O Brother Where Art Thou?

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After Shanghai, I took an express overnight sleeper service back to Beijing. My brother, Sean, was on his way over to embark with me on a 2 week packaged trip around China with the tour company "The Imaginative Traveler." Sean had wanted to visit China a few years ago but decided on Egypt instead. We don't get to spend as much time together as we used to, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to take in some Chinese culture and have a good catch up. Sean arrived in Beijing in the afternoon on the same day that I arrived from Shanghai. The tour wasn't due to star for another day, so I decided to expose Sean to a hostel on his first night in town. I got us a double room in a charming 300 year old hotel just off of a hutong street near Tienanmen Square. I don't think it was to Sean's usual standard, but hey for $7 a night, I thought it was pretty good😊

Day 1 was mostly recovering from jet lag, but on the second day Sean and I went to go see Mao Zedong. Sean and I took to calling him "meow" (just like in Super Troopers) for the rest of the trip. I don't mean we went to go see his portrait that hangs on Tienanmen Gate or to visit his grave, I mean we went to see his actual body! At the south end of Tienanmen Square is Mao's Mausoleum (say that 3 times fast). When Mao passed away in 1976, the ruling communist party decided to follow in the footsteps of their Russian comrades and preserve Mao ala the same lines as Lenin. It's kinda like stuffing Lassie after he passes away. You can go and see Mao laying in his coffin. It closes everyday around noon so that Mao can be lowered down into the fridge below the viewing platform. Before Mao was embalmed, they quickly had a wax replica made as they were uncertain how the preservation process would go. It was placed along side Mao in the fridge. No one can really be sure if they are looking at Mao or his wax double. We rounded out the day by visiting the China Military Museum. This was a pretty good museum and it was loaded on facts and dates, which my brother craves. The rhetoric on Taiwan here was similar to what I had experienced in Nanjing.

While in Beijing, Sean and I went to the Silk Market which is where you can buy cheap knock-off anything. Sean got his first exposure to Chinese haggling, which is a pretty funny experience. If you pick up any item, show even a remote interest in something, or sometimes just make eye contact with the stall owner than you are encouraged to haggle. Of course the item you are interested in is always their "Best Quality" compared to the stall next door and they will give you their "Best Price". It begins by them offering you some ridiculously expensive price. You then explain that the price is way too high. They then keep pestering you to suggest a price of your own. This can go on for a while, but up to this point they are generally nice. I usually suggest a price around 10% of what they are asking. At this point they become dramatically insulted and act as if you had just insulted their entire family, sometimes slapping your shoulder. My favorite line was "You're Breaking My Heart!" You haggle for a bit and then just act as if you don't want it; walking away. After you get a few steps they shout back the price you wanted it for and then you can make the deal. They still keep a sad face and make it seem like you are stealing from them. It's all a bit of an act and I think people on both sides have fun with it, but it can be exhausting as well. A few hours in the market can really drain you. I picked up a Best Quality pair of Police Sunglasses (endorsed by Beckham) for their Best Price. The sunglasses even indicated they were made in Italy. Within an hour, one of the lenses had popped out and the rubber backing on one of the arms was falling off, but I managed to fix it. A week later, one of the arms had completely fallen off. I guess you can't trust the Italians to do a quality job anymore.

We met our new traveling companions at our tour sponsored hotel. The quality was much better and I think Sean was happy to see the end of our hostel. The group was made up of mostly English couples. There were also people from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Denmark, and Australia to round out the group. Our tour leader, Arron, was from New Zealand. Ironically enough, I had met one of the couples when I was in Nikko, Japan about a month ago. It's a small world after all.

Our whole group headed out to the Great Wall, which was about a 2.5 hour bus journey from Beijing. Parts of the great wall are over 2000 years old. It stretches over 4,000 miles, so we did not get to see all of it. We hiked for about 4 hours or so. As you can imagine, it is nearly impossible to keep all 4,000 miles in good condition. There are tourist sections that have been restored, and it was one of these sections that we experienced. Even so, we still had to climb over some crumbling bits and I was surprised at how steep some of the stairs were. It's hard to imagine the smaller Chinese people of 2,000 years ago easily climbing these steps as they race to battle. The wall is far enough away from the city that you can enjoy China's nature without all of the pollution. However, it is not too far away to rid yourselves from the street peddlers. Little women followed us all over the wall. Each time we stopped, they were keen to sell us bottles of water, for a best price of course. I capped off the Wall Walk with a flying-fox trip across a gorge. It looked scarier than it was, but only Tom, whom I met in Japan, and one of the Danish girls were brave enough to give it a go.

Our next journey was an overnight train to Xian. Sean and I were luckily enough to share a compartment with 3 young Chinese students who spoke good-enough English. We talked to them about anything and everything and compared play lists on their iPod and Sean's. They seemed to have more American music on theirs than anything else. This went on for 7 hours before lights off and it really did seem to fly by.

Xian is home to the Terracotta Army, which China claim as the 8th wonder of the world. There are estimated to be approximately 8,000 clay statues protecting the tomb of Shi Huang Di, China's first true emperor. The Terracotta Army is comprised of soldiers, archers, generals, horses, and chariots. The chariots were made of wood, and have since decomposed, but the rest was constructed from terracotta, the same material used in pottery. The army was placed in dug-out pits in front of the emperor's tomb. They were covered with large timbers, woven mats, and finally soil. There they lay, mostly undisturbed, until a farmer discovered them while digging for a well in 1974. The soldiers are life sized, and no two are alike. Only a portion of the army has been unearthed. Structures have been built over the sites and archaeological work is still on-going. The statues were painted, but it has been found than within an hour of being exposed to the open air, the remaining color vanishes. Because of this, there has been a suspension on unearthing any more statues until a method of preserving the color becomes available. From what I could see, they have plenty of work to do for a long time to come. In the gift shop at the end (there's always a gift shop), you can actually meet the farmer that discovered the army 34 years ago. He's about 91 now, and hasn't had to farm in a long time.

After visiting the army, Sean and I got to mosey around the town of Xian. The ancient city wall that surrounds Xian still remains standing and you can walk all the way around it. Sean and I decided to make our way around the city wall, but not by walking; by bicycle......tandem bicycle! I had never been on a tandem before and I was surprised at how unstable it can feel. Communication is key when attempting to turn or even keeping in a straight line. I took the front seat and Sean brought up the rear. Once the stability issues are taken care of, we were pretty solid. We even managed to perfect a bunny hop together. The bike only had one gear, but we found that you can generate a surprising amount of speed on a tandem. Enough to fly by a motorized cart full of older tourists! At the end of our lap, we unknowingly flew by the bike rental place and had to slam on our brakes. Sean checked his watch and we congratulated ourselves on our record time with a loud American high-five. We succeeded in amusing the bike rental people with that one.

At this point, our tour was supposed to continue to Chengdu, but all foreigners had been prohibited from entering the Sichuan province since the earthquake hit. Chengdu was pretty much the epicenter of it. Instead, we headed to Chongqing a few days early to board our cruise boat which was to take us down the Yangtze river. The Yangtze river is the 3rd longest in the world after the Nile and Amazon. It starts up in the Himalayas of Tibet and finally empties into the East China Sea near Shanghai.

The cruise was a lazy experience, with naps and all-you-can-eat buffets at the top of the agenda. Basically a backpackers paradise. We floated down the Yangtze flanked by steep cliffs capped by an all encompassing fog. All along the way you could see major suspension bridges that were being built to link up the separated regions. We stopped at a few points along the way. One was to visit a temple at the top of a small mountain. The estate name of the person who used to live there years ago sounded similar to the Chinese world for hell, and people superstitiously stayed away. Since the Cultural Revolution did away with such superstitions, now the place can't seem to get enough attention. It seems to be a major tourist spot and it's hard to take it seriously. Some of the statues look to be tens of years old instead of hundreds. There is even a cable car to take you up if you can't manage the stairs. The temple at the top is meant to represent the underworld. There are lots of scary looking god statues gazing down upon you and other depictions of what might happen to you in the afterlife if you do not lead a decent life in the present.

There are many different tests that you can do to increase your chances of good favor with the gods. There is a bridge you must cross at the begining. If you do not slip while doing so, it indicates you are a good person. When returning the other way, you must choose between 2 bridges. One grants you a long life, the other grants you great wealth. I'll let you guess which one I chose😉 Another test is a staircase which you must run up in one breath and not look back. I can't remember what it grants you, but Sean and I did it no problem. An optional test was to lift and balance a large bowl shaped stone onto a large nipple shaped stone. Doing so proves that you have been faithful to your wife. I didn't have a wife yet, that would come in a few days, but I love a good feat of strength any day. I managed to get it up there, but apparently the bowl stone was upside down. Our guide didn't mention which way it had to go until I had hoisted it up there. Kinda like how women don't tell you where they want heavy furniture until after you have moved it. Later I learned that the stone was 400 pounds, so I think I did pretty darn well. After that a small guy came over and revealed his secret technique that he had perfected for how to do it which utilized his entire body for leverage. He's had more time to practice than me though😉

Another stop along the way was to see how boat men live along the river. I can't remember exactly where we were, but it involved climbing off our big cruise ship and entering into a small canoe type boat siting 3 people wide. There were 3 rowers on the front and 3 in the back plus a local guide at the front. The guide was very happy and energetic and was really pleasant. He even cracked some jokes that got better responses than Sean's, which isn't too hard I guess. The rowers must have rowed us for about 2 hours. Before we turned around, we got to a very shallow spot in the river. At that point the boat men jumped out and grabbed a rope which was attached to the boat. They pulled us along the stones until we made it to deeper water. These guys were real work horses. Along the way the gorges were dotted with caves, some of which people still live in. The boat men are part of an ethnic minority in the region. They speak a language that is different than that of Mandarin, so their communication is limited to their region. They can not read or write the regular Chinese language. They work on the boats during the day and then go fishing during the last hours of daylight. Motor boats can now move people around much faster, so the boatmen rely on the tourism industry for income. They are not skilled to do much else and do not posses the communication abilities to relocate anywhere with much success. Mandatory education for children is making significant inroads, but money is still needed for a decent education. The plight of the boat people is just but one example of the quickly changing dynamics in China. This is a region in the middle of China, but it seemed a world away from the cities that we had visited leading up to it. The local people here seem to be facing some of the same issues that the pioneers of America did when they went to settle the west.

We concluded our cruise by making our way through the locks of the 3 Gorges Dam. This dam is the largest in the world and represents a significant step in China conquering the forces of nature which have devastated these regions in the past through floods. It's built to the highest international standards, which is comforting since there was a 6.0 aftershock in Chengdu when we were on it. The dam has two sets of five locks, one for each direction, which must be passed through to get up or down the river. Only 4 locks are being used as they haven't completed all of the works yet that are necessary to raise the river up to the final level. It takes about 45 minutes to pass through all of them and we passed our time on the deck of the ship by Sean instructing Richard and Gavin how to act like a monkey (I don't know why). I must admit, it did seem like second nature to Sean. Unbeknown to Sean, the spectators on the ship in front of ours were enjoying it immensely and I think his picture is probably in a few Chinese vacation scrapbooks now.

Since the earthquake had taken away our days in Chengdu, the trip was rerouted to allow us to experience the scenic rice terraces of Longi. The Longi terraces are located nearly 2,000 meters above sea level and were first cultivated in the 13th century. Ever since then, the Zhuang and Yao ethnic minority groups have maintained and expanded the terraces. The result is a beautiful mist covered stepped green backdrop. It was my first time on a rice terrace and quite unlike any other farmland I had ever visited. The rice was not close to harvest, so we mostly saw mud and water up close. Each terrace is a pit of mud that fills up quickly with water. A spout is made which allows the water to flow down to the next terrace. A health supply of rain at the top of the mountain ensures that the water does not become stagnant. Rice can grow quick enough to yield 3 crops in one year, but because these terraces are so high up they can only produce one harvest before it gets too cold. Rain could not stop us and we set about a day long hike all around the terraces. It's a good thing we had a local guide, because I would have gotten lost by myself for sure. It was times like this I was glad to be part of a tour group. I don't think I would have ever found this place by myself. The walk was great, but it was hard to take it all in. We had to constantly look where we were stepping so as not to drop off the side or slip in some donkey poo.

The guest house we stayed in was in Ping An Village. The village itself was a work of art. All of the buildings were beautifully made out of wood, perched on the sides of mountains. The stone walkways between the buildings were flanked by gutters of running water, of which there was no shortage. Individual houses would rest on stilts so that the horses and donkeys would live below in stables and ducklings would waddle about and quack happily, surely not knowing their eventual fate. Alarm clocks were not necessary as the nearby roosters performed their tasks exceptionally well. Our guest house was entirely made of wood. Wooden floors, wooden walls, wooden ceilings, and a wooden roof. It seemed like a relatively new building and way up in the mountains they even had broadband on their computer. I remarked to Sean that we only got high-speed internet in our hometown of Marine a few years ago.

One night the local village women treated us to a bit of entertainment. They put on a splendid show of singing and dancing and were very generous with their rice wine; for medicinal purposes of course😉 They showed us one of their dances and then asked to see one of ours. Richard, the Scotsman of our group, got up and introduced them to a Scottish dance which looked a lot like square dancing. They then had us all participate, one by one, in one of their dances. It involved a gauntlet of 3 girls on each side holding long bamboo sticks. They would beat the sticks on the ground together and then pull them apart and beat them again. When the sticks were apart you would step your foot into the space and had just enough time to step into the next one if you kept with the rhythm. Eventually the rhythm would increase and each of us would see how fast we could go before tripping. It was good fun and everyone got a turn. One of the Danish girls broke a floor board when she hit a weak spot, but the bamboo just sticks kept going. Our kiwi tour leader Arron went last and it looked as if he may have had a bit of practice at it.

The final event of the evening was to form a big circle by joining hands. One of the women was placed in the middle and blindfolded. The other women seemed to be spaced out evenly in the circle and were all singing. We danced around in a circle and the blindfolded woman in the middle finally got her hands on a lucky guy in the circle, me. I had 2 of the other women on either side of me and they were holding me pretty tightly, so I think it was premeditated. Since I was chosen, it was my turn to be blindfolded and put in the circle. The blindfold was exceptionally dark and I couldn't see a thing. All I could hear was singing and laughing. I finally managed to latch onto something soft after being avoided by the circle for some time. I'm pretty sure it's not the first thing I would usually grab on a lady, but hey I was blindfolded😉 I think it may have been the same woman that was blindfolded earlier. Now she had to jump on my back and we had to both break through the circle of people, which was easier said than done. After much pushing from me, and pinching from her, we managed to break free. That's when I found out that we were officially married now. A celebratory drink of rice wine sealed the deal. Turns out she owns the guest house, so I guess that makes me an inn keeper as well. I don't think the marriage got off to a good start as I didn't even get a discount at the hotel😞

The next morning I had to say goodbye to my wife. She had an inn to run, and my tour group had to move on to Yangshuo. It probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. Yangshuo is one of the popular spots on the China backpacker circuit and it certainly feels like it. There are bars and restaurants catering to western tastes and English is not a problem here at all. All around the area are large limestone peaks which jut straight out of the ground. They are spotted with vegetation fighting to dig their roots into the fragile rock. We took a bike ride out in the country amidst the limestone and I found it very relaxing. There were fewer people trying to sell you things, although I did succumb to a few women who where carrying their kids around in baskets. We stopped our bikes on a bridge to take in a view and they were literally running up for us to take a picture (for a fee of course). I'm not sure if this is really a traditional practice of the local people, but it did make for a cute picture.

Back in town we had the opportunity to sample some local delicacies at dinner. Our choices were bamboo rat, snake, and dog. I wasn't too keen on the rat since it is one of the leading carriers in the world of diseases. Thankfully it was out of season. We got to see them kill the snake by cutting its head off and then draining the blood and skinning it. I drank a bit of the blood with some rice wine, and it was pretty strong. The meat was made into a curry and I kinda liked it. The dog I had a bit of a moral dilemma with. Although it is perfectly acceptable to eat dog in this part of the world, I can't help but think of them as man's best friend. To me, eating a dog would almost be akin to cannibalism, so I had to pass. Sean didn't seem to struggle with the same moral issues as me and readily gobbled down Fido. I hope I'm never stranded on a mountain with Sean and a food shortage.

Yangshuo was also a great place to learn some traditional Chinese martial arts. Sean and I participated in both Kung-fu and Tai-Chi lessons. Master Jason directed our group in kung-fu and it became very obvious that we would not achieve black belts in our 1 hour session. One of the hardest things I had to do was hold pads and brace myself as people took turns kicking it with full force. It wasn't too bad until Colm, a big Irish lad and Liverpool supporter, took a few kicks. I absorbed them all, but only while feeling my teeth shake. After the class, master Jason showed us how to use a bull whip just like Indiana Jones. He cracked it with such precision that he literally made a sonic boom. It was LOUD! It looked easy enough so Sean, me, and a few of the other guys had a go. None of us even came close to making the same sound. Tai-Chi was just as interesting. Even though it is not an impact sport we ended up learning more moves from Tai-Chi for self defense than we did from kung-fu. I wouldn't mind revisiting Tai-Chi, but I'm probably past my start date for kung-fu. As master Yoda would say, "Too old to begin the training you are!"

After Yangshuo, a quick train ride would take us all to Hong Kong. We only had a few more days together and I couldn't believe that 2 weeks had gone by so fast. Our group of 18 really felt close and I would have loved to keep traveling with all of them. Arron was a great guide and even gave me some pointers on where to head in Indonesia. It was great to spend so much time with Sean. I can't remember the last time we had enjoyed 2 full weeks together. We still tend to act the same around each other as we did when we were younger, only now with less fighting. It's hard to believe we have been separated by so many time zones for so long. I'm grateful he was able to break away from work for a few weeks and I hope we get to do some more traveling together in the future. It's nice to know that you can always count on your brother, no matter where you are in the world. I'll remind him again when I crash on his couch in Dallas for a while at the end of the year😊

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Photos

Gilligan and the Skipper
Sean and I hanging on for life as we pedal around the Xian city wall.

Say You Want A Revolution...
Sean leads the revolutionaries into battle.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Here's Sean and me in our conquest of the great wall.

Wall to Wall
Here is one of many classic photos I took of the Great Wall. It just keeps going, and going, and going....

Clay Soldiers
This is the first, and biggest, pit of soldiers. You can see towards the back that there is still a lot of work left to be done.

Take a Knee
This is a kneeling archer who was unearthed from pit 2 and restored. He would have been holding a crossbow.

Tandem Time!
This was way more fun than it's supposed to be.

Train Time
Here I am with Sam, our tour's token Aussie, and our Chinese bunk-mates on one of our many overnight trains.

Rolling Down The River
Here's our luxurious cruise boat with nothing but clear skies to guide us down the Yangtze River.

Tour Group
Here's our tour group in the lounge area of the boat.

Gorge-ous!
Here's one of the 3 Gorges that we sailed through. It reminded me a bit of Millford Sound back in New Zealand, only more foggy. You can see on the sides where they have allowed water level to receed as they prepare for the rainy season.

Monkey See, Monkey Do
Here's Sean instructing Richard on the proper technique when impersonating a monkey.

Damming Photo
Here is one of the 5 locks which make up the 3 Gorges Dam, the largest in the world. It takes about 45 minutes to make it through all of them.

Ping An Village
Here is Ping An, a charming village about the same size as my hometown, only it is nestled up in the mountains amidst layer upon layer of Longji's rice terraces.

Rice, Rice, Baby!
Sean and I looking over the rice terraces. My "best quality" sunglasses were not to last much longer.

Wedding Bells
Here I am with my new wife. She didn't even give me a family discount for the hotel:(

Happy Feet
Our tour leader Arron shows us how it's done by using some fancy footwork.

The Long and Winding Road
The Limestone Cliffs that dot the landscape around Guangzhou are amazing!

Basketcase
Not sure if people really carry their kids around like this or if they only do it to charge tourists money for taking pictures.

Dinner Party
Time for some exotic food. Thankfully bamboo rat was out of season, but they did still have snake and dog on the menu.

It's Fidolicous
Sean's verdict after eating man's best friend.

Everybody was kung-fu fighting...
Sean and I with Master Jason after our intense Kung-Fu session. Sean's new name is "Sweats From Knees"

Hong Kong
At the observation deck after riding the peak tram up.