Shanghai/ Moganshan and a Deis crew

Day 32 -
Welcome to Shanghai! So with all our nice minimalist packing a few things were forgotten, mainly some cool pants for me, shirts that will help me not burn my shoulders in the coming countries and some sort of super lightweight top for John (this all occurred to me when I started actually reading the weather for future countries, 90's from Vietnam on out...oy). After a successful day of John's very favorite activity, shopping, we moseyed to the French Concession and found some great South American food (read, not oil heavy, totally corn started cruise version of Chinese). And the rocking spinning sensation is finally gone!

Shoes!!!

Day 33 -
Our Lonely Plant has been a good "guide" book. Unfortunately sometimes it is just that, a guide. As in not all the facts, locations, prices, or times are accurate. For instance if you were aiming for the 9am bus to Tongli, you would get there at say 8:30. Maybe today you were running five to ten minutes late. Not problem, plenty of time. That is until you get to the bus terminal and find out the bus departed at 8:30am.

So instead we headed to the Bund. The Bund is a stretch of land along the banks of the Huangpu River famous for its historic buildings (many built in the 1920's (in think)). The architecture was highly influenced by the Europeans living there (and controlling the money) at the time. From the Bund you can see across to Pudong. Pudong is a mass of high-rises and planned development.
View of Pudong
Bund side

Side note: China makes some really great knock offs, and often times they resemble the real thing. But sometimes quality control misses some spelling errors, which is usually fine, until the spelling error makes it into an add campaign that is literally on the side of ever little ice cream cart, yup, that's right, she shops at Abercrombie and Titch.


With the Great Leader on the Bund

After the Bund we headed to the Shanghai Museum. The museum is located in the middle of People's Square. People's Square is a large park in the middle of Shanghai. As best I can tell, there are a large number of people in China and Shanghai. So when a location has "people" in the name, there are going to be a couple of ladies and gents there. The Shanghai Museum is shaped like a "ding vessel" according to our "guide" book. And what is a ding vessel? We didn't know either until we saw one in the museum. How convenient. A ding vessel holds food or soup, and is shaped like a sauce pot with legs and two curved handles.


Day 34 -
Met up with Alissa (a friend from college) and her boyfriend Dave for lunch today. They have been living and working in Shanghai for the last 18 months and taking Mandarin classes in the evenings and weekends, very cool. After lunch, a call was placed to a guy she knows who does good bags. His shop is a room in a housing area and he does indeed do really good bags ;)

After a much needed nap, John and I hopped the subway to meet up at Alissa & Dave's apartment in the French Concession. It turned out to be this really cool place in a restored building in the heart of it all. When everyone was assembled we took off walking to a local wine bar to meet up with some other friends. Lucky for us, Alissa knew a short cut, though at one point we wondered just a little as we walked down a completely unlit alley that appeared to be a dead end, never should have feared and we got there in one piece and it took less time than walking around all the blocks would have. Met up with two other friend from college, Brent and Samantha, at the wine bar, what a treat, old friends and good red wine in the middle of China!
Brent & Samantha
Whole group
Followed this up with a mildly debaucherous night on the town that ended with the infamous "meat on a stick" (prior to leaving Seattle this delicacy was described by Brent as one of the top things about being in China), turns out he was quite right and you can compliment your meat on a stick with all sorts of veggies on a stick! I got a little to go container for the back of the taxi on the ride home.
Trusty guide book with BBQ meat in the background.
If Alissa decides not to stick with PR there is always a spot for her in late night grillin'

Day 35 -
Today we managed to get to Tongli. The bus does in fact leave at 8:30. The bus ride was a little bumpy as we were located in the last row of the bus. The one where the seat is higher than all the others so it fits over the engine. The one with no foot room. So the two tallest people on the bus are sitting in the only row with no foot room. Also, in the back of the bus you are behind the rear wheels making the ride even bouncier. Mental note: when traveling to China next time, learn the phrase "two seats in the front of the bus please" and the phrase "I'll pay extra for two seats in the front of the bus" or the phrase "Please give me two seats in the front of the bus. I just had Chinese food for breakfast, and I will probably donate it to your bus company if you put me in the back".

Tongli is a small canal town about 2.5 hrs outside of Shanghai. It houses picturesque little canal lined with Chinese shops and houses. On display are several restored and preserved estates with expansive gardens. There are a couple of museums to wander through. The oddest of these museums is the Chinese Sex Cultural Museum. Which, let me tell you, is not your normal museum. Basically two guys are showing off their collection of sex related artifacts. We are also sure they made most of it up. For instance, one caption read something like "this bowl is a sign of male virility because of the picture of the bird on the side". Or, maybe the artist just really liked birds. The best part about the whole museum; It was the only place we say rabbits in all of China.
John in a tunnel in Tongli
View of a canal

After returning from Tongli, we were picked up by Brent in his car. That's right and he drives (please refer to my previous car riding experience descriptions). Actually, he is a much calmer driver than most in Shanghai. One of my favorite comment from Brent "I refuse to honk at the old men with canes". He does flash his brights at them.

Day 36 -
We began the day by packing for our trip to Mogan Shan. Once that as completed we deposited our belongings at Alissa and Dave's apartment and headed to the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. This museum basically outlines the planned growth of Shanghai for the next twenty years. It is really a trip to see that someone has thought out a city plan of this scale. There are plans for the subway system, parks, housing, and ports. Actually the plan for the massive sea port is a little disturbing because they are going to put it in "an ideal location containing wetlands and small islands". All throughout our travels we have seen China repeating the same industrialization/environmental mistakes that the western world made. It is hard to watch knowing that there are better solutions that just are not being used.
A very nice diorama of a future subway station, complete with the adds on the walls.
Shanghai, someone built a ton of mini buildings.

For the evening it was off to a nice dinner with Alissa, Dave, Brent, Samantha, and a collection of their friends. We went to a newly opened boutique hotel and restaurant (I can't remember the name, but I think it's name was spelled creatively to add a level of sophistication. At least that is what I tell people when I misspell words. No, it must be spelled like that for the cool factor). Next we headed to a bar on the Bund named "18" (and I even think I spelled it right). Great view across the river.

Day 37 -
We arose early to day in order to be chauffeured to Mogan Shan, a mountain retreat several hours outside of Shanghai. First sign there might be trouble, our driver did not know the way. He would, at a random intersections, run to another car and ask for directions. Which is apparently an effective means of navigation because we ended in the right place. When we got there the entire mountain was suspended in a thick cold mist. The visibility was about twenty feet, which is problematic when you are driving up a curving mountain road. In sharp contrast to the predominant Chinese driving style, our driver played it safe and took the road nice and slow. This pace suited us well and we finally reached our destination. The top of the mountain was historically used by the Shanghai elite (French, British, and American) as a place to escape the summer heat. I don't think any of them stayed at our hotel. After settling in, we opted for Chinese for for lunch (as it was the only option), during the course of the meal Dave and Alissa full on did chicken soup with only chop sticks and a knife at their disposal (see picture below).

Later we walked around through the bamboo forest, made even more surreal by the presence of the fog.
Do you see the size of this bamboo!?
After our walk we ate dinner at one of three open restaurants. As an after dinner activity we taught Dave and Alissa how to play O'Hell. They promptly kicked our butts (beginner's luck I say).'
(Card winners flanking John)

Day 38 - The next day was sunny and beautiful. We got to look out of our hotel rooms at the view missed yesterday. Which was quiet wonderful from our mountain perch. Again we hiked around the mountain looking at the houses and wandering through the bamboo forest.

After hiking, it was back down the twisting mountain road and on to Shanghai. For dinner we ate a wonderful Yunnan/Burmese restaurant.

Day 39 -
One of Eliza's tasks has been to see the Jewish side of Asia. Located in Shanghai is an old Jewish ghetto and the Ohel Moishe Synagogue. With Alissa as our tour guide (taxis driver translator) we located the ghetto and Synagogue. The Jewish population in Shanghai reached it peak during WWII when the city of Shanghai (with its designation of a free port within China) allowed undocumented and unregulated immigration. However, during Japanese occupation travel outside of the ghetto was highly restricted.

The nice curator of the Synagogue allowed us to walk through the accompanying museum (which was still under construction, but since it was a slow day we got a private preview tour) which looks at the role Shanghai played in allowing the Jews to escape the Nazi's by fleeing east when many other countries closed their boarders. The museum was rather small, but very well done, the English and Hebrew translations were all gramatically correct, wonder if it was a collaboration effort.


Next up was the "Old Town" section of Shanghai. This area has been restored to the original Ming Garden layout (built in the mid 1500s). There is a nice garden (gardens here mean less plants and more rock designs and water features) complete with bridge and fishes. Except where personal houses might have been there are now tourist trap shops. I am only speculating the masses of shops were not original to the garden, but I could be wrong.

Alissa getting some snacks for John in the masses of Old Town

After saying our goodbyes to Alissa, we journeyed to the train station. Along the way we unsuccessfully tried to return our subway cards (If anyone is headed to Shanghai let us know, we can save you 20 RMB). Another heads up: if you are going from Shanghai to Hong Kong via train you do not need to fight in line with the rest of the crowds. Because it is an international train ride you get your own special check in area just to the left of the regular check in (that took awhile to figure out). In order to more enjoy the train ride, we booked a Deluxe Suit (two people only) room. The cost was about halfway between regular train tickets and flying, but well worth not having to share with any one but Eliza.



Bye China (proper, as next up is Hong Kong, a Special Economic Zone of China)!

Cruise implies a smooth ride...

A few shots from Mt Hushan:




Liza climbing down the "stairs"



Day 28:
Arrive at Chongqing around 9 in the morning, small city of only 35 million people (well 7 million in the core, 28 million in the "suburbs"). Upon our arrival we realized we had no clue where we were going as we had expected the cruise to greet us at the station in some form. Turns out that was the plan but the very petite, nice girl who came rushing up to the two sore thumbs in the crowd asking if we were Eliza quickly explained that there had been an emergency and our actual guide was unable to come so she had been sent instead.



After checking in and dropping out bags on the ship (and jumping on the softest beds yet), our stand in guide kindly took us to the one major attraction in Chongqing. Turned out that was the end of the time she had as she actually holds an office job with the company and was needed post lunch. Wandered a bit and then decided to head back. A few wrong turns later and we could see our boat, from high on a hill. Pretty sure we started passing through a large number of "back yards" as we started a hunt to take any set of stairs going down we could find.

The buildings we wandered down to find our ship:


A few hours later we waved goodbye to Chongqing in all it's night time neon goodness and headed down the Yangtze.




Day 29:
Not sure if this falls in day 28 or 29 but somewhere in the middle of the night I woke up to a major jerk. A jerk of us dropping anchor in the middle of the river in incredibly dense fog. Hhhmmm, back to sleep.

The fogged in view:


Morning found all boats in the area still completely fogged in, changing that days itinerary. Headed to the main deck to hear a talk on the flora and fauna of the Yangtze, wherein we learned the there is no longer a Yangtze river dolphin as "It was unable to adapt to the increase in noise and pollution and therefore is no longer here" What a way to put it.
When the fog finally did lift we went to visit the Ghost City (eh) though in the process got to see a new hotel being built there (see picture below)....so weird, you get to stay in some dudes face.





And continuing the theme of Safety Third, a picture from the path up to the Ghost city:


Day 30:
The final full day of the cruise turned out to be the most interesting. The day started with a "Shore Excursion" that involved taking two different boats.


The lesser three gorges




We toured through the Lesser Three Gorges on a medium sized boat (200 people) and then on a really small boat (12 people). The scenery continues to be spectacular. Some highlights of the excursion include seeing monkeys eating and drinking in the river banks, some of the local people singing and playing music on their boats, and the lush green colors of the plants.


The lesser lesser three gorges




Also, all along the main river are huge construction projects. Large shipyards can be seen every couple of hours, and there have been so many huge bridges under construction.

Right at dinner time we started to enter the Three Gorges River Dam area and the locks that would take us to the other side of the dam. As an engineer, I was giddy as a school girl. This is the largest hydro-electric power plant in the world and one of the biggest civil engineering project ever. Passing through the locks was an event all to itself. The locks are similar in principle to the ones in Ballard. Boats go in, doors shut, water goes out, doors open, boats go out. However, the scale is completely different. These locks hold about eight large ships (picture eight of the passenger-only ferries then run in the San Juans). Plus there are five levels to step down. Over all - Really cool. Eliza was happy to continue the diner discussion on the current economic...yadda...yadda... (I don't know I wasn't paying attention). But not me, I scarfed down what ever they ship was trying to pass as food for this meal and was off to see the progress down the locks. I am not sure how much water each lock holds. One, every facts is in metric (m^3, whatever) and second, none of the crew was sure. A lot, I think was the consensus.

Approaching the lock:


In the first lock:


The door closing on the 4th lock:



Day 31:
Today we actually got to see the Three Gorges Dam up close and personal. Okay, we didn't get as close as I wanted. But then I an not sure if the average tour group gets to go into the turbine are, see the control room, and all the uninteresting things us engineering types like.

The highlight of the tour had to be the "security check". Before the tour group could enter the dam area we were routed through a security checkpoint. We were told to leave our big bags and other bulk items on the bus. We exited the bus and walked through a security gate (just like at the airport) and any one with a bag passed it through a x-ray machine (just like at the airport). However, unlike at the airport, when the gate did its little ding-ding (when someone has metal) the security guards gave them a perfunctory pat down and waved them through. I had my camera on me when I passed through. I set off the alarm and was patted down. Not only did they touch my camera when patting me down, but they did not ask me to take out the large heavy object they had just found on my person. And the topper, the bus we just got off pulled around the security check and picked us up again with out being searched. Pretty sure a blind monkey with a rocket launcher could have passed through security.

The tour of the dam explained a little of the history of the site and the future plans for the area. It was a nice intro tour than bored Eliza, but I thought it was interesting. In another "I sort of understand why this was done, but what..." moment, we were ushered in to a room with a complete scale model of the dam project. To be fair, lots of places I have gone all over the world have had scale models of the engineering project. They make it easy to point out tidbits of information regarding the unique highlights of where ever you are. But this particular model was located in a building on a hill next to the dam. "Hello people, if you turn around you can see the actual-real life dam".

As an engineering project the Three Rivers Dam was pretty damn cool. Ha, waited till the last paragraph for the joke you all thought was coming much sooner. And noticed I was never tempted into the whole "gorges" vs "gorgeous" combo. Let me assure you the tour guides showed no such restraint.

Once back on the boat it was time to check out. The overhead announcement said not to rush as the lobby was crowded and there was no rush. The ladies at the front desk however had a different idea for John and I. After our 3rd call that went something like this: "ring ring" "Hello" "Um, we recommend you check out now" "OK be there shortly" We took it as our cue to actually leave. We were met in the ship lobby by our guide and driver who took us from the ship to the airport, roughly a 40 minute drive, during which our guide filled us in on all the possible bridge history and related trivia one could or should ever know, including lists of famous movies and books with bridges in the titles or story lines. When we did arrive at the airport he asked for a quick favor, he needed to know how to spell Garfunkel, as in Simon and Garfunkel as he is our guides current fave singer. It also turns out his english is entirely self taught, from a set of encyclopedias he was given a few years back (which explains the lists used to describe everything).

The topper for the day was me losing a mild bet to John. Prior to starting the trip I bet that the only people I would run into on this trip would be planned rendezvous. Well, talking to some folks at the airport, turns out they know both my Grandma Hulda and my aunt & uncle very well. I'm not sure that counts, but John says it does.

Made it to Shanghai and our hostel without major incidence. Woo hoo, done with the rocky river cruise.

(Actual dam pictures to follow)

Xi'an Videos and Pictures

Here are some videos I shot in Xi'an.

The first is a street market and all the crazyness that is included.

The rest are all of the fireworks celebrating the final night of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Also look at some other peoples videos of the Chinese New Year.

The links are supposed to open YouTube.com in a new browser window. If the links don't work, then just paste the address in a new window. Would the least technical savvy person who reads this please let me know if this works. If it does I will try to upload more videos.

Xi'an Muslim Quarter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpjayDqeME4)


Xi'an Fireworks #1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJjbbO3xEa8)


Xi'an Fireworks #2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2esweVWPgY)


Xi'an Fireworks #3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2CRhz0RLHE)


Xi'an Fireworks #4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf0PEgUOBIk)


Xi'an Fireworks #5 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVwXmE77VR4)


Xi'an Fireworks #6 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJIzx3SUC9w)


Xi'an Fireworks #7 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPss5ElzEt4)

Also, I have uploaded my pictures from the trip:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jwwinasia

http://picasaweb.google.com/jwwinasia2

Xi'an - the slower pace of China

Last Beijing Pict...post home cooked dinner with Hollis!


Day 20 -

The overnight train ride was really pleasant, 4 people to a car, two sets of bunk beds and they wake you up before your stop so you don't miss it. Train station in Xi'an was organized chaos at best, complete mayhem on the other end of the scale. People everywhere, streaming in and out (generally at the same time, though the same door). In addition to everyone arriving and departing there is the whole group devoted to offering tours, hotels, rides and maps. Pretty sure that is a staple at all transportation points in this country. After clearing the crowds we moseyed to our hostel. Stuff down, it was exploration time, lunch was at a yummy restaurant with zero English on the menu AND no pictures (the saving grace or ordering thus far); between the designated speaker, John's Mandarin book and the food section in Lonely Planet we ended up with two really tasty dishes and one we may chose not to repeat. Post lunch we wandered to see the bell and drum towers and then stumbled onto a grocery. Now those who have traveled with me, know I love a foreign grocery store. After finding what we wanted and braving the lines we realized everyone had bar codes on their bulk items (bananas) and we did not. After being asked a few times in Chinese some questions, the checker sent her friend to get up a bar code so the two in line with blank stares could purchase their fruit.

These are the puppies that live at the hostel in Xi'an:



Day 21 -

Xi'an is known for having one of the longest running Muslim communities in China and is the home to a very active population as well as a Great Mosque. The Muslim quarter was filled with so many smells, sights, and sounds taking it all in was wild. Vendors all over the place selling meat on a stick, meat and onion stuffed in every imaginable bread type (buns, pancakes, dumplings, and croissant type bread), and deep fried persimmons (AMAZING!). In addition to the cooked food, this section appears to be the raw ingredient area any meat, spices, grains and vegetables you need for a meal are for sale here. I'll admit, the meat part gave me the willies.
Enough well places signs let us straight to the great Mosque. One of the amazing things about all these temples it the way the walls block out the hustle and bustle of the city we know is right outside. It was peaceful and beautiful, combining the styles of Chinese grandeur with the middle Eastern styles more traditionally associated with mosques.



Day 21 on our adventure happened to correspond with the 15th day of the Chinese New year. For those of you who are unaware what this means (John & I were on that list prior to this night), it is another chance to show off your biggest, best, longest, loudest, brightest fire works...for hours. We had planned to walk along the Xi'an city walls that evening and when we arrived, it appeared that most of the city of Xi'an along with three neighboring cities had the same idea. There was a massive crowd in the plaza with throngs of people pushing and elbowing to get closest to the booths selling tickets to the wall. John opted to stand guard by a gate (read, get the heck out of the madness), while I attempted to purchase said tickets. After befriending a nice Irish couple, the three of us attempted to get in line, which at this point I've learned means start maneuvering my way to the front with no real regard to who got there before or after me. The ticket line brought back memories of early middle school when a friend and I decided we were going to be grungers and attended one or two shows to prove this point. Somewhere in the middle of one show we decided to try out the mosh pit, who knew years later that would serve as practice for being in line at a Chinese festival? After moshing through the purchase line and then through the front gate, the crowds dispersed quite a bit. The view of all the fireworks from the wall was amazing and lanterns were hung on each light post to celebrate.



My favorite of the Olympic mascots!


Another bonus of the day, we got our waitress at dinner to write the name of one vegetable dish in Chinese so we will be able to order it all over China, woo hoo!

(I'll get some pictures for the fire works as soon as I figure out uploading in yet another city on yet another computer - John)

Day 22 -
Went south of the city walls today to see the Big Goose Pagoda and the Little Goose Pagoda. The name comes from the saying "Bury the goose and build the pagoda". Points if you can better decipher the message in that one. Big Pagoda offered a pretty cool view to look back at Xi'an unfortunately, like many cities in China, this view would work better without the persistent smog.

As you can see, the architecture is also designed for a slightly shorter population:

After some pagoda viewing we actually went to a recommended restaurant. Once seated we pulled out the notebook with our green bean dish written in it and showed it to our waitress. She turned immediately to the page in the menu and pointed to a dish translated as deep fried kidney beans. Not sure who did the original translation, but some how saute has come to be deep fried and green beans have become kidney beans. Ah well, tasted just as good as it did in Beijing!

Day 23 -
We started the day at Starbucks, a local supply of good coffee has been my saving grace because they make Eliza happy. Then we ventured to the train station in order to purchase train tickets to Chongqing. As Eliza previously described, the train station is filled with people who are not so concerned with order or line forming. It took some time to located the English speaking line. If you find yourself in Xi'an, it is line ten. Once you get to within twenty feet of the ticket window there are very rigid steel railings forcing everyone to line up. Which is nice. It doesn't eliminate the pushing, but I have found that I am bigger than most Chinese and can stand my ground with relative success. Upon reaching the ticket window, we are informed that tickets can not be purchased today. They will only go on sale tomorrow. This differs from Beijing, where they can be purchased four days in advance. I am sure there is a sign in Chinese informing us about advanced ticket purchase, because the nice train station employees always give us a "Duh" look when we attempt a purchase.

After the madness of the train station we opted for the relative calm of WalMart. Seemed like a better option for finding breakfast cereal then the local grocery store. It wasn't. We are beginning to think there is no Chinese cereal. There is a lot of oat looking mealy things (probably like cream of wheat). Not the best options for a celiac. Also, apparently Eliza has a moral opposition to Walmart. Something about horrible treatment of the workers and destruction of small town economies. Whatever, they have English signs. Legibility is a small price to pay for ones values.

Following the compromising of values, we headed the Xi'an Forest of Stelae Museum, or Stone Forest Museum, or Xi'an Beilin Museum depending on which book or map you are currently reading. And by "Stone Forest" they mean a collection of stone tablets and pillars covered with engravings, not petrified trees. They are all interesting, but the informative placards are either absent or in Chinese. Either way, not that informative. In one section there is a collection of stone hitching posts. All about four feet tall with animals, gargoyles, dragons, or what ever carved on top. Really cool. Another section housed large carved stone animals. And by large, I think they are life sized. However, I have never stood that close to a rhinoceros, tiger, or lion; so I am going to take the artists word for it.

Upon returning to the hostel, we informed them about our train ticket dilemma. At which point the very helpful front desk lady (as opposed the not helpful front desk lady, where every request is a big hassle and a grave interruption on her personal chatting time) informed us that for a "commission" the hostel can book the train tickets. At this point we are ready to pay anything. One of the many nice parts about China is the relative value of items. $0.85 for a beer, are you crazy? I can get them for $0.35 down the street. $4.00 for a train ticket purchase, where do I sign?

Day 24 -
SNOW!!! Woke up this morning and took a look outside. Unlike at home where we know to anticipate (and hope for) snow, we had zero indicator it was coming! The fact that is snow did not want to stop changed today's plan to visit the terra cotta warriors. We have been willing to get in random cabs and vans for a variety of destinations and just pray they make it there, the snow on the ground was a factor was not going to be added. Will try again tomorrow!

Day 25 -
Terra-cotta Warriors Day. My mother has had a poster of the Terra-cotta Warriors for as long as I can remember. So, for as long as I can remember, I have wanted to see them. The bus ride out there was pretty decent. The nice bus driver's assistant made sure that we knew where the return bus would pick us up; lots of waving, pointing, and eight tooth smiling.

There are three pits which have been partially excavated. And following our trend of finding places under construction, Pit #2 was closed for renovations. However, Pits #1 and #3 were alive and kicking. Pit #3 is the smallest of the three pits and houses about fifteen statues and a couple of horses. Pit #1 is were the action is. The main excavation site has rows and rows of statues. It is contained in a airplane hanger like building, and is about the size of two football fields. You can walk around the whole pit and see the soldiers from every angle. The excavation is still in progress, so you also get to see how they are restoring and cataloging some of the soldiers.

This is a must-see if you have been dreaming about it all your life. And a probably-must-see if you are in China and have a couple of extra days. I would recommend viewing in the off season as it looks like the museum complex is capable of handling hundreds of thousand of visitors a day. And I would not want to be there on that day.

Day 26 -
It was finally time to get a clean start on things, that's right laundry day. When you are traveling laundry day takes on a whole different meaning, sink filled, clothing cleaned and every possible drying surface covered. Problem is, when you check out the next morning and then things are still damp at 7pm we have a bit of a problem. Luckily, John is a thinker and on a departure run to the evil store (aka Walmart) he purchased a hair dryer, slower than a tumble dryer, faster than our current rate. Laundry complete!

Day 27 -
Today we woke up early and caught a bus to Mt. Hua Shan (pronounced Hwa Shan, drawing out the w. Which apparently everyone else knew because we were corrected at least fifteen times). There are three routes to the top of the mountain.
One, a spine-tingling vertical staircase in which some parts are planks and ropes suspended from the shear cliff face. Two, a five hour hike up the front side of the mountain on where there are spectacular vies of the surrounding country side. Or three, aka the cheater way, an Austrian made gondola that takes ten minutes. That's right people, you are looking at two cheaters. In our defense, we did have a train to catch that night. But I still think we cheated.

Once we got to the top, the views were amazing. At the north end of the peak (where the ridge is no more than fifty feet wide) there is a collection of various buildings, shops, and patios. Each located on what ever small section of flat land the owner can find. As one heads south the mountain rises and narrows until you are walking up a staircase carved in to the granite rock no more than three feet wide. On either side is a vertical drop in excess of one thousand feet. But not to worry, some one (who I am sure was following the strictest of Chinese building codes) installed a chain hand rail to help guide you. Very cool, but not for those with the slightest case of vertigo. Due to time restrictions, we were not able to explore further. According to legend, and our map, the mountain top flattens out (relatively) and a you can hike higher to more peaks and even stay in one of the hotels on the mountain.

Upon making our way down the mountain (via the gondola) we found a bus headed to Xi'an. Actually you never need to find you own transportation over here. People will offer to take you to the moon if you need it. The buses (bordering on really efficient or highly inefficient) will not leave until full. After waiting for thirty minutes on a half full bus, a second bus pulls up (also half full). Upon combining the passengers of both buses and waiting the requisite "five minutes" to see if any further customers need transportation, we were off Mt Hua Shan, and on to our overnight train to Chongqing. Or so we thought. Actually the only problem was the return bus dropped us off at the long distance bus terminal, not the train station (where we began our day's journey). This is problematic because, and I don't know about you, but I don't know where the long distance bus terminal in Xi'an is located. The problem was soon solved by hailing and cab, grabbing our belongings, and heading to the train station to make our to the start of the cruise.

The ever changing price of Gatoraid

Preface to this post: Located a store on Day 13 that sells Gatorade, not as easy as we make it sound. Very reasonable starting price of 3 yuan each.

Day 14 -
Two weeks and still having a blast. Got up this morning with every intention of seeing the well preserved (read: pickled) body of Mao. By the time we made it to Tiananmen square and figured out where the mausoleum was, the viewing time was over. Ah well, we can try again another day. Decided some Peking Duck was just the cure for missing the great leader. Walked a number of blocks until we were able to find the restaurant recommended by a good friend of mine. So you order the duck, the pancakes, and the sauce etc and then stare around the immense hall that appears to be a ballroom converted solely for people enjoying duck over the Chinese New Year. Eventually the duck comes out on a cart followed by a gentleman with a very sharp cleaver. He proceeds to carve the whole thing in under 2 minutes, mess free. Enjoy!
Full and happy, we headed over to the Temple of Heaven Park where the royal family and other important heads of state went to pray for a full harvest and strong year. Very symmetrical and balanced showing extreme beauty (direct quote from one of the signs). As we have signed up to walk the Great Wall tomorrow, it was time to turn in and rest up. Gatorade cost today: 4 yuan each.




Day 15 -
On today's listed literary was a trip to the Great Wall of China. Not on todays listed literary - an aggressive driving lesson where Mario Andretti could learn a thing or two. To begin the ride our driver politely introduced himself as "Joe", and then proceeded to scare the crap our of us with his driving. I am now going to list a series of hypothetical driving situations. Please answer each one (to yourself as to not alarm anyone who maybe a past or future passenger in your car). Passing on the left, why just settle for when the opposite lane is clear of traffic? If five cars physically fit on the width of the road (please disregard lane lines or shoulders) then why not have five cars across? Two second following distance is a: guide line to proper braking distances? or state of mind? Why not slow down when approaching a red-light in order to time your acceleration to perfectly coincide with the light change? (A little note on this. There are count down timers (like a shot clock) displaying the time before the red light or green light changes. Who thought this was a good idea?) I could go on for quite a while, but to save my fingers from typing here is my favorite passing story. Let me set the scene: Four cars headed in one direction, we are currently fourth in line, reasonably clear opposite lane (ie one can not see any oncoming cars), the road curves to the right, and cars One and Two (front to back) are traveling slightly over the speed limit (ie too slow). Our driver goes to pass all three cars at once. Car Three reacts late, but goes for the double pass. Our car swerves wide to avoid Car Three and then falls in behind Car Three. Cars Three and Four (us) pass with reasonable ease. Our car then cuts inside Car Three for the right side pass. Leaving Car Three to negotiate a right hand curve in the opposite lane. I prayed to three gods I know, six I learned of on this trip, and two more I made up. One of them was listening cause I am typing this.

Diagram of this pass available upon request.


The Great Wall is truly great. Somethings get built up in your mind and then are disappointing when you actually see them. Not this. We will get some pictures up soon (the internet in China is proving to be slow) so you can get a glimpse of the grandeur. We hiked the wall from Jinshanling to Simatai. All in all about a seven mile trek along the top of the wall. Most sections had not been restored in any way. The wall has mostly fallen into disrepair, and is quite run down (until you remember the last upgrade was 400 years ago, then it looks to be in good shape). 75% is easily passable (mind your ankles), but some parts require you to exit the wall and hike around. The wall follows the crest of the hills leading to a very undulating trek. A must see if you get to China.



Gatorade price 3.5 yuan each. All at the same store, so far 2 different sales people and three different prices...hmm.


Day 16 -
Happy Birthday John! To celebrate it was decided we would find the store called Decathalon and procure sweatpants in order to not freeze anymore in Beijing. Store has everything and the slogan is "It is essential to make sports affordable", pretty sure that is sports gear for all.
Next stop on the days adventure was Panjiayuan aka the Dirt Market. Filled with every sort of art, craft, antique, pearl or jewelry you could ever desire the place was swarming. Some booths sell the same things as the next (jade Buddhas, dolls, beads, etc), but some booths collections are best described as everything but the kitchen sink. Two pieces of jade, a vase, three vests, a small bowl of beads and a pair of shoes. Was really a cross between a garage sale and a flea market.

As it is John's birthday and the choice birthday meal is lasagna, we went in search of the next closest thing, real pizza. Armed with the name of a place recommended by a friend and a hand drawn map we did indeed find The Tree, this is about 2 blocks into a very small alley, the sort of alley you generally would take one look at and realize you were on the wrong street and turn back, only this time is was the right street. Pizza consumed, he says this was his best birthday in Beijing ever.

Day 17 -
Today we tried to see Mao again. But were denied by our inability to find "Bag Check". This guy is pretty elusive for someone embalmed in a glass coffin. I am beginning to think the viewing Chairman is all a charade to confuse tourists.

We then headed to the Silk Market, which really should be renamed the "Hey Lady" market. Basically this is where six floors of knock off vendors try to convince you to pay exorbitant prices for fake brand name labels. As one walks down the rows of shops the shopkeepers guess you speak English and say (at a volume high enough to be heard above the other shopkeepers, but not quite a yell) "hey lady, you buy here, we have nice ____". Now it does not really matter what they are selling, or if it even applies to the particular person they are addressing. They even call out "I got something in my shop you want". Now when you do actually find something you want at a shop with a nice looking sales person you come to realize three things. One, they start you at about nine times the final selling price. Which is really annoying because when they start at 900 RMB you have to under cut them by 90% just so the finishing price is near reasonable. Two, they know the exact price of everything in their shop. They probably have well over 200 different items for sale, and they know the buy and sell price of each. Three, they speak better English then some UN translators. They start with "Hey, you want to buy here" and end with "With the falling dollar and the current economic uncertainties in the US home mortgage crisis, my net profits are slipping. It is only my international client base that keeps me afloat". Also, for simplicities sake, most price negotiations are done on a calculator. And they can do some rapid and creative math when splitting the difference with you. I am not going to go into any detail about what was purchased be cause we didn't get any of your gifts here, no really, we got you all the real things.

- Side note: A couple of fellow travelers are currently trying to stream a Shakira concert performance, but the bandwidth here is not sufficient. Nothing like really choppy Shakira to get you up in the morning.

After the mass chaos of the Silk Market we went to the Confucius Temple. The temple is a working temple dedicated to Confucius. "Working Temple" means it is relatively in good repair, unlike some of the historical sights we have seen. Located here is the description of the history of Confucius and his teachings (all in Chinese so not that helpful to us). The history is written on large stone tablets (3ft across, 8ft tall, and 1ft thick). With my pension for typos, I really would not have wanted that engraving job. What? That happened in 920 not 290? Ah man, back to the quarry, I need another couple tons of polished granite.


Day 18 -
China is the home of the Giant Panda and the Beijing zoo is the home of at least 6 of them and practically on the way to the Summer Palace. As the Pandas are definitely a crowd pleaser, they cost extra on the admission but we decided it was worth the nearly dollar each. The zoo in Beijing, like many things, could use a little TLC, much of the paint is peeling and chipping, cages look pretty run down and overgrown, but hey, maybe this is closer to life in the wild.



Enter the Panda house and are greeted with both the site of an adorable young panda and a Chinese family banging on the glass where it is sleeping and yelling at it so it will move and be more entertaining. Guess there are also different understandings of how one treats animals in a zoo. This lovely woman in a yellow coat continued to harass every panda she passed in hopes of it doing something more interesting than sleeping.

Post Pandas we headed over to the Summer Palace (when a small city doesn't cut it, why not build a lake and second residence?). Something like 136 acres, 85% is this huge lake that was built and enlarged over the various dynasties, similar styling to the Forbidden City but with summer in mind. Of note is a huge marble boat built on the north end of the lake, the empress Cixi used funding marked to the navy to make vast improvements to this residence and then as homage to the group she took the funds from, built this boat. Not sure that is quite what they had in mind...


Day 19 -
Ha, finally got to Tiananmen Square with enough time to find back check. It is across the eight lane street, just follow the signs for "Articles Deposit". Oh articles deposit, why didn't you say so earlier? Of course that translates to bag check. Close enough. The English translations normally make sense with some context. So, after depositing our articles, we join the masses in a semi-line (kept line-like by official looking individuals with megaphones) to see Mao. We passed cleanly through security, no harmful or prohibited item on us, past the booth where you can buy flowers, and into an anteroom containing a large white marble statue of Mao sitting in a chair (maybe half the size of the Lincoln Memorial). In front of the statue are the flowers that you can buy outside. As the line gets ready to enter the room with Mao you are supposed to form a two person wide line in order to get more people past Mao (or so the reader board informs us in may languages). Now up until this point every one has been pushing to get past Eliza and I. They have jumped ever corner where there is a slight gap, pushed past "looking for other family members closer to the front", and cut the line after getting out of line when placing the flowers near the statue. But, now the masses form a single line closest to the rope for better viewing. And this appears to be okay because for the first time in China everyone is quiet, respectful, and lining up nicely. Except for one uniformed guard who is yelling and pushing Eliza, and only Eliza, into forming a second line (no English, only yelling in Chinese). I am not sure what would have happened if I had asked nicely (or not nicely as I was considering) for the guard to please unhand my girlfriend, but luckily it did not come down to that. For once the crowd played into our favor as it pushed us past the not so nice uniformed individual and though to the viewing room. From what we have read there is a waxed version of Mao and a pickled version of Mao. The doctor tasked with embalming Mao was not sure if the process would take, so he had a wax version created. The story goes that you are never sure which one will be on display on any given day. We are pretty sure it was the waxed version.

After Mao we wandered over to the Lama Temple. The street leading up to the temple had more stores selling every variety of incense imaginable. Once we were in the temple grounds we figured out why, it is appropriate to offer incense to Buddha, and it might be one of those "the more the better" type things as people would take handfuls, light and offer then leave them burning in these huge troughs. One of the last building here houses a really huge Buddha, more than three stories high, carved out of a single piece of Sandalwood. On our way out we passed a meditation room that was currently serving as a display room for figures presented to the Lama temple. Half way around the room we noticed a figure on high in meditative stance. As we never caught him blinking or breathing the question of the day continues...wax or real? Pretty sure this was the real deal.

Final stop was Yashow market, which turned out to be like Silk Street. 100% silk, just for you lady, best price for you lady.

Time to grab our bags and head for the overnight train to Xi'an.

Pictures have been updated:
http://picasaweb.google.com/LizaInAsia