Monday, October 25, 2010

Essence of China Tour 2010 with Hong Kong Extension Oct. 7-18, 2010

    Why China?  From 1971 to 1975 Tom served as a Special Air Missions Guard for the Presidential Special Air Mission Wing at Andrews AFB, MD.  During that time he traveled to 68 countries.  In 1972 he was on a diplomatic mission to China with Dr. Henry Kissinger.  He visited Peking ( Chinese have always pronounced it Beijing), The Great Wall, The Ming Tombs, the Forbidden City and Hong Kong.When he returned he told me he wanted to take me there when we retired.  So, we decided that this would be our first big overseas trip after he retired and our dream of 38 years happened!
    There is so much to talk about so I will try paragraphs, bold subject lines, etc. so readers can choose what they want to read about.  Unfortunately, the blog doesn't always print like I type the sections, nor does it place pictures where I want them sometimes.
   October 6 - We had decided to fly out of Seattle instead of where we live because it would be a $400 savings and we could see friends over there, spend 2 nights in a hotel and park our car and still be about $200 ahead.  We were unable to see our friends as one of their friends passed away and they were busy with arrangements, family, etc.  So we relaxed all afternoon, went to dinner and to bed early since we had to get up at 3:30 a.m. to get to the airport.  Decided on a Mexican restaurant since we assumed we wouldn't be having chips and salsa for the next 11 days.
    October 7 - flew to San Francisco, had a 3 hour wait and then on the plane for the flight which would last 11 hours and 20 minutes!  United did a great job and provided us with 3 meals.  It was a very long day.  It was exciting to see the Aleutian chain of mountains in Alaska as we flew over.  TVs showed TV shows and movies the whole flight.  Between shows a map would appear which showed exactly where the plane was, outside temperature, how long until we would land, plane speed, altitude, etc.  Mileage on this SF to Beijing leg was 5905 miles and we arrived a day later than we left - Oct. 8.

Annie and our Beijing bus driver, Mr. How.  We had a different driver in each city.  Tom wrote on the tip envelope to Mr. How that he was quite a good bus driver.  He was so kind and helped everyone off the bus at each stop.

Finally we landed and were so glad to be out of our crowded seats.  We took off like a herd of turtles (Ha), heading for customs and the baggage carousel.  Our instructions were to look for the Globus tour director after we retrieved our luggage.  We found her immediately and met about half of the 30 tour members.  Others would arrive at midnight.  Poor things, as we were to get up at 6 to start our day the next day.  It is a day ahead in China so our internal clocks were all off.  The first man to introduce himself to us was Mark from Wash. D.C.  He asked Tom what he did for a living and then said, interesting.  I design software for defense contractors.  We bonded with he and his 81 year old mom right away, along with several other people.  We had 5 people in their 30's to 54 who are single and have been to countless worldwide locations.  One was a set of women twins from Denver.  Several retirees ( still married or single) travel all over too.    All of them have thoughts about their next trip - usually take at least 1 or 2 per year.
    We immediately liked our guide, Annie.  She is probably in her early 30's and we enjoyed her guidance, great sense of humor and kindness for a full week, as she led us through Beijing, Xian and Shanghai.  She told us this huge airport had been built in time for the Olympics a few years ago and that China's population is now 1.3 billion.  Most readers know this is a Communist country.  We are astounded by the number of skyscrapers.  We passed a gigantic outlet mall that is still under construction.  She told us there are Walmarts and Sam's Club stores here.  It strikes all of us that everything seems so clean - streets, gutters, sidewalks.  We see several people who are street cleaners.
    I asked her if a cluster of highrises is apartments and she told us they were condos.  Government-subsidized housing condos are for sale everywhere in the country.   Buyers usually have to have 20% down and then can get a mortgage for 20 - 30 years.  Depending on the location in Beijing, the average 540 sq. ft. condo costs $200-500,000.  A few may be up to 1000 sq. ft.  Prices in the main areas of town are so prohibitive that suburbs are building more and more projects.  Some people are commuting 1-2 hours each way.  Annie had already told us most Chinese have a very healthy diet of little meat, lots of rice and noodles, fruits and vegetables and they walk so many places their whole lives.  My thought was that this country's population will probably see different health problems in the next 10 years as we watch the hundreds of cars ahead, beside and behind us and fast food restaurants.  Later we watched 2 teenaged girls at a Pizza Hut who were not sure they liked their pizza, pondering over every bite!
    As we approached the Trader Hotel she pointed out the mall adjacent to it and KFC and Haagen-Daas stores.  As we pull up to the hotel Annie says "OK, guys. here we are (are sounds ah").  Every time we arrived somewhere she said it and we always thought it was so cute.  We went to our room and turned the TV on while unpacking.  The first thing to appear was an ad for Habitat for Humanity.  Then there was a baseball game on HBO.  The hotel is pretty and has a restaurant and nice furniture, lighting etc in the lobby and very nice rooms.  We went for a walk around the hotel mall and saw a nice Adidas store. Now to look for dinner in the hotel mall.  We watched ice skaters on the indoor rink, getting a kick out of 3 little ones with helmets and knee pads on.  Decided to eat at the Subway.  We knew many Chinese lunches were included in the tour.  Ready for bed!

Saturday in Beijing- met at 6:30 a.m. for breakfast in the dining room.  Wonderful buffet.  70's, humid and very smoggy, darn it.  Out to the bus for our first ride.  We pass a couple of embassies and Annie tells us there are over 80 there.  She points out that 4 temples help you with directions in the city.  She points out a 1000 year old observatory.  The city's wall used to be 20 miles long.  In 1980 it was torn down and a ring road built.  One mile of the old city wall was preserved.  What is the population of Beijing, someone asked.  It's about 19 million, she replied.  (NYC is 8.4 and L.A. nearly 10 million). 
    Traffic is heavy and she tells us there was once a 10 day traffic jam on a highway coming into town.  There are 80,000 buses, 70,000 taxis and 7 million bikes in Beijing!  Including tricycles - a bike with a trailer on the back.  One time we saw one that had over a dozen large cardboard boxes stacked in the trailer.  There were countless mopeds and motorcycles.  She told us that traffic signals are merely a suggestion that most drivers don't pay any attention to.  Intersections are a free for all, with bikes, mopeds and pedestrians fighting against the cars and buses for space.  Everyone seems to be walking and driving in the same space at the same time.  One driver kept trying to take the space the bus was in, all the while texting!  Mopeds have passengers who sit sideways on a rack above the back tire.  Sometimes there are small children standing between the driver and the passenger.  It is unbelievable!  Pedestrians finally get a green light to cross and cars, buses and all other vehicles just plow through them and they move aside - remember, the intersection has 50-100 people trying to cross!  She said there are seldom car or pedestrian accidents.  We are flabbergasted.  But we witnessed this same thing our whole tour in every city.  Beijing has a 230 mile subway system and an elevated train. 
    We pass a Cartier's Jewelry store, Staples, Italian stores, Nike, Mister Donut, Century 21 Real Estate.  KFCs and McDonalds are everywhere.  Construction cranes dot the skyline everywhere.  Annie told us karoake is very popular and many people go in the mornings when it is cheaper.  A huge Expo is going on for several months in Beijing.  Its slogan is "Better city, better life."
    Some general information - most of which was given to us by Annie:
Annie's family has lived in Beijing since the Ming Dynasty - 600 years ago.  She said when she was a child her dad would tell her if she was good they would go downtown to get ice cream and watch foreigners.
    Even today homes have very small refrigerators and women who don't work usually go to the fresh markets twice daily.  Mostly people use the fridges for ice and pop, she said.  There are no ovens - they don't bake and seldom have any kind of dessert, especially anything sweet.  They have a microwave but most people only use it to heat food and make popcorn.  Hmm.  Her parents never had butter or cheese.  There are no fortune cookies and they don't use soy sauce.  She said a current fad is to suck a duck's neck while drinking beer or tea.  We decided to pass on that.
    Vegetables and fruits:  When Annie was a child there were no greenhouses around Beijing, so the family lived on turnips and radishes.  Her father would buy 1000# of cabbage at a time for 3+ months' meals.  The family would haul it on their bicycles and work all afternoon carrying it up to the balcony outside their apartment.  Her mom covered it with 2 black tarps to keep it fresh.  Now there are greenhouses and many more vegetables and fruits are available, including watermelon all year.  That is the most common dessert.  Outside of town we passed an organic farm.  Annie said some farmers are able to make it because they charge admission for people to enter the fields and pick their own produce.  She said many city condo dwellers enjoy getting outside on the weekend to do it.  Many grow organic chickens to sell the eggs.  The chickens eat only bugs and worms.
    China's water is unsafe to drink.  That's why they have always drunk hot tea - once it has been boiled it is ok.  She told us never to take a swallow and not to swish our mouths with it when brushing our teeth.  She told us each hotel will provide 2 free bottles daily and that the nearby 7-11's have the best price so we can stock up and keep it in our room fridges.  Can you imagine the profits some water companies are making?
    Since the condos are so small, owners have a small washing machine, but not dryers.  They hang their clothes outside the windows - even on the tallest floors of the highrises.  Most used a long bamboo stick, inserting it through the neck and sleeves of the shirts.  Sometimes baby clothes or underwear were attached to some sort of thin rack with clothespins of some type.  Most families have a folding table which they put up between meals.  The condos have modern bathrooms, though are very small.  Annie lives on the 26th floor.  She told us that old buildings didn't have elevators unless they were over 7 stories high.  All the new ones do, but they are shut off between 11:30 p.m. and 6 a.m.   Four times last summer she returned from her tour in another city and had to walk up the 26 stories carrying her purse and carryon luggage.  She said, oh it isn't a problem.  I can make it to my condo in 20 minutes!  I presume she was pregnant some of those times since she has a 4 month old daughter.
    She thinks about 25% of China's population dwell within the cities, with 75% living on farms.  And yet they call the farmers a minority.  City dwellers often shun the dirty, hard work, and more younger farmers are moving into the cities to take those jobs because farmers don't have any kind of pension.  She told us fishermen are becoming scarcer all the time as the older ones die and the younger ones don't have any interest in the little fishing villages and are moving into the cities.  She said (and other guides confirmed this in other areas) that basically the fishing industry will be dead in 20-30 years and the cities will reclaim some of the waterways to build on.  She spoke about China's 20 million Muslims, saying, it is not a problem because "their population is so small compared to our country's 1.3 billion people."  They are also called a minority.  Other minorities live in other parts of China, such as in Tibet.  She said the Tibetans still take about 3 showers in their lifetime:  at birth, on their wedding day and before burial.  Koreans who live in China are minorities.  The minorities have a symbol on their I.D. and are allowed to have more children and have other benefits.
     Cremation and burial.  In the cities it is the law that a body must be cremated - it is a space issue.  Cemetery plots are normally rented for 7 years and then the ashes must be moved.  Farmers are allowed to bury bodies on their land.
     Drug addicts -she said it is believed there are about 2 million addicts.  "But it isn't a problem because it is a small percentage of our population."
     License plates, gas and cigarettes - Gas is about $4.00 per gallon.  Everyone with a car pays a $200 petrol tax at the end of the year, whether they drive 100 miles or 10,000 miles that year.  Most cigarettes cost about $2.00 per pack, with some local brands being as low as 30 cents.
    Someone on the bus asked her to explain the currency.  She points out that some paper bills are rough in spots so blind people know what bill they are holding.  Almost everyone accepts American bills, not change.  Taxes - pay for infrastructure, schools and services.
     Most Chinese take vacations twice a year, but don't travel very much, even within China.
    "China is safe."  Every guide told us that.  Annie said guns are illegal and the Chinese can't imagine living in a country where people can shoot each other.  Tom said, Hm, wonder how many have knives on them.  She said you can feel safe walking anywhere, even  in the middle of the night.  She said there is some crime along the borders of the country, but our only concern would be pickpockets.
     The national flower is the peony, which symbolizes "good wealth".
     Most Chinese men retire at 55 and women at 60.  After they retire they cook, spend time with their grandchildren and usually go to the nearest park daily to exercise.  We asked about wages.  Annie said until 1976 everyone was paid the same:  farmers, teachers, doctors.  Now 10% of the population are millionaires and billionaires, 20% are the middle class and 70% are poorer.  Now, she said, wages vary greatly and no one really knows.  It seems policemen receive a salary, plus bonuses for the amount of tickets they write.  Her husband is an engineer.  She said most families go home from work to cook dinner, spend time playing games and helping the kids with homework and watching TV.
     She said they are told only about 10% of the population are in the Communist Party.  Their Army is volunteer, but there can have been no crime by any family members.  Most of the young people who join are 16-19 and learn skills toward finding jobs when they get out.
      Annie warned us that there will be many tourists from southern China in Beijing and that many of them have never seen Caucasians or Blacks.  We have blacks and Hispanics in our group.  We were definitely stared at and often asked to have our pictures taken, especially Ev.  I wonder if it was because I am so tall compared to most of them.  One black gal was taller than me, but I never saw any of the blacks or Hispanics asked to have pictures taken.  I'm trying to remember if many of the older people had gray hair and I don't think so, so that may have been an attraction about me, too.  Annie told us the Chinese call Americans "big nose".
    We have received pictures on the Internet showing wiring and cables in China.  They were not exaggerations!  Cables hung everywhere above the curbs, in rolls, winding between tree branches even.  So many of the younger people were on their cellphones everywhere - even looking down at them, texting, etc. while trying to cross the street between all the traffic, walking in the crowds, etc.

    We immediately noticed all the bushes, trees and flowers in Beijing.  Annie told us we will see that in all 4 cities as it is a way to control pollution and add beauty.  6 and 8 lane boulevards were divided by them.   One boulevard had miles of rosebushes in the center.
    Annie told us about hawkers and it didn't take long to be approached by some.  You might be approached by 6 in a block - always hawking knockoffs of Rolex watches (she said they become relaxes in about a month) and handbags.  In Hong Kong it was men's suits and shirts.
    It didn't take someone long to ask Annie about the One Child Policy.  She was very open about answering our questions, saying all groups ask about it.  From 1978 to 1981 the government suggested couples have only one child.  In 1981 it became law.  Twins are allowed, since it is considered one birth.  After 30 years the government announced that if the parents are only children they may have a second child, to carry on the family name, but they suggest waiting 4 years in between births.
    So you want to have a baby!   Since Annie has a 4 month old daughter, this is all very fresh in her mind.  You have to obtain a coupon to have a baby.  There are many steps once you make the decision, taking about 3 months.  First, you have to apply with your boss.  You must prove all kinds of things, such as where you were born.  Then the process starts of obtaining stamps from about 20 different bureaus!  The baby will be given an ID card.  People try to marry someone from their own city because matters become too complicated trying to obtain the baby's ID otherwise.  It boggles my mind to think of this process with millions of young people!  If a mother is single, the baby won't have a birth certificate!  If a woman becomes pregnant by accident, she can take 6 pills which will abort the fetus.  If after 8 weeks, she may obtain an abortion - legal.  It is against the law for a doctor to disclose the baby's sex, subject to license suspension.
    Diapers (or lack thereof) and toilet training:  Most people can't afford them.  Parents start whistling when the baby pees when it is very young.  Soon mom whistles according to her schedule and within a few months the baby pees when he hears the whistling.  Annie said it works 90% of the time!  The young children's shorts or pants have a slit where the back seam would be and they don't wear underpants.  This makes it convenient for them to squat wherever they are!
    Schools - Kindergarten is expensive.  Parents pretty much have to know someone to get their child in.  Usually make a $3500 donation and pay $250 per month.  School from grades 1 - 8 is free.  Pay for grades 9 - 12.  (this reminds me that she told us some kids enter the Army at 16 to learn a skill).  Kids go from 7:30 - 5:30, M - F.  They have a 10 minute break between classes. and a short break after every 2 classes.  Lunch is from 11:30 - 1:30 and, if they live close enough, they can have a quick nap at home.  Then most attend "after school curriculum - dance, music, drama - for 1 - 1/2 hours.  Then they have a couple of hours of homework when they get home.  Vacations are July 15 - Sept. 1 and Jan. 15 - Feb. 15, but they are given lots of homework to turn in when they come back.
    School rules - can't use any hair coloring, must wear a uniform, no jewelry,  makeup or tattoos.  Most teens don't date until they are college age so they can concentrate on their studies and they don't marry during the college years.   
    Medical care:  Some insurance is available through the government for $1000-2000.  She gave an example:  If you become sick in the night, you had better go immediately to the hospital and stand in line if you want to be seen the next morning.  She said at least this has started a new career - people will take money to stand in line for you!
     Chinese toilets.  I was warned that many toilets are the old squatting type and that many places don't provide toilet paper.  Annie reinforced all of this, telling us to take paper from the hotels if we didn't bring supplies.  She said the Chinese ones are nicer now because, instead of a plain hole in the ground, they are a hole covered with porcelain.  I was concerned about being able to squat with my back problem, and, happily only had to use one of them the whole trip, especially since there is nothing to hold onto!  She said Chinese women will line up for the Chinese toilets if they are in the restrooms because they feel the seats on the Western ones are dirty.  Only in the hotels were we supposed to flush the paper.  Elsewhere each stall had a wastebasket.  The nicer places we visited sometimes had an attendant who kept the baskets emptied, seats washed off.  (How many times was that rag used?)  More often than not, there was no attendant.  At one performance the attendant poured the soap on our hands from a pottery teapot.

Oct. 9 Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the Summer Palace

    Our bus drops us off down the street from the Square.  On the sidewalk Annie asks us if we would guess what the metal grates are.  Someone says "toilets?"  Yes, she says.  When there are large events, curtains are placed around them.


Annie told us the locals don't come here except for special events and we'd see mostly tourists.  And lots of hawkers!  Postcards, books, etc.  The group had its picture taken and we bought a nice book about Beijing that it fits into. 
This is part of a floral display all along one side of the square, made in honor of a national holiday.  Annie told us usually they are much more elaborate, but because of natural disasters in China this year, some expenses have been cut back.  There were 2 standing rainbows and the whole length was shaped like a rainbow with row after row of flowers.
    Tiananmen Square is the largest city square in the world.  It is has been the site of several important events in Chinese history and the world knows about it because of the student riots in 1989.  The Heavenly Gate separates the square from the Forbidden City, the former Imperial Palaces.  Entry to the Palaces    was forbidden to commoners and was where the emperors, their wives, children and concubines lived.  There are several buildings.  Today about 80,000 visitors arrive here daily.  She said they respect their elders and never let elders over 65 travel alone.

    There are 15 layers of bricks on the ground so no one could tunnel underneath to enter the Palace to kill the emperor.  There were no trees so no one could climb one to get in.  Feng shui is very important to the Chinese and buildings were situated in certain ways, etc.  One building burned down 3 times.  Annie said 500 years ago the pillows there were made from jade and ivory.  Sometimes they dried tea leaves or used green beans in the pillows.  Since the Chinese don't eat much meat or drink milk they sleep on hard beds so their bones don't form incorrectly.
    Annie told us Beijing is famous for freshwater pearls, jade and cloissone.  Today we went to a pearl "factory".  We watched pearls being taken from the oysters, were told about the various colors of pearls and then taken to the gigantic showroom to shop.  We were kept there longer than most of us wanted to be. 
    On the bus Annie told us fresh water crabs about the size of a dollar pancake costs $40-50 American dollars.  We saw American magazines on the racks of street vendors.  Our lunch was very tasty and had a big variety.  Beijing has 30 government parks.  It costs $5-10 to enter or people can purchase an annual pass for $50 and use it every day.  Seniors over 70 aren't charged.
    We decide it is 12:15 a.m. at home, though it is 3:15 here and we have trouble staying awake as we are driven to the Summer Palace.  Let alone the fact that we've been on the go for 9 hours already today.  We drive for an hour to the sound of constant honking of horns.  We passed thousands of condo units.
    Summer Palace of the Emperors - the garden and lake were man-made in 1750.  The palace was burned down 3 times by European countries.  The Emperor's family always lived here from April to October.  We rode a dragon boat to the other side of the lake. 

    There was one lady emperor who everyone called The Dragon Lady because she was so mean and she wasted so much money.  One example was the marble boat she had built for troops to train on.  Ha!  Of course it wouldn't float.  The top is made from wood and painted to look like marble.  After that expenditure there was no money left to buy weapons.




     There were pretty gates and Annie told us that gates similar to these used to be on most street corners.  We weren't pleased to see this Obama t-shirt on a rack of tourist souvenirs.  Enlarge the picture so you can read the caption.


    We arrived back at the hotel and were asked to dress up and be in the lobby in 40 minutes to be driven to our welcome dinner at the Peking Duck Restaurant.  We weren't real excited about this since Tom had been to a similar dinner in 1972 and the duck soup tureen held everything but the quack.  The meal wasn't very tasty, especially the greasy duck and duck soup.  The cooks learn to cut 108 bite sized pieces from each duck.
   They put the meat between a thin pancake that is flavorless, add a piece of onion and some plum sauce and fold it like a taco.  I ate mostly vegetables and Tom hardly ate anything.  Local beer is free with each meal, but you have to pay for a bottle of water.
    We are really tired!  It was 8:30 when we returned to the hotel.  This was the most strenuous day we'll have, Annie says.  Too bad it is right after everyone arrives after their long days before and during the flight. Coming back from the restaurant in the dark we were astounded at the number of bikes, mopeds and rickshaws driving along the streets, through the intersections, etc.  None of them had any lights!  We saw this same thing in every city.
 

October 10th - touring more of Beijing and the Great Wall

    The sky is full of more smog than yesterday.  We toured a Jade factory, spending lots of time there so we would spend money.  We complied!  We took pictures of some of the more interesting large pieces.  There are many colors of jade.

table and stools - $68,500 American


$25,800 American.  This is a common dragon for a homeowner to keep near his door (probably not this big or expensive).  Annie told Tom and I that it is said money will come through its mouth.  Since it has no asshole the money will stay in the house!


There were 2 large eagles.  One was $15,000 and one $17,500 U.S.

    Next we visited a cloissone factory and its store.  Beijing is the only place in China where it is made.  We watched craftsmen working with it.  The basic structure of a piece is brass and small strands of wire are added before the cloissone is added.  There were many beautiful pieces. 

    The Great Wall stretches over 4000 miles and was constructed between the 5th century B.C.  and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Empire from attack.  It is estimated that between 2 and 3 million Chinese died during the centuries long construction.  The top of the wall is 3000' above sea level.  We walked on the Badaling section.  I was surprised at the height of the individual steps and had a heck of a time climbing them because my back was bothering me.  I reached as far as I was going to walk and watched a couple and their 12-13 month old girl reach that spot.  The baby started crying and twirled around so quickly that I gasped, afraid she was going to roll down the steps.  They moved her and she did it again.  Suddenly mom picked her up and held her out over one of the "holes" in the wall!  I thought, good grief, please don't let her drop her.  We were high enough that she would have been hurt badly.  The child quit crying and I saw pee coming from the slit in her pants.  Had I heard a whistle I would have known what was going to happen!
    There are some shops and a tearoom across from the Wall, none of which was there in 1972.  We bought ""I walked the Wall" t-shirts and a neat teacup.  (Tom's shirt was mismarked and will barely fit me.  That size was hanging up, but we didn't remove ours from the bag).  We drove away from the Wall on the same road with steep hills as the Olympic bicylists used for their races.  Huge letters in a forest by the Wall said "One World, One Dream" - from the Olympics.



    Next we walked the Secret Way.  It is lined with marble statues of animals that were built 600 years ago and has a small temple.  This is near the Ming Tombs.  Tom was very disappointed that we weren't taken to the tombs as they were with Dr. Kissinger.  They were a highlight of the trip for him.  After the tombs were built the workers were killed because they knew where the entrances were.  Thirteen emperors are buried there.  The Chinese used Feng Shui to decide where to build them near the mountains.  They were placed allowing the emperor to be laid where they could "see what the people in the Forbidden City were doing."


Tonight we attended the Peking Opera.  It was terrible and I wanted to walk out so badly.  The female singer screeched, didn't sing.  It was like a fairy tale and the words were flashed on the wall in Mandarin and English.  The band had instruments that sounded like clanging pot lids.  The noise was horrendous.

Oct. 11th Touring a hutong in Beijing and arriving in Xian

    Hutongs are alleyways with little rooms and houses.  Annie said we would see what Beijing looked like 30 years ago.
We felt sorry for the man who peddled us in the his rickshaw (bicycle powered).  We traveled several blocks and the expected fee was $1.50 U.S.

Neighborhood stores in the hutong

House belonging to Bruce Lee, the martial arts expert.  He prefers to live in the old area.
                 Certain ornate items around the doorways, etc., emphasize one's wealth or "importance."
    We walked many streets through the neighborhood.  Actually, they were like alleys.  We saw parked cars with pieces of plywood covering the tires.  Someone asked if it was to prevent sun damage.  Annie told us it was to keep the dogs from peeing on them.

                                         Even the highrise condo buildings don't have central air.
This little girl was a big hit.  She would "high-five" everyone who passed.  The men in the background are playing Mahjong.

Then we came to the home of a family who allows tour groups to see how they live.  The woman retired from an insurance company and her husband is a retired engineer.  He and his brother have an art business where they do paper cutting artwork.  She earns money by providing tours of their home.  They want to continue to live as they have for years, instead of moving to a condo.  We all sat in the courtyard, an outside area about the size of a large American living room.  They have arbors over them where the family grows grapes, squash, etc.  This area is living area in good weather.  Surrounding it are the various rooms belonging to the family.  This one had a large bedroom for the woman and her husband.  Across the courtyard was the great-grandfather's bedroom.  On one end was the room of the adult children.  A teeny kitchen was on one side, consisting of a butcher block table, a small countertop and a tiny refrigerator.  Two people were cooking.  Next to it was a separate room which is the dining room.  There was no table in there, just stools and a cabinet.  Below is our tour group sitting in the courtyard that is surrounded by the rooms the family uses. 


Short flight to Xian
After being taken to our hotel we had a little free time before attending the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show.  It was more interesting than the opera.  We all had trouble staying awake though.



Oct. 12th - Seeing more of Xian and the terra cotta soldiers

This was the nicest hotel room of the 4, even though they were all very nice.  And more expensive than where we will stay when we travel on our own!
Marble-tiled bathroom, marble tub and shower with glass doors.        
All the hotels provided robes and slippers.  We never used them.  No time to lounge around at night or in the mornings!  This morning our wakeup call was at 6:30 so we would have time for the "slow" service in the restaurant - actually it was pretty good.  On the bus at 8:00.
Hotel's breakfast buffet area.  All 4 had nice dining rooms like this.

    Each city we visited has these old neighborhoods with tiny stores.  Some were smaller than a small American bedroom. 

There were countless car repair shops in little buildings like this in the cities.   About the size of a single car garage.
       We see more KFCs and Annie tells us the Chinese call it "Big chicken".  More McDonalds and then we pass the American Embassy.
     Annie tells us this was the original capital of China (for 1100 years) and was nicknamed "peach of the west".  It was one of the wealthiest cities in the world when China dominated the silk trade.  It was the first Chinese city with a population of one million.  Now it is the political and economic center of northwestern China and has 50 colleges.  71 Emperor's mausoleums are located there.  The area is too dry to grow rice.  Crops include cotton, corn, apples, pomegranites, and persimmons.  She tells us to drink more water, eat more watermelon and use moisturizer.
     She tells us that the people here are very slow and that we may find the service in restaurants terrible, even at the hotel, so we need to allow extra time.  Tourism is relatively new to this area.  She said traffic is wild here compared to Beijing.  We think oh, my gosh.  Next thing we know we are on a two-lane street and 2 big trucks pass the cars ahead of us, even though there are cars are coming at them!
     There are countless new skyscrapers and tall condo complexes.  She points out the old city wall which was built in the 14th century.  There was a moat outside it.  Next we see bell and drum towers.  Before clocks were everywhere, the bells were rung in the morning and drums beat at night, telling the time.
     As we sit in traffic Annie tells us China means middle kingdom and America means beautiful country.  In ancient times the Chinese thought they lived in the middle of the world.  I saw a sign for a "child welfare lottery" and asked her what that was.  Funds are used for children's education, etc.  There are no casinos.  Mahjong is gambling, but it is the only kind allowed, every other kind is illegal.  We drove through a computer area, she called it.  Saw offices for Microsoft and other companies.
    She tells us that 30 years ago only the government had cars.  It was during Mao's reign and most people were poor.  Now the gap between the rich and poor is great.

    We are headed for the large Dayan (Wild Goose) Pagoda which was built in 652 A.D.and is still used as a temple.  It is 7 stories high and no tall buildings are allowed near it. The monks are not allowed to have sex, use alcohol or eat meat.  (Japanese monks have those privileges, she thinks.)  Many monks' ashes are buried here.  This pagoda houses Buddhist scriptures that were translated by a monk.  Buddhism came to China from India. 



    This morning we toured a lacquer furniture store.  There were beautiful pieces inlaid with shells and painted many coats. 



The adjacent store sold calligraphy paintings and had a brief explanation for us on that procedure.  We bought two prints.


      More time on the bus.  Traffic is terrible.  We were on streets like this is all four cities. We watched street cleaners working.  They carry a moplike thing that they use to swirl in the dirt around trees.  It picks up paper etc.  Then they move to the street, sweeping all along the curbs.  Xian, too, is very clean.  We counted 17 cranes on the skyline from one spot.  Later we saw 8 near the Buddha.
     Annie tells us that 1500 pandas live on a mountain near the site of the soldiers.  She says "they actually don't like each other, so if they won't mate, they are shown dirty panda movies.  If that doesn't work, she says, they are given little blue pills.  You know what those are, right?  Viagra."  She smiles her cute smile and says "I'm telling you the truth."
     The terra cotta soldiers.  In 1974 the tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, was accidentally discovered by local farmers.  "Warriors" have been guarding the burial site for 2000 years.  One farmer is really credited with the discovery.  In the visitor's center a man sits, autographing the book about the soldiers.  It is published in many languages for the tourists.  We decided he was probably "the farmer of the day", though today it was quite an elderly man.  We were really looking forward to this part of the trip and weren't disappointed.  We spent about 1-1/2 hours at the site, having plenty of time to walk around the huge areas and to take pictures of the life-size soldiers.  Nearly 8000 warriors are housed in 3 pits and it is believed that each facial expression is different.  They don't know if there are more pits still covered up.  There are also life-sized horses and wagons.  It has been painstaking work to repair them.  The area is covered by covers like a playing field in America might have.  The statues were painted, but exposure to air and light has made it almost disappear on the figures.
     This Emperor was very cruel.  He required many peasants' families to share on butcher knife, feeling that would eliminate their ability to revolt.  It is a Chinese joke that he contributed greatly to Chinese tourism since he is the one who ordered the Wall to be built and the soldiers that would flank his tomb at his death.  He was Emperor from age 13 until his death at 50.  The next year peasants staged a rebellion, pillaging the tombs, knocking over and breaking the statues.  We saw a movie depicting all of this.  It has been painstaking work to restore the ones that are completed.

Pieces of statues that have not been repaired



Note the life size horses behind the front soldiers


This picture shows what the faces looked like before air and light hit them







     We were going to an optional variety show - acrobatics, juggling etc.  Many things are included in the tour and then you can do extra things in your spare time.  I was standing with some of our guys who were waiting for the bus, too, and Tom wanted to run an extra lens back to the room.  On his way to the hotel door, a woman came up behind him and said "Sex?"   After the show those guys walked around outside and were solicited.
    We got such a kick out of the littlest acrobat - a boy about 9.  Once he was climbing on top of several guys and he slipped off.  But they had guys standing on 2 sides so one caught him.  Then he did a solo act, with him being attached to the ceiling with a wire on his back.  They set a table up, then piled 8 chairs on top and then a small table over the top one's legs.  He did hand stands on that top table - jumping back and forth from one hand to the other.
    For the last act had a huge ball was placed on the stage and 3 motorcycles drove out and entered the ball, driving around inside it.  One by one more drove out until there were 8 driving inside the ball!  I told Tom they probably practice driving on the streets of Shanghai!


    Another late night and the bed was very welcome by the time we got back to the hotel!

Oct. 13 Shanghai

    Shaghai is China's most populous city with a total of 18.9 million!  In addition, there are 6 million "floating" people who come in and out of town to work, but are not counted as its citizens.  We arrived at the massive airport after a short flight of a couple of hours from Xian.  Annie tells us there is another airport here, too.       She says the city has 18 districts.  Again we notice how clean everything looks from the bus.  On our way to the hotel we cross the Pa River, which flows into the Yantzee River.  She tells us Shanghai is a cultural and industrial center.  We see the bullet train pass by in the distance and we wish we could take it.  It is the fastest train in the world - 250 MPH.

    Give me a second, and I'll find that part for you!  We drove by this little store on the way to the hotel.

    Since 1990 over 8000 highrises of over 15 stories have been built.  The tallest TV tower in Asia is here (468 meters).
    The bus takes us to the riverfront Bund area and she tells us we should walk down here at night to see the buildings lit up.

    The Bund area-looking across the river towards the newer buildings.  This word means "riverside" in Anglo and East Indian and "gathering" in Chinese.  The tallest structure is the TV antenna.

   There are no private banks in China.  Most of this row of front buildings is old banks and at least one insurance company.  The clock on the tower used to require 4 people to rewind it 4 times daily.  Now it is automatic.  The flowers and bushes were pretty.  This was one of the few times we had rain - far less than we had expected.  We went in October instead of September because they have so much more rain in September, especially in Hong Kong.  Thank you, Internet, for having weather sites where you can see historical data about weather for anyplace in the world!

    Over 10% of China's national gross income is made here in these buildings.  She tells us this city has more architectural variety - Asian, American, British and others.  Even some individual houses with foreign flair.
    One street we walked on had several of these planters on the light poles.  Interesting and pretty.


        While walking back to the hotel this mom asked Tom take our picture on her camera and he wanted one, too.  Several women asked to have their pictures taken with me.  Height?  Gray hair?  We saw so many adorable kids.



    For over 4 centuries the little fishing village here has been busy.  It is pretty close to the China Sea.
Most people in this area work very hard - fishing, salt mines, agriculture and with silk worms.
    Annie tells us that Shanghai was the first city in China to have electricity, running water and gas.  There is a lot of export trade done from this port.
    Earlier I mentioned the tricycles that were so popular on the streets - bicycles with 3 wheels and a small trailer attached to the back.  As we are turning a corner I see a man riding one - loaded down with a cedar chest and 3 other pieces of furniture!  Annie points out that the large commercial area we have been driving through has all been built since 1993.  And there is a lot of high tech area nearby.
    The newest skyscraper being built will be 121 stories high.  Since 1990 they have built 8 bridges over the river, plus tunnels under it.  Again we see hundreds of condo high rises and someone asks if she knows what the occupancy rate is and she said they always say they are about 95% occupied.
    She explains that some highrises are joint ventures with corporations and the government, where the government helps them build the structure.  Here, one side of the river has all Chinese business highrises and the other side has a lot of joint ventures between other corporations from elsewhere and the Chinese.  Some foreign corporations own their own.  The land is leased for 50-70 years and it will never be owned by the owners.
        We toured the Shanghai Museum.  It started in 1950, with a new building being built in 1995.  They have over 420,000 pieces, but only have room to display 11,000 at once.  The age of the pieces we saw were mind boggling.  Some bronze pieces were 4,000 years old and some ceramic pieces 10,000 years old.  I don't recall the age of this vase, but the painting was beautiful.


    Late afternon we went to the Children's Palace, home of one of the free after school curriculums.  They are funded by various companies, city government, donations and proceeds from the gift shop.  Many of us left a little there for them.  Very talented children are helped to move on with their artistic studies.

    The older girl played the stringed instrument called a Pipa for us.  The young girl is 7 and started playing the Zhen (zither) at 3.  Wow, could she play that thing! It has 16 strings.

    These girls performed gymnastics for us.  Then they put the scarves on the stick, sticking them up in the air  and twirling them as fast as they could.  We were impressed.  One little girl was "too tired", just as one in the ballet class had said.

          We walked back to the Bund to see the lights that evening.  This is a picture of the street on the way.
 The Bund lit up at night.
    The view looking across the river.