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Published: March 27th 2010
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Olympics everywhere
The Olympics had been over for a while when we got there but the Chinese were justifiably proud of the their games. This Blast from the Past is being written 18 months after the fact based on notes I made at the time. I have tried to make the comments reflect what we were thinking at the time. Of course, we are now so much more familiar with China that some of the events seem quite different in hind sight. But then what doesn’t?
The start of the journey I have mentioned previously that the wife of one of the teachers is Chinese and runs a travel agency. Dianne had picked out a bunch of places she (I mean, we) wanted to see and went to visit Fairy to arrange transportation and accommodation. She introduced us to the concept of hiring a driver. She recommended “Jack” who speaks almost no English but is a very safe driver. For a flat per diem he would pick us up at our apartment, drive us to any place we wanted, wait for us then drive us to our next destination. This sounded OK to us in the city but for five days? The per diem includes everything for him: his accommodation, food etc. We just pay for gas and tolls. Fairy said this was
Green Hotel
Our first hotel visit in a major city. Our travel agent had picked a nice place with a "western" restaurant. the best way to get around as there is no worry about cabs, parking, trains etc. Since there was room in the car for four, we partnered with two of the younger teachers who wanted to see the same sites and sights.
Jack may not speak English but he knows how to get from Point A to Point B quickly and safely. He always seemed to find a parking spot close to where we wanted to be. Jack was right on time the first morning and off we went. Things went fine until about two hours into the drive to the provincial capital of Shenyang. Jack slowed down and appeared to be reading the road signs. He had missed his turn. So he backed up about a quarter mile on the highway and turned off. My confidence level fluctuated wildly. What kind of lunatic backs up on a highway? Jack knew what he was doing. After we got to Shenyang and I saw how carefully Jack maneuvered in the insane traffic of a big city, I realized we were in safe hands.
Shenyang - Days 1 and 2 The hotel was very nice but the restaurant advertized
Say what?
Unfortunately, it was closed. We had lunch in the hotel restaurant where no one spoke English and the menu was strictly Chinese characters. There was no pinyin so we couldn't even look up the names of the dishes although there were pictures. The chap in the red jacket thought the situation was very funny, as did we in retrospect. The fellow in the colourful vest was pulled out of the back room because he spoke "a little" English. Angi's look says all that needs to be said. as “western” must have meant western China. There was nothing recognizable on the menu except tea. No one in the restaurant spoke English and this was early enough in our Chinese adventure that we knew no Chinese. Finally they dragged a fellow out from the back rooms somewhere who spoke a little English and we managed to have our first meal. The big surprise came when we paid the bill: 88 kuai for a pot of tea. That’s about $15 Canadian.
One of the main features of a Shenyang visit is the Imperial Palace. Dating from the early 1600s, it was the first capital of what became the Qing dynasty that ruled China until 1911. Much smaller than the Forbidden City in Beijing, it has a greater diversity of styles because of the influence of the Manchus that began during the dynasty. I was interested in the differences between the Chinese palaces and the English castles of the same time period. The Imperial Palace is a large walled compound with many smaller buildings and stone courtyards. The English built large castles with much smaller courtyards. When we visited this site in Shenyang we had not yet been to the
Openings
Whenever a new business opens, they love to put these air balloons up. This was our first real experience but we have seen lots since. Forbidden City. In retrospect I am glad we saw this one first.
The East Tomb is the burial site of the first emperor of the Qing dynasty. The tomb is fairly simple but the grounds and surrounding buildings are worth the visit. We had been in China long enough to be used to people staring at “the foreigners” and also the friendliness of most of the people we encountered. We were watching a grandmother and grandson looking at one of the signs and discussing what they were seeing. One of our number showed them her camera and asked if we could take their picture. This usually results in big smiles and multiple pictures of everyone. The boy, about 10, just looked straight us and replied “No!”. That was the first and only time we got this reaction!
The Liaoning Radio and TV Tower, at 305 meters, is easily the tallest structure in Shenyang (quote from their web site!) and offers great views of the area. For 50 yuan (about $9. Canadian) you can ride the elevator to the top and for 70 yuan (about $13.) you can ride to the top and have a nice dinner in the
Imperial Palace
Our first stop was the old imperial palace, a smaller version of the forbidden city in Beijing. revolving restaurant. My first question is: why would anyone just take the elevator ride?
Shenyang was our first introduction to Chinese “malls”. The one we went to consisted of (at least) four 5 story buildings, each one jammed with small kiosks, usually 8’x8’ or 8’x10’. Row upon row of them sell identical merchandise. How one decided which ‘store’ to buy from is beyond me. We were so numb from this experience we went to McDonald’s for lunch.
The amusement park On our way out of Shenyang we stopped at an amusement park. We spent a good part of the day wandering around the various exhibits many having themes based on countries of the world. It was advertised as an amusement park but it was more of a botanical garden. And, of course, there were two buildings dedicated to displays about the Olympic Games.
I was particularly interested in the display describing Canada. Even granting that it was the wrong time of year to see the flowers and shrubs at their best, I would have had trouble identifying the exhibit as Canada without the sign. It was interesting to see how others view us.
Benxi Water Caves - Day 3 The Benxi water caves are a bit off the beaten track. This is where a driver really comes in handy. You could probably get there using buses, taxis and/or trains but the logistics, especially in a foreign language, would be brutal. Jack drove us right to the entrance and was there when we came out. No fuss, no muss. The caves themselves are incredible. The line-up to get in was very long (it was National Holiday Week). We learned early that you have to be “assertive” at places like ticket windows or you get left behind. Fortunately Angi, our smallest member, was also very assertive. They do manage the line-up to the caves very carefully. You couldn’t have one person hold the place in line while others looked at the sights, rejoining when the “holder” got close to the entrance. Everybody had to wait in line. No budging.
When you get to the dock, you are loaded in small boats for about 12 people and head into the underground river. The caves vary in height up to 38 meters and in width up to 50 meters. Not sure how far the river
goes into the mountain but it took us over an hour to do the tour. Fantastic scenery in the cave and a nice break from the heat outdoors. If you want to see some more professional pictures,
click here.
The rest of the story The last two nights of our trip were spent in Dandong on the Yalu River, the border with North Korea. Nearby is the eastern most part of the Great wall. We just came back from a second trip to Dandong and the pictures and stories from the two visits will be combined in the next blog entry.
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