The flight was uneventful. Yana and I had met up with the guys at the terminal in JFK so we were able to board the plane all together. It was nice to see everyone again. We landed in Beijing around 6 pm China time, and had little trouble finding our local guide, Mr. Lee. He was very nice and spoke English reasonably well. We drove to the restaurant right away for dinner. There was an excellent eggplant dish. Adam and Ben got beer, but the bottles were huge. Lee ordered too much food for us to possibly finish. We felt bad for wasting food.
  Lisa, the tour organizer, was very nice. Tomorrow morning, Ben and I will go to the Chinese school (Peter, Adam, and Yana will stay at the International school).

Day 3 5/26 Beijing

  This morning Peter knocked on our bedroom door at 5 am. He said they had been awake since 3… Yana and I had no trouble sleeping last night. But we all got dressed and took an early morning walk. In the school courtyard, Peter and I talked with an old man who was jogging. He turned out to be a teacher at the school: Shan Lao Shi. We asked him how to leave the school grounds since the front gates were locked shut. He didn’t have any good suggestions other than we could try jumping over the wall… Later, we saw him practicing tai ji quan with a sword.
  Ben and I had a good experience at the Chinese middle school. Some of the students looked quite young, however, and most of them were very shy. Several girls thought Ben was handsome. A few of the students raised their hands to ask if he had a girlfriend! All of them were surprised that I could speak Chinese, and someone even asked me why my hair was black. I don’t think they realized I was Asian… One boy had great difficulty phrasing a question in English, so I said he could try Chinese. So he did, and when I started to reply everyone was shocked. I had a very interesting time at the school.
  Lunch was much more manageable today compared to last night’s overabundant feast. Dinner was Peking Duck…very, very good. Peter took a picture of the plate on which it was served because it had a duck’s head. Before dinner, though, we walked along Liuli Chang Street. (All the creepy old men were staring at me and Yana.) There were many of the same type of shops, selling calligraphy brushes, Chinese dresses, and engraved seals. I didn’t buy anything, but the guys were looking for cheap notebooks in which to record their journal entries. They didn’t buy anything in the end. Then we had a few hours of free time, so Peter asked Lee to take us to see the Temple of Heaven.
  At the Temple of Heaven, we were attacked immediately by locals selling postcards. One middle-aged woman latched onto Peter and followed us all the way from the front gate to almost the Temple. He was bargaining with her the whole time. In the end, I think he got a good deal.
  After dinner, we went to Lao She Tea House to see Beijing opera. The tea tasted a little like medicine so I didn’t drink much, but everyone else did. The tea snacks they served were interesting. However, I was really tired and fell asleep halfway through the show.

Day 4 5/27 Beijing

  Today was such a busy day: Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and Summer Palace.
Our tour guide for the day was a girl named Beryl. She had a heavy accent when speaking English which made it difficult to understand her at times. Our little group joined another group of older tourists who all spoke Chinese, so Beryl had to say everything in two languages. I think Peter and I got tired of hearing everything twice.
  On a side note, the local peddlers are incredibly pushy. I wasn’t prepared for how annoying they could be, and I felt guilty for being rude. They were only trying to make a living. We were all told to wear our bags in the front to prevent pick-pocketing. I think I’m going to be paranoid from now on.
  We ate dinner on our own tonight at a restaurant nearby the school. We walked. We only ordered 2 dishes (beef and yo cai vegetable) but still could not finish everything. Nobody was very hungry to begin with. Dinner cost only 70-something yuan. Peter took care of the bill.
  Funny story: on the way to the Summer Palace, Beryl was telling a story about how Empress Cixi ate one of a certain something everyday to maintain her beauty. That one something was fished out from the peach-shaped lake in the Summer Palace. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch was that “something” was, and Yana didn’t either. She thought Beryl said “one soybean.” I thought it was “one prawn.” Then I realized that wasn’t right but the word started with “p” so I said it must be “pork.” Then Peter looked at us strangely and asked how one could eat “one pork” everyday, and that pork doesn’t come from a lake. The correct word was really “one pearl.”
  There are many symbols of Longevity (Shou). I have made a short list: crane, turtle, special herb, crane holding special herb while standing on turtle, peach, and noodles.

Day 5 5/28 Beijing

  Went to bed at midnight, woke up at 5:30 am. Not a bad sleep. I took a walk by myself outside in the courtyard and watched the sunrise. The sky changes colors in stages: first everything is gray, then pink, then yellow, then the very top becomes blue. The air feels misty right now and it’s a little chilly. Hopefully it won’t rain today because we’re climbing the Great Wall.
  Almost died climbing the Great Wall. It was truly a most painful, grueling experience full of suffering. I thought I was going to pass out from the direct sun and the altitude. I wore a hat and sunblock and still I think I got burned. I wonder how the ancient soldiers climbed it everyday. They must have been super-fit.
  Funny sidenote: there were people selling all sorts of random stuff at the top of the Great Wall. There was one man selling rubber snakes and baseball hats. He was yelling something at us while we were climbing down, and Peter goes: “Sleepy cat?” It turns out the man was trying to say: “Snake and hat!” I almost fell down the stairs laughing. Very dangerous…
  The Ming Tombs were a little disappointing. However, underground it was nice and cold so that was enjoyable. I’ve come to realize that every historical site has been commercialized and touched-up. It’s inevitable, of course, but I’m still a little sad. I also finally understand what Mom told me before I came on this trip. She said: “Chinese people are selfish.” This is apparent wherever there are crowds or food, because everyone pushes and grabs without consideration for others. The traffic in Bejing is very scary, too. Cars and taxis drive whichever way they want regardless of other vehicles or even pedestrians. People on bicycles are just as daring. Sometimes it seems as if they want to get run over.

Day 6 5/29 Beijing-Xian

  I’m on the train right now to Xian. Our beds are all the middle bunk. Peter has the bed across from me. Adam and Yana are nextdoor to my side, Ben is nextdoor to Peter’s side. The train is nothing like I expected, even though I didn’t even know what to expect. It is very narrow so we had to be careful not to run over anyone’s foot while dragging our suitcases down the aisle. Thank goodness Yana and I have the guys to help us put our luggage on top of the racks; we could never have lifted them by ourselves. The toilets are also very interesting…things basically go down a hole onto the train tracks. This is why no one is allowed to use the bathroom when the train is stopped at a station.

Day 7 5/30 Xian

  We got off the train early in the morning. Our Xian tour guide’s name is Melanie, a middle-aged woman. It seems Xian is the green-taxi city whereas in Beijing they were red. The traffic here is more sane, with much less bicycles. The local drivers seem obsessed with passing each other, however; nobody is content to stay in his own lane for longer than 5 seconds.
  We walked along the city wall this morning. It is basically a huge gray fortress with a stone courtyard leading to the tower. I was impressed with the great width along the top of the walls. Ten horses standing side-by-side could have fit easily.
This afternoon we went to see the famous terra cotta soldiers. It was so hot outside. We had to walk up a long, curvy stone path to get to the soldiers. I was impressed with the number of soldiers lined up inside the first building. Bought a mini-general as a souvenir for Mom and Dad.
  As a late-afternoon snack, we went to a Muslim restaurant across from our hotel and tried a local noodle dish. There was some confusion as to how to order food, but we figured it out eventually. We had to break a piece of hard bread into little pieces, then give that to the chef to cook with the meat and noodles. Peter really enjoyed it.
Tonight we went to see a Tang Dynasty dance performance. Too bad everyone was dozing off…we were so exhausted and still jetlagged.

Day 8 5/31 Xian-Chengdu

  Today in Xian we went to the Shanxi Museum which was built in 1991. We say many “old relics” as Melanie likes to say. Then we climbed to the top of Wild Goose Pagoda which has 7 levels. It was scorching hot outside and we lost Melanie for a while.
  For lunch, we had hot pot! Everybody had a personal little hot pot. Ben and mine took a long time to boil. There was a table set up with different ingredients for making your personal dipping sauce. I went with a simple garlic and hot chili oil sauce while Yana and the 3 guys were more creative. This was definitely a fun meal.
  This train we are on is far dirtier than the first one. It is not carpeted, the bunk beds are prison-style with stained sheets, and the electric fan is broken so we are sweating like animals. However, I like our bed arrangement much better because we are all in the same compartment: Ben = Bed 1 Bottom, me = Bed 1 Middle, Adam = Bed 1 Top, Peter = Bed 2 Bottom, and Yana = Bed 2 Middle.
  Since the train left at 4 pm, we had to eat dinner by ourselves. Good thing for instant noodles. Too bad the train was so bumpy. There was one bump that was so big, everyone – except for me – got splashed with soup. Luckily, no one was burned and we finished eating very quickly afterwards.

Day 9 6/1 Chengdu-Chongqing

  Am still on the train to Chengdu. It is 7:30 am right now. We won’t arrive until after 9. People have been staring at me a lot. In fact, I have never received so much silent attention before. It makes me wonder if I really look foreign. I thought I looked very Chinese. Yesterday I asked a store employee if I looked American and she said yes, she could tell. So I guess my hair and eyes are not enough to blend in here.
  We have now met our Chengdu guide. His name is Bobby and he has a cute face with a soft childlike voice. As usual, bets were placed as to guessing his age. Yana won: he is 21. I suddenly feel old. Right now we are en route to see the Leshan Giant Buddha which Peter is very excited about. For lunch, we had spicy kungpao chicken, fish, vegetables, French fries (?), and tomato soup. Each of us also got a small bowl of dan-dan noodles.
On a side note: right now, Peter is not very happy with the Mosiers because they have been complaining about the food. What can I say, they are Americans in a foreign country after all.
  Just saw the Leshan Buddha. Apparently its face is repainted yearly by the local government. It is 71 meters tall. The story goes, during the Tang Dynasty there once was a good monk (whose name I forget…) who settled in Leshan. He somehow collected a lot of money to build a giant Buddha, but an evil government official wanted the money for himself. The monk refused to give up a single penny, saying he would rather gouge out one of his eyes. The official dared him to do it and the monk did. The local people were so moved by the monk’s gesture that they built the Buddha. It took 9 years and the monk had died before its completion. The buddha’s hair is also interesting. It is formed from small spheres that channel rain water down the sides of its face instead of running directly down its cheeks. I suppose this is to prevent water erosion of the actual face.
Bobby says jasmine tea is famous here. We just drove past some tea bushes. It looks like terrace-farming. While on the car, Bobby sang us a traditional Chinese folksong. He has a good voice, very clear. He then asked one of us to sing so Yana sang a cute Russian song.
  That evening right before we went to the train station, Bobby took us to a five-star hotel so we could take a shower. We used the locker room showers by the pool. What a relief!

Day 10 6/2 Chongqing

  Our guide, Amy, is awful. Once she found out Peter and I knew Chinese, she hardly spoke any English to our group. Actually, she ignored me most of the time, too, and talked only in Chinese to Peter. We only left her a 50 yuan tip (half) and divided the rest amongst ourselves. After having a yummy local breakfast on the street – yo tiao and fresh soymilk – we walked around Erlin Park and spent 10 minutes in the Chongqing Museum. It was the saddest museum I have ever seen: there were some fossils and 2 dinosaur skeletons in there but I’m not even sure those were real bones…the place was essentially a gift shop.
  These were the only events scheduled for today, so for the next 8 hours we spent wandering around downtown Chongqing by ourselves. Yana and I each bought a nice thermos at a department store. Then at 8 pm we met Amy the guide and she took us to the dock where the ship, Victoria 1, was waiting. Once onboard, we played cards in the bar. Later I challenged Peter to an origami rose-folding contest: he won by 10 seconds.

Day 11 6/3 Cruise

  The ship left Chongqing at 9 am this morning. The ship is beautiful and luxurious compared to the overnight trains. Yana and I are having our jeans laundered today. Breakfast and lunch were both buffet-style. It is now 2 pm and Yana just returned from her massage, Peter is getting his right now. I taught Adam how to play 2 card games: Frustration and Egyptian Ratscrew. He seemed to enjoy it.
  There are not many people on this ship: 50 guests and about 100 staff. Strange how there are only 2 lifeboats…who will have to swim? Our room situation is like this:
#214 #212 #210
Ben me, Yana Peter, Adam

  We stopped and visited Fengdu the Ghost City today. I didn’t understand who 99% of the ghosts/demons were but they all looked scary.

Day 12 6/4 Cruise

  Peter and I folded origami and talked until 4 am this morning. We also talked with the night watch on duty, Mr. Shu. He is only 21 years old. I like it when we have the chance to speak with the local people because they always have interesting things to say about Chinese-Americans. Peter always makes them guess which region in China our ancestors are from. So far, nobody has guessed correctly for me.
  On a different note: Adam is sick and coughing. Mr. Shu was really nice and went to his room to turn down the air conditioning. Personally, I don’t feel completely healthy either. Perhaps it’s because I only slept 3 hours.
  At 8:15 this morning we passed into the first of the 3 Gorges. Today’s weather is overcast, rainy, and windy – perfect for viewing the mountain peaks. The tops are shrouded in gray-white mist and the green foliage comes down right to the river’s edge as if the trees were drinking water.
  This afternoon we rode on a smaller “ferry” boat down Shennong Stream and saw some hanging coffins. Unfortunately, I only saw 2 and could not take a picture in time.
There was a talent show tonight that the ship staff put on for us. I recognized one of the traditional dances they performed; it was the Taiwanese Aboriginal Dance.

Day 13 6/5 Wuhan-Yichang

  The cruise was lovely…from now on it’s purely land-travel. I am slightly tired. On the cruise, what I enjoyed most was talking to the ship staff, including Mr. Shu and the silk embroidery lady. She gave me and Yana each a little gift and wanted to take pictures with us.
  This will be a 5-hour car ride from Wuhan to Yichang. Our guide is Leo, and he speaks English very well. In Wuhan, we had free time to walk around. There was a beggar boy who came up to Yana and Ben and grabbed Ben’s leg. We walked away but he kept following us. Peter gave him some money, which he used to buy lychees and tried to give me some. (I gave them back.)

Day 14 6/6 Wuhan-Guilin

  Wuhan is one of the 4 “furnaces” of China. Today we went to see the Yellow Crane Tower.

Day 15 6/7 Guilin

  We arrived in Guilin at 6 am. Our tour guide, Ivonne, has very good English. According to her, the reason why SARS never came to Guilin is because of its osmenthus trees, clean water, and medicinal herbs. We went on a 4-hour river cruise and saw some unusual jutting mountains and clear green water. Ivonne said, “If the 3 Gorges are an old woman, the mountains of Guilin are beautiful young girls.”
The best part of today was our 2-hour bike ride through the countryside. We all rode mountain bikes that looked pretty beat up. However, nobody broke down. I enjoyed seeing the cows close-up…they really smell. One cow was tied to a big rock and was submerged to the neck in a pond. He dunked his whole head under at one point to avoid the flies. I didn’t know cows could do that.
  I also enjoyed riding through the city traffic like a local. I’m not bad! Was almost struck by a bus but swerved aside in time. Yana and I had a hard time when it came to walking our bikes over a narrow dirt ledge in a rice paddy. We both turned so red in the face, it was embarrassing. I don’t know how our bike guide can do this everyday; he must be super-fit. Guilin is probably the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. The rice paddies, unique mountain peaks, and amazing blue sky made our experience feel out of this world. No one here ever looks stressed out. They are poor yet happy. That is something so difficult to achieve in this day and age. I’m glad I got to see it, though, the life of the poor. I believe that ignorance is bliss.

Day 16 6/8 Guilin-Zhang Jia Jie

  Lovely slow morning today. Got up at 7:15 and had breakfast at the hotel. Then we strolled around until noon, met with Ivonne and visited the Elephant Hill. It was a nice park and, due to the hot weather, our guys decided to play around in the lake water and posed for pictures on top of 3 stone elephant statues. There were many pigeons and peacocks walking around the grass. I was a little concerned about contracting avian flu…
Afterwards, we went to the Reed Flute Cave where we saw some amazing rock formations. The best part was looking at the stalagtite reflections in the black water – it felt like standing at the edge of a thin cliff and you could fall down and hit solid rock below.
  Following the cave, we went to Seven Star Park and saw the Camel Rock. It really does look like a 2-hump camel lying down. We saw some zoo animals as well and I received horrible mosquito bites all over my legs.
Now we are on a bus to Liu Zhou where we’ll take the 11 pm train.

Day 17 6/9 Zhang Jia Jie

  Arrived in Zhang Jia Jie at 11:45 am. Last night on the train, Peter told me the story of how this place received its name. We thought about looking for those special trees. Our guide is Sue who is a Tu Jia minority. She informed us that there are 56 ethnicities in China. First we went to see Pu Guang Temple built by the minorities. Then Yana did not feel well so she stayed in the van while the rest of us visited a Tu Jia tree house. (We stopped by a Chinese pharmacy and I had to translate all her symptoms into Chinese for the nurse. That was difficult.) After that, we went on a cruise of Bao Feng Lake and enjoyed some singing performances along the way.

Day 18 6/10 Zhang Jia Jie-Changsha

  Today we went to see the tallest mountain peak in southern China. We took a super-fast elevator up (1.58 minutes’ ride) and saw the top. Then we went to Golden Whip River where we hiked 5 miles on relatively easy ground. Very beautiful trees and cliffs. There was a section of the path where instead of smooth stone there were many smaller bumpy rocks, designed to massage pressure points in the feet. The guys decided to take off their shoes and socks and walk across barefoot. It was so funny – all of them were hunched over, hobbling like old men. (Yana took a 30-second video clip of them in pain.)
Now we are on a 5-hour train to Changsha. It hurts my eyes when our train goes in and out of pitch-black tunnels. Am feeling much improved since last night when I felt feverish. Took some Sudafed.

Day 19 6/11 Changsha-Shanghai

  Our tour guide is Leon and he speaks English very well! First we went to Yuelu Shuyuan which I enjoyed very much. The 4 principles of the academy are: Zhong (loyalty), Xiao (filial piety), Lian (integrity), Jie (honesty).
Next, we went to the Hunan Museum and saw the famous old woman mummy. They said her skin was still soft when they first unearthed her from the tomb! That’s scary. However, she looks decrepit now. Her internal organs are on display in glass cases. I found that to be highly interesting. Her coffin was layered inside 3 other coffins, like one of those Russian dolls.
  Now I am on the train to Shanghai. I have the top bunk bed this time and it’s a little cramped up here. I can’t sit comfortably so I’ll probably go to bed soon.

Day 20 6/12 Shanghai

  I wish Dad were here. I wish I could feel what he might be feeling in Shanghai right now. Every time I hear someone on the street speak Shanghainese I think of Dad. This city is really modern compared to the others we’ve seen. It’s not like NYC, though. There is an ornament-like spiky TV tower building across the Huangpu River, and a lot of billboards. The air is very heavy with heat and pollution. Our guide, Jessica, is OK. English is clearly not her strength. Once she found out Peter and I knew Chinese, she said: “Oh that’s great! Now you can help me!” I find that a little annoying – it’s her job to speak English to American tourists. What if we didn’t know Chinese? Would she just not talk to us then? On the other hand, we got the best luggage service here. There was a little luggage car waiting beside the train as soon as we got off. The driver took our suitcases to the van; we didn’t have to lift anything.
  Jessica let us check in at the hotel before we started our sightseeing. Thank goodness, we really needed to shower. Then, we went to see Yu Garden and Chenghuang Temple. There is a really busy marketplace around there. Yana and I bought qipao today. Hers is pale blue with plum flower design; mine is red with dragon and phoenix. 270 yuan each. I did my best to lower the price, but Peter is much better at bargaining! He got a tan color shirt with a dragon embroidered on it.
  We stopped by a little history museum where there were many black and white photographs of Shanghai during the western invasion. That was a little depressing for Peter. I wish Dad were here to explain things to me.
  Tonight we took a cruise on the river to see the night skyline. Ben thinks our tour guide stole money from us, but we’re not sure. She charged us 100 yuan each for tickets, but Ben saw another passenger’s ticket and it only cost 50 yuan. Our tour guide never gave us a receipt or ticket stubs, so there’s no evidence as to how much they cost. Maybe they really were 100, but nobody knows. We are not too happy with Jessica. One suggestion for future tourists is to insist on a receipt for every payment you make out of your own pocket. It’s a shame that we cannot trust all people.

Day 21 6/13 Shanghai-Hangzhou

  The day train from Shanghai to Hangzhou was so scary! We had seats, but there were so many other people standing around us it got a little claustrophobic for me. There were many young mothers with babies tied to their backs. I wonder if the peasants get married at a very early age? Many of the girls seemed too young to have children already.   Getting off the train was a nightmare; as soon as the train stopped, people were getting on before we could get off. Yana and Ben were nearest to a door so they made it out OK, but Adam, Peter and I got caught in the rush of incoming passengers. The guys were able to lift their luggage above their heads but I couldn’t. It was really scary because the train was ready to depart the station and we hadn’t gotten off yet. Finally, Ben came back to help me and the police yelled at us for being so slow.
  Our Hangzhou tour guide is Mike. We visited the West Lake today on a cruise, but it was so hot and humid nobody could really enjoy the view. Ben was not feeling well on the boat. I enjoyed our visit to a tea plantation the most. Hangzhou is famous for their Dragon Well Tea (Long Jing Cha). The girl who gave us the introduction had a huge smile and cute English, which is probably part of the village’s business strategy. She said: “My mother picks the tea, my father dries the tea, and I drink the tea!” The other American tourists got a big kick out of that joke. The tea came in many grades and we all had a chance to inspect the individual color and fragrance of the leaves as they were passed around the table. I could only tell the color difference. In the end, I bought some of “Number One Quality” tea for Dad and Professor Wu. Tea leaves of “Number One   Quality” are picked in early spring, the salesgirl said, before April 10th. Tea leaves of worst quality are the broken ones, found in tea bags.

Day 22 6/14 Hangzhou-Suzhou

  The day train to Suzhou was beautiful compared to yesterday’s. It was a double-decker train and there were no standing passengers. Our Suzhou tour guide is a 30-year-old guy named Simon. He looks like a nerd. But I like the way he speaks English; very fast and easy to follow the train of thought. We visited Wangshi Garden which I enjoyed. It was quiet and beautiful inside. It had a pavilion called 3-Moon Viewing Pavilion. This is so-named because at night one can see three moons while sitting there: one moon in the sky above, one moon in the lake below, and one moon in the mirror’s reflection behind. That’s so poetic and creative.
  I learned from Simon the difference between Ming and Qing furniture. Ming furniture is simple and plain, whereas Qing furniture has marble inlays and intricate designs. I also learned that “bonsai” is really originated in China, not Japan! He said: “Japanese can’t speak Chinese, so they say ‘bonsai!’” In Chinese it is pen2 zai1 because the trees are planted in pots. Simon is quite knowledgeable.

Day 23 6/15 Suzhou

  Terribly rainy all day. Got annoyed with standing in wet socks and wet sneakers. Saw Huqiu Hill and had a Suzhou river tour. On the river tour, we saw a fisherman using cormorants to catch fish. This is how he does it: first he tosses a bird overboard, then he waits until the poor bird has found something, then he hauls it back up by the string around its leg and dumps it on the boat again. The birds are prevented from eating the fish by a tight metal collar around their necks.
  We visited another garden, which was the only enjoyable part of today. I think Chinese gardens are best enjoyed while it is raining. There was a man playing the flute in there which set the mood perfectly. Of course, when he saw we were American tourists, he quickly started playing “Yankee Doodle” and the annoying Alabama banjo song. I wonder why these are so well known in China when they aren’t even popular in present-day America?
  Tonight after dinner we walked around a mall and then had a late snack at a local restaurant. The guys and Yana ordered spicy noodles and I had pork ribs. Peter’s noodles must have been extremely spicy; he had sweat streaming down his face like tears. Everyone loved the food.

Day 24 6/16 Suzhou-Nanjing

  Today we had a late start, 10 am. All we did was visit the most famous temple in China, Han Shan Si. It is famous because of a poem written about it. Peter wrote down the poem for me, called Feng1 Qiao2 Yie4 Bo2. There was a big bell that you could pay 10 yuan to hit 3 times. Simon says all the Japanese people like to line up and hit it. The original bell was stolen by Japanese pirates. The one here was donated by a Japanese monk.
  We had lunch today at the silk factory. (I did not touch the silkworms. Adam said they felt cold. Ew.) For the first time on this trip, we finished all the food on the table! (Except for the pre-sliced watermelon, of course.) Yana even took a picture of the empty plates. I ate a lot.
  Then we walked around town and stopped at an internet bar to catch up on emails. Then we went to a mall and I bought a VCD. It’s the 12 Chinese girls who play traditional instruments and songs with a modern flair.
Later we will take the train to Nanjing and check into a hotel there.

Day 25 6/17 Nanjing

  Our tour guide’s name is Mr. Fan (aka “Superman”). He says he is 34 but I say he is really 45. First we visited Sun Yat-sen’s tomb at Zhongshanling. It was very hot today and there were many steps to climb up. The cool thing about the top of the stairs is when you look back down, you cannot see the steps. It looks like a steep cliff.
  After Zhongshanling, we went to a tea shop where we were given a really good introduction to several different teas. The girl who gave the talk also poured the boiling water. Her fingers must be immune to pain, because she was splashing hot water all over the place and picking up cups without hesitation. Ouch… The Chinese tea ceremony is nothing like the Japanese tea ceremony. You use a table that has several little platforms to place cups on, and there are tiny holes to drain away spillage. And instead of using powdered tea, whole tea leaves are brewed. The first cup is not to be drunk; it is for smelling (even though I can’t really smell the difference between most of them). At the end of the presentation, however, things got weird because it seemed as if we were expected to buy some tea.
  Next was Mingxiaoling to see 12 pairs of huge stone animals lining the walkway above the actual Ming tomb. There were 6 animals total: horse, chilin, elephant, camel, lion, and (?). Afterwards, we went to an outdoor marketplace and shopped casually until 5 pm when “Superman” met us for dinner. Yana bought a sandalwood fan, I got a keychain for Evita.

Day 26 6/18 Nanjing-Wuxi-Huangshan

  Wuxi was very hot. Strolling through Taihu Lake and Liyuan Park was fun at first, but the humidity was extreme and there was only a breeze by the water. “Superman” is not a very good tour guide; he walks ahead of our group without saying anything, pauses randomly to sit down, then gets up after 5 minutes and continues walking. He is also rude, choosing only to speak with Peter and Yana, and turns his back on me even when I am standing right next to her.
  In the afternoon we stopped by a teapot place because Wuxi is famous for its them. The tour guide simply said to Peter: “You know Chinese. You translate for them.” Then he walked away! I couldn’t believe it. I really don’t like it when tour guides slack off just because they know we can speak Chinese. So Peter and I purposely gave messed up English translations. The introducer would describe the shape of a teapot using long and poetic verse, and we would say: “It’s shaped like a leaf.”
  It got weird again after dinner today. We had finished eating when he came to find us, and handed Peter the evaluation form. But he wasn’t going to leave – he even had the nerve to tell us how to fill it out. (Apparently, Peter said Melanie the Xian guide did the same thing.) Peter was hesitating and I knew he was going to give in so I took the form and filled it out myself. What’s the point of an evaluation if you don’t give an honest opinion?
  Outside it was raining too heavily to go anywhere. People were using the restaurant lobby as a parking lot for their bikes and motorcycles. The tour guide was visibly upset when he finally met us downstairs. I didn’t care. He was the worst guide we’ve had. However, it made me nervous that he still carried our train tickets and might lose them on purpose. Luckily, Adam was thinking the same thing so he asked for them.
  A suggestion for future tourists: make it politely clear that you would like to fill out the evaluation in private, and give it back to the tour guide (with the tip) right before you say goodbye to avoid any awkwardness in case you wrote a bad grade.

Day 27 6/19 Huangshan

  After a fairly restful night on the train, we got to Huangshan (1 hour delay). Tour guide is William Hu, 30 years old, English pretty good. Yana’s eyes were bothering her again so we made an emergency stop at an eye clinic for eye drops. Our first driver had to drop us off at the clinic because he was already late to pick up his other customers. We all had to take our luggage out of the van and store it at a random hotel (10 yuan charge) because our second driver’s car was too small! It had just enough room to fit us and the tour guide. We could only take one bookbag’s worth of clothing/bathroom supplies – whatever we could carry up the mountain.
  William says Huangshan got its name because of Qin Shi Huang who liked the scenery very much. (However, Peter told me it’s because when you’re high up on the mountains, the cloud-sea sometimes appears golden yellow.) The four special characteristics of Huangshan are: flat-top pines, hot springs, odd-shaped rocks, and the cloud-sea phenomenon. The most famous rock is the Fei1 Lai2 Shi2 (Flying Over Rock). You can touch it 3 times for luck: women touch with right hand, men with left. Another thing William mentioned was the 3 famous black teas of the world: Sri Lanka, Indian Darjeeling, and Huangshan Qimen.
  We saw Fei Lai Shi and Xi1 Hai3 Men2 today. The clouds shift so quickly up there, you turn around and suddenly they’ve disappeared. Other times you just see a wall of white. It’s so thick you can’t see anything above, below, or beyond. Really scary. A lot of times the railing doesn’t do anything either, any child could still fall through the bars. At the Fei Lai Shi, the railing only surrounds the stone partway.

Day 28 6/20 Huangshan-Shanghai

  Hiked around some more this morning, ate breakfast and lunch, and saw an unimpressive sunrise. What was impressive, however, was that everyone woke up at 4 am. Adam knocked on our door and we were all ready to go by 4:30. The hotel provided these huge red overcoats that really kept warm. Once outside, we had to climb up stairs in the dark which was difficult! Once we got to the top, there were already a lot of people sitting around waiting. We found relatively good spots to stand, but there was no real sunrise. For a while we couldn’t even figure out which way was east. The sky brightened in smudges of light, nothing pretty. William says only 40% of the time can you see a good one. (He comes here 50 times a year.) We did meet an interesting tourist, though, a Chinese restaurant chef from Georgia! That’s random. Later we hiked around Lion Mountain and saw a stone named Hou2 Zi Guan1 Hai3 (Monkey Looking at Sea). It really resembled a monkey sitting hunched over. My muscles are so sore from climbing stairs, hopefully I’ll be in better shape by the time we go back to the U.S.
We descended the mountain and walked around Lao3 Jie1 (Old Street). William dropped us off at an old tea house where we got yet another introduction to tea. This time there were tea snacks, too. I bought a box of black sesame sweets. Later when walking around, the guys and I each got our name carved on a seal. I think the artist did a very good job on mine.

Day 29 6/21 Shanghai

  It’s 7 am on the train to Shanghai. Last night we boarded at 10 something. I was so incredibly sleepy at the station I lost a game of Frustration to Adam. He’s beaten me 3 times already. I should have retired from the game while I was undefeated champion.
Today we went to the Natural History Museum. It reminded me of Disney World where life sized wax figures are dressed up and placed in a little scenario such as a medicine shop or bank. Afterwards, we went to Xiangyang Market where I bought a pair of jade earrings for a reasonable price. It was extremely hot today so we were grateful to go back to the hotel.
  We asked Jessica the guide to give us the money for tonight’s dinner so that we could choose where to eat. She gave us 200 yuan and we wrote her a receipt. Peter and I went to visit his grand-godparents in Pudong so Adam, Ben, and Yana had to find dinner by themselves. Pudong is also developing quickly as a modern city.

Day 30 6/22 Shanghai

  Today’s museum was awesome! I liked the Chinese calligraphy exhibition best, then the jade and pottery. I wish we had another half hour to look around. The French Concession was only OK. It would have been much more exciting at night, but since we were there in the middle of the afternoon nobody was around. The mall was disappointingly empty as there were not many stores inside, which is weird since there was a lot of space… We watched a practice session of a fashion show, but that got boring after 10 minutes. The restaurants in the area were also rather expensive, and even a “bread and coffee” shop was pricey – my miniature glass of lemon water cost 5 yuan. I can get a whole bottle for less than 1!
  We also requested 200 yuan from Jessica to have dinner on our own again. Excellent choice, because we went to a Muslim restaurant nearby our hotel and had some of the best food in China. There was a spicy chicken which was really good except there were splintered bones, and everything else was lamb with naan bread. The twins and Yana ordered two special beers imported from Xin Jiang Province, which is probably where the restaurant owners are from, but Peter and I had pomegranate juice which was also pretty good.
  After dinner we walked around the streets again, trying to avoid the beggars, before heading back to the hotel. Tonight I can tell everyone is feeling on edge, it is our last day in China after all. We’re probably not going to sleep more than a couple hours. I’m going for a walk with Adam and Peter, getting ready to say goodbye.

Gloria
July, 1, 2004