Sanyahhhhhhhhh - The Vacation from the Vacation

Shelley and I flew from Xian to Sanya on Friday.  This was to be the place for the big reunion with Abbey and the vacation from the vacation.  We had no plans other than to meet up with Abbey and enjoy some R&R prior to the whirlwind that will be the next two weeks.

Our plans hit a snag with a 4 hour flight delay.  It was especially challenging because we don't speak the language and the airline wasn't good at updating the flight boards.

Fortunately we were able to spend a good chunk of the wait time in the first class lounge.  Poor Shelley was on edge the whole time, as she was concerned our flight would end up being cancelled and Abbey would be stranded in Sanya waiting for us.

But all's well that ends well, and we arrived in Sanya shortly before midnight.  The mother and child reunion was made and we grabbed a taxi for the ride to the resort.

Taxis in China are relatively small, and now that we were a party of three, it took a special effort to fit our bags in the vehicle.

Fortunately, the straps held and we (and our bags) made it safely to the hotel.  It wasn't until Saturday morning that we were able to appreciate the room and the view.

After a leisurely breakfast, we hit the beach for some fun in the shade (it was HOT!).  Sanya reminded me very much of Maui.

Now that Abbey has joined us, I'm trying to be a little more daring on my food choices.  Baby steps at first, so I started with squid on a stick for lunch.  The flavor was good, but it was a little chewy for my liking.  

Upon returning to our room, we noticed that the hotel staff had decorated one of the beds with flower petals to wish Abbey a happy birthday.  They followed up that surprise with a special delivery of cake, also in celebration of Abbeys's birthday.  We aren't exactly sure how they knew it was her birthday, as neither Shelley nor I could recall mentioning it.

Later that evening, we went out to dinner and the wait staff surprised Abbey yet again with more cake and a delighful glass of limoncello.

Speaking of staff, everyone we interacted with seemed to be a Nepalese student on an internship.  They were helpful and pleasant, but perhaps just a bit too attentive.  I think this stemmed from 1) the fact that we were the only people on the beach between noon and 3 pm; 2) we were the only people dining in the restaurant at 9 pm; and 3) they wanted to practice their English.

After two days of doing nothing, we checked out of the Ritz and our adventure picks up in Kuala Lumpur.  More on that city in the next post.  Good night!

36 hours in Xian

Xi'an was intended to be a quick stop to see the Terracota Warriors of Emperor Qin.  It ended up being a place I enjoyed more than Beijing.  Our train arrived at 8:40 a.m., and by 11 am we had hired a private car/driver to take us to see the archeological site.

Have I talked about the traffic in China yet?  It's insane. There do not seem to be any rules and "lanes" are very fluid.  Cars merge and diverge and cut each other off with impunity.  It's like being in a live version of Mario Kart.  But miraculously, there seem to be few accidents (I've seen two fender benders). 

Back to the Terracota Warriors.  The site of Emperor Qin's tomb was first discovered in 1974 by a farmer who was digging a well.  There are currently 3 pits open for excavation.  Pit 1 is the most extensively excavated.  There are hundreds of clay warriors and horses.  Each warrior is incredibly detailed, down to the tread on their shoes!!

In addition to the clay figures, there are bronze horses and chariots, as well as many types of weapons.  Words fail me as the craftsmanship and effort it must have taken to create this mausoleum is mind=boggling.  Below are a few of the dozens of pictures I took.  Again, I'm having trouble adding the photos inline on my iPad, so they will be at the bottom of the post.

After visiting the Terracota Warriors, we returned to Xian and visited the Bell and Drum Towers.  We also took a hike down Muslim street, were there were tons of street food vendors.  The din was amazing, as all the vendors were hawking their wares and encouraging people to come eat (I assume that is what they were doing).  A wide variety of foods were sold, most of which I couldn't identify.  Because of the language barrier, we took the safe route (for now - when Abbey joins us I will be more adventurous).  We ended up with a spiced pork sandwich.  It was delicious and cost a whopping 15RMB or about $2.

Friday morning we had time to visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.  This is a buddhist temple built in the 600s.  It's surrounded by a plaza/square which was filled with groups of people dancing/exercising.  Shelley danced with a Chinese gent and then we attempted to tour the Shaanxi history museum, but the line was almost a block long and we didn't have time to wait.

This ends the tour of the Chinese mainland, as we are due to depart on Friday for Sanya, the Chinese equivalent of Hawaii.

Two Days in Beijing

After the Wall tour on Monday, we had a lot of ground to cover in Beijing in our remaining two days.

On Tuesday, we started out bright and early and toured the grounds known as the Temple of Heaven.  There were several pagoda-style buildings in a lovely park like setting.  This marked the first time a random person asked to take a picture with us.  Shelley and I are quite an attraction.  I've become accustomed to the staring and picture-taking, but today a lady came up and wanted to take a picture with us.  I think it's charming so I'm putting on my best smile and saying cheese - building good will one snapshot at a time.

After the Temple of Heaven, we headed back underground to the Metro and got off at Tiannamen Square.  By the time we arrived, it was noon and the sun was blazing down.  The temperature was in the mid-nineties with a heat index over 100.  It was miserably hot, my feet were sore and my blisters had developed blisters.  But we were determined to see all that we could see, so we continued walking (and walking and walking and walking).

Tiannamen Square is a large open plaza with government buildings.  I don't know why, but I was surprised to see people buying and waving Chinese flags.  I guess it would be similar to an American visiting DC.  

At the north end of Tianammen Square is the south gate of the Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City is another huge complex (everything is huge).  It consists of many pagodas and gardens and temples (oh my).  My favorite section was the Imperial Garden, and not only because it marked the end of the tour.  The garden was peaceful and shaded, with an interesting rock wall/fountain at the end.

After walking through the Forbidden City, we hiked the 1 1/2 kilometers back to our hotel.  Google Maps took us through some sketchy back alleys, and we were definitely a curiosity to the locals, but we made it out alive (Shelley was a little nervous).

Dinner on Tuesday night was a traditional Peking (now Beijing) Duck.  It was carved tableside and painstakingly arranged on a platter.  It was served with crepes and "condiments" - slivers of cucumber and other vegetables as well as a garlic spread and plum sauce.  Not knowing the protocol for eating Peking duck, we rolled it up in the crepes like a fajita until a waiter took pity on us and showed us the proper way to make a roll.  The duck was delicious.  I'm not normally a duck person, but I really enjoyed that meal.

Wednesday, we toured the Summer Palace.  After a while, all the temples and pagodas blend together.  Beijing isn't as old as I expected, as many of the historic areas/buildings were built in the 1400s and are of a similar style.  After the Summer Palace tour, we hit the Olympic Park to see the National Stadium (aka Birds Nest) and the Water Cube.  The National Stadium is HUGE - much bigger than I expected for some reason.  It is easily the size (or bigger) of a football stadium.

That was all we had time to see in Beijing.  Our overnight train to Xi'an left at 8:40 p.m, so we headed to the train station around 6.  The Beijing West Railway Station serves 150 - 180,000 passengers PER DAY.  Thankfully we had already purchased our tickets so we went directly to our assigned waiting room.  Talk about a holding pen.  

After about an hour's wait, we boarded the train and settled down in our "luxury soft sleeper."  This was a two-person train compartment with an ensuite toilet and sink.  That was the luxury part.  The soft part was a big, fat lie.  The bunk felt like plywood over concrete blocks.  I could never get comfortable and probably slept a total of 90 minutes during the whole 11 hour trip.  And that brings us to Xi'an, which is a post for another day.

Just Another Chick on the Wall

Good thing Shelley and I are flexible as we learned that the Forbidden City is closed on Mondays.  As that was on today's agenda, we had to switch gears and flip Tuesday's Wall trip to today.  We'll do the Forbidden City tomorrow and the Summer Palace on Wednesday.

Rather than go with a group tour, we decided to hire a private taxi and head to the wall on our own.  Between the cars, trucks, scooters, bicycles, and pedestrians, Beijing traffic is a like a pile of worms - everyone trying to get to the top of the heap and crawling right over the other guy.  Our driver, Mr. Lee, was clearly an old pro as he was able to squeeze through spaces I thought impossible.

On the advice of the concierge, we chose to go to the Mutianyu section of the wall northeast of Beijing.  This section of the wall has been carefully restored and ranges in height from 23-26 feet and is 14-16 feet wide.  We arrived at the top of the wall via chairlift.

 The surrounding area reminded me a little of Colorado - it's mountainous and smells of pine.

As the wall is built to follow the contour of the mountain, it can be very steep.  The men who manned the wall must have been part mountain goat with lungs of steel.  We were perfectly content to visit only three watchtowers.  It would be a badge of honor to traverse the wall and visit all 22 towers on this section.  I am not that much of a masochist.  My fitness tracker recorded 26 "flights" as we walked the wall, and we earned every flight.

The trip to Mutianyu took up most of the day.  When we got back to Beijing we were hungry so we tracked down some ramen for lunch.  My pork ramen was delicious and cost less than $6.  

After the long day in the heat, the jet lag caught up to us and we have crashed for the evening.  We'll be back at it tomorrow - good night!

Note: I'm having some issues adding photos to my posts on my iPad.  I'm giving up on editing the HTML for now and will just add them at the bottom.  When I get home, I'll pretty up the formatting, but for now, this is what you get!

Sunrise Over the City

Well, it's 5 am Beijing time and we can't sleep because it's 4 pm yesterday our time.  Being so much farther north (I think we're farther north) means that sunrise occurs a little earlier here.  

I decided to torture myself by looking up how much we SHOULD have paid for a taxi last night compared to what we actually paid.  Let's just say that guy has quite a racket going on taking advantage of stupid travelers.  I hold myself to blame as I didn't do any preliminary research to determine the appropriate range.  But I'm up to speed now, thanks to my insomnia.

Today's plans include visiting the Forbidden City, Tiannamen Square and the Drum Tower, plus whatever else we can squeeze in.  Tomorrow is the day to tour the Great Wall.  I'm really looking forward to that.  Until later!

Looks Like We Made It!

Welcome to Beijing.  After a 13 hour flight, we arrived around 7 pm on Sunday night.

Things I've learned in the first four hours:

1) Read the picture on the door before choosing a restroom stall.  My first bathroom experience involved a trough built into the floor.  Picture a urinal, only instead of being installed on the wall, it was installed on the floor. If I come across another one, I will take a picture.

2) Only take the yellow taxis (too little, too late, Abbey).  Shelley and I ended up in a gypsy cab driven by a very nice man who did not sell us into white slavery but who did charge us an arm and a leg to deliver us to our hotel.

3) Sunday night may be a public dancing/singing night in Beijing.  We took a walk up the street and encountered multiple groups of people line dancing, ballroom dancing, and breakdancing, as well as singing karaoke in the street (OK, it was a public park area, but still - full on karaoke with speakers and a monitor ON THE STREET CORNER).

That's all for now.  It's been a long day and I'm ready for bed.  Good night!