China Journal

Beijing - China
July 2002

July 5, 2002 – July 14, 2002

The flight from Anchorage to San Francisco was uneventful and Mom & Dad picked me up at SFO. I spent July 6^th in Novato and Carolyn, Fred & Lauraine came down to visit on July 7^th & 8^th. I returned with them to Colfax on the 8^th and got a chance to see Christina, Halley & BJ as well as Rick & Maryann who came over for dinner. I also met Christina’s fiancée, Eric. I returned to Marin on the 9^th and spent the rest of the week at Mom & Dad’s, going to the office occasionally and enjoying Dad’s cooking.

I had invited Dick & Sandy Bails, Craig & Ann Van Dyke, Gus Benner & Andrea to Novato for dinner Friday. We had a great time planning and cooking the meal. We bought a 14 pound salmon and cooked it whole. It turned out great and everyone was very impressed. Gus brought a picture he had taken in Patagonia and we looked at photos Sandy had taken as well as some of the pictures I took in Alaska. Craig & Ann are taking a trip to China in October.

I took the Marin Airporter to SFO on Saturday morning to catch my 2:20 PM Air China flight to Beijing. The plane wasn’t too crowded and I had two empty seats next to me where I could stretch out. We flew up the California coast over Alaska, The Bearing Sea, Siberia and down to China. The flight was 12 hours (three meals and three movies) and with the 11 hour time change, it took a whole day to get there. We arrived Sunday afternoon and after I got my luggage, I stored one bag of climbing gear at the airport and took a cab to the hotel.

The Holiday Inn Crown Plaza is very nice and my single room is excellent. I had a buffet dinner at the hotel then returned to my room by 9:00 PM. I got a call from our tour guide, Crawford Cindy (in China the family name is always written first) who came to my room to give me some materials & explain the schedule for tomorrow – Monday. I’ll meet the other eight people on our tour at 8:00 AM in the lobby for a day at Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City, and then attend The Peking Opera in the evening.

Monday, July 15, 2002

After a breakfast buffet at the hotel, I met Cindy and the rest of our group and we boarded a bus and headed to Tiananmen Square. The Square is huge and there were thousands of people standing in line to see the body of Chairman Mao which is on display in a mausoleum in the middle of the square.

We walked through the square and entered The Forbidden City, former home of Chinese Emperors until 1911 when the last Dynasty was overthrown. The Forbidden City is also huge with 180 buildings some of which are open to the public and display articles from various Dynasties.


	We ate lunch at a Sichuan restaurant then spent an hour with a local guide walking in Hutong – a residential neighborhood in Beijing. We visited a local family – Mr. Jaing (no relation to the current Chinese president) and had a chance to ask him questions about his life and his experiences living through the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). His home, which has been in his family for three generations, is worth about 2 million yuan, which is about $250,000. The Chinese government owns all the land in China and people rent the land for their homes, buildings & farms from the government. After the visit to Mr. Jaing’s home, we returned to the bus and went to The Lama Temple, a Buddhist Shrine. At night we attended the Peking Opera, which I would skip if you ever come to China.

Tuesday, July 16, 2002

Today I awoke early and went for a walk. After ten minutes, I saw a large number of people and went to check out a farmer’s market with over a thousand people buying fruits, vegetables and clothing at 5:30 AM. After awhile, I returned to the hotel and had breakfast, then met the others to start our day at 8:30 AM.

Our first stop was a pearl cultural center where we learned how cultured pearls are farmed and had the opportunity to purchase pearl jewelry and other items made of pearls. From there, we were off to The Summer Palace where emperors lived during the hot summers. There is a large lake which provides a cooler temperature than in the city. We ate lunch at a restaurant within The Summer Palace and went for a ride on a dragon boat. We also saw the marble boat which, as you might imagine is made of marble. We made a quick stop at the Beijing Zoo to see the giant pandas en route to The Temple of Heaven – a temple where emperors went twice a year to pray for a good harvest. We then returned to the hotel to freshen up before heading out again for a dinner of Peking duck.

Wednesday, July 17, 2002

I went jogging early this morning. By 5:00 AM I was running through Tiananmen Square where I was amazed to see tens of thousands of people including hundreds of groups of school children. I couldn’t tell if this was some special event or not, but it was incredible that so many people could be awake at this hour when most Americans are still sleeping. I later learned that these people were there to see the raising of the national flag, and then would stay to visit Mao’s tomb – both daily events.

Beijing is a remarkable city. Although there are old neighborhoods everywhere, most of the city is a huge construction site. I’ve never seen so many cranes. Many buildings are brand new and of very modern design. There are many beautiful parks and I observed people everywhere cleaning the streets and sidewalks.

I twisted my ankle while jogging this morning and originally thought it wasn’t too bad but by 10:00 AM it had swollen to the size of a baseball. Cindy got me some ice and I put a compact on it during the bus ride. She also got me some Tibetan medicine that I would apply overnight.

Our activities today began with a tour of a jade factory and the opportunity to spend money on jade products. From there, we went to walk on The Sacred Way – in the area of the Ming Dynasty tombs. At lunch we ate at a restaurant surrounded by a very large store selling all manner of Chinese goods. I purchased an enamel vase which was made in a local factory that we visited and had it shipped back to Mom & Dad.


After lunch we drove another hour north and visited The Great Wall. We intentionally went to an area far from Beijing so we would not be inundated with other tourists. We were able to take a cable car up the mountain to an area where we could get atop the wall. There were vendors everywhere including a 2 year old and a five year old who followed us for 30 minutes in an attempt to sell us postcards. Half way through our visit it started raining heavily. We were all soaked by the time we returned to the bus for the two hour ride back to Beijing. I skipped dinner and tried to rest my ankle so it would be better tomorrow.

Thursday, July 18, 2002

There are ten people in our group including our guide, Cindy. Mark, Wendy and their children Evan & Nicole from Raleigh, NC, Ron & Sue from Perth, Australia and Ken & Marnie, transplanted New Zealanders also currently living in Perth, Australia. Although Ron & Sue and Ken & Marnie are both from Perth and both in the news agency business, they did not know each other until this trip.

Mark gave me a book titled ‘Red Azalea’ about a girl who grows up during China’s Cultural Revolution from 1966-1976. We met and talked with several people who, although educated professionals, became farm or factory workers during the Cultural Revolution. It seems that everyone in China is now making up for the ten years they lost during that period by becoming capitalists.

Although it is raining this morning, we have a few hours free so I decided to go for a walk. I headed north from the hotel at 7:00 AM and walked for a couple of hours. The shops are not open until 9:00 AM but many people were commuting to work – mostly on bicycles. Most of the shops had curtains drawn, but I could see that most shops had people (I assume the shop owners) sleeping in the shop. At large office buildings, I saw attendants at the door giving people small plastic bags to fit over their umbrellas so as not to drip water on the floor. I returned to the hotel and had lunch at a Thai restaurant just off the lobby. I ordered African Carp in lemon broth which was very hot, but good.

In the afternoon, our group met to go to a couple of open markets. One was the LuiLu Cultural Street which specialized in antiques and the other was the Xui Shu Silk market. I didn’t buy anything at either market, although both were crowded. After my Thai lunch, I decided to have Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner.

Friday, July 19, 2002

We checked out of The Holiday Inn Crown Plaza in Beijing after breakfast Friday and rode to the airport for our flight to Xian. The flight took an hour and a half and we arrived shortly after lunch. En route to The Hyatt Regency, we stopped at a museum of a Han Tomb in Yingling, and then were treated to a welcome ceremony at the city wall which included dancing.

After checking into the hotel and resting for an hour or two we met for dinner. After dinner we went back to the hotel, but walked across the street to a large shopping mall where we went to the food department and purchased chocolates, cookies & ice cream.

At night, I had a chance to do some laundry before going to bed.

Saturday, July 20, 2002

After the breakfast buffet, I spent an hour checking email before we gathered to get on the bus to see The Terra Cotta Warriors. On the way, we stopped at the excavations of a 5000 year old Banpo village. We also visited a factory where reproductions of Terra Cotta Warriors are made.

The Terra Cotta Warriors were discovered in 1974 by some farmers who were digging a well. The 6,000 life size warriors were buried in formation at a tomb to protect the emperor in his afterlife. The farmer who discovered the warriors in 1974 was at the exhibit and he signed the book I purchased. I also purchased a pair of brass pigs made in a local foundry to send to Maureen for her collection.

We returned to the hotel and after resting for a few hours, went out for a Dumpling Banquet and a performance of singing and dancing dating from The Tong Dynasty. Both the show and the dinner were very good.

When we returned to the hotel, we saw a dozen people taking photos in the lobby and realized that amongst the group was Imelda Marcos of The Philippines.

Sunday, July 21, 2002

Sunday we had a short day of sightseeing starting with a tour of The Big Wild Goose Pagoda – a Buddhist Temple. (The Small Wild Goose Pagoda is on the other side of town) I climbed to the top of the seven story pagoda and got a great view of the city. Then we walked to a museum which specialized in displaying artifacts & paintings of the Han Dynasty.

We had an excellent lunch at a restaurant named ‘The Han Dynasty’ then went to see The Grand Mosque – the largest Islamic mosque in China. We had the afternoon off, but for dinner, Cindy and I went to a restaurant in the hotel and had Jelly Fish & Pork Knuckle as appetizers followed by Braised Imperial Tiger Shark Fin and Braised Sliced Abalone with Fish Maw. I was somewhat disappointed that they were out of strawberry jelly fish, but the fish maw more than made up for it. After dinner, we sat in the atrium talking about her home and her interests in seeing the world outside of China where she has never been.

Monday, July 22, 2002

Today we ate early and boarded our bus to the airport at 7:30 AM. It was raining lightly and the one hour ride to the airport as well as the one our flight to Chongqing went smoothly. A local guide & driver picked us up at the airport in Chongqing and gave us a tour of the city and several museums, parks, a local food market and important local sites. The Chongqing region is known for its spicy foods and although the food we had for lunch was quite mild, for dinner we were served a plate of chili peppers with a few pieces of diced chicken thrown in for color.


After dinner, we boarded our ship where we will spend the next for nights cruising on The Yangtze River down through The Three Gorges to see the dam being built to control flooding and provide hydroelectric power to one-third of China. The local guide told us that one and a half million people are being relocated as a result of water rising behind the dam. Several people on our trip had heard that the ‘unofficial’ number may be as high as five million. Many temples and historical sites will also me relocated. The cost of the 17 year project is estimated to be 100 billion yuan (considerably less than The Big Dig in Boston) My room aboard the ship is very nice. I have a queen bed (very hard), sitting area, dressing area and bathroom. The ship is named Victoria 5, built in 1999 and owned by Victoria Cruises of NYC. There are about 150 passengers and an equal number of crew. After a small welcome ceremony, I decided to go to bed early and not join the others who were playing Mah Jong. The ship is scheduled to sail tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM so we will spend this evening tied up to the dock in Chongqing.

Tuesday, July 23, 2002

I woke up at 6:00 AM, showered and went upstairs for coffee at 6:30 AM. Mark, Wendy, Ron & Sue were already in the lounge and we talked while waiting for breakfast to be served at 8:00 AM. Our group will sit together at meals. Although the breakfast is more western than what we have previously been served, I elected to have salted duck eggs & dumplings.

The ship got underway precisely at 9:00 AM. The Yangtze River flows very fast and we are scheduled to be at our first destination, Fengdu - 176 kilometers down river by 3:30 PM.

The ship’s doctor, who doesn’t speak English, gave a class in Tai Qi which many people, including myself, participated. The same doctor offers acupuncture which I may try, even though I feel fine. He suggested that I volunteer to be his patient when he demonstrates acupuncture for the guests tomorrow. There are also massages available on board which I also may try.

Fengdu is known for ‘The Ghost Temple’, set high atop a mountain. It is a temple for the Daoism belief and contains many characters from hell. The temple is high on a hill and although there is a chairlift taking people to the top, many of us decided to walk up. Our local guide, Lilly, was knowledgeable about the temple, but did not handle questions very well.

We arrived back at the ship at 5:15 PM and set sail shortly thereafter. There was a Captain’s Reception before dinner and an excellent fashion show put on by the crew displaying Chinese clothing from many dynasties after dinner. After the fashion show, we played Mar Jong for a couple of hours before going to bed.

Wednesday, July 24, 2002

Today we are scheduled to enter and begin passing through The Three Gorges. The itinerary suggests that we be on deck by 9:00 AM as that is when we will enter the first and shortest of the gorges. I am at the beginning of roll #4 of the pictures.

We passed through the first gorge, Qutang Gorge, early observing mountains about 1400 meters on either side of the river, which is about 150 meters wide at this point. Shortly thereafter, we stopped at Wushan and disembarked onto smaller sampans (small boats that can navigate the tributaries) and took a five hour side trip through The Lesser Gorges. We saw dozens of monkeys on the banks. All along the river, the people and towns are being relocated higher on the banks to allow for the flooding that will occur starting next year. The buildings near the shore are being abandoned and new buildings are being built above the 175 meter (above sea level) mark. If there is not sufficient space above the old town, the whole town may be moved across the river to the opposite shore. All of the old buildings will be dynamited later this year. We returned to the ship at 3:15 PM and shortly after getting underway, passed Goddess Peak on the north side of the river.

Today is Ron’s 60^th birthday so we arranged to have the ship’s artist paint him a birthday card which all of us, including the captain signed. At dinner we celebrated his birthday with a cake.

We arrived at Zigui and docked for the evening. I had scheduled a massage at 9:00 PM so after dinner and a few games of marjon, I left for my first Chinese massage. It turned out to be quite different than any western massages I had ever had.

Thursday, July 25, 2002

Early today we will pass by the site of the new Three Gorges Dam, still under construction, through the navigation channel. We will then dock and take a bus to view the site from shore.

During breakfast we entered the navigation channel and I was able to take a few pictures as we passed by the dam. It was quite hazy and I am sure the photos will not be too clear. We docked at Sanduoping and boarded the bus to the visitor’s center where the project was explained, then on to the construction site itself. After a couple of hours we returned to the ship and set sail towards our final destination Wuhan where we will disembark tomorrow and fly to Shanghai.


Forty kilometers downstream from the new dam site is the existing dam; Gexhouba Dam. The cruise director conducted a lottery to guess the exact time that the final lock gate would open as we passed through the lock. Our group won the lottery with a guess of only a minute off the actual time. Half the pool went to the crew and we got the other half. Our winnings were 40 yuan over the cost of the tickets – about $5. After lunch we played marjon for awhile, and then I continued reading my book ‘Understanding Confusis’ which Cindy had lent to me. The river is much wider now and the cities are becoming larger and more frequent.
At 4:30 we had a demonstration of acupuncture and I was the volunteer patient. I was stuck in my knee and elbow but felt no pain. The needles stayed in for about 10 minutes and the doctor rotated them twice. I didn’t notice any change in the way I felt as a result of the treatment, however, I had felt fine to begin with. At least I didn’t feel any worse.


	Cindy taught us how to play Chinese poker in the afternoon. The longer we played, the more rules she remembered. Our final ‘Captain’s Dinner’ was at 7:00 PM and included the presentation of the award for the lottery winners. Many people dressed for dinner. Afterwards we were treated to a show in the lounge which included traditional songs by many of the crew. Even the captain took a break from piloting the ship to come down & sing for us.

Friday, July 26, 2002

Today was our last day on the ship and we were scheduled to disembark shortly after lunch. We ate breakfast then packed our luggage so it could be transferred to the airport. The cruise director (Karen Lorshbough from Buffalo, NY) gave us a tour of the bridge and then we prevailed on her to also show us the engine room.

After lunch we met a local guide from Wushan and spent a few hours touring that city in the rain. We went to a museum which had some interesting rock formations, a large meteorite and a display of bonsai trees. We also attended a tea ceremony where we learned the proper method of making tea.

Our plane was a half hour late, but I remember each member of the crew apologizing for the delay. We left for Shanghai at 7:00 PM. By 8:15 we had landed in Shanghai, met our local guide and were being transported to The Holiday Inn Crown Plaza – a magnificent hotel, where we checked in for our final three nights.

Saturday, July 27, 2002

I spent an hour checking email and typing up my journal before breakfast. I’ve got six rolls of film I need to get developed and would like to get them back so I can integrate them into the journal and upload it to the site before I leave for Russia in a couple days. The breakfast was a grand buffet in the lobby of the hotel. We met at 9:00 AM to begin our day of sightseeing. Our impression of the local guide soared when she announced that we would not be seeing any temples today. Instead, we went to a school for talented children. Although this was Saturday, there were some 400 children aged 4-10 learning music, dance and other more exotic arts such as how to play the Pi Pa and calligraphy.

	From the school, we went to The Bund or waterfront in Shanghai and walked along the Yangtze River in the former foreign zones of the city. We got back on the bus and took the tunnel under the river to the new area of Pudong which is a whole new commercial section, none of which is older than twelve years. We took a high speed elevator (88 floors in 45 seconds) to the top of the Jin Mao Tower (the ninth tallest building in the world & tallest in China) and were able to see Shanghai in every direction until it disappeared in the haze. The local guide told us that the top of this building as well as the futuristic television tower nearby are often obscured by the haze. The Hyatt Regency Hotel occupies the top 32 floors of the Jin Mao Tower and has an open atrium which is entirely visible from the 88^th floor.

We ate lunch at another hotel across the river then went to a demonstration silk factory to learn how silk is produced. From there we went to The Shanghai Museum – a superb building housing some of the best artifacts ever produced in China. After a couple of hours, we returned to the hotel to freshen up before attending an acrobatic show this evening. I ate dinner at an Italian restaurant in the hotel and we left for the show at 7:00 PM. The show was held at the new Shanghai Theater and was an excellent performance.

Sunday, July 28, 2002

I completed typing most of my journal this morning and was able to view the six rolls of film I dropped of for developing yesterday.

After breakfast, we drove an hour to a town named Zhujiajuia (aka Watertown). This is an old village from the Ming Dynasty build about 450 years ago. We crossed over the ‘Fish Returning Bridge’ and strolled along back alleys of a Venice-like area. The temperature was in the 90’s and the humidity was very high. We entered one of the old elegant homes along the way that had a beautiful garden and several large preserved rooms with furniture of the period.

On our way back to Shanghai our local guide talked about some of her experiences growing up during the Cultural Revolution in Shanghai. At the time, she lived with her parents and sister in a high-rise building. She told us that members of The Red Guard would often go to the homes of people perceived to be capitalists (mostly landlords) and force them to come to the public square and wear a sign around their necks naming them as ‘enemy of the people’. The pressure became so intense on some of these capitalists that they would come to her building, go to the roof and jump to their deaths. She said it became so frequent an occurrence that they stopped thinking that it was unusual.

When we arrived back at Shanghai we had lunch at a nice hotel, then went to a beautiful garden built by an administrative official for his parents. Afterwards, we went shopping in the little streets. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by the oldest synagogue in Shanghai. Tonight, we plan to meet for our farewell dinner at The Bund. We’ll take a taxi to The Peace Hotel for cocktails, and then determine a restaurant where we can have dinner when we get to the district.

Our group departs at various times tomorrow. My flight is at 11:30 AM to Beijing then connects to a flight to Moscow at 4:10 PM. I plan to be in Moscow for five days before leaving to meet my next group which will attempt to climb Mt. Elbrus starting in St. Petersburg on August 3rd. I should be able to write more from Helsinki when I return from Russia in late August.

Monday, July 29, 2002

Our farewell dinner in Shanghai was at a restaurant on the river overlooking the city. There were twenty tanks of live fish to select from – most of which I couldn’t recognize. I did recognize two cages of large snakes in the kitchen, but couldn’t convince anyone to split one with me.

Mark came down with a cold overnight so he and his family aborted their planned three day side trip and elected to stay in Shanghai. The last I saw of Wendy, Nicole and Marnie was on their way out of the hotel to go shopping. Cindy got invited to a party in Beijing arranged by the Nepalese Embassy on Monday night so instead of taking the train back to Beijing she accompanied me on my flight.

We left for the airport at 9:30 AM in order to catch the 11:30 AM flight to Beijing. The plane was a 747, which Cindy had never flown. We were delayed an hour on the ground which made my transfer in Beijing very tight. Cindy helped me navigate the transfer and I would not have made it without her help.

There were many Russians on the flight, doing whatever they wished, much to the distress of the Chinese flight attendants. The flight was 7 ½ hours with a 4 hour time change. The instant the wheels touched the ground in Moscow, the Russians jumped up, grabbed their belongings, and were packed like sardines in the first class section waiting to deplane – long before we arrived at the gate.

It took an hour to go through passport control and customs but my driver was waiting and the ½ hour drive to central Moscow was smooth. I checked into the Hotel Ukraine and immediately went to sleep.

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