Day 32 Monday December 7, 2009 The entire day and night . A bus and train - Somewhere in China

It was our last overnight train in China. 

We will never take overnight trains in China again.

Click for a look at our last overnight train, in case you missed the link in a previous post.

Merry Christmas!!!

Greetings from Koh Pha Ngan in Thailand!!!

We hope everybody had a happy and safe Christmas (and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa where applicable).

We love and miss you all!

Here are some pics of the secluded Malibu Beach, next to the bungalow where we're staying on Koh Pha Ngan

 

**As you can tell, the blog has been back logged due to our inability to update in China, but we'll be in Thailand through the middle of January, and should have the blog live by then so you can be reading up to date posts**

Day 31 Sunday, December 6, 2009 Yi Chang, China

It’s a long way from Yi Chang, where we got off the Yangtze cruise, to Yangshuo, our next true destination, so we stayed the night in Yi Chang before taking a 5 hour bus tour and 15 hour over-night train to Yangshuo.

After wandering the streets of Yi Chang, we learned that there’s not much to do in Yi Chang except eat and get massages, so that’s exactly what we did.  The group grabbed a bite to eat at a pizza place that Frank had been promoting since the beginning of our tour, and let’s just say Frank has never been out of China, therefore he’s not the best source for pizza joint recommendations.  It was good enough to eat, though, since the group was tired of the same bland Chinese food that had been served during our 3 day river tour.  Some people in the group said the river food was good, but I think they all must have taken one too many Dramamines while forming that opinion.  It was nothing like the memorable meals we had in Xi’an and Chengdu.

Any way, after the pizza fiasco, Tania and I decided to get massages since we had seen so many signs for cheap massage parlors in previous cities, and the idea to do so had been brewing in our heads ever since.  It wasn’t so simple to find a parlor in this city, though.  The girl at our hotel’s front desk looked at me with an astonishing fear when I asked where to get a massage, like I was asking her to give me a shoulder rub.  It took us walking into a random hotel and waiting for 30 minutes while the concierge called his buddy to see where one existed.  After confirming the location, this concierge whistled over the bell boy to walk us to the parlor.  Already amazed that the staff at this hotel, where we were not paying to stay, was providing so much help, we were astonished when the bell boy had to walk us 30 minutes from the hotel to reach the parlor.  We felt so bad for the kid that we threw him a 10 yuan tip.

Once in our private room, our feet were placed in bamboo steaming barrels while the masseuse ladies proceeded to beat the crap out of our limbs.  Tania didn’t find the abuse to be so brutal, but I’m thinking my girl had just gotten dumped a few minutes before she entered the room, and had a volcano of primal rage exploding through her fists and knuckles.  Normally I tell my masseuse to give it everything they’ve got and it’s still not enough, but this chick was inflicting pain worse than I’d ever experienced.  I’m still finding bruises on odd parts of my body.

Yet it was still nice to enjoy a relaxing (tortured) afternoon with my wife, and we got a good night’s rest before an entire day of traveling across the southern part of China.

 Click for a video glimpse of our overnight train ride from Yi Chang to Guilin!

Days 28-30 Friday – Saturday December 4-5 Yangtze River, China

On Thursday night, we arrived into Chongqing and boarded the Victoria 1, a 5 star boat (according to Chinese standards, which is approximately 3 stars on American standards, so maybe the Chinese are on an 8 star scale). Our room is cute enough with plenty of space, especially compared to our rooms in Japan. The only knock on the room is the shower, which is actually standing next to the toilet, yet with no divider between the two areas. If done well, this set up would be no issue since the water would immediately drain and the floor and the bathroom would be dry, but in this case, the water didn’t quickly drain, and the bathroom floor’s dryness varied based on which way the boat was tilting. If you got lucky, your bathroom wouldn't be flooded within about 30 minutes after you showered.

The Yangtze is filled with a long string of beautiful cliffs and gorges. We got plenty of pictures of those sites. That’s all we can say positively about this river ride. The rest of the time, our realities were shattered by the amplified voice of Leo, the English speaking boat leader who announced breakfast being ready (3x between 7:30am and 8am), every up-coming site (2x prior to arrival, saying the same thing 3 times during each announcement), and all with the most grating accent one can imagine. As you can tell, Leo is the lone splot on this river journey.

 

View from the Victoria 1

Who's the stupid American who wore his beach gear up on the freezing boat deck???

The Ghost Village, Goddess Peak, and Three Gorges dam broke up the monotonous nautical activities, but it was the meals and late night card games that got the group through with their sanity. Half of the group is still sick and the China tour is starting to wear on people due to so much continuous traveling, but we’re all excited for Yi Chang, Yangshuo, and Hong Kong, which will be a great way to round out our three week journey through this completely otherworldly country.

Three Gorges Dam, or what you can see of it through the mist.

 

Tania having fun with the (lack of a) view of the dam

Tania enjoying the sunset atop the Ghost Village 

 

Nine steps across the bridge together means a long, happy life together.  And we nailed it!

Days 25-27 Tuesday – Thursday December 1-3, 2009 Chengdu, China

Highlights


- Chengdu is a mellow big city, full of mah jong players, badminton birdie swatters, and a community of people who love to dance in large groups together in public parks.  China's non-beach version of Venice, CA, if you may.
- Sichuan peppercorns will burn the hell out of your mouth, but will become an addictive part of your meals before you can ask for another glass of water.
- Yes, pandas are fat and lazy, but they are the damn cutest and most entrancing animals on the planet.

The "Looong December, When It's Easy to Believe" Version

Chengdu is the anti-Shanghai.  Even though it’s a large metropolitan city (app. 7 million people), it hasn’t been as influenced by the west as Shanghai.  The streets are bustling, high rises stand for as far as the eye can see, and one can shop ‘till they drop all day long (if that’s your kind of thing).  The big differences between the two cities is that the people on the bustling streets aren’t sharply dressed like models in Cosmo and GQ, high rises aren’t attempting to define what the future of architecture is, and shopping is done at Chinese brand stores, not the same Burberry, Gucci, and Prada stores that engulf Shanghai.  Therefore, it more obviously felt like a Chinese city, which we were waiting to feel.

The primary reason people come to Chengdu is to see the pandas, which we did, but we found other aspects of the city to be just as enthralling. 

Our first meal introduced us to the city’s famous food.  Spicy is the name of the game here, which is a game we’re happy to play any time.  Pork, beef, rabbit, chicken, veggies…all of it with a special Sichuan pepper that explodes with tremendous flavor, and sometimes a mouth numbing tang that takes a while to start enjoying.

Another enjoyable aspect of the city is its mellow vibe and attitude.  Horns are honked less.  People walk with a little less desperation in each step.  We enjoyed this relaxed atmosphere as we walked through quaint streets, stopping to peek into houses and shops, only to see the same thing inside every door…mah jong.  People playing lots and lots and lots of mah jong.  This wasn’t a surprise since what better way for such a stoner-like group of people living in a country that thrives on being a community to enjoy their time together by playing none other than the country’s most famous game?  Yes, some folks were playing cards, but the majority of these doorways revealed little old ladies and smoking old men shoving domino-like pieces around green felt laden fold-up tables.  This may not seem like a big deal, which it really isn’t, but we want to emphasize just how much of the population we saw were doing the same thing.  Even when we went into the city park, anyone who wasn’t dancing to a live band or smacking a badminton birdie around was sitting around playing mah jong.  So cool to see firsthand.

 

Any way, we did indeed spend an afternoon in the park watching huge groups of people playing badminton, singing karaoke, and dancing in synchrony to all types of music, ranging from electronic music blaring out of speakers to a five piece jazz band playing ragtown oldies that would make my great grandparents proud.   We sat along the lake and drank tea while Tania taught me how to play Frank’s card game called Dig the Hole.  We were really starting to get onto the same wavelength as the city.  After a nice dinner with Frank and Tim, we headed back to the hotel to crash, but only after Tania watched Brother Bear 2 for the second time that day.  In her defense, she was pretty sick and needed to get some R&R, so since that was the only English speaking program on TV, she had no other option, even though I don’t think she would have watched anything else had there been the normal 200 DirecTV (only spelled the way DirecTV wants it spelled because it’s still engrained in my head after 4 years at Deutsch.  Why can’t I spell it like a normal person?) channels to browse.

Now onto the primary activity to partake in in Chengdu…the pandas.  After spending a few hours watching them eating bamboo and, well, eat more bamboo, we can happily confirm that they are just as adorable in person as they are on video and in pictures.  Their fur coats look impossibly soft and their mannerisms scream of 1000 babies and bunnies.  Yes, they’re lazy as can be and don’t really do much, but they’re captivating to watch, especially considering that there are only 5000 left on the planet.  Because they used to be carnivores and still have the digestive tract of one, they pass the bamboo quickly after eating.  Therefore, they need to ingest a massive amount of bamboo just to give themselves enough energy to eat more bamboo, and so on and so forth.   No matter, it’s so interesting to watch them take their menial tasks at such minimal speeds.  After watching a video about their mating habits and birthing rituals (we could have done without the graphic birthing scenes in which the tiny rat, I mean panda is shot out and flops around the cold, gray cement Chinese lab floor as the first-time panda mother swats at the newborn because she has no idea what the hell just popped out of her), and after browsing yet another heap of every type of panda souvenir one could fathom, we headed for yet another train station, luckily for a day trip, not another over-nighter.

When we got to the train station on Thursday afternoon, Frank recommended that we spend 10 yuan (app. $1.50) to sit in the VIP area of the station so that we could actually have seats to wait on, and so we could get on the train first and get our bags situated before the masses stormed into the car, which we luckily did.  If you’re ever traveling by train in this country, we recommend you do the same. 

We snacked on ramen and played Dig the Hole during the 5.5 hour ride to Chongqing (pronounced Chong Ching).  The only exposure we got of Chongqing was the view from during kamikaze cab ride, but that’s all we needed to know that this megatropolis is filled with more high rises than we can describe.  For miles and miles in both directions, the skyline resembled a mountainous range, even though there are no mountains in the area.  It makes NYC look like Topeka.  Crazy.

We then boarded the Victoria 1 boat and got situated for our three day cruise through the Yangtze River and to get a first hand view of how the Three Gorges Dam has dramatically altered life along the shorelines.

Days 23-24 Sunday – Monday November 29-30, 2009 Xi’an, China

Highlights

- Secrets hide within the Muslim quarter.  When in Xi'an, make sure to spend the time to get all Indiana Jones and find those treasures.  And FYI, a Mandarin translator will help.

- If you ride a rented bike around the city's wall, make sure you have the world's strongest quads and are as in-shape as an Olympic athlete.

- The Terracota Warriors tell a mystical story of Chinese history, but visiting them feels more like a field trip to the local museum than it does a trip to a mystical land.  Souvenirs anyone?

The long way home version

Xi’an was more of a pit stop along our Chinese journey than anything.  Mostly, people come here to see the Terracotta warriors and then move on.  Yet, since our tour guide Frank is from and lives here, we got to know it a little more intimately than most.

After a lunch in the Muslim quarter, which by the way was so damn good we want to go back just for the meal, we walked over to the main entrance of the city wall.  In the olden days, the Xi’an residents occupied the land within these walls, and not outside of the wall and moat.  Nowadays, the city has expanded far beyond the water perimeter. 

Frank dropped us off at the wall on the way to see his son Eric, aptly named after his favorite musician Eric Clapton, and his wife.  The 8 of us rented bikes and rode around the top of the 13.7km/6 mile square shaped wall.  Let’s just say that even though my beach cruiser in Venice was a one-speed and got tough to ride around mile 2 due to it’s less than optimal engineering, my beach cruiser made this bike seem like the smoothest ride in the world.  So combining the world’s toughest bike to ride with the world’s stoniest and roughest road to ride on, you had the world’s hardest 6 mile bike ride.  Yet, like most inconviences we’ve encountered on this trip, we fought through it and enjoyed the funny times with the group and the fine views of the city provided from this higher vantage point.

What better to do after such a grueling bike ride than to get a foot massage?  As the group dispersed to different shopping and eating directions, Tania and I headed straight for a foot massage place that we noticed on the way to the wall.  It was only $10 for a 88 minute massage, and dear Lordy, it was worth it.  Not only did they rub out all tensions in our feet, they also spent some quality time on our arms and back.  And all in a private room with lounge chairs that would make Mr. Lazy Boy realize his chairs were rubbish (a new favorite word of ours after traveling with Linda, an Ausie who’s lived in London for a few years).  Such a great cure for the sore lower limbs.

We went back to the Muslim Quarter and grabbed some delicious street food (pancakes, hamburgers, and bao, all extremely different than the American versions you’re picturing now) before meeting the group for another round of karaoke.  This time, everyone joined in the fun and we belted out tunes until our throats could no longer last, especially since half our group was quite sick by this point in the trip, led by the ill efforts of Ali, Susie’s older sister.

The next morning, we hopped into our private bus and made the hour drive over to the Terracotta Warriors.  We had already been exposed to them last year in Atlanta where we visited the traveling exhibit with Roxy, Patrick, and the kids.  Even with that knowledge, it was still a site to be seen.  Broken into three different buildings, the first is the primary digging site.  Most of the pictures you’ve seen of the warriors were taken in this building, which is primarily filled with infantrymen and horses.  It was filled with natural light, a mistake by the government because they started to dig before building the structure, meaning the statues were exposed to enough sunlight to deteriorate the original vibrant colors.  Therefore, the two subsequent buildings were build next door prior to digging, with the necessary sun-blocking exterior.  It felt much more like a museum in the latter two, which delved into the cavalry aspect of the army.

Overall, visiting the warriors is a must for visitors of China.  I will say though, that I’m a tad skeptical of the authenticity of the whole thing.  Considering that this is the country infamous for creating dead-on knock offs, which will tell any story necessary to sell a piece of memorabilia, I can’t quite grasp the romantic history of this attraction to the extent that they’re selling it.  Call me a skeptic, but the whole site felt overly formulated to truly feel historic.  Maybe since I was expecting a work-in-progress plot of land filled with desperately excavating archeologists, but instead visited a comfortable set of museums predictably organized with the most well preserved statues right up front for the herd to photograph, and with most of the construction being done on the visitor’s exit area so that more stores filled with the same souvenirs one can find under any street underpass or market can try to cipher as much money as possible from said tourists, it just didn’t click for me as much as I had hoped.  But like I said, it was a must to do, so I’m glad I have the obligatory pictures of Tania and me and the warriors so we can say we had been there.

We then jumped back on the bus and headed over to the airport to catch a flight to Chengdu.  After a 5 hour delay, we boarded the plane for a quick flight and a quicker bite provided by the airline, a hot dog wrapped in tin foil like a backyard BBQ, topped not with relish or ketchup, but instead with a pickle and mayo.  Let’s just say it wasn’t horrible. 

Craig Finished Book #3: Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

Favorite Quote:

"The rough fingers of violent experience had harped upon his soul."  Steinbeck observes about the book's hero Danny.

Not sure whether Tortilla Flat is a happy or sad story, but I was moved by the intense loyalty, although occasionally very immoral loyalty, of the paisanos and the community around them.

Steinbeck writes so beautifully as if the stories roll out of his mind in one long poem.  I still need to finish East of Eden, which is my father's favorite book, and which I read half of a long time ago, and never got around to finishing.  That'll be on my shortlist of things to do when we get back to the states and have our storage items accessible.

Days 20–22 Thursday – Saturday, November 26-28, 2009 Shanghai, China

Highlights

-       Shanghai is the western face of China, but was having serious cosmetic surgery being done while we were there to get ready for the 2010 World Expo, meaning we didn’t get to experience many of the city’s greatest attractions.  Boo.

-       Getting shafted is now called “getting Shanghai’d”

-       Authentic Chinese shows located in auditoriums, I mean theaters, with a ton of tourist buses outside are probably not the most authentic shows in town.

The “it’s raining outside” version

Shanghai might as well be in the US.  Serving as the primary conduit to the west for the last 20 years during China’s leap into the modern age, it has morphed into something very familiar to us.  Huge shopping areas, small internationally themed neighborhoods (the French concession), more KFC’s, Haagen Daazes and McD’s than we can describe, and an overall capitalistic feel that screams “We are ready to not only welcome in the 21^st century, but to lead it as well!!!!”

Our hotel was just off of Nanjing Road, said huge shopping walking street lined with department stores and designer stores.  After settling into our spacious room that had carpet which had actually been vacuumed in the last 4 months (ahem Beijing), Frank took us on a walking tour of the city.  We got a quick glimpse of the local museum, the French Concession (where Mao first met with his communist partners before taking over power), a grown woman squatting a pee on the sidewalk next to us, through old town for a glimpse at how things were prior to the city’s renaissance, ending up at the Yuyuan Garden, normally known for its tea house on stilts.  But as we would encounter with most things in Shanghai, the tea house was closed due to renovations in preparation for the World Expo being held here next year, 2010.  Therefore, we settled for some dumplings and steamed veggies for dinner after a quick milk tea boba (I’m thinking only the LA people will know what that is).

Then the group headed over to the river harbor so we could take a ferry ride up and down the river to view the incredible city skyline.  Frank says it’s one of the 100 things people should do before they die.  Although impressive, we’d more add it to the 1000 things, not 100.  From the financial building to the tower to the high rise wrapped in a huge video screen, it was definitely worth the 100 yuan.  Up on the roof, we gathered around like the clock was ticking down to midnight on new year’s eve.  Pretty cool experience for the group.

While part of the group headed back to the hotel so they could get some sleep before waking up at 8 to head over to the financial building’s viewing tower (the one that looks like a bottle opener), Tania, Michael, Susie and I darted straight for the Big Echo, which is Asia’s most popular karaoke destination.  We sang Bon Jovi medleys, total eclipse of  the heart, green day’s 86 (so much to say about this clip...Letterman in Hollywood?Demi Moore's outfit?), and a slew of other tunes that made us feel right at home.  Rough on the vocal chords, but great for our spirits.

Even better for the spirits was waking up the next morning to Skype with our families who were celebrating Thanksgiving all across the country from Atlanta to Sacramento to Phoenix.  Even though we missed them and the feast of traditional fare very much, it was great to just see and talk to them.  If anyone is able to Skype, let us know your log-in name and let’s chat!!

Since it was raining, we went back to sleep and skipped the financial tower viewing.  Eventually we got up and walked down to the bund, Shanghai’s famous waterfront street which is normally filled with stores, cafes, and restaurants, but was completely closed to the public due the renovations for the Expo.  Lame.  We had also hoped to have a drink and listen to some jazz at the Peace Hotel, but yup, you guessed it, that too was totally closed.  It was at this point that we named this type of occurrence (aka getting royally screwed) “getting Shanghai’d”.  There was so much that we wanted to see and do in this city which we couldn’t because of all the construction.  I’m sure it’ll look great next year, but for now, we missed most of the best.

To make up for getting Shanghai’d all day, we made up for it at the city’s famous acrobatic show.  The whole group grabbed a bite to eat across the sewer-smelling street from the hotel then taxied over to the local, well, I’m going to call it an auditorium since it reminded me of our gathering places during grade school.  As the very talented ex-olympians performed tricks ranging from jumping through hoops to hula hooping 40 hoops at the same time to riding 5 motorcycles inside of a large metal ball, all I could think of was that we were in Blain, Missouri, and Mr. Guffman was about to walk through the auditorium doors.  It was entertaining, yes, but afterwards we vowed not to take Frank up on any more excursions that had a tri-fold pamphlet to publicize it and that had a multitude of tour buses outside transporting an influx of Caucasians who thought they were about to experience true Chinese entertainment.  We’re on an adventure tour to learn about the authentic Chinese culture, not the façade that China wants to sell us in bulk because that’s what they think westerners want.  We know Frank only takes us to these places because Gap Adventures obligates him to, but we can’t take him up on any more of these offers.

After being herded out of the theater, the group headed over to the French Concession for some drinks.  We found a Mexican place that served over-priced margaritas and chips & salsa that would cause an odd expression to wipe across the face of a Mexican, but it was a far cry from the same types of meals we had been eating every day, we were happy to indulge.  In this area we got a good sense of how many westerners had settled into this city due to how many corporations were entrenched here.  Good to see firsthand, but at this point in the trip, we were ready to get far away from the west’s influence on this country.  And our wishes were about to be granted the next day since we were taking another overnight train to Frank’s hometown, and home of the Terracota Warriors, Xi’an.

Day 19 - Wednesday, November 25, 2009 Leaving Beijing, China

Highlights

-       When the pushy salespeople at the Pearl Market asked Tania what she wanted (to buy), instead of saying she wanted a fake Kipling bag, she instead looked them dead in the eye and said “I want you to get your hands off of me.”  Atta baby!!!!  Saved me from spending a few months in a Chinese jail cell for beating up the guy selling antique Buddhas that were made four months ago.

-       Even though some of our favorite people in the world are Vietnamese, we never want to be on a sleeper train with people from that country again.  Let’s just say they’re early risers and are very gregarious.

For those of you who like this kind of detail…

Time for another bag day (travel days in which we need to carry our luggage through massive Asian crowds), but this time, it’s a tad different.  Instead of flying on a comfortable plane or taking a quick bullet train a few hours away, we’re packing our tooth brushes a little closer since we’ll be sleeping on this train.  Yup, it’s over-night hard sleeper train time from Beijing to Shanghai.  14 hours total.

Before we get to the train though…

Today we took a lovely stroll through the Temple of Heaven past the locals who were modern dancing, ballroom dancing, practicing tai chi, and singing karaoke.  All in large groups, which is a common theme we’ve noticed in China.  We talked into the echoing wall, but didn’t hear an echo, instead just looking like an asinine tourist talking into a cement wall.  We walked through the cold, dense air amongst a forest of trees that would make Tim Burton blush.  And we gazed on this eerie landscape as the softest music imaginable, which sounded more like someone tuning their acoustic guitar, played through sporadically-placed speakers that looked like artistic stands themselves.  Very odd walk, but one we very much enjoyed, especially when comparing it to our subsequent stroll through the Pearl Market across the street.

The Pearl Market is a department store stacked with floors lined by small booths and pushy salesmen/women, offering fake versions of every product known to man.  You want a fake Gucci purse?  You got it.  You want a fake pare of Nikis?  Yup.  You looking for an iPod-ish type of thing (that won’t work on your computer in the US)?  You’re in the right place.  We would have been completely turned off, especially by the sales people that were so insistent that they would grab your arm and try to drag you into their booth, but the quality of these knock-offs was incredible.  They looked so real and appeared to be made of great quality, which is not surprising since most of these items are made in China to begin with.  Tania settled for a green Kippling bag, which is a much safer option to travel with than her Angry Little Girl purse that she’s been carrying and protecting during the first few weeks of our trip.  Oh, and she bought a kite for the kids.  She bargained down from 180 yuan to 20 for the kite and reel.  Nice one kits!   I too was proud of my bartering skills since I got the saleswoman down from 320 to 50 for the bag.  Go me!

But then it was back to the hotel to meet our group so we could taxi it over to the train station.  Normally I’m happy to get to the airport plenty early to guarantee we’ll make our flight, but we may reconsider doing the same for over-night trains.  When we got to the station, our group plunked its bags down onto the ground, in the middle of the walkway of waiting room 2, which just happened to be the size of a football stadium.  The stench of humans crammed into a decrepit, marble-floored room for an hour and a half made the stench of a 66 person train car seem like a bunch of roses.  After watching old men on their knees drag themselves from person to person along floors that you wouldn’t want to be barefoot on, bowing their forehead down to the ground at the person’s feet in the hopes of receiving a yuan or two (which actually worked, making the permanent dirt mark on their forehead worth it), we threw our bags on our backs and headed to our platform and onto car 5.  After some finagling, Tania and I settled on two middle bunks (of three top to bottom) so that we could at least look across at each other throughout the night.

We’ll spare you the details, but the ride was much better than we envisioned.  We got into Shanghai unharmed and decently rested.  More on this western metropolis to come later…

Day 18 - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 Imperial Palace Beijing China

Highlights

-       The Imperial Palace (former Forbidden City b/c the common people used to be barred from the interior) is big, and that’s about it.

-       We’d fly back to China just to eat Peking Duck.  It’s that good.

-       The bird’s nest and water cube at the Olympic village are magical at night.  Gorgeous.  The village must have been breathtaking during the games.

The “too much time on my hands” version

Today we visited the Imperial Palace after a stroll through the massive Tian’Amnen Square.  It’s a marvel to be seen strictly for its size, but not much else.  You walk through one giant set of doors into a huge courtyard that contains a giant temple on the other side, which stands in front of a temple that contains another gigantic set of doors that lead into another huge courtyard, and so on and so forth.  Maybe its beauty was dimmed to us because the weather was so crappy (and because we were not properly clothed for the frigid air), but the most intriguing part of our 2 hour tour through the grounds was the excited speech our tour guide Frank gave us about the emperor’s 3000 concubines (a 20 minute description versus the normal 2 minute synopsis that he provides.  We think he likes the idea of having that many women at your beck and call).  After experiencing Japan and its quaint and subtle beauty, we were impressed by this mark of Communism, but not blown away as we were with the changing leaves in Kyoto.

Exiting the Imperial Palace means plowing through a mass of trinket pushers, which Tim and I happily did to make way for the rest of the group.  We were also assisted by the arrival of police, which sent the salespeople flocking to the street like the bacon/hot dog sales people scamper outside of the Hollywood Bowl when the cops come storming.

Once we made our way to the street, we took the city bus over to the hutongs, which are traditional communal housing areas that are slowly being plowed over in exchange for high rises and office towers.   It’s these peeks at what China has always meant, not what it’s trying to mean, that we cherish when we rarely happen to stumble upon them.  It’s the people that make up a country, not the huge structures contracted by wealthy businessmen and bureaucrats.  It's the authenticity of this area that was so intriguing to encounter.  It's a horrifically decrepit way to live, but it's a memoir of times past nonetheless, so we hope the portion we saw survives the city's expansion and growth.

We capped off the night with one of the greatest meals we’ve ever had; Peking Duck.  My mom had raved about it after her trip to China, and all the books say it’s a must while here, but we had no idea how good it would really be.  Frank took us on another ride on the 60 city bus (which has been the artery for our travels through Beijing) into a part of town that hasn’t been swallowed by the western monster.  We walked through the restaurant's traditional doorway that contained specific pillars which signified this family was wealthy, but not married to another wealthy family (don't ask).  Beyond the classic doorway, we passed through a gorgeous courtyard and into a private room overlooking the courtyard. 

As food was laid onto our lazy Susan (a staple at Chinese restaurants due to the large average group of diners), we watched and listened about how to properly build a Peking duck roll (or burrito in our minds).  We first grabbed a piece of skin that, after an initial crunch and burst of the richest flavor our pallets have ever experienced, our teeth melted into the inner layers of the skin.  My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it.  And that was just eating off the side plate of skin.  We hadn’t even gotten to the meat yet.  When we did get to the meat, we placed it on thin rice papers resembling miniature tortillas along with plum sauce, thinly sliced onions, and pieces of cucumber.  Having prepared our rolls before the group was done with theirs, we were not able to wait any longer and stuffed it into our faces.  We tried to be delicate and polite while eating the first roll, but after that, it was on.  The flavors and textures are indescribable.  I might give up buffalo wings if it meant a lifetime supply of these rolls, they’re that good.  Not sure if Tania would give up Frankie’s pizza for it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t.

With our stomachs on cloud 9, we jumped in a few cabs with the rest of the group, and headed over to the Olympic village, which we heard was a much better site while it’s dark since they are gorgeous when lit.  And boy is that correct!!  We ran around the exterior of the bird’s nest and water cube like school kids on recess.  These intricately designed buildings were massive, and so beautiful.  We could only imagine how inspired and empowered our athletes were as they entered the gates.   We didn’t get to go inside, but we didn’t care, for the exterior grounds were so enchanting.  After being underwhelmed by the Imperial Palace due to it’s dull imperialistic feel, we were blown away by these modern beauties.  Go USA!!!!

Oh, and based on its reaction on Tania, I’m thinking rice wine might be an alternative fuel for race cars. 

Day 17 - Monday, November 23, 2009 The Great Wall Beijing, China

Highlights

-       The Great Wall is awesome.  No mincing fancy words, it’s worth all the hype…and sore calves the next day.

-       Kung Fu shows in China filled with an audience of 99% white people and voice-over’d dialogue is worth a few bucks, but only for the crazy tricks the artists do.

The wordy birdie version

It’s Monday night and we’re in our room with Susie, Michael, and Tim (all Ausies) listening to our iPods and dancing  around our room waiting for the hotel security  to come bust us for having such a good time so late at night.  While listening to great songs, we’re also confirming that the music played such a big part during our wedding reception.  We’re dancing just like people did during our party.  Brilliant!

Last night after a relaxing afternoon (much needed after the chaotic Japan trip and before our even more chaotic tour of China began), we met our group in the hotel lobby.  Along with the aforementioned Susie, Michael, and Tim, we also have Susie's sister Ali, Linda from Australia but who lives in London, and Indra from Germany but who lives in Switzerland.  And we met our tour guide Frank, who's from Xi'an and has never left China.  8 tourists and 1 guide...seems like a nice sized group.  Everyone seems cool, and since half the group is 21ish and the other half is 30ish, the age range is quite even.

We got an early start yesterday and left for the Great Wall at 6:30am.  Arriving just as the wall opened (weird to say), our group was able to take the gondola up to tower 14 and walk all the way up (and up) to tower 20, all without encountering another tourist.  It really was surreal to be up on this epic tourist attraction and to be the only tourists around.  (Great call Frank!)  This enabled us to take unobstructed pictures of our trek.  On our way down, we realized how lucky we had been to be alone on the wall, for another wall had hit us…a wall of tourists.  By 11am, the wall was full and we needed to navigate around people from all over the world who were there to see what we had come to see, but with much more life trolling on this massive structure. 

Instead of walking down from tower 6, Tania took the ski lift to the bottom of the hill while I sped down on an alpine slide (or toboggan as they’re called here).  It was so worth the $5, frozen nose, and numb hands. 

Overall, visiting the wall is well worth it just to see for yourself a small chunk of what is sprawling across this vast land.  Not only was the wall a great deterrent for possible invaders (since the Mongols are no longer a threat), the peaks of high-elevation mountains on which it’s built will exhaust an enemy even before they get to the wall.  Tania saw pictures of how different the wall is in the west, but here in the east, it’s as impressive and daunting as we had imagined.

So on top of getting to experience this great wonder of the world (whether it’s the official 8^th wonder is up for discussion outside of China, but is more of a fact inside the country), we have buns of steel since the climb up to tower 20 is as good a work out as we’ve had in a long  time (=ever).  Having earned it, we simply relaxed in the afternoon and walked around town.  We did go to the greatest Kung Fu show in China (another self-proclamation), which had very impressive tricks integrated, but overall was a simple tourist trap there to thrill laowais (the local term for white foreigners with big noses) with what is supposed to be an authentically local show.  It was worth the experience, but maybe not the large ticket price.

Day 15 - Saturday November 21 Beijing China

Highlights

-      -  Tian’ Anmen Square is big.  Bigger than we ever fathomed.

-      -  Chinese like to hock loogies and spit them on the sidewalks.  Cool for me because I’m okay with it, but a nightmare for Tania’s eyes and ears.

-       -  First food experiment complete!  Pork intestines aren’t too shabby, as long as they’re fried and drenched in yummy Chinese brown sauce.

-      -    Street hagglers are ubiquitous, and like to touch Tania, which Tania doesn’t like.  At all.

-       -  Our hotel is apparently under renovation because they haven’t vacuumed our carpet in our months and there’s a fine scent of paint wafting through our room.  At least the beds are as soft as a brick wall.

The Craig-has-too-much-time-on-his-hands version:

Okay, if we last thought that we definitely ain’t in Kansas anymore, now we’re sure we’re not even on Earth anymore.  Within walking 5 minutes from our hotel around a few loogie-ridden sidewalks and corners, we were minimized to ants amongst the extreme grandeur of Tian’ Anmen Sqaure.  For as far as the eye can see (which isn’t too far since the smog limits how far the eye can take you), there were monstrous government buildings surrounding a square that make a football field look like a foosball table standing inside of a convention center.  I knew the commies went big to show how powerful they are, but this redefines what big means in my head.  Dear Lord this square was massive.  So massive that we were winded by the time we walked from one end to the other.

Here are some pictures that hopefully show some sense of the scale of the area:

Knowing we were going to explore the square again, along with the Imperial Palace (aka Forbidden City) with our tour group on Monday, we picked our jaws off of the cold cement floor, took our pictures with the gigantic painting of Mao on the Imperial Palace’s front gate (below), and continued to ignore the people trying to sell us God knows what as we darted out of the square.  By this point we were starving, so we looked for the closest non-touristy yet hopefully-doesn’t-serve-dog restaurant, which we found close by (hopefully we were right about the dog thing).

While Tania ordered some sort of eggplant dish (which looked nothing like the picture in the menu when they brought it out), while I decided to not waste any time in ordering a dish I’d never have in the US, and opted for the lightly fried pork intestines in brown sauce.  I want to so badly explore the unique aspects of this culture while we’re here and to escape all of the standard pitfalls, but after eating this dish, I know it’s not going to be a quick or easy transition.  The first bite seemed to have a nice crunch as I broke through the outer fried shell, and the (what I’m guessing was the) intestine had a very soft calamari-like chewiness to it, but as soon as I got past that point, something squirted from the middle, and this immediately struck my nervous tourist gag reflex button.  I wasn’t close to puking or spitting it up, but it tightened my nerves for the rest of the meal so that I wasn’t relaxed to enjoy this new dish.  Hopefully this is temporary and will ease over time as we explore more unique dishes, but like I said, this transition isn’t going to be smooth.  (Sorry to let you down Steph, but please know I’m trying.)  And Tania will be close behind.  She tried a bite of my dish and handled it well, but we’ll see how she does when she gets her own full dish of pigeon liver or whatever it is she has the gall to order.

Now that we were initiated into the local cuisine, it was time to explore the streets.  We stumbled upon a market full of small stands selling the obvious trinkets and chotchkies (is that right Sabby?) as well as snacks like grilled cherry or steak kabobs.  Very cool little area of town, but it wasn’t what we were looking for.  We needed to replenish our reading supplies.   I had finished the book “Lost On Planet China” that Bridgett gave me (THANKS B!!!  Hope you and your little family are doing great!), and Tania finished a little book named Twilight that Roxy gave her.  You may have heard of it.  It’s now turned from a book into an addiction for Tania, so she needed the follow-up New Moon like a fat kid needs cake (that’s quoting a song, not an insensitive jab, parents x2).  Well, after looking in every bookstore between Kyoto and Beijing, we finally found an international bookstore that had New Moon.  And Tania beamed with joy knowing she could continue her affair with Edward again. 

I was equally as giddy because this bookstore also had the new Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol.  Even though it’s a massive hard back and will be tough to lug around, I felt it was worth it knowing how well it would keep me entertained during our several overnight train rides that we have ahead of us over the next few weeks.  And since I read slower than Tania walks, it will last me a good while.

Happy as clams, we skipped over to the mall (video view below) for a quick Starbucks free wifi session then grabbed a bunch of groceries from a big ol’ grocery store (not a street market that will over-charge this laowai) for our room.  Knowing I didn’t have to haggle with local vendors filled me with joy.

Click for video of Beijing mall

Now back in our room, we’re going to relax, start our books, and stay warm.  And tomorrow, we’ll meet our tour group, which we can’t wait to happen since we’ll be spending the next three weeks with them.  So cool!

Day 14 - Friday November 20 Beijing, China

We ain’t in Kansas anymore, that’s for sure.  From the bitter cold landscape that resembles eastern Colorado (no, not the mountainous Rockies side, the flat Nebraska-type side) on it’s deadest of winter days, to the fact that laws apparently don’t exist for drivers, to the bed mattresses that knocked the air out of my lungs when I did the swan dive onto them to celebrate how large our hotel room was.  I knew things would be different around here, but the first two hours in the country have shown that we have no idea what we’re about to encounter.  That’s both frightening and exciting, which is why we came to such a foreign land.

No Internet access in the room, so we’re off to wander the streets and discover for ourselves what there is to do here, instead of relying on Lonely Planet or some travel blog.   Wish us luck!

411 on our Hiroshima visit

Here's an article that uses the Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima, outside of Hiroshima, as an ideal object to search for on the Internet using a static image.  Even though the tide was low and we didn't see it "float", we did love seeing it with the beautiful sun setting behind it, and taking in the breathtaking setting up on the crest of the hill above, which required a long gondola ride to reach.  Even though we got screwed on payment to get up there, the trip upwards was well worth it.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/08/google.goggles/index.html
 

Day 14 - Friday November 20 Beijing, China

We ain’t in Kansas anymore, that’s for sure. From the bitter cold landscape that resembles eastern Colorado (no, not the mountainous Rockies side, the flat Nebraska-type side) on it’s deadest of winter days, to the fact that laws apparently don’t exist for drivers, to the bed mattresses that knocked the air out of my lungs when I did the swan dive onto them to celebrate how large our hotel room was. I knew things would be different around here, but the first two hours in the country have shown that we have no idea what we’re about to encounter. That’s both frightening and exciting, which is why we came to such a foreign land.

No Internet access in the room, so we’re off to wander the streets and discover for ourselves what there is to do here, instead of relying on Lonely Planet or some travel blog. Wish us luck!