Beijing - Over and Out

Day 3 in Beijing began as the others, breakfast down in the lobby buffet. In other words; we had flashbacks to the Chateau Regency days, meaning that it was not really all that good. The coffee was okay and the food was okay but it wasn’t super. All things considered, it wasn’t very good and more was expected from us at a Marriott property but it’s a lesson learned. Today we had planned on heading “downtown” to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. After our day adventure to the Great Wall, we figured this was the next item to check off of the list of things to see or do in Beijing. I have to note that many combine trips to the Great Wall in with a visit to the Summer Palace and other areas but we didn’t go that route. For us it was all about the Great Wall and for us, it was the right choice. We could’ve busted our butts to see everything but we wouldn’t have enjoyed anything so we decided to just see what we could see and spend the time to enjoy it as opposed to rushing through everything and seeing glimpses of things (like the company outing, it was good but we missed out on a lot).

Today we decided to take the Subway system rather than go the taxi route again. Getting to the Subway took only about 10 minutes and it wasn’t too difficult to figure out how to get the tokens to get a ride. It was 2 RMB for a ticket to go anywhere in the city that the Subway stops so it was extremely cheap to ride. We were about to find out the downside to cheap transportation. We were one of the last stops on the line and had to go only one stop to change trains, how bad could it be right?!?! The first train came up and it was jam packed, and I mean packed! There was no room to get on the train so we stood and figured the next train would be better (how could it be worse) but we were completely wrong. We had decided we were getting on the next train so when it pulled up and was packed again, we were stunned but split into teams and hopped on the train, two at one door and two at the other. We were barely able to step on and get in enough to clear the doors when they closed but we made it. Then it was a mad rush to the connection train. This was the first stop on the line so the train came up empty and the dash was on to get a spot. It was a lot of scrambling to get on to the train, a lot of dashing and bumping but we made it on and were able to secure a spot for the 5 stops to the Forbidden City. The train was jam packed but it continued to make stops and pick up more people. When you thought there wasn’t any space, they found more space. We were squeezed like tuna in a can (where was Charlie?). We survived but anyone with a claustrophobic bone in their body would’ve had a real problem with the Subway. It was almost laughable how many people were on the train and how the numbers continued to increase no matter how little room remained on the train. It was a day that made you thankful for deodorant (at least for those that know how to use it). It was a different way to get where we were going and took less time than a taxi ride so we sucked it up and just made sure to get off at the right stop, Tiananmen Square.

We got up to the street and there, we could see the entrance to the Forbidden City with the large Mao painting hanging straight ahead. Unfortunately, Tiananmen Square was across the 16 lanes of traffic to our left so we saw it from across the road and that’s as close as we were going to get. We could’ve played Frogger and tried to make it across but I don’t think we stood a chance (like Frogger with a broken leg, plus there was a fence blocking our way). So we headed to the Forbidden City and tried to figure out exactly where the entrance was. We knew that Mao’s tomb was nearby so we were confused as to which way to go, where to buy tickets, etc. Tammy spotted two Westerners and went over to ask which direction we should go (of course, her kids stands to the side and say “Mom talks to everyone”). They indicated that we should follow all of the Lemmings under the portrait of Mao and go into the Forbidden City. So off we went into the masses of people and headed into the area to find the tickets to get into the Forbidden City.

Again, no signs or anything to indicate where to go or how to get the tickets so we stop at one of the first ticket people and get into line to get tickets. Once we had the tickets, it was on to another section/area to go into the Forbidden City. After standing in line and moving towards the entrance, we found out we had the wrong ticket (very nice!). So we had to head out of the line (the walk of shame) and get into another line to buy tickets (the right ones we hoped). So after another 20 minutes, we had the right ticket and were able to get through the line again and into the Forbidden City.

Did I mention it was crowded, if not I will say it again, it was crowded. There were a lot of people milling about, tour groups, etc. all around this area. We weren’t in Suzhou anymore. The people in Beijing seemed to us to be a lot ruder than the other Chinese we had met in other areas of China. They would bump you without a second thought, push, shove and just plain be rude in just about every way possible. Whether it was just the local Beijing residents or the Chinese tourists it was tough to tell but either way, you never got the warm, friendly feeling from anyone. It was a test of patience to try not to just lean back and give them a friendly American shove to let them know you have had enough but we sucked it up. Perhaps it would be no different if we went to a big city in the US like New York City or LA but it seemed very strange to us because we were accustomed to some differences in mannerisms between the Chinese and Westerners but this was a different ball game.

Once inside the massive gates to the Forbidden City, we took a sharp right turn to avoid the center walkway through the city to keep away from the crowds as much as possible. It was very strange to think that we were walking on stones from the times of the Emperors of China where the “common people” weren’t allowed to walk for many generations. It was massive inside the walls of the city, once inside you felt disconnected from Beijing (you were basically in the center of one of the largest cities in the world). The layout of the FC was very spread out and it was difficult to know where to go or what you wanted to see. There was the section where the Emperor’s concubines lived and only the eunuchs could go. Any man passing through the gates would be killed by the guards (but if the guards were men, how were they allowed to be inside the walls?). There was the Emperor’s private area, the area for the Empress, etc. It was interesting to see the various parts of this city (and how big each area was) within a city but to be honest; it wasn’t really as powerful to us as we were expecting. Yes, it held a lot of the history of China and there was a lot to see but after about half of the Forbidden City (FC), we were ready to move on. It began to be too much, a lot of the buildings begun to look the same and you weren’t allowed into many of the different halls so you could walk around and look into the hall from the outside but that was all. That was a shame but I understood why this was done. If you opened the halls there would be many that would feel “obligated” to sit on the chairs or on the thrones to get a photo taken like they were the Emperor or whatever. We saw some of these areas but didn’t really feel like being entangled in the masses trying to take a peek into the halls and being pushed around while trying to take a photo. We stayed further away and took our photos from a distance. Although this wasn’t really the peak season to visit Beijing, I’m sure the crowds were about the same throughout the year. There were a lot of interesting things to see but it seemed there was always that disconnect. There were also many other areas within the FC that are recommended to see but some required you to pay more to see those areas. Sorry folks, you already took my money for a ticket to see something (I still don’t know what) that I didn’t see and you aren’t getting any more from me. Although these areas may have been huge draws, we decided against paying more to see them. Perhaps it was the crowds as well. It was kind of stressful to get to the FC on the subway and then the added tension added when trying to find the right ticket area and we were a little burned out by the time we actually got into the FC. So for us at this time, it just wasn’t all we were expecting and somehow it was a letdown. If you have the opportunity to see the FC, I would definitely say go but perhaps go with a local guide; that might provide more insight into the area which would give a better feel. Plus, it takes away some of the stress of figuring out where to go and what to buy. We understand the history of this city and the attraction but we came and we saw and we were ready to move on. There was a nice garden in the back that under normal circumstances would be a place where you would catch your breath and perhaps regain the energy to look further but it was just as crowded as anywhere else and it didn’t have the calming effect for us so we were very happy to see the exit sign and head out of the FC. Sorry, this probably sounds extremely foolish or arrogant but as much as we wanted to enjoy the walk through the FC, we didn’t think it was all that and a bag of chips. For us, the Great Wall was more powerful. It’s one man’s opinion (but it’s my blog and therefore it’s my opinion that matters).

After we headed out, we pointed ourselves in the direction of Beihai Park. This is one of the largest gardens in China. The park was designed in part to showcase different garden structures that can be found in different regions of China. The park was a little outside of the crowds and therefore was much more relaxing and just better for us. We were tired after the walk on the wall the day before and all of the stress involved in getting to the FC and then walking through so we didn’t spend as much time here as we might otherwise. It wasn’t too long of a walk from the FC to the park and along the way you passed by one of the Hutongs. The Hutongs have become transformed from basically a “low rent district” (kind of harsh but that is what it would be back home) to a fashionable thing where you can still get a sense of what it was like to live in Beijing before the decision was made to open the borders of China to the outside world. Many of the Hutongs were demolished and still many more are on the block to be demolished as the city continues to modernize. This isn’t unique to Beijing; Shanghai is doing the same thing as they transform the city. Some Hutongs will remain but only a few and those few will be there as historical “relics”. Anyhow, inside of the park there was some kind of celebration happening in here because they had a bunch of people in costume dancing. They continued to dance and dance as the locals watched. They were dressed in what I would say were more Western China costumes and seemed to have a good time. We watched for several minutes and then moved around more to see more of the park. It had already been a long day and we were done after about an hour and turned to head out of the park. This is another one of the Top 10 sites to see in Beijing so we experienced some of it but didn’t see it all. I am certain that in the Spring/Summer, this park would be a very beautiful place. In November, a lot more brown and less greenery. This was more relaxing but we wanted to head back to the hotel to catch our breath before dinner.

We decided to forgo the Beijing Duck and just go somewhere to eat where we could get a decent meal. We went to The Blue Frog at The Villages to get something to eat. The Villages is another Western area for shopping and eating and contains one of the few Apple stores in Beijing. We’ve eaten at The Blue Frog in Shanghai and since we knew the menu, it wouldn’t be a problem to eat here in Beijing. The broken record comment of the day, traffic sucked!!!! We left early to avoid the traffic but we ran headlong into it again. The taxi driver tried to take a back way to get to the area but we got to the road and needed to take a left but traffic just wasn’t moving. Seriously, we waited for a long time and the traffic didn’t move so he gave us the motion that he was turning around to go another way and we agreed. We got on to the highway and were moving well until….BAM! Dead stop. We were near the front of the stopped traffic so we could see there was nothing ahead of us but there were cops stopping traffic. Why? Well, we’ve seen it in Suzhou so we knew that a local politician would be driving by soon and they held traffic for this important person to have free access to get where they were going. It seems very strange in a country where everyone is “equal” that the politicians would get special treatment but it’s no different than home. There are different rules depending on who you are (so there are classes everywhere like it or not). The taxi driver was frustrated but seemed to take it in stride. The funny thing we saw was a woman walking up through the traffic to get to the front. You could see her passing by and the driver started to laugh (and so did we). She got up to the policeman and started to give him what for and he simply waved his hand at her indicating to get back to her car. She tried to give him more grief but he never even looked at her and gave her the wave. We could only imagine that she was giving him the “Do you know who I am?” and he didn’t care. He had a job to do and was going to do it. We laughed some more and within 4 minutes traffic was moving again. The driver did what he could to get us around. He also talked to us and asked where we were from and how long we were in China, etc. He was the only driver to speak with us at all. He actually thought I was French because of my hat (I assume, can you imagine that French. Not only are the French insulted, I was insulted so no one was happy). Anyhow, we got to The Village after about 1 hour and had some dinner. They had a nice area outside to pick up a taxi to get back and we hopped in the line and were able to get a cab quickly to go home. Finally, a system worked and we were ready to go back, pack and get back to friendly Suzhou.

The next morning, we packed, checked out and made it to the airport with plenty of time to get on our flight back home. We enjoyed Beijing in some respects but the traffic and how rude the people were really soured the experience for us. The Great Wall was absolutely fantastic and was well worth all of the aggravation. If we went back to Beijing again, we would want to go to another section of the wall and continue that journey. We don’t know that new will have the opportunity to go back but we are happy that we took the time just to see a glimpse of what Beijing has to offer.

Beijing - Day 2

Day 2 in Beijing was our day to the Great Wall. There are many different wall areas to visit, the closest is Badaling. This is the most repaired section of the wall and is usually the section that you will see on TV (Samantha Brown, Pres. Obama photo op, etc.). It’s also the most crowded section so we decided to go further to Mutanyu. This section of the wall is about 90 minutes from Beijing.

When we got up in the morning, the “fog” seemed to really be settled in and it wasn’t looking good for the home team. As you can imagine, we wanted a good day to get photos of this experience and it was a little concerning when you could barely make out the buildings around the hotel and the sun was an orange dot behind the clouds. But, we had made the arrangements for the car to pick us up at 10:00 so we were committed . We went down and ate breakfast at the buffet for the hotel which was okay but definitely not great stuff. We were hoping for the sky to clear as the hours passed. We packed a lunch and snacks for the trip and got ready to head out.

Our driver arrived promptly and we headed down the road, away from the city but traffic was still pretty slow moving until we were about 20 minutes into the trip. We followed the main highway for awhile and then headed off to a more local road. The weather was clearing the further we got away from the city so we began to breathe a little easier (in more ways than one, the air in Beijing was pretty nasty). As we have before, we made notes of the towns and villages we passed on the way to the wall. I am not sure how the people lived since you saw no signs of manufacturing plants and you also didn’t see much for farming but obviously, the were able to earn a living in some fashion that I am sure we might find pretty unappealing. We kept looking out the windows for signs of the wall as we headed into more mountainous terrain but we couldn’t see anything. It wasn’t until we arrived that we were able to just catch a small glimpse of what was to come on the top of the mountain ahead of us. We said goodbye to the driver and headed for the cable car to take us to the top. There is the option to walk up to the wall but a) it was a long walk, b) we would rather be walking on the wall than up to the wall and c) we’re pretty lazy people.

As we ascended, we could begin to see the region better with the valleys and mountains all around us and then, we could start to see just a small section of the wall. I hate to be one of those people that say “you have to be there to experience it” but you really do. We watched Samantha Brown on her China trip talk about the Great Wall and thought, it doesn’t really do it justice. We got off the cable car and on the wall and the camera never stopped snapping photos from this point forward. The day wasn’t perfect but it was pretty darned good and it wasn’t too cold so we took as many photos as we could to capture the moment. There was a couple that asked if we would take their picture and we did and they then offered to take a photo of the family. Imagine that, a photo with all 4 of us on the wall. It was very nice and gave us a picture that we seldom get. The wall took some endurance to go up and down and around all of the areas. It was worse on the far edges of the wall section. We decided to follow the major section of the wall and head towards the alpine slide to get us down. We had 3 hours to be there and this was the best way to cover the most ground. It also gave an incentive for the kids and allowed for a quick return to the parking/souvenir area.

It was incredible. The amount of manpower to get this built boggled the mind. The wall followed the tops of the mountain ridges and must have been a daunting sight for anyone thinking they would walk down main street into Beijing. The sheer size was hard to fathom just how it was done, how many people worked on this section, etc. We enjoyed every moment and soaked it all in. To try and describe it further would be very difficult. We could see in the distance another section of the wall (Simitai) which only added to the wonder of the place. It was a great day for us and we can finally say that we are true men (there is a quote in China indicating that you are not a real man until you have walked on the wall).

Near the end of the day, Jacob and Tammy headed to the alpine slide but I wanted to go a little further. Warren and I headed to the last section of the wall open to the public. Here is where it got very steep and difficult. At one point, we were climbing on all fours trying to get up the steps without falling. It was crazy! We only had about 25 minutes to get back to the alpine slide so we went as far as we could and then turned around and headed down the steep slope to meet at the slide. The slide was fun and we were being chastised by the workers along the slope indicating we were going too fast.

Then it was find the souvenirs that we would take home from the wall. There was a large section of stalls selling many things we can get in Suzhou so those items weren’t so appealing but there were some things we thought were nice. This is where Warren turned into a bargaining fool. We went into one stall and the lady quoted us like 840 RMB for three landscape photos of the wall. This was a pretty crazy price so Warren went to the next stall which had the same thing and asked for her price. 550. Next! He just started going back and forth between the stalls and asking prices and letting them know he was comparison shopping. He would yell, 400 over here. They didn’t really like this but it was playing their game to win. We finally got them for somewhere around 240 RMB. We bought some shirts that said “I Climbed the Great Wall” (and all I got was this lousy t-shirt) and that’s about it. We looked for a Great Wall hat but none, just hats for Beijing. We found our driver and headed back to the hotel. It was a great day for us and we were thrilled that we finally made the trip. The Mutanyu section of the wall was less crowded and I am sure just as beautiful as many other sections so it was even pretty relaxing.

For dinner, we went to a pizza place at a very Western area in Beijing. As usual, it took a long time to get there due to the traffic. The prices were pretty steep for pizza and it really wasn’t all that good but we ate it. We decided that before we headed home, we would go to the WuFujiang Night Market. This is the place you may have seen on TV during the Olympics where they sell just about everything to eat. Scorpions, grasshoppers, silkworm cocoons, testicles from about any beast walking the planet along with some more normal items like noodles and rice dishes. We were in the mood for scorpions and grasshoppers which really had little flavor. They were crunchy and salty but no real flavor to speak of. We also ate a mutton “sandwich” which was okay but nothing special. It was interesting to watch the people since this area is more of a tourist trap than a place where the locals go to eat. Interesting, you bet. We could have eaten there for about 1/3 of the price of eating at the pizza joint. Typical with the street food, it’s cheap and usually it’s pretty good.

GUEST BLOG - Yokohama

(A special treat is in order for today's posting. We take a break from the mundane musings of a crazy man and hear from the offspring of said crazy person. Warren has posted information on his trip to Yokohama, Japan that he took last month. Enjoy and feel free to submit a comment, I am sure Warren would appreciate the feedback and it might encourage more of the Dudley clan to submit their postings.)

I was selected to be one of the members from SSIS band to attend the AISA Band Festival (Association of International Schools in Asia). The AISA festival was being held this year in Yokohama, Japan. So I got the chance to go to another country and get another stamp on my passport that my Dad doesn’t have (Singapore and now Japan, one more and I overtake him).

All of the students that were going to AISA Band Festival had to be at Singa Plaza (Western Places to eat at) by 4:00am. From Singa Plaza we rode to school to pick up breakfast. For some odd reason when we got to school there was no food and the guards do not know why we are there. So no breakfast at SSIS, we never even got off the bus instead we headed to direct to Shanghai. When we finally get to PuDong International Airport it is about 7:45. It takes us about 30 minutes to get checked in and get through security and customs. On the airplane (Delta) the food was dinner but for us, we wanted our breakfast. The flight was about 3 hours, with no in-flight entertainment on the seats, just a movie playing on the little screens. It was an English movie but I was more interested in eating and sleeping. When we landed in Japan and get our bags, we each had to go buy Air Bus (the name of the bus line, not the airplane) tickets that were 3,500 Yen to Yokohama, Japan. This bus would take 2 hours to get from Tokyo to Yokohama.

When we are about 30 minutes away from the bus station in Yokohama, there are many police out on the road due to the upcoming APEC meeting that President Obama would be attending. From the bus station we had to take a taxi to Yokohama International School. This school has been open since 1947. We had an hour to tour the school before our home stay families came to pick us up. So, we went to a little garden across the street from the school. Most of the home stays lived pretty close to the school but there was one person who home stay family lived in Tokyo. My home stay family was from China and they have lived in Japan for many years. For dinner that night we had curry with vegetables and rice, not good like what I’m used to. All of the Suzhou Singapore International School students had to call the teachers by 10pm to make sure that we were ok.

The first morning for breakfast I had a bagel, with slightly cooked bacon, boiled egg, and spicy sausage, with pulp orange juice and milk. One thing that I noticed is that the kid that I was with had more of everything, which was a little odd. After we finished eating we had to go to the public bus stop to go to school. The public buses in Japan are not jam-packed full of people, everyone normally has a seat and there is room for more people. When we get to school we have no idea where to go and I felt like we got lost with a student that went to the school. By the time we get to the place where we were supposed to be we missed the introduction and it was time to play. The Jazz Band went to the main school building and the Concert Band stayed where we were. The school was in several parts of the city but they were all within walking distance. We rehearsed for 90 minutes and then we had a short break then we had another 60 minutes to practice. After that we went out to lunch at a place that was about a 45 minute walk from the school. For lunch we went to a mall type place but it looked like a prison from the outside. Once again there were many police officers outside due to the APEC meeting going on. When we were walking back to school after lunch we had to walk slow due to the Pre-School getting out at 2:45. When we got back to the school we went into sectionals; that is when everybody goes into a room with the group. During this time you could see how much everyone else practiced before they got to AISA. This lasted about an hour, and then we played one time though everything as a group then it was time to go. When our home stay family picks us up she says that we are going to go to her favorite restaurant; which I’m not sure what that would be. Turns out that the place that we went was Red Lobster.

2nd day in Japan. We had to be at school at the same time as the day before. We practiced for 90 minutes and then we had break, which was muffin with Japanese tea. Since I am not a big fan of tea I did not like what was to drink, but I drank it anyway. After break we practiced for 30 more minutes and then we went to lunch in the area that President Obama was suppose to be in during the APEC meeting. All of the Suzhou people went to this cheap Japanese place that looked like someone’s home with many table. At this restaurant they had sushi and other Japanese meals that I’m not sure of because the menu was all in Japanese. I had sushi for lunch. When we got back to school we had one last run through then we changed and then we played for the last time. After the big concert the school had a banquet for all of the concert band members, which was curry from all over the world. Not the best curry I have ever tasted (my favorite one was in Beijing at the Ganges restaurant), but I ate it anyways. When the banquet was over everyone waited on their home stay families to pick us up and during the wait my band director asked if I wanted to bring my instrument to my home stay with me or leave it at school I said leave it at the school so we had to walk a block to get to the gym where everyone kept their instruments for the night.

3rd day in Japan. This day we did not have to be up at school until 9:30, so we got to sleep in and it was the only major day we got to sleep in which was nice, but I was still up at my normal 6:00. The home stay family took us to school at about 9:15 and we where the only ones there, so we thought we where in the wrong spot, then slowly all of the other SSIS students started to show up. After all of the SSIS students showed up we left the school and went to the Subway Station, to start our long journey to Ito, Japan. The subway ticket to the train station was 1,650 Yen. From the train station we took another train to another station and then we hopped on one more train for about 30 minutes and then we made it to Ito, Japan. During our long journey to Ito, Japan we got on a faster train which cost 1,500 Yen more so we had to get off at the next stop, were we where in the middle of nowhere is how it felt. We had to wait at the stop for 20 minutes until the next train had come that was the one that we could get on. On our way to the Hostile we got lost and our director got a map and we still got lost, so he went with our Japanese girl in the group to go talk to a couple of these bikers (Motor Cycle Club) where this place was and they had no idea where it was so they went into this little shop where the store owner took us there and made sure that all of us got there and we could get in. When we got in we had to take off our shoes and of course me having big feet none of the shoes could fit me. So I walked around in my bare feet for the day. The people showed us around and then we brought our bags to the room and went out to lunch. We walked for about 3 blocks not getting lost this time and ate at Mos Burger I had a burger and bad fries. After we all got our food and finished eating, we walked around and our band director picked out a shirt from a store for the other teacher that went with us to Japan. If you knew my band director you would know how odd this was. While they were doing whatever (looking for clothes); we saw a couple of cats and this Japanese guy walked up to us and started to talk to us in English which was funny because none of us were expecting it. He asked us where we were from and what we were doing so far from home. Then we walked down this side street and found a Japanese Casino; there was one kid in our group that got a video of it although we were not suppose to take photos. Then we walked back to the Hostile and dropped off our stuff; got changed if we wanted; and then walked to the beach which was about a 10 minute walk from the Hostile. We walked around the beach for 30 minutes or so; then we walked to the 100 Yen store to get dinner. We had to make our own dinner and breakfast at the hostile. For dinner we made noodles with vegetables and some Korean thing. During dinner we watched the ‘’The Last Samurai’ (Tom Cruise movie). It was a good movie, I learned one Japanese word from it “MeMe” (ears). After the movie we had to go to bed; the girls went straight to bed and all of the guys played cards until about 1:00 in the morning where we said “Ok this is boring” and we all fell asleep.

Last Day In Japan. The next day we did not have to be up until 9:00 and we had to make breakfast. We also had to go down to the hot spring down stairs to shower. We showered and sat in a hot tub and I am one of those not so smart people who would not read what to do before getting into the hot spring. I was wondering why all of the blood rushed to my head and it said to keep the small towel on your head, which I did not do. So when I got out of the hot spring I walked right into the wall due to all of the blood rushing to my head. After everybody got out of the hot spring and packed all of their stuff up we walked to the train station and did the same thing we did the day before plus an additional 2 hours 30 minutes going to Tokyo, Japan. Going to the airport was the most boring ride ever. There was nothing to do nothing to watch, so I fell asleep because I was bored and tired. We got to the airport, checked in and got on a plane to Shanghai, China. Food on the airplane, it was Delta so not all that good. We get to Shanghai and we could not find our band director, we thought we left him in Japan. Then we found him with all of our bags. We found the SSIS bus driver and were on our way back to Suzhou. It was midnight by the time we got to Singa plaza. Then the next day all of us had to get up and go to school in the morning.

New Photo Link

Check out the new Flicker photo link for photos of our Beijing trip.

Hello Beijing

Beijing, the big cheese, the capital city, the host of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the #1 city in China that the Chinese want to visit. Well, we finally made plans to go in the “off season” to see what all the fuss was about. We tried to plan it all out but decided to keep a simple plan for Beijing, get to the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and everything else was gravy.

At the airport, waiting for our plane to Beijing there was a tv screen playing what we would call a Public Service Announcement (PSA). It was in Chinese but there were English subtitles. The PSA was about the swine flu. The first thing it said was that the swine flu comes from America, “what a shame”. Huh? The swine flu (H1N1) epidemic comes from the US? Now that took us by surprise to see this (and we knew it because at the same time there was the subtitles there was a map of the US with arrows coming out from it leading all over the globe. I knew there were outbreaks of the virus in the US but there were also outbreaks in other parts of the world (but perhaps an infected person traveled around the globe infecting others like Johnny Appleseed). The rest of the message was about how to protect yourself from the virus (wash your hands, wear you mask, etc.). It was a little disturbing to see this because it put a bulls eye on our back if we sneezed, coughed or scratched. If you coughed, you took a quick look around to ensure you weren’t being monitored and that behind the column there were a bunch of people wearing full hazmat gear to throw you into a plastic covered bubble stretcher and take you away to the local “treatment center” (or maybe it’s just me that gets the visual image of Planet of the Apes where they round up the humans with the nets and the choke collars. Get your hands off of me you damned dirty ape!). We flew China Eastern airlines which is our airline of choice in China, don’t know exactly why but we’ve flown them everywhere we have gone. I like the airline, the planes seem in good condition and the service is okay but the big problem I have with them is their reaction to real or perceived turbulence. Any time there is any kind of air movement around the plane, they are on the speaker telling people to take their seats and not to use the toilets. It’s crazy, I hate to fly so any kind of bump in the air bothers me but this is nothing. IT doesn’t seem to matter to them at all, it is crazy. It’s just the constant announcements about turbulence. Don’t overreact to it and leave people alone for crying out loud. If I gotta go, I’m getting up so just let it be. It was about a 2 hour flight and I swear they made the announcement every 15 minutes. Enough already. Now it’s not like the Chinese pay any attention, they get up and use the toilet when they have to so it doesn’t seem to matter much to them. They are lucky if the plane actually hits the runway before the Chinese start to get up out of their seats and get their stuff out of the overhead bins. Seriously, they will get up when they want to get their stuff and get ready by the door (if you’re not first…you’re last!). Now that should be a bigger problem but they seem to let that slide (unless we hit a bump on the runway, then it’s take your seats, fasten your seatbelts and don’t use the toilets.).

We arrive in Beijing, grab a cab and head to the hotel. For those in the Atlanta area, we all know I-285 creates a ring around the city. In Beijing, they have 5 rings around the city (Five!), and they are working on ring 6 as we speak. We were on the outside of the 5th ring but it still took us almost an hour to get to the hotel. Traffic was a mess, once you got near the highway rings, it came to a crawl. We checked in and got good service from the reception staff. We stayed at a Marriott Suites since it was cheaper for a small apartment than it would be for two rooms at a standard hotel. The room was okay and we were just happy to be there. We planned on heading to the Great Wall the next day and just sat a relaxed for an hour or so before deciding where to go to eat. Tammy found a place ironically called “The Place” which was a Western shopping mall with restaurants and stuff. We didn’t know where we would eat but we knew the choices would be there. Again, back into traffic, it was unbelievable. Traffic never really moved fast, it was a crawl or stop. Despite the ride not being very far, it took about 40 minutes to arrive. We walked around and saw an Indian restaurant and decided that is where we would eat. Ganges Restaurant, it get’s the Dudley Seal of Approval. The food was better than the Indian we find locally and the service was good and they had different beers to try. I tried another Australian beer called Pure Blond which was really good (so I’ve got two new Aussie beers on my repertoire, Redback and Pure Blond). The food wasn’t too spicy, we (meaning me) didn’t want to take a chance knowing I had a long car ride ahead of us to the Great Wall and sometimes Indian food is given a bad rap for impacting the digestive track. We ate everything, Mutton Samosas, Chicken Biryani, Nan Bread, Chicken Tikka and Chicken Tikka Masala. Absolutely delicious!

Afterwards, we stopped at a market to pick up food for the next day and then find a taxi to get us home. This is where Beijing lost us. A cab would come by, we would hop in and show them our taxi card (the Expat’s best friend if you want to get around town in a taxi) and they would tell us something and give us the “wave off”. Either they didn’t know where we needed to go or they just plain weren’t going to take us there. Granted, we were a longer distance than perhaps other places but we were still going to pay them. It took about 5 cabs to finally get one to take us home. It seemed so unnecessary. We’ve had the same kind of problem every once in awhile in Suzhou but the drivers seemed a lot more rude than what we were accustomed to. We had heard some stories about the cabbies in Beijing before we took the trip. I would have to say that they were pretty accurate. The cabbies will take your money and not give you change unless you press the issue. If they give you change, it was to the closest 5 or 10 RMB (so if the ride was 46 RMB, if you gave them 50 RMB, they would claim not to have any change and keep the extra 4 RMB. If you gave the 100 RMB, you got 50 RMB back and they didn’t give you a second look). This was our first taste of Beijng cabbies and it didn’t really give you the warm fuzzies for the rest of the trip but we had 3 days so we hoped this wasn’t a sign of things to come (but it was).

Bao Mansion

Our final stop on the whirlwind tour of Henan Province was Bao Mansion/Court in Kaifeng. Kaifeng was another of the ancient capital cities of China (so I’ve now been to 3 capital cities in China; Beijing, Xi’an and now Kaifeng). Kaifeng has many tourist sites but the site that was selected for our trip was Bao Mansion. Bao is a famous judge in China that was widely known for his integrity and honor. As with many of these tales in China, this one takes on mythical proportions as many of the stories of Bao have seemingly been embellished to increase the stature of the man (similar to Lei Feng mentioned in my post on Obamao). Regardless, he is a very well known figure in China and many people come to the mansion to pay their respects to this judge. Now, much of this knowledge was not known to me until after we made the visit since all of the information was given verbally in Chinese. I knew we were visiting the home of a famous judge and that was about it.

This was the coldest day we had and it was actually hailing a little when we arrived. There was a Chrysanthemum Festival going on in the city at the same time so around the mansion were many flower arrangements shaped like dragons, peacocks and other animals. Other than that, the area was pretty dull. There was little signage to indicate where you were in this area so I was pretty much lost the entire time. What I did find interesting were the statues of the judge that had small kneeling stools and offering pots in front of them. As I watched, every once in awhile you would see someone kneel in front of the statute and pray. I wondered what they were praying for but I would guess it was for justice in some shape or form. Anyhow, this area didn’t really appeal much to me since I had no idea what was going on the entire time but I took photos and looked around. To me, it was nothing special; there was nothing inside or outside that made it stand apart. Perhaps the locals thought more of it but I thought it was pretty boring. We only had 90 minutes to be here and then it was off to lunch so there wasn’t a lot of time anyhow.

What was interesting was that when you walked out of the area, there were the obligatory gift shops but not once did anyone even try to talk us into looking at their stuff (looka-looka). Steve and I walked past and they just let us be. Normally they are always trying to talk you into looking in their shop on the way by. It was actually kind of refreshing. So, then it was off to a relaxing 15 minute lunch and head to the train station to take the high speed train back to Suzhou (only 6 hours!). The train station was by far the most crowded and disorganized place I had been in China. They had one waiting area for everyone and it was obvious that they didn’t see many foreigners in this place. Steve and I got stares that I hadn’t seen in a long time, especially from young kids. We were about 90 minutes early for the train which made for a fun time to sit and wait.

The bathrooms were a little primitive. The men’s room had a trough for the urinals and a nice 1 meter high wall cubicle for a public squatty. Just so we’re clear, it was a 1 meter high wall separating the men that needs to use the squatty from the urinals but there were no walls in between the squatting men so you just lined up there and did your business (you finished reading the sports page?). I was a little stunned (and I was happy that I didn’t have a large fiber intake during the trip, I’m sure my skinny white butt would’ve gotten some real attention) but we are in China and if you gotta go, you gotta go.

There was a lot of confusion about the trains because we were on train 178 and there was another train 78 that was due to leave just before ours. Both trains were leaving through the same gate. Now there was the cramped general waiting area and then there was a smaller, more cramped waiting area for your specific train. You basically herded through one door into the smaller room to wait when you were called. This is when the fun started. We moved into line when our train number lit up. Well, there was no room in the smaller waiting area so we stood in line. Well, train #78 was called to board and here comes a wave of Chinese to get through us to get into the small waiting room (which led to the platform). Although I haven’t been in one of those soccer stampedes, this had to be close. A wave of Chinese just started pushing through and everyone was moving forward whether you wanted to or not. We were able to slide to the side a bit to give room to let them pass. We were barely able to get out of the way as the masses moved forward. Steve came along with the crowd and then slid to the side and held his ground. It was so strange, they had a double door but only opened one of the doors to let people through so some were getting their luggage caught on the doors and made a big fuss about getting through. You would’ve thought it was a herd of cattle. They didn’t slow down or stop to create some kind of gap to help each other out it was just push, push and push (and shout). It got really bad, enough to cause me concern about if I would be crushed in this madness. It’s a friggin’ train people, what’s the super rush! It got bad enough that Steve put his hand on my shoulder to give him some extra balance/leverage to hold up. He was getting pushed pretty hard by one guy trying to get through and he decided to push back and stuck his arm into the guy’s chest and just kept on pushing him back. He neared tipped him over but the guy made it through and I think he learned that he couldn’t just bull his way through. It was crazy! There was no thought process just “move with the herd” regardless of anything or anyone else. The train station workers could’ve opened the second door to ease the panic and congestion but they did nothing to stop the madness. When it was our turn, we made it through the doors but the secondary waiting area was too small and it was even more cramped. Then, you see the train pull up and it’s time to move.

Again, although there were 6 doors to allow the crowd to flow out on the platform, they chose to open only one door. There were 300 of us plus however many of the locals on this train so it was slow going. This was more organized because we all knew each other and it wasn’t like the panic mode that set in with the previous crowd. However, once through the doors the race was on! The kids were yelling at me to run to my train car and everyone was in a near sprint. I thought it was dumb but did it anyhow. Then the horn sounds indicating that the train is going to leave. They yell to me to get on at the nearest car and walk through to my seat. I only made it to car #10 and I was in car #4 so I had a lot of waiting and walking to do. I wanted to keep going to car #4 but they were yelling like the train was leaving so I jumped on board. So I had to wait for others to put up their stuff and take their seat (much like on a plane) but there were some Chinese who insisted on trying to get around me and push their way through. It was so stupid! Just hold on for another 10 seconds, they will be gone and I will move. Nope, he has to try and push around me and then step over the bags and through the maze to get to his seat. I’ll never understand how this works but it is what it is. I got to my seat after about maybe 7-8 minutes and sat down for the long ride back to Suzhou. The train was high speed but due to the many stops, it took 6 hours for the journey.

One note about the train ride that was probably the one “blog worthy” moment. It happened to be when Coris (a co-worker and a female) moved to the seat next to mine (the guy in that seat left to sit next to a friend) and started to talk to me. There was a group traveling together of older folks near us. The look that they gave to us as we talked was something I wasn’t familiar with. I can only assume that they thought that she and I were a couple or something because they didn’t give us the “ahh, young love” look, it was the “damned foreigners come here to corrupt our women” look. We weren’t making “googly eyes” at each other. We were actually talking about raising kids, divorce rates in the US and China and marriage in both countries. I know that many foreigners (that have families back home or in China with them) come to China and take the opportunity to “sample the local culture” and because of that, there are many locals that don’t trust the foreigners because of this (How do I know this? It was the topic of discussion on the bus to work one morning. I didn’t understand the conversation but it was told to me in English once the ladies in the front office got off the bus.). I understand it because I feel the same way but perhaps for different reasons. I've made comments about seeing older white guys with younger Chinese women before and perhaps I give them the same look. It's an interesting dynamic here as almost every time you see this (especially when the guy is like Grandpa Simpson old and looks like Grandpa Munster) you automatically assume that there is a monetary reason for them to be together. I guess you have to feel badly for those that meet and have a true relationship becuase they have to go with the stigma attached to this situation. I mean, you don't see many Western women with Chinese men so why would you see so many Chinese women with Western men? Anyhow, a topic for another day but I got a taste of what it must feel like to be in one of these "relationships", you would have to have a pretty thick skin or learn to ignore the looks.

So we finally arrived home and then were taken by bus back to our apartments. Thus ends the company outing odyssey for me. It was very interesting to be a part of this experience and although we were rushed through most of the trip, I enjoyed the trip. I’m not sure if this would be a trip for the family and I to re-create but it is an option. Yuntai Mountain would be very worthwhile and if I went back, I would spend the majority of my time there. I guess for the Chinese, they want to see as much as they can in a limited time despite any travel distances between the place. It would be like going to Maine for a three day trip and wanting to see Bar Harbor, Mount Katahdin and Stephen King’s residence all on the same trip. Anyhow, it was good to get a feel for how they travel and watch how they interact with each other. It was definitely to an area of the country that I would not have visited otherwise so it was a good experience. I was very tired (as were most of the others) when I returned but it was back to work the very next day.

Yuntai Mountain

Day 2 (or Day 3 depending if you want to add in the train ride as Day 1) we were scheduled to travel to Yuntai Mountain. Now for a little information on Yuntai Mountain to set the scene for you. Yuntai Mountain is located near Jiaozuo and is about 70 kilometers away from Zhengzhou (Henan Province). It covers a total area of 240 square kilometers and has 11 major scenic spots. Yuntai Mountain is named after the clouds and fog around the peaks. In August 2007, Yuntai Mountain became a sister park of the Grand Canyon National Park in the United States and is China’s second government park affiliated with a foreign park. Some of the scenic spots; there is the Yuntai Tianpu Waterfall, the highest waterfall in Asia, and Red Stone Gorge, which is acknowledged as the most peculiar gorge in China, and the Tanpu Gorge, which is known as the most beautiful gorge in China. Fenglin Gorge integrates the beauty of mountains and the romantic charm of water, and is praised as the lake that is shared by humans and gods. Qinglong Gorge is another spot which is the biggest gorge in Yuntai.

This was the best part of the trip without question. The Yuntai Mountain area was H-U-G-E and we only got to see just a few parts of the area (and by a few, I mean two). This area is also called the Yellowstone Park of China (although affiliated with the Grand Canyon) due to the large number of gorges and rock formations in the area. We started at Red Stone Gorge and had about 2 hours to get around and head back. We first got off the bus and headed into the park where we had to get on another bus in order to go up the narrower roads towards our start point. It’s unfortunate because along the way there were many photo-worthy spots but you couldn’t get the camera out on the crowded bus and he wasn’t stopping until we reached the top. If the bus had pulled over just at 2 spots, it would’ve been so much better but it is what it is and we (by we I mean I) dealt with it. The weather was pretty good, although not a crystal clear day it was a little cool but it wasn’t raining and it wasn’t too “overcast”. The scenery was absolutely astounding as we started up near a dam and headed downward into the gorge area. This is where things really got interesting. Everyone obviously got in their 8 hours worth of sleep and was re-charged for a full day’s worth of walking. Everywhere a photo could be taken, there were people lined up for their photo shoot. People would basically look around, see a good area where they thought a photo could be taken and “beep-beep-zip-bang” off they went to try and get into that area for the photo. Keep in mind that this wasn’t exactly a wide open area; it’s a gorge so you have narrow, fenced paths to follow and so it wasn’t like there was a free-flow of people. You moved along at the pace of the people in front of you (and the people in front of them, and so on). As usual, I had my camera out and took a whole bunch of photos but a lot of my photos were of the landscape and the surroundings. For the Chinese, it wasn’t as much about the landscape as getting a photo of their friends and colleagues with the proper background (and sometimes by proper I mean with any background). It was crazy! They would barely look around to see what was there or notice the beauty of the area; it was all about the photos. For Steve and I, we were very popular this day to get photos with the kids from work. Some of them I didn’t even know but they would come over, stand by me and get a photo taken. It was strangely familiar. In one area, I gave my camera to someone else to get photos of me with a few of the kids but it turned out to be more than just that. After the first photo, here comes another one, then another one, then another and it went on for about 10 people. Then here comes a Chinese couple that aren’t with the company but they saw an opportunity and took it. Like I said it was strangely familiar. Steve and I were in a group of 8 girls and 3 boys so you’ll notice that in most of my photos I am surrounded by girls. I’d like to say that it was my animal magnetism, handsome American looks or charming personality but it was because they were forced to be around me (but in my mind I still choose to believe it’s the handsome part and don’t try to talk me out of it). When we were informed of our group membership (the large groups were subdivided into smaller more manageable groups), we were told it was because we could eat more. The women wouldn’t eat as much as men so we had a chance to “fatten up”. After seeing the girls eat, I am not so sure about that logic but I digress (and I’m sure you are saying “That is strangely familiar”). The biggest problem was the people behind you that would try and squeeze by when you stop to take a photo or enjoy the scenery. It wasn’t like I was the roadblock and once they made it past me that things opened up. Past me were more people, and more people and more people. Somehow this is the Chinese way, I want to be first even if I don’t know what that means. Some would lose their patience and start to tell us to “Hurry Up” or “Keep moving”. They weren’t getting anywhere fast by saying this, the line didn’t all of a sudden start moving because someone told it to. It’s no different than their driving, just before the light turns green, they are honking their horn at the car in front of them (even if that “car” is a lineup at more than a dozen cars in front of them). It was annoying but I didn’t let it bother me too much. What I thought was funny was that many of the best scenic areas for photos (narrow walkways across water) had signs indicating not to stop on the walkway. Yeah, like that was going to work (and it didn’t).

We were at Red Stone Gorge for about 2 hours then it was back to the buses to backtrack a little to get to the lunch area. The restaurants were all lined up along the route that the buses follow up the mountain, it was just a matter of which one you would eat at. Again, we stopped and everyone was leaving the bus like it was on fire and headed into the lunchroom. The food came fast and furious and the eating commenced at the same pace. The one most interesting thing about the meals in Henan was the bread that came with the meal. They gave us rolls that were very dense, kind of like a bagel, that were steamed. These rolls were very good and provided some “filling” for those Westerners that weren’t chowing down on all of the other stuff. Little did I know it but at this meal, the meat was donkey. I didn’t notice any difference in taste or texture so I ate it like it was beef. After the 10 minute “relaxed” lunch period, it was back on the bus to the next area we were to visit. Longfeng Gorge was the area. Interesting enough was that the gorges always were basically U-turns, you walked in one direction got to the end of the gorge and then headed back along another route so you always ended up back where you started. I picked up a map of the area and this place was absolutely huge so we saw maybe 10-15% of the area in the two ventures we took. After the gorge walk, we had some time before the bus left so we headed up the mountain to see the monkeys (rhesus macaques). This was a very long and steep stairway up to the monkey show. We only had about 45 minutes so we rushed up the steps. I’m not in great shape but I was able to manage the stairs better than the younger Chinese. There was one area where there were easily 150 steps at a ridiculous angle but if you wanted to see the monkey show you needed to go up those steps.

The monkey show was a guy with three monkeys. The monkeys had dog collars on that were tied to ropes held by the “trainer”. I started to take photos but had to walk away in disgust because these monkeys, although they may have been trained, obviously were not treated very well. The others watching had a great time but I didn’t and just took a short walk around to see the view from this area. I was able to see where they kept these monkeys and noticed a few other monkeys roaming free. There was a sign at the bottom of this area that indicated some monkeys were roaming free and not to feed them but immediately afterward I found a monkey sitting there eating what looked like a cinnamon roll or some kind of bread. That wasn’t really in their natural diet so I guessed they were fed by the locals. The locals were all crowded around taking photos. This was one of those times that I was hoping for a “when animals attack” kind of thing but it didn’t happen. Anyhow, the show ended and it was time to head back to the buses and leave the area.

We headed to Kaifeng to spend the night at another top-notch, 5-star hotel (yes, that is sarcascm). This place was worse than the first place but it had a shower (although the shower had only a curtain, no basin to catch the water. There was a drain and a shower curtain that was about 18” too short to hit the ground so when you took a shower, the entire bathroom floor got wet) and a bed (rock hard, just like I like it….sarcasm again). It was cheap and we weren’t on the street so it served the purpose. We weren’t spending a lot of time there so it really didn’t matter much. It was a good day and the mountain was very nice. Many of the Chinese didn’t like it because they never climbed the mountain. I thought that was an interesting thing to say. When we asked what they liked the best it was Shaolin Temple. The Longmen Grottoes was very old but they didn’t like it and since they didn’t get to climb the mountain, Yuntai Mountain lost points. Steve and I had a different scoring system so it goes to show how perceptions are “built in” for some things. We thought Shaolin Temple (the portions that we saw, we left with still more to see that might have changed out perception) was shallow and a contrived tourist trap. The Longmen Grottoes was interesting and disappointing at the same time, interesting to see all of the caves (again, we didn’t see everything due to time constraints) but disappointing due to the damage done for whatever reason. Yuntai Mountain was better due to the fact that we able to see some different scenery that we might not have seen otherwise and just the gorges alone made the trip worthwhile.

Next post will be the final day on the trip and then we’ll move into Beijing or perhaps Warren will enlighten us on his trip to Japan. Photos have been added so click on the photos link for just a few images from Yuntai Mountain.

Longmen Grottoes

Here is some information on the Longmen Grottoes before I begin my review of this area. The Longmen Grottoes are located near Luoyang and are a large collection of ancient Buddhist cave art. The grottos were carved during the Northern Wei Dynasty, when the rulers relocated their capital at Luoyang near the end of the 5th century. At that time Buddhism was spreading east into China and was venerated by the imperial court. The Buddhists adopted the practice of carving rock temples, dedicated to the Buddha. This construction began 493 during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen and continued for a span of over 400 years. There are 2345 caves and niches, 2800 inscriptions, 43 pagodas and over 100,000 Buddhist images along the 1-km-long cliff of Mt. Longmen on the west and Mt. Xiangshan on the east of the Yihe River south of Luoyang. The most impressive area are the stone statues in Fengxian Cave, carved under the edict of Empress Wuzetian (reigned 690-705). These are composed of a 17.14-meter-high statue of Vairocana Buddha, and a series of pairs of Bodhisattvas, heavenly kings, protectors and worshippers. The huge statue of Vairocana Buddha is today praised as being the quintessence of Buddhist sculpture in China.

The sheer magnitude of these caves was remarkable. Unfortunately, the majority of the sculptures have been damaged to some degree and/or defaced. As we walked along and looked into the huge number of small caves all along the grotto, you could see many of the statutes had the heads removed or the heads were damaged to the point that you could not make out anything more than it was a head at one time. Also missing in the majority of the sculptures were the hands/fingers which meant you could not make out the hand gestures (which illustrated what the Buddha was trying to convey). In my readings on this area I found out that this damage was done during the Opium Wars and the Eight-Nation Alliance (Boxer rebellion) but I have to admit to a little skepticism to exactly what caused the damage to these carvings. I don’t know if I fully accept that all of this damage was done during these times (around 1900) because the damage seems a lot like what would happen during the CR. Perhaps the information is correct but perhaps not; there really isn’t any way to know for sure.

As we continued to look into the caves (some big and some small, as you might notice in the photos) and see the same type of damage in each you felt a sense of frustration about what had been done. At the time of completion of these caves, it must have been an awesome sight to behold all of these carvings. Unfortunately, we will never know what it was but you can imagine what must have been when this area was complete. There were stairs everywhere to allow you to go up into the next level of carvings/caves. There were very few signs in English to explain where we were or what section of the grottoes we were in. There is a lot in the information about the caves and I had a different idea of what the caves were but it turns out the caves were all of the “nooks and crannies” in the sides of the cliffs where the drawings and sculptures were located. It was just cave after cave after cave, and then on to the next level which had yet more caves. Some of the sculptures were very small but they still contained a lot of detail. You could never get too close to the images because they were blocked off with fencing to keep people out. The 17.1 meter Buddha statue area was by far the most impressive but again, the damage done took something away from the work. After this area of the grottoes, it was time to turn around and head back to the buses. Now this was odd to us (Steve and I). The Chinese took very little time to look around and try to imagine what this area must’ve looked like, they moved to get photos and kept on moving. It was more about getting the photo that trying to absorb what they were looking at. There were still grottos on the other side of the river but we didn’t have the time to go over and look. This is just so different than how we vacation. We try to see as much as we can but we also take our time to view and enjoy what we are seeing. In the case of this outing, we had a schedule to keep and we were going to keep that schedule.

For us, when we take a trip/vacation, we plan on downtime and keep only a rough schedule of what we want to do. But, that’s when we travel on our own. When you travel in a large group, it’s a different story. You have a schedule set and you follow it since no one person is more important than the group. We asked many of our colleagues what they thought of this area. The typical answer, it was old and that was it. They enjoyed the Shaolin Temple much, much more. Perhaps they are accustomed to things that are extremely old due to the long history of China so stuff like this doesn’t interest them much. It’s the same in Suzhou, I’ve asked them if they’ve been to Tiger Hill and most will say “No. There isn’t much to do there.” The historical/cultural significance is lost on them but again, perhaps they are immune. Maybe they hear so many stories from their parents that it loses some meaning. (Yeah, yeah, yeah. Back in the days of the Ming dynasty, blah, blah, blah).

So, it’s back on the bus to head into town to eat and get to the hotel for the night. We descended on the restaurant just like we did for lunch (like the Alfred Hitchcock birds on a small child). The food was good, nothing really special but it was hot and edible (two positive things). Basically the same menu as lunch, bread, rice, a couple of vegetable dishes, a toufu dish and some meat dishes to fill your tummy. What I found interesting was that on the way to the food, we saw a bust on the side of the road that looked familiar. It was Ben Franklin (or Ben Franklim as it was spelled on the image), why…I don’t know but it was interesting to find in Luoyang, China.

We stayed at the F-Comfort Inn (not a place you would stay in the US, think about it). It wasn’t a 5 star place, perhaps 2 stars but it had a bed and shower so it was a step above the train lodgings. It was about 8:30pm when we crashed, we had been up since 5:30am after a night with little sleep with a lot of walking and bus rides so we were happy to be able to get a good night’s rest. The hotel had a “free” breakfast buffet so we planned on getting up plenty early so we could claw and scratch our way into this small breakfast nook to get something to eat before our long bus ride to the next stop on our tour of this portion of Henan province.

On a side note, on the dresser were two bottles of water, a bottle of OJ and a bottle of green tea. Steve and I took these and drank them since we couldn’t drink the water from the sink (obviously). We found out the following morning that these weren’t free. They made a big deal that someone took the water and stuff. Of course they were saying this in Chinese and talking to our group about the situation. When I asked what the problem was it was like someone had stolen these items from the room. When I told them that Steve and I took these things, the kids thought it was funny. They said “these weren’t free”, to which I replied, “how would we know that since nothing was in English?” I told them that in the US, things like this are free in US hotels otherwise, they wouldn’t be there out in the open. If things aren’t free, it’s posted and typically they have a mini bar to hold them making it obvious that something wasn’t free. So we had to pay all of 14 RMB to rectify the situation. It was somewhat comical to us; they were making this big fuss over 14 RMB! Whatever! Since it was the Foreigners that created the problem, the furor died down quickly once we gave the money to the tour guide to resolve the problem. Day #1 completed, Day #2 coming soon.

Shaolin Temple

After the train, we boarded a bus to our first stop on the tour for the day, Shaolin temple. For those that may not know, this is the birthplace of Chinese Kung Fu. It is the place where a younger (more alive) David Carradine learned how to walk on rice paper without leaving any footprints (unfortunately, he didn’t learn how not to choke himself to death while….well, you know the rest of the story Grasshopper). And for those that don’t know either of these things, it is the setting for Kung Fu Panda. It was about a 2 hour bus ride after the nice long train ride so sitting wasn’t exactly what I wanted to be doing but there was little choice.

Luckily for us, the tour guide took it upon herself to help us forget about the aching joints and instead had us focus on the earache/headache she was causing by talking. The bus was equipped with a sound system and speakers at every second row, so she began to give her bullhorn dissertation on Henan province, Shaolin Temple, what she ate for dinner when she was three, why she hated her mom….whatever! I called Tammy so she could get an idea of the noise; it was a constant bullhorn for almost 90 minutes (it was like listen to the drive through guy…you want fries with that?). It got to the point where you were hoping for the bus to plunge off the side of the road and burst into flames just to escape the misery. Earplugs, no use. It wasn’t like everyone was on pins and needles to listen, she just kept talking. I’ll take the water boarding; I’ll listen to the full State of the Union address, even the rebuttal, with no bathroom breaks and no beer, please just stop! After an eternity (and after I confessed to being the gunman on the grassy knoll) she relinquished the microphone to our bus leader John. John talked for a moment and then put the Expats on display. He asked Steve to go up and say a few words, which Steve did. Then it was my turn. They wanted me to sing a song, my choice Western or Chinese (Chinese….now how would that work?). I declined and talked to them about the train experience for me. I had forgotten my faithful teleprompter (I think Mr. Obama had it) and I was a bit surprised by this impromptu speech but I tried to roll with it (Four scores and seven years ago…). It wasn’t much but I left them wanting more (or perhaps they knew if I gave up the microphone, the tour guide took it back).

The landscape was much different on the journey, a lot of deep ravines and gullies and many mountains. The area reminded me a lot of Xi’an. Many farms and small villages could be seen along the way to the temple. I saw some animals but no cows, a lot of sheep and goats grazing in the fields. When we got near the temple, we got into a smaller town where there were kids all in uniforms outside practicing their martial arts in groups. It was a little bizarre but interesting to see. These weren’t monks or anything, just typical school age kids in matching uniforms going through the various drills. It looked like a regular school but obviously was not as much for “book learnin’”.

When we arrived at the temple there were older kids dressed in uniforms performing martial arts moves in sequence with the others around them. It was very interesting to watch as they went through the various moves. There must have been over 500 people out in this area in different groups practicing. Some had no weapons; others had staffs, spears, swords, etc. Something that I was kind of expecting but I wasn’t sure we would be able to see. Then we arrived, or so I thought, we climbed the steps and turned the corner and BAM!! There’s a long line of people waiting to get into this place. (Crap!) I wasn’t sure what it was but it had to be good right? It turns out that this was the line to go into the performance by the Shaolin monks.

The performance had both good and bad points. First thing was that everyone was crowded in and there was little room to maneuver to your seats if you were in the middle of the group. It was like stadium seating (for midgets) with very little room to squeeze by the people to the open middle seats. Then when we were seated a guy gets on the mic and some monks come out and he starts jabbering. It turns out that for a mere 10RMB you could get your photo taken with the monks in a pose looking like you were going to attack something or someone. So, we sat there and watched the people go up, grab their weapon of choice and be told how to stand by the monks and then “poof!” Picture taken….NEXT!!!. People kept going up and they kept talking about it and showing photos even when no one was in line. The show was basically on hold while they sold the photos and if you didn’t get your photo before the show, you could get it after the show was over. By the way, don’t forget your souvenir DVD, only 10 RMB. Strange stuff to watch that took about 15-20 minutes (it would be like going to see Macbeth but first, get your photos taken with the cast while everyone watches and waits). When the photo shoot finally ended, individual monks came out and showed their skills. After showing off the different techniques (monkey, tiger, snake, panda, tour guide….just kidding), out came a different group to show their mastery of mind over matter. One guy broke a metal plate over his head, two guys bent spears pressed into their throats and finally one guy threw a pin at a pane of glass to cause a small bb-type hole in the glass that burst a balloon on the other side. That was kind of impressive. Then a large group came out and did their thing with their moves. Finally they brought in 4 audience members to try and copy the moves of the monks. Our bus leader, John was picked to go onstage to do the moves. He did very well and was able to copy almost all of the moves of the monk. At the end the audience chose the winner. With the audience largely comprised of our bus and company people, John was the clear winner and won a DVD of the monk’s performance. He was very proud and continued to talk about it through the rest of the day. It is something I am sure that he will never forget. The surprising thing is that it was longer waiting for the photos to be taken than the performance…very odd. These monks had obvious skills but were being hawked like cheap jewelry on the street (watch, bag), I would be interested to see how they felt about that. Then we exited and this part of the “temple” was over, we went back onto the path to the old temple.

The old temple was more interesting but along the way you were hounded by people selling trinkets, people selling food and beggars. You believe that…beggars! Inside of the temple area?!?!. I thought these monks were in tune with the world and were to display kindness to everyone, I would’ve thought that no one would need to beg at the temple but there they were (odd how the beggars made it into the temple in the first place since we all had to pay to get in, how could beggars afford the cover charge?). The old temple was restored (obviously) and it looked like many of the temples I have seen in the past but we had to move quickly to keep up with the tour so there was no time to stop and smell the roses. The interesting points here were the trees with alleged finger holes in them from the monks practicing their martial arts skills and many wall inscriptions and other items that would’ve normally caused me to pause and take more notice but the group was moving on. The theme was I came, I saw and I kept going.

Then it was on to the 100 pagoda forest. This is an area where they had small pagodas that were built for the head monks when they died. So obviously there were old and new ones but many of these smaller pagodas built. Each was a little different and you got a sense that perhaps they reflected a little bit on the person for whom they were built. One that was newer drew my attention because it contained images of a car, an airplane and a laptop computer so this monk was obviously more recently deceased. The temple has changed to allow electricity but I wasn’t really sure about the internet access but they probably have that as well. Who knows what else has changed within the temple that we haven’t seen. This was an interesting area but again, move on people; we’ve got to get to lunch. You never really had the time to fully grasp anything, it was get a flavor and move on. There were still areas that we didn’t get to explore but perhaps that is part of the point. This is how they travel; they want to see as much as they can as opposed to enjoying what they can see. It could’ve been worse and you have to remember that this was after an overnight train ride so perhaps I wasn’t in the best of moods (I know, it does sound strange doesn’t it?).

After the 100 pagoda forest, it was turn around and head for the buses. You couldn’t take 30 steps without running into another vendor selling beads or other trinkets. It really took away the mystique for me and showed that the temple had become a money maker for people and the history of the place be damned. The junk being sold was probably the biggest surprise. I went in with the idea that I would purchase a set of nunchucks (after all it was a kung fu place right) but after looking at the quality of the ones they had, I decided against it. There was absolutely nothing special about them, nothing said “Shaoling Temple” to me with the exception of the one monk figurine that I bought for 10 RMB. It summed up the place for me; it was cheap and pretty sad so I got it. I was really expecting to find many things here that peaked my interest but there wasn’t much. I can say I went to the Shaolin Temple and leave it at that. I wish I had more time because the 100 pagoda forest was interesting and there was so much else that we missed that perhaps my perception would’ve changed.

Then it was on the bus to head to the next stop, the Longmen Grottos. Along the way, we would stop for lunch. This was the really interesting part of the day. The bus stops and everyone starts moving like the bus is on fire and we have to escape. I had no idea we were stopping for lunch until we got off and everyone is rushing into the restaurant. Imagine 300+ people descending on a restaurant at the same time. They had tables set for 10 people each and we sat down with little room to move. A lazy susan in the middle allowed for the food to be passed around. Within minutes the food starts to arrive at the table. A big bowl of rice, bread, veggies, pork&veggies, etc. It was like placing food down in front of a group of starving wild dogs. As soon as it hit the table, chopsticks were flying to get the food; food was being consumed at a rate that I could not believe. Granted it was about 2:00 in the afternoon but “Holy Locust Attack Batman!” They hogged down, it was every man and woman for themselves; if you wanted to eat you had better jump in or it would be gone. I don’t know what the hurry was (chow it down before the taste catches up with you!) but the food was pretty good and believe me, my expectations were pretty low for the food on this trip. In less than 15 minutes lunch was over and we were back on the bus (seriously, less than 15 minutes).

On to the Longmen Grottos, coming soon.

PS - November was a busy month for the China Dudley's. Warren went to Japan at the same time that I went to Henan Province. When we got back, that Thursday we all headed to Beijing so there is a lot to write about and we'll try to get it all posted as quickly as we can. Check out the photos as well, we will have new albums uploaded with photos to go along with the posts. Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Overnight Train

Since we have been to China, Tammy and I have discussed taking an overnight train to Beijing or somewhere else. It seemed there was a certain sense of the train being a great way to travel and see the country. There was almost a mystique to the stories we heard describing the trains and we drank the Kool-Aid and thought it sounded very special. I am here to tell you that the bloom is off of the rose on this one. As Paul Harvey would say; “and now….the rest of the story.”

The company held an outing over the past weekend to Henan province to visit a few of the local sights (I won’t tell you where so you’ll have to check in again to find out). In order to get to Henan, specifically Zhengzhou, we would take the overnight train leaving Suzhou at 6:00pm and arriving in Zhengzhou at about 8:30am. So we took the sleeper train to Zhengzhou. It would be the first time I had traveled like that and I could get the Chinese experience of traveling like the locals that we see on the weekends walking around in their group hats. So with a certain sense of excitement and trepidation, I accepted the offer to make the journey with the other 300+ associates of the company. I didn’t know exactly where I would be sleeping, with whom I would be traveling or anything but I hoped for the best (and prepared for the worst). The train station is nothing new so I won’t go through that saga, it was the normal train station experience (at least normal for here). So when it comes time, I climb aboard the sleeper train (in this case we were on what is referred to as a “hard sleeper”). It was a little stunning, I have to be honest. Each car held 66 people and had a aisleway/corridor that ran down the one side of the car. On the other side were bunks, 6 in a section (so for you math wizards there were 11 sections per train). No doors, no curtains or anything to separate you from the masses, just your bunk and a place to toss your stuff. It wasn’t exactly made for Westerners, especially the top bunks. My ticket was for the top bunk and when I climbed to the top, I bopped my head immediately when I attempted to sit up. There was no room to sit, you could only lay down. You were about 7-8 feet off the floor on the top bunk, no guardrails or anything to keep you from going over during the night (I can hear the stampede of ambulance chasers now running to file lawsuits). There was a pillow and comforter stacked on each bunk and that’s about it. The aisleway had small “table tops” that were by the windows along with folding seats so you could sit at the table and talk, eat or play cards. Pretty rustic stuff compared to what I was expecting. Just so you know, one of the kids swapped bunks with me so I could be on the bottom bunk which was the largest bunk and doubled as a “sofa” for people to sit and talk. I know that you are asking yourselves about the “accommodations” (“Stop boring us with that stuff, tell us about the toilets?”). Well, at one end of the car were two sinks for all of your bathing & hygiene needs. At either end of the car was a toilet but as you might imagine, it wasn’t a Western potty, it was the squatty potty. There was a nice handrail low on the wall by the potty so you could brace yourself with the movement of the train and a “gas pedal” to flush. (The way it was put together was comical. I thought all they needed was a steering wheel instead of the handrail and it could’ve been driving practice.) The ventilation was a small window, and there was a tiny sink and of course the wastebasket for all of your used tp. It wasn’t exactly the gold standard for toilets but when you travel like the locals….

Now although there were many people in the company on the train, there were just as many regulars on the train that were forced to intermingle with the confusion and chaos created by a bunch of young Chinese “kids” that were going on a field trip (with no chaperones). That’s the only way I could describe it, it was a group of unsupervised 20-30 year olds that were going on an all expense paid vacation (or you can take what’s behind Door #2, tell them what it is Johnny Olson…..a new car!). Chaotic and entertaining all rolled into one. How they interacted with each other is hard to describe but everyone seems to get along like they’ve known each other since grade school. I guess it would be best described like the Expats here. We all share one common experience, living in a foreign country and since we can share that, we hang out together and form bonds. For many of the workers it is the same thing. They left home to come to Suzhou to work, they find others in the same situation and they form an almost instant bond. We were hired on the same day so you are now my new best friend. Given that they are all generally under the age of 25, perhaps it’s better viewed like a fraternity party without the alcohol but with the same amount of energy. There is no consideration of others, it’s party time!

Since it was after 6:00, they started bringing out their food for the trip. I’ll take a quick segway here into how they pack. I packed for 3 days with change of clothes, toiletries, etc. I mean think about how you would pack and what kind of suitcase you might need. After all, we’re headed Northwest of Suzhou so the weather will be different and we had to prepare for rain, etc. I got everything into a mid-size backpack and had a smaller pack for the camera. I also took 2 boxes of granola bars for sustenance since I had no idea what would be on the menu anywhere. I made every effort to not go overboard with clothes and stuff but it was difficult. I wanted to be warm so it took a little more thought to try and get everything to work out. When I looked at what I was carrying compared to the locals, it appeared that I was headed into the wilderness for a month long trek on the Silk Road. How did they pack? They packed FOOD and perhaps a change in undies or a heavy jacket but that was it. Many just had a plastic bag with food and no change in clothes. Seriously, they wore the same thing each day but for them, it was normal. The girls tended to pack more stuff and had small backpacks but most didn’t have any change in clothes so every day they wore the same outfit. It was about the food and how much you could bring along. They had fruit, cakes, dried fruit, dried meats & fish, chips, nuts, just about everything you could think of that you would not take (chicken feet, packaged eggs, packaged tofu, etc.). Some had noodle bowls that they would add hot water and eat while others basically snacked for their meal. Me, I had ½ of a Subway sandwich for dinner. Beyond the food, the interesting part was that they shared everything they had with others. They opened their bag of food and offer stuff to others. Sometimes, they would open the bags of others and grab something out and begin to munch on it. This was so different than I expected. In the US if you open my bag and grab my food, we’re going to have a problem. Not even a second thought was given and everyone happily shared with others. They continued all night to offer me food and it was like I could never refuse it. I would decline, it would be offered again and again until I took some. One of the ladies brought sushi that she made herself. I was scared to death of this. It was 7:00, no refrigeration since she left home (if it was in the fridge at all) and I had no idea if it had shrimp or what kind of meat in it. Talk about your walking wounded if that came back on me. Throwing up with a Western potty provides some degree of trepidation on a train (who sat on this last?) but when you think about throwing up in a squatty…..yikes! (I know, paints a pretty picture doesn’t it) Turns out, I did try it and the meat was a hot dog cube in the middle with a cucumber for the veggie. It was very delicious and I was surprised (and thankful that I didn’t pay the price for this test). So, there wasn’t really what we would call a meal, it was grazing for supper. Then when they were hungry again, they pulled out more snacks to eat and snacked some more. The calorie intake wasn’t very high and there was a lot of junk eaten but it seemed normal to them and I just sat and observed. Every once in awhile a train attendant would walk down the aisleway with a cart of drinks and snacks. There was also the “soup cart” that a lady came through with. It was like the carts for airplanes but the sides were solid and there was a huge container with a ladle sticking out for the soup. This looked like a wagon that would be used at a prison where they would walk by and slosh some broth or gruel into your cup (please sir, may I have a scrap of bread to go with my broth?). Nasty looking stuff and I didn’t see anyone eat it. Every once in awhile an attendant would come through with a trash bag and a broom to keep the place clean.

The cars were all connected and in between each section was the smoking area. It didn’t really matter much because the smell of cigarettes wafted just about everywhere. So you had a lot of noise with the talking and laughing of the locals, the “smooth” (that’s sarcasm just so you know) movement of the train and the smell of cigarettes to create an ambiance that was completely new to me. I think I had walked into the bar like Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars movie (but it’s now Star Wars IV right), it was the same feeling. We had many stops along the way for people to get on and off the train so it was ride for awhile, stop, ride, stop…you get the drift. I just people watched and talked with those that spoke some English. I was surrounded by the kids so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. They played the Chinese version of poker but I could not figure out how it was played. They didn’t play for money and it was more about the interaction than anything else for the girls. They would look at each others hands, steal cards, etc. It was an interesting dynamic as they just wanted to talk and have fun, the game was secondary to everything else. Steve and I taught a couple of them how to play Texas Hold’em since we couldn’t understand their game. They seemed to grasp it but it took all they could do to keep from taking the cards from the center and using them in their hand.

At 9:45pm, the attendant came through and indicated the lights would be turned off at 10:00 so everyone started to get ready for bed. I was a lot nervous about the pillow and comforter since I didn’t see that they had any kind of sanitary environment for washing these items (if they washed them). So I decided to snuggle down with just my jacket as a blankey. When the lights went off, it didn’t stop the noise, they kept chatting away like it was nothing but I had prepared for this eventuality by bringing along earplugs to wear. There were several issues besides the noise from talking, one was the aisleway lights. They were pointed more across the aisle than down at the floor so they were light little laser beams that hit you in the face unless you moved your foot or something to block the glare. Then there were the window curtains that didn’t block out all of the light so when you went by another station or train or any kind of light, it lit up the entire compartment. Of course there was the herky-jerky motion of the train and then the stops up until about midnight where people were getting on and off the train and of course they had to walk through your car to get to where they were going, chatting all the way (by chatting I mean loudly projecting their voice to be heard on the other side of the universe, “Is this the car”, “Nope, 12 more to go”, “Okay, what else can we talk about on the way there?”, “How about I tell you a story about the little engine that couldn’t shut the hell up”, “I love that story, I’m sure everyone else wants to hear it too.”, “You are right, I’ll talk louder”…and of course they had the obligatory bump of their luggage against each and every bunk as they walked by. Ma and Pa Wang go to Zhengzhou.) I placed my jacket over my head to block the light, put in my earplugs and tried to sleep. I kept having this weird dream that I was taking a loud, crowded, smoky train across China and every time I woke up, it was true! Aiya! I think I was finally able to nod off at about 11:30-12:00 and slept in intervals of maybe 60-90 minutes. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed in the world but at least it was a sleeper car (maybe I stated this before but I have a colleague that took a 21 hour train ride to his hometown and had to purchase a standing room only ticket, now that would be very uncomfortable!). At around 5:30am, the kids began to stir and chat it up again and get their morning breakfast. Fruit, nuts, candy, junk food, whatever. Me, I took my Sigg bottle (that’s an endorsement people, they owe me $5) and headed to the hot water dispenser with my coffee pack to get the morning jolt at about 6:30. I walked by people splashing themselves in the sinks like birds in a birdbath, no nakedness so at least I didn’t have to see that. I had my granola bars and ate my breakfast and tried to come alive. They kept asking me if I needed to “shower” (which I guess was splash myself with cold water) and I indicated I already had. No change in clothes, just wake up and come as you are…not exactly a refreshing morning but at least we were closer to our destination.

Stay tuned for the destination.....