25 July 2008
Baldev's Home Sweet Home &
trip wrap up
The
next morning was relaxed around the hotel as we waited for Baldev,
who was seeing if we could get the A/C fixed on the car.
Apparently, the incessant squeaking we'd been hearing for the past
week wasn't the fan belt, but the ball bearings in the A/C unit.
But leave it to Baldev to find a place to get it fixed. Thank
goodness, because while the weather in Himachal Pradesh was gorgeous
70s & 80s, the temps in Delhi were 20 degrees higher! So,
Baldev arrived at Taragarh Palace to pick us up and be our tour
guide in his neighborhood. We were especially excited to see
his stomping grounds this year, because we didn't get to last year.
He took us first to the Sharab Ling Monastery where we got out and
admired the 9 stupas, buildings with prayer wheels, all in a row.
We drove past more of the monastery complex before heading up the
mountain. The towns of Bir and Billing are famous for the
Himalayan Hang-Gliding Rally each June.
Billing,
at 2600m (8530ft), is the launch pad for paragliding, and Bir, 1300m
(4265ft) is the landing point. We drove all the way up to
Billing, which is just a tiny collection of homes and farms that we
could hardly see because of the fog/clouds we were in. The
drive up was, of course, beautiful although a little hair-raising.
There were several stretches of road that had recently had rock/mud
slides, and the entire road had washed away. They had used
tractors to just smash the rubble down so it could be driven across
again. After we drove the mountain we headed towards Baldev's
village, Maman. It took around 45 minutes to get there, but
not because it was far away. It was just so ideally located!
It sits on a little plateau between two rivers, so it's like it's
own little peninsula. The rivers were beautiful, and the whole
area was just awesome. I can understand how someone who grew
up in a village like that would never want to leave it. We
parked the car, and walked up the path to his house. It is a
rather large two storey home that had been added on to over the
years. Baldev's father, his wife Madhu, his two daughters
Priya and Priyanka, and his brother's wife all live there. We
were surprised to find out that they own a cow and calf, and a goat.
We received a tour of the house, and met the animals. Baldev's
sister had brought her two daughters with her as well, and the 4
little girls were really shy. Their curiosity was stronger
than their shyness - they kept staring in the window at us. B
took the camera and started
taking
pictures of them all, and they soon were in fits of giggles.
It wasn't long before Priya was holding B's hand and calling her "Didi,"
which is the term Indian's use to denote an older
sister/cousin/friend and term of respect. Dinner was served
only to us (awkward) with Baldev waiting on us hand and foot.
He had put a lot of thought, time and effort into this meal.
He had called Manjula to learn how to make our favorite paneer, had
his sister-in-law prepare a chicken dish (even though he's
vegetarian), made the dal himself, brought us bottled water and
Limca and ran back and forth to the kitchen to keep us stocked with
fresh, hot chapattis. The meal was fantastic, and we stuffed
ourselves. Later we learned from Baldev that he had been
praying all day that we would like the food - he was so nervous
about it, and on the drive back after dinner he kept asking me, over
and over again, if I was sure the food was good.
After
dinner, D asked for help getting past the goat to see the calf.
He and Z took turns having the calf suck on their fingers (GROSS!)
and said it tickled. Then we all took a walking tour of the
village, meeting all of his "uncles" and "aunties". I swear,
everyone in that town if related by some means. Z was really
impressed by all the plants growing that were either herbs, spices
or fruits and veggies. Unlike our gardens, which are usually
all for looks, these gardens were for sustenance. The vast
fields of rice and corn, were impressive, and I love one particular
photo I took of three brightly dressed women working in the fields.
It was such a contrast to China, and Japan specifically, where
everyone wears black. We passed a gigantic lone stalk of corn
that seemed larger than normal because it wasn't in a field, but
next to someone's house. After walking the fields, we walked
back to the car to drive around the area for a more complete view.
The 4 younger girls were jabbering to Baldev about something, and he
wasn't budging... turns out, they wanted to ride in the car with us.
I veto-ed Baldev and we piled 12 in the car. It was fun to see
Baldev in his element where everyone knew him and waved. As we
were driving he was pointing out things. At one point he
mentioned that there were leopards in the jungle. I was
surprised and asked him to clarify. Sure enough, there are
actually leopards in that area, which explains why there are no
stray dogs, or any other small animal not tied down in the village.
Maybe that's what Delhi needs... just release a few hundred leopards
in town and let nature take it's course. We did see monkeys,
but not in the numbers of Shimla or Chamba.
We learned that
Baldev's girls go to an English medium school that's 15km away by
bus on bad roads, but is totally worth it, despite the costs.
Baldev, himself, walked 2½ hours to high school everyday, even in
the snow. (Ya know, uphill both ways, in the snow, over
broken glass, barefoot...) We also passed a large forested
area, and Baldev casually said, "I planted those trees."
Apparently, he had a job as a child, planting trees for 20 rupees a
day (that's 50¢). His mother died when he was about 13 years
old, and he took care of his younger two siblings. He is one
of the hardest working people I have ever met. This day with
Baldev was one of the most memorable ones for me. It made
"real life" in India more personal to me. We love Baldev as
one of the family, even if he won't let us treat him that way.
After our driving tour of town, he drove us back to Taragarh and we
said goodnight. He drove the rest of his troop back the the
village and enjoyed another rare night at home with his family.
I can't imagine living a life away from my family, but then again,
many people don't view family relationships the same as we do in the
States (at least that's what I keep telling myself so I can deal
with it).
Photos
We
spent one more night at Taragarh and then packed up the next morning
for the long ride home. After the first 2 hours (of 12) we
made it back to the "highway" and out of the pretty scenery.
So to keep myself entertained I started taking what Kelly and I like
to call "Whacha Haulin'"
photos - pictures of people or vehicles carrying
unbelievable loads. As we got closer to Delhi, the traffic
became pretty horrendous and we even saw some people on bicycles
start beating up a tuc-tuc driver, although we couldn't figure out
why. India is not immune to road rage, but just the other day,
Dave and I were discussing how ludicrous it is that people in the
States freak out so badly about traffic and even kill each other.
We think those people should be sentenced to one week as a driver in
Delhi - if they even survived, they would be kissing the asphalt of
the traffic-law abiding highways of the US. We
eventually arrived home, and were deeply satisfied with our amazing
summer of adventure.
23 July 2008
"It's the Best Day Ever!"
As I mentioned
yesterday, this day was so great compared to the previous one.
As we drove back to Chamba from Bharmour, we were debating if we
would go back to Hotel Aroma Palace (I just like to say it), and
decided to check out a different hotel on the way. As it turns
out, we ended up staying at HPTDC Hotel Iravati run by the Himachal
Pradesh department of tourism. It seemed cleaner than the
Aroma Palace, and we got 2 rooms for less than the price of the 1
suite the night before. The restaurant was decent too.
Things were beginning to look up. In the morning we took our
time checking out as we had plans to stay in McLeod Ganj, this is
about 4km up the mountain from Dharamsala and is where the exiled
Tibetan government has it's headquarters, and where the Dalai Lama
lives. As we drove out from Chamba, the weather was heavenly.
The sun was out and the clouds cast great shadows. We drove
up, and up, and up a mountain, and around each corner was a more
impressive view. We stopped several times to take photos.
We even got a family photo that is acceptable (hooray!). My
favorite part of these road trips is this kind of driving, where the
air is clear and the scenery is breathtaking. It could not
have been more perfect. We passed a
few small villages, but
not many. When we reached a spot near the top, we stopped to
take some more pictures. We had our radio blasting our
traveling tunes, and all climbed out of the car to stretch our legs.
As I walk to the edge of the road and stretch my legs, I see a man
laying on a little patch of grass, sleeping. I was totally
shocked. Here we were at like 10,000 ft, and there is a guy
sleeping on the side of road. I shhhh'ed the kids, we took a
few pictures and left him to finish his nap. We continued up,
and up this mountain until we were in the clouds, and after about 5
minutes we crossed over the pass and began our descent down the
other side into the Kangra Valley. It was at that moment that
I had an epiphany or sorts, nothing earth shattering or anything,
but I realized that there aren't many (if any) places in the US
where the road winds all the way up the mountain and down the other
side. Americans will either build a road through a valley,
blast their own valley, or blast a tunnel under the mountain.
And while that would save A LOT of travel time to travel that way, I
realized that I truly appreciated these high mountain Indian roads
and the opportunity to see parts of India that your typical foreign
tourist doesn't get to see. In fact, this is one of my
favorite things about India - that you can drive for hours and hours
and not get bored of things to look at.
Okay,
I'm getting carried away. Suffice it to say, it was ideal
driving, and I loved every minute of it. We drove a few hours
more and arrived in Dharamsala. We didn't stop, just gassed up
the car. The gas station had an In & Out convenient store
attached to it. It was the closest thing to an American
business I've seen our whole time in India, Western food products on
the shelves, slushy machines, etc. The only thing it was
missing were the hot dog roasting machines. It was weird and I
wondered who their customers were... but I didn't have to wonder for
long. As we started climbing up the mountain to McLeod Ganj we
started to see more and more foreigners. By the time we
arrived at the hotel where we had reservations we had seen more than
30, and the more we saw of the town, the more we realized how
touristy it really was. Dave and I checked out the hotel, and
had high hopes considering how many visitors this place gets every
year. We went down 4 flights of stairs to see our family
suite, and with each level, the smell of mustiness grew stronger.
The suite itself was very large and would have met our needs for
sleeping, but it was the same level of cleanliness and dampness we
were ready to be finished with. We checked out a few more
rooms with the same results, and decided to check out a few more
hotels. We stopped in at one hotel that looked rather new and
found it better than the first one, but still not what we were
hoping for. We piled back in the car and drove another 9 km or
so to the Asia Health Resort. We had seen billboards for this
place all over the area... it boasted a game room, a health spa and
even a swimming pool. The kids were excited... until we
arrived. More of the same, and the pool was cloudy and green.
Dave and I decided to call Taragarh Palace and see if we could move
up our reservation and stay there tonight. They said no
problem. So we rallied the troops and had a pow wow. We
decided to eat an early dinner in town and then press on to Palampur
and Taragarh Palace, just about 2 hours away. We ate at McLlo
restaurant which to our delight was very good. There was a
picture on the wall of Pierce Brosnan when he ate there, and it was
so crowded we half expected Richard Gere to walk in the door.
It
started pouring rain while we ate, and we watched everyone outside
running from shop to shop trying to stay dry, tourists and monks
alike. Although most of the monks were prepared and had
umbrellas handy. After dinner we sloshed through the rain with
our umbrellas back to the car and started back down the mountain.
Traffic was pretty desperate due to the rain, and we had a scare
when one van going the opposite direction from us couldn't get up
the wet hill and nearly backed into us several times. I
actually screamed in mild panic mode at this, because had he backed
into us, we would have gone over the edge of the road/cliff.
Yikes! But, as always, I should have had faith in Baldev who
maneuvered and intimidated his way down the mountain of frustrated
drivers without incident. You might think that due to our
hotel misadventures in McLeod Ganj, our "best day ever" really
wasn't. However, we still enjoyed the town, the meal, and the
atmosphere there... and what's better than anticipating staying at
Taragarh again. (I just re-read my entry from last July
about the first Himachal trip, and realized that I didn't talk about
Taragarh at all, although Dave did at Olmsted/Travel/Himachal, if
you're curious). Anyway,
Taragarh Palace is half Heritage Hotel, and half Deluxe A/C
suites. The property belongs to the royal family of Jammu &
Kashmir, and has a swimming pool, a spa, horseback riding,
badminton, and a great restaurant. So, we checked in that
evening, and having already eaten dinner we went to the restaurant
and enjoyed sampling the desserts. I digress, if we hadn't
changed our plans we would have missed out on the most beautiful
rainbow I've every seen. I must have taken more than 40
pictures trying to capture just the right one. It was a
fabulous ending to "the best day ever!"... (at least the best
road-travel-in-India day ever!)
Photos
22 July 2008
Um.... I don't think I can
do this...
Originally
we had planned to stay 3 nights in Dalhousie, using it as a jumping
off point, but as we got there and realized the insanity of some of
the roads we'd drive on, we decided to have only 1 night in
Dalhousie, 1 in Chamba and 1 in Bharmour (elev 2195m/7201ft) which
was the capital of the Chamba state before Chamba was (940 AD).
We had hopes of driving over the Indrahar La pass (4300m/14107ft) to
see views comparable to those we saw last year at Rotang La, but
were informed that the pass was only open to trekkers. (Big
Bummer!) So, after we checked out of Hotel Aroma Palace, we
drove the perilous mountain road to Bharmour under the grey skies
with drizzly rain. It was an amazing drive as we passed
construction (or rather destruction) crews dynamiting to widen the
road. The road was cut out of the mountain in many places so
that there was a significant overhang above the vehicles, and as par
for the Indian course, the mountain roads are usually just wide
enough for one car, so passing is an interesting affair. It
probably took us around 4 hours to get to Bharmour. We tried
to drive to our hotel, but the road was too narrow and there was no
place to park, so Dave and I walked up the literally green muddy
road (yeah, it really wasn't mud... ewwww) to the hotel we had
chosen. We had high hopes as the Lonely Planet guide said it
had just undergone a big refurbishment, had big rooms with soaring
views and the best restaurant in town. (bonus!)
However... we had them show us several different rooms, and with
each one my face fell further and further. This was by far the
saddest hotel I've ever seen. I was dumbfounded and had a hard
time finding words. Dave looked at me; I looked at Dave and
said quietly, "I don't think I can do this..." Fortunately he had
the same sentiments and we decided to just eat lunch at the
restaurant and head back to Chamba, since we'd have to go back that
way to head south to our next stop. We walked back to the car
and found a parking place on the street below the hotel/restaurant.
As we were walking from the car to the stairs up the hill, Little
D's foot fell through a grate on the road and gouged up his shin
pretty bad, scraping deep enough at one part that it was completely
white underneath
(bone?). He was screaming for several minutes as we grabbed
the first aid kit and doctored him up. (see photo at right
to see how swollen his leg was) So, by this time my nerves were
a little bit frazzled, but we continued on to the restaurant.
The kids had to use the restroom, so we checked it out and just
about recoiled in horror at the state of it. We've been in
India for over a year now and have seen our share of nastiness, but
this one beat all of them combined! We actually had them open
one of the hotel rooms so we could use the bathroom. UGH!
We scrubbed our hands and sat down at one of the tables. They
had red checked tablecloths, common in many restaurants, covered
with a thick plastic to protect them. However, I don't think
they ever actually cleaned the plastic. I kept snapping at the
kids to "get your hands off the table," "don't touch anything," and
"oh my gosh! Get your hands out of your mouth!" I had to
make a conscious effort not to dry heave at the table. (yes,
it really was that bad!) Dave took out our anti-bacterial
wipes and started working on the table. I can't even describe the
sludge he removed with those wipes. We ordered our food, ate
as quickly as possible, and got out of dodge lickety split. We
could not get into the car fast enough for my liking, but once we
were all loaded and moving back on the road AWAY from Bharmour, I
began to relax. I'm sure Bharmour is actually a very nice
place, in fact, it's a popular jumping off point for some beautiful
multiple day treks. For me, though, it was a lesson in
opposites. The horrible aspects of that day for me so starkly
contrasted with the spectaculocity of the next day!
Photos
21 July 2008
Over the River and Through
the Woods...
Delhi to Chamba
We didn't have much
down time between our return from China and our next adventure....
(ROAD TRIP!) We just managed to get our laundry done so we could
repack our suitcases. Oh, and we hosted 4 Air Force Academy
cadets and their chaperone at our house the night before we left.
Which, BTW, happened to also be the 4th of July. One of the
cadets was sad to miss fireworks... but, in Baldev fashion, we put
on our own display off our roof again, which had all of them running
for cover under the awning on the roof. It was awesome!
We really enjoyed getting to know this great group of guys.
So, after we finally said goodnight, (after midnight) we settled in
for our 3 and a half hours of sleep before packing ourselves into
the Qualis and heading for the hills... Himalayan hills, that is.
We
departed around 5 AM, and drove the long haul to Dalhousie. We
had 1 flat tire, 1 massive thunderstorm, and 2 tanks of gas guzzled
before we arrive in the late afternoon. Most of us, excluding
Baldev, slept in the car for several hours. We were really
disappointed because the entire time we were in Dalhousie it was
socked in with clouds. So we imagined the beautiful scenery,
and the soaring Pir Pandal range separating it from Kashmir.
Dalhousie sits at 2036 m (6680 ft) and was a British hill station.
There were two very nice British-era churches, one on each end of
the ridge Dalhousie sits on. After we checked into our hotel,
Hotel Mount View, we started exploring the town. Dalhousie is
a popular holiday stop for many Indians, but we didn't see any
foreigners there, which explained why our family was just as much a
tourist attraction as were the churches and pony rides. We
checked out the St. Francis church on the hill and were greeted by a
young man who looked like he about 12 carrying a loaded rifle.
We were a little unsettled and wondering if we weren't welcome at
the church. He just smiled as us and said it was for the
monkeys. Similar to Shimla, our first stop on last year's road
trip, monkeys are increasingly becoming a nuisance at these hill
stations because the tourists like to feed them, causing them to
become more aggressive and nasty. In fact, as we left the
church we saw a monkey attack a stray dog right in the middle of a
town square full of people. The monkey won! As we walked
further along the ridge we saw some Buddhist art and painted rock
carvings on the hill side. At the far end of the ridge we
found dinner at the Kwality restaurant (I kid you not), and we
enjoyed a really great Indian meal, with perhaps the best butter
chicken to date. The walk home was an interesting spar with
traffic in the dark, until we peeled off the main road and cut
through the little Tibetan market near our hotel. Our hotel
room, the nicest they offered was a two story suite. The kids
slept upstairs in the loft and loved having their own TV up there,
despite all the channels being in Hindi. This was our first
reminder that clean in India doesn't mean clean as we understand it.
The towels were a dingy grey (originally white) and still a little
damp, there were about 100 dead gnat-looking things on the sink,
and the blankets felt like cardboard. As Dave and I discussed
the disparity of clarity on the topic, we both just sighed and
appreciated how far we've come since we arrived last year. Not
that we would specifically choose such accommodations, but that we
can accept them for what they are and move on.
We
slept in the next morning. Z & I skipped the relatively
expensive Indian breakfast buffet, while the rest filled up on burnt
toast to sustain their lives. We pilled back into the car and
drove off into more clouds and rain. This wasn't turning out
to be the vacation we hoped it would be. Our destination this
day was Chamba, a district capitol, and a princely state capitol
established in 920 AD until Raja Sahil Varman, surviving almost 1000
years until it fell to the British in 1845. On the way, we had
to pass "near" the Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary, which we chose to
forego because of the rain. However, despite Baldev's
protests, we had to pay 15 INR to use the road that ran next to
the sanctuary. What a racket! But considering it was
only $0.35 it really wasn't a big deal to us. (It's the
principle though, that gets Baldev so riled up - blue plated
vehicles are exempted from paying any toll/road/parking
fees). So, we paid our rupees, and continued on to our first
stop at Khajjiar. It is a cute little meadow (can't seem to
call it a town) with a lake surrounded by pine tree covered hills -
very scenic, if it weren't for the throngs of tourists sitting in
the cafes waiting for the rain to stop. We had discussed
zorbing with the
kids and weren't about to back down because of a little rain.
So we trudged through the puddles and pony poop to where the "zorbs"
were and negotiated for our rides. Dave was disappointed that
they wouldn't actually roll you down the hill, but actually just
rolled you about 100 meters and back. In retrospect, I'd say
the hill option would have been better, but our zorbing gurus were
adamant (or just lazy) and wouldn't budge. Z and B strapped
into the first ball, and they were off... you could hear their
screams of delight the whole time. When they returned it was A
and little D's turn, but he refused. We tried to talk Baldev
into going, but he also refused. Dave didn't want to go, so
that left me (great!). I had no desire to wrestle my
rear end into the narrow entry hole, but decided to "take one for
the team." As I expected, I got stuck and had to be pulled
into the ball by one guy on the inside, and pushed in from the other
by Dave (although there were plenty of eager volunteers that Dave
had to shoo off). A humbling beginning. I got strapped
into the harness that holds you in place - gigantic Velcro straps
that go over your shoulders, between your legs and strap around your
mid-section, hand straps you are supposed to hold on with, and
another set of straps over your knees. Having dislocated both
my knee caps previously, I was a little anxious to have something
right there and had to fight the whole time to keep it in the right
place. And then we were off... It was actually quite fun,
although the balance was off due to the difference in weight between
A and I. As we neared the turn around point, we ended up
rolling a little sideways (pain!) which was not very
enjoyable. They rolled us back, and we unstrapped, exited the
zorb and checked our limbs to see if they worked properly.
J
Overall, it was a blast. The 3 kids absolutely loved it,
although they all agree they prefer water zorbing (see Tongli
photos). I on the other hand managed to grow some serious
bruises around my knees as I struggled to protect my knee caps, and
my left shoulder arrived at muscle failure and hung limply at my side
for the rest of the drive to Chamba.
As
we got closer to Chamba the rain stopped and the sun came out (Hallelujah!).
The drive without clouds was beautiful, reminding us why we had
decided to take this trip in the first place. And there
definitely were no foreigners here. We checked into the Hotel
Aroma Palace (serious!) and found our suite (again the nicest
room in the place) which looked like a 1970's decorator's reunion,
including brown and orange velour furniture and curtains (sorry we
forgot to take pictures). The bathroom was typical Indian,
where the entire room is the shower. The towels were also
dingy grey (once upon a time... white), but with the added bonus of
blotchy stains. (I add these details not by way of complaint,
but to paint a complete and accurate picture.) Right off our
room was a beautiful balcony with sweeping views of the city and the
mountains. Chamba has a very large grassy field, called
Chowgan, right in the center of town where they hold all their
festivals and parades, and is home to many impromptu cricket
matches. Since we had checked in and dropped of our bags by
mid morning, we had an entire afternoon to enjoy Chamba. We
ventured out to the town museum, Bhuri Singh Museum, which had a
great collection of miniature paintings from and of the local area,
and woodcarvings dating back to the 3rd century. From the
museum we headed up the mountain to the Shri Chamunda Devi Temple,
which had amazing views of Chamba below. We continued driving
up the mountain with no specific destination... just up! With
every switchback we were awestruck by the beautiful
views.
We stopped at one particular switchback with a place to pull of the
road without danger and took some photos of the entire valley with
the Ravi River flowing through it. And captured another
favorite photo of the kids. The local villagers (yes, there
were many small villages along these high mountain roads), were
entertained by us, some gathering on the roadside to watch us, some
yelling up at us from their rooftops further down the mountain.
Talk about a home with a view... these very humble homes clinging to
the side of mountains seemingly twice as tall as the Wasatch
mountains in Utah, had breathtaking views from every vantage
point... something only the rich and/or famous can afford in the
States. These humble people eek out their happy existence as a
community in very harsh conditions, walking down the mountain when
they need supplies they can't provide for themselves. In
the winter they are veritably cut off from the rest of the World by
snow and ice. After our photo shoot, we continued up until the
road ended, where we found a guest house under construction.
Supposedly this place is popular for filming mountain Bollywood
scenes. Dave and Baldev conversed with several people on the
project and bought some Himachal hard candy at the little shop
there, which were actually really good, reminding me of sweet tarts
shaped like fish. We turned the car around and drove all the
way back down to find a place to eat dinner. Lonely Planet
guide had only 3 recommendations for restaurants, we selected the
"best" one and ate a yummy Indian dinner at the Park View restaurant
who's understanding of sanitation is several levels lower than mine.
Another testament to how far I've come is that after I personally
killed the cockroach under the table, I continued to eat my dinner.
Back in our room, Dave moved the trash can in the bathroom and
hiding beneath it was the biggest cockroach I've ever seen.
That one made my skin crawl and a little squeal of freakin' out
escaped me. Instead of killing it, Dave trapped it underneath
one of the buckets provided in the bathroom and I swear I could hear
it breathing. (nice!) Stay tuned for more of our
Himachali Adventures...
Photos
16 July 2008
I guess I'm NOT hard
core...
All has been quiet
here... too quiet. It's such a pain in the neck... LITERALLY!
It started Sunday night. I was talking with my sister on the
phone and got a crick in my neck... ya know, we've all had them.
So I took some Advil and went to bed. Monday morning was
horrible. I couldn't even wash my hair by myself.
Normally, stiff neck favors one side or the other. This
one is right down the middle of my neck, from the base of my skull
to between my shoulder blades. I can't wash my hair or brush my teeth
very well, I can't sleep, I can't find any comfortable position for
more than 5 minutes. OUCH! Yesterday I finally broke
down and went to the clinic - secretly hoping to come home with some
serious drugs (please give me vicodin). I will have to be
content with Naprosyn and flexirall (a muscle relaxant). Last
night was better, no sobbing into my pillow, but the pain is still
pretty severe. I have more range of motion than yesterday, so
hopefully the worst is over. Dave and I joked that this was
Delayed Cumulative Whiplash as a result of our driving with Baldev -
the Nurse Practitioner didn't laugh - it's totally possible.
Who knew?
11 July 2008
We're back...
Can
I just say...?
"I LOVE
Himachal Pradesh!"
Wow, this was a
fabulous trip! I need to get China blogged before I start on
the details of this trip, but it was amazing. And that is
including roaches, dirty sheets and towels, rock hard mattresses,
filthy restaurants, extremely dangerous roads and injuries. I
promise all the gory details, but first I'm working on China.
Stay tuned... now that we are finished traveling for awhile, I'll
post frequently.
4 July 2008
Happy
Independence
Day!
We're heading out
again on our road trip through Himachal Pradesh, leaving at 0'dark
:30 in the morning. So all will be quiet on the blog again.
(Man, this is going to take me forever to get caught up!)
Tonight, however, we are hosting a group of Air Force Academy cadets
on an Olmsted immersion summer trip. And since OSHA doesn't
live here, we're celebrating the 4th from our own roof again.
We should be back from our trip sometime next weekend, and I promise
after that I'll be more faithful on the website.
2 July 2008
Our China Trip - The Trip
of a Lifetime (finished
19 July)
Our trip to China was
the adventure of a lifetime, and we cannot express our thanks enough
to the Little
Family, Jade, and the
Smiths for their planning and amazing hospitality. We have
made lifelong friends. I'm not sure how best to document this
expedition appropriately, so I'll start at the beginning... and
touch on each segment of the trip individually. I want to keep
this all as one entry, so I'll just keep adding to it as I go
without changing the date at the top. Bear with me, as this is
not so much for your viewing readership, as it is for my personal
documentation/family history sake.
Beijing - Our
flight from Delhi was on Ethiopian Airlines (never heard of it)
and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the airline - we
would fly with them again (thumbs up!) We did arrive
later than expected to Beijing but were welcomed with open arms by
Jade and the driver and van she arranged for us. She brought
us back to her amazing apartment and set us up in royal fashion
bequeathing us her master suite. We really enjoyed her home
and her company. We've now adopted her as Aunt Jade.
That night we met up with the Littles - our traveling buddies - to
go over the game plan for the next several weeks.
He who has not
climbed the Great Wall is not a true man.
~Mao Zedong
The
next morning we hit the ground running and piled 11 of us into the
van heading for the Great Wall of China. It was only an hour
or so drive, and I have to say this was one of the best days ever!
Aside from the fact that we packed WAY TOO MUCH into the day, it was
amazing and set the precedent for the entire trip - in fact, I still
don't think we've recovered from that day. There are several
different sections of the Wall to visit; Jade pointed us to the
Mutianyu
section, which one of the less frequently visited locations.
We rode a cable car up to the top, which happened to be the same car
President Clinton rode in, in 1997 (another blog in the making on
his foreign policy efforts - stay tuned). As we exited the
car, climbed the last few steps and set foot on the actual Wall
itself, I had a overwhelming emotional moment that will remain with
me the rest of my life. I know I've said this a million times
here, but there are
many
times since we've left the States that I feel I need to pinch myself
to believe that this is really my life. This was one of the
those moments, in a very profound way. I won't get all mushy
here (too late), but suffice it to say I LOVED being at the
Great Wall. The views were amazing and we tried several times
for the perfect family picture for our Christmas cards, but I think
we've chosen one from later on in the trip. Check out our
Great Wall photos. We hiked the
wall more than 6 km East from where we exited the cable car, and
decided despite our fatigue we wanted to climb to "one more tower"
past our Wall exit point. It was the most difficult part of
our hike as the stairs were very steep and seemed never-ending, but
was totally worth all the extra exertion for the views. All
told, we think we walked more than 8 km. I was amazed at the
energy of the kids. Every climb seemed to be a competition (I
wonder where they got that from?) and even little D was a
trooper of endless energy despite the emergence of several blisters.
We opted to ride the toboggans down the hill, which was a great
reward for the kids who promptly asked if they could go back up and
do it again. We passed the gauntlet of touristy hawker shops
and found the van and headed back into town. We made a quick
stop at McDonalds for our kids' first hamburgers in over a year.
Despite
the approaching evening, we decided to head to the
Summer Palace,
the Summer escape for the Emperor who spent the rest of his year at
the Forbidden City. We didn't arrive until close to 5 pm, so
the buildings were closed to the public, but we really enjoyed our
walk around this beautiful complex, situated on the Kunming Lake.
It was a nice cool walk through gorgeous tree-lined walks with
buildings featuring amazing architecture. One of the benefits
of coming to China this year, is that the whole country is on a
spruce up campaign prior to hosting the Olympics this August.
All the building were sporting a fresh coat of paint. We could
have spent an entire day here, but were glad we could visit at all.
Check out the photos for more details.
We met Jade for
dinner at Din Tai Fung restaurant, which was very family friendly.
We had 6 kids at one table and 5 adults and 1 child at the other.
It was quite entertaining for the employees to watch the kids (well,
mine at least) try to eat dinner with chopsticks. They
eventually brought out little plastic IKEA utensils for little D so
he would starve (or make any more of a mess). The food was
fabulous. But obviously not totally satisfying as following
dinner we headed to Wangfujing Street for uh... dessert? Words
won't begin to do justice to this part of the adventure so make sure
you check out the photos, suffice it to
say that the result was that 4 of us ate scorpions, S Little and M
tried Sea Urchin, and we were pretty much horrified by the things
offered as snacks. A and little D were content to eat kiwis
and strawberries, declining all bragging rights of "Bug Street."
One of the
disadvantages of living in China (at least in my eyes) is the
requirement to rely on public transportation for everything.
Scholars are not allowed to drive in China. There is one
scholar who purchased a vehicle, but had to hire a driver to drive
all the time. So, mostly they rely on taxis. It probably
saves money in the long run over purchasing a vehicle, paying a
driver, and buying gas, but I don't think I could handle that on a
regular basis - especially considering the size of our family.
With the 11 of us, we had to take 3 taxis everywhere we went.
My family alone would be required to take 2 taxis in China (not in
India though - if you can pack 20 people on your scooter, go for
it!). The whole point of this rambling is to explain that we
sent two taxis off home from Wangfujing Street and Jade and I had to
wait probably 20 minutes before we found a taxi driver willing to
take us home; must have been a shift change time or something, but
it wasn't the last time on this trip that this happened. In
fact, as I look over my notes, I've got at least three entries with
something like "cab fiasco" or "taxi problem." We arrived home
and still stayed up to talk with Jade (who rocks! BTW). I
believe we were running on sheer adrenaline that day, because for
the rest of the time in China we were feeling totally drained and
exhausted. But it was worth it... and I'd do it all again!
The
next day was almost as exciting as we headed to Tiananmen
Square, which is the largest open-urban square in the
World and a key site in Chinese history known for Mao Zedong's
People's Republic of China Proclamation in 1949, mass rallies during
the
Cultural Revolution, and more recently the massacre of 1989.
It is bordered by the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum
of China, the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, and the Forbidden City.
In the center of the square is the
Monument to the People's Heroes. We wandered the square,
circled the Mausoleum, and Dave bought his Mao watch which waves at
you to mark each second. We then crossed the street to enter
the
Forbidden City. While the architecture is very
impressive, I was totally unprepared for the complete lack of trees,
shrubbery or even grass. There was nothing green inside, just
open, barren space in between
the
various gates and sections of the City. As a result, it was
extremely hot, and made for an overall impression of being
unappealing to me, especially after enjoying the Summer Palace the
day before. No wonder they retreated there every summer - to
escape the oppressive heat and enjoy some scenery. Supposedly,
the lack of trees was for the protection of the Emperor - preventing
any shadows or other hiding places for potential assassins. I
was happy to find that in the Northern courtyards there was a
beautiful garden area with trees and such. There is a story
that goes along with a pair of trees in this garden. The
Emperor desired a woman for his concubine, but she was already
married. He had her husband killed and took her for his own.
She still loved her husband and mourned for him. When she
died, the Emperor refused to bury her with her husband as was the
custom, and instead buried them in two separate coffins next to each
other. Two trees grew up over the coffins which were buried
next to each other and intertwined as they grew (Awwww). The
tradition now, is to have your picture taken at this tree with your
sweetheart. Other interesting tidbits we gleaned from our tour
guide:
The Emperor would
go out in the fields and work for 1 minute each year to show the
people that he was one of them.
He had one wife
and 3000 concubines. He only spent the first 3 nights
after his wedding with his wife. This was her only chance
to conceive a child for him.
He would spend 1
day each year to re-write his family history. You can
imagine that with 3000 concubines, how many children he might
have over one year.
Some of the
bricks used near the throne room were called "Golden Bricks",
not because they were made of gold, but were so valuable that 1
brick could have fed 5000 people.
We
took the subway from there to a local shopping area and ate lunch at
KFC, which is everywhere in China, dropped off B Little with
the kids and ventured out with Jade for the best foot rubs in the
World. Jade, S Little, Dave and I sank into these super comfy
chairs and enjoyed 90 minutes of delightful pampering and
rejuvenation after two hard days of walking. I think all 4 of
us fell asleep at one time or another during that time. We ran
back and grabbed the rest of the group and went to meet Jenn (OSC
'07) and Phoenix (OSC '08) for dinner at this really quaint
courtyard restaurant. It was nice to see Jenn again who had
visited us in India in January with the Scholar Squalor group, and
to meet Phoenix who had only been in country about 24 hours.
(Again, I must say that one of the greatest benefits of this program
is the fantastic people we get to meet.) Z ate more fish then
the rest of our group of 14 combined... picking meat off the bones
like a pro. After dinner, we strolled through some cute alleys
with really chic boutique-y shopping - ridiculous prices, but fun to
browse. Check out the photos.
Our
third full day in Beijing we went to the Temple of
Heaven complex for a picnic. At the time, I felt a
little temple-d out, but it was really beautiful, and looking back
now at the pictures reminds me how great it really was. It was
a hot, humid day, and we were still trying to recover from our two
very hectic previous days, but it was a low stress visit. The Temple
of Heaven is a series of Taoist temples that date back to the early
1400s and includes building names like: The Hall of Prayer for Good
Harvests, The Imperial Vault of Heaven, and the Circular Mound Altar
where the Emperor would pray for favorable weather. We enjoyed a
picnic, and took way too many pictures of the gorgeous buildings.
Photos
Following
our picnic, we met Jade for a tour of a Hutong. This
was one of my favorite things we've done on this trip. Jade met us
at the designated spot and led us into a hutong familiar to her.
Originally a system of courtyard residences, today, for lack of a
better word, they are the equivalent of a slum, although
exponentially better than "slum-living" in India. As I have
discovered over the past year in India, discovering real life, lived
by real people is the most fascinating aspect of living overseas for
me, and China was no different. It's nice to see the amazing
historical sites, and amazing architectural feats, but it is real
living that is the most interesting to me. We walked along one
street where Jade's friend "Big brother Liu" lived to deliver her
gift for the 100th day birthday of his child. Dave, Z, D and I were
able to go in and see his humble home, one of many surrounding a
quaint little courtyard. He generously invited us in and offered to
feed us, but we were on our way to lunch so we declined and went on
our way. B Little was engaged in a conversation about International
affairs with several of the locals which was quite interesting, even
considering our lack of language understanding. The rest of the walk
was fabulous as we smiled and were smiled at many people who lived
there, equally fascinated by the foreigners with so many children (7
between 2 families).
We
went to a great restaurant that night for the famous Peking Duck.
It was delicious, another successful meal. We had bought
tickets earlier for the Chinese acrobat show near Jade's apartment,
and with the rain it was extremely difficult to find the necessary
taxis. We finally had some guy with a mini-van offer to take
us (for a price, of course) and we gratefully accepted. Jade
had gone in the first taxi with the older kids and waited with them
inside the theater for us. Luckily, the rest of us only missed
the first act. What we did see was fantastic! Pottery
juggling, hoop jumping, impossible handstands, group formations atop
bicycles - it was feast for the eyes!
The
next day was another early one as we made our way to the airport for
our less than 2 hour flight to Xi'an. We
mostly slept on the flight still trying to recover from the Great
Day at the Great Wall back on day 1. It was an hour taxi ride from
the airport to our hotel within the Xi'an city walls. We checked in,
and went out on foot to find a place to eat lunch. We thought there
was a pizza place down the street, but ended up eating at the food
court in the ginormous mall. It was an interesting collection of
food items we sampled, mostly pretty good. Right next to our table,
was a bumper car place. The kids really wanted to try it out, so who
are we to deny a good time on vacation? (I must include a reminder
that, similar to India, OSHA doesn't live here.) They all jumped
into their own cars, sans seatbelts (or with very weak attempts) and
proceeded to inflict all sorts of minor brain injuries on each
other. On three separate occasions in the seemingly hour long ride,
little D, bumped his head so hard as to scream out and cry. The
worker dude would crawl into his car and comfort him until he
stopped and then keep going. After the third one, which was pretty
brutal - would have sent a lesser 6 year old to the hospital with
whiplash - I exercised my motherly duty and stopped his car
indicating he should get out of the car. He revolted through his
sobbing and insisted he keep driving. What was I thinking? How dare
I try to cut his ride shorter than everyone else's?
After bumper cars we
started our trek to the cutest little shopping area called
Shuyuanmen. I was a blustery, rainy day and we ended up buying 10
umbrellas for the walk, for ridiculously cheap. I really enjoyed the
ambiance of this adorable area, despite the rain. It was full of
art, souvenirs, and antiques. We made a quick stop at the
Beilin museum
- a museum of stone sculptures which were very impressive, and then
began the death march back to the hotel. For dinner, we ate at a
Muslim restaurant, that specialized in a strange pork soupy, noodle
concoction, that was served over flat bread we broke up into tiny
pieces ourselves. It was probably our most interesting meal on this
trip. After dinner, S Little, A and I braved the very crowded
night market across the street from the hotel. We figured out it was
a fish/meat market by day, and a trinket, jewelry, fake bag market
by night.
We
woke up and packed out our hotel room in Xi'an since we'd be gone
all day and unable to check out later. B Little had arranged a van
and tour guide for our trip to see the Terra Cotta warriors.
This had been on my list of "want to sees" ever since we even
considered a trip to China, so I was pretty excited about this trip.
The guide had us first stop at a tourist trap of a place where you
could make your own terra cotta figure, but we just whipped through
there and took advantage of the restroom before continuing on to the
actual site. Apparently, the discovery of these warriors happened in
1974 by some farmers digging in their fields. The actual warriors
themselves, and the tomb of Shi Huang Di, the first Emperor of China
whose army they were, date back to 220 B.C. It was all that... and a
bag of chips... we were NOT disappointed. However, due to the low
lighting, most of our photos were more blurry than we would have
liked. There were 3 different buildings showcasing different finds
of this site. Each soldier had a unique face, and specific rank and
position. When they were originally found, they had bright color on
them, which quickly faded when exposed to the light and air. They
reburied several other finds to protect them until methods could be
developed to prevent further deterioration. This was a highlight on
our trip. After the warriors we headed to the Hot Springs...
Huaqing
Hot Springs is a beautiful spot at the base of Mount Lishan,
near Xian. Historically, it is significant for two primary reasons.
The first being the place where Emperor Xuanzong, the 7th emperor of
the Tang dynasty (not associated with the zingy orange breakfast
drink) had his downfall. Legend has it that his love for his
concubine Yang Guifei was so obsessive that he let slide the affairs
of the kingdom and eventually lost control. This was also the spot
of the "Xi'an Incident" which involved the capture of Chiang Kai-Shek
in December of 1936 by the Chinese Communist Party. The grounds are
beautiful and lush, and the weather was drizzly leaving a misty
shroud surrounding the mountain.
After
our day checking out the Terra Cotta Army and the Huaqing Hot
Springs, we had to catch the sleeper train from Xi'an to Nanjing -
home to our fabulous hosts and tour guides the Littles. We picked up
our bags from the hotel, ate a quick Pizza Hut lunch, and hustled to
the Xi'an train station. The Littles had tried to prepare us for the
chaos that would soon ensue, and we scoffed to think that anything
could be worse than what we've experienced in India. We were wrong!
It was a much different kind of chaos. It started as we entered the
station itself: people were cutting and pushing just to get to the
baggage screening station. With 11 people in our party, 7 of them
children, I was a big nervous about getting separated. We found our
"gate" and were shocked by the masses of people already posturing
for the mad dash to their cars on our train. S Little had the great
idea to check if they had a "soft seat" lounge, for 1st class cars.
Luckily, they did and we were able to sit and wait for our boarding
time, which was supposed to be before the rest of the horde.
However, we were not first, but were able to get to our car without
too much difficulty. Having already traveled by overnight train in
Thailand we had our expectations of the minimum level of comfort we
could handle. We were very pleasantly surprised by how clean and
comfortable this option was for travel in China. We would definitely
travel this way again. We were disappointed only by the "Ugly
Americans" sharing our car with us, who continually made rude
comments to the Chinese employees on the train and laughed at them.
Photos
The next several days
were spent chillaxing at the Little's house (which is awesome BTW)
with some little jaunts out and about to appreciate the great little
town (population only 6,000,000). We've had trips to the awesome
flea market, and Nanjing city museum at Chau Tian Gong. Eaten some
fabulous kung pao chicken and hong shau rou by their adorable ayi.
Swam in their gorgeous pool with a waterfall, walked on the awesome
City
Walls, checked out a really awesome Ji ming Si Bhuddist temple
pagoda, and ate some really great food. The Littles were
amazing hosts. Little D wrestled with a upset tummy for a
night there - lost a few, but eventually won the battle. He's
such a trooper. In the spirit of sharing taxi moments, after
our dinner at the Little's favorite restaurant, the Himalayan (a
Nepalese place - we were so happy to have "Indian" food again) S
Little and I (and I forget which kids were with us) found a taxi in
the rain. Within minutes, he lost his windshield wiper.
We were going to get out, but he talked us into staying and he
wouldn't charge us for the time we were waiting for him to fix it.
So we drove around Nanjing, into areas S had never been before, to
find a place to replace the wiper blade, only to have that blade not
fit. We were all laughing about it, and made it home in one
piece; however it just reinforces to me how difficult living in
China would be. Stories like that may be rare, but having to
rely on someone else, and someone else's vehicle would probably
drive me over the edge (I know, I know - it's a very short trip)
Below is one of my favorite finds at the flea market. It sits
on my desk and lets everyone know what mood I'm in.
Nanjing Photos
We took a bullet train to Suzhou (I
know I'm not spelling or pronouncing any of these names correctly)
and really enjoyed riding in style. Very similar to the Japanese
bullet trains, these are relatively clean and comfortable cars. The
kids had a great time. Once we arrived in Suzhou we hired a van to
take us the next hour north to Tongli, a canal town that has been
around since the 9th century. To date, this has been my favorite
stop. To begin with we had to pay to
actually enter the town. Supposedly, prior to this fee you'd pay for
each site you visited within the town, but too many people skipped
the sites and just enjoyed strolling the canals. We found our
fabulous hotel, the Zhengfu Caotang, which featured a traditional
Chinese courtyard surrounded by beautifully decorated rooms with
antique furniture. Our family had 3 unique rooms, mom & dad, boys,
and girls' rooms. I was a little anxious about leaving the girls in
a room by themselves, but they did beautifully and felt so very
grown up.
We dropped off our luggage, oogled
our rooms, and headed out to see the town. We took so many
photographs as the entire town was so picturesque. We hopped on a
cute little boat for a canal "cruise" that was short and sweet, but
gave us a great overview of the area we would walk around later. We
ate dinner at a canal side restaurant which featured some
interesting dishes, but no one starved, and enjoyed an after dinner
stroll/explore through some quaint alleyways. We dropped the kids
back at the hotel and continued to explore/shop a little later into
the night. It was smoking hot and miserably humid, but after a
shower and some serious mosquito netting/repellent, we were able to
sleep soundly.
The morning was excessively humid
which resulted in cloudy lenses on the cameras for the first little
while. Both the girls got silk jammies and decorative umbrellas on
this leg of the trip. We hired 4 pedicabs, (or bicycle rickshaws for
those of you in India) and took a tour of some of the sites. We were
supposed to stop at 8 sites, but enjoyed the 2nd site so much, 2 was
all we could manage before we had to head back to the train station. The Pearl Pagoda was our favorite
stop, at least from the kids perspective because they got to feed
the insane koi who were leaping over each other for food, and roll
around in a plastic bubble on top of the water. Little did we know
that the ball rolling is a sport called "Zorbing",
and that we would have more involvement with this "sport" on our
trip to Himachal Pradesh. We were sad to leave
Tongli, but not the heat and humidity. We took 3 taxis to the train
station and went our separate ways for the weekend - the Littles
headed back home to Nanjing, and we headed East to Shanghai for our
next adventure... Tongli Photos
The train was great,
and we were able to manage our way out of the station all by
ourselves. The problem was that among the thousands of people
at the station, we couldn't find our next host S. Smith (OSC'06).
Turns out he was only about 100 yards from us, but ended up walking
around the entire station (opposite direction) from us before we
finally met up. Dave looked hilarious holding up A's red
umbrella as a marker for our location. I had one gentleman
come up to me (and kids) and ask where I was from, and then
proceeded to lecture me on American Politics. He obviously was
not a fan of our current president. I was very polite and
thanked him for sharing his opinion, reminding him that many
Americans feel the same way. I think that caught him off
guard. It's so easy to pigeon-hole people whether it's race,
religion or whatever.
We walked about 20
minutes to Smitty's place, which I had been forewarned was
phenomenal with staggering views. As we arrived, I could see
there was no exaggeration. The Smiths lives on the 30th floor
in a new high-rise building with sweeping views of the Huangpu river
and off to the East -
The Bund - an
historical international settlement home to gorgeous buildings with
European architecture. We dropped off our bags, and went out
to find something to eat. Wendy's was the choice, except it
wasn't the hamburger chain... it was Wendy's Homefood, a nice
Chinese food restaurant with great food. After dinner we
dropped the kids back at the apartment and the adults walked down to
the river to see it all lit up. It was very beautiful,
reminding me of Hong Kong a little.
The
next day can only be described as the Shanghai Death March.
Not by way of complaint, but all parties involved will admit to the
ghastliness of the heat and humidity. We were all dripping
before we reached our first destination. Smitty has created
his own Shanghai walking tour he likes to take visitors on, and we
were not disappointed. We hiked our way from his apartment to
Yuyuan Garden,
considered to be one of the four finest Chinese Gardens, and
believed to have been first established in 1559. I really
loved this place. It was so beautiful. There is a spot
in the park with several open windows along one wall. The
legend is if you kiss your love through each window (one on each
side of the wall) your relationship will be blessed. Dave and
I performed this task but couldn't kiss through the last window due
to construction. Hopefully we didn't curse our marriage.
Well, if things end up going South we'll know what to blame it on.
J
Outside the garden itself were many
super-touristy shops including Starbucks, Dairy Queen, and upscale
shopping. This is where the boys purchased their Chinese
swords to go along with the Samurai swords we brought back from
Japan.
From
the Garden we took 2 taxis to
The People's
Square, the center of town for measuring distances in Shanghai.
We were dropped off at the Art Museum, and walked around the square.
It was wonderful to see a public place so beautifully maintained.
There was no trash, there were manicured lawns and flowerbeds, and
people were flying (and selling) kites. Looking back now, I
wish I would have bought one of those kites - they were really cool.
We crossed a street or two and ducked into the
Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall which houses the most
amazing miniature scale model of all existing and/or approved
buildings within the city limits. This was truly spectacular.
We then strolled along
Nanjing Road, said to be one of the World's busiest shopping
streets. It was difficult to remember that China was a
communist country as we walked along these monuments to
commercialism. We ate lunch at Pizza Hut, and ducked into a
colossal shopping mall to use the restrooms. We followed
Nanjing Road 'til it ended at the Bund. By this time we were
all totally exhausted and had each sweat our weight. We took
some pictures along the river, enjoying an unobstructed view of the
Oriental
Pearl Tower which really makes you feel that you are living in
Coruscant (the city/planet headquarters in Star Wars). It was
so futuristic looking. I was disappointed that the skies were
so hazy and I couldn't get a great picture of it. The original
Smitty walking tour included ferrying across the river and taking a
tour of the tower itself, but we were completely drained of energy
and ready for the A/C of a taxi, that we cut short the tour.
Little D having legs half the size of the rest of us, should get
kudos for being the youngest person to complete the tour, especially
since he probably took twice as many steps as the rest of us.
After
resting for a little while, Smitty, Dave & I headed out for a bit of
shopping at the underground Xianyang Market. I really enjoyed
this name-brand market with bargain-able prices. Not sure if
any of the items there were actually name brand, but it sure was fun
to bargain. I think they were surprised a little with our
bargaining prowess. (Dude... I live in India!)
For me, the key is being really willing to walk away. I think
it also helped that I was so tired, and not really in the market for
anything specific. But it became more of a game for me the
longer we were there. I actually got 4 stores away from one
shop before she came running after me. (score!)
Okay, that totally sounds like bragging, and I shouldn't be like
that, however, it really was a small weird sense of accomplishment
for me - almost gave me a rush. We stopped at
Decathlon (a super
sporting good store) on the way home where Dave purchased his first
pair of "man capris" - don't get me started! He loves them,
and they are actually growing on me... I guess it's an Asian thing.
The next day was
quite relaxing as we went to church in Shanghai.
Interestingly, Chinese members of the church are not allowed to
interact with ex-pat members, so meetings don't overlap, and they
even have separate entrances and exits to the building to avoid
contact. So we actually felt a little like we were back at
BYU. There are a lot of expat members in Shanghai, it was an
interesting block of meetings. After church we got ready for a
BBQ with the other Shanghai scholars at the Kuehne's (OSC '07)
complex. It was fun to catch up with the Kuehnes who lived
very close to us in VA during language training, and to meet the
Sullivans (OSC'08). It rained most of the evening, but we
enjoyed our camaraderie under the pavilion while the rest of the
kids soaked themselves to the bone in the rain. It was a
fabulous time in Shanghai, and we really appreciated Smitty's
hospitality. He was an excellent host, and B and Smitty's
daughter S really hit it off.
Shanghai Photos
The
next morning we survived the Shanghai train station and caught our
train back to Nanjing for some rest and laundry recovery. Over
the next few days we got to see the Martyrs Memorial to those who
lost their lives in the atrocities of the
Nanking
Massacre following the Japanese invasion of China in 1937.
This complex was home to several large pieces of socialist art, and
was quite a moving tribute to those (mostly civilians) who lost
their lives in this heinous act of aggression. This memorial is
located in the beautiful Rain Flower Terrace park (Yuhuatai).
We made a stop at the South Gate section of the City Walls which is
quite photogenic with hundreds of red Chinese lanterns hung all
around. Dave and B Little enjoyed a little archery as well.
The following day we went to the
Purple
Mountain which is home to several historically significant
buildings. Our first stop was the
Sun
Yat-sen Mausoleum. Dr. Sun Yat-sen is referred to as the Father
of Modern China and was instrumental in the collapse of the Qing
Dynasty in 1911. There are 392 steps leading up to the Mausoleum...
I know... I felt every single one. It is, however, a very
beautiful structure in a very beautiful location. We
next saw the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum which wasn't as impressive a
structure, but was also 600+ years older than the Sun Yat-sen.
Along one of the walkways are giant stone statues of several
varieties of animals ranging from lions to camels, to elephants, and
soldiers. It was a really great way to wind up our Purple
Mountain outing.
Nanjing 2 photos
Thursday,
the 26th was our laundry and pack day in preparation for our evening
flight to Guilin, in Southern China. We arrived late, and
checked into our hotel around midnight. We had rented a bus
for the entire 4 days in Guilin, and so Friday we piled the 2
families + Jade (Jade rocks!) and her friend Christine (who also
rocks!) and headed to Longsheng for a view of the Dragon Spine (also
called Dragon Backbone Ride Terraces). I wasn't feeling well
on the ride up, and although I usually don't get motion sickness,
think that I might have succumbed that day. When we arrived at
the entrance, we paid to get in, and I suggested that I just find a
spot to sit and wait for everyone. Jade, (being as rockin' as
she is) volunteered to sit with me. But then I felt guilty and
started walking up the path with everyone else. We almost paid
for two guys with a bamboo raft of sorts carry me to the top, but
they were charging 200 RMB, which seemed ludicrous at the time, but
after actually making the climb it myself, it didn't seem enough.
Most of the climb was through a 600 year old village called Ping'an,
where the Zhuang minority group calls home. Side note here,
there are 56 (I think) minority tribes in China, most of them living
in the Southern parts. I stopped to rest at our chosen lunch
spot about half way up (Jade too), and the rest of the group
continued up the path to the top. After several minutes, I
decided that I didn't come all this way to sit at a restaurant, so I
sucked it up, and Jade and I hiked the rest of the way. We
came to a spot where we weren't sure which way to go, so we asked
for help. The ladies pointed the way, and then proceeded to
follow us up the path trying to sell us their wares. We should
have taken that as an omen of things to come. Anyway, we made
it to the top, despite the trail we took being different from the
ones the rest of our group took. Let me just say... it was so
worth it! The views from the top were astounding! The
rice paddy terraces are a feat of farm engineering going up to 800
meter peaks. We were able to take
a
family photo at the top, which I love! Jade, Christine and I
stayed at the top to rest a bit more, while the others headed back
down to order lunch in the village. As we left the peak, there
were more women waiting to prey upon us and sell us stuff.
Instead we negotiated for them to take down their hair. What?
- you may be saying... but in several of the minority groups it is
custom for the women to have very long hair. When the reach
the age of 18 they cut their hair and tie it together at the top,
and then keep it to wrap into the rest of the hair on their head,
which they don't ever cut again. So, the result is very long
hair, that they keep wrapped up into huge twists and wraps on top of
their heads. So for 30 RMB, 4 women unwrapped their hair for
us. Jade and Christine took some fabulous photos. We
then headed back down to a local lunch, which was surprisingly good
- much better than we expected. One of the favorites was bamboo rice
- rice actually cooked inside bamboo poles. We had a few
run-ins with super spicy food (sorry Z) but overall lunch received
two thumbs up. We continued our climb down the hill through
the village, shopping our way back to the bus pick up.
We
made another stop on our way back to Guilin at a nearby Yao village
for a performance by the locals. It was nice to see
traditional dances and music. B and M Little even got on stage
to dance with them. All was well... that is until the show was
over. All the Yao women (who also have very long hair) had
gathered at the exit with their baskets of stuff to sell, and as we
passed through the doorway we were assaulted by brutal butt-pinching
(I kid you not!) I was pinched 3 times, Dave got 8! It
totally hurt! ... and not to mention the fact that you've got 8
women in your face, who if they aren't pinching your bottom, are
trying to outsell the other 7 women who are also trying to pinch you
or sell you something. After about 30 seconds of that, I
actually got really angry and pushed my way through the crowd trying
to escape. Even as we crossed the bridge from the theater,
over the river, to the van, they were in hot pursuit! Dang!
If I weren't so angry, it would have been hilarious. I'll
include a picture, that while not flattering of me in any stretch of
the imagination, captures how I felt at the time. B Little
coined an appropriate nickname as we joked about the experience
later calling them the "long-haired butt-pinchers." I hoped
I'm not scarred for life!
Dragon Spine Photos
The
next day was our fabulous Li River Cruise. We boarded near
Guilin, and spent 4½ hours on the river, seeing some of the most
amazing scenery I've ever seen. Again, it was a relatively
overcast day, so the pictures we took (several hundred) weren't the
best, but hopefully captured a little of how gorgeous this part of
the world is. Called
karst topography,
these stunning limestone peaks are the result of thousands of years
of water erosion of the soluble stone they are made of. I had
seen pictures or even movies that highlighted HaLong Bay in Vietnam
as having this topography, and wished to see it. I was not
disappointed on this river cruise. The 20 RMB note highlights
a section of the river we were on. I will include the
comparison with the photos we took. There were smaller bamboo
rafts along the river the entire cruise paddling furiously to catch
our boats and tie themselves on so they could sell us souvenirs as
well. Some were actually legitimate fishermen selling "lunch"
to our boats, but most just tied themselves on and shouted "herrow"
a million times to try to get people's attention. We ate a
mediocre lunch (thumbs down for the price) on board the boat, and
then docked in Yangshou.
Li River Cruise Photos
Aside from the
gorgeous scenery, Yangshou has is an adventurer's paradise... from
bicycling, to trekking, to spelunking (cave exploring), to rock
climbing... it has it all. It also has great shopping,
bordering on excessively touristy. We spent two nights here.
Dave stocked up on cold weather gear for his and Z's Base Camp
expedition this Christmas. (This also appears to be a
"overstocks" or "factory seconds" hub in China - right, if that
makes you feel better, go ahead and think that!) I bought one
ethnic minority skirt for each girl, only to find out that one of
them wouldn't even fit around half of their waist. I tried to
bring it back and exchange it the next day, but was unsuccessful.
Jade felt it was her mission to solve this problem, and without
going into juicy details... we'll just say that after yelling,
tears, and a local police station visit... oh, and 10 more RMB, she
succeeded in exchanging the skirt. (thanks! Jade
rocks!) A & B are very happy with their new skirts. That
first night, we went to a show called "Impressions of Liu Sanjie"
which was phenomenal. The entire show is performed on the
river with a backdrop of 9 karst peaks, and hundreds of local Yao
and Zhuang minorities making up the cast. And while I didn't
understand any of the storyline performed in Chinese, I was riveted
the entire time. The performance was directed by Zhang Yimou,
a celebrated movie man who directed Hero (2002) & House of
Flying Daggers (2004), and is directing the Olympic Opening &
Closing ceremonies. Again, because it was dark, the pictures didn't
turn out very well, but it was a highlight of our trip. Jade
proved her "rockingness" once again by supplying the kids with glow
sticks.
The
next day was gorgeous and sunny, making it hot, but also great for
photos. We started the day by hiking up Moon Hill. I was
a little unenthusiastic about this, because it was a precursor to D,
B Little and the older kids going spelunking in the "dirty cave,"
but it turned out to be a magnificent view at the top. We
climbed what felt like a million stairs with "little old Chinese
ladies" following us offering us cold beverages from coolers they
each carried. By the time we reached the top we all felt that
we'd each been adopted by one of the ladies who insisted that we buy
from them after such a difficult climb. (Now look, I didn't
ask you to follow me, in fact, I asked you to stop several times
even telling you that under no circumstances would I buy your price
inflated bottles of water or soda, so back off!) What ensued at
the top was actually quite comical, as several of these ladies
started arguing about whose customers was whose. B Little
apparently bought something from the wrong lady (whatever!)
Dave also succumbed to the pressure and bought from one woman who
hiked up the extra 20 steps to the very top. Totally defeats
the purpose of refusing in the first place. Now they won't
listen to anyone who says they won't buy, because like a bad parent
who says "NO" 500 times to the pestering child, they know that on
the 501 time, they'll get what they want. Stick to your guns
man! Okay... that's totally beside the point, which is that
Moon Hill was amazing and beautiful. Another strange tidbit of
information. We were watching some rock climbers on the face
of the mountain struggle to get past a really challenging part.
One of their party came to our vantage point to take photos of the
climb. Turns out it was a small party from Provo who had
graduated from BYU 6 days earlier and set off on this trip to
celebrate. It's such a small world. Now, I digress...
sorry. We took some beautiful pictures, hiked back down, and
watched Jade and Christine do Tai Chi in the parking lot while we
waited for those taking a bathroom break.
We
dropped off the cavers (Dave, Z, A & B, B Little & M & H Little) and
drove back to the hotel. A side note about caving in Guilin.
Most tourists prefer the touristy caves, complete with colored
lights and lighted paths. This hard core group lobbied hard
with out tour guide (included with the price of the van) for the
"dirty cave" which involved rafting all hunched over, flashlights
and mud baths. They totally loved it! Little D & I hung
out with Jade, Christine, S Little and J in town, grabbing a bite to
eat and shopping. When the big kids returned from spelunking,
and got cleaned up we grabbed some dinner, did some more
shopping/browsing. B Little tried really hard to line up an
authentic cormorant bird fishing expedition, but the tourist places
were too touristy (20 tourists crammed on a boat watching from a
distance). Not good enough, so instead of going through our
tour guide, he arranged a more acceptable alternative for that
evening. Little D didn't want to go, so instead he and I
rented a bamboo boat and driver and spent 30 minutes or so on the
river taking in the scenery and enjoying the river. It was
really nice, and low threat; then he and I headed back to the hotel,
while the others traipsed down to the river for their fishing
outing. Apparently the cormorant birds, trained from hatching,
have a string tied around their neck to prevent them from swallowing
the fish. They dive into the water, catch the fish in their
mouths, jump back onto the boat where the fisherman helps them
regurgitate it into the basket and they do it all over again.
They are allowed to eat some of the fish, but only when the
fisherman removes the string around their neck. Dave said it
was fascinating to watch, and saw two birds wrestle one really big
fish onto the boat. When the fishing was over, Dave and the
kids got to hold the birds on their arms. B got pretty
scratched up from their surprisingly sharp claws. But, they
all really enjoyed the experience.
Yangshou & Moon Hill Photos
The
next morning we packed out of Yangshou and bussed it back to
Guilin, for one last stop to Elephant Hill
before we headed to the airport and our separate destinations.
Elephant Trunk Hill (or Xiangbi Shan) was underwhelming, at least
for the price. We paid our entrance fees, walked around to the
appropriate viewing point to see how it got it's name. It
really does look like an elephant drinking from the river with it's
trunk. The whole trip took less than 15 minutes and then we
walked to a Sichuan restaurant already scouted by B & S Little.
Lunch was very good, and a little bitter sweet as it would be the
last meal we shared with our terrific traveling buddies and tour
guides, the Littles.
The Littles headed
back to Nanjing, and we were off to Beijing for one more day before
leaving for home back in India. Our first flight was
cancelled, the next one delayed, so we didn't arrive back to Beijing
until around 10 pm (4 hours later than planned, but we made it).
Jade & Christine, who had landed several hours before us, picked up
some McDonalds for us; we inhaled our food and fell fast asleep.
The next day we weren't departing until later in the evening, so the
kids just hung out at Jade's watching movies while Dave and I walked
several blocks in the rain to explore the Yashou Market for some
last minute gifts and bargaining practice. At one time, Dave
even had one woman hanging on his arm to prevent him from walking
away without purchasing something. Dave won, of course.
He also surprised me by stopping at another fabulous foot rub place
on the way back. We packed up our bags, and took the kids to
the Outback Steakhouse, we had scouted on our earlier outing, and
enjoyed our last good beef for awhile. We finally got to meet
Joe (Jade's husband who is also Air Force but stationed in TX - how
hard would that be?), then we parted ways and headed to the airport
for the last time this trip. We were sad to leave, but
relieved to be going home. And, unlike our trip back from
Japan, there was no love & loathing. The airport experience
upon arrival in Delhi was very calm and orderly, probably because
there were only 10 people who got off our flight that continued on
to Addis Ababa. So, no pushy people, or long lines to endure.
Baldev was waiting for us and took us to our home where we sank into
our own beds very satisfied with this latest and greatest chapter in
our adventure of a lifetime.
Last Day Photos
The
next day was our fabulous Li River Cruise. We boarded near
Guilin, and spent 4½ hours on the river, seeing some of the most
amazing scenery I've ever seen. Again, it was a relatively
overcast day, so the pictures we took (several hundred) weren't the
best, but hopefully captured a little of how gorgeous this part of
the world is. Called
