On Sunday morning, we had a good breakfast and headed to the airport for an early afternoon flight to Xian, home of the terra cotta soldiers. We arrived in Xian late in the afternoon and, after such a hectic schedule in Beijing, we decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing by the hotel pool. Kendall and Veronica went swimming and the adults enjoyed a few cocktails. We played cards and some ping pong and had a light dinner.
The next morning after a complimentary breakfast that was beyond our expectations (Veronica even got her bacon!), we met our driver and tour guide and set off for siteseeing. The tour guide, Helen (not her Chinese name), proved to be an excellent choice. Of course, credit goes to Holli, who insisted that we get a really good one. We stopped first for a tour of Xian's city wall which was constructed in 1420 and also saw the feng shui museum. We received a brief lesson on feng shui from one of the museum tour guides. We learned that Eileen's house is in perfect harmony with the feng shui principles, water in front and mountain behind it.
The next part of our journey took us to the workshops where the local people make the replicas of the terra cotta soldiers using the same methods employed by the artisans of Emperor Qin's reign. In a separate part of the workshop, we observed the handcrafting of the Chinese lacquer furniture. We watched the artisans as they applied the lacquer, created the designs, cut the jade and mother of pearl inlays and applied the final steps to finish the product. Thirty coats of lacquer are applied and polished after each coat dries. The final pieces were beautiful. We all walked away with a tremendous appreciation of the work and artistry involved in this process.
Next stop, the Museum of the Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses with our very knowledgeable guide. We start our visit by meeting one of the three farmers, Mr. Yang, who discovered the clay warriors while digging for a well. We get an autographed book about the site and have our pictures taken with him. We took a shuttle to the museum which consists of four buildings, Pit No. 1, 2 and 3 and the separate museum that holds the small bronze chariots and horses found near the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin. While we had all seen pictures of the terra-cotta warriors, they cannot compare with seeing them in full battle formation. It is truly one of the great wonders of the world. Our tour guide provides us with a running history of the site as well as an explanation of the purpose each figure served in the battle formation. We moved from the largest pit, #1, to the two smaller ones. Each of these is explained in detail. You just can't get enough of it.
After our visit, we head for the airport and our return trip to Shanghai.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Saturday, October 24
On Saturday morning, we walked down to the Forbidden City from our hotel. On the way, a Chinese gentleman suggested that we take a different route that would go through a garden on the East entrance. We took his advice and went through a beautiful garden with winding walkways, small bridges, charming pagodas and a small lake or pond that stretched the entire length of the garden. With that prelude, we got our tickets and entered the Forbidden City, home of Chinese emperors for centuries. We made our way through the Forbidden City and the crowds, stopping to read the various descriptions of the history involved, admire the beautiful grounds and buildings, take pictures and, of course, in the case of the girls, pose for pictures. The Chinese visitors to the Forbidden City were friendly and often wanted to have their picture taken with the girls. However, after a while it became necessary to limit the picture taking so we could finish our tour. The entire morning was spent in the Forbidden City.
From there, we went to a late lunch. Holli thought that we just couldn't leave Beijing without having Peking Duck and she was right. The hotel directed us to a nearby restaurant that was known for its Peking Duck. The food was fantastic. In fact, both girls had several helpings of the Peking Duck (okay, everyone sit down for this one - Kendall actually tasted duck brain). When we left the restaurant, it took a little while to hail two cabs for our trip to the Temple of Heaven. Our experience with the Beijing cab drivers was completely different from our experiences in Shanghai. Surly and uncooperative probably describe most of the Beijing cab drivers that we encountered.
Our time at the Temple of Heaven was limited. We had to make it back to the hotel to eat dinner and go to the Chinese Acrobat show. Brian had a plan to go right to the Temple and work our way back to the gate so that we got to see the most important sites first. Of course, none of us heard the plan and every time we stopped on the way to the Temple at the far end of the site, Brian would hurry us along. We were starting to suspect that we were in the Chevy Chase movie, Vacation. Stop, smile, take a picture and move on. Eventually, Brian patiently explained the plan and we fell into step. The plan worked and we were able to spend enough time at the Temple of Heaven to appreciate its beauty.
After working hard to get cabs, again, we made it to the hotel for happy hour and dinner. Next stop the Chinese Acrobats. Fortunately, the hotel staff hailed us our cabs and directed the cab drivers, which saved us the unpleasant experience of dealing with them.
The show was great. The girls really loved it. One of their favorites parts was the approximately fourteen people riding on a single bicycle in pyramid formation. It was impressive and was a good end to the evening. Of course, our next challenge was to get back to the hotel. The first cab driver said "No" and pulled away. The next time, Brian opened the door, showed him the address and as the driver was saying "No", he shoved Roni into the front seat and threw the kids and Nana in the back seat. He left the driver with no option but to take us to the hotel. He took the same tactic with the next cab and threw in another passenger going to the same hotel for good measure. We were so proud of him.
It was a long day filled with a great deal of siteseeing and new experiences for everyone.
From there, we went to a late lunch. Holli thought that we just couldn't leave Beijing without having Peking Duck and she was right. The hotel directed us to a nearby restaurant that was known for its Peking Duck. The food was fantastic. In fact, both girls had several helpings of the Peking Duck (okay, everyone sit down for this one - Kendall actually tasted duck brain). When we left the restaurant, it took a little while to hail two cabs for our trip to the Temple of Heaven. Our experience with the Beijing cab drivers was completely different from our experiences in Shanghai. Surly and uncooperative probably describe most of the Beijing cab drivers that we encountered.
Our time at the Temple of Heaven was limited. We had to make it back to the hotel to eat dinner and go to the Chinese Acrobat show. Brian had a plan to go right to the Temple and work our way back to the gate so that we got to see the most important sites first. Of course, none of us heard the plan and every time we stopped on the way to the Temple at the far end of the site, Brian would hurry us along. We were starting to suspect that we were in the Chevy Chase movie, Vacation. Stop, smile, take a picture and move on. Eventually, Brian patiently explained the plan and we fell into step. The plan worked and we were able to spend enough time at the Temple of Heaven to appreciate its beauty.
After working hard to get cabs, again, we made it to the hotel for happy hour and dinner. Next stop the Chinese Acrobats. Fortunately, the hotel staff hailed us our cabs and directed the cab drivers, which saved us the unpleasant experience of dealing with them.
The show was great. The girls really loved it. One of their favorites parts was the approximately fourteen people riding on a single bicycle in pyramid formation. It was impressive and was a good end to the evening. Of course, our next challenge was to get back to the hotel. The first cab driver said "No" and pulled away. The next time, Brian opened the door, showed him the address and as the driver was saying "No", he shoved Roni into the front seat and threw the kids and Nana in the back seat. He left the driver with no option but to take us to the hotel. He took the same tactic with the next cab and threw in another passenger going to the same hotel for good measure. We were so proud of him.
It was a long day filled with a great deal of siteseeing and new experiences for everyone.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday/Friday, October 22, 23
On Thursday we flew to Beijing. The flight went well and we went outside to get a taxi to get us to the hotel. That was the beginning of our Beijing adventures. As Brian and Holli were showing the driver the name and address of the hotel, the taxi driver stated that he could not see that well. The response from Holli was, "Our driver can't see well; ok, everybody in the van." Well, we made it and we settled into our hotel suite. That evening we walked the short distance from our hotel to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. At the Square, we watched the fountain displays and large screens that showed scenes from a recent celebration.
The next day we were off to the Great Wall with our Chinese tour guide, Peter. It's about an hour ride to the Great Wall and we stopped first for lunch at a local restaurant for some regional Chinese cuisine. It was outstanding. After lunch, we headed for the Badaling section of the Great Wall. In the interest of time and preserving energy so as to be able to actually climb/walk the Wall, we took a cable car up the mountain. The view was magnificent on the trip up but it could not compare with what we saw when we actually climbed onto the Great Wall. We climbed and walked up steep ridges for at least two miles along the top of the Wall. Every time you climbed a different part, you thought it just couldn't get any more beautiful or magnificent but you were wrong. It is beyond description, the history, the beauty of the surroundings, the architecture - all of it. Awe inspiring just doesn't describe it well enough.
Of course, it wasn't all about history. Along the way, local people were selling refreshments, including beer. It proved to be too much of a temptation to resist raising a toast on the Great Wall for a few of our members and we imbibed. Yes, it was worth it. However, no one had to be carried off the Wall. Instead, the very brave (?) opted to forgo the cable car ride back down the mountain and took the two mile toboggan ride. Two senior members of our entourage who shall remain nameless (initials EG and MS) had to be warned by the officials to slow down as they flew past the officials yelling "woo-hoo".
At last, thinking that our adventure was over, it was time to leave. We started the trek back to Beijing in our tour van. We almost made it. We got to Beijing and through a toll booth when a few of us noticed that the van wasn't quite making the appropriate noises. Of course, we were in the far left lane in rush hour traffic when the van just plain died. In true Chinese fashion, everyone just kept moving around us until finally one good samaritan stopped in his car that was about the size of a Smart Car. After repeated attempts to restart the van, it became obvious that we would not get going again. At that point, our good samaritan pulls something from out of his car which we assumed were jumper cables. Holli just laughed and said, "Oh no, they don't have jumper cables here. I know what this is; I've seen this before." To our utter amazement and entertainment, out comes the rope which he proceeded to tie to the front of the 12 passenger van. As we are laughing, he begins to tow us across five car lanes and two bike lanes of bumper to bumper traffic - up a hill.
Did we panic? Heck no. However, Holli was a bit stressed at the possibility of missing our free happy hour at the hotel and became our "clock watcher".
Crisis averted - right? No way. Now the problem of bathroom needs reared its ugly face. It was a foot race to the nearest hotel lobby restroom. The ending will remain a mystery to all of you.
Finally, a new van arrives, picks us up at the hotel lobby and we are off to our hotel. To the girls credit, they did not keep saying "when are we going to get there?"
Yes, we made it in time for happy hour.
The next day we were off to the Great Wall with our Chinese tour guide, Peter. It's about an hour ride to the Great Wall and we stopped first for lunch at a local restaurant for some regional Chinese cuisine. It was outstanding. After lunch, we headed for the Badaling section of the Great Wall. In the interest of time and preserving energy so as to be able to actually climb/walk the Wall, we took a cable car up the mountain. The view was magnificent on the trip up but it could not compare with what we saw when we actually climbed onto the Great Wall. We climbed and walked up steep ridges for at least two miles along the top of the Wall. Every time you climbed a different part, you thought it just couldn't get any more beautiful or magnificent but you were wrong. It is beyond description, the history, the beauty of the surroundings, the architecture - all of it. Awe inspiring just doesn't describe it well enough.
Of course, it wasn't all about history. Along the way, local people were selling refreshments, including beer. It proved to be too much of a temptation to resist raising a toast on the Great Wall for a few of our members and we imbibed. Yes, it was worth it. However, no one had to be carried off the Wall. Instead, the very brave (?) opted to forgo the cable car ride back down the mountain and took the two mile toboggan ride. Two senior members of our entourage who shall remain nameless (initials EG and MS) had to be warned by the officials to slow down as they flew past the officials yelling "woo-hoo".
At last, thinking that our adventure was over, it was time to leave. We started the trek back to Beijing in our tour van. We almost made it. We got to Beijing and through a toll booth when a few of us noticed that the van wasn't quite making the appropriate noises. Of course, we were in the far left lane in rush hour traffic when the van just plain died. In true Chinese fashion, everyone just kept moving around us until finally one good samaritan stopped in his car that was about the size of a Smart Car. After repeated attempts to restart the van, it became obvious that we would not get going again. At that point, our good samaritan pulls something from out of his car which we assumed were jumper cables. Holli just laughed and said, "Oh no, they don't have jumper cables here. I know what this is; I've seen this before." To our utter amazement and entertainment, out comes the rope which he proceeded to tie to the front of the 12 passenger van. As we are laughing, he begins to tow us across five car lanes and two bike lanes of bumper to bumper traffic - up a hill.
Did we panic? Heck no. However, Holli was a bit stressed at the possibility of missing our free happy hour at the hotel and became our "clock watcher".
Crisis averted - right? No way. Now the problem of bathroom needs reared its ugly face. It was a foot race to the nearest hotel lobby restroom. The ending will remain a mystery to all of you.
Finally, a new van arrives, picks us up at the hotel lobby and we are off to our hotel. To the girls credit, they did not keep saying "when are we going to get there?"
Yes, we made it in time for happy hour.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Wednesday, October 21
Today we venture out to the fabric market. It is our second lesson in advanced retail negotiation. Holli gives us detailed instructions before we enter the market and serves as our mentor throughout the process. The three grasshoppers are ready now; we make several purchases at substantial reductions in price. Kendall and Veronica picked a Taiwanese restaurant for dinner. We find that in China dinners served in restaurants do not follow any specific order of service. Soup, appetizers, rice, main dishes, dinner plates and utensils come at various times throughout the meal.
Here are some rules of the road that we have learned:
Here are some rules of the road that we have learned:
- Traffic lines and lights are just suggestions. We've had taxi drivers that got tired of waiting for a light to change so just proceeded around the cars ahead and went through the light. Lines are painted on the road but no one seems to pay them any mind. What looks like 4 lanes of traffic to us actually holds 5 to 6 cars across, plus scooters and bikes.
- Horns never indicate anger or impatience. They are used to warn that you could be run into (for cars) or over (for bikes and people) if you don't stay out of the way.
- Cutting in is how you move from lane to lane which is how you navigate traffic. The proper way to cut into another lane is to get your fender in front of another car and then you're in.
- Green walk lights don't really mean that the pedestrian has the right of way. Cars and scooters have the right of way. The green walk light means proceed with caution and hurry; your life depends on it.
No one seems to get angry with the constant cutting in and what seems like chaos to us. Amazingly, with the above rules and the huge volume of vehicles we see very few accidents and very few battered and dented cars. There is no road rage.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Monday, October 19
Well, it's Monday and the girls are back to school accompanied by Mom, Nana and Aunt Eileen. They brought cupcakes for Kendall's birthday celebration at school and pumpkins for carving for Veronica's class. Most of the morning was devoted to "assisting" with all of the actvity. Meanwhile, Aunt Roni spent a large part of her morning at a doctor's appointment that she was able to arrange earlier that morning. The doctor, staff, facilities and treatment rated an A+. Amazingly, the cost of the numerous prescriptions were about one third the cost of the doctor's visit. After the appointment, it was off to an excellent lunch at Julie's, a nice little deli/pizza restaurant.
The afternoon provided a real treat with a visit to the "Fake Market", which sells all kinds of copycat products. Here, we got our first lesson from an experienced bargainer. She may not have understood all that was being said but her "look" told them - go lower in price. The alternative method was to snatch the calculator and give them the "number" that would cut the deal. William Shatner couldn't hold a candle to our Holli as a "price negotiator"! Little did we know that we had just received a small glimpse of her incredible skills. The next move was to the Pearl Market and, once again, the master had us in awe.
The first experience in shopping was exhausting. Of course, part of that was due to the heat. The building was warm but so were the people. A lot of fun was had by all. A successful day for both sales people and shoppers.
That evening, the first homemade Chinese meal was prepared by the Aiee. It was definitely worth the wait.
The afternoon provided a real treat with a visit to the "Fake Market", which sells all kinds of copycat products. Here, we got our first lesson from an experienced bargainer. She may not have understood all that was being said but her "look" told them - go lower in price. The alternative method was to snatch the calculator and give them the "number" that would cut the deal. William Shatner couldn't hold a candle to our Holli as a "price negotiator"! Little did we know that we had just received a small glimpse of her incredible skills. The next move was to the Pearl Market and, once again, the master had us in awe.
The first experience in shopping was exhausting. Of course, part of that was due to the heat. The building was warm but so were the people. A lot of fun was had by all. A successful day for both sales people and shoppers.
That evening, the first homemade Chinese meal was prepared by the Aiee. It was definitely worth the wait.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tuesday, October 20
It's hard to even try and describe what we saw yesterday. We went on a "back alley tour" with a local photographer. Shanghai is truly a city of tremendous growth and enormous contrasts of old and new but those constrasts diminish with each day. We started our tour gathering at a very plush 5-star hotel; the flowers in the lobby were amazing. Across the street is a construction site where they are building an ultra-modern landscape of skyscrappers. In the midst of the site sits an old mansion which has been designated for preservation. In order to meet the demands of the construction, the old building will be moved, intact, to another site to save it. From the hotel we walk to the next block and it was like walking into a whole different world. The alleyways are very small, only large enough for scooters. Laundry is hanging from most upper story windows. It was part of the British Concession area from the 1920s. After 1949, the original homes were partitioned and were given to poorer families. There were areas of the buildings that were assigned as communal areas, such as kitchens and bathrooms, which could be shared by as many as fourteen families. Many of these families have occupied these homes for several generations. Some of the buildings we enter are government offices that were previously English aristrocratic homes. We proceed further through the alleyways and into several homes. This felt very intrusive but the people were likely paid and they went about their business. Some were very cordial while to others we were as much an interest to them as they were to us. We met one very sweet grandmother who offered us candy and was actually quite proud to show us her home.
We lunched at a Thai restaurant. Excellent food and atmosphere. From there to a small shopping area to experience local arts and crafts. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing games with the girls.
We lunched at a Thai restaurant. Excellent food and atmosphere. From there to a small shopping area to experience local arts and crafts. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing games with the girls.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Saturday/Sunday, October 17, 18
We're learning to navigate the streets of Shanghai. The rules of the road - there are no rules except that pedestrians have no rights. You may attempt to cross the street when the green walk sign is lit but turning cars can still run you down. The scooters can run you down anytime; even if you're on the sidewalk. Guess that's something we need to get used to.
The view from Brian and Holli's apartment is beautiful; they're on the 31st floor. Looking at traffic going nowhere during rush hour (which lasts about 4 hours) is spectacular. It makes you appreciate Harrisburg traffic.
On Saturday we attended Kendall's birthday at a Spa with 17 girls ages 7 to 9. What a treat. They had their nails painted, their hair styled and painted, made bracelets and of course ate pizza and Holli's "gourmet" boxed cupcakes with special sprinkles.
On Sunday we went to Wuxi to visit a working monastery with a giant budda (except for Roni who decided to get a sinus infection.) We climbed over 350 steps to reach budda's toes. We also watched in wonder as a giant lotus flower opened up to reveal non other than baby budda as he proceeded to rotate 360 degrees while simultaneously being sprayed by fountain water. Next we visited a very somber, very beautiful temple which was made of intricately carved wood ceiling and etched marble walls and floor. After passing through this temple area we proceeded to the next room which had multiple revolving floor panels and a domed ceiling featuring a technicolor laser light show. It surely showed the contrasts between ancient and modern China. During this whole visit to the monastery, we were the only non asians and we were the recipients of many stares. They particularly enjoyed Veronica bouncing up and down the steps.
So far we've had no Chinese food to eat. Saturday we had sandwiches and french fries for lunch and pizza for dinner. On Sunday we had McDonalds for lunch on the way to the monastery and we ate dinner at a German pub. Are we in China??
The view from Brian and Holli's apartment is beautiful; they're on the 31st floor. Looking at traffic going nowhere during rush hour (which lasts about 4 hours) is spectacular. It makes you appreciate Harrisburg traffic.
On Saturday we attended Kendall's birthday at a Spa with 17 girls ages 7 to 9. What a treat. They had their nails painted, their hair styled and painted, made bracelets and of course ate pizza and Holli's "gourmet" boxed cupcakes with special sprinkles.
On Sunday we went to Wuxi to visit a working monastery with a giant budda (except for Roni who decided to get a sinus infection.) We climbed over 350 steps to reach budda's toes. We also watched in wonder as a giant lotus flower opened up to reveal non other than baby budda as he proceeded to rotate 360 degrees while simultaneously being sprayed by fountain water. Next we visited a very somber, very beautiful temple which was made of intricately carved wood ceiling and etched marble walls and floor. After passing through this temple area we proceeded to the next room which had multiple revolving floor panels and a domed ceiling featuring a technicolor laser light show. It surely showed the contrasts between ancient and modern China. During this whole visit to the monastery, we were the only non asians and we were the recipients of many stares. They particularly enjoyed Veronica bouncing up and down the steps.
So far we've had no Chinese food to eat. Saturday we had sandwiches and french fries for lunch and pizza for dinner. On Sunday we had McDonalds for lunch on the way to the monastery and we ate dinner at a German pub. Are we in China??
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Thursday, October 15
Well our flight to Shanghai was almost uneventful. The day was rainy but we didn't let it dampen our spirits. We knew our luggage was full and heavy; Marianne had to rearrange her stuff and also gave some to Eileen. Eileen's luggage was close, so out came the Nesquick and it ended up in her carry-on bag.
This is where it gets interesting. We're in line at the airport checking in and Eileen must have bumped one of the bags and in horror we watched almost in slow motion as it fell and took out the rest of our luggage just like dominos and then continued to take out our neighbors luggage. Till it was all done, it looked like the world record of luggage dominos - not really. At this point we're all pretty worthless since we're laughing hysterically and we have to move away quickly to try to save a little bit of our dignity.
Our next hurdle is security, surely nothing can go wrong here. WRONG. We were sure everything was going well until we saw the guard check and re-check the video when Eileen's bag goes through. She got pulled out of line; there seemed to be something suspicious in her bag. The guard searched through her bag and guess what - it was that darn Nesquick again!!! They let her go through and she got to keep the Nesquick.
We're on our way now and we're thinking, "once we leave Detroit we have 14 hours of uninterrupted nothingness - no email, no cell phones, nothing but relaxing, reading and idle chit-chat." Two hours into it we've read, talked, played games and now we're bored.
This is where it gets interesting. We're in line at the airport checking in and Eileen must have bumped one of the bags and in horror we watched almost in slow motion as it fell and took out the rest of our luggage just like dominos and then continued to take out our neighbors luggage. Till it was all done, it looked like the world record of luggage dominos - not really. At this point we're all pretty worthless since we're laughing hysterically and we have to move away quickly to try to save a little bit of our dignity.
Our next hurdle is security, surely nothing can go wrong here. WRONG. We were sure everything was going well until we saw the guard check and re-check the video when Eileen's bag goes through. She got pulled out of line; there seemed to be something suspicious in her bag. The guard searched through her bag and guess what - it was that darn Nesquick again!!! They let her go through and she got to keep the Nesquick.
We're on our way now and we're thinking, "once we leave Detroit we have 14 hours of uninterrupted nothingness - no email, no cell phones, nothing but relaxing, reading and idle chit-chat." Two hours into it we've read, talked, played games and now we're bored.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Getting ready for our China trip
Well after nine long months of planning me, Marianne and Roni are all packed and ready to fly to China. Our bags are full - I mean really really full. We've had to juggle things around to stay under the 50 lb baggage limit. One suitcase each is filled with very important stuff for our China hosts such as Nesquick, Flintstone vitamins, lotions, and books among other things.
I know I forgot to pack something. I'll probably remember it when we board the plane. But hey, we're going to China. Isn't that where most of our products are made? I should be able to get just about anything I need there, right? But if that's true why all the extra luggage. Hmmmm.
You know it's been a hectic couple of weeks when one of the things we're looking forward to is the 14 hour flight with no phone, nowhere to go and nothing to do but read, rest and relax.
We hope to post often throughout our trip and include pictures so plan to check back regularly.
I know I forgot to pack something. I'll probably remember it when we board the plane. But hey, we're going to China. Isn't that where most of our products are made? I should be able to get just about anything I need there, right? But if that's true why all the extra luggage. Hmmmm.
You know it's been a hectic couple of weeks when one of the things we're looking forward to is the 14 hour flight with no phone, nowhere to go and nothing to do but read, rest and relax.
We hope to post often throughout our trip and include pictures so plan to check back regularly.
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