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In May 2006, I had the chance to go on a tour of China and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. I hesitated when the question first came up because I didn’t want to go on a land tour. In the past year, I had gotten hooked on cruising, and didn’t want to go on any other type of vacation. Going to six or seven cities in China, taking flight and trains and buses, going from hotel to hotel and packing and unpacking all the time did not appeal to me. But…it offered the chance to see the Great Wall, and since that was on my list of “Things to Do Before I Die,” and since there was no way to take a cruise ship to the Great Wall, I agreed to go.
I went with my husband and father-in-law, on a guided tour from Los Angeles. It was a pleasant 10-hour flight to Beijing and then there we were in the mysterious, forbidding, sinister land of China which wasn't forbidding or sinister at all. My stereotypes turned out to be all wrong. I was expecting a dark, gloomy, poor, and oppressed society, but Beijing, at least the
parts that we saw, was vibrant, colorful, with warm, friendly people, bustling marketplaces and cheerful nightlife. I had been glad that my father-in-law was with us because since he spoke Chinese, I thought he would be the lifeline for us in a strange land, but the people of Beijing speak excellent English and I had no difficulty communicating with anyone there. Our tour guides spoke almost perfect English and some of then even spoke Spanish! I was beginning to think I was wrong about China after all.
Many people would say that this was all a carefully staged illusion to fool the Western world and to prepare for the Olympics, but it seemed quite real to me. Warmth and friendliness are not easy to fake, neither is the appearance of a happy society. As we drove through the city at night, I saw many people sitting and enjoying leisurely dinners at the street side stalls, and many other playing makeshift games of badminton or ping pong. I saw a lot of people walking dogs and a lot of pet stores and pet grooming centers. It takes a certain level of peace and affluence before a society can have pets
and spend money on pet supplies and grooming. It seemed to me that Beijing was as developed a city as any I’d seen in the Western world.
Our first trip was to the Forbidden City. I was so excited to go to this place that I’d only seen on television, or in Chinese movies. We explored the city, going into the houses of the concubines, many lovely little Chinese gardens, and finally the spectacular main square with the great studded doors and dragon carvings. We could feel the history of this place and picture the Emperors who ruled from there for so many thousands of years.
Our next stop was the Ming Emperors’ tomb at Dingaling. On the way there, the tour guide warned us about several things. China is a land rich in tradition and superstition, and the guide told us to wear red when going to the tomb as red was a strong lucky color. She warned us not to take photographs of each other in the tomb, and not to call anyone by name. This would invite the ghosts to latch on to us. She told us about a visitor several years ago who went
back to her hotel after visiting the tomb, and in the night, she would hear someone calling her name. It was faint, but it would not go away. She was so disturbed that she called the hotel manager. The manager had her moved to a different room with a lucky number and lucky red signs on the door. This managed to chase the ghosts away and the woman was able to sleep in peace after that. We laughed and scoffed at the story when we heard it in the bus in the afternoon with bright sunshine all around us. But when we descended the many hundred feet underground into the dark, eerie tombs, the atmosphere changed, and we were not so inclined to laugh after all. We felt glad that we were wearing red, and we took care not to say anyone’s name or take pictures of ourselves. We were glad to be out of there and back in the sun again.
The next day came the great adventure. We set out for our visit to the Great Wall. I was so excited as we drove along the Chinese countryside and our guide told us the story of how
the wall was built. It was heartrending to hear about the hundreds of thousands of men who worked to build the wall, and the suffering they went through and how so many of them lost their lives in the effort. And in the end, the guide said, it was all for nothing, because Mongolia conquered China after all, and now China owns Inner Mongolia.
I kept my eyes pressed to the window and finally, I had my magical moment - the first glimpse of the Great Wall! I was so excited I couldn’t sit still! And then we were there. We climbed the wall, and explored the many watch towers built at intervals. We marveled at the steepness and the rugged terrain and wondered how on earth people managed to build something like this without modern machinery.
We felt very thrilled when we climbed to the highest point, especially my husband, because apparently there’s a famous Chinese saying “you’re not a real man unless you’ve climbed the great wall.” When we were done and we returned to the bus, we found my father-in-law waiting for us. He had been there many times and had not bothered climbing the
wall this time. He asked me how it was and I glowingly said “It was fantastic, I’ve wanted to do this all my life, I’m so happy!” and he said “Good, if you’re happy, I’m happy.” What a sweet thing to say. How wonderful parents are!
From Beijing, we flew to X'ian, the ancient capital of China, and the site of the famous Terracotta Army. I loved X'ian because it is an ancient city with castle walls and gate towers, and the medieval architecture that I always fantasize about. The city walls were particularly impressive -- huge and strong, and beautifully lit up at night. We enjoyed dumplings for dinner, a specialty that X'ian is world famous for, and looked forward to our visit to the Terracotta army museum.
The Terracotta army was as impressive as it is made out to be. Each figure in the army has been individually crated with unique features. The craftsmanship is amazing, with intricate details and lifelike features. From Xian, we visited the smaller, lesser-known cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou. Then we flew to Shanghai, which is a huge, super modern city. It was so huge that I almost felt intimidated, and
that was quite surprising considering that I live in Los Angeles and grew up in Singapore, both of which are modern bustling societies with skyscrapers and freeways. I couldn't imagine what someone who grew up in the countryside would feel like upon entering Shanghai.
I left China with many warm memories and a slight feeling of shame at the pre-conceived notions that I had before the trip. I think of myself as a savvy traveler, but the one lesson that I don’t seem to learn is that people are the same everywhere, despite political rifts and media-created suspicions. The ordinary people in every country are warm, friendly, eager to meet people from other parts of the world, and happy to make new friends. I would encourage everyone who can to take a trip to China be prepared for the trip of a lifetime.
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