Rebekah Kimminau's China Journal
This is the full text-only version of Rebekah's journal, part of which was published in Practical Homeschooling #88. It has been edited slightly for our site.
The actual journal submitted for credit was created using MyPublisher and looks like this:
- Comments in italics with no label were added by Rebekah's mom, Trish.
- Comments labeled "LK" were made by Rebekah's grandmother on her father's side, Lois (Grandma).
- Comments labeled "BR" were made my Rebekah's grandmother on her mother's side, Berta (Grammy).
Day 1, Oct 25, 2007, Thursday - The flight
Yesterday morning we got up at 4 a.m.! We got to the airport around 5:30 and we got all checked in with no problems. We got to the gate and they said we could not upgrade Grandma to first class.
Rebekah and her Grammy, Berta Riley, had first/business class tickets they bought with frequent flier miles. But Rebekah's Grandma, Lois Kimminau, had joined the trip just a couple of weeks before, so she had to buy a coach ticket.
When we got on the plane and sat down in our seats, I saw someone doing BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) across the aisle. We started talking with her and found out that her husband is the director for BSF international staff! The flight attendant let Grandma upgrade to first class on the way to Chicago. We ate breakfast on the plane and when we got to the Chicago airport we went to the duty free shop. I got hazelnut chocolates!
We raced to our gate and boarded the plane to Shanghai. On the plane we were hoping to get first class (as opposed to business class), but both first and business were full, so Grandma had to be stuck in coach.
But she said it wasn't bad, because it was very empty and she had almost a whole row to herself on the way there.
I loved business class! The first movie they showed was Evan Almighty. I had a seven-course lunch! I slept on and off throughout the trip, watching movies and reading in between. They brought us food around every 3-4 hours! It was very weird to think that we skipped 13 hours of the day.
There is a 13-hour time difference between Chicago and China during daylight saving. Afterwards it is a 14-hour difference.
Once we arrived in Shanghai, we went through customs, met Hua and went to the van she had rented.. (Hua is Grammy's friend. She lived in North Carolina for a few years, and lived with Grammy for two years. She is the main reason they took this trip. Hua has been inviting Grammy to China since she went back. Grammy was looking for a travel companion, and finally decided to take me.
It was a 1-hour drive to the hotel.
BR - It should normally take just 40 minutes, but traffic was horrendous.
I was so fascinated looking out the window. One of the funniest things was when we went down a narrow street. We got stuck with a bunch of other cars because buses were going through! And the drivers got out of their cars and yelled at each other.
BR - Traffic everywhere in China is something else again. They seem to follow few rules and the mixture of cars, buses, bicycles & pedestrians is mind boggling.
We got to the hotel finally and went out to dinner. We shared a bunch of platters. My favorite was the duck, and Hua ordered me a drink called "tea with milk and black pearls." It tasted like something you would get from Starbucks! The Black Pearls was a bunch of tapioca formed in small balls!
LK - It's actually a type of very large tapioca.
I saw a McDonalds and KFC coming home from the restaurant and a very tall hotel that had a cool top (it had a big arch through it with lights through the top - I have a picture of it) I need to go to bed...
Saturday, Oct 27, 2007 - Nanjing
I was going to scold Rebekah for skipping a day in her journal, but then realized she was on the plane all of Friday, because of the time difference.
Today we had to be at the lobby at 8:15 so that we could get to the train station on time. Hua's son, Billy, took us to the train station and went with us to Nanjing. My mom called us while we were in the taxi.
Hua gave them one of her cell phones. I had signed up with Total Call International for 5.5cents/minute to China - if you know anyone in a foreign country, TCI is a great way to go for making phone calls.
We waited in the station and then got on the train. We each got first class seats for only $13! It was a 2-hour train ride and I looked out the window most of the time. I saw a lot of country shacks that looked poor and disgusting, but people actually lived in them. Once we got to Nanjing, some friends
BR - Actually Hua's cousin, Mr. Wu, who owns a business in Nanjing
of Hua picked us up and took us to our hotel.
For lunch we went to a local restaurant that featured local delicacies and I found out I really liked duck. I ate two duck heads! The sauce was really good. I loved, loved, loved the duck-filled dumplings.
Rebekah says now, at the end of the trip, that those were her favorite food of the whole trip.
Next we went to the Nanjing city gate! I like that a lot. It had three gates that people used to have to go through! And it had tons and tons of space for soldiers to hide out in. I liked going up and down the stairs.
LK - There were three very large structures with three arched "gates" in each to go through with sort of courtyards in between. The three structures were two outer gates, then the inner gate, which was attached to the city wall, back when the city wall was still standing. Several centuries ago, there was also a moat around them. Up on top was a very large space where the soldiers could keep guard. There were some families on top flying kites.
Next we went to Confucius' place. We took a 40-minute boat ride on which I just looked at the sites because the tour was in Chinese. Next we went to Hua's cousin and his wife's restaurant.
Hua's cousin, Wu and wife Jessie, is the owner of a big company. One of his employees was their driver and a friend was their guide. This friend asked Berta if she was a Christian and said that he was becoming a Christian & would be baptized next year. My mom commented on the phone that Wu and Jessie paid for absolutely everything while they were in Nanjing. That included the hotel, all the food, souvenirs, etc. My mom, Lois and Rebekah want to get them a nice "thank you" gift. They hoped to get Jessie a double stroller because she's pregnant with twins, thanks to Hua's help - who is an OB/GYN and infertility specialist - yes, even in China! But Hua told them they have two single strollers. So we are trying to figure out something else to get them.
He had invited three of his business people. Dinner was good. I liked a lot of the things we tried. The Chinese eat a ton.
BR - I learned later in the trip that a good host serves at least 30 dishes.
Once I was full after eating a ton of food, the servers just kept bringing more and more food out. We saw some shows; my favorite was the mask-changing one. A man raced around in a costume, and all of a sudden his masks changed! Then, after talking a lot, we went home.
LK - When we arrived at the very nice restaurant and were seated at the table, Berta and I noticed three nice wineglasses at each place and thought, "Oh, boy, we get some good wine." Imagine our surprise when they asked if we wanted corn juice or bean juice! It turned out to be exactly that, served warm. I got corn juice and it tasted like pureed creamed corn. Not bad. The bean juice was green beans. Actually we did get some wine later in the meal.
Sunday, October 28, 2007 - More Nanjing
Last night I got a very good night's sleep, even though I thought Grandma and Grammy wouldn't because their beds were extremely hard. We went down to breakfast around 8 a.m. The hotel in Nanjing was a little nicer than the hotel in Shanghai. The breakfast was much bigger but not too much nicer.
After breakfast we finished packing and checked out. The driver (same as yesterday) picked us up at 9:15. Today we were going to the Sun Yat-sen Monument. Sun Yat-sen was the first president of China.
LK - after the emperor was overthrown. He was also the brother-in-law and mentor of Chang Kai Shek.
He overthrew the last emperor. His famous saying was "The world belongs to the people," in contrast to the emperor, who said, "The world belongs to the emperor." His monument was very pretty, but it was way up high in the hills; you had to climb 392 steps to get to it! The 392 steps represented the 392 punctuation marks that were in his last speech. I climbed up and down the steps twice!
In his monument there was a hall with a huge statue of him sitting wearing a Chinese outfit. The Chinese outfit was significant because people fought over whether he should wear a modern suit or a Chinese outfit; they compromised - two statues, one of each.
After we saw the monument hall we went to the gardens behind. I got my picture taken a couple of times and then we started heading down; on the way to the steps our guide offered us money so that we could see some pictures in a special machine!
When I just questioned Rebekah on that comment, she said Mr. Wu's friend & employee were so generous, they kept giving her group money, when we should have been paying them.
The pictures were of the whole park and looked very clear and even 3D!
After the monument, we took a trolley to another part of the park. We got to the Linggu Pagoda, but I did not want to walk up all seven stories. Then we headed to the open-air music hall. On the way we saw, in a lake, a bunch of people in huge balls, floating! They kept trying to stand up and walk, but they just kept falling! It was hilarious to watch.
LK - This was really fun. I'd never seen these balls before. They were huge clear balls with an opening to get in, and you could rent them. If you could stand up and walk, you could roll the ball across the water, but the people inside kept falling, so they never got very far.
We also went to the beamless hall. It was made without beams or nails. The open-air music hall was sooooo fun because there were white pigeons all over and our guide bought me some food to feed them. They landed all over my arms and skirt, while they ate out of my hands!
LK - Grammy and I never thought about bird flu until after Bekah had played with the birds for half an hour. We made her wash her hands real well with antibacterial hand cleaner.
Next we went to lunch in a restaurant called Yos-mite, that was close to the top of a mountain. I ordered Hawaiian pizza but it had lots of corn and cashews on it, with no sauce. It was pretty good, but Grammy's curry was better.
LK - Our wonderful hosts had reserved a private lunch room for us at the restaurant. It had a table to eat at, and a couple of couches to relax while waiting for the food. High class stuff! But it was a little dingy and not too clean.
Then we went up to the observatory. It was very old and didn't have much but I liked the huge dragon metal sculpture that was used for telling time! Then we left for the train station and rushed! We got on the train with 2 minutes to spare. I am writing this on the train...
Monday, October 29th, 2007 - Suzhou
This morning we got up and left for a train to Suzhou. Our guide to the train was LaCeil.
BR - She was a Chinese guide, but like most of them chose a western name that is easier for westerners to say. She chose the French name for "the sky."
Once in Suzhou we met our tour guide, her name was Daphne.
As I'm typing this, Grandma and Rebekah are debating whether her name was Daphne or Debbie, but we're settling on Daphne because that is what Rebekah has written down.
BR - Although they usually have very pretty Chinese names, all our tour guides used western names because they think they are easier for the western tourists.
Our first stop was the Lingering Gardens. They are very, very pretty and they are huge! When you walked in, there were wood windows looking into the garden; they all had different designs, and the purpose for them was so that you'd see them and then look through them, and only be able to see a little of the garden and want to go further in! The gardens were huge and we had many opportunities for pretty pictures. I bought a horse painting on silk (I had chosen which friend to give it to, but have changed my mind several times after I bought all my souvenirs). I had a very good time and got to see what I kept reading about in books.
BR - Bekah had studied about the places we would visit as part of her school curriculum.
Next stop was the silk factory. We got to see real silk worms and how the silk was made. My favorite part was getting to stretch the silk for quilt filling. The big news is that I bought a $125 outfit!
After the silk factory we went to lunch. It is funny because Daphne left. Grammy said that she was collecting her cut! (Because she took us to a souvenir factory and they sold us tons of stuff). Went shopping a little later and when we were getting in the car, Daphne said she would be back in a second - this is when she probably collected her cut!
BR - What I had told Bekah was that the guides are registered and normally get a commission on all purchases made by the tourist they bring to the shops. I know that I ran into this in my travels in Mexico.
Next was Tiger Hill. When we got to Tiger Hill a couple from New York State called us over because they were lost and no one around spoke English. Daphne helped them - she called the hotel and had the hotel contact their guide. The main thing in Tiger Hill was the Leaning Pagoda, which I think looks like a leaning tower of Pisa.
Next was a boat ride. I took lots of pictures of the homes on the water.
LK - Suzhou is known as the Venice of the East because it is full of canals. Some parts are very pretty and some really rundown. The water was high because of recent rains, and at one point a boat a little higher than ours got stuck going under a bridge and had to dip water from the canal into their boat to make it ride lower. It took a while but they finally made it. We were behind them, so had to wait until they got through.
When we got off I bought two instruments, a Chinese violin and something like a gourd with a pipe. We also saw the couple that had been lost. They said their group left them at the gardens; they had hitched a ride to the boats and were trying to get to the hotel where the tour was.
BR - I am not sure if they ever connected with their group. I just thought it had to be horrible for them to be lost in a foreign country with so little know-how, as they had they did not have their guide's cell phone number.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - Shanghai
This is verbatim from Rebekah's email that she sent to us while in Shanghai.
Our tour guide Mr. Ho picked us up at 9:15. Our first stop was the T.V Tower.
LK - Called the Black Pearl Tower.
It was huge! It is the biggest in Asia and the second biggest in the world. We got tickets to go half way up to the observation deck because to go all the way up was way too expensive. When we were in line for the elevator I, of course, spotted a group of Americans that had a bunch of Asian babies. I figured out that they had just adopted them and since they were in China they must see China while they were here. Well they went to the same level as us and I couldn't focus on what the guide was saying because I was looking at the babies so much.
BR - For those who do not know, Bekah loves babies.
After we went back down, we went to an exhibit on Chinese history on the bottom floor. The exhibit was kind of interesting.
LK - This was an exhibit of the history of Shanghai, and I found it very interesting. It had life-size models of the main streets and different kinds of shops and houses, also early cars, mostly imported by European traders, and even earlier things like the kitchens and living spaces of early inhabitants.
Next we wanted to go to a bank to get some yuan, so we stopped at a Citibank but they told us to go to the Bank of China. We waited about half an hour there.
BR - We were finally able to exchange our traveler's checks for yuan. We learned that American Express traveler's check are not as widely accepted in China as they are in the rest of the world. It was said that it was better to use ATM machines, but our cards were not accepted. Hua had lent us 2000 yuan to tide us over until we could convert our dollars.
When we finally got in the car to go to lunch it was already 1:00! We had lunch at a restaurant that was by the gardens we were going to after. All the food they gave us was cold but good. Grammy told the guide and the guide told the staff that we had gotten our food cold. They said it wasn't and the guide kept arguing with them. Finally they agreed to give us our meal for 15 yuan cheaper.
Next we went to the gardens in the middle of China Town! Yes I said that right, they have a China Town in Shanghai, China! The gardens were cool and huge but not too interesting because we had gone to gardens yesterday in Suzhou.
After we went shopping a little and we found out that they price their stuff way too high! One of the things I wanted they had for 380 yuan and I got it for 60!
BR - Bekah was quite the bargainer. Most of the Chinese we were with could not believe at what low prices she was able to haggle.
We also found out that if they don't give you the price you want, just start walking away and they come running after you and give you the price you want.
Well, that bring us to now and I need to go to Bible Study Fellowship.
LK - No comments about BSF? I think she enjoyed it, even though all the other young people were Asian. She & Grammy went, while I had a quiet evening at the hotel. Hua had planned to meet us for a late dinner after BSF, but she had to go to a meeting so she ordered pizza from Pizza Hut to be delivered. It was a bit different than we get here, but pretty good.
BR - Though all the participants in BSF were Asian, none were Chinese. Chinese nationals are forbidden by the government to attend and everyone had to show passports to enter. Most of the Asians were from Hong Kong or Singapore or similar places.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - Yichang
Today I slept in and then was lazy all morning because we didn't have to leave for the airport until 11 a.m.
We ate breakfast around 8:30 and Hua came to talk to us around 9:40. Grandma and I ran down to the bank to see if her card would work on the ATM but it didn't.
Around 10:45 the bellboy came and picked up our bags. We met LaCiel at 11:00 and we got to the airport around 11:30. Once we checked our bags LaCiel left us in the line for security and once we got through I wanted to shop a little, because our flight didn't take off for another hour. Grammy and Grandma found really nice fanny packs for $13.
We had to take a bus out to the plane. The seats on the plane were 2 feet apart!
After talking to Grandma and Grammy, Rebekah is trying to say they are really, really tiny - narrow and close to the seat in front of them.
For lunch we had one roll with duck filling, chocolate muffin, dried plums, peanuts and Snickers.
Now they are going to the cruise ship. Rebekah didn't indicate that in her journal.
We are taking the same kind of ship Bill Gates took!
LK - A tour representative met us at the airport to take us to the ship. He said it was the same one Bill Gates had gone on.
Next we went to a museum (before going to the cruise ship). I liked seeing all the old pottery and other stuff from there. We passed the most expensive houses in the city, about $160 per square foot. Only really rich people could live there.
Next we went to dinner, which was really good except for the duck was too spicy!
LK - After dinner it was already dark, and the driver took us down some very narrow, rough streets to get us to the ship. Some of the little houses we passed really looked like we were going through a slum. The guide said there were better streets to get down to the river, but it would take much longer. We boarded the ship with no problems, and were practically the first ones on board, but several busloads showed up later.
Thursday, November 1, 2007 - Yangtze River Cruise
Today we got up and found we were already at the lock site to the Three Gorges Dam. We didn't start in them until 8 a.m. After breakfast we went up and stayed on the deck for a while, there were lots of people up there and we met a Canadian woman named Angela. She was very nice. We also booked an appointment for a massage. We went to the mandatory safety drill and found out that about 120 of 160 people on the ship were Canadian.
Jon's mom said it may have been more, because there was also a French Canadian group.
BR - We think we three may have been the only Americans on the ship. Our table mates for meals were three Brits & a Swiss.
We had fun because the guy telling us what we would do was humorous. We didn't do much exciting when we got off the ship.
LK - This was at the site of the Three Gorges Dam, the biggest dam in the world. We went to a viewpoint that showed the whole dam and also had a building with a model of the dam and the locks. I thought it was very interesting.
BR - This dam is quite controversial because it has displaced millions of people along the river banks and will displace millions more in the next few years.
We thought the ship was a rip-off because the tap water is not safe to do anything with and we got only one 8 oz. bottle of water a day. And they charged four times the amount of 2 yuan that we paid in Shanghai. On the dock we saw some water for really cheap and bought it, at about 5 yuan for a liter.
The dam was really cool! I liked when the ship went through the locks best of all. We came back and we got our massages! That felt soooo good. I liked it a lot. We came back and they had a "meet the captain" reception, then dinner and a crew show, with singing and dancing by the crew.
Friday, November 2, 2007 - Yangtze River Cruise
Rebekah doesn't say in her journal, but Grandma said this was a trip into the gorge, which was beautiful, with very high cliffs on either side.
This morning Grammy woke me up at 7:08 by calling our room. We went to breakfast about 8 a.m. We had to leave the ship at 9 a.m. We transferred to the ferry. The ride lasted 50 minutes, during which I took pictures and we got to see a coffin stuck in the crack of a hill.
LK - The guide said it had been the custom for the poor people to put their dead in caves up high, or in a wooden boat in a cave at water level. She said you could still find many of them around, or traces of them.
The ferry stopped at a place where we took a sampan. It held 16 people. It had one person steering the boat and four rowing. Around 16 years ago all the workers were naked even in the winter, but because of the tourists, they now wear shorts or pants.
LK - The guide said they called them "peapod boats" and that we were the peas.
It was a very interesting boat ride and I get a lot of good pictures of the hills around us. We got to the point where there were rapids and it was too shallow to row. So they got out and tracked us a ways.
They got in a harness and walked on the land, pulling the sampan.
All the boats stopped (11 of them) and we stayed there for a little while; the workers smoked or found rocks to give to us for souvenirs. I got like 10 rocks!
BR - Bekah had promised one of her friends some rocks from China.
Then we headed back. One of the oarsmen sang a song for us and our tour guide joined in! We passed two of the boats ahead of us; I think we had really good workers.
LK - This area was just beautiful. The canyons are pretty narrow and the rock walls go almost straight up, very rugged looking. The guide pointed to a few houses way up on top at one point and said our rowers lived there. I asked how they got down to the river to go to work and she said it took them two hours to get there.
At the ferry we bought a couple of things. The ferry ride back was 50 minutes, and by 1:15 we were starving. I liked going on the Sampan and definitely thought it was a worthwhile trip. After lunch we got to see a painting-in-a-bottle presentation.
BR - This is an art form in which the artist uses a fine instrument to make paintings inside small bottles.
And we played cards.
Saturday, November 3, 2007 - Yangtze River Cruise
Today our trip was at 8:30. I got up around 7 a.m. Breakfast at 7:30 and off at 8:30. We were in group #2. This time we were with the tour company China-Pac. We had to go across part of the river on bridges from one floaty to another.
Grandma said these were metal walkways on small barges.
We also had to go up a huge set of stairs to get to the golf carts. We rode the golf carts to the entrance of the old ghost town.
Not like an American ghost town - they believe there are ghosts living, sort of like a religious site with gods.
The old town of Feng Du was moved across the river because in two years, the area where it used to be would be flooded.
BR - We heard different opinions as to the pro's & con's of the dam. Millions of people have been or will be displaced.
We walked to the gate of the ghost town and the people who wanted to ride the ski lift had to buy tickets. The other people started up the 333 stairs to the top. I decided to walk up and Grammy and Grandma rode the ski lift. At the top she told us that during our tour we had three tests we had to pass. The first one was: There were three bridges. You had to go over the middle one first. If you were single you had to make it in 3, 5, or 7 steps to succeed. If you were a couple you had to hold your partner's hand and make it in 9 steps. I forgot to count mine.
Next we toured a bunch of temples. I didn't like this that much; most of the talking our guide did was about Buddhism. The next challenge was special. It was only for men. There was a 400-pound ball that they had to lift and balance on a piece of metal. None of the tourist men could do it, so the only one that knew how to do it, a Chinese native, came over and showed us. He had trained for three years to be able to do that!
Next was another temple and then we went up more steps to the ghost city. Before you entered it there were lines of statues that signified what would send you to hell. Some of them were being a bad boy (a statue of Grandpa spanking a boy), drinking, gambling, etc.
Next we had the third challenge, which was stepping on a small pebble while balancing on that foot for three seconds. Everyone did it! We went in the temple and she explained more statues and we saw the torture chambers (which were disgusting). I didn't look at them long. Next we headed back down the hill (Grammy and the tour guide were the only ones who rode).
Once back on the ship we had lunch and now I am writing this. I forgot to mention a few things: Challenge #2 was us having to walk, hop, or run up 33 stairs without looking back! Also, I am getting called lots of names on the ship. Some are: Texas girl, candy girl (because I got a bunch of candy at the same time as some other guy so he calls me candy girl), Rebekah, and little friend.
LK - Bekah was the only young person on the boat, which she complained about, but it got her lots of attention.
Sunday, November 4, 2007 - Chongqing, Xian
This morning I woke up at 6:30 and started getting ready because we had to have our bags out by 7 a.m! When I put our baggage out I saw that a lot of people were at breakfast. It wasn't supposed to start until 7:30! So I went and had breakfast. We were the last ones picked up because our guide had been wandering around for awhile and couldn't find us.
Once we were picked up, we loaded the car and he showed us a little of Chongqing. He said that it was the biggest city in the world with 33 million people!
LK - Berta and I were a little skeptical because we had never heard that, but the guides in Beijing and Shanghai agreed that it was the biggest.
BR - I checked it out on the internet and read that it depends on what is considered a city. Chongqing is not officially even in the top 50 world most populated. But the Chongqing municipality, which includes an area about the size of Austria, does have about 33 million people.
It has 2000 bridges and we went past a restaurant that seated 2,000 people! There was a big difference in the streets, too. No bikes! It is too hilly for bikes, so no one rides them. We stopped at a little hotel that had a huge conference center (2,000 seats) and a little art shop we looked in.
LK - It was a pretty large art shop, really. Berta and I bought leaf paintings there.
Right across from it there was a big square that the tour guide said people danced in every night.
Next he dropped us off at the airport, which was really nice because it was only a year old. We found the other China Pak group and I taught some of them how to do ribbon weaving. We got on the airplane. It was strange. It had no first class!
LK - Berta tried to get us upgraded to first class and the ticket clerks just giggled and told her to ask the flight attendant. When we got on, we saw why they thought it was funny.
Our lunch was tiny: just a sandwich and an orange.
Next we arrived at the Xian airport. Our local guide, Merinda, picked us up and we went to the hotel. Grammy was feeling a little sick, but we went to the Pagoda anyway. It was not like other pagodas; it was 7 stories and hollow. We were going to go get a foot massage, but Grammy felt really bad. So we just went back to the hotel. Grandma and I went downstairs for dinner.
LK - Berta was feeling really bad that evening. She went to bed about 4:30 and slept till about 7 the next day.
Monday, November 5, 2007 - Xian
I woke up at 7:00. I got ready and we went to breakfast around 8. Grammy was feeling much better than yesterday.
Our first stop with the tour guide was the City Wall. We went to the south gate, which is one of the most popular gates. We climbed to the top (68 steps) and saw one of the lookout towers. Grammy was still a little weak. So Grandma and I climbed to the top of the lookout house. We got some pretty good pictures, but it was foggy so you couldn't see that far. Merinda said that it was a rectangle and 9 miles around.
LK - It is all still in good condition and is a popular walk for the people in the town.
Our next stop was a local handcraft shop. The woman showed us soft and hard jade and how you can tell the difference, like one is harder, transparent, and feels cold. We looked around and Grandma got something.
Terra cotta warriors: We went into it. I was amazed! The Pit #1 was huge! This emperor put 5000 people to work for 30 years! The army was life-size and in formation. They have ranks and everything. I couldn't get over how much work and thought went into this for an emperor. I bought a signed book by the farmer who first discovered the Terra Cotta warriors, so I don't have to write everything down.
LK - Bekah didn't mention this, but I believe this was the day we went to a tea shop and did a tea tasting. We liked the tea, but the girl doing the demonstration talked so fast that it was hard to understand what she was telling us about the different teas. Bekah liked a couple of them so much that she bought them. After the tea tasting, we went to a dinner show of Chinese music and dance. We had dinner, then they placed an Australian tourist with us at the table for the show.
The dinner was cool! I loved all the different dances. My favorite music show was the one with a little guy who made really funny noises with his mouth.
Some of the differences I've noticed about China are:
- Chinese like things hot; we like them cold. Like, no cold hotel rooms, no ice unless you asked for it.
- And the babies don't wear diapers, they just have a crack in their pants, and if they start going, their parents hold them over a trash can, etc.
- The traffic! Most people don't own a car and I know why. People pull right in front of you like you weren't there, and the drivers just keep going! Grammy said that crossing the street is synonymous with committing suicide.
- Most toilets are squat, which Grammy says is because that is easier for them.
What I said to Bekah is that most Chinese squat when they are relaxing, We observed them squatting in many public places. So therefore, squat toilets are a natural position for them.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - Airplane and shopping
This morning I woke up around 6:30. We had to rush to get ready because we had to leave around 8:10. It was an 80-minute ride to the airport with traffic. Once there, we checked our bags and said goodbye to Merinda. Grammy got me an ice cream, which I'd been wanting. It was really good! Our flight was delayed _ hour. Our meal on the airplane was really good. They had three rolls and beef and rice.
LK - The plane landed at the opposite end of the airport from where we had to go in, and we walked down steps to the runway. They had a bus to take us to the gate, and the Chinese all packed themselves in the first one. They are very pushy. We decided it wasn't worth it, so didn't even try, and the second bus was only half full. We still got to the luggage pickup before our luggage did.
BR - I found that the Chinese were always pushing their way. So that I would say "Now the push, push begins."
Once at the airport we met our guide, Kelly, and she took us to our hotel. She left us there and we had an interesting afternoon. We went shopping in a mall across the street. No one spoke English. We found Scotch and bottled water, which was what we were looking for. For dinner, we ate at the hotel and I watched Karate Kid while they tried to get the internet working. We almost changed rooms!
LK - They wanted Bekah and Berta to move to a different room because they couldn't get the internet to work, but they were all unpacked and settled in and didn't want to move. My room was next door, so we took the computer over there and tried it, and it worked. We did not use the internet very much because it cost more than 26 cents per minute and was so slow that it took five minutes or more just to load a page.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007 - Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City
We went to Tiananmen Square; it is 800 x 500 meters. We saw a cop spit, even though they are fining people for spitting!
They are trying to clean up Beijing to get ready for the Olympics, but still have a long way to go.
There are 56 nationalities in China, all have different accents, 20 have different writing.
LK - I don't remember why the guide was giving us that information, but she did tell us China had that many different nationalities and dialects, and that people from other areas often have a very difficult time communicating, but they are taught Mandarin in all Chinese schools now.
The Forbidden City was built in 1406, and completed in 1420. The Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1911. The emperor continued to live in the City for 30 years after he got kicked out. It's not forbidden anymore.
LK - The movie "The Last Emperor" tells all about this.
There are five doors (big arches) for different classes of people.
LK - The guide said only the emperor could use the middle arch; the empress and high ranking people could use the two on either side of that, and lower class had to use the outside arches. There were probably 6 to 10 thousand people living in the Forbidden City, including all the servants.
Red is the traditional color. The outer hall is only for grand ceremonies, the second is for changing and rehearsing before the ceremony, and the third is for exams about literature, etc. The number of animals on buildings shows the importance of the building. 9 = top.
LK - this is on the corners of the roof, and they were usually little dragons or lions.
The big sacrifice, three tiers, stairs increasing by nine, echo wall, very cool, 80% of the grounds is cypress trees. Pretty, 600 years old.
LK - Bekah was taking notes very quickly, so this is kind of shorthand. The big sacrifice (human in the early days) was made at a ceremony on top of a large circular three-tiered platform. Nine is an important number in China, and the stairs of each tier increased by 9. The echo wall was a large circular wall around the courtyard where you were supposed to be able to stand on one side of the wall and someone could hear you talking in a normal voice at the point directly opposite. We tried it, but it didn't work for us.
There was a red stairway to a bridge over a tunnel that animals went through to get sacrificed, called Passage to Hell.
LK - The bridge went from a ceremonial building to the platform for the sacrifices, but animals weren't allowed to be where the emperor walked, so they made a tunnel under it for them.
The Summer Palace has 8,000 different pictures on the corridor, none the same. Very pretty scenery from all different places.
LK - This was a very long covered walkway along the side of an artificial lake. Each archway had different scenes painted on the outside, inside, and the rafter above the arch.
I really think this is a cool place.
LK - The guide gave us a lot of information about the Summer Palace, which was largely built by the Dragon Lady. She was a very ambitious and ruthless person suspected of killing her rival and possibly others.
Then we went to dinner and got Grammy a surprise cake! It was the small one and it was huge! The show was stupid.
LK - It was Grammy's birthday. The show was Chinese opera, and it really was stupid, at times funny. The female sounded like a sick cat when she sang. The story ran on a screen at the side of the stage, but it didn't make sense either, at least not as translated to English.
I didn't like the show at all. I said it was like what my Dad calls "Jackie Chan movies" where all the fighting scenes are just them showing off, except it was worse, and an hour long!
BR - That evening around 10:00 p.m. a bellhop brought me another birthday cake, compliments of the hotel. They must have taken my date of birth off my passport, since no one had told them it was my birthday.
Thursday, November 8, 2007 - Great Wall and Ming Tomb
We got up around 7 and I had a leisurely morning. We are going to the Great Wall and Ming Tomb today. I wanted to journal about pizza here. All the pizza I have had here had no...
The construction time for the Great Wall was not continuous, one dynasty would build and then stop, etc. Started 410 B.C., even before first emperor of China. Chin Se Wang, first emperor, terra cotta warriors. Most of the walls were built in the Ming Dynasty. 629 km just in Beijing province. Many different pieces, not linked together. Employed 1,000,000 people, 1/8 of the population. 100,000 died building it. Different sections are made of different things depending on what they had handy. The Beijing part is made of big stones on the bottom and bricks on the top. Driving there reminded me of Tucson.
BR - Because of the mountains.
The main crops are winter wheat. At the top (Grandma & I climbed), I got to take a picture with a little Chinese girl I didn't know. Her name was Salana. The wall was so amazing!
LK - We went to a tower that was pretty high and had great views, but it wasn't the highest tower. Grammy went about halfway up and we met her there and took some pictures. After we got down and bought "I climbed the Great Wall" t-shirts, we got some pictures with the bears. They had two "bear gardens" with live black bears that you could feed if you wanted to.
At the restaurant there was a shop downstairs that had cloisonne.
LK - They took us through the workshop and we saw how they make the cloisonne, which was pretty interesting. It was a very large store with everything from small jewelry pieces to huge vases and urns. We bought a few small things.
The lunch was good, and afterwards I got gelato.
The Ming Tomb took 18 years to build, starting in 1409, three years after the Forbidden City, and it took longer. Not very many people were there. The beams were made out of ebony. We noticed that it wasn't as well kept up. Even in the early Ming dynasty they still killed concubines to go with the emperor. They had a saying, "The better the emperor the more trees at the tomb."
LK - the guide said this was a very cruel emperor, but that he had done a lot of good for his country because he was smart and ambitious, so even though he was hated, there were a lot of trees at the tomb.
Friday, November 9, 2007 - Shopping and restaurant
We went shopping today, so I don't have much to write about. It was fun. We went to a big place called the Pearl Market. I got a bunch of stuff there and had lots of fun. We got back to the hotel and at 3:30 decided to just have my snacks for lunch. We went up to see how much the revolving restaurant was but it was 300 yuan each!
The rate of exchange was about 7.5 yuan to a dollar
We decided on the Japanese restaurant. We had a relaxing afternoon packing and then had dinner at 6:30. We had peppered beef steak that was soooooooooo good. We had to go to sleep early because we had to get up at like 5!
Saturday, November 10, 2007 - Conclusions and more travel
It's amazing how our trip flew by. It seems like yesterday that we were on the plane here. I had such a fun time and learned a lot.
I've been thinking about what I would answer if someone asked me what I liked best/worst about China.
Best - definitely would be shopping! I love bargaining and getting presents for everyone for cheap.
Worst - bathrooms! I hated the bathrooms, they all smell and most were disgustingly dirty. The worst one was surprisingly on the Great Wall! We had to pay _ yuan to get in and it was so gross! The floors were covered in water and it stunk like crazy! I held my breath and went. (It didn't help that it was a squat.) Some of the stall doors were missing. The sinks didn't even work!
The so-so thing - probably the food. It wasn't the worst, but it sure wasn't the best! I really enjoyed some of it and even loved some, but others I could never taste again!
BR - Bekah does not eat seafood, but was often told, "This is not seafood, this is river food."
I felt like a picky eater, but so many things I'd tried before and not liked. I did really like some of the food though. My favorite dish so far was some peppered steak we had last night. My tie with that was some steamed duck dumplings that we had in Nanjing.
I got up around 6:15 like Grammy, but I read my book for an hour. We left for the airport at 7:30. Once we were checked in, we said goodbye to Kelly, who was our favorite guide the whole time. We got to the gate and played golf (cards) for a little bit. We got on the airplane and I started this. The plane was delayed so I am writing this during taxi.
LK - Bekah stopped here, so I will fill in. The airplane was bigger, so we were more comfortable, and they served lunch onboard. We arrived at Pudong Airport around noon. We decided to take the high-speed train into Shanghai from there, so we bought first-class tickets, because we had so much luggage. We boarded the train with no trouble, and it took off. About 3 minutes later we were there. It got up to 430 kph! That's about 266 miles per hour! Hua's son Billy met us at the station with a van and took us to the Pearl Hotel, the same we stayed at the first time in Shanghai. Billy also came back to the hotel a little later and took us out to dinner. We were all tired and had an early night.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
We slept in really late and almost missed breakfast! Hua came at 10 and took us to a department store. We didn't buy anything because it was all very expensive.
We went to lunch with some of Hua's old friends from North Carolina.
They are Chinese who are now U.S. citizens and Hua's husband and Billy.
Next Billy took us shopping. I had a big list to fill and one afternoon to do it in. We found out that we were really good at bargaining. Hua's old friend went with us for about 70 minutes. Grandma was bargaining on a very nice robe. Well, Grandma said 100 yuan (about $13) and the lady went "Are you kidding? It's worth 1,000." Well, she of course wasn't any help, but Grandma ended up getting it for 200 yuan. I got lots of stuff for what Hua thought was a great deal!
We had dinner at a hotpot restaurant. I really liked it, but as always, they gave us way too much food. Hotpot is sort of like fondue, but you fry your stuff in soup. I got the beef soup, and I fried all sorts of stuff, then dipped it in sauce I mixed up myself. It was really good!
BR - We had had some Hotpot at the Pearl Hotel in Shanghai before we left on our tour. We were not sure how to serve ourselves and the waitresses had helped us and were literally spoon feeding us as they giggled.
LK - Hua had told us to save our shopping for Shanghai because the shopping was lots better, but we really liked the market in Beijing lots better. They had more choice and bargained a lot too.
Monday, November 12, 2007 - Flight home
We got up in Shanghai and had an extremely leisurely morning after we packed. We didn't have to leave till 2:30. A driver picked us up because we had so much luggage.
At the airport we checked-in and went to the first-class lounge. Grandma said it was the worst one she had ever been in, but I thought it was really nice.
On the plane we all had to stay in our regular seats, but I liked business class. We watched Hairspray and No Reservations. There was a baby a couple of rows behind us, so I played with him a lot.
In the Chicago airport, we had to go back through security and then waited an hour.
LK - We had to go through Customs then recheck our bags, go back through security, then head for our gate. We took a train from terminal 5 to terminal 3, then to the gate. We found a money exchange place and turned in the rest of our yuan.
We sat next to the most adorable three-month-old baby while we were waiting. I can't wait to get home. I am so tired.
LK - Me too!
