I did it all wrong! For eight weeks prior to my exchange to China I walked two to three miles per day, three to four times per week. I was really out of condition and I wanted to be ready for all the anticipated walking I was to endure. Instead, I should have practiced sitting in an upright position with my legs crammed beneath me for nineteen hours at a time to prepare for the flight over.
Once we landed in Beijing I was, however, miraculously rejuvenated by all the street sights as we bused to our hotel for the night. I experienced new buildings of offices and apartments and hotels and shopping centers competing for prominence in the skyline. Obviously, some of the architects treasures of the past have been lost, but many remain and as we traveled the alleys and streets winding their way through the city we saw old, new, destroyed and repaired all intermingled among the courtyards of gardens and recreational walkways that peppered the city. They have a saying in China that there is so much building going on that the national bird is the CRANE.
Finally reaching the Grand View Garden Hotel we found it surrounded by fountains and gardens that would take your breath away. I wanted to immediately start taking pictures but better sense (my wife) convinced me that daylight would provide an ability to tell what the pictures were when developed.
Morning came and we all had an American breakfast of eggs, bacon, sweet rolls etc, which we later came to really appreciate. I took a few pictures and then we were off to experience Beijings ancient history assisted by our national guide Haghn Jing or "Hanna" - her Americanized name.
Beijing first became a capital city in 1279 when the Song regime was unable to hold back the Mongol army of Kublai Khan who conquered China and founded the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). Less than a century later Han rebels took advantage of Kublai's incompetent Mongol successors, raised an army and drove out the Yuan.
Our first stop was Teananmen Square where on Oct 1, 1949 the founding of the "People's Republic of China" was proclaimed from atop the Teananmen Gate by Mao Zedong. The hardships we were to view in the next few days were explained as a necessary step in the "Great Leap Forward" during this "Cultural Revolution" while carrying out land and industrial reform.
From Teananmen we went to the Forbidden City. This is where the Ming and Qing emperors were served - in the best of times - by 9,000 maids and 100,000 eunuches in a complex of 800 buildings with 9,000 bays. great courtyards of carved marble and secret gardens. Access to the Palace was forbidden to all but the imperial court and certain Jesuit foreigners. Emperors were rarely permitted to leave on their own.
We left the Forbidden City and stopped at a restaurant to have a Chinese lunch (Strange food but the beer was good) before traveling to the "Summer Palace" (the Yuan Ming or Perfect and bright garden). This area was built in the plains north west of Beijing by Emperor Yang Zheng (1723-35) as a glorious retreat from the hot Beijing summers. It was plundered and destroyed by British and French troops in 1860 but was later rebuilt by Emperors Qian Long and Dowagen in the 1880's.
One of the attractions was the "marble boat" (actually made of stone) which is permanently moored by the "Pavilion for Listening to the Orioles" restaurant and the "Hall for Cultivating Happiness", which is now a museum of imperial memorabilia. forth.
After another Chinese meal we attended the "Peking Opera" where the loud music and banging could not keep a number of us from dozing off from time to time, more due to exhaustion than boredom. Then back to the hotel to get some sleep and prepare for another big day.
Morning provided another appreciated American breakfast before heading out to experience "The Great Wall" which was begun during the short lived Qin Dynasty (221-206BC) A landmark in Chinese history the Qin Emperor linked a number of defensive structures together to create the first great wall and built a palace in what was to become Chan'an (which is todays Xi'an where we would travel next). The wall is not just a "wall" - it goes mostly up and so you don't 'walk' the wall - you 'climb' the wall. Many of us set our sights on a high mountainous tower and climbed until we thought we could go no further. Those travelers who were on their way down kept encouraging us but it was one of our own - Lew Holden - who inspired us. At age 75 and in ill health, he was determined to reach the top. Would we dare do less?
After Lunch we journeyed to one of the Ming tombs where we descended many flights of stairs just to see some boxes where caskets used to be. I could have passed on that one.
That evening we experienced a "Peking Duck" dinner and then returned to our hotel.
The following morning prior to breakfast I found a way to peek over the motel back wall into a "pay to visit" park so I could take some pictures. I saw a man fishing and a small parade of costumed people transporting a carriage around a fountain.
After breakfast we visited the "Palace of Heaven". Here while taking pictures of our group we found many Chinese adults and children joining the group so they could have their pictures taken with these strange people with the "big noses", while others looked on and laughed at the intrusion. Following our visit we had lunch at a restaurant in the embassy section of town, had a birthday celebration for two of our members and then I escaped to visit the beautiful park near the restaurant. I returned to find our group on the bus and impatiently waiting my return.
That afternoon we visited a "friendship" store - a department store created mostly for tourists but this is where we could find needed items we could not find elsewhere. For Ramona and I it was two more suitcases we needed to house the excess of items we promised ourselves we were not going to buy.
Later that afternoon we visited a Jade factory where we saw outstanding jade objects created by masterful cutters and assemblers. Items were reasonably priced - and we did have extra suitcases for the items.
Then to the airport where we boarded a Chinese airline plane and waited 30 minutes in sweltering heat and humidity for additional passengers to arrive. Once in the air the flight was comfortable and the service excellent and we arrived in Xi'an about two hours later.
A noticeably concerned Hanna found no bus or city guide waiting for us at the airport. A traffic accident delayed their arrival but soon our new guide - Chen - and the bus picked us up and drove us to our Hotel - another excellent facility. Our room had a small refrigerator and in it was the coldest coke I had had in a long time. (China is not known for edibles and drinkables that are cool much less cold)
Morning provided another much needed American breakfast and then a trip to a museum where we viewed artifacts as much as 6000 years old. Lunch was consumed and then we traveled to the Terra-cotta Tombs where we experienced something that I would say "you must see to believe". No pictures could have prepared us for the first sight of the great army of life- like, larger than life terra-cotta warriors displayed in an enclosed museum that stands on the 56 square mile sight of the Qin Emperors burial grounds a few miles east of Xi'an. More than 7,000 figures of molded sculpted clay were buried along with the emperor and members of his court. The mausoleum was accidentally discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974. Three vaults have so far been revealed and many of the fragmented figures restored. We saw additional figures being worked on.
The next morning we left Xi'an for Chengdu. Here we visited another emperors hangout before touring a silk factory. I bought a silk art piece created by sewing colored silk treads onto a solid silk background. It was created by a man I had watched creating another piece.
Dinner that evening was great - not the food - the entertainment. First we saw a fashion show and then our new city guide - "Linda" to us - sang during Karoke time. Later Hanna joined her for another popular Chinese song.
The following day was very special and certainly in keeping with our Friendship Force wishes - to visit the people. After touring an interesting hydro-power plant we spent some time visiting a farm family who - by our standards - would be living well below the poverty line, but who seemed to be hard working, accepting and happy people. Grandma had had her feet bound as a child as was the custom of that time but, in recent years, has had them freed. The family grew mostly rice and lived in structures that looked much like shops where all doors are to the outside with no room to room access. The kids were intrigued by a video camera. They would have their pictures taken and then be able to review the scene through the lens.
Equally exciting was an evening visit with a University professor and his family and friends. We were invited to visit his apartment and then we all had dinner together at the University where we had plenty of time to discuss personal world views, values and hopes for the future on a one to one basis.
An early flight had us leaving for the airport at 5:30am the next morning. Flying over Shang Du is an experience in itself. Normal mountainous areas have peaks and valleys. This land has many hills placed randomly among a very flat land like scoops of mashed potatoes around a table. These hills are made of limestone and many have caves, one of which we were taken through. The open cavities containing stalactites and stalagmites were spectacular.
This day we also visited a hospital (more like a clinic) where we watched acupuncture and moxibustion being performed on patients - one of which was one of our owe members. The hundreds of different herbs and concoctions we saw in the pharmacy created a very different odor than we experience in our own hospitals.
The next morning we took a cruise down the Li river. We could not have chosen a better day for this as the temperature was in the later 90's but on the river it was cool and breezy. We saw many bamboo fishing boats and the scenery was awesome.
Another early flight the next morning brought us to Guangzhou "the flower city". The big event of the day was visiting the open food market. The sight of how foods were displayed and handled and especially the types of foods we saw made us all glad that we had already consumed our last meal in China and were soon to board a train to Hong Kong. After arriving in Hong Kong and checking into our Hotel, many of us headed straight for McDonalds.
Morning in Hong Kong was free time while the afternoon provided us a tour of the area. Our bus brought us to the top of a hill overlooking a vast area of high rise buildings. Wall to wall walls as I see it. Even our Hotel (the Harbor View Hotel) gave us wonderful view of the wall of the adjoining building. Once atop the hill we were treated to a cable car trip down the face of the hill where the bus again picked us up.
Evening came and we readied ourselves for the long flight home the next morning. Ramona and I had planned to spend a night in a motel in Minneapolis prior to our return to Fairmont. A chance to rest up and freshen up prior to seeing our family. But as we departed the airplane, three of our children greeted us at the airport. Rejuvenated by the presence of our loved ones we knew we would like to travel again someday but it sure was
nice to be home.