Shanghai

I finally rode the Chinese Bullet train. I have several good things to say about it. I already discussed the problems, which center on the station service. The train itself was a pleasure; it was a modern train.

Both the interior ventilation and the lights worked. The seals between the cars were in good repair; this means that my seat, between the car connections, was not a deafening experience. There were no vendors and the toilets were clean and modern.

Compare this to the, all to common, older cars in service that are ventilated by means of opening the windows and a small number of ceiling fans that rattle against their safety cages. Power for these fans, and cabin lights, is supplied by generators that are belt driven off of a pulley on the car, resulting in lights that flicker and vary, when they work at all. As I have mentioned in the past, the toilets are often a hole in the floor of the car. Compared to this the bullet train was a marvel of luxury; the seats were even padded.

I have not made much of a point about the speed for two simple reasons. First, it is a bullet train; you expect it to be fast. The second reason was that on such a short run, only about 90Km, it never managed to get, fully, up to speed and topped out at about 230 K/h, which is just less than 144Mph.

Because it was so late, Shanghai railway station, gladly, did not live up, or down, to its reputation of being a massive peasant encampment and a sea of vendors, poorly, managed by a disinterested railway staff. Instead, it was quiet and well managed. I was directed to the correct bus by a staff that was bored and tired enough to actually be interested in being helpful. I got to my bus rather quickly where my destination was rechecked (I had taken the precaution of printing the destination, in Chinese, in a large font before I left) and when I reached my stop, the bus driver informed me that I was there.

At that point I phoned the Hiker Youth Hostel again, as I had been trying to do all day, and this time I got a person. I was given correct directions and within minuets was walking in the door. Unlike the last place, as I walked through the door I knew I was in a hostel; if I had not seen the sign I would have noticed, walking through the door, the music, the activity in the lounge and the sound of billiards. It was a little after 10:30p.m. And I was in ShangHai.

The reason that I had been trying to contact them all day was that I was actually scheduled to arrive the next day, as I said; I had just gotten bored in SuZhou. My arrival caused some confusion as they thought that I was late and was convinced that they had already let out my room. The solution that they offered was to call around to other hostels to find me a room or to allow me to, at no charge, in the lobby. Seeing as that offer included a shower, pillows, a blanket, and what really was a comfortable couch, I chose the latter.

As the lounge activity died down, and I finished writing, it was about 1a.m. and time to get some sleep. What I did not realize, although I have seen it in enough hotels that I should have expected it, was that the staff also sleeps in the lounge. It was in no way a problem, it just took me a moment to figure out what all these other people were doing there when I woke up about three a.m.

The building was starting to come back to life by about seven a.m. By ten in the morning I had a bed (although I still could not use it because it had not been changed, but this gave me a place to drop my bag). The only remaining challenge was to secure a return train ticket.

I told the desk what I needed and they reported needing a deposit of payment in advance. So, I went in search of a bank. During my walk to the bank I also took a moment to get breakfast from a vendor with a cart. It was no real search seeing as I had seen a bank the previous night while walking.

I then returned to the desk and explained to them what I needed. Basically, I need a ticket back to Xinyang. I want a soft sleeper but am willing to settle for a hard sleeper. Further, I want it on the fourth; however, I am willing to leave on the third or the fifth. I am being very flexible in there plans. The only two things are that I want to be back in time for school and would like to spend an afternoon in Zumaden before school starts. I returned tonight to find that there were no soft sleepers on the fifth, I restated my flexibility and the priority in my plans and they stated that they would check tomorrow. If it turns out that they still haven't gotten me a train ticket then I will try booking a boat ticket back to SuZhou and getting a ticket there.

I then went and got a pair of pants and returned to drop my existing laundry off with reception. When I returned to the lobby I met a pair that I thought were a couple and discovered that he was a Chinese who had spent sometime in the states and she was his student. They then offered to have her show me to one of the places that I had intended to go. On the way there she offered to pay for a river trip that she stated she had also never gone on. Her reasoning was that, by this time, she had discovered that she was getting good quality tutoring for the cost on entertaining me for a day (yes, my scam detector was running on high). We then walked to a large tourist shopping district that was crowded way beyond Disneyland. Speaking of crowds, my morning walks were deceptive. Later in the day, when the people were out, I discovered that this is a truly crowded city.

From there, and lunch, we went to another garden; this was not comparable with the ones seen in ShuZhou however, it was interesting, relaxing, and there were some fantastic calligraphy artifacts, taken from the wild pidgin pagoda on Xian, on display.

From there I went to see the famous "nine curves" bridge, I am not clear why it is famous, but it is. This was followed by purchasing some DVDs' and a visit to some book stores in, yet another, crowded shopping district. From there, after dinner, we returned to the Bund, a famous park of Shanghai. Then, back to the Hostel from this description it may not seem it; but, it has been a full day.

Seeing as I actually had a bunk this night I pretty much slept in. I did not sleep in so much as some of my roommates, who I discovered just got out of the army in Singapore, but, for me, I did sleep in. I then fixed my breakfast and checked my email and was ready to go.

My two destinations for the day were both museums. There are two important museums that are both near the people's park. The first one is the museum of city planning. It is devoted to the history and future of Shanghai. This museum has a display that perpetuates the myth of the Bund once being signed, "No dogs or Chinese permitted," however; it is well known that no one can actually document such a sign having ever existed. This myth remains and is repeated as part of the, larger, "triumph over racism within their own land" since of achievement.

On my way there I did run into a form of the tea house scam a couple of times; at least I think I did, seeing as I just wandered off the moment I saw it developing. The scam goes like this, a pleasant young woman, or a small group of them, approaches a person and introduces themselves as a student and asks them to come to tea; or, if claiming to be an art student, to see an exhibition. Then the tea, or the art that is "given," is billed for, often at well above market rate. Seeing as the exact same line was used on me by three different women as I made my way through a large, several block, plaza, I can expect that this was the game of the day. The real looser in this scam is the legitimate student that wants to spend some time talking to a person from another country; the visitors are often too trepidatious to be courteous (I prefer the more direct approaches, then I can be more sure that I am not being rude as I ignore them and walk away).

The museum was very good for what it was; I would have liked to see more about the infrastructure; which, for a city of this size, is always an incredible achievement. It is interesting to see cities in China go away from a dense walkable and bikeable development to a system of residential communities and auto dependence. This is something that was done in the west with disastrous consequences.

Just leaving the museum of city planning was a strange experience that contained its own bit of irony. I followed the exit signs and they took me to a narrow, seldom used staircase. This staircase descended deep below ground level and it began to feel like one of those dreams in which one continues to descend, by a variety of means, until awakened. I finally came out in a duty, seldom used, passage, well below street level, which was detailed to appear as a street in Shanghai in 1910. Following this passage to its end let me out at a door marked, "staff only," on the other side. The door opened to an underground mall that provided pedestrian passage to several areas in the city. This led to a heavily trafficked passageway which took me to the park in front of the municipal museum.

The municipal museum is one of the best, if not the best, museums that I have seen in China. The displays were well lit and non-flash photography was permitted in nearly all of the exhibits. The collection was large and varied. It did not suffer from the "advance to the present" view of history but was instead logically arranged by artifact type. The building itself was a clean and modern building and while it, to, suffered from a vendor explosion; the placement of the vendors was tastefully done.

I remained in the building until I was chased out at closing time. There were a lot of western tourists and it was funny watching them react to the authoritarian way of chasing people out of the exhibits by the guards and police. It was clear that the guards and police viewed directing westerners to be akin to herding cats.

As I left I chatted with some students who I suspect were legitimate and just wanted to practice their English; but there is no way to be sure so I separated from them quickly. I then went to an early dinner, seeing as I had missed lunch while touring the museums. I then returned to my hostel, stopping to get some more DVDs along the way.

Upon arrival I found that the hostel had secured my return ticket to Xinyang and had finished my laundry, they even folded them for me and put them away. I then chatted with my Singaporean roommates who had just finished their compulsory service. They were using their exit money to do some touring before starting university the following year. It seems that the former enlisted members had hidden the former officers clothing leaving him no pants other than a pair of tight shorts with ,"hot buns," embroidered on the rear pocket (he referred to them as "gay" shorts). This indicated to me that relations between the ranks were quite collegial; they all seemed to be friends.

I then went for a last moment bit of shopping. I wanted to get Merry something for the help that she had provided me. I then returned to the hostel for the loud music in the lobby and a table to write on.

Suzhou

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So far, the trip has been somewhat uneventful. On the way to the train station I stopped at a large grocery store and got some munchies and put them in my pack. I am rather glad I did as this hostel is no where near a grocery (at least as far as I can tell). The train was a slow one and made a lot of stops, the only issue with that is the stops sometimes woke me up. In the morning I did see my first bullet train (trains that run in excess of 300K/h or 176.5mph) and I intend to ride one soon.

Finding the correct bus, to the hostel, was a bit of an ordeal due to an expansion of a canal. To add to the problem, after I got of the bus I followed the directions provided exactly. This got me no where near the hostel. I then called and on the third try got a person who spoke some English. In her attempt to clarify the instructions she said," I'm sorry, I don't know which way right and left are." This was my clue. I returned to my starting point, where I got off the bus, and did exactly the opposite of what the instructions said; this took me to the hostel with no difficulties.

This hostel, SuZhou International Youth Hostel, is a strange one. It is on the fifth floor above a regular Hotel. Where most of the hostels have been... well, party central... This place is more like a hotel; it is very quiet and has a very different atmosphere than I am used to.

There is a small self service kitchen but there is no bar or food service, and, as one German I was talking to noticed, the toilets are squat toilets. There is a TV room but here is no public lounge. The real funny part is that it turns out that this is not the hostel that I made the reservations at. All I can say is that the website for contacting these hostels is outlandishly poor. I may go look at the place I was supposed to stay when I am out riding tomorrow.

Well, my roommates did show up. They were a couple of South Korean brothers that were studying in ShangHai and enjoying their spring vacation. They basically came in and left. We talked for a while as we ate breakfast and hat was about it. In the evening a German student also dropped in; I intentionally left my door open so that there would be some life here. He was leaving to look for another hotel. The toilets were it for him. I found it interesting that a person of Chinese heritage, and born in china, and who was studying Chinese culture would be so put off by the toilets; but I do have to admit it, squat toilets do smell pretty bad.

This morning I got up and rented a bicycle, for which I was charged 20RMB.This is about the going rate. The bike itself was a total mess, bad brakes, bearings, and about everything else. However, it was a bike and made seeing the city enjoyable.

Many people referred to Kunming as the garden city. Su Zhou has everything Kunming claimed to have. The first place I rode was the lion garden. It had a great stone maze. One thing that is notable about Chinese gardens is that they do not try to adapt to or in any way utilize the natural beauty. They are seen as objects of art in and of themselves. As such, everything about the gardens is artificial. That aspect takes some adapting to and adjusting our concept of outdoor beauty.

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I was surprised, considering the rain, just how crowded this garden was. Like most Chinese scenic things, there are many organized bus tours. Once you get away from the tours the crowds diminish rapidly.

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They are really into these stone boats, no garden is complete without one

From there I went and looked at some bicycles. The bikes I was looking at were high-end models that are, simply, not available in Xinyang. In truth, they were very reasonably priced when compared to what the same models cost in the states. As much as I am attracted to the skinny tired racing bikes, I am looking harder at the touring models.

The main two things that held me back at this shop were the consideration that I am going to ShangHai next and expect to see more, and better, bikes and the fact that I have some questions regarding shipping and with no one in this shop speaking English I felt that I needed to shop somewhere that I could get answers.

I then located Pan Men (coiled gate); a large park that recently hosted the Pan-Asian economics conference. Before entering I rode until I found a small shop that would provide me lunch. I then entered the garden and climbed the Ruiguang Ta pagoda, an 11th century structure. I then spent several hours wandering around the park and then visited the remaining sections of the city walls. These sections are also within the park.

This city is a great place to return to with Zeneta. Not only for the many gardens and photographic opportunities, but also for the silk industry and the many Chinese silk dresses that are available.

After leaving there I rode to the docks looking for a boat that would take me down the Grand Canal to HangZhou. I had a bit of trouble communicating with the boat crews; but, with Merrys help, I was able to determine that there are no more passenger boats that make that run. It was a ten hour trip and most people, simply, what to travel faster.

I then returned to the hostel, returned the bike, and walked to a restaurant for dinner. I am strongly considering cutting my stay here a day short and heading for ShangHai tomorrow.

Today it was still raining when I got up; so, I first checked out of the hotel. While checking out I tried to get the hotel staff to write what I needed to say at the train station. They got it wrong. This was not a typical full service hostel and they were not prepared to get the tickets for me; which was just as well, seeing as none of them spoke English.

The train station was its own ordeal that I will go in to in short order. However, after the train station I went to two museums and had a good lunch (good because I managed to get lunch).

I arrived at the train station with a note that did not say what I wanted. I wanted a first class ticket on the high speed (bullet) train to ShangHai. The staff at the hotel had only written, "SuZhou to ShangHai." An English speaking Chinese woman tried to help. However, she, seeing that I wanted a bullet train, got me a ticket that would have gotten me to ShangHai faster than any other way. She booked me a ticket on a regular train that was leaving in about twenty minuets.

What she failed to understand was that I did not need the fastest transit to ShangHai. I wanted to ride one of China's bullet trains.

I got back into line after taking a picture of one of the promotional posters for the train and, after waiting in another unbelievably long line, showed the picture to the woman at the counter along with pointing to the words, "first class." It seems that her vocabulary was limited to the word, "mayo," which is a form of the word, "no."

I finally got into another of the intractably long lines and made another try. This person was willing to tell me that there were no first class tickets available on the bullet train that day and that the next ticket was for a train that left at 8:47p.m. I took the ticket.

I then went in search of the Silk Museum. It was supposed to be on Ren Men Lu (people's road); however, due to construction, I was having trouble finding this road that is in each and every Chinese city.

After walking several kilometers (remember, at this point I am carrying a pack) I started to give upon that museum and caught a bust that should have taken me to the SuZhou city museum. As I passed the museum I was assured that I was on the right bus and I also realized that I would have a walk back.

The museum itself was a very good and modern one. The bathrooms even had clean and modern toilets (that fact that the condition of the toilets is considered something worthy of note should tell you something about China). The exhibits were a collection of jade pieces (found in all Chinese Museums) and some of the artifacts removed from, nearby, pagodas and tombs. Many of these artifacts are of such quality that they are classed as national treasures. However, as you will notice, there are very few pictures from this museum; thus, few lasting memories. Like many places in China, photography is forbidden. However, unlike so many other places, this place was crawling with guards to enforce this rule.

After I left the museum I started walking toward where the next museum should have been. I stopped at several places for lunch but they all insisted that I point to what I wanted on the menu. Very simply, my ability to read Chinese is not that good and I refused to call on Merrie's great skill with the language just so that I could eat lunch (For those who are wondering why she did not help me at the train station, she is not with me. When I need her, I phone her. If Zeneta were to come I would ask Merry to accompany her; but, I am making this trip on my own).

After lunch I walked further and found the Silk Museum. I passed a pagoda on the way there but realized that I was coming close to closing time at the museum and wanted to get there more than I wanted to see the pagoda. A couple of more blocks put me across the block from the museum.

The silk museum was interesting with a number of samples of ancient silk, which has been cultivated since about 4000BC, and a large number of looms and other traditional machines for making and processing silk. Unfortunately, there was supposed to be a room where I would be able to see a plethora of the little mulberry munchers at work. However, they were all dormant when I visited.

Leaving there I caught a bus that took me most of the way to the train station. I was not able to bull my way into the first class waiting room as I did not have a first class ticket and this is a large town that is used to dealing with foreigners (in fact, I was surprised at the number I saw in this town). Someone did help me find the correct waiting room and a seat; yes, I could have found the room and a seat on my own but people like to feel helpful.

At that point, it was just a couple of hours of reading while I waited for my train. I did have one person who told me that he as a senior, majoring in English, and who wanted to talk for a while (he was also having trouble with the he/she thing). So, I chatted until it was time to catch my train.

Finishing Jigou shan and preparing to leave for Shanghai

At that point we all returned to our hotel in order to dress for dinner. Seeing as none of us had any dinner clothing, we, essentially, returned as we were. I did wash a shirt that I had managed to splatter during lunch and borrowed a spare from Collin.

We then all headed off for dinner. Dinner was standard Chinese fare. The foot of some chicken was sticking out of the soup; it looked shockingly like a little hand.

Because the table was not large enough for us all, the Chinese ended up sitting in a larger, less ornate, room and coming to visit us at our table from time to time.

After dinner conversation seemed to drift to how to go about refocusing the English club. It is our desire that the students spend more time talking to each other, in English, and less time with us, the westerners, talking. On a cultural note, the Chinese do not talk business after dinner; they talk business during the meal. So, if there is a lot to talk about then a lot of food is ordered (remember, all meals are shared) and once the food is done then it is time to leave.

This cultural difference was notable at this dinner because the Chinese finished well after us; but, when they saw that we were done eating and were talking they quickly announced that it was time to leave.

Shortly after we returned to the hotel a storm fell upon us. It was fine all day and walking back; but, within a half an hour of our return to the hotel, a string wind came and, with it, brought heavy rain.

The rest of the evening there was little to do but sit and watch a Chinese horror movie, it did have English subtitles. The balcony on my room was covered however the wind blew the shirts I had hanging outside onto the ground and I had to go and retrieve them the next morning.

By the next morning the weather had not improved. So, after breakfast in the village that Colin, Brawnie and I had been walking toward the previous morning, when we were stopped, we returned to our hotel and waited, drinking tea and chatting, in the hotel lobby, until it was time to return to the school.

After the test I went to dinner with some of the students, something I have done very little of this semester. Before dinner they wrote to the Hostel (in Chinese) and asked them to call me so that I could make a reservation; of course, the call came in while we were eating dinner. That actually worked out well because Sam was able to talk to the woman at the hostel. Then, on Tuesday, which is my afternoon that I have off, I went with Gao, Sam, Lee, and Walick to get my train ticket to Su Zhou, seeing as I now had a confirmed place to stay.

Wednesday, Sam, Lee and I made some scrabble like pieces and a game board; in total, we made three complete sets. A real Scrabble set costs over 375RMB here, if you can find one, and it was quickly decided that if I wanted a scrabble set I was going to make it.

The scrabble issue can up in an attempt to decide what to do during the week after the test. Because the test was followed by a week of classes and then a week of vacation, as stated, a lot of the students left early. I wanted something easy and fun to do in class; however, it still needed to be educational. It is interesting to see how competitive they get and to observe their sense of fairness.

Friday morning I had one class (two sessions) and there were no students at all. Julia came by and told me that all of her students were also gone; so, after waiting a while to see if any stragglers came in I left to start packing for my trip.

Visiting Jigong Shan

The students have finished their big test, the TEM-4. This is a test to be taken during the sophomore year. If the student fails they receive one more opportunity to pass it, during their junior year. The then take a compressive exam in their fourth, or senior, year.

These tests place a tremendous amount of stress on the students but are one of the few workable alternatives to the cartel approach to education that is used in the west. One thing that I would expect to have done different if the west were to ever adopt a similar system would be an approach that allowed more than a single retest. A second difference would be an effort to rein in the rampant cheating.

The test highlights one of the problems with the visiting, or guest, teacher system. The facts are that by the time we, the guest teachers, understand what we need to be doing to help the students it is time to leave the school, or even the country.

Being a little aware of this impending test I often, during this semester, asked the students if there is any thing that I could be better doing to help them prepare for the test. Like most students, they had no idea what to say; so, they said, "no." I also asked my head teacher, Julia (a.k.a. Ju Hi Ing), the same question and was told that, "no, the students prepare for the test on their own."

I was still not satisfied with this answer. So, I met with some of my class monitors on a Saturday to discuss the same issue. I was again assured that the students prepare for the test on their own (It seems that preparing for the test is also an acceptable excuse for missing class; as attendance in both my and Julia's classes has been deficient this semester). Of course, as these things happen, two days before the test I get students coming to me saying that they needed help. Of course, I gave what help I could; however, it was too late.

Possibly in an effort to control cheating, the weekend of the test we, the western teachers, were taken off campus and observed most of the time. The one time that we went for a walk by ourselves we found the local director of police to be shouting at our guide because he was not with us.

We were taken to a local resort. It was a very beautiful place filled with resort hotels, one of which we stayed at, and a number of pre-W.W.II and pre revolution buildings. This was the primary residence of Chang Ki Chek during the war and features a number of historic buildings. It also contains an undeveloped (in Chinese terms) hiking area, a small lake within the park, and the local prominent mountain, Rooster Mountain. The entire park is known as Jigoshan.

I was contacted, regarding this outing, only about two days in advance. We then assembled in front of the school at about 8:30am. We then all climbed in a van and were taken to a, seeming random, location where we exited that van and switched to another van. That van then took us to the resort hotel. It was at this point that we discovered that the black car (I am not kidding, the car really was black) that had followed us the entire distance was the head of campus police and some of his associates.

By Chinese standards the hotel was a good one. The rooms had their own hot water heaters (geezers) and drinking water dispensers. [as I write this I am looking at a canal in SuZhou; watching a canal boat that would look proper in a picture of Venice pass under a pedestrain bridge and pull up to a set of stone steps and discharge its passengers] Of course, being intended for Chinese, the showers were whole room and the toilets were squat type.

It was after checking in that I decided to go for a walk and ran into Collin and Brawnie preparing to do the same. As we wandered through a set of single lane streets toward an area where new hotels were being constructed we were "invited" to come to the local police station for tea.

As we sat on the balcony that ran along the upper floor of the station (and I have to admit, it was very comfortable and had a great view; but, this was not a good time to have been taking pictures) we enjoyed our tea with the director of police in this resort. The common Chinese snack at these mid day meetings are sunflower seeds. They also had a miniature rabbit in a small cage on the balcony that we played with by giving it seeds to chew on. About this time Mr. Zhang arrived and it seems that the director made it clear that we were not to be wandering around unsupervised; there was a "danger" if we were to become lost... not all to clear who would be in danger...

While we were there we were also invited back to the station house for dinner. From the balcony we saw what looked like the first stage of dinner preparation, a couple of police officers killing some rosters.

From there we walked, with Mr. Zhang and several others, to lunch. On the way to lunch we saw several of the historic buildings at this resort including a school building that had been built for the children of western missionaries.

There was a poisonous snake on the walk way to the restaurant. This snake prompted some discussion of the role of the snake in the Genesis story. It was surprising to all of us how many of the bible stories they are familiar with.

After lunch, and a short rest, we began our planned walk around the resort. One of the places that we went to see was a monastery that was under construction. Clearly, the first part that was constructed was the interior of the temple and the incense burners. While most of the construction was made of concrete, including trim portions that I had, previously, thought to be made of wood, there was some wood in use. The lumber was made on the spot using trees that were delivered the site. The scrap from this process was then used by the construction crews for cooking and heating.

From the monastery we headed off toward the peak of the mountain. The mountain is called Roster Mountain because, from some angle that I never saw, it appears to look like the head of a roster. The path was well traveled had poorly spaced steps carved in to the stone. However, all told, it was very easy to reach the top and required no skill to achieve. Waking to the top of this mountain is a popular class activity and it seems that they all do so, at least once.

From there we began to return, with some detours. We gave some consideration to taking the cable seat down to shortcut across the lake. However, most wanted to see the ballroom used by the wife of ChangKi Chek during WWII so we continued walking. It was at that point that we noticed the round trip cable car, similar to a ski lift. Unfortunately, it had just closed operation for the day; so, we put that of for Sunday, along with the cable across the lake.

At that point we all returned to our hotel in order to dress for dinner

To Chengdu

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Boarding the train to Chengdu presented no hassles. We had even worked out, in advance, who got what bunk. The bottom bunk is often the most desirable because it has enough headroom to sit up on. This is a great advantage over longer trips. However, there is a surcharge for the bottom bunk; and, because it is the least desirable, the top bunk is the least expensive. It is not uncommon for others to sit on the bottom bunk during the day.

It turned out that the train was very slow and spent quite a bit of the time on sidings. This resulted in a later tan expected arrival time in Chengdu. The total time one the train was about twenty hours.

It surprised us that in the berth next to us were another pair of westerners. They were both Americans. Steph and Deloris were both from Missouri. Sheph was teaching here in China and her grandmother, Deloris, saw this as an ideal opportunity to both spend time with her granddaughter and see China at the same time.

Although we were under the impression that they were staying at the same hostel as we were, it turned out that they were staying at Sams while we were staying at Sims. The representative that met us that the train station discovered this and spoke to a cab driver in order to make sure that they got to Sams without any problems. We were then taken, by cab, to Sims. As it turned out, Sim, the owner of Sims, was on the same train. So, we rode back with him.

Chengdu is definitely a warmer city; we are gradually working our way south. This is good because Sims is a place that is best in the comfortable months. The facility is interesting, to say the least, the bathrooms and showers were a bit of a walk from the room we were in. The place was quite large and while it was apparent that there were quite a few people there we never felt that it was crowded. The entire place had a relaxed feel that seemed out of place, in the middle of a large city, and out of time. It felt like the king of place that one of Joseph Conrad's characters would have stayed in. The entire time that we were there Michelle and I had no roommates so we were able to relax a bit in privacy. This hostel added to Chengdu being one of the best places on the trip.

The next morning we met with Steph and Deloris and went to the Giant Panda Breeding Center. This institute, as the name implies, focuses on the Giant Pandas. Not only were there Giant Pandas, there were also baby Pandas. There were also a number of raccoon looking Pandas that are called Red Pandas. This place is a must visit while in Chengdu.

That afternoon, after returning, we went for a walk. The purpose was both to find a China Construction Bank, which we had no trouble doing, and to find the foreign book store. Somewhere in our wandering we had also visited a large temple and garden that is attached to a monastery. The map we had was, to say the best, not to scale and it lacked a number of streets. So, I ended up asking for directions frequently. That is one good thing that you can say about China, there are a lot of officious looking people with, pretty much, nothing to do and they are generally very willing to help provide directions; of course, the directions are generally wrong.

We did, eventually, find the bookstore. However, it did not have any travel guides. On the way back we splurged and ate at McDonalds ("Mackers," in Australian) and returned by cab.

The return was fine except that the cab driver did not know where to take us and was not willing to admit it. He ended up dropping us near where we needed to go but was unsure about the final kilometer. We ended up in a very happening market section that was preparing for the New Year; think of a block party that extends for about six blocks in all directions. I, again, asked some cops for directions and they tried to help. We still ended up walking for about an hour just looking for our hostel. We found it because we remembered a particular sound stage that was near to the hostel. For all this activity, the hostel was remarkably quiet; I attribute it to the thick parameter walls on the facility.

The next day we, again met up with Steph and Deloris, and another couple, and went to the Giant Buddha. This is a huge, 71m, statue of a seated Buddha and the large grounds that surround it with the many Km's of gardens and walking trails. After we were finished we met with the others we had traveled to the site with and had lunch before our return.

On our return we had a hard decision to make. The decision was that we had to decide if we wanted to continue on to Tibet. Going against this general idea was that we had sent back our winter gear when we were in Xian. Michelle was also not sure if she was going to be meeting a student for a week. After a lot of discussion we decided that this was not the time for this trip. I may make that very trip next year with Zeneta. I was also contemplating a side trip to Vietnam and was still working on the details for that. I was also working against my expected meeting with Debra for a trip to Kaifeng.

The next day was another travel day. Most of the morning was just spent just wandering around and getting some snacks for the upcoming trip. We tried lunch but did not get what we wanted. It was funny, to me, at one of the places that we had gone for lunch while in Chengdu. The waitress came out of the back, saw us, and her expression turned to a form of "oh God, no." she turned and walked back into he kitchen hoping that we had not seen her. A few moments later the person in charge came out and took our order.

We then returned, collected our packs, and walked to the bus stop. The bus eventually got to the train station. However, due to the crown on the bus, we did not see that we were at the station and the bus went several more Kilometers before arriving at the next stop. At that point we ran to the stop on the other side of the road, and down the block, to catch the same number bus and go back to the station. By the time we got back to the station, the train we need was not only at the platform; but most people had already boarded.

The ride itself was rather uneventful. The terrain is the steep rock hills that one often sees in the part of California that I am from. One thing that I did notice was the vegetation was clearly changing. As I moved south it was easy to see the transformation to warm weather, broad leaf plants.

Back to Xian, and away

[I am still having trouble to get the pictures to post, I will work on that later]

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Debra and I, having obtained tickets, packed our bags and, with out great fanfare, departed for the train station. The tickets that we had were, again, soft seat. It seems that while Debra generally travels soft seat between Ankang and Xian she had never located the soft seat waiting room in Ankang. I think that I have just learned what to look for, as I walked straight to it.

It was rather funny, the baggage x-ray machine was simply too small to facilitate the packs that we had so the operator did not look at us and we did not look at him as we ignored his machine. As it was, we were in a bit of a hurry as our train was arriving on the platform when we entered the waiting lounge.

The security procedures are very funny; they have these high tech machines, but no clear procedures. I am sure that the operators are will trained, it is not a matter of not knowing the equipment; it is a matter of not knowing security principles. Bags, such as suitcases and packages are to be placed on the scanner. However, bags containing only food are not to be scanned because it just further crowds the, already crowded, conveyor through the machine. Most shockingly, hand bags, or in my case a camera bag, are also not scanned. This is for different security reasons; they do not want a problem with hand and camera bags being stolen off the conveyor. The final result is that with all of this expensive equipment, a large amount of stuff is not checked at all.

All this being said, the return trip to Xian and the Bell Tower Hostel was rather uneventful. The Bell Tower is a rather clean and well run hostel. It does get a bit loud; but nothing that makes sleep impossible. The only other issue is that it is kept a bit warm. However, compared to the number of places that have no heating at all, this is not a serious issue. The bathrooms are on the same floor as, and near, the rooms and the showers are hot with separate shower rooms for men and women.

The next day Debra was not up yet so I took the bus to the train station to meet Michelle. It took me a while to find the correct bus as I was still having trouble reading train station, which is, "火车站."(rather obviously, My space does not support Chinese characters but blogger does) I then ended up waiting a while as Michelle's train was late. However, by the time she arrived I looked pretty competent navigating the streets and buses of Xian.

We then returned to the hostel, checked her in, and found that Debra had already left. At that point Michelle and I went to the Drum and Bell towers. These are two different land mark towers in Xian that, not surprisingly, are near the Bell Tower Hostel. AT the Drum tower, which we went to second, Debra met up with us. She had no interest in seeing the towers as she had already seen them several times; so, she waited outside of the Drum Tower. From there we went to the Fruit Bazaar near the Moslem Quarter and continued on to some of the nearby shops where both Debra and Michelle purchased simple head shawls (when in Rome…).

From there we took a bus to the Shaanxi History Museum. This Museum has a great display of many of the artifacts from the early digs and the Terra Cotta Army. I was surprised to see a chrome plated sword from the Qin Dinasty. There were a number of arrowheads and a lock work from a crossbow along with several of the support beams from the Tomb and some of the fittings that were used to tie the beams together. If a person goes to see the Terra Cotta army they really should see this museum in order to tie all the details together.

At this point we tried to go to the Foreign Book Store but found that it was closed, we were too late in the evening. So, we went to dinner. About this time Debra announced that she intended to travel in a different direction. She wanted to go north and follow the Silk Road. While I am interested in traveling that route, I am not interested in doing it in the winter.

Michelle and I then went to the train station and purchased tickets to ChengDu together, it is kind of funny, she can speak the Chinese better; however, I can write it better. Together we got the exact tickets we wanted.

The next morning Michelle and I got up early and caught our transport to the Terra Cotta Army site. On the way there we spoke to some Mid-westerners who were on their way to a nearby hot spring. There was a group of six of them, which upon retirement, have come to China together to teach and see China.

Because we had made an effort to get there early, and because this is the off season, the place was almost empty. As often happens at Chinese attractions, there are so many vendor shops set up outside that the attraction itself is hard to find. However, we met a woman who worked that the Museum and she showed us the way to the main gate. I can say that is getting worse. At nearly all of these attractions, and this one was no exception, there is a massive effort underway to increase the number of vendor shops. When they are done at the Terra Cotta Army a visitor will have to endure several blocks of shops between the parking area and the gates to the Park. Even within the park there are vendors running around trying to sell the same items that can be found in Xian for less.

At least the there are no vendors in the halls. The dig is completely covered, in order to protect it. It combined with the, afore mentioned, museum are simply a must see. It is also worth going to the round theater to see the documentary on the making, and eventual looting, of the Terra Cotta Army.

From there we braved the gauntlet of vendors and went back to the buses. The people on the bus made a quick attempt to cheat us by demanding about five times to take us back to Xian as they charged to take us out. At that point Michelle told them to stop the bus because we were on the wrong one (we were on the right bus). They quickly remembered the correct price.

After doing this we went back to the foreign book store, which was now open, and looked at some Chinese study books. When we went downstairs to the popular book section we ran into Debra and all went for lunch. After lunch Michelle and I went to the Beilin Museum. This is a library that boasts the heaviest average weight of all the libraries in the world. The books are stone tablets, and there are a lot of them. It was very interesting and we stayed there until they closed and politely chased us out.

From there we returned to the hostel and began working on finding a place in ChengDu. I used the rather simple method of writing to several hostels and going with the first one that responded. Michelle was pleased that the ones I picked offered pick-up at the train stations. The first response I got was from Sim's Guesthouse on the next day.

On the next day we also walked the city wall of Xian. It was a rather long walk and I was having trouble with my boot. The boot problem became such an issue that the next day I purchased new boots and left the boots that I had been wearing, that were developing a non-repairable hole, behind. The walk around the city wall is along the top of the wall, because it was off season there were not many people on the wall. It is about a 17Km walk that provides an overlook of many parts of the central city (the wall only encircles the core of the city, it does not, in any way circle the new city) that a person would not otherwise see. There were both temples and churches that I did not even know existed before this walk. The wall was built between 600-1300 CE and is intact and very well preserved, even if it has been rebuilt in spots.

This walk was followed by a nap and then Michelle and I went for a walk to some other bookstores that evening. At this point we were looking for some travel guides of the, "Lonely Planet," or, "Rough Guide," series. The other reason for the walk was just to insure that we did not get sore from the long walk earlier in the day.

The next day was our last day in Xian. We went to the Flying Goose Pagoda. This is a large Pagoda and temple within Xian. We were both very impressed by the large carved stone and wood relief's on the walls ( I am often impressed by the work and planning that goes into large 3d stone wall relief carvings[Yes, I realize that all carvings are, by definition, 3d. What I mean is the relief's that have the backs of the items in the relief carved out and things behind items in the foreground, all in one large relief]). One of the monks (who, in general, was busy talking on his cell phone) showed us some of the best places to get pictures. In general, it was a great place to visit. This site helped make this one of the best days of the trip, the only bad part is that this is the last time I saw Debra on the trip. She did not go into the temple with us but left for her own trip instead.

From here Michelle and I returned to the Moslem quarter. We both purchased North-Face jackets while we were here (about $22 USD each). This allowed us to mail some of our winter clothing back to our office. The post office was kind of funny. There is no need to package the items before arriving because they insist on doing their own packing in their own boxes. So, I got to the packing counter and the guy saw me and pulled a whit box out (at this point I did not know that certain colors of boxes mean certain things) and packs my stuff that I am returning: books, clothing, and the broken iPod. I then get to the shipping counter and discover that white boxes are international. It had not occurred to anyone that I would be shipping anything internally. So, I had to go back to the packing counter and get it all taken out of the white box and put into a brown box.

In all, the China Post experience was very useful. At this point I have a good idea of what is involved in shipping things back to the states.

From here we returned to the hostel. While we had already checked out, they were still holding our bags. We both took a quick shower and got to the process of medicating ourselves for a long and boring train ride. I was sitting in the lounge chatting wit a young woman named Nina who I forgot to photograph ad, I expect, I will never see again, from Germany, when it was time to stagger to the train station. When we got to the train station I used my ignorant foreigner act to get into the VIP waiting room (that we were not supposed to use at this station because we were traveling hard [second class] sleeper). After a couple of hours of sitting and reading, it was time to step on to the train to the next major city of our journey.

Moslem Quarter

Wednesday Debra was able to secure the use of a second bicycle. With it we went for a ride. One of the main destinations of the ride was the Moslem Quarter.

This section of the city contains some of the oldest buildings that are in regular use. It is identifiable from a distance by the lower skyline. The buildings are, almost, all made of rough brick and the streets are much narrower, having been made at a time that had no need to accommodate motorcars.

As there was little need to accommodate motorcars, the streets were available for more practical uses, like the slaughter of animals. The skin was first opened, in order to provide a clean work surface, and then the cow was sectioned and butchered in the street. Similarly, there were also goats foraging, being sold, and being butchered in the same streets.

While there we visited three Mosques. At the second we were invited to walk to the top of the calling tower and see the city form there. It turned out to be the highest calling tower in the city and provided an incredible view of the Moslem quarter. Like many other buildings in China, it was made entirely of masonry and the stairs were steep enough, in places, to more resemble a ladder than what they were.

We also visited a couple of outdoor produce markets with one small disaster. It turns out that Debra lost her wallet. We rode for a while in hopes of locating it; but to no avail. The good news is that she had very little in it: about 60Y, her Hostel card, and her bankcard. The bankcard may turn out to be the hardest loss of the three. The banks in China should be able to replace it. The problem with dealing with any institutions is always the language issue.