China
17 - 27 October
17 - 27 October
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We arrived at Beijing Airport on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 16th. In our list of superlatives, I think that this airport will have to be the largest one that we’ve seen. It’s also new, modern and spotlessly clean. As per our usual procedure, we met our guide at the baggage exit, and our driver was waiting in the parking garage with the car. We were delivered to the Renaissance Hotel, a 5 star establishment near the center of the town. We spent the remainder of the afternoon resting and had Peking duck for dinner, known as roasted duck here.
Forbidden City Palace
17-19 OCT Beijing
Our first day of sightseeing was spent mostly in the Forbidden City. It’s truly a huge complex of palaces and buildings that were used by the Chinese Emperors from the early 1400’s up until the revolution in the early 20th century. Also on the agenda and in the same vicinity was Tiananmen Square, which is vast. We had lunch at a restaurant in an older neighborhood, specializing in Hunan food. As we surveyed the menu, Dave’s eye caught a menu item that truly freaked Renee out. It was ‘caterpillar fungus’. Now, we’re not sure if this means fungus grown on caterpillars or a fungus looking like a caterpillar, but we didn’t feel the need to investigate the issue further. Dave opted for a chicken dish, and Renee went vegetarian with mushrooms and walnuts (interesting pairing, there).
18 OCT Great Wall
Today was one of those landmark days when you’re just so fully aware of where you are and how special it is. We left the city for a visit to the Great Wall. We drove for about an hour and a half and took the cable car up to the top of the mountain. From there, the wall stretched to the right and left. We walked up and down the wall steps and paths for about 2 ½ hours, going from guard post to guard post. Each time we reached a new post, a new vista opened up that was a bit different from the last one. All in all, it was a truly memorable experience for us. Lunch today was at a trout restaurant. The fish was delicious as was a chicken entrée and an eggplant dish.
The Great Wall
From Ancient Engineering Feats to Modern Ones
Upon returning to the city, we visited the site of the 2008 Olympics. We saw the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest. Both are such immense structures. We should probably point out that China has become a playground for some of the leading architects of the world. Some of their designs are controversial, but all are unique. We have seen some really interesting building designs here in this megalopolis.
Beijing is an extremely large, sprawling city. Other than Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, we’re not sure there is any real downtown area. Old neighborhoods are being replaced with towering apartment and office buildings. When you drive on an expressway, all you can see are these huge structures. It isn’t until you actually leave the expressway that you can see shops and restaurants and other accoutrements that resemble ersatz neighborhoods. The roads are in good shape; traffic is bad, but not so bad considering that about 20 million people live here and most have cars, now. When there is no breeze, the pollution hangs like white fog in the air. Automobiles contribute to the pollution, but we heard there is widespread use of coal in the power plants, which is also a major factor.
We finished up our tour of Beijing with a tour of the Summer Palace and boat ride on the lake adjoining the palace. The atmosphere was so hazy that good photos were impossible. We then went back to the older section of town and took a rickshaw ride in a traditional neighborhood called a ‘hutong’ and had lunch in a traditional Beijing restaurant. Later in the afternoon, we transferred to the airport for an early evening flight to Xian.
20-21 OCT Xi An
We had hoped the air in Xian would be a little cleaner since it’s a smaller city, only 8 million. It actually seems worse; the visibility is very bad. We started our day with a trip to the old city walls (600 years old). We rode bikes around the top of the walls. From there, we could look down and see the garden area surrounding the walls and the moat that’s part of the old city’s defenses. Xian was the beginning of the Silk Road in ancient times. Military and merchants set out from here with porcelain, silk, paper and other precious goods for trade in the west. At one point, they reached all the way to the Mediterranean.
Also in the gardens below were people doing early morning tai chi exercises. Everywhere we’ve been in the mornings, we’ve seen many groups of people doing the same. There is always music playing, and they are always holding something. Some hold paddles with balls and balance them in a way that when their arms move gracefully in all directions, the balls don’t fall off the paddles. Others use flags or scarves. It looks like a very gentle and graceful way to exercise.
Later, we saw a site that should be declared another wonder of the world—the Terracotta Army. The archeological site is divided into 3 pits, each with a building constructed over it. We went to Pit #1 first. It is the largest and most complete reconstruction that exists. When you look down into the pit area, a whole army of terracotta soldiers is looking back at you, all facing forward. As you peruse the faces, you notice that each is different and unique. This army is composed of the front line infantry soldiers. There are also horses and the remains of the chariots. When the emperor died, he was buried near here, and the purpose of the clay army was to defend him in death. While a farmer was digging a well in the 1970’s, he discovered the first clay head of a soldier. It was a few years later before he reported the discovery and excavations began. (Today, this farmer sits in the gift shop, shaking hands.)
We also toured the other pits. The armies there were arranged differently. In one, they were arranged ceremoniously. In another, there were archers and other soldiers, ones that would have been in the rear guard. This remarkable place is truly awesome and so worth seeing. Just comprehending the scope of the excavations takes some doing. Excavations and reconstruction are still taking place and will be for some time. Some areas are still covered over with dirt, because the original soldiers were painted in different colors. Once the pit sections are opened, exposure to the air fades the paint.
On the way back to town, there were many fruit sellers along the side of the road. They were all selling 2 items—persimmons and pomegranates. As we looked beyond the vendors, we noticed many persimmon trees laden with ripe fruit and in their midst, pomegranate bushes filled with fruit. This harvest is quite bountiful!
We rounded out the day with a dinner theatre performance. Dinner was composed of a specialty of this area—dumplings. All kinds of steamed dumplings were presented: chicken, pork, shrimp, fish, vegetable, scallops, and others. After the meal, we enjoyed a classical orchestral and dance performance. The music was written many centuries ago and has been performed ever since. For a dinner theatre, the quality of the performance was very high.
We started our second day in Xi An with a stroll down the streets of the Moslem quarter. For centuries, this city was the eastern point of the Silk Road trade route to the Middle East. Moslem Arabs made their way to this Chinese city and married Chinese. The result is Chinese Moslems living in a city neighborhood. They have preserved the Moslem way of life with hallal meat shops, fruit stands, shops and restaurants. There were stands upon stands of dates, pomegranates, walnuts, and many other things. It was fun to walk here and see the way of life in this area.
Before going to the airport for our flight to Cheng Du, we also visited the Wild Goose Pagoda (formerly a Buddhist temple) and toured a beautiful history museum. History in this city goes back to the bronze age, so there are many antiquities on display from the Bronze Period up until the Tang Dynasty in the 7th or 8th century. Next, we experienced the first real glitch on the trip. There had been a schedule change and our flight to Cheng Du had left 2 hours prior to the time we got to the airport to check in. As I write this, we are waiting for a very late flight, hoping to still arrive in Cheng Du in time for some sleep before our day begins tomorrow.
22-23 OCT Cheng Du Pandas, Pandas, Pandas!
Today was a special day. We were driven to the Cheng Du Panda Research Base where we spent the day as volunteers. We fed the pandas pieces of apples, cleaned their cages, then fed them more apples and panda cakes. Panda cakes are made daily of grains, milk powder, vitamins and minerals. The pandas love them and eat every crumb. They spend the night in secure indoor cages, but, during the day, they have outdoor enclosures where they can play, eat bamboo and sleep.
Pandas at Chengdu Research Center
There is a very active breeding program here to try to increase panda numbers. In the wild, at their lowest point, the numbers had decreased to about 1600. Today, it has increased to 2000. The reasons for the decline are the same that we have found all over the world—loss of habitat due to deforestation and increasing human numbers. When the pandas reach about 5 or 6 years of age, they are sent back to the forests to live and breed on their own. This facility is also the place where pandas are lent out to zoos worldwide. Any offspring produced are sent back to China. We toured other areas of the base, including the nursery, where several babies about 2 months old were sleeping in a crib. The panda base is a pleasant place for the pandas, as well as an interesting place for people to be educated and enjoy seeing the pandas. As we were able to have an up close experience with the pandas, we can say that they are such sweet, gentle animals, truly as precious as the stuffed toys we see for sale.
24-26 OCT Guilin
Well, we’re in Guilin, now. This city is smaller than the others we’ve visited. It’s famous for its scenery. Today, our visit consisted of Elephant Trunk Hill and the Reed Flute Cave. The Elephant Trunk Hill is a natural land bridge formation that connects to the river. Locals named it so because they thought it looked like an elephant with its trunk in the water drinking. It is very scenic and was made more so by the cormorant fishermen. The fishermen have 2 cormorants that are trained to dive into the water and bring up fish. (This feat is what they do naturally, except they eat the fish.) The training involves giving the fish to the fishermen instead of eating them. Hopefully, they get to keep some for themselves! The cave is a large limestone structure with lots of stalactites and stalagmites. Very pretty!
In the afternoon, we drove to the rice terraces where we spent the night in a charming Chinese lodge at the top of the mountain. The terraces, where rice is farmed, surrounded the lodge. We drove to a parking lot and finished the trip to the lodge on foot up the mountain for about 30-40 minutes. As we arrived, the clouds totally obscured our view. It felt like a wasted trip, considering the road we traveled snaking up the mountains and the uphill climb. But, after we settled in at the lodge, the clouds magically parted to reveal the stunning landscape. It was amazing! Rice terraces were visible in all directions as far as one could see. The rice had already been harvested, so the colors weren’t as vividly green or gold as they would have been a few weeks ago. We spent the night at the lodge and the next morning hiked for a couple of hours along the hillside and rice fields to enjoy the panoramic views.
After returning to Guilin, we strolled through the walking street and downtown park. The next another morning, we boarded a boat for a cruise down the Li River, another highlight of this region. The cruise is unique for the limestone mountains that rise dramatically on both sides of the river coupled with the bamboo growing on the banks, causing a uniquely beautiful oriental water scene. The cruise should have been all that I just described, but there were a few factors that made it fall short of expectations. First, the weather was heavily overcast, but nothing can be done about that. Second, the river level was so low, that instead of seeing the beauty of the water, there was only a small, shallow, barely navigable channel, the rest of the river presenting as gravel and sand. Next, this was such a popular tourist venue that there were so many boats in such a small area that it was impossible to photograph any scene without so many other boats in the photos.
We would have to make a few observations in summarizing our visit to China. First, we felt that there were many sights worth seeing here, and we have enjoyed them all. Secondly, from a tourist’s cursory observations, we have to think that the entire Asian economy (with a couple of exceptions) is growing at a very exceptional pace, much more so than western countries. There is an immense building campaign here, but, also, there are signs that maybe there is over building and a possible real estate bubble such as we had in our country a couple of years ago is beginning to materialize. Citizens ‘seem’ to enjoy the ability to travel, pursue careers, and live much as we do, but we don’t know what it is really like for them.
The tour guides are all very well versed in English, but seem very scripted. Once you deviate from the official tour language, there isn’t much to talk about, or they don’t understand what you’re saying. We did have a conversation with one person whose parents had another child after she was born. She was willing to say that her parents had to pay a big fine for having a second child; they violated China’s one child policy. We’ve observed parents with their children—most only do have one. But, we’ve seen little girls as well as little boys, and both seem equally well cared for and loved, so much so that they are overindulged. The children seem very spoiled to us. They kick and hit their parents, often putting their shoes in their parents’ faces. We’ve heard that because there is only one overindulged child, they don’t learn to share with others or socialize easily with other kids. We know that in the U.S., there is a growing issue with less people paying into social security and more people drawing it. The same thing could easily happen here.
One final thought as we jet off to Australia is this—I hope I never have to see another porcelain drain in the ground in a public restroom that has been labeled ‘toilet’ again.
Pictures: Due to the additional number of pictures we wanted to post for China, please view them at our photo website below.
