EcoLog17 - Road Walking

Day 10 – Road Walking to Zoucheng - 28 June 08 (24km walk)

The day dawned bright and clear. We started it with a great breakfast in the hotel. Packed our bags and had an uneventful taxi ride to the hotel in the next town of Zoucheng. The taxi drove along the road we would be walking. It seemed a long way! Arrived at a standard government hotel on a hill to the north of town, settled in to rest for an hour or so and then taxied back to the end point of yesterdays walk.

It was a long walk!!!


Road walking is not pleasant in any country but in China it can be a very noisy experience. Not only were the cars honking at each other but they of course wanted us to acknowledge them too, so would honk at us. There were some great sites though.


The walk became like a forced march with the pace set at 6km per hour with only two breaks of approx 10 minutes. We walked from 4.10pm to 8.40pm and straight into a restaurant for dinner. On our way into the town of Zoucheng (population about 190,000) near the river there were 100’s of people eating and at an open market. Great to see.

After dinner our only thoughts were to hail a taxi back to the hotel, jump in the shower (where we were careful not to burn ourselves in the “bathe of scald” as per the translated warning sign) and hop straight to bed to rest our weary bones.

Day 11 – Road Walking Zoucheng to Qufu- 29 June 08 (22km walk)

Paul and Konomi got up early to travel to Qufu to try and sort out a hotel. We stayed behind with Yuji to follow on once the technical details had been sorted. Arrived in Qufu at about 11am and settled into an okay hotel called “My Hotel”. Qufu is the home of Confucius so is quite a touristy town (population about 85,000). Our hotel was in a quiet area in the southern part of the city. Spent the morning resting up for this our last day of walking….which was going to be another long one.

The cloud cover of the morning had burnt off by the time we set off promising a long hot walk. After an uneventful taxi ride we arrived at the walking start point at exactly the same start time as the day before of 4.10pm. Thankfully the pace was not as much of a gallop as yesterdays.

The scenery was much the same as the day before. We were fortunate that one half of the road was closed to traffic for repairs for most of the journey, so we did not have to walk on the road edge thus creating even more horn honking from the traffic.


After 1.5 hours we had our first and only decent break. Stopped at a roadside stall for ice blocks and cold water; a quick method of cooling the body down.


Soon it was up and at it again. Paul picked up the pace and on we trudged. After 10 straight days of walking the effects on the body were definitely taking their toll, with sore hip and ankle joints for Louise and painful feet for Merrin. On the positive side a couple of kilos of lard from the hips and thighs has melted away with all this good fat burning exercise in the 29+deg temps.

We crossed the bridge to enter the city of Qufu and had a pleasant kilometre walk through a park and into a restaurant across the road from the hotel for dinner. After the dinner break we all had enough energy to walk an additional kilometre into the old walled part of the town.

Every day we seem to have at least one story of locals trying to earn more money than they should from us. Today’s story is around a Rikshaw ride that we decided to take from the walled city back to the hotel. Rather than squashing into a taxi yet again for 10Yuan, we decided to take a ride in three separate Rikshaws, each costing 5Yuan….or so we thought.


On arrival at the hotel the drivers changed their story and said it was 5Yuan each person! Needless to say a heated discussion ensued with all of us walking off having only paid 5Yuan per vehicle. Funnily enough the drivers did not seem too perturbed about the final payment!!!

Grow well
Dr Merrin

EcoLog12 - Taxi Tours

Day 5 – Taxi Tours – The Good the Bad and the…? - 23 June 08 (15km walk)

Today was moving day from Xuzhou to Peixian. Konomi negotiated a good deal with our friendly taxi driver and a mate to drive us to Peixian in two cabs. The hotel staff in Xuzhou to recommend a hotel in Peixian…but unfortunately when we got to it it was an over priced Karaoke or KTV Hotel. They wanted to charge us 280Yuan for substandard rooms and the very real chance that we would be treated to the boom, boom, boom of many Karaoke revellers till the wee hours!!! We decided to go looking for another hotel….and oh what a find! With the help of a friendly staff member at the Karaoke Hotel we stumbled across the newest hotel in Peixian, which looked from the outside like a palace.

The HanYuan has only been open for two months. It is huge and sits on the edge of a lake looking across at a temple and park. The staff went out of their way to look after us and we quickly made friends with Andrew, the Assistant Manager, whose English was very good. Andrew gave us his card and said to phone him if we needed any help. Little did we (or he know) that he would be of great assistance to us later in the evening!!

We set off for a late walking start at about 4pm. Standing at the gate Paul say’s “let’s choose a friendly looking taxi driver” so, of the four or five drivers who pulled up we chose a chap with a big smile on his face and showed him the hand drawn “map” of where we wanted to go. After a bit of concern when he headed north instead of south, we got him on the right track and without too much hassle arrived at our end point of the day before. He seemed to be an honest type with a little bit of English and lots of laughter so we got his number saying we would call him to pick us up after our walk for the day. No 1 warning sign…this guy did not want us to pay the fare?? This felt very odd but we all just thought, hey what a lovely guy (and proceeded to pay him)!!

The start of the walk was along a re-formed part of embankment so instead of walking on fine gravel we were walking on hard packed mud. It was a very pleasant afternoon – actually early evening as we set off walking at 5pm. It was not too hot and we could see the surrounding countryside as there were no trees along this new part of the embankment. We made good progress and finally came to a side canal which we needed to cross but could see no bridge. After asking someone we found the transport across, which was a little lady who hauled us across on a small barge - very quaint and peaceful. On the other side the road was gravelled again and after a short break we set off at a good pace. The plan was to walk until about 8pm and phone the taxi driver to pick us up. Darkness was falling. We were walking in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden we hear, and finally spot a well lit up clock tower striking 8pm with Westminster Chimes. It was very surreal!!!



There seemed to be no-one about so Merrin headed off down to the clock tower and found a floating restaurant - as you do, with people who could help tell our friendly taxi driver where we were. They proceeded to offer us tea and beer (warm) and a meal if we wanted it (which we didn’t as they specialised in local game, birds and fish from the local potentially polluted waters). They were lovely people who looked after us well until our taxi driver turned up about 30mins later – note the time - warning sign No 2! Off we set waving happily to our restaurant family for what we thought (and what the family had told us) was a ten to fifteen minute journey back to Peixian. We asked the taxi driver to take us to a restaurant when we got to Peixian but he informed us that all restaurants closed at 9pm. He then offered to phone the hotel to arrange a meal for us, but we declined saying we would sort it when we got there.

After about 20 minutes we started questioning the driver as to where we were as the kilometres and taxi metre were ticking by and there was no city in sight! At this stage we were driving on back country lanes through muddy potholes and past small villages. He rambled something in Chinese that Konomi (who has self taught herself written Chinese and a small amount of spoken Mandarin) thought he said another 4-5kms but then he changes his tack and said another 20kms!!! We happened to be passing a police outpost so we insisted he stop so that we could get some help. There were no police so we phoned up Andrew the Hotel Assistant Manager for help in translation.

Andrew is a very cool person. He acted as the go between negotiating between us and the taxi driver over the amount we should have paid (about 20Yuan max). The meter was now sitting on 50Yuan still with 20kms to go). Taxi driver was pleading innocence saying he couldn’t go the “quick” way because his car would bottom out (not sure what he thought it was doing as we were bouncing through the muddy pot holes to get where we currently were?). Then…low and behold a Police car turns up. Now began a very interesting series of dynamics between us - the tourists, taxi driver, Andrew as translator on the phone and the Police!!! The Police were extremely casual. They immediately ‘got’ that he was trying to rip us off by taking us on a circumnavigation (haven’t we heard that word before) of the whole area but they did not want to do anything about it except shake a finger at him when they thought we were not watching!!! Eventually they offered to escort us back to the hotel with one of us in the Police car. We immediately volunteered to go in the squad car which proved far more comfy than five up in a taxi (plus this added another dimension to our story of travel in China).

Now we witnessed a maniac for a taxi driver. Firstly driving up the bum of the police car and then once we hit the highway (a very long way south of the city!) passing at speed and proceeding to speed off into the distance. The police were laughing away at his antics (as were Merrin and Louise) but it was all very odd. They didn’t seem to give a hoot about his petty lawlessness and seemed to be content to casually observe the dynamics between us and the taxi driver.

We finally made it to the hotel with the metre reading 70Yuan (more than we had paid to get to where we started walking that day) and our watches reading 11pm!! Discussions continued. By now Andrew who had been at home when we called was at the hotel to help us conclude the situation. Police just stood around waiting for us all to come to an agreement then buggered off and left us to it. We eventually agreed to pay 60Yuan. Then the most amazing thing happened…the taxi driver shakes Paul’s hand and says give me a call tomorrow and I will take you out to the clock tower restaurant!!! We all just about fell over laughing and couldn’t believe the audacity of the guy.

You would think that this would be a logical place to end the story for the day…but oh no, no!!!

Remember the taxi driver ‘offering’ to organise dinner for us, which we all declined!!! Well, we were very surprised when Andrew asked us to follow him to have the dinner that the hotel had specially prepared for us. It turned out that the dirty rascal had ordered the most expensive banquet in the house to be served in a private dining room. More negotiations and Andrew offered to drop the price to 60Yuan and provide vegetarian food for Konomi and Paul instead of the very meaty menu that had been ordered. We did enjoy a most sumptuous meal, waited on hand and foot by the many staff. We also enjoyed Andrew’s company because he insisted on staying with us until we retired for the day, walking with us to our rooms (in spite of the fact that he was actually off duty after the previous shift being nightshift!!!)

Thus ends day 5 of our adventure in China, having met friends and foe…which we are beginning to understand is the essence of China!!!

Grow well
Dr Merrin

EcoLog08 - Hong Kong to Xuzhou

Day 1 - Hong Kong to Xuzhou - 19 June 08

We left Mui Wo at 12. 50 setting off to meet Konomi and Paul at Exchange Square in Central. Merrin attired in shorts t-shirt and tevas, Louise in town clothes! Cycled down the valley – Merrin with a 20kg pack on his back, Louise with two small backpacks carrying important things like passports, computer, makeup etc in the bike baskets.

It sure was a, planes, trains, automobiles (and ferries) day. From Central we caught the MTR to Kowloon Tong, changed to the KCR to the Lo Wu border crossing from Hong Kong SAR to Mainland China. In Shenzhen, the bus terminal for the airport bus was next to the station with the bus stop in the middle of the road. The only indication a number marked on the road. Travelled through the busy streets of Shenzhen then pulled up at another bus stop where it soon became obvious that we all had to pile off the bus and buy tickets to get on the “real” airport bus. From here about a 45 min journey to the airport. Check in was exceedingly simple but things became a tad more complicated after that! Firstly the boarding gate we were given had been changed….but that was the least of our worries. We found the correct gate and after experiencing our first photo as the celebrities we are (a local Chinese man wanting a photo of his wife with us) we boarded on time. Got the take off spiel and then….nothing! Next a message telling us takeoff would be delayed for one hour…so they proceeded to feed us. Finished our meal (and all the beer on the plane) and strapped in for takeoff accelerating down the runway only to abort about halfway down! Taxied back to sit and wait while the pilot figured out what to do, which included walking from the cockpit to the back of the plane a few times. Finally took off about 2. 5 hours late and made it to Xuzhou by mid night…thankfully. Piled on the bus at the airport and set off on an hour long journey to our hotel.

Paul and Konomi had been staying at this hotel before they went back to Hong Kong for their visa run and had assured us it was very nice…which it was indeed – a five star hotel called Bayview Holiday Hotel (http://www.xzhtjr-hotel.com/) with very nice rooms but…rock hard beds, which we finally fell into at about 2am.

Grow well
Dr Merrin

Coordinating the Environmental Message

I love to spread the message of protecting and respecting our planet!

Many of my friends do too and as you know, you can do more as a team than as an individual.

So, I continue to team up with people. If you want assistance in spreading your environmental message then feel free to contact me. I can connect you with people or even present your message, as I love public speaking.

One of the great persons I have teamed up with is Paul Coleman – Earthwalker (http://www.earthwalker.com/). Paul has been walking around this planet since 1990 and has covered over 46,000 kilometres through more than 40 nations.

Since meeting Paul on 20 Sep 2007 we have shared many ideas via the internet while he and his wife Konomi have been on their walk from Hong Kong to Beijing (Check out the journey via http://blog.myspace.com/earthwalker_paul_coleman). I was pleasantly surprised when one day Paul asked if I would be an advisor to him. I said of course and then I looked at his other advisors.
· Charlene Hewat: Executive Director of Environment Africa, Zimbabwe
· Tadashi Inamoto: President of Oak Village, Japan
· Chikashi Kinjo: Lawyer, Political/Peace Activist, Okinawa
· Avon Mattison: President of Pathways of Peace, United States
· Koichi Nakatani: Environmental Activist, Japan
· Akihiko Ozeki: President of Real Produce, Japan
· Jeunesse Park: CEO of Food and Trees for Africa, South Africa
· Kiyoshi Shikita: Chaiman of Earthday Tokyo, President of BeGood Cafe, Japan
· Genichiro Shiosaka: Member, Kanagawa Prefectural Assembly, Japan
· Paul Sihon: Musician, Composer, United States
· Charles Spencer: General Manager of Spencer Global Consulting, Chile
· Joan Walley, MP: Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
· Rob Wheeler: UN Representative of Global Eco Village Network, United States
· Zandra Valenzuela Delgado: Lawyer, Chile

Wow I thought, they look like superb people.

On Paul’s latest trip to Hong Kong I wanted to leverage his message while minimising the effort required on his behalf, to get the greatest exposure. Little did we know the story we would have to tell.

I called on my fellow environmental team mates and organisations to see what opportunities we could create for Paul.

One of the reasons for Paul’s return trip to Hong Kong was to receive an award from Supreme Master Television. Urania had been following Paul’s story since meeting Paul 4 months earlier at the event I helped organised at Life Café (http://www.lifecafe.com.hk/).

As a member of the Royal Geographic Society in Hong Kong (http://www.rgshk.org.hk/) I contacted Rupert, the Director, and they were very keen to have Paul speaking to their members. Great place and people for Paul to connect with.

I then re-connected with Andrew Dembina at RTHK Radio 3 (http://www.rthk.org.hk/channel/radio3/), he and Morning Brew host Phil Whelan were very keen to have an update on how the walk was going.

Superb. That was three different opportunities for Paul.

At the end of his presentation to RGS members and guests, Paul announced a major change in his plans to walk to Beijing. He told the audience that he could not continue as he could not get a visa to go back. The crowd was shocked. Offers to help came flooding in. Offers of contacts to discuss the situation with officials, media people to talk to, places to stay while stuck in Hong Kong and most importantly huge encouragement to continue.

Paul got some superb media coverage. The SCMP (South China Morning Post) did an article on how the red tape was stopping a major effort to help engage people into Greening the Olympics. RTHK Radio 3 had a live interview during the evening news.

While having Paul and Konomi to stay at our wonderful bush retreat Louise and I decided it was time to experience “earthwalking”.

So now we were very keen for Paul’s visa situation to be resolved. Which it was.

Thanks to everyone who helped Paul and Konomi get their visa and return to their walk.

We will be flying to Xuzhou (550km northwest of Shanghai) and walking from there north to Qufu (The home of Confucius), which is about 150 kilometres in a straight line (of course we will be walking further). We will probably flying back from Jinan.

Grow well
Dr Merrin