China - Day 10 - Li River to Yangshuo

Whenever I had previously envisioned China, after the initial thoughts of firecrackers, steeple roofs, scorpions on a stick, hole in the ground toilets, communism, orange chicken, and the Great Wall passed I pictured the Li River. Although, I never knew it was the Li River I was imagining. All I could think of were the signature mountain landscapes and the winding rivers. I thought the entire country looked that way based on how much I'd seen the images in popular culture or history class:

(20 yuan dollar back, printed with images of the Li River)

(Traditional Chinese Art)
So actually seeing the place was rather inspiring. We took a 5 hour cruise on a 2 story boat, one of about 400 on the river doing the same thing. This boat, although not made of bamboo, was basically as primitive. A few crude welds on a couple of sheets of metal, a lawn mower engine strapped to a propeller and presto changeo, we had a boat. To it's credit, it managed to get a boatload of people down a river that was easily only a couple feet deep on average.

Anyhow, we gently passed by some old villages and fishing parties, clicking pictures and drinking tea; the life of the Chinese tourist.

Most of the day went by at this pace, a gradually we made our way to a small tourist town of Yangshuo.

We arrived at a tiny plot of cement just tall enough for us to disembark the boat. And were instantly thrust into a community that exists primarily through the wallets of the Li River tourists and some major theater act I'll get to later.

From the ferry landing we had to walk about a mile to our hotel. There were significantly fewer cars within this city, primarily congested by tourist foot traffic and the occasional golf cart like delivery truck.

Jessica's sixth sense kicked in and after about 5 minutes she realized that this place was filled with incredibly good knock off merchandise. I admit, even I was impressed with the quality of this crap. I mean, to this day people see the stuff we got there (ok maybe just the purses jessica bought, after all my watch already broke) and swear that they are the real thing. Anxious to spend some money, we raced to our hotel, got situated then made a journey back to the market area for some hard core bargaining. Some 4 purses, 2 rolling luggages, numerous silk garments, and who knows what else later it was time to head back for dinner, and some weird show everyone kept raving about.

To this point, I had seen my fill of "shows" and was contemplating ditching the group for some more time in the city, but Jim assured me that I would be a fool in doing so. Thankfully, I listened to him.

We finished dinner and started our bus ride to what was claimed to be some big cultural show with dancers or something that really didn't capture my interest. The only thing that broke the layer or resilience around my thick skull was that the same guy who is in charge of the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics was producing this show. Now, if you know me, you know I can appreciate most forms of art. I mean I can even find some abstract sculptures to contain some shred of artistic value, but without fail...halftime shows, cheerleaders, and choreography in general have never been something I considered artistic or worth my time. Generally, by rule, if people are dancing in any kind of production within a sports arena its bound to be horrid. And the Olympic ceremonies have reinvented the term tacky. So, in full "this is going to suck" mode, I went along for the ride.

I sure am a real idiot sometimes.

I realized that sentiment at about the same moment when I observed half of the freaking planet lined up trying to get into this arena/theater/stadium we were heading to. Even more so when we got of out the bus and merged with the hordes of thousands of people trying to get to their seats. Honestly, there were probably 100,000 people in the audience of this show (which plays every night!). A show, to this point, that I still had no idea the content of. It was dusk, but there was just enough light to find our seats and sit down. My brain didn't process where the stage was going to be in front of us, for our seats looked forward towards nothing but the Li River.
And well...then the indescribable happened:

(Those are mountains about a mile away and about 700 boats with fisherman on them, all moving in unison: both images were found at http://www.guilin4seasons.com)
The mountains as far as a mile away lit up with spotlights, thousands of dancers and fishing boats appeared on the water, the riverbanks were lit up by archers with flame arrows, everything followed some kind of color scheme as was set to music...I'm telling you, I doubt I will ever see something so incredibly beautiful and man made in my entire life.

Somehow, this guy...who damn well better prove me wrong about opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics, made a performance with thousands of actors on such a grand scale that no amount of adjectives will ever come close to capturing. There was some sort or story about some Chinese woman and how she liked to dance on the moon or something, but there was no translation needed. Hands down...the coolest show I have ever, or will ever see in my life.
That night I realized a couple of things.
1.) China really does have more people than physics should allow, thus making anything possible i.e. the most beautiful production ever choreographed in history. and
2.) I deserve to be slapped in the face when I decide, before knowing anything, that I do or don't like something.

Conceding that point to China, I put the score of awesomeness at: China - 8,330,484,32 and David - 0.

Broken, and in disbelief I went to bed.

If you ever find yourself in China, you must...MUST make a trip to Guilin, find someone who will drive you or ferry you to Yangshuo and find a way to see this show. It is called the " Impression on Sanjie Liu".

I found this video on youtube: which kind of illustrates the show:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEUDdtWi_d0

Days 1-2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Days 11-12 Day 13


-David

China - Day 9 - Guilin

Leaving Shanghai was an anti climax. Sensory overload was in full force and I was practically resilient from any more dramatic scenery. It's only now, in retrospect, that I fully grasp and appreciate the few destinations we had between Shanghai and Hong Kong; our first being Guilin.

We flew from Shanghai at night, so peering out of our small airplane window to see the incredible landscape below was no option. I passed my time then like I did on most plane rides by reading my newly discovered gem, Travels With Charlie by John Steinbeck. An oddly synonymous story of my own travels, despite the differences in plot and location. When we arrived in Guilin we were greeted with the thickest pollution yet. Which came as a surprise, as we were told the air there was especially clean. We could barely breathe getting off the plane, and mixed with the late hour and lack of sleep, our group was all but pleasant on the long ride to our hotel. Apparently there was a small fire nearby the airport and we were inhaling smoke, but for the sake of continuity I am going to chalk it up to Global Warming and coal burning industries ;)

An odd site at the airport was a bunch of fake palm trees colored in tacky primary red, green, and yellows. Odd more because there was no lack of natural, very beautiful palms in that part of the country. I would soon find out that Guilin had a knack for artificially coloring things to the point of nausea and absurdity (I think the government there may be enjoying a little too much opium, perhaps) they looked ridiculous.

Anyhow, the smaller town of Guilin meant a slightly smaller hotel, but an excellent one none the less.

Day 8 really started that next morning when we awoke to find we had another event filled day of sightseeing. We first headed out to what was dubbed a cave, rather the "reed flute cave" which really should have been called "a whored out tourism vomitorium of cave like structures and color, where people played reed flutes a long time ago"...I really enjoyed my time there if you can't already tell. At the cave we were filed through what equated to something like the Carlsbad Caverns or any generic cave with stalagmites and stalactites. One thing different, this cave had a light show of horrid excess. Picture a mini golf course or you local put put panorama with those terrible red flood lights lighting up the windmill for no apparent artistic reason, but in a cave. Caves are beautiful things, even with the slightest bit of natural or soft white naturalish light...why ruin them in color? Bahh, listen to me, I still can't even enjoy that place...I guess it had it's charms, Jessica and I got a rather cool photo after all:

We left the cave and made our way back to where I really found a place worth seeing. The entire region around Guilin (South West China) is dominated by rivers. The entire economy revolves around them and I found this to be one of the most serene places I had ever been.

Everywhere you could see, bamboo boats, fisherman, villages, everything was tied to the water. Perhaps I was finding solace in something close to an ocean and boats the slightly resembled surfboards, or maybe I missed my own surfboard a little too much, but either way I loved this place.
Life seems to slow down anywhere near water. It's as though your worries are washed away. Or perhaps you just have an excuse to sit, listen and think about things for a while. This city, as a whole, seemed to share the sentiment. "Screw motors, we can pull ourselves across the freaking river...whats the hurry" says the men pictured above and below.

I really found a lot of life lessons to be true in China, the most important of which being the lack of importance material possessions possess. These people could go an entire life time using less materials than I use in a week. Give a man a piece of string in China and you'll get a factory back. They really know how to make the most of the smallest amount.

Now I am also highly suspect of this "native lifestyle" so close to the tourism heart of Guilin. Take for instance this gentle man pictured below:

He was standing on rocks that helped frame a pedestrian bridge from the tourist bus stop to the tourist gift shop along the river walk. Apparently he was using that net to catch fish, but I swear, he threw that thing in there about 30 times and had nothing to show for it when he was done. Trust me, I must have shot about 30 photos of him tossing the thing in there, each time cursing his lack of skill. It now occurs to me that no fisherman in China is lacking in skill. I mean, shit, they've perfected the technique to levels that rival Great White Shark skill. Have you ever been lake fishing near a Chinese man or woman? I swear they can catch fish after fish using the same bait, the same reel, the same rod, less the 5 feet from you while you remain biteless. This guy not being able to catch a fish with a net strikes me as something a little...fishy. More than likely he served as a little tourism point of interest, along with his girlfriend below:

What you don't see in this photo is her sign that reads "10 dollars to take picture with my birds". Which Jim, in fact, did. Those birds, I learned, are cormorants. They are used as fishing poles...in a sense. The fisherman puts a ring around their neck that disallows swallowing of any fish caught, and then allows the bird to dive into the water to scoop up any unlucky swimmers and report back to said fisherman. These birds pictured didn't even have the rings on their necks...piff...the imposters! But still, they served as nice focal points for many of my photos, and were still pretty damn cool, authenticity aside.

Serving as a backdrop to all of this tomfoolery was one of the more dramatic cliffsides I have ever witnessed. Elephant Trunk Hill..

However, this site was nothing compared to what we were in store for on Day 10. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Not too far away from the hill were the elephants...of sorts.

Although cement, they did look pretty damn life like. Notice the boat captains? just hanging out, watching the day go by from atop their bamboo yachts...not too shabby I say.

These poor people ferry ignorant, photo happy, tourists like myself up and down this river probably 363 days a year. A lot of people say that going to war with China would be a cataclysmic event as they would overrule us in no time, but I disagree. If the patience level of these boat ferries drivers is anywhere near the average level, these people would never get mad at anyone, for anything, ever. I don't care what you say =)

We got back to our hotel after dinner just in time for a "traditional dance" of some sort. It turned out to be some crazy acrobatic/middle school performance with cheesey costumes and weird music:


and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse... I was taken captive by the evil temptresses:



I'm still not sure what I was selected for, or what I witnessed up there (Im in the back right with the please kill me now body posture) . A lot of colors were whizzing by me, and girls were signing and dancing around me in some twisted ritualistic virgin sacrifice. I think there must have been some opium in my tea.

Thankfully, the drugs wore off, and the dance ended and I was allowed to return to reality. A reality in which Jessica and I decided to get a 2 hour full body and foot massage. For about 30 us dollars were were granted two round trip tickets to heaven. Well, perhaps hell first, those little 16 year old Chinese kids have death grip strength, but heaven after....not that kind of after...Happy endings were NOT included nor purchased nor anything...ohh forget it...pervert.

We drank more tea, and passed out with perma-grins plastered on our faces the rest of the night.

Days 1-2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Days 11-12 Day 13


-David

China - Day 8 - Shanghai

(above: Shanghai's business district. The sphere looking tower to the left is the Radio Tower Building, and the tallest building in the right portion of the picture is the tallest building in all of China and the second tallest in the world, The Shanghai World Financial Building.)

Day 8 was a bonus. Our tour guide informed us that our early flight out of the city had been bumped to a later flight and we had the entire day to see some of the city. A most excellent turn of events. Shanghai was a city I could get lost in for a least a week, so an extra 15 hours there was more than welcomed. We planned to visit a renowned shopping center, a really cool museum, a silk factory, and a nice Mongolian food lunch. Although, after our guide brought up the lunch not being Chinese food, I would have been happy watching paint dry the rest of the day.

So we headed out on our leisurely day of sightseeing in such an incredible city. First we stopped amidst the giants of Shanghai, the Shanghai World Financial Tower (pictured at the top of this blog) and the Radio Tower (pictured below).

Shanghai is situated on a river like harbor that runs through the city. More barges run through that stretch of water in a minute, than cars do on the 15 during rush hour...ok not really...but you get the point...it's crazy busy. We walked around the harbor front for about an hour on what turned out to be a beautiful day in the city. The sun came out and a gentle breeze whipped up. I actually took a little break and found a nice little perch above the boardwalk and just took in the setting for about 10 minutes. I managed to situate myself slightly behind a little camera stand selling batteries, memory cards, film...etc. 2 younger guys seemed to be working the stand although business was extremely slow and boredom was driving them away from their responsibilities. I soon discovered that one of them was catching small turtles that were washing up from the harbor. Using a 15 foot net tied to a stick, he would swoop them up, wash them off, and turn around and sell them to tourists...salmonella included free of charge. =) The ferries and barges passed by at a brisk pace and life seemed to have a little bit more hurry everywhere around me. Jessica and Jim returned from their walk further down the boardwalk and we met up with the rest of the group and got back on the bus.

We were headed to a silk factory. Normally anything that had "factory" in the destination name turned me off, and drove me into a slow catatonic state...but I had been waiting to get to this particular factory from the onset of the trip's planning. Jim had mentioned that I could get a really nice silk comforter for my bed for next to nothing, and this was the place to get it. For some reason my American brain processed "silk" comforter as a comforter filled with little strips of silk fabric...like as if somebody had taken a silk sheet and cut it up into strips and filled the comforter...Apparently I'm a moron. Or perhaps I never really imagined what silk looked like before it was...well...silk...or at least the manufactured silk that I am used to. Anyhow, to get this silk from the silk worm to fill a comforter a couple of things must happen. First the silk worm must spin his little cocoon so close to another silk worm doing the same thing that they both become intertwined in a little rat's nest of silken cocoonness. Thus creating a double cocoon that cannot be used for spinning fine silk, for shirts, dresses, etc. They then boil the cocoon and remove the worm(it helps to know that they aren't slimy earth worm type worms). Then the stretch out the silk from a little 3 inch ball to the size of my Cal King Bed and repeat the process about 500 times until the right thickness is reached.

(above: A worker boils the silk worm cocoons to spin the thread into a bundle of usable silk. One cocoon gets one continuous silk thread some 200 feet long.)

Anyhow, we got my new comforter for about 100 us dollars, compared to a much thinner down comforter the same size at 250-300 dollars. And I'm happy to report it is amazing, if you have the means, you must get one yourself.

We then made our way to the central downtown area for some museums and shopping. The Shanghai Museum of Art I believe it was, was pretty standard as far a museums go, except for its Ming China Collection. Basically a bunch of very old pots, to put things mildly. Jim took some sweet shots, I decided to leave my camera stored away. We then made our way to some crazy shopping district with more people and more stores than... I'm not sure how many times I can type the phrase "more people/buildings/stores/cars/bikes/ _____ than imaginable" without going crazy...so just picture lots of people...or better yet look at Jessica's photo below.

I don't think we actually bought anything in this chaos, I think flashing your money here was practically an invitation to be robbed but the sales were awesome and the choices endless.

We saved most of our shopping for our next destination...and it was a good thing too for the prices were lower and the quality even higher than anything we had previously seen.

Shanghai was a place I wish I had more time in more than any place except for maybe The Great Wall. Have I the opportunity to ever visit again, I will without hesitation.

Days 1-2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Days 11-12 Day 13


-David

China - Day 7 - Xian to Shanghai

(above: Shanghai market area)
Day 7 started early, a recurring theme throughout our trip. Unfortunatly we had to leave Xian before we really got to enjoy it. We barely got a glimpse of some of the treasures that city had, and while I doubt I will make any extra effort to visit the place again, if I do, I must find a way to rent a bike and ride it along the city wall. I'd also like to hang out with some locals there. There is very little tourism in Xian other than to the Terracotta soldiers, so unless the locals live or work within that specific region, exposure to westerners is limited. I really wanted to understand Xian a little better, there seemed to be a great energy there that I was disallowed to tap into. Anyhow, we had virtually no time in the morning as we were off to the airport and then to Shanghai, the excitement of which quickly filled any void I felt from Xian.

We arrived in Shanghai and scored an amazing hotel for the night, the 4 points Sheraton. A 5 star hotel with amazing accommodations. We also lucked out with an incredible tour guide. A 30-40 year old brilliant academic type man. We were only scheduled to be in Shanghai for that evening and the following half day as we had a pretty early flight to Guilin. I didn't really process how short that time would actually be, until we drove into the city of Shanghai and I realized how much I wanted to stay.

Shanghai is immense. I can't even begin to tell you how many skyscrapers there are there. It's basically Manhattan....on crack. Apparently Shanghai blossomed very late in the industrial revolution, no real growth really took hold until about 25 years ago, which was great for the city. With a virtual blank canvas to develop, modern technology and architecture took root and has spread like crazy throughout the region.


The only problem with such rapid development is pollution. And Shanghai is dirty.

From the skies to the seas, filth overwhelms. Shanghai is still a beautiful city, despite it's waste, but something needs to be done. That amount of pollution is a global problem, not a local one. Not to get too Al Gore on everyone, but this is a problem we will be facing as a global community within the next 10 years. Even my camera fell victim to the dirty living space. I felt as though I was back home taking shots of the wildfires judging from the amount of dirt that found it's way inside my camera and thus onto most of my photos.

On our way to the hotel we stopped in the city for dinner and shopping. We were treated to another amazing, traditional Chinese dinner...I think we had more duck and chicken...

I was losing my mind at this point as the food was becoming one gigantic dish of the same mystery meats and veggies. We washed up and headed out, half of the group going to the hotel with the bus, the rest going shopping and getting a cab to get home. We walked down the busy streets and peeked into the various store fronts. I mysteriously found a desire to buy a watch. For no other reason than over commercialism and availability of cheap products, I found I needed one. So while I started looking at watches, Jessica started doing the same with designer (knock off) purses. Most of the stuff we found was utter crap, but it was still fun looking none the less. I can only last so long in such environments. The longer I am packed in with masses of people the more rage builds inside of me eventually leading to me acting like a bulldozer. I lower my head, square my shoulders and start plowing my way through the crowds of innocent people dragging Jessica behind me and taking no mercy on the speed bumps of smaller Asians in front of me.

Anyhow, we made our way back through the city to our Hotel in a cab. It was dark when we arrived, and Shanghai is known for it's lights. Practically every building, from the most prominent to the most dilapidated, decked out their building side with incredible lights. Our hotel was no different, we were greeted with a 20 story plus tower with a beautiful display of color and design. We checked in and found ourselves surrounded by opulence and wealth. That Hotel was absolutely baller.

Jessica was getting antsy to find a decent nightlife in China. She had visions of a crazy disco/karaoke house filled with techno music and crazy Chinese youth. So, as we got off the bus, we pulled our guide aside and asked him for some recommendations. He kindly jotted down the name of some bar district in Chinese for us to hand a cabby and we were off. Jim was eager to join in as the rest of the group was pretty much all yawns at this point. We got a relatively late start to the night, we ended up leaving the hotel at about 10 pm. Mind you this was the middle of the work week and most places were already closed. We made it to the bar scene at around 10:30 and found a handful of really cool looking places. The first of which was a authentic German Bar complete with Chinese waitresses dressed in laider hoisen, and incredible beer.

I was starting to get tired of nothing but traditional Chinese food, so I ordered a plate of German Sausage, which accompanied with a German Lager is most excellent I must say. We finished our boots of glorious beer and checked out a few more bars on the way home. We stumbled into a nice little dancing bar, crammed with people. I'm not sure if it met Jessica's desires, but it seemed crazy enough to me =) and the rest of that night is really a blur to me.

We got back to our hotel around 1 and passed out, somewhat disappointed the day was over, but we were in store for some great news the next day.

Days 1-2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Days 11-12 Day 13

-David

China - Day 6 - Xian & Terracotta Soldiers

(Xian at nightfall from atop the Xian City Wall)
After sleeping on a wonderful bed, I know i begin all of these the same, but trust me...if you were a 6 ft 1 inch man sleeping in hotel beds in China would be a memorable experience, to say the least. The average bed size there is at least a foot shorter than the shortest of bed sizes here, thus leaving my feet to dangle off the end of the bed like some bad comedy sketch.

Anyhow, Xian is an altogether unimpressive city. It doesn't have the lights of Shanghai or the temples of Beijing, but it is by no means short of history and or people. Xian was a isolated urban area primarily known for the terracotta warriors. Tourists went there for few other reasons, so the city didn't cater to them in any outward way other than the expected tourist traps on the way to the site. What I did enjoy about Xian more than anywhere else was it's authenticity. Albeit from the inside of the bus, Xian seemed like a city true to itself. The citizens there weren't outwardly friendly nor by any means negative. Life seemed to carry on as it were regardless of our presence. I found this very refreshing. Everywhere else wanted some piece of my American wallet, Xian just wanted me to appreciate the immense place in time it served.

We soon discovered that despite the city's few promoted attractions, there was much to discover. One of the most incredible attributes Xian hold is the Largest intact city wall in all of China. Much like the Great wall encompassed the country, the Xian city wall protected the city. Every major city in China had one, but few remain today, and Xian's is in near perfect shape.

This photo was taken atop the wall, looking at one of the towers. I didn't manage a decent one showing the actual wall as we only saw it from inside the bus. But it is incredible none the less.

We drove through the city on our way to a farm on the outskirts of town where some farmer accidentally discovered one of the most treasured archaeological finds in history while digging a well. He found the terracotta soldiers:

Now I haven't been to many archaeological digs, in fact I've never been to one, but I'm sure this one takes the cake. There are 3 bunkers packed with these things. Each bunker could hold a few football fields each, and each hold thousands of warriors. It really was a sight to see.

Like most tourist destinations, we were herded through the compound with thousands of other visitors, all taking as many photos as memory cards would permit. Some coming out nicer than others, some not coming out at all, and some looking like some kind of metaphysical photography of people taking photos of people taking photos...or something:




We also managed to see some pretty cool hot springs while in Xian. Some emperor built this to warm up during the winter which apparently is rather cold.

Apparently that mountain in the background had a couple natural hot springs that were discovered then exploited and rerouted into bath houses and man made lakes. It made for a rather scenic setting, and a pretty nice place to clean up with a few of your favorite concubines.

Jessica took this of a concubine statue from inside the Hot Springs. Those emperors had a pretty rough life ;)

We ended our day with a relaxing local dinner. Anxious to start our next day on our way to Shanghai.

Days 1-2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Days 11-12 Day 13


-David

China - Day 5 - Beijing to Xian

(Jessica and her twin-like friend/tour guide Ashley)

After our 4th night on the cement mattresses my back, albeit straight as an arrow, was hurting for a qualifiable bed that would rest my traveling body.

You'd think a day centered on a 1200 km flight or 800 miles would be relatively uneventful, but not on a CYTS 14 day tour of China. Prior to our flight, and on the way to the airport, we made a voyage to the temple of heaven.

Funny, of the 900 photos I took....I didn't take any of this place...I blame it on my mattress, or perhaps the fact that there were a gazillion people there and I retreated in my shell...or maybe I just haven't gotten to them in the 2 gigabyte folder worth of photos yet...In either case i didn't take that photo its from here: http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/Tour/ScenicSpots/t161755.htm">

Maybe I'll find some photos I took and post them here later, but anyways...Temple of Heaven...basically another opulent Chinese Shrine built buy some Emperor in order to do something holy or well... you get the point.

The coolest part of the temple, in my opinion, was something that was altogether unrelated. Every morning thousand of retired Chinese people gather in the entrances to the temple and go fitness crazy. No, I'm not talking about those cheesey Saturday morning spandex arobisize classes you see on TV, I'm talking about sweet games that I normally only attempt while intoxicated or reliving my life as an 8 year old. From Hackey Sack: (I did better than this photo illustrates ;)

to Tie Chi, to flag dancing:



dominoes:

singing, dancing, to some crazy smashball looking thing you do under your legs like a ninja of paddlesport:

you name it, those old people know how to party. And I couldn't resist, and neither could Jessica, we jumped right in.... and got schooled by people 3-4times our ages, it was great!

We then left the temple, said goodbye to our tour guide, and boarded a plane to Xian, to see the Terracotta soldiers.

When we arrived we met our tour guide for the city of Xian who took us to our hotel, then to a amazing dumpling feast. We ate more dumplings that night than I had ever seen in my entire life, some 12 courses of every kind of dumpling imaginable:

We also had our first group member fall victim to counterfeit money, as we found out when the waitress practically threw the bill back at him and started yelling some crazy Chinese no one understood. We were then treated to some fancy Opera that I almost fell asleep through, nothing against the Opera, it was pretty good, but if you pull me through 800 miles of Chinese sights and sounds then stuff me full of dumplings, turn down the lights and put a bunch of men in crazy costumes who start singing to me on stage, I'm probably going to fall asleep 99 times out of 100.

We then went back to our new 5 star hotel, which I was very pleased to find had a real bed, and passed out.

Day 6 and the terracotta warriors to come soon.

Days 1-2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Days 11-12 Day 13

-David

China - Day 4- Beijing & The Great Wall

Day 4 arrived with much anticipation. In the 180+ days we had to look forward to our journey to the Orient, the Great Wall was a definite focal point and something everyone was especially looking forward to.

Breakfast and the hour long bus ride to the wall went bye in no time. The only thing worth noting was that by leaving the urban area of Beijing we finally saw a contrast in air quality. The skies in Beijing have this very depressing grey starkness to them. While under the cloud of smog and soot you don't really fully understand just how bad the pollution actually is. The skies don't clear up, if at all, until you get about an hour out of town.

As our distance from the city grew so too did the changes in the scenery. The colors of autumn were really starting to take hold on the mountain sides with such vibrance and splendor words only do an injustice. We started weaving our way up the mountain side, when all of a sudden the Great Wall greeted us. Like a giant ribbon resting atop the mountain crest, the wall followed the mountain tops as far as the eye could see.

It really is awe inspiring.

Our bus found the rest of the thousands of tourists visiting the wall that day and we began to file out to join the masses.

Again, before my feet could even reach the ground from the bus doorstep I was barraged with "You wan Wolex Watch?" "You wan gootchy bag?". Like moths to a lone summer's night light bulb, these vendors (hawkers) could find us anywhere in China. We didn't actually give into them until about day 6...when our wills finally broke. =)

When I first saw the masses of people about to attempt to scale the wall with our group all of my excitement was lost. The wall must be about 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide. It looked like it would be shoulder to shoulder people slowly climbing with us.
And as much fun as some sweaty, 80 year old, German ass in my face for some 5000 steps of awesomeness seemed, I was desperate to find an alternative. Thankfully, our guide let a few of us go across the street(un-guided) to an isolated segment of the wall where virtually no tourists roamed.

It was incredible. At our leisure we explored about a mile and a half loop of the wall, rarely passing any other people. Up and down with the rise and fall of the mountain we hiked on. To the Chinese who once used this wall for its actual military purpose I give much credit; this wall is a physical challenge. The steps are about 2 feet steep and a half a foot deep. Try to scale this thing whilst being shot at, at night, in the rain, in the cold does not sound like a enjoyable experience. We even ventured into some of the old guard towers and found ourselves scaling the same steps the ancient Chinese warriors climbed in the midst of said rainy, cold battles. That wall was incredible, and the pictures I took came out no different. I don't think a bad photo from even the worst of cameras was possible on that day. The lighting was perfect, the skies were clear, the leaves were in full autumn color and the wall was magnificent. I am so glad I went, and will never let go of the vivid memories of such a magnificent place.

Looking back, it still amazes me how people could build such a thing with such ancient technologies. It is said that so many lives were lost in the construction of the wall, that The Great Wall is considered to be one of the largest cemeteries on the planet. It is also said that you can no longer see the Great Wall from outer space as the pollution has gotten too bad.

When I took most of the included photos, it was from a vantage point I will be hard pressed to forget.

(Above: Jessica snapped this of me on my perch...I'm there in the middle if you can spot me, leaning over the edge in photo heaven. I'm so glad she got this photo)
Every intimate detail of my little perch on that wall has been ingrained into the deepest parts of my memory. From the eerie chill each of the bricks maintained despite the warm day temperatures, to the uniformity of each brick, to the perfect precision each stone was set. I sat atop my little ledge that must have served as a bench or perhaps bed to some Chinese Archer looking out over a country I had little comprehension of. The moment had such a profound impact on me that I am still trying to make sense of everything I experienced.

We ended our night with a Beijing delicousy, Peking Duck. Really just roasted duck, and nothing worth raving about in my opinion, but I can see how people enjoy eating something with a neck still attached. =) I guess I have never really developed my gamey food pallet. But the spectacle and rarity of the dinner was incredible to experience.

Days 1-2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Days 11-12 Day 13



-David

China - Day 3 - Beijing

Tienanmen Square -The Forbidden City - The Summer Palace


(above: Tienanmen Square, notice the top of the light tower...it's the same in a photo below)

First off...5 star hotels are incredible, their beds however are not. We got our wake up call before dawn and arose from our cement mattresses to a packed day of touring.

We met Ashley, our tour guide for Beijing and got on our bus. Not being the itinerary type, I had no idea where we were headed. I had tried to make sense of where our hotel was on my little Beijing map but had no luck; which, for me, is saying something. I take pride in doing one thing well in life, figuring out my compass direction anywhere I am... There are only 2 places I have not been able to find my way north; any indoor mall with a JCPenny or Macys, and Movie Theaters. If there is a street sign or a visible sun, I can figure my way around practically any city...that was true at least until we found ourselves in China. The Chinese invented porcelain, silk, tea, and they built The Great Wall...but build cities around grid systems...forget it. To rub salt in the wound, there are so many sky scrapers in even the smallest of Chinese cities that the sun can never be found. Anyhow, we headed off in what I'm guessing was West from our hotel were immediately hit with our first culture shock.

From our seats in the back of our Air Conditioned tour buss, we passed through little slices of Chinese life. As if China were some incredible ant farm, I pointed through my window and sat awe struck for our entire ride, separated by glass from the world around me. Store fronts had no doors, just an open wall to beckon customers from the street. Traffic was well more of a parking lot than traffic, and there were more bicycles, motor bikes, scooters, motorcycles, etc. on every street than there are people in the rest of the civilized world.

You cannot possibly imagine the magnitude of the population there. It is just unreal how many people are tucked away in those cities. Perhaps the one clue as the amount of people is the pollution. The smoked filled skies of San Diego in the days prior to our departure were perhaps the only thing that comes close in comparison. Forget "smog" Beijing (and later we found the same in most every major Chinese city) has a thick blanket of soot hanging 50 feet overhead. Thankfully a brisk breeze picked up our first day in the city and much of the pollution was absent from the sky, but this we soon found, was only temporary relief.

Anyhow, we arrived to a side street and found a long line of familiar looking buses. There must have been 50 buses lined up, empty and parked on the side of the street. We filed out of the bus one by one, Jessica and I being the last to get off. Backpack and Camera strapped tight to my body, I peeked my head out of the door and took my first real breath of China (the day before didn't really count in my mind). Before my feet could hit the pavement, we were swarmed with about 9 vendors selling everything from "Rolex" watches to Beijing 2008 Olympic goods. I made the mistake of glancing at the 2 dollar Rolex watch and that poor vendor lady followed me for the next 50 minutes lowering her price with every step. I'll get back to these vendors later.

(above: tourist hell...sad part is I doubt anyone actually got a good shot inside that dark little room)
I rounded the corner from the street and found myself looking straight at Tienanmen Square. The history of the place immediately overwhelmed me. Black and white visions of the single student holding his ground in front of the tank could not be shaken from my mind for the rest of the day. Every where we went I tried to picture from what surrounding rooftop those photographers must have been filming the massacre. I then got lost in thought, wondering what current students there were taught about the massacre. Whispers in our group instructed me not to say anything to anyone about it, but my imagination was running wild. Ashley was leading our little pack through the, what had to be close to, 500,000 visitors that day. I could barely hear her brief speech on the history of the place in the distance, for I was already wondering off from the group. I was still overwhelmed with culture shock, and visions of Chinese prisons and pick pockets, so I didn't stray too far from fear. Anytime I wandered more than 40 feet away Jessica was there to guide me back. But I still managed some nice shots that day none the less.
(above: crazy big brother security in the square)
We slowly made our way through the masses of people and found ourselves in front of the gates to the Forbidden City. Pictures will never do this place justice. Mao's portrait greeted everyone as we walked under him and into the city. The amount of money, time and people spent creating every intricate detail of that place is beyond comprehension. The one and only fact that stuck in my head that day was that the Emperor had the floors built 11 layers thick with brick so that no enemies could tunnel in through the ground, talk about paranoia. Anyhow see the photos of the place for a little taste.

(above: Forbidden City)
As if that weren't enough oppulence and majesty, we turned our bus I'm guessing north, and headed to the Summer Palace. Being sure to stop by a fresh water pearl factory on the way, code for tourist trap for which to spend too much American dollar on overpriced goods. An otherwise forgetful 2 hours of my life, except for the 30 minutes when I escaped the group and discovered a little lake with fisherman and children amidst broken down tractors and empty buildings. I snapped a couple gems of photos and found Jim and Jessica to share my little discovery with.

(above: little lake near the pearl factory)
We got on the bus, rode through more city, passed the Olympic village, and found ourselves at the Summer Palace. The group was getting a little tired and cranky. A mild argument about walking a couple miles vs. riding a boat erupted and briefly died down. I really wasn't sure what we were doing, my focus was never really on anything inside that bus. Apparently some genius, probably Jim or Jessica, convinced the group that walking the couple miles around this place would be better than a boat, but I'm sure that boat ride would have been just as magnificent. So back to the point, the Summer Palace is a ...well...Palace that some crazy lady called "the Dragon Lady" made out of pure gluttony and excess. She basically had slaves dig a monstrous hole, pile all of the dirt into a gigantic mountain, fill the hole with water creating a lake, surround the place with marble carvings and pathways, build a couple palaces, and wallah...the Summer Palace was complete. But I love her for it, because I got even more great photos here as well. Jessica would be mad if I didn't tell you that this same "Dragon Lady" made her servants make her 138 meals for dinner, 3 times over. She would smell the first batch, look and the second batch, and taste the final one...freaking Chinese Royalty.

(above: the summer palace)
That about rounded out DAY 2...hahaha...just typing about the highlights and I'm exhausted. We kept this pace up for the next 10 days.


Days 1-2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Days 11-12 Day 13
-David