Xi'an

Xi'an

We awoke at our normal 6am and got ready for another day of exploration. After our hotel Breakfast we headed to our first stop the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

The Wild Goose Pagoda also called Da Ci'en Pagoda which stands in the Da Ci'en Temple was built during the Tang Dynasty in 652 AD.  its use was to preserve a collection of Buddhist sutras (books), figurines and relics, brought to China from India by the monk Master Xuanzang along silk roads.

Our next stop was a government jade factory with attached restaurant...convenient.  We ate lunch at the restaurant then toured the factory, The pieces in here were absolutely beautiful.  Walking through we were shown the different types of Jade and how it is transformed into jewelry, vases, carvings etc. some of the piece were tens of thousands of dollars. After some time to shop we headed back to the bus for our next stop.

This is one I was really looking forward to.  I have seen them on TV countless times and always way in awe, the terra cotta Soldiers.   We arrived at the Terra Cotta Museum which is actual a very large archeological site. There are three sites which have been partly excavated. The first is the largest and most excavated at this time. The terra cotta soldier site is the tomb of Emperor QinShihuang which he had built for himself. The tomb was never mentioned in historical records until farmers digging for a well uncovered a terra cotta head in 1974.  At the end of the tour I was able to get a book on the soldiers and one of the two remaining living farmers which found the site signed it for me.

The Terra Cotta Soldiers are considered to be the Eighth Wonder of the World.  It is assumed that there are over 6000 soldiers and horses are buried within the tomb, each uniquely different. It became encased when invaders came across the tomb and set the ceiling beams on fire.  This along with time caused a large collapse caving in the tomb entrances until they were uncovered in 1974.

Our next stop was the Xi'an City Wall, one of the best preserved city walls in China. The wall is rectangular with a circumference of 9 miles. The outside of the wall is surrounded by a moat and the wall originally had 4 entrances, north, south, east, and west.  Now there are several entrances that run through it for traffic purposes. Atop the wall you can walk completely around, there are also rental bikes if you wishes to bike ride atop the city wall and admire the great views.

We then went back to the hotel to refreshen a bit and headed out for dinner which was at the Tang Dynasty Dinner Theatre.    This was a beautiful show. The costume flowed and had amazing beading and colors. I really enjoy the dancing and singing.  Dinner was good too. Exhausted we headed back to the hotel for some rest before we fly back to Hong Kong and ship tomorrow.

Xi'an has some great historical sites to see.  Unfortunately, it also has severe smog issues which limit the beauty, or at least seeing the beauty of this area. 

Beijing -Day 2

Beijing day 2

We woke up again bright and early this morning and had breakfast at the hotel restaurant. By 8:30 we were off for our 1.5 hr trip north to visit the Great Wall.

We arrived at the JuYong Pass area of the Great Wall which was completed during the reign of the Ming Dynasty in 1368.  We were given an hour and a half to explore on our own.  Looking up from the entry we were not convinced that we would be able to climb all the way to the top in the time allowed.  So we got right to it. It was by crowded and the stairways are fairly narrow and steps unevenly warn.  Though tiring, the climbing was the least difficult part of it (living on deck 2 and only using the stairs for the past month paid off on that part) navigating the worn steps and crowds of people were the worst part. We made it to the second highest part of this portion of wall before Ty got too frustrated with all the people and we decided to climb back down.  It took us about an hour round trip and we had another half hour to browse the market shops at the bottom wall entrance.  We browsed around grabbed a Great Wall magnet then search out some ice cream.  I think on this trip so far I have eaten more ice cream then in the last two years combined!

We departed the Great Wall and headed back to Beijing for a local lunch before heading to Beijing airport for our flight to Xi'an.

As on our last flight we had a meal sized "snack" on our flight.  Today's snack consisted of a ham and tartar sauce sandwich on a Panini flat roll, Chinese chicken, vegetables and rice entrée, crackers and pickled some-kind-of-Chinese-veggie, and apple juice.  Though we just ate, Ty thoroughly enjoyed both of our snacks.

When we arrived in Xi'an it was already past 7pm and we were bussed directly to our hotel for the next two evenings, the Hilton Xi'an.  This hotel was still very modern by American standards, but also had a more traditional décor which was very nice. While our group was getting all of the paperwork for checking settled, they sent us to eat diner in the Hotel buffet restaurant.  We were all very tired from a 2nd straight day of travel and touring and after diner went up to our rooms to bed.

Beijing was a nice city to visit.  It is not as exciting as Shanghai, but the historical and archeological wonders here are amazing.  There are no real skyscrapers as they wanted to build out instead of up.  The traffic was busy with pedestrians, bikes, mopeds, motorcycles, cars and busses. There are no real traffic laws which are obeyed.   During our time here the smog was not existent and skies were blue. The people were very friendly and our guide has been very informative regarding the places we are visiting as well as answering questions regarding life and living in China.

Beijing -Day 1

Beijing Day 1

We started our day bright and early to head to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport for our flight to Beijing. Our. Flight from Shanghai was 2hrs and 20m.

Ty and I got a kick out of our China Eastern Air flights the next few days.  There "snack" onboard consisted of full meals. Our snack this morning was a rice and bok choy porridge, a chicken burger with pickle, water, noodles with pickled egg, and cantaloupe. I ate the cantaloupe and burger which was very tasty while Ty finished the remaining breakfast for us both.  He ate it all and said it was good.

As soon as we arrived in Beijing, our guide greeted us and took us directly to lunch (we just ate!?) we had a great lunch at a local restaurant.  We were served family style with all of the food placed on a lazy susan in the middle of the table. Local beer is considered like soda so we got to try many throughout our stay.

 

 Lunch was good and we were set to start our tour. Our first stop was The Forbidden City. This place was truly huge, a real Imperial city of its own. We walked the city from the front to the back enjoying the architecture, stonework and mass of this historic place.

 

 

Next was Tiananmen Square. The first I ever remember anything regarding Tiananmen Square was when I was17 in June of 1989. I remember the news of students demonstrating in the square the the government trying to squelch their protests which turned into all out chaos.

Our guide Dennis is 31.  His grandmother lived a few blocks from the square and he recalls seeing soldiers running down the street towards the square. They were made to say in there apartments for a week,  No school, no work. Later they received brochures written in cartoon which explained how the students were rioting against the police and a policeman was killed. They captured the student and peace was shortly restored thereafter. That is was he was told. There is no information in their history books regarding June, 4, 1989, as if nothing happened. He said he has been told by tourists police were beating students with batons, he honestly doesn't know whether to believe or deny. He has no way to know.

We then checked into our hotel the Marriott Beijing City Wall.  This hotel was very modern.  It reminded me of the MGM at Foxwoods.

For dinner tonight we enjoyed a classic Peking Duck dinner, again served family style with the lazy susan.  There must have been 15 different dishes served to us, chicken, fish, beef, noodles, vegetables, rice, on and on and of course duck. Every thing was very good and only a little bit Americanized. We enjoyed this dinner very much.  Everyone was now stuffed and tired from a long day of travel and touring.  We headed back to the hotel for a good but short nights sleep.

Shanghai

Shanghai

We arrived early in the morning to Shanghai.  I went out on deck for our sail into the harbourfront which was amazing.  I could not believe the size and aesthetics of the large skyscrapers here. There are so many futuristic unique buildings.

We had a tour today which took us to the town of Zhujiajiao which is an ancient watertown, built on canals. It has many shops, restaurants and street food. We could have easily spent an entire day here, but we only had a few hours with our tour. We enjoyed the sights, some shopping, lunch at a canal side restaurant and boat ride through the canal.

After lunch we left for the Jade Buddha Temple, Longhua.  This is the oldest and largest Buddhist Temple in Shanghai and today is an active Buddhist monastery. The temple has many beautiful statues of Buddha. Most were gold, but the main attraction was the large Jade Buddha.

We then were set loose in a large outside night market mall area. The area has many both high end shops as well as souvenir shops, a Starbucks, restaurants and food stalls.  Ty and I both enjoy trying out all the different street food in the areas we visit.  We have never had a problem with trying the local favorites except today. Now I'm an avid watcher of The Food Network, and have seen many shows on Asia. Bizarre Foods being a favorite, I have seen all about Stinky Tofu in China.  Nothing prepared me for the wafting stink that permeates  the entire area. All you could smell in the market place was fried stinky tofu on a stick and people were eating it everywhere.  It was awful. Needless to say, we skipped this local favorite.

Our tour was over.  We were driven back to the ship to enjoy a bit more American dinner or I guess I should say German as it was Oktoberfest night on lido.

After dinner the show was a local Shanghai Acrobatic dance troupe which was just incredible to watch. Great show.

After the show we stepped out on deck to admire Shanghai by night.  If we thought the daytime skyline was impressing, it doesn't hold a candle to night time.  Truly incredible. The buildings are all lit up with lights and screen flashing, pulsing, changing colors.  Dinner cruise boats in the harbor sail back and forth with their own light shows.  It looked light Christmas on steroids.

We will be missing our second day in Shanghai as we head out to our a china overland trip for the next several days.

I really enjoyed Shanghai.  For such a large city, approx 24 million, it was very clean, modern and something interesting to look at at every turn.  Traffic was busy as expected, but not extreme. We only got to explore a fraction of Shanghai's offerings.  I would love to come back again and spend more time here.