authorisation may be subject to disciplinary action. / Security / All employees are required to maintain the security of Council property, plant, equipment in / accordance with established policies and procedures. Any employee who is found to have / compromised security may be subject to disciplinary action. / Other duties (outside of specific position requirements) / All employees are expected to undertake any duties that are within their capabilities / as required by management from time to time, whether or not they are a usual function of the / position. Under the provisions of the Award, Council may direct any employee to carry out / duties that are believed to be within the employee’s skills, qualifications, competence and / fitness capabilities. Where an employee is required to perform duties associated with a higher / position, the Use of skills Clause of the Award will apply. / Last review date: ……/………/……… / Agreed to: ……../……/……. / Incumbent’s Signature: …………………………………………. / Supervisor: ………………………………………….. / Mission Statement / “To Build a Strong United Community, Proud of our Past and Committed to our / Future”

• A Tourist in London
  by Dave Pearson

  I get down to London two or three times a year. Sometimes on work and, more recently, as part of my involvement with the UK’s “Society fo…

  I get down to London two or three times a year. Sometimes on work and, more recently, as part of my involvement with the UK’s Society for Popular Astronomy. I generally take a camera with me but most of the time I don’t get to shoot anything because I’ve got something to be doing while I’m there (although I did manage a quick shoot the last time I went down for a society meeting). However, yesterday, we had a family day out in London, doing the proper tourist thing. It’s something I haven’t done since I was in my teens (1986 was probably the last such trip). And, of course, I took my cameras with me. This set of photographs is the result. Mostly tourist cliché shots, but it was actually kind of enjoyable doing it.

• The Great Ocean Road - one of Australia's most visited tourist regions
  by Darren Stones

  The Port Campbell National Park on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia has features which are visited by people from all over the…

  The Port Campbell National Park on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia has features which are visited by people from all over the world. Last week, I had the pleasure to meet and chat with photographers from Pennsylvania, USA and Canada at the world-famous Twelve Apostles. They were amazed at our glorious coastline and were keen to find out some of the hidden gems in this area to photograph. Unfortunately, one of the best places to photograph in this area is temporarily closed. Gibson’s Beach is not accessible to visitors due to the closure of Gibson’s Steps, which lead down to the beach. Large areas of ground at the clifftop are covered in hessian to stop erosion. We may never be able to access this beach again. It was one of the very few locations along this weather-beaten coastline which allowed access to the beach. Fortunately, Loch Ard Gorge is still accessible. The area is extremely fragile, and there’s now talk that the Twelve Apostles Boardwalk may cost visitors a fee to access in the near future. I have a calendar for sale which contains features of this region which may interest you. Enjoy. Cheers, / Darren Stones. Port Campbell National Park, Great Ocean Road, Australia, Calendar / Cover / Back cover

• Gobsmacked
  by Anne van Alkemade

  Please excuse the hyperbole but I think it’s entirely justified. There are some absolutely superb images in the “It’s All About Australia…

  Please excuse the hyperbole but I think it’s entirely justified. There are some absolutely superb images in the It’s All About Australia challenge. Voting is now open (if you haven’t already read Darren’s timely Group Bubblemail) and I urge you to go and have a look. There are some really wonderful images there and it is truly difficult not to just click on all 70. Garn. Go have a peek.

• Mesa Verde Park Image Featured!
  by SteveOhlsen

  My image “Mesa Verde (14)” has just been featured in the group ALL PARKS! Thanks to this awesome group for the recognition and feature! / ...

  My image “Mesa Verde (14)” has just been featured in the group ALL PARKS! Thanks to this awesome group for the recognition and feature! Steve

• A Tourist's Trip to China
  by barnsy

  Myself in China It’s almost a year ago now that I went to China. As…

  Myself in China It’s almost a year ago now that I went to China. As our plane entered Dubai for our change of flight to Beijing, I was hit by the realisation that this was the first time that I had ever been outside of Europe. This school trip to China was therefore my most extravagant venture yet and this only served to emphasize a sense of excitement. China, after all, provided many other reasons to be excited: the Olympics had just finished, it was developing quickly as the major superpower of the 21st century and its heritage and culture both appealed to me greatly. The spiritual side of the orient has always interested me. I’ve started to view myself as some kind of 1960s hippy, quasi Buddhist. However, I wanted to get an insight of proper Buddhism in one of the more spiritual areas in the world where Taoism, Jainism and even Kung Fu are just but a few forms of the oriental’s wisdom. I suppose it was the spiritual side to China that I most wanted to experience as it has always seemed so exotic and appealing to my deeper instincts. I’ve always wanted an adventure and I was hopeful that this 10 day trip to China might provide me with one. However, I went with a cautious, sceptical optimism as I appreciated that a school trip for such a short time would only ever give me a small glimpse of this culture. This trip was never going to provide me my exotic adventure into a different world but I had reason to expect it to be the most extraordinary tourist trip of my fledgling life. The trip would take me to what the Chinese tour guides called the three capital cities of China. The first stop was Beijing, the current capital and what the guide named as the main city of the last 100 years; the second city would be Xi’an, the city of the last 1000 years and the last would be Shanghai, the city of the next 100 years. Thus, three days in each city should have been enough to give a reasonable insight into the history and vive of these important cities. Beijing: The sight of China coming out of Beijing airport was dull and desperate. I tiredly peered through the immediate smog to see grey industrial buildings looming over recently arrived fellow adventurers. Our group travelled to the first hotel of the trip by bus and looking out of the window there was little to excite. It was a grey day which compounded to the feel of industrialisation that is so striking in this city. The smog of pollution is the most obvious exponent of this sentiment. However, most striking was the sight of slums juxtaposed to the tall grey towers of flats that looked down snobbishly on them – it’s odd to think this country is only starting to emerge from the constraints of the ills of communism. There were some hints that the authoritarian legacy of Mao Tse Tung lives on in this country though. A fellow student asked the tour guide how much poverty there was in Beijing and the response was that there was no poverty in the city and this was said with pride and insistence. The tour company was seemingly run by an admirer of Goebbels. We walked through the city for our first dinner at some budget restaurant. Throughout the trip we were rarely treated to the best food as I think food was an area that the tour company was less ambitious with in order to lure in its guidees for cheap prices. The school was hardly going to pay more extravagant prices than they were already paying for this trip of over 50 18 year olds. Thus, for a reasonably priced trip half way around the world, the greatest price to pay was probably the insistence that we had the same cheap, intensely sugary, heart destroying food that we had each time we were ‘treated’ to a taste of Chinese food. I’ve been to enough expensive Chinese restaurants in England to know that what we were eating was not a fair representation of what the Chinese actually eat. Anyway, I’m rambling on about the disappointment of our food throughout the trip. While we were walking through the outskirts of Beijing towards our first taste of the worst of Chinese food we got a sense of what Beijing the city has become in the ‘naughties’. It was no different to the cheaper areas of most modern cities. The grayness of the day had been replaced by the neon glare of the night, the red and white lights of headlights swimming in all directions and the locals were either stumbling like zombies back home or shouting terms of abuse at each other. It was like being in Brixton at night but with strange languages which sound quite frankly odd to the untuned ear. Beijing 1 Beijing 2 I had not experienced the exotic culture that I had hoped for on that dreary first day in China but the next day I was at least able to get a little sense of the history of this country as we went to visit the Great Wall. Going to the Great Wall is one of the pinnacles of tourism – one of those 100 things that everyone should do kind of thing. Like anything with a massive reputation, there is a fear that it won’t live up to the description in the countless brochures that describe it. It is not the most extraordinary thing I’ll ever experience but there was a tickle of excitement at going to one of the most famous monuments in the world which filled the day. We only saw a small tiny end of it but we were able to get a sense of the scale nonetheless. Walking along it, the length seemed never-ending and we only walked passed a few of the bountiful towers that line this wall. The other thing that the heights of the wall allowed us to do was to oversee the city without our view being wholly obscured by smog and it was at this time that we were able to see how big the city is. The experience of the Great Wall was intriguing and as a tourist for the week, it was very fulfilling to say that I had been there. This was also the case for the other thousands of tourists who filled the walls like salmon streaming through a river. Great Wall Great Wall 2 Great Wall 3 The night after the Great Wall most of the students had gone out to a bar to celebrate an 18th – an 18th birthday party in Beijing is definitely something to tell the grandkids about – despite being told by the teacher in charge of the trip that we had a curfew. This teacher was not very popular throughout the trip as he was overly strict and cynical about each student. He was clearly getting into the spirit of Chinese authority! Anyway, after being lambasted the next morning for this tomfoolery we went into the centre of Beijing to experience Tiananmen Square with many bedraggled and significantly hung-over. For me, as a tourist’s experience, Tiananmen Square held much greater value than the Great Wall due to the multiplicity of reasons for its significance. There are so many emblems of historical, political significance, including the statue of the battling communists, Mao’s mausoleum, the famous portrait of Mao upon the front of the Forbidden City and the modern buildings of current political significance surrounding what is the biggest square in the world. The history of the place is so significant and walking through it one can’t help but think of that iconic image of the student protestor in front of the tank standing up for freedom and morality – a true sign of what humanity strives for. This place truly sums up humanity – it shows both the moral fibre that the student protestor had while also showing the contrasting megalomania and evil of the icon whose picture takes the main stage at the front of the Forbidden City. The horrors of the last 50 years of the 20th century are truly reflected in this square. This is the cost which has been paid for China’s burgeoning supremacy. Tiananmen Square 1 Tiananmen Square 2 The Forbidden City itself portrays how Mao’s legacy of grand authority is entrenched in China’s history (as in any country). The major problem of the Forbidden City is that once you’ve seen one of the buildings within it, you’ve seen all of them. It is a long stretch of déjà vu as the view ahead is constantly replicating itself. Forbidden City However, within the Forbidden City there are glimpses of beautiful art and architecture. Forbidden City 2 Forbidden City 3 Having walked out of the monotony of the Forbidden City there was a stretch to the temple of worship that its inhabitants went to. Along this stretch I recall seeing around 6 finely decorated drums which reminded me how, despite the exotic nature of being in China, this world is inhabited by humans. Music is a truly human quality and the fact that whichever human you are talking to, wherever in the world you are, for each human’s individuality, it is things like music that show that we all part of the same thing – humanity with its love of music and art and its tendency for reverence. Forbidden City 4 Forbidden City 5 Forbidden City 6 The Forbidden City is a disappointing spectacle considering its history. However, there is one memory of the place that will stick with me. The previously dreary group was starting to grow in energy as the day wore on (as most school groups do to the annoyance of their teachers) and some of my comrades told a group of Japanese school girls that we were Hollywood actors. The school girls naively believed them and we were then harassed by these excited girls who were fanatically shouting at us pleading to have their picture taken with us. Being a group of public school teenagers, our vanity led us to willingly succumb to their desires for a good half hour. However, some of the Japanese school girls will probably be surprised to see some English testicals and buttocks surrounding their gleeful smiles being photographed with supposed Hollywood actors whose names they were never able to discover. Forbidden City 7 My over notable memory of being in Beijing was seeing the Bird’s Nest Stadium – the centrepiece for the Beijing Olympics. It was an architectural marvel and it aptly shows China’s evolution into the country that is going to lead the world forward rather than being the sleeping giant that it was for so long. It also shows China’s growing role within the world community which is something to be truly celebrated. Bird’s Nest Beijing offered a lot for the tourist, which is ultimately what I was for this week. The industrial smog and the standard city atmosphere I encountered on the first night were typical of how this city is slowly becoming a clone of the western cities. The historical sights were intriguing and seeing the Bird’s Nest showed the potential that China has for leading the future world. However, Beijing offered none of the oriental culture that I so desired to see and I left with a sense that Beijing was losing its cultural identity to a stale modernised business culture that is already so dull and monotonous in the western world. At the station out of Beijing (that night I was to board a stingy, cramped night train to Xi’an) I saw a lot of people in suits, eager to leave. I also saw a man being sick on the floor. The sight of people leaving was understandable. For all its historical and future significance, Beijing is a dirty, squalid place which is not at all exotic and mostly offers feeble fuel to man’s base industrial nature. It is becoming a factory for a new empire and people who can afford to leave the smog and poverty that is an inadvertent consequence of its work, try to do so as quickly possible, which is probably why that station was packed. The tourist feels obliged to see its sights, but the main problem for Beijing is that after you’ve seen the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and now the Bird’s Nest, there is nothing desirable left to see. Three days is usually not enough to experience a place and that is probably true for Beijing, but after three days in this factory, my only thought was leaving. Xi’an: We had to take an overnight train from Beijing to get to Xi’an. It was one of the less pleasurable experiences of the trip as I had share a compartment which was about as big as a medium sized toilet with 4 other 18 year old blokes. We all woke up to a stench of b.o. and were very pleased when we got some fresh air coming out of the station. Our first breaths in Xi’an were also enjoyable because it was a breath of fresh air in contrast to the polluted air in Beijing. After walking out of a car park filled with frantically chasing buses, we saw construction sights littering the part of the city we had entered. The outskirts of this city is full of construction work. Apparently its importance as a city has been recently boosted by economic revamps in the 1990s. Thus, it was interesting to a city that was very much a work in progress. As we passed through the suburbs into the mountains it was clear that despite its urbanisation, this area of China was more rustic than the industrial Beijing. This was most clear when a van carrying pigs passed our coach. Xi’an 1 Xi’an 2 Xi’an 3 Xi’an 4 Xi’an is known as one of the ancient cities in China so was I was optimistic that I would be able to see more of the actual Chinese culture rather than the industrial nature (note the irony in that word) of Beijing. My optimism was quickly vindicated as our first trip was to the Huaqing springs. These springs were made by Emperor Xuanzong during his romantic affair with the concubine Yang Guifei. It was a beautiful place and it was far greater testimony to China’s history than the monotonous Forbidden City. It was uniquely Chinese and despite its lustful origins it was a perfect place to think among the prettily arranged flowers, delightful ponds and temple-like architecture. Maybe it was because of the sumptuous weather but this was the first time that I truly felt that I was somewhere exotic. Its beauty was striking and quintessentially Chinese. Xi’an Hot Springs 1 Xi’an hot springs 2 Xi’an Hot Springs 3 Xi’an Hot Springs 4 Xi’an Hot Springs 5 Xi’an Hot Springs 6 Xi’an Hot Springs 7 We then continued our journey through this historical city when we saw the Terracotta Warriors. One of the revelations of modern archaeology (only topped (if it is topped) by Tutankhamen) this, like the Great Wall, was something that could have disappointed, but the sheer scale of the sight is something. Massive warehouses full of statue warriors (each one unique) made thousands of years ago by some fucked up egomaniac who wanted protection for the afterlife. The grasp of powerful people over the common population throughout history has always astounded me. Like the pharaohs with the slaves, like Stalin and the 5 year plans, like the modern Chinese government and the Olympic Games, thousands of normal people were forced to build all of these brilliantly crafted statues by some fucker who thought that these statues would protect him in the afterlife! It was an intriguing scene and again a fantastic tourist experience. Xi’an Terraccotta Warriors 1 Xi’an Terraccotta Warriors 2 It was in Xi’an that I was finally able to experience some of the spirituality of China. We went to a Buddhist temple on the outskirts and it was an impressively big place. Like the hot springs it was a peaceful and beautiful place. Walking through some of the courtyards within the compound we were able to experience some solitude and silence for the first time in this trip. We even saw some of the monks walking alongside fellow tourists but the whole experience was a bit underwhelming. The peace and spirituality of the place was tainted by the presence of an ice cream van just outside it and the fact that the monks had to humour tourists wanting to have photos taken with them. It felt as though this monastery was selling itself to the demands of the tourist wanting to have some kind of pretence of experiencing Buddhism. This was not a genuine spiritual experience but a chance to take a couple of photos of a superficial impression of a Buddhist temple that the local Chinese tourist board had provided. Xi’an Buddhist Temple 1 Xi’an Buddhist Temple 2 Xi’an Buddhist Temple 3 Xi’an gave me a greater sense of Chinese culture as I got a sense of the history, the beauty and the spirituality (though only a superficial sense of it) that the country can provide. However, on the evening before we left Xi’an we were given some time independent of the teachers to experience the city centre and this is where we experienced the future of China once more – streets lined with neon lights, markets selling fake Ralph Lauren, Dolce and Gabbanna etc. and massive shopping malls. This, one of the ancient cities of China, is not just a magnet for tourists, but it is also another clone of London and Berlin. Xi’an New meets Old 1 Xi’an New meets Old 2 Xi’an New meets Old 3 Shanghai: After an internal flight from Xi’an to Shanghai, we rode the coach from the airport into our final destination of Shanghai. Having already been to Beijing and Xi’an and been disappointed to have not been able to experience what I hoped would be an exotic, spiritual culture, I was not optimistic about entering one of the great new capitalist cities of the new world. As we drove in we saw floods of lights and the skyscrapers slowly grew into sight like colossal mountains over the horizon. This was the future of the world. This was L.A. with Chinese words. This was Jackie Chan as a city without the kung fu. In the hotel that night I looked down and saw the city’s roads and streets and I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised to have seen that sight in any city in the world. I was annoyed with myself for ever thinking that I would ever be able to experience the oriental stereotype of Chinese culture, for entertaining the idea that I’d achieve some kind of nirvana or learn kung fu from some old, white bearded elder at the peak of some mountain (i.e. that guy from Kill Bill). I had experienced a week of sights and visits that I would be able to boast about to everyone back home and I had photos and memories being with my mates. I had had the ultimate tourist’s experience – I had even bought a mandolin and one of those paddy field wicker peasant hats and I had even bought a fake Diesel bag and Ralph Lauren polo shirt. As I went to sleep that night (for a lot of that trip people were sleeping on the coach or on benches at museums due to the high amount of activity that was packed into such a short time) I was bracing myself to experience one of the great capitalist cities. This was a city that is an example of the architectural and engineering brilliance of man in the 21st century. Along with Hong Kong and Dubai, Shanghai boasts one of the most impressive appearances with all of its skyscrapers and buildings with moving pictures down its entire side. Shanghai shows what China is becoming – the leader of the new world. Shanghai roads 1 Shanghai roads 2 It was therefore a great surprise that the next day while walking through an immensely busy street being harassed by hagglers, (throughout this trip we were constantly being surrounded and having our clothes pulled by desperate beggars on the streets, pleading with us to buy some crappy watch that would broke when being dropped onto a bed of feathers) we were lead into another Buddhist temple called Yufo Si. From one world of hussle and bustle we were transported into a world of incense and spirituality. It was here that I came closest to experiencing what I had so wanted to experience on this trip. Like the temple in Xi’an it was artificial in the way that there were tourists snapping and clicking throughout, but this was more unavoidable in the midst of the city. It was a beautiful place despite not having the natural advantages associated with most Buddhist temples. However, it shows why religions such as Buddhism and Christianity are so successful in the modern world. They can adapt and evolve so that they can provide a spiritual portal in the middle of an otherwise secular and materialist world. Buddhism especially, with its willingness to embrace change, is able to do this. Yufo Si was almost like the ideal place for the Zen Buddhists of the 1960s as it was able to combine the vibrancy of the city with the beauty and spirituality of the old world. Kerouac would have loved it. But most of all it showed hope for China. It showed that despite its modernisation and westernisation, there is a chance that the identity of the country can be maintained with places such as this beautiful temple with its golden Buddhas, its incense and its tranquillity. Shanghai Buddhist Temple 1 Shanghai Buddhist Temple 2 Shanghai Buddhist Temple 3 Shanghai Buddhist Temple 4 Shanghai Buddhist Temple 5 Shanghai Buddhist Temple 6 Shanghai Buddhist Temple 7 Shanghai Buddhist Temple 8 Another example of Shanghai’s ability to combine the incorporation of Chinese identity with its becoming one of the great capitalist cities was one of the markets in the city which lay on top of a stream. Houses on top of the water soon grew into bigger Chinese architecture houses selling wide varieties of Chinese luxuries mixed with western goodies. An ideal tourist destination it reminded me of Camden Market but more Chinese, on top of a river and with fewer drugs. However, it was essentially another example of westernisation in China but with stereotypical Chinese goods on sale – it was clear that the place was probably designed by some Brit or Yank. Shanghai River House Shanghai Light House Shanghai Light Boat However, despite the joy at finding Yufo Si, the main memory of Shanghai will always be those skyscrapers. They were like towering Gods belittling everything around it. Especially at night did they seem so powerful and dominating. The World Financial Centre in particular was imperious. One tall building of offices and money. Typical of what China really has become. Previously one of the most spiritual countries in the world it is becoming one of the most financially productive centres in a new world of globalization and industry. It towered over this new financial land like that dark tower in Mordor in Lord of Rings. It was imperious in every way. Shanghai at night 1 Shanghai at night 2 Shanghai at night 3 Shanghai at night 4 Shanghai at night 5 Shanghai at night 6 Shanghai 1 Shanghai at day Shanghai at day 2 Shanghai represents much of what I fear about China. Like Beijing, it seems to have modernised too quickly costing it its traditional culture and individuality as a city in its demise into being another western city in the east. Like Xi’an, it sells whatever remnants of its Chinese history as a means to greater finance through tourism. Yet, considering the more recent history of this country as being a place damaged severely by the evils of Mao Tse Tung’s communist experience, it is not surprising to see that China now strives for the material indulgence that was for so long denied. And, after the preceding centuries of western imperialism dominating the area, it is not surprising that China now wants to assert its own dominance over the rest of the world. What right do I have as an 18 year old Brit to question the direction of this vast, historic and immensely important country? We left Shanghai exhausted and very much looking forward to getting home for a good sleep. It’s strange that I wanted to go home so much because I also wanted to spend much more time in the country. I had only had a very superficial taste of the country based on purely touristic experiences. Indeed I arrived at Heathrow looking very much like a tourist as I wore my Ralph Lauren jumper, my paddy field peasant hat, wearing my fake Diesel bag over my shoulder with Chinese scrolls sticking out and holding the mandolin I bought at a Beijing market. One of the things I learnt from this trip is that a week of tourism will never allow you to experience a country. Tourism offers a superficial, brief experience of isolated places within vast cities. My trip to China left me sceptical about its future and mournful of its loss of its individuality as a country and its traditional spirituality. However, how could I ever sincerely come to such a judgement on such a vast country based on one week of visits to thousand year walls and romantically built hot springs? Outside of these cities there may be many exotic and wonderfully unique places that you’d find nowhere else. Even within these cities there a many untouched secrets and Yufo Si gives hope of this. If I ever go back to China I would want to truly explore the place and this is something I would like to do because if the (hopefully) superficial impression that I got of the place last October is true, that is something that we should be deeply sad about.