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.