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.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.
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.
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