China Stop 5: Great Wall

What can I say?  It's pretty darn impressive.  After jetting back to Beijing from Guilin we spent the evening with Carl and his family.  The next day Carl drove us up to the Wall.  Even in this ancient place, Subway had managed to open up a sandwich shop at the base which at first I found a little disappointing but then realized it was probably perfect for you to grab a little picnic lunch to take up to the Wall for the hike.

We elected for the gondola ride up the mountain vs. the 1 hour hike.  It was cold and much easier.  The Wall stretched for as far as the eye could see and we hiked along it for about 1 hour.  On the return trip down, we took a 'tobaggon' ride down this metal slide.   It was kitchy but absolutely a blast to essentially slide on our backsides down the mountain.  There is a video of the ride at the bottom of the page.

 

 

 

China Stop 4: Yangshuo

Got off the riverboat in the small town of Yangshuo which was nestled at the foothills of the mountains.  The town is quite popular with European and North American expats that have setup little shops, restaurants, and cafes.  We stayed right in the heart of town at the base of one of the walking/shopping streets.  That night, I was on a mission to find a winter coat in the market.  Luckily Yangshuo is also popular with rock climbers so the shops were filled with North Face and Columbia gear - either knockoffs or items that found their way out of the factory.  Price negotiation is mandatory and usually done with each party typing a number into the calculator.  You literally have to walk away from the deal in order to get the best price.  I had vendors actually chase me down the street.  In the end, I got the coat I wanted which originally started at 450 RMB (65 USD) down to 170 RMB (25 USD).  Either way, the same coat in the US would cost closer to 200 USD retail.

The next morning we went on a bicycle tour of the countryside.  Our guide lead us through small farms.  Along the way you could see many farms being converted over to resorts.  It was a nice way to end our tour.

 

  

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.