China Adventure, 2007

Ted and I, or, I and Ted went on a China adventure in September and every day was different and exciting. There are impressions that will never be forgotten such as; traffic in Shanghai and Beijing, drivers who have no sense of traffic rules and certainly none of courtesy, bicycles and pedestrians in the middle of the street with cars and buses speeding past, prices that are negotiable, food that is unidentifiable, buildings being built up and buildings being torn down, the value of the US dollar seemingly worth less than we thought, money flowing out of the pocket at a great rate. There are beautiful woodcarvings, rock carvings, and granite carvings. The painting on silk, silk weaving, and embroidery are magnificent. This report will be disjointed at times because that is my style and I often lose my place. Stick with it or not as you please.

Enough of an introduction. The trip started on Sept. 6 with our flight on United Airlines from Cincinnati to Chicago to Shanghai. We had plenty of room because we were in economy plus and the flight was not full. Arrived on time and were met at the airport by Zoe, our guide. Friday we landed at 2:15, left the airport at 3:15 and arrived at the hotel at 5:15. Never seen so many cars parked on an expressway. We went to the Peking Opera: loud, high-pitched, long. The costumes are beautiful, the acting is exact but it was two hours until the intermission so that we could leave.

There are five of us on this part of the tour. Many tours have forty or more. One man is from California and a couple from Rock Island, IL. We all get along well. Saturday we toured Shanghai and saw the Bund, gardens, the French Quarter, a silk factory and more. Met Angela and Jeff McDonald for dinner. They picked us up in their chauffer driven van; the company will not let him drive in China. We went to a Chinese restaurant and Angela order everything on the menu that looked good. We ate about half. (We will meet Angela on Saturday when we return to Shanghai; Jeff leaves Friday for a meeting in Chicago).

Shanghai has more cars, bikes, electric bikes, mopeds, and pedestrians than I have ever seen.  About 20,000,000 people live around here. (31,000,000 live in Chungking) and there are no traffic laws that we could figure out.  The lanes on the roads are just a guide or suggestion; three lanes become four and at times five. Whoever gets the nose of a car or bus out first, goes like his tail was on fire. Look both ways and look again. There may be rules of the road but who cares? You have to walk in the street because bikes and cars park on the sidewalk. People walk in the center of the road, cross on red and get only part way across, bikes, mopeds, and other vehicles go the wrong way on one-way streets. The traffic jams are like parking lots on six lane highways. There is no such thing as courtesy; you cut in and prevent others from getting ahead of you. Of course lane markers are just a suggestion. Three lanes become four if the cars are thin enough. The traffic lights have timers to let you know how much time is left before the light changes. This gives the drivers a chance to get ready to race across the street. You get the idea.

The streets and sidewalks are swept constantly by men and women. They use a straw handmade broom. A leaf falls and is swept up at once. Two objects are fulfilled; employment and cleanliness. In Shanghai, in the park at 6:30 AM, the old and young were doing exercises and playing badminton (without a net), playing chess, talking and enjoying the morning.  The workers were out already and building walks, walls, and monuments. Last night we walked around the block after a late dinner and saw workers in the buildings at 10:30 building more.

Been looking for bookmarks to bring home as presents. Small, light, easy to pack, and appropriate. Went into a very large bookstore across the street from the hotel. They never heard of bookmarks! Thought I could buy a couple of t-shirts just in case I ran out of shirts. Went into a store that only sells Superman t-shirts. None were large enough to fit my fat belly. Enlightenment comes in strange ways...now I know why Buddha and Hotai are depicted with a shawl over their shoulders but no shirt. They could not find a shirt to fit them either.

Sunday we left Shanghai for Suzhou. Took a tour of a much better silk factory than in Shanghai, an embroidery mill (all hand made by soon to be blind women), gardens, a boat trip on the moat that surrounds the old city, etc. Walking, walking, walking and still not losing any weight. Food is typical Chinese surprisingly, and if you don't like American Chinese food you will certainly not like Chinese Chinese food. I have not seen a fat person. Maybe they don’t like the food any more than I do. We have been told that we had to have a foot (feet) massage. So after our after dinner walk we went to the "Marquis De Sade Foot Massage Parlor" in the hotel. Most of the leg and foot massage is fine but when she jammed her knuckle into the bottom of my foot and up and over bone spurs, I jumped a foot off the couch.

Monday we did some of Tuesday itinerary. The guides name is “Stone.” The expressways are toll roads. Pagoda, shopping street, traditional medicine. At the traditional medicine store, a man burned his hand on a red-hot chain and rubbed a cream on the hand to stop the burn and pain. I had to have a jar of that cream. The water town of Wuchen is 1,000 years old and they keep it occupied by paying old people 500 Yuan a month to live there. The roofs on houses are red tile and last 200-300 years. Not a bad idea. I bought a wooden dragon for 50 Yuan, which is way too much. That won’t happen again. Tuesday we were finished touring after lunch and left on our own. They could have filled the afternoon with site seeing but didn't.

The flea market has craftsmen making animals out of palm fronds, artists draw your picture, and wire benders. Store after store of things for tourists...99% are Chinese. This concept is ancient as we found out from a picture in the museum.

Hangzhou: Since I did not know what to expect, I'm not disappointed. The Chinese have everything that we have and more. I still have not figured out the value of the RMB in relation to service rendered or the price of goods. The exchange rate is easy $1.00 = 7.5 RMB, but what should 100 RMB buy? I'm sure to pay too much. We took a hand-rowed boat trip on the canal. Went to an open-air shopping “junk” center where there are hundreds of small shops. Lunch was typically Chinese with ten dishes. For dinner at the Ramada, we ate the food that David had recommended and it was very good.
Build a factory, build an apartment complex, build roads and bring in the labor. Instant new town.

There are men and women in uniform who are not police or army but security guards. They are obeyed and keep order.

English is the second language in China. Seems that everyone knows a few words of English and many are fluent but the accent makes it difficult for my ears. Good to have Ted along for ears and brain. They use paper size A-4 that is European, if you fold it, the dimensions remain in the same ratio. Makes sense to me. Coke dominates in this part of China and Pepsi is trying to get in and has gained a small foothold. KFC, Pizza Hut and McD are on every corner with a Starbucks in-between. The electricity is 220-volt but there is a converted plug in the room so that our 115-volt items work. This is not a Tauck Tour. We carry our own bags; no plans for the evening, guides are a bit short on language skills. So far so good. Our day begins with a buffet breakfast. There is more variety than you can imagine and I can’t identify most of it. It is mainly for Chinese travelers.

Ted is easy to travel with because he is eager to say yes, just like his grandmother, and sleeps quietly. Said I'm quiet too. Nice of him to say so.

Tuesday we had a boat ride on the West Lake that is the most famous lake in the city with one lake. Then off to a Tea plantation for a demonstration of planting, harvesting, making into drinkable tea and how to drink tea. They offered the best tea for sale as well as an ugly root that when placed in hot water turned into a flower. Guess what? The way out was through a gift shop! Same stuff for sale as at all the gift shops plus tea.  Sell, sell, sell...they have this down pat.

The tour for this city ended at 1PM and the guide left us on our own until tomorrow morning when a different guide will take us to our next city and the Yellow Mountain. We walked about two miles to a museum and took a motorized pedicab back.

Wednesday we have a four-hour ride to the Yellow Mountain. It does take time to get from place to place. When we arrived at the Yellow Mountain, we took the cable car up. Then our guide sort of said in a soft voice, “Do you want a porter to carry your bags to the hotel?” She said the walk from the cable car to the hotel was only a short way and would take about ten minutes. WRONG! The walk was up and down steps on the mountain for a mile and a half and took fifty minutes. We never should have been asked, just hired a porter to carry the backpacks. A real low point of the trip. General Tours and Victoria Travel MUST be told about this. No tourists should have to carry their packs this far to the hotel. The strain on those who are not in good shape is too much. It is not a joke when you lose someone from a heart attack.  The height is 5,500 feet.

Today must be Thursday because it isn't Friday. Seems like we have been here a week. It is now after American style dinner in the hotel Yellow Mountain International but we still could not identify the items on the menu though written in English. The surprise was when the dishes came. They have to learn to cut chicken more carefully! Everything costs extra on this tour so we might as well have gone with Tauck. The tour guide disappears right after we are brought back to the hotel and reappears in the morning. Dinner is on us. The money flows out of pockets like water through a sieve. They really know how to grab your pocketbook. After lunch of the same unknown food, only 11 dishes. The waste is terrific. There must be no more starving Chinese as when I was a boy. Drove like crazy up and down the mountains to reach the cable car by 3PM. Reservations are required. Only passengers are allowed. No freight. The freight is carried by porters who have to walk for three to four hours with the load on a shoulder stick of bamboo. They carry two or more boxes at the ends of the poles. The pay is 200 Yuan per load. Everything, everything is brought up by that way; food, fuel, gifts for the shops, bricks, spoons, towels.

We are on the Yellow Mountain and saw the Grand Canyon of the West Sea. Spectacular. Ted has the pictures of his further walk to see the Grand Canyon of the East. He reported that it was spectacular. Maybe I will walk a ways early in the morning to see some of it.

I took a nap yesterday afternoon and Ted went all the way to the top of the mountain and saw sights that will show up so great on his camera. We went out at 6AM and went to the first overlook. What a view! The rock formations are of granite, not sandstone, so this had to have taken about a billion years to develop. Maybe longer. I'm not waiting around to find out.

Breakfast was another buffet as was lunch of things that we cannot identify. Eggs we know. Veggies are a mystery as are the fruits and mushy things.
We did not carry our backpacks down to the cable car on the way back and that made it a lot easier. We hired a porter to carry five bags at 30 Yuan per bag. That equals 150 Yuan and he gets 60 Yuan. The rest goes to the company (PRC) to operate the park. The only way old people and the less strong can get to the hotels is by sedan chair carried by two very strong little men. Have no idea how guys this small and thin can do so much heavy lifting. The porters carry everything from dirty laundry down to clean laundry up as well as all the food up and the rubbish down, kerosene up and empty ten gallon cans down. It takes three hours for a hiker to make it to the hotel area so it must take a bit longer carrying 150 to 200 pounds on a bamboo pole on your shoulder. It is good to be king.

We drove to a beautiful store that sells jade, silk, woodcarvings, and ink stones and brushes. The prices start at half our net worth. The pollution here is thick and everywhere. So much for the US being responsible for global warming.

We are passing rice fields on one side and tea planted on the mountains. This area reminds me of the Appalachians in North Carolina. The highway signs can use the help of a spell checker. Just passed one that said, "Slippery Rosd," and another said,” Hazy and Fogy."  There are few children to be seen. They are in school out learning our kids.

Friday our guide is Cindy. This is a name her English teacher gave her in class. Many Chinese adopt an English name for the benefit of foreigners. Selling is an art form in China. Charging for the product is masterful. What was Japan thinking when they invaded China in the 1930s?  No one can occupy this place nor would they want to. We are passing small towns that have three story houses, unfinished new houses and falling down abandoned houses. There are more areas where they have built empty factories and empty apartment buildings which will be filled a the request of the government. They do know how to make progress and they are still on their great leap forward.

Found out that our flight to Shanghai leaves at midnight. The couple from Rock Island would like to leave at 9 PM by train but changed their minds and will fly with us. The plane was loaded at 11:30 and when everyone sat down the plane took off. We arrived in Shanghai at 12:15 AM and our guide was late because of the heavy traffic and we were a half hour early. Ted had her telephone number so it was not a problem. The traffic at 1 AM is as heavy as at 1PM except for the bikes and pedestrians.

If I repeat myself, just go on to the next paragraph.

The wood carvings, jade carvings, and rock carvings are everywhere. The big thing is ink stones and brushes for calligraphy. We have been to a few cities and have seen hundreds of stalls selling these things. What must it be like in the other tourist cities? Are the Chinese out producing themselves? Where are they going to sell all these things that they have and keep making? I have found some bookmarks but still looking for a hatpin.

Saturday morning in Shanghai we went to the Urban Planning Museum. They have plans for the city and surrounding area and will have them completed long before the Banks in Cincinnati gets started. Found some more bookmarks and a hatpin. Met Angela for lunch at a dim sun restaurant.  We ate so much that we skipped dinner. After lunch we went to a cricket market where hundreds of vendors are selling crickets, dogs, cats, fish, worms, turtles, and birds. We went back to Angela’s home that has four bedrooms and a room for the nanny, Clair. The boys, Xavier and Maddox are fun and bright. Real great kids. The driver, Chen, brought us back to the hotel and I took a nap. My cold has stopped me a little so the brain is slowing down but not quite stopped. After the nap we walked to the Bund. Diana, our neighbor, had asked for a kite from China three years ago so I bought that along with more postcards. We took the ferryboat across the Huang Po River at 9 and they said the next ferry was at 10 so we walked around a bit. When we got back to the ferry at 9:30 it was ready to leave. What happens is as soon as the ferry arrives; it turns around and goes back. I took the Nyquil that Angela gave me and it worked. I slept till 6:30 and felt much better.

All tourists, most are Chinese, drink bottled water, and carry a camera and a cell phone.

Sunday night we had a buffet dinner at the hotel. There were almost American dishes as well as Chinese and Japanese food. The mushroom soup was the best item on the spread. The food is bland, without the sauces that sharpen the Irish food, so no wonder the Chinese are thin.

In Xi’an there are more ethnic people. They wear skullcaps so must be Muslims. It started to rain so I bought an umbrella for 15 Yuan ($2). We can see 25 construction cranes from our hotel window. How many more are there around town?

Monday the tour started after breakfast with the city wall that goes around the old city for nine miles. There is a moat outside the wall. Some of it has been filled in for traffic purposes. Then off to see the terra cotta warriors. On the way we stopped at a factory to see how the warriors were made 2,000 years ago. They still make them for display and for sale to the general public. This is the pomegranate capitol of China and there are stalls all along the road with them for sale. What a waste because most of it is seed and spit out. There are also persimmons that are equally as bad a fruit. The Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit area is a park with many beautiful buildings. “Outstanding” is too weak of a word to describe this.

We went to see the Big Goose Pagoda in a magnificent park. Went to the Shaanxi History Museum that begins 1,500,000 years ago. The Chinese were chrome-plating weapons 2,500 years before it was done in Europe. I buy postcards and hope they will show the beauty of where we have been.  At 6 we went to a show of dancing and music. The scenery is beautiful, the singing is lovely, and the music is grand. Yes, we liked it. Back to the hotel and the laundry is ready. Very expensive but they don’t have cheap Chinese laundries over here. Have to cash some more traveler’s checks. The money keeps going out of my pocket so quickly. I have to look for a hole. Not spending for presents, just spending. Tomorrow morning we fly to Beijing.

Tuesday. Tried to send e-mail from Xi’an last night. It took 30 minutes to compose it and then we could not send it and the system wiped the e-mail out. We left 30 minutes late for Beijing and it took 45 minutes to retrieve our bags. Our new guide, Crystal, waited for us and drove to the hotel. She said see you in the morning at 9 and left. It was 3 in the afternoon so we went for a walk. The traffic is just like Shanghai and the peddlers are there too. Selling everything from sox to sisters. We had dinner (?) at McDonalds.

Some random thoughts. The bedside table has an innovation that I like. There is a night-light on the underside. My cold is almost gone. I slept from 9:30 till 5:30 without coughing. There is a tremendous amount of money being made in China by barbarians and Chinese. It appears to be limitless how much can be made in China. Aggressive driving is too mild: kamikaze comes to mind. My hat is a big hit with all the pins. It now has the Chinese flag in the front. The bathrooms in the hotels come equipped with comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, nail file, cotton buds, shower cap, shampoo, conditioner, soap, and hairdryer.
We started out at Tien’anmen Square. Since this is the largest square in the world, WOW describes it pretty well. Bought postcards of all the places we are going to see. The square leads into the Forbidden City. Never imagined it was so large. It is good to be king. It goes on and on with wall after wall and buildings that are beautiful. The Red Guard destroyed nothing here in 1966-76 by order of the government. Then lunch at a Chinese restaurant (surprise) that was not bad but not good either.

On to the Summer Palace for more walking. We walk about 5 miles everyday so I recommend the best walking shoes available for a trip to China. There is a lake made for the Empress that is bigger than the grounds of the Forbidden City. Lots to see here. There is a boat made of granite that still won’t float so we took a ride in one that does across the lake to the seventeen arch bridge. Then off to the “Chang Li and Kung Fu” theater for a spectacular Kung Fu drama about a boy who leaves his mother and become the high priest of Kung Fu. It took one hour to drive to the theater in the afternoon traffic.
There are beggars, children and old women and men, who are as aggressive as the drivers. Must be something in the water. The sellers are out at night as thick as in the daytime. It never stops. Beijing is not as clean as Shanghai because there is so much more construction going on in every empty space. Ted takes pictures of whatever seems likely to be of interest. He has a capacity of about 1500 on a camera the size of a cigarette package. He can discard those he does not want after he downloads them into his computer. Our trip is as originally planned just the two of us but at the rate of the large group. We have a guide and a driver in each city. There have been no mishaps or missed connections.

Thursday. How do you say, “Wow” in Chinese? We started at the Ming Tombs. They are miles outside of Beijing in the foothills of the mountains. It was not considered a good idea to bury Emperors near the city. Magnificent! Then on to a jade show room and sample factory to see how jade is cut and carved. Real Impressive. The gift shop has hundreds of works of art from rings to sculptures that rival anything I have seen. The prices match the beauty so none are going home with me.

Lunch was too much again.

Now for the Great Wall and it is great. We were about forty-five miles outside of Beijing where we got on to the wall. It is built on top of the mountains and follows the contour of the mountains. The first Emperor had given instructions for the walls that then existed in 221 B.C. to be connected so that the northern barbarians could not invade China. The plan did work for centuries but eventually the hordes went around the wall at the place where it ended at the seacoast and also bought there way in at other places where the mountains were not. No one could climb the mountains with an army and expect to invade China but the Emperor said, “Build it,” so it was done. I went a short way while Ted went to the top of the next peak. There were people who climbed for miles along the wall but not me. The wall goes up steps and down steps. Obviously the soldiers had to walk along the wall to patrol because a horse could not manage the steps any more than I could. I bought a bottle of orange juice from a vendor, asking price 35 Yuan, taking price 10 Yuan, probably only worth 5¥. Bought t-shirts, asking 120¥, countered with 10¥, replied 60¥, countered with 5¥, settled on 30¥ which is about $4.50. Still probably too much but “profit” is not a dirty word.

It took 1½ hours to get back to Beijing. The traffic on the highway moves well but comes to a halt in town. We walked another four to five miles today. We had seen a restaurant on one of our walks in the neighborhoods that has ducks hanging in the window. So we eventually found it and ordered “Peking Duck” really duck in Peking. Also the spinach looked good in the picture on the menu but it turned out to be cold and had a peanut butter sauce. Stay away from that combination. Finished with ice cream cones for dessert at Baskins-Robbins.

Friday: Last day before we fly home. Took the subway for 3¥ to Tien’anmen Square and walked around watching the crowds. There was a very long line that was four people wide to go into Mao’s mausoleum that is open only in the morning and is free. I bought small kites for Lloyd to go with the large ones for Diana.

At 11:00 we went to the Temple of Heaven. It is pictured on a number of postage stamps but it so much more beautiful than can be shown in miniature. There are gardens and many other buildings to go with the Temple that was used by the Emperor to prey for a good harvest.

On to a Fu Tong village. Naturally we walked. About 2,000,000 in this area of very old homes. Went around the lake in a pedicab that is a bicycle with a seat for two on the back. Our guide had one too. We visited a preschool that costs 1,000 Yuan ($125.00) a month per child. On the way back we visited in one of the homes and spoke with the people who live there. There are four generations of women living in the home with two bedrooms, a bath, kitchen, and three additional rooms for study and dining. Wow! again for the acrobat performance. I can’t believe that people can bend without breaking, jump so high, balance, and perform so well. Back at the hotel early so dinner was at Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q around the corner from the hotel. Walked in and greeted by Chinese in cowboy hats saying, “Howdy partner.” That is an experience in itself. We ordered pork ribs and baked potatoes. The ribs were just that. Not the baby back ribs that we expect back home. Two of them filled the plate. The baked potatoes had everything on them and were way too much to eat but we did.

Saturday. Our last day in China we are going to be picked up at noon for the ride to the airport so we are going by subway to visit a Lamasery that has been recommended. We arrived too early so we walked to a Temple of Confucius. The Temple has a variety of buildings in a park setting. There are extensive renovations going on that will prolong the useful life of this holy place for generations. The Lamasery is a Buddhist shrine. There are numerous buildings that have Buddhist saints representing the good things in this life. The Chinese light incense outside of the building and pray inside at each of the statutes. One Buddha is the largest made of a single piece of sandalwood.

Our long trip home began with the segment from Beijing to Chicago on United Airlines. Why do they have wide body flight attendants on narrow aisle planes? I kept my arms well inside the area of my seat and still was hit by a bottom each time a man or woman flight attendant rushed up the aisle. They failed in the smile department also and seem not to enjoy their work, so why do it? Arrived in Chicago and were treated like an unwelcome guest rather than a returning citizen. Told, never asked, to stop here!, stop there!, wait here!, show this!, take off that! How must a foreigner feel entering the United States? Finally arrived in Cincinnati after a rescheduled stop in Dayton.

Home at last and glad I went and even gladder to be back.