Zhouzhuang

Today was the first day we did some sightseeing on our China trip. We woke up in Kun Shan and drove to Zhouzhuang. Zhouzhuang is well known for its rivers and river boats, which I really wanted to see. I got lots of pictures and we got to see a ton of the old parts of town. We took a boat ride too which was really fun. I think I stand out as American because everyone stares at me and some people stop and want to get their pictures taken with me. But I'm also the only person in China who lifts weights, so that could be it too. After we toured Zhouzhuang all morning we drove to Suzhou. The hotel in Suzhou is great! My room has a kitchen, bed room, and living room. The balcony also has a really nice view. We saw an ancient garden in Suzhou already and we are going to go to two more tomorrow. I met a lot of Cindy’s dad's friends, we ate with them at breakfast and lunch. No one really speaks English except for Cindy. English is now required in schools here so most young people speak it. But businessmen and other older people don't really. Which is fine with me. I'm learning a lot of Chinese. I sent out a bunch of post cards today so we'll see how long it takes for them to get to America. We're finally done travelling for the day and we're resting in the hotel now. I've been taking in everything I see and I love China so far. It's so interesting. And at night there are so many bright colored lights in the city. Purple, green, yellow, red, orange, blue, all different colors, so when I arrived in Shanghai (6am my time, 6pm China time), I saw all these beautiful lights.
Some things about China:
The food is great. We had frog soup for dinner. Meals are always at a table and the food is put on a spinning circular plate in the middle and you just grab what you want and put it on your plate. There's usually a ton of food to choose from too. The waiters just keep bringing out dishes. When you sit down you always have a plate, chopsticks, a cup for tea (I've had more tea today then I did for the last two weeks) a small cup for soup, and a wet towel, for cleaning. We've had some really exotic food and some of it is really tasty. The weirdest so far is definately the frog, or pig's tongue. That one was interesting. We also bought some pig feet for me to take home, they're a specialty in Zhouzhuang. I also got a sun hat! You know, the pointy ones?
I've never been in a city as big as Shanghai before, or even Kun Shan which is smaller, but bigger than Raleigh. We decided to see Shanghai and the world fair at the end of the trip because it will be less crowded. Cindy’s mom really wants me to come back because she says
30 days isn't enough. She wants me to bring my family next time too.
Another thing is that none of the tap water is potable. You have to drink bottled water.
A lot more people here smoke than in America. I was always told you couldn't see a blue sky in China because of the pollution but I woke up to the brightest blue sky today. Cindy said it's because the government shut off the factories around Shanghai because of the world fair and they want it to look nice for tourists :P we'll see if he's right.
My camera died today because I forgot to charge it before the trip, but it's charged now and I'll be ready tomorrow. I also meet Cindy’s dad tomorrow so that will be interesting. After we finish the two ancient private gardens in Suzhou tomorrow, we will drive to Nanjing, Cindy’s hometown. And we will also visit Hangzhou, another famous tourist city in China.

Zhangjiajie

Zhangjiajie is situated in the northwest of the Hunan province, just south of the Yangtse river. The forest park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992. It is a well known in China, but not so much outside China. It is a bit difficult to get to, although there are connections by plane and a few trains connect the area to Changsha and other Chinese cities. I had read a little about it somewhere and because I love mountains and forests it seemed a place worth visiting. It is a big place, the park and surrounding areas cover 398 square kilometers, so one really needs a few days to really visit the major sights. As all Chinese parks we have visited it is very well organized, with buses and cable cars connecting the various spots, the trails are clearly marked and it is fairly easy to walk around, although here as in many other places there are a lot of stairs to climb.
We left Hong Kong by bus and a couple of hours later we had checked in at the Shenzhenairport. Our plane to Zhangjiajie was delayed. The passengers were clearly mostly Chinese holiday makers and fortunately a family of three took mercy on us as all the information was in Chinese. The family consisted of a very chic and beautiful mother which we believed was a company executive or government official (clearly used to be in charge), a daughter and son in their late teens, the daughter with a punk hair style. The children spoke excellent English and passed on all the information. We would meet the family every day in Zhangjiajie and exchange our experiences, it is often said that Chinese people are not very friendly, but this is not our experience. We have often been approached by Chinese people who just want to talk. Of course our ignorance of the language is a problem as so few people in China know good English. But every now and then we meet someone with whom we can talk and it is always interesting. The family in question was really surprised that we had three weeks to spend on holidays for a China trip, because they could at most get a week of vacation.
The first morning in Zhangjiajie we walked down the road to the entrance. Giorgos was shocked by the size of the village, it is probably the smallest place in China that we have ever visited. A main street with a few stores, a couple of hotels, a bazaar area with minority women selling their handicraft. That is all. There were no cafes nor restaurants. However, there were beautiful mountains surrounding us giving us a taste of what was about to come. The entrance fee of 250 Yuan bought us a ticket which was valid for two days and for identification we gave our electronic fingerprints . Very high tech. There were some “guides” trying to offer their services but we knew that the national parks in China are very well organized so no guide is necessary. First place we visited was the Yellow Stone Stronghold. Never could figure out why it is called like that. Nevermind, it is a rock standing high above the surrounding valleys with its sides being near vertical. We took the park bus to the cable car station and after a five minute or so ride we reached the top of the cliff. At the first viewing platform we met the family from the airport! The next three hours we leisurely walked around the summit among the trees. As soon as we got a bit further away from the cable car station we were alone, while the Chinese tour groups obviously were doing a shorter round. At regular intervals were viewing points giving uninterrupted views of the surrounding peaks, some just a few meters across and making up the strangest formations. I also appreciated that there were signs with information about the geology and biology of the area at intervals. Because one does wonder how anything like these rocks can be created. We will visit Huangshan as our second destination.

Tibet

Tibet does have a different feel to it - I think its real and not just me wanting it to be real. It is the most attractive place for my China trip. There are the obvious differences in the faces, the architecture of the houses, the chortens & prayer flags scattered across the landscape. But also the Tibetans seem to smile more, when we ride past on the bike there's enthusiastic waving and joy. In Xinjiang Province the people were quite reserved, when we rode past they just stared open mouthed and almost seemed afraid to wave.

We are currently bobbing along the Tibetan Plateau between 4200m and 4900m making our way east. The climbs over the passes aren't that big, only a few hundred meters but at the top of each pass there are a host of multi-coloured prayer flags fluttering in the breeze. Don't know why but they are really comforting, they are like a mini reward for achieving a few more miles and do seem to help you on your way. Perhaps its just seeing the bright colours in the sea of browness.

We are now far enough east to have the Himalayas as our constant companions to the south. Predictably they provide a spectacular backdrop
to the yellow steppe grasslands. Occasionally we come across a nomadic village with their herds of yaks. But here, the yurts of the Stans have been replaced by the oblong Tibetan tents decorated in colourful religious symbols. In the villages the same colourful symbols appear on the door curtains of each house.

From Douma to Ali we pass lots of salt lakes. At first you can't quite make out if its snow or salt but apparently its salt - I'm too lazy to stomp my way across the grasslands to double check. Then we skirt the northern and eastern shores of Pangong-tso. The southern shore is in Ladakh, India as are the snowy mountains we can see. The lake is famous for its fish, which is presumably why there are so many seagull hanging round. Anyway in the absolute middle of nowhere on the edge of the lake we come across and enormous fish restaurant. The locals tell us the fish is just like trout and cook us 2 large specimens - they obviously don't have a lot of trout in Tibet!!! Our resident fish expert said it was more like perch. Still it made a pleasant change from the usual lunch of top-box snacks.

Further down the road there is another treat in store - tarmac, and nice smooth tarmac at that. Its turning into a real day of treats; pre-historic petroglyphs at the side of the road, a real town with shops and restaurants and, after 4 days of wet-wipes, real showers and flushing toilets. We also passed some black necked cranes en-route, this is considered a very auspicious sign - so fingers crossed, we might make it to the end.

The treats keep coming the next day - from Ali to Lake Manasarovar we have a whole 180 miles of tarmac - luxury. There's no other traffic on the road, just the occasional truck and a few Tibetan motorbikes in their version of safety gear - see photo. This means we whiz along covering the miles which was the plan as we are headed for the most holy lake and mountain in Tibet.

Mt Kailash (6714m) might not be the highest mountain in these parts buts its certainly the most important. Its central to the mythology of over 1 billion people from 4 different religions: Buddhists (who believe the cleft on the south
face resembles a swastika, the symbol of spiritual strength), Hindus (who believe it is Mt Meru, the home of the god Shiva), Jains (who believe it is the site of emancipation of their 1st saint) and Bons (who believe this is where their founder, Shenrab, alighted from heaven). Many people spend their whole lives striving to come on a pilgrimage to this mountain, to make the 3 day kora round it. Some even prostrate themselves all the way round the kora circuit. And here we are just nonchalantly riding past. Compared to the pilgrims we have had a pretty easy journey here. Just to make us realise how lucky we are a tremendous storm comes in from the direction we need to go. It snows on us briefly then the skies clear and Kailash reveals herself in her full glory. To travel China, you always have lots to experience.

Nearby is Lake Manasarovar another pilgrimage site for Hindus and Buddhists and our home for the night. The lake is allegedly the source of Asia's 4 mightiest rivers which arise at the 4 cardinal point; the Indus to the north, a tributary of the Ganges to the south, the Brahmaputra to the east, the Sutlej to the west. Don't
look at a map too closely though, they might not all arise for the lake but they do all start in this watershed. At the lake we're back to homestays, no running water and communal toilet block. When I say communal I mean communal - behind the concrete there are 4 little holes in the ground lined up next to each with no partitions in between!!

We wander up to the little monastery on the hill, its good to stretch the legs after all that sitting on the bike. We even help the monk to carry the supplies up the hill. Its very peaceful and restful up here. There are clear blue skies now and sitting by the prayer flags there are views in every direction; down to the lake, over to Mt Kailash, down to the stupas and prayer flags and mani stones, over to the snowy mountains way off in the distance. It just reinforces how privileged we are, some people spend their whole lives hoping to make a pilgrimage to this spot. A few days of no showers and communal toilets outside Lhasa is a small price to pay.

Terra Cotta Warriors&Horses

On my way to Xian, I took a much needed layover in Taiyuan. I was able to clean up after my stint in the mountains and take care of a few errands. There, I visited the Shanxi Museum, which had one of the best collections I've seen. Artifacts over 4000 years old from China's first traces of civilization were impressive. Also on display were exquisite examples of ancient Chinese porcelain, currency, architecture, and Buddhist relics.

I arrived in Xian via overnight sleeper train, which was not that bad. My first day in Xian, once the capital of China, I made my way around the well-preserved city wall on bike. I also made my way to the Great Mosque near the center of the city. Xian's position along the Silk Road made it a fertile place for religious diffusion from the Mediterranean. Outside the Great Mosque was one of the best flea markets I've seen. One particular strength was the abundance of knock-offs: Ray-Bans, Lacoste, Bretling watches, whatever!

The following day, I visited one of the most anticipated sights of the entire trip, the Terracotta Warriors! Over 2200 years ago, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (the same one
from the movie Hero) created a vast army of thousands of life-size porcelain soldiers, horses, and chariots, complete with weapons and gear. These were to accompany him in his tomb to the afterlife. Out of all the things that I've seen ever, this was for sure top three in terms of most amazing due to its sheer size, old age, and the interesting history surrounding emperor Qin. It was definitely worth the venture out to Xian and I'm glad I got it done. So good part of my China tour!

I'm enjoying my last night of solo travel and savoring the solitude, for tomorrow I head to Shanghai where I will meet up with a friend from Houston. In Taiwan, I will also be with friends and family so for the rest of my travels, I shall be in good company.

Suzhou

Suzhou is my second destination for my China trip. We usually eat in the hotel restaurants a lot, because they're usually big, nice, and have enough room for all the guests. I met Cindy’s dad and he's really nice. So anyways, we always eat with about 5-8 people. Last night we ate in a hotel restaurant with friends of Cindy’s dad and I could understand a lot of the conversation, and sometimes when they talk about me haha. I'm picking it up pretty quickly. The only thing I'm still stuck on is reading the Chinese signs, advertisements, and businesses because you can't tell how to pronounce a word by seeing the character. You have to know the "pinyin" or the romanized pronunciation guide. So 龙 is said "Long" and means "dragon". There's no way to tell how to say it from the chinese character. But the speaking and listening is coming to me quickly.
I'm going to take a video of some of the driving here, because most people in the US would not believe me. It's unbelievable haha.
So the touring- we woke up and Cindy said we were having a western style breakfast. Actually it was eastern but had bacon and fried eggs haha. After that Cindy and I went to the Administrators Private Garden. Another ancient garden. Suzhou is known for all the ancient garden estates here. Some of them are really old too. They have people tend to the gardens to keep them looking nice for tourists. It was a really beautiful and relaxing place, with a couple different buildings/houses. The big plant in the main picture is called "o" and the root is delicious!
We were pretty tired after this (lack of sleep and working out). So we went back for lunch and met Cindy’s dad. After we ate we checked out and Cindy’s dad's driver drove us to Wuxi. It's about an hour from Suzhou and it's on the way to Nanjing. It has a newly built Buddhist Temple attraction with an enormous Golden Palace and statue. We toured through the palace where you had to wear shoe covers, then saw a play/movie about Buddha. The palace was enormous, it must've cost 10's of millions at least. Everything was decorated and it looked beautiful I couldn't understand any of it because of the accent the narrator used, but I'm ok with that haha.

When we finished that we went to meet another of Cindy’s dad's friends and his wife. The man runs a tv station and his wife is one of the anchors. The man was really interested that I play drums because he majored in music at college. His wife spoke English really well so she's the first person I got to know. It's funny she said she only speaks a little English, but she understood everything I said. In America, people like to say, "oh I speak 3 languages" and then you find out they only know phrases. People outside the US are too modest about it.

This was probably the most exotic meal we had yet. We had a type of bamboo root, pork, shrimp, fish, snake soup, and a bunch of other things. The snake was actually pretty good.

An interesting thing Chinese people do is that they never take out the bones of a fish, even the small ones, so you have to find them yourself. Also, they bring out the whole fish, skin and all, just dead and chopped into slices. But they always leave the head.

After dinner we drove the rest of the way to Nanjing, the third stop for my China tour. I fell asleep in the car since it was a two hour drive. Now I stayed the night in a hotel about 5 minutes away from Cindy’s house. They said today can be a rest day if I want since I was so tired yesterday. But I slept well. I have to go get breakfast now in the hotel before it closes. I'll tell you how Nanjing is later :)

Summer Palace

In the morning of our second day in Beijing, we visited the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was originally commissioned by Emperor Qianlong as a giant retreat in honor of his mother's 60th birthday in 1750. In 1860 many of the palaces were burned down. The Summer Palace was rebuilt with funds that were supposed to be used for the Navy. By this point Empress Dowager Cixi retired here in 1889. As the guide books state the Palace represents first hand the corruption at the time, the opulence here was bought with siphoned money as China crumbled. The entire gardens were for the Empresses exclusive use. I was interested in seeing this site but at the same time had ambivalent feelings about the history.

We arrived at the West Gate of the Summer Palace. Well it appeared once Neil reached Dale by cell phone she had arrived at the more popular East Gate. Keeping in mind that this park is 700 acres in size it took us an hour to find Dale. Neil and I found out during our leisurely walk through the beautiful garden area that we both liked the peacefulness of this area and didn't much care for crowds. Once we found Dale we made introductions and I found that she was working on her undergraduate degree in economics at the same college as Neil. It was her hope to go to Graduate School in the US, she had a great command of the English language. She arrived with an English head set for me, and had down lots of research It became obvious that Neil had called her the evening before in a panic that he was assigned to take me on a tour. We proceeded on our tour for about another hour, and then the skies opened up and it began to pour. They opened up their umbrellas and were happy to continue with the entire tour. By this time, I was wet and had slipped no less then three times in my wonderful american croc sandels. It was now close to 1:00pm and I knew they wanted to take in lunch. By the look on Dale's face I realized I might have insulted her, I said is that ok if we enjoy lunch. She said, I fear I did not do a good enough job preparing I told her that she had done a wonderful job and that I had thoroughly enjoyed the China tour but with the rain I just felt getting out of the weather was a good idea. She agreed and I think accepted my apology.

We waited in the rain for our driver for about fifteen minutes and then headed towards their campus area for lunch. They wanted me to experience having what they called a Hot Pot Lunch. In about 30 minutes time we were dropped off at a mall area. There were a lot of students mulling around as we entered the shopping mall and proceeded to the third floor to find our restaurant. On China tip, the local food is also an attraction. I saw a lot of interesting shops along the way. Once again the menu with all the pictures came and Neil proceeded to make selections. Out came this large pot with one side full of a clear liquid and the other side with a liquid that was red in color. I was told that was the spicy side. Then platters of raw meat and vegetables came out. I was told they were lamb and beef. You prepared your food very similar to how we prepare fondue. It was very good and also filling. Before long more meat and shrimp came out. I think Neil could see from my eyes that I was amazed at all this food for three people. He tried to send some of it back but they of course would not take it. Dale explained to me that he was embarrassed at the amount of food he had ordered. He did not want to be wasteful. I tried to tell him not to worry but I think he was quite concerned that I was the wife of the big boss and he was wasteful so he prepared to eat everything!

I had a very nice conversation with Dale about the culture again, she seemed to have a passion to learn about how we raised our children. She told me that she was raised very strict and was not allowed to ever have friends or extra curricular activities. She said she was made to study all the time, and if she did not do well her mother would be very angry with her and shouted. She could not imagine that young adults in America were given the independence to make career choices, friend choices and were allowed to go out on the weekends. I tried to explain to her that her mother was not wrong in her views but that this was her culture. She thanked me over and over for talking to her. She said she was so afraid to go against her parents and come to the US to study. She explained to me she wanted to get her PhD in Child Psychology and stay in America to practice. I tried to encourage her to make the choice she wanted but also to continue to respect her parents and her culture. It was a very hard conversation to have, I hope I was successful. We finished lunch and Dale headed back to her Dorm and Neil and I headed back to the hotel. It was now 3:30pm.
Well tomorrow is Friday, we will visit the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and Beijing Hutongs.

Ningxia

This was a 4 days China trip to Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region which is the smallest province in China. About 30% of the population are the Hui minority group are Muslims who originated from Central Asia. Islamic architectural and food can be seen almost everywhere here.
We based ourselves in the province capital, Yinchuan and make day trips to surrounding places of interest.
Our China tour agency has arranged well for us the car and guide. Our first destination was Helan Mountain but we had to turn back because of rain, strong wind and lightning after having brought the tickets and entered.
We went to the Shapotuo desert on the 2nd day which is a key tourist destination because of its natural beauty especially at the section of the desert where the Yellow River runs through. It was interesting as it’s the first time we have seen a desert. The children enjoyed themselves with camel rides, playing in the sand and the speed boat ride on the yellow river. They also offer river rafting on rafts with
floats made from goatskin which was the local’s traditional way of crossing the river.

On the next day, we went to the Sand Lake which is a desert with a large lake and sand dunes. It has scenic view but climbing up the sand dunes was not easy at all. The activities offered there are similar to those at shapotou desert. Again the children were happily playing with the sand while we enjoy the view around us. On the way back to Yinchuan, we visited the Mausoleum of the Western Xia state. The pyramid shaped tombs are the burial sites of the kings whose kingdom was wiped out by Mongols in 1227 after 6 failed invasions.
The tombs design is one of its kinds found in China. There is also museum showcases the 200 years history, lifestyle and achievement of this kingdom. This reminds me of the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an.
On the last day, we went back to visit Helan Mountain to see the rock carvings that were created by different ethnic nomadic groups about 2000 years ago. The carvings include gods, animals and daily activities. You can viewed them by walking around a pavement but it take some imagination and good observation to see
of the of the cravings. Next destination city is Beijing, for the Forbidden City and the Great Wall!