Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Shanghai
We started out our first day in Shanghai with umbrella's and raincoats. Darn rain. The city has really cleaned up all the buildings, fixed all the roads, subways, and everything in preparation for the 2010 World Expo going on right now. It is like a huge World's Fair, and yet another attempt by China to show the world they have grown up and are a modern country and city. We are going there today.
We went to a silk factory, where they seperate the strands, that make the thread, that get spun into.... (you get the picture). Very nice tour, and we walked out of there with some fine silk products.
The river front (The Bund) is where Shanghai began back in the British days, and it is still the hub for the city. Just across the river is the Pudong district. All farmland 30 years ago, but a couple of bridges, and now some tunnels, and turned the framers into millionaires, and the land into skyscrapers.
We ended the day going to an amazing Chinese acrobatic show. No pictures allowed, and jugglers, balancing acts, and gymnasts, were all great.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Hong Kong:FREE DAY!!
No wake up call today so we could eat breakfeast when we wanted, and then do what we wanted. We started out by going to the Flower Market, a street where all of the flowers come into town, get processed and then delivered out to flower shops all over the area. The smells were great.
Then we went over tothe Bird Market. Small birds are popular pets because they don't take up much room and are easy to keep. There is an area, where people sell and trade small birds. Mostly older men. But they are very serious about their birds. It was fun towalk through the area and see all the different kind of pet birds.
Then we took a harbour cruise. Hong Kong has a great harbour front. Hundreds of boats and ships, and a great skyline. And since there were only 2 other people on the boat... no crowd!
Then we took the tram back up to the top of Victoria Peak. The views were great!. We took a stroll around the mountain, and then ate dinner and watched the lights of the city come on.
Yesterday was a travel day and today we are in Shanghai.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Hong Kong: Day 2
The (hazy) view from Victoria Peak.
The Aberdeen fishing boat harbour.
The Hong Kong skyline.Hong Kong is a great city. 7 million or 6000 per kilometer (vs 30 in the US) make for a lot of high rise buildings, and small living spaces (average size of an aprtment for 2 is 350 square feet). But the city is clean, and with 1 car for every 5 people, the bus and subway system are great and easy to use. The cities #1 industry is the deep water port followed by finance and then us (tourists). The Ferrari, Lotus, BMW and Mercedes dealers are doing well dispite a 100% tax on the purchase of high end autos. As our guide said today, "the filthy rich people call the shots".
Tomorrow, we have our first free day! No wakeup call!!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Hong Kong
We finished our last day in Guilin by touring an underground cave and a university park. The students are back in school and the universities are exciting for students to attend because not all students that want to attend the universities get to go.
We arrived tonight in Hong Kong. Although part of China "sort of", and only a few hundred miles away, what a difference. A bright, new, vibrant city thriving under free enterprise. Everything is bright,clean and new. It looks, feels and seems like an American city.
We arrived tonight in Hong Kong. Although part of China "sort of", and only a few hundred miles away, what a difference. A bright, new, vibrant city thriving under free enterprise. Everything is bright,clean and new. It looks, feels and seems like an American city.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Xi'an/ Guilin/Yangshou
We finished our time in Xi'an by walking around the Big Wild Goode Pagoda, and biking on the ancient city wall. We got quite an education on Buddism, and all of the gods that help Buddha (and therefore have their own little pagoda). Chinese see Buddhism as a way of connecting the heavens and the earth through various means.
The Xi'an ancient wall is about 10 stories tall and about 60 feet wide at the top (over 100 feet wide at the bottom), and it makes for a great vantage point to see some areas of the city easy by riding a bike.
Guilin is a more rural city, and the surrounding area is definetly rural and the real China. We boarded a small sightseeing boat and sopent 4 hours cruising the Li River. This is the scenery 
that China likes to put on postcards. Hills, lush vegitation, chinese working in the rice fields. It was a little rainy for the cruise, but the scenes are great. we ended up in Yangshou, a town of about 300,000 and tonight we ewnt to a magnificent theater production on the water with lights and acting called Liu Sa Jie produced by the same man who did the opening of the Olympic games in Beijing. It was awesome.
that China likes to put on postcards. Hills, lush vegitation, chinese working in the rice fields. It was a little rainy for the cruise, but the scenes are great. we ended up in Yangshou, a town of about 300,000 and tonight we ewnt to a magnificent theater production on the water with lights and acting called Liu Sa Jie produced by the same man who did the opening of the Olympic games in Beijing. It was awesome.Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Xi'an: Day 2
The sun came out today!
We spent most of the day at the Terracotta Warriors. This is quite an archiological site, covering many acres. An Emporer several centuries ago started building thousands of clay warriors below ground level in the hope that these warriors would fend off the spirits and he would be able to rule after he died. So for over 35 years he had thousands of peasants and slaves build this site. Of course it did not work, and after his death the peasants smashedmost of the warriors. Fast forward to 1974, and a farmer was digging a well and stumbled upon this site, and a few years later they started to unearth all of these clay statues (2,000 of about 8,000 so far). Now the 80 year old farmer sits in the gift shop and signs his autograph to the coffe table book with all the info in it. Of course the State took over the land gets all the money from the admissions. It is all quite interesting, and amazing.
Tonight, we went to a Chinese show and dinner. The show had ancient instruments and dance's in costume. Very graceful.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Pictures
Lyla got back!
Temple of Heaven. It takes up several blocks and has a large park surrounding it.
Senior Citizens meet in the park and play cards, sing in groups, do yoga and ti chi, play in bands. It is quite entertaining. They come at 6 AM and stay all morning.
Beijing/Xi'an
No pictures today because Lyla is out scouting out the area with her camera.
We started of the day in Beijing visiting the Temple of Heaven. Another large temple that was built to connect the earth with heaven, but not really with God (or a god). Chinese rulers ( as well as the people) are very superstitious. So temples were built for devine clearance and atonement, or for rites to be performed.
We then made our way to the airport, which meant that once again we were exposed to massive traffic jams. The city has had such an influx of people (17 million or 3 times NYC) and the status symbol is a car. So they all try to drive. The result is massive gridlock. the buses are packed, the roads are clogged, and they can not seem to get a handle on how people can move around. The young people are moving to the large cities seeking out new opportunities, the infrastructure can not keep up.
We flew to Xi'an (she'-on), a city of about 7 million and the former capital of China. The drive from the airport was about 75 minutes, and we saw skyscraper after skyscraper being built with apartments. As in Beijing, people are moving to this city because it is a hi-tech hotbed and there are many universities here. So you can imagine the traffic. People trying to get around actually running across the freeway, and are able to because traffic is stopped.
I can not imaging being an independent tourist in this country. Not many people speak English, the traffic is difficult and road system is complex and not well marked.Our tour guides are great because they live in the cities we are visiting and can speak to local culture.
Yesterday, we went to a hutong in Beijing. It is like an old,old section that has not been swallowed up by new buildings. Within the hutongs are little family compounds where multiple generations live. The one we visited had been in the family for 100 years and had recently gotten indoor plumbing. This was located about 1 mile from the Forbidden City! She had also gotten cable TV and broadband. The interior of the buildings all face each other and there was a little room for the concubine!
There is so much to absorb, and the culture is so different, but what a great experience.
We started of the day in Beijing visiting the Temple of Heaven. Another large temple that was built to connect the earth with heaven, but not really with God (or a god). Chinese rulers ( as well as the people) are very superstitious. So temples were built for devine clearance and atonement, or for rites to be performed.
We then made our way to the airport, which meant that once again we were exposed to massive traffic jams. The city has had such an influx of people (17 million or 3 times NYC) and the status symbol is a car. So they all try to drive. The result is massive gridlock. the buses are packed, the roads are clogged, and they can not seem to get a handle on how people can move around. The young people are moving to the large cities seeking out new opportunities, the infrastructure can not keep up.
We flew to Xi'an (she'-on), a city of about 7 million and the former capital of China. The drive from the airport was about 75 minutes, and we saw skyscraper after skyscraper being built with apartments. As in Beijing, people are moving to this city because it is a hi-tech hotbed and there are many universities here. So you can imagine the traffic. People trying to get around actually running across the freeway, and are able to because traffic is stopped.
I can not imaging being an independent tourist in this country. Not many people speak English, the traffic is difficult and road system is complex and not well marked.Our tour guides are great because they live in the cities we are visiting and can speak to local culture.
Yesterday, we went to a hutong in Beijing. It is like an old,old section that has not been swallowed up by new buildings. Within the hutongs are little family compounds where multiple generations live. The one we visited had been in the family for 100 years and had recently gotten indoor plumbing. This was located about 1 mile from the Forbidden City! She had also gotten cable TV and broadband. The interior of the buildings all face each other and there was a little room for the concubine!
There is so much to absorb, and the culture is so different, but what a great experience.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Day 3: Beijing and the Great Wall
There are several places outise to visit the Great Wall. The spot we visited on our tour was good, but had some steep steps to go up! The tours are obligated to stop at various factories. Today, we visited a jade factory, yesterday it was a fresh water pearl factory. Most of these factories are overpriced, so it if difficult to justify buying anything.
In the afternoon, we visited the 2008 Olympic Village and got to see the Birds Nest and Ice Cube. The Birds Nest is the size of a football stadium. Beijing cleared a lot of land in order to build the stadiums and surrounding buildings.
Outside of it raining off and on all day, the tour company packs a lot to sightseeing into a day.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
More Pictures from Day 2
This is the main gate of the Forbidden City. Also, a man riding his back carrying a very large package of styrofome
Beijing Day 2
This is a picture of the open air market from te first day.
We had a full day of being a tourist today. Up at 6:30, on the bus by 8: 00 AM. We visited the Summer palace before going to Tienamin Square and the Forbidden City. Never did I ever imaging that we would ever visit both. the Forbidden City, by itself, is very simple.But when the guide explains all of the history around it and what has taken place there, it is very interesting.
The traffic in Beijing is terrible. You just crawl along. And the drivers are crazy.
We have good guides. They both speak very good english and and are very knowledgable about China's way of life.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Day 1 Beijing
Our arrival to Beijing started off with a taxi ride from the airport to the hotel by mario andretti. weaving in and out of traffic, we were sure that we were going to die 15 minutes after arriving.The airport was very efficient, and hotel is nice, but a bit old. We spent the day at an open market with hundreds of vendors and thousands to people and then went to a mall that had a great food court where we got to sample many types of chinese food.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Trip To China
As we are getting ready to travel to China, it will be exciting to experience a completely difference culture. Stayed tuned.
