Monday, June 22, 2009 Beijing

I left the house at 8:30 PM on Saturday, June 20. 24 hours later we arrived at our hotel at 1:30 PM on Monday, June 22. - tired but not totally exhausted from our travels over the Pacific Ocean.
On the trip itinerary, no activities were planned for this afternoon. Boy were we wrong!!! We were given 30 minutes to shower, change and rest before meeting up again.
First stop Tian An Men Square. That place is massive (100 acres). It is beyond anything that you can imagine. There are many police (not sure why) and peddlers every couple of feet too.
We walked under the street from the square to the Forbidden City, since walking across the street is putting your life at risk. What a gorgeous and interesting place. Immense, about 200 acres. There was a building in which the emperor could rest prior to a review or other activities. We walked thru several gates and it just kept going on and on. It seemed we were in an endless loop. Our tour guide said that the emperor did not walk from place to place but was carried. It was about 100° F. While walking out of the Forbidden City, we were attacked by street vendors. Those people are relentless! Then we went to a Chinese restaurant for a Peking duck dinner. It was excellent. We then headed off to a theater for a martial arts/dance presentation – The Legend of Kungfu at the Red Theater. The show was interesting, but the entire group was too tired to be there. From what I gathered, 70% of the people were snoozing. When we finally got back on the bus, the driver asked if we wanted to go to a shopping mall. The answer was a resounding NO! Everyone is worn out and in desperate need of sleep. Tuesday – we are heading to the Olympic village and venues. Who knows what changes will be made to our schedule!!!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

In our group of people, there are 21 college students, 7 adults. Thus far, everyone gets along great
This morning we headed out to the Summer Palace. Beautiful and amazing. Also immense. The summer palace has all the detail and beauty of the Forbidden City, but adds trees and water. We walked down the long corridor under shade from the corridor and the trees. Then we took a boat ride to the other side of the lake. Walking over the bridge to the man made island was hot, but worth the walk. The Forbidden City was impressive, but the Summer Palace was much more enjoyable.
After the Summer Palace, we headed to a Pearl Market. This is where some people spent lots of money!!! They had some beautiful jewelry. Next was lunch. The food was okay. Our tour guide told us he does not like this restaurant, but the tour company does. I think that translates to the food is cheap!
After lunch we were back on the bus to the Olympic Village. We had the opportunity to view the Birds Nest and Water Cube from the outside. Both buildings were impressive. Peddlers were everywhere. Olympic gold medals could be purchased for $1 each. Next dinner. Much better food than lunch. Beer and Pepsi were served with the meal, both were warm. AND there was no guarantee that the ice was good, so it was warm or nothing.
After dinner we went to an outdoor mall. It reminded me of downtown Las Vegas. It was nice but not spectacular.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

One thing about these tours, they throw in these shopping stops along the way. We figure the tour company and the tour guide get a kickback from all of the sales. So on the way to the Great Wall we stopped at a Jade Factory. On the way to the Great Wall, the tour guide gave some information on the building of the wall. 1 million people were forced to work on the wall (about 1/5 of the population); many died there and were buried there as well. Goats and donkeys were used to transport the materials to this remote location.
Great Wall – Badaling. We took a cable car from the parking lot to the Wall. Amazing, awesome. There is no way that words and pictures can do justice. When you walk out and see the wall, it is so very impressive. Then you turn around and see more. The wall continued for as far as the eye could see in the other direction.
The wall is in such a remote location that you wonder how it was even possible to build this wall.. The hardest part of the day was the heat. We estimated about 100°F on the wall. Very hot! After the wall we headed to lunch. Lunch is good, but the restaurant was located in the back of a store!!! Guess what? We had to listen to a five minute demonstration before we could eat lunch. These five minute demonstrations are their sales pitches. They get upset if you do not listen. We were hungry, and we did not want to hear what they had to say.
The tour guide shares different tidbits of the Chinese culture with us. One question posed was “Are there any lesbians in China.” We saw girls walking together holding hands. The response was that holding hands in public is a sign of the relationship. Really good girl friends will walk down the street hand in hand, but they are not lesbians. Then he went on to say that “Only rich people can afford to be lesbians”.
Our afternoon activity was a rickshaw ride in a local residential area. They did not pull us on foot, but with a bicycle. We visited a Hutong. A Hutong is four family houses sharing the same courtyard. The best house is for the oldest people living in the houses. The son gets the next best house and the daughter gets the third best. The fourth quadrant was for the servants. The houses were very small. .
Tomorrow is our last morning in Beijing. We then head to Xian by air. Xian is the formal capital of China and has a 5000 year history.
Beijing is: Lots of traffic, Many many tour busses, Beautiful, Clean – no litter or graffiti, Diverse architecture, Hot, Bicycles galore, pedestrians & bicyclists could be run over at any time, Lots of high rise housing,

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Today our destination is the Temple of Heaven. This is a place of worship for the Emperor and the royal family. The temple is built around the number 9. There are nine steps in each of three flights, around the single center stone there are nine stones in the first row, 18 in the second, 27 in the third, etc.
The Temple of Heaven is bigger than the Summer Palace. These emperors sure know how to live!!!
Today, the surrounding gardens are used by retired people to exercise, socialize or share their skills with others.

Now on to Xian – 2 hour airplane ride
Not the big city, but a small city with a rich history. In ancient times, everyone lived inside the city walls. Today, all residents live outside the city walls. Only businesses are inside the walls. Dinner was a 14 course dumpling dinner. Some dumplings were outstanding, others were not. After dinner we went to a boring show about 4 Dynasties

Friday, June 26, 2009 Xiam

Today was a very HOT day.
We started out going to the bell tower. The gates were opened in the morning when the bells in the bell tower were rung. The gates would close at night when the drums in the drum tower were banged. If you were outside after the drums, you were pretty much out of luck. Today we climbed the bell tower. There was a great view from the tower of Xian. I did not notice that on two of the four corners there was Mc Donald’s. The bell tower was also a great place to watch the crazy drivers.
Before the museum was lunch. It was very good. You cannot believe the amount of food we are served for each meal. Today lunch was the best meal. The western breakfasts are fair at best.
The main attraction of the day was the Terra Cotta Museum. There are many thousands life size terra cotta statues of wariors here. For a description see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army After the museum we went to the Big Goose Pagoda. This is a Buddhist Temple in Xian. When this temple was originally built (1000 years ago?) it was 99 m. It was rebuilt 600 years ago to its current height of 67 m. 150 monks still are in residence at the Big Goose Pagoda. After touring the grounds, we were lead into a room for a 5 minute demonstration on Chinese Writing. Everything is a 5 minute demonstration; this particular demonstration lasted at least 30 minutes. Of course, after the demonstration the room led right into a store where we were given 40 minutes of free time (shopping.)

Saturday, June 27 Guilin

Our morning began going to the airport to catch our flight to Guilin. Guilin is located in the southern area of China. Now in addition to being HOT it is also HUMID!!! What a combination. Traveling from Xian to Guilin is traveling from the big city (millions of people) to the little city (700,000 people). It is truly a different part of the country. The mountains in this region are composed of limestone. Each mountain contains a cave. We visited the Reed Flute Cave. Next we were off to Elephant Hill. After dinner we were treated to a Lake Cruise. In ancient days, four lakes surrounded the city. Each lake is connected by a bridge copied from some other location. There was a glass bridge, a bridge from the Summer Palace, even a copy of the Golden Gate Bridge. In one lake we were treated to a demonstration of the fish birds. There are birds (cormorant) on a boat. The birds are tethered to the boat so they cannot swim away. They dive in the water and catch a fish. They are unable to swallow the fish because their necks are tied. The fisherman then removes the fish from the bird and puts it in his bucket.

Sunday, June 28, 2009 Yanghuo

Last night it rained, this morning it rained. That means a nice humid day is on tap. It actually was not as hot, just humid.
Today we departed from Guilin for a trip down the Li River on our way to Yangshuo. This river cruise has some of the best scenery in all of China. The picture on the 20 RDB (Yuan or money) comes from this cruise. The limestone mountains are everywhere, there is green everywhere, since it is raining, there are low clouds which adds mystery to the mountains. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful.
Approximated 10,000 people are transported down the Li River on a daily basis (100 boats, 100 people each). When we started out, it looked like we were going to hit people on their rafts in the river. Were we wrong!!! These were peddlers who come up, attach their raft to the side of the boat and attempt to peddle their wares.
Yangshuo is a small town (30,000 people). The town is small, but also very crowded. This region is known for it scenery. There is also a lot of agriculture in this area.
We arrived at Yangshuo (along with lots of other boats), so what is the first thing we see? Venders/peddlers/beggars – everywhere with their products. Today was our first time with free unstructured time. This is when we went shopping. The primary shopping area is on West Street. West St is named West after Westerners. After dinner, we headed out to a Chinese show. This show was director by the same person who did the Olympic shows. It was interesting, but difficult to follow since it was in Chinese. The performance included four of the minorities from the region (ethnic groups). The director used rafts, lights, ribbons, banners, and fire to tell the story.

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