China Trip - 2008
Our last day in China arrived. We had the familiar morning schedule of 7am wakeup call, breakfast, load the bus and off. Our plane was scheduled to take off at 4:20, so we had time for one last round of shopping in Shanghai. Molly took us to Old Town, which she said would resemble any China Town we'd ever seen in "The States". She was right. She warned us against talking with pretty young chinese girls claiming to want to practice their english. She said they would try to make us go with them, whereupon bad things would happen. Dawn and I actually came across a few of them during our walk around the market place. The Starbucks here was a welcome sactuary for a few of us who were ready for our trip back to the US. The triple macchiatto I got here was one of the best I've ever had.
Our long trip home started with a 2 hour flight from Shanghai to Beijing. We had been warned that a typhoon was threatening to change our plans, and it did delay our takeoff for about 90 minutes. We waited patiently on the tarmac. What else could we do? Once in the air, the flight was bumpy, but not too bad. Our scheduled layover in Beijing was only 2 1/2 hours, and with the 90 minute delay in Shanghai, it was going to be a rush once we deplaned in Beijing. Thankfully, Air China had a plan. We were deplaned onto the wet tarmac in Beijing, had stickers applied to our shirts, and loaded onto buses to take us to the appropriate terminal. The customs inspections were quick and efficient and we were waiting at the gate before our scheduled boarding time. The flight was still 45 minutes late taking off, probably due to the time it took to transfer our bags.
Overall the flight was fine, although the seats didn't seem nearly as comfortable as they were for our 12 hours flight getting to China. We landed in LA only an hour late, and went quickly through customs, baggage claim and onto the rental car shuttle. So quickly, in fact that we didn't have a chance to say goodbye to our traveling companions. It was an incredible experience seeing the new China, and all the historical sites from the old China. It was amazing seeing buildings that have been in existence since before the US was the merest glimmer in the eyes of dark ages europeans. The world is an amazing place, and Dawn and I have only just begun to see it.
So, you remember when I said that I'd heard the beds were hard? Well, that was an understatement. It appears that, through some error, the Ramada Hotel in Hungzhou was sold a supply of box springs instead of mattresses. Have you ever tried to sleep on a box spring? Dawn and I ended up folding the comforter so that it was 4-layers thick and sleeping on that. It was not as bad a night sleep as we were worried it might be.
We went down for breakfast and had some of the strongest coffee I've had in a long time, along with other standard Chinese versions of western breakfast foods.
After breakfast we checked out and boarded the bus for a long drive to Shanghai. One of our group, Justin, the son in the family of five that's with us started getting a migrane the night before, and was throwing up as we were about to leave the hotel. His mother and father took good care of him as we drove across the very bumpy roads between Hungzhou and Shanghai, and by the time we arrived he was looking and feeling better. Along the way, we saw a truck loaded with what looked like wooden pallets swerve and tip over on the opposite side of the freeway. Scary. The driver had been using his seatbelt, so we were hopeful that he would be okay.
As we entered Shanghai city center we were amazed by the giant buildings on both sides of the road, sometimes right alongside an old neighborhood of low houses. Many of these huge towers had strange structures at their tops. One looked like a crown, another had two large pinacles sticking up from either side of the building, while one had a hole right through the building at the top. Very strange. It was almost as if each architect was trying to show up the others with their top floor design.
Once in the city, we went straight to lunch. This was another good meal. Afterwards we headed to the hotel to check in.
The beds at this hotel were muuuuch softer than at the last one. We had only a short time to call the kids and enjoy the softness before being summoned back to the bus to start our whirlwind tour of Shanghai.
Our first stop was the Shanghai Museum. This is a very cool place with thousands of individual items on display from the history of China. The paintings and the ceramics were the most incredible, with the Ming dynasty ceramic living up to its lofty reputation. We only had less than 2 hours to explore the 4 floors of this great museum, so we didn't get to see everything. This is definitely a place to put on your must-see list if you ever visit Shanghai.
After the museum, we headed to the Silk Factory, this time not to watch them make silk, but to see how they used the raw silk to make rugs. They had several looms set up with women meticulously tying small strands of colored silk onto a matrix of silk according to a well thought out design. The final result of this effort would be a beautiful rug, 6 feet by 9 feet long. The total time required for one woman to finish such a rug we were told was 1 year! This for a knot denisty of 625 knots per square inch. For a 2 by 4 foot rug, with 1700 knots per square inch, this extends out to 14 months of continuous labor. The price for such a high density silk rug was $3,300 USD! This was clearly not a rug for walking on. For some reason no one in our group was up to paying for a silk rug to bring back to the US. :) Before leaving this place we were also led into a showroom for cashmere, but no one was buying there either, so it was back to the bus with us.
Before we knew it, it was time to eat again. We drove round and round through the very confusing streets of Shanghai until we ended up at a restaurant. The food here was also very good. Since the first meal in Hungzhou we've been on a lucky streak with meals. They've all been very good. For this meal we even had a couple of spicy dishes, which we hadn't been getting before Hungzhou.
By this time we were running a little behind schedule, so the trip to the Bund (the newly renovated waterfront district) was scrapped so we wouldn't be late for our night cruise on the Huangpu River. I have to say that this was the most beautiful thing we've done on this trip. The weather was perfect for standing on the top deck of the ship and watching the spectacular displays along the shoreline. In Shanghai at night, the buildings along the water all have some form of fantastic light display. Some of them are just beautifully lit structures, while others have full blown displays showing videos of birds or computer graphics on the side of the building. In addition, set back from the edge of the river, the tallest building in the world was on display. It's impossibly high upper floors playing hide and seek in the overcast skies. The boat had some form of Shanghai music playing as we made a long slow loop up the river and back for a bit over 30 minutes. It was very nice.
At last, we returned to the bus to make our way back to the hotel for our last night in China. Some of our group have a plan to head out to a club to get in one last night of partying, but Dawn and I will be crashing in our room.
I won't have an opportunity to write about tomorrow's activities until I'm back at home in the US, so this will be my last post from China. All I can say is that it's been a great ride! We've seen more than we thought was possible in only 10 days, but now have a taste for what we would like see again. I hope you've had a fun time reading about our travels. Until our next trip, zai jian.
--Steve
After a fairly good breakfast in the Holiday Inn restaurant buffet, we boarded the bus for our 2+ hour trip to Hungzhou. Along the way we stopped at a truck stop for snacks and a bio-break. Other than that it was a relaxing ride.
We got to the hotel a bit before noon, checked in and had a half hour to rest before heading out again for lunch. The rooms were fine, although the beds were reported to be hard. I haven't tried them yet.
Lunch in Hungzhou was very good. Probably the best lunch I've had so far. The food was almost all good, and there was plenty of it. We had one dish during one of our meals in Beijing that we were told was of Hungzhou cuisine, and liked that too.
After lunch we headed to the crown jewel of Hungzhou, the West Lake. This is a beautiful lake with blankets of lotus plants, many in bloom with huge white and purple flowers, lining its shore. There were many small, slow boats with people cruising slowly just enjoying the tranquility. We joined them in a low tourist boat. We motored out to the three deep water markers, one of which is shown above, and the pilot turned off the engine to allow us to enjoy the quiet. The deep water markers were placed there long ago by a king that wanted to prevent people from drowning in the deep water. No one was permitted to swim within the boundaries of the markers. Today, no one is permitted to swim anywhere in the lake. The three markers can also be seen on the back of the 1 yuan note. We returned to the dock after about half an hour, and got back on the bus.
Our next stop was the Lin Ying Temple. Molly, our new bus captain told us the story of a mountain peak that flew in from afar and landed directly on top of a whole town, crushing it out of existance. Thankfully a monk who had dreamed of the calamity, moved all the town's people out of harms way before the peak landed. The town's people were very grateful to the monk and built a beautiful temple to honor him (we think). Anyway, a beautiful temple was built on this peak. Also, the people of the town, fearing that the peak would fly off again at any time, carved the image of Buddha in many places on the cliffs of the peak to keep it from moving. The temple contains some of the most incredible painted wood carvings I've ever seen, of Buddha in his many incarnations and of his followers and protectors. The carvings on the cliff wall are also amazing.
After the Lin Ying Temple, we reboarded the bus and headed to the Meijiawu village on the outskirts of Hungzhou to see how the famous Dragon Well Tea was made. A man calling himself Dr. Tea gave a very informative and entertaining lecture about green tea, and then proceeded to pack fresh tea for each of us that bought some. To open the discussion his assistant, Mrs. Tea poured a small amount of water into glasses and we passed them all around. Mr. Tea had us each smell this, and then Mrs. Tea came around with a tea pot and proceeded to amaze us all with her acrobatic pouring methods. She would start pouring this scalding hot water close to the cup, and then rythmically raise and lower the pot by more than a foot, not allowing a single drop of hot water anywhere but in the glass. It was fightening and fun to watch. Dawn and I were pursuaded to purchase a pound of their finest tea. We can hardly wait to get home and have some.
Next we headed back towards the city for dinner. Again Hungzhou cuisine did not disappoint us. It was one of the best meals we've had. There was pork fried rice, shrimp, some bacon-like meat with snow peas, and on and on. Very tasty. Even our most persnickety eater, Chelsea ate her fill.
At last we headed back to the hotel, arriving a bit after 8pm. I'm writing this tonight instead of my normal morning post, because I don't want to be rushed.
--Steve
This was a big travel day for us. We woke up at 4am! and assembled in the lobby at 4:30. We drove on the bus and got to the airport by 6am, and along the way Lily sang us the American "classic" I Love You More than I can Say. We said our goodbyes to Lily and Mr Tao and then headed to the gate. The flight was very bumpy, but otherwise fine. The "Western" breakfast they served on the plane had a hotdog and scrambled eggs with peas and carrots. Very strange. Anyway, we landed in Shanghai at around 9am.
In Shanghai we met our new guide, Molly (Zhau, pronounced ciao). She got us onto the bus and we drove for 2 hours to Suzhou, pronounced sue-joe. We had been told this was paradise on earth. Hmm? It is a city of 11 million people, considered a medium-sized city in China, where their biggest city has the same population as the entire population of Canada, 32 million!
The drivers in Suzhou are simply insane. I was amazed many times that we didn't hit another car, a pedestrian or one of the thousands of electric scooters that weave their way in and amongst the cars and buses. Some of the scooters have small children standing in front of the driver!
Amazingly we made it to the hotel in one piece and rested for an hour before heading out again.
Our first stop was another chinese lunch that looked very much like our other chinese lunches, except for a Suzhou specialty of sweet and sour fish that was very good.
Next we headed to the Humble Administrators Garden, so named by the very humble administrator himself. This is an extraordinary place of beauty an quiet. Many lotus covered ponds and canals criss-crossed with zig-zagging bridges of stone, were interspersed with kiosks of stone and trees of every variety. Within the garden was a bonsai garden, which had some of the most beautiful bonsai trees we've ever seen. All in all, one of the best gardens we've toured.
After this, we headed to Tiger Hill, the burial place of the founder of Suzhou, and the home to a 1000+ year old Pagoda. This is an amazing structure, slightly leaning, ala the tower of Pisa in Italy. The grounds of Tiger hill are also beautiful.
Our last stop in Suzhou before dinnner was the Silk Factory No. 1. Suzhou is the largest producer of raw silk in the world, and we learned all about the methods, and actually toured part of the factory that sorts the cacoons and pulls the fine silk threads onto a spool of raw silk. Very cool.
We spent a long time in the silk shop deciding what to buy, and then headed to dinner.
I have to say that this dinner was universally regarded to be the most challenging of our dinners. It started with chicken feet, which weren't so bad, and very salty eggs, which were, and moved on into various other offerings that bore very little resemblance to other foods we'd seen before. Some of them were good, others were scary.
At last we returned to the hotel and crashed... on the beds not in the street.
This morning we head to Hangzhou, pronounced hung-joe. This is a much smaller town, with only 8 million residents.
--Steve
Today we did a lot of sitting in lecture halls and listening to students and professors describe their work. This was the day of the awards ceremony for the silk banners we were supposed to do, but which Dawn and I sheepishly neglected. :[ One of the kids we know won a prize for his banner. It was a nice ceremony overall.
After the ceremony we got to have lunch in one of the student cafeterias, and I have to say it was one of the best meals we've had, IMO.
Next we drove for over an hour to a forestry university, which is strangely named, since they teach just about everything there, though they are located at the edge of a national forest. It was raining, and we could hear lots of thunder when we got there, so our tour of the school grounds was limited to a walk around the road. We learned that the founder of the school had derived 60 or so varieties of plum, and they were all growing on the grounds of the university. There was also a Ming Dynasty temple on the campus. The professors and students were very friendly and gracious.
Back into the bus, we drove back to Beijing for more shopping! Woohoo! We were taken back to one of the market places we'd already seen, so not a lot of excitement there. We did get a great deal on some things though. I asked the price of one item and the sales girl said 80 RMB. I said no thanks and started walking away. She immediately yelled out 50, and when I didn't stop followed up with 20. That was a good price, so we bought the item. This bartering can be fun!
Before we left Dawn and I strolled over to a local supermarket, that looked just like any market you'd see in the US, except for the labels. We bought snack foods to bring back with us to share with all of you.
It was nearly 7pm before we got going again to head to dinner. This time was supposed to be Cantonese cuisine, but it really tasted very much like most of the other meals we've had. We're really looking forward to the food in the Shanghai region.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel, which is where we are right now. We have to have everything packed and ready to go before going to bed tonight, since we have a 4am wake up call, and need to be down in the lobby at 4:30!!! We'll be flying to Shanghai on the 7:30 plane, so we need to leave early.
The next time I write we'll be in another city.
--Steve
A big day today. The Great Wall caps the day, along with a trip the medical university, the chinese medicine pharmacy and the Cloisenne factory.
We started out going to the Medical University. This is a center for western-style medicine in China. The buildings are old, and the equipment is sparse, but the people are excited about their work, and they seem to be making some interesting discoveries. These folks are trying to introduce modern medicine into a culture with a 4000 year history treating disease with herbs, acupuncture and other traditional therapies, so they have their work cut out for them.
We toured their hall of pictures, which is where the tiger shown above was located. Then we went to their rare books reading room and saw books that were hundreds of years old.
After this we toured the medical research labs, and saw lots of things very few of us understood. They're doing research in pain therapy, dementia and Parkinsons, along with many others.
Lunch was next, and it didn't distiguish itself.
Next we headed for the Traditional Chinese Medicne (TCM) pharmacy. This was the oldest TCM pharmacy in China, just outside the walls of the Forbidden City. We got a brief lecture on TCM and then were descended upon by TCM doctors that took our pulses, asked us simple questions about our lives, and then prescribed TCM treatments for our ailments. The only problem was when we heard the price. For Dawn and I, our treatments for 1 month would have come to $350 USD! Not something we were prepared to do. Anyway, it was very interesting hearing about TCM.
After the TCM pharmacy, we boarded the bus and started our 1.5 hour journey to the suburbs of Beijing and the Great Wall. The weather was overcast, but as we pulled up the the parking area at the base of the Wall, the effect of the structure ascending into the mist was spectacular. We were at a low point in the hills upon which the Wall was built, and could either go up to the right or to the left. The right looked much more inviting, so we went that way. I have to say, that the effort required to climb the steps to the highest point on this portion of the wall was incredible. Several of the tour group didn't make it, more didn't try. About half of us, however made it! It was well worth the effort. It's an incredible thing.
The sweat soaked each of us that made the trip, but no one cared. It was too much of an accomplishment.
After the wall, we made a short trip to the Cloisenne factory, and had dinner in a restaurant upstairs. The food was great, and we all got to try a Chinese beverage with 56% alcohol. It was actually very good. Learning how the Cloisenne things was made was very interesting.
Today we head to another university and then to a Silk Banner Celebration.
We're having a great time!
--Steve
Our third day in Beijing started with breakfast again. There was pork-filled bun today, so that added a bit to the meal.
The clouds finally cleared away, and we discovered that the smog our tour-guide refered to wasn't that bad at all. I'd compare it to a moderate smog day in LA. Without the clouds we were expecting a hotter day, but hopefully less humid.
Our first stop was the Jade market. I had already decided that we'd spent enough RMB at the Pearl market and at the various indoor bartering markets we'd already seen. Silly me. We decided it would be cool to have small jade animals to represent our 5 birth years, the dragon, the snake, the rat, the tiger and the monkey. They are cool.
Our next stop was Tian'anmen Square. Our guide translated that as "The Gate of Heavenly Peace". Interesting. Anyway, it was very interesting being at such an iconic place in the world. Mao's mausoleum is here, as well as the Chinese parliament building and a very large obelisk in honor of the Chinese heroes of the revolution. It was hot and shade-less, but there was always a good breeze blowing, so overall it was a pleasant experience.
We left Tian'anmen Square and headed to lunch at a Hangzhou cuisine restaurant. Everyone agreed that this was our best meal so far. The food was spicy and flavorful. The green beans were especially good. My only problem was with the soup which looked like it had small leaves floating in it, but that tasted like it was swimming with little tadpoles. Yuck.
Next was the obligatory shopping. These indoor complexes are nothing more than swap meets with air conditioning. As you walk through the densely packed corridors, pretty chinese girls call out to try and lure you to their small booth to buy something. If the wares are for a woman, such as scarves or dresses, then we'd hear, "Hey lady", and if they were for electronics or watches, then they just scream out the name of their product. There are watches, cameras, mp3 players, and on and on. On this day all I bought was a Helping Hand soldering station. I know, I know, not what I should be buying in China, but I did need one.
We left here and headed to dinner. Again we sat 10 to a table, but this time there was Peking Duck on the menu. The Chef made a production of performing the 108 slices of the duck. I've never had this before, and wasn't familiar with the whole process of wrapping the duck slices in a thin, tortilla-like thing along with a slice of cucumber, some onions and a savory sauce. It was very good. We also finally met up wiht Donna and Cuca from Dawn's work. Donna's brother, Paul was also there, and it turns out I went to highschool with him. Small world.
Finally, we headed back to the hotel. As soon as I got to the room I collapsed on the bed for the night.
Today we're headed to Capital Medical University and an apothecary before the grand finale of our Beijing experience, the Great Wall. We hear that it's a challenge to climb all the way to the tower, so we'll see.
--Steve
Just a quick note while I have time. I'll fill in the details later.
Today we left the hotel after a "western" breakfast and went straight to the Summer Palace. There's lots of interesting history about this place. The Dragon Lady lived here. Her story is incredible, rising from a commoner to a concubine to the mother of the only son of the emperor, and then upon the death of the emperor to the real power behind curtain (literally). Her son was only 6 years old when the emperor died, so she, along with the emperor's widow would sit beind a curtain to the rear of the royal throne and whisper directions to the child emperor. This boy died of small pox at the age of 19, whereupon the Dragon Lady appointed her nephew as emperor, thereby extending her influence. Eventually she had her nephew put under house arrest in the summer palace, and ruled by herself. By the time she died she had ruled China for nearly 50 years!
The palace itself was beautiful, extending along the shores of a small lake. A long covered walkway permitted strolls along the shorline in any weather.
After the Summer Palace, we went to the Pearl store and got a lesson about cultured pearls.
Our first stop at the pearl store was a room where we learned how they culture the pearls, and got to see an actual oyster opened and the pearls revealed. A couple of our group got to keep two pearls each from this sacrificial oyster. After this presentation we headed into the sales area to shop for various pearl-related products. Dawn bought some very nice earrings.
We spent lots of RMB at this location, then went to lunch. Lunches and dinners are starting to look very similar, but they're good.
We then headed to more shopping, and Dawn and I made lots of good bargains. At one vendor we were told the price for some fans, which we didn't buy, and then talked another vendor down to a quarter of that price for the same fans. I also was proud to buy 4 Waving-Mao watches for 100 RMB (~$15 US). Dawn and I left the market and found our way to a big indoor mall with a Starbucks. Iced mochas are particularly good in June in Beijing.
After shopping we then headed out to dinner for more round table eating. It was good.
Next it was back to the hotel, and then some of us went out to a dance club. Dawn wanted to stay back at the hotel, so I was on my own with a 19 year old, 3 20 year olds and 2 21 year olds. I highly recommend this to anyone trying to get a clearer understanding of their true age. :^) The trip to the club, called Mix, was interesting with a long walk from the hotel to the bus stop, a ride on the bus to the train station and then a cab ride from there to the club. Thankfully we had Franklin, our Student Assistant with us to translate and guide us. Also thankfully the bartenders understood english drink names, so we were set. The club had two stories and a total of 4 dance floors. It was a very wild place.
We got back to the hotel at 3am, and now we have to head out for breakfast before going to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City.
More later!
--Steve
Today (well actually the day before yesterday) Dawn and I traveled to LAX to board a plane to China. We got to the airport early, so sat around having coffee for a while. At 1:10am, (yesterday now) we boarded a 747 Combi (that means the back third of the plane was outfitted to carry cargo). I had an aisle seat, and Dawn had the seat next to me. The flight was very nice, with no major turbulence, and lots of time for sleep. I would not recommend replacing your bed with an economy class airplane seat, however. We figure we got somewhere around 6 hours of sleep, and spent the remainder of the time eating (the fed us twice), reading and watching The Golden Compass.
Upon arrival in Beijing, we deplaned and followed the crowd through the port of entry, baggage claim and through customs without any issues. We met up with the very nice people from the Legends of China tour company as we emerged from customs. They gave each of us a long-stemmed rose, a tag to hang around our necks and tags for our bags. We then hopped on a bus and headed for "breakfast". It was now 6am China time, but more like 3pm body time. The breakfast was of traditional Chinese dim sum. We had lots of interesting things to eat, and none of the 10 people at our table really knew what anything was. The "meatballs" at the top of the page show how they do things a little differently here in China. Everything was good though, and now we're at the hotel resting before heading out at 11:30 for lunch.
The hotel room is very nice with beautiful views from the windows. We'll be staying here for 5 nights. As soon as we got in, I logged onto the internet and used Skype to talk to my mom and my girls that are staying with her. I very much recommend Skype for international calls. Skype-to-Skype is free!
****Updated 7:30pm Beijing Local Time (BLT)****
We've finally returned to our hotel room after a very long day. At 11:30 we all boarded the bus and headed for lunch at a restaurant about 1 hour away in the heart of Beijing. Our hotel is way on the outskirts of Beijing, and everything seems to take at least 1 hour to get to. The lunch was good, but we had been warned that the food might be bland, being southern China cuisine. And unfortunately it didn't disappoint. But there were a couple of tasty dishes, including something that tasted like chicken but had "knuckles" throughout. Who knew chickens had knuckles?
Anyway, lunch was fair, and we reboarded the bus to go to the Temple of Heaven. This is a very cool complex of buildings and expansive grounds near the center of Beijing. It was fortress-like in its layout, but had beutifully decorated buildings, including the central temple, which was raised up above the surrounding courtyard about 20 feet. The Temple had three teers with a huge gold oval topping them all. Very nice. The only drawback to this experience was the heat. Not a lot of wind blew over the perimeter walls, and the whole Temple courtyard consisted of flat, dark gray bricks, which only served to absorb and reemit the heat right into our souls. The grounds outside the temple fortress walls were green and plush, and the covered walkway leading to the Temple was filled with people dancing, playing strange musical instruments or strange board games.
After the visit to the Temple of Heaven, we headed out to try our hands at bartering with the local proprieters in a covered, 4-story market. Dawn and I did our fair share of haggling and came away feeling good that we didn't get taken to the cleaners too badly. The girls running the booths can be very persuasive.
We then continued on the bus to our dinner location. This was a very nice restaurant somewhere in Beijing. I've long since lost any ability to tell where one venue is relative to another. Here we had the best meal so far. It was another 10-person per table affair, with a large lazy susan in the middle that the servers slowly filled with dish after tasty dish. We all had a good time.
There is some talk about napping until 11pm or so, and then heading down to the nightclub in the lobby, but I'm thinking it would pretty unlikely for us to participate in that. So, that's it for our first full day in China. No one on the tour could believe that we only just arrived this morning. We've already done so much.
There's still much more to do, so I'll sign off for now and try to get some rest.
--Steve
hovey@rain.org