Day ?: Shanghai Tour

Backing up a moment, upon our arrival in Shanghai we were met by our local guide, Jenny. What a wonderful lady. There was no situation we could throw at her where she didn't oblige and make things work, starting with simply not accepting "no" as an answer at the hotel when we wanted to change our 3 nights in one room to 3 rooms for 1 night so Nehrings wouldn't have to make 2 return trips to the hotel.Our rooms were on the 16th floor and gave us a bit of a view over Shanghai.Wednesday we made a whirlwind tour of Shanghai with Nehrings (minus Ron). Our stops included: the Jade Buddha Temple, which is both an active temple and a tourist attraction,
The Bund Waterfront walk along the shore of the Hungpu River,

The Yuyuan GardenLunch at the Tian Hou RestaurantHere's your fish, Betsy... Tian Hou Silk Company demo and store (Marion had to get the silk comforter this time)Finally our first real adventure ... the van siezed a bearing or some similar catastrophic failure that stopped us dead on the Yan'an Elevated Road (essentially the expressway through Shanghai)This of course provided an opportunity for pictures of the city from a vantage point that one wouldn't otherwise get!

While we were doing all that, Ron was at the Canadian Consulate doing the paperwork for the Nehring family passport renewals. We stopped there for each of the family members to do what they had to for their respective applications.
Next we were to the Xintiandi District, the old French Concession District) a high end shopping and dining area. One of the significant places is the building where the founding meeting of the Communist Party of China took place in 1921.
After that we had dinner at a local restaurant, took a quick walk through the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall (Shanghai is hosting Expo 2010) .....
.... and then took in a Chinese Acrobatic Show. Last stop was Nehrings apartment for a badly needed night's rest. Thursday morning we slowed our pace considerably. Breakfast, a walk to the local police station to register and a stop at Starbucks for a $4 cup of coffee was filled my agenda.

Here's the view to the north ....

.... and south, from Nehrings apartment.That's it for now. Updates will be more sporadic from here on as I'll be limiting them to significant events.

Day 7: Shanghai

We've arrived in Shanghai and have hooked up with Nehrings. We're all spending the night in the hotel, touring tomorrow and then heading over to their place for the duration of our trip.

Day 6: Xi'an

Full, full day. Today. We started at the south gate of Xi'an's wall. An impressive structure.Following that we visited the Wild Goose Pagoda, had lunch and headed out of town to the Terra Cotta Museum. There's no surprise that it's called the 8th wonder. We're still trying to wrap our mind around installing an 8,000 "man" army underground 2,200 years ago.
After the museum we returned to the city for a dumpling dinner and a quick walk through the local market ....
... and then off to the Tang Dynasty Show.
Whew!! We're beat. It's off to bed to rest up for tomorrow's tour of the Shaanxi Historical Museum and flight to Shanghai.

Day 4 - continued

An early start had us on the road to the Mutianyu region of the Great Wall by 8:30. The drive took us out of Beijing towards the mountains, and then through an area that could have been mountain resort area pretty much anywhere. Hotels, restaurants, trout fishing, stores, etc lined the road for miles. Ultimately we ended up at a point of the mountain where we took a cable car up to a high point on the wall. As luck would have it, we got to ride up in the very same car President Bill Clinton rode up in a number of years ago. Walking the wall was far more strenuous than in the Budaling area. The elevation changes were extreme, stairs were uneven, and packed snow added to the adventure. No matter, we pressed on and and covered the east section as far as it was open. 4 signs at the end made it clear we weren't to go any further.After the hike we were driven to the airport where we said good-bye to our driver and guide and checked in for the flight. All worries about overweight bags were unfounded as they didn't look twice at our 20.2 kg checked bags and didn't weigh our carry-on at all. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch at one of the airport restaurants and then had an uneventful flight to Xi'an. We were greeted at the airport by our bundle of energy guide Cheyenne and the driver Mr. Wong. A quick history lesson about the dynasties that were based in Xi'an accompanied the ride to the restaurant. I was assured there wouldn't be a test!! For dinner we again presented with 6 dishes plus soup and dessert. We seem to be wasting way too much food. :( After dinner it was a quick ride to the hotel - and what a hotel it is - we're in a beautiful 18th floor king room with a TV and light control panel on the nightstand. How cool is that.Overall, another great day! Tomorrow we visit the local wall, the Terra Cotta Soldier Museum and some other stuff that slips my mind right now.

Beijing - Day 4

Packing up and off to the The Wall and then the airport shortly.

Beijing - Day 3

Today's adventures started with a visit the Hutong District of Beijing, "Old Beijing", traveling the narrow roads and alleys in a pedicab with our guide riding alongside on her bicycle. We visited a home in the area where the lady of the house told a bit of her story. Her niece, an artist, was also there and we were able see her specialty, painting exquisite pictures on the inside of bottles. Unfortunately, it seemed she was not allowed to sell to visitors as she didn't offer when we asked where we could buy her work. :o(

We visited the drum tower in the same area and were there for the playing of the drums. Pretty cool.

After that we were driven to the Olypic Park where we were able to walk the grounds and tour inside the Birdnest Stadium. WOW!!! What an amazing facility!!
In the afternoon we strolled around the area of our hotel, which turned out to be more of the Hutong District. Many parts of it reminded us of a compressed (size and space of buildings, not the overall area) Corydon Village area - lots of shops, restaurants and bars - and made for an interesting walk.

In the evening, through arrangements made with another tour company, we went out for a Peking Duck dinner and an acrobat show.

Overall, a great day.

For tomorrow we've arranged to visit and hike the Mutianyu area of The Great Wall on our way to the airport and flight to Xi'an.

Beijing - Day 2

Today our tour consisted of: a jade store, the Ming Tombs, lunch and browsing at a Friendship store and the highlight, hiking on The Great Wall. The former items were regular tourist stuff we might bore you with over dinner but we'll spare you the details for now. The hike on the Wall was breathtaking, in two ways and that we will share now.

Here we are at the start, Sherry took the required picture of us before we started off.
From the start point one chooses to go either north, the easier and busier route, or to the south, the steeper, less traveled route. We chose to go to the south. This picture is looking to the north.
This shot shows a small part of the section we hiked.
Here's one of the stairs. Notice the height of the riser. Climbing sections like this felt more like a ladder than steps. The recently fallen snow didn't make the hike easier either, but it did add to the beauty of the wall and surroundings.I couldn't resist the opportunity to help clear the way. I'd imagine not all that many Canadians have shoveled snow off The Great Wall of China. :o)
On the drive back to the hotel we passed this building. I think it's perhaps the most unique office tower I've ever seen and the video screens on 4 sides make it that much more interesting.
We also drove past the Birdsnest, the venue for much of the 2008 Olympics. Our plan is to visit there tomorrow.
Last picture for today, this is the view of the street looking out from our hotel window.
Observations today:
- Beijing is an expensive city. My guess is the cost of living here is significantly higher than Winnipeg.
- There's no shortage of people to fill sales jobs. In most of the places we stopped there is at least one salesperson not just hovering, but pressuring at all times.
- There must not be rules against panhandling or street vendors ... and they don't accept NO Thanks ... one has to just walk away ... rude but necessary, and it does take away from the overall experience.
- The sky is always hazy, and Beijing is described as a "hi-tech" city. We're wondering what a more industrial city looks like.

That's it for now.

Beijing - Day 1

No problem getting up in the morning: When 7 am is 5 pm back home. The breakfast buffet had some interesting stuff and we were able to find adequate "western" style food to get the day off to a good start.

We met up with our tour guide, Sherry, and driver at 9 and headed over to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. Being "slack" season, we have a van, guide and driver all to ourselves. A couple of things stood out to us. Traffic wasn't as heavy as we expected but it was a real mix, pedestrians (yes, on the street), bikes, cars, vans and buses, all sharing the street in what looked like a big game of chicken. Also, I expected more micro cars. In reality, most of the cars were big, black luxury sedans. No shortage, Audi, BMW, M-B and the like around here.

We didn't spend a whole lot of time at Tain'anmen Square, just enough to realize it's huge and to see few of the buildings.
From there we walked under the street to the Forbidden City. Again, huge, I believe there were a total of nine gates to get to the center. This is looking from Tian'anmen Square over the street to the Forbidden City.
One of the courtyards within ....
Yup .. we were there.
One of many statues. Each has specific meaning.

After the Forbidden City tour we were taken to a "Western" restaurant for lunch. As this is off-season, they didn't have the normal buffet. Instead they served us salad, soup, 5 western style Chinese food dishes (plus a small pizza) and fruit for dessert. The food was very good, and very much like what we would get at a good Chinese restaurant at home. Our guide and driver didn't eat with us, they said were eating "better" food. Turns out one of the "better" items they had was the same pizza we were served.

After lunch we were asked if we wanted to see a silk demonstration. We accepted, and were taken to a building where we were given a little history on the silkworm, a demonstration on how silk is produced - pictured is the unraveling the cocoon to make thread -


- and making silk comforters.
We quickly learned that this demonstration was just the start of a sales pitch. Before we knew it they had us sized up to drop $800 on a silk comforter and cover. We managed to pass and continued on with the tour.

Next stop was the Summer Palace. It was short on summer and the palace part wasn't up to the Forbidden City level, but the grounds were quite nice, and our imagination suggested that they are probably spectacular in summer. Here's one of the many buildings
A really solid "boat"
A gazebo and rental pedal boatsLooking through the haze over Kunming Lake
After getting us good and cold at the Summer Palace, Sherry asked if we wanted to have tea at a "real" tea house. We again accepted and were taken to a place that was short on tables and big on stocked shelves. We enjoyed the tea samples and the warmth, but could have done without the big sales pitch for the "buy 5 get 1 free" boxes of tea and the magic mug. One box of tea was enough to get us a free PP boy so you'll have to ask for a demonstration next time you're over. ;o)


That wrapped up today's touring. Tomorrow, a tomb and the Wall.

We got a kick out of the revolving door at our hotel so we'll "close" with that.