For our last full day in the islands, Lee and I joined the elderly Italian couple for a drive to see the Wall of Tears, Flamingo Lagoon and then we took the boat back to Isla Santa Cruz. The rest of our tour got a horseback ride up one of the 5 volcanos on Isla Isabella because their tour was for a full week instead of 5 days. Too bad, as that sounded fun, but it´s definitely something to keep in mind for next time!
The Wall of Tears dated from the mid-20th century when Isabella was used as a penal colony. As punishment, the inmates were forced to build their own prison out of the endemic lava rocks on the island. We drove to the wall for about 20 minutes out of town, passing another beach with lovely sand and waves and about 5 tortoises who were just hanging out on the road. We had to be careful not to run them over! These varieties were smaller than the ones we had seen the day before, maybe only 2 feet in length. They sure were cute, though!
Apparently the prison stopped being used after there was a mass breakout in the 60's when the inmates had enough and stole some boats to sail to the mainland and to Venezuela. But, as our guide pointed out, often news travels faster than boats, so when the inmates sailed into shore there were plenty of policemen waiting for them! Oops!
We then drove to see some flamingos that are native to the Galapagos, but they look exactly like flamingos everywhere else so it was pretty tamada. We did all get a laugh out of the fact that Lee was wearing some swim trunks that were the same color as the flamingos, however!
The boat ride back to Isla Santa Cruz was a bit miserable as I tried to nap but was bumped around a bit by the rough ocean. We were all given the chance to take seasickness medicine before each boat ride and I'm glad I did as nothing stinks more than seasickness!
After two hours we got back to the familiar Red Mangrove lodge in Puerto Ayora and were upgraded to a gorgeous room overlooking the ocean. Bonus! The last part of our tour itinerary included a trip to the Charles Darwin Reasearch Station, which is where tortoise breeding and genetic research is carried out and one can view its most famous inhabitant, Lonesome George, who is the last of his giant tortoise subspecies. George has been alone since 1975 and they have been trying to (unsuccessfully) get him to breed with other lady tortoises. In 2008 a member of his harem did lay eggs but they were, sadly, all unviable. Lee and I were mildly interested in seeing George, but after four full days of tortoises, we decided to skip it and do our own thing. We were also pretty sick of touring around and waiting for slow walkers. As tour groups go our group was pretty good, but sometimes it's nice to do your own thing, you know?
As it was a perfect, sunny day, we decided to revisit Tortuga Bay, which was the beach we boated to on the first day. However, since we didn't have access to a boat, we had to take a taxi to a paved trail entrace and then hike in for 2.5km to access the beach. The taxi was only $1 (love the cabs in Ecuador, they are just so cheap!) so we grabbed our suits and our sunscreen and hopped in. The walk was very pleasant, although hot as it was only partially shaded, and the path was fully paved and walled somewhat remeniscent of the Great Wall of China, although on a much smaller scale. We walked past plenty of small, green lizards who were doing pushups on the path in front of us. Visitors to the beach have to sign in with a guard and we smartly purchased several bottles of ice cold water for the 30 minute walk in.
Since the beach is so remote (you can't even take a bike in on the bath) it explains why the bay was so deserted when we arrived. When we sited the ocean after hoofing it past mangrove thickets and giant prickly pear trees, it was an incredibly welcome site. Even more welcome was the fact that we were the only two people on the beach except for 5 surfers in the water. We picked a spot by the edge and enjoyed the pure majesty of azure water, cloudless sunny sky and powdery white sand. I was so incredibly happy that we blew off the last part of the tour to come to the beach! The water was wonderfully clear and we saw some schools of large fish being pursued by some sea lions (who also surfed in on the waves) as well as some predatory birds scooping fish out of the water. I think Tortuga Bay is probably the nicest beach I have ever been to in my life!
Around 4pm it got cloudy, so the walk out was quite pleasant and cool. We made it back to the hotel and decided to have dinner at an Italian restaurant that looked good and was always crowded when we walked by. The food at Red Mangrove is very tasty, but menus are set so we wanted some variety. Boy, was I glad we ate at Il Giardino... Lee had a beef lasagna and I had Galapagos Lobster and it was AMAZING. The lobster was only $20, too, which is a great price. It was cooked in an orange coconut sauce which is as good as it sounds.
We also did our souvenier shopping so I got a teeshirt that says ¨I Love Boobies¨ on it and features two blue boobie feet on it. Pretty funny! We then got some gelato for dessert, so it was a really perfect day.
Showing posts with label TOURISTY STUFF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TOURISTY STUFF. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Mistress and Commander: The Far Side of the World on Isla Isabella
The boat ride from Isla Floreana to Isla Isabella was about two hours long, but I slept through a lot of it as I snagged one of the good seats on the stern that was shaded, although got a nice breeze off the water. I woke up just as we were passing Isla de Tortuga, which is a small half-moon shaped island where blue-footed boobies, terns, pelicans and frigatebirds make their home.
The entrance to Puerto Villamil, the only town on Isla Isabella is through a narrow fissure in the lava rocks that surround the bay, forming a very pleasant, calm lagoon. The village is utterly idyllic, with white sandy roads, beautiful beaches, swaying palm trees and friendly locals. The Red Mangrove lodge is literally on the beach, with adorable little casitas arranged in rows with rooftop decks. The best part was that we knew the air conditioning would function all night!
For the afternoon's activities we piled into two smaller boats to cross the lagoon and saw a sea turtle and eagle ray just lazily swimming around. We then walked around a trail by the waves on the edge of the lagoon and saw a boatload of marine iguanas all basking in the sun. They were often piled on top of each other, or lying with one arm around another as if watching a drive in movie. When the boat arrived at the landing for the trail, we had to shoo a big, fat sea lion off the dock. After much clapping and shouting, he shot us all a dirty look and slid off into the clear, blue water. We got a good laugh out of that. We also saw some blue-footed boobies (finally!) and some Galapagos Penguins, which are the only tropical penguins in the world. They look much like the African Penguins that live near the Cape of Good Hope. They are short, chubby and adorable.
After the walk we were hot and sweaty so we were all excited to snorkel. The lagoon outside Puerto Villamil is well known for rocky fissures where sharks sometimes come to rest, so we were all hoping to see a shark. Keep this in mind for later...
The water was wonderfully clear and cool. We swam around the edges of the lagoon marveling at all the marine life. At one point I was innocently paddling around and Lee grabbed my arm to stop me as a giant, 5' diameter blue ray majestically glided about two feet in front of us! The ray was enormous and round, not diamond-shaped like a manta ray. In order to move, rather than flapping ¨wings¨ the ray wiggled its edges and almost looked like a skirt flowing. We also saw enormous parrot fish, angelfish, damselfish and plenty of sea cucumbers.
We then ventured into the rock fissures to look for sharks. Let me try to describe what we were dealing with so you can understand what happened. The rock fissures vary in width from 10 to 3 feet and in depth from perhaps 20 to 4 feet. When we first entered them, there were lots of sea life in the rock walls to observe, but the walls were wide and deep and there were no sharks. As we ventured further, the walls closed in and the floor got shallower. The walls were maybe 4 ft wide and the floor 7 ft deep when the guide stopped and shouted, ¨There's a shark up there, a white-tipped reef shark!¨ Lee was just behind the guide and I was just behind Lee. We followed slowly and I saw the very tip of the shark's tail fin. He was maybe 10 ft ahead of us. Suddenly he turned around and cruised just below all of us but very close to the ocean floor! I was maybe 6 feet away from him! That of course was a huge rush and everyone was quite excited. We continued on and the floor of the fissure began to get even shallower and shallower. Suddenly, the guide stopped again and said he saw another shark! This time I was incredibly nervous as it was so darn shallow! What if my flippers hit the shark? I had a minor panic attack and at one point had lifted most of my body out of the water, bracing myself on the rock walls. The shark glided right below my body, only two feet away. These two sharks were big, too, at least 6 to 7 feet long. As I´m sure you can imagine we were all terrified, exhilarated and amazed.
When we emerged on the other side of the crevasse we all couldn't stop exclaiming how amazing the experience was! The guide tried to tease us because we were all so scared (apparently he heard me repeating, ¨Oh God, oh God, please don't eat me, shark!¨ as the second shark swam beneath me) but jeez, it was scary!
After we got back to the hotel I lay on the beach in the sun and got my heartrate down. The beach was relaxing and pretty, with a nice view of the lagoon and the town pier. For dinner we had a really tasty turkey fillet with mushroom sauce and a really delicious raspberry flan.
Two of the other couples on the trip, an Irish couple and a Luxembourgian couple, walked into town with Lee and I to check out one of the bars in town. We ended up just chatting and drinking beers with them at a local restaurant but it was really fun to get to know each other in more detail. Everyone else had all been on multiple around the world trips, and the Luxembourgians were taking a year off from their jobs to just travel. Pretty good deal, eh?
After the beers we looked at the star some more, as they were almost as clear and perfect as they were on Isla Floreana. I wished we could stay longer on Isabella as Puerto Villamil is just a wonderfully relaxing and idyllic place!
The entrance to Puerto Villamil, the only town on Isla Isabella is through a narrow fissure in the lava rocks that surround the bay, forming a very pleasant, calm lagoon. The village is utterly idyllic, with white sandy roads, beautiful beaches, swaying palm trees and friendly locals. The Red Mangrove lodge is literally on the beach, with adorable little casitas arranged in rows with rooftop decks. The best part was that we knew the air conditioning would function all night!
For the afternoon's activities we piled into two smaller boats to cross the lagoon and saw a sea turtle and eagle ray just lazily swimming around. We then walked around a trail by the waves on the edge of the lagoon and saw a boatload of marine iguanas all basking in the sun. They were often piled on top of each other, or lying with one arm around another as if watching a drive in movie. When the boat arrived at the landing for the trail, we had to shoo a big, fat sea lion off the dock. After much clapping and shouting, he shot us all a dirty look and slid off into the clear, blue water. We got a good laugh out of that. We also saw some blue-footed boobies (finally!) and some Galapagos Penguins, which are the only tropical penguins in the world. They look much like the African Penguins that live near the Cape of Good Hope. They are short, chubby and adorable.
After the walk we were hot and sweaty so we were all excited to snorkel. The lagoon outside Puerto Villamil is well known for rocky fissures where sharks sometimes come to rest, so we were all hoping to see a shark. Keep this in mind for later...
The water was wonderfully clear and cool. We swam around the edges of the lagoon marveling at all the marine life. At one point I was innocently paddling around and Lee grabbed my arm to stop me as a giant, 5' diameter blue ray majestically glided about two feet in front of us! The ray was enormous and round, not diamond-shaped like a manta ray. In order to move, rather than flapping ¨wings¨ the ray wiggled its edges and almost looked like a skirt flowing. We also saw enormous parrot fish, angelfish, damselfish and plenty of sea cucumbers.
We then ventured into the rock fissures to look for sharks. Let me try to describe what we were dealing with so you can understand what happened. The rock fissures vary in width from 10 to 3 feet and in depth from perhaps 20 to 4 feet. When we first entered them, there were lots of sea life in the rock walls to observe, but the walls were wide and deep and there were no sharks. As we ventured further, the walls closed in and the floor got shallower. The walls were maybe 4 ft wide and the floor 7 ft deep when the guide stopped and shouted, ¨There's a shark up there, a white-tipped reef shark!¨ Lee was just behind the guide and I was just behind Lee. We followed slowly and I saw the very tip of the shark's tail fin. He was maybe 10 ft ahead of us. Suddenly he turned around and cruised just below all of us but very close to the ocean floor! I was maybe 6 feet away from him! That of course was a huge rush and everyone was quite excited. We continued on and the floor of the fissure began to get even shallower and shallower. Suddenly, the guide stopped again and said he saw another shark! This time I was incredibly nervous as it was so darn shallow! What if my flippers hit the shark? I had a minor panic attack and at one point had lifted most of my body out of the water, bracing myself on the rock walls. The shark glided right below my body, only two feet away. These two sharks were big, too, at least 6 to 7 feet long. As I´m sure you can imagine we were all terrified, exhilarated and amazed.
When we emerged on the other side of the crevasse we all couldn't stop exclaiming how amazing the experience was! The guide tried to tease us because we were all so scared (apparently he heard me repeating, ¨Oh God, oh God, please don't eat me, shark!¨ as the second shark swam beneath me) but jeez, it was scary!
After we got back to the hotel I lay on the beach in the sun and got my heartrate down. The beach was relaxing and pretty, with a nice view of the lagoon and the town pier. For dinner we had a really tasty turkey fillet with mushroom sauce and a really delicious raspberry flan.
Two of the other couples on the trip, an Irish couple and a Luxembourgian couple, walked into town with Lee and I to check out one of the bars in town. We ended up just chatting and drinking beers with them at a local restaurant but it was really fun to get to know each other in more detail. Everyone else had all been on multiple around the world trips, and the Luxembourgians were taking a year off from their jobs to just travel. Pretty good deal, eh?
After the beers we looked at the star some more, as they were almost as clear and perfect as they were on Isla Floreana. I wished we could stay longer on Isabella as Puerto Villamil is just a wonderfully relaxing and idyllic place!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The End of the World: Isla Floreana
Our tour group all piled into a boat with an inner cabin and then seats at the back with dual 200hp twin engines for the trip to Isla Floreana. It took about two hours to get there from Isla Santa Cruz. Floreana was one of the first islands to be inhabited by colonists from the mainland, although now only 150 people live there. It truly feels like the end of the world, like a land that time forgot. The houses are smaller and less prosperous looking than Isla Santa Cruz, although the villages are still well-maintained and not slovenly looking at all. The residents are also similarly friendly and helpful like on Santa Cruz. We arrived in the late afternoon, around 4pm, and it was unfortunately a bit cloudy. We were greeted at the dock by some lazy sea lions lounging around and some marine iguanas basking on the lava rocks by the pier. Our tour group got onto an open-sided truck not unlike those used on safari in Africa and drove to a perfect black sand beach for some snorkeling and relaxing.
The beach is also a nesting area for sea turtles, so we saw some depressions in the sand with some empty egg shells inside. We had to be careful not to disturb the nesting site as apparently the turtles return again and again to the same spots. Some people went in the water to snorkel, but as it was cloudy and a bit cool (maybe only 70 degrees) I opted to lie on the gorgeous black lava sand and take a bit of a nap. Additionally, since Floreana is further west than Santa Cruz, the water was a bit cooler and felt chilly to me. Without the sun I definitely would have been cold! Some people in the water did see a sea turtle and swam with it a bit, but since I had done that in Hawaii before I didn't feel too left out. We enjoyed seeing pelicans and frigatebirds dive bomb the water, and we even saw one frigatebird catch a fish!
After the relaxing time on the beach we drove to the Red Mangrove lodge on the island. It consists of 14 small cabins all with ocean view. There is electricity only until midnight, when it turns off for the whole island, and then turns on again at 6am. The cabins are small, but nice, and reminded me of camping in Kruger National Park in South Africa. Lee and I did have a bit of excitement as we found a HUGE spider in the bathroom, about 2 inches in diameter with thick legs. There was a lot of jumping around, hooting and hollering while we tried to squish it with our sandals. Eventually Lee did get the spider, which disgustingly broke into several pieces rather than smash juicily. Lee then ran out of the cabin and I had to clean up the parts and flush them. I wished I had some thick, arm length gloves for the process! I really detest spiders!
After the spider incident, our group sat on the landing overlooking the ocean and watched the sunset with some nice white wine. We saw the stars come out one by one (starting with Jupiter, I believe, as we were in the Southern Hemisphere) and then were treated to one of the best stellar displays I have seen in my life. The stars were so bright and clear that recognizable constellations were hard to identify, as there were so many stars in the sky. We had an excellent view of the milky way as well.
Around 7:30pm we drove to a local restaurant for dinner. The proprietress is the descendent of one of the first families to move to Isla Floreana. We were served some delicious potatoes with a cream sauce, fried wahoo, grilled chicken, steamed veggies and these yucca cheese fritters that I could have eaten a whole basketful of. Yummy! The group was famished and snarfed everything.
The night in the cabin was interesting as I fell asleep before the air conditioning turned off due to the electricity shutoff at midnight, but woke up feeling overheated and sweaty. Even with the land breeze, the cabin was quite warm. Eventually I fell back asleep again, but I wished for a fan or something to circulate more air inside.
For breakfast we went back to the same restaurant where we had a big breakfast spread with cereals, fresh fruits, passion fruit juice, toast and eggs. One thing that I really like about breakfast in Ecuador is that they give you hot milk to put in your coffee, so the taste is less bitter. Adding cold milk to hot coffee scorches the milk, so the flavor of the mixture is ruined somewhat. I always add milk first if it is cold because then the milk changes temperature slowly as you add the hot coffee. The more you know!!
We had another highlands tour of Isla Floreana where we walked with more giant tortoises. This time it was not muddy and the walk was up on the slopes of the volcano on the island so it was very pleasant. We saw two males ¨fighting¨ and I put it in quotations because the way that giant tortoises fight is that they extend their long necks and whichever tortoise has the longer neck is the winner! We saw at least 8 tortoises during our walk and it was a lot of fun to just sit around on rocks and see these guys in action. We even saw a smaller one, about a foot long, who was just too cute as he was chomping on some greens.
We then walked higher up the volcano slope to see a natural spring, which is the only source of potable water on the islands as well as some unique rock formations and caves which were reportedly used by pirates who originally came to the island to hide out from their pursuers on the mainland. We also heard the mysterious story of some of the first Westerners to live on Floreana, mainly there was a German doctor, an Austrian baroness with two lovers and another german woman. The doctor and two lovers met unfortunate ends and the only two suspects left were the women on the island. Each accused the other of the murders and the culprit has never been found. Historical drama!
After the highlands tour we piled back in the same boat for the two hour journey to Isla Isabella, which is the largest island in the archapelago and made famous by the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
The beach is also a nesting area for sea turtles, so we saw some depressions in the sand with some empty egg shells inside. We had to be careful not to disturb the nesting site as apparently the turtles return again and again to the same spots. Some people went in the water to snorkel, but as it was cloudy and a bit cool (maybe only 70 degrees) I opted to lie on the gorgeous black lava sand and take a bit of a nap. Additionally, since Floreana is further west than Santa Cruz, the water was a bit cooler and felt chilly to me. Without the sun I definitely would have been cold! Some people in the water did see a sea turtle and swam with it a bit, but since I had done that in Hawaii before I didn't feel too left out. We enjoyed seeing pelicans and frigatebirds dive bomb the water, and we even saw one frigatebird catch a fish!
After the relaxing time on the beach we drove to the Red Mangrove lodge on the island. It consists of 14 small cabins all with ocean view. There is electricity only until midnight, when it turns off for the whole island, and then turns on again at 6am. The cabins are small, but nice, and reminded me of camping in Kruger National Park in South Africa. Lee and I did have a bit of excitement as we found a HUGE spider in the bathroom, about 2 inches in diameter with thick legs. There was a lot of jumping around, hooting and hollering while we tried to squish it with our sandals. Eventually Lee did get the spider, which disgustingly broke into several pieces rather than smash juicily. Lee then ran out of the cabin and I had to clean up the parts and flush them. I wished I had some thick, arm length gloves for the process! I really detest spiders!
After the spider incident, our group sat on the landing overlooking the ocean and watched the sunset with some nice white wine. We saw the stars come out one by one (starting with Jupiter, I believe, as we were in the Southern Hemisphere) and then were treated to one of the best stellar displays I have seen in my life. The stars were so bright and clear that recognizable constellations were hard to identify, as there were so many stars in the sky. We had an excellent view of the milky way as well.
Around 7:30pm we drove to a local restaurant for dinner. The proprietress is the descendent of one of the first families to move to Isla Floreana. We were served some delicious potatoes with a cream sauce, fried wahoo, grilled chicken, steamed veggies and these yucca cheese fritters that I could have eaten a whole basketful of. Yummy! The group was famished and snarfed everything.
The night in the cabin was interesting as I fell asleep before the air conditioning turned off due to the electricity shutoff at midnight, but woke up feeling overheated and sweaty. Even with the land breeze, the cabin was quite warm. Eventually I fell back asleep again, but I wished for a fan or something to circulate more air inside.
For breakfast we went back to the same restaurant where we had a big breakfast spread with cereals, fresh fruits, passion fruit juice, toast and eggs. One thing that I really like about breakfast in Ecuador is that they give you hot milk to put in your coffee, so the taste is less bitter. Adding cold milk to hot coffee scorches the milk, so the flavor of the mixture is ruined somewhat. I always add milk first if it is cold because then the milk changes temperature slowly as you add the hot coffee. The more you know!!
We had another highlands tour of Isla Floreana where we walked with more giant tortoises. This time it was not muddy and the walk was up on the slopes of the volcano on the island so it was very pleasant. We saw two males ¨fighting¨ and I put it in quotations because the way that giant tortoises fight is that they extend their long necks and whichever tortoise has the longer neck is the winner! We saw at least 8 tortoises during our walk and it was a lot of fun to just sit around on rocks and see these guys in action. We even saw a smaller one, about a foot long, who was just too cute as he was chomping on some greens.
We then walked higher up the volcano slope to see a natural spring, which is the only source of potable water on the islands as well as some unique rock formations and caves which were reportedly used by pirates who originally came to the island to hide out from their pursuers on the mainland. We also heard the mysterious story of some of the first Westerners to live on Floreana, mainly there was a German doctor, an Austrian baroness with two lovers and another german woman. The doctor and two lovers met unfortunate ends and the only two suspects left were the women on the island. Each accused the other of the murders and the culprit has never been found. Historical drama!
After the highlands tour we piled back in the same boat for the two hour journey to Isla Isabella, which is the largest island in the archapelago and made famous by the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Twins, Tortoises and Tunnels
This morning our little tour group (same as yesterday, looks like we are all on the same itinerary) piled into our minibus for a tour of the highlands of Isla Santa Cruz. The drive up is about 30 minutes and we were in the clouds for the whole time. It was much cooler up there, about elevation 700 meters. It was misty as well so I made sure to keep my camera wrapped up in my scarf to protect it from condensation.
First we stopped to see two false craters known as The Twins. They were formed when a gas bubble was trapped beneath the ground and later collapsed. They were filled with vegetation with tall cliffs surrounding them. We saw plenty of bird life at the lip of the crater with small, medium and large ground finches. The males are black and the females are brown. They have small beaks like parrots. The finches were very cute, hopping around and looking inquisitively at us.
We then drove to a farm where people raise and rehabilitate giant tortoises. The ground was quite muddy so we all were given rubber wellingtons. I´m glad we had them as it was quite a messy slog through the jungle to see the tortoises! They are large, slow and very odd looking. The tortoises have long claws on their stumpy legs but subside only on plants and fruits. When we got too close to them, they would hiss and withdraw into their shells. Some tortoises were sitting in big muddy pools of water. We joked it was a tortoise spa.
The first three we saw were relatively small, about three feet long. Large, but not enormous. Finally near the end of our walk we saw a huge male, maybe 5 feet long! He was so impressive.
Our guides also gave us some fruits to try, as we passed many varieties of trees. We tried a ¨large guava¨ which is so odd--it looks like a giant bean maybe 2 or 3 feet long, and when opened reveals fuzzy white pods that look like milkweed pods. The fuzzy stuff is sweet and inside each pod there is a large shiny purple seed the color of an eggplant. Our guide told us these guavas were introduced. We also tried passion fruit, which was tart and not very sweet. I also found a ripe coffee bean, which is covered in a shiny red outer layer similar to a guava, and then the bean itself is slimy and green. When it dries it is then roasted to form the brown bean that is so familiar to us.
After the tortoise farm we went to a lava tube to walk inside for a bit. The lava tube was formed during an eruption when the flowing lava cooled and hardened on the outside, then the lava kept flowing on the inside. The tube looks just like a subway tunnel, complete with dim florescant lighting. There are small stalactite and mineral formations that are slowing growing inside, as the inside of the tube is damp with water dripping from the ceiling. The tube was about 10m tall.
Now we are back at the hotel for lunch and afterward we will take a boat to Isla Floreana. I´m quite excited to stay there because it is not inhabited and the lodge where we will sleep is an eco lodge. The boat takes about 2 hours. Then, on Monday we go to Isla Isabella, where they filmed Master and Commander. I´m not sure when my next update will be as there is no internet on Isla Floreana.
First we stopped to see two false craters known as The Twins. They were formed when a gas bubble was trapped beneath the ground and later collapsed. They were filled with vegetation with tall cliffs surrounding them. We saw plenty of bird life at the lip of the crater with small, medium and large ground finches. The males are black and the females are brown. They have small beaks like parrots. The finches were very cute, hopping around and looking inquisitively at us.
We then drove to a farm where people raise and rehabilitate giant tortoises. The ground was quite muddy so we all were given rubber wellingtons. I´m glad we had them as it was quite a messy slog through the jungle to see the tortoises! They are large, slow and very odd looking. The tortoises have long claws on their stumpy legs but subside only on plants and fruits. When we got too close to them, they would hiss and withdraw into their shells. Some tortoises were sitting in big muddy pools of water. We joked it was a tortoise spa.
The first three we saw were relatively small, about three feet long. Large, but not enormous. Finally near the end of our walk we saw a huge male, maybe 5 feet long! He was so impressive.
Our guides also gave us some fruits to try, as we passed many varieties of trees. We tried a ¨large guava¨ which is so odd--it looks like a giant bean maybe 2 or 3 feet long, and when opened reveals fuzzy white pods that look like milkweed pods. The fuzzy stuff is sweet and inside each pod there is a large shiny purple seed the color of an eggplant. Our guide told us these guavas were introduced. We also tried passion fruit, which was tart and not very sweet. I also found a ripe coffee bean, which is covered in a shiny red outer layer similar to a guava, and then the bean itself is slimy and green. When it dries it is then roasted to form the brown bean that is so familiar to us.
After the tortoise farm we went to a lava tube to walk inside for a bit. The lava tube was formed during an eruption when the flowing lava cooled and hardened on the outside, then the lava kept flowing on the inside. The tube looks just like a subway tunnel, complete with dim florescant lighting. There are small stalactite and mineral formations that are slowing growing inside, as the inside of the tube is damp with water dripping from the ceiling. The tube was about 10m tall.
Now we are back at the hotel for lunch and afterward we will take a boat to Isla Floreana. I´m quite excited to stay there because it is not inhabited and the lodge where we will sleep is an eco lodge. The boat takes about 2 hours. Then, on Monday we go to Isla Isabella, where they filmed Master and Commander. I´m not sure when my next update will be as there is no internet on Isla Floreana.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
The Middle of the World
Since we arrived so late on Thursday night to Quito I didn´t get to see much of the city. It is at quite a high elevation, 9500 ft., and surrounded on all sides by mountains. At this time of year they are green and treeless. Some of the tallest active volcanoes in the world, Cotopaxie and Pichincha flank the city on either side. One of our cabbies told us that Cotopaxie erupts every 100 years, and is currently overdue. If it were to erupt, almost 250,000 people could potentially be affected. Cotopaxie has snow year round, but we couldn´t see either volcano as both were wreathed in clouds.
We hitched a cab to the monument at the equator, which is about a 40 minute drive north out of the city. The monument is known as El Mitad del Mundo. It was built before GPS systems, so when the location was officially calibrated, it turns out that they were 250 meters off! Still, it´s an interesting place to visit with small tourist shops, a monument tower that one can climb for a good view, and plenty of funny photo ops featuring one straddling the equator. You can also get a souvenier passport stamp showing you´ve been to the middle of the world.
After jumping across the equator several times, we headed back to Quito´s historical quarter, which was built in the 1600´s when the Spanish ruled the area. The historical area is absolutely charming, with slightly run down but obviously well-loved European style buildings that made me feel as if I were in Slovakia or Croatia! The only difference, of course, was that everyone here is Ecuadorian. About 20% of the population is local indigenous people and the rest are mestizo, although they seem to trend smaller and browner than in Mexico.
Our cabbie was very chatty, so we engaged him to take us to a hill above the city where there stands a statue of the Virgin Mary standing on top of a serpent, symbolizing the evil in the world. After grabbing a good view, we got dropped off at the central square where we saw the Presidential Palace and several churches. We wandered through the city until we ended up at the city Basilica, which is Gothic in style although was completed in the 1920´s. Instead of saints, its outer walls are adorned with exotic animals including iguanas and tortoises!
We then stopped by a travel agency to try to arrange our hotel and tours in the Galapagos. We went to Happy Gringo, which I had been emailing with prior to our departure as well as came highly recommended by Lonely Planet. As it turned out, we were quite unhappy gringos by the end. We walked in and explained that we wanted to see if there were any last minute deals on Galapagos boat tours. We were told that there were two tours leaving that matched our schedules and that one was a midrange boat for $850 per person and the other was a luxury boat for $990 per person. We chatted a bit about the options, and were ready to go for the luxury boat, but then were told that the boat was now full. Then we were told that we had to pay cash, immediately. Since it was past 5pm and the banks were closed, there was no way we could get that much cash. It was also ridiculous that they would expect us to carry around that much money in US$, which is the currency here in Ecuador. We tried to get them to accept credit card, but they said they would charge us 6%, which was egregious as well. After a lot of arguing and back and forth, we decided to just walk and try to arrange something on the islands themselves.
We had received a dinner recommendation from a gingo in the immigration line (an expat) who said that if we wanted steaks we should go to Restaurante El Sur. We had the hotel make us reservations at 10pm (like many other parts of Latin America, people dine fashionably late in Ecuador). After a quick nap and shower, we headed over to the restaurant and enjoyed a delicious meal of Lomo steak, which is an Argentinean style tenderized and marinated very thin steak. It was fabulous! We also had a fine Chilean wine with it which complimented the meal perfectly. It was so tasty!!
Our flights were early, 8:30, so we had to get up early to make it to the airport. I was so full from dinner, I went right to bed. I was excited, however, as I knew we would be in the Galapagos the next day!
We hitched a cab to the monument at the equator, which is about a 40 minute drive north out of the city. The monument is known as El Mitad del Mundo. It was built before GPS systems, so when the location was officially calibrated, it turns out that they were 250 meters off! Still, it´s an interesting place to visit with small tourist shops, a monument tower that one can climb for a good view, and plenty of funny photo ops featuring one straddling the equator. You can also get a souvenier passport stamp showing you´ve been to the middle of the world.
After jumping across the equator several times, we headed back to Quito´s historical quarter, which was built in the 1600´s when the Spanish ruled the area. The historical area is absolutely charming, with slightly run down but obviously well-loved European style buildings that made me feel as if I were in Slovakia or Croatia! The only difference, of course, was that everyone here is Ecuadorian. About 20% of the population is local indigenous people and the rest are mestizo, although they seem to trend smaller and browner than in Mexico.
Our cabbie was very chatty, so we engaged him to take us to a hill above the city where there stands a statue of the Virgin Mary standing on top of a serpent, symbolizing the evil in the world. After grabbing a good view, we got dropped off at the central square where we saw the Presidential Palace and several churches. We wandered through the city until we ended up at the city Basilica, which is Gothic in style although was completed in the 1920´s. Instead of saints, its outer walls are adorned with exotic animals including iguanas and tortoises!
We then stopped by a travel agency to try to arrange our hotel and tours in the Galapagos. We went to Happy Gringo, which I had been emailing with prior to our departure as well as came highly recommended by Lonely Planet. As it turned out, we were quite unhappy gringos by the end. We walked in and explained that we wanted to see if there were any last minute deals on Galapagos boat tours. We were told that there were two tours leaving that matched our schedules and that one was a midrange boat for $850 per person and the other was a luxury boat for $990 per person. We chatted a bit about the options, and were ready to go for the luxury boat, but then were told that the boat was now full. Then we were told that we had to pay cash, immediately. Since it was past 5pm and the banks were closed, there was no way we could get that much cash. It was also ridiculous that they would expect us to carry around that much money in US$, which is the currency here in Ecuador. We tried to get them to accept credit card, but they said they would charge us 6%, which was egregious as well. After a lot of arguing and back and forth, we decided to just walk and try to arrange something on the islands themselves.
We had received a dinner recommendation from a gingo in the immigration line (an expat) who said that if we wanted steaks we should go to Restaurante El Sur. We had the hotel make us reservations at 10pm (like many other parts of Latin America, people dine fashionably late in Ecuador). After a quick nap and shower, we headed over to the restaurant and enjoyed a delicious meal of Lomo steak, which is an Argentinean style tenderized and marinated very thin steak. It was fabulous! We also had a fine Chilean wine with it which complimented the meal perfectly. It was so tasty!!
Our flights were early, 8:30, so we had to get up early to make it to the airport. I was so full from dinner, I went right to bed. I was excited, however, as I knew we would be in the Galapagos the next day!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
All the King's Horses and All the King's Men
Xi'an, according to the guidebook, is "firmly on the tourist itinerary" and I have to say for tourists their public transportation is very handy. To get out to the terracotta warriors of Qin Shi Huang Di (the first emperor of a united China in 221BCE) one only need step off the overnight train and head to the east side of the train station plaza, where minibuses and tourist public buses depart for these destinations regularly. Xi'an's imposing city walls were the first thing we saw when we got off the train and we wanted to walk around them, but at 13km in circumference we didn't have time--the best way is to rent bikes and bike around.
The tourist bus #307 runs right out to the terracotta warrior complex, about 20k outside of town, via some city streets and other attractions such as the Taoist holy mountain Li Shan and various museums and whatnot along the way. The cost is only 7 yuan, which makes it a much better deal than the minibuses that take you straight to the warriors for 26 yuan. Jessica and I hopped onto the tourist bus and it took us about one hour to arrive. The bus was very nice, though, more like a long distance coach, and was air conditioned.
The terracotta army is actually adjacent to the grave of the Qin emperor, which has not been excavated, and was not mentioned in extant historical texts. The army features thousands of life-sized warrior figurines with unique facial features, different poses and uniforms. Horses, chariots, weaponry and other artifacts were also found with the army. It was discovered in 1975 by a peasant sinking a well and has been nicely excavated and was well presented. According to the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, the tomb of the Qin emperor has rivers of mercury and treasures untold... as well as booby traps full of spears and arrows waiting to shoot any who trespass. Sounds like a case for Indiana Jones!
The army is housed in three vaults, all partially excavated and roofed. The 1st vault is the largest, with 8000 or so figures arranged in neat rows. The vault is the size of an aircraft hanger, so the scale is immense. Ignoring the throngs of tourists taking photos and posing in front of the figures, Jess and I tried to capture the scope of the view with photos but they don't really do it justice. You can't wander around the figures (since they are fragile terracotta and additionally sections are still under construction) but there are walkways around the entire area so you can get a closer look.
To me the figures were certainly imposing, but also a little sad. They are just standing, waiting for their master who will never come. Some were reassembled but others are lying smashed.
The second vault is fully of mostly broken horses and cavalrymen. This vault also has a fine museum with a close up view of one horse and cavalryman (the detail on both is exquisite, down to the individual lines of hair on both as well as the notched bolts that hold the warrior's armor together. There are also archer figures and a spectacular general, with a fancy hairdo, scarves of glory and a bushy handlebar mustache. You can see the fingernails on all the figures, really impressive.
The third vault is mostly empty, but it does house six beautiful horse figures that came with a chariot, which is being restored. There is also a separate museum that shows two 1/5 scale war chariots with horses and driver, all made of bronze. The museum also features two marionettes that were used in the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies, which are kind of the most creepy things I've ever seen.
Having had our fill of history, Jess and I caught the bus back to Xi'an and got back on the internet. Unfortunately, the flight was now 200 yuan more expensive! Fighting over the phone with Air China proved fruitless, so we caught the airport bus (which we discovered by luck while wandering around looking for the internet cafe). The bus took about an hour, and it rained heavily. We got quite damp walking over to take the bus.
At the airport, the one staff member at the Air China ticket booking desk was spectacularly unhelpful, raising her voice and interrupting us when we tried to explain our story. We asked to speak to her boss, and she made a phone call, then said "Boss not coming. I no help you." She then proceeded to ignore us and read the paper. No amount of talking loudly in English or Chinese would rouse her. Jessica was so furious she could barely speak. Unfortunately, Air China's flight that I was already booked on was the cheapest. We decided to book the flight, but used a private ticket booking desk provided by the airport itself, which was just 2 booths down from the Air China satan's spawn. Ironically they quoted us a cheaper rate on the Eastern China flight that left a little earlier compared to what we were told when we asked the official Eastern China Airlines ticket booking staff, but Jess opted for Air China so we could fly together. OOPS.
We made it through security and went and sat in a cafe until boarding time... when an announcement was promptly made that our flight was delayed until 10:45 due to "maintenance of the aircraft." To us that sounded like "we're bull$hitting you because we're incompetent idiots." As you can tell we were really down on Air China right now. In what was not a shocker, they delayed the flight again to midnight, and then once more to 12:45. I was not the only person who was infuriated with Air China, local Chinese citizens were arguing with the ground staff and receiving the same crappy service (which made me a little bit perversely pleased).
Finally, another plane arrived around 12:20am and we boarded at 12:45am. They gave us 100 yuan refund, which is about US$12. Thanks a lot, way to rub salt on an open wound! The flight was uneventful, except for a minor altercation with a flight attendant who told me to turn off my iPhone (which was in airplane mode) because it "wasn't allowed in China" which is complete BS because I used it on the Air China flight we took from Guilin to Chengdu AND it's basically an iPod when it is on airplane mode. I stuck to my guns because there was no way I wasn't going to have music and my games during the flight. Eventually another flight attendant came over and knocked some sense into the one berating me. This entire exchange was in a mixture of English and Chinese, all of it probably ruder than I would like but I was at my last straw.
We landed at Beijing Capital Airport at 2:20am, but we had to taxi forever and then once we got off the gate I think we walked about a kilometer to get out. Jessica and I were not happy with the fact that Terminal 3 at Beijing Captial Airport is the world's second largest terminal after Dubai! We took a cab to the Mariott and got to our room at 4am. Thanks a lot, Air China. I'm going to tell everyone I possibly can about how crappy your customer service is.
The tourist bus #307 runs right out to the terracotta warrior complex, about 20k outside of town, via some city streets and other attractions such as the Taoist holy mountain Li Shan and various museums and whatnot along the way. The cost is only 7 yuan, which makes it a much better deal than the minibuses that take you straight to the warriors for 26 yuan. Jessica and I hopped onto the tourist bus and it took us about one hour to arrive. The bus was very nice, though, more like a long distance coach, and was air conditioned.
The terracotta army is actually adjacent to the grave of the Qin emperor, which has not been excavated, and was not mentioned in extant historical texts. The army features thousands of life-sized warrior figurines with unique facial features, different poses and uniforms. Horses, chariots, weaponry and other artifacts were also found with the army. It was discovered in 1975 by a peasant sinking a well and has been nicely excavated and was well presented. According to the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, the tomb of the Qin emperor has rivers of mercury and treasures untold... as well as booby traps full of spears and arrows waiting to shoot any who trespass. Sounds like a case for Indiana Jones!
The army is housed in three vaults, all partially excavated and roofed. The 1st vault is the largest, with 8000 or so figures arranged in neat rows. The vault is the size of an aircraft hanger, so the scale is immense. Ignoring the throngs of tourists taking photos and posing in front of the figures, Jess and I tried to capture the scope of the view with photos but they don't really do it justice. You can't wander around the figures (since they are fragile terracotta and additionally sections are still under construction) but there are walkways around the entire area so you can get a closer look.
To me the figures were certainly imposing, but also a little sad. They are just standing, waiting for their master who will never come. Some were reassembled but others are lying smashed.
The second vault is fully of mostly broken horses and cavalrymen. This vault also has a fine museum with a close up view of one horse and cavalryman (the detail on both is exquisite, down to the individual lines of hair on both as well as the notched bolts that hold the warrior's armor together. There are also archer figures and a spectacular general, with a fancy hairdo, scarves of glory and a bushy handlebar mustache. You can see the fingernails on all the figures, really impressive.
The third vault is mostly empty, but it does house six beautiful horse figures that came with a chariot, which is being restored. There is also a separate museum that shows two 1/5 scale war chariots with horses and driver, all made of bronze. The museum also features two marionettes that were used in the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies, which are kind of the most creepy things I've ever seen.
Having had our fill of history, Jess and I caught the bus back to Xi'an and got back on the internet. Unfortunately, the flight was now 200 yuan more expensive! Fighting over the phone with Air China proved fruitless, so we caught the airport bus (which we discovered by luck while wandering around looking for the internet cafe). The bus took about an hour, and it rained heavily. We got quite damp walking over to take the bus.
At the airport, the one staff member at the Air China ticket booking desk was spectacularly unhelpful, raising her voice and interrupting us when we tried to explain our story. We asked to speak to her boss, and she made a phone call, then said "Boss not coming. I no help you." She then proceeded to ignore us and read the paper. No amount of talking loudly in English or Chinese would rouse her. Jessica was so furious she could barely speak. Unfortunately, Air China's flight that I was already booked on was the cheapest. We decided to book the flight, but used a private ticket booking desk provided by the airport itself, which was just 2 booths down from the Air China satan's spawn. Ironically they quoted us a cheaper rate on the Eastern China flight that left a little earlier compared to what we were told when we asked the official Eastern China Airlines ticket booking staff, but Jess opted for Air China so we could fly together. OOPS.
We made it through security and went and sat in a cafe until boarding time... when an announcement was promptly made that our flight was delayed until 10:45 due to "maintenance of the aircraft." To us that sounded like "we're bull$hitting you because we're incompetent idiots." As you can tell we were really down on Air China right now. In what was not a shocker, they delayed the flight again to midnight, and then once more to 12:45. I was not the only person who was infuriated with Air China, local Chinese citizens were arguing with the ground staff and receiving the same crappy service (which made me a little bit perversely pleased).
Finally, another plane arrived around 12:20am and we boarded at 12:45am. They gave us 100 yuan refund, which is about US$12. Thanks a lot, way to rub salt on an open wound! The flight was uneventful, except for a minor altercation with a flight attendant who told me to turn off my iPhone (which was in airplane mode) because it "wasn't allowed in China" which is complete BS because I used it on the Air China flight we took from Guilin to Chengdu AND it's basically an iPod when it is on airplane mode. I stuck to my guns because there was no way I wasn't going to have music and my games during the flight. Eventually another flight attendant came over and knocked some sense into the one berating me. This entire exchange was in a mixture of English and Chinese, all of it probably ruder than I would like but I was at my last straw.
We landed at Beijing Capital Airport at 2:20am, but we had to taxi forever and then once we got off the gate I think we walked about a kilometer to get out. Jessica and I were not happy with the fact that Terminal 3 at Beijing Captial Airport is the world's second largest terminal after Dubai! We took a cab to the Mariott and got to our room at 4am. Thanks a lot, Air China. I'm going to tell everyone I possibly can about how crappy your customer service is.
This is Not the Hogwarts Express
Jessica and I were pretty excited to take the overnight train to Xi'an, until we sat down in our 4 bunk soft sleeper compartment and realized we might have to share with two strangers. We also discovered we had been given a top and bottom bunk but on diagonal sides of the compartment (i.e. top bunk not over the bottom bunk). Additionally, after some quick mental calculations, we realized the train was about 16 hours. Luckily, I had a pack of cards.
Our train departed Chengdu exactly on time to the minute. The conductor in charge of our soft sleeper car came and checked our tickets, and then switched them out for a plastic red tag (which we had to return at the end of the train ride, in order to have our original paper tickets handed back to us--not sure why this rigmarole was necessary). She also recorded our passport numbers (all foreigners must register all the time in China!) and asked if we had the swine flu. We of course said, "mei you!" (which means don't have!). Really, why would you ever say "Yes, I have the swine flu!" You'd probably get carted off somewhere never to return. Upon our departure from Chengdu, our compartment was still empty, however we realized that someone might still get on the train at a subsequent stop.
We looked out the window, which was pretty gray and dreary as it was raining in Chengdu, and then played cards. After a while we got hungry and visited the dining car. They didn't have a picture menu, but they did have pinyin next to the characters. After a lot of back and forth where I explained again and again that Jessica did not eat meat (and was Buddhist), the waitress finally recommended a stir fried tomato dish. I got a pork belly fried rice dish that was really yummy. It had these light green peppers (reminded me of like Slovak papriky) that were a tiny bit spicy, but not too much to detract from enjoyment of the dish. Jessica's tomato dish was actually really yummy, I don't know what they do to the eggs here to make them so good but this was quite tasty.
We got back to our car and played more cards. Around 7:30pm, our compartment door was opened by a Chinese gentleman, who looked like he was about 45-50 years old. He had the bottom bunk and seemed a little surprised, but not in a bad way, to find two young white girls in his compartment. Jessica was very surprised to find a man sharing our compartment, so I had a quick chat with the conductor (who was also female). She understood our predicament, and offered us the chance to switch into a compartment with a young couple traveling with a toddler. That seemed worse than sharing with an unknown man, so I asked if I could just take the top bunk in our compartment. She said the last stop for the night was at 10pm, so she could tell me if that bunk was taken then.
As it turned out, the guy in our compartment was pretty cool, we had some chats in Chinese (with me translating). He was an engineer working for Ericsson in Baoji, which is about 2 hours outside of Xi'an. He said he had many German friends through work, but didn't speak any English. We talked a little about what Jess and I were doing in Chengdu and Xi'an and how we were at Beida. He endeared himself to Jessica by commenting that Chinese are terrible drivers. He also at one point got into bed and removed his pants (which scared the crap out of both of us), but was wearing a pair of flesh tone and white striped long johns for modesty's sake, which we certainly appreciated.
At the 10pm stop the conductor told me it was fine to sleep in the top bunk, so we all got into our respective bunks. Our companion went to sleep, as his stop was at 7am, and Jessica and I continued to play cards until around midnight. Sleeping on the train took a little getting used to, as you are swaying and bumping a little, but I did get to sleep eventually, waking up early in the morning, perhaps 6am. The bunk was just long enough for me to sleep, but anyone else taller would have to curl up on their side like a shrimp.
Our train arrived in Xi'an just on time as well, but Jess and I were a little grumpy after being in a small space for 16 hours with a stranger. We decided to find an internet cafe so we could check flights from Xi'an to Beijing. Emerging from the train station was a bit of a shock too, as it was typically packed with peasants staring, the city was cloudy and grimy and it was humid and warm. We wandered around fruitlessly looking for an internet cafe, getting directions from people who kept saying we were near one, but we just couldn't find it. Finally we stopped in a hotel and I kept asking them to draw a map until they sent a bellhop to show us the place. As it turned out, the sign (I know the characters for internet cafe) was wayyyy up top and you couldn't see it from eye level.
As it turned out, the tickets for the plane trip were only 100 yuan more expensive than the overnight train, so we decided to book the tickets through Air China. This is where things got really, really messy.
Online reservation services in China appear to be unable to handle US credit cards, so the purchaser must go through a ridiculous rigmarole of sending copies of both sides of the credit card, a copy of your passport and a signed authorization form authorizing the agent to use your credit card. Luckily Jess and I had all the copies of everything in our emails from purchasing our flights on eLong a couple of days before. When we tried to book the tickets online, I got an error message from Air China so I called their online booking service. The booking service told me that I had to send in the above information, which I did. I had Jessica do the same. They then sent me a new authorization form, because the one I wrote myself (which they told me to do) was not good enough. We resent. My ticket was confirmed, however, they didn't process Jessica's because of various conflicting and stonewalling stories. The two versions we got the most were 1) we took more than 30 minutes to send in the payment information (this information is not posted anywhere of course) or 2) they don't accept debit cards; since Jessica's card is a debit/credit card that says debit on the front they rejected it outright.
We didn't find out that they canceled her reservation until we were on the bus heading to the terracotta warriors, which are about 20 km outside of town. We tried fighting with them on the phone but we were stonewalled with typical crappy communist customer service (or lack thereof). We decided to check back at the internet cafe after getting back from the warriors.
Our train departed Chengdu exactly on time to the minute. The conductor in charge of our soft sleeper car came and checked our tickets, and then switched them out for a plastic red tag (which we had to return at the end of the train ride, in order to have our original paper tickets handed back to us--not sure why this rigmarole was necessary). She also recorded our passport numbers (all foreigners must register all the time in China!) and asked if we had the swine flu. We of course said, "mei you!" (which means don't have!). Really, why would you ever say "Yes, I have the swine flu!" You'd probably get carted off somewhere never to return. Upon our departure from Chengdu, our compartment was still empty, however we realized that someone might still get on the train at a subsequent stop.
We looked out the window, which was pretty gray and dreary as it was raining in Chengdu, and then played cards. After a while we got hungry and visited the dining car. They didn't have a picture menu, but they did have pinyin next to the characters. After a lot of back and forth where I explained again and again that Jessica did not eat meat (and was Buddhist), the waitress finally recommended a stir fried tomato dish. I got a pork belly fried rice dish that was really yummy. It had these light green peppers (reminded me of like Slovak papriky) that were a tiny bit spicy, but not too much to detract from enjoyment of the dish. Jessica's tomato dish was actually really yummy, I don't know what they do to the eggs here to make them so good but this was quite tasty.
We got back to our car and played more cards. Around 7:30pm, our compartment door was opened by a Chinese gentleman, who looked like he was about 45-50 years old. He had the bottom bunk and seemed a little surprised, but not in a bad way, to find two young white girls in his compartment. Jessica was very surprised to find a man sharing our compartment, so I had a quick chat with the conductor (who was also female). She understood our predicament, and offered us the chance to switch into a compartment with a young couple traveling with a toddler. That seemed worse than sharing with an unknown man, so I asked if I could just take the top bunk in our compartment. She said the last stop for the night was at 10pm, so she could tell me if that bunk was taken then.
As it turned out, the guy in our compartment was pretty cool, we had some chats in Chinese (with me translating). He was an engineer working for Ericsson in Baoji, which is about 2 hours outside of Xi'an. He said he had many German friends through work, but didn't speak any English. We talked a little about what Jess and I were doing in Chengdu and Xi'an and how we were at Beida. He endeared himself to Jessica by commenting that Chinese are terrible drivers. He also at one point got into bed and removed his pants (which scared the crap out of both of us), but was wearing a pair of flesh tone and white striped long johns for modesty's sake, which we certainly appreciated.
At the 10pm stop the conductor told me it was fine to sleep in the top bunk, so we all got into our respective bunks. Our companion went to sleep, as his stop was at 7am, and Jessica and I continued to play cards until around midnight. Sleeping on the train took a little getting used to, as you are swaying and bumping a little, but I did get to sleep eventually, waking up early in the morning, perhaps 6am. The bunk was just long enough for me to sleep, but anyone else taller would have to curl up on their side like a shrimp.
Our train arrived in Xi'an just on time as well, but Jess and I were a little grumpy after being in a small space for 16 hours with a stranger. We decided to find an internet cafe so we could check flights from Xi'an to Beijing. Emerging from the train station was a bit of a shock too, as it was typically packed with peasants staring, the city was cloudy and grimy and it was humid and warm. We wandered around fruitlessly looking for an internet cafe, getting directions from people who kept saying we were near one, but we just couldn't find it. Finally we stopped in a hotel and I kept asking them to draw a map until they sent a bellhop to show us the place. As it turned out, the sign (I know the characters for internet cafe) was wayyyy up top and you couldn't see it from eye level.
As it turned out, the tickets for the plane trip were only 100 yuan more expensive than the overnight train, so we decided to book the tickets through Air China. This is where things got really, really messy.
Online reservation services in China appear to be unable to handle US credit cards, so the purchaser must go through a ridiculous rigmarole of sending copies of both sides of the credit card, a copy of your passport and a signed authorization form authorizing the agent to use your credit card. Luckily Jess and I had all the copies of everything in our emails from purchasing our flights on eLong a couple of days before. When we tried to book the tickets online, I got an error message from Air China so I called their online booking service. The booking service told me that I had to send in the above information, which I did. I had Jessica do the same. They then sent me a new authorization form, because the one I wrote myself (which they told me to do) was not good enough. We resent. My ticket was confirmed, however, they didn't process Jessica's because of various conflicting and stonewalling stories. The two versions we got the most were 1) we took more than 30 minutes to send in the payment information (this information is not posted anywhere of course) or 2) they don't accept debit cards; since Jessica's card is a debit/credit card that says debit on the front they rejected it outright.
We didn't find out that they canceled her reservation until we were on the bus heading to the terracotta warriors, which are about 20 km outside of town. We tried fighting with them on the phone but we were stonewalled with typical crappy communist customer service (or lack thereof). We decided to check back at the internet cafe after getting back from the warriors.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
So Over Guilin, Chengdu is Tamada
Jess and I caught the minibus back to Guilin after my last post and then spent a fruitless half an hour trying to find the airport bus departure station. We got incorrect directions from several people, and then someone offered to take us there on foot but then after a block said he didn't actually know where it was. Finally we hailed a cab, who took us directly to the airport, but he claimed we needed to pay him an extra 20 yuan for the 10 yuan toll both ways!! We were pissed. Clearly he was trying to rip us off. I just told him we would give him 10 extra to cover the one way toll and he could find some one else to take back to Guilin. There was some heated discussion, but we had exact change so we won out in the end. Overall we felt as of Guilin was a touristy rip off town, which reinforced my conviction that next time I will go straight to Yangshou.
The flight was on Air China, it was uneventful although a little turbulent. I sat next to a young man whose upper arms were, no joke, smaller than my wrists! I used it as a chance to tell Jessica about the "you call that a man??" phenomenon.
We landed in Chengdu at 11pm and took a cab to the hotel, which was recommended by the book as a basic, clean budget option. We picked it because it was right in front of the departure point for the bus to the panda research center. As advertised, it was clean and cheap, although the room is a bit worn around the edges. I did my laundry, and fell into bed, exhausted.
We got up and had a breakfast, then hopped the bus to the panda reserve. In typical fashion, the bus lurches around corners and everyone crammed in like sausages. Luckily we had seats, so we were spared the worst of it. The ride took about an hour or so, the reserve is about 8km outside of town. This is different from the Wulong Research center, which is about 200Km away and was damaged in the 2008 earthquake. This place is more of a tourist zoo type place.
The weather was damp and dreary, so it made us sad to not be in Yangshou. The pandas were mostly sleeping, although they were cute and I've never seen so many pandas is one place! They also had about 5 adorable and playful panda cubs. Jessica paid 1000 yuan to cuddle one for about two minutes. I got to play photographer for this, so I didn't have to pay anything to be within 5 ft of a panda cub! He was big, about 7 months old and weighing maybe 80lbs. Jess said he was heavy and not soft, his fur was coarse. You have to put on a disposable surgical gown, booties and gloves to hold the panda and the staff just come and rather uncerimoniusly dump the cub in your lap, and then feed it a apple so it stays busy. Still really cute, though!
We wandered around, seeing both red and white pandas. The red pandas look like little raccoon foxes, not so much like the giant pandas. We planned to go back to the hotel early, but we met a Brit who was filming a panda documentary for this presenter named Nigel something. He's on Discovery and BBC so you've probably seen him before. We chatted for a while, they are going to film here I'm Chengdu for 2 weeks and then to Bifengxia reserve in the country to try to find wild pandas. Sounds like fun!
We went back to town and bought our soft sleeper tickets for the overnight train to Xi'an tomorrow night. The railway station has convenient booths scattered around town so you don't have to brave the crowds at the main station. The soft sleeper berths were 300 yuan each, a good deal. My Chinese dialogues really came in handy!
We're in a cafe across the river from our hotel, and will meet the documentary guys for a drink a litle later. We're at the point where we're a little oversaturated with China so a little western dialogue is welcome.
The flight was on Air China, it was uneventful although a little turbulent. I sat next to a young man whose upper arms were, no joke, smaller than my wrists! I used it as a chance to tell Jessica about the "you call that a man??" phenomenon.
We landed in Chengdu at 11pm and took a cab to the hotel, which was recommended by the book as a basic, clean budget option. We picked it because it was right in front of the departure point for the bus to the panda research center. As advertised, it was clean and cheap, although the room is a bit worn around the edges. I did my laundry, and fell into bed, exhausted.
We got up and had a breakfast, then hopped the bus to the panda reserve. In typical fashion, the bus lurches around corners and everyone crammed in like sausages. Luckily we had seats, so we were spared the worst of it. The ride took about an hour or so, the reserve is about 8km outside of town. This is different from the Wulong Research center, which is about 200Km away and was damaged in the 2008 earthquake. This place is more of a tourist zoo type place.
The weather was damp and dreary, so it made us sad to not be in Yangshou. The pandas were mostly sleeping, although they were cute and I've never seen so many pandas is one place! They also had about 5 adorable and playful panda cubs. Jessica paid 1000 yuan to cuddle one for about two minutes. I got to play photographer for this, so I didn't have to pay anything to be within 5 ft of a panda cub! He was big, about 7 months old and weighing maybe 80lbs. Jess said he was heavy and not soft, his fur was coarse. You have to put on a disposable surgical gown, booties and gloves to hold the panda and the staff just come and rather uncerimoniusly dump the cub in your lap, and then feed it a apple so it stays busy. Still really cute, though!
We wandered around, seeing both red and white pandas. The red pandas look like little raccoon foxes, not so much like the giant pandas. We planned to go back to the hotel early, but we met a Brit who was filming a panda documentary for this presenter named Nigel something. He's on Discovery and BBC so you've probably seen him before. We chatted for a while, they are going to film here I'm Chengdu for 2 weeks and then to Bifengxia reserve in the country to try to find wild pandas. Sounds like fun!
We went back to town and bought our soft sleeper tickets for the overnight train to Xi'an tomorrow night. The railway station has convenient booths scattered around town so you don't have to brave the crowds at the main station. The soft sleeper berths were 300 yuan each, a good deal. My Chinese dialogues really came in handy!
We're in a cafe across the river from our hotel, and will meet the documentary guys for a drink a litle later. We're at the point where we're a little oversaturated with China so a little western dialogue is welcome.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Bicycle Tour of Yulong River Scenic Area
Jess and I woke up a little late after our late night of shenanigans, but after a restorative breakfast (featuring a large American style spread plus glorious coffee) we were ready to try to find the swimming hole the Americans reccommended to us the day before. We rented bikes from our hostel (10 yuan) and got a local area map. We had been shown where the place was on a different map so I figured out where we needed to go and off we went. We headed southwest out of town about 5km and turned north on a one lane paved road that followed the Yulong River. The river winds through rice parties and villages, with mini Yijiang style dramatic scenery. We saw rice patties, peasants farming, water buffalo and the like. It was gorgeous. The bike ride took us about an hour and a half and we were getting pretty sweaty. The map was ok but not exact and we got mildly lost at one point when we discovered the paved road takes you most of the way but actually leads to a bamboo rafting launch point that had a lot of touts.
Retrekking to a dirt road led us to another paved road that was the right one and also went back to Yangshou! We decided to try that one on our return.
The directions told us to turn left at the sign for the Outside Inn and head through the rice patties to the river. We passed several cute little Western-owned guesthouses that looked really pleasant. The directions were good and we found the sign, turned left and bikes through the fields past a farmer leading her water buffalo. The swimming hole was idyllic, with a nice, clear river, a ruined archway and a small outcropping of rock on the other side.
There was one other person there, an American who owned some stone factories in China and was touring around. He chatted with us and gave us some great tips for what to do in Chengdu. The water was perfect, cool and refreshing! We could see many kinds of fish in the river, kinds I have never seen before. The bottom was a bit mucky with some plants, but there were large, flat rocks to stand on. We could see farmers working the fields beside us and a man across the river letting his buffalo graze. It was ridiculously scenic and we took many pictures.
The bike back was much quicker, only 45 minutes. We took the other road back and it was more direct. We've just finished eating a snack and will catch the bus back to Guilin and then to the airport. We're very sad to leave, this place is pretty magical.
Retrekking to a dirt road led us to another paved road that was the right one and also went back to Yangshou! We decided to try that one on our return.
The directions told us to turn left at the sign for the Outside Inn and head through the rice patties to the river. We passed several cute little Western-owned guesthouses that looked really pleasant. The directions were good and we found the sign, turned left and bikes through the fields past a farmer leading her water buffalo. The swimming hole was idyllic, with a nice, clear river, a ruined archway and a small outcropping of rock on the other side.
There was one other person there, an American who owned some stone factories in China and was touring around. He chatted with us and gave us some great tips for what to do in Chengdu. The water was perfect, cool and refreshing! We could see many kinds of fish in the river, kinds I have never seen before. The bottom was a bit mucky with some plants, but there were large, flat rocks to stand on. We could see farmers working the fields beside us and a man across the river letting his buffalo graze. It was ridiculously scenic and we took many pictures.
The bike back was much quicker, only 45 minutes. We took the other road back and it was more direct. We've just finished eating a snack and will catch the bus back to Guilin and then to the airport. We're very sad to leave, this place is pretty magical.
Monday, May 4, 2009
A Host of Funny-Shaped Mountains
Jess and I had our Lijiang River cruise today and I must say it is spectacular. We caught our bus at 8:30 am and were driven to a location downstream. We were the only two non-Asian people on the bus (there was one Japanese guy as we found out later). In typical Chinese style, there was a guide blabbing into a microphone the whole time. Everyone seemed to ignore it. We got off at the ferry terminal, which of course included a huge jewelry store (because when you go boating, you should get jewelry too) as well as some stalls where I got a cheap bucket hat and a sticky rice steamed thing that had beans and chestnuts. Pretty good.
The tour guide made me explain to the Japanese guy that the boat did not include a return bus to Guilin and that if he wanted to he could take bus #36610 to get back or he could call her. I was not too pleased at being roped into being translator, since the comprehension was slow going. Luckily someone else spoke some Japanese so I got off the hook.
The cruise boats are flat bottomed ferries with a lower deck where you eat lunch, and then an observation deck with no sun shade and no chairs. Some boats (like ours) have a small room up top with a few tables and chairs. The downstairs area kind of sucks because it's crowded, smoking is allowed and of course, Chinese people fear the sun like vampires so a bunch of people immediately closed the window curtains! When I complained that we couldn't see, they opened it slightly but it still sucked.
Jess and I headed up to the observation deck as soon as the boat pushed off. We took some chairs out of the room up top and sat at the front, underneath a roof overhang to get a bit of shade. The weather was sunny and pleasant again but we didn't want to spend 4 hours in the noonday sun. We were having a nice time until one of the boat staff came and kicked us off the chairs. The reason given was that some people were coming up to eat in the room. I argued a bit but they were adamant so we acquiesced and spread out my sarong in the same spot.
The scenery was of course fabulous, with fantastically shaped limestone karst formations lining the river, crowned with leafy green tops. We could see farmers tending the fields, fishing cormorants, grazing water buffalo and smaller boats as well as bamboo rafts. Several enterprising fellows even tied up to the side of the boat and hawked "jade" pigs and cows through the window! Another ferry got a food delivery via small moterboat.
We were mostly left alone except periodically, whenever a famous formation came up, a passel of Chinese passengers would rush in and crowd our area, taking the requisite portraits with the V for victory sign. I swear they must have gotten the same photo at least 50 times! They reacted to our presence much like the rest of China, ranging from bemusement to outright blatant staring. We just stare back and that solves the problem. Lunch was served about 2 hours in, so the crowds left after that.
Jess and I agreed that if we had to do it again we'd just take the bus straight to Yangshou, where the ferries terminate, and just hire a small bamboo raft with a roof and a simple outboard motor and take us upstream. The cruise is lovely, but sharing a boat with 30 other passengers who don't appreciate the beauty of nature in the same way is considerably less lovely.
We are spending the night in Yangshou, which is a small village on the bank of the river with gorgeous peaks surrounding it. The air here is fresh and pleasant and Jess and I can't help but feel refreshed after 7 weeks of Beijing pollution and smog. We're staying at a hostel/hotel called Riverview; we have a view of the river, a balcony and air conditioning in our private room. The owners are pleasantly un-pushy.
Yangshow is kind of a westerner hang out so I have promised Jess pizza for dinner. We plan to go for a quick hike and then maybe hit the pub later. We hope to rent bikes and go for a bike ride tomorrow morning before taking the bus back to Guilin.
The tour guide made me explain to the Japanese guy that the boat did not include a return bus to Guilin and that if he wanted to he could take bus #36610 to get back or he could call her. I was not too pleased at being roped into being translator, since the comprehension was slow going. Luckily someone else spoke some Japanese so I got off the hook.
The cruise boats are flat bottomed ferries with a lower deck where you eat lunch, and then an observation deck with no sun shade and no chairs. Some boats (like ours) have a small room up top with a few tables and chairs. The downstairs area kind of sucks because it's crowded, smoking is allowed and of course, Chinese people fear the sun like vampires so a bunch of people immediately closed the window curtains! When I complained that we couldn't see, they opened it slightly but it still sucked.
Jess and I headed up to the observation deck as soon as the boat pushed off. We took some chairs out of the room up top and sat at the front, underneath a roof overhang to get a bit of shade. The weather was sunny and pleasant again but we didn't want to spend 4 hours in the noonday sun. We were having a nice time until one of the boat staff came and kicked us off the chairs. The reason given was that some people were coming up to eat in the room. I argued a bit but they were adamant so we acquiesced and spread out my sarong in the same spot.
The scenery was of course fabulous, with fantastically shaped limestone karst formations lining the river, crowned with leafy green tops. We could see farmers tending the fields, fishing cormorants, grazing water buffalo and smaller boats as well as bamboo rafts. Several enterprising fellows even tied up to the side of the boat and hawked "jade" pigs and cows through the window! Another ferry got a food delivery via small moterboat.
We were mostly left alone except periodically, whenever a famous formation came up, a passel of Chinese passengers would rush in and crowd our area, taking the requisite portraits with the V for victory sign. I swear they must have gotten the same photo at least 50 times! They reacted to our presence much like the rest of China, ranging from bemusement to outright blatant staring. We just stare back and that solves the problem. Lunch was served about 2 hours in, so the crowds left after that.
Jess and I agreed that if we had to do it again we'd just take the bus straight to Yangshou, where the ferries terminate, and just hire a small bamboo raft with a roof and a simple outboard motor and take us upstream. The cruise is lovely, but sharing a boat with 30 other passengers who don't appreciate the beauty of nature in the same way is considerably less lovely.
We are spending the night in Yangshou, which is a small village on the bank of the river with gorgeous peaks surrounding it. The air here is fresh and pleasant and Jess and I can't help but feel refreshed after 7 weeks of Beijing pollution and smog. We're staying at a hostel/hotel called Riverview; we have a view of the river, a balcony and air conditioning in our private room. The owners are pleasantly un-pushy.
Yangshow is kind of a westerner hang out so I have promised Jess pizza for dinner. We plan to go for a quick hike and then maybe hit the pub later. We hope to rent bikes and go for a bike ride tomorrow morning before taking the bus back to Guilin.
Greener Pastures (and Mountains) in Guilin
Jess and I finally set off for our junket to southeastern China with great anticipation. We took a cab to the airport and checked in for China Southern Airways flight to Guilin. The flight was about 2 hours 40 minutes and the service was fine. They even had announcements in English.
Upon arriving in Guilin, we could already see some funny shaped mountains. The sky was noticably clearer compared to Beijing and the weather was pleasant in the high 70's. We took an airport bus for 20 yuan, foregoing the approximately 80 yuan taxi ride in. The bus dropped us off on the south edge of town so we decided to walk to the area where there were a few hotels recommended by the guidebook. The tourist map we had gotten was just terrible, with no recognizable landmarks. The fact that there are very few street signs compounded the problem. Finally we got a bike rickshaw driver to take us, he said it would be 10 yuan. However, the jerk only took us about 2/3 of the way and then said it would be an extra 40 yuan to keep going! I was so pissed we just gave him 10 yuan and got out, but I gave him a piece of my mind first. He was unconcerned.
We walked the rest of the way but it was pleasantly shaded and by the riverbank so it wasn't too bad. We had planned to look at a hostel behind the Sheraton, but I saw an Eva Inn right next door that looked nice. Eva Inn is a Taiwanese chain and I figured we would get decent rates. Their posted standard rate was 688 yuan (ha!), they quoted us 488 yuan, and then when we did the old walkaway trick they went down to 280. The room was spacious, clean and was on the top floor so we were happy.
We booked our riverboat cruise through a travel agent next door. The river is still a bit low so you have to be bussed downstream about 20k and then the boat journey begins. The price is 250 for Chinese language boat, 450 for English language boat (includes lunch). I'm sure I don't need to tell you which one we picked (Chinese boat)!
As the sun was setting we hiked up Elephant Rock, a large rock formation by the river that looks like an elephant taking a drink. The entry fee (25 yuan) included a little park too. It was pleasant by the river, watching people fish and punt by.
We were super hungry, so we walked around looking for a good place to eat. We found a street with a bunch of restaurants with great big buckets of live fish, crabs, crayfish and turtles, as well as cages with chickens, rabbits and ducks. I felt bad for the turtles (who kept blindly trying to push through the netting covering their baskets) and Jess felt bad for the rabbits and ducks so we kept going. We walked down a hutong with more restaurants, almost all featured outdoor seating. We picked one place that was hopping, but they didn't have English menu or a big picture menu so we pressed on. We then came upon a cluster of restaurants with plates of fresh ingredients out front that you could point at to choose. They had crayfish (what I really wanted plus Jess eats fish and shellfish) as well as tons of fresh veggies. We got the crayfish, along with eggplant and broccoli. When the food came we were so happy; it was delicious! The crayfish were fried in a garlic soy sauce, the eggplant was sauteed so it was kind of squashy and the broccoli was nicely steamed. Yum!
Our neighbors were a group of Chinese who were playing a Cantonese drinking game that involved toothpicks, hand signals and shouting numbers (which was how I knew it was Cantonese). Jess and I just could not figure out the rules! Interestingly, they were not Cantonese because when speaking otherwise they used Mandarin. Odd!
After eating, we strolled along the town's main drag checking out the night market. I had foolishly left my hat in Beijing so I was hoping to find a hat of some kind (preferrably Boston Red Sox to match Jessica's) but was out of luck. There weren't even any Yankees hats to be found (not that I would have bought one), surprising since they are the world's most recognizable sports brand. Jess did find some fake Kappa socks, however.
We stopped at a supermarket to get some food for the boat ride the next day and then walked back to the hotel.
We weren't that tired so we stayed up playing playing cards (we were mildly entertained by a sort of Iron Chef competition, but for manicurists). We played Crazy Eights, poker and blackjack, wagering with my collection of perfume samples), it was pretty fun. We went to bed at midnight, since we had to catch the bus to the boat at 8am.
Upon arriving in Guilin, we could already see some funny shaped mountains. The sky was noticably clearer compared to Beijing and the weather was pleasant in the high 70's. We took an airport bus for 20 yuan, foregoing the approximately 80 yuan taxi ride in. The bus dropped us off on the south edge of town so we decided to walk to the area where there were a few hotels recommended by the guidebook. The tourist map we had gotten was just terrible, with no recognizable landmarks. The fact that there are very few street signs compounded the problem. Finally we got a bike rickshaw driver to take us, he said it would be 10 yuan. However, the jerk only took us about 2/3 of the way and then said it would be an extra 40 yuan to keep going! I was so pissed we just gave him 10 yuan and got out, but I gave him a piece of my mind first. He was unconcerned.
We walked the rest of the way but it was pleasantly shaded and by the riverbank so it wasn't too bad. We had planned to look at a hostel behind the Sheraton, but I saw an Eva Inn right next door that looked nice. Eva Inn is a Taiwanese chain and I figured we would get decent rates. Their posted standard rate was 688 yuan (ha!), they quoted us 488 yuan, and then when we did the old walkaway trick they went down to 280. The room was spacious, clean and was on the top floor so we were happy.
We booked our riverboat cruise through a travel agent next door. The river is still a bit low so you have to be bussed downstream about 20k and then the boat journey begins. The price is 250 for Chinese language boat, 450 for English language boat (includes lunch). I'm sure I don't need to tell you which one we picked (Chinese boat)!
As the sun was setting we hiked up Elephant Rock, a large rock formation by the river that looks like an elephant taking a drink. The entry fee (25 yuan) included a little park too. It was pleasant by the river, watching people fish and punt by.
We were super hungry, so we walked around looking for a good place to eat. We found a street with a bunch of restaurants with great big buckets of live fish, crabs, crayfish and turtles, as well as cages with chickens, rabbits and ducks. I felt bad for the turtles (who kept blindly trying to push through the netting covering their baskets) and Jess felt bad for the rabbits and ducks so we kept going. We walked down a hutong with more restaurants, almost all featured outdoor seating. We picked one place that was hopping, but they didn't have English menu or a big picture menu so we pressed on. We then came upon a cluster of restaurants with plates of fresh ingredients out front that you could point at to choose. They had crayfish (what I really wanted plus Jess eats fish and shellfish) as well as tons of fresh veggies. We got the crayfish, along with eggplant and broccoli. When the food came we were so happy; it was delicious! The crayfish were fried in a garlic soy sauce, the eggplant was sauteed so it was kind of squashy and the broccoli was nicely steamed. Yum!
Our neighbors were a group of Chinese who were playing a Cantonese drinking game that involved toothpicks, hand signals and shouting numbers (which was how I knew it was Cantonese). Jess and I just could not figure out the rules! Interestingly, they were not Cantonese because when speaking otherwise they used Mandarin. Odd!
After eating, we strolled along the town's main drag checking out the night market. I had foolishly left my hat in Beijing so I was hoping to find a hat of some kind (preferrably Boston Red Sox to match Jessica's) but was out of luck. There weren't even any Yankees hats to be found (not that I would have bought one), surprising since they are the world's most recognizable sports brand. Jess did find some fake Kappa socks, however.
We stopped at a supermarket to get some food for the boat ride the next day and then walked back to the hotel.
We weren't that tired so we stayed up playing playing cards (we were mildly entertained by a sort of Iron Chef competition, but for manicurists). We played Crazy Eights, poker and blackjack, wagering with my collection of perfume samples), it was pretty fun. We went to bed at midnight, since we had to catch the bus to the boat at 8am.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
天壇 - Most Auspicious Harvest Prayers at Temple of Heaven
Today dawned fair and sunny, so Jess and I decided to go to the Temple of Heaven with Ben Malki. Because of the Labor Day weekend, we were worried that it would be crazy packed with people, but it was pleasantly spacious inside the temple park.
Jess and I took the subway, because the temple was pretty close to our hotel and Ben was coming from Haidian (pretty far away). Jess and I saw that the pearl market was right next to the temple, so we went in to browse around while we were waiting for Ben. I had been wanting to get a big, long strand of black pearls for a long time, so I was able to find a stall with some pearls I liked. They sell them on these pre-strung strands, and then when you pick the ones you want they knot them for you. The girls are so fast at knotting, it's really impressive. Jessica makes her own jewelry, so she got the girl to teach her how to knot the pearls. Knotted pearl necklaces are preferred because if the strand breaks, you'll only lose one pearl instead of the whole lot.
I got what I consider to be a good deal on the necklace, 225 yuan. For a giant long strand of 11 mm baroque pearls that's a pretty good price (divide by 6.8). Jess and I will likely go back to get gifts for friends, and Jess wants to get some loose pearls for herself.
Ben arrived just when my necklace was finished, so we went into the temple. We thought it would be nutty crowded, but it was actually not. I guess everyone decided to leave Beijing for the weekend--the better for us!
There were lots of people just hanging out in the park doing all kinds of stuff, chess playing, singing songs, dancing, etc. It was really interesting to see what people were getting up to on their days off.
The temple is kind of interesting, not as spectacular as the Forbidden City I would say. I'm glad I went, as I didn't see it the last time I was in Beijing. It has an interesting style of architecture. We enjoyed just being outside in the park, which didn't feel polluted as the rest of Beijing, plus it was a nice clear day.
After wandering around the temple grounds, we exited from a different gate than where we entered. We saw a little hutong (a REALLY little one--only wide enough for bikes to pass) and Ben wanted to check it out. We found a niu rou mian dealer, who was making the noodles fresh and cooking them right there. I knew I wanted a bowl right away, I love niu rou mian! The noodles were predictably delicious. The cook would take the dough and swing it up and down like a jumprope, and then twist it up. He would keep doing that until the noodles were skinny enough (like spaghetti). The broth was really good, too, almost minty, with lots of fresh parsley on top along with dried beef on top. Delicious! Ben had a kind of meat sandwich thing that he enjoyed. Jessica tried these deep fried sweet potato balls that she loved, so everyone got something good.
We went back to the hotel and Jess and I went swimming in our FABULOUS 25m lap pool. It's very posh, of course. The pool is more like a fancy spa, with a gorgeous locker room, separate sex jacuzzi, sauna, etc. The pool was empty, like the rest of the hotel. The jacuzzi even has a big screen TV in it so you can surf channels while you soak. Over the top!
Jess and I took the subway, because the temple was pretty close to our hotel and Ben was coming from Haidian (pretty far away). Jess and I saw that the pearl market was right next to the temple, so we went in to browse around while we were waiting for Ben. I had been wanting to get a big, long strand of black pearls for a long time, so I was able to find a stall with some pearls I liked. They sell them on these pre-strung strands, and then when you pick the ones you want they knot them for you. The girls are so fast at knotting, it's really impressive. Jessica makes her own jewelry, so she got the girl to teach her how to knot the pearls. Knotted pearl necklaces are preferred because if the strand breaks, you'll only lose one pearl instead of the whole lot.
I got what I consider to be a good deal on the necklace, 225 yuan. For a giant long strand of 11 mm baroque pearls that's a pretty good price (divide by 6.8). Jess and I will likely go back to get gifts for friends, and Jess wants to get some loose pearls for herself.
Ben arrived just when my necklace was finished, so we went into the temple. We thought it would be nutty crowded, but it was actually not. I guess everyone decided to leave Beijing for the weekend--the better for us!
There were lots of people just hanging out in the park doing all kinds of stuff, chess playing, singing songs, dancing, etc. It was really interesting to see what people were getting up to on their days off.
The temple is kind of interesting, not as spectacular as the Forbidden City I would say. I'm glad I went, as I didn't see it the last time I was in Beijing. It has an interesting style of architecture. We enjoyed just being outside in the park, which didn't feel polluted as the rest of Beijing, plus it was a nice clear day.
After wandering around the temple grounds, we exited from a different gate than where we entered. We saw a little hutong (a REALLY little one--only wide enough for bikes to pass) and Ben wanted to check it out. We found a niu rou mian dealer, who was making the noodles fresh and cooking them right there. I knew I wanted a bowl right away, I love niu rou mian! The noodles were predictably delicious. The cook would take the dough and swing it up and down like a jumprope, and then twist it up. He would keep doing that until the noodles were skinny enough (like spaghetti). The broth was really good, too, almost minty, with lots of fresh parsley on top along with dried beef on top. Delicious! Ben had a kind of meat sandwich thing that he enjoyed. Jessica tried these deep fried sweet potato balls that she loved, so everyone got something good.
We went back to the hotel and Jess and I went swimming in our FABULOUS 25m lap pool. It's very posh, of course. The pool is more like a fancy spa, with a gorgeous locker room, separate sex jacuzzi, sauna, etc. The pool was empty, like the rest of the hotel. The jacuzzi even has a big screen TV in it so you can surf channels while you soak. Over the top!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Goodness, Gracious, Great Walls of Fire!
The T-birds had our last group sightseeing activity today, we went to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. We all piled into the tourbus and departed Beida for the 2 hour drive to the wall. I was tired, so I snoozed until we got to the countryside near the wall. Interestingly, all the villages in the area have built up these large, tacky restaurants to cater to Chinese tourists visiting the wall. I'm sure no foreign groups stop there, but they get plenty of local tourists in need of dining in a huge, fake rainforest.
Luckily the wall was not too crowded, despite the large parking lots which are no doubt filled up in the summer, and the usual gauntlet of hawkers selling t-shirts, fake silk robes, and the like. Mutianyu has not one but two cable cars that take you up and down, and even has an alpine slide luge thing (sans ice of course) to bring out back down. There is the traditional stairs option, but Jess, Mike, Vidya and I opted for the cable car since we were not feeling the one hour stairs ascent. As Franklin pointed out, once you climb the stairs TO the wall, you still have to hike UP it!
The wall was not too crowded, except for this horribly loud school group on a field trip. They were all running around and screaming, which was behavior more fit for smaller kids rather than high school age. My comment was, "Apparently all the one children have decided to come to the wall today!"
When we got to the wall, we had the option to go to the right, to the slide, and downhill, or to the left, which was uphill quite a ways but appeared to offer a great view. We opted for left.
The restored wall is much as I remember it, well kept up but with a few potholes and broken steps here and there. Mostly Chinese tourists, although I did see a smattering of laowais, and there was a huge pack of British charity hikers walking the wall to raise money for injured firefighter's families. The pictures I took made it seem like the wall was emptier than it really was. It was still pleasant though, to have a strenuous hike (the last hill was about a 50 degree incline, according to one of our classmates) and be in warmer weather. It was much more comfortable at the wall, noticeably warmer than Beijing.
It was a hazy day (or polluted?) so it wasn't a clear blue sky, but the cherry blossoms were starting to come out so the vistas were still pleasant. We got to the high point to find it clogged with the loud student group. One student asked to take a photo with me (do they think I'm famous?) and another showed me the little garter snake he bought for 10 yuan.
We headed back and had to hang on to the wall at times because the descent was so steep! My thigh muscles were very tired by the end. We thought about walking to the slide to ride it down but opted for the cable car instead. We made it through the gauntlet of hawkers (same old hard sell, but some new items, such as furry hats, which I resisted because it's getting warmer here, white fox skins and parasols) and had lunch on the bus.
We drove back to Beijing and I slept the whole way; I was quite tired! Overall Mutianyu is a pleasant place to visit, but only in the off-season I think. With the ease of access, too many people can come up and I could see it being very crowded in the summer. Die hards seeking solitude are better off at the more remote locations.
Luckily the wall was not too crowded, despite the large parking lots which are no doubt filled up in the summer, and the usual gauntlet of hawkers selling t-shirts, fake silk robes, and the like. Mutianyu has not one but two cable cars that take you up and down, and even has an alpine slide luge thing (sans ice of course) to bring out back down. There is the traditional stairs option, but Jess, Mike, Vidya and I opted for the cable car since we were not feeling the one hour stairs ascent. As Franklin pointed out, once you climb the stairs TO the wall, you still have to hike UP it!
The wall was not too crowded, except for this horribly loud school group on a field trip. They were all running around and screaming, which was behavior more fit for smaller kids rather than high school age. My comment was, "Apparently all the one children have decided to come to the wall today!"
When we got to the wall, we had the option to go to the right, to the slide, and downhill, or to the left, which was uphill quite a ways but appeared to offer a great view. We opted for left.
The restored wall is much as I remember it, well kept up but with a few potholes and broken steps here and there. Mostly Chinese tourists, although I did see a smattering of laowais, and there was a huge pack of British charity hikers walking the wall to raise money for injured firefighter's families. The pictures I took made it seem like the wall was emptier than it really was. It was still pleasant though, to have a strenuous hike (the last hill was about a 50 degree incline, according to one of our classmates) and be in warmer weather. It was much more comfortable at the wall, noticeably warmer than Beijing.
It was a hazy day (or polluted?) so it wasn't a clear blue sky, but the cherry blossoms were starting to come out so the vistas were still pleasant. We got to the high point to find it clogged with the loud student group. One student asked to take a photo with me (do they think I'm famous?) and another showed me the little garter snake he bought for 10 yuan.
We headed back and had to hang on to the wall at times because the descent was so steep! My thigh muscles were very tired by the end. We thought about walking to the slide to ride it down but opted for the cable car instead. We made it through the gauntlet of hawkers (same old hard sell, but some new items, such as furry hats, which I resisted because it's getting warmer here, white fox skins and parasols) and had lunch on the bus.
We drove back to Beijing and I slept the whole way; I was quite tired! Overall Mutianyu is a pleasant place to visit, but only in the off-season I think. With the ease of access, too many people can come up and I could see it being very crowded in the summer. Die hards seeking solitude are better off at the more remote locations.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
One Saturday's Odyssey in Beijing [Or, A Day of Expensive Cabs]
On Saturday, Mike, Jess and I joined Ethan Tseng to visit his aunt and uncle's Taiwanese restaurant in the industrial area by the airport. They are industrious Taiwanese businesspeople, with several investments in China and Taiwan. They were in Beijing for a few days, so they invited us to come and sample their dishes. Ethan is also from Taiwan, and is ethnically Hakka (we had a good laugh about how Hakka women are traditionally supposed to be husky and do most of the work around the house and on the farm).
We were supposed to meet Ethan at the line 10 stop where you transfer to the airport train at noon, but getting out of bed and ready to go took longer than anticipated so we decided to take a cab. The cab took longer than anticipated because there was a stall on the 4th ring road, which caused a traffic jam. Our cabbie was very confused as to why 3 people were taking a cab to meet 1 person, and Mike and I tried to explain that we were meeting him at the subway, and then continuing on to another location by the airport, but we weren't sure the message was really communicated.
Once we got to the subway station, Ethan was waiting outside, so we had just paid our cabbie when he hopped in and directed him to the next stop: the restaurant. We headed northeast on the airport expressway and then exited about halfway. We found ourselves in an odd neighborhood that reminded me of Southern California or Glendale... generic strip malls, McMansion style housing estates and industrial complexes. It was a little unnerving, because these monstrosities were usually right next door to a typical little Chinese style strip mall that looked just like Duo Buay or the road to Swatow.
Luckily, Ethan's aunt's place was very nice inside, with trendy and unique decor. They serve traditional and popular Taiwanese dishes which we absolutely delicious. We had sweet pickles, bitter melon with salted egg, little steamed bread sandwiches, steamed bream, tripe soup, fried tofu and many other tasty things (that I can't remember).
After stuffing our faces, we caught a cab back to Beijing. Ethan suggested that we go to Beihai park, which was supposed to be really beautiful. The cab ride was quite long, so we napped and arrived refreshed (albeit still very stuffed). Beihai is a park just north of the Forbidden City, and is famous for its white pagoda on top of a hill which gives a nice view of the surrounding city, as well as a pretty lake with boat rental available. We paid 15 Yuan for entrance, which included access to the hill area with the white temple portion. I'm glad we paid the extra amount, because the temple area was less crowded and more peaceful, although you can never escape the crowds in Beijing. The people visiting were overwhelmingly Chinese tourists; we saw almost no foreigners.
Inside the park by the lake we saw a lot of old men practicing calligraphy with brushes using lake water as ink on the stone walkways. They were using traditional characters, which was nice to see. Jessica especially was very excited to see the calligraphy in action. I recognized a Li Bo poem that I had to translate in college--it's about drinking alone (of course... Li Bo did a lot of drinking alone and then wrote about how much it stinks).
The temple grounds were peaceful and provided much inspiration for photography. The temple had a thick bamboo grove so I was reminded of the bamboo forest in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I suggested that we start taking some wacky Wushu master photos--the Prague module and the Beijing module have a sort of informal contest going to to see who can post the best pictures up on Facebook. Right now Beijing is blowing Prague out of the water because all their photos are of people drinking. Ours are much more creative. I figured with kung fu photos we would triumph hands down. Many creative shots were engendered, such as jumping up in the air and kicking, hanging from rocks and fighting, and even fake pushing off railings and Jessica "breaking" a stone (there was a whole one and a broken one, so we employed some trick photography). Most of the photos were taken by Ethan, who has a SLR digital camera with multi-shot technology. I am waiting for him to give me the photos in class tomorrow, and then will post them. They are truly spectacular.
The pagoda thing (confusingly called a dagoba, which is incidentally the name of the swamp planet from Empire Strikes Back where Yoda has been hiding out from the Empire and Luke visits to learn the ways of the force) was kind of ho-hum, but the hill did give a nice view of the city and the setting sun provided some pleasant light for portrait taking.
After leaving Beihai park Ethan split off to go have dinner with the Indian crew and Jess, Mike and I headed to Sanlituan to find pizza. We ate at The Tree, which was ok, not AMAZING like Mozza (truth: nothing is as amazing as Mozza) but thankfully not oily unlike almost everything else in this city. After The Tree we went to the Smugglers Hideout, which features 2 x bottles of Beijing Yanjing for only 15 yuan. We then caught the last train to Wudaokou, back on the west side of town to make a classmate's birthday afterparty at a bar called Pyro. Pyro is every college bar in America with just a higher proportion of Asian people inside--smoky, sweaty, beery and full of empty pitchers and loud rap music. It was fun to hang out with the crew, however, since I have been leaving them behind in the dust as Mike, Jess, Ethan and I explore the city.
We were supposed to meet Ethan at the line 10 stop where you transfer to the airport train at noon, but getting out of bed and ready to go took longer than anticipated so we decided to take a cab. The cab took longer than anticipated because there was a stall on the 4th ring road, which caused a traffic jam. Our cabbie was very confused as to why 3 people were taking a cab to meet 1 person, and Mike and I tried to explain that we were meeting him at the subway, and then continuing on to another location by the airport, but we weren't sure the message was really communicated.
Once we got to the subway station, Ethan was waiting outside, so we had just paid our cabbie when he hopped in and directed him to the next stop: the restaurant. We headed northeast on the airport expressway and then exited about halfway. We found ourselves in an odd neighborhood that reminded me of Southern California or Glendale... generic strip malls, McMansion style housing estates and industrial complexes. It was a little unnerving, because these monstrosities were usually right next door to a typical little Chinese style strip mall that looked just like Duo Buay or the road to Swatow.
Luckily, Ethan's aunt's place was very nice inside, with trendy and unique decor. They serve traditional and popular Taiwanese dishes which we absolutely delicious. We had sweet pickles, bitter melon with salted egg, little steamed bread sandwiches, steamed bream, tripe soup, fried tofu and many other tasty things (that I can't remember).
After stuffing our faces, we caught a cab back to Beijing. Ethan suggested that we go to Beihai park, which was supposed to be really beautiful. The cab ride was quite long, so we napped and arrived refreshed (albeit still very stuffed). Beihai is a park just north of the Forbidden City, and is famous for its white pagoda on top of a hill which gives a nice view of the surrounding city, as well as a pretty lake with boat rental available. We paid 15 Yuan for entrance, which included access to the hill area with the white temple portion. I'm glad we paid the extra amount, because the temple area was less crowded and more peaceful, although you can never escape the crowds in Beijing. The people visiting were overwhelmingly Chinese tourists; we saw almost no foreigners.
Inside the park by the lake we saw a lot of old men practicing calligraphy with brushes using lake water as ink on the stone walkways. They were using traditional characters, which was nice to see. Jessica especially was very excited to see the calligraphy in action. I recognized a Li Bo poem that I had to translate in college--it's about drinking alone (of course... Li Bo did a lot of drinking alone and then wrote about how much it stinks).
The temple grounds were peaceful and provided much inspiration for photography. The temple had a thick bamboo grove so I was reminded of the bamboo forest in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I suggested that we start taking some wacky Wushu master photos--the Prague module and the Beijing module have a sort of informal contest going to to see who can post the best pictures up on Facebook. Right now Beijing is blowing Prague out of the water because all their photos are of people drinking. Ours are much more creative. I figured with kung fu photos we would triumph hands down. Many creative shots were engendered, such as jumping up in the air and kicking, hanging from rocks and fighting, and even fake pushing off railings and Jessica "breaking" a stone (there was a whole one and a broken one, so we employed some trick photography). Most of the photos were taken by Ethan, who has a SLR digital camera with multi-shot technology. I am waiting for him to give me the photos in class tomorrow, and then will post them. They are truly spectacular.
The pagoda thing (confusingly called a dagoba, which is incidentally the name of the swamp planet from Empire Strikes Back where Yoda has been hiding out from the Empire and Luke visits to learn the ways of the force) was kind of ho-hum, but the hill did give a nice view of the city and the setting sun provided some pleasant light for portrait taking.
After leaving Beihai park Ethan split off to go have dinner with the Indian crew and Jess, Mike and I headed to Sanlituan to find pizza. We ate at The Tree, which was ok, not AMAZING like Mozza (truth: nothing is as amazing as Mozza) but thankfully not oily unlike almost everything else in this city. After The Tree we went to the Smugglers Hideout, which features 2 x bottles of Beijing Yanjing for only 15 yuan. We then caught the last train to Wudaokou, back on the west side of town to make a classmate's birthday afterparty at a bar called Pyro. Pyro is every college bar in America with just a higher proportion of Asian people inside--smoky, sweaty, beery and full of empty pitchers and loud rap music. It was fun to hang out with the crew, however, since I have been leaving them behind in the dust as Mike, Jess, Ethan and I explore the city.
798 Art District: East German Factory Complex Breeds Creativity
On Friday Beida arranged for a tour of the 798 Art District, which originally started out as a factory complex built by East German Communists in the 50's and became an artist's enclave once the factory was abandoned. Now it's been officially taken over by the government, so all the real artists have moved away to other, more bohemian approved locations, but it's still a fascinating complex visually and to see some of the exhibitions and art displays that are still there.
We were told we wold get a tour of the complex, but the bus just dropped us off and sped off, so we were left to fend for ourselves. I just wandered around and took photos of things I found interesting. With the pipes, steam and industrial surroundings, there were a lot of inspirational images.
As the day wore on, some of the shops and galleries opened up and we had a nice time perusing the offerings and poking around. I'd like to visit some of the artist's villages that are mentioned in the guidebook but those will have to wait for another day.
We were told we wold get a tour of the complex, but the bus just dropped us off and sped off, so we were left to fend for ourselves. I just wandered around and took photos of things I found interesting. With the pipes, steam and industrial surroundings, there were a lot of inspirational images.
As the day wore on, some of the shops and galleries opened up and we had a nice time perusing the offerings and poking around. I'd like to visit some of the artist's villages that are mentioned in the guidebook but those will have to wait for another day.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Summer Palace - 4 Miles of Circumferencial Glory
Wednesday dawned clear and sunny yet again so Jessica and I decided to head to the Summer Palace. Upon seeing the weather, Jessica exclaimed, "It's because I'm here that we have nice weather!" My response? "We'll probably have a week of sandstorms to compensate." Since the summer palace is one big giant park, good weather was a must for an enjoyable wandering experience.
We took a cab to the palace from our hotel and had a really funny cabbie. He and I chatted (in Chinese) and he said that he really likes Obama, Bill Clinton and basketball. He also drove us about 1km extra after we paid, which we thought was very kind of him.
The Summer Palace was constructed starting in 1750 by Emperor Qianlong, who ruled the Qing dynasty famously for over 60 years. The complex is dominated by a large lake, known as Kunming lake, as well as Longevity Hill and many gardens, pavilions, walkways and bridges. Jessica and I agreed that it is perfect for 1) swanning about in your robes 2) being carried majestically in your robes in a litter and 3) driving a chariot around while in your robes. As you can see, glamorous robes would have added to the Summer Palace experience, but would have been troublesome as the day was quite windy.
The eastern entrance gate was clogged with tourists, almost entirely large Chinese tour groups, which muddle about in large clusters, almost always following a young lady toting a flag and all wear ugly, bright colored hats plastered with the name of the tour company. Jessica and I decided to get as far away from the crowds as possible, and so we started walking clockwise around the lake. We stopped at various auspiciously named locations such as "Hall of Jade Billows", "Hall of Benevolence and Longevity" and "Dragon King Temple." We wanted to rent a boat, but it was quite windy so the boats were all sadly tied up at the dock. As soon as we got away from the entrance area, the crows thinned out considerably.
The Summer Palace is famous for its Western Causeway, which divides the lake into a 1/3 size smaller portion and has beautiful bridges and temples. Even though it was very windy on that side, we enjoyed the bright sun and pleasant temperatures.
When we got back to the side of the lake where Longevity Hill is the crowds bulked up again, so we skipped ogling the marble boat of Empress Dowager Cixi (who built it because she was told by her advisers that China needed a navy... oops). We headed back towards the east gate by way of the Long Corridor (also great for swanning about in your robes) and caught a cab back to the hotel.
The Summer Palace was destroyed twice during the Empress Dowager's rule and she rebuilt it both times. It also displays the same shiny new paint job at major attractions that the Forbidden City received as a lead up to the Olympic games. It is a very pleasant and relaxing place to visit, as long as you skip the crowds who congregate at the northern end of the lake to see Longevity Hill and the marble boat. Jessica and I wanted to know how far we walked, so we found out the surface area of Kunming Lake, solved to find its radius, then found the circumference and discovered it's about 3.27 miles around. Added to the additional walking we did during the day (walking to Beida to get Jessica's ID and visiting the Nameless Lake on Beida's northern campus) we guesstimated a total of about 5 miles of walking! So, to celebrate, today we are getting a massage.
We took a cab to the palace from our hotel and had a really funny cabbie. He and I chatted (in Chinese) and he said that he really likes Obama, Bill Clinton and basketball. He also drove us about 1km extra after we paid, which we thought was very kind of him.
The Summer Palace was constructed starting in 1750 by Emperor Qianlong, who ruled the Qing dynasty famously for over 60 years. The complex is dominated by a large lake, known as Kunming lake, as well as Longevity Hill and many gardens, pavilions, walkways and bridges. Jessica and I agreed that it is perfect for 1) swanning about in your robes 2) being carried majestically in your robes in a litter and 3) driving a chariot around while in your robes. As you can see, glamorous robes would have added to the Summer Palace experience, but would have been troublesome as the day was quite windy.
The eastern entrance gate was clogged with tourists, almost entirely large Chinese tour groups, which muddle about in large clusters, almost always following a young lady toting a flag and all wear ugly, bright colored hats plastered with the name of the tour company. Jessica and I decided to get as far away from the crowds as possible, and so we started walking clockwise around the lake. We stopped at various auspiciously named locations such as "Hall of Jade Billows", "Hall of Benevolence and Longevity" and "Dragon King Temple." We wanted to rent a boat, but it was quite windy so the boats were all sadly tied up at the dock. As soon as we got away from the entrance area, the crows thinned out considerably.
The Summer Palace is famous for its Western Causeway, which divides the lake into a 1/3 size smaller portion and has beautiful bridges and temples. Even though it was very windy on that side, we enjoyed the bright sun and pleasant temperatures.
When we got back to the side of the lake where Longevity Hill is the crowds bulked up again, so we skipped ogling the marble boat of Empress Dowager Cixi (who built it because she was told by her advisers that China needed a navy... oops). We headed back towards the east gate by way of the Long Corridor (also great for swanning about in your robes) and caught a cab back to the hotel.
The Summer Palace was destroyed twice during the Empress Dowager's rule and she rebuilt it both times. It also displays the same shiny new paint job at major attractions that the Forbidden City received as a lead up to the Olympic games. It is a very pleasant and relaxing place to visit, as long as you skip the crowds who congregate at the northern end of the lake to see Longevity Hill and the marble boat. Jessica and I wanted to know how far we walked, so we found out the surface area of Kunming Lake, solved to find its radius, then found the circumference and discovered it's about 3.27 miles around. Added to the additional walking we did during the day (walking to Beida to get Jessica's ID and visiting the Nameless Lake on Beida's northern campus) we guesstimated a total of about 5 miles of walking! So, to celebrate, today we are getting a massage.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Touristy Stuff: Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square
This morning the program arranged for a free tour of Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. Even though the bus left at 8:30am, I still wanted to go because hey, it's free, and the Forbidden city is a bit of a hike from the hotel so we figured we might as well get our money's worth! When I woke up this morning iI saw with amazement that it was a beautiful clear day, sunny and blue skies. That was the deciding factor: I had to go!
I made the bus with plenty of time to spare, although the karaoke crew came rolling in late and very hungover. I was quite glad that I ended up skipping--KTV will always be there and I can go for round II next time.
We had a guide take us around to Tian'anmen first, although we only walked up the length of the square and did not go into Mao's tomb to view the preserved body of Dear Leader (not that I am complaining about that). It was really chilly, probably about 55 with a continuous chill wind blowing. The communist hat vendors were making a brisk business selling the furry hats and gloves to frigid tourists. The Forbidden City looks much the same it did in 1997, although it has been spiffed up quite a bit for the Olympics. All the major buildings/gates are freshly repainted, which looks pretty from afar but close up looks a little bit shiny. The side areas are not restored, and to me were more interesting. As soon as we got in the City Mike and I ditched the group and went off to do our own thing. we made a pact to take only non-postcard type pictures, so we had a really fun time looking for interesting photographic subjects and unique shots.
After working our way north and leaving the city we met up with Ethan (native Taiwanese) and decided to find a place to eat. We were walking towards the Wudakou subway station and were talking about how much we wanted some dumplings when we found this literal hole in the wall dumpling shack! It was just a narrow room with a couple of tables and chairs, with a guy in the front steaming everything. The place was crowded though, so we ordered some dumplings, xiaolongbao and xiaobao (which are like small dumplings but with rice inside). The total was 15 yuan! What a crazy deal!
We walked to Wudaokou so I could buy the Insiders Guide to Beijing at the English Language bookstore. I also got Lonely Planet Cambodia so I can get a feeling for what to do there besides just go to Siem Riep and Ankor Wat. We took a cab back to the hotel so Mike could check out of the hotel and move into his apartment. He and I will hit up Sanlituan area tonight to hang out with Cordell. So far it's been a great weekend!
I made the bus with plenty of time to spare, although the karaoke crew came rolling in late and very hungover. I was quite glad that I ended up skipping--KTV will always be there and I can go for round II next time.
We had a guide take us around to Tian'anmen first, although we only walked up the length of the square and did not go into Mao's tomb to view the preserved body of Dear Leader (not that I am complaining about that). It was really chilly, probably about 55 with a continuous chill wind blowing. The communist hat vendors were making a brisk business selling the furry hats and gloves to frigid tourists. The Forbidden City looks much the same it did in 1997, although it has been spiffed up quite a bit for the Olympics. All the major buildings/gates are freshly repainted, which looks pretty from afar but close up looks a little bit shiny. The side areas are not restored, and to me were more interesting. As soon as we got in the City Mike and I ditched the group and went off to do our own thing. we made a pact to take only non-postcard type pictures, so we had a really fun time looking for interesting photographic subjects and unique shots.
After working our way north and leaving the city we met up with Ethan (native Taiwanese) and decided to find a place to eat. We were walking towards the Wudakou subway station and were talking about how much we wanted some dumplings when we found this literal hole in the wall dumpling shack! It was just a narrow room with a couple of tables and chairs, with a guy in the front steaming everything. The place was crowded though, so we ordered some dumplings, xiaolongbao and xiaobao (which are like small dumplings but with rice inside). The total was 15 yuan! What a crazy deal!
We walked to Wudaokou so I could buy the Insiders Guide to Beijing at the English Language bookstore. I also got Lonely Planet Cambodia so I can get a feeling for what to do there besides just go to Siem Riep and Ankor Wat. We took a cab back to the hotel so Mike could check out of the hotel and move into his apartment. He and I will hit up Sanlituan area tonight to hang out with Cordell. So far it's been a great weekend!
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