At Cathedral Rock, Sedona, AZ
Monday, October 31, 2011
Xian and Chengdu, China (Terracotta Warriors and Baby Pandas)
After arriving in Xian and settling into the extremely difficult to find hotel, we were pretty excited to be off the train and just laying in a bed. We got up early the next morning though and headed to see the very famous Terracotta Warriors just outside Xian. We hit it first thing in the morning before the bus-loads of tourists get up and swamp the place, making it too hard to even snap a picture. Funny how we try to avoid the tourists, as if we were anything less.
I’d classify the Warriors as possibly the 8th wonder of the world. Unbelievable detail and scope. Over 8,000 life-size warriors, horses, chariots, weapons, etc were found buried in Xian by a farmer digging for a water well. My cousin Jason Coomes would have enjoyed that dig Every warrior is unique. Their facial expressions, hair, weapons, decoration, armor, etc, is all individual. The King at that time wanted an army surrounding his tomb and seeing him into the after-life, and after all that work, he buried them all around his tomb, sheesh. Hard to believe the influence, power and money a King could command I guess. It’s a must see. We snapped a 100 pictures surely, and were lucky enough to get them before the thousands of other tourists rolled in. I believe some 25,000 people visited it the day we were there and the site is big, but not that big. Former President Clinton was lucky enough to get to scale down into the dig and have his picture beside a warrior, unfortunately ours were from a different view, but awe filled none-the-less. There’s not too much in Xian otherwise, it’s famous for the warriors and it’s also a damn big city, some 8,000,000+ I believe. Christina and I did partake in a massive German styled but Chinese buffet restaurant twice, Chinese girls dressed up like German beer maids, odd and funny. They served beer by the mini-kegs at your table. Christina proved herself worthy and crushed her fair share of liters. Atta-girl, she hasn’t lost a step.
We hopped a plane and headed for Chengdu (pronounced like it looks). Christina was stoked to check out the Giant Panda reserve and research center. We again got up bright and early and snagged a taxi to the park. The pictures tell it all, they all look like teddy bears and they’re pretty clever, goofy, and lazy, just like a bear should be. They are not imposing, more characters than fearsome predators, after all, they only pretty much each bamboo and some fruits, but mostly bamboo. They were only active for just a few short hours in the morning when it was cool and they could get some breakfast and then play around, then it was too hot and time to head inside to the A/C and became much more difficult to see them. They are obviously an endangered species and found only naturally in very few places in China, where they were once abundant. The baby/toddlers were by far the most enjoyable to watch, as they pretty much hammed it up, wrestled, splashed and posed for the cameras. We were also treated to a very rare species called the Red Panda, which looked like a cross between a fox, panda, and raccoon. It was a beautiful animal with a brilliant red fur coat, about the size of a really really big raccoon, but had the paws and snout of a panda, super interesting. Outside of the pandas, Chengdu was another massive city, 6,000,000+, pretty clean and well planned, but busy busy none the less. Christina and I did dominate a local muslim noodle shop about 5 times. Grubbing on dishes of fresh pulled noodles and veggies for about $1 a massive plate, along with local cold beers. They were indeed the best noodles ever. We also treated ourselves to the first tex-mex we’ve had in a long long time, although it was a little lacking, we had a fun time eating tortilla chips and drinking Corona. Don’t worry, we’re walking off all the beer calories more than enough, we get some serious walking/exploring in just about daily.
Next stop- Sanya, the “Hawaii of China”.
I’d classify the Warriors as possibly the 8th wonder of the world. Unbelievable detail and scope. Over 8,000 life-size warriors, horses, chariots, weapons, etc were found buried in Xian by a farmer digging for a water well. My cousin Jason Coomes would have enjoyed that dig Every warrior is unique. Their facial expressions, hair, weapons, decoration, armor, etc, is all individual. The King at that time wanted an army surrounding his tomb and seeing him into the after-life, and after all that work, he buried them all around his tomb, sheesh. Hard to believe the influence, power and money a King could command I guess. It’s a must see. We snapped a 100 pictures surely, and were lucky enough to get them before the thousands of other tourists rolled in. I believe some 25,000 people visited it the day we were there and the site is big, but not that big. Former President Clinton was lucky enough to get to scale down into the dig and have his picture beside a warrior, unfortunately ours were from a different view, but awe filled none-the-less. There’s not too much in Xian otherwise, it’s famous for the warriors and it’s also a damn big city, some 8,000,000+ I believe. Christina and I did partake in a massive German styled but Chinese buffet restaurant twice, Chinese girls dressed up like German beer maids, odd and funny. They served beer by the mini-kegs at your table. Christina proved herself worthy and crushed her fair share of liters. Atta-girl, she hasn’t lost a step.
We hopped a plane and headed for Chengdu (pronounced like it looks). Christina was stoked to check out the Giant Panda reserve and research center. We again got up bright and early and snagged a taxi to the park. The pictures tell it all, they all look like teddy bears and they’re pretty clever, goofy, and lazy, just like a bear should be. They are not imposing, more characters than fearsome predators, after all, they only pretty much each bamboo and some fruits, but mostly bamboo. They were only active for just a few short hours in the morning when it was cool and they could get some breakfast and then play around, then it was too hot and time to head inside to the A/C and became much more difficult to see them. They are obviously an endangered species and found only naturally in very few places in China, where they were once abundant. The baby/toddlers were by far the most enjoyable to watch, as they pretty much hammed it up, wrestled, splashed and posed for the cameras. We were also treated to a very rare species called the Red Panda, which looked like a cross between a fox, panda, and raccoon. It was a beautiful animal with a brilliant red fur coat, about the size of a really really big raccoon, but had the paws and snout of a panda, super interesting. Outside of the pandas, Chengdu was another massive city, 6,000,000+, pretty clean and well planned, but busy busy none the less. Christina and I did dominate a local muslim noodle shop about 5 times. Grubbing on dishes of fresh pulled noodles and veggies for about $1 a massive plate, along with local cold beers. They were indeed the best noodles ever. We also treated ourselves to the first tex-mex we’ve had in a long long time, although it was a little lacking, we had a fun time eating tortilla chips and drinking Corona. Don’t worry, we’re walking off all the beer calories more than enough, we get some serious walking/exploring in just about daily.
Next stop- Sanya, the “Hawaii of China”.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
On the night train...
Night train to Xian (Shee-an), China
We hopped a hard sleeper train from Nanjing to Xian (Shee-an). Wow, that was a first/different experience! The train itself was fine, not a high-speed bullet though, so it took around 18 hours to get to Xian, whew. Getting on the train was quite an experience. Imagine about 200 people jockeying and pushing and shoving to filter through 2 turn styles to gain entrance to the train platform. No que line, no boarding pass number, no orderly line, just everyone fighting for themselves to get through, it was like its own little mosh pit, everyone trying to converge on the same point at once, luggage in tow. Christina looked at me and rolled her eyes while we put our elbows out and forearms in front to make our way through. Grown men were shoving each other and I had to clothesline a 5’2” China-woman to ensure Christina could gain access to gate. If you don’t hold your own here, you’re gonna get run right over. F-ing Crazy! King of Fun, but crazy and not expected. Ahh the contradictions. China- How can you not design an orderly boarding line and yet produce trains that go 220mph??? No idea. We realized what the fighting was about to get on as fast as possible though. On the sleeper trains you’re given 1 of 6 bunk beds in a room about 7x8 ft. Yep, 6 people sleeping in a virtual closet and the ones who get into the room first, get to throw their luggage and accommodate themselves much easier than the ones who arrive late (so if you want your luggage to have a spot, you gotta fight for it, seriously). There’s not much room for common politeness or courtesies, eat or be eaten gotta love it, just be prepared.
The train was fun though, we had a little 12 year old boy (English name-Nick) who spoke amazing English and was a chatter box. His hobby was, studying English, wow! We quickly became his first American friends and enjoyed his youthful view on the world and played cards, he wants to be a Doctor and help hurting people. He shared his candy with us, which ironically turned out to be a push-up of “Duck’s belly”, much like beef jerky. Needless to say, Christina hid hers and did not partake , so funny, not the candy we were expecting when he wanted to share. Nick’s little 7 year sister Judy was quite excited to have foreigners near. Nick harassed her most of the trip, saying “Judy, Judy, Judy” about hourly. Turns out, Judy was actually Nick’s 1st cousin, but since children rarely have siblings in China, their cousins are referred to as sisters and brothers (something new we learned), he did not understand the concept of “cousins”.
Yes, the one child law is still in affect here, there are a few conditional exceptions, but it’s pretty much the law of the land. Chairman Mao encouraged massive families a while back and viewed China’s greatest resource as its labor force and population, turns out, he was kind of correct. But there’s so many now that a great drain on natural resources is eminent and a true need for corrective policy seems reasonable, radical, but reasonable. Although America consumes 10x the natural resources per person, we could have a far greater impact on the world by reducing our consumption at home even though we have only 1/5th of China’s population.
We hopped a hard sleeper train from Nanjing to Xian (Shee-an). Wow, that was a first/different experience! The train itself was fine, not a high-speed bullet though, so it took around 18 hours to get to Xian, whew. Getting on the train was quite an experience. Imagine about 200 people jockeying and pushing and shoving to filter through 2 turn styles to gain entrance to the train platform. No que line, no boarding pass number, no orderly line, just everyone fighting for themselves to get through, it was like its own little mosh pit, everyone trying to converge on the same point at once, luggage in tow. Christina looked at me and rolled her eyes while we put our elbows out and forearms in front to make our way through. Grown men were shoving each other and I had to clothesline a 5’2” China-woman to ensure Christina could gain access to gate. If you don’t hold your own here, you’re gonna get run right over. F-ing Crazy! King of Fun, but crazy and not expected. Ahh the contradictions. China- How can you not design an orderly boarding line and yet produce trains that go 220mph??? No idea. We realized what the fighting was about to get on as fast as possible though. On the sleeper trains you’re given 1 of 6 bunk beds in a room about 7x8 ft. Yep, 6 people sleeping in a virtual closet and the ones who get into the room first, get to throw their luggage and accommodate themselves much easier than the ones who arrive late (so if you want your luggage to have a spot, you gotta fight for it, seriously). There’s not much room for common politeness or courtesies, eat or be eaten gotta love it, just be prepared.
The train was fun though, we had a little 12 year old boy (English name-Nick) who spoke amazing English and was a chatter box. His hobby was, studying English, wow! We quickly became his first American friends and enjoyed his youthful view on the world and played cards, he wants to be a Doctor and help hurting people. He shared his candy with us, which ironically turned out to be a push-up of “Duck’s belly”, much like beef jerky. Needless to say, Christina hid hers and did not partake , so funny, not the candy we were expecting when he wanted to share. Nick’s little 7 year sister Judy was quite excited to have foreigners near. Nick harassed her most of the trip, saying “Judy, Judy, Judy” about hourly. Turns out, Judy was actually Nick’s 1st cousin, but since children rarely have siblings in China, their cousins are referred to as sisters and brothers (something new we learned), he did not understand the concept of “cousins”.
Yes, the one child law is still in affect here, there are a few conditional exceptions, but it’s pretty much the law of the land. Chairman Mao encouraged massive families a while back and viewed China’s greatest resource as its labor force and population, turns out, he was kind of correct. But there’s so many now that a great drain on natural resources is eminent and a true need for corrective policy seems reasonable, radical, but reasonable. Although America consumes 10x the natural resources per person, we could have a far greater impact on the world by reducing our consumption at home even though we have only 1/5th of China’s population.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Nanjing, China (damn who turned on the furnace?)
Ahhh Nanjing… Maybe we picked the wrong time of year to visit, but sheesh you are humid and hot. I’m reminded quickly of early August in the Kentucky River Valley, where temperatures and humidity have been reaching dangerous levels. Just walking outside the hotel you feel the sweat starting to trickle and the stickiness begin.
We did stay here 3 days and braved the heat and humidity while exploring some beautiful Pagodas and Temples on The Purple Mountain, as well as some very nice public lakes and parks. But if you can avoid Nanjing in August, I probably would, it’s just too damn hot to be a tourist here and enjoy yourself.
One Nanjing highlight though, I had the best Sweet and Sour Chicken in my life at a restaurant 60 seconds from our hotel. Actually I had it 3 different occasions (it was that good). We actually spoke to the owner, he was a Hong Kong/Chinese who lived in Canada, then came back to the mainland China and started the restaurant as well as 4 others now. Nice guy, great consistent food at fair prices, we’re sure he’ll continue his success. Although he did comment on the difficulty of getting Chinese workers to anticipate customer’s needs in advance as well as some other challenges of having to spell things out in black and white too many times. He was disappointed in their lack of creative problem solving. I guess it’s something to consider when everyone who works for you is an only child. They talk about The Little Emperor syndrome over here and sometimes I can say it’s apparent. The spitting continues but I’m getting in a few good ones of my own, so it’s feeling more normal at least
We did stay here 3 days and braved the heat and humidity while exploring some beautiful Pagodas and Temples on The Purple Mountain, as well as some very nice public lakes and parks. But if you can avoid Nanjing in August, I probably would, it’s just too damn hot to be a tourist here and enjoy yourself.
One Nanjing highlight though, I had the best Sweet and Sour Chicken in my life at a restaurant 60 seconds from our hotel. Actually I had it 3 different occasions (it was that good). We actually spoke to the owner, he was a Hong Kong/Chinese who lived in Canada, then came back to the mainland China and started the restaurant as well as 4 others now. Nice guy, great consistent food at fair prices, we’re sure he’ll continue his success. Although he did comment on the difficulty of getting Chinese workers to anticipate customer’s needs in advance as well as some other challenges of having to spell things out in black and white too many times. He was disappointed in their lack of creative problem solving. I guess it’s something to consider when everyone who works for you is an only child. They talk about The Little Emperor syndrome over here and sometimes I can say it’s apparent. The spitting continues but I’m getting in a few good ones of my own, so it’s feeling more normal at least
Monday, October 10, 2011
Shanghai, the city of 30 million
Shanghai, China (ok, so it has a lot of skyscrapers, I get it).
We had heard mixed reviews on Shanghai before deciding to visit, but we wanted to see the tallest building in China and were going to make it happen.
Shanghai turned out terrifically! We had a wonderful time, 5 days in a city with 25,000,000+ other folks It wasn’t nearly as bad as we had anticipated. It was busy, but no-where near as congested as Beijing (in our opinion), and we thought the City Center Area, The Bund Area, and many public places were finely designed and wisely planned. Traffic flowed easily and walking, taxis, and the subway were super easy.
I’ll have to admit, Christina booked a solid hotel, which sometimes can really make the difference in your enjoyment of where you are. It’s not always fun to come back after 6 hours walking, hot and sweaty, and plop down on a questionable bed, lukewarm shower or visibly see the grit. This hotel was good, basically a budget business hotel (instead of a guesthouse or hostel). $30 a night ain’t so bad when you wake up completely refreshed and clean.
Shanghai highlights would include: Having dinner on top of The Pearl Orient Tower in a rotating restaurant and pigging out on a full gourmet buffet. Seeing the tallest building in China and where they are building the “next tallest building in the world”. Walking down on The Bund and taking pictures of the Shanghai cityscape. The Bund is a historical area on the riverfront that has been turned into posh designer shops and luxury brand offices, banks, etc. The Historical on one side of the river, the Modern skyscraper side on the other makes for a unique view. Going out on the town with some young girls and guys (19-20yrs) that stayed in our hotel, being treated to food, drinks, laughs and odd conversation obstructed by a massive language barrier (great fun!) They were all so nice and fun and having their first visit to Shanghai themselves. Shanghai was clean, modern, good food, cold beer, world-class shopping, beautiful sky-line and easy, I’d recommend at least 3-4 days here for anyone, there’s so much to see. The spitting is slightly less here as well, which is a positive, but there are no qualms about smoking in any restaurant and flicking ashes right on the floor it appears.
We are headed to Nanjing now, a town about 3 hours by bullet train, just an intermediate stop on the long journey to Xian (17 hours by hard sleeper train) pronounced (Shee-an) where we will see the very famous Terracotta Warriors and a few other famous sites.
We had heard mixed reviews on Shanghai before deciding to visit, but we wanted to see the tallest building in China and were going to make it happen.
Shanghai turned out terrifically! We had a wonderful time, 5 days in a city with 25,000,000+ other folks It wasn’t nearly as bad as we had anticipated. It was busy, but no-where near as congested as Beijing (in our opinion), and we thought the City Center Area, The Bund Area, and many public places were finely designed and wisely planned. Traffic flowed easily and walking, taxis, and the subway were super easy.
I’ll have to admit, Christina booked a solid hotel, which sometimes can really make the difference in your enjoyment of where you are. It’s not always fun to come back after 6 hours walking, hot and sweaty, and plop down on a questionable bed, lukewarm shower or visibly see the grit. This hotel was good, basically a budget business hotel (instead of a guesthouse or hostel). $30 a night ain’t so bad when you wake up completely refreshed and clean.
Shanghai highlights would include: Having dinner on top of The Pearl Orient Tower in a rotating restaurant and pigging out on a full gourmet buffet. Seeing the tallest building in China and where they are building the “next tallest building in the world”. Walking down on The Bund and taking pictures of the Shanghai cityscape. The Bund is a historical area on the riverfront that has been turned into posh designer shops and luxury brand offices, banks, etc. The Historical on one side of the river, the Modern skyscraper side on the other makes for a unique view. Going out on the town with some young girls and guys (19-20yrs) that stayed in our hotel, being treated to food, drinks, laughs and odd conversation obstructed by a massive language barrier (great fun!) They were all so nice and fun and having their first visit to Shanghai themselves. Shanghai was clean, modern, good food, cold beer, world-class shopping, beautiful sky-line and easy, I’d recommend at least 3-4 days here for anyone, there’s so much to see. The spitting is slightly less here as well, which is a positive, but there are no qualms about smoking in any restaurant and flicking ashes right on the floor it appears.
We are headed to Nanjing now, a town about 3 hours by bullet train, just an intermediate stop on the long journey to Xian (17 hours by hard sleeper train) pronounced (Shee-an) where we will see the very famous Terracotta Warriors and a few other famous sites.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
China- Qindao (Ching-dao)
China- Qingdao (5 days with a great family)
It’s official, that’s definitely the fastest train we’ve ever rode. Speeds above 300 km/h (maybe 220 miles an hour). The country-side was whipping by. Not as fast as a plane, but modern, comfortable, clean, much more spacious, cheap, smooth, a nice view, and did I mention fast? Why these aren’t in the States boggles me. You could realistically live in Owensboro and commute to Cincinnati, Indy, or St. Louis for a normal work day and then back, the economic benefit would be un-measurable, plus the effects on tourism.
We would call Qingdao home for the next week as we “couch-surfed” with Connor and Jen, a married couple living in Qingdao and their 3 year old son Liam, originally from Illinois and Pennsylvania. They are teaching classes and running a new English Language Bookstore in Qingdao, a city of 8 million + and just out in the world carving their own unique path that works for them.
Their 3 year old son Liam is fluent in Mandarin and English already (well as far as a 3 year old can talk), but it was really something to see. Cool little guy.
Qingdao (pronounced Ching-Dao), was actually a German settled port-town on the South China Sea. It has gone through several iterations over the years, but has retained its famous Qingdao Brewery. The Brewery produces the famously well-known Tsingtao Beer which is consumed secondly only to tea here in China and well-exported throughout the world, of which we have sampled many many bottles to ensure its’ quality . And let me comment, there’s plenty of beer drinking over here, my cousins and brother would really have enjoyed the October-fest Beer Street atmosphere we were witness to one evening. Christina kicked it up a notched and chugged some glasses with a very vocal and fun table of Chinese Locals, just out eating and partying. It’s a bit like being witness to a college fraternity again, everyone is egging on or harassing the next guy to chug chug chug, except mostly grown adults, it was a riot.
We shopped the local farmer’s market for fresh fruits several times, enjoyed hours of truly great and informed conversation with Connor and Jen (such bright people), and rode the bus around town hopping from tourist spot to tourist spot. Qingdao’s weather was not bad, a little breeze usually came through and the temperature was good and warm but not overly hot or humid. Our host couple had a great little apartment and really made our time enjoyable as well as a learning experience. We kept them up too late several nights just talking into the evening about politics, businesses, culture, etc. Jen cooked several nice meals and we were even treated to home-made peach cobbler one night (mmmmm), and sticky-rice with Mangos another evening (soooo delicious). We are looking forward to staying in touch with Connor and Jen in the future and sharing more. We hope one day, they’ll pay us a visit at home for a long weekend on the river.
Shanghai next, one of the largest cities in the world.
It’s official, that’s definitely the fastest train we’ve ever rode. Speeds above 300 km/h (maybe 220 miles an hour). The country-side was whipping by. Not as fast as a plane, but modern, comfortable, clean, much more spacious, cheap, smooth, a nice view, and did I mention fast? Why these aren’t in the States boggles me. You could realistically live in Owensboro and commute to Cincinnati, Indy, or St. Louis for a normal work day and then back, the economic benefit would be un-measurable, plus the effects on tourism.
We would call Qingdao home for the next week as we “couch-surfed” with Connor and Jen, a married couple living in Qingdao and their 3 year old son Liam, originally from Illinois and Pennsylvania. They are teaching classes and running a new English Language Bookstore in Qingdao, a city of 8 million + and just out in the world carving their own unique path that works for them.
Their 3 year old son Liam is fluent in Mandarin and English already (well as far as a 3 year old can talk), but it was really something to see. Cool little guy.
Qingdao (pronounced Ching-Dao), was actually a German settled port-town on the South China Sea. It has gone through several iterations over the years, but has retained its famous Qingdao Brewery. The Brewery produces the famously well-known Tsingtao Beer which is consumed secondly only to tea here in China and well-exported throughout the world, of which we have sampled many many bottles to ensure its’ quality . And let me comment, there’s plenty of beer drinking over here, my cousins and brother would really have enjoyed the October-fest Beer Street atmosphere we were witness to one evening. Christina kicked it up a notched and chugged some glasses with a very vocal and fun table of Chinese Locals, just out eating and partying. It’s a bit like being witness to a college fraternity again, everyone is egging on or harassing the next guy to chug chug chug, except mostly grown adults, it was a riot.
We shopped the local farmer’s market for fresh fruits several times, enjoyed hours of truly great and informed conversation with Connor and Jen (such bright people), and rode the bus around town hopping from tourist spot to tourist spot. Qingdao’s weather was not bad, a little breeze usually came through and the temperature was good and warm but not overly hot or humid. Our host couple had a great little apartment and really made our time enjoyable as well as a learning experience. We kept them up too late several nights just talking into the evening about politics, businesses, culture, etc. Jen cooked several nice meals and we were even treated to home-made peach cobbler one night (mmmmm), and sticky-rice with Mangos another evening (soooo delicious). We are looking forward to staying in touch with Connor and Jen in the future and sharing more. We hope one day, they’ll pay us a visit at home for a long weekend on the river.
Shanghai next, one of the largest cities in the world.
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