Why Go to China?
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Friends and family kept asking me why I was going to China. China? Really? Yet, China for me has always been a mystery and I wanted to find out more; I wanted to study it, and see it for myself. Not just for its history, but for its current political and cultural issues. There have been several events throughout my own life that piqued my interest in China. One of them was the National Geographic article that came out not long after the Terracotta Warriors were found in a farmer's field in Xian. It amazed me. I wanted to see them for real. Why were they there, why were they so hard to find? I'm not an archeology fan. I get all ho-hum about digging around in the dirt looking for stuff, but there was something about those warriors that lit a fire in my imagination. Other events happened along the way. I'll never forget when my parents went to China for a square dance convention and they square danced on the great wall of China. I can see their flashing skirts and sparkling bolos against the solemn stone no doubt astonished by the twang of cowboy lyrics and do-si-does. And even before that, as a young girl I was impressed by Pearl S Buck's The Good Earth, and like the great wall and the warriors of Xian, I wanted to see this country through my own eyes, not just the eyes of others. So I found a tour that covered a lot of territory, limited the number of people in the group, was reasonably priced, included Tibet, and I packed my bags, grabbed my camera, and got on my way. |
Delights and Disappointments
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Food
Chinese food is great. We ate Chinese with chopsticks at round tables with lazy susans at nearly every meal. It was an incredible amount of work to eat. I was exhausted with the process. We had a rice bowl and a small food plate. There would be 12 different dishes (all small amounts) to share with the 8 people at the table. You had to turn the lazy susan around to get to a particular dish--so you can imagine 8 people turning the lazy susan. We got pretty good at the team work required. I was never more grateful for an American meal than when a few of us went to the Pizza Hut on our meal-on-our-own night. That pizza was wonderful. Even if it had been awful, it was like heaven. Tibet food was different and it was wonderful. Square tables; no lazy susans. We were served individually rather than family style. The soup was excellent. Food on the ship was also excellent. I could not give you the name of any restaurant where we ate. Most of the restaurants were on the second floor, not the street level, of a high rise, and I could not find my way to them a second time. They appeared to have been chosen for their Chinese authenticity, and for their economical provision of food. They did not seem to provide wait service. We seemed to be the only westerners in the restaurants where we ate. Some people in our group could not eat spicy food, so the food ordered (it was all ordered ahead of time, without our input (by "headquarters")) from there on out was without unique spices. If I was to describe overall Chinese food, I would say "bland". Everything pretty much tasted the same, though textures were different. Finally, I really had a hard time with the nights when we had to find our own dinners. The group leader pointed out, in nearly every town, where the 7 Eleven was if we needed to go buy snacks or, I guess, dinner if need be. Then, we were generally walked around the closest mall and restaurants (and again they were "economical") were pointed out to us. Mall restaurants can be OK, but certainly nothing special, and ordering was extremely hard, so it was a lot of work. Art: China is still in survival mode and art is a sign of affluence and freedom of expression. If I had one more day in Hong Kong, I would have gone to the art museum there, but there was either no art in China, or there was no art included in this OAT tour. Fabric: I was disappointed that I couldn't find any silk that I wanted to buy. We have a better collection of silk fabrics at the local Mill End store. I also looked for fabric in Lhasa, and found 3-4 shops, but no silk. Parks: I loved the parks in China where the neighbors gathered to do tai-chi, or line dancing, or singing. It was an amazing and wonderful thing to see. |
Shopping
I was in China for 28 days. You'd think I would have had several opportunities to shop. Our "walks" through quaint villages, malls, tourist sites, never allowed for more than 30 minutes to run and look at something buy worthy. Walmart and the calligraphy shop were the only planned shopping. Shopping is an art and takes more than power walking for 30 minutes. Photography Hard to take because of the smog. Visibility limited, so distance shots not happening; like a gray-out. Weird Stops We stopped and visited many wonderful places in China, which is why I went there: the Summer Palace, the Forbidden Palace, the Bund, the Shanghai skyline, and on and on. It will be my only trip to China, and I wanted every minute to be meaningful. But I've got to say, there were some really weird moments. Goddess Stream--I already talked about this in the Yangtze River cruise section. Do something else if you go on the cruise. There are other options. Walmart--It was sufficient but not surprising to hear that Walmart is in China. I didn't need to go there. I didn't need to buy any alcohol. Hospital--We stopped at a hospital in Xian for some reason. When I asked why we were there, I wasn't answered. No one spoke to us there. We walked up three flights of stairs and on each floor looked at chairs in the central waiting room and closed doors. The biggest issue for me was that we were a block or two from the Moslem quarter which we power walked through when I wanted to stop, look, eat, take pictures, shop. Never time for the things that were most important. Truck Stops and 7-Elevens-- On the long bus drive from Yichang to Wuhan, about 4-5 hours, we made one stop--at a truck stop. We were given time to run in and use the toilet. I guess they would have waited for me if I had run in to buy a snack. Was there no cute little restaurant/tea house park, garden, someplace fun for a mid trip break? This was the kind of stop when you're a college student back packing across country on the cheap. Hong Kong--Hong Kong is one of the most vibrant cities in the world, with some of the best cuisine you could possibly find anywhere, with tons of "must go" places to see and experience. Our first day's events after arriving--Victoria Peak/Star Ferry at night--was canceled and was not rescheduled. Our second day we walked up a street that has the last farmer's market (with a handful of vendors selling vegetables and little else) and then we took the escalator--the longest in the world--back down the hill. Both activities were free. They took all morning. On my own I would have not done either, especially since it was a "power walking" exercise. The escalator could have been interesting, if we would have gotten off at each stop and investigated some of the neighborhoods it passed through. |
The Biggest Disappointment
As we drove into Hong Kong from the airport on September 30, we were told our tour company had determined that our evening trip to Victoria's Peak followed by dinner on the harbor to see the night lights of Hong Kong were cancelled for safety reasons. Throughout the trip we had asked about the status of the protests in Hong Kong, and we were reassured that there was no reason to be alarmed--all was on track. Needless to say this cancellation took us by surprise. A protest was planned, albeit not approved by the HK government, and not until the next day, October 1. On September 30, Victoria's Peak was on the opposite side of the city from where the activity was scheduled the next day, which had to be a safer place than our hotel, which was at ground zero of the riots.
On October 1, we were scheduled to find lunch and dinner on our own. There was no restaurant in our hotel. We returned to the hotel from our morning scheduled activities in downtown HK. I was tired and decided to go find some lunch after a rest in my room. The leader scheduled an extra activity--a walk to a nearby park--for the early afternoon and I decided not to go. The first of the protesters arrived at the area around the hotel about the same time, and I went down to the lobby to see if I could find out what was happening. I learned that when the tour group left to walk to the park, that the park and all businesses were closed and barricaded. I still can't figure out why the team leader hadn't figured that out. and that he actually led a group into the thick of it (but couldn't go to Victoria's Peak the night before). Our hotel had taped off the lobby doors to prevent tear gas from entering the building. The hotel desk staff said that there was no food for lunch in the hotel, and everything was closed. They also let me know that I wouldn't be getting my laundry back that day.
After the fires started, guns popped, and the tear gas flew, and the streets seemed empty except for the swat teams, media folks, and military, I went back downstairs to see if I could find something for dinner. It was quieter, but in an eery sort of way. It was now about 7 p.m. Standing in the lobby were the team leader and about 1/2 of the tour group, just returned from foraging for food. I asked the team leader if I should go out and look for food. He said yes. No one else said a word, not even to suggest where food might be located. It had to be the most dangerous time, but I was as mad as a wet hen and I set out. The air was full of tear gas and burning tire smoke. I didn't get far before I turned around. In 5 minutes the team leader and fellow travelers had all disappeared from the lobby.
As we drove into Hong Kong from the airport on September 30, we were told our tour company had determined that our evening trip to Victoria's Peak followed by dinner on the harbor to see the night lights of Hong Kong were cancelled for safety reasons. Throughout the trip we had asked about the status of the protests in Hong Kong, and we were reassured that there was no reason to be alarmed--all was on track. Needless to say this cancellation took us by surprise. A protest was planned, albeit not approved by the HK government, and not until the next day, October 1. On September 30, Victoria's Peak was on the opposite side of the city from where the activity was scheduled the next day, which had to be a safer place than our hotel, which was at ground zero of the riots.
On October 1, we were scheduled to find lunch and dinner on our own. There was no restaurant in our hotel. We returned to the hotel from our morning scheduled activities in downtown HK. I was tired and decided to go find some lunch after a rest in my room. The leader scheduled an extra activity--a walk to a nearby park--for the early afternoon and I decided not to go. The first of the protesters arrived at the area around the hotel about the same time, and I went down to the lobby to see if I could find out what was happening. I learned that when the tour group left to walk to the park, that the park and all businesses were closed and barricaded. I still can't figure out why the team leader hadn't figured that out. and that he actually led a group into the thick of it (but couldn't go to Victoria's Peak the night before). Our hotel had taped off the lobby doors to prevent tear gas from entering the building. The hotel desk staff said that there was no food for lunch in the hotel, and everything was closed. They also let me know that I wouldn't be getting my laundry back that day.
After the fires started, guns popped, and the tear gas flew, and the streets seemed empty except for the swat teams, media folks, and military, I went back downstairs to see if I could find something for dinner. It was quieter, but in an eery sort of way. It was now about 7 p.m. Standing in the lobby were the team leader and about 1/2 of the tour group, just returned from foraging for food. I asked the team leader if I should go out and look for food. He said yes. No one else said a word, not even to suggest where food might be located. It had to be the most dangerous time, but I was as mad as a wet hen and I set out. The air was full of tear gas and burning tire smoke. I didn't get far before I turned around. In 5 minutes the team leader and fellow travelers had all disappeared from the lobby.
This Particular Tour
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Tour Information This tour was my first with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). It was a 22 day itinerary and was called Imperial China, Tibet and the Yangtze River. I also added the 6 day pre-trip, Shanghai: China's Historic Gateway to the West. Here's a map of the miles we covered (borrowed from OAT's site.) Tour Group One of the reasons I chose to go with OAT was the small group size--there were 16 in our group ( the max allowed), and only 5 during the pre-trip. Those are good numbers. I cannot imagine how the OAT team leader could have handled more with all of his responsibilities--not only was he knowledgeable and shared his expertise about China, but he doubled as bag handler, table waiter/server, and, for some, general baby sitting and group herder. I've never been on a tour where the trip leader was on the run as constantly as Joe. Tour Dynamics China is a big country. We were on and off planes, trains, boats and buses a lot. Security is much more intense in China. On entry to China in Shanghai, I was fingerprinted; a bio scanner took my temperature as I entered the airport. Bags, checked and carry-on's, were scrutinized, even for entry to many of the parks we visited. Don't pack your toothpaste in your carry-on. Let me say it again, don't put your toothpaste in your carry-on. I don't know why, but follow all the suggestions you get! |
Tour Itinerary
Another of the reasons I chose to travel this time with OAT: the itinerary is great. It covers every major part of China, and most of the major monuments. |