The very first thing is, I have to describe my current surroundings. I'm in the basement of a building next to the Xi' An airport hotel. It's smoky, dark and stuffed with computers (like about 200) that are mostly being used by young Chinese men playing online games or checking out porn. I am most definitely getting a lot of covert attention. But it's 4 yuan an hour here to use the internet and the hotels charge 30 yuan an hour, so it's a bargain.
We were supposed to be sleeping on the boat tonight in Yichang, but there was heavy fog there, so our flight was delayed for 3 hours before finally being cancelled. The bad news is that our main luggage is already on the boat. The good news is we'd checked our liquids this afternoon and we got that back, so I have a toothbrush, my contact solution and my deodorant, so I'm a happy camper. Karen (the national guide) was freakin' amazing - within an hour of the cancellation, she had us a new flight in the morning, hotel rooms and dinner! Fortunately, most of the group has taken it all in stride and the few inclined to complain are keeping it low key.
Before all this, the day was pretty low key. We visited the Golden Goose (?) Pagoda (that's not right, but I'm a bit sleepy), we saw the old city wall and the Drum & Bell Towers. After lunch, it was airports all the way, baby.
I thought I'd take this time to address a few more general things that haven't been making it into the posts to date. For instance, the weather. It's definitely more humid here than Alberta (like what isn't? LOL), but not unbearably so. For the first day or two, we were all bringing our jackets and umbrellas, until we figured out that the overcast wasn't cloud - it was smog. The government instituted some changes before the Olympics to clear up the air, but it's rapidly returning to "normal". They still burn a lot of coal here for cooking and heat and there basically aren't any controls on industry - the push for modernization has been deliberately rated higher than maintaining the environment. The "little people" we've talked to seem to agree with this policy, so I guess they'll have to learn the hard way. It's been basically shirt sleeve temperature though and when the sun shines through it gets down right toasty!
Another interesting thing here is the toilets. For one thing, public toilets do not supply toilet paper - it's a lot like camping with Stuart, you have to carry your own. For another, only the hotels reliably have pedestal toilets that we take for granted in NA. Most of the washrooms have squat toilets. Yup, exactly what it sounds like - a trough in the floor with non-slip grips on either side and a floor pedal to flush. And your TP goes in a little trash pail that is generally overflowing. They don't seem to concerned with aim either, so the public washrooms here reek to high heaven. We asked one of the guides about it and apparently the Chinese don't like pedestal toilets because they are unhygenic. ????? I'm all for cultural differences, but I have to admit that one baffles me.
A second thing I won't miss about China at all is the smoking. There are no regulations against smoking anywhere here and my sinuses are completely out of the habit of dealing with it. In the last day or so, I've developed a wracking cough, because all the soft tissues are inflamed, but there's really nothing to do about it, so I try and ignore it.
It is still funny to watch the reactions to us though. People are fascinated by us, not only because we're white, but we have maple leafs plastered all over and apparently Canadian visitors are rare. Little kids will walk up and stare or start waving and saying "hihihihihihihi". I've had comments through Karen from several people along the lines of "You're so pretty", but I'm not sure if it's specifically me or just that I'm white and 20 years younger than anyone else in our group! LOL And poor Mom keeps getting told that she's very elegant and she's not sure how to react either.
Oh yeah - one other thing I meant to talk about is the beds. I like a firm mattress, but these are crazy. It's like they put a plywood sheet on some train grade springs, then cover it in fabric to look like a mattress. In Beijing, I could stand on it and there was no noticeable movement. The first hotel in Xi' An, I could get about 3mm of depression by standing on the mattress, but laying on it dispersed my weight enough that there wasn't any movement. We'll see what tonight's is like...
At any rate, assuming that the fog clears, we'll be on a plane at 11am tomorrow to Yichang to get on the boat. Normally if you don't make it on time, you have to catch up somewhere up river, but with the fog NO ONE got there and the boat is just gonna wait for us all. I'm not sure how we'll make up the time, but I'm sure someone will tell us sometime. The boat is supposed to be the "relaxed" part of the trip and there is supposed to be internet, so more then.
Cheers!
Showing posts with label Xi' An. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Xi' An. Show all posts
Friday, October 3, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Xi' An October 2
Ok, friends and readers... it's been a busy two days (big surprise), it's late (big surprise), this keyboard sucks and I've just had a completely, amazingly, fantabulous massage, so this will be as short and sweet as I can manage.
Our last day in Beijing started with a drive by the Bird's Nest - the stadium built for the Olympics. It takes about 2 weeks to get tickets and the crowds were the worst yet, so I'm glad we just took shots from the bus! From there we went to one of three one style neighbourhoods that is being preserved by the government. They are basically a warren of narrow alleyways with almost ancient Greek style houses: four walls of rooms around a central courtyard. We got to visit one family's house, meet all their dogs and their fighting cricket. Cool! We also got pulled around in tricycle rickshaws for a little tour, which was fun. We had a home cooked lunch in another house in the neighbourhood and hands down it was the best food we've had here so far!
From there we were off to the Silk Road Mall, which is basically six floors of stalls selling anything anyone can think of to make a knock-off of. Busy, noisy and totally sensory overload. I might buy some of that stuff in Shanghai, but I couldn't see any reason to try and drag it all over the country, especially with the extremely strict weight limits on domestic flights. Instead, Mom, Karen and I had a lovely chat over blended fruit drinks.
From there we headed back out to the airport and had to say goodbye to Marco. The plane was definitely designed for short people and we were all very glad that it was only an hour and a half flight. Particularly since there was a lot of turbulence! But we did make it in one piece to Xi' An.
Back on another bus with our new local guide Rocky (or you can call me Stone) - too hilarious, but his Chinese name means rock or stone, so I guess it works. He's nice enough but ridiculously repetitive and if he tells us that Emperor Chin was the first person to unify China for the first time, I'm gonna belt him.
This morning we visited a ceramics factory and saw how the Terracotta Warriors were produced. Of course, there was also an opportunity to buy replicas from about 10cm tall to life size. To give you an idea of this crowd, at least one couple bought a life size one and arranged to have it shipped home! Yikes. From there, we went out to see the real Terracotta Warriors. They were too cool to try and describe quickly, you'll have to hear about them when I get home.
After lunch, we... did something. Hang on, I'm drawing a blank. Oh yeah! The hot springs. Unfortunately, like Banff, the natural water isn't running anymore, so you can't bathe, but the setting on the side of a mountain is beautiful and overlooked by a Taoist temple. I wanted to visit but you have to take a cable car up and we didn't have time. We had to head back to the city for our dinner show: dumplings and a recreation of a Tang dynasty pageant. That was cool; gorgeous costumes and talented dancers.
Apparently, Xi' An is also famous for it's massage parlours, so some of us went after dinner. For $120 Yuan (about $20CAN) you get a foot massage that lasts for 70 minutes. It starts with your neck and shoulders while your feet are in a hot bath. Then you lay on your back while they massage your arms, then your feet and legs, then you turn over and they do your back. All six of us were in the same room and the therapists were all quite young. They found us hilarious and laughed through the whole thing! I feel marvelous darling, just marvelous! Must teach Stuart how to do it!
Anyway, I'm crashing, so that's it for now. Tomorrow we're on another plane and then a boat, I think. I'm told there are internet connections, but it may be another two days 'til I can actually use it.
Cheers!
Our last day in Beijing started with a drive by the Bird's Nest - the stadium built for the Olympics. It takes about 2 weeks to get tickets and the crowds were the worst yet, so I'm glad we just took shots from the bus! From there we went to one of three one style neighbourhoods that is being preserved by the government. They are basically a warren of narrow alleyways with almost ancient Greek style houses: four walls of rooms around a central courtyard. We got to visit one family's house, meet all their dogs and their fighting cricket. Cool! We also got pulled around in tricycle rickshaws for a little tour, which was fun. We had a home cooked lunch in another house in the neighbourhood and hands down it was the best food we've had here so far!
From there we were off to the Silk Road Mall, which is basically six floors of stalls selling anything anyone can think of to make a knock-off of. Busy, noisy and totally sensory overload. I might buy some of that stuff in Shanghai, but I couldn't see any reason to try and drag it all over the country, especially with the extremely strict weight limits on domestic flights. Instead, Mom, Karen and I had a lovely chat over blended fruit drinks.
From there we headed back out to the airport and had to say goodbye to Marco. The plane was definitely designed for short people and we were all very glad that it was only an hour and a half flight. Particularly since there was a lot of turbulence! But we did make it in one piece to Xi' An.
Back on another bus with our new local guide Rocky (or you can call me Stone) - too hilarious, but his Chinese name means rock or stone, so I guess it works. He's nice enough but ridiculously repetitive and if he tells us that Emperor Chin was the first person to unify China for the first time, I'm gonna belt him.
This morning we visited a ceramics factory and saw how the Terracotta Warriors were produced. Of course, there was also an opportunity to buy replicas from about 10cm tall to life size. To give you an idea of this crowd, at least one couple bought a life size one and arranged to have it shipped home! Yikes. From there, we went out to see the real Terracotta Warriors. They were too cool to try and describe quickly, you'll have to hear about them when I get home.
After lunch, we... did something. Hang on, I'm drawing a blank. Oh yeah! The hot springs. Unfortunately, like Banff, the natural water isn't running anymore, so you can't bathe, but the setting on the side of a mountain is beautiful and overlooked by a Taoist temple. I wanted to visit but you have to take a cable car up and we didn't have time. We had to head back to the city for our dinner show: dumplings and a recreation of a Tang dynasty pageant. That was cool; gorgeous costumes and talented dancers.
Apparently, Xi' An is also famous for it's massage parlours, so some of us went after dinner. For $120 Yuan (about $20CAN) you get a foot massage that lasts for 70 minutes. It starts with your neck and shoulders while your feet are in a hot bath. Then you lay on your back while they massage your arms, then your feet and legs, then you turn over and they do your back. All six of us were in the same room and the therapists were all quite young. They found us hilarious and laughed through the whole thing! I feel marvelous darling, just marvelous! Must teach Stuart how to do it!
Anyway, I'm crashing, so that's it for now. Tomorrow we're on another plane and then a boat, I think. I'm told there are internet connections, but it may be another two days 'til I can actually use it.
Cheers!
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