Yangtze River Cruise

October was approaching, and with it the October holidays, China's celebration of the Republic’a birth 61 years ago. That meant close to 1 billion people having vacation at the same time, and therefore every site within China full of people, every train filled to capacity (and more).

Philip like everybody else would have 4 days off, and we started looking into traveling to other Asian site as did all the other expats., Therefore flights and hotel rooms were at a premium. At this point Philip had a brilliant idea, why not take a 3 day cruise on the Yangtze River, as a ship can only fill to capacity. With three cabins left when we inquired, we immediately booked a space.

We flew to Chongqing, China's largest City at 30 million inhabitants. However, it is also a very large in landmass, the city center only has about 9 million, so compared to Beijing it looked like a village in many ways. Here we boarded our ship, the Century Star in the evening, starting the 3 nights-3 days trek downriver to Yichang.

Impressions from the trip:

Our most relaxing vacation in China as the sights came to us. No running around to catch every tourist destination.

Good food, good service and a realization that China has more to offer than big cities.

A river that often reminded us of fjords in Norway as the river turned and twisted.
new sights revealed themselves

We took an interesting small vessel side trip with rowers from the ethnic minority of the TuJia people. This ethnic minority lived along the Yangtze River, and all of their lands were flooded when the dams were built. About one million people were either resettled on top of the mountains, or moved to totally new areas with the government’s help. As we were rowed into the narrow river, our guide and one of the rowers sang hauntingly beautiful songs in their ethnic language (Which is only passed down orally, it does not have a written form). The riverbanks were lined with bamboo forest inhabited by small monkeys.

Two of the three gorges came before the dam, exhibiting beautiful shore-lines, seemingly sparsely populated.

The river was very wide at the point of the dam which is the biggest in the world (It took 30.000 workers 10 years to complete), producing more electricity than any other hydro-electric dam. We reached the dam around 1 AM, and now had to pass through the world's 5 biggest lochs. Huddling amid pajama-clad guests, we watched the ship steam toward the first lock." No way our ship was going to fit," we thought. Much to our surprise, not only did our ship fit, but also 4 other cruise-ships along with a great big coal barge. The gates closed behind us, and within fifteen minutes the water-level went down about 20 meters. it was amazing and scary to watch how rapidly the ship went "down". What if the gates gave in??? We decided to not worry about this, and rather go to sleep. And next morning we woke up, sailing in a river not manipulated by man . Our ship was at rest, giving us a chance to go back to look at the dam and the locks in day-light.

The morning was spent traveling down the third gorge, perhaps the most beautiful, still in it's natural state. By noon we arrived at our destination Yichang after a relaxing and beautiful trip. The cruise-ships dock somewhat outside town, we had therefore ordered a taxi to take us to the airport. He showed up promptly, and after driving the long route in order to show us some of Yichang, we arrived at the terminal in plenty of time. This is the first airport we have seen in China that is not new and gigantic. It mainly seemed to serve as a transit-port back to Beijing or Shanghai for cruise passengers.

Two hours later we arrived back in Beijing, having experienced a relaxing Chinese vacation. And we thought that was an oxymoron!

Yunnan

By now it appears that fall has arrived in Beijing and with it great weather and clean air. This week we celebrated Moon Festival which gave Philip an extra day off, and we were lucky enough to be invited up to Roberta (his boss) and Ted's Great Wall home. It is situated in an agricultural village that primarily grows walnuts and chestnuts. Now is harvest time for chestnuts, so everywhere men with long bamboo poles were knocking down chestnuts. In the town center sorting machines were operating out-doors, sorting the nuts into three different sizes.

After a lunch of noodles and sauce we walked from the village up to the Great Wall, admiring the blue skies and long vistas of the wall. It was great to take a non-touristy path up, so also no charge and no peddlers!

As night fell we lit a fire in one of the out-door fireplaces, enjoying the full moon and even stars, lately a rare sight.

With Philip back to work, I took an urban bike-ride with my biking group. I started biking with one of my friends about a year ago, and we have now grown to a group of 10 woman from around the world. Today we decided to go to the Olympic Park, a little out from the center of town.We had one woman from Texas who had not biked in Beijing before, but she jumped right in even though the traffic was quite heavy in the beginning along the ring road. We then found some quieter streets, a new park and finally the Olympic park. As it is getting close to the National Celebrations, the city is beautifully decorated with flags and flowers everywhere. A perfect time for biking, and the best way to discover Beijing.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Summers in Beijing are hot. Hot and sunny... OK... sometimes hot and smoggy. And though we do have canals, they do not exactly invite you to put on the swim-suit and dive in. So the thoughts tend to go to Maine with it's beautiful lakes and cool (read cold) ocean. So when our friends, Stew and Pam, asked if we wanted to join them for a trip to Shanhaiguan, it was a "no brainer." (Shan meaning mountains----hai meaning ocean) it is the place where the Great Wall rises majestically from the ocean. Another couple that we are friendly with, Steve and Diane Skalak, were also coming along. These are our four friends who love to do things the native way, so no hiring of a car for us. We were going to go on the local bus for the 4 hour ride. Pam read in a guide book that inexpensive accommodations can be found upon arrival, so why book an expat place???

Early in the morning we met at the bus station, finding a nice air-conditioned bus where we had pre-assigned seats. As the bus pulled out we were looking forward to a comfortable ride. Which it was, although an adventure at times, as we were hit with torrential rain about 2 hours into the trip. Since it rarely rains here, and personal space is a foreign concept, private cars just did not get it that perhaps a little space between vehicles was advisable in this kind of weather. Soon we were dodging a 4 car pile-up here, a 10 car pile-up there, seemingly having no effect to slow the traffic down. A snow storm at home produces way less damage than a rain-storm here. But our trusty bus driver got us through, and by the time we arrived in Qinhuangdao the sun was again shining.

As was our good luck. Two taxi-drivers came running to us, asking where we wanted to go. Shanhaiguan was still an hour away, so we promptly asked how much for the two cabs to take us there. With an offer of $15 for the ride, including first finding us a B&B, we were quick to accept. Riding along the ocean, we breathed the fresh sea air, and felt miles away from Beijing (Which we were)
The first signs of trouble appeared as we tried to find a hotel or B&B . All totally full, or they would not take foreigners.. Deciding that perhaps we could take the taxis back to where the bus stopped, we decided to enjoy our sight seeing. As luck had it, our taxis already had 6 tickets in hand for a trip to a section of the wall, and off we went. At destination we walked and walked, expecting any moment to reach the wall. Along the trail we encountered dozens of rare feathered friends, a long historic tunnel, but no wall! I guess something was lost in translation! But at least we still were going to see the wall enter the depths of the ocean, which we did . We also saw some motels, and tried again to find some beds. No luck. Our helpful drivers then decided to call ahead to Quinhuangdao, and turned to us with grim faces. Not a single room available for foreigners, HOWEVER, they did have a friend who was a manager at a hotel in Bedaihe, and they could house us. At this point we started to smell something fishy, and did not think it came from the ocean. We decided to call Melissa, Philip's secretary. (Here in China secretaries happily offer to be on call 24/7, and actually mean it) As she called back 30 minutes later to say that this was indeed the fact, we kind of panicked. We demanded to be driven back to the bus station, and watched the last bus leave with a worried smile on our faces. Perhaps we could sleep in the station?? But the attendant approached, clearly ready to sweep us out. So here we were with nowhere to go.

Suddenly we realized that despite our misgivings about the drivers, their info had been correct. They were gone, however, we did have their cell numbers. Ten minutes later our knights in armor cruised in with another low offer accepting to drive us to the "friends" motel in Beidaihe, about 30 minutes away, and our mood quickly rose. Approaching the city, beaches beckoned in the dark. It was getting late, but at least we would find a place to sleep. We walked in with our back-packs, and suddenly the smiles on the faces of the 6 woman behind the desk waned. They turned to our taxi driver, saying in Mandarin: "But they are not Chinese" A fact he had forgotten to mention. It appeared that this area mainly frequented by Russians and high party officials only house Western people in designated hotels. Luckily we understood the exchange, and loudly protested that we all live in Beijing! In as perfect Mandarin as possible, just omitting the tones- but the words were correct. It worked! As we were led to a simple motel- like building in the back, a collective sigh of relief escaped from us all. It was not fancy, she shower had no curtains, but it was clean.

The next morning we walked around town, swam in the ocean (At least two of the women did) enjoyed sea-food, dumplings, and headed home on the bus in the afternoon after thoroughly having enjoyed our week-end at the beach resort.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Yunnan

In the very southwest of China you find the province Yunnan. The state borders the countries of Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Tibet. Recently we took a 7 day vacation here with a Beijing group called China Culture Club.

We flew into the capital town of Kunming (2000m above sea level) where we slowly worked our way closer to the Tibetan border . What a welcome landscape after hot days in Beijing: Clean air, clean water, blue skies despite a forecast of rain every day and majestic mountains shimmering in the background. We even saw stars at night.

In Kunming we visited the Stone Forest, hiking stone paths surrounded by stone formations looking oddly like trees. We were also served a mushroom hot-pot lunch which did not at all change my view that western soups would win a contest any day of the week.

From Kunming we flew to Dali. We took a local boat to a beautiful lakeside temple followed by a chairlift to the top of Mount Tsangshan. In the evening we strolled around the village, noticing many local minorities people walking around dressed in their customary outfits. Yunnan is the home of around 25 of the more than 50 different minority people in China. Around Dali you mainly see Bai people.( By co-incidence , Philip and I have a Chinese last name of Bai, so we felt right at home)

Our trip continued by bus towards Shaxi. This was a very small and unusually interesting village where you felt as if you suddenly stepped back in time. Shaxi was once an important trade station on the Southern Silk Road, shown by it's wide streets and fancy buildings. Through a partnership with a company in Italy who feared Shaxi's history would be lost, it has recently been restored the proper way (Not like a lot of China sites which are hastily torn down and built back up somewhat replicated, always with an eye on catching tourist business) Shaxi mainly sold handmade shoes at reasonable prices, and the shoes were made right in front of you. It has now become popular with Chinese film-makers as it really looks genuine. Here we stayed at a charming old court-yard hotel.

Then on to Lijang, capital of the former Naxi Kingdom. On the way we stopped at Tiger Leaping Gorge, which right now has a lot of water due to all the rain in southern China. Having imagined something like Niagara, it was a little bit of a let down, yet still interesting.

In Lijiang we were treated to a tour in a rowboat on a small, local lake. The serenade by a local language toothless rower with a real zest for life was priceless!!

Lijiang has a lot of history, but the old town (Which was actually torn down and a new "old "town replaced it) looked somewhat too touristy in daylight. However, at night the Chinese architecture, the streams running through it, the minority people, the brightly lit lanterns made it a worthwhile place to spend the night.( Just pass quickly by the 100++ stores who all sell the same yak-meat, the same shawls, show the same hammering of silver that actually never produce the jewelery they sell) And the fact that the city pays the housewives to dress in local dresses and dance in the squares does not take away the fact that this is a real Naxi style behavior.

The next day we finally reached Shangri-La (previously called Zhongdian) whose claim to be the fictional Shangri-La from James Hilton's "Lost Horizon", the last town before the high plateau of the Himalayas. As far as we could determine, the town did not quite live up to that claim. However, we did enjoy the feeling of basically visiting Tibet as 1/2 the population are Tibetans, as indeed out guide was. He was a very interesting person, having fled to India with his family during the Cultural revolution. He grew up in India, and in his early twenties moved back to Tibet. He was unhappy and payed a large amount to be guided through Nepal back to India. It was a tremendously difficult ordeal, they were caught by Nepalese authorities and taken back to China. He now claims to be very happy in Zhongdian, and says that the living conditions there are far better than in Tibet.The place we slept and the restaurants we ate at were all owned by Tibetans, and most of the local houses were Tibetan style, apparently the authorities help by donating money to people to build these grand homes , all decorated in colorful Tibetan style. The area had many Tibetan (Yellow hat Buddhist) monasteries. Contrary to temples in many other parts of China, these were very active with old and young monks, worshipers and life. And the picture of the Dali Lama was prominently placed inside the temples.

During the daytime we explored the Pudacuo National Park. Due to the many other tourists with the same desire, this could only be done on organized buses. However, the National Park was beautiful with mountains, clear rivers, roaming yak, alpine flora and a beautiful lake which we walked around on a boardwalk for about 4 km. The whole setting reminded us of Mount Desert Island walks around Jordan Pond. To quote an old Norwegian saying:" Foreign places are good,, but home is still better!!" We quickly declared that this place in the Himalayas was not "our Shangri-La", we prefer to save that distinction for our future home on MDI

Post script: Upon return to Beijing the next day, I reread "Lost Horizon" Realizing that Shangri-La may be magical to the few elite who try to escape the fate of everybody else, I no longer want to use it as a metaphor for any place in Maine. You are all welcome there, but nobody will keep you against your will.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Visit by Gabriel, Jess, and Max

We live far away form home, and really treasured Rebekka and Lee's visit to Beijing in December. As a relatively BIG birthday approached, it was really exiting to know that Gabriel, Jess and Max would help us celebrate this special event by coming to Beijing. Gabe and Jess came for a week while Max was able to stay close to 3 weeks. We had a great Wall hike, sightseeing at the usual Beijing sights like The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, ate some great Chinese food and of course did some shopping!! Max and I even got a trip to Xian to visit the Terra Cotta Warriers via sleeper train. And we had some fun biking together all over Beijing. My birthday was celebrated at a Vegetarian Buddhist Restaurant where it is hard to tell that the Beijng duck you eat is really tofu (or dofu as it is called here) It was a great celebration, thank you for coming at that special time.

And thank you to all my friends at home. We have never really used the postal service much while here. But to all of you at home who organized a deluge of mail to let me know that I am still a part of your lives: "Thank You So Much." I would have liked to celebrate with you, and you made me feel like I did. Thank you for mailing presents to Gabriel, so when he opened his suitcase, your presence was felt in Beijing. I am so lucky

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Mekong Delta-Bike Trip

Having been way too wordy with our first part of Vietnam, we have decided to be a bit more economical with the second part. The Mekong Delta was an amazing landscape to bike through, and Saigon /Ho Chi Minh City will always live in our memory. If you have not visited this amazing country yet, put it on your itinerary. Here are some of our strongest memories, and we will let the photos fill the gaps.

1) Beautiful, fertile delta property displaying rice farming in all stages: new seedlings in shimmering pools, young plants painting the countryside an luminous green and mature rice swaying in the wind and then cut, carries to the road where it was spread out and dried right on the road we were biking on. Due to the ability to harvest 4 times pr. season in this fertile area, we were able to enjoy the full circle of growth.

Philip: Best picture not taken:Astri stuck in the rice paddy after failing to negotiate a curve in the narrow walking lane we were biking.
Astri: Equally good, and not taken: Philip stuck in the rice paddy one minute later (Even if you do not see the water, the bottom of the paddy is very wet!!!)

2) Changing crops, but a countryside always bursting with fertility: Coconuts, mangoes, dragon fruits.....

3) Interesting toilets. Special award: Bridge seat over shallow river in the open with schools of small fish directly below

4) Vietnam's greatest asset: its people. We were overwhelmed by their friendliness: always smiling and waving as we biked by, even though they knew we were Americans. We must have received 5000 hello's and then there was the old man who came out of his hut, shooed at us and said: "Go away, go away" We could only imagine what painful memories our presence may have triggered, and hope he went back inside and forgot about us.

5) According to our excellent guides, Vietnamese women want 3 things when looking for a husband: Gentleness, flowers and a motorbike. In that order,

6) The motorbikes were everywhere!! And if you think a small motorbike / moped is made for one person, think again. A moped can easily carry 2, 3, 4 or 5 people. See the picture of the “fiver”.

5) Crossing the street in Saigon was an adventure in itself due to the motorbikes. Apparently most women got what they wanted, so the bikes are about 20 across the street, and perhaps 50 deep every time the light changes. And the noise!! (We are happy Beijing does not allow them inside the 4th ring road)

7) Most emotional moment: Visiting the "War Remnants Museum" It was a very difficult museum to view as we revisited photographic scenes showing the horrible sights of an unjust war upon an innocent people. But the Vietnamese people we met kept repeating that it was a war between the leaders of two countries , and that they had no hard feelings against the American people. The museum showed plenty of footage of resentment against the war by people all over the World..
The inclusion of many children's paintings titled "Dream of Peace" "Prevention from being absorbed by agent orange" etc was very powerful.

8) Leaving Saigon was made even more difficult by our taxi being hit by a motorbike at full speed five minutes short of the airport. Philip jumped out of the cab, checked the driver who lay unconscious in the street and at first seemed to have stopped breathing. At the time when he wondered if he needed to start resuscitation, the young man groaned and moved. His girl-friend sat in the middle of the street with a big gash by her knee, taking on her cell-phone. We keep wondering if they are OK. Did they have insurance? Did they lose their prize possession, the motorbike. But our cab flagged down another cab for us, asked for his fare and we made it to the airport in time. But sometimes our thoughts go back to the departure and we just hope that everyone is OK.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Viet Nam-Hanoi Tet Holiday 2010

Chinese New Year means happy celebrations when families get together to welcome the new year. Everybody travels back to their family home for this most important holiday. Which means that millions of people are on the go, and as ex-patriots one should either stay put or leave China. As Philip had a week off we decided long ago to take the second option. Vietnam was our destination: First some days in Hanoi including a 1-day bike-trip there followed by a flight south to Saigon or Ho Chi Min City as it is now officially called, where we would take a 4-day trip in the Mekong Delta on bikes, followed by a day of sightseeing.

The folly of choosing as destination another country with Chinese traditions came to light as we had trouble finding a guide for the one day Hanoi bike tour. Vietnam also celebrates the same New Year Holiday holiday, calling it Tet. Luckily (for a little bonus) we were finally able to secure a guide on the first day which was the preparation day leading up to the festival. As soon as we landed, we realized that this was going to be different from Beijing. Scooters and motorbikes were buzzing around us even at 3 Am, each carrying numerous passengers, huge blossoming peach trees as decorations for Tet, giant containers of produce and flowers etc.

Next morning we were picked up by our guide. By now we are pretty comfortable riding in Beijing, this though was something totally different . Making a left turn across scooters 10 deep with no apparent rules other than trying to criss-cross with the other cyclist was an act of total trust in our guide. Soon we crossed the river by barge and were in the country-side, seeing busy markets selling live fowl, fruit, numerous flowers and trees, and everything else imaginable. and everyone busy preparing for the holiday. Rice fields and poor villages dotted the landscape.

Soon we changed course and returned to the city. On one busy our guide and I lost Philip. Our guide went back and found Philip at the last Y intersection, he was ok other than bruised hands and ego having flipped off the bike into traffic after an abrupt stop by a taxi. Biking around the central big West lake, our guide told us that only foreigners live in the beautiful French villas by the lake, no Vietnamese can afford it. This is a contrast to Beijing where we have a lot of poor people, but also quite a few extremely wealthy Chinese citizens. Our tour then went to the administrative area of the city, situated on big, tree-lined boulevards with French architectural mansions, now mainly housing embassies. A giant park surrounded "Uncle Ho's Mausoleum", but we did not have time to go in. A lone soldier guarded the garden and tribute to the grave of the unknown soldier, at the entrance a sign was posted, warning that there was no admittance. The guarding soldier for some reason beckoned us to enter, opened the gate and suggested that Philip light some incense. - An extended hand in forgiveness for our past.

As we entered the hotel after the tour, we were handed an invitation to a New Year's Party with dinner that evening. As we had no other plans, we asked about the price. No, we want you to be the guests of the hotel owners was the answer. Bewildered we looked at one another, and decided to go. So did most of the fifty other guests, and we were treated to a banquet with numerous tasty holiday dishes, free-flowing champagne, happy guests from around the world and a gracious, smiling host exemplifying the Vietnamese hospitality. For New Year everyone should eat a festive meal, which we did thanks to our very generous hotel owner. As we exchanged the greeting: Chuc Mung Nam Moi, we felt the warmth and hospitality of our Vietnamese host.

The next day we were invited to lunch at the home of one of Philip's Beijing patients, her mother was also present. Again we had to marvel at the hospitality as we tasted special New Year treats. The mother did not speak English, but at the end of the meal she turned to face Philip, and it was clear she did want to say something. Looking directly at Philip, and being translated by her daughter, she timidly, but directly asked: " And what are your memories of the American war with Vietnam?" (in which she lost her only brother) The last question came right to the point: "Why did such a big nation like yours see the need to attack a small country like ours?" Despite it all, she extended an open hand to citizens of the country whose former behavior she could not understand.

The next day we spent walking around the city of Hanoi. Everywhere we were met by Chuc Mung Nam Moi. We really enjoyed the city and it's people tremendously, and found it very different from Beijing. Hanoi in many ways appears as if 50 years behind the present date. Very few high rises, instead lower buildings of individual houses. The majority of people seemed to have enough to survive, a moped or two, but not much more. Looking into the stores that were closed for the holiday, we saw people sitting around their dining tables which were in the middle of the store, common living and commercial space . And the precious mopeds were also parked inside.

As we left Hanoi Monday evening, we really wished we could have stayed longer in this city where the past still seemed to exist in it's elegant French government quarters and parks, it's somewhat shabby older city living quarters and an open hand in forgiveness for shameful deeds by our country not too long ago. As our guide put it: We believe two crazy leaders were responsible for the war, we like the people of America.

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