Finally it was eight a.m. and time to board the bus. We made two stops, the first to pick up an overly made-up woman apparently from Hong Kong at the Sheraton Great Wall. The hotel looked quite nice but was rather far out of town. (I read somewhere that they have shuttle buses but the distance still seems like a problem tot me). The second stop was to change buses and consolidate with another load from (apparently) the Holiday Inn (REALLY far out of town).

The ride to the Ming Tombs was about an hour long. I sat next to an American, a man about forty years old, who ran an American school in Malaysia. For the summer break he had taken the train from Belgium through Poland, Russia and China. He was very good looking and intelligent, but married as well, C'est la vie.

Our first stop was on the road leading to the tombs, which is lined with stone sculptures of animals and then men. We stayed there for 1/2 an hour, not quite long enough to walk back to the gate where, according to our guide, the biggest stone turtle in China is housed.

We then continued on to the tombs. While the grounds were pleasant enough, the actual tombs were just as boring as the guidebook predicted. You walk down flights and flights of stairs to see absolutely nothing. Added to this was our tour guide -- an obnoxious man who repeated everything several times but was still unintelligible. Furthermore, he was into audience participation and kept trying to get us to answer questions ("So does anybody know what the emperor's favorite number was? Anybody? The emperor's favorite number? Do you know?") God, he was awful.

After an hour we got back on the bus. A half-hour later we stopped for lunch. Where we stopped was a small townhouse only attraction was obviously this tourist restaurant -- it was exactly like the place you stop to eat on the tour from Moscow to Zagorsk. The meal was pretty dull except for Paul, an adorable five year old (?) from Hong Kong traveling with his "mum" -- they were English and her husband (not on the trip) worked for Shell.

written by  shoshtrvls on August 12, 1987 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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The opera was something else. There were three acts (three separate stories) with an intermission after the second. The first had three male characters who, I think, were fighting over a woman. The second was three women, one requiring forgiveness from another, with the third acting as an intermediary. The third act was the best with incredible costumes and acrobatics (and of course I ran out of film). This one seemed to be about two warring armies and about twenty to thirty actors were involved.

Peking opera is really different. The music is loud banging on traditional instruments (discovery of my earplugs from the bar exam was really welcomed) with only a few semi-melodic passages played on stringed instruments. What little actual singing there is is a high-pitched whine. Mostly though the actors talk or simply mime. Much of it is really acrobatics and sword fights. The costumes and makeup are stunning and a lot of posing goes on. It was definitely an event I'm glad I saw.

After the show I attempted to walk home but when I arrived at the Overseas Chinese Hotel rather than the Beijing Overseas Chinese Hotel, I realized that the hotel was just too far and so I grabbed a cab home.

written by  shoshtrvls on August 12, 1987 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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I arrived at the Beijing airport and grabbed a cab to the hotel. The scenery was much more interesting than in Shanghai or Nanjing -- large fields, horse-drawn carts, a long straight highway. Since there is no real skyline to Beijing (all buildings are relatively short), it was hard to tell if the cab driver was taking me to a hotel close to the center of town or not.

We eventually got on a freeway (which was also used by the horse carts!) but turned off before anything that looked like the center of town, although a large temple loomed in the distance.

When we started driving through some very depressed streets -- one story boxes built with stone or clay or something, I really began to worry. Then we turned down an alley, or hutong, where the standard of living was even worse! But then, almost out of nowhere, came this hotel. Small and inside pretty average, but from the outside and in the midst of that neighborhood, it seemed absolutely beautiful.

I dropped off my suitcase and took a cab to the CITS office, located in one of the hotels fairly close to the center of town. Unless you were buying train tickets, the place was relatively calm and uncrowded. I bought tickets for the Ming Tombs/Great Wall tour the next day and inquired about tickets to the acrobatics show, at which point the woman pointed out a theater on the map and told me it would take about 1/2 hour to walk there. So off I trotted -- but in the wrong direction! Twenty minutes later I was on ChangAn Avenue (thank god for pinyan). After getting my bearings straight, I decided that the best course of action would be to take in Tianaman Square and the Forbidden Palace first, and then attempt to find the acrobatics hall. So that's what I did.

I walked to the Square and took some pictures but opted out of the museum and Mao's mummified body (just as I had done with Lenin in Red Square).

The Forbidden Palace was really interesting, mostly because of its size and the number of buildings -- they just kept coming and coming. Also, it was my first real view of Chinese architecture -- the Pagoda-like style, painted, multi-layered eaves, and carved figures on top. And all the buildings are painted red (is this a recent development?). Many buddhas and the like -- temple, receiving rooms, another temple, and so forth.

Coming out of the palace on the north side, I crossed the street nad entered Jingian Park, which had a tall hill with a building on top. The climb up the steps was no simple feat, due in large part to the heat and humidity, but the view was marvelous. One could look down over the Forbidden City and all of Beijing. On my way down I was stopped by a Chinese man who wanted to show me a "very famous tree" in the park. It turned out to be a tiny little thing from which someone was hanged -- the last emperor maybe. But then, I'm told, it's not the REAL tree, but one just like it. The REAL tree was chopped down.

I was going to walk back through the city but being incredibly tired I grabbed a quick cab to the Beijing Hotel for a cold coke.

written by  shoshtrvls on August 11, 1987 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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The place was crowded but not too crowded. Mostly Chinese with a few westerners. The way to get a seat was to stand behind someone until they were done. You then had about two seconds to site down before someone else did. I got lucky and rather quickly a table opened up with just one vacant seat. Even better, one of the diners was a Chinese man (there with his wife and daughter) who had just returned from two years at Brandeis in Boston! So we talked about traveling, the difference in cultures, etc. The duck was excellent. Served with pancakes, hoisin sauce and onions, it is to be eaten like mooshu pork, i.e. rolled into a burrito-like pouch.

After dinner I headed back to the acrobatics hall. There were very few Chinese in attendance -- mostly westerners and Japanese tour groups. (In fact, I had met several of the westerners earlier in the day in the hutongs, duck restaurant, etc.) The show was great. Mistakes were made, but all in all quite interesting. There were several different acts ranging from magic to juggling to balancing. Quite a spectacle lasting about two hours.

Following the show I took a bicycle rickshaw back to the Beijing Hotel where a drunk Texan kept trying to get me to dance with him. His friend was a lawyer and we had a fairly interesting conversation, but the drunk one kept interfering. I finally got up, walked around a bit and then sat down with a group of Austrians who had come to China as part of a Youth Council delegation. They were nice enough but somewhat boring. I got back to my hotel at about 10:30 (very late Chinese time) and tried in vain to arrange for a taxi the following morning to take me to the Beijing -Toronto Hotel where the Great Wall tour met. I finally gave up and went to bed.

written by  shoshtrvls on August 11, 1987 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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Our first stop (which we figured out by matching the characters on our map with those the cab driver had written on his hand) was Zhonghua Gate, an ancient structure, quite tall and several walls thick. There was a nice view from the top -- and we got there just in time as a thunderstorm openned just as we reached the safety of the cab. The next two stops were CAAC and CITS to buy plane tickets out of Nanjing (me to Beijing, Barbara to Hong Kong). From there we drove around the city wall, dating to the Ming Dynasty, and then out to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial located in the mountains just outside of Nanjing. The memorial, a tomb really, si built into the mountainside and its quite a long climb up many steps to get to the top. I felt like Rocky when I was done.

While the memorial was visually striking, the countryside was even more beautiful, very green and "light" is really the only way to describe it (i.e. thin trees, not firs, etc.) Again, our timing was perfect as it started to rain again on the way home -- still, we insisted that the driver take us through Xuanwu Lake Park -- very pretty but too wet and grey to really tell.

We had dinner with the Japanese businessman at a very good Chinese restaurant in the Jingling Hotel. The businessman obviously enjoyed our company (and told us so), especially since his co-workers are married and he often found himself dining alone. (He was in Nanjing for about a year). What was really funny about this is that there was probably no reason for him to be alone -- the waitress at the restaurant was hitting on him and flirting to such an extent, it was almost comical. I noted that we ate great Chinese food (including eel, which the businessman refused to let us call eel because edible eel has a different name in Japan) and a great vegetable (green) I've never seen before) because it seems in China that most hotels push the Western food on visitors, as if Chinese food would be unacceptable to us.

The Jingling hotel was a spectacle in itself, supposedly the tallest building in China. It has beautiful gardens and the locals stare at it from outside the gates. (The guide boo says that Chinese aren't allowed in). On top is a revolving bar, where we retired to after dinner. Wonderful view of the city and river but, for the first hour we were there, a prime example of the old men-bad band syndrome. Then it was disco -- passable dancing as well. (The Chinese have two dance styles -a VERY stiff waltz and then "disco" which is so bad -- the jump around the floor like John Travolta robots gone haywire). After a few drinks we went back t our hotel, I to bed and Barbara and the businessman to more drinking.

Two quick notes: First, everywhere you go in China there are suggestion forms and books asking you to comment on the service. People do write in them -- I wonder if they're read. Second, while Chinese people have the worst teeth I've ever seen, most hotel rooms come equipped with disposable toothbrushes and toothpaste. Interesting, eh? Also, no toilet paper -- carrying your own is a must.

written by  shoshtrvls on August 10, 1987 from Nanjing, China
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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Then it was back to the hotel to check out and off to the boat, with a quick stop at Yuyuan Bazaar and Wuxingting Teahouse (the adjoining gardens were cloed). Again, it was the sidestreets that were most interesting – laundry hanging from balconies, men sitting in doorways, etc.

We got to the boat in plenty of time, were escorted to our cabin and were asked to pay for our meals – dinner and breakfast. At this point we realized the boat was definitely going to take longer than expected – about 12 hours longer. Oh well.

The boat was definitely divided by classes, with sentries at the stairs and gates on the decks. We weren’t on the boat more than 10 minutes when laundry began hanging from every conceivable place. The only interesting people in our section were three guys from southern China, one of whom worked in Hong Kong. They were definitely three cool dudes, jeans and sneakers, but spoke very little English so the afternoon was spent making very laborious small talk. But they were very friendly – one even challenged me to arm wrestle and I did okay. Traveling with them were two crickets which Barbara named Tarzan and Jane. It took a while but they eventually got it.

Unfortunately, the only scenery was factories and boat – dinner was a welcome diversion. While we were the only two who paid for the special meal, it was well worth it. Quite good but,even more surprising was how it looked – gorgeous. A fish with its tail up, a rabbit made out of eggs, really an unexpected treat. (Locals brought their own bowls and shared community noodles – quite usual in China.)

written by  shoshtrvls on August 9, 1987 from Shanghai, China
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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Well, the place the CITS person indicated on the map was not the right office and despite the attempts to several well meaning Chinese, we got quite lost and ended up wandering through the French Concession and the old city. It was fascinating! People selling eels in the middle of the street, tying pigeons onto bicycles to take home for dinner – an entirely different world impossible to describe. And so many things I didn’t understand – men with what appeared to be dried snakes and fluffy things – fortune-telling of some kind? Even the main road was interesting with the thousands of bicyclists carrying just about everything on back.

Finally, we found the ticket office – an unmarked building, bike park below, tickets upstairs. With a little ingenuity and some help from a native or two, we were finally able to buy tickets for the following day. On the way back, Barbara decided to stop at a streetside shoe repair and have heels put on her shoes. By the time the shoemaker had finished, a small crowd had developed, with each person giving the shoemaker different advice.

From there we decided to walk to Shanghai Mansions and catch the view from atop (highly rated by lonely Planet). Along the way, we discovered the Friendship Store, China’s version of the Berioska. I bought one piece of jade, some ducks and bookmarks, while Barbara agonized over a large carpet (which she later bought).

Finally we made it to the mansions and yes, the view was marvelous, although a bit overcast. Then we grabbed a cab to the vicinity of the Park Hotel where the acrobatics dome was located. However, despite all our best efforts (and attempted bribes) we were unable to buy tickets, having been told that all shows were sold out for the next two weeks. (Highly unlikely, but other westerners were being told the same thing). Forced to accept defeat, we wandered back to the Park Hotel, stopping in music and department stores along the way. We also caught a glimpse of the Chinese version of three-card monte using bowls and balls (like the famous magic trick). While Barbara rested at the Park Hotel, I wandered around People’s Park – nothing special, but a nice walk around. Then it was back to the Friendship store so Barbara could buy her rug (I think) and the hotel.

For dinner we went to the Jinjang Hotel in the outer French Concession – obviously the nicer part of town. The meal was great (I mean, really good) and throughout we flirted with four men at the next table. They weren’t particularly attractive but interesting looking, and speaking a language neither Barbara nor I could place. Finally, when they were done with their meal they came over – Portuguese engineers from Macau. How boring! They invited us to meet them at the Peace Hotel Jazz Bar later that evening but having seen what a hopping place it was the night before, we declined. Instead, we walked around the hotel grounds a bit, eventually ending up in the hotel bar where, who should we meet but the four Portuguese. We joined them for a few drinks and they were really quite nice. We discussed the state of China politics and received much helpful advice on traveling through Portugal and Morocco. We were even invited to look them up if ever in Macau. All in all, a nice evening.

written by  shoshtrvls on August 8, 1987 from Shanghai, China
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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