More fun in China

We are now a good week into our time in China and we can successfully say three phrases: hello (ne ha), thank you (xi xi ne) and beer (pisa). Needless to say, we are getting along just fine.

I said before that we are really enjoying the people and that truth is continuing. We have been constantly been met with smiles and helpful faces, especially when it is painfully obvious that we are lost beyond comprehension, which is an unfortunate common occurrence. There are some un-enjoyable aspects we have found, such as the difference in the definition of a toilet. Most public and restaurant toilets are holes cut into the ground, occasionally surrounded by porcelain. I won't go into details here, but I have NEVER been so happy to have a Y chromosome! I may not be able to remember birthdays or understand why flowers are special, but at least I can stand up to pee. Huge!

Our original itinerary called for a side trip to Xian, home of the Terracotta warriors. There are a few people who are doing a similar Asia tour a few weeks ahead of us and they seem to have given the place mixed reviews, so when our concierge told us that the train wasn't available we weren't too worried. Instead, we decided to book a three day trip to Chengede, which was the place where the Chinese Emperors went when they were tired of the Beijing heat. Jen and I figured, hey, if it is good for royalty it probably works for us. We tried to book a hotel that was featured in our guide book. After calling to make the booking, our concierge told us that it wasn't available but that it's sister hotel did have room. We took it. Going through the train station (where no one spoke English!!!!!) at 5:00 in the morning was something I will never forget, and I don't know exactly how we made it on board the locomotive that stopped in Chengde, but we did. When we got to the hotel to find that it seemed we were not only the only Western guests but the only guests, I began to suspect that what may have been lost in translation back with our concierge in Beijing was that this was not the sister hotel to the place we were trying to book, but HIS sister's hotel! I have to admit I was a little bit worried, but Jen was trooper and convinced me that all would work out.

Here is a picture of our very efficient room. As you can see, you can use the toilet, and take a shower, and watch TV (not pictured but behind the camera) all at once. The bed felt like a 2x12 covered with fabric.

Actually, it turned out to be a nice place. We ended up meeting some lovely young Chinese women who were studying to be nurses at a University in the town. They were working at the hotel for the summer and will go back in the fall to finish studying English for five months before taking an English test to determine if they can temporarily work in the U.S., Australia, or New Zealand. They were very excited to meet us and practice English that they agreed to meet us early one morning (6 AM) to hike up a local mountain (while it sounds crazy, you have to start early because most carbon based life forms start to melt around 9...). Jen and I got up early and went down at 5:40 to stretch before meeting them (we are not spring chickens and must coerce our muscles into doing work that early) only to find them already there, dressed in jeans, skirts and even high heels. We felt like total dweebs in our workout clothes, but we all marched up the hill.

Here we are at the top of the mountain with our wonderful friends from Chengde.

In Chengde we were down right oddities (being western) and we got many looks and more than one approach for pictures. I am happy to report that Jen did not hog all the attention as there were a few people who were mesmerized by me. I may not be blond but my rather thick arm hair caused quite a stir on a few occasions. Apparently there are not many people in China related to monkeys as closely as I am, and little kids found it funny to run up to me and pet my arm hair. I found this very amusing. I did not find it amusing when their middle aged fathers also tried to pet my arms. Some things I will not stand for in the name of cultural relations.

Having had a wonderful time in Chengede, Jen and I tried to get a train ticket back to Beijing only to find that the one train that went per day was sold out. We were told that we could only by return tickets while in Chengde (again by the lovely concierge in Beijing). So we ended up on a bus back to Beijing. While you at least know that a train is going in one direction, a bus can take many roads, and we got quite worried after we boarded the bus to find it driving all over the surrounding countryside to pick up apparent relatives of the bus driver. We also had the lovely experience of getting a shakedown by the Beijing Provence Police, who thoroughly searched our bags and almost confiscated Jen's bag of toiletries. I tried to explain to the officer that there was NO WAY I was going to survive if she didn't have her moisturizer and makeup, and it must have worked since he apparently decided we didn't look dangerous and let us take it all into the city.

We made it back yesterday and this morning went to see the Great Wall. It was 10 AM and 185 degrees (F) but we managed to hike for about two hours. In total, I think we covered about 0.000125% of the total area of the wall. Seriously, just the parts we could see are huge, not to mention the 5,997 miles we couldn't see from our vantage point. It is very impressive: a 20' high by 15' wide wall built on the peak ridge of some of the most rugged countryside I have ever seen. Below is a picture of the two of us with the wall snaking behind. If you look just above and to the left of my head is a tower that we climbed up to. It was probably a 500 foot elevation gain, nearly straight up.