China Travel Video

 

China: Airplane Dash Cam

What do you think? Wouldn't that be a cool idea? For the planes that have in-seat tvs, I think this would add to the flight experience. This would be especially so, landing at airports like LaGuardia where it looks like you'd land in the water. You could just tune in and out as you saw fit. I would watch in terror!! :-)

 

Well, I'm giving out of energy. My body thinks that it's 1:30am. I'm approaching my last leg as I'm sitting in a LGA bar waiting on a delicious American hamburger, while watching the Williams sisters play their match at the Family Cup in Charleston, SC.

On a proud note, I started and finished John Grisham's most recent book, The Racketeer, on my flight over from China. The whole book! All 340 pages!! For those of you that know me well, that's a huge feat!! Huge!! I haven't read an entire book in less than a day this since freshman year in high school, and that was by choice!! So yeah, I'm psyched!!

On a more reflective note, I come away from my trip with a whole new insight on a world I never knew much about until recently. The trip has sparked my interest to continue learning about this culture. The Chinese culture is very modern and advanced in so many ways (architecture, subway security). However, I can also name many ways they are significantly inefficient and developing (sanitation, ticketing systems). These ideas all vary depending on what corner your turn and what street you venture down. Throughout my trip, even when I was lost, I never felt in harms way. The Chinese people, even though they push their way through life, literally, were very nice, helpful and accommodating.

I come away from this trip appreciating and empathizing with my students that are learning English as their second language. I've been to Russia, Germany, Mexico, and Costa Rica but never have I been alone on a trip, like these kids are in my class, where no one speaks their language. On my previous trips, I've been in a group or with someone the entire time that knew the language, or I knew enough of the language to get by. Not this trip. I was isolated linguistically and that was terrifying at times. Luckily, their metro system was like any other so I was able to maneuver around. To put it very simply, I was hungry some days, because I refused to eat at a place where I couldn't figure out what I was going to eat because I couldn't speak the language. Yes, I had granola bars and crackers in my bag, but those were for emergencies.

Not being able to communicate, I spent a lot of time this trip in self-reflection, blogging as I went, so I could share my experiences with someone and so my memories would not be lost with time. I thoroughly enjoyed the modern city of Shanghai and the historical city of Beijing. They were each magnificent in their own respects.

Would I visit China again? Absolutely! Will I visit another non-English speaking country alone? Probably not. Scratch that. No! Through arrogance (I think), I overestimated the amount of expected English to be spoken by others and overestimated my skills at being able to navigate such a place. The trip was very intense and kept me on my toes, but I will never forget the landmarks and treasures that I had the opportunity to marvel and admire.

Until next time!!

China: H7N9, New Bird Flu

 

Friday, April 5 5:30pm

(The original title for today was going to be, simply, The Great Wall, until i just checked my email. More info on the updated title will be given later in the blog.) 

The Great Wall 

Today was the day. The day that I had the chance of a lifetime to climb The Great Wall of China. It was absolutely stunning and breathtaking. Again- I don't know how they physically did it. I don't know how it would get built now! The view spanning the horizon of the Wall rising and falling along the mountainside compares to nothing I've ever seen. 

I rode a cable car up one side of the mountain because I wanted to be near a peak to maximize my viewing. From there, I climbed up and down and walked through various watchtowers. Since I got there early, I beat the crowds and only had minimal congestion at entry/exit points. At one point, after I asked a young man to take a picture for me, he then turned and signaled for me to take one for him. However, it turned out that he was asking to take a picture WITH me. I obliged. :-)

Shortly after beginning the bus ride back to the station, which cost less than a dollar to travel an hour, my bus pulled off at a stop. The driver parked the bus and got off. He came back a few moments later with what looked like a mechanic. Great! The one bus I chose was broken and I would have to figure out how to get the rest of the way home. However, the mechanic fiddled with the horn for about 10 minutes and we were on our way. Crisis averted! The bus ride did take twice as long as the morning ride, because this one was filled with stops along the way. It was interesting to see other parts of Beijing, by bus.

I returned to home-base to plug in for a little while and regroup. I still had the afternoon open and went exploring the opposite direction that take each day to the subway. Well, I found a whole new world with 'real' shoppes, bars and restaurants. After spotting McDonalds, I was in search for a Starbucks. No such luck though. I kept walking and walking and walking and located two temples that I'd read about, the Lama Temple and the Confucius Temple. Eventually, I made my way back to my street where I sat down to enjoy one last meal of spicy kung pao chicken and a coke at a local restaurant near my hotel. 

My final challenge will be to obtain a taxi tomorrow morning at 4:30am. I'm a little nervous trusting the taxi, but I don't have any choice. The airport express sub line doesn't start running until 6:00am and that puts me at the airport too close for departure time, especially given that I (again) don't know what to expect during the process or how long it will take. The young lady at the front desk has called a driver for me and has collected my money...so, fingers crossed!! I can't wait to see the airport though. I've heard it's an architectural beauty.

While relaxing in my room and checking email, I received one from the US State Department saying that as of Thursday, the Chinese had confirmed 14 cases (6 deaths) of H7N9, a new strain of bird flu in Shanghai and a 3other provinces!! The email goes on to tell you symptoms and what to do if you get it. The final note says that the the World Health Organization advises that there be no international travel restrictions put in place for China with the current information. Ahh!!! Get me out of here, please!! I can't handle anymore stressors.

China: Old and New

 

Thursday, April 4 5:15pm

My ventures today began by taking the subway for a pretty decent bit to the outskirts of town. There, I found the magnificent Summer Palace. This place was the location for summer retreat for the Qing Dynasty. The grounds cover 716 acres and overlooks many lakes, as well as Beijing itself. I'm hoping that the walk through the extremely vast and hilly grounds of the Palace will prepare me somewhat for the climb tomorrow on The Great Wall.

Throughout my travels in Beijing, I've noticed two things. One, the people here are taller than the people in Shanghai. Secondly, the people here seem more refined. When getting on or off the subway, they follow 'typical' protocol. The only exception of pushing us when the subway car is full and the door is about to shut, but someone is still getting on. Even standing in line to buy tickets for the Palace, people were in lines with no 'cutting' or pushing. It has been refreshing. 

While on the way to the Beijing Olympic Center, I passed through another subway. I find subway systems easy to use and I gain control of my direction. With taxis, I have to hand them a card in Chinese writing and a, hope that what was written for me was correct, and b, hope the taxi takes me to the right spot. With the subways, I get to do all of that myself. To enter the subway in China, you have to go through security and bag check every time. Today, I saw security ask a guy to drink some of his bottle of water, I guess to make sure that it was poison/gas free. Later, I saw security ask an older women to do the same and she refused and kept on walking while screaming at the security. Of course, security yelled right back but no one did anything. 

Beijing Olympic Center was only a few stops a way. As I left the subway, it began to rain a little. I only walked on the parkway for a little while. Just enough to see the Stadium and Aquatic Center. I then turned and walked the opposite direction, not wanting to get back on the subway to go home yet. While walking, I came to a shopping mall, named "Chinatown," and laughed out loud at the irony. I walked around for a little while and the spotted a bakery. This sounded better than the McDonald's that I was going to eat. I rationalized the idea by saying that I was going to compare Chinese McDonald's to American McDonald's. :-) I was hungry, since I'd only had a few dumplings at Summer Palace. At the bakery, I chose little hotdogs cooked in a bun and pineapple tarts. They were both delightful.

I continued walking the direction I was on, basically following the subway, just in case. I felt better finally seeing some of modern Beijing, because up until now, everything has been historic. I walked and walked and walked and finally decided to jump on the subway for the last little bit. And good thing, because by the time I got off my stop and walked 10 minutes to my hotel, it stating raining hard. Right now, as I'm writing in the glass enclosed courtyard, I can hear the rain drops hitting the roof. It's a peaceful sound. 

It's only 5:15pm  now, but I didn't want to get my equipment wet and I need to finalize my plans on how I'm getting to The Great Wall tomorrow and the airport Saturday. After that, American movie time in my room. :-)

**miles walked today: 8.37

China: Just 11.92 Miles Today

 

Monday, April  1  10:00pm

You can't leave Shanghai without experiencing rush hour on the subway on a Monday morning.in my last entry I mentioned the pushing that Chinese like to do on public transportation. Yeah, that fact was just increased exponentially. It's sheer madness! Here I was thinking I would enjoy my bakery treat and banana and to think I was considering a Starbucks this morning... I was out of my mind!! I'm squished like a sardine. I'm tuckered back in my corner, safe and sound until the dreaded moment that I have to exit. I may start moving that way three exits in advance to be safe!!

Update: I got off if the subway with no problems.

My first stop today was going to visit Megan and her students. Her first class was a small group of 4th grade ESL students. Her second group was 5th grade English Honors kids. Each class was able to introduce themselves to me. To be a student at the Shanghai High School International Division School, students have to have a foreign passport and tuition is $8000 a semester. After introductions, students were able to ask me questions. They asked me about our schedule and we're in awe of the 30 minute break kids have before our lunch. Electives at this school are flower arranging, Shanghai Dialect, chess, crochet, sports, cool math, mad science, Spanish, and many others. Students transition for classes by a 10 second song clip; that's their 'bell.' That seems to be typical in China so far.

After spending the morning at Megan's school, I ventured on back to the city. I stopped for a bite to each for lunch that was really good. It was some kind of bread on a grill, with a fried egg, grilled chicken, lettuce, hot sauce and mayo. I gathered that the sauce that I picked was 'too hot' for me, because the cook shook his head and literally took that bottle off of the table. :-) With lunch in hand, I traveled to East Nanjing Square to eat it and people watch. There was great people watching while I enjoyed my sandwich/wrap type lunch. 

I planned to take a river cruise of the Huang Pu River tonight so I went to the Bund river front area to purchase my ticket ahead of time. I was all squared away for this night time entertainment. I got back on Line 2 and toolkit to People's Square where I visited the Shanghai Museum. This museum was fascinating. I spent time other Ancient Chinese Bronze gallery, Chinese painting, seal and calligraphy galleries, Chinese Minority nationalities gallery, and a bunch of others. After viewing all of the 'old' stuff, I wanted to see the Modern Art Museum so I went across the People's Park to find it. I didn't see it off hand, but a group of Chinese girls were so sweet to help me find it...they told me it was closed on Mondays and they had come to see it too. They instead offered to take me to a Tea House across the street. Hello Tea Ceremony Scam!! I entertained their conversation for a few moments and the whole time they were talking, I asked myself how anyone ever falls for the scam? I talking about people online commenting that they had read about the scams and still fell for it!! It was quite obvious to me. I did wonder if the museum was actually closed so I did more investigating,found it, and found that it was indeed closed. 

After wandering around a bit, well, maybe more than a bit since my pedometer clocked me at 11.92 miles after the day was over, I headed to the pier where the river cruise departed from. The Huang Pu River Cruise at night was gorgeous. It was hard to capture the beauty with my camera, but the memory is definitely in my head.  It was a nice way to end my stay in Shanghai.

Up next, the bullet train North to Beijing.

China: Homesick

 

Wednesday, April 3 8:00pm

The homesickness bug has hit me. It was probably perpetuated when I woke up this morning and the wifi at my little hotel wasn't working. I talked with the girl at the front desk and she reset it. I called home and talked with my family and everything was good. Then Davis (my 3 yr old nephew) got on the phone and asked if I was out of China yet. That did it. Tears flowed from my eyes at his simple question. I then called Ray and had problems connecting by Skype so again, my nerves fluttered. I called by Skype to his phone and got through. I enjoy talking with him each morning and night. It calms me and makes me feel at home. 

Today, the contact I have through the Chinese teacher at my school will be meeting me to take me around the city. I'm hoping that, much like Megan provided a transition for me in Shanghai, that Lily will do the same in Beijing. More than anything, I'm wanting the comfort of someone that knows what is going on in the world I've placed myself in.

Lily and I started the day by going to the Forbidden City, the heart of Beijing, along with thousands of other people. :-) This is across from Tiananmem Square. The Forbidden City was the Chinese Imperial Palace for 3 dynasties, for 500 years. I couldn't stop thinking how old China is, compared to how new America is. I also couldn't stop wondering how in the word this impressive complex was built so long ago. It has 980 buildings and covers 720,000 square meters!! The architectural details were unmistakable.

Following the Forbidden City, Lily treated me to a delicious lunch of Kung Pao Chicken and Peking Chicken. When asked what I wanted to drink, I replied that I'd like water, like I drink with my meals in the US. She instead urged me to try this Chinese berry drink. It came in a pitcher andante said they often had this with their meals. It was Chinese Plum Juice and was delicious!! The lunch was fantastic!!

The Temple of Heaven was our next stop. This massive grounds was built so that the emperors could go to pray to the Heavens before big decisions. Again, it was stunning. The initial temple had a circular wall built so that if you spoke one side you could hear someone on the other side. One of the parts of the complex was the Circular Mound Altar. It was built with the same idea mentioned previously, but that if you stood in the center and prayed, then the railing on this mound would amplify your prayer to the Heavens. 

Following the historical sections, my day only got more interesting from here. We walked across the street to the Hongqiao Market. Inside was 5 stories of sheer madness!! Only with enough room to walk through, vendors were set up everywhere ready to wear you down. I picked one vendor from which I got most of my souvenirs from, hoping that would help me get the price down. Lily acted as my go between. It took a few times of walking away, but in the end, the cash I handed them is what they took, begrudgingly. I feel pretty good about what I paid for my gifts. 

To kill some time, since the dinner restaurant was in this area, we went to a small museum of Chinese culture. It was free and inside, away from the pollution so I couldn't complain. The pollution is drastically different here, compared to Shanghai. I wore a scarf that I wrapped ant my face today when walking near the roads. Inside the parks and temples, it wasn't as bad. I downloaded an app named China Air Quality. The app shows readings of the big cities in China. The readings are given by two groups, the city itself and the US Embassy or Consulate. What's interesting is that the readings by the US are always a good 50-100 points higher than the Chinese city. The higher the number the worse the conditions. 

You've heard of the Melting Pot that we have in the US. Well, Beijing has their own version, called Hot Pot. We ordered beef and lamb to cook. Along with this, we had mushrooms, lettuce, peanuts, garlic, tofu, and a dipping sauce. This dipping sauce was not of my liking, but I did not want to begrudge, since this was a traditional sauce. It had coriander, fermented bean curd, and other flavors that I did not catch the names of. We ate the meats first,followed by the tofu and veggies. Before she put the tofu in, I was praying that this was not about to turn into  'stinky tofu.' Phew! It didn't! I had a piece and it had no taste. I commented that it was interesting that the veggies were eaten last and she said that what they do. I told her that our last course in Melting Pot was chocolate!! She thought that was a fantastic idea!! Overall, this meal  left me only with an appreciation of their culture. I'm sure that had I chosen a different sauce, it would have been different.

Now, back at the hotel, I'm listening to a little Dave Matthews and eating some marshmallow Peeps that I brought with me. I'm waiting a few minutes before I call Ray. The combination of the three should help the homesickness. :-) 

On the subway ride home, I figured out why I'm out of sorts,besides the obvious. I'm not in control here. Except for the hotel, I don't have wifi access, which means I don't have access to solving my problems with a quick google search. That's huge for me!! I like knowing. I don't know here!!

**Today, I clocked 8.94 miles.

China: Hutongs

 

Tuesday, April 2 6:30pm

This morning I checked out of my hostel and began the adventure to Beijing. I jumped on Line 2 and headed to the Hongqiao Railway Station. My hostel booked my ticket on the high-speed bullet train linking Shanghai to Beijing for me the other day, so "all" that I needed to do was go to the ticket booth to claim my ticket. I arrive at the station and head in the direction of the massive lines behind the ticket booth. In my head I'm thinking that I'm glad that I allowed myself an extra half hour this morning because as it was, I was slightly concerned if I would have my ticket in time. At arrival, there were only two lines open. Then third and fourth lines opened and you would have thought they were giving away money if you saw how fast the locals moved lines. This also was a point of contention between an older gentleman, a young, tall guy in a nice suit, and what appeared to be more of a rural, smaller guy. When I looked over at the commotion, the taller guy was tugging at the jacket of the rural guy and the older guy was yelling at the taller guy. From the gestures and tone, it seemed the smaller guy jumped line and the older guy was defending him. This went on for five minutes and then the taller, nicer dressed guy ended up in front of the other two guys. Like I said earlier, Chinese people don't do we'll with queues. 

Aboard the train, I was excited to experience this time-saving luxury. With this train traveling at 300kph/200mph, it takes only 4.5 hours. Otherwise, it would take 15-20 or more,  by car!! On the ride, I could see the transitioning landscape from city to country and the change in housing from wood frames to brick. Generally, life between the two cities seems very poor and many homes seemed like shanties in the country. Along the way, amongst the crops of rice, I noticed grave sites.grave sites here were above ground mounds, with a pole sticking out of the tops of some. Since Friday is Tomb Cleaning Day, a  holiday to celebrate ancestors, I wondered if that the was the reason for the cellophane  looking  decorations?

The train arrived at Beijing South Railway Station and and departed along with the other 1500+ people. Taking mental notes from Shanghai I purchased my metro card. And entered the subway. After one line change to, you've got it, Line 2, I rode a few stops and got of at my exit. Upon entering the street, the pollution literally hit me in the face.  My mouth became dry and nose started to burn. Not wanting to unpack my mask yet, I decided I'd get to my hotel first. With only a minor detour, while I oriented myself, google maps directed me perfectly to my tiny hotel. I had to wind down a few small 'hutongs,' Chinese for alleys. I was reading that the historic hutongs are slowly disappearing in the cities, giving way to malls and skyscrapers. For now it appears, this hutong area is safe. Cars aren't able drive on them, so that leaves pedestrians, scooters, bicycles, and rickshaws. 

As I was saying, this hotel is small. Whereas the hostel I stayed in Shanghai was built within the last few years, Old Beijing Square Hotel is just that. Old. It was is located in a siheyuan, which is a traditional dwelling inside a courtyard. It was built during the Qing Dynasty over 300 years ago so I'm guessing there's been some remodeling done. The rooms all face the courtyard, which is a little weird to have your window face in, rather than out. The hotel is very ornate.

After relaxing a while from the days journey, I decided to walk the hutongs to find dinner. I ate braised beef with potatoes and found that using chopsticks, finally clicked for me. What other choice did I have? 

Drum and Bell Towers were next on the agenda. These were both just a few blocks away. On the walk, I got to see more alley ways and locals going about their day. In a courtyard near the towers, I found some men gathered around playing kinja, the Chinese version of hacky-sack. Around corner is where I located the towers adjacent to other, separated by a small park.

The Bell and Drum Towers were initially built for musical reasons, then during the Qing Dynasty, they turned into timepieces. They functioned as such until 1924 when western-style clocks became the official time keeper.

I'm turning in early tonight. I'm tired and just want to curl up with an American movie on my iPad.  :-)