I mentioned in this post that we had started planning our next trip with the Best Man (BM) and Matron of Honour (MoH). The trip is going to be pretty epic. Along with a couple of their friends, we will be going to Russia and Mongolia with a dash of China thrown in if our initial plans hold together.
The trip will be centered around the Trans-Siberian Railroad (TSR). Our preliminary plans have us visiting St Petersburg and Moscow before getting on the train and heading east. The train route eventually splits with one way going to Vladivostok, another going into Manchuria, and yet another going into Mongolia and on to Beijing. We will probably take the branch into Mongolia and end the trip in Beijing. The train trip is roughly six days but we plan to get off the train along the way if we can. The trains run every two days so if we get off we have a couple days (or a multiple of two days) to view the sights.
The hard part about the planning is the train tickets. We want to be comfortable and would prefer the two person cabins. This would be no problem if we were getting on in Moscow and getting off in Beijing but, since we want to get off and on, the train ticket logistics become a bit more complicated. I met with our AAA travel agent today and we went over a few details. The train tickets would have to be point to point i.e. each segment would have to be purchased separately. This will bump up the price a bit but we will not know the actual amount until we determine how many stops we want to make along the way.
We also talked about an option that we'd bounced around - taking the TSR all the way to Vladivostok, flying back to where the train routes split, then taking the train into Mongolia and Beijing. This turns out to be a doable plan. We would have to fly from Vladivostok to Irkutsk to catch the train again, so there would be some overlap of the train route, but the flights are only ten hours long (with layovers) and fly four or five times a week. That way we could actually say we road the entire TSR. The extra cost will probably determine if we do this or not.
We will have to have the final itinerary completed roughly ten months before we go. I will still be on the Appalachian Trail but I trust the Wife, BM, and MoH to put an awesome itinerary together. The train tickets will be bought three or four months before we go and our visa application has to be in ninety days before we go. Our agent has experience with Russian visas and they are incredibly thorough - twelve pages long. Hopefully my job working for the Navy doesn't cause problems. But who knows, by then the President-elect will have improved the US-Russian relations bigly ... we'll have tremendous relations. The biggest and best relations ever in the world.
I'll keep you updated as things develop over the next eighteen months. Can't wait for this next adventure!
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Friday, December 07, 2012
2012 Asian Adventure - Epilogue
OK, one more epilogue. Why? I like epilogues. I like the sound of the word. Ep-i-logue. EP-i-logue. Ep-I-logue. Ep-i-LOGUE. I like the word.
This was a marvelous adventure. Thirty-two days of awesome, and not so awesome, adventure. The variety of what we saw is hard to quantify. The pictures I've posted only scratch the surface. The things we saw: The Potala Palace, Pandas (both black & white and red), Terracotta Soldiers, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Mount Everest (from the airplane), the Tiger's Nest Temple, the Bhutanese Takin, The Taj Mahal, The Glass Palace, The Amber Palace, and Elephants. The great pieces of history keep going and going. It is almost too much to absorb really. Now that I'm home I keep catching myself seeing something on TV and saying "OMG I've been there!" I love that feeling. OK, I may not say OMG but that's how I feel at the time, like a giddy school girl at a Justin Beiber concert.
People have asked what was the best thing. I honestly can't answer that question. There was just too much awesomeness to be able to pick. I loved the Yangtze river cruise and we are already looking into other river cruises. Buddhism, and places associated with it, is incredible while being so peaceful. Bhutan would have to be my favorite country - so peaceful and beautiful with wonderful people. China had so much to see and I know there is a lot I did not see in this large country. I probably didn't give Nepal a fair chance. India was amazing. The thousands of years of history we experienced marveled. I guess the one word that would sum up this trip is "Wow".
A few observations I left out of the travel posts:
This was a marvelous adventure. Thirty-two days of awesome, and not so awesome, adventure. The variety of what we saw is hard to quantify. The pictures I've posted only scratch the surface. The things we saw: The Potala Palace, Pandas (both black & white and red), Terracotta Soldiers, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Mount Everest (from the airplane), the Tiger's Nest Temple, the Bhutanese Takin, The Taj Mahal, The Glass Palace, The Amber Palace, and Elephants. The great pieces of history keep going and going. It is almost too much to absorb really. Now that I'm home I keep catching myself seeing something on TV and saying "OMG I've been there!" I love that feeling. OK, I may not say OMG but that's how I feel at the time, like a giddy school girl at a Justin Beiber concert.
People have asked what was the best thing. I honestly can't answer that question. There was just too much awesomeness to be able to pick. I loved the Yangtze river cruise and we are already looking into other river cruises. Buddhism, and places associated with it, is incredible while being so peaceful. Bhutan would have to be my favorite country - so peaceful and beautiful with wonderful people. China had so much to see and I know there is a lot I did not see in this large country. I probably didn't give Nepal a fair chance. India was amazing. The thousands of years of history we experienced marveled. I guess the one word that would sum up this trip is "Wow".
A few observations I left out of the travel posts:
- China, while steeped in superstition is trying to be secular. When we entered temples in China our shoes stayed on. In Nepal, Bhutan, and India the shoes always come off. Slip on shoes would have been an asset.
- Also in China, there is only one time zone for the whole country which messes with your head when it's light at 4:00 AM in one part of the country and dark at 4:00 AM in another part of the country.
- The modern world, i.e. western culture, is everywhere. In Nepal and Bhutan you saw angry birds shirts, toys, and stuffed birds everywhere. Cell phones are ubiquitous in all four countries. Even so, everything still had a native twist it. Western culture is changing things not by replacing but by melding with what has always been there.
- We had seven different guides. I liked it better when there was one guide for the whole country like in China, Nepal, and Bhutan. The guide gives you continuity. Changing guides every day or so made things more difficult at times. I also preferred women guides over men. They seemed like they cared for you better.
- Nepal, Bhutan, and India have some of the most beautiful people in the world - I can vouch for the women and I'm sure the Wife will vouch for the men.
- In America we spend money on tanning booths and self-tanners to give us that dark, healthy glow. Starting in Nepal we noticed commercials for skin lighteners. Apparently dark skin is not popular ... in a part of the world where darker skin is the norm. Our guide in Delhi blamed this on the British and their standards for beauty.
- Before we left I'd heard that it was impossible to go to India without getting sick. During the entire 32 days of travel, after eating Chinese, Tibetan, Nepalese, Bhutanese, and Indian food, I suffered from intestinal distress only twice and each time was a one time event. Both were in China. That was it. I credit this to the yogurt and probiotic regimen I put myself on before leaving. Sadly, on the last day, things caught up with the Wife. After getting home she was down for the count for about five days. Except for feeling a bit jet lagged and tired I felt fine.
- After worrying that many of the places we were going would not meet my expectations, I was always surprised how much better the places were in person. Pictures can only give you a superficial taste of a place. Being there is a completely different experience.
- Thirty-two days of travel, especially the intense guided tour type of travel, is very close to my limit. I was exhausted at the end of many days and I let this nearly make me sick at times when I didn't eat and drink enough. The Camino was longer but didn't have the intensity of this Asian trip. I think we may have to limit these types of tours to three week spans from now on.
One other thing happened on this trip. I can now say that I have traveled around the world. The thirteen flights we took during this vacation took us completely around the world. I hadn't really considered this when I was setting up the trip but it's a fun little extra. To make it better, we never missed a flight and our bags were never lost.
Pictures from the China portion of our travels can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Pictures from the Tibet portion of our travels can be found in my 2017-06 Tibet Google Photos Album.
Pictures from the Nepal portion of our travels can be found in my 2012-07 Nepal Google Photos album.
Pictures from the Bhutan portion of our travels can be found in my 2012-07 Bhutan Google Photos album.
Pictures from the India portion of our travels can be found in my 2012-07 India Google Photos album.
Onward to our next adventure ... whatever that may be.
Pictures from the China portion of our travels can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Pictures from the Tibet portion of our travels can be found in my 2017-06 Tibet Google Photos Album.
Pictures from the Nepal portion of our travels can be found in my 2012-07 Nepal Google Photos album.
Pictures from the Bhutan portion of our travels can be found in my 2012-07 Bhutan Google Photos album.
Pictures from the India portion of our travels can be found in my 2012-07 India Google Photos album.
Onward to our next adventure ... whatever that may be.
Friday, October 12, 2012
2012 Asian Adventure - China Epilogue
China was magnificent. The tour had been structured perfectly. I mentioned before that the tour was done in reverse. This turned out to be perfect. I can't imagine starting the tour in Beijing all jet lagged, with a busy itinerary, and trying to get to know your new travel mates. Shanghai was a better place to get your bearings and for group introductions.
We ended up with a group of wonderful people - not tourists but travelers. The group adds a lot. Of the three group trips I've been on (Peru, Jordan, and China) two of the groups have been an asset. Jordan is the only group that disappointed. Jordan was a mix of Americans, Central Americans, and Europeans. Peru and China were all American. That might have been the difference. Not to say Americans are better, we just had more in common.
Someone asked me what was my favorite place in China. I can't really put my finger on any one place. It seemed like every new place we would visit was spectacular or at least new. Even the touristy parts were satisfying. Just about everything was awesome:
All in all, we had an incredible trip through China with a very good guide. She suggested changes that all turned out for the better. She did not hesitate to answer our questions, even the tough ones about the cultural revolution and the one child policy. Her honesty was a pleasant surprise. While our guide answered all our history/political questions, she did have one short coming. There were four teachers in our group. Two were science teachers who loved to ask questions like "What kind of bird is that? What kind of tree is that? Where are all the birds?" Our guide couldn't answer any of them. It was like nature was a mystery to her. At one point a peacock screeched (if you've heard a peacock you know how they can be loud and obnoxious) and our guide said it was a panda. We all laughed at that. She eventually confessed to us that during those nature classes she had met her husband and was ... a little distracted.
Not everything was great. I wasn't thrilled with the rickshaw ride in Beijing. We were there in monsoon season so the sun was a rare sight indeed but the lack of hard rain was welcome. Throughout our travels there was always an air of oppression. It wasn't unexpected, and it wasn't always obvious ... except in Lhasa where it felt like a cloud hanging over everything, but it was still there. In all of our hotels, very comfortable hotels, we always had access to CNN International, BBC International, and/or Al Jazeera. When we asked the guide about some riots in Hong Kong, she didn't know anything about it. Turns out these international channels are only available in hotels and are not available to the Chinese citizens. I didn't do much on the internet while I was there except check e-mail. The wife, being the obsessed teacher she sometimes is, had to check her students AP test scores. We never encountered a blocked site. When I got home I changed my e-mail password ... just in case.
Most importantly the negative was overwhelmed by the awesome and I left China with wonderful memories and a bit tired from all of what we'd seen and experienced. I can't ask for anything more from my travels.
Pictures from the China and Tibet portion of our travels can be found in my 2012-06 China and 2012-06 Tibet Google Photos albums.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
We ended up with a group of wonderful people - not tourists but travelers. The group adds a lot. Of the three group trips I've been on (Peru, Jordan, and China) two of the groups have been an asset. Jordan is the only group that disappointed. Jordan was a mix of Americans, Central Americans, and Europeans. Peru and China were all American. That might have been the difference. Not to say Americans are better, we just had more in common.
Someone asked me what was my favorite place in China. I can't really put my finger on any one place. It seemed like every new place we would visit was spectacular or at least new. Even the touristy parts were satisfying. Just about everything was awesome:
- Our four day cruise on the Yangtze was a perfect length. We ran into another tour group who'd had a nine day cruise and they had been bored out of the skulls. Our cruise was full to the brim with activities with just the right amount of down time.
- We made it to Tibet, something the other tour groups we encountered could not say. Again I say, we were so ... so lucky to get to go to Lhasa.
- We went to the major Panda breeding facility in China. Other groups went to smaller ones in Chongqing.
- Add in all the temples, palaces, terracotta soldiers, Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall and everything met or exceeded my expectations.
All in all, we had an incredible trip through China with a very good guide. She suggested changes that all turned out for the better. She did not hesitate to answer our questions, even the tough ones about the cultural revolution and the one child policy. Her honesty was a pleasant surprise. While our guide answered all our history/political questions, she did have one short coming. There were four teachers in our group. Two were science teachers who loved to ask questions like "What kind of bird is that? What kind of tree is that? Where are all the birds?" Our guide couldn't answer any of them. It was like nature was a mystery to her. At one point a peacock screeched (if you've heard a peacock you know how they can be loud and obnoxious) and our guide said it was a panda. We all laughed at that. She eventually confessed to us that during those nature classes she had met her husband and was ... a little distracted.
Not everything was great. I wasn't thrilled with the rickshaw ride in Beijing. We were there in monsoon season so the sun was a rare sight indeed but the lack of hard rain was welcome. Throughout our travels there was always an air of oppression. It wasn't unexpected, and it wasn't always obvious ... except in Lhasa where it felt like a cloud hanging over everything, but it was still there. In all of our hotels, very comfortable hotels, we always had access to CNN International, BBC International, and/or Al Jazeera. When we asked the guide about some riots in Hong Kong, she didn't know anything about it. Turns out these international channels are only available in hotels and are not available to the Chinese citizens. I didn't do much on the internet while I was there except check e-mail. The wife, being the obsessed teacher she sometimes is, had to check her students AP test scores. We never encountered a blocked site. When I got home I changed my e-mail password ... just in case.
Most importantly the negative was overwhelmed by the awesome and I left China with wonderful memories and a bit tired from all of what we'd seen and experienced. I can't ask for anything more from my travels.
Pictures from the China and Tibet portion of our travels can be found in my 2012-06 China and 2012-06 Tibet Google Photos albums.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
Thursday, October 11, 2012
2012 Asian Adventure - Moving Along To Kathmandu
Day Fifteen
And then we scattered in the wind. Two of our group went on to Taiwan. Two more went to Hong Kong. Another went to Spain and Italy. Six others went home. The Wife and I, being only half done, had three more countries to visit.
It would take us two days to get to our next destination, Kathmandu, Nepal. We were going to fly from Beijing to Chengdu, spend the night, then catch another flight to Kathmandu the next morning (flights eight and nine).
We said our tear filled goodbyes at the airport as we went to check in to our respective flights. We reached the Air China counter and discovered that our flight would be delayed a couple hours (our first real delay). At the suggestion of the man behind the counter we rebooked on another flight getting us to Chengdu at our original scheduled time.
We arrived in Chengdu and picked up our luggage and started looking for our guide. Here is an area that General Tours drops the ball a little bit - they don't provide contact information for the guides, figuring you will get their numbers when they pick you up. The guide and driver were not there. I knew what had happened. They had checked our original flight, saw that it was delayed, and and had not come to the airport. If we'd had their contact numbers we could have called from Beijing and told them how our plans had changed. We found some empty chairs near the airport exit and waited. I, being a little impatient, wandered around the area making sure we hadn't just missed our guide's sign and checking on the arrival time of our original flight. Two and a half hours later our guide arrived. She was very apologetic but it wasn't her fault at all.
We spent the night at a hotel, not as nice as the one we stayed in during our first visit to Chengdu, but nice enough. I washed some clothes in the sink (shower gel works very well for cleaning clothes). We started a bad habit here and started watching bad movies in our room starting with "Christine". When there wasn't a movie we usually ended up on the Discover Channel or NatGeo Adventure (The programming on the international versions of these channels are more travel oriented and a bit more interesting than the domestic American versions which tend to be a lot of Nazis, Bigfoot, UFOs, and ghosts).
I was feeling a little bummed. I think I missed our group. We were heading to another country and would be on a private tour. We'd never done private tours like this before and we really didn't know what to expect.
Next morning we caught a flight To Kathmandu.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
And then we scattered in the wind. Two of our group went on to Taiwan. Two more went to Hong Kong. Another went to Spain and Italy. Six others went home. The Wife and I, being only half done, had three more countries to visit.
It would take us two days to get to our next destination, Kathmandu, Nepal. We were going to fly from Beijing to Chengdu, spend the night, then catch another flight to Kathmandu the next morning (flights eight and nine).
We said our tear filled goodbyes at the airport as we went to check in to our respective flights. We reached the Air China counter and discovered that our flight would be delayed a couple hours (our first real delay). At the suggestion of the man behind the counter we rebooked on another flight getting us to Chengdu at our original scheduled time.
We arrived in Chengdu and picked up our luggage and started looking for our guide. Here is an area that General Tours drops the ball a little bit - they don't provide contact information for the guides, figuring you will get their numbers when they pick you up. The guide and driver were not there. I knew what had happened. They had checked our original flight, saw that it was delayed, and and had not come to the airport. If we'd had their contact numbers we could have called from Beijing and told them how our plans had changed. We found some empty chairs near the airport exit and waited. I, being a little impatient, wandered around the area making sure we hadn't just missed our guide's sign and checking on the arrival time of our original flight. Two and a half hours later our guide arrived. She was very apologetic but it wasn't her fault at all.
We spent the night at a hotel, not as nice as the one we stayed in during our first visit to Chengdu, but nice enough. I washed some clothes in the sink (shower gel works very well for cleaning clothes). We started a bad habit here and started watching bad movies in our room starting with "Christine". When there wasn't a movie we usually ended up on the Discover Channel or NatGeo Adventure (The programming on the international versions of these channels are more travel oriented and a bit more interesting than the domestic American versions which tend to be a lot of Nazis, Bigfoot, UFOs, and ghosts).
I was feeling a little bummed. I think I missed our group. We were heading to another country and would be on a private tour. We'd never done private tours like this before and we really didn't know what to expect.
Next morning we caught a flight To Kathmandu.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
2012 Asian Adventure - Beijing (Part Two)
Day Fourteen
The last day of the China portion of our trip. It was going to start off with a big one - The Great Wall. A couple days earlier, during our Peking Duck dinner, our guide made a suggestion. Normally the tour would take you to Badaling. Badaling is the most visited portion of the wall and, if you've seen a picture of the wall, it was probably taken there. She suggested that we instead go to a place she called the Badaling Remnant (The ticket of the place referred to it as "The Ancient of the Badaling Great Wall."). Our first reaction was of uncertainty. When we showed pictures to our friends and family back home we wanted them to recognize it. We didn't just want to see a pile of old bricks. We decided to trust our guide when the Wife pointed out that Malinda had not steered us wrong yet.
We left Beijing and along the way we passed Badaling. It was early morning and you could see that the wall was already packed with people and there were several buses parked in the parking lot. Like our guide had suggested, at Badaling all our pictures would be of backs, butts, and umbrellas. Less than ten minutes later our bus left the main highway and drove up a dirt road. The dirt road turned into a well maintained, and fairly new, paved road. We passed through a gate and passed a visitor's center that was still under construction. We left the bus, used the facilities (I saw this sign over one of the urinals), and went the rest of the way on foot.
What we saw next was amazing. It was the Great Wall in all its glory. Not only that but we practically had it all to ourselves. There were maybe a dozen other people there besides us. This portion of the wall was restored by the Japanese and was definitely not a pile of rubble. This is interesting as the Chinese and Japanese notoriously do not get along (As I write this there is tension between the two countries over disputed islands).
The youngest of our group, with me following close behind, went on ahead of the group. It was insane and very cool. The wall is not flat but climbs up and down mountains. I couldn't keep up with KK and he ended up walking a longer section than I did (he was nearly thirty-one years my junior). It was cloudy this morning so a lot of my pictures came out sub-par but in person it lived up to what I'd expected to see. We all thanked our guide as we returned to the bus.
Next stop was a Jade factory where we saw them carving jade and were given a little tour before taking us into their large showroom - yep ... another shopping opportunity. Before we went shopping though we went to a restaurant attached to the factory and had lunch.
After lunch we shopped a bit but the Wife and I ended up buying only magnets ... and ice cream.
Next on our itinerary were the Ming Tombs. After the wall this felt like the power down phase of our China trip. We toured the tombs and the surrounding park and farm land then took a short bus ride to a long tree lined walkway. The walkway was lined with pairs of statues of men, animals, and mythical beasts. The most memorable happening here occurred in a bathroom. I walked in with a member of our group (JE) who was very tall (kept hitting his head on low doorways). Another Chinese tour guide was in there as well. The first urinal was a handicap/child urinal and was low to the ground. JE looked at the low urinal and said it wasn't for him. The Chinese guide than said "That one is for the Japanese. When they go to Europe they need a step stool." Heh.
By the time we were at the end of the long walkway it was starting to drizzle. We got back on the bus and headed back to Beijing with one last shopping stop. This was more at the request of our group. We wanted to stop at the knockoff market to buy some genuine fake stuff. The wife had her sights set on a bag. We found booth that sold what we wanted. The girls asked us to follow her and she proceeded to take us into the stairwell (The place was five stories if I recall). She produced a couple stools and a helper started bring up almost perfect copies of the bag the Wife was interested in. She even used the genuine bag catalog to pick out what she wanted. I have to admit that I was paranoid the entire time we were in that stairwell. I was just waiting for some big thug to come up those stairs and mug us. The Wife got her bag and we went back into the market proper and I was able to calm down a bit.
That night we went out for our goodbye dinner at a Sichuan restaurant. Sichuan food tends to be a bit spicy hot. This meal was toned down a bit but there were a few dishes that set my mouth a flame.
China was almost over. The group, whom had become very close, was on the verge of returning to their real lives ... except us. We still had two weeks to go.
Pictures from day fourteen (07/06/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
The last day of the China portion of our trip. It was going to start off with a big one - The Great Wall. A couple days earlier, during our Peking Duck dinner, our guide made a suggestion. Normally the tour would take you to Badaling. Badaling is the most visited portion of the wall and, if you've seen a picture of the wall, it was probably taken there. She suggested that we instead go to a place she called the Badaling Remnant (The ticket of the place referred to it as "The Ancient of the Badaling Great Wall."). Our first reaction was of uncertainty. When we showed pictures to our friends and family back home we wanted them to recognize it. We didn't just want to see a pile of old bricks. We decided to trust our guide when the Wife pointed out that Malinda had not steered us wrong yet.
We left Beijing and along the way we passed Badaling. It was early morning and you could see that the wall was already packed with people and there were several buses parked in the parking lot. Like our guide had suggested, at Badaling all our pictures would be of backs, butts, and umbrellas. Less than ten minutes later our bus left the main highway and drove up a dirt road. The dirt road turned into a well maintained, and fairly new, paved road. We passed through a gate and passed a visitor's center that was still under construction. We left the bus, used the facilities (I saw this sign over one of the urinals), and went the rest of the way on foot.
 |
| The Great Wall of China. |
 |
| Lots of stairs on the Great Wall. |
 |
| The Wall all to ourselves - the youngest went the farthest. |
After lunch we shopped a bit but the Wife and I ended up buying only magnets ... and ice cream.
 |
| Ming Tombs. |
 |
| Long walkway at the Ming Tombs. |
That night we went out for our goodbye dinner at a Sichuan restaurant. Sichuan food tends to be a bit spicy hot. This meal was toned down a bit but there were a few dishes that set my mouth a flame.
China was almost over. The group, whom had become very close, was on the verge of returning to their real lives ... except us. We still had two weeks to go.
Pictures from day fourteen (07/06/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
Saturday, September 29, 2012
2012 Asian Adventure - Beijing (Part One)
Day Thirteen
We started our busy day with a short bus ride to Tiananmen Square. People of my generation remember this place as the location of trampled dreams of freedom. While the cloud of 1989 hung over this square there wasn't the feeling of being watched as there had been in Lhasa ... or maybe I'd just grown used to it. The square was crowded with people, many visiting the mausoleum of Chairman Mao. Our guide said the mausoleum was not open to tour groups (or was it foreigners?) and, frankly, was not worth the waiting in line. She said cameras weren't allowed in the mausoleum and that you were filed through and weren't given any time to stop and look at the preserved body of Mao ... which she described as looking like a wax figure. It was hard to not hear her skepticism ... I don't think she believes the body in the mausoleum is real.
We walked around the square, the third largest in the world, as our guide pointed out the government buildings and the museums bordering the square. There are a few monuments and large video screens that help break up the square (making it easier to break up crowds perhaps ...). We had our picture taken with the famous Gate of the Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen in Chinese - the south gate of the Forbidden City) and its iconic portrait of Chairman Mao.
Passing under the street in a tunnel we came out in front of the main gate of the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is huge. To reach the inner sanctum of the emperor you have to pass through five gates. Each layer has its own compliment of meeting halls, banquet rooms, soldier's barracks, etc. The deeper a visitor would enter, the more important they were. We entered the city with the throngs of mostly Chinese tourists.
China is the most populous country in the world. Until now, though, it never really felt that crowded. Beijing, and especially Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, felt full of people. We reached the second gate and we waited around while our guide picked up our passes. When she returned everyone did a quick head count and we came up one head short. This had never happen in the last twelve days. Early on, I think it was before we cruised the Yangtze, our guide gave everyone a slip of paper written in Chinese and English with her cell number. We were to use it if we got separated. One of the teachers from San Diego had gotten separated ... she used the paper ... it worked. This was the only time when something like this happened the entire trip.
We spent two and a half hours exploring this magnificent place. It just went on and on. For those into movies, "The Last Emperor" was filmed in the Forbidden City. The city includes meeting areas, banquet halls, barracks for soldiers, and lavish homes for the collection of the Emperor's women. While harem is probably more appropriate description, some of the Emperors did seem to collect women just to posses them. This theme, collections of wives, would follow our travels through Nepal, Bhutan, and India.
We exited the city through the gardens and the north entrance and headed for lunch. Thinking we were missing western food (our talk about the burgers in Xi'an may have sparked that idea) our guide took us to an Irish pub. The food was good but, strangely enough, didn't feel very western to me. Not all of our group agreed with having western food. It's one thing to chose it on your own and another to have the tour company do it. Another Chinese meal might have been more appropriate.
After lunch we visited the summer palace located on Kunming Lake (Kunminghu). We weren't there to tour the palace but to take a boat ride. This was fine with me as the Forbidden city would have been tough to top. On the grounds of the palace we got our first close up look at the lotus, a flower with significance in Buddhism. We'd already seen representations of the lotus in stone. It was nice to see it in person.
We left the entrance to the palace grounds and headed down a long covered walkway. The corridor is said to be one of the longest in the world. The walkway takes you through the gardens of the summer palace and provides views of the lake and gardens. The corridor itself is painted with historic scenes and art.
At the end we got on a boat that would take us out on the man-made lake. The excavated dirt was used to build Longevity Hill where some of the palace structures are located. The boat was a relaxing ride. A couple of little girls got their picture taken with several people in our group.
The boat delivered us to Nanhu Island, location of more summer palace temples. We walked back to the mainland over a bridge that offers a nice view of the lake, and all the pleasure boats criss-crossing the lake, before boarding our bus.
Our last stop on this already busy day was a visit with a family in a hutong. A hutong is a neighborhood characterized by narrow alleys made by walled in residences. The area we visited is some of the only privately owned property in China. Our guide described this area of Beijing as some of the most expensive residences in all of China. I found this remarkable as it looked like a slum to most of us, myself included. It was dirty, crowded, and not well maintained. I suspect that the houses behind the walls were another story. Most of these houses were owned by government and military officials. We walked through some narrow streets unpassable by our bus and visited a family. We enjoyed tea and talked about how the house had been passed from generation to generation.
After the visit we took a rickshaw ride around the hutong. This was the least enjoyable part of the tour for me so far. The rickshaw basically took us around in a big circle. If the rickshaw was taking us to a particular place that was unreachable by our bus I would have been fine with it but, since we returned to the starting point without stopping along the way, it felt more like a cheap amusement park ride for the tourists. This was a disappointment. I'd looked forward to the rickshaw ride and it fell flat. We did pass the bell tower that was closed when we went passed. We were not far from the drum tower where an American tourist (father to one of the Olympic coaches) was murdered during the Beijing Olympics. Both towers seem to have been closed since the Olympics.
That night a group of us went back to the restaurant where we'd had Peking Duck the night before and successfully ordered an awesome meal (pictures in the menu helped immensely). The sweet and sour pork was incredible - we ordered three plates of it to the confusion/consternation of the waiters ... and we finished everything we ordered. Ironically the members of our group who had complained about the western food at lunch went to an Indian restaurant for dinner.
Tomorrow was the last day of our China tour and one of the biggest attractions, one of the biggest in the world as a matter of fact - The Great Wall.
Pictures from day thirteen (07/05/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
We started our busy day with a short bus ride to Tiananmen Square. People of my generation remember this place as the location of trampled dreams of freedom. While the cloud of 1989 hung over this square there wasn't the feeling of being watched as there had been in Lhasa ... or maybe I'd just grown used to it. The square was crowded with people, many visiting the mausoleum of Chairman Mao. Our guide said the mausoleum was not open to tour groups (or was it foreigners?) and, frankly, was not worth the waiting in line. She said cameras weren't allowed in the mausoleum and that you were filed through and weren't given any time to stop and look at the preserved body of Mao ... which she described as looking like a wax figure. It was hard to not hear her skepticism ... I don't think she believes the body in the mausoleum is real.
We walked around the square, the third largest in the world, as our guide pointed out the government buildings and the museums bordering the square. There are a few monuments and large video screens that help break up the square (making it easier to break up crowds perhaps ...). We had our picture taken with the famous Gate of the Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen in Chinese - the south gate of the Forbidden City) and its iconic portrait of Chairman Mao.
 |
| Tiananmen Gate - Gate of Heavenly Peace - South entrance to the Forbidden City. |
China is the most populous country in the world. Until now, though, it never really felt that crowded. Beijing, and especially Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, felt full of people. We reached the second gate and we waited around while our guide picked up our passes. When she returned everyone did a quick head count and we came up one head short. This had never happen in the last twelve days. Early on, I think it was before we cruised the Yangtze, our guide gave everyone a slip of paper written in Chinese and English with her cell number. We were to use it if we got separated. One of the teachers from San Diego had gotten separated ... she used the paper ... it worked. This was the only time when something like this happened the entire trip.
 |
| A foo dog in front of an ornate building in the Forbidden City. |
 |
| The moat surrounding three sides of the Forbidden City. |
After lunch we visited the summer palace located on Kunming Lake (Kunminghu). We weren't there to tour the palace but to take a boat ride. This was fine with me as the Forbidden city would have been tough to top. On the grounds of the palace we got our first close up look at the lotus, a flower with significance in Buddhism. We'd already seen representations of the lotus in stone. It was nice to see it in person.
 |
| Lotus bloom at the Summer Palace. |
At the end we got on a boat that would take us out on the man-made lake. The excavated dirt was used to build Longevity Hill where some of the palace structures are located. The boat was a relaxing ride. A couple of little girls got their picture taken with several people in our group.
 |
| Summer Palace of Longevity Hill. |
Our last stop on this already busy day was a visit with a family in a hutong. A hutong is a neighborhood characterized by narrow alleys made by walled in residences. The area we visited is some of the only privately owned property in China. Our guide described this area of Beijing as some of the most expensive residences in all of China. I found this remarkable as it looked like a slum to most of us, myself included. It was dirty, crowded, and not well maintained. I suspect that the houses behind the walls were another story. Most of these houses were owned by government and military officials. We walked through some narrow streets unpassable by our bus and visited a family. We enjoyed tea and talked about how the house had been passed from generation to generation.
After the visit we took a rickshaw ride around the hutong. This was the least enjoyable part of the tour for me so far. The rickshaw basically took us around in a big circle. If the rickshaw was taking us to a particular place that was unreachable by our bus I would have been fine with it but, since we returned to the starting point without stopping along the way, it felt more like a cheap amusement park ride for the tourists. This was a disappointment. I'd looked forward to the rickshaw ride and it fell flat. We did pass the bell tower that was closed when we went passed. We were not far from the drum tower where an American tourist (father to one of the Olympic coaches) was murdered during the Beijing Olympics. Both towers seem to have been closed since the Olympics.
That night a group of us went back to the restaurant where we'd had Peking Duck the night before and successfully ordered an awesome meal (pictures in the menu helped immensely). The sweet and sour pork was incredible - we ordered three plates of it to the confusion/consternation of the waiters ... and we finished everything we ordered. Ironically the members of our group who had complained about the western food at lunch went to an Indian restaurant for dinner.
Tomorrow was the last day of our China tour and one of the biggest attractions, one of the biggest in the world as a matter of fact - The Great Wall.
Pictures from day thirteen (07/05/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
Sunday, September 23, 2012
2012 Asian Adventure - Clay And Duck.
Day 11
For the first time since the Yangtze cruise we actually got out of a city. Our first stop of the day was a big one: The Terracotta Army.
The terracotta army, life-size, detailed soldiers, archers, and chariots made from terracotta, was built as a memorial (like the pyramids of Egypt) to the founder of the Qin dynasty (Qin is pronounced Chin and is where China got its western name), the first imperial dynasty of China. The soldiers, located in underground vaults, were built to protect and serve the emperor in the afterlife. The construction of the mausoleum and terracotta army took almost forty years to build and almost 700,000 workers. There are an estimated 8,000 life sized figures in the complex. Not long after the fall of the dynasty, a later dynastic leader sent mobs to break into the vaults and destroy and burn everything they could find. After their destruction, they were lost to the world until 1974, over 2,100 years.
In 1974 a group of farmers were digging a well when they pulled up several terracotta body parts. The villagers thought the parts were cursed and the farmers who found them were forced to leave their village. Several years later some of the discoveries were sent to a professor who recognized the significance of the find and the Chinese government began excavation. In the 2,000s, during a visit to China, ex-President Clinton asked to meet the farmer who discovered the soldiers. The Chinese were frazzled as they did not know where they were. They eventually found one of the farmers and, after teaching him how to write some basic words (he was illiterate) was introduced to the President. President Clinton asked for his autograph and the farmer, not knowing how to write his name, simply drew three circles (representing past, present, and future - a very Buddhist idea). Soon after this, the organization that was excavating the site hired the farmer, Mr. Yang. He now has a desk at the gift store where he autographs books and photographs.
We toured the museum and three excavated pits. The soldiers, now all in pieces, are slowly being excavated and reconstructed. It is interesting to see the jumbled pieces and the complete soldiers side by side. I learn shortly before leaving on this trip that the original soldiers were all painted. Unfortunately the paint crumbled to dust when the pieces were exposed to air. They are doing a great job restoring the soldiers but still have a long way to go.
While we were walking around Chinese high school students were cornering members of our group to ask them survey questions about the facilities, how they could be improved, what we didn't like, and stuff like that. I managed to avoid them but the Wife was hit up a couple times though one student did give her a post card as a gift for answering her questions.
After lunch we stopped at a tea house where we were given a tea tasting and a demonstration of the "Tea Culture" (sometimes referred to as the Chinese Tea Ceremony). I opted for a cup of hot chocolate instead (I usually don't like hot chocolate but that cup tasted rich and delicious). The ceremony for making the tea is very elaborate. I sat back and watched as other in our group tasted different teas.
After the tea room we headed back to the gift shop for one final walk through. The most common souvenir is a set of miniature terracotta soldiers. As we walked around the excavation hawkers would jump out of the bushes (literally at times) trying to sell you cheap sets. It turns out there is a factory nearby that manufactures replicas for the museum gift shop using clay from the same area as the terracotta soldiers. The hawkers are selling the factory rejects. One thing we noticed is that most of these cheap sets smelled like dung. We joked it was yak dung.
We decided to spend a little extra and buy a set in the museum gift shop. After we'd bought the set a member of our group asked if we'd had them signed by the farmer. When we said no he said don't be one of those people who appear on Antiques Roadshow and discover your set is worth $500 but if they had been signed they would be $10,000!!! We went over, payed the small signing fee, and got the base of each figure signed by Mr. Yang. The Wife then proceeded to carry the terracotta soldiers in her carry on through the rest of China, Nepal, Bhutan, and India - we got some strange looks from the x-ray machine operators.
After the terracotta army we went to the obligatory stop at a shop - this one being a furniture store. The furniture was very beautiful and very over priced and nothing was bought. This China trip had more shopping than any of our other General Tour's trips. In Peru we had only a one hour stop at a market. In Jordan we had a one hour stop at a store where handicapped women made crafts to sell. In China I lost count of the number of hours we spent stopping at "official" shopping stops. I guess this is one way to keep tour costs down - get outside sponsors.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the wall that surrounds old Xi'an. It's pretty impressive but we knew we would soon see the great wall and the Xi'an wall was good but not that great. We did see a ceremonial changing of the guard with soldiers in period armor and uniforms.
Back to the hotel and up the elevator passed the nonexistent fourth floor - the number '4' is unlucky in China. Interesting how a secular society is so full of superstition. That night we had another burger which I augmented with a trio of chocolate (mousse, macaroon, and ice cream).
Day 12
Day seven started with flight number seven. We flew into Beijing and slowly made our way through some terrible traffic to our hotel. It was the fourth of July and we joked with our guide that we wanted american flags, hot dogs, and fireworks to shoot off in Tienanmen Square the next day (Actually we really didn't know which day was the fourth - the date line really screwed with us). Malinda just looked at us and ignored our requests. I was never sure if Malinda really understood our American sense of humor.
When we were out of the bus, Malinda would hold up a stuffed panda on a stick for us to follow. In Xi'an we kidnapped the panda and left her a ransom note. Malinda read the note and totally ignored it. For a while we thought she might think we were making fun of her but she claimed to understand our humor. I still wonder if she really did.
After a rest at the hotel - and some underwear laundering for me - we went to see the Chinese acrobats. I didn't really take any pictures (it was too dark to really get any good pictures) but take my word for it, it was amazing. So was the ice cream bar I had there.
From the acrobat show we went to a restaurant across from our hotel where we had our welcome to China meal. "Wha?!?" you say? Normally this China trip starts in Beijing and ends in Shanghai. For the first time they reversed the order of the tour. So, instead of a welcome dinner on our first stop in China, we were having a welcome dinner in our last stop of the China tour. The meal was one of the best Chinese meals I've had with the highlight being Peking Duck.
Many of our meals were included with our tour. In China these meals included tea or coffee ... or any hot water based drink. Sodas and ice water were not free and had to be paid for separately. We all understood paying for soda but we were a bit confused about the water. During our meal someone at our table had an idea: we ordered hot water on the rock. The waiters talked it over a bit and decided that hot water on ice would be included with the meal for no extra charge. Bizarre.
On the way back to the hotel a few of us visited the Wal-Mart next door from the hotel. It didn't have quite the same feel as the one at home. I didn't buy anything.
Later that night there was a knock on the door. When we opened it there was a roll of toilet paper with, I kid you not, sausages on forks stuck in the roll making it look like an exploding fireworks. Nothing like wienies and toilet paper to celebrate the fourth of July! Our friends from San Diego were awesome and quite creative with what they found at the Wal-Mart.
The last twelve days had been really full and we still had two more full days left in Beijing.
Pictures from days eleven and twelve (07/03 - 07/04/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
For the first time since the Yangtze cruise we actually got out of a city. Our first stop of the day was a big one: The Terracotta Army.
The terracotta army, life-size, detailed soldiers, archers, and chariots made from terracotta, was built as a memorial (like the pyramids of Egypt) to the founder of the Qin dynasty (Qin is pronounced Chin and is where China got its western name), the first imperial dynasty of China. The soldiers, located in underground vaults, were built to protect and serve the emperor in the afterlife. The construction of the mausoleum and terracotta army took almost forty years to build and almost 700,000 workers. There are an estimated 8,000 life sized figures in the complex. Not long after the fall of the dynasty, a later dynastic leader sent mobs to break into the vaults and destroy and burn everything they could find. After their destruction, they were lost to the world until 1974, over 2,100 years.
 |
| The Terracotta Soldiers |
We toured the museum and three excavated pits. The soldiers, now all in pieces, are slowly being excavated and reconstructed. It is interesting to see the jumbled pieces and the complete soldiers side by side. I learn shortly before leaving on this trip that the original soldiers were all painted. Unfortunately the paint crumbled to dust when the pieces were exposed to air. They are doing a great job restoring the soldiers but still have a long way to go.
 |
| Pit One - The largest of the excavations open to the public. |
After lunch we stopped at a tea house where we were given a tea tasting and a demonstration of the "Tea Culture" (sometimes referred to as the Chinese Tea Ceremony). I opted for a cup of hot chocolate instead (I usually don't like hot chocolate but that cup tasted rich and delicious). The ceremony for making the tea is very elaborate. I sat back and watched as other in our group tasted different teas.
 |
| Different types of tea. |
We decided to spend a little extra and buy a set in the museum gift shop. After we'd bought the set a member of our group asked if we'd had them signed by the farmer. When we said no he said don't be one of those people who appear on Antiques Roadshow and discover your set is worth $500 but if they had been signed they would be $10,000!!! We went over, payed the small signing fee, and got the base of each figure signed by Mr. Yang. The Wife then proceeded to carry the terracotta soldiers in her carry on through the rest of China, Nepal, Bhutan, and India - we got some strange looks from the x-ray machine operators.
After the terracotta army we went to the obligatory stop at a shop - this one being a furniture store. The furniture was very beautiful and very over priced and nothing was bought. This China trip had more shopping than any of our other General Tour's trips. In Peru we had only a one hour stop at a market. In Jordan we had a one hour stop at a store where handicapped women made crafts to sell. In China I lost count of the number of hours we spent stopping at "official" shopping stops. I guess this is one way to keep tour costs down - get outside sponsors.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the wall that surrounds old Xi'an. It's pretty impressive but we knew we would soon see the great wall and the Xi'an wall was good but not that great. We did see a ceremonial changing of the guard with soldiers in period armor and uniforms.
Back to the hotel and up the elevator passed the nonexistent fourth floor - the number '4' is unlucky in China. Interesting how a secular society is so full of superstition. That night we had another burger which I augmented with a trio of chocolate (mousse, macaroon, and ice cream).
Day 12
Day seven started with flight number seven. We flew into Beijing and slowly made our way through some terrible traffic to our hotel. It was the fourth of July and we joked with our guide that we wanted american flags, hot dogs, and fireworks to shoot off in Tienanmen Square the next day (Actually we really didn't know which day was the fourth - the date line really screwed with us). Malinda just looked at us and ignored our requests. I was never sure if Malinda really understood our American sense of humor.
When we were out of the bus, Malinda would hold up a stuffed panda on a stick for us to follow. In Xi'an we kidnapped the panda and left her a ransom note. Malinda read the note and totally ignored it. For a while we thought she might think we were making fun of her but she claimed to understand our humor. I still wonder if she really did.
After a rest at the hotel - and some underwear laundering for me - we went to see the Chinese acrobats. I didn't really take any pictures (it was too dark to really get any good pictures) but take my word for it, it was amazing. So was the ice cream bar I had there.
From the acrobat show we went to a restaurant across from our hotel where we had our welcome to China meal. "Wha?!?" you say? Normally this China trip starts in Beijing and ends in Shanghai. For the first time they reversed the order of the tour. So, instead of a welcome dinner on our first stop in China, we were having a welcome dinner in our last stop of the China tour. The meal was one of the best Chinese meals I've had with the highlight being Peking Duck.
 |
| Beijing after dark. |
On the way back to the hotel a few of us visited the Wal-Mart next door from the hotel. It didn't have quite the same feel as the one at home. I didn't buy anything.
Later that night there was a knock on the door. When we opened it there was a roll of toilet paper with, I kid you not, sausages on forks stuck in the roll making it look like an exploding fireworks. Nothing like wienies and toilet paper to celebrate the fourth of July! Our friends from San Diego were awesome and quite creative with what they found at the Wal-Mart.
The last twelve days had been really full and we still had two more full days left in Beijing.
Pictures from days eleven and twelve (07/03 - 07/04/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
Sunday, September 16, 2012
2012 Asian Adventure - Panda-monium
Day Nine
After breakfast and a lazy morning, we went to the airport and caught a two hour flight to Chengdu (flight number five). We checked into the hotel and had a couple hours to ourselves. I spent the time walking around the shops outside the hotel and buying us a pair of Coke Zeros.
We were picked up and went out for dinner before we went to the Sichuan Opera (I hadn't eaten lunch and I only picked at my dinner - no appetite). The Chinese opera was not what I expected. It felt more like a variety show. We took our seats a few rows from the stage. There were tables with tea cups in front of all the seats - the Chinese sure like their tea. Before the show performers sat in front of mirrors in a room off of the main seating area putting on their makeup. A crowd, including me, gathered around to take their pictures and to see how the colorful makeup was applied.
I returned to our seat as the show began. Men with long spouted teapots - I'm talking three to five foot spouts - went around filling and refilling the tea cups. Watching them fill a tea cup from a distance away was a show all by itself.
The show started with musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments. This was followed by puppetry, singing, dancing. performances resembling opera, and comedy routines. One of the most interesting was a man doing shadow puppets on a big screen. He was amazing.
The show ended with the amazing face changing dancers (Bian Lian). The dancers have amazing costumes and their faces are covered. In a split second the masks change over and over. It is so fast you can't really see what it happening. Their method is a secret - only males are taught because would marry out of the family and take the secret with them. As with all secrets, more outsiders are learning the trick. It was so mesmerizing I didn't even take a picture of them, the main attraction of the Sichuan Opera.
That night I didn't sleep well. I think I was suffering from a lack of food, water, and the drop in altitude. I was in a weird mood and I had difficulty clearing my head enough to sleep. I was awake at 3:00 AM to hear the people cheering the Euro 2012 games in the bar next door to the hotel.
Day Ten
A terrible night's sleep meant a crappy start to day ten. I was tired, cranky, and a little wobbly on my feet. I felt sick. I tried my best to hide it as we boarded the bus to go to the Chengdu Research base for Panda Breeding.
The morning was drizzly. This means it was hot and humid. We arrived at the research station and followed a guide as he took us to the panda enclosure. The guide was not familiar with what General Tours' groups did but our guide Malinda knew and she let him know exactly what she expected. The station guide was taken aback but did exactly what she told him. (Our guide said that Beijing women are known for being pushy and you could hear it in her voice when she talked to the station guide.) We were led into a building with cages (We were followed in by Chinese tourists who were curious where these foreigners were going. They were shooed out by the station guide - Chinese can be a little pushy at times).
Inside the building we were given smocks, booties, and gloves to protect the pandas from any strange diseases we may be carrying. I put this extra layer on and my temp went up immediately. We helped cut apples for the panda. Fortunately we'd arrived at the station a little late and the cages had already been cleaned out (cleaning out the cages is one of the things the tours usually did). A couple panda cubs were called into a cage and, one at a time, we each placed a piece of apple on the end of a stick and fed it to the pandas. We then went outside and, using a much larger stick ( 'pole' would be a better word), we fed other pandas in the open air pen. The pandas were trained to stand on their hind legs to get food - this helped them get exercise. Not feeling great I stood back and skipped this part and just watched the others feed the pandas. After this it was back into the enclosure where we gave the cubs a bath with a hose. I skipped this as well.
As soon as our panda volunteer experience was over I tore of the smack, booties and gloves and practically ran next door to a small shop and bought bottles of water (and a magnet of course). I downed my water on the way to our next stop - the babies. For a $200 donation you could get your picture taken holding a baby panda. The "baby" was larger than most teddy bears. The Wife and I decided not to hold the baby. All the other women in our group payed up and held the baby. None of the men did. As we were waiting for the women to cycle through the baby holding experience I found a chair in an air conditioned space and slowly felt myself return from the dead.
It was getting close to lunch time and we headed for the center's restaurant. Along the way we saw a relative to the panda, the red panda, which showed very clearly that pandas were not bears. Panda, both the black and white ones and the red ones, are most closely related to the raccoon. The red panda were more raccoon-like and very cute.
We ate lunch at the center in a small restaurant not far from a lake. The lake was full of huge koi and black swans (a first for me). I decided to go western at the restaurant and ordered spaghetti. Best. Damn. Spaghetti. Ever! Well it wasn't that great but it did complete my resurrection. I'd obviously not eaten enough or had enough liquids in the last twenty-four hours. I decided to top off the tank with one of those mystery Magnum ice cream bars - the Chinese description apparently said vanilla with dark chocolate coating - Yum!
As we were leaving the drizzle that had been lingering all day turned into a light rain. We huddled under umbrellas while people of our group went through the little panda center gift shop where all things panda could be purchased before boarding the bus and heading back to the airport.
Flight number six took us to Xi'an. Our guide was born near Xi'an in, what she described as, a small town ... of 200,000. When you have a population of 1.35 Billion your idea of small becomes a bit skewed. I think she was happy to be in a more familiar place.
On the bus to the hotel, for the first time, our guide suggested that there were parts of the city that were not safe for tourists. This convinced most of our group to stay in the hotel that night and not go out. We ended up ordering burgers from room service - something almost everyone in our group did - and had a satisfying western meal. The burger, after almost ten days of Chinese food ... was awesome.
Pictures from days nine and ten (07/01 - 07/02/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
After breakfast and a lazy morning, we went to the airport and caught a two hour flight to Chengdu (flight number five). We checked into the hotel and had a couple hours to ourselves. I spent the time walking around the shops outside the hotel and buying us a pair of Coke Zeros.
We were picked up and went out for dinner before we went to the Sichuan Opera (I hadn't eaten lunch and I only picked at my dinner - no appetite). The Chinese opera was not what I expected. It felt more like a variety show. We took our seats a few rows from the stage. There were tables with tea cups in front of all the seats - the Chinese sure like their tea. Before the show performers sat in front of mirrors in a room off of the main seating area putting on their makeup. A crowd, including me, gathered around to take their pictures and to see how the colorful makeup was applied.
 |
| Actress putting on her makeup. |
The show started with musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments. This was followed by puppetry, singing, dancing. performances resembling opera, and comedy routines. One of the most interesting was a man doing shadow puppets on a big screen. He was amazing.
 |
| Chinese opera dancer. |
That night I didn't sleep well. I think I was suffering from a lack of food, water, and the drop in altitude. I was in a weird mood and I had difficulty clearing my head enough to sleep. I was awake at 3:00 AM to hear the people cheering the Euro 2012 games in the bar next door to the hotel.
Day Ten
A terrible night's sleep meant a crappy start to day ten. I was tired, cranky, and a little wobbly on my feet. I felt sick. I tried my best to hide it as we boarded the bus to go to the Chengdu Research base for Panda Breeding.
 |
| The Giant Panda - a relative of the raccoon, not the bear. |
Inside the building we were given smocks, booties, and gloves to protect the pandas from any strange diseases we may be carrying. I put this extra layer on and my temp went up immediately. We helped cut apples for the panda. Fortunately we'd arrived at the station a little late and the cages had already been cleaned out (cleaning out the cages is one of the things the tours usually did). A couple panda cubs were called into a cage and, one at a time, we each placed a piece of apple on the end of a stick and fed it to the pandas. We then went outside and, using a much larger stick ( 'pole' would be a better word), we fed other pandas in the open air pen. The pandas were trained to stand on their hind legs to get food - this helped them get exercise. Not feeling great I stood back and skipped this part and just watched the others feed the pandas. After this it was back into the enclosure where we gave the cubs a bath with a hose. I skipped this as well.
 |
| Panda standing to get a treat and to exercise. |
It was getting close to lunch time and we headed for the center's restaurant. Along the way we saw a relative to the panda, the red panda, which showed very clearly that pandas were not bears. Panda, both the black and white ones and the red ones, are most closely related to the raccoon. The red panda were more raccoon-like and very cute.
 |
| Huge, and hungry, koi. |
As we were leaving the drizzle that had been lingering all day turned into a light rain. We huddled under umbrellas while people of our group went through the little panda center gift shop where all things panda could be purchased before boarding the bus and heading back to the airport.
Flight number six took us to Xi'an. Our guide was born near Xi'an in, what she described as, a small town ... of 200,000. When you have a population of 1.35 Billion your idea of small becomes a bit skewed. I think she was happy to be in a more familiar place.
On the bus to the hotel, for the first time, our guide suggested that there were parts of the city that were not safe for tourists. This convinced most of our group to stay in the hotel that night and not go out. We ended up ordering burgers from room service - something almost everyone in our group did - and had a satisfying western meal. The burger, after almost ten days of Chinese food ... was awesome.
Pictures from days nine and ten (07/01 - 07/02/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
Sunday, September 02, 2012
2012 Asian Adventure - Cruising the Three Gorges (Part Two)
Day Five
On our last full day on the Yangtze Explorer we had a choice to make. We could either go to the relocation village or we could go to the Ghost City. The relocation village would take you to a village relocated after the water level rose to see how people were taken care of after the dam was built and "get a glimpse of real life in China". The Ghost City is a temple that represents the Chinese afterlife.
Now, our tour group had been together for a whole four days and we were already getting along awesomely so it was no surprise when everyone said, almost in unison, "Ghost City!" Our guide was a little flabbergasted I think. Most of us tour goers are interested in the old China and all the history. The guide was pushing the modern China. China has a very different way of looking at its history. History is to be forgotten and put away to allow for the new, be it a new dynasty or a new form of government, to be front and center, one example of how Confucianism affects Chinese thought. Elders are to be respected but, as soon as they die, all pictures, painting, or other images of the Elder along with all of his/her possessions are to be disposed of. That is how China treats its history ... they dispose of it. I think, it has only changed recently once they realized travelers would pay to see it.
So, instead of seeing the modern China of the relocation village, we went to the Ghost City. Our guide came with us ... a bit reluctantly I think. While she said she was not religious she said the city made her nervous. It may have been the depictions of ghosts and the tortures of Hell ... or it may have been the over 600 steps we would have to climb to get there.
After climbing steps from the ship up to street level we took a tram to the entrance of the Ghost City. From there we walked the shop-keeper gauntlet and then up even more steps up to the temples. To make it feel bit more like Hell, a new escalator had been installed next to the steps we went up ... but they were not working yet. At the top we passed temples and shrines of various protectors, warriors, and gods.
We reached a set of three bridges - one of the tests needed to pass into heaven. One gives you health. One gives you wealth. One gives you love. If I remember right you had to cross the bridge in seven steps so The Wife and I held hands and walked across the love bridge. Neither of us was thrown into the water so we passed the test.
After another temple we walked a path lined with representations of ghosts, each representing a sin or a virtue. The statues looked very new but they are supposed to be old. The temple were built almost 1,600 years ago and rebuilt a thousand years later so a lot of the complex is close to six hundred years old. This temple complex, unlike many we saw, was not destroyed during the cultural revolution because the soldiers were afraid - They didn't want to end up in Hell. Who would?
At the top is a temple to the head deity who determines if you go to Hell or Paradise. In the temple there were statues depicting the tortures of hell. Many of these were pretty gruesome. I see why the superstitious soldiers left everything intact.
By the time we'd gone through the whole temple complex and had returned to the ship I'd pretty much sweated through every item of clothing I was wearing. It didn't seem hot but the humidity ....
There were things scheduled that afternoon aboard ship. I ended up skipping some of it. After a shower and lunch I skipped the Captain's tour of the bridge and the Chinese painting and Calligraphy demonstrations. Instead I went to the ship's spa and had a ninety minute Chinese Acupressure massage. When I showed up at the spa I pointed at the acupressure treatment. They looked at my choice and asked if I were sure I wanted that and tried to steer me more towards a Swedish style massage. I insisted and take into a room by the tiny little lady who proceeded to kneed my muscles with the strength of an amazon. I swear she could have snapped your neck like a twig ... with one tiny little hand. I also discovered that a little pain, when applied appropriately really relaxes your muscles. The ninety minutes went by like seconds and I left feeling incredible
My massage ended in time for me to join the mahjong class already in progress. I watched over the Wife's shoulder and learned the basic rules. After coming really close to winning her first game, the Wife turned her place over to me where I proceeded to lose the next three games ... coming close to winning only once. (SH from San Diego won all four games.)
We were all winding down from our three days on the ship and we were all ready to move on to the next stage of our China trip. We were all getting a little tired of the hazy sunshine and the lack of wildlife - I saw a total of four birds over the three days. Our guide and the ship's crew couldn't really give us an explanation for the lack of wildlife. We all suspected a combination of habitat destruction by the dam and pollution.
Our last full day on the river ended with a Captain's dinner with a variety of Chinese food. All the staff were in costume. We dressed up as best we could - I didn't really pack any really nice clothes but I did have a button down shirt and a nice, but casual, pair of pants. The food, which up until then was excellent (we all ate way too much on that ship), was only mediocre. Chinese cuisine is not on the top of my list but it was good enough.
I mentioned that I'd developed a disinterest in cruising. I have to say my experience aboard the Yangtze Explorer has change my opinion a bit. Small, intimate, informal cruises up interesting rivers now have an attraction. I'm already thinking about taking cruises up the Nile and Amazon rivers someday.
Day Six
Our ship had docked in Chongqing the night before. We had time to kill before our afternoon flight so we got on a bus and went to a shopping district in old Chongqing. Our guide gave us some time and the Wife and I wandered around, priced a few things, explored the exotic shops (at least for us) and restaurants. This street felt more authentic compared to what we'd seen in Shanghai. We didn't buy anything. We did look at the food ... but octopus tentacles on a stick didn't seem appealing.
From there we went to the airport. This is where the weirdness started. Our next flight was taking us to Lhasa, Tibet and security was tight ... excessively so. Our guide had told us she was worried about Tibet. We were on a group visa which meant if one of us got sick and couldn't travel then all of us would not be able to go. We could not be carrying an "excessive amount of literature" like magazines or books about Tibet. We had to start being careful what we said and who we spoke to. The guide also emphasized how lucky we were to have gotten our visa since Tibet had been shut down since some tourists unfurled a "Free Tibet" sign and several monks had self-immolated.
We got through security without any issues and we took the short flight to Lhasa. From the plane you could see the hills become mountains and plains become valleys. As we approached the Lhasa airport I looked out the window and saw anti-aircraft missile batteries ... we weren't in Kansas anymore.
We were met at the airport by our Tibetan guide (Full blooded Tibetan - not a Chinese Tibetan), Max, who led us to the bus and talked about Tibet on the way to Lhasa (The airport is about an hour outside the city). From the beginning you could see there was some tension between our two guides. I perfect example of the Han Chinese - Tibetan relationship.
Lhasa is divided into old and new towns. Old Lhasa is Tibetan. New Lhasa is Han Chinese. Lhasa is now half Chinese. We passed through new Lhasa on the way to our hotel and passed several mining and drilling ministry buildings. I now know why China wants total control of Tibet.
We checked into our hotel. I crossed the street to a small store and bought some soda and water ... I even used one of the hand signals to indicate that I wanted six cans of Coke Zero. The rest of the evening was resting, eating, and resting some more. I felt very tired, had a mild headache, and I felt like I was floating - all altitude related I suspect. Lhasa would be our highest spot during our Asia trip at 11,450 ft (3,490 m). Our Tibetan adventure would start tomorrow.
Pictures from days five and six (06/27 - 06/28/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
 |
| Hilltop temple in the morning mist along the Yangtze river. |
Now, our tour group had been together for a whole four days and we were already getting along awesomely so it was no surprise when everyone said, almost in unison, "Ghost City!" Our guide was a little flabbergasted I think. Most of us tour goers are interested in the old China and all the history. The guide was pushing the modern China. China has a very different way of looking at its history. History is to be forgotten and put away to allow for the new, be it a new dynasty or a new form of government, to be front and center, one example of how Confucianism affects Chinese thought. Elders are to be respected but, as soon as they die, all pictures, painting, or other images of the Elder along with all of his/her possessions are to be disposed of. That is how China treats its history ... they dispose of it. I think, it has only changed recently once they realized travelers would pay to see it.
So, instead of seeing the modern China of the relocation village, we went to the Ghost City. Our guide came with us ... a bit reluctantly I think. While she said she was not religious she said the city made her nervous. It may have been the depictions of ghosts and the tortures of Hell ... or it may have been the over 600 steps we would have to climb to get there.
 |
| A protector of the heavenly realm. |
We reached a set of three bridges - one of the tests needed to pass into heaven. One gives you health. One gives you wealth. One gives you love. If I remember right you had to cross the bridge in seven steps so The Wife and I held hands and walked across the love bridge. Neither of us was thrown into the water so we passed the test.
 |
| Golden God. |
 |
| An inebriated ghost. |
By the time we'd gone through the whole temple complex and had returned to the ship I'd pretty much sweated through every item of clothing I was wearing. It didn't seem hot but the humidity ....
There were things scheduled that afternoon aboard ship. I ended up skipping some of it. After a shower and lunch I skipped the Captain's tour of the bridge and the Chinese painting and Calligraphy demonstrations. Instead I went to the ship's spa and had a ninety minute Chinese Acupressure massage. When I showed up at the spa I pointed at the acupressure treatment. They looked at my choice and asked if I were sure I wanted that and tried to steer me more towards a Swedish style massage. I insisted and take into a room by the tiny little lady who proceeded to kneed my muscles with the strength of an amazon. I swear she could have snapped your neck like a twig ... with one tiny little hand. I also discovered that a little pain, when applied appropriately really relaxes your muscles. The ninety minutes went by like seconds and I left feeling incredible
My massage ended in time for me to join the mahjong class already in progress. I watched over the Wife's shoulder and learned the basic rules. After coming really close to winning her first game, the Wife turned her place over to me where I proceeded to lose the next three games ... coming close to winning only once. (SH from San Diego won all four games.)
We were all winding down from our three days on the ship and we were all ready to move on to the next stage of our China trip. We were all getting a little tired of the hazy sunshine and the lack of wildlife - I saw a total of four birds over the three days. Our guide and the ship's crew couldn't really give us an explanation for the lack of wildlife. We all suspected a combination of habitat destruction by the dam and pollution.
Our last full day on the river ended with a Captain's dinner with a variety of Chinese food. All the staff were in costume. We dressed up as best we could - I didn't really pack any really nice clothes but I did have a button down shirt and a nice, but casual, pair of pants. The food, which up until then was excellent (we all ate way too much on that ship), was only mediocre. Chinese cuisine is not on the top of my list but it was good enough.
I mentioned that I'd developed a disinterest in cruising. I have to say my experience aboard the Yangtze Explorer has change my opinion a bit. Small, intimate, informal cruises up interesting rivers now have an attraction. I'm already thinking about taking cruises up the Nile and Amazon rivers someday.
Day Six
Our ship had docked in Chongqing the night before. We had time to kill before our afternoon flight so we got on a bus and went to a shopping district in old Chongqing. Our guide gave us some time and the Wife and I wandered around, priced a few things, explored the exotic shops (at least for us) and restaurants. This street felt more authentic compared to what we'd seen in Shanghai. We didn't buy anything. We did look at the food ... but octopus tentacles on a stick didn't seem appealing.
 |
| Chongqing market street - the Panda is our guide ... follow the panda. |
We got through security without any issues and we took the short flight to Lhasa. From the plane you could see the hills become mountains and plains become valleys. As we approached the Lhasa airport I looked out the window and saw anti-aircraft missile batteries ... we weren't in Kansas anymore.
 |
| Flying over the Himalayan foothills. |
Lhasa is divided into old and new towns. Old Lhasa is Tibetan. New Lhasa is Han Chinese. Lhasa is now half Chinese. We passed through new Lhasa on the way to our hotel and passed several mining and drilling ministry buildings. I now know why China wants total control of Tibet.
We checked into our hotel. I crossed the street to a small store and bought some soda and water ... I even used one of the hand signals to indicate that I wanted six cans of Coke Zero. The rest of the evening was resting, eating, and resting some more. I felt very tired, had a mild headache, and I felt like I was floating - all altitude related I suspect. Lhasa would be our highest spot during our Asia trip at 11,450 ft (3,490 m). Our Tibetan adventure would start tomorrow.
Pictures from days five and six (06/27 - 06/28/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
Sunday, August 26, 2012
2012 Asian Adventure - Cruising The Three Gorges (Part One)
Day Two
Day two was a transition day. We had a mid day flight to Yichang.
In the morning the guide took some of our group to the temple we'd seen on our first day in Shanghai. Since we'd already been there we had a lazy morning sleeping in and having another good breakfast in the hotel. I had my first taste of Dragon Fruit here. The dragon fruit has a white pulp with tiny edible black seeds. The texture is similar to watermelon. People describe the taste as a cross between a kiwi and a pear. I definitely tasted the pear. The flavor is a little too mild for me - almost tasteless actually.
We went to the airport and, as we were checking in the counter agent asked me where I was going. One of the perks of being on a tour is that transportation is handled for you. When the agent asked where I was going I came up blank. Didn't have the foggiest idea. Fortunately the guide was nearby and I discovered we were flying to Yichang. The two hour flight, flight number three of the trip, was uneventful. We arrived in Yinchang, picked up our bags, and boarded a bus.
On the bus our guide taught us simple Chinese words. Ni Hao ... Hello. How to count from one to ten. She also showed us common one hand gestures for counting to ten. Not much of that stuck with me though I still have the handout she gave us somewhere.
The bus arrived to the edge of the Yangtze river where we boarded the Yangtze Explorer. The four year old ship holds about 124 passengers but, since we were traveling in the off season there were only about forty or fifty people on board. After working for the navy for twenty years and riding several navy ships over that time, I'd developed a strong disinterest in taking cruises. I'd enjoyed our inside passage ferry cruise on the way to Alaska but I'd never really considered that a cruise. When we boarded my feelings were assuaged a bit by the rather informality of the ship and the large size of our room. All of the rooms had balconies, large beds, and a nice bathroom. Okay, we noticed something: The bathrooms on the ship (and in most of our Chinese hotels) had a large window looking from the shower area into the living area. They all had shades that could be pulled but it seemed strange and a little voyeuristic. Weird.
We spent the late afternoon and evening exploring our new home for the next four days. As we ran into crew members, they would introduce themselves (their adopted English name). After one such encounter, as we were walking away, we could hear her repeating our names over and over as she memorized our names. The ship was proud of its personal service. A nice dinner (with some awesome desserts) and an introductory movie about the three gorges dam rounded off our day. The ship didn't set sail until the next morning.
Day Three
The ship had activities scheduled throughout the day. Day Three started early with Tai Chi classes at 7:00 AM. We'd taken Tai Chi classes before. The young crew member who taught the class was not as good as our teacher. She went through things a little too quickly. There was very little warm up (The class was only 30 minutes vs the hour we'd had). I remembered some of my class moves but it was hard to follow our new teacher. We ended up skipping the other two Tai Chi sessions.
As we ate our awesome breakfast (The food aboard was incredible) the ship set sail and began chugging up the river. We soon entered Xiling Gorge, the first of the three gorges of the three gorges dam. This gorge, being down river from the dam, was the least disturbed when the dam was built.
As we went through the gorge a crew member top side pointed out the various peaks, towns, and other features along the river (I thought she kept pointing out the 'pigs' but she was saying peaks - crazy Chinese accent). The crew member, Jane, was very knowledgeable about the places along the gorge and its history.
After exiting the gorges we approached the dam. We docked and we got on a bus that took us to a three gorges museum as well as a large memorial garden which offered a view of the dam. The dam, one of the largest in the world, generates electricity for a large portion of China as well as prevents flooding along the Yangtze river, something that occurred quite often before the dam was built. The dam submerged 13 cities, 140 towns, and over 1,600 villages along the river. All of these people were relocated to higher ground. While the numbers are impressive, the dam doesn't seem that big. I think, since you really can't get that close to the dam, it is hard to grasp its true scale.
After our ground tour we got back on the boat, had lunch, and then waited our turn for the ship to go through the locks. As we waited we attended one of the classes/demonstrations offered by the ship. This one was about Chinese Reflexology (Chinese massage).
After the demo I went topside to observe the transit through the locks. This was the first time I've ridden a ship through locks. It was pretty cool. The locks were huge. Along with our ship there were four barges in the lock. You probably could have fit six full barges in the lock. There are five locks, though, as the water level was a little low to accommodate the monsoon rains, only four were needed to raise the ships up to the level of the river upstream. The fit was so tight that you could reach out and touch the slimy sides of the lock.
I left after we passed from the first lock into the second and went to a lecture and demonstration on Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Wife volunteered for some acupuncture while another lady did cupping. Our guide was a big proponent of cupping recommending it for everything from a cold, the flu, or just a long day at work. After the demonstration I would begin seeing the large, perfectly round bruises on the shoulders of people who had been cupped.
After another good dinner we went to a "Cultural Cabaret". The show, put on my the ship's crew, started out okay but, when the Spice Boys started performing, we'd had enough and we went to bed.
Day Four
Day four turned out to be one of the busier days of our cruise. The ship had docked the night before at Badong. (The view from our cabin that night.) After breakfast we boarded a smaller ferry that took us up the Shennong Stream. The "Stream", formerly a roaring rapids, was now a wide and very calm tributary of the Yangtze.
The ferry took us along the steep cliffs and mountain valleys of the Long Chang gorge. On some cliffs we saw hanging coffins where coffins had been perched up on the cliff. Many of these coffins were relocated (mostly to museums) when the water level was raised by the dam.
The vistas, marred only by the ever present haze, were spectacular. The views of cliffs, caverns, stands of bamboo, and more kept coming - the next view better than the one before.
At the end of the stream, where it narrowed, we left the ferry and boarded a sampan. We were given a demonstration of how sampans once were pulled along the stream by men on the shore. (You can still see the paths the pullers would run along.) The sampan rowers were very competitive as we passed other boats full of sightseers. Some of their local festivals feature sampan races and our rowers had won a few races. We went up the narrowing stream for a while before turning around, returning to our ferry.
The ferry returned to the ship and we continued up the Yangtze passing through the other two gorges that make up the three gorges - the Wu and Qutang gorges. I was topside for both to listen to the crew commentary. You wonder what was submerged below the waters when the dam was built. The towns and cities you see along the shores now are all young ... less than ten years old ... even though they look like they've been there for many years. Think what you will about the Chinese, they know how to build a city very quickly.
We docked at Baidi City where we took a bus to the City of the White Emperor. The city, built by Gong Sunshu during the first century AD, changed hands many times over the centuries and is now said to have been built by Liu Bei, described by our tour guide as the ruler of the "good" side during the Three Kingdom wars. The city and temple is perched on the top of a hill overlooking the intersection of the Yangtze and Mexihe rivers.
We crossed a foot bridge and then climbed some three hundred steps up to the top of the hill. Many of the buildings here have been destroyed and rebuilt over it's 1,900 plus year history including during the cultural revolution - The Chinese have not been kind to their historical heritage. I ended up not taking that many pictures up here. Everything was beautiful but a lot of the interesting shots were in darker areas where my camera only captured out of focus shots. The one place we did take pictures of is a view of the Yangtze that is famous as it's on some of their currency. We fortunately got there and got our pictures taken before a large Chinese tour group showed up and crowded us out.
We returned to the ship tired and sweaty. We skipped the ballroom dancing, variety/talent show, and the music of the Stardust Duo, instead opting for dinner, a shower and an early bedtime. A very satisfying day of new experiences and sights. One of the better days in China.
Pictures from days two though four (06/24 - 06/26/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
Day two was a transition day. We had a mid day flight to Yichang.
In the morning the guide took some of our group to the temple we'd seen on our first day in Shanghai. Since we'd already been there we had a lazy morning sleeping in and having another good breakfast in the hotel. I had my first taste of Dragon Fruit here. The dragon fruit has a white pulp with tiny edible black seeds. The texture is similar to watermelon. People describe the taste as a cross between a kiwi and a pear. I definitely tasted the pear. The flavor is a little too mild for me - almost tasteless actually.
We went to the airport and, as we were checking in the counter agent asked me where I was going. One of the perks of being on a tour is that transportation is handled for you. When the agent asked where I was going I came up blank. Didn't have the foggiest idea. Fortunately the guide was nearby and I discovered we were flying to Yichang. The two hour flight, flight number three of the trip, was uneventful. We arrived in Yinchang, picked up our bags, and boarded a bus.
On the bus our guide taught us simple Chinese words. Ni Hao ... Hello. How to count from one to ten. She also showed us common one hand gestures for counting to ten. Not much of that stuck with me though I still have the handout she gave us somewhere.
The bus arrived to the edge of the Yangtze river where we boarded the Yangtze Explorer. The four year old ship holds about 124 passengers but, since we were traveling in the off season there were only about forty or fifty people on board. After working for the navy for twenty years and riding several navy ships over that time, I'd developed a strong disinterest in taking cruises. I'd enjoyed our inside passage ferry cruise on the way to Alaska but I'd never really considered that a cruise. When we boarded my feelings were assuaged a bit by the rather informality of the ship and the large size of our room. All of the rooms had balconies, large beds, and a nice bathroom. Okay, we noticed something: The bathrooms on the ship (and in most of our Chinese hotels) had a large window looking from the shower area into the living area. They all had shades that could be pulled but it seemed strange and a little voyeuristic. Weird.
 |
| The hazy Yangtze river near Yincheng. |
Day Three
The ship had activities scheduled throughout the day. Day Three started early with Tai Chi classes at 7:00 AM. We'd taken Tai Chi classes before. The young crew member who taught the class was not as good as our teacher. She went through things a little too quickly. There was very little warm up (The class was only 30 minutes vs the hour we'd had). I remembered some of my class moves but it was hard to follow our new teacher. We ended up skipping the other two Tai Chi sessions.
As we ate our awesome breakfast (The food aboard was incredible) the ship set sail and began chugging up the river. We soon entered Xiling Gorge, the first of the three gorges of the three gorges dam. This gorge, being down river from the dam, was the least disturbed when the dam was built.
 |
| Sampans along the shores of the Yangtze river. |
After exiting the gorges we approached the dam. We docked and we got on a bus that took us to a three gorges museum as well as a large memorial garden which offered a view of the dam. The dam, one of the largest in the world, generates electricity for a large portion of China as well as prevents flooding along the Yangtze river, something that occurred quite often before the dam was built. The dam submerged 13 cities, 140 towns, and over 1,600 villages along the river. All of these people were relocated to higher ground. While the numbers are impressive, the dam doesn't seem that big. I think, since you really can't get that close to the dam, it is hard to grasp its true scale.
 |
| The Three Gorges Dam. |
 |
| Approaching the dam locks along with a few of our lock mates. |
I left after we passed from the first lock into the second and went to a lecture and demonstration on Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Wife volunteered for some acupuncture while another lady did cupping. Our guide was a big proponent of cupping recommending it for everything from a cold, the flu, or just a long day at work. After the demonstration I would begin seeing the large, perfectly round bruises on the shoulders of people who had been cupped.
After another good dinner we went to a "Cultural Cabaret". The show, put on my the ship's crew, started out okay but, when the Spice Boys started performing, we'd had enough and we went to bed.
 |
| The Cultural Cabaret featuring the crew of the Yangtze Explorer ... a little too cheesy for me. |
Day four turned out to be one of the busier days of our cruise. The ship had docked the night before at Badong. (The view from our cabin that night.) After breakfast we boarded a smaller ferry that took us up the Shennong Stream. The "Stream", formerly a roaring rapids, was now a wide and very calm tributary of the Yangtze.
The ferry took us along the steep cliffs and mountain valleys of the Long Chang gorge. On some cliffs we saw hanging coffins where coffins had been perched up on the cliff. Many of these coffins were relocated (mostly to museums) when the water level was raised by the dam.
 |
| A Hanging Coffin seen in the lower end of the crack in the cliff. |
 |
| A sampan passes our ferry along the Shennong Stream. |
 |
| A sampan with tourists passes ours. |
We docked at Baidi City where we took a bus to the City of the White Emperor. The city, built by Gong Sunshu during the first century AD, changed hands many times over the centuries and is now said to have been built by Liu Bei, described by our tour guide as the ruler of the "good" side during the Three Kingdom wars. The city and temple is perched on the top of a hill overlooking the intersection of the Yangtze and Mexihe rivers.
We crossed a foot bridge and then climbed some three hundred steps up to the top of the hill. Many of the buildings here have been destroyed and rebuilt over it's 1,900 plus year history including during the cultural revolution - The Chinese have not been kind to their historical heritage. I ended up not taking that many pictures up here. Everything was beautiful but a lot of the interesting shots were in darker areas where my camera only captured out of focus shots. The one place we did take pictures of is a view of the Yangtze that is famous as it's on some of their currency. We fortunately got there and got our pictures taken before a large Chinese tour group showed up and crowded us out.
 |
| Famous view of the Yangtze displayed on their currency. |
Pictures from days two though four (06/24 - 06/26/2012) can be found in my 2012-06 China Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)