Yangshuo

I am in Paradise - one of the most beautiful places on earth - and the warm smiles continue after the rush and chaos of Shanghai. Like getting off a Tilt-a-Whirl onto a gentle canoe. Yesterday we took an amazing (OK a very cliche word, but no other will fit) - up the Li River. Absolutely unbelievable - unbelievable beauty coupled with the unbelievable fact that I am actually here. Pinch me! Tony is on a bartering spree - our luggage gets heavier by the day, but his bartering skills are a bit generous. I try to jump in when I can. We had to buy a new suitcase yesterday. I am writing this post on the sidewalk in front of our hotel. China is WIRED - much more than Canada - everywhere we've been has had free Internet - and it's fast. Yangshuo is not a big town, but Internet is everywhere. We are staying at the Morning Sun - a three star- it's just a jewel. Filled with carved wood and marble - our beds are comfortable and the air conditioner is fantastic. The service, as it is every where in China, is excellent. When you go to dinner here, there will be three people refilling you glass and serving you. Another revelation -the fork is taking over - even in small, family restaurants you can get a fork. Most places have them on the table in the place setting. SO, I am not starving!! (Although, I'm not bad with the chopsticks now - part of the fun) The birds Tony is holding are cormorants used for fishing. Their throats are tied so that they can't swallow what they catch - the fisherman takes the fish from the birds' mouths.

Shanghai

Shanghai is beautiful and overwhelming – a raucous, streetwise strumpet dressed in Dior with the soul of Fagin. At night the city wears garlands of lights as the people pour onto the streets to enjoy the relative cool of the evening. Yesterday was 38 degrees. Huge screens (40 ft x 70 feet) imbedded in the tall glass skyscrapers show ads at night. The noise is constant from traffic, construction and voices. A visual, aural and olfactory Disneyland. Absolutely amazing. It’s all too much to grasp and a wee bit terrifying. The boy in the pictures above snags tourists and brings them to shops. He was a really nice kid. When we went to a bookstore, he began reading the books. Literally fell on them and began trying to absorb as much as possible. So, we asked him to pick out one for himself - an English dictionary that he guarded the rest of the afternoon from his friends who wanted to read it too.

Steps

There are a lot of steps in China. We drove to Dandong to climb some of the most famous ones in China – the Great Wall. Yes, the Wall is also in Beijing – but it was built to surround the ENTIRE country. Sitting on the border with North Korea, Dandong is about 3 hours from Dalian, . (the trip back the next morning to catch our 12:30 flight to Shanghai was a real hair-raising experience – 160 km an hour –we barely made it-“don’t worry Ma, if we leave by 8 we have lots of time” – but we took the wrong road, there was construction, etc [stuff happens, eh?] and didn’t get to the airport entrance until 11:30 – another story). Dandong is where many Chinese tourists come to visit their national treasure. We went up about 1000 steps – some of them extremely steep – all the way to the highest tower. At the end I was climbing them like a ladder – coming down was, ummmm, challenging. Beats a thigh master. 99% of the people climbing with us were Chinese. (Tony grabbed a tour leader’s flag – everyone roared with laughter) In the picture of the folks coming down the steps, they are taking pictures of Tony taking pictures of them. There were a few Japanese and Koreans. As I groaned up the Wall, I was passed by a couple of Chinese women in high heels. One in stiletto sandals. We stayed in a really nice hotel where we were the only Caucasians. At dinner I noticed that when people made eye contact with me they looked shocked and openly stared. I thought that my eyes must be red from jetlag, and then it occurred to me – I was the only person in the room with blue eyes. I was probably the first person with blue eyes that many of them had ever seen in person.

A 1360 year old temple and ginko tree

Near Maple Leaf is a temple that Justin wanted to visit before we left. Thomas said not many Caucasians go there, so we were a real oddity. It's located in a dusty square in a small village. In the center courtyard is an enormous ginkgo tree. I took one look and had visions of the little ginkgo in our patio growing into this magnificent monster. We asked a young apprentice monk the tree's age and he told us it is 1360 years old - as is the temple. So, I think it will be a long time before our ginkgo takes over the Westwood Plateau. A museum was attached to the temple - we saw pottery dating from the Han dynasty that was over 2000 years old and had been recently unearthed - in 2002. There were also some really beautiful and amazing (words fail me here) examples of root carving. The temple and museum were a real treasure in the dust and haze.

Search for coffe at 5:30 AM

Tony just returned from searching for coffee at 5:30 AM. We're still jet-lagged and have been awake (I use the term loosely - more like unable to sleep) since 4:30. Tony jumped in a cab and said to the driver -"COFFEE." The driver drove him to a building that had a huge sign saying "COFFEE." But, alas it wasn't open. So, they drove to the sea - it's very foggy this morning. A hundred people were on the beach bathing in the water and collecting kelp. I took a picture in old Dalian of a lady gathering kelp at the public beach.

In the other picture Tony joins a local for a quick cigarette brake.

The Buddha on the high hill

Near Maple Leaf is this Buddha. The Chinese call her/him the Buddha with many hands/arms, but I was really struck by the resemblance to Kali, the Indian goddess with many arms. Each hand of this buddha has an eye in its palm. There was a magnificent vista of the coast - shrouded in haze. We drove up part of the way, but the road was so steep and gravelly, we walked the rest - along with a monk. Behind the monk trotted a man in modern dress carrying a plaid umbrella to shield the monk from the hazy sun, followed by two young monks, and three women in capri pants and high heels. Tony and I rang a giant bell for good luck. Red is the good-luck colour, so you can see many red pieces of cloth adorning the area.

Visit to Maple Leaf

The Maple Leaf School is quite impressive. A beautiful campus overlooking the ocean. Unfortunately, the ever present haze has prevented us from yet enjoying an ocean view but we've seen the water up close and can imagine there is more out there somewhere. We met some of the teachers. In the picture are Karen, Justin's girlfriend, Sam, and Thomas, the art teacher. Thomas is extremely knowledgeable about China, its art and history. We had dinner with him and his wife last night (I'll ask Karen how her name is spelled correctly, so I won't massacre it here.) On the basis of what he told us, we will go to Shenyang tomorrow instead of to the Wall bordering Korea. in Shenyang is the palace of the Manchu emperors. It dates from the 17th century. In Shenyang is also the East Tomb - one of the most impressive royal tombs in China. Thomas was shocked that Justin hadn't visited the palace or tomb - Justin is a little Philistine - he said he did go but when told the admission was 50 RMB, he decided it was too much to pay to see an "old building." (I can hear Jennifer groan.) May I offer the explanation that my poor, culturally deprived son was a science major. I now have a goal for the trip - to instill some degree of cultural appreciation in him during the trip.

There is no tipping in China and the smiles continue

Had a feeling that might get your attention. You do not tip in China - and the service is amazing. We tried to tip our waitress the first day we were here and she was so confused and visibly upset that we felt really awful for offering her money. Cab drivers don't even expect tips! Yesterday Tony and Justin had a FULL body scrub. They went to the spa here in our new hotel (we moved across town for a different experience in the modern part of Dalian.) The entire body was rubbed free a dead skin (sounds yucky, but the process results in gloriously soft skin), massaged, pedicured, manicured, and completely pampered and feed beer - and no tip.

The folks to the left rode up a long, rocky mountain road/trail to the Buddha above Justin's school. Two on one bike, three on the other - just look at the smiles.

Where are we?

Parts of Dalian look so much like Mexico it's disconcerting. Tony keeps thanking everyone by saying "gracias." People here are really friendly - we've seen lots of smiles. The sense of personal space is different - yesterday lots of people apprached us to ask questions - are we related, is this your mom and dad, your hair is so blond, can we have our picutre taken with you. The group of ladies above approached us at a beautiful park by the sea and were so friendly. Karen has joined us and she's lovely - so smart and speaks beautiful English. Tony wandered into a music shop and got a lesson on an ancient Chinese erhu - ;-) and then he played a bit of guitar for them. A real cultural exhange - they really liked the blues. The park we visited has the largest square in the world-everything is on a grand scale. So, yesterday we walked around, soaked up the city and the smiles, finished the day with all four of us having an excellent massge (1 hour!) and met a lot of Justin's fellow teachers at a new "American" style bar. Well, breakfast is ready - we're a Texas I 55 again. The food has been really good everywhere.

Friendly

Did I mention the Chinese are VERY friendly. Really nice - and want to talk with you. Tony just finished a 15 minute conversation with a couple who gave him a pack of cigarettes as a thank you. Tony loves China already. People who love to talk AND GIVE you cigarettes.

Terminal 3 and Dalian

TERMINAL 3 – Is amazing! Completely space-age with echoes of the dragon. And HUGE – the largest building in the world – you can fit ALL five of the Heathrow terminals inside terminal 3. We debarked the plane quite rumpled and bleary-eyed after 11 ½ hours playing sardine to find ourselves in Blade Runner. I felt like I had just emerged from a time machine. Everything went very smoothly – they have the human flow down to a science. They have a super fast train to get you from one end to the other. And it’s incredibly clean!
We changed planes for our flight to Dalian – AND I have my first meal in China! On the China Southern flight to Dalian (we sat one hour on the tarmac BTW) yes, we were served a snack– and it was . . . . a hot dog – granted it was squared instead of rounded, but it was a hot dog in a bun (slightly sweet) with mayo and a pickle.
Justin met us and he has rented a really nice car for us to travel around in – four doors. Traffic here is crazy and laid back at the same time. Pedestrians here amble across the street – at any time and anywhere – what’s a crosswalk??? Traffic flows around them as they creep across busy thorough fares. Justin has made a list of things we can do – including incredible massages – 1 ½ hour long for $40. Now, I’m not a big devotee of the pound and rip technique of massaging – I’m hoping I can get an hour and one half of back scratching – dream on. . .
After checking into our hotel, we went for Spanish tapas – absolutely delicious. Did I mention that Dalian is quite cosmopolitan? I asked Justin if there were any Chinese restaurants here. It was under the colonial rule of Japan and Russia. There’s a fair share of Japanese restaurants.The Russian section has buildings complete with spires. The part of the city we are staying in has a real colonial feel – tree lined narrow streets and old buildings – quite lovely! Reminds me of parts of the Domincan with a Asian flair.

June 30 or is it the first?

June 30 or Is it July 1?
I can tell from the little airplane gliding along our route on the Air Canada in flight map that we have passed the International Date Line and that it is indeed tomorrow, today. My body is very confused. The flight has been pretty comfortable considering we’ve been in the air almost 8 hours and have about 3 ½ more to go. Seems like there is a lot more leg room than on other long distance flights I’ve taken. (Of course, this is the longest non-stop for me) I’ve tried to sleep – even took one of the pills the doctor gave me for the trip. I think I ended up in a drowsy limbo punctuated by the occasional baby noise and clanking food carts. Not really asleep, not really awake – just passing time. At least I didn’t drool. There is a selection of movies (each set has its own screen – but after viewing/enduring 27 Dresses – I decided to pass on Cloverfield or the Bucket List)
The new YVR international wing is beautiful – a ceiling to floor aquarium filled with fish and large native sculptures – an environment that seemed to be calmer than before and that’s a good thing because going to China is enough adventure for me. Tony executed his usual plan for minimizing flight anxiety – fear of flying and fear of bureaucracy – after we passed security at 11 AM he headed for the bar for one scotch neat and two beers. Works for him. I t just makes him more loquacious – expounding on politics and chatting up the flight attendants – he was teaching one gentleman the signs for water, bitch, and “I have to go to the bathroom.” As usual, everyone was laughing, and we got free champagne. Not bad.