Sorry for the pictures.  Shutterfly is totally sucking and I’m assuming totally not blog worthy.  I’ll figure something out or just leave it.  Sorry.

Me at the Great Wall of China

It’s been a year to the day since my pilgrimage back to China happened. I still remember like it was yesterday, fresh in my mind, my memories. I still remember waking up at 3:30 in the morning so I can make it to the airport to catch the 6AM flight to San Francisco, where I would meet the rest of my family (Brother, Mother, and Auntie) on our trip.

My first blog about the trip took a turn in a different direction than I originally wanted, but I guess it worked for me. It was a lil’ political and self-indulgent (as my posts are usually are) about my political views and my observations about the country itself rather than my experience of the trip. Hopefully I’ll rectify that with this blog.

Again, as I said in an earlier post, it is a trip I would never forget. It changed me and will always be a part of me. My beloved trip to China, which was four or five years in the making. It finally happened and I couldn’t be any happier.

I can’t believe it has been a year. Where has all that time gone? Life flashed me by, good times, bad times, mediocre times. Another year, 365 days.

That trip for me marked many first. My first real vacation. My first real plane ride (that I remember) to anywhere past the west coast, and my first International Flight (again, to my memory).

Sitting in the cramped 747 for a 14 hour plane ride wasn’t fun. I haven’t eaten that much on a plane before. It was a somewhat new experience for me. There were times back in the day when I remembered airlines serving food and then they stopped. It was a lil’ nostalgic actually. Somewhat nice.

Now, I’m not going to lie. I was dead tired, even on the plane. I’m not the type of person that sleeps on the plane. I’ve done it from time to time, but everything has to be right, and my trip there wasn’t. I guess it was the anticipation of the trip and everything and it was a fucking 14 hour flight, but I couldn’t sleep.

By the time we landed in Beijing, I was up for about 22 hours. Fun times.

We all gathered with the rest of our group, separating the group into two smaller groups and then we were on our way. As our travel guides, Mr. Paul Song and our Beijing tour guide, Tony, made their introductions and speak about the trip, what to expect, and the city of Beijing, to the near dead half asleep crowd, we just sit hoping for a bed. I think it was about 6:30pm local time when we landed. Early I know, but I was pretty much dead. We were on our way to dinner.

Our hotel in Beijing
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whose cuisine reigns supreme?

I’ll probably drop in some asides as I go through this blog, my recollections. I think this is the best way to collect my thoughts.

Food. I love food. All kinds of foods. So, when I got a chance to eat some authentic Chinese food, I’m as giddy as a school child.

Grant it that I was beat tired when our first real meal happened; going on 23 hours of being awake, I guess I was still looking forward to it. When we got to the restaurant in Beijing, it seems to be a traditional package meal that I was so accustomed too. It was an 8-10 course meal.

My first impression, forgettable. As it turns out, the food was mostly forgettable. I didn’t like much of what I ate there. Most likely it is because these are huge restaurants, prepackaged meals, cheap for the tour. I don’t know.

Maybe I built it up in my head that it would be the most awesome Chinese food I’ll ever eat because it is fucking China, but I was sorely disappointed. There were some cities where the cuisine reigned supreme, like in Nanjing I believe or even Suzhou (the best if my memory serves), but overall it was a disappointment.

The worse of the bunch was our lunch stop in Wuxi. That was fucking awful. Hideous. I don’t even think it was food that we ate. I don’t know what it was. Shit comes closest to describing it. Bad.

The worst restaurant EVER.

But, I guess it was an overall experience overall. We got to eat different type of cuisine that is part of each province and region that we’ve visited, but most of them are the same.

Also, it kind of ruined my digestive system for about 10 months too. Bad, horrible.
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Can it be harder?

Sleeping.

Everyone knows that I love my sleep. I love my naps. I just love resting.

So as we got all settled in and checked-in at our hotel in Beijing after the long ass day, I thought I could finally get a peaceful night’s rest and start the first day of our tour full of energy and refreshed. Sadly, no. Never happened.

I wasn’t sleeping in my bed. I could never sleep in another person’s bed but my own. I can’t even do that when I go back home and sleep in the guest room.

What made it worse was that the beds were HARD. They were like fucking granite. Nothing worse than sleeping on what feels like a slab of rock. Horrible. Fucking fucking horrible. But it was an experience that would change my life. I put up with it. I had to. There is nothing that I could have done.

Every hotel that we stayed in, I never really got a good night’s sleep. Maybe in Shanghai when I was feeling a little under the weather and I got a hold of some Theraflu, I was able to get some decent shut-eye, but overall, disappointment.

The fucking beds. I mean how?

I think I am more than willing to put up with some back problems with a lovely cushy bed than some no back pain at all and a bed as hard as the ones I slept in.
* * *

So our trip is officially on its way with the next day. Woke up, showered, dressed and went downstairs for the full continental breakfast of Beijing (the best food I had during the trip and the best breakfast). The first day of the trip.

Our itinerary goes as follows:

2 days in Beijing
1 day in Nanjing
1 day in Wuxi
1 day in Suzhou
1 day in Shanghai
Stop in Wuzhen
1 day in Hangzhou

Beijing

Our first day was packed, like any other day.

The Great wall of China. Just absolutely beautiful and crowded.

It was awesome to me to see the different crowds of people that were there, on vacation. People from Spain, England, US, Japan, etc. all here to conquer the freaking wall.

Lone pagoda

Me and Hien

We were set free from the confines of our tour bus which would be our transportation for two days around Beijing and set free for an hour to scale the behemoth.

Hien and I got our sight on one of the top forts of the Great Wall. We had our eyes set on one particular, hoping that we had enough time to get there and come back before our hour-and-a-half was up. We left our mum and auntie in the dust and others, as we start to climb the giant steps.

I have to say, I haven’t been so out of shape in my life. I started running a few months before our trip because of a high cholesterol problem. But then I stopped two weeks before our trip. Climbing was a bitch.

Hien’s a gym freak. A health freak. He has every right to be. He lost a lot of weight and good for him. He deserves it. Me, out of shape.

Wannabe Asians

We were going a very good clip up the stairs, dodging our way, weaving in and out of traffic. As we got higher and higher, the people thinned out. I was sweating. I was dying. It was rough. Very very rough. I had to strip, because it was getting hot and I pretty much soaked through all three layers that I was wearing. The long sleeve T I was wearing didn’t last long. It was gone at the restaurant.

It was a rough rough climb up. Especially at the speed we were going at. Some people couldn’t even make it up, fainting and dying along the way. Sure they were old, elderly, still couldn’t make it. I’m old too.

Medical help along the way

We got to a point 40-45 minutes in and we didn’t come even close to where we wanted to go. We were about two forts away. I was tired and I felt the time crunch. Hien wanted to go on. I was a pussy and wussed out. We took that picture near the top of where we got to and then we started to go down. Lo-and-behold about 5 minutes later we ran into our mum and auntie.

My brother still wanting to go higher, as did my auntie, decided to go to the highest riches. I bid them luck and went down with my mom. It was nice. We talked, chit-chatted, bonded. Nice.

Me Mum and Me

So my mom and I reached the bottom and realize that many of our group were down there waiting already, ready to go. My brother and my auntie wasn’t back yet. We had to wait.

I don’t know, maybe five to ten minutes later I see my brother coming down, pissed off, angry. The most I have seen him since I moved down to Los Angeles. He was fucking royally pissed. Why? My auntie. She held him up. Though she claimed she wanted to get to the top, they never did because she’s slow. According to my bro, they didn’t even get as far up as we had originally gone. What a waste of time. My auntie would walk up a few steps, turn around and admire. Walk up a few more steps, turn around and admire. It sucked all the time away.

My brother was furious. I don’t blame him.

Climbing down

My brother and auntie separated after they got down to the bus; my brother taking a breather to calm down. If I remember correctly, I did get a good fucking laugh out of it. Better him than me, I would say.

So, onward to our next destination. Lunch.

Again, major disappointment. First taste of Chinese rice wine. Very very strong, like rubbing alcohol. Horrible. But again, this is where I stripped. The Long-sleeve-t went off my body and into my backpack. It was soaked through as was my t-shirt and undershirt. Fun times.

The rest of the trip was less strenuous thankfully.

The Ming’s Tomb was next.

What can I say about the Ming’s tomb? Not much. It didn’t make that big of an impression on me. Not at all. Next it was the Summer Palace.

Now, this made an impression on me. it was just absolutely breathtaking and peaceful. I was just in awe when I got there. Of course, like everywhere else, it was crowded, but it didn’t take away from anything.

Kitschy Amiss

It was very tranquil. I don’t know why, but there was just a sense of calm in me here and the rest of the trip. I was never anxious, never in a rush. I was just waiting to stay, to be there, live there, experience all aspects of what China had to offer me. It was just simply amazing.

Oh, to be rich and not have to work again. I’ll just move there and just finally relax. What a life that would be.

So, after dinner, it is to the theatre for the Chinese acrobats. I would like to say that I stayed awake through the whole thing, but I didn’t. I stayed awake for about half of it I believe. Not that it wasn’t interesting, much of it was, I was just tired. Beat. Fatigued.

One would think that after everything, that would be the end of our first full day. It wasn’t. We get to go shopping again. Not that the whole Jade factory, gift shop in the morning was enough, we get to go shopping in Beijing’s Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive— Wang Fu Jing St.

Blending in the Crowd at Wang Fu Jing St

Since I had no money, tired, there wasn’t much I could do. Hien and I just walked around for a good forty minutes or so. My mom and auntie went their separate ways, and then it was back on the bus for us, hoping to catch a little rest before going back to the hotel.

Never realize how old and out of shape I was till that trip. Sad, isn’t it?
* * *

Kitschy & Tacky

One thing that got a little tiring in China, and I’m sure it is because China has become a tourism industry for the most part, is that there are these calculated stops to gift shops along our way to our attractions.

We went to two jade shops, each saying that they have the best jade, so on and so forth. Unfortunately for me, for us, we got swindled money into spending money there. I, by request of my friends, had to get some jade bracelets for them and then I went and bought a jade bracelet for my mom and she in turn bought me a jade pendant. Fun. Money money money.

What saddens me most is that here, in these breathtaking sights, like the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum, there are these gift shops and ice cream carts that just seem out of place. They just seem so tacky in these vast attractions of ancient and respectful.

In the Forbidden City? Need some ice cream? Stop here!

Just tacky.

But I guess it is a way of making money, of putting food on their tables. They have to do what they need to do to get the green.

What is wrong with this picture?

We had stops in a mint, wanting us to buy jade griffins, a pearl shop, where I did spend some money. It was cheap, and somewhat thoughtful gifts for people back home. Hmm….what else were there? Oh, the painted glass globes in Nanjing.

Ahhh…the memories. I was out of my element there. Preyed upon by five customer service girls, giggling amongst themselves at my lack of Chinese skills and me being “American”. So sad. I could have come home with a wife on that day.

Along the way, there were the silk shop where I did buy a blanket and then the tea-pot shop. I would love to get a tea pot, but the matter of lugging it with me for the remainder of the trip and also, the cost did suck. I just didn’t bring that much money with me and I didn’t want to use my credit card.

There was the tea also, which I bought. I have a shit load of tea left.
* * *

Onward with our tour. The next day our first stop was the Internal Medicine University of Beijing. I have to admit, it was pretty interesting. They had a lecture for us, our group, and they even had a Cantonese speaker. But unfortunately, my attention wandered off as he got more and more into the realms of internal medicine.

It was interesting to hear that they preach preventative medicine, rather than treating the illness after it had happened as Western Medicine is known for.

University of Internal Medicine, Beijing

They take pulse readings, “ba mach”, like in the old Chinese television shows and films that I watch. It was a long time since I had it, way back in the mid-80s in Vancouver. from the little time of taking my pulse reading, they found out I have indigestion or digestive problems. Nice. I’m hot.

But then again, came the mandatory time of “buying” medicine, if you choose to do so. I did, and I think I only finished half of my prescription. I still have a few bottles floating around.

Food carts outside the Internal Medicine University

Temple of Heaven

Beautiful. I was just in awe at how huge the temple is. It is inside this large park where many of the elderly go and entertain themselves with mahjong, Chinese chess, checkers, and just hanging out.

Family tourist picture in front of the Temple of Heaven

Again, it just seemed everywhere we went, it was crowded. A swarm of tourists and locals hanging out, looking, watching, pushing people out of their way to get a better look or a better pictures. It was ridiculous, but I managed to look past that and just saw the beauty in the area.

Calm, tranquil. A dream of mine had come true. I went to China, visiting what I wanted to visit. Plans are coming true. Things are actually happening and I’m experiencing something other than work and work. It was just nice.

Tiananmen Square

Well, what can I say. I didn’t remember much about the riots and the massacre back in the day when I was there. Our tour guide mentioned some stuff and how the officials are still sensitive about what happened. They even have armed guards, police, and undercover people around, listening to conversations just in case a disruption happens.

Another touristy picture at Tiananmen Square

Overall, the square is huge. I believe there was going to be half a million people in that square that day, and many of them are locals. There are even Chinese from other provinces visiting. It was just insane.

Me in front of the Famous Chairman Mao portrait

Then it was on our way into the Forbidden City. It was huge, but unfortunately for us they were doing renovations while we were there. Scaffolding covered many of the main palaces, readying them for the ’08 Olympics. Maybe next time when I go back, I’ll get the full view of the Emperor’s Palace.

I don’t know, it was just humbling to be there. To be at a place where there was so much history. You can feel it. See it. Touch it.

Maybe I just never been around it much here in the States, or was never actually aware of it. It was just different. Everything just seems so modern here, nothing much that awes me. Maybe I’m just so use to it. Who knows.

Forbidden City

So far, the trip is everything that I thought it would be, and more. I never thought about the feelings that I would feel or felt when I was there. It was just an awe inspiring experience. We took our time to go through the City, thankfully, enjoying each section and each temple and palace.

Though there were times when they would all look the same, but who cares. I was here. A place where I would see portrayed in many Chinese Films, and read about in history books.

After the Forbidden City we went to a old fort which was a mint back in the day and then we went to have a foot massage.

I liked the foot massage. It was interesting. Our masseuse tried to communicate with us, but it was hard. The language barrier made it difficult and they had to speak through my mother and auntie. It’s times like these and the gift shop in Nanjing that makes me feel bad that I just don’t know more languages, or that I wasn’t as serious about learning or picking up Mandarin as I should have been.

But it’s not too late. I could always find a class somewhere and just do it. Maybe that’s what I’ll do before my next trip, or Rosetta Stone.

Nanjing

We had a early flight in the morning to get to our next leg of the tour, Nanjing. From Nanjing, the rest of the tour will be a bus tour to the other cities in our itinerary.

A note about our tour guide. She’s a comrade, a patriot, a diehard Nanjing citizen, or as my brother calls her, a blow hard. She was tooting the horn of the Chinese people and the city of Nanjing. It’s her job. I don’t blame her, and I guess my brother is just too American.

But overall, it was a nice city. From the looks of it, it was more worn down, broken, decrepit than Beijing. I guess nothing can compare.

But, to my ignorance at the time, I wasn’t aware of the raping of Nanjing. I didn’t know anything much of anything. But now I do. It use to be the old Capital and then in World War II the Japanese invaded and bombed the living shit out of the city. The atrocities that the Japanese did to the people there were outrageous. No wonder our tour guide got worked up and is so proud of her city.

It was raining when we landed, but eventually it let up. Our first stop was the Mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the first Nationalistic President of China. It was beautiful there, just absolutely beautiful.

The Mausoleum

We spent a lot of time here, slowly climbing the steps, exploring everywhere. This is also the place where young Tony, a kid on the trip, got pissy because Hien and I got ice cream and his mother wouldn’t let him. I felt sorry for him, but it was kind of funny. I still chuckle when I think about it.

Shorter Climb than the Great Wall

We had a lot of time to ourselves here, off wandering anywhere, everywhere. Just needed to get back at a certain time. Hien and I didn’t even wait for the rest of the group, holding us back. We just went exploring.
* * *