Ray, Silk Road. May 29, 2010
Good flight over and arrived on time…about 6PM. Customs was as easy as any country I have visited. Ride to hotel did not show as promised. Got a taxi, driver was in a panic at airport as she had never been to this section of Beijing. But she was next in line and rules are “take him”. 45 minutes later and many phone calls, back streets, we arrive at a frightening looking place!! In total darkness. Smog so bad could hardly see.
Up the road was the hotel….extremely nice. Off to shower and air-conditioned room. Up at 5AM and off to B-fast in 2 hours. Smog so bad can’t see much two blocks at most….can’t wait for the countryside.
Met a couple from Australia, he is a World cup flag football player in the over 50 team. He is 65. Then met 3 more people, not in my group either. Today walked, got lost, found farmers market, nude kids, fish and melons to die for.
Meet the group in an hour. Today the hotel door would not lock and it took 3 trips to the desk to fix. Still do not know whether I am in the right room as no one speaks English and all requests are in multiple…yes and no and all ok. Naturally the hem and pocket seams on travel clothes let go today .. my 25 year old travel pants may want to retire.
May 30, 2010
Brutal day of walking and site seeing ….just dead at 9PM. Went through the Temple of Heaven park for 2 hrs. Celebrating the worship of heaven from 600 BC till the last dynasty in 1900. Then wonderful meal across from Mao’s tomb…nice ambiance!! Can see the ol’ guy in the casket if you wish to stand in line forever (it is that way day after day) he is the George Washington of China. We skipped it. Then to Tienanmen sq., the Great Hall of the People (legislature) and the Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty (primary building time in 1400-1600). All are so large as to overwhelm the senses. The boulevard between the Sq and the Great Hall is 4-5 lanes each way...a sense of massiveness everywhere. The actual T sq has added large (football field length) screens showing pictures of people happily enjoying everyday life. My sense is this is new and built to make you think the tanks could not have been here, others in the group had the same impression.
Then to the Forbidden City. It goes forever…larger to smaller for what seemed like a mile or more. All basically the same and just except for an alter, a few chairs and a dirty rug. Quite boring after about five of them… Angkor Wat was so much more interesting. Last eve attended a “famous” Kung Fu show….not so good….sort of like a cheap Broadway play that busted….it is loved by the Chinese…longest playing show…some 3500 performances. Manchurian food after and the pork ribs were to die for…a consensus of the meat eaters!! Dry and spicy with sesame and hot peppers.
The crowds are a shock…belly to butt and shoulder to shoulder most of the day. Kind but pushy…guess you have to be that way with so many people. In the parks the 40-80 year old crowd all playing games from cards, domino's, tossing rings to catch with your head, kicking something that looks like a large badminton “bird”, and yard badminton. The mixed gender groups are almost back to back and having a great time. In other parts of the park are outdoor Tai Chi, ballroom dancing etc.….any and all join in as you wish. I sat with an older gent playing a special Chinese musical instrument which he insisted on my trying…total failure…sounded like Dad on the Violin!! Took picture…funny how his partner insisted I pose….they grab you by the head and twist it till they are satisfied with the look. All done kindly. In fact they seem to love posing as if models….all ages. Teen girls are a trip…hot pants and skirts, gaudy t shirts, heavy makeup and teased hair and then they mostly wear a heavy weight panty hose, the damnedest assortment of shoes….big, heavy, hundreds of straps….something resembling the 60-70 London.
May 31, 2010 up at 5AM and off to the wall…back at 4PM.
Beijing…no smog the past 2 days. This is a new city; everywhere we go it appears to be less than 20 years old and most much newer with beautiful architecture. Not an old building in sight. Landscaping is better than I have ever seen… broad swatches along the highways, surround buildings with roses, ornamental trees and row up on row of popular often 20 or more rows deep along the highways. Only occasionally will you see an old building. I see no poverty, no begging, no homeless, and all is as clean as Germany. High rise housing everywhere in the downtown near the work. Where do they put the elderly and poor? I have no idea if they are cared for in homes, or what. Motor bike are all electric and all buses are on natural gas. No diesel except for some older trucks. Lots of cars. Today we traveled 2.5 hours N to the Wall and every city we passed thru was the same…newly landscaped, highways lined etc. I wonder what it will be like as we head W and into the more rural areas.
The Wall….where we went (the Simatai Wall) is a less visited, well preserved section. It is 2.5 hours N of Beijing. Once there you take an old double chair ski lift 2/3rds the way up and then a car pulled by a cable about 200 yards up (45 degree angle) and then still walk uphill for 20 minutes. On top of this razorback ridge (about 20-30 feet wide) runs the wall as far as the eye can see. Only short sections are open to public…..it was enough…like literally walking up and down black diamond ski trails. Most was steps and about 10 feet wide at top and a tower every 100-150 yards. At end of where we were allowed to walk, the ridge was so narrow that only a single wall with a walking path on the Chinese side lead to the next area where the wider wall began again. It is 20-30 feet high and towers another 20 -30 feet higher. And on both sides the mountains are steep, loose shale. How anyone could consider invading in that territory is beyond me….in fact they never did to my recollection. They came in from much further W and down the Gansu corridor.
Tonight the acrobat show and tomorrow the Summer Palace followed by a 9PM train to Xian (she-on). Hope to get a foot massage tomorrow as it is a recommended Chinese specialty. Nice group so far…only odd ball is an American woman who is a real “me-me”, and begins ever sentence, in a teaching tone of “Well in America we…..”
Day 3 we are avoiding her, but she just “gloms on”….a classic caricature of “the American tourist”. And she has been teaching English here for 2 years….so she is always correcting the guide. Well a group this size has to have one!!!
Up the road was the hotel….extremely nice. Off to shower and air-conditioned room. Up at 5AM and off to B-fast in 2 hours. Smog so bad can’t see much two blocks at most….can’t wait for the countryside.
Met a couple from Australia, he is a World cup flag football player in the over 50 team. He is 65. Then met 3 more people, not in my group either. Today walked, got lost, found farmers market, nude kids, fish and melons to die for.
Meet the group in an hour. Today the hotel door would not lock and it took 3 trips to the desk to fix. Still do not know whether I am in the right room as no one speaks English and all requests are in multiple…yes and no and all ok. Naturally the hem and pocket seams on travel clothes let go today .. my 25 year old travel pants may want to retire.
May 30, 2010
Brutal day of walking and site seeing ….just dead at 9PM. Went through the Temple of Heaven park for 2 hrs. Celebrating the worship of heaven from 600 BC till the last dynasty in 1900. Then wonderful meal across from Mao’s tomb…nice ambiance!! Can see the ol’ guy in the casket if you wish to stand in line forever (it is that way day after day) he is the George Washington of China. We skipped it. Then to Tienanmen sq., the Great Hall of the People (legislature) and the Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty (primary building time in 1400-1600). All are so large as to overwhelm the senses. The boulevard between the Sq and the Great Hall is 4-5 lanes each way...a sense of massiveness everywhere. The actual T sq has added large (football field length) screens showing pictures of people happily enjoying everyday life. My sense is this is new and built to make you think the tanks could not have been here, others in the group had the same impression.
Then to the Forbidden City. It goes forever…larger to smaller for what seemed like a mile or more. All basically the same and just except for an alter, a few chairs and a dirty rug. Quite boring after about five of them… Angkor Wat was so much more interesting. Last eve attended a “famous” Kung Fu show….not so good….sort of like a cheap Broadway play that busted….it is loved by the Chinese…longest playing show…some 3500 performances. Manchurian food after and the pork ribs were to die for…a consensus of the meat eaters!! Dry and spicy with sesame and hot peppers.
The crowds are a shock…belly to butt and shoulder to shoulder most of the day. Kind but pushy…guess you have to be that way with so many people. In the parks the 40-80 year old crowd all playing games from cards, domino's, tossing rings to catch with your head, kicking something that looks like a large badminton “bird”, and yard badminton. The mixed gender groups are almost back to back and having a great time. In other parts of the park are outdoor Tai Chi, ballroom dancing etc.….any and all join in as you wish. I sat with an older gent playing a special Chinese musical instrument which he insisted on my trying…total failure…sounded like Dad on the Violin!! Took picture…funny how his partner insisted I pose….they grab you by the head and twist it till they are satisfied with the look. All done kindly. In fact they seem to love posing as if models….all ages. Teen girls are a trip…hot pants and skirts, gaudy t shirts, heavy makeup and teased hair and then they mostly wear a heavy weight panty hose, the damnedest assortment of shoes….big, heavy, hundreds of straps….something resembling the 60-70 London.
May 31, 2010 up at 5AM and off to the wall…back at 4PM.
Beijing…no smog the past 2 days. This is a new city; everywhere we go it appears to be less than 20 years old and most much newer with beautiful architecture. Not an old building in sight. Landscaping is better than I have ever seen… broad swatches along the highways, surround buildings with roses, ornamental trees and row up on row of popular often 20 or more rows deep along the highways. Only occasionally will you see an old building. I see no poverty, no begging, no homeless, and all is as clean as Germany. High rise housing everywhere in the downtown near the work. Where do they put the elderly and poor? I have no idea if they are cared for in homes, or what. Motor bike are all electric and all buses are on natural gas. No diesel except for some older trucks. Lots of cars. Today we traveled 2.5 hours N to the Wall and every city we passed thru was the same…newly landscaped, highways lined etc. I wonder what it will be like as we head W and into the more rural areas.
The Wall….where we went (the Simatai Wall) is a less visited, well preserved section. It is 2.5 hours N of Beijing. Once there you take an old double chair ski lift 2/3rds the way up and then a car pulled by a cable about 200 yards up (45 degree angle) and then still walk uphill for 20 minutes. On top of this razorback ridge (about 20-30 feet wide) runs the wall as far as the eye can see. Only short sections are open to public…..it was enough…like literally walking up and down black diamond ski trails. Most was steps and about 10 feet wide at top and a tower every 100-150 yards. At end of where we were allowed to walk, the ridge was so narrow that only a single wall with a walking path on the Chinese side lead to the next area where the wider wall began again. It is 20-30 feet high and towers another 20 -30 feet higher. And on both sides the mountains are steep, loose shale. How anyone could consider invading in that territory is beyond me….in fact they never did to my recollection. They came in from much further W and down the Gansu corridor.
Tonight the acrobat show and tomorrow the Summer Palace followed by a 9PM train to Xian (she-on). Hope to get a foot massage tomorrow as it is a recommended Chinese specialty. Nice group so far…only odd ball is an American woman who is a real “me-me”, and begins ever sentence, in a teaching tone of “Well in America we…..”
Day 3 we are avoiding her, but she just “gloms on”….a classic caricature of “the American tourist”. And she has been teaching English here for 2 years….so she is always correcting the guide. Well a group this size has to have one!!!
posted by bollerud at 4:57 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home