This is it . . for now :)

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Hello again!

Unfortunately, this will probably be my last blog entry for awhile (or at least until I can scrape up enough money to travel again!). After traveling through China, Thailand, and Hong Kong with my parents, we are now back in the U.S., and my summer consists of slightly more mundane activities - namely, narrowing down my search for a graduate school (I'm planning to study occupational therapy).

Anyway, after finishing my final examinations in Hong Kong, I headed to the city of Xi'an in Mainland China. The area around Xi'an is home to one of the most famous attractions in the country, the army of terracotta warriors, which was constructed over 2,000 years ago as part of the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The emperor believed that he would require protection in the afterlife. Thus, an army of over 6,000 soldiers was constructed to his specifications. However, the tomb lay forgotten for hundreds of years until 1974 when a farmer who was digging a well accidentally discovered the tomb. In one of Xi'an's local museums, we actually met the man who discovered the army at his book signings (I don't think that he is a farmer anymore!). The army is fantastic not only because of its size but also because each and every soldier is completely unique. The soldiers vary in their hairstyles and clothing (both indicate the soldier’s rank within the army) and even facial expressions. Many archeologists speculate that the soldiers were modeled after soldiers in the emperor's real army.

While I really enjoyed seeing the terracotta army, my favorite part about Xi'an was staying with Grace, a friend from Hong Kong. Grace and her family did everything they could to make sure that I had an authentic experience. Every morning we had an authentic Chinese breakfast: long salty doughnuts with warm soy milk or sweet red bean cakes and whole cucumbers. I slept on a mat with many small plastic slats that went on top of the bed to provide ventilation on warm nights. We ate incredible meals at restaurants for under $1. I went shopping at the local art galleries and picked up a huge scroll painting for under $5 (I had to hide so that Grace could get the local price). It was definitely a leap off the tourist track, and even though the area around Xi’an is one of the most visited in all of China, I saw very few Western visitors in the city itself. Apparently the locals do not see many foreigners either because everywhere we went, people would all-out stare at me! This could not be described as subtle glances of curiosity. When I walked down the street, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared until I was completely out of eyeshot! It was a bit unnerving at times, but staring is not at all impolite in China.

From Xi'an, I took an overnight train to Beijing to meet up with my parents. The train was interesting in that no one else spoke English. However, many people really enjoyed watching me write in my journal. They actually came over and literally peered over my shoulder (again, not impolite)!

Beijing is really a wonderful place to visit because there are so many must-see attractions in a relatively small area. We stayed almost a week, and while we were busy all day, we definitely could have stayed longer. Before my parents arrived, I stayed in a clean but very basic hostel, but after meeting my parents, my living situation became infinitely more pleasant. Upon my arrival at a swank, new hotel in Beijing, the bellhop moved to carry my large hiking backpack like a normal piece of luggage. However, he soon decided that he should carry it as it was intended to be carried and hoisted it onto his back over his expensive-looking suit.

On one of our first days in Beijing, we visited the Forbidden City, which is so named because it was only accessible to royalty for over 500 years. It is now one of the country’s most popular attractions because it is the best preserved collection of a large group of buildings in China. The palace and its grounds are massive, and one could easily spend days wandering around. The Forbidden City includes just about everything that an emperor could need or want: military offices, temples, living areas, libraries, and theaters. The buildings were quite impressive in their architecture and in the detail in which they were painted and adorned. Just outside of the Forbidden City is Tiananmen Square. The square was constructed to portray the enormity of the communist part, and it can hold many, many tour groups. Despite the fact that it was the site of the infamous 1989 government-sponsored massacre of peaceful protestors, the communist party briefly considered holding the 2008 Olympic volleyball tournament in the square! What’s next? Pole vaulting over the Great Wall? We also visited the beautiful Summer Palace which served as a way for the royal family to escape the heat of the city and lounge by the palace’s enormous lake.

The next day we made an excursion to one of the sections of the Great Wall about 2 hours outside of Beijing. If spread end to end, the Great Wall could reach more than the distance from LA to New York. For years, schoolchildren in China were taught that the Great Wall could be seen by the naked eye from the moon. However, when the first Chinese astronaut went to space in 2003, and proclaimed that this was not actually the case, the myth was finally removed from textbooks. The Great Wall was not actually built all at once, but it was originally a series of city walls that were finally connected by Emperor Qin Shi Huang (the guy who built the army of terracotta soldiers). While its original purpose was for protection, it was actually more effectively used as an elevated highway that covered areas of China that had previously been impassible. After thousands of years, however, the wall came into disrepair, and supposedly it was only tourism that saved the Wall from total destruction. Some of the wall’s sections have been restored specifically for tourist use, and the government tightly controls the number of people who can enter its unrestored sections. The area that we visited, Mutianyu, was amazingly beautiful and it was incredible to see the wall snaking off into the distance for miles and miles. However, tourism is obviously in some ways more important than the historical integrity of the wall. The section that we visited (as well as other sections) now features a giant slide from the top of the wall straight to the parking lot, and some sections host wild 24-hour parties for foreign visitors. Maybe pole vaulting isn't so farfetched after all.

Also while in Beijing, we saw an acrobat show (fantastic) and a Peking Opera production. Peking Opera features incredible makeup, costumes, and kung fu fighting scenes, but the high pitched "singing" (maybe more like shrieking) made one performance sufficient for my parents’ ears 😊

We were also able to meet up with Alice, another one of my friends from Hong Kong, and her father took us out to one of the best restaurants in Beijing for Peking duck. We had a fabulous meal, and there must have been over 20 different dishes on the table. The Peking duck was amazing, and we ate it with plum sauce, scallions, and various other spices and sauces all wrapped in a thin rice pancake.

From Beijing, we flew to Thailand and followed an itinerary similar to my previous trip. I love Thailand because it is easy to get around, it is inexpensive, the food is great, and the variety of attractions and activities is incomparable. So we shopped and saw the Royal Palace in Bangkok, and then took the train to Ayuthaya to see ruins and elephants. On this visit to the elephant park, we were able to see baby elephants! Oh, they were so cute. They would try to climb on the park benches (which groaned audibly under their weight) and chased the small dogs around. They were also quite curious and enjoyed meeting park visitors. Then we took a second train up to Chiang Mai where we shopped some more, had multiple foot massages, and took a jungle trek. We also visited an elephant camp where elephants that can no longer find work in the agricultural industry perform shows for visitors. However, it’s not like a circus, and the animals appeared to be treated very well. The elephants were quite skilled and could do everything from play soccer to paint pictures! The camp hold the Guinness world record for the most expensive artwork painted by a group of elephants. It was amazing to watch the elephants paint because they had to take such care and move quite slowly to ensure that the brush would land on the correct place on the page. Some elephants painted flowers or a group of trees while one elephant appeared to be doing a self-portrait.

Etc.
While I know very few only children in the U.S., almost all of my classmates in Hong Kong were only children because of China’s one-child policy. Initially, the Communist party encouraged population growth as numbers could provide a large workforce. However, soon the party realized that if the country continued to grow in such a manner, food shortages would only become more problematic. Thus, in 1979 the party, unafraid of extremes, adopted the one-child policy and began to deal out harsh punishments to any family that exceeded the limit. The law was especially difficult for the rural population who relied on a large family to succeed in farming. Now, rural families are allowed to have two children, but if they exceed that number (and many do) the extra children go unreported and cannot legally receive an education. Another problem that has surfaced is the unequal number of males and females in China. Since males are more desirable to parents because they traditionally care for parents in their old age, the female population continues to shrink and many men who want to marry are unable to find a wife. However, even with such strict population controls, China’s population is now over 1.3 billion (more than 20% of the world’s population).

As the 2008 Olympic games approach, you can literally feel the excitement in the air. Almost all of Beijing is under construction: new restaurants, hotels, and entertainment venues are going up everywhere. Historic monuments (including Mao’s body - not kidding) are receiving renovation as well. City officials are also trying to spruce up Beijingers themselves. In a society where excessive spitting and line cutting is the norm, this may not be such a bad idea. Recently, the government implemented a “Queuing Day,” which takes place on the 11th of every month because the date’s appearance looks very much like the program’s end goal. On this day citizens are guided into lines formed by volunteers and some companies and government agencies hand out small rewards to those who wait in line patiently. Additionally, the Green Woodpecker Project has implement an anti-spitting campaign and hands out tissues as well as a bit of shame to offenders. Another area of the city that requires some attention is the English translations on signs, menus, etc. A New York Times article called “No Spitting on the Road to Olympic Glory, Beijing Says” notes that
“a local theme park about China’s ethnic minorities was initially promoted in English as ‘Racist Park.’” When we were there, we had a few chuckles at signs such as “Only satisfied visitors will feel at home in the Summer Palace.”

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Photos

Elephants painting!
This one is painting a forest

With the Thai Ronald McDonald
Ronald is displaying the typical Thai greeting