Finishing up in Southern China

It was a rainy Saturday morning and when it dried up a bit we went out onto the streets. It is really wonderful to walk the sidewalks of China. I must admit that as we walked along I could not help thinking that Guangzhou looked very much like Manhattan. There were beautiful boulevards with small parks running along. There were lots of little stores with open fronts for the people to browse. Just meters away from all of this tranquility and pleasantness was an expressway with traffic flowing heavily. But it didn’t matter because it seemed isolated and distant. Around the overpasses and underpasses are tiny parkettes with flowers and palm trees. People stroll along poking their way through the stores and boutiques experiencing the delights.

There were many restaurants with the menus posted outside and it reminded me of the restaurant district on 46th Street in Manhattan.

There was no times square.

However the square in Zengzheng could hold about 10 Times Squares. When we were asked to go there we accepted out of politeness. When we got there we were blown away by the size and the activity and the incredible design. We were told that it is bigger than Tiananmen Square but I didn’t believe it until I got into the real heart of the area.

China has been a total fascination. Although we came with open minds there were endless surprises and delights. For example, when you cross a busy street walk slowly so the cars have chance to steer around you. That is not recommended for Canada.

There are many aspects to China. One of the most interesting is the Hutong. To the untrained western eye it looks like a slum but it is not. It is a traditional way of life for many Chinese and they are proud to life there. There are absolutely fresh, delicious vegetables and meat sold off the streets. Does one have to worry about refrigeration? No! It is all so fresh there is absolutely no problem. And it is absolutely incredible to eat.

We have been in the Hutongs many times. There is a beautiful tailor shop in one in Zengcheng. There was also a small restaurant about a two minute walk from the gate of the middle school. Most Canadians would shy away from it but it had the best food we have had in Canton. The owner was once a chef in a major restaurant but he quit to do his own thing. He does it very well. It was the local Chinese who tipped us off to the quality of the place.

I think the food of China will alter the way we eat at home. Canadian food is great but it can become even greater with a little influence from over here.

I am looking forward to coming home but I will truly miss China. This country is very beautiful, as are the people.

Tea is as much a ritual here as serving fine wine is with us. The cups are washed with tea. There are many fine teas here and they improve with age. Some are kept as long as 25 years. Pu’er tea is considered one of the finest. Good tea is compressed into discs, called tea plates, and sold that way. A well aged vintage plate can cost several hundred dollars. The connoisseurs will buy a disc of quality tea when it is young at a low price and store it for years before drinking it. I have two to bring home. To reach their maximum goodness they should sit for two more years.

In the meantime we are getting ready to return. We have finalized our trip to Hong Kong and now we are going to enjoy the last few days of this beautiful area.

Will we come back? I hope so!

A Wedding in China

There is a park that runs along the river in southern China, not far from the city of Guangzhou. It is the home of great clumps of bamboo and a lot of very old olive trees. The walkways are stone blocks, possibly laid as a make work project, and made a fabulous walking path. A wide spot in the river is almost like a serene lake. Sadly it is the wrong season for the lotus flower so all we saw were the stems.

The olive trees are hundreds of years old but the olives do not taste like those in the Mediterranean. They are saltier and more bitter.

Our lunch reminded us that a meal is China is quite different than one in Canada. Their place settings consist of 2 small bowls, a small plate, a small cup with no handle, one ceramic spoon and a pair of chopsticks. Food is served in bowls and in a restaurant there will be a huge lazy susan in the centre of the table.

The whole meal begins with the ritual of washing the dishes and implements. First the small cup is filled with tea and then the chopsticks and the ceramic spoon are dipped into the tea and swished around. The tea is poured into the smallest bowl and the rim of the cup is dipped in to be washed. When that is done then the tea is poured into a slop bowl that is removed from the table. Then tea is served again but this time it is for drinking.

Large bowls of food are then brought and placed on the lazy susan. The food is then put into and eaten from the smallest bowl. The large bowl is for soup if there is any served.

As different foods are added they mix in the bowl and the blend of flavours is absolutely delicious. Often a small bowl of rice will be brought to each person and that will be scooped out a bit at a time into the small bowl and mixed with the other food.

After lunch we went to the mountain where the waterfalls were. It was rainy and cloudy and we could see very little. However I did get a few low quality shots. Maybe they can be improved a bit in the computer. That is rather unfortunate because the Fairy Falls is a beautiful bridal veil falls that drops the whole height of the mountain.

When we got back John G. Stu, Posie, Gwen & I piled into a van and went to a wedding in a nearby village. We were privileged to be able to see and participate in the day to day life of China. A tourist does not get this opportunity.

The whole community greeted us warmly and we were mobbed by curious children. It was the bride’s family dinner and it took place on an outdoor basketball court. Almost the whole village turned out. They cooked huge amounts of food and brought it to us. There were choices that we declined but it was an amazing experience.

The bride and groom were not there. The evening meal is spent with the groom’s family. They were there for the lunch. It was hoped that we could attend then but we were far out of town.

When we left we were given two boxes of wedding cake which turned out to be an assortment of cupcakes, cookies and the like.

Although it was only 7:00 PM when we returned to our dorm we were exhausted.

Back in the Classroom Again

It is hard to imagine that after 12 years of blissful retirement that we could wind up in the classroom again. Yet it happened.

We are holed up at the Middle School in Zhengcheng China, which is a high school. Our tenure is a mere three weeks and we have only 15 forty minute classes scheduled for the entire three weeks. One cannot say that the load is excessive. But on top of that there is a lot of demand from other schools so we are ferried out of here and put in different classrooms to “do our thing.”
Our real purpose here is to expose the students to real English speaking people. I spent the day working on words like “thought”, “real” and “leak” because those sounds are very difficult for the Chinese.

I tried something a little different from the books. As I would start a sound I would show them to position their tongues to make the sound and it worked. Within seconds they were getting the sounds and were speaking those words as if they were native Canadians. I must admit I didn’t expect it to work that well and that fast.

We live in the teacher’s residence and the Chinese are doing everything to make us comfortable. Sometimes things don’t work out exactly right. Our bathroom is dubbed the Bathroom Bayou. The toilet is a flush and run. The shower stall is the entire bathroom and the shower water is heated by a propane burner on the wall, fuelled by a rather large tank camped beside the toilet. The heating unit appears to vent into the room so w e shower with the door wide open and the fan on full.

Shaving is exciting! There is no hot water at the sink so I have to turn on the shower and fill a small plastic bucket and then shave. I am actually used to it now.
There are so many upsides to this place that the bath doesn’t even rate above a most minor inconvenience. The students are amazing. They stand up and applaud when you walk into the classroom, they pay close attention for the whole period, participate eagerly in the lesson and then stand up and say “Thank you” when the lesson is over. I must admit that I am not used to that.

Every night we have been taken out and wined and dined like Royalty. Tonight we had a Cantonese feast and last night it was Shenzhen food (my favourite).
Truthfully we have been wined, dined and feted so much that we are all ready for a break. We have pretty much all agreed that our ideal supper tomorrow will be a bowl of noodles and a beer.
For the last 24 days Gwen & I have been eating with chopsticks. Most days we are reasonably good at it but then there are days we couldn’t pick up anything. My golf game is something like that. Some days are pretty god but most just don’t work.

We all walk many kilometres each day and in China if you are not going up a flight of stairs then you are coming down. Surprisingly, my knees are starting to adapt but I won’t go anywhere without my little folding cane.

We are having a ball in China. The people are fabulous. The food is outstanding. The students are amazing and the places we have visited on this trip are mind blowing.

We have seen the Ice Festival of Harbin. We have walked on the Great Wall and strolled through the Forbidden City. We have stood in awe at the sight of the Terra Cotta Warriors.

But don’t give up. There is a lot more to come. We are just at the half way mark of this trip.

Take care.

Pickwick et al

Warriors of Heaven

Xi’an was one of the ancient capitals of early China. It was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and many travellers went back and forth as far as the Black Sea long before the time of Marco Polo.

Today it is a bustling city of about 8.5 million people boasting over 75 colleges and universities. As we started our tour by driving through the city it was easy to see the importance of the early history here. New buildings are styled to look like those in the traditional fashion. The ancient structure are well maintained and repaired as needed.

We were on our way to see one of the great treasurers of China and indeed the whole world. On the edge of this city is the army of Terra Cotta Warriors.

The discovery was made in 1974 by a farmer digging a well. He crashed through the remnants of an ancient roof deep underground and there they were. Thousands of warriors were lined up in battle array ready to defend the Emperor Qin Shi Huang. They are deployed facing east because that is where the expected attack would come from.

Interestingly enough, the Silk Road and the way to the rest of the world lies to the west. There was no fear of anything from that direction. On the eastern side lay the other principalities of China and it causes one to wonder just what the Emperor did. This army was to defend him in the afterlife so he must have been terrified about what would happen to him there. We were told that each face is the face of an actual guard.

They were built over two thousand years ago and are now enclosed by three building covering the location. They serve as a viewing area for the public and the archaeologists work in this area as well as.

When we entered the first building and it was mind boggling. They stand there in their ranks. Each was armed in the beginning but the years have caused almost total deterioration of the weapons. Gone are the crossbows, swords, pikes and chariots. But you can see the General and the officers each ready for action.

Many of the figures are broken and archaeologists have been working for years to restore them. Since they were discovered they have become a major tourist attraction as well as a very important cultural find. The buildings were filled with people and there were tour buses all over the place.

The Chinese are deeply interested in preserving and restoring their past and a lot of money is spent on this. Clearly the investment is paying off.

Birthday in BeiJing

I have finally taken one more step over the hill. Today I turned 70 and what better place for a fabulous birthday than Beijing.

We set out this morning for the Summer Palace. It is a long drive but it was worth it because the Palace grounds surround a very pretty little lake. There are antique galleries there with fabulous collections of ancient bronze, some very early jade, and many artefacts found on the Palace grounds.

There were a number of buildings including one to hold the telephone.

It was a long stroll and we were there for over three hours. We are walking much more these days but we used our canes because there were many up and down stairways. The lake is exquisite and was very tranquil. We had lunch in a little restaurant at the Palace.

A little girl stopped us and spoke to us in English. We had a short conversation which delighted not only her but her parents. They wanted a picture of us with her which was easy to do. She was very vivacious and a lovely little person.

Later we caught a cab back to the hotel. We are getting very comfortable riding around the city but we don’t have the confidence to take the city bus.

About 5:30 PM we went to Quan Ju De Roast Duck house for Peking Duck. I have always wanted to try that and what better time to do it. The cabbie dropped us off and directed us to walk down an alley. It was dark but there were lots of people there so there was no concern. At the other end of the alley we burst into an incredible pedestrian zone. It is stunningly beautiful and was just jammed. It was ablaze with lights and absolutely exquisite.

A policeman pointed out the restaurant for us and we went it. Fortunately we had reservations and were seated immediately. The place was mobbed and some people were waiting for seating.
We ordered a whole duck and it is a good thing because we ate most of it. It is different from anything we have ever had. The chef carves the crisp duck into many tiny pieces. It is served with crepes called pancakes here. You take some duck (several pieces) and then dip them in sauce and sprinkle on some scallions. Place the whole thing on the crepe and fold it as if it was a wrap. Then it is picked up and eaten.

It was different and very good.

We had a little trouble finding some cabs to come back to the hotel but a student stepped up and helped. This was his first time in Beijing as well and so we worked together.

All and all it was a wonderful birthday.

Beyond The Great Wall

The Great Wall of China runs across the north for about 6000 kms and took about 2000 years to complete. It is the only human structure visible from space and is an important cultural item in China. Many Chinese walk along its ramparts with pride. On the wall are many foreign nationals which, on Sunday, included Gwen and I.

We did it. As usual we had to be nuts. Our guide told us that Chinese people our age just pack it up and stay home. I can see why. A few months ago we did the Waterfall Tour at our Rotary District Conference. That was tough enough on the old knees but this was even more challenging.

En Route, we had the the mandatory stops at the Jade Factory and the Chinese doctor. We didn’t spend much on jade or treatment so our tour company had only a very small commission.

But before we reached the Wall we had one more stop at the tombs of the Ming dynasty. There are 16 tombs here scattered over a huge area. We just visited the entrance, a place called the Sacred Way. There the statues guard the bodies of the dead Emperors.

Then we proceeded farther north, to the Wall. At the parking lot below the Great Wall I bought two canes for $20. These turned out to be a Godsend. They a very strong light metal that are adjustable and have spring shock absorbers on board. In hindsight we wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. I am sure I paid too much but they were desperately needed

We covered most of the distance up and down by cable car. That made it a lot easier but there was a lot of up and down climbing on fairly rough terrain and it was still arduous.

But when we reached the top and were finally on the Wall itself it was worth it. The view is spectacular and the whole concept of the wall is amazing. Building it cost thousands of lives and most are buried inside the wall. Like most great government projects it failed to doo the job. Invaders came in easily anyway.

Now it reflects a new concept. It is a gathering place for the people of the world. Along the top we met and talked to a lot of people from all over, including a very nice lady from Kansas.

There is so much to Beijing it is difficult to describe it all. When we arrived on Friday night it was coming to the end of the Chinese New Year. This is incredibly important here and the last night was a spectacular fireworks display. Actually there was not one display. There were hundreds. Our room is on the 15th floor and we have a large picture window looking over the city. We could see dozens of displays all going on at the same time. The staccato bangs were nonstop and this went on for about 4 hours. I made two 1 minute videos but they are too large to post. They will be part of the show back home.

This blog is out of sequence. It is that way because it was difficult to write. We arrived in Beijing on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday we went to Harbin. This blog is about Tuesday and that night. On the following day we went to the Ice Festival and that has already been blogged.

Gwen’s luggage was lost when we arrived at Beijing. The room that we were given in our hotel in Harbin was pretty bad. The mattresses were boards – not like boards – were boards. We had severe jet lag with the sudden 13 hour time change. We were tired and no one at our hotel understood even one word of English. Frankly it seemed hopeless.

However all was not lost. One of the guests phoned a gentleman who spoke English and he came and helped us. Once again the old adage proved true. What you need is there when you need it. After some discussion and translation we had a better room and were happy in that regard. We also had instructions on how to get to the Ice Festival. We were OK but...

We didn’t know how we were going to get along. We were fools to try this on our own, especially at our age. If we had a towel we would have thrown it in, but we didn’t. So all we could do was lay there on our board, clinging to each other. That night was the night of despair.

Then suddenly what we needed was there. It turned out that what we needed was us. The ancient psyche asserted itself and the coma of North America fell away. The cloud of fear was lifted and we became what we are once again. We are travellers, not tourists. The old skills were suddenly there, risen from the depths of our mind.

When you came right down do it there was nothing in the lost luggage that we couldn’t get by without. There are many ways to get around the language barrier and we knew lots of them.

The next day was different. We now knew exactly what we were doing and how to do it. We were a full team. The knowledge that we had used to explore the villages and roam the outposts of this world was back. We now walk with confidence and assurance. We can communicate with the hotel staff and other and do so easily.

The ice festival was a study in joy. It is one of the most unbelievable sights of this world and we wandered around with thousands and thousands of people without a trace of difficulty. We even we into the food shack and ordered coffee for Gwen and tea for me without the slightest problem. Finding our way back to the hotel – no problem!

We are back. We are what we are. We are travellers once again and the real journey is about to begin.

The Harbin Ice Festival

They say a picture is worth one thousand words. These are beyond description anyway. It was definately worth flying half way around the world for this.

Pickwick et al

Getting There is Half the Fun

When our giant Boeing 777 lifted off in Chicago there were just 30 passengers on board. It seemed to be a sign of the economic distress that has gripped the USA and the world. But in another sense it was symbolic of a day that was out of the ordinary.
It started when our phone rang while our clock showed 4:00 AM. It was then that we discovered the clock was out by one hour and it was actually 5:00AM. Bob, our driver from Airlink was in the driveway waiting. It has been a long time since we moved that fast but at 5:24 we were loaded and on the road. Bob got us to the airport right on time and he drove sensibly all the way.
After we checked in the situation was wait and then wait some more. The plane froze overnight and they couldn’t get it started. When they did the cabin was too cold for passengers so they ran the engines until it warmed up. Even then there wasn’t a warm seat for a bum. They had to be self heated.
When we got to Chicago it was a rush to the gate for the flight to Beijing but it worked out OK. They were close together and we made it in time.
Every passenger had an entire row to stretch out and sleep . There was no line-up for the washrooms and there was lots of food. Just the same United Airline lost a lot of money on that flight.
We went over the North Pole and all the while we were above the Arctic Circle there was a red sunset/sunrise glow on the horizon. Since it is winter there is no sun on the ground but at 35000 ft. there is another view and it is spectacular. The sun was at its maximum visible point, the Arctic Circle and we could see it from the air.
Thirteen hours after takeoff we arrived at Beijing but Gwen’s luggage didn’t. At this moment we are still hoping it will show up.
The usual scamsters were at the airport. They offered to get us to some hotel for a mere 20 times the going rate. At any rate we got rid of t hem and then had some fun finding a cabbie who actually knew where we wanted to go. But we did and we are now camped the Beijing Capital Airport Hotel and it is comfortable.
Tomorrow we got to Harbin and hopefully with all of our luggage. If you wish to send us an e-mail use emerson_480@msn.com

Getting Ready to Go

There are only 10 days left before we fly to China and there is still a lot to do. We need to update our first aid kit and confirm our luggage for weight. We must also be sure to have adequate clothing for the trip. The temperature at Harbin is about minus 40oC at this time of year. By the time we get to the south around Hong Kong it will be much, much warmer. As a result everything has to be worked out so that we can layer but use the various layers for the full range of temperatures we will encounter.

We will be carrying cameras and an itty bitty computer. There are a few other items – a Zune (something like an ipod), a mini digital recorder and a GPS. As you can see in the picture, everything is small and easy to carry. It is a lot different from when we went around the world 16 years ago. Now we hope to keep in touch much better. For one thing there will be this blog. We can post pictures, videos and notes every few days. Anyone can read them or not, whatever they choose.

We will have telephone through Skype anywhere we have a good internet connection. We will be able to read the Reformer regularly and listen to Gerry and Kate in the evening (for us). Our location means that our time will be 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard but since this blog will be available all over the world there is not a good time reference.

Consider this posting the preinstallment. It will allow you to log on to the blog and bookmark it if you wish. From there you can follow along. We will start at Harbin and the Ice Festival. This event is amazing. You can go to youtube http://www.youtube.com/ and search for Harbin China Ice Festival . If you put your cursor on that coloured address there should be a little box that shows up and tells you how to do get to youtube. From there you can explore a world of video.

Have fun.

Pickwick et al
Aka Gwen & Don