Good Bye China, Hello Home Sweet Home.

We returned to Shanghai at dusk. Everyone went to bed right away.

We only had 1.5 days left in China, so we had to do more shopping, eating and going to Internet cafes. During our times in China, we had no access to Facebook or Blogspot. These two sites and many other sites likes CNN were blocked due to recent troubles in XinJiang and Tibet. This definitely made us feel cut off from the western world. Amongst the glitz and glamour of a booming China, this reminded us we were after all still in a communist country.

Aside from shopping, Shanghai is also known for its crazy and wild night life. We met up with our friend Amanda who recently returned to China for work. She took us to this club in JingAn District called MUSE. The club had great music and we lived it up! Table service, Grey Goose and cranberry for the world travellers. Our server stood by our table the entire time we were there. Yes, we had a dedicated server who was always there whenever we needed him! He didn't look like he loved his job though. Every hour for about 20 minutes, a couple of really scantily dressed (in thong!) go go dancers danced on spot lighted platforms. Hard to imagine we were in communist China! What a country full of contradictions.

(video of live music performance at MUSE, then we got yelled at by the security for video taping)

We are really going to miss China. As we headed home sweet home, we are going to miss traveling around to different countries and experiencing new cultures.

Huangshan (Part 2): Beyond Yellow Mountain

The next morning we awoke at 4am to begin our trek to a choice lookout where we would be watching the sun come out. It was pitch dark and we were guided by only two headlights that members of our group had. It would be over a 1 hour hike up winding paths before we would reach out lookout. Our guide had arrived late for picking us up so by the time we reached our destination it was already fairly packed full of other tourists waiting for the sun to peak out. Just as our luck would have it, another cloudy day. It shouldn’t really be a surprise to us as we were told the clouds form on these mountains over 200 days of the year. It was still a nice start to the day, so no complaining on our part.

Following a nice simple breakfast we would begin our trek back to the tram where we would view numerous more famous rock formations, cliffs, and trees. Often while walking along the path we’d come across some people who had paid to be carried around the mountain in sedan chairs by two porters. I suspect there may have been some buyer’s remorse as a few of the people looked a bit embarrassed by the indulgence. There’s something about having two men carrying you up a large flight of stairs on a mountain top and through a crowd of tourists that just seems a bit over the top (unless it’s really necessary of course).

After a couple more hours of wandering around the mountain top we finally reached the tram and headed down. From here we would be heading to a local village. We weren’t really sure what to expect here, but we were pleasantly surprised by what we discovered when we arrived at Hongcun Village (宏村). Hongcun Village has a history of over 900 years and has been passed down for generations throughout the Wang Clan. It was famous for having a number of scenes for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon filmed here. As we arrived through the gates we came upon a picturesque small lake with a stone arched bridge going across the center, we learned this was the opening scene from the movie. Along the bank were numerous young painter students set up all along the bank practicing their talents. The village is said to resemble that of a buffalo with two 600 year old trees representing horns, a lake as its belly, and even irrigation streams are its intestines. We’ve really come to appreciate the imagination of the Chinese culture. The tour was fantastic and made for some great history lessons and amazing pictures.

It was a long couple days, so I had recommended the group to check out a local hot springs spa ( 黄山醉温泉). I have been to hot spring spa before and was looking forward to a night of relaxation. But as high as our expectations were for this place, they didn’t come near touching what we actually encountered. The entrance fee was equivalent to approximately $25 CAD. Inside this spa was an infinity pool on top of the hill over looking the spa area, over 50 different kinds of hot springs, complementary fruits and snacks, free Internet service, and even late night live entertainment. We must have stayed there for about seven hours just relaxing and getting out every need looked after. The highlight for me was the Garra rufa fish or as more commonly known as the Doctor Fish. They are these tiny fish swimming around in a giant spring that when you climb in they would come up and begin to eat the dead skin off your body. It’s a little weird at first, but once you get accustomed it begins to feel like a little massage and your skin is left feeling incredibly smooth.

The next morning we would be heading back to Shanghai, but not before a detour for a river cruise along Xin'anjiang River （新安江）. The river looked like a mirror, completely reflecting all of the hills and villages we encountered along the way. We were treated to a couple stops where we would tour the local villages. In the last stop we were even treated to a show from local performers what included singing, dancing, and acting. Even our boat guide was pulled up on stage to sing a duet with the show host as well as me to perform a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony. It was a weekday so we were the only people in the audience but that only made for a more enjoyable and personal experience. Following the show we would head back on the boat as we sail back towards our van an onwards back to Shanghai.

Huangshan (Part 1): The Peaks of Yellow Mountain

While we knew we wanted to see experience the history of Beijing and the glamour that is Shanghai, we had decided we wanted to visit someplace a little off the beaten path that is a little less travelled by the typical foreign tourist. After a lot of research and recommendations I had decided to take the group to Huangshan (or Yellow Mountain 黄山). Yellow Mountain is about 5 hours outside of Shanghai. We’d be taking a 3 day tour that would include a hike up Yellow Mountain spending a night at the top and then another night in a local town around the area. None of us really knew a lot about the area other then it was a major inspiration for a large amount of Chinese artists.

We were picked up very early in the morning in a private mini-van that would be taking us on our trek to Yellow Mountain. When we arrived we were met by the local guide who gave us our instructions for the day. We were told to pack just for overnight and leave the rest in the car since it would be a long hike. We had the option to either take a 3 hour trek up the mountain followed by another 3 hrs once we got to the top or we could take a tram up to the top and just do the extra 3 hrs from there. I was pretty keen on taking the hike all the way up but after learning we’d likely miss a great sunset photo opportunity we decided back on the tram option. As we ascended up I think we made the right choice, the trek looked treacherous with a lot of ups and downs all the way up. I didn’t see anybody on any trails so I suspect this is a rarely chosen option. The view going up was absolutely breath-taking.

There four wonders of Yellow Mountain . The first is the pine trees that grow out of the rocks. They seem like they have no reason existing on these mountains, but seeds fell into the crevices and they would grow, often with a crooked and downward angle growing branches only on one side. The second are the grotesque rock formations. These rocks have sparked the imaginations of visitors over the years, many of them being given names to represent shapes they form such as animals, people, birds, and even a cell phone. The third wonder is the Sea of Clouds which are very common and forever changing. The last wonder is the Huangshan Hot Springs which are free from sulphur and contains many trace elements beneficial to health.

The hike around the top of the mountain was fairly laid back. There are plenty of trails etched around throughout the mountain top and even a few hotels and homes. When the trails were built, the workers were not allowed to use any Yellow Mountain resources like pebbles or rocks. Therefore, material from outside of this area were carried up the mountain by manual labour to build the trails. Not just the trails, all man made structures like hotels and everyday supplies are carried up by people. This explains the understandable high priced lodging and coffee!

The scenery along the hike was absolutely breathtaking and unlike any sight I had ever seen in my life. The jagged rocks spotted with trees made it very clear why so many artists were drawn here. Throughout our hike around the top of the mountain the guide pointed out some of the more famous scenes, describing all the different images each shape is thought to represent.

Throughout the top of the mountain we saw locks locked up along fence rails as we saw throughout Russia. A few of us decided to partake this time and bought and signed a lock with our significant others, locked it to a rail, and tossed the key off the mountain. It was starting to get darker so we needed to keep the pace up for the next bit in order to check into our lodging and make it to our sunset lookout.

We’d be staying in a 2nd class room, which meant 4 bunk beds rather than 30 people all crammed in a room. Good enough for us. After a quick check-in we headed off another 20 minutes up the mountain where we’d catch our sunset. Everything was looking good, but as sunset drew near clouds started to form in so we got a fairly blocked sunset. Oh well, tomorrow morning we’re up at 4am to try to catch a sunrise.

Tomorrow ... local villages and hot springs!

ShangHai Knights

A few days back at dinner, we talked about how we are glad there is only one more train ride left on our trip. We ate our words hard when we hopped on the train from Beijing to Shanghai. It was like we had stepped into a space ship. Everything was white and really clean! Our bedding didn't smell musky and didn't itch to the touch. Every bunk had a TV with remote panel and headsets. We even had a hot water jug and garbage can. The washroom not only was open all the time, but also not the size of a tiny closet and didn't smell like pee. We didn't want to leave our 5 star train when we arrived in Shanghai in the morning.

My cousin Sophia picked us up and took us to the hotel. After a short rest, we hopped on the metro and headed to the famous Shanghai Bund.

We walked through Nanjing Road to get to the Bund. Nanjing Road is like Robson St in Vancouver, but 20 times bigger with 50 times more people. As soon as we stepped onto the road, we were bombarded with "bag? t-shirt? belt? Gucci? LV?". Much like some shops in certain malls in Vancouver, these street hustlers have "secret" backrooms (or more like another world!) to showcase their wide variety of very well made designer fakes that bedazzles any tourist looking for a deal.

To our disappointment, when we reached the Bund, the area was all blocked off due to World Expo 2010 construction. We couldn't see anything other than the top of the Pearl Tower through the dust. The Bund stretches one mile along the bank of the Huangpu River. Back in the day, this area was an international settlement which explained the various very European or Westernized architectural styles. Across the river is the PuDong Business District which provides the best skylines at night. After a very Shanghai dinner, we checked out the night scene from the PuDong and HuangPu River.

The next day was more shopping and food. We went to where we can do both: ChengHuang or City God Temple. It not only refers to the large temple complex, but also the traditional district of commerce in the city, surrounding the temple. There are over a hundred stores and shops in this area, and most of these store buildings are nearly a century old. The shops had every imaginable souvenir you can think of there from magnets, chopsticks, combs to personalized dough figurine. But no shot glasses to the disappointment of one of our travel mates. Lunch consisted of very yummy Dim Sum dishes. My cousin suggested we give a seafood a try for dinner.

After a quick drink at XinTianDi, a very trendy bar district, we arrived at the seafood street called TongBei Street (PuDong District). The whole street was nothing but seafood restaurants. Everything about this place was an instant sensory overload. The smell, sound and bright neon lights was China at its best. Buckets of live seafood are on display outside of the restaurants which you can just point and order your dinner. You can even get snakes! The restaurant we picked was called MangLingGe (满灵阁大宝海鲜排档). But due to overcrowding, we were seated almost right on the street next to our future dinner. When cars drove by us, couple of us had to get up to let it through. We ordered drunken shrimp (yes, the shrimps were uncooked, but soaked in cooking wine and spice), clams, raw clams, snails, oysters, sea mushrooms, fish and so much more. All of us agreed that was the best meal we had in China. But that wasn't just a meal, it was an experience, the quintessential China experience.

Tomorrow we wake up early for our trip to Yellow Mountain!

Beijing Part Deux

Day 3 in Beijing, we split into two groups. One group went to the Summer Palace and the other group went to the Old Summer Palace also known as Yuan Ming Yuan (圆明园 "Gardens of Perfect Brightness"). Summer Palace is the most famous because it is the best preserved imperial garden. It is modelled to resemble Southern China scenery. Old Summer Palace was a bigger garden. However, most of it was burn to the ground in the 1860 during the Second Opium War by the British and French. The Palace is now a massive park with many man made ponds, bridges and of course, ruins and less tourists. Most of the ruins were in one area. It was very surprising to see a lot of European influenced structure once stood the ground here. Since it was an imperial garden built exclusively for the emperor, not very many people have seen the original glory of the garden. Now stone columns and archways laid broken and scattered. It is a true pity.

We had our second Peking Duck of the trip for lunch along with 10 or 15 other dishes. To walk off the lunch we had to do some much needed shopping at HongQiao and XiuShui Market! Shopping in China is an art form. It required one to be charming, tactful, strong and knowing regardless what happens you will get ripped off. If a vendor gave you a price, you were to offer back at 20% of the vender's price. Then work your way back up a bit at most to 30%. After awhile, it became a fun game for everyone. When everyone met up after a few hours, we not only compared the goods we got, we compared tactics used and the final price we negotiated. Check out the panda hat we got for 20 RMB (=2.50 CAD)

On the way back from the XiuShui Market, we stopped by The Place, home to the 250 meter x 30 meter LED screen. It is just 3 meters shorter than the largest LED screen in the World which is located in Vegas. The thing cost $32 million, is 80 feet above the ground, and actually 5 separate screens combined.

We were tired of walking around. Hence, next day which was also our last day in Beijing, we decided to take a Hutong tour via rickshaw! Hutong is narrow alley ways that form SiHeyYuan (四合院) or courtyard which family or families live in. Hutong is disappearing fast as Beijing becomes more modernised everyday. Many think they are unique to Beijing. They are pretty common around China and just called different names. The tour gave us a glimpse into how ordinary Beijinger lived. But we couldn't help feeling we were intruding.

We still had a lot of time to kill before our train ride to Shanghai. My cousin decided to take us to another park called BeiHai Park. This one is an imperial garden too. How many gardens does one emperor need? The literal translation of the park name is Northern Sea park. From the back of the park , you can see the corresponding Central Southern Seas park which is the complex of buildings that houses China's paramount leaders. There is a dramastic contrast between the two parks. One full of tourists and the other one is empty with many guards surrounding the grounds.

In case of bad traffic, we arrived at the Beijing Train Station really early. What was there to do, but do more exploring of the neighbourhood. Beijing was great since no matter where you go in the city, there was something around to see! No wonder my cousin is so proud of his city. We walked around the old city wall. We walked by a dog park and spotted a line of colourful stars in the sky. We didn't know what to make of them until we walked a little further down the road. It was a LED light kite! We stopped and spoke to the middle aged man who made and was flying the kite. He used old cell phone batteries to power the LED lights that changed flashing patterns with a click of a tiny controller. The lights ensemble were glued onto a piece of small cardboard. It was the coolest thing ever!

Not wanting to leave Beijing, we made it onto the train to Shanghai 10 minutes before departure time.

Great Wall and Food - Beijing, China

It was an early start and we were back on the train heading to Beijing. Again, it was about a 30hour train ride with another crazy border crossing. We arrived at the Mongolian border at about 730pm and departed for China around 10pm. Around 1030pm we arrived at the China border. Immigration and customs bordered and took our paperwork. We also had temperature scans to see whether we were sick. I actually caught a really bad cold - fortunately no fever. After they got our paperwork, the train is moved into a gaint "garage" where the wheels have to be changed. The train rails are different widths from Mongolia to China - the Chinese being closer together. We stayed on the train as the compartments were lifted up and then replaced on new wheels. The procedure was very efficiently executed but a little unbelievable. The workers had hard hats but no other safety equipment - including no steel toe boots. In fact, one worker sat on his hat while the train was being lowered onto the new wheels and his head! We finished the wheel changing process at about 1130pm and then had a stop from midnight to 1am. We went to bed at that point.

The following day we arrived in Beijing at about 2pm and were greeted by my cousin at the station who hired a van and driver for our 4 days in Beijing. We went to the hotel, showered and waited for the arrival of two new members Sandy and Florent! Dinner was a feast of Peking Duck - very yummy. There was so much food! Another favorite dish and specialty of the restaurant was Pears - fried batter in the shape of pears with red bean filling. So good! After dinner, we headed out to see the 2008 Summer Olympic venues by night - the Bird's Nest and Watercube all lit up in the rain.

The next morning, we started our day at the Temple of Heaven and Earth. The temple is where the emperor gave thanks and prayed to the Heaven. My cousin who calls himself an "Old Beijing", someone who knew everything about Beijing. He doesn't speak any English, so I did the translating. The temple area/park was huge and filled with seniors doing TaiChi and other morning exercises. Walking around the park for 3 + hours worked up an appetite. Lunch was another feast. This time the special dish was ZhaJian noodles (炸酱面). A highlight of this meal was the fried bananas and fried cream puffs. We then headed off to see the Forbidden City - the home of last several Emperors. It was amazing how much space one man needs (plus his many concubines and servants). On route we went through Tiananmen Square, the world's largest square. The square was packed full of people. We were told the square is always crawling with undercover cops. You are under constant surveillance, but probably one of the safest place in the country.

After the Forbidden City, we climbed the Jing Hill (景山) behind it for a full view of the Forbidden City. The hill is also famous for being the spot the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty hung himself in 1644.

Day 2 in Beijing was all about the one of the world's greatest man made accomplishments - the Great Wall of China. The Wall is over 6000KM long and built to keep Mongolian invaders out. The highest and most famous section of the wall is called BaDaLing. However, we decided to venture out to one of the less known locations of the wall called MuTianYu. We spent about 3 hours on the Wall with a lot less tourists, but just as spectacular. It is one of my dreams to hike the Wall for a week and explore the less restored parts via camping. We headed back down by a much faster way - by LUGGING. They have a "luge" or giant slide to the bottom. Great fun but of course no helmets. I think if weren't for time constraint, the group would have went back up the Wall, so we could lug down again.

I tried to show the gang something different every meal. Because we are known for our fantastic and vast varieties of different types of food. So we had to fish for our own lunch! The restaurant hidden in a village near by the Wall was known for its fish dishes. The fish they serve are raised in spring water from the hills. Only Michelle was close to catching anything, so we just asked the waiter to net us a few fish for lunch. The dinning patio of the restaurant was on top of the fish ponds. We watched fish swimming by while we enjoyed eating their cousins.

Upon our return to the city we were ready for a round of massages!

(Part Blog Contribution by Stacey G.)

No Man's Land

Our trek to Mongolia started with a 30 + hour train trip - didn't seem too bad after the 53 hours from the train ride before. Of course, the customs insanity tried our patience and made it seem like 53 hours. We left Irkutsk at 10pm at night. We arrived at what we thought was the Mongolian border at about noon. It was in fact NOT the border. We sat on the train for about an hour and 45 min with the bathrooms locked and then moved for about 20 min. We were then told that we could get off the train and to be back at about 4 pm for immigration and customs officials. Of course, we have no idea why the immigration and customs officials were not around earlier - there were no other trains there so we have no idea what they were doing!

We got off and explored the area around the train station - it had a few trinket shops and some food. We had brought food with us and had a picnic outside. At 4 pm we got back on the train. It was a hot day and the train was very hot since it was not moving. Our window opened slightly providing a little relief. We sat there for about an hour before the immigration and customs officials showed up. They took our passports away and then we had to sit on the train some more. It took them about an hour and a half to process all the paperwork. The train started back up at around 7 pm. During this time there the bathrooms were again locked. The customs search was VERY superficial. We put our bags on our bunks and that was about it.

We were then out of Russia and in no man's land. There is a one hour time difference between Russia and Mongolia so it became 6 pm again. In Mongolia the immigration and customs process was repeated again. We were told it would take about an hour and it took closer to 2 hours. Our train connected to another train headed into Mongolia which departed at 9 pm.

So in total our immigration and customs "experience" took approximately 10hours - NEVER again will I complain about crossing into the US to go shopping. We arrived early the next morning in Ulaan Batuur at 7 am. We went directly to the bank to change money and then to the hotel for showers and breakfasts. It is only early September. UB already had a bit of chill in the air. The cold shower in the hotel didn't help. No rest for the wicked, after getting ready we headed out to a ger camp for an overnight adventure.

A ger tent is the traditional "home" of the nomadic Mongolians. They set it up and dismantle it and move with their herds approximately 4 times a year. The camp we went to is for tourists and no family resided there - although there were families in the area with various herds - cows, sheep, goats, horses. The camp is not just for foreigners. Many Mongolians from the city will venture out the camps for weekends away. We were there on Thurs and had the place pretty much to ourselves. We went on a 2hr horseback ride around the valley and mountain near our camp. It was very beautiful. After the horseback ride, we had an archery lesson and went on a little hike in the area with our local guide Nemo and learned more about Mongolia and the traditional way of life.

Mongolia was also very cheap. We bought some stuff on our way out of town - water, pop and wetwipes totaled 1400 - $1USD. The 2 hour horse back ride was 10,000 - approximately $8USD. The food at the camp was better than I had expected. No one got sick from the food, although I was careful with the meat. It tastes quite different because it is slaughtered differently and the blood is not drained out of it. I can't say I am a huge fan of it.

The next day was an early start - we headed back to UB and directly to the temple for a chanting ceremony. After that we headed for lunch and then to the Winter Palace of the Emperor, which is essentially a museum. We headed back to the hotel to freshen up and then departed for a cultural show. We saw throat singing, traditional dance, folk songs, traditional instruments and extortionists. After the show we went to dinner for Mongolian BBQ. Oddly enough, the Mongolian Grill in Vancouver has better decor than the place we went to. The food was good - at least the stuff you could choose to have cooked for you. Some of the prepared dishes were odd and some of the deserts were a little scary. We finished dinner early and headed for Karaoke for 30min while we waited for Nemo to return. We were pretty sure we scared the locals with our terrible rendition of Barbie Girl, Under the Sea and Like a Virgin.

Nemo finally came back before we were kicked out of the K-bar and we went for groceries and souvenirs quickly before heading to bed. China here we come!!

(Blog Contributed by Stacey G.)