Temples, Chicken and Nebuta Floats All Over the Place

Are you ready for an amazing adventure?

Then join Ed Petrie...

HE HOOTS LIKE A MONKEY

..and his CBBC mates...

Spud me, bruv.

Oh, hi, hi, hi.

..on a bonkers and brilliant journey around...

Asia. Asia. Asia. Asia!

It's going to be epic!

Oh! It's amazing.

Yay! Let's do this.

We've got loads of brain-boggling facts to tell you about.

Welcome to All Over The Place.

-Can I watch it?

-You're in it.

We'll take part in some of Asia's most spectacular

and craziest events!

How far's the sea?

I'm coming to get you!

So, are you ready to go?

# All over the place

# All over the place

# North, south, east, west On a bizarre quest

# Me and my mates All over the place!

# It's true what you've heard Everything is absurd

# Whatever we do is strange but true!

# All over the place

# All over the place

# There's stuff to do in Asia that is totally ace

-# And it turns up...

-..all over the place! #

-Naomi?

-Shush, Ed! Where's your disguise?

The commoners are going to recognise us.

Er, don't you think you're taking "experience life as an emperor"

-a little bit too far?

-No, I don't.

If we behave like emperors from hundreds of years ago,

we could get access to the Temple of Heaven.

Yeah, but the emperors didn't hide from people

wearing rubbish disguises.

They banned the public from coming anywhere near them.

What's that for? You going to shoo away the common people?

Oh, you are rubbish at this.

Every year, an emperor would bring offerings to the temple

for a good harvest,

so I thought I'd sacrifice my umbrella for sunshine.

I wouldn't sacrifice your umbrella on a day like this.

It seems the rain in Beijing falls mainly on...not the plain,

but this place, Tiantan,

which is the official name of the Temple of Heaven.

Here, rain is considered a good thing.

For over 500 years,

ancient Chinese emperors would come here and pray

for the perfect weather to help crops grow,

but since 1912, this place has been a right royal tourist attraction.

Well, when it's sunny.

Ed and Naomi,

you have 37 seconds to find out as much as you can

about the Temple of Heaven.

Ed, you have Li Li, who's an expert on the buildings.

Naomi, you have Mr Xing,

who knows all about the ceremonies they performed here.

Whoever finds out the most facts is the winner.

San, er, yi - qu!

OK, so, Mr Xing, who performed the ceremonies here?

-TRANSLATION:

-The emperor, very important man.

Which building was used to pray to the gods?

What kind of ceremonies would they hold here?

Is it things like weddings?

They wouldn't have weddings.

They are offering a sacrifice to the heavens.

The worship of Heaven - dance, music and things.

How many people visit every year?

And how often would they pray here?

Well, you would pray at least twice a year.

Once in the winter, and then once in springtime.

Only twice a year?

-KLAXON

-Oh, time's up.

I wonder how we got on.

And the winner is...

-Naomi!

-Oh, yes!

Your prize is a selfie at lots of the different locations here.

Ed, you're the one taking the photos.

Get a move on before the public turn up.

Voiceover man, it's 2.7 million square metres big.

Yeah, that's like 10,000 tennis courts side-by-side.

How are we supposed to get around all that?

Well, stop looking at me and get your skates on, then.

-Whoa!

-Look at this, we've got it all to ourselves!

So, this is the hall of prayer for good harvest,

plenty of room for praying.

Still going to sacrifice your umbrella?

Er, I might do that a little bit later, actually.

Yeah, I thought you might.

So, apparently, the blue represents Heaven,

and the red represents the emperor -

so this is where Heaven and the emperor meet.

Ah! Well, you know what I'm thinking, then?

-What?

-Good place for a selfie?

Oh, yes!

CAMERA CLICKS

So, I've noticed that that building is round,

but the wall all around the outside is square.

Do you think that's significant?

Nah, probably not.

This is a boffin's guide to the Temple of Heaven.

At the Temple, Earth is represented by a square, like this.

Yes, a square.

Hold on one moment.

This is not a square. The sides are not all equal.

-This, sir, is a rectangle.

-No, it's a square.

Notice some buildings in the Temple are circular.

This is because Heaven is represented by a circle.

Like this.

This is not a circle.

The curve is not always equidistant to the centre.

This, sir, is an oval.

No, it's a circle.

Are you really a boffin?

No.

I believe that this is the Imperial Vault of Heaven.

That's right, because this is where the emperor came to pray to Heaven.

Another place - how many places does this guy need?

I don't think you could have too many.

Apparently this one burnt down in 1889.

Really?

No chance of that happening today.

Because it's raining.

Have we mentioned it's raining?

Time for a soggy selfie?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

CAMERA CLICKS

This is the Echo Wall.

With its perfect radius and smooth surface, apparently,

if I whisper something right here,

Ed can hear exactly I'm saying way over there.

What?!

Oh. It's broken.

Hang on a minute...

Someone's nicked the building!

-Police, police!

-No...

This is the Circular Mound Altar,

there was never a building here in the first place.

And guess what they did here?

Eat ice creams?

Or...?

-Pray?

-Yep.

So, right here, that's where the emperor would stand.

-Right in the middle?

-Mm-hm.

-Wow.

Just imagine all the emperors that have stood there.

-Yeah.

-Royal selfie?

-Ooh, yeah, let's do it.

CAMERA CLICKS

OK, voiceover man, it may have been a very, very rainy day,

but we have got some great snaps for you, haven't we?

Great job - let's have a look at the pics.

-You're going to love these.

-Yeah, they're so good!

Oh.

Oh, Ed, you've had the camera round the wrong way every single time!

Ah.

That's why I've always been so rubbish at selfies.

Ugh...!

Oh, oh, sorry I'm late, I'm sorry I'm late.

Hang on a second - you look nice.

I feel a little bit underdressed now, what are you doing?

-Are you all right?

-Yeah, I'm fine, fine.

Are you sure? Because you're acting a little bit weird.

-Are you sure you're OK?

-I'm not! I'm fine.

-Nothing wrong with me!

-Oh, OK.

Actually, there is.

I just want to ask you something, because, you know,

we've known each other a while, haven't we?

Not that long...but, we get on, don't we?

We have a laugh, I like you, you like me.

Yeah, yeah.

-Why...why are you asking that?

-Well, I was just wondering if...

if-if maybe you'd like to...

What, what, what? Like to what? Like to what?

..catch a flying chicken on a spike whilst riding a unicycle?

Oh!

Oh, I thought you were going to... Anyway.

I mean, does it involve a catapult?

-Yes.

-Oh! A chicken, you say?

-Yes.

-Well, in that case, Edward Oliver James Petrie, I do!

And I do too!

The Ka Tron restaurant,

which literally means "flying chicken",

is famous for catapulting chickens onto waiters' heads,

giving a whole new meaning to "fast food".

The waiters catch 50 to 60 chickens a day.

That would be nearly 22,000 chickens a year.

Don't get comfortable, guys -

there's no time for a chicken dinner just yet.

We need to get serious for a moment.

There's going to be flying birds,

unicycles and helmets with sharp spikes,

so you need to change into more appropriate clothing,

as safety is very important.

That's much better.

HE CHUCKLES You're both looking rather chirpy.

Step one! Propel that poultry.

Time to learn how to make that food fly with a catapult lesson.

-Ooh!

-Strong.

Lock the catapult in position, load it up and watch it fly!

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

HE CLUCKS

Step two! Chick on a stick.

You can catapult it - but can you catch it?

Let's find out.

-Whoo!

-Yay!

-Yeah!

-Yes!

-Yes! Yeah!

-Hey-hey!

Whoop, whoop, whoop!

Step three!

Spring chicken.

Finally, you need to cycle to get to that chicken.

I'm so going to...

Well, it looks like you're both "wheelie, wheelie" bad,

and unfortunately, it's time to put your training to the test.

Whoa...!

Introducing EGG Petrie...

versus Lauren "Lays An Egg Field".

Ooh..

I think I've got the hang of this unicycle now.

It really helps when it's...

bolted to the floor.

I'm so rubbish.

Let's catch a chicken!

Game on.

Yeah!

Ed's off to a flying start.

Whoa! One down, two to go.

Yes!

But can he catch all three?

Oh, no!

Two out of three, not bad - but I'm going for the triple.

Bring it on.

-Oh, yes!

-Oh, strong start by Lauren -

but is she just winging it?

One chicken!

Whaa! No!

Argh!

That must have been close!

Was it close?

Way off it, Lauren, it wasn't close enough.

However, the restaurant dogs

have three extra chickens for tea tonight.

Ed, you cracked that one.

-I've got some bad news, actually.

-What?

The bloke on the table over there just ordered us for dinner.

-What?

-Yeah, I'd run if I was you.

-Aah!

-Quick, quick, quick!

It seems he's not the only one who's hungry.

However, these next two are hungry for love.

This is the awkward first date restaurant,

and hoping to meet her Prince Charming tonight

is chicken-obsessed Pam.

Well, the guy I'm hoping to meet has got to love chickens, obviously.

And he's also got to be big and strong.

Ooh, like a Greek god.

Enter Kevin.

Not so much like a Greek god,

but an expert on Greek gods, Greek mythology

and Greek inventions.

And it was, of course, the Greeks that invented the first alarm clock.

Maybe you could wake me up when he stops talking.

Monsieur, madame, how is the chicken?

Oh, lovely, thank you.

Did you know there are three times as many chickens

as there are humans on the planet?

And they're the closest living relative to the Tyrannosaurus rex?

Rar!

The chicken is raw?

Here.

Have the beans instead.

You know, the Greeks believed

that some beans contain the souls of the dead.

Maybe they called them "has-beans"!

HE SNORTS

I'm sorry, madame, can I get you anything else?

Yeah. Yeah, you can, actually.

A catapult, to catapult me out of here.

Funny you should mention that, actually,

cos the Greeks invented the catapult in 400 BC.

Argh!

Right! That's it!

You haven't asked me one question about chickens.

In fact, I don't even think you like chickens.

-I'm off!

-Wait!

Some Greek gods believed that chickens were sacred.

In fact, the Greek god Eros believed

that the chicken was a symbol...of love.

Oh! Oh, Kevin!

Tell me more! Tell me more!

Well, going back to catapults,

the name catapult actually comes from two Greek words -

"kata", to pierce, and "pelt", meaning shield.

Thus "kata-pelt",

a shield piercer.

I was talking about chickens!

Er... So, I'll text you, then?

I'm Professor Brian Cox.

Wow. I'm amazing.

I'm here to show my millions and billions and trillions of fans

the wonders of my presenting style.

Oh, and this observatory, as well, I suppose.

# Look at the stars

# Look how they shine for me

# I'm so amazing, see

# Hang on, who's this fellow?

# Jai Singh

# Jai Singh

# I built observatories known as Jantar Mantars

# So we could take measurements of the sun and stars

# The most elaborate is right here in Jaipur

# And it was built back in 1734

# Jai Singh

# There are 19 astronomical instruments

# We used to forecast cosmological events

# They measure time and track the stars way out in space

# You'll find the viewers prefer to gaze at my face

# Jai Singh

# Astronomic pioneer

# Jai Singh

# I invented this stuff here

# Jai Singh

# My array of fans don't care

# Jai Singh...

# All they want to do is touch my lovely hair

# Jai Singh

# Jai Singh

# Jai Singh

# The Samrat Yantra is made from marble and rock

# It is effectively a giant shadow clock

# This massive bowls invert the cosmic hemisphere

# And so do these two smaller ones just over here

# Jai Singh

# Ram Yantra measures the position of the sun

# And the precision of it is second to none

# The stars affect our life on earth is our belief

# My viewers believe in the power of my teeth

# Jai Singh

# And then in 1901

# Jai Singh

# Long after my life had gone

# Jai Singh

# All my scientific gear

# Jai Singh...

# Was refurbished by a British engineer

# Jai Singh

# See your future in the stars

# Jai Singh

# Venus, Mercury and Mars

# Jai Singh

# That sounds like astrology

-# Jai Singh...

-So, do you know what my life has in store for me? #

The stars tell me that pride comes before a fall.

Wow.

Well, I am amazing.

Oof... Argh!

Yep, right again.

# Jai Singh. #

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's simply amazing, actually.

No, no, I've never done any actual real-life modelling before, per se,

-but...

-Oh, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi!

-You must be Ben!

-Hello!

-Meow-vellous to meet you.

Are you ready for your paw-some tour?

-What tour?

-The walk around Kuching!

Ku-ching! AKA, the cat city.

Are you saying that I'm not going to be part

of an international fashion show

and I'm not going to get to walk down the catwalk?

You're signed up for the Kitty City Cat Walk.

Come on, glamourpuss. First stop, the Kuching Cat Museum.

It's the only stop, it's a very short tour.

-Hi, Bathiar!

-Hi, give me ten!

Give me ten! Welcome to the Cat Museum.

So, let's start the tour.

These are cats, they're waving, and...

This is our beckoning cats.

The white colour will bring you happiness.

The black colour will hinder you from any illness.

The gold colour brings you richness.

OK, look, I'm going to stop you there, all right?

I'll take three.

Welcome to Kuching's Cat Museum.

It's stuffed with all kinds of feline fun.

This handsome devil's the Borneo Bay cat -

one of the rarest moggies in the world.

It's all cat-tastic here.

Bathiar, what's going on here?

This is our local cat.

-It's tricolours.

-Are they alive?

This is preserved, actually.

We don't have live cats here.

Oh, good, because I was worried about that little guy there.

This is our oldest cat piece, 5,000 years old,

and it can be found in ancient Egypt.

So, I guess you could say she's like every other cat's mummy.

Or its great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great,

great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great,

great, great, great-grandmummy.

Hello?

So, what do you think of the tour?

It's purr-fect.

I'm "feline" like a real cat convert.

We'll soon see about that.

Welcome to The Cat Has Got A Hat.

I'm a cat in a hat and this is my test.

You've got nine lives to prove you're the best.

A place in the musical Cats is your prize,

and to win that, you need to be wise.

Have a listen. Can you hear this cat purr?

Well, it's not the only one, oh, no, sir.

One of these animals doesn't purr - but which one can you infer?

Is it A, gorillas?

B, elephants?

Or C, caterpillars?

I'm going to say A, gorillas.

Oh, I see, got gorilla issues, have we?

Because the answer is C, caterpillars.

They can't purr.

Your gorilla phobia has just cost you one of your nine lives.

By the age of nine, a cat has slept for how much time?

Is it A, one year?

B, three years?

Or C, six years?

I'm going to say B, three years.

You're wrong. It's six years -

and I'm going to deduct six lives for that.

You've only got two left.

That's not fair!

Fair? Well, you've lost another life, one left.

A cat's sense of taste has an odd limitation.

If you pick the right one, you get a standing ovation.

Is it A, everything tastes like fish?

B, mice taste like chocolate?

Or C, they cannot taste sweet things?

C, they can't taste sweet things.

Oh, lucky guess.

-You win.

-Yes!

Does that mean, then, that I get to be in the top musical Cats?

Well, what I actually said was you get to be musical with some cats.

-No...

-Sing to the cats, Ben.

Sing to the cats.

And then the brave warrior got ready to fight the very scary monster.

-Hey, Ed.

-Aah!

Oh, Johny, you frightened me.

Sorry, mate, are you all right?

No, it's my own fault

for reading this book of Japanese legends before bed.

Do you want me to leave the night-light on?

Oh, that would be great, thanks.

No problem, Ed. Sleep tight.

Sleep tight.

Night, Johny.

HE SIGHS CONTENTEDLY

JARRING DISCORD

Aaah!

Don't be scared, Ed.

That's just a Nebuta -

a big light-up float showing amazing scenes

from Japanese myths, legends or history.

For a few nights at the start of every August,

these floating works of art get carried around Aomori

with thousands of people joining the celebrations.

If you miss the parade,

you can always see some Nebuta all year round at this museum.

The floats are made from wooden frames and wire

covered with paper and painted, and then lit up from the inside -

and I can promise you, boys,

this is like no event you've ever tried before.

It's starting to really hurt now.

I tell you what, Ed, these floats are incredible,

but the problem is, we still don't know

what we're doing for tonight's festival.

Yeah, we should probably find out.

Rassera, Rassera!

-ALL:

-Rassera, Rassera, Rassera!

Rassera, Rassera!

Rassera, Rassera, Rassera!

-Rassera...

-Well, if we want to know about the festival,

-seems like these are the guys to ask.

-You'd hope so.

How long's this been going on?

-TRANSLATION:

-'Well, it's been going on for about 400 years,

'it's a long time.'

Wow, no wonder these guys are so good at building floats.

I know, they're awesome -

but what have we got to do, then, in the festival tonight?

'Well, anyone who can hop can join in.

-'I'll show you.'

-Watch this.

'Ribba-dibba-doo! Ribba-dibba-doo! Hih-di-di-di, di-di-doo-doo!

'Samba! Rumba!

'Dibba-doo, dibba-doo...'

Oh, is that it?

-This is the kind of dance I can do.

-It reminds me of dancehall.

-I can't wait to get my dancing shoes on.

-Yeah!

You're going to need more than shoes to pull that dancing off, Ed -

how about a whole costume?

The Nebuta floats are followed around Aomori

by dancers called Haneto,

and there are going to be two extra Haneto this year.

Off to the changing room with you!

I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Look at this.

So, you've got a pink skirt and a dressing gown on,

that's a good look for you, Johny.

I think you might have to lose the hat.

No, I think I'm going for a contemporary Aomori look.

Get off!

OK, here we go, come on, then.

Can I put this, maybe, on top?

No? That doesn't work...

Oh, it's definitely your style, Johny.

Yeah, I'm rocking this totally, yeah, definitely.

-Now your turn.

-Oh...

Here we go.

My turn for the pink skirt.

It's like Santa's parked his reindeer round the corner.

Even just breathing makes everything rattle.

I do feel a bit like a living, breathing Christmas tree.

Look at his little face, his little proud face -

it does, I'm telling you, it changes you,

when you're getting dressed.

You sort of feel regal.

Excuse me, can we get his hat on, please, now?

It's not strictly necessary.

-Yeah, no, it really is.

-I'm quite happy to go without one.

-Oh...

-Oh, yes!

JOHNY LAUGHS

Ed and Johny, you're going to be Haneto dancers tonight,

and the winner will be the one of you who does the most dancing.

Just so it's all fair, we're going to give you this.

It's a pedometer and it counts every step you take.

You'll both be wearing one for tonight's parade,

and the winner will be the one who takes the most steps dancing

while following the floats.

Save your energy - this sounds easy,

but it's definitely an endurance race.

The parade is two hours long!

Best of luck!

The parade route is a three-kilometre circuit

around Aomori city centre,

so there's plenty of opportunity to show off your fancy footwork.

Pedometers on!

Lights on!

Drums on!

Dancing shoes on!

-How do we do the dance again?

-OK...

Right, enough mucking about, it's time to get this event started.

If only we had some kind of loud bang or something

to get it all kicked off.

FIREWORKS EXPLODE

There we go!

-Fireworks.

-What a big bang.

-We've started.

-It's fireworks and a big bang.

-Yes.

-OK, so, what do we do now, then?

-Er...

-We dance?

-Start walking.

Oh, no, dancing.

And chanting, boys.

-ALL:

-Rassera, Rassera! Rassera, Rassera, Rassera!

Don't forget the chanting.

-Rasser-ro-ro!

-What are we chanting?

I've got no idea.

What they're chanting is "Rassera, Rassera!"

and it actually doesn't mean anything.

Sera, sera, sera, sera.

Yeah, that's it.

And that gets shouted the whole parade long

like a very long football chant -

but remember, this event is judged on how many steps you've done.

So, how's that going?

Right, 20 minutes in, time for a quick pedometer check.

1,489 steps.

1,074.

I'll get a few more. Look what he's doing!

Did you see that?!

Oh, my word!

Every step counts, Ed -

but maybe you should save your energy, Johny.

There's a long way to go yet.

It's the mayor, we're dancing with the mayor!

About halfway through,

Ed and Johny have certainly mastered the chanting and dancing -

but how is the step count shaping up?

I've got 3,762.

-What? I've got 1,737.

-Ha, ha!

That's not...

There's no way you've done

twice as many steps as I have.

Maybe, maybe I have.

You've fixed this,

I swear that's a fix.

I've not fixed this.

That's it, Johny,

you've got a lot of catching up to do.

Meanwhile, Ed is taking it easy.

Oh, I recognise this crossroads.

You know what this means?

Go on. Last 200 metres.

-Rassera, Rassera!

-Sera, sera! Sera!

FIREWORKS CRACKLE

The fireworks signal the end of the parade.

How have All Over The Place's two Haneto dancers performed?

OK, hand over your pedometer

to the independent adjudicator.

No way, I just want to let it be known,

I accidentally set the reset button off.

I dropped my pedometer.

So, that...

Oh, Johny.

He was putting so much into his dancing

that he dropped his pedometer and it reset.

So who knows how many steps he's managed to fit in?

Dancers should be graceful,

and Johny's clumsiness has probably cost him the competition.

Despite Johny's complaints, there was a clear winner.

-TRANSLATION:

-'And the winner is, Team Ed!'

Yay!

'Well done, fellas.'

-Thank you.

-'Clap, clap, clap, clap.'

-La-loser, la-loser.

-It wasn't a real victory.

-La-loser, la-loser.

-Rassera, Rassera!

I'd say that I want to do it all again and get my revenge...

but I really don't.

You've been watching All Over The Place Asia!