Chlidonias Goes To Asia, part three: 2013-2014

[ThylacineAlive]

So, so far we have:
Black-Faced Spoonbill- Yes!!
Baikal Seal- No...
Przewalski's Wild Horse- Yes!!
Pallas's Cat- Not Yet.
Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey- Not Yet.
Crested Ibis- Yes!!

So, in the grand scheme of things, you have seen 3 out of your 6 goal species, and only one of the three missed ones are a definite no. So not that bad after all.

~Thylo

 

[ThylacineAlive]

What's the little bird next to the rock in the lower left of the first flight picture?

~Thylo

 

[Chlidonias]

So, so far we have:
Black-Faced Spoonbill- Yes!!
Baikal Seal- No...
Przewalski's Wild Horse- Yes!!
Pallas's Cat- Not Yet.
Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey- Not Yet.
Crested Ibis- Yes!!

So, in the grand scheme of things, you have seen 3 out of your 6 goal species, and only one of the three missed ones are a definite no. So not that bad after all.

South Korea: black-faced spoonbill was primary target, so yes. Mammal was raccoon dog but I didn't really worry about that one too much. I might still see one here in China, or in Japan.

Russia: Baikal seal was target, and that was a big fat no. I didn't have a main bird target there so that's all good.

Mongolia: Pallas' cat was primary target and that's a fifty-fifty yes-no. Przewalski's horse was a secondary target which I "knew" I would see. No primary bird target there either.

China: crested ibis was primary bird target so yes (there are several other secondary targets as well, mostly pheasants). Primary mammal target is actually about five species, of which golden snub-nosed monkey is just one. So far no on all the Chinese mammals.

It's not too bad. Targets are always difficult, but there's always other animals to see along the way. China.....I can foresee it becoming a long series of bus rides to nowhere......

 

[Chlidonias]

What's the little bird next to the rock in the lower left of the first flight picture?

it is a simulacra formed from out-of-focus rocks, shadow and water flow. Not a bird.

 

[ThylacineAlive]

China: crested ibis was primary bird target so yes (there are several other secondary targets as well, mostly pheasants). Primary mammal target is actually about five species, of which golden snub-nosed monkey is just one. So far no on all the Chinese mammals.

It's not too bad. Targets are always difficult, but there's always other animals to see along the way. China.....I can foresee it becoming a long series of bus rides to nowhere......

What are the other four Mammals?

I know you've already recommended Mongolia, but would you recommend China for someone like us that wanted to go wildlife watching? You know, if you excluded the zoos.

By the way, do you plan on going to visit one of the zoos that have South China Tigers?

~Thylo

 

[Chlidonias]

What are the other four Mammals?

I know you've already recommended Mongolia, but would you recommend China for someone like us that wanted to go wildlife watching? You know, if you excluded the zoos.

By the way, do you plan on going to visit one of the zoos that have South China Tigers?

the other four mammals shall remain a mystery until I seek them out (but one is red panda, seeing I mentioned it earlier in the reply to zooboy28).

I definitely recommend Mongolia. Yes for China too -- it is a nice place (vastly overcrowded and confusing as hell, but I am enjoying it), but it is turning out to be much trickier doing it solo than anticipated. I'll have a better idea after I have finished the Chinese leg because I've really only been around Beijing and the last two jaunts out of Xian. Not much to base an opinion on! Sichuan should be much better, wildlife-wise.

I don't know which zoos have South Chinese tigers....and I'm sure I heard somewhere on here that they aren't actually South Chinese at all, or they are all hybrids, or something. I will probably go to Shanghai Zoo, Suzhou Zoo and Chengdu Zoo. That might be it.

 

[DavidBrown]

Yeah! Success with the crested ibis - great news. Are there any crested ibis in Asian and/or western zoos? They are very attractive birds.

 

[Hix]

Fortune favours the something something. I can't remember how that saying goes.

Fortune Favours the Brave



Hix

 

[zooboy28]

Anyway, crested ibis. Sorted.

YAY! They look really pink in the photos you posted, very unlike what I was expecting.

 

[baboon]

Great! Wryneck is one of my favors. Chengdu Zoo don't have south Chinese tigers, Shanghai and Suzhou has tigers hybrid with Indo-Chinese and south Chinese tigers.

 

[DDcorvus]

Wow, these crested ibis would make up for all the lost mammals in my book . And wrynecks are cool. If you want to see more of them (or hear more) they have this single tone high whistle as a call. You are a bit late bit in early summer when they young just fledged you can hear it everywhere (which is also annoying because most of the time you fail in spotting the actual bird although you know it is in the bush in front of you).

 

[Chlidonias]

the other four mammals shall remain a mystery until I seek them out (but one is red panda, seeing I mentioned it earlier in the reply to zooboy28).

actually I remembered another target mammal (I forgot it even though I should be seeing it within the next few days, perhaps.....), so that makes six in China unless I remember another one.

 

[Chlidonias]

Yeah! Success with the crested ibis - great news. Are there any crested ibis in Asian and/or western zoos? They are very attractive birds.

only in Asia. I had seen some at Beijing Zoo just recently. There are captive breeding units in Shaanxi (and I think in Japan as well) which are for releasing bred birds into the wild.

 

[Chlidonias]

Wow, these crested ibis would make up for all the lost mammals in my book . And wrynecks are cool. If you want to see more of them (or hear more) they have this single tone high whistle as a call. You are a bit late bit in early summer when they young just fledged you can hear it everywhere (which is also annoying because most of the time you fail in spotting the actual bird although you know it is in the bush in front of you).

yes I was pleased with the ibis. The cool thing with this trip is seeing animals like the ibis and Przewalski's horse which were so endangered when I was young but which can now be seen by anyone really if you can get to the places they are found. There are some others I will be trying for as well in that same sort of category.

I am useless at bird calls. I know some, and can learn the very common or obvious ones, but otherwise I can't tell what is what. But I shall listen out for wrynecks. Another one of those birds I had always wanted to see!

 

[Chlidonias]

I thought I should go see the Terracotta Warriors while in Xian. I didn't bother going to the Great Wall when in Beijing because it's just a wall and I've seen plenty of those. But I haven't seen an army of clay soldiers before. There's this thing that's common in Asia where when you visit an attraction, say a zoo or aquarium, you don't buy your ticket at the entry point, you buy it at a completely separate booth and then take the ticket to the entry. I guess it gives more people more jobs, and makes things more confusing for tourists as well, so it has a double benefit. The Terracotta Warriors Museum takes it to an extreme though, with the place you buy the ticket being at least a kilometre away from the actual entry point!

I took one of the so-called “direct” buses from the Xian train station to the Terracotta Warriors museum. It is direct I suppose, it just keeps stopping along the way to pick up and drop off passengers. From where the bus parks you walk a couple of minutes past a series of stalls selling food and souvenirs, and come to a whole city of stalls. It was a little odd seeing the stalls selling dog and cat pelts. One stall selling them I could understand but dozens of them not so much. Most of the dogs looked like Alsation types but I saw a Samoyed as well; they were whole pelts for floor rugs. The cats were a mix of white, tabby, etc and their skins were made into neck-scarves. I did not like the wolf pelts being sold for tourists in Mongolia, but domestic dogs and cats I don't really care because they are domestic. It just makes you wonder about the sort of person who would buy an Alsation-skin rug for their floor!

I took my time finding the ticket office. Not because I was eye-shopping but because I plain couldn't find it! One thing that is endless amounts of fun in Asia is when you ask where something is situated the answer is “over there” with a point in that direction. Now you or I might say “over there” when something actually is over there, but in Asia “over there” means “walk 700 metres in that direction, then make a hard right followed by two lefts and another right and two more lefts, then spin in a circle while hopping on one foot until a taxi comes along and you take that taxi for eight miles, swim across a river, get onto the Ferris Wheel at the circus and from the top of the Ferris Wheel you can see across the border into the next country, and that is where you need to be.”

After getting my ticket (150 Yuan!) I walked (and walked and walked) to the entrance. All along the way were the tour guides trying to intercept visitors. “Do you need a tour guide?” “No thank you.” 'This is a very big museum, even Chinese people need a tour guide.” “No thank you, I'm fine.” “No, you need a tour guide.” After ten of those, all saying exactly the same lines, you are starting to say “no thank you” through gritted teeth. After thirty of them you are saying “no I do not need a god-damn tour guide!” and after forty you are looking around for some sort of bludgeoning instrument. To be honest, I didn't get much from the Terracotta Warriors. They sort of reminded me of The Autons, but otherwise not anywhere near as inspiring as I had thought they'd be. I did the pits backwards, starting with Pit 3 which is the lesser of the three (I probably would have just filled it back in if I'd found it in my garden), then Pit 2 which is still largely an archaeological dig in process but also contains interesting displays of artifacts as well as a jade shop which I thought was a bit of a tacky add-on, and finally Pit 1 which is the famous one, the one the size of an aircraft hangar with rows and rows of life-size terracotta warriors.

I might have enjoyed the museum a bit more if it wasn't for all the people pushing and shoving and basically having no concern for anything except their own wants. I try to be considerate towards others, but China makes it really difficult. With over a billion people there's no room for patience and personal space, and I'm already getting a bit sick of the lack of common decency exhibited by most people. I totally sympathise with all those decapitating cannibal murderers now.

 

[baboon]

With over a billion people there's no room for patience and personal space, and I'm already getting a bit sick of the lack of common decency exhibited by most people.

And this is the reason that I seldom go to the popular tourist site in China, because I am afraid of the overcrowd situation. But I like all those movies about the Warriors, in which the ancient army revive once and once and fight against the modern people

 

[ThylacineAlive]

And this is the reason that I seldom go to the popular tourist site in China, because I am afraid of the overcrowd situation. But I like all those movies about the Warriors, in which the ancient army revive once and once and fight against the modern people

The Mummy (sequel number?)?

~Thylo

 

[nanoboy]

I might have enjoyed the museum a bit more if it wasn't for all the people pushing and shoving and basically having no concern for anything except their own wants. I try to be considerate towards others, but China makes it really difficult. With over a billion people there's no room for patience and personal space, and I'm already getting a bit sick of the lack of common decency exhibited by most people. I totally sympathise with all those decapitating cannibal murderers now.

Wait till you have to fight for toilet paper! I hope you can sympathise and believe me when I say it was a 100% true story. (See earlier post.)

You may remember in a previous post/thread, we were discussing queue jumping. I said that having been to China, I am actually forgiving of Chinese who do it here in Melbourne, but I am less forgiving when thoroughbred Aussies do it. Doesn't make it less annoying though. Have you seen a lot of people spitting in the street? Classic.

Having been to a few countries in Europe (Norway being a good example), I was pleasantly surprised that this is not just a third world thing. In Oslo, people were pushing and shoving to get the bus; if someone bumped you on the street, they wouldn't even say sorry. My Norwegian buddy that I went to visit said that he didn't realise how rude he was until he went to live in London.

Those warriors were pretty cool. We went in March when it was extremely cold, so there weren't many people around - we quite enjoyed it too because it was with a tour and we didn't have to worry about transport and tickets etc. Thankfully I did not see those stalls with the dog and cat pelts. I do care though, because the wolf pelts in Mongolia would have probably come from wild wolves, whereas the dog and cat pelts would be from domesticated animals kept in horrible conditions.

I don't know if you concur, but my impression of China was that although it wants to be a first world country, a third world mentality will permeate for a few generations well.

 

[Chlidonias]

Wait till you have to fight for toilet paper! I hope you can sympathise and believe me when I say it was a 100% true story. (See earlier post.)

I believed the story the first time (I believe everything you say....). I always carry toilet paper with me though because in most of Asia there is none at public toilets (if you can even find public toilets).

You may remember in a previous post/thread, we were discussing queue jumping. I said that having been to China, I am actually forgiving of Chinese who do it here in Melbourne, but I am less forgiving when thoroughbred Aussies do it. Doesn't make it less annoying though. Have you seen a lot of people spitting in the street? Classic.

I agree with that. I always used to think "Asian drivers" was a racist comment until I first went to southeast Asia and realised that that is simply how it is done over there, and they transfer their way of living to Australia or where-ever. (I know "Asian drivers" actually is intended to be a racist comment but it is also true). The reverse would be me over here doing annoying or bizarre things because they are my cultural norm.

I have seen many people spitting in the streets. I also someone spitting on a cassowary at the Beijing Zoo. In NZ airports (we have a lot of Chinese tourists) there are signs saying no spitting, or to use the toilets for spitting.

Having been to a few countries in Europe (Norway being a good example), I was pleasantly surprised that this is not just a third world thing. In Oslo, people were pushing and shoving to get the bus; if someone bumped you on the street, they wouldn't even say sorry. My Norwegian buddy that I went to visit said that he didn't realise how rude he was until he went to live in London.

I think it is mainly a consequence of large populations. Does Norway have a large population? I thought it was mainly reindeer.....

Those warriors were pretty cool. We went in March when it was extremely cold, so there weren't many people around - we quite enjoyed it too because it was with a tour and we didn't have to worry about transport and tickets etc. Thankfully I did not see those stalls with the dog and cat pelts. I do care though, because the wolf pelts in Mongolia would have probably come from wild wolves, whereas the dog and cat pelts would be from domesticated animals kept in horrible conditions.

my comment may have been misleading. I care about the wolf pelts because they are wild wolves shot simply to sell as pelts to tourists (i.e. there is no good reason at all for doing so). The cats and dogs are domestic and therefore using their skins for anything has no effect on wildlife, and they are huge in number. Like using the skins of small children; of no consequence to me. However I don't agree with keeping animals in bad conditions for "farming" purposes.

I don't know if you concur, but my impression of China was that although it wants to be a first world country, a third world mentality will permeate for a few generations well.

yes indeed, but considerably more than a few generations more. With the sheer number of people in China I don't think they can possibly attain first world status, in either actuality or mentality.

 

[nanoboy]

In case I don't get a chance to post a longer response before your next blog post, your comments about toilets and airport signs reminded me of something crazy funny.

At many touristy sites in Australia I have seen signs saying to not squat/stand on the toilet. Some places have signs with crossed out representations of a man squatting on a toilet. And the craziest of all, was that at the Twelve Apostles (a hugely popular natural rock formation in Victoria) there are actually squat toilets to cater for Chinese tourists!

I have never used a squat toilet before....

Oslo has about 4m people but I guess it is so cold that everyone is in a bad mood.

An Indian Aussie coworker said when he went back to India for a visit, his father and other drivers were yelling at him for giving way, obeying the speed limit, and for not being aggressive enough.

There is a certain cuteness to dogs and cats though man! They are pets, not sources of food! But that's just me being western...

Ah China. I am still after an explanation as to how China has historically had such a large population, especially after the one child policy. Anyway, I may have said it before on this or another thread, but I left China quite jaded (no pun intended) and convinced that we were doomed as a planet.

Have you seen much live animals for sale? Birds in tiny cages? Expensive ginseng? Vast quantities of dried shrimp, shark fin, and sea horse in market stalls? Many weird things on the menu?

Not bad for a post from my phone where I can only see one sentence and about 5 words at a time eh?