TravelStream™ news feed for member kupshur on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/kupshur en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:14:16 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1217169240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1217169240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1217169240/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:14:16 -0400 Travels in China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Beijing, China

Today was our last day in China. It has been an amazing trip, but I am feeling every mile and am ready to return. That does not mean, however, that we didn't make the most out of our time today.

This morning Rachel and I parted ways for the day, as she went to spend some time with her cousin living in Beijing. I met up with Yufei and a friend of Yufei's (Fang) to go to the Summer palace. It was lovely and amazing to see that every little peice of every design had a meaning. Yufei and Fang explained much of the symbolism behind the animals and shapes in the artwork. The visit also had somewhat of a bitter twinge to it as the origninal palace had been burned to the ground (along with 4 others) by the Anglo-French forces during the Opium wars. It boggles the mind to think of what was lost. The Emperess Dowager Cixi, who reigned until 1904, had the summer palace reconstructed along with a few of the relics that had been saved.


After that we climbed the steps (which my legs are still rebelling against since the Great Wall) of the Tower of Buddha's Incense to check out the amazing view. We started to run short on time though, so we hopped aboard a dragon boat across the lake and caught a bus back to Yufei's house. Her mom had made a lunch of rice, steamed shrimp, vegtables, spicy eggplant, and chicken soup. So good! It was really nice to have some home cooked Chinese food after all the heavy oily food of the restaurants. Her mom is a great cook, not to mention a really interesting person. She does not speak English, but Yufei was telling me that she has won several awards for her progressive work in the local government.

After chatting with her parents for a bit and watching a bit of the news on TV, Yufei and I headed for the capital museum. We could have spent a week in there, but they closed at five, so we spent most of the time in an exhibit about the growth of civilization along the Yangtze river. I enjoyed that after having taken a boat down the Yangtze myself. They had found evidence of human beings living along that river as long as two million years ago. Another exhibit was about the history of sports in China. Right now Beijing is everything Olympics. Even at the Summer Palace there was an exhibit about the Olympics, which showed photographs and old advertisements from past events (including the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis - same year the Olympics were there). So needless to say, the Capital Museum dedicated a whole section to sports in China. The fact that China is being recognized on the international sports scene represents their growing power and influence on the world stage. It seems every palace, temple, and museum in Beijing now finds a way to remind visitors of this fact via the coming Olympics. It is a very exciting time to be in this city.

After the museum we met up with Rachel again, and by that point we all went home. Rachel and I called it an early night, which was much needed. This has been the trip of a lifetime and I have loved every minute, but it is time to go home to St. Louis. Good bye China! You are an amazing country.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216998060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216998060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216998060/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:11:35 -0400 Travels in China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Beijing, China

On Friday we went to the Great Wall of China at Mutinayu, which is a site that is less crowded and touristy than some of the others. It lived up to that reputation and it was not crowded at all. Going up the mountain of Mutinayu was amazing, as we had made the fortunate decision to take a cable car up. It was like a sky lift without the skies - and with the Great Wall at the top. The view was incredible, although the pictures may not do it justice as it was a foggy day. When we started walking along the wall we were very grateful that we had made the decision to use the cable car instead of hiking because we found that the top of this wall is deceptively full of stairs. That was the secret weapon to keep out the Mongols - if the wall itself didn't deter them, the heart attacks they got from climbing that thing (in armor mind you) would. It was all worth it though - absolutely stunning. And one of the highlights was going down the mountain. We sat on these little wooden roller boards that zoomed down a winding metal slide. It was like an amusement park ride through ancient China. Awesome!

The rest of the tour (it included a lot of sites around Beijing) was less thrilling. It was the Ming Tombs, the Jade Factory and the Silk factory. Those last two were pretty much places for us to spend money, and I would say that the plan worked pretty well.

At night we met our friend, Yufei, for dinner. She goes to Wash U, but Beijing is her hometown. We went to Houhai park, very close to our hostel. We went into an a la cart food court with a lot of traditional Beijing food, which had a live singer singing traditional Chinese songs. It was delicious and I have gathered by now that Beijingers have a sweet tooth. My kind of town.

After dinner we walked around the park for a bit and saw a large strip of bars. Apparently, this is one of the party streets of Beijing. Yufei explained that the stereotype here is that all people that speak English are big partiers and drink a lot, so there were a lot of people trying to get us to come inside their bar. By the time we got back to our hostel we were soar and exhasted, courtesy of the Great Wall I assume. We slept like babies.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1217086680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1217086680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1217086680/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:11:01 -0400 Travels in China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Beijing, China

We spent the day with Yufei today, who wanted to take us to the Minority Cultural Park. This is really close to the Olympic buildings, and so we went to see the Bird's Nest and Watercube and all of the Olympic volunteers walking by. The cultural park was interesting as well, weaving in and out of huts from the various 56 ethnic groups of China.

We then went to the largest mall in Asia, Youyi, for lunch at the food court. Apparently, the guys that served us were arguing in Chinese about where Rachel and I were from. One said Russia, the other said United States (he was proud of himself when Yufei said we were Americans). I find it amusing that no one can quite place where I am from. Most say England, but now I've had France, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, and Russia.

After that we headed to the Zoo to see the pandas. It happened to be very close to the neighborhood that Youfei grew up in, so it was a bit of a trip down memory lane for her. On the bus she pointed out parks she used to play at and the road she took to school. So nostalgic.
The pandas were adorable, especially a baby that was especially playful. I had never seen a panda so active before. We also got a chance to see the monkeys that we had seen playing in the wild on the banks of the smaller three gorges. We hadn't been able to see them up close on the boat.


Then it was time for dinner and to head to the Peking Opera. We were watching the story of a family during the Han dynasty that had been giving the task of writng the dynasty's history. During the first act, Yufei translated the scenes for us and we were good little opera goers with some binoculars that Yufei had brought from home. The costumes and make up are out of this world! The second act was a bit different - Yufei and I fell asleep, which really amused Rachel. It had been a long day. One the of the biggest differences I noticed about the theater audience in China, vs the theater experience in the US is that people do not dress up. We could go in the clothes we had worn all day. When I had asked Yufei about this she had said that historically the people that went to the Opera were very poor and so "dressing up" to go to the opera never really caught on because they could not afford it. Well, it's off to bed for me. Last day in China is tomorrow!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216912320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216912320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216912320/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:05:54 -0400 Travels in China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Beijing, China

Today was our first full day in Beijing, which we spent at Tienamen Square and the Forbidden City. I got my picture taken with Mao (the poster of course). The square was bursting with tourists, security gaurds, and last minute construction efforts in preparation for the Olympics. I am sure you have heard this on the news, but Beijing has really gone all out in its efforts to clean up the city before the big day. They have successfully improved the air quality by 50% by closing factories, reducing cars on the road and other provisions. The government actually passed a law that saws only license plates with even number plates can drive on even numbered dates and the same for odd numbers. This is how they have cut the cars on the road in half. This is also the first time in China that I have seen a lot of recycling bins around (although in Chongqing we saw cans specifically marked "unrecycling" - got to love very PC trashcans).
But back to the touristy stuff. We spent the better part of a day walking around the many palaces of the Forbidden City. Beautifull places, as you would expect for royal families. Some of the artwork was especially impressive. I think my favorite place was the Garden of Scarlet Snow because it was less crowded and more relaxing. And get this - the emperor was a rockclimber! They actually had a rock where he and the emperess would climb once a year to enjoy the view.
When we got back, I went out to get some things while Rachel stayed in the room. There is a major street close to us where I ducked into a couple of H&Mesque stores. I find that I have difficulty shopping here, because it is common for sales people to follow you around the store as soon as you enter. In America that means that they think you will steal something. When it happened here, that was my first thought, but I think it is to sell you things or to be welcoming to customers (or maybe both), but still my automatic response is to leave. I have gotten used to it a little, but I still can't stay in stores for very long. I find it too awkward. That is a great way save money I suppose.

A couple of our friends from the institute got off of work at six tonight and had time to meet us for dinner. We headed downtown to meet them at six and were proud that we successfully navigated the subway system on our way. Wendy said that she wanted to take us to the place with the best traditional Beijing food in town, and I think she knew what she was talking about. It was great. They actually had one item, in which the translation was "Delicious rolls". Aptly named.

They came back to the hostel with us and liked the traditional courtyard (they told us the Chinese name, but I could not begin to spell it here). Angela was very excited when she walked in, saying that she had never actually seen one of those before. See the picture here.


We chatted for a little, but they had to be at work early in the morning and we are heading out for the Great Wall bright and early. I am so excited! So we walked them out. It was great to meet up with them agian.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216822440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216822440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216822440/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:02:25 -0400 Travels in China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Beijing, China

I am now caught up with the blogs and tonight we arrived in Beijing, a city that is seething with excitement over the coming Olympics. One can almost feel it. And if you can't feel it, you can't miss the thousands of banners all over the city.

Most of today was spent in the Yichang airport, a very very rural airport with only three gates. As we approached the building in the middle of farmland and mountains, there was a field of yaks outside the parking lot to the airport. Although our flight was not until 5 this evening, we had gotten there early because we had to check out of our hotel at noon, and well - there just wasn't much else to do but head to the airport. We discovered, however, that this airport does not wake up until about 3 in the afternoon. At one o'clock, the place was completely dark save for one other man sitting in a coffee shop. It was a little creepy.

The flight to Beijing was pleasant for me as the seat beside me was empty. Rachel seems to have had a different experience. Upon arriving in Beijing, getting a taxi was a bit more difficult. We had tried to arrange a taxi through our hostel, but there was a mix up in the date, so we went to plan B - venture to the taxi line. It's amazing how difficult getting a taxi can be when you don't speak the same language. I called the hostel so she could give directions to the taxi driver. We thought that would be ok, but then he started saying something to us in Chinese and of course we had no idea what he was saying. We found out that what he actually had said must have been something similar to "We're lost". He motioned for the phone again and the woman on the phone got us there.

This area of Beijing is a more historical neighborhood, with chinese lanterns, hutongs (narrow alley ways between homes) and old brick homes with that Chinese roof turned up at the corners that is so recognizable to westerners. Out of the taxi, we followed our hostess at the guess house through a big double door and into a courtyard that gave us a sense of having traveled back in time hundreds of years into Chinese history. The place had a red glow from Chinese lanterns and everything was quaint and peaceful. We had originally booked Friday through Sunday nights, but ended up getting to Beijing earlier than we had planned. So we had two bookings, and apparently, hostelworld had lost our second booking. They only had one bed tonight - one twin bed that Rachel and I would have to share. Well if we didn't know each other well after our travels the last three weeks, we will now. There are two other Americans in the room (college students from Oklahoma) and they were a little confused when the two of us walked in. Our host and hostess were amazingly friendly and apologetic. When they realized the mistake, they handed us popsicles and said "Please sit, don't hurry. Have a rest." Even when I had stood up to hand her my passport, she made sure I sat down again. Hospitality is a very big thing here. In anycase, it worked out. We'll be cozy tonight, but tomorrow we move into another room.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216735200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216735200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216735200/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:59:33 -0400 Travels in China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Yichang, Hubei, China

We were woken up early the next morning (as usual on this boat) to see the second and third gorges. The second gorge, called the Wu Gorge, is famous for its misty peaks. It was certainly misty, especially because it was raining. I went out to see it, but I think that Jaydee and Rachel were more interested in sleeping. The Third gorge, Xiling Gorge, used to be known for fast currents, and dangerous rapids that were hard to navigate. After the water level rose, there are no longer rapids.
We opted out of seeing the Three Gorge damn later that day, much to the disbelief of our tour guide. We were told about three times that this is a very famous dam, the biggest in the world, etc, and each time we politely declined. It was if she thought we did not know what we were passing up. We did.
We made it to the bus to Yichang city, were it seems we are the only foreigners. One of our Chinese friends had written the name of our hotel in Mandarin and we showed that to the taxi driver. Fortunately, we got to the right place and checked in. We were so excited to see our room - very big we thought. In the evening we ventured down the street from our hotel for dinner. We were prepared to just point to something and see what we got (since not much English is spoken here and all food seems to be delicious anyways), but the waitress actually spoke English and was very friendly. She took us to where the food was displayed so that we could point at things that looked good and suggested that we have the dumplings, showing us that the best way to eat them was by dipping them in vinegar first. It was all delicious, as usual, and we were grateful for a real meal after a diet of fast noodles on the boat. After a good night sleep, free of hearing Chinese Karaoke from above us, we are getting ready to head to the airport. Our next stop is Beijing and our plane gets in around 7 pm tonight. More later!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216649220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216649220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216649220/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:56:27 -0400 Travels in China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Wushan, Chongqing, China

Monday was a much busier day than Sunday had been. Again we were woken up at 6 in the morning to leave at 6:30 (but she had been a bit more straight forward about the time). The first stop was to get off at Badi town, also known as White King Town. The town, on the west bank of the Qutang Gorge, got this name because the Gongsun Shu in the later part of the Han dynasty proclaimed himself to be the king of what is now Sichuan (then it was called Shu). Apparently, one day he saw white mist in the form of a dragon rising out of one of the wells in this town. He thought it was a white dragon, the symbol for luck, and thus he called himself the White King. The town then became "White King Town". There are several statues of Gongsun, as he was said to be a benevolent ruler and the people made statues to commemorate him.
When we got back on the boat (very early just to be safe), we received a phone call from our tourguide's translater that we would be sailing through the first Gorge (Qutang Gorge) in about 10 minutes. We went outside to reserve a spot on the railing. It was spectacular and the closest I can come to describing the view is the pictures that will be uploaded on this blog. Be sure to check them out.
I guess now would be a good time to fill you in one what is going on with the Three Gorge Dam. Granted that water power is a cleaner option for energy and this dam will be used to power half of China, but seeing the cost was saddening. The government made the decision to build this dam in 1993, and after the first section of it was completed the water level rose by 135 meters practically overnight. Half of the ancient towns, caverns, and famous sites that our book talks about were washed away or drowned. By the time the dam is finished next year, the water level will be at 175 meters and at least 1.3 million people will have been forced to migrate. Knowing all of this added a bitter taste to the beautiful scenery.
In the afternoon our tour guide knocked on our door to say that we had to go on the small three gorges cruise. We were not prepared for this (well, we would have been if we spoke Chinese but needless to say we did not understand any of the announcements made over the loud speaker), so we quickly got our stuff and headed off the boat. We let ourselves follow the current of people onto the dock and on to another smaller boat. The Three Gorges starts at the mouth of the Daning river, a branch off of the Yangtze, which is too narrow for our large cruise ship, so we had to board another and very quaint little boat. We were settling in as this boat started into the mouth of the little three gorges, and we experienced the scenery of the Longmen Gorge, Bawu Gorge, and Dicui Gorge. It was not long after we had gotten comfortable when this boat also stopped at a dock. Apparently, we were supposed to board another boat, but this was a little bit more difficult to get comfortable with. About 30 to 40 of us were herded onto a small wooden boat that looked like not much more than a wooden raft with a hatch roof and a motor on the back. Now we were about to use this Pea Pod boat to float down the Shennongxi River which is another tributary off of the Yangtze. We were told to put on our lifejackets, and the tour guide (who also did not speak English) started giving a very important sounding lecture that seemed like a what-to-do-incase-of-emergency lecture. It gets a little unnerving not knowing what these important talks are all about. Oh well, good thing I could swim.
Then the tour guide started singing some song that we did not understand, but based on the book it seems like it was a traditional song of the Tujia people, one of the minorities in China that used to be heard singing along these banks before construction on the dam began. There were other foreigners on the boat (from Spain and Czech Republic) that looked just as lost as we did during the singing, but we joined in the best we could when everyone else did. We sailed on this little authentic Pea Pod boat for some time, and I know it was beautiful because I could see a little bit through the people and the hatch roof. I was actually very focused on getting back to our bigger and much more stable boat. I have never minded small boats - I used to go on them all the time as a kid, but when they have 40 people on them that are speaking a language I don't understand it is a bit different. Our side also kept leaning father in into the water as the weight distribution was not even, but the tour guide did not seem to mind. Rachel and I just tried leaning our weight to the right, to little avail. It was still fun though.
We finally got back to the bigger-small boat, which was to make one more stop before we finally got back to the ship. This time we stopped at ancient Dachang town, which is several kilometers beyond Dicui Gorge (last of the small three gorges). The book that Rachel bought earlier in the trip says, "When the Three Gorges reserves water again in 2006, the ancient Dachang Town will become Dachang smooth lake. Stories and legends about the ancient town for 1700 years will be the everlasting memory of people." Nice. Since this is now 2008, I'm guessing they must have moved the buildings instead of opting for a "Dachang smooth lake." Anyways, it was a charming little town, but I think we were mainly there to shop, which we were not particularly interested in at the time. We were more concerned about when to be back to the boat, as we did not know what time it would be leaving (another one of those announcements, of course). Our strategy was to stay close to other people from our boat. There was one family whose daughter spoke a little bit of English and was very friendly to us, so most of the time we kept an eye on them. In any case, we followed the stream of people and made it back to the boat. And after the boat took off again, we actually saw monkeys playing along the side of the gorges! It was amazing. I tried to take a picture, but it would not come out because we were too far away. It was about 7 by the time we got back to the ship.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216560240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216560240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216560240/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:51:38 -0400 Travels in China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Fengdu, Chongqing, China

As promised, the day started with an early wakeup call at 5:30 in the morning in preparation to get off and tour the famous ghost town of Fengdu. She had told us that we would leave at 7 and get back to the boat at 10. We found out that this actually meant that we would leave at six thirty for Fengdu and the boat would be leaving at 9:45. It's a good thing we stuck close to people we recognized from our boat.
According to legend, two famous Taoist priests during the Han dynasty (contemporaries of the Roman empire) practiced religious doctrines on Pingdu Mountain, which is situated in Fengdu. These two priests, named Yin Changsheng and Wang Fangping, became gods. Later on, people began to combine their names to form "Yin Wang", which means "God of the Netherworld". Therefore, by association, Pingdu Mountain became known as the Nether world. Of course, we could not understand what was being said by our tour guide, but even if we had not had a guide book to help us along the way, we would have been able to guess that this was some imaginative version of hell. It was complete with ghoulish statues, beasts, and people being tortured in grotesque artwork. It looked like "Dante's Inferno meets Taoism". By the way, I don't remember when I had last climbed so many stairs. That was one good thing about the early hour - it was not yet hottest part of the day.
Fortunately, that was the only thing planned for the day and we were back on the boat by 9:30 in the morning. We came back to our beds and promptly slept the rest of the day. It was much needed. With the exception of waking up to get some fast noodles (aka: Romen noodles) from the store on the boat and a shower around six, there is literally nothing else that we did that day. A great lazy Sunday afternoon sailing down the Yangtze; what could be better?

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216819140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216819140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216819140/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:49:54 -0400 Travels in China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Chongqing, Chongqing, China

As I said in the last blog entry, Yi and Yufei had made it possible for us to go on this amazing boat cruise, with more than a little effort. Yi's husband was going to pick us up from the airport in Chongqing and take us to get the tickets and to the docks as we don't speak Chinese and they did not speak English. Our flight took off at around 1:00 pm from the Xi'an airport. (Even the Chinese airlines, by the way, take good care of you. They actually served us lunch on a 1 and half hour flight.) For the most part, it was a smooth flight with the exception of one major bout of turbulence. The stewardess next to us in the aisle suddenly dropped to the ground with a worried look on her face. I looked over and thought, "Should we be scared?" But the flight smoothed out after that and we landed on time.
Yi's husband, Zhang, picked us up from the airport. We felt that he had already done so much for us, seeing as he had not even met us before, but that was only the beginning. He and his friend drove us all around Chongqing, showing us the city and buying us dishes that Chongqing is known for. He took us to the old wharf, which is full of old-style homes and vendors. We soon learned to avoid pointing out things that caught our attention (which was many things), as we discovered that it was a good possibility that he would then want to buy them for us. He also showed us a traditional Chongqing dessert that is best described as jello in a sugary water substance, but I don't know the English name. After that, he bought us another one that was similar. It was watermelon and other sweet foods in a sugary soup. And after that, dumplings. We were stuffed, but felt that it would offend him to not eat it. And it really was good. This was not even dinner yet. He would not let us pay for a thing. We spent the whole afternoon thanking him a lot.
We walked around another avenue, which was fortunate as we all had to walk off the three Chinese desserts we had been fed before dinner. Zhang decided us to show us the rest of Chongqing (at least a good bit of it) by car. We had no complaints with that, as we were getting a bit tired by this point. Chongqing, by the way, is known as one of the four hottest cities in China. We were feeling every bit.
After that, Zhang took us to a Hotpot restaurant, which is a famous dish in Chongqing. Most of you probably don't know what a hotpot is. What happens is that there is a giant pot over a flame in the middle of the table, which has too parts. The inner bowl is filled with non-spicy animal oil. The outer rim around that bowl is filled with spicy (and I do mean SPICY) animal oil, hence the name hotpot. On our plates, there is a bowl of plant oil (yes, oil is a big theme here) and we were passed a plate of garlic to stir into this bowl. Then the waiters started bringing all sorts of dishes, including bamboo, ham, roast beef, seaweed, and the most famous hotpot dishes, cow stomach and duck stomach (Zhang wouldn't tell us what those were until after we had eaten it - very tough but ok). Zhang's friend started dumping the various meats and vegetables into the hot oil to let it cook for a bit. After awhile, we dug in with our chopsticks to see what we would get. Then we were supposed to let it cool in the bowl of plant oil that we each had. Now remember, Chongqing is located in Sichuan province, which is known for spicy foods. To say that this meal cleared our sinuses is an understatement. Yummy though. By the way, Zhong said that the reason that spicy food had become so characteristic of Sichuan is due to the fact that the hot peppers protect people from a disease that used to be very problematic here.
It turned out that we were sitting next to a family that knew Zhang and Yi well. Their son was a very friendly and outgoing school aged boy, about 13 or 14 who spoke wonderful English and came over to say hello. His grandfather had been a translator, which accounted for his impeccable English, and he was very excited to talk to Americans as he is thinking about going to the states to study. One of the things he wanted to know was whether it is true that every American had a psychologist like on TV shows. Funny.
After dinner we had to hurry to the docks and push our way through the crowds. Zhang saw us all the way to our room on the boat. We thanked him profusely for all his hospitality, and insisted that we would take him and Yi out for a great meal when he is in St. Louis (he is planning to come later this summer). I get the feeling that he felt obliged to entertain us as we were his guests; it was an interesting cultural learning experience.
So we then settled into our home for the next three days on the boat that would take us through the Three Gorges and end at the Three Gorge dam. The accommodations were quite good - there was air conditioning, a TV, shower shoes, and a western toilet (typical toilets here are holes that you have to squat over). We were traveling in luxury. Hard to believe that this was all for the equivalent of about $30 a night, which included our tickets to several towns and temples along the way!
After watching the boat take off from the massive lights of Chongqing, we enjoyed some ice cream while our tour guide, who had a little English, explained that she would call us at 5:40 am the next morning to go visit the first site. We then settled in to bed and discovered that very loud Chinese Karaoke would be our going-to sleep music for the next several nights. Karaoke is big here, but that night we were so tired it hardly mattered. Another day, another adventure.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216387020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216387020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kupshur/1/1216387020/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:45:14 -0400 Travels in China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Xi'an, China

Friday July 18th was our last day in Xi'an. In the morning we all gave our presentations that we had been working on with other students. It was fifteen minutes each and we were done by 12. Then I went with some other Chinese students to lunch. We had a great time and talked about when we would see them again in Beijing. In the afternoon, Tim had the great idea of bike riding around Xi'an City Wall. This wall is about 14.5 kilometers (about 6 miles) and was built during the Ming Dynasty. After getting some pictures with men dressed as Ming dynasty soldiers, we climbed the wall and rented our bikes. The nice thing is that it was mostly flat, but bumpy: after 600 years, it is bound to have some serious pothole issues. But the scenery and experience were well worth it. We got to see the sunset over the city, behind the reconstructed historic houses.
After that we went to dinner with Tim, Eliza (another staff member from Poly U) and some other students that had not yet left for either Hong Kong or Beijing. As always, dinner was about a dozen shared courses that were each delicious. And I had my first experience of eating a 100 year old egg. It's not as sour as it sounds. Despite the slight after taste, it was actually very tasty.
By that point we were all wiped. It had, after all, been a packed week in which we had been in class all day, working on a presentation at night, and trying to fit some opportunities to experience Xi'an in between. That completed the academic portion of this trip, and the next day Jaydee, Rachel, and I were about to embark on a completely new adventure. We had decided to take a boat cruise down the Yangtze River through the famous Three Gorges. We had come to find out that the only boat in our price range was one in which no English was spoken, but hey - the guide book said it is a good option for backpackers. The only way we could book tickets was through Yufei and Yi and their very generous help. But I will save that for the next blog, as it has some great stories of its own.
]]>