Travel Journal: CHINA

Installation #2 in the Travel Journal series!
(Missed the first one?  Don't fret, just click here.)

In June of 2012, I was planning my wedding (which was only four months away), had just accepted a job offer, and was on my way to China with my parents.  They had planned a family trip to Eastern China.  Everything would be orchestrated through a tour company; all transportation, lodging, excursions, and meals taken care of.  It was amazing, and, without a doubt, the trip of a lifetime.

I’ve always been one to journal and to want to remember the past.  It’s especially important to remember the amazing trips we take to places we may never see again.  Reading these journals just 3 years later, there are already things that I have forgotten about my experience.  Pictures are priceless, and I took a boatload of those as well, but journaling captures something pictures can’t.

The first installment is the emails I sent to my husband (who was my fiancé at the time) that include my daily journals.  He responded to my emails, but I didn’t include those as I didn’t want to exploit him unnecessarily.  Emails are italicized.  Notes circa 2015 are not.  To China!



6/14/12
I’m journaling in my iPod as things happen so, consequently, I’m likely to send you far longer emails than you bargained for. We just got to the hotel and I think we are all about to nap. Freaking exhausted. So here's my thrilling tale thus far...:

THE JOURNEY THERE
At Lambert, I hit my head on a large steel support beam out of pure grace. Tears and instant headache. Short flint to Chicago, then business class seating to Beijing - the most kick ass plane seating I've ever experienced. Roomy seats with tons of leg room, a TV screen and remote equipped with movies (I watched Beauty & the Beast and realized it's about Stockholm syndrome), shows, video games and more... But the best part has to be the electronic seat controls that allow you to recline and adjust independent parts of the seat to the extent of creating a makeshift twin bed. The 3 meals, unlimited drinks, and complimentary care pack (toothbrush, socks, eye mask, etc.) complete the package. Downsides? The flight attendants make the strongest drinks I've ever tasted and I'm dying without smokes.

Initial observations - most signs are in both English and Chinese; androgyny exists only in hair styles here (women are all dressed quite feminine); traffic lanes & stoplights are just suggestions.

View from my Bejing Westin hotel room

Tomorrow we are doing our first tour, so those ramblings should be slightly more exciting. Also, the hotel wifi sucks pretty hard. Pretty much all it will let me do is email. :-( But oh well. Email me back, shnookums. And remind Percy that his mama loves him.


6/15/12
I did sooo much walking today. I know there's even more to come tomorrow. No, the ppl aren't as short as Americans exaggerate. I mean, they are certainly shorter on average than Americans. But they are by no means midgets. I am taller than most of the women (except the younger girls because they're ALWAYS wearing heels) but not the men. There are indeed a lot of ppl, but that depends on where you go. At the tourist attractions, there are hoards of ppl. But here in town it does not seem to be as crowded. Ok, today's journal:


DAY ONE OF BEIJING

Forbidden City

The elevators in our hotel are all in stealth mode. Very quietly, they open and close, and with amazing speed. Attempting elevator use when sleepy is nearly impossible. The hotel breakfast buffet this morning was amazing. A plethora of Chinese and American food that all tastes amazing. Delicious sushi, enormous strips of bacon, decadent pastries, Chinese porridge.... I tried dragon fruit for the first time - interesting, strange looking, but not my favorite. Admittedly, the Beijing Westin is very Americanized.

Summer Palace

The mornings here are surprisingly quiet. No people, no cars. During the day, people, cars, and bicycles are everywhere. We toured Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City, the latter of which was the most architecturally beautiful site I've ever seen. I could have spent days exploring the huge complex. The history and the design were breathtaking. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable but also extremely long winded. We ate lunch at a restaurant with a lazy Suzan that made me think immediately of the opening scene from Temple of Doom. Then to the Summer palace - a beautiful lake and palace for Empress Cu Xi.

Observations: in certain parts of Beijing, street vendors will mob you, swarming tourist groups, relentlessly peddling cheap crap; most non-American tourists are other Chinese; the "big city" part of Beijing has skyscrapers, and looks like every big city you find in the U.S. (except for the Chinese characters everywhere).

I miss you already. I don't really interact with my parents a great deal except for at meals. Kinda lonely. Don't worry, I know you don't miss me yet. ;-) Love you love you love you. Email me more. :-D kbai!



6/16/12
Zao shang hao! (Good morning!) It is 12:30 am, Sunday here right now. :-)

This one is kind of long. But you like to read, right? ;-) I sent you 3 pictures. I got some really awesome ones today. To answer your questions... Yes, we have a tour guide who stays with us the whole 2 weeks. He seems to know the entire history of China, but I prefer when he teaches us Chinese phrases (though this happens much more infrequently than the history lectures). At the Forbidden City, there are big black vats here and there occasionally (for water, I believe) but not really any vases. As for not interacting, the tour process is part of it (to hear our tour guide at all times, we have little headsets). Having my own room is another part. And there's also the fact that we are often exhausted. :-/

I cannot wait to show you all of my pictures. I am about 1/3 of the way through my trio and have already taken over 150 pictures. O.o everything is just so pretty!!! Lol. So are you having regular d&d Monday and/or Tuesday? Trivia? Anything exciting going on?

DAY TWO OF BEIJING

Jade museum

we started off the day with tourist heaven: a jade "museum." a peppy young girl with a heavy accent gave us a short tour about jade which was very interesting. Different colors are significant here and all have very specific meanings. The jade piece my parents bought - the Happy Family design - had a great story behind it. I also loved the tradition of jade bangles being passed from mother to daughter through the generations, growing in value all the while as the jade darkens. However this neat tour was somewhat of a trap, as the finale was a giant jade jewelry and statue store.

Sacred Way

Next, the Sacred Way walkway. Very pretty with symmetrical willow trees on either side and noble-looking statues guarding the path... But the long walk in 97 degree weather is something I'd recommend future tourists skip. Pretty, but not a must-see.

Lunched at another lazy Suzan restaurant on the second floor of a massive cloisonné workshop/market. Pretty, ornate, overpriced and slightly gaudy wares lined tables. The food was much more similar to the Chinese food in the U.S.

Finally... the Great Wall. Truly great. I can now appreciate how tall and how very steep it really is. You can see the green hillside and mountains and expanse of wall for miles. There are look-out holes near the floor to fire arrows from and ditches running left to right on the floor for rain run-off. At times, the climb is nearly a 45 degree slope. I took a lot of pictures - the Great Wall is perfect for amazing photos.

No extraordinary dinner or festivities. We skipped the opera (me because of a migraine) and ordered room service. It is our last night in Beijing. I think I will miss this amazing shower the most.

Observations: I'm beginning to understand why the stereotype exists that Asians are awful drivers (on long bus rides, I entertain myself by watching cars merge n- it's amazing stuff); young Chinese girls wear dresses and heels to the most ridiculous places (like the forbidden city and the great wall); gift shop employees often ask if we are a family; Americans fear chop sticks; indoor smoking is banned but many places seem to ignore this; there is no floor 4, 13, 14, or 24 (the Chinese word for 4 - su - is the same as the word for death).

6/16/12
Also, in addition to my last email:

Last night:
We went to a restaurant for the Peking Duck Welcome Dinner. As it turns out, duck, done right, can be fairly tasty. I tried most everything except for the duck feet.  The people in our tour group are quite the American tourist stereotypes. One man in particular is quite the pompous asshole. Even my parents are repulsed by him. I came precariously close to losing my temper and telling off the old scumbag over a lazy Suzan issue and a snarky self-important remark.



6/16/12
Yup, they are all Americans. I encountered Irish tourists at the jade museum - that was cool. The food isn't like American Chinese food, just the one restaurant. What is the return address on the packages? I haven't ordered anything...

I'll email you tonight too. We spend the morning in Beijing and fly to Xi’an this afternoon.

6/19/12
I managed to get wifi on the cruise ship but only in the dining area. I don't know whether you want me to send you all of the journals I've done - it'd be awful lengthy. Lol. I also called you at 830 am your time and left a voicemail but now I can't dial out. There probably isn't a tower anywhere near Fengdu, this mountain city we are docked at. Email me back... Have you gotten any of my postcards?



**There are no more emails from me in my server after that.   He responded to that last email, but I don't see any journaling emails, just some pictures I sent.  Luckily, I am a hoarder even in the electronic sense, so I still have most of the journals on my iPad.  I would have lost them years ago, but Apple looks out for hoarders and keeps all of our things tucked away in the cloud.  ;-)   **



BEIJING/XI'AN

Rickshaw ride

We started the day off with a rickshaw ride around the more residential part of Beijing. This was definitely my favorite part of the day. Though I felt bad for the poor man cycling the rickshaw, the rest of the experience was amazing. The buildings alone had me smiling the entire ride.

Tea ceremony

After the rickshaw ride, we visited the "Hutongs." I'm still not certain what that means. What I do know is that we sat in a Chinese couple's home and courtyard while our tour guide spoke about the history of that specific residential area.
We walked to a beautiful building - a bell tower, I think - and partook in a tea ceremony. It was interesting and, though I don't enjoy tea, I tried all but one of the five flavors that were served to me. I've never seen anyone make tea quite as deftly as the fast-speaking Chinese girl.

Besides the rickshaw ride and a moment in the Hutongs where a little girl peddling wares earned a dollar from us for being extremely adorable, the day wasn't all that wonderful. The evening consisted of a delayed flight to Xi'an, a very warm and crowded airplane, and a disappointing dinner at the new hotel's buffet.


TRAVEL ON!
PAGE 1: Bejing, China <-- You are here!
PAGE 2: Xi'an, China
PAGE 3: Yangtze River Cruise & Shanghai, China