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Published: April 19th 2009
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Great Wall of China
As you can see, we had a beautiful clear day. I came back from China a few weeks ago and it was quite an adventure. First, I went to Beijing where I met my friend Ivanka (who lives in Bangkok but was in Beijing for a conference) and my brother-in-law, Jesse, who came down from Shanghai to see the sights with me since he has only been to Beijing on business. Jesse and I went to the Great Wall, which was amazing, but very crowded. Fortunately, we had a beautiful day with clear blue skies (rather unusual near Beijing) and climbing the wall was an amazing experience. We started by taking these rickety little go-carts that ran on rails through a tunnel that got us close to the 4th tower. Then, we hiked between the 4th and 8th towers. The total walk up and back between the towers was less than one hour. The Great Wall is very steep, but also it was slow going because of all the tourists. Still, the crowds did not do much to diminish the impressiveness of the Wall, which is absolutely massive in scale. Had we walked beyond Tower 8, we would have had less people to walk among, but that is where the wall
started to get very steep and treacherous. Lots of trees were starting to blossom in the area, which made it very beautiful, but the bathrooms at the Great Wall were the most disgusting I've ever seen! I am no stranger to squat toilets having lived in Thailand, but China's public toilets are filthy smelly dirty holes in the ground with no hook to hang anything up on, no toilet paper, and lots of poor aim. Even though I had to pay for the toilet at the Great Wall, I walked right out without using it - I just didn't have to go anymore after seeing the appalling conditions.
Jesse and I also went to the Forbidden City in Beijing, which is amazing, but also overrun with tourists. The best way to escape the crowds was to avoid the massive palace halls in the center (where it was difficult to see anything anyway due to the fact that you couldn't go inside but instead had to peer through glass windows into large unlit rooms) and go to the East and West wings where many of the concubines lived. Many of these areas were picturesque, not crowded, and really fascinating. There
are also some lovely gardens inside the Forbidden City as well. Afterwards, we walked through Tiananmen Square, which is massive. I also went to the Temple of Heaven, where the emperors prayed for the harvest, which I liked more than the Foribidden City. It was surrounded by a really cool park with lots of old people practicing martial arts, hackey sacks, and the like. We had some amazing meals in Beijing. Most notable was the Peking Duck (of course), a really fun Japanese sushi place that did cool innovative sushi combos like they have in L.A., and also this fabulous restaurant called Bookworm, which is a political English language bookstore that also has wonderful food, poetry readings, live music, etc. One thing I loved in China was the tea. I drank it constantly from morning to night. It was always made of fresh leaves and was delicious.
After Beijing, Ivanka and I went to stay with Jesse in Shanghai. While Beijing is a spread out austere city with giant formal monuments, Shanghai is more cosmopolitan with lots of skyscrapers and is sort of a Chinese version of New York City. Jesse lived in an amazing area right near lots
Beijing Olympics
This was the building where they held the swimming. of wonderful shops and restaurants. We ate delicious Shanghainese dumplings (which are filled with soup inside along with the meat), Macanese food (which is an awesome combination of Portugese and Chinese), and Taiwanese food to name a few great cuisines. Shanghai is also expensive (like New York City), but bargains are possible in the markets. I found bargaining in China to be quite tough compared to Thailand. The salespeople are very aggressive and you always feel like you're being taken advantage of, even when you know you got a decent price. They also sometimes try to pass off counterfeit bills, which makes things tough as well. You never know if you are getting the real thing with what you buy, unless you're an expert. One thing that is great to buy there is fabric made with wool - I bought wool/silk blends to have some suits made back in Thailand and also some cashmere to have a coat made. The prices are so cheap for that stuff if you bargain hard.
Culturally, Shanghai has lots of great stuff too. The Shanghai Museum is really cool and had the most amazing porcelain display I have ever seen. There were also
Bird's Nest
From the Olympics some really wonderful old streets, cafes, and art galleries. The biggest problem with Shanghai when we were there though was the pollution. It was so bad, that when we walked outside, my eyes and throat burned. I have never experienced pollution as bad as that, even in Bangkok, and don't know how people deal with that when they live in a city that is so polluted for an extended length of time. There is an incredible amount of construction going on as Shanghai gets ready for hosting the EXPO next year. They have a weird blue gumby-esque figure who can be seen all over the city.
So what are my overall thoughts about Beijing or Shanghai based on my brief visit? Neither is an easy place for a westerner to visit/live (though I think Shanghai is easier than Beijing). Paradoxically, the infrastructure (roads, subways, sidewalks, municipal planning, etc.) in Beijing and Shanghai is so much more modern and well-built than in Bangkok and the food and sights are amazing, but the pollution combined with the crowds, the pushing and shoving, the spitting, the aggressiveness of the vendors, the fact that you cannot be sure if you are buying anything
genuine (or even using genuine currency), and the disgusting public toilets made for a needlessly stressful trip at times. For long term living, I would take Bangkok any day, political problems and all. But in the short term, it was a great visit and I'm really glad that I went. Jesse was a great host and his Mandarin skills were invaluable at times! Ivanka, as always, was a great shopping and traveling partner. Of course, it would have been wonderful to go to other parts of China, but I was so limited in time. Another trip!
Many of our friends and family have been concerned about the current political situation in Thailand. Though it has been uncertain (and I know the news really focused on the violence), right now things are relatively calm. In any event, even when there are problems, we simply stay away from the areas where protestors are, which is quite easy to do most of the time. It is hard to say long-term what will happen in Thailand as the country is very divided. The yellow shirts are those who support the monarchists and the elite (as well as the current Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit).
The red shirts are poor people from the North who support Thaksin, an ousted Prime Minister (who was kicked out a few years ago by a military coup, which we experienced) who broadcasts to his supporters from overseas and is loathed by the current government for corruption issues and who is accused of trying to start a revolt against the current government. Now we also recently have added the blue shirts, who are an armed mob of civilians who are opposed to the red shirts and who the military threatened to unleash on the red shirts at the latest protests in Bangkok, which is one reason why the red shirts decided to disperse. It's gotten so that everyone had best avoid wearing shirts of one particular color in this city. The other day there was an assassination attempt on the leader of the yellow shirts (the one who closed down Bangkok's airport in December) and no one knows who was behind it. So things are chaotic politically here, no question. Yet, with respect to our lives, everything in Bangkok is proceeding business as usual, so we hope that things continue to stay calm.
We return to the U.S. June
27th, so only about 2 months left! Jim is currently in Germany for work and will also visit our friends Eric and Stacey who are living in Stuttgart. All three boys are doing very well.
Take care,
Maddy
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