We had an awesome trip to China in October!
Since Blogger sites are not available in China, and we want our new Chinese friends to be able to see our photos and journal entries, I am not going to spend a whole lot of time writing this trip up on the blog. I will focus on getting the
web site updated, since it can be accessed in China.
So here are some of the photos and descriptions that we have posted on Facebook, and be on the lookout for updates to our main site soon!
Back from an amazing trip to China with
Myths and Mountains, Inc.
We had an unheard of 4 straight days of blue skies and sun in Beijing!
The people were absolutely wonderful, the sights were fascinating, the
food was delicious, and we loved our city guide Alice!
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| Temple of Heaven |
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| Tienanmen Square, decorated with a giant flower basket to celebrate National Day |
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Beiguanfang Hutong, Beijing
An historical neighborhood featuring narrow alleyways and traditional houses with shared courtyard space |
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| Approaching the Forbidden City |
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| Forbidden City |
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Enjoying
the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China. We took a ski lift up
to the Wall, hiked from tower 4 to 24 and back, and then took a
toboggan (alpine slide) back down. |
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| Summer Palace |
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| Cool
graffiti art at funky, industrial art enclave 798 in Beijing, The whole
place felt rather subversive, and wasn't what we expected to find in
China. Really fun pop art installations and interesting gallery space in
decommissioned factories. |
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| Sunset through the Bird's Nest (Beijing National Stadium) | |
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| Wangfujing Snack Street in Beijing, where we sampled deep fried starfish and scorpions, | | |
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| The scorpions were a yummy fried treat |
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| The starfish not so much. Like Samantha Brown said in one of her China travel shows when she tried this, I felt like a demented fairy godmother. |
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| Sunrise over the Shijia Hutong in Beijing, taken from our hotel room at the charming and lovely Red Wall Garden. |
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| Saying goodbye to our awesome friend and city guide Alice before flying south to Guizhou. |
Leg two of our China trip brought us to the southern province of Guizhou. We flew from Beijing to
Guiyang., where we met our phenomenal guide Wang Jun and our friendly
driver Mr. Zhou. We spent two nights at the lovely Hotel Sheraton
Guiyang.
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| Jiaxiu
Tower was originally built during the Ming Dynasty in 1598. No
intellectuals from Guizhou had ever ranked first in the scholarly
examinations which took place in China. The tower was built as a place
for the intellectuals to get together and study. After its
construction, Guizhou produced two number one scholars. |
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| In
front of the huge Mao Tse Tung statue in the People's Park in Guiyang.
It's one of the few Mao statues left standing in China. | | |
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Stage shaped like lusheng flutes in he public square in Guiyang (across the street from the Mao statue) | | | | | |
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Qingyan
Ancient Village is a walled city originally built in 1378. At one point
it was a garrison where 300,000 troops were stationed to squash a
minority rebellion. Now it has been restored for tourism, and contains
many interesting shops and restaurants. The architecture was quite
beautiful, and we enjoyed exploring, shopping, and eating lunch. |
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| Shrine at Qingyan Ancient Village |
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| Wang
Jun was able to arrange a visit to a local family's home, so that we
could learn more about how modern Chinese people live in Guiyang. Seven
and a half year old Sara and her mother and grandparents were lovely
hosts, and were quite hospitable to us. Sara even played the piano for
us! We are very grateful to them for opening up their home and family to
us. We really enjoyed meeting them | | |
Our next stop in China was Kaili, also in the southern province of Guizhou. This is an area where many ethnic minority tribes live. There are 56
ethnicities in China. The Han Chinese make up 93% of the population, and
the other 55 ethnicities make up the remaining 7%. A lot of the tribes
in this area specialize in various very detailed embroidery techniques.
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| Our driver Mr. Zhou and our guide Wang Jun eating lunch in Kaili | |
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Burial mound and traditional house in Shiqing Village, where the Small Horn Miao practice silk felt (applique) embroidery. |
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The
square next to our hotel in Kaili. There are lots of activities set up
for children here, They can drive around in little motorized cars and
bikes, play in sandboxes and bouncy houses, and ride small amusement
rides. And at night lots of people get together to do group exercises
and ballroom dancing. We spent a lot of time here and everyone was very
friendly and curious about us, as this province doesn't get many
American visitors. |
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| Miao
couple in Weng Xiang Village who demonstrated their amazingly intricate
folded embroidery techniques. The lady showed us the festival clothes
she had made for herself, which was made of 800,000 folded silk
triangles! They also showed us the yellow silk cocoons that they use to
make the silk. |
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Folded embroidery, Weng Xiang Village | |
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Kaili Sunday Market |
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Hiking to Matang village |
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A
Geija woman demonstrates wax-resist batik. She melts a mixture of
paraffin and bees wax, and then uses a tool made of copper and bamboo to
draw intricate freehand designs on cloth. She will then dip the cloth
into indigo dye. When it is done, she will melt off the wax, and the
fabric under where the wax had been will show through as white. She gave
me a lesson and let me try, and it was very difficult! |
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| Langde
Village was the first minority village to open to western tourism in
1980. They maintain their traditional building style, with houses made
of fir trees. The village was founded in the 14th century. The oldest
house standing today is 200 years old. This village was one of 2 places
in Guizhou to host the Olympic torch relay in 2008 |
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| Yang
Da Lu's residence in Langde Village. He was a leader in the Miao
rebellion (the uprising at the Incense Pot mountain) and is revered by
the people of the village. |
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| Here
we are at Xu's Embroidery Boutique, where Mrs. Yong (center), an
embroidery expert, gave us a fabulous lecture and demonstration of many
of the local embroidery techniques. We enjoyed looking at her
collection. | | | |
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| Mrs.
Yong's prized 200 year old jacket made with the thread splitting
embroidery technique. One strand of silk thread is split into 13
separate strands! It was incredible! |
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| On the bridge at Zhenyuan Ancient Town |
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Zhenyuan
Ancient Town, a 1600 year old ancient village surrounded by a river.
This is now a popular holiday destination for Chinese tourists. It is
gorgeous
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| Zhenyuan Ancient Town now houses lots of interesting shops and restaurants |
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| Everything
is lit very beautifully at night at Zhenyuan Ancient Town. It cycles
through various colors, and the reflections in the river are amazing |
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| Zhenyuan
Ancient Town: this is a 600 year old temple complex built into the
mountainside caves. It is very unique because there are three religions
represented in one complex: Budddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. |
China Part 4: We drove for approximately 4 hours to get from Kaili to Libo, where
there is a UNESCO World Heritage site called Libo Zhangjiang Scenic
Spot. It is a beautiful area where you can hike on nice paths to view
rivers, gorges, waterfalls, karst mountain peaks, 19th century bridges,
and wildlife. It is an area populated by the Yao ethnicity.
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Craig at the Da Qi Kong section of the World Heritage Libo Zhangjiang Scenic Spot | |
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| Turquoise-colored river and small waterfalls at the Da Qi Kong section of the World Heritage Libo Zhangjiang Scenic Spot |
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Steph at the Da Qi Kong section of the World Heritage Libo Zhangjiang Scenic Spot |
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Craig
and some inebriated newfound friends that we met while eating dinner in
Libo. They were all extremely friendly and took dozens of photos with
us on their smartphones. The gentlemen on the far right and second from
the left were staying at the same hotel as us. and joined us for
breakfast the following morning. |
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| Traditional dancing at the Yao village |
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Granaries in the Yao village, elevated to keep the grain away from rats |
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| Xiao Qi Kong ("Small Seven-hole Bridge") at World Heritage Libo Zhangjiang Scenic Spot. |
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Marshes in the Xiao Qi Kong section of the World Heritage Libo Zhangjiang Scenic Spot
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Craig at Crouching Dragon Pond, in the Xiao Qi Kong section of the World Heritage Libo Zhangjiang Scenic Spot |
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| Craig and Wang Jun on the shuttle bus at the Xiao Qi Kong section of the World Heritage Libo Zhangjiang Scenic Spot |
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| Kids
in the park across from the Sanli Hotel in Libo. A movie was being
played on a huge TV screen, people were doing group exercises to music,
and there was a bouncy house and sandbox for the kids. These kids were so excited to have their photo taken that a security guard even came over to see what all of the ruckus was about. D'oh!!! |
China Part 5 w/
Myths and Mountains, Inc.
This portion of the trip focused on the Dong ethnicity. Up until 400
years ago, the Dong were miscategorized as a subgroup of the Miao. Since
then, they have been identified as their own unique culture. The Dong are known for their weaving.They dye cloth in indigo for
coloring, then stiffen it using either pigs' blood or steamed buffalo
skin and buffalo blood. They then use egg whites to make it shiny.The
result is a tough black material which feels a little bit like an animal
hide.
Their architecture is well-known for their roofed bridges
(called "wind and rain" bridges there, or what we would know as a
"covered bridge" in New England) and drum towers. Drum towers
traditionally housed a drum at their apex to warn of invasion or
announce important news. The drum tower was a meeting place. There was a
fire inside and 4 fir tree trunk columns in the middle to represent the
seasons and 12 on the perimeter to represent the months, Men would
meet here to socialize and play chess, and courtships would happen here
as well.
The Dong also perform extraordinary polyphonic singing along with traditional dances.
Zhaoxing Dong Village
Tang An Dong Village
Ma'an Dong Village
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Drum tower and wind and rain bridge in Zhaoxing Dong Village
This is the largest Dong village in China - 1000 households and around 6000 inhabitants.
There are 5 drum towers and wind and rain bridges in the old section of
town. These structures are around 200 years old. In the old days, each
belonged to a different clan. — in Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County. |
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Polyphonic
singing at the Dong cultural show at Zhaoxing Dong Village. Singers
frim this village won an international singing contest in Paris! — in Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County. |
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| With one of the performers from the Dong cultural show at Zhaoxing Dong Village |
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| Entrance to Zhaoxing Dong Village lit up at night | |
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Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge outside of Ma'an Dong Village
The largest wind and rain bridge in China. It is over 64 meters long, and was built in 1916 spanning the Linxi River. — in Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County. |
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Village
men constructing a new drum tower out of fir in Ma'an Dong Village. A
mixture of age-old and modern techniques. Having come from families with
an interest in woodworking, we found this fascinating to watch. — in Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County. |
China Part 6 w/
Myths and Mountains, Inc.
Our guide Wang Jun told us that this would be our most difficult day
yet. We would need to hike halfway up a mountain to get to our hotel,
and then continue up to the summit for a view of the famous Dragon's
Backbone Rice Terraces.
We were a bit nervous, as he said it was
steep, and the weather was warm. Craig had been doing great so far on
this trip in spite of his MS, and we wanted to it to stay that way.
Wang Jun also warned us that there was a high probability that we might
not see anything. The valleys get fogged in and the last 2 times he
brought clients in, they hiked to the top and were unable to see
anything through the fog.
But our luck held out once again! We
were pleasantly surprised by the trail. We were expecting to have to
slog up steep rice terraces similar to what we had done in Vietnam. But
there were actually stone stairs that went the entire way up to the
summit. It was steep at times, and the sun was warm, but there was shade
from various hotels, shops, and restaurants which lined the paths.
Before we knew it, we had arrived at the hotel. That wasn't so bad! We
checked into the lovely Starwish Hotel, got settled, and then walked
the remainder of the way up to the summit.
The weather was
beautiful, sunny, and clear, so we had a perfect view down to the
400-year-old rice terraces. We spent some time up there enjoying the
view and eating ice cream. We met a family of Chinese tourists (mother,
father, daughter, and grandmother).
As we were hiking back down to the
hotel. the mother and grandmother were renting some Miao traditional
clothing and having their photos taken in front of the beautiful
backdrop of the rice terraces, They called to me to join them, which I
did. A woman dressed me in a metal headdress and traditional long skirt
and blouse. The photographer positioned me in different poses, and I
felt like a model. It was a lot of fun. Craig took some photos, but I
also bought a few photos that the photographer had taken. They printed
them out for me and laminated them.
The next morning we hiked up
to the summit one final time. It was another clear day and we were able
to enjoy the gorgeous view once again. After that, we spent our
final afternoon and evening in Guizhou at the Hot Spring Hotel. The
hotel had a beautifully landscaped area outside with stone pools of
varying temperatures. It was incredibly relaxing. We spent some time
enjoying the hot springs in the afternoon. Craig was very careful not to
overheat, so as not to aggravate his MS at the very end of the trip. We
didn't go into the hottest pools, and he made sure to get out every so
often when he was getting too warm.
Then we had a farewell dinner
with Wang Jun and Mr. Zhou at the hotel restaurant. Wang Jun had
brought a bottle of GRETA WALL [sic] cabernet. Soon the entire lazy
susan on the table was filled with food - enough for a banquet. Wang was
feeling relieved that he had succeeded in his self-imposed challenge to
never repeat a dish in our time with him, and had gone all out. It was
bittersweet to have our time with them come to an end. We had all had so
much fun together, and we vowed to return!
After dinner, Craig
and I took a final dip in the hot springs before a short night of sleep
(we had to get up at 5 a.m. the next morning for our flight to Beijing).
China 2014: Final Installment w/
Myths and Mountains, Inc.
We said goodbye to our most excellent guide Wang Jun and safe,
reliable, and friendly driver Mr. Zhao at the Guilin airport. We had
grown very close with them in the past couple of weeks, and it was
bittersweet to say goodbye.
Before boarding our flight to
Beijing, we met professional basketball player Hassan Adams in the
airport. Extremely friendly and humble guy.
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| Professional
basketball player Hassan Adams was in Guilin for a tournament. He used
to play for the NBA and now plays in Venezuela. He was one of the only
other Americans we saw at Guilin airport, and we had a nice chat. Since
several Chinese people had wanted pictures with me because I was so much
taller than they were, I told Hassan that I wanted a photo with him to
prove that I met someone taller than me in China. When Craig got our
picture together, many Chinese passengers rushed over to snap photos of
us with their cell phones as well. — at Guilin Airport. |
It would be our final night in China, and a city guide would be meeting
us at the airport and taking us to dinner. As we exited the airport,
facing right into a bright wall of windows, we could see a silhouette
waving furiously. It was Alice! She hadn't been our scheduled guide, but
when that guide wasn't able to make it, Alice happily substituted for
her. It was so nice to see her and to be able to tell her about our
adventures in the south.
We went back to the Red Wall Garden
Hotel, checked in, and then headed out to our farewell dinner. The
restaurant was usually 30 minutes from the hotel, but the rush hour
traffic meant that it took us almost 2 hours to get there. But when we
arrived, it was well worth the wait!
The Bai Family Restaurant
is amazing! The staff are dressed in Qing Dynasty clothing and their
goal is to make you feel like an emperor / empress during your meal. We
had many attendants waiting on us, and we ate in a fancy private
compartment on their beautiful, lantern-lit grounds. The dinner was
fantastic:
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| We are greeted as we arrive at the Bai Family Restaurant — in Beijing, China. |
We had incredibly tender veal morsels served with
scallions, a very flavorful donkey stew (our first time eating donkey),
bean greens, which Alice said she grew up with on her family's farm in
Inner Mongolia, taro with blueberry sauce, imperial cakes, egg fried
rice, kung pao chicken, and white fungi soup with dates.
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| Dinner at the Bai Family Restaurant, where servers dress in Qing Dynasty garb and treat you like royalty! — in Beijing, China. |
After enjoying a lovely meal with Alice, we walked around the grounds taking some photos, and then drove back to the hotel.
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| Alice and Craig with the staff of the Bai Family Restaurant — in Beijing, China. |
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| A woman with a red paper lantern escorts guests onto the Bai Family Restaurant's gorgeous property — in Beijing, China. |
The next morning, a guide named Karen brought us to the airport. Our
non-stop flight on Hainan Airlines' 787 Dreamliner left Beijing at 2:15
p.m. and arrived in Boston at 2:45 p.m. the same day. On my watch, only
half an hour had elapsed, but we had flown for 12.5 hours! Good old
International Date Line! That will mess with your brain!
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Crossing
the International Date Line! We arrived in Boston 30 minutes after we
left China, although the flight was 12.5 hours long. — at International Date Line. |
It was a
fantastic trip, and we are so grateful to Myths and Mountains and all
of their colleagues in China for making it possible! The whole trip was
so easy, smooth, and convenient, we plan to return to China very soon
to see Wang Jun again and to hit some of the other tourist highlights
that we didn't get to see this time (pandas, terra cotta warriors,
Yangtze River cruise). Affordable non-stop flights make it very
convenient!
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