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Journeys, a Creative Travel Blog
What motivates us to travel? It is certainly the need to get away from our daily routine, but more than that, it is our unquenchable curiosity about the way other people live, think, and work. Come blog with us! Send your contribution to
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Reminiscing... China 2009 - 2 december 2009  | | The China Knot- Ph. D. Santal |
After our flight to Guilin, we were tired and not very hungry... The Chinese have been feeding us so abundantly, that most of the time it was too much: it is difficult to refuse those superb fresh and crisp vegetables, and the wok-prepared morsels of meat in a variety of sauces and wonderful additions such as peanuts, or mushrooms, and/or spices! Our new guide, Sandy, offered to take us to a local cafe for tea and sandwich: the chef proudly prepared grilled cheese sandwiches: a truly nice surprise as Chinese cheese, this one not unlike American cheese, was tastier between the slices of whole wheat bread!.
We were not prepared for the events of the next day as we found ourselves testing the skills of Chinese doctors and hospitals! When Mao Tse Tung's revenge hit my husband, after a brief visit from a physician's assistant, we were taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital, barely two minutes away; an English-speaking doctor did a general check-up, took a blood sample, prepared a prescription and reassuringly told us: "Don't worry, it's nothing much, just rest and enjoy your visit to our country!" Sandy walked us back to the hotel and waited for the blood-test results. By evening, things were back in order, even our pocketbook was not taxed too much: the whole thing, including ambulance and medicines, cost a mere 75 US dollars! Amazing!
The planned cruise to Yangshuo, on the Li River was incredibly beautiful, though a bit long: the landscape is striking and we understood how Chinese landscape painters get their inspiration. It was a restful time until we arrived and enjoyed the shops at the landing; some of them are tacky, but many show the beautiful crafts the local Chinese produce; we bought a handsome wooden mask to add to our collection: we already have some from British Columbia, Cuba, Thailand, etc. They are so decorative! We also did some pre-Christmas shopping, most successfully. Prices are quite reasonable once you get the hang of negociating. Almost everyone speaks some English, and when that did not work, Sandy helped.
In Yangshuo, we visited a very elderly couple who, when they retired turned their 300-year old farm into a museum showing how local people live: they were delightful to chat with and so hospitable! That evening we toured Guilin on the river: the nightlights are lovely -- we enjoyed ourselves immensely: the pilot let me have the huge China Knot that decorates his boat: it now hangs at one of the windows of our Connecticut home.
| China is still on my mind... - 23 november 2009  | | The Yunan Stone Forest - Ph. by D. Santal |
Another domestic flight took us from Xian to Lijiang. We knew little about that city but had requested a couple of days there because I had read really interesting details about the area.
Our guide and driver took us to the edge of the old town, that was as far as traffic was allowed. Our first contact with Lijiang was on foot, over its difficult to walk cobble-stones: Lijiang is 800-years old, the streets are narrow, full of small shops, very crowded and absolutely charming: it reminded me of some of France's or Germany's medieval towns, a veritable labyrinth. We arrived at our hotel, it had an unpronounceable name - in western script it reads as "Yinxianggucheng Wenyuan": it was beautiful with an interior courtyard, plants and flowers everywhere, all the rooms opened on that courtyard onto a balcony. The rooms were smallish, quaintly furnished to say the least (fake French Provincial, and very ornate), but extremely comfortable. During our visit, we relied entirely on Rodney, our guide, afraid to get lost in the daedal maze of streets...
We were driven to a Baisha village where the Naxi people have made their home. We walked around the village, mostly uphill and enjoyed the picturesque lifestyle: most tourists ride donkeys instead of walk... I was not tempted, just amused! We vistied a marvelous embroidery school and watched advanced students work: the thread they use is as thin as human baby hair, the embroidery is so fine that once finished it looks like a photograph! The Naxi (pronounced 'na-shi') also do intricate tie-dying, very beautiful, colorful and finely designed. We had a delicious lunch and the cutest little dog stayed with us begging for food: after we were finished, he ran across the street... home: we surmised this was his daily routine, taking advantage of gullible tourists! By the way, he always spit out anything that was not meat!
Another wonderful opportunity came up that evening: a concert of Naxi music on ancient instruments, one of them existed in ancient Egypt as shown on Egyptian tomb paintings -- some of the musicians were ancient as well, in their late 80's: they teach how to play on those astonishing instruments, hoping that their traditions will not be ignored and forgotten by the young who prefer rock music. The M.C. explained the music both in Chinese and in English, adding to our enjoyment.
As in most Chinese cities, even the smallest, there is a magnificent park with plants and trees we had never seen before. One of the "fun" things to see was the Chinese brides and grooms having their pictures taken in the most scenic spots.
Next, an early morning flight took us to Kunming, so there was plenty of time to explore as we arrived. We were driven to the top of a mountain, 250 meters above the city: we had a chance to enjoy the peace and quiet of a beautiful Buddhist Temple. Before checking in at the hotel, we drove to a spectacular park to enjoy the 2009 Chrysanthemum Festival: I had never seen such a variety of flowers, all shapes and colors, such arrangements -- the Chinese are very talented garden designers, as we had seen before -- this park was truly exceptional. It was very crowded, we concluded that the people love flowers and gardens everywhere. On the way back to the city we had a lunch at a nearby hotel and I ate seaweed for the first time: somewhat nutty tasting, a very pleasant surprise indeed.
From Kunming, the next day, we drove to the Yunan Stone Forest: it formed some 400 thousand years ago, when China was still under the sea: you can see vestiges of sealife in the stones. It reminded us of Capadoccia and Petra in the Middle East.
| Visiting China Part I - 31 october 2009  | | Tienanmen Square in Beijing - Ph. by D. Santal |
More than a year ago, I was preparing the itinerary of a trip to China.
A week ago to the day, we came back from our first ever exploration of China and It was dazzling! Our itinerary took us first to Beijing, on to Xian, to Lijiang, to Kunming, to Guilin, to Chengdu and finally to Shanghai; it also included cruises on the Li River and on the Yangtze. It is difficult to do justice to this magnificent country and its charming people, but I want to try.
Any itinerary, even the briefest, tends to include Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. I will start there.
Beijing: on our first day, we walked from our hotel to Tiananmen Square. As China was celebrating its 60th anniversary of the Revolution, it was especially crowded and it was difficult to get a good sense of the largest city square in the world. What I enjoyed most was the flowers; there were displays everywhere, bright colors, mostly red and yellow, and intricate designs; there were also 56 columns all around the square, and each represented one of the fifty six ethnic minorities which compose the People's Republic. Of course, we entered the Forbidden City of the Ming and the Qing dynasties. The formal visit I enjoyed most was the Temple of Heaven, once the royal temple: it has been skillfully restored and is typical of ancient Chinese architecture.
We had reserved one of the days just by ourselves as we wanted to explore the contemporary art scene in Beijing. We took a taxi to the 798 Art District -- it used to be an area with factories and storage facilities and it has been transformed into space for galleries, museums, restaurants and cafés. We were amazed at how sophisticated and up-to-date Chinese artists are. The Museum of Contemporary Art, though small, gives visitors a really good sense of what's going on: an English-speaking docent guided us through and then let us wonder around to our heart's content. We had assumed that the government would interfere with artistic expression, the way the Soviet government had interfered in the USSR, so many years ago: we found that there is a great deal of freedom of expression, at least artistically.
On another occasion, we took the Beijing Subway: ultra modern, fast, easy to manage as all the signs are in Chinese and in English (yes Indeed!); furthermore, someone announces all the stops, again in Chinese and in English!
We marvelled at the warm hospitality Chinese people express readily and their kindness, their sense of humor delighted us and they love to trade jokes! We also enjoyed many excellent and healthy meals, including the famed Peking duck... but more on that at another time.
On our last day, we were taken to the Great Wall: we had been advised to go to the Metanyu section as there are cable cars which take visitors to the top. Unfortunately, it was very foggy and we could not see more than 10 feet in front of us; it was quite a disappointment, but we enjoyed the eerie atmosphere, nonetheless.
| Going to China - 20 October 2008  | | The Great Wall from Mitianyu Section - Ph. by Liuba Beauvais |
One of my most exciting trips ever is in the works… For the past two months I have been working on our exploration of China, the People’s Democratic Republic of China. It has definitely been at the top of our list of “1000 places to see before [we] die” for a long time; the delay was caused by the anticipated expensive trip, but also because I know absolutely nothing about preparing such a trip.
Over the years, I had read several books on that country’s history. We had also seen many documentaries on television. A Chinese friend had recommended we go in September or October, as the weather is the nicest at that time of year in most of the regions. So it was settled that we would go in the fall of 2009.
As a travel professional, I knew nothing about traveling in China, about being a tourist there; I had visited Asia several times: Thailand, Laos, Hong Kong… but that was the extent of my experience, and even so, my colleagues at Adler Travel knew them well and were a big help at the time.
So I started reading travel books and haunted all the online discussions I could find. Finally, I realized that I should ask a tour operator for help: we did not want to waste time traveling on our own, as tempting as the adventure of it was. We had three weeks to a month at our disposal and wanted to make the most efficient use of the time: more expensive, but well worth the reliability.
There were some musts: Beijing, the capital, Xian, to see the terracotta warriors which we had seen at the Metropolitan Museum several years ago, a Yangtze cruise, and Shanghai. Because we love animals, we added Chengdu to see the pandas, Lijiang, Kunming, for its famed gardens, Guilin, for its major role in Chinese history, and Yangshuo, to cruise the beautiful Li River. From our departure to our return dates, the itinerary would take 23 days, quite a trek.
I proceeded to the most obvious and contacted Travel China Guide, the Chinese tour operator recommended by many and based in Xian, by email; I also emailed Liuba Beauvais, one of the discussions participants on Frommer’s website; the former proposed hotels (which I researched with my usual tools), flights and sightseeing, and the latter patiently and consistantly offered invaluable advice on guides, drivers, hotels, priorities, etc.
As of today, our itinerary looks just right! How will we manage to wait for 11 months!
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