China, Wow!
Sunday, April 9- Sunday, April 16. This was a whirlwind experience of a lifetime!
Day 1 -Sunday -ShenzenWe flew from Manila to Shenzen on Sunday, April 9 where we met up with an extended family of 15 Filipinos who toured Shenzen with us. We were quickly adopted by them and had lots of laughs from people we met who pointed out that we sure didn't look Filipino.
For lunch we were taken to a large restaurant full of huge round tables. Our group sat at two tables and soon the large lazy susan in the center of each table was full of different Chinese dishes we all shared. We found this to be the way we would have many of our meals throughout the week. The food was generally very good, but different from any Chinese food we have ever had. I guess it was real Chinese food! Most of the restaurants were nicely outfitted with beautiful china and we ate with chopsticks at every meal! We also got hooked on tea as our cups were never allowed to go empty.
After lunch we went to a huge 5 story mall where we shopped for local handmade items. There were also an abundance of black market bags, shoes, watches, sunglasses, etc... One entire floor was fabric including lots of silk. The whole experience was overwhelming even though we have now been used to the crowded Filipino markets where merchants call us Ma'am and Sir and touch us and try to get us to look at their store. In China they all
yelled Missy or Lady at me and would literally grab my arm to pull me into their store. I sure didn't like that much, and would try hard to just walk away. Sometimes they would follow us down the corridor of the mall. Every purchase needed to be bargained down as they start at about 4-5 times the price for Caucasians. We all got pretty good at just walking away when we thought the price was too high. The merchants would then give in pretty easily rather than lose a sale. It was good to see that these places were available early in the trip so we knew not to spend too much at the showrooms we would encounter later.
5 stories of small shops full of everything you can imagine
sugar cane sticks and huge carrots for sale at one stall
This waiter is pouring hot water for tea
from a very interesting tea kettle
After the mall we checked into our hotel, the Ambassador, and the three of us walked down the street to have a massage and foot reflexology. Afterwards we ate some yummy Japanese food at a nearby restaurant. This was our first foray into the land of non English speaking Chinese, as well as Japanese, alone without a guide or anyone to interpret for us. We managed just fine and everywhere we went we drew stares and laughter from the locals when they couldn't understand us. Our little book of Chinese/English words came in quite handy all week. Talk about being a minority. We were about the only white people we saw all week.
Day 2 -Monday -ShenzenAfter a hotel breakfast our first stop was at a Chinese Arts and Crafts Company which specializes in Jade products. We learned several common stories that are typically shown in Jade artwork, but they wouldn't let us take any pictures. The work is exquisite and very expensive. We then enjoyed tea in the adjoining tea room and showroom.
Next we went to a silk and pearl factory where we learned about the life cycle of the silkworm and how the silk is taken from the spun cocoon and made into fabric. We also got to see an oyster opened up and 19 fresh water pearls harvested from it.
Silkworm cocoons
Beautiful silk garment worn by emperor
19 very small freshwater pearls were
harvested from this one oyster
After both of these stops we were ushered into adjoining showrooms where we had the opportunity to buy all sorts of handmade Chinese items and tea. An inkling of things to come......
Paintings, statues, and carvings of Buddha are everywhere. When they are in threes like this, they represent the past, present, and future. We learned that most Chinese people practice no religion. Only 300,000 of the 1.3 billion population are Buddhists.
Next we visited the "Window of the World" theme park where there are replicas of many important historical landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon, The Pyramids, Canals of Venice, US Capitol Building, etc... Only 10% of Chinese citizens hold a passport, so this has become a very popular place for people to visit to get an idea of what things are like in other parts of the world. We took pictures here, but didn't spend too much time here.
Our fellow travelers and the Louve Pyramid
We were then off to the airport for a late flight to Shanghai. We arrived there and went straight to our hotel, Motel 168.
Day 3 - Tuesday -ShanghaiThe first thing we noticed in Shanghai was the haze across the city. I immediately thought, "oh no, it's pollution and I won't be able to breathe." We found out later that every spring there are huge sand storms in Mongolia and the dust from these storms is what lingers over the city for 2 months every year. Even though it wasn't pollution, it was still very heavy, dusty, air and I had asthma trouble. It was disappointing to not be able to see the Pudong (new economic development area) across the Huangpu River very well. We visited the Bund which is a river walk on the old Shanghai side of the river. It is flanked by wonderful old buildings.
On The Bund with Pudong across the River
Then we walked around the French Concession which is the area that was settled by the French after the Opium Wars in which Britain defeated the Chinese and opened up China to foreign interests during the late 1800's. This was an area populated by writers, adventurers, and gangsters. The first riot in Shanghai was in this area in 1874. The Chinese Communist Party was started here in 1921. It is now a charming area of restaurants and night clubs with a beautiful park and great cobblestone walks.
The French Concession
After lunch we were taken to another jade factory (interesting the first time, but.....) and a Chinese medicinal herbal research center which were to us simply a waste of time and tourist traps to get people to spend money so the tour company could receive their kickbacks. By this time I was pretty testy about this and honestly beside myself because there were so many real things to see and I didn't come to Shanghai to be "Shanghaied." That afternoon the family we were traveling with were scheduled to fly to Beijing on a 5 o'clock flight at the domestic airport and our flight didn't leave until almost 10 at the international airport. The tour guide wanted us to ride the bus to the domestic airport and meet a van that would take us to the international airport. We kept insisting that the van meet us at the last venue to take us to see some more sights for the next 5 hours instead of riding to and sitting in an airport waiting. He kept playing the "you won't have an English speaking guide" card. We told him we would be just fine communicating with our little book and he finally arranged for us to have the van that had been ordered for us come get us and take us back downtown to the Bund. We were able to spend more time exploring the river walk. We found a great restaurant on the top of an old building across the road from the river and had dinner and drinks as the sun set and the lights came on all along the river. A great ending to our day in Shanghai!
WOW!
We were then off to the airport and our 10 PM flight to Beijing.
Shanghai Airport
We arrived in Beijing after midnight and went straight to our hotel.
Day 4 -Wednesday -BeijingBeijing was much clearer than Shanghai, but people told us that this was the first clear day in weeks. Lucky for us as this was our day to climb the Great Wall of China! WOW! The pictures we took just don't do this magnificent piece of history justice, but here are our feeble attempts to show what we saw.
Terry and Allison made it to the top of this garrison. I made it to the place I am taking the picture. I was having trouble breathing so waited here for them to finish torturing themselves.
Here you can see how steep the steps are in this area.
It was quite a physical feat to climb this high and took about an hour. The steps were not at all uniform in height or width so you had to watch where you were going. There were so many people there and some would climb up the left or down the left side, some would just stop and sit down stopping traffic, not a lot different than road traffic in Asia! Going down was not really much easier than going up.
Construction on The Great Wall began well over 2000 years ago and spans over 4000 miles. It took three dynasties to complete and join parts of the original wall beginning in 770 BC through the Qin Dynasty in 200 BC. Subsequent dynasties built on and extended the wall over the next 1800 years. The part we visited near Beijing was built during the Ming Dynasty(1300's-1600's)
As much as 2/3 of the wall has completely deteriorated due to forces of nature and human use. Conservation and restoration efforts are in place, but it many areas it is too little too late.
Here you can see how damaged much of the Great Wall
is from constant use and abuse.
In these last two pictures you can see the path that is
left from part of the wall that is completely destroyed.
I tried to crop the last one up close.
The Great Wall completely exceeded all of our expectations and we didn't see much of it. There is an area another hour farther away where you can take a ski lift to the top and then ride an alpine slide down. We just didn't have time for the additional road trip, next time......
After lunch we went to visit the Pandas at the Beijing Zoo. We were able to see 5 or 6 different ones. They are so cute, but they seemed to stay as far away from the visitors as possible.
No he is not stuffed!
After the zoo we enjoyed another Chinese feast then went to visit the Summer Palace of the Empress Dowager Cixi. The palace was built in the 18th century and heavily damaged during the Second Opium War in 1860. Empress Cixi renovated 20 years later and even today you can sense the grandeur and opulence of the life she led.
We were then off to the Beijing airport for our flight to Xi'an. We arrived around 10 PM and checked into the historic City Hotel in the center of downtown Xi'an.
Day 5 -Thursday -Xi'an Happy Birthday Terry!What a great way to spend a birthday! Our first stop this morning was to see the famous bell and drum towers in downtown Xi'an. These were just minutes away from our hotel and it was a beautiful morning. No dust haze to be seen.
Bell Tower- The bells were rung in the morning in
ancient times to wake the people and denote the
correct time for starting the work day.
Drum Tower-In ancient times the drums were sounded at
dusk to denote the correct time and end of the work day.
The bells are rung and the drums are sounded today in the same manner as in ancient times.
Our next stop was an arts and crafts factory which we buzzed through quickly without buying anything. It was interesting to see how the typical black lacquer Chinese furniture is made. However it is unbelievably expensive!
Black lacquer screen with jade design.
They also produced replicas of the
Terra-Cotta Warriors for souvenirs.
Warrior Allison
Warrior Terry
Weaving beautiful rugs
We had an early lunch and celebrated Terry's birthday with a cake. All of the waitresses sang him Happy Birthday in Chinese.
Ok, now for my favorite part of the whole trip! The Terra-Cotta Warriors! These lifesize clay soldiers were built by Chinese prisoners and peasants at the instruction of the first Imperial Emperor of China, Qin Shiuhuang, in 220 B.C. (Qin is pronounced Chin and is where the name of China originated) They were built to protect his tomb upon his death and were completely buried underground 1.5 kilometers from his tomb. Ancient tombs in China are simply mounds of ground which completely cover the mausoleum where the person is entombed along with all of their belongings they want to keep with them in the afterlife. Today the tombs simply look like big tree covered hills. There are historical accounts that Qin's mausoleum is actually an enormous underground palace. The tomb is obvious, well documented and in plain sight, but will not be excavated or explored due to long standing Chinese tradition and law. This is true for all of the tombs all over China, commoners as well as emperors. There is no mention in the historical accounts of these warriors which had been buried near the tomb, even though they took thousands of people many years to construct, put in place, and cover over with dirt. This discovery was a complete surprise and is being called the 8th wonder of the world. It is reported that the building of Qin's tomb took over 40 years (construction started as soon as he became king at the age of 13) and was not completed until after he was buried there at the age of 50.
In 1974, (just 32 years ago!), a farmer who was digging a well on his land near the tomb found an arm from what looked to be fragments of a pottery statue of some sort.............WOW!
Again my pictures cannot possibly do justice to the magnitude or magnificence of this scene.
To date over 8000 lifesize warriors and horses have been uncovered in three different 5 meter deep pits. Notice the walls between the rows of warriors. Roofs of fiber mats and timber spanned the walls and covered the warriors before everything was covered over with earth.
Over the years several sections of the roof which was protecting the soldiers have caved in damaging or destroying hundreds of the statues. Archaeologists are hard at work trying to put the pieces of the broken statues back together and uncovering the remaining statues in adjoining areas.
Calvaryman
Archer
In 1980, two sets of bronze chariots and horses were found 20 meters west of the tomb mound.
Today all of these treasures are protected in a wonderful museum setting which includes at least 5 separate buildings which were built around the original excavation sites. This compound has been declared a Unesco World Heritage Site.
After visiting the Terra-Cotta Warriors we returned to Xi'an to visit the city wall. Xi'an was a capital city of ancient China. There is a 12 meter high wall completely around the perimeter of the ancient city, 14 kilometers around.
This day went really fast and we were off to the train station to catch our 7:30 all night sleeper train back to Beijing. The train was great, it seemed brand new and there were 4 bunks in each compartment. We shared our room with a Chinese woman who could speak no English. She just read and slept the entire way. Allison and Terry explored the train while I stayed with our things in the car and read my book. It was a very comfortable ride and we all slept well and arrived in Beijing at 7 AM Friday morning.
Xi'an train station
"It has been a great birthday!"
Day 6 -Friday -Beijing
Beijing Train Station
Our guide met us at the train station and took us to our hotel, where after a short wait we were allowed to check in and take a shower before starting our touring day. We spent most of our day downtown at Tian'anmen Square area. We witnessed the throngs of Chinese flocking to see Mao Zedong's body displayed in his mausoleum. (One million per day, they say. It is hard to believe that is possible!) It is very hard for me to imagine why anyone would want to see the dead body of man who committed such atrocious acts of violence against citizens of his country. 10 million people of the opposition were deliberately murdered while another 30 million died due to famine which was a result of his unsuccessful Great Leap Forward Plan designed to restructure the economy. He is an idol and an icon in this country still today.....Go figure! The government is responsible for all information given to the people and schools are forbidden to teach real history. Our tour guide couldn't or at least wouldn't talk to us about the Tian'anmen Square student demonstrations of 1989. Ignorance is bliss they say......We did not stand in the long, long line to see him.
Chairman Mao's Mausoleum
Monument to the Heroes of the People
Hundreds of school children filing by us, in the underground
walkway under the road, on their way to see Mao's body.
We walked by the Great Hall of the People to the Forbidden City which completely wowed us one more time! The Forbidden City covers 72 hectares ( 1 hectare=2.5 acres) and was originally constructed 1406-1420. The palace contains 9999.5 rooms, half a room less than the Jade emperor's heavenly palace, in its 800 buildings. The Jade emperor is the supreme God and ruler of heaven for the Chinese people.
We may be smiling, but we are a bit fed up with
close proximity and being pushed around.
As you can see, those million people who visited
Chairman Mao came right on over to see
the Forbidden City! WOW!
Even though these buildings look very similar,
all of these pictures are of different halls in the
same Palace compound of the Forbidden City.
These are just a few of them...... WOW!
As we left the Forbidden City, we had to walk through a wonderful garden. This tree is supposed to be a good luck charm for married couples and you are supposed to have your picture taken with it, so we didn't want to tempt fate.
What a morning! By now we were hungry and tired and went to the nicest Chinese restaurant of our tour for lunch. We were supposed to be treated to Peking Duck, but none of us were interested in trying this delicacy.
Terry, Allison and Yenzin, our English speaking guide
After lunch we convinced Yenzin to take us to a market where we could shop instead of going to another factory of some sort. We had a great two hours on our own finding all kinds of great treasures.
We were then taken to the Hutong area of Beijing which consists of the old narrow lanes and ally ways where most of the city population lived in ancient times. They are modest homes built around shared courtyards. Today in Beijing the Hutong is the young hip place to live and has been transformed into a wonderful walking area around a long lake. The lake is bordered by small lanes used mostly by rickshaws and bicycles. There are restaurants, clubs, and shops. The atmosphere is wonderful especially after dark when the lights come on and live music drifts from the open air clubs. We rode a rickshaw all around the lake, walked through some great local shops, then went to the third floor of a small club to sit on the balcony and enjoy the music and lights around the lake.
Hutong Courtyard
Allsion in her Rickshaw writing in her journal
Blurry pictures of clubs in Hutong from the moving rickshaw.
Hutong River area from third floor balcony
Day 7 -Saturday -Beijing
Our final day in China started with yet another trip to a silk factory. Our guide told us that she would lose her job if she wasn't able to get us to go to this place, so we went. Again we saw the silkworm cocoons, but then we actually got to see how it is take from the little cocoon and stretched across a table in layers that are then made into comforters and nice silk blankets. They even let us try our hand at stretching the cocoon which was pretty cool. We went through quickly without buying the incredibly expensive quilts- $400 US dollars. They were nice, but.....We needed to get to another market where the bargains are!
We had about an hour to shop at one last local market mall before heading to the airport for our flight to Shanghai. In Shanghai we were disappointed to find out we didn't have time to really visit the Pudong area we were supposed to tour. We drove through it and took a few up close pictures of the Pearl Tower.
Pearl TV Tower
We rejoined the family we had toured with on the first two days in China and were off to our final Chinese meal, then we took the bullet train to the airport for our flight to Shenzen. This train went 30 miles in about 7 minutes. At the three minute mark we were going 430 km per hour. WOW! It felt like we were on a fast roller coaster with no spins or turns. It's a pretty neat way to get around.
In Shenzen we had to wait in the airport for 2 hours for our flight home to Manila. We arrived home on Easter morning as the sun was coming up and the full moon was in the western sky.
Betsy's Pictures Check out our panoramic pictures that won't fit in the journal.
Thanks for joining us for China, Wow!
Betsy's Pictures
Another fun lunch with the girls: Michelle, Elizabeth, Celia, Holly, Betsy, and Kim.
Sharon, Christina, Cathy, Kim L., Maya, Michelle R., Ann, Michelle M., Kim, and Diane who is missing to the right because I didn't have my glasses on. She is in many other pictures in this blog.
