Beijing and the Great Wall

Since Andrew gave a good overview of China, I´ll write a quick recap of the places we visited along the way:

Our GAP tour started in Shanghai, where we met our tour leader, Tina, and our group. We were very fortunate to have a small group, with another Canadian couple (Lesley & Paul from Guelph ) and a Brit (Lloyd from Manchester) joining us for the 2 weeks. Our hotel was close to Nanjing Road, a bustling shopping street, and the Bund, a riverside area that was once the British section of Shanghai and is lined with old colonial buildings. The day before our tour started, the 4 of us (Mum, Dad, Andrew & I) decided to visit the Shanghai Zoo to see the pandas. Unfortunately, the pandas didn´t put on much of a show (they were sleeping with their bums towards us!), but we had a great day all the same. The Shanghai highlight for me was a traditional acrobatics show. The acrobats were spectacular and Andrew and I had a good laugh over one particular performance - it was a "swan lake" routine complete with half a dozen ladies who roller bladed around the somewhat muscular lady acrobat on a pedestal in the middle where she held various poses while balancing on one arm... it was interesting to say the least!

From Shanghai, we took our first of two overnight trains to Luoyang where we visited the Shaolin Temple. It was a unique experience to spend the night in the Shaolin school (most tours simply do a day trip from Luoyang, so it was special to be one of only two groups spending the night at the school). The room was filthy (nobody in our group dared to use the shower that night!), but lying in bed at 9 pm and still hearing the young students practicing in the courtyard below is something I´ll never forget.

The next day we went to the Longmen Grottoes, which were very similar to the cave temples we saw in India. Unfortunately there has been much looting of the Grottoes, however, what remains was still incredible to see.

Our next stop was Xi´an, a former Chinese capital and one of the most important cities in China. Again, one of the highlights was one of our optional evening activities - a dumpling banquet and Tang Dynasty Royal Concert, which took place in a beautiful theatre (we had front row seats!). The dumplings were sooo good, and the performances were colourful and fun. The biggest highlight, however, was our visit to the Terra-Cotta Warrior Museum. To think that the site is over 2,000 years old is mind boggling. Equally impressive are the sheds which were built over the excavation sites to protect them. We were fortunate again in that the farmer who discovered the historical site (in 1974) was making one of his monthly appearances, signing the museum program for visitors (we paid the extra $ for his signature!). I also couldn´t help myself and bought a small replica terra-cotta horse!

One other Xi´an experience of note was having a traditional Chinese massage. Tina told us that it was a hot stone massage, which I had never tried so I was really excited. However, after being tortured with hammers and having to ask the masseur to be a little gentler, and realizing that hot stone massage meant having a bag of warm stones dumped on my stomach for a few minutes, I don´t think I will ever need to have another Chinese massage!

From Xi´an we flew to Yichang where we boarded the boat that would take us down the Yangtze River. Accommodation on the boat was a little sketchy, but again it was the experience that made up for the lack of luxury. The boat took us down the river to Fengjie where we spent a night, then the next morning we rode a hydrofoil back up the river to the Three Gorges Dam, where we toured the project.

Our second overnight train took us to Beijing - it was a very long trip (over 20 hours)but we had fun and celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, aka the Moon Festival (and the only time of year moon cakes are sold in China!), by having a little party in our cabin. I have to say that I was very impressed with my parents who were real troupers during the entire tour (except for Dad refusing to eat any more Ramin noodles after the first train ride!).

Our final stop was Beijing, where we were all happy to be spending several nights at the same hotel (we were pretty tired at this point!). We did the obligatory trip to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, although we skipped seeing Mao´s preserved body which is on display for those who wish to pay their respects. Tiananmen Square was one of those places where, as you looked around, it was hard to imagine the events that took place on the ground right under your feet.The Forbidden City was especially incredible to see as a significant amount of restoration work has been completed for the Olympics. On our second night in Beijing we attended a Peking Opera - unfortunately, it wasn´t much different from the Japanese version (and equally painful - I don´t think Andrew & I have much of an appreciation for the art!). The highlight of our entire China experience, for me, was the Great Wall. We visited the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, which is in excellent condition and slightly less tourist than other sections. Having only seen the one small section (which would take the better part of a day to walk end to end), I developed a better appreciation for the sheer size of the entire project. The last evening of our tour we enjoyed my favorite meal in China, Peking Duck!

It was much easier to say goodbye to my parents knowing that we would see them again in only 12 weeks. Hopefully we will run into Lesley and Paul at some point in Canada, and we have already scheduled a visit with Lloyd in Manchester when we pass through in December!

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