The Best of the Best of This Chinese Adventure

The final post (this one) will show some photos that summarize (chronologically) our experiences over three weeks in China.  

We found China interesting and the people friendly and welcoming.  The country though is very crowded and the air pollution pervasive.  

Food ranged from very delicious and healthful to downright disgusting (to our Western palates).  The hotels were better than we expected with all of the needed comforts while the traffic was worse than expected.  Most people speak no or very little English even in the major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.  Even at hotel chains such as the Hilton and the Marriott, the English abilities of the staff are very inadequate.  We were happy to see Western food at breakfast and also Western silverware.  At other meals we managed well with chopsticks and the shared Chinese dishes.  The beer was plentiful and very light but often served less than cold.  Water at meals was not usually offered and if it was, it was hot water (the Chinese drink hot water for digestive reasons).  

The historic sights were all interesting and impressive and most were well restored and nicely taken care of.  The cities otherwise were not charming - there are many modern buildings - some are architecturally pleasing but most are utilitarian highrises.  The urban Chinese live in these featureless highrise apartments in small spaces and thus spend most of their leisure time outdoors in the city parks.  The parks are well kept, green and full of life during the days and evenings.

Hong Kong is more different from China than we expected.  The former colony and its sister former colony of Macao serve as shopping meccas to the newly rich of China (and Macao also serves as a gambling haven to the same pleasure seekers).  Hong Kong is less polluted, more Westernized (or internationalized) and has better infrastructure (and infinitely better internet) than the mainland.  

Overall, we managed well in China with no major mishaps.  For the independent traveler (as we were) China would be a very big challenge.  Having a native speaker or a local host is almost imperative everywhere on the mainland.  We were fortunate to have both in most places.  

The best part of our travels (and any travel) was connecting with the local people and glimpsing into their lives for a brief moment.   Our local hosts (and we thank them very sincerely) shared their favorite restaurants, foods, shopping and sights with us.  These immeasurably enriched our China experience.  They were uniformly obliging and also accepting of our strange ways (such as coffee drinking and not enjoying - or even trying - the lesser known edible parts of animals).  

China - you are an overpopulated and over-governed country.  However, your heritage runs deep and your ancient underpinnings are evident everywhere and in every way throughout your diverse land.  For a short time (22 days) we too were immersed and we are grateful for the opportunity to experience first hand the earth's most populous and arguably most historic country.

We did not love Shanghai (the modern Pudong district in the background) with its enormous size (20 million + residents) and its lack of historic sights and its nasty white smog (easily seen in the photo above)

We did enjoy our only Chinese brewpub there though and we liked Chinese beer in general (which is a good thing because it was often the only reliable thing to drink)

Some of the famous European buildings of the Bund in Shanghai as seen from the wonderful M restaurant

One of the fascinating sights of Nanjing - the centuries old astrological ball with wonderfully carved dragons

The beasts guarding the tombs and temples were fantastic throughout China - here is a good example in Nanjing at the Ming tomb

The aforementioned Ming tomb had an added bonus by including human guardians along with the animals

We learned about the importance of turtles in China and the must do process of tracing its backbone completely without stopping to ensure good luck

In China, outdoor life is lived in the parks.  These middle aged ladies are getting their exercise in Nanjing.

Nick developed some Chinese habits including lung exercises at the park near Casa Gao

Our only home cooked meal of the trip - at Casa Gao.  Chinese do not normally invite guests home due to the small size of their apartments - they entertain at restaurants often in private rooms.  But we cherished our time at Casa Gao and enjoyed the abundant and healthful lunch there.

We loved the exciting mask changing performances that are native to Chengdu

The pandas - a highlight of it all

Who sees pandas doing this?  Few people.  You have to travel to Chengdu for this.

This photo needs no caption to explain why it is special.

The adorable and also rare red panda was another highlight

Jinli Street in Chengdu had it all - eating, drinking, shopping, history, nature setting.  It also had crowds as does everywhere in China pretty much.

The Big Buddha of Leshan was notable mainly for its size although its facial expression and hair are also stand outs

The back side of the mountain in Leshan was even more memorable because it is a hidden treasure

The lamb at the Muslim restaurant in Xi'an might have been the best single thing we ate

The terracotta warriors were especially evocative when the crowds left and we were alone with them at the end of the day

The figures and horses are all life size and each is individual.  This alone is amazing but taken their sheer numbers and fine detailing and the fact that they lay hidden for so many centuries add up to one of the world's great historic sights.

One of two lit masterpieces in central Xi-an - the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower.  We found that Chinese cities usually looked better at night than in the day.

We had no idea that many (if not most) of the historic temples and monasteries are working ones with monks still in residence.  That makes them even more special.

Well, I had to put the iconic photo with Mao in the background on the highlight list

This superb kneeling elephant and the ceramic Nine Dragons wall were the two best things about the Forbidden City

Unexpectedly, we all loved Beijing Opera and hope to attend another performance in the future

 The Tibetan temples were especially impressive with their colorful images.  We also learned much about the many gods (or pusas) of Buddhism.

Another Muslim restaurant - another amazing lamb dish.  This time, lamb stuffed biscuits in Beijing.

The Temple of Heaven was excellent as was the large park in which it is situated.  We were also very lucky to have our local host, Xing, as guide and caretaker of us in Beijing. 

The Great Wall was one of those experiences that actually lives up to its considerable reputation.  We found the Wall challenging, historic and still wild.

Four of us made it to the top of the Wall - that is, the furthest (and highest) point at which tourists are allowed in this section.  It was worth the effort (which was considerable).

The M restaurant of Beijing had magical views at night across Tienanmen Square

Celebrating a birthday in China is memorable and the desert Pavlova was up to the task

Seeing all of Hong Kong as we flew in was a tremendous added bonus

The almost deserted nature of the Peak was certainly unexpected but totally welcome

Spending time with the Konaks and crossing from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island on the Star Ferry were total complete joys combined

Another iconic photo shot.  There is a reason it is iconic and shows again that China cities look better after dark.

We had several versions of Peking Duck but this was the best - at the on campus restaurant of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.  After we ate the traditional sliced meat for the Peking Duck they stir fried the remaining duck bits (meat, hopefully) making a tasty barbeque that was eaten in large and very fresh lettuce leaves - even better than the Peking Duck.

Exploring the south part of Hong Kong Island on our own was fun and let us see something other than concrete and highrises

The mass transit in Hong Kong was truly amazing - here is our trusty mini bus which whisked from the campus to the metro stop cheaply and quickly

Macao would have been much better on a day with less crowds and cooler, drier weather.  As it was, we enjoyed the historic architecture and the Portuguese touches.

A great meal in Macao - the lunch was late, wine filled (a bottle of Vinho Verde), quiet and delicious

The fanciful guardians were great - they combined the best of various animals into one super beast.  This one is guarding the Xing tomb in Shenyang.

Shenyang was an unexpected wonder with historic sights to rival or better Beijing

The urns of the Xing tomb

Dumplings in Chengdu and in Shenyang (here) were mighty delicious and we ate our fill of them

The Forbidden City of Shenyang was far more enjoyable and even more impressive than that of Beijing, in our opinion.  An off the beaten track experience at its best.

Rain did not dampen our enthusiasm for the history of Shenyang.  Our local host, Cuihua, went to a lot of trouble to make sure we had the best visit to her native city as we could.  By the way, umbrellas are ubiquitous in China and Hong Kong - for either sun or rain.

Seeing dainty Cuihua put away the beer and barbeque was a treat

Her son is obviously a good eater and downed his share of meat and seafood that night

Hmmm - a beauty among beasts?  Being the only female "VIP" of the Dalian conference was a ego building experience

The Russian touches in Dalian were exotic and the repurposed colonial buildings thought provoking - they harked back to a different time when the city was called Port Arthur

Our only hired guide of the trip - Happy - brought us a War Eagle moment.  Though she lives in remote Dalian and we live in remote Auburn, her best child friend is a current doctoral student in chemical engineering at Auburn University.  During our travels, we are always reminded that it is a small world and this coincidence really hit the point home.  We are getting together with Happy's friend Xin Fan in Auburn very soon by the way!

We were able to see the Great Wall twice by air - coming into Beijing mid-trip and leaving Beijing at the end.  First, that we experienced Beijing at a relatively smog-free time was amazing itself but taking in this wonder of the world from this high vantage point twice let us end this adventure in China fittingly.