China Stop 3: Li River

The next adventure on the tour was a cruise down the Li River to Yangshuo.  The riverboat was a double-decker and we were seated on the top deck with the other foreign tourist while locals, tour guides, and local tourists were on the lower deck.  Although only about 85km, the cruise took 5 hours since the waters were very low and the boats had to move very slowly to navigate.  As we went down the river, local farmers would paddle out to the boat on bamboo rafts to try to sell their goods to the passengers.  It was quite a trick to time the approach alongside the moving riverboat and toss a hook to latch onto the side.  The scenery was spectacular as we wound our way through gorgeous mountains with rounded tops that I don't think you can see anywhere else in the world. The pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

 

 

China Stop 2 - Guilin

Arrived in Guilin late in the afternoon and went straight to the hotel. We had the rest of the day to explore the city ourselves before beginning the tour the following day. Although it was quite cold and windy out we wandered downtown from our hotel through some walking streets and around the 4 lakes and 2 rivers that surround the city.

For dinner we stopped in at a local restaurant that seemed quite full and lively thinking it would be a good pick. The waitress suggested the local tea which was an interesting mix of tea leaves, giant nuts and some flowers. It tastes great but sure looked like witch's brew in the pot.

Dinner itself was quite disappointing. The waitress suggested we try the signature dish of the area the "Li River Shrimp". While they looked great on the plate what you can't tell is that each shrimp is no bigger than a nickel with the shell on. Not much to actually "eat". The food in general in the south of China was pretty disappointing for me so I'm not really going to talk about food again until the Beijing part.

The next day the first stop was the Reed Flute Cave. Normally, I'm not a big fan of cave tours - they are usually cold, dark, wet, and smelly. This tour was quite different - these caves were truly 'cavernous' with ceilings that reached up 3 stories and a maze of rooms that went deep into the mountain. It was all very impressive although I found the neon colored lighting a bit distracting even though it lent itself to some pretty cool pictures.

The rest of the day was spent touring around the city including climbing up to the highest point in the city where we could see the surrounding landscape and a preview of things to come.

China Stop 1 - Xi'An

After a quick overnight in Beijing with my cousin Carl and his family, Kim and I head out on our tour. First stop - Xi'an - the first capital of China. We went straight from the airport to the dig site for the Terracotta Warriors, fighting a tremendous amount of traffic, road construction, and other delays along the way. It is amazing to see how much development of going on - I counted over 100 cranes building skyscrapping condo towers on the outskirts of the metro area.

Upon arrival at the dig site the first thing that strike you is how big it is. You have to take a golf cart from the parking lot to the actual exhibition pits as they don't want road traffic disturbing the burial sites that may still remain uncovered. The site consists of 3 pits and they are huge. In the picture below you see me standing at the entrance to one pit.

Behind me you can see the rows and rows of uncovered terracotta warriors. They were originally created by Emperor Qin, the first emperor of China to protect him in the afterlife. Construction of this burial site is estimated to have begun around 240BC and involved 700,000 laborers. It is estimated that there are over 9000 pieces (warriors, chariots, horses) buried at this site. It was interesting to tour all the pits to see the archeological work in various stages from completely restored figures all the way to grids that they were just beginning to unearth.

The next day the tour took us to the Xi'an city wall that still surrounds the old city and is about 14km long and the Shaangxi museum which was one of the nicest museums I've ever visited.

Stepping back into life

It's been too long since my last post. While I was in China, all the social media outlets were blocked so I have a lot saved up. I plan to release day-by-day updates on the China trip which was also amazing but today I wanted to reflect on readjusting to life back home and the reverse culture shock.

After I left Bacolod, I spent a day in Manila - actually Makati City - before my flight to China. The culture shock began immediately as I walked around the area surrounding my hotel. Yes there was still all the Jeepneys, crazy driving patterns, and Filipino food but something felt quite different. There were giants shopping malls filled with ex-pats from North America and Europe and all the familar brands from back home. Jaydip and I shared one last beer together at Bubba Gumps of all places.

Getting back to North Carolina was another adjustment. Yes I love being back with my family, having drinkable water out of the tap, having reliable power, traffic laws that are enforced, and a fast internet connection. It's great to kick back to watch TV (even if it is children's cartoons) and I love being back in my kitchen cooking again. It feels weird to have to drive everywhere after all the walking we did over the past month. The southern accent is throwing me for a serious loop after 6 weeks of Filipino, Finnish, Russian, Spanish, Brazilian, Belgian, Indian, Chinese, British, and Australian accents. It's also difficult to get back to the land of the 'super-size' whether it's the food, cars, or anything else. Americans are seriously overweight - particularly in the south! Of course I say this as we are all getting ready to pigout for Thanksgiving later this week. :)

Life at work seems to be business as usual. I gave me first post experience CSC briefing to my team today. They were quite impressed but completely grossed out by the Baloot!

It's So Hard To Say Goodbye

We just got back from our final team dinner at our favorite restaurant IMAYS. After gorging ourselves on all of our favorites off the menu we returned to the hotel to say our goodbyes. It's been an unbelievable month that I will always remember. I feel so fortunate to have had this experience, especially with this group of people. We all know that while we may have opportunity to run into each other 1-on-1, it is highly unlikely that this group will be together as a whole again. We met as strangers 27 days ago and leave tomorrow as more than just coworkers, we leave as friends. I have learned so much from each of them and have so much respect for their talents. Most of all, I will miss the comradery having spent so much time together working, playing, talking and laughing. My home office will seem quite lonely after this. With some teary eyes and hugs all around, we said our farewells to go our separate ways back home or onto the next adventure.