WHOA – We’re in China: Guilin and Yangzhou

We arrived in Guilin and our guide (English name Angela) and driver for the region met us at the airport.  We were struck by the incredible humidity which felt like July in Atlanta. The hour or so drive from the airport to downtown Guilin reminded us a bit of India but on a less terrifying level.  Nonetheless, there were vans, buses, bicycles, scooters, pedestrians and more engaged in some kind of organized chaos on the roads.  Though we were supposed to go to the hotel and relax for the night, Angela recommended we go to a river cruise around downtown Guilin.  We arrived a bit early and enjoyed a beer by the water overlooking the Sun and Moon Pagodas.  While there, a girl came up to our guide and asked if she could take a picture with us!  We had heard about this happening sometimes in China when someone has never seen a Westerner before.  She was very cute and of course we complied.  The river cruise took us through the new Guilin town, which they rebuilt in 2002 using the ancient motes and was very beautiful and colorful.  They modeled their bridges after such international places as the Oxford bridge, Golden Gate Bridge and the Arc de Triumph.  After the cruise we gathered outside the nearby Waterfall Hotel to witness their nightly 30 minute waterfall which is in the Guinness book of World Records as the highest and widest manmade waterfall!  After checking into our hotel, we had a late Chinese dinner in the hotel (ordered a much more appropriate amount of food) and were offered tea, which we accepted.  When the man went to pour water into our cups of leaves mixed with red dates, we were surprised that the water pot was more like an oil canister with a 2 foot spout!  He stood way back from the table with the end of the spout at least a foot or so away when he poured and we still can’t believe he managed to get the water into the cups!

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and met our guide and driver for a short drive to the Li River for a 4 hour cruise to Yangzhou. The cruise was amazing- we went down stream through endless spectacular scenery that’s difficult to describe. In short, we were treated to hundreds of limestone mountains that rose up from the ground like nothing I’ve ever seen. With every turn in the river it only got better. As we cruised down the river we passed a number of villages as well as the bravest (or reckless) fisherman on tiny bamboo boats that would approach the large river cruiser we were on in order to hook on and try and sell some jade (or likely fake jade) to the tourists.

We really enjoyed the town of Yangzhou, which is a tourist destination but more so for Chinese tourists than Westerners destination . While there, we strolled through the market, saw an absolutely fantastic outdoor cultural show (same director as the 2008 opening games in Beijing), had our first foot reflexology, went on a bamboo river boat, and took a long bicycle ride through villages  The Chinese tourists were hilarious on the river boats because they all bring preparations to have water fights with other boats, whether they know them or not.  For some reason, we seemed to be off limits and were spared numerous times from being sprayed. The bike ride was great because it gave us better insight into some cultural ways and how the more remote people live.  We had the opportunity to meet a old man who allowed us to see his house without warning… he had a mirror above the door, as almost all the homes did, which is there to ward off evil.  His home was incredibly simple and bare, and yet he had a TV!  We also encountered village women who carried their babies in baskets for the purpose of finding tourists (like us) to take pictures for money.  BTW, the majority group (92% of the population), or Han, are only allowed one child while the many minority groups are allowed two children. The exception to this rule is if a Han farmer has a child and it is a girl; in that case, they can wait two years and try again to have a boy.

Back in Guilin we saw the Reed Flute Cave, Elephant Hill, a Tea Ceremony, Silk Factory, and Pandas at the zoo.  The cave was interesting not only for the natural wonder but because there were clear differences between the limestone caves in NZ and the limestone caves in China that illustrate some of the cultural  values of different societies.  For example, in NZ, the emphasis on the caves was on conservation of the environmentally fragile aspects of the cave and was presented in a such a way as to allow the cave to speak for itself.  Alternatively, the cave in China, which was equally as impressive, was lighted with many colors and all around were signs pointing out naturally occurring shapes that invited the viewer to use their imagination to see animals, people, and other scenes.  We found this tendency in many places (the hills along the Li River all had names based what “might” be seen in them, etc. camels, apple, horses…) and realized that the Chinese culture emphasizes amazing imagination and interpretation of scenery.

So far, the people are great, the scenery is beautiful and the food is, well, interesting. After such a good start, we are looking forward to seeing what else China has to offer. The only negatives so far is the pollution, humidity and mosquitoes.  In 2 days, Tovah received 28 mosquito bites 9 including one on her eyelid!) despite using bug spray. Apparently Asian bugs prefer Western blood, as our driver joked about, but unfortunately, Tovah seems to have a mild allergy to them and they swell up like hives on her.  It is giving her the opportunity to sample Chinese medicines.

At the time we originally went to publish this blog we realized that access to the blogger site we use is blocked by the gov’t here.  So, sorry this is late but better late than never. Now that we have figured out a hack and a way to proxy, we will post more soon.

Blog site blocked in China...

So we have a slight problem accessing our blog site in China. Apparently the Chinese Government has blocked all Blogger and Wordpress sites. I'm using a hack right now to get access to the blog site and to post this basic post. I'll try and figure out a way in the next few days to access all the functions of Blogger so we can post pictures and videos with the blog site and update the photo albums, etc.

Bear with us as we figure out a way, may remote access into my US computer.

Hong Kong

So we left Auckland ready to get out of the cold and into some warmth of the northern hemisphere!  We only had one concern – getting through screening for Swine Flu at the airport.  Raj has had a lingering cough from our cold and that is one of the symptoms they screen for.  We drugged him up despite his cough being almost gone and we were both feeling great – no symptoms of anything whatsoever.  About half way through our flight they made an announcement that one of the passengers had become very ill and they were seeking the help of any passenger with medical training.  Raj and I were a bit concerned but it was still quite vague.  Then we saw them carry the 20 year old or so girl into first class so she could lie down and most of the flight attendants put on medical masks.  So now we were really concerned but we were kept in the dark as to the situation.  When the plane landed everything seemed fine; they set up the gate for departure and everyone was up and in the aisles when the captain came on the speaker and asked us to return to our seats while medical personnel came aboard.  We watched at least 10 doctor-types in surgical style gowns and masks examine this girl and her friend.  We heard a flight attendant tell another passenger that they were considering putting the entire plane in quarantine!  Raj and I sat there helpless and started talking about 1) how much money we’d lose if we ended up quarantined for a week in Hong Kong (because we paid for China in advance) and 2) how pissed we’d be if we were quarantined because of someone else rather than because of us!  Finally, after about 15 minutes they abruptly allowed us to disembark and we got through the rest of security/customs without incident.  We still can’t believe how lucky we got – we thought we were screwed for sure!

Hong Kong is absolutely massive! It is also vibrant and surprisingly beautiful.  It sits on a harbor and a large part of it is an island across the harbor. We stayed at a great hotel with a room with a fantastic view of the harbor.  The best way to describe Hong Kong is that it is similarly set us as Manhattan but with the bright lights and colors of Las Vegas.  Everyone is exceedingly nice and transportation is an absolute breeze.  We took a ferry across the harbor and a bus to and from the Peak (for views of the city) with great ease and the subway system seemed easy to use, though we didn’t have a need for it.  For such a huge city, everything was very clean and well organized.  The shopping was so tempting, but for the most part, we restrained ourselves because we have several internal flights in China with strict baggage restrictions.  We did visit the Temple Street Night Market and each got a pair of knock-off sunglasses (or “copies” as they call them).

We were only in Hong Kong for a short 2 days time but we enjoyed ourselves and would like to return when we have more time. There was so much still to see and do there!  The only other notable experience was dinner at our first authentic Chinese restaurant.  We were torn about eating traditional Hong Kong street food by the market but decided that since it was so muggy, we’d prefer to sit inside somewhere.  We found a Chinese restaurant that was very busy but with no tourists (there were quite a lot of westerners all over Hong Kong and thus, many restaurants that seemed to cater toward the more comfortable selections of food).  We jumped at the chance for a more authentic experience but that included a wait staff that spoke little English and with more traditional customs.  it took some time to figure that we weren’t being ignored by the staff, but that to get service or to order, you must raise your hand (they don’t come check and making eye contact was not enough).  The menu did offer English translation but they were brief and without any real description.  While we had waited to order we had watched other diners and figured out that it was family style and that it looked like about 2 dished per diner.  When our waitress took my order (mixed vegetables and steamed chicken with chilies) she seemed to think we needed rice as well, so we ordered that.  Then she offered me, in pretty good English thankfully, that she could cut off the head and the tail of my chicken if I “hated it.” Yes, really.  I was in such shock at the offer that I simply smiled and accepted, but after she walked away I realized that if cutting off the head and tail of my chicken was an option, then my meal, which was rather cheap, must include a WHOLE chicken! Since Raj had also ordered a main dish and two sides, we indeed ended up with a ridiculous amount of food.  We made decent progress as the dished came out as they were ready versus all together, but we were getting full when she brought my chicken. The waitress said as she put the huge bowl on the table, “don’t worry, don’t worry, it’s a small chicken.”  We did the best we could and learned a lot about how to eat the way they do (we spied on all the tables around us) and even managed to eat chicken drumsticks with chopsticks!  The food was all very good and we enjoyed the experience.

We are now on our way to mainland China (Guilin is our first city and by Monday we will be in Shanghai). We don’t yet whether internet access with be difficult or not so we are posting this from Hong Kong’s airport.  Be patient if you don’t hear from us for a while – we will keep writing and post a novel eventually.  Hopefully, it will not be a problem and we will post again from Shanghai!