After traveling in from Varanasi, we slept until 8 AM on the 25th. After 7 days of getting up at an average of 5 AM, it felt decadent. After breakfast, we met our guide for a fantastic last day tour around the city.
We first drove through the governmental sections of the capital, down “embassy row”, by the Prime Minister’s former residence and the Presidential Palace, by the Secretariats, governmental ministries, Parliament and the India Gate. To get an image of this area, picture a perfect combination of the Champs Elysees and the Washington Mall. After visiting many Indian cities where the crowds were thick and chaotic, the openness of these spaces was captivating, and offered us an entirely different perspective.
We boarded the gleaming and almost-new Metro for a ride to Old Delhi. Delhi is hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2010, and much of the city is under construction preparing for the Games. It was quite a shock to emerge from the quiet underground up into the hubbub and chaos of the market area in Old Delhi. However, after our experiences in the other cities, the rickshaw ride through the markets was not the shock that it may have been for those just seeing these streets for the first time.
We found our way to the Jama Masjid, also built by the Shah Jahan as he moved his capital from Agra to Delhi and the Red Fort. The Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in Asia, and can accommodate 25,000+ worshippers. After lunch, we visited the Gandhi Museum.
As we explored the city, probably the best thing was the great conversation with our wonderful guide. We discovered more about Delhi in particular, and the country in general. We talked politics and religion, learned about the caste system, discussed the varied cultures of the country, compared raising families, and in general, got a great insight to living in the country. It was a nice way to wrap up our visit to India (but not before a little last minute
souvenir shopping (and tattooing)).
Somewhat surreally, we then headed back to the hotel to hang out, have dinner, rest and pack before leaving for the airport at 11 PM. Our flight departed at 2:25 AM on Saturday morning, so talking just in EDT time, we headed out for the airport at 1:30 PM on Friday, April 25th, and will arrive back into Greensboro at 6 PM on Saturday, April 26th. We are now onboard the flight from Frankfurt to Washington, which is ironically the exact same routing that we took to start our trip back in August (Greensboro-Washington-Frankfurt and then on to Cairo). As we were playing spades in the Frankfurt Airport McCafe during our layover in Frankfurt this morning, we of course thought back to almost exactly eight months ago when we were transferring through the same airport starting this year .
We all look forward to getting back into the flow of our “normal” lives, and to hopefully seeing or catching up with many of you soon. We will not bore you with our wrap up thoughts for the year, as we are pretty sure that you are growing tired of hearing of our travels. Suffice it to say that we have had a blast, and would do it over again in an instant (if we were not so travel weary at this very moment!).
Thanks for following along with us, and allowing us to share this experience with the friends and family who are so very important to us.
Varanasi is an amazing city, and is considered to be the world’s oldest living city. We have been told that to visit Varanasi is to visit the “real India”.
First and foremost, Varanasi is a religious shrine. It is one of the micas for Hindu’s, and the place to which they make pilgrimages. It is also the birthplace of Buddhism, as well as being a major center of Jainism, an offshoot of Hinduism. Two and a half million people live in the confluence of the Varan and Asi Rivers, two major tributaries to the amazing Ganges River, which flows down the eastern border of the city.
The Ganges River is the life of Hinduism, and the life of this city. One of the three major deities in Hinduism, Shiva, the Destroyer and Re-Creator, calls Varanasi home. Everyday, an average of 15,000+ pilgrims visit the city, primarily to wash in the river at sunrise, symbolizing cleansing and rebirth. Also, as it is Hindu practice to cremate all dead bodies on an open flame, the most holy place to do so is alongside the river of the god (the Re-Creator) that will send your soul back to another body; everyday, there are 150+ cremations on fires next to the river, with the ashes being scattered in the passing holy water.
After settling into our hotel, we took a bus and then a rickshaw
ride to the river. Once again, the streets of an Indian city were simply overwhelming. Everything (you can imagine) is up close and in your face. Once reaching the river, we boarded a row boat for a sunset cruise (“cruise” oversells it just a bit; ‘rowboat ride’ is better).
There are 84 Ghats along the river; “ghat” literally means “bath”, but has been taken to mean the concrete steps that descend into the river. There, both pilgrims and locals alike were swimming and enjoying the evening. We rowed downstream to see the main cremation site, where fires burn nonstop. Fifteen fires were burning as we watched from a distance on the river, an experience that felt very invasive considering the mourning families that were staring into the flames. Our guide gave us a complete overview of the meaning and ritual of death and mourning in Hinduism, a story that was quite powerful as we were seeing it unfold from our seats on the Ganges. We soon rowed back to the central area, where Hindu priests were holding their regular evening services for the gathered thousands.
As we left the river around 8 PM for another wild rickshaw ride (see the video), we noted that it would not be too long before we were back on the Ganges. The 4:45 AM wakeup call the next day felt even earlier, and we were soon back on another
rowboat for a sunrise experience on the Ganges.
Those in the water the evening before were merely swimming. Those in the water this morning were taking a sacred bath, the primary reason for making the pilgrimage to the city. Much has been written about the (poor) water quality of the river, but the local idea is that any pollution of the Ganges is just the opinion of
some scientists
On our stroll back away from the water’s edge, we stopped by the main temple of Shiva. The original temple was destroyed by the nasty Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (son and imprisoner of Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal); he built a mosque in its place, and then Hindu’s later re-built the shrine to Shiva next door. Varanasi is 30% Islamic, and these two religions worship side-by-side, albeit under tight security.
After breakfast, we headed to Sarnath, where Buddha preached his first lesson to his five disciples (and explained the 8-fold path). Varanasi was a Mecca then (in the 6th century BC), so Buddha came here during his own search. At the nearby museum, we saw the famous four-headed lion (representing Buddha’s four noble truths), sitting atop Buddha’s wheel of dharma. Here in this primarily Hindu nation, this symbol from Buddhism is on both the Indian flag and every denomination of the rupee (quite interesting).
Although it was only 11 AM, we were done with touring for the day. Whether the early mornings of the last week, or the end of a lot of travel, we were all whipped. After a somewhat comatose lunch, we headed back to the airport for our flight to Delhi.
We arrived into Khajuraho early enough in the afternoon so that we could hit the pool, which was very nice coming off five days of 100+ degree temperatures. As we have gotten to the last few days of our travels, we have started discussing parallels and other closing thoughts from the year. We thought it quite humorous that on our second night of the year, we fell asleep to a sound and light show at the Egyptian pyramids, and here in Khajuraho, with just a few nights left in this trip, we fell asleep that evening to a sound and light show of the temples of the Chandela kings.
A first century professor in Varanasi (to where we would travel next) wrote the Kama Sutra, an explicit guide to love making. The architects of the Chandela temples were quite taken with the book, as all of the 84 Kama Sutra positions and other images of daily life are expertly chiseled into many of the 22 remaining temples (out of 85 that were built in the few hundred years around 1,000 AD). We visited both the Western and Eastern temples on the morning of the 23rd, but not before getting up early to go to the home of a local yogi for a very memorable experience. Carson explains:
Today we just had to wake up early to go to “barfing yoga”. I will explain the barfing part to you later in the story. Well, we all thought it was going to be relaxing and peaceful and quiet, but it was just the opposite of that.
When we got to his house, the dog started barking. We thought it would stop in a minute, but it lasted all through yoga. So it was definitely not quiet.
We barely got to do any yoga; really, it was just a demonstration. The yogi wanted me and my brother to stay with him in India and he would teach us yoga; you probably think that sounds kind, but you first have to meet him.
Now for the grand finale, the barfing yoga! Well, what happened was he took a piece of thin cotton cloth that was 40-50 feet long and about 4 inches wide. He rolled it up into a cylinder (think a cloth toilet paper roll) and stuck it into a pot of hot water. Then he started putting it into his mouth. He started to swallow it and then his face turned to a burning hot red fire. He started to sweat and cough but then he was to the end of the roll (he swallowed the whole thing!). He then stated to pull the “string” out, and when it was out he immediately went outside and barfed.
I lost my appetite. My mom and brother were about to barf. My dad was grossly stunned.
Yes, even though we saw 1,000 year old exotic temples, the barfing yogi (or as Scott calls him, the “Regurgi-Yogi”) will definitely be the memory of the day. After the temples, we got another quick dip in the pool before heading to the airport, and our flight to Varanasi.
We got off the train in Jhansi to much fanfare; a famous Indian politician was sitting in our railway car a few rows away, and of course we were clueless until all the bodyguards showed up as we were exiting the train. His convoy pulled away just as we were leaving the station. From Agra, it was to take us 1 ½ days to get to the Bandhavgarh National Park, containing the most concentrated population of Bengal Tigers in the world. To make the trek more enjoyable, we were going to make a few stops along the way.
The first was Orchha, the deserted royal citadel of the Bundela kings. As we learned in Agra, the architecture during the time of the Mughal Empire was an interesting blend of Islamic and Hindu styles (geometry and symmetry versus animals, plants and flowers). The Mughal’s were of Islam, and they ruled over a Hindu majority. Whether a builder was Hindu (a local king trying to please the overall emperor) or Islamic (an emperor trying to curry favor with his subjects), this blending of styles was quite prevalent. Jahangir Mahal was our first stop, a 236 room gift by the Bundelan king to the Emperor Jahangir, the lazy son of Akbar. Jahangir is rumored to have visited this palace for just one day. Scott and Carson had a great time roaming the palace, and the neighboring Raj Mahal, learning to spot the different architectural styles. They also enjoyed finding all the hidden rooms, stairways, balconies and other nooks and crannies. It was the perfect hide and seek palace!
We then continued for 4 hours on to Khajuraho for the night (where we visited a local cultural center for a native dance performance). The next day we were back on the road early for the 5 hour drive to Bandhavgarh; 5 hours was a pleasant surprise, as we were told the drive could be 7 or more hours depending on traffic.
We arrived in time for an afternoon game drive where we hit an immediate jackpot, sighting both a tiger and a leopard (only the third leopard that our naturalist had seen in his 2 years in the park)(so we couldn’t complain that both sightings were pretty far away – we have gotten spoiled).
“Game drive” sounds so romantic; let’s give it more of a proper description. When we arrived to the park entrance, there were about 30 small open jeeps designed to hold 6 adults. Some jeeps had 4 people, but most had 10+. They were all lined up awaiting a permit, game park ranger, and the whistle to begin. All the jeeps raced their engines and pulled forward lobbying for a better position. Several wrecked into each other. No one was angry or aggressive; it all just seemed to be part of the “show” to get to the tigers first. We drove around for a bit and found our first tiger. Actually, we didn’t find the tiger so much as we found 10 jeeps already looking at a tiger (all jockeying for a better position). Later, all the other jeeps joined us. The exciting banter of many languages was just as marvelous as seeing the tigers alone…just in a different way. We love the fact that so many locals come to see the tigers. The Indian women looked beautiful in their saris and salwar-kameez twinkling in the 109 degree heat while all the westerners just looked sweaty and “shlumpy”.
Five or so decades ago, there were over 40,000 tigers in India. Today there are less than 2,000. Twenty six are here in this approximately 100 square kilometer park, one of 28 national tiger preserves established by the government since 1969, when Indira Gandhi proclaimed the tiger the national animal and forbade its killing.
The next morning we were up at 5 AM. We were excited about our morning drive, as it is only in the morning when one can board elephants to view the tigers up close (the open-topped jeeps are not allowed to leave the track). Midway through the morning, the park rangers spotted a lounging female tiger, and organized the elephants to the site. Many of the jeeps congregated on the nearby road, as the elephants and their mahouts ferried tourists into the deep grass to see the tiger.
After the elephant ride, we went to visit a statue of Vishnu that was carved from stone centuries ago. We arrived at the small oasis with Vishnu and Naga (7 headed snake) in a reclining position. We started up the stairs when Scott screamed and ran. This is his story…
Today was one of the scariest days of my life. Well, it was also very cool because we were about 5 feet away from a tiger. It had very yellow eyes and was pregnant. That’s not what today was about though. Today my foot came within an inch of Naga (that’s what we named him), the 5 foot long baby python.
The way we named him was this. We were taking pictures of Naga (the 7 headed ruler of snakes) and Vishnu; I started toward the steps. I looked down at my feet as I was stepping and shouted with surprise. A python was lying right under my shoe. The ironic part about it was that we had just been talking about snakes and what kinds they had here in the park. I asked about pythons and our guide said he didn’t know because he had never seen one here. Even more ironic is that I had watched a show about the world’s deadliest snakes. The python was one of them because of its size and strength. It was the least deadly because of its lack of venom. So snap, right like that I almost step on one.
As I yelled I ran back as fast as I could, pushing and shoving. My dad was like “why are you punching me?” Everybody looked over to where I had just been. Then they saw it too. The scaly black and green head of Naga the python; “Found Naga” is what my mom called him. Everybody started taking pictures too. Of course my dad was the first one to do so. My body was shaking all over and my heart kept missing beats. My dad later admits that if it had been him he would have jumped into my arms. To get up to take a picture of the statue we had to go to the other side. I was convinced that he had friends. Right now writing, I’m still convinced.
After this day, all of our days turned into a blur, all with the same schedule. The park schedule allows for two game drives per day, from 5:45-9:45 AM, and 4:00-6:45 PM, We would have breakfast after the morning game drive, lounge around and do homework the rest of the morning, have a late lunch, play cards, and then the afternoon drive. We had 8 game drives in all, and we luckily had 10 tiger sightings (we saw 5 tigers 10 times), plus that one scary snake. We also saw loads of other animals and birds, and just enjoyed the time riding around this beautiful countryside in an open-top jeep.
After our last drive early on the morning of the 22nd, we had breakfast and were back on the road for 5 more hours of bouncing and closing our eyes to traffic, heading back to Khajuraho.
We landed in Delhi after a 6 hour flight, and had to confirm the correct time; India would typically be in two time zones, but instead, they split the difference and made it one big time zone on the half hour --- we set our watches back 2 ½ hours from Hong Kong (9 ½ hours ahead of EDT). On the groggy drive in from the airport, we learned a few fast facts about this country of 1+ billion (1/6th of the world’s population); it is of a geographic size similar to Europe, adds the equivalent of an Australia in population each year, and Delhi’s population of 17 million makes it, at best, the third largest city in India (Mumbai (Bombay) and Kolkata (Calcutta) are larger, and are two of the largest cities in the world)(and by the way, many of the city names were changed after independence from the British in 1947)..
We were staying in a classic old colonial hotel, with marble everywhere. As we ventured out on the streets the next day in New Delhi, we realized how much of an oasis the hotel was; just outside the gates, everything that we have heard about India came to life.
We have read that India is a “land of paradoxes”, or that it is a “mass of humanity”. While both are true, the most apt illustration is that it is an “assault on the senses”. It is tiring just walking around.
Masses of people everywhere, traffic constantly moving and blaring, vibrant colors, heat, animals, vendors, and well, everything you can imagine (see below). We walked north to Connaught Place, designed by the British as they began their rule a century or more ago. We were constantly met by “friendly” strangers, who tried to direct us to one store or the other. After exploring for a little while, and visiting Jantar Mantar, an ancient solar and lunar recording site, we headed back to the hotel.
The next morning we awoke at 4:45 AM, and were on the way to the train station at 5:30; traffic was thick and the train station was packed. The poverty of the country became more obvious as we pulled south from the station. We saw track side shanties, with many people resorting to squatting by the train tracks for their morning business (some even with newspapers in hand); rats nearby were eating garbage. We arrived in Agra two hours later, the capital of the Mughal
Empire.
25 years ago the government realized the importance of tourism, and effectively banned any pollution creating industry in Agra. Carson adds to this theme as she describes our visits to the two important sites of the city.
Today we went to the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was built as a burial place for the emperor’s wife. The Taj Mahal is perfectly symmetrical, except when they put in the emperor’s body, it destroyed the symmetry of the Taj Mahal.
The color of the Taj Mahal is as white as the whitest snow, but later in the day it will start to change its color every 10-15 minutes. At sunset it is very beautiful but once the sun goes down it is just a big black blob on the ground.
The Taj Mahal inside is jeweled with semi-precious stones. One of the stones (cornelian) is brightly colored so that when you put a flashlight on it, it looks like fire. But if you put a light on the other stones it is just …. no light, really.
The Taj Mahal is one of the seven wonders of the world. It is always crowded with lots of tourists – 20,000 people per day – 20% of the tourists are foreigners and 80% are Indians.
The Taj Mahal tries not to generate a lot of pollution in the air. They will not use gas powered grass cutters, but instead will use an ox to pull the grass cutter along the grass.
From the Taj Mahal, you can see the Agra Fort, where we went next. You can really see everything! (and it was from the Fort that the emperor Shah
Jahan, imprisoned by his son, spent the last eight years of his life looking out on his creation, the Taj Mahal).
P.S. The Taj Mahal is right next to the Yamuna River, so you can see the river from the back of the Taj Mahal and from the Fort.
After visiting the Taj Mahal and the Fort, and after enjoying a pool siesta, we headed out again to watch sunset from the riverbank opposite the Taj. As we drove through Agra at rush hour, we asked ourselves “what’s in the street of this city of 2 million (bigger than all but a handful of U.S. cities)?”: untethered cows grazing on refuse, monkeys, dogs and cats, people of ALL sorts (including beggars of all ages and disabilities, businessmen, vendors, policemen, traffic
directors, drivers, etc.), cars, trucks, bicycles, motorcycles, walkers, rickshaws, tuck-tucks, farm tractors, carts pulled by oxen, horses or men, push carts, wagons, busses with people oozing out of the doors and sitting on top, liquids of every kind, horns blaring, barbers giving a straight edge shave under a tree, women in bright sari’s and tunics, produce sellers shoeing flies away, women carrying platters of dung piled high on their heads, people bathing from plastic buckets, and indescribable congestion. All this we found in a few city blocks, and we were transfixed just by watching.
We had to watch out the side of our van, for if we looked forward, we would have aged considerably. There are absolutely no driving rules in this country. They paint lane lines on the streets, but they are meaningless. If a driver sees an open space, he goes for it; driving is a big game of chicken, and what has been a luxury in other countries (having a driver) is a necessity here. However, everyone seems to be copasetic with the process - there is no road rage or anger; the craziness is just a part of life. All our driver said he needed was a good horn, good brakes and good luck.
The next morning, we were back at the train station, catching the very same train that had dropped us off 24 hours earlier. We were heading further south, getting off the train in Jhansi, beginning our quest of the tiger!
We all really enjoyed Hong Kong, but our kids
enjoyed it most of all.
We visited the Dunivant’s: Anne, Todd, Alec (11) and Nick (7). After touring through mainland China, in Hong Kong our kids found a spot where the combination of the Cantonese and Western worlds appealed to them --- still a new cultural experience, but one with lots of western food and fun thrown in (yes, Alec and Nick have a Wii). Both Scott and Carson have lost weight eating in China so this was a great chance to fatten them up for a probable rice-only diet in India. Suffice to say that our first day in Hong Kong included Mexican for lunch and pizza for dinner, with ice cream and gelato thrown in for good measure (and a little taste of home, below).
We love the combination of vertical landscapes and water, so obviously, Hong Kong appeared beautiful to us, if also just a little misty during our stay. Tall super structures are built towering one on the other, and many buildings (like the school and sports club) have their layouts up and down instead of lateral. One can walk up and down the hills, take a tram, or even an outdoor, covered escalator.
We have
enjoyed visiting markets around the world, and Hong Kong delivered them in spades. The Wet Market, where we saw every part of the cow, pig and chicken, along with strange creatures from the sea; the Ladies Market, for most anything, Shoe Street, Costume Alley, Electronics Street, and so on. The island was an interesting mix; one of the world’s financial centers, with open street markets just down the block.
We took every form of transportation during our excursions (including a British holdover, the double decker bus); Claire’sf
favorite was the famous Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor to Kowloon for dinner and the evening light show --- the buildings of Hong Kong light up to music every evening at 8 PM. Speaking of transportation, everywhere we went our hosts used their Octopus Card, an ingenious method of paying for ferries, buses,
trains, subways, parking and even McDonald’s and Seven Elevens, among others.
Other highlights of our stay included our grownup date night, and roaming the pedestrian-only party streets of the city, and spending Sunday afternoon in Stanley Village on the south shore, enjoying the waterside and yes, another market. We also enjoyed just hanging out, with the kids playing Wii, watching movies, and the like. But a big highlight was finally having clean laundry in our suitcase!!
On Monday morning Claire and Scott got up early to take Alec and Nick to school, and then later in the day we took the train out to the airport for our 6 hour flight to Delhi. We have one more country to go in this year of travels, and “Incredible India” is it.
After a little flight delay, we arrived into Shanghai after dark on Wednesday evening. Although we typically like to arrive into a city before dark, so that we can get the lay of the land, Shanghai is one city in which we were energized by our first impression of the vibrancy of the evening skyline.
In a year of statistics, here is one for you. For the last 13 years, Shanghai has experienced double digit growth every year. It now has 18 million people within the city limits, and a total of 21 million in the metro area. It is the world’s fifth largest city, and the largest in China. The financial and economic capital of the China, it is also the largest shipping port in the world (and contains the country’s tallest building, and they are building an even taller one).
We stayed in the Pudong area, east of the Huangpu River. In 1990, this area was nothing more than farmland and a few factories. Now it is densely populated, and it is the country’s “Wall Street”. The dominant feature of the skyline, the world famous TV tower, is also the oldest building in the area; it is 12 years old.
The Tuttle’s were in town only for the day; the Burrow’s kindly agreed to cram in a few days of sightseeing into just a few hours. Our first stop was the French Concession (think one of the brownstone neighborhoods in Manhattan). We wanted to bike through the area, and we evidently created a new line of business for A&K (our tour company) in kid’s biking; we found four new kid’s bikes, fresh out of the box. On busy urban streets, and drivers statistically new to driving, we had a fun but harried bike ride through the traffic and the neighborhood. No helmets, of course. Scary!
We then headed to the Old City, and to a Ming Dynasty garden/estate in the middle of the crowded market area. The Yuyuan Garden area was the only old Chinese architecture that we were able to see (many of the buildings are new), and we had lunch in a Shanghainese restaurant in the middle of the old section.
Afterwards, we drove to the Bund, the waterfront district where the business titans were located in the roaring days of the city, in the 1920’s and 1930’s (before WWII and then the Communist takeover in 1949). Walking along the waterfront, we stopped to take a picture of the group with Pudong in the background.
We saw some locals taking pictures of us, including this one mom and her exposed toddler. In all of the tourist areas, you are constantly badgered to buy one good or the other, many times watches. Claire had been having problems with the “Rolex” she bought in Cambodia, and she shocked one of the local watch vendors by taking the watch off her wrist and giving it to him (he didn’t know what to do!).
We next went to the city’s Museum of Urban Planning, for the sole purpose of looking at the largest city model in the world. And it was fantastic, containing every building within the city’s Inner Ring Road (and Scott was playing Godzilla, towering over the city’s outskirts).
Back at the hotel, we said a sad goodbye to the Burrows; we discussed how it was going to be impossible for either family to have fun for the rest of their respective trips without the other. Laura, Allan, Ben and Parker made our visit to China so very special, and it was a treat and pleasure to be with them. As we get ready to post this to the blog, they are back in W-S, having stayed in Shanghai another few days.
We were taken to the MagLev train, our transportation to the airport, and also a cool ride. The first of its kind, the Magnetic Levitation train rides on 1 centimeter of air, and in a slot so as to stay on track, so to speak. Its top speed is 431 kilometers per hour, and during our 8 minute ride, it only attained and maintained this speed for 1 minute before beginning to slow down heading into the airport
.
An hour or so later, we were settled into our 2 ½ hour flight to Hong Kong, where we were spending four days visiting our cousins the Dunivants.
So who has heard of Chongqing? We hadn’t, at least not until planning this trip. Originally part of the Sichuan Province, it became its own city-state, or municipality, in 1997. There are only four such municipalities in China --- Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing. It is the largest metropolitan area in the world, but we found upon arriving that it is a matter of how the counting is done. Yes, Chongqing does have 32 million people, but it is also the size of Ohio, so it is hard to call it just a city. Still, it has a lot of people (6 million are within the city center area). It is the largest of the cities in the Yangzi River basin, and will end up receiving the most of the over 1.5 million people being relocated as part of the Three Gorges Dam project.
We arrived on the train from Chengdu, and were driven to the main square where we strolled around. This was a Sunday afternoon, on the third day of a Chinese holiday --- the tomb sweeping holiday, paying respect to the dead. There were lots of people in the park, and we (taller) foreigners, were the object of much attention. Throughout our trip, the children (especially Parker) have been stroked and grabbed for photos, but on this day, we were all the object of quite a few stares. .
Our guide reminded us that during the WWII era, and the conflict between the Nationalists and Communists, Chongqing was the wartime capital of China (Chiang Kai-shek was the leader, and the Japanese were occupying the eastern half of the country). It is tucked around the confluence of the Jialing and Yangzi Rivers, with steep slopes going into the rivers. It has the feel of San Francisco, but with a lot more electricity in use at night (Times Square on a hill). As we drove around, we kept noting the paradox between half of its citizens below the poverty line, combined with so much wealth on display. We were again reminded of the power of the numbers: (a), we found that 0.3% of the population in China owns 85% of the wealth, and (b) even if just 1-2% of the population are rich, in an area of 32 million, that is still a lot of people to own all of these high rises.
We headed toward the river. As we would find out, everything in this area of the country is dominated by the Three Gorges Dam project; to get to our boat, we walked along the bottom of the river bed, across a path that later this year will be many tens of meters underwater.
Our vessel was the M.S. East King, serving a maximum of 170 passengers with 110 crew; on this trip downriver, there were only 50 passengers, which was fantastic (our guide told us that on the return, they would be at max capacity).
After being on the go for 10 days, it was going to be nice to be on a cruise schedule. Our 4 day, 3 night trip included the following:
- A stopover trip to Fengdu, called the City of Ghosts based on its Taoist and Buddhist beliefs that the soul of everyone comes here once they die.
- Morning Tai Chi for the grownups
- Probably the greatest highlight, learning the game of Ma Jong, becoming addicted to this game, playing it every day, and searching the local market at Yichang until we found two sets to take home (it is sort of like the card game “Gin”, played with domino-like tiles, all with Mandarin characters)
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Taking a ferry and long boat trip up the Shennong Stream to visit the area of the Tujai minority people
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Watching our kids perform in the on-board talent show, and watching Allan get some Traditional Chinese Medicine (aka acupuncture) for a slightly sore neck that is now in more pain(!)
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Approaching the Three Gorges Dam, going through the ship locks at twilight, and then visiting the dam site the next morning
The dam project is immense in its scope. Begun in 1993, the dam was completed and put in operation in 2003; it is 2.4 kilometers wide and 181 meters tall. All of the power plant construction will be completed later this year, and the water level will then rise to its final level of 175 meters above sea level (171 meters above the river bed). Overall, the water level will be 500 feet higher than before the dam (think about that for a moment). Over 1.5 million people will have been relocated: 13 cities and thousands of towns and villages. Innumerable artifacts will be lost. All through our cruse downriver, and through the three majestic gorges, we saw elevation signs along the shore showing where the 175 meter mark will be (and approximately 80% of the total water level has been reached; there are only 30 or so meters left to go). The project will result in the largest power plant, the largest ship elevator and the largest ship locks in the world.
We really enjoyed our journey through these locks. There are five locks in succession; each drops/climbs 23 meters for a total rise/fall of 113 meters. There are no river pilots (each ship’s crew is responsible for positioning), and the ships basically tie up along the wall and ride movable tie points vertically up and down in the lock. It takes 3 hours to make the passage, and the ride is very smooth.
Two general thoughts of the last few days:
- We read that the difficulty in the Three Gorges Dam project was not the design, engineering, construction of the facilities, or that they were using at one point a majority of the world’s concrete. The real challenge is the relocation of people (example, the city to the right is brand new). Imagine the complexity in moving family by family to new villages, towns and cities, all in an equitable way (based on what you owned before the move). Imagine the family traditions lost, the memories washed away with the water. The dam will do a lot of good in terms of flood control, energy production and reduced air pollution (the hydro-electricity will mean decreased coal power production). However, there are loads of concerns, again related to the environment (concentrated silt and water pollution), cultural, historic and people issues, and whole ways of lives washed away. It is hard to comprehend all of the changes that the project is engendering.
- Speaking of washing away culture, what has been the impact of Mao’s Cultural Revolution? A product of the 1960’s, everything artistic, cultural, religious, etc. was wiped away, and the intellectuals, academics and theologians massacred or persecuted. We heard about Yichang, the city in which we disembarked, that “this is an old city but without anything old that has survived”. For a country with indescribable history and culture, much of it has been unavailable to us, either because we are westerners, or because it no longer exists. The good and the bad of China is that everything is soon going to be brand new.
We are now in the Yichang airport, awaiting our flight to Shanghai. The Tuttle’s will only be in the country’s financial and economic capital for 24 hours, before flying south to Hong Kong. The Burrows will stay over a few days longer, returning to the States on Saturday, April 12.
Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan Province, and we immediately liked it during our drive in from the airport. Over 3,000 years old, it is the only city in China that has never changed its location and its name. Although there are 12 million people in Chengdu, once again, it didn’t really feel crowded (no more than any other large city in the States).
Chengdu
does not have lots of industry; rather, it is the high tech center of the country. It is also known the cultural and economic capital of western China, and this culture vibe is probably what we were drawn to in our first impression. As noted earlier, Chengdu is the gateway to Tibet, and yet we saw no evidenceat all of any of the recent troubles in Lhasa or points between (other than the daily rantings in the papers about the Dali Lama and the bias of the western media). Checking into the hotel, we let the kids grab a bite for dinner and watch a movie, as the grownups went downstairs for our first very spicy meal (Sichuan means “four rivers” in Mandarin, but somehow this got translated as extra spicy to the local chefs).
The next morning was the big day. We headed northeast for a short 30 minute drive to the Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base. There are 2,000 pandas in the world, 200 in captivity, and 67 of these 200 are here in Chengdu. This Research Base is the epicenter of panda research and preservation, and just off a busy road, it is a haven of green and quiet solitude for these really cool creatures. We enjoyed the fun antics of our first panda, running, tumbling and then relaxing as if in a hot tub with his arms behind his head. We then met Jingjing, one of the five Olympic mascots (the panda on the right in this photo), constantly eating and enjoying herself immensely.
But that was nothing compared to what was next: we went through a non-descript door, were outfitted in surgical gowns and plastic gloves, and lined up youngest-to-oldest to hold a 7-8 month old baby panda, Xing Ya (Claire came up with the youngest-to-oldest idea on the spot, and was immediately bummed to remember that she is the oldest J). There were 9 babies born at the base last August (after just a 3-5 month gestation period), and Xing Ya, a baby girl, was one of these nine. She was ooohed and ahhhed over by everyone.
In addition to just being very cuddly, it was amazing to hold a baby of an endangered species in your arms. These animals, still debated as being either from the raccoon or bear family (we grew up thinking they were from the cat family), have been on earth for 8 million years, and we held one of the few that are still left. It was a moment for the memory banks (not to mention all of the photos we will have of each of us with Xing Ya).
We watched a fascinating movie on the lifecycle of pandas, and saw the red panda (a cross between a raccoon and a panda). After lunch we headed to a local park, sort of central park and Coney Island mixed together. We nixed going to another museum to opt for mixing with the locals (we were the only westerners there), which was much more fun than a stuffy museum. Some of the highlights were the paddle boats, bumper cars, haunted house and spinning for caramelized sugar lollipops. Carson won the big dragon and we enjoyed every minute of it!
That evening, we went to another performance, this a show featuring various artistic and local culture specialties of the region The absolute highlight of the show was the face changing, where the performers change the color of their face (and sometimes their costumes) in the literal blink of an eye. Watch the attached video closely and pay attention to his face and clothes.
After breakfast the next morning, we headed out to learn how to make some of these spicy dishes that we had been
sampling in the region. Instead of to a restaurant or private kitchen, we went to the Sichuan Culinary Institute, a huge university-type school dedicated just to the culinary sciences (everything in China seems huge). Ours was going to be a demonstration lesson for Kung Pao Chicken and Sweet and Sour Pork; we were in a 50 person classroom amphitheatre, all peering down at our instructor (who spoke not one word of English (our guide translated)). He made everything from scratch, taking the chicken off the bone, chopping up the pork ribs, etc., and we learned quite a bit, even without doing it ourselves. The most important part came in the quality control area, as we all sampled the final product hot off the wok. All during the class, we received text messages from home on the status of the UNC final four game, so we are sure that the occasional moans from the audience confused the chef!
As soon as our tasting was over, we headed to the train station, for our train ride to Chongqing. Our China guide book, borrowed from the Brenner’s, was written in 2004; therein, it says that the Chengdu-Chongqing train ride is 10 hours (and it was, just 4 years ago). As another example of the progress that this country is making, our train ride this Sunday morning was 3 hours, and we pulled into the world’s largest city (more about that later) in mid-afternoon, eager to get to the M.S. East King, and our cruise down the Yangzi River.
We landed after our 1 ½ hour flight to another beautiful day, but one with ½ mile visibility due to air pollution from thermal energy (aka burning coal). On our drive into the city, we learned a little about the Shaanxi Province (not to be confused with the Shanxi Province next door) and its capital, Xian. A capital of eleven dynasties for over 1,200 years, this area is obviously ripe with history. Its former name is Chang’ An. It is the only city in the country with a still-intact city wall. It is considered the start of the Silk Road trading route to the east, and the discoverer of this route is immortalized in statue on the western side of the city.
Xian is a manufacturing center, with many people working in the area factories. Most make 1,500
yuan/month ($1 equals 7 yuan), due to the fact that national taxes kick in a wages higher than this. Bonus, overtime, etc. is not taxed. The national average wage is $2,000 per year, or approximately 15,000 yuan per year, but citizens in Xian make approximately double this amount.
We headed first to the Small Goose Pagoda, a former Buddhist temple now turned into a tourist market. . We saw a musical group playing; with eight musical instruments in the group, we could not name one of them. The children all rang the giant gong, rode the stone turtles of longevity, and we quickly hiked up to the top of the pagoda for a wonderful view of the area.
For lunch we headed to a well known restaurant serving the specialty of the region, dumplings. Due to the flat nature of this area (one reason why emperors made the capital here --- you could see your enemy coming for miles) they do not grow rice. Instead, they grow wheat, and make entire meals out of dumplings crafted into beautiful shapes such as flowers, walnuts, chickens and monkey faces. The shape of the dumpling was often a clue to what was inside and we were relieved that the monkey face was only a mushroom stuffing! Our gorging consisted of 18 different types of dumpling, and as in all of our meals so far, we were served family style. Portion control is impossible, as you think they have finished bringing out food (and you start to load up) only to see platter on platter continuing to come forth from the kitchen. We finally found that when fruit is delivered, the end is in sight.
Xian is home to a large Muslim concentration, and after lunch we walked to the local mosque. After a visit in the Arab world, it was fascinating to see the traditions of Islam, especially the architecture, mixed with Chinese beliefs and styles (for instance, there was a minaret that was a pagoda, and Chinese women wore head coverings). Discussing minority populations, we were reminded of the power of the Chinese population. Only 2-3% of the population that are Muslim, but with 1.4 billion people, there are still almost 40 million people of the Islamic faith!
To work off our still-full stomachs, and to see more of the City, we hiked up to the top of the City Wall, rented some tandem bikes, and pedaled off. Our guide was not used to customers that wanted to pedal more than a few hundred meters or so; he was also not used to Laura Burrows, for whom the 14 kilometers around the city-wall-top was nothing but a given. With a shrug, he waved us off, and we had a fabulous adventure, on the amazingly wide and well built structure enclosing this ancient city. Often we had to stop just to look down on the very beautiful parks and public spaces being enjoyed by the locals. This city is filled with wonderful landscapes for people to be together, and we regretted not having more time just to hang out. However, our bike ride was one
of those times for the memory bank, and we had a blast. And speaking of the wall, it was originally constructed during the Tang dynasty (600-900 AD), and rebuilt during the Ming dynasty (1368-1600 or so). The reconstruction was only on the inner wall of the old city (remember, it is 14 kilometers around); the former city wall enclosed a city 8 times the size of the wall we rode, and in the Tang period, had over 1.5 million people (astounding!).
The next day we headed due East to what most tourists in this region have come to see; the recently famous Terra Cotta Warriors. Discovered in 1974 by local farmers, the relics are from the Qin dynasty around 221 BC. The Qin dynasty was the first to unite the country, and the emperor was the one who began the Great Wall. He was also very concerned about his afterlife, and employed over 700,000 workers to create these Terra Cotta solders to guard his tomb from his enemies (that he thought would come
from the East, so all of his afterlife soldiers were facing in that direction). Constructed for a 34 year period, the tomb and the underground pits containing the warriors comprise 56 square kilometers, an audacious display of waste that led to the downfall of the dynasty shortly after the emperor’s death. The warriors are life size and intricately detailed, and we can only imagine the feelings of the craftsmen who toiled on these 8,000+ figures to see them then buried in underground pits.
It was at the tombs that we learned another fascinating fact about this country and the western misunderstandings with the language. The name “China” comes from the Qin Dynasty (“qin” is pronounced “chin”), but no one in this country refers to their homeland as China, or to themselves as Chinese. Their country name is Central Kingdom (or Middle Kingdom), as they have believed for centuries that they are located in the middle of the whole world. This name is on all the currency, and the people themselves are Han’s (taken from the Han Dynasty, that which followed the Qin). The People’s Republic of China is the name of the government, but the name China does not refer to the country itself.
After some R&R back at the hotel, we headed out for a dinner theatre show on the Tang Dynasty, commonly thought of as the golden age of Chinese rule. Watching a stage production with vibrant colors and rich productions, we had lots of fun. We also found another to like China: “soft drinks” are often included with your meals, and beer counts as a soft drink (and of course, when the kids order water, there are more soft drinks for the adults).
Heading out of the Xian the next morning, we found our first rainy day in the country. It was a good day to visit some museums. The first was the Shaanxi Museum, wonderfully displaying relics and artifacts of 1,000’s of years of Shannxi led dynasties. This museum was a perfect presentation of the dynasties and helped us all make sense of it all. The next museum was the Hangyangling Museum, a tomb of 11 Han Dynasty emperors. Shaped like a pyramid of dirt, the tomb has yet to be opened. Instead, they have opened the warrior pits of the 4th Han emperor. As in Egypt, the emperors wanted to be buried with all of their worldly possessions that they would need in the afterlife, and the tomb has 11 sets of pits emanating from it containing these afterlife necessities for each of the emperors. Unlike the Qin tomb, the warriors, horses, etc. were miniature instead of life size, but the emphasis on the emperor’s afterlife comforts was just as impressive. The museum is new, and does as wonderful job of allowing its visitors to get up close to the history, walking on and beside glass floors and walls so that we could peer close-up to the relics. It was a great last moment in this historic capital area.
This need of goods in the afterlife still exists in the Chinese culture. When someone dies money, letters, and other personal possessions are burned so they will have them in the afterlife. Then on the anniversary of the death, the relatives burn elaborately made paper material possessions such as jewelry, money, cell phones, and according to our guide, concubines for their deceased loved ones. This day was Tomb Sweeping day, a national holiday, for people to pay respects to their ancestors by cleaning the tomb and paying respects. It seemed like most were enjoying a day in the park or at the museum.
One different aspect of travel at this stop was our baggage. We said goodbye to our bags that morning at the hotel, toured all day around Xian, were given a boarding pass with our baggage tags attached upon arriving at the Xian airport, and finally reacquainted with our luggage upon reaching our next stop (porters are great!). Our short one hour flight to the southwest took us to Chengdu. Chengdu has been in the news recently, because it is the gateway to Tibet, where journalists have been congregating over the past few weeks. We were not going to the area for historical, political, religious of any other world-important reason: we were going to see pandas!
