Goodbye to Breathable air!

 

After breathing the pure Pacific Ocean air for so long .. interspersed with the pollution from the cities we visited, we are now sentenced to attempt to breathe in China. I might as well say this up front and get it out of my system.... I can not understand just how a so-called "civilized" country can produce so much pollution and continue to make it worse with every new factory built. They continue to construct coal fired electricity plants with absolutely no pollution controls. If we tried to do this here, the "green power knights" would be all over us. The irony is that by doing this, they create cheaper goods to trade with us and then take the jobs we need to pay for them. When will our Governments ever wake up to this outright robbery? Turn our lights out for an hour .... pay 2.4 cents per litre more for gas ... reduce our carbon footprint .... NONSENSE. This will do nothing until the developing world reigns in their factories. The fact that China now produces Volkswagens, Buicks, Audis, etc. in house happened because they could not afford to purchase them made in other parts of the world because of the labour rates, AND the fact that they do not have ANY pollution controls on them in China. This makes them affordable for them. And the pollution just keeps coming ... and our jobs just keep going .... Ain' t a guilt trip a wonderful thing?

Boy, I feel better getting that off my chest!!!!

For a refresher on the Land Portion of our Trip ... Click

Traveling is always hard work! The arrival in the port for Beijing, Xingang, was no exception. We docked at 5:30 AM, and I guess the immigration formalities began then. Princess has to disembark 3,000 + passengers and embark their replacements all within an 8 hour window. This is not an easy process .... We were 2 hours late leaving Dalian last night due to immigration problems so we thought that there would be no problems the next morning in Xingang. We should have been so lucky.

In order to get off the ship in some sort of organized fashion, everyone fills out a form saying where they were going. The choices are varied ... from any one of the many Princess based land tours for those staying on board, to those going to any one of the three or four hotels in Beijing, to those going straight to the airport, to those being met, to those going on their own merry way. Each option has its own colour for the disembarkation tags. We dutifully filled out that we were being met, and were issued a purple tag which meant that we would be the last leaving the ship. So, at 9:30 we were sitting in one of the lounges patiently waiting to be called to the gangway to get off. Well, guess what ... more immigration problems. We waited and waited ... over 2 hours we waited until, finally, we were called after 1:00. They did provide pastries while we waited but that did not count as a real lunch that we had become accustomed to. But, no matter, we were off.

We were to be met on the quay side by the travel group who organized the land portion of our trip. We had made these arrangements through a company in Richmond BC called JBC Tours. Much more about these jerks later.

Anyway, we get off hauling our 3 huge suitcases looking for someone holding up a sign with our names on it. Lo and behold there was an older fellow holding the sign. We were on our way! But it was not that simple ... of course!

The gentleman with the sign did not seem too pleased. As we were walking towards the little bus, he asked us where we had been. Turned out he was a passenger on our ship, from Victoria who, along with two other people, was also doing a Beijing tour with the same company. He apparently had filled out his ship disembarkation form lying that he had travel arrangements that forced him to be off the ship by 11:00. So, of course, Princess obliged. By this time, we had got to the bus and the tour guide, who had tried to phone Princess to see if we were even on board, had arrived, Elsie and I noticed that the atmosphere on board the bus was really frosty. The 3 of them had to wait in the hot bus for over 1 1/2 hours for us .... they were not pleased. I could barely suppress a grin .... what goes around ....

 

Anyway, the guide immediately started to try to sell us on the two groups, Elsie and I, and the frosty Victorians, to join up and go as one tour. We had paid for a private tour and this plan would only serve the travel company as there would only have to be one guide and one driver if we joined. She then tried to sell it to us by saying that we would get to see more sights and have a greater variety of food at meal times. Gee, I hate being lied to ... both groups were there the same length of time and signed up to see the same things, and the meals are set meals that would only be more of the same as the numbers grew. The thought of 5 days with the "frosty" Victorians did not appeal in the least!!!! She asked us what we thought, and I must admit I did enjoy watching our little friends squirm. Dead silence for about 3 minutes ... it was fun ... and then I said that it probably wasn't a great idea. The look of relief on the other's faces was quite funny, and so was the frustrated cell phone call the guide made to the office to tell them that she had been unable to sell us. It was in Chinese, but if you listened to the tone of voice, it was very clear the "office" was not pleased!

The 3 hour drive from Xingang to Beijing was quite delightful albeit - very quiet in the bus. As we approached the outskirts, we did notice the air getting a little more grey with each mile. But, we got to the hotel for our Victoria "friends", and they left without a word. Shortly we headed off to our hotel. I must mention here that I had visited Beijing in 1989 just after the problem in Tiananmen Square so I was comparing what I remembered to what I now saw. When here before, there was one lane for cars on the major streets, and the rest of the space was taken up with bicycles. It is the exact opposite today .... one lane for bicycles and the rest of the area for cars. What a difference 20 years can make. The car is definitely the "king" here now.

Our hotel was not far from Tiananmen Square and was an equivalent 3 star Canadian so we were quite at home. By the time we checked in, and the guide told us to be ready to go by 8:00 the next morning and be prepared not to return until after 9:00, it was after 5:00. I was suffering from a serious Tsingtao Beer deficit. Off I go to fine a source ... I found the lounge which was nothing to speak off, but nice enough, so I ordered my beer. It was a 750 ml bottle and came with a small bowl of peanuts. Well, I thought, life is going to be good!!!! Until I got the bill ... the beer cost about $9.00 US. Gee, maybe Beijing has caught up to the rest of the world's Capitals. Dinner that night in the coffee bar was a club sandwich and tea. That came to well over $40.00. This is not the Beijing I remembered!!

But, 6:00 AM came early, and after showering, we headed down to the coffee shop for our included (thankfully) breakfast. It was an OK meal, but the sign on the wall said that it was a $25.00 US pp value. WOW ... we remain in shock over the prices here.

No matter, we met the guide, David, at the appointed hour and headed out for our first taste of Beijing. Today, we were to start at the far end of Tiananmen Square, and walk the length to the entrance of the Forbidden City. The Square is 440,000 square meters and is filled with literally thousands of people. The long lines in front of Mao's Mausoleum are really impressive. To walk the length of it takes a fair amount of time, and this is where we nicknamed our Guide, "The energizer bunny". He just kept going and going and going ..... Elsie and I like to dawdle as we wander and even sit down for a while and people watch. This was a custom with which he was totally unfamiliar. But, we managed to fight our way through the crowds and finally arrived at the north end facing the Forbidden City.

For more complete information on the "Square"

Click on the Picture

 

 

You cross the street from Tiananmen and head into the Forbidden City. The crowds were huge and waiting in line for tickets took some time and patience. Fortunately, "The Bunny" did the line work, and we stood in the shade and waited. You know, it is a strange fact that in China there are few public benches on which to sit. Everyone either walks or sits on their haunches ... an option that is not available to Elsie and me. But eventually, he came back with the necessary tickets and away we went. Now, this place is huge ... 960 metres from start to finish. As you go along, there are many other gates that you climb up and look inside the gatehouse Palace and then continue to the next Palace "Gate of Inner Harmony" etc. Well, pushing through the crowds to have a look takes a lot out of you, and we were very tired by the time we got to the far end of the City. It was now after 1:00 and hunger had hit so it was now off to lunch. (included in the tour cost).

For more information on the Forbidden City

 

We entered the City at Gate "A" and left at Gate "B". I don't think there was a step we didn't climb though we did notice that David would tell us what we were about to see and then send us up the stairs to fight the crowds while he waited in the shade ... a very bright man.

At this point, I guess it is time to talk about the food. We are particularly lucky here in Vancouver as we do have some of the best sources of Chinese Food available in the world. We were looking forward to "eating at the source", as it were, in Beijing. Beijing or Peking Duck was on the menu for this tour, and we were quite excited. But, as many things looked forward to, often the result is disappointing. Basically, the food was terrible!!!! The restaurants we were taken to were had a tourist crowd only ... no locals at all. In fact, most of the tour groups were Korean. We were caught in the Tourist Packaged Food --- cheap circle. The Tour Guy in Richmond was really a Robber ... He charged us the moon and delivered much less. Elsie, ever the practical one, mentioned that at least the food was paid for! All meals included a drink which was about 6 oz of a soft drink or beer. If you wanted a cup of tea, the cost was pretty universal ... 50 yuan, about 5.00 US. We did survive the food, but barely.

When we had the Peking Duck, we both mentioned the peking duck we have at the Snow Gardens with Jordan and Liza. I guess we were spoiled by that as what we were served was pathetic. It wasn't until the last day when we had the whole day to ourselves and no "meals" were included, that we found out abut the real food of Beijing. The beer for which I paid 90 yuan in the hotel was available cold in the supermarket for 4 yuan. The food that we ordered ourselves, was really tasty and reasonable. We found a restaurant for lunch and ordered beef noodles soup (Pho). I had a large beer - like in the hotel - and Elsie had a coke. The soup filled us up, was very good and the TOTAL bill for both was 65 yuan. Now that is more like it. Beijing is probably still suffering from the Olympics gluttony in the large hotels, and the tour companies still feel that they can get away with any charges. The future does not look so good for these guys!!!!

Anyway, we had lunch and then back in the van and off to the Summer Palace. This is the best preserved Imperial Garden in China. It surrounds a man made lake -- Kunming Lake --and being very popular with the locals, was crammed with people. The walk that the Bunny had us on was over a mile in length and we were tired from the morning fun. But we carried on fighting our way through the crowds and trying to hear what the Bunny had to say. This was near impossible as there were so many groups of tourists being led -- usually by a women with a very high voice --who felt that a microphone and portable speaker was the only way to be heard. The resulting noise was catastrophic! It almost physically hurt the ears. We were dying for some peace and quiet!!!!!

 

For much more information on the Summer Palace click here

 

You can imagine just how tired we were when finally we got back to the van. It was an hour or so back into the city fighting the traffic all the way. We are now appreciating just why many Chinese Drivers in Vancouver drive the way they do!!!!

We had a dinner of sort,s and then were off to the Chinese Acrobatic Show. This was really a fantastic display of ability that one often sees on PBS stations at home, but at least here we could sit down! Check out the pictures for more details. We got back to the hotel after 9:00 totally whipped and aching. Tomorrow would be more of the same....

Today was to be the Great Wall. It was two hour drive out to where they took us ... It turned out to be the steepest climb to the Wall, the closest place to Beijing and ... surprise surprise ... it was the least expensive place. Ba Daling was where most European Travelers were taken but this was further out with a much easier climb. Again the "Bunny" pointed us at the steps and said .... "wave when you get to the top" and he headed into the shade. One plus was that we were far enough away from Beijing that we could actually see the sun and breath the air. In fact, it was a lovely day.

Up we headed .... the stairs were of uneven height. Some were the normal rise but some were over 2 feet tall. We climbed and climbed .... and got 2/3 of the way to the top of this little valley .... 360 steps later. Remember, you have to come down too .... Ahhh to have the knees of a 20 year old again. We stopped, waved and headed back down. (can you see the "Bunny"???)

I was sorely (pun intended) tempted to kiss the ground when we got back, but "the Bunny" would have laughed.

On the way back we stopped at the Tomb of Yongle who was the "greatest Emperor" of the Ming Dynasty.

"Third emperor of China's Ming dynasty, which he raised to its greatest power. Son of the Hongwu emperor, founder of the Ming, he was his father's favourite. He was enfeoffed as the Prince of Yan (the region around present-day Beijing) and spent his youth patrolling the northern frontier and keeping the Mongols fragmented. When his nephew succeeded to the throne, Zhu Di rebelled and became emperor in 1402. As emperor, he worked to extend China's sway. He sent out ships of exploration, most notably under Zheng He; these returned with envoys bearing tribute to acknowledge China's overlordship. He became the only ruler in Chinese history to be acknowledged suzerain by the Japanese. A foray into Annam (now Vietnam), which he attempted to incorporate into China, led to years of guerrilla warfare. He five times led large armies north to the Gobi Desert, forestalling the creation of a Mongol confederation that might have threatened China. He transferred China's capital from Nanjing to Beijing. He built the Forbidden City and repaired the Grand Canal so that Beijing could be provisioned without relying on sea transport. He sponsored the compilation and publication of the Confucian Classics and the preparation of the Yongle dadian (“Great Canon of the Yongle Era”), an 11,000-volume compendium." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

We arrived too early for dinner so we took a drive out to see the Bird's Nest Stadium built for the Olympics. The traffic was so chaotic that making definite plans was very hard to do. The stadium is impressive, but the sad news is that we could not get into it as they were redoing the interior and making it into a Mall ..... YECH!!! I spoke before about the meals we were getting so I will not mention the Beijing (Peking) Duck dinner we got. Quelle Disaster!!!!

Anyway, we got back to the hotel at 7:00 ... a much better time than yesterday. Bed looked so good to us that I don't think either of us saw 9:00 PM.

The last day was a half day .... the Great Panda Pavilion in the zoo and a tour of a Hutong (local village still trying to keep the old look) by rickshaw. For more on the Pandas, go to the Pictures page. The Rickshaw ride was not as authentic as the one we did in India. As a matter of fact, as Elsie and I approached the file of rickshaws, the drivers began to argue with one another and tried to push some forward as they retreated in behind. It seems that both Elsie and I were to get on one rickshaw ..... it was quite comical, and we did end up having two separate peddlers over the course of the trip.

Here I must say something about the cultural divide between the two cultures, chinese and western. I didn't mention before, but in between seeing the sights we had paid to see, we were taken to the famous "my brother's shop" of which we were so familiar with in other developing countries. The idea is that the tourists are taken to a factory where, after a cursory explanation of how the objects were made, there was the expectation that they would buy something. The guide got a % cut of the costs and the factories made the rest ... at Tourist prices. By the second day, we had gone to a silk factory, a jade factory, a pearl factory, cloisonne (copper vases) and a tea factory. Well, we did what we wanted and looked around and then left. We bought nothing as we wanted nothing. Often the "Bunny" would disappear for an hour so we had to stand and wait for him to appear. After the tea factory trip, and the little girl who led us through the tastings of several types of tea had followed us around for 25 minutes begging us to buy, I got mad. When we got back to the van, the "Bunny" turned and asked me why I did not like the "cultural" things of China. I tried to explain what the term "cultural" meant, and that we really did not want to buy things we did not want. However, with the very puzzled look he had on his face, I knew we did not get through to him. He was not a happy little guide!!!!! The "two solitudes" for sure ....

 

Our final day in Beijing was great! First off, we got to sleep in!! Then we had breakfast at the Hotel, and then wandered around just people watching. We stopped for an ice cream in a Ben and Jerry's that had chairs that overlooked the street. The people here sure have changed their clothing colours since 1989. Then, most of the men were wearing Mao jackets of dark blue, and the women were wearing black clothes with very little colour. Now ... what a difference! Bright colours were all over the place. I could find only the very elderly men wearing the Mao Jacket, and the young women were dressed in attire that would be perfectly at home on the streets of Rome or London or New York. We found a huge department store that was filled with people looking at all the very upper level Hermes, Pigot. Rolex, etc etc! I guess they were selling this stuff, but there sure seems to be two distinct levels of society ... those who have a lot and the rest who have very little. The change to capitalism is sure underway here!

As we said before, we found food in the local restaurants far cheaper -- and much tastier -- than at the ones we were dragged to on tour. All in all, it was a very pleasant day, but as we had an 8:00 flight to Xi'an the next morning, we would have to be up at 4:00 and ready to head to the airport by 5:30. Yech .....

Next stop .... Xi'an and the terracota horses!!!