Xian Day 2 – 10/26

Today we went on a guided tour to see the Terracotta Army, or so we thought. Our first stop on the tour was the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. This pagoda (Chinese tower) which is a Buddhist pagoda, was built in 704AD and at one point was part of a monastery. One of the pagoda's many functions was to hold sutras and figurines of the Buddha though nowadays it is just a tourist trap.

Next stop was a Jade Museum; if you remember this from our Beijing trip you will know that this is a mandatory tour guide stop. Since we did not buy anything from the Jade Museum we then went to the terracotta museum and workshop. This is were we received a tour of the facilities and were very briefly shown how terracotta items where made. This tour ended with us being shown their large warehouse of goods to be purchased. Yet this would be another mandated tourist stop.

Next we went to the Banpo Neolithic village. This is basically some preserved plots of land that the Banpo (ancient tribal people) lived on 6,000 years ago. This is very surreal to think of people living in the area you are walking on that long ago. Since most people’s imaginations are not so great anymore (curse you television) the museum has replicated what the buildings would have looked like in another section.

The tour continued with a lunch and a trip to the Silk Museum (are you starting to see a trend here). This is where they walked us through how silk is made and showed us a bunch of fine silk products we could buy.

The last stop on our tour was the Terracotta Army. The army, at least the part that is currently being excavated, is located in 3 pits. The first and largest pit is huge. It kind of looks like an airport hanger. It is pretty amazing looking at six foot talk clay soldiers, each with uniquely individual faces. We learned that the soldiers were actually painted at one point, and that the colors were very visible when they were first unearthed. Unfortunately, shortly after oxygen touched the colors they began to fade completely. Most of the warriors have been destroyed by earthquakes which have effected the area, but the Chinese have begun the long process of reconstructing the soldiers. The soldier’s themselves are lined up according to what rank and type they were (generals, officers, soldiers, archers, and horses with chariots behind them (the latter no longer existing because they were made with wood). Pit two contains a second grouping of soldiers (yet to be unearthed) designed to come to the aid of the first army if the need arose. The third pit is a command post where the high ranking officers meet. Honestly, thinking about the task of building this feat in 210 BC is mind boggling and awe inspiring. It is said that over 700,000 people were needed to construct this clay army used only to guard one emperor’s burial sight which was around 1 mile away.

For dinner we ate at a Tang Dynasty Show. We enjoyed yet another large dumpling meal followed by a Chinese Show filled with bright colors and lots of dancing.

Xian Day 1 – 10/25

Today we traveled to Xian (about a 2 hour flight). As one of the oldest cities in Chinese history, Xian is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. The inner city of Xian is surrounded by an ancient large stone city wall. As a tourist attraction people walk (4 hours), bike (2-3 hours), or take a golf cart on the top of the wall (1 hour). Knowing us you probably guessed that we took the golf cart. HA! You are wrong for once. Motivated by watching other people bike we decided that was the best choice. To our surprise it really took 2 hours of biking to make it around. It was amazing to think that people actually built this one hand laid brick at a time. After our bike ride (and complaining about how out of shape we are) we walked to the center of the inner city – the Bell Tower.

True to its name the Bell Tower houses a Bell. In ancient times the bell was hit at dawn to alert the town’s folk that the new day was beginning. If you think this sounds neat than you are in luck because you can pay to ring the bell too. Due to traffic driving circles around the Bell Tower you have to go underground to reach it. It is basically like a subway, but without the trains.

Around a block to the north and west of the Bell Tower was a restaurant I saw on television prior to coming to China which was famed as one of the best dumpling places in China. It is called Da Fa Chang Dumpling Restaurant. The restaurant has an 18 course dumpling meal where many of the dumplings are made to look like the food they are made from. The meal was good and the dumplings were quite cute.

After dinner we went to the Drum Tower which was about another block to the west. Like the Bell Tower it is named for the drum used to tell time. The drum was hit at dusk. Seemingly like all things in China the towers and city wall are lit up at night. Both towers also have stages (for musical shows) and shops in them.

After our trip to the Drum Tower we went to Muslim Street. Muslims in China? That’s right! Believe it or not Xian has 8.1 million people and 70% are Muslim (at least according to a tour guide). Muslim Street is both a day and night market. It is very crowed, but you will find the best deals on souvenirs in the city.

Take a guess what these dumplings were made of...

Hangzhou

On 10/17 we went to Hangzhou. It is around a 2 and half hour drive from Shanghai. Hangzhou is highly regarded as one of the most beautiful places in China. Here is a quote the tour guides love giving around here - Once described by Marco Polo as "beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world”. I don’t know if it was all that, but it was pretty.

After arriving in Hangzhou, we took a pleasure cruise across the city's famous West Lake. It is important to note that the Chinese concept of pleasure cruise means a big wooden boat crowded with 50 people on wooden benches. As you can gather from the pictures of the lake, here are some interesting facts for you about the lake. Our tour guide told us that lake is half man made. Apparently 50 some years ago, give or take 50 years (sorry I wasn’t listening that closely) the lake was very polluted. To clear up the lake for tourism (and you though the Chinese weren’t capitalists) they pump fresh water into the lake and continue to do so even now, every couple days. The whole lake is also only about 5 feet deep. The West Lake is surrounded by a number of mountain like hills with a few pagodas on them. I wanted to point out another fundamental of Chinese tourism. Many places are advertised as “scenic” or a place you can be one with nature. Apparently being surrounded by thousands of people (literally) and being assaulted by hecklers of various forms of crap… I mean souvenirs (my least favorite was a cheap wooden kazoo) is a deeply spiritual event.

After a slightly awkward lunch we proceeded to Guo's Villa, a classic Hangzhou residence featuring a gorgeous private garden. This was my favorite stop on the tour. It was very beautiful. Oh, once again we ran into those dangerous Chinese cave trolls. This one was one of the gray shirted varieties.

The final stop on our tour was to learn about Hangzhou's famed Dragon Well (Longjing) green tea from the China Tea Museum and Meijiawu Tea Plantation. This experience was brilliantly outlined by Anne’s entry “Fountain of Youth Found”. The only thing I will add is that the only way out of this “Museum” (I prefer the more accurate “mandated tourist buying site”) is to zigzag your way through a 6 rooms souvenir shop selling everything tea related. This ranged from pillows filled with tea leaves, tea flavored foods, silk cloths, knock off designer purses, watches, chopsticks, calligraphy brushes, and tea pots.

Oriental Pearl TV Tower

On 10/16 we went to one of the most distinguishable buildings in Shanghai’s skyline, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. It is currently the 3 largest TV tower in the world at 468 m (1,535 feet) high. As a size comparison the Empire State Building in New York’s full height reaches 443m (1453 feet). The TV Tower is said to resemble 2 Chinese dragons frolicking with the pearls, but I will let you be the judge of that.

The building has a museum and several stores on the ground floor. The largest “pearl”, or circular section, has a coffee shop, roller coaster, an outside observation deck, and various other gimmicks. The second largest pearl has a rotating restaurant that offers a buffet style meal with a great view (they use candle lighting at night to ensure you get the best view). The highest and third largest pearl only has room for an observation deck. The last little treat (for those of you not to frightened of heights – so, mom stop reading or cover your ears) they have a glass elevator on the way down, so you can enjoy watching your decent.

This last picture is of Yu Garden at night. If you forgot what Yu Garden is and/or haven't made it that far in the blog yet, it is the entry right below this one. As you can see from the pictures, Shanghai can be very colorful and pretty at night.

Yu Garden

Beijing, as you can see from the previous entries, has a lot cultural sites. Shanghai on the other had is known as the heart of business in China and as a result has very few cultural areas. The Yu Garden is one of Shanghai’s most notable cultural places. Located a little west of the Puxi Bund (the area around the west side of the Huangpu river running through Shanghai) it is your destination for ancient architecture and hordes of tourist shops. To lazy to look for a couple western staples, don’t worry this is also the place were you are bound to have someone walk up to you and ask every second block if you want a “watch”, “DBD” (yes it is DVD, but it sounds more like DBD for the hackers), “bag” (purse), or “shirt”. Funny enough, that is usually the extent that they can speak English. There are also a number of restaurants and food vendors. Oh, and if you are walking around and it starts to smell like you stepped in dog poo, don’t worry that just means you are getting close to the stinky tofu stands (fermented tofu which is deep fried). Yes, I have eaten it on multiple occasions, but I can’t find any pictures of it.

As an incentive (thanks for the idea Mark – another Medtronic made fellow man of leisure like myself in Switzerland – with a much better blog!) if you come to visit us we will immortalize you on our blog for the world to see. Visitor number #1 Anne’s mother. She stayed with us for 2 weeks along with her friend Coconut from Taipei (her name isn’t actually Coconut, but that is what Anne calls her because her name – in Chinese – is one tone away from being the word coconut).

To our surprise we also learned that it is here that Falkor the luck dragon, from The NeverEnding Story (a movie in the 80's), decided to retire. He was nice enough to pose with us for a couple of pictures.

Beijing Days 7 & 8, 10/02-10/03

Aww Dr. Tea. Well lets face it. I drank his tea and looked into the mirror and I noticed he was right about the results. I am not constipated. I am not a fat Chinese person. I don't have cancer and I am still alive. Maybe you are on to something Dr. Tea.

Back to Beijing. Sorry folks no more fun adventures for us in Beijing. After a week of historical wonders and mobs of people we have had enough. The farthest we traveled in these 2 days was 3 blocks away for dinner and some souvenirs the rest of the time we enjoyed the hotel and its pool (with the exception of a cab ride to the airport).

All in all it was a destination I hope all of you enjoyed reading about and hopefully some of you will get to see someday. To anyone planning a trip to Beijing (or anyone looking for some gross and unfortunately true stories) please feel free to ask about Beijing Etiquette. I will leave you will a couple pictures of Anne and I doing what we do best.

Fountain of Youth Found

Hello blog readers!
I haven't contributed to the blog in a long time, thankfully, Bill has been picking up the slack. My Mom came to visit us for two weeks and this weekend, we took a one-day trip to Hangzhou (Bill will share in a separate post). As part of the tour, we visited a tea producing region: Dragon-well tea. As we walked through the tea museum, our tea expert showed us the tea making process, ending in a tea tasting experience. Here is how it went down:

All seven of us on the tour went into a tea room and the doors were shut. Our tea expert call himself "Dr. Tea" because he's such a tea expert, it's equivalent to a PhD in tea. During the tea tasting session we learned the following about green tea:
-how it's made
-how to drink tea
-how to tell the difference between good and bad tea
-it prevents constipation and aids in digestion
-it keeps you slim (Dr. Tea states there are no fat people in China)
-it prevents cancer(Dr. Tea states Chinese people only have lung cancer due to smoking)
-it keeps you healthy and everyone lives much longer (it's true - Dr. Tea said so)

We also learned the following about Dr. Tea:
-he professes himself as Dr. Tea b/c everyone thinks he's THE tea expert
-he's been working for the Government as the tea quality officer for 10 years
-whenever Martin Yan is in town, he cooks for Martin (has his own cooking show)
-he's entertained top US government officials with his tea expertise

The doors did not open until someone from the group bought some Dragon-well tea. Typically, we would've taken a picture of Dr. Tea and the tea tasting experience, but I was afraid that his head might explode and he'll start charging us for photos and autographs.

Beijing Day 6 – 10/1

Today was the day we were told would, started the largest increase in Chinese tourists for their National holiday. Having been aware of this up front we had made plans to see the Fragrant Hills Park and Beijing Botanical Gardens. These being still very touristy, but not even close to the cultural wonders or Olympic Center. What we didn’t plan for was the traffic. The hotel said it would take over 2 hours to get there (mind you it is still in the city of Beijing) and after we get there we might not be able to get back. So we decided to do the next days events a day early.

We stared out the 2 block walk to the subway on our way to the Beijing Zoo and Aquarium. At the subway we got a glimpse of how the rest of the day would go. The 3 self service subway ticket machines were out of tickets and cash. Oh, by the way it was only 10am. There was only 1 person working at the ticket both and 50 people crowding around it (remember the boats from day 5, but with people). Getting on the subway was just as packed (being crushed – literally – from 4 directions at once). After we got off, we walked a couple blocks to the Zoo. It is at this point I wanted to inform you of an old Chinese saying – directly translated it is “People Mountain, People Sea”. Its meaning is this – imagine you are in an elevator that fits 5 people, but there are 15 people in it. Now imagine you are in a very large area, like an airport or amusement park, but the entire area is as cramped as the elevator was.

At the Zoo and Aquarium we watched a dolphin and seal show. Anne compared it (as she does all aquariums) to Sea World and as always, was disappointed. The show was so packed full of people if there was a fire 95% would have died. We then went to see the pandas - China’s national animal. At this point it was really beyond words. People were doing anything they could to get a view of the Pandas. On a whole we were at the Zoo and Aquarium for 5 hours. In that time we saw 6 types of animals and the 30 minute dolphin show. We spent that maybe 1 hour total watching animals and 4 navigating through the crowds.

On the way back to the subway we stopped at a Baskin-Robbins for an American treat. We ordered the peanut butter and brownie sundae. When we got it we though they gave us the wrong one as it had almond shavings, pineapple and small quasi brownie chunks. When Anne asked them they said (using an explaining voice one would use to a child) the almond shavings was the peanut butter and pineapple was included on all of their sundaes. Huh, silly us for not knowing.

We had to wait 30 minutes just waiting in line to get back on the subway. On the way home they closed off 3 subways stops by Tiananmen Square due to it being too busy. So we decided to eat some Beijing Roast Duck. The place we went to was very busy. It had 4 floors and 2 wings. Each floor had over 100 tables – most of them fitting 10 people. You grabbed a number and they read them off via megaphone. Oh, folks in case the night market yesterday was not gross enough for you, I added duck brains and tongue to my list of consumed cuisines.

Beijing Day 5 – 9/30 Part 2

Sorry I couldn’t fit it all in one blog entry. It was getting long. After our memorable Olympic Greens Trip, we went to the Hou Hai Park area. It was basically a more western tourist area around 3 lakes in the middle of Beijing. It was quite pretty and nice to be away from the mobs of people all frustrated standing outside of the Olympic area. We ate lunch at a cute restaurant on one of the lakes and stopped for some cotton candy. It was at this point that I saw the perfect picture to describe the differences in western and Chinese traffic management. In the US when you walk up to place you want to go you get in a line. Not so here. They practice what is called crowding. That is everyone goes for the entrance at once. After some pushing, depending on how big (or in this case whether you had a motorized boat or were just paddling) you reach your destination. Enjoy a good laugh. I did.

We stopped at Prince Gong’s Mansion (the last emperor of China’s brother’s house) in the Hou Hai area. It was pretty, but watch out for the red shirt-wearing trolls. Note it is always helpfully to have a laowai in your possession when you look Chinese. My poor wife was frequently pushed and shoved and had a hard time over all moving through crowds. So we learned to have me lead the way. This has nothing to do with me specifically, just that I am a noticeable foreigner. They make more room for me and say things like “oh, isn’t that cute how nicely he says excuse me” kind of like they way you would talk to a small child.

Ah, but now to what all of you have been waiting for the Dong Hua Men Night Market. This is a snack food market about 2 blocks long in the heart of Beijing that is only open from 5pm-10pm. That’s right I am talking about the rows of scary food most of you sane people would never even consider eating. As you all know – I am not sane and thus felt like a kid in a candy store. To those of you still reading this at Wells Fargo, I said I would eat from these stands and here is my proof. Here is a list of what Anne and I ate just to make you squirm. Three smaller fried scorpions, one large king scorpion, one deep fried starfish, some fried silk worms (that melt in your mouth), and some fried chicken hearts, still beating (just kidding). We had some other snacks that were not quite as scary, but I am going for shock value so I will leave them out. My favorite was the smaller scorpions; they tasted kind of like Fritos. You can ask Anne what her favorite was.