Hong Kong: a bit of the western world shines through

One of the interesting things about Hong Kong is that even though it is part of China, you don’t need a Chinese approved visa to get in. It’s almost as though it is still part of Great Britain. It even feels like it.

The ride into town

As we flew into Hong Kong, I was surprised about how much it reminded me of flying into Hawaii. It was tropical! The green mountains set back and the turquoise blue water gleaming in the sun made me wish that I had brought my swim suit. I guess the good news is that we really never had any time on the beach anyway.

We met our new tour guide, Benny, at the airport and boarded our new tour bus. He was to take us to our new hotel which was actually a hostel--the Y-Loft at Youth Square. It was pretty much like living in a dorm room with a private bath. BUT, it was clean and they had internet and washers and dryers! Plus, it was right across the street from a shopping center with a McDonalds and a grocery store. 

Benny gave us about 2 hours worth of free time when we got to our place. I needed some alone time, so I headed out to find the washers and some food. This may sound rather sad, but I actually ate at the McDonalds! But for the record, I was starving and was not up for exploring other food options. I then headed back to the hostel and exchanged a few Hong Kong dollars for some wash tokens so that I could finish drying what I had attempted to wash the night before. I found that there was free internet near the laundry and I was finally able to access Facebook!! Ah, finally a little democracy in China.

Benny met us down by the elevators and showed us that we were right around the corner from the train station. We hopped aboard and headed into Kowloon to eat dinner. Honestly, the restaurant was not very memorable--the food so far is not as good as it is in the other 3 cities I have visited. Hmmmm.

Benny thought we could use some more shopping, so he took us down to the Temple Street Night Market for some shopping. It was pretty much like the Bazaar in Shanghai--but on the street and set up in tents. If you need some cheap chinese souvenirs or a case for your iPhone, this is the place to be!!

At 8 pm every night, Hong Kong puts on a light show for you. You can meet down at Victoria Harbor called the Symphony of Lights. I must say, it is amazing!! But at 8:15, after a LONG day, we were exhausted and ready for bed. Benny walked us back down to the ferry landings and we hopped a ferry back across the channel to Hong Kong Island. 

On the way back, I finally got to know some of the other people in my tour group from Connecticut. They invited me to come hang out for awhile and I wish I had gotten to know them before then!

Connecticut Peeps!

Shanghai: It's still raining...

The wonderful day in Shanghai continued with a trip to the Bund, a financial district and architectural area to visit. Normally, tourists would spend some time walking up the streets but since it was raining, we sort of got dropped off for a few minutes to enjoy the view and take a few pictures. 

By the end of the trip to the Bund, I was ready to end the day. I was tired and wet and cranky. However, our day was not anywhere nearly over. We headed to the Yuyuan bazaar in Shanghai to do some shopping and to visit the Yu Gardens. These were supposed to be the gardens of peace and happiness and all I wanted was a dry place to rest. We walked though the gardens admiring the beauty..in the rain.  Personally, I was ready to shop.

We then walked over to the Yuyuan Bazaar. Finally, a place where you can buy cheap Chinese made objects and you get them cheaply because you bargain with the merchants. This was also a place (if you knew where to look) to buy cheap knock-offs of extremely expensive bags. Now, this is not my thing, but I ended up with a group that wanted to check it out, so we headed down a main street to an alley where there were flats where people lived. Then we went through a gate, around a corner and into an extremely small room filled with purses and wallets. No pictures were allowed, of course because who wants to end up in a Chinese prison? After about 10 minutes of browsing and bargaining, I was ready to leave. The people in my group were still trying to decide on a purchase, so I headed out with one of the young boys in my group. We went back out to the main gate to wait on the rest of our people. After standing there for maybe 5 minutes, a young man waved us to come over to the gate. We shook our heads no--we were not interested in going back in. Then he asked us to move. It seems that two incredibly white people standing outside a local apartment complex was suspicious and we would call attention to the police--who patrolled regularly. So we moved a block up to the bazaar to wait instead. When a few others emerged from the gated area and I knew that the young boy with me was safe with someone else, I took off for the shops. It was time to get some things to bring home.

Of course, our day did not end with shopping. The tour group had set us up to see an acrobat show. We were all so tired and punchy that it was hard to be entertained, but I must say it was pretty decent. 

Shaghai Part one: it's raining...a lot...

It's a lovely Tuesday evening, here in Shanghai where the weather is...well...wet.

Since we had to wake at an insane hour yesterday, we were lucky enough to sleep in today and did not leave our lovely hotel until 8:30am. We are staying at the Jian Gong Jin Jiang Hotel in Shanghai. It is situated right across the street from a lovely park. It is probably the best hotel we have stayed in so far--at least the bed is not quite as hard as the others! But I think I was so exhausted, that it didn't really matter.

First up on today's schedule was the silk factory. I wish I could tell you which one it was, but it was all a blur. There was a small museum attached to it (obviously set up for tourists) and a place to buy all the silk products you could possibly want. There was a beautiful comforter cover that I liked but I could not imagine how I was going to get it home. After shopping for about an hour in the store, I came away with a few beautiful prizes for some friends and a silk scarf for myself.

Next we visited the beautiful Jade Buddha temple in Shanghai. This place was amazing. It is situated right in the middle of the town (like I guess everything is) and is definitely a place where people come to pay homage to the Buddha and pray. I felt like I was invading someone’s space--because the place is small and we were in all the places the worshipers wanted to be. We were told that we could take several pictures of some of the Buddhas, but no pictures were allowed of the Jade Buddha. If we wanted, there would be postcards for purchase. Well, of course one of us had to test this. 

One of the teachers on our trip decided she would take a picture of the Buddha on the sly. As we were in the main viewing area, she held up her camera discreetly and snapped a shot. Later, when she went to view the picture on her camera, the camera froze. She tried turning it off and on and it still didn’t work. It was only after she deleted the picture and removed the data card that her camera would word. So, for future reference, don’t  “dis” the Buddha!!

Next up was the Nanjing District which was upscale shopping at it's finest. This is apparently where all the rich people come to shop. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain. The first thing we did was find a noodle place to eat some lunch. Our city tour guide, Leo, recommended the Aijsen Ramen Noodle restaurant...which is Japanese and a chain---but fantastic noodles! I had this big bowl of noodles with pork which was amazing! 

Diane and I decided to do a little exploring so we moseyed on down Nanjing Road to check out the shops. It was still raining so we did not go far (plus we did not have a lot of time.) We finally decided that maybe a coffee shop would be a great place to sit and watch the people. We couldn't find one, but we did find the Hagaan Das! We met some more from our tour group that had the same idea and we sat and had what I would call "happiness in a cup" which was vanilla ice cream with a shot of espresso poured over it. OH MY GODDESS it certainly hit the spot on this rainy day!

We finished up our coffee and ice cream just in time to get on the bus. Unfortunately, one of us got lost. The bus left for our next adventure but our wonderful tour guide stayed behind to find our missing students and would meet us at Yuyuan Gardens.

Shanghai-ed in Shanghai

There's nothing like getting up at 4:30 am to catch a flight to make you wonder why you travel. Especially when you get up that early to make sure your luggage gets to the airport before you do. That doesn't happen in the US because God/Goddess forbid you not be in possession of your luggage the entire time! But we are a group of of American students and teachers. How harmful can we be? Especially at 4:30 in the morning. 


Once we arrive at the airport, we are already checked in (thanks to our handy guide assistant) so all we have to do is got through security and find our gate. Easy enough! Flight to Shanghai--smooth sailing, so to speak and we land in the port city in the pouring rain. 


Unfortuately, some luggage didn't land with us--a drawback of having someone else check us in. So we spent some time in baggage claim sorting out a lost bag and a damaged bag. Luckily, the Chinese are very helpful and the lost bag is on the next flight and the damaged bag is replaced. And it only took us about 3 hours to solve this issue!

Ready to ride!

As an "extra" on this tour, Daniel has set it up a ride on the bullet train into the city from the airport. It costs about $50 yuan and can go up to 400 km an hour. We hop on and get our seats. It's not crowded at all. Turns out not many people ride this train. I think the entire ride took about 10 minutes but it was fun to watch the city go by so fast!

View from the train

First up on our list of attractions was the World Financial Center Building--the tallest building in China and 4th tallest in the world! (although the Chinese are currently building another sky scraper that is supposed to surpass this one when it is finished). It has an observation deck on the 101st floor, so we are going to see the city from way up high. The building is obviously designed for tourists too and we are ushered into lines to board elevators that will take us up to the 94th floor. From there, you need a ticket to get to the 97th floor, and then another ticket to get to the 101st floor. This is not a ride for the clausterphobic. You are crammed into the elevator with as many people as possilble to get up there, but the ride is very fast (10 meters pers second) and they provide you with an entertaining and hypnotic video on the ceiling.

I have to tell you that even on a cloudy, misty, rainy day, the ride up to see the views are well worth it. But what surprised us the most were the window washers! They were all the way up to the observation deck--outisde--on their scaffolding!! They would do their job but wave and laugh at us as we seemed very surprised to see them up there. 

You can head back down to the 97th floor where there is a gift shop and public toliet. I know this sounds quite strange, but you must try the toilets! They are the most fancy one's I have ever experienced. There are about 5 buttons on the side of the seat that will warm the seat for you, rinse you off and dry you off. If you use the handicap one in the ladies room, it comes with a view! From what I have heard, you get a view in the men's room too. Daniel advertised it as a 7 star "happy house." He was right on the money!! And compared to most toilets in China (and some in the States) it was quite luxurious!

Our plan after the viewings was to meet back down in front of the building. Unfortunately, navigating the building was a little difficult and some of us got lost. So today was a day of just running late. We were able to get some great skyline pictures taken, though.

When we were finally all together, we boarded our bus and headed to our hotel to check in and rest a little before the night excursion. Daniel has scheduled time for us to take a boatride around the harbor and check out the night lights of Shanghai!

straight down...

info I cannot read

straight up!

outside

Xi'an Part 2: There's more? A LOT More!

So after our morning at the Terracotta Warrior Museum, we head back into the city. First, we visit an art gallery that exhibits Tang Dynasty art as well as come more contemporary items. It is a small museum but the art is simply beautiful. We have a guide that takes us around and shows us the many different pieces that are in the museum.

We are then taken back to the teaching area and are given a quick lesson on Chinese calligraphy. We are provided with the four necessary items for this art form: brush, ink, stone and paper.  I think I might need to practice this for awhile!

We are then given the opportunity to "shop" for some paintings done by local artists. I was not planninng to buy anything, but my travel leader Diane and I got to talking about peonies and how our mothers loved them. As it turns out, the peony is a favorite in China too, so we both bought paintings with peonies.

Now by this time, we are famished! Daniel suggested that we do an "extra" on the trip and attend a dumpling lunch. At this restaurant, you are given 16 different types of dumplings to sample (as well as some veggies). It was AMAZING! They brought them out in courses and every single dumpling was different. Some were sweet, some were salty, some were gooey--but they all were delicious! There was one that was filled with a red bean sort of paste and was sweet. Most people at my table didn't care for it, so I had some extras.

I took a moment in my eating to at least take one picture!

We were ushered back out to the bus and off to our next destination, the Wild Goose Pagoda and Buddhist Temple. This would be the first of 3 temples we would visit on this tour. I was very excited!


The temple is the Da Ci'en Temple (Great Kindness and Grace) and the pagoda is one of the most famous one's in China. Most of the original structure was distroyed over time by the elements, but you can still climb to the top of it today. We were not here long enough for me to do that. I spent more time exploring the temple area than the pagoda.

Daniel and I  at Temple entrance

Our guides left us alone for awhile so that we could go off exploring the temple, so I climbed up to the main temple area. It was so peaceful there. Many had come to pray to the Buddha. Some were lighting candles and incense outside. Some were going inside to kneel before the Buddha. I stood just outside of the temple staring up at the statue in awe of its beauty and peacfulness.

And was interupted by one of our group members who thought it approprate to mention Jesus and the only real way to "heaven." It's funny (and scarey) how the southern Bible belt can follow me all the way to the other side of the world. I was a little angry at first but the peacefulness of the temple brought me back to the true nature of the place. I was able to walk away without saying a word.

I took my time in each of the smaller temple areas and even found a shop where I bought a jade goddess Buddha necklace and a string of sandalwood prayer beads, both blessed by the monks. I did not want to leave this beautiful place, but there was more to do tonight and we had to get back to the hotel to shower and dress for the nights dinner and show.


This was also a rather emotional time because we had to say goodbye to our awesome city guide, Faye. She was so sweet and she even sang us a goodbye song.

The theater across the street offers tourists a nice evening of food and a show on the Tang Dynasty. We were given beer and rice wine to drink as well as tea. The meal was served in 7 courses and was fabulous. The show itself was also wonderful. Unfortunately, they were playing to a crowd that was exhausted. The music started and it was hard to keep your eyes open because it was just so soothing. I looked around at one point and there were at least 6 of us with our eyes closed and head bent over. I was able to get a few pictures of the show though.

After a very daring and close call crossing the street back to our hotel (the cars don't really like to stop for pedestrians) we shuffled our way up to our rooms to pack up. We have a super early departure time in the morning for our flight to Shanghai. I wish I could stay in this city longer because  there is still more to see and do here, but Shanghai awaits.


If you want to see more pictures of Xi'an, please click the link below:


https://plus.google.com/photos/111010890670080469261/albums/5760578614354165633

Terracotta Warriors: a Wonder of the World

My New friends!

Up early again for our next adventure in the city. Today we are going to see a wonder of the world: the Terracotta Warriors.

Just like everywhere you go in China, there is an hour bus ride involved. 

Entrance to the Park

So while on the bus ride, we got a little bit of background info on these warriors. They were discovered in 1974 by a farmer who was digging a well. Historians date the warriors around the 3rd century BC and were made for the first emperor of China (Qin Dynasty) as protection and someone to rule over in the afterlife. Every single warrior has a different face. At some point, the emperor had an estimated 700,000 people working on this army (Wow!).

Pit One

It was going to be hot today. Packing lots and lots of water is necessary. Faye informed us that we had to park the bus and walk about 20 minutes to get to the gate. Now, a twenty minute walk translates to about a mile with this crew. We arrived very early so that we could be the first to arrive through the gates, but our tour guide didn’t double check the gate openings and we had to walk another fifteen minutes to another gate. By the time we made it there, there was a crowd at the gate. We were able to make it though and hiked another half mile to the pits.

Now, our walk through the gardens to the pits was nice. There weren’t too many people out. But once we arrived there, the vendors came out in full force. Fans, umbrellas and your very own set of terra cotta warriors could be yours for anywhere from 4 dollars to $100 yuan. It just depends on the vendor and your bargaining skills.

We entered the first pits after a debriefing from Faye....and it was more than I ever expected. I didn’t understand at first that we were entering the actual archaelogical digging pit. And then there were hundreds of them!

You first see the ones they have already assembled and then the further back you go, you see ones they are still digging up. At the back there is a lab set up and several specimens that are tagged and being put together.

And that was just pit 1. But it was the biggest pit. There is also a theater showing a 15 minute film on the discovery of the warriors, and a gift shop where, if you are lucky, the actual farmer that discovered the warriors will sign your book for you. But no pictures please! Apparently, all the photos he has had taken since 1974 have damaged his eyes. He has had surgery since then, but still, no pictures. One of the girls in our group tried to take one of him on the sly, but her flash went off. She was not reprimmanded, but did get the stink eye from him.

Pit two and pit three also had several warriors put together for view. We took about an hour just walking through the pits. It was simply amazing.

This is the view outside the pits.
Those mountains in the background are supposed to be the highest ones in China