China
I was there and yet I struggle with the immensity of all that we saw and experienced to the degree that I find it difficult to know what to commit to words as the immediacy of the experience fades for me even a few weeks out from the experience itself. I think my difficulty in knowing even where to start speaks to the enormity of the experience. Perhaps best to start at the beginning…
Getting There
We started this adventure, as we start most all adventures, with Delta Airlines, flying from Atlanta to the Asia hub of Detroit. I guess they had to have something to do with the hub they inherited when purchasing Northwest Airlines, so they turned it into the origination point for many of the long-haul Asia routes. It certainly is an impressively large airport for an essentially, as I understand it, dead city. We met my Dad, sound asleep in the Sky Club, since he had arrived about 3 hours earlier, and waited out our lay-over of about 3 hours. I am a huge fan of Delta’s Business Elite product, especially on the Boeing 777 aircraft, complete with the full-flat bed seats, full pillow, and duvet. The flight was listed as over 14 hours, so I raced to the lavatory during boarding to change into shorts and t-shirt for better sleeping, and managed to stay awake long enough to eat my five-course meal. I slept until I had to awaken to redress for landing. It was a truly painless 14 hours of flight. And while it would seem more direct to fly over the pole from Detroit, we went more along the usual path over Alaska and down.
Shanghai
Like most of what I would see in China, the Shanghai Pudong International Airport is a shining new gem of construction complete with transportation links. Since we were arriving several days before the start of our official tour, we had booked into the first hotel on the tour schedule, The Portman-Ritz Carlton, independently, and we had arranged for them to send a car to pick us up. We didn’t get the glamour BMV sedan my Mom would when arriving from Hong Kong where she had been on business of her own since we had too many people and thus bags, but the experience was still miles beyond the subway.
I had never stayed at a Ritz-Carlton, but I dearly wanted to because it is the hotel of choice of my literary hero, David Sedaris. But at over $500 a night for the most basic of rooms, well, their level of “basic,” it isn’t a cheap indulgence. But I did think it was fabulous in terms of luxury and decadence. I have stayed at some really nice locations world-wide but the Ritz might just have the edge, even if it is in part because of the name recognition factor. Just keep the fact that it is wholly owned by the much lower brow Marriott a secret please…and nothing in the property will tip you off, not even a stray Book of Mormon.
We arrived in the late afternoon of a Thursday and with the travel time to the airport we didn’t do much but rest and recover. But on Friday we struck out on what would be a perhaps foolishly long walk. Right outside the hotel is every premium brand you can think of (Gucci, Ferragamo, Coach, Dior, Chanel, etc) and if you didn’t know already, you know there is money to burn for some in China today. Figure the cars on the street, with the big new Benzs and BMWs being pretty standard, and then factor in that to just have a registration is over $10,000 for the privilege of buying a car like that (or any car for that matter and that may be part of the reason behind all the high end vehicles…a lower end driver can’t afford to enter the lottery for the registration permits!) and you know even more clearly that money is remaking China. And then you look up and realize that, as you will be told at some point, the national bird of China really is the construction crane making new housing, new freeways, new, new, new, new. Massive investment in the infrastructure of a budding nation that could teach us, and Europe too, a few things about basic economics (austerity is known to fail while infrastructure investment almost always pays out in the end).
Of course, with all this new construction and proliferation of cars and electricity that is always on, there come consequences, most notably the air that you can always see. You will have a hard time seeing far, either up or out, when in China unless a recent storm has cleared the air somewhat (or unless the government has shut down the coal power plants near where you are having an international games event) and presumably if you have a respiratory condition this might make you think twice about coming. But when asked later, the Chinese term for what we call smog is either “fog” (euphemistic) or “progress” (realistic). The claim is that when they are wealthy enough they will ship dirty energy production to India, the next nation on the pecking pole as seen from Beijing. And speaking of energy and Beijing, no matter how hot the room might have seemed to us on occasion, only heat was available. As it was explained to us, Beijing determines, for the entire nation, which is also on one time zone despite its size, when heat, or air conditioning, is available. If that fails to really suit your particular climate, well, no matter, there are prices to pay for having centralized government and I found it to be more a matter of reminding everyone of where the REAL power lay by keeping control over something trivial, keeping it outside of your, or tourists, control, which in most places on the planet is an individual decision (provided you have central heat and air of course, a privilege in itself). In effect, you might have $100,000 to drop on a car or in the casinos of Macau, but since I control the time and the temperature, I control you more than you might think and don’t forget it!
Much to his annoyance, Tim would discover that his camera and computer GPS systems were not operable in China. Nor was there any Google, Twitter, or Facebook. Only two of those do we care about but it was another reminder, as if you need one, that you really are not home anymore.
With all the new it is surprisingly easy to find the old Shanghai that is being replaced. Just turn off any of the main drags and detour down smaller side streets and alleys to find what to me looks like every other “Chinatown” I have ever been in complete with produce sellers, small restaurants, and lunch still alive on the street or in tanks. I was charmed by a method of selling books I have never seen outside of China, which was by the pound. We purchased art books for a friend, and I briefly considered the folly of a complete set of Harry Potter in Chinese, all sold by the weight of the items, at quite an effective bargain to boot! Other bookstores were popular and one was enormous in its own right, being about 5 floors and packed with consumers.
Our goal was to reach the Bund, the section of Shanghai that fronts the river and was the home of the international cantonments, or enclaves, that were controlled by European and United States powers, in the 19th century when China was weak and easily controlled and manipulated by the West. It is the domain of large impressive diplomatic buildings, but for me it was rather sterile despite the occasional views across the river to new Shanghai, Pudong, where former fields now grow towers of steel and glass. After one trip, we walked back, after the second with Mom in tow, we took the subway, which was bright, clean, easy to use, and totally modern. To be clear, it was my hips that were unhappy with a second long walk, not anyone else’s.
Of course, part of the adventure at hand was that we were doing two travel “firsts” on this trip including a river cruise and a fully guided tour complete with a tall talisman to follow through crowds. We had carefully avoided guided tours anywhere we have been thus far but we didn’t feel that we could duplicate on our own what we could see and do in China with the group, and despite my deep misgivings about the guided tour experience, I fully realize that we could NEVER have seen so much for relatively so little, on our own.
The Tour Starts
The guided tour started one morning at the hotel, as would every day, and we boarded a bus, again as we would most every day, and were driven around in isolation from the real world about us. We went to a tourist site, the Jade Garden, although I am hard pressed to remember any jade being present, where we were hustled past old Chinese buildings and gardens in favor of the masses of gift shops near the entrances. Tim took lots of photos and I will let those speak for the experience. We concluded our day in Shanghai with a visit to the Bund, which we had already seen independently, twice. What more could one see?
On to Wuhan and the River
Our next adventure was an internal flight from Shanghai to Wuhan, where we would meet our boat, the floating hotel for the next six days. Internal flights are probably one of the things that would have been difficult about independent travel but admittedly with the group it was easy. Your checked bags were handled for you from outside your hotel room until delivery at the next hotel. The size and amounts of luggage reported to be allowed were underestimated in our experience and no one had issue with our standard US carry-ons, although internal Brazilian flights would have forced check-in. The flight itself was on a 3-3 configuration aircraft which almost ensures that 1/3 of the passengers, those in the dreaded middle seats, are uncomfortable. Tim drew that card while I was pushed up against the window, which I was mostly OK with. The flight was short, less than 2 hours anyhow and we arrived in Wuhan about rush hour.
Rush hour in China mainly means not moving at all. Traffic is no longer bicycles; it is cars, trucks, busses and motorcycles of all descriptions. And it all wants to move right now in the same direction you do, or so it seems. Let’s just say there are a LOT of cars on the roads, most of which are new, both roads and cars. Consequently, we were late arriving at our destination, a museum and bell playing show, but although the building was closed, it was opened for us anyway, again, the power of the tour. By this point I was exhausted and tired of being dragged about by bus and plane, so it was a great thing that we boarded the river boat and began the cruise portion of the journey.
On the Ship
Our cabin, with balcony, was not markedly smaller than on ocean going ships of our experience so space really wasn’t an issue. We started sailing at night of course so there wasn’t a lot to see. The only part of the cruise that I dreaded, and I do mean dreaded, was the open seating at 8 top tables when our party was only 4. I know there are people who think they know me extremely well who would argue the point I am about to make about myself, but given that I have lived with myself for longer than any other person, being over 40 by a few years, and living inside my own head, I assure you that what I am about to say is completely true. I have an actual physical dread of interaction and speaking with people I don’t know. My social anxiety is so extreme that I have ignored some glorious opportunities, both educational, professional, and personal, in my life because it would place me in forced close contact with strangers that I would have to interact with and this literally causes me physical pain in anxiety. If I have a purpose, a known plan and talk track, I can be amazing fluent in public, but non-social, speaking. Ask me to sit down with those very people I have been talking AT and have me talk TO them and I freeze. I would rather not eat than be forced to endure small talk around tables of strangers on a cruise ship. It is a part of me and I do the best I can to deal with it, but in many ways it still rules me. Truly, like it or not. Tim and I have means to avoid this on ocean vessels (our secret) but we couldn’t do it on the river cruise. My means to handle it was strategic seating. First, I didn’t eat breakfast, which isn’t uncommon for me anyhow. At lunches and dinner, I would be sure to have my Mom seated at one “outside” position and Tim at the other. Tim doesn’t like small talk but he can manage it with ease. This always meant that I was never seated next to, or across from, someone I would have to interact with socially and in this way I managed my anxiety and was able to get through meals.
Other than meals, I enjoyed the slow show of the river and its banks passing me by. It was becoming markedly cooler over time but not uncomfortable at all. We passed huge new cities and factories, countless bridges and other new construction. Much of the new construction would prove to be from the flooding of the Yangtze River due to Three Gorges Dam, but other new construction is simply the result of China remaking itself in its own unique image, an image that I am not qualified to expound upon, but from what I could see, people were healthy, reasonably happy, housed comfortably, employed, provided health care and education, and were free to exploit the economic opportunities that are abounding in the country. I realize that there are lots of strictures still in place in Chinese life and I am not suggesting I want to move there (which I can’t anyway since they deny residence to those with AIDS, although they have recently lifted short-term travel restrictions, probably about when we did), but I did come away with a respect for the way the Chinese are adapting to a new life and new culture of their own creation.
One aspect of the ship that surprised me, although in hindsight it shouldn’t have, was that it was made for Asian, or I should say smaller than typical European, people. Bulkheads could be disastrously low so watching out for your head was critical. The stairs were narrow and shallow, about 1 ½ steps in effect, that one on more than one occasion caused me to misstep and on one occasion to arrest a fall with my hands and my artificial hip, which proved to be excruciating for several days and caused me to skip the 99 steps of a pagoda we passed that had been saved from the rising waters with a special causeway because of its historic importance (see Tim’s photos again and look it up if you want). Otherwise, the infrastructure was pretty standard. The Chinese crew all had adopted English names, which they frequently changed between voyages apparently. The off season, the winter in other words, was given over to tours of actual Chinese folks instead of Western tourists on junkets.
Three Gorges
Most days there were shore or small boat excursions. The small boat trips ventured up smaller tributaries and took in local scenery. The most impressive of the shore ventures I believe was the trip to the Three Gorges Dam. You can look up all the data and statistics about this construction project about which superlatives abound (for example, it is the largest user of concrete in the entire world) but I was most impressed by the sheer will it took to build it and to recognize from the beginning that it would be a tourist site, and to be set up for exactly that. The project is so massive that it could potentially, when finished, provide the entire power grid of some neighboring nations (and this sole source for a nation is possible, just witness Itaipu Dam in Brazil and Paraguay which provides all electricity to Paraguay with much left over). The vistas are remarkable as is the sheer effort of the project, truly monumental.
Joshua
I have not yet mentioned our guide, whose English name, this time at least, was Joshua. I would say that he tried hard but this really probably wasn’t his line of work in the end. His English was better than my Chinese, Mandarin to be exact, but then I am not proposing to lead tour groups of Mandarin speakers. While he annoyed me some times, and if I never hear “thank you very much” said in a prototypical sing-song Chinese accent it will be too soon, at the end I gave him a decent evaluation and tip. It seemed the kind thing to do. The most interesting thing about him, to my thinking anyhow, was that he has been a tourist in North Korea!
Minorities
Another constant aspect drilled into us was that China has 56 nationalities but only one, the majority Han, is “really” Chinese. The rest are minority groups, some of which may well outnumber the population of the United States, but still a minority in China. These groups are condescended to, joked about, and generally looked down upon. While this level of blatant racism is perhaps shocking to Americans these days, it is reality in China and you will hear it eventually. Even the “one child” rule doesn’t apply to minorities, who are also given exemptions and “free” points on national academic exams, as though they couldn’t be expected to understand Han rules, or compete evenly with the reportedly superior Han people. If you go, just be prepared for it and try not to be too taken aback, different cultures function in different ways, and you are the guest, not a specialist in correctness sent to right what you see as “wrong.”
“Factory Tours”
One of the day trip “tricks” was the many visits to “factories” where we were given a free, and probably cheap or free to the cruise company as well, quasi-lunch, fed to us family style in banquet rooms quickly (only one drink!) and then we would be herded into massive showrooms of jade, of carpets, of painting, of embroidery, something to buy. It wasn’t the only form of day trip, but it was common.
Eating
Oh yes, the food. On the ship, there were both Asian and European foods, or at least Asian interpretations of European food. Food is not available all day like on big ocean ships but only set times, which no one seemed to miss. One night there were chicken feet but you could also have a steak. Let’s say that most Chinese food I have seen served in the United States would be little recognized by the Chinese we ate amongst. Rice isn’t always served, much less fried, everything has bones if it was alive, and that brown stuff on the table probably isn’t soy sauce, it is more likely to be vinegar. The cruise company tried to occasionally throw in a known quantity, like something sweet and sour, but trust me, what you get at a buffet in the mall in the United States really isn’t Chinese at all.
…So Much Better Now…
Local guides along the Yangtze would always stress how much better their lives were now that the dam was being built and that there old homes were under water. The new homes, schools, and jobs, were universally reported to be much improved and after a time this starts to sound like propaganda, but we couldn’t judge this for ourselves since the old was underwater and the new was, well, new.
I can’t speak for how things used to be, but my experience of China was of a place that is very clean. Even stray leaves are swept from streets by workers with hand brooms. China has very low unemployment because those who cannot find private sector jobs receive help from the government in the form of jobs to earn assistance from the state. What a concept for welfare mothers! Work some in exchange for benefits.
The Public Bathroom
About the only place I really felt uncomfortable in China, aside from the dining room of course, was the bathroom. Nothing is more common amongst travelers I think than toilet anxiety. How clean will it be and what will it be like to use? Mostly in China, including at the airports, there is a porcelain hole in the ground with places for your feet on both sides, and you squat and hope for good aim. Only rarely is there a Western sit-down toilet, unless of course you are in high end hotels and occasionally in a stall or room marked for handicapped people. What can I say, you get used to it or you suffer. But at least they were almost universally clean.
Chongqing Pandas
By the time we were due to leave the boat in Chongqing I was clear that I would consider another river cruise in the future but I was also clear that I was not too keen on the bus and shepherded tour aspect, which was unfortunate, since there was a steady diet of that coming up.
The main attraction in Chongqing was the zoo and its pandas. In general, I abhor zoos and think most of them should be closed due to cruelty to animals who have been plucked from their home environments to be kept in concrete pens with nothing remotely resembling their home environment so that children can gawk and scream.
And while I felt that to be true about most of the inhabitants of the Chongqing zoo as well, I did see the point when it came to the pandas which would almost certainly die out completely if populations were not supplemented with zoo stock. At least most, if not all, of the pandas we saw were zoo born and have no memory of the natural environment they can no longer inhabit.
Amazing to me, the zoo had still more factory shopping with a lecture on Chinese painting with an opportunity following to spend up to tens of thousands on your own masterpiece. For less, you could still get a “leaf” painting or inverse glass painting.
I was most impressed at the zoo by the humans instead of the animals. Large groups of mostly elderly people were actively practicing tai-chi with amazing grace and style, along with other games and activities to support and encourage flexibility and strength of muscles. I couldn’t help but think how much better off our older people would be if they had such regular and structured activities to help them stay active, flexible and strong. Admission to those past retirement age, 65 I believe, is free to spots such as the zoo where such activities take place daily, another lesson I think we could learn from a culture and society that is literally thousands of years older and more experienced than we.
Xian
From Chongqing we flew on to Xian. The flight was standard, neither good nor bad, just an internal flight. We arrived at a reasonable hour and booked into the Xian Hilton which was super glamorous, on a par with the Ritz in Shanghai I think, and the bathroom had a totally awesome window connecting the bedroom which had an electronic internal shade device. I think Tim was more struck by the technology aspects while I was happy to have the luxury since I was at the beginning of what would prove to be an absolutely mind-bogglingly bad flu.
The terracotta soldiers of Xian have to be seen to really be believed or understood. I have to defer to Tim’s excellent photos of the site. If you want the history of the site, the whys and then whens, there are many places to find those details that are going to be more accurate and comprehensive than what I could put together. The Internet and your local library will all have resources about this amazing accidental archaeological find of the 1970s. As you look at the photos, remember that each soldier is made of fired terracotta clay, each face is unique, and each statue is the height of a normal person. You can’t imagine the scale of the place without seeing it and a few of Tim’s photos provide scale images that help to explain the grandeur and majesty of this place.
As I noted above, I was started to get sick, really sick. My nose was running and I was coughing. I couldn’t get enough sleep and the pace was punishing on the tour as we raced from site to site. I went through countless tissues, sounded horrible and felt worse, but I made it through to Beijing where it all came crashing down around me.
Beijing
I didn’t see much of the city of Beijing except what I could see outside the windows of the hotel or bus, and what that showed me was lots of traffic, lots of haze and smog, and lots of big buildings, newly completed or under construction. But being in Beijing, at a Westin which was fantastic, wasn’t about the new city itself, it was about what lies around it or inside it.
Our first day trip was to the iconic Great Wall. Again, as I said for Xian, Tim’s pictures do it more justice than I can and you can get all the technical details from many sources. Suffice it to say that it is massive, huge in fact, and can be seen for miles around snaking over impossible mountains right on the ridgeline. If you go to Beijing beware that many cab drivers will take you to a section of wall that is a recreation; not real in any sense! The actual wall is about a 30-40 minute drive under the best circumstances out into the country, well outside of the city itself, in the hills. It was bitterly cold and the vendors were selling lots of toboggan hats and other warm things. We needed them! I was miserable but I wasn’t going to be the guy who goes to China and doesn’t see the Great Wall. I was glad to see it, glad to climb up a small portion of it, and only could wish that it was warmer and that I felt better, but still, despite the cold and the illness, it was an experience I don’t think I will ever forget as long as I live. It really is that impressive.
The next day was scheduled to be the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. But when I woke up in the morning after a night of fever, coughing, and congestion like no cold I have ever had before, I simply couldn’t go on. As much as it pained me to do it, I stayed behind in bed and didn’t stir from my sweat drenched sheets until about 2:30pm, when the bus had left at 7:30am. Mom volunteered to stay with me but I didn’t want her to miss out due to me, although the offer was appreciated. I knew I would be fine sleeping all day, and that I could do that alone. From all reports I would have been miserable as it was, and some people actually called it quits and took cabs home part way through the day. It was below freezing with the wind blowing out in huge open spaces of the Square and the Forbidden City went on seemingly forever at a very fast pace just to get through it in time. Even I have to rely on Tim’s photos of this day to know what was seen, so I obviously can’t add any more about that day and its sights. Again, the major sites are well covered by many Internet and written sources if you are curious.
Onward to Guilin
Leaving Beijing we left some of our group behind who were not continuing on the extension through Guilin and Hong Kong. We were a much smaller group now, down from about 200 to only 28 or so, which meant only one bus and one guide, a woman who I found much preferable to Joshua. The flight to Guilin was the longest one we had and nothing is as miserable as being sick on a long flight, but in this case long was under 4 hours and I managed with lots of drugs. By this time, Dad was getting it too and others on the bus were hacking and blowing as well. Joshua had kindly informed us of China’s strict policy regarding ill travelers. If you pass through the heat cameras at the airport and register a temperature, you are pulled aside for further examination and if you are determined to have a fever, you are prohibited from traveling out of, or into, China. This meant that if my fever was detected on the flight from Guilin to Hong Kong, I could end up quarantined in a Chinese military hospital until I no longer had a fever. China is determined to not again be known as the source of something like SARS and they are reported to be very strict about this. Fortunately, loads of acetaminophen will fool scanners, IF you know about the rule. It was probably the best information given to me by Joshua!
The first day was pretty relaxed; we left at a reasonable 10am from the hotel, had lunch and then flew on, arriving at a reasonable hour and staying again at a wonderful hotel, the Guilin Shangri-La.
Guilin
The attraction of Guilin is the Li River valley, which is truly beautiful with verdant hills in the mist, which probably is mist in this case. Tim’s photos will show how lovely the area is and if you have ever seen a Chinese brush painting of misty hills and vegetation, that is exactly what the Li River valley around Guilin looks like. The river cruise was short and I was OK with that. We were then back on the bus to fly on to Hong Kong.
One Government, Two Systems
You might think this would be an internal flight, but since China is one government with two systems (four if you count Taiwan and Macau), it is considered to be international. Chinese citizens can have multiple passports that reflect this. One is for travel to Hong Kong and Macau, another only for travel to Taiwan, and yet another for everywhere else. Hong Kong and Macau have their own immigration and customs systems as well as their own currency (the Hong Kong dollar and the Mataca in Macau).
Hong Kong and Macau
Hong Kong airport is gigantic and we rode a bus under the superstructure of the airport for a view that I have never had before. The traffic to our hotel was horrific again, but the hotel, another Shangri-La, was amazing, truly amazing. We had a button to call our butler any time, 24 hours a day, next to the light switch. They took my dirty clothes and brought them back clean in less than three hours! Not for free, no, but still the service was awesome as was the comfort.
My impressions of Hong Kong are limited since none of the four of us was signing up for the four hours of bus tour the next day. We’d had it with the bus and the rest of the time was free time. What I saw was a really big city with lots of Asian looking people. I am not a big shopper so that didn’t grab me and I am also not in international business and that seemed to be the only two reasons to be in Hong Kong. I am very grateful we didn’t make a dedicated trip out of Hong Kong! We did head over to Macau to say we had done it, but it was a mess trying to determine how to buy tickets and then there were VERY long lines for customs and immigration once leaving the ferry. We had lunch in a casino hotel, the reason for Macau’s existence anymore seems to be to function as the Asian Las Vegas, complete with a Cirque d’Soleil show, and then headed back. I had been craving Western food at this point and after the Outback in Hong Kong I made the mistake of ordering a cheeseburger in Macau. It was essentially raw and I couldn’t choke it down for several reasons! But I have been to Macau and Hong Kong and have no need to return.
Returning Home
The moment I was on board the Delta bird to Tokyo I felt like was at home again. I was getting admittedly somewhat homesick and that plane felt like home to me. Good sleep to Tokyo and then a short wait for the flight direct to Atlanta on the 747 with the new flat-bed suites upstairs. On both flights the cabin crew was wonderful, obviously concerned about how ill I seemed to be, even though I was better at this point, and they made the experience even more like home.
We arrived home about 2 hours before we left according to the calendar thanks to the International Date Line, and since we were well rested and it was only mid-afternoon, we unpacked, communed with the dogs, and started to catch up on our missed television shows.
Final Thoughts and Reflections
On reflection and consideration, I have to say right off that I do not regret the trip at all. I saw a lot and I learned a great deal about China and about myself. I didn’t like being sick of course, but no one does, it just happens sometimes and while that colored my impressions and feelings about places we were visiting in the moment, I can recognize from a place of wellness and warmth that it was the illness talking, not so much me. We saw and did an amazing amount in China, stayed at fantastic hotels, ate some OK food, and overall there is simply absolutely no way we could ever have done all we did, stayed where we did, and encounter zero friction without doing the tour. The barriers of language and culture would have been just enormous if we had tried to do it alone, and of course the entire section on the river would have been impossible. I learned that we are good with a river cruise and we would consider doing one again, but we have also learned that we are NOT OK with guided, hand-held tours playing follow the leader. We would ONLY consider such a tour if there was a place we really wanted to go, or something we really wanted to see, that wouldn’t be practical or possible to do on one’s own. An eastern or southern African safari comes to mind as something I would do in a group, whereas other places and sites even in Africa I would consider doing alone. Suffice it to say that I don’t think it will be an issue for a long time.
Of course my parents proved to again be wonderful, low-stress, travel companions with whom I would be honored to travel once again in the future. Right now it looks like the Arctic Circle and the Northern Lights maybe…stay tuned.
If you are curious about China, by all means find a way to make it happen for yourself. It is a country on the move and growing fast and just watching the changes can be entertainment in itself. Get out there and find something amazing!