Expo 2010 - Yay!

*The USA Pavilion was pretty boring compared to all of the very thoughtful and imaginative pavilions presented by other countries.  It was primarily made up of three cheesy videos.  The first video is of Americans clumsily attempting to speak Mandarin along with some celebrity cameos of Kobe Bryant, Tony Hawk, Michelle Kwan, Magic Johnson, and the USA pavilion ambassador (who?).  The second movie featured video speeches of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, both of which were photographed by the Chinese audience, and reps from GE, PepsiCo, and Chevron talking about the American “spirit” while cleverly inserting their corporate slogans in their speeches.  As a bit of balance there was a short feature on Habitat for Humanity.  The third video featured a 4-D video (it “rained” on the audience and the chairs shook) about a young girl motivating her community to transform an abandoned plot of land into a garden – a little cheesy for my taste.  Overall it was pretty boring and after reading some blogs on the Chinese reaction, it seems the Chinese were not quite impressed either by the content nor the architecture of the building.  Regardless, the pavilion is quite popular and lines continue to be very long.  We luckily were able to bypass the line after a bit of smooth talking.  :)

**Right in front of the Denmark pavilion, right next to the people lining up, there was a 1 square foot block of ice sitting on the ground.  We saw a Danish man run across the front of the pavilion to scream at a Chinese man, woman, and small boy.  The family decided that it was a good place for the kid to urinate.  In front of hundreds of people standing in line.  But the family thought it was sooo funny.  Not funny.  Very gross.

Pictures!

China Pavilion makes you wanna jump jump

Spain Pavilion

The Netherlands Pavilion

Cris with Miffy at the Netherlands Pavilion

U.K. Pavilion

The Honda dealership - err... I mean, the USA Pavilion

Mexico Pavilion

Masked Stephanie in the artsy Mexico Pavilion

Canada Pavilion

Beijing is awesome! We love it. Lucky us, we are staying with my aunt and uncle, both of whom are treating us very finely, including treating us to an excellent meal of Peking Duck at DaDong Roast Duck Restaurant – easily the best meal we’ve had on this trip. They’ve lived in China through some pretty interesting times including the Cultural Revolution and through some mixture of my poor Cantonese, google translate, and a little guess-work in between, we were able to learn more about their lives and experiences.

Beijing, itself, is rich with history and thriving with modernism. Our first stop was the Forbidden City, the nerve center for the Ming and Qing dynasties. It’s huge! And even after two pretty full days there, we still did not see everything. Plus, the massive crowds and tour groups makes the place pretty difficult to navigate. To psych ourselves up, we watched the 3-hour epic film, the Last Emperor, about Emperor Puyi, the last emperor to live in the Forbidden City. He was forced to leave in 1924, after which the palace was converted into a museum. Note the large umbrella in our picture (people seem to use umbrellas more in the sun than they do in the rain), and the hazy sky (nope, that’s not fog or an overcast sky, just good ol’ Beijing haze.)

Forbidden City

Forbidden City View from Jingshan Park

The Forbidden City is the focal point of Beijing, from which the entire city emanates. To the south is the heavily monitored Tiananmen Square and the mausoleum of Chairman Mao. Like Bac Ho in Hanoi, the Chairman attracts thousands of visitors a day including yours truly as we braved the heat, ladies with their sun umbrellas, and the pushy old-timers Cris has nicknamed “bulldozers”.

The next day we visited the Temple of Heaven Park, where emperors would come to make sacrifices to pray for abundant harvests. It was also a great park for people watching as the park is also enjoyed by everyday Chinese people singing, dancing, playing with ribbons, or a game of paddle ball.

Temple of Heaven Park

My sister arrived this week to join us in Beijing. One of our first stops was Summer Palace. Just as the name would imply, the Summer Palace was home to the royal family during the summer. It’s quite picturesque since it’s situated on the edge of a lake. The Empress Dowager Cixi held her summer court here and much of the palace is reflective of how the palace stood during her birthdays, as well as where she would dress before her visit to the Buddhist temple at the top of the hill, where her boat would dock, and even where she would go shopping. Ostensibly, the Qing dynasty was ruled by male emperors, but Empress Dowager Cixi was certainly the invisible hand that held power of the Qing dynasty for many decades.

Summer Palace

Beijing is also full of great modern architecture. We are amazed daily by the kinds of buildings that we see throughout the city including the the CCTV main office, shaped like a pair of pants, and the new opera house, shaped like a titanium egg. And of course, the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest from the Olympics are no exception. They are awesome! And even more spectacular in the evening when they are lit up. We spent a whole evening at the Water Cube watching the patterned lights while re-enacting our favorite Olympic moments (Usain Bolt’s victory stance, speed walking, Michael Phelps and team relay miracle) to the amplified soundtrack of the Beijing 2008 Olympic theme song…. “One World, One Dream….”

Olympic Park - Water Cube

Olympic Park - Bird's Nest

Well, we didn’t think we could top our camel riding adventure in the Gobi Desert, but I think we may have topped it or at least come pretty close. With my sister, newly flown in from the states, we set off to spend the night on the Great Wall of China. Pretty cool, eh? We joined a small tour (18 people) which reached the Wall at 5:00 p.m., well after all of the crowds had left, and set up camp in one of the watchtowers on the less toursity end of the Badaling section of the Great Wall. This particular part of the Great Wall was rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty about 500 years ago. It’s currently going through restoration, but clearly parts of it were still in great disrepair and overgrown with weeds. It was amazing to be able to spend the evening there and at 5:00 a.m. we awoke to a stunning sunrise on the wall. Thank goodness the weather cooperated – clear skies and no rain!

Great Wall of China

Great Wall of China

After a week of exploring Beijing’s ancient past, we decided to check out Beijing’s thriving modern art scene. My aunt and uncle actually live a block away from Block 22, one of the hotspots in Beijing’s art scene. We also saw “798″, where old factories have been refashioned into a hip neighborhood full of art galleries, trendy stores and cafes. We could have easily spent several days in this area with so many galleries and art studios to explore. The Contemporary Art Museum (UCCA) was great. The exhibits there were very thought-provoking. One artist had actually taken a train that crashed inside a mountain tunnel during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and transformed it into an art display.

Modern Art at Block 22

Next stop, Shanghai. Only 2 more weeks in China…

We are now Xi’an in Shaanxi (not Shanxi) Province. Confusing, isn’t it? Xi’an is the former capital of the first emporer of China, and the subsequent Han, Sui, and Tang dynasties through the 10th century. So it is no surprise that there are lots of ancient tombs and mausoleums. The most famous of course, are the Terracotta Warriors. The Terracotta Warriors are the tomb of China’s first emperor, or more accurately, despotic leader Qin Shi Huang. He was first to conquer the neighboring warring states to create a “unified China”. He was responsible for the initial building of the Great Wall and for unifying currency, measurements, and the written language. His tomb is said to have taken 38 years to construct. All this we learned in an intro film shown on a 360 degree panoramic screen (circa 1985) which featured a dramatic/unintentionally comedic reenactment of the history of the first emperor and the building of his tomb.

The tomb consists of three major pits with Pit 1 being the most spectacular mostly because of it’s size. It’s located in an airplane hangar-sized stadium and is lined with upright soldiers and chariots. All of the statues have been completely pieced together since Qin Shuhuang’s tomb was actually destroyed and set fire to by neighboring rebels. The tomb was only discovered in 1974 when some farmers were trying to dig a well. The statues are life size with exquisite detail even down to the fingernails, strands of hair, and tread on the soldier’s shoes.

There are about 100 different distinct faces that are used reflecting the look of the various people during that time. Different figures have different clothing carved to depict their ranking and position from high ranking officer to stable man to musician. Most interesting to me was the fact that all of the figures actually were painted in reds, blues, greens and blacks that have since faded over time due to it’s exposure to air and moisture.

After elbowing and jockeying our way through the bajillion people at the Terracotta Warriors, we were very relieved to find the Tomb of Emperor Jingdi (Hanyangling Museum) the next day. Here, is housed the tomb of the fourth emperor of China from the Han Dynasty (188-141 BC). There were barely 20 tourists there which is quite an oddity in China and made getting to the museum quite a feat (one bus, 1.5 hour wait for another bus in 95+ heat which resulted in a circuitous 60 yuan taxi ride). But, it was definitely well worth it.

The 4-year old museum has beautifully constructed glass walkways that allow you to walk directly over the pits to see the contents up close and personal. The figurines are completely different from the Terracotta Warriors. They are only 1 meter high and what’s left now are the nude trunks of the figures since the wooden arms and original silk and linen robes the figurines wore have since disintegrated. The figurines are of men and women, warriors and eunuchs. Additionally, to carry the wealth and abundance into the afterlife, there are thousands of figurines of animals in the pits including the “honest and straightforward” cow and the “clumsy and funny” pig (quotes are from the descriptions in the museum). The museum is also temperature controlled so any remaining color on the pottery is still visible today. Anyway, I would highly recommend this new museum to any visitors to Xi’an.

Ok that’s all for now… Sorry for the lack of pictures on this one. We’re now off to Dunhuang on the edge of the Gobi Desert in western Gansu province.

Our first stop was Datong – an unremarkable city, but a good base of operations for the surrounding sites, the primary one of which is the Yungang Caves. The Yungang Caves site consists of over 250 caves of varying sizes. The fascinating element of these caves are the carved Buddhas that fill them which date back to the 5th century. They are some of the most impressive things that I’ve seen thus far in China. The Buddhas are carved directly into the rock and are made to look like wood. The largest Buddha is about 17 meters tall! Many Buddhas are depicted with diligent disciples and a backdrop of the “thousand Buddha” motif carved into the wall, which is an ornamentation of many mini Buddhas in individual cubbyholes.

We also saw the Hanging Monastery, a monastery built into the side of a mountain cliff and held up with long stilts. The monastery is beautiful and it’s placement on the mountain provides great views of the canyon. We enjoyed the site, but were again shocked by the outrageous entrance fee of 130 yuan per person – over twice as much as the Forbidden City in Beijing!

Next stop was Pingyao, a UNESCO world heritage city set in the coal mining center of Shanxi province. Pingyao is an obligatory stop on the western backpacker route and is overrun with souvenir shops and foot massage parlors but definitely more authentic of an ancient city than Lijiang. Interestingly, the only people who got off of the train from Datong were Western tourists. Many come to Pingyao because Zhang Yimou’s “Raise the Red Lantern” and Chen Kaige’s “Farewell My Concubine” were shot around here and it still captures that old-world feel. The city allows visitors to visit historic courtyards where we learned about the origins of China’s banking and lending services from the Ming and Qing Dynasty. And Cris’s favorite courtyards were those of the dynastic escort services that were lead by martial artists and wushu masters of the day. In the courtyards we were able to practice our martial arts with various swords and clubs and re-enacted fight scenes from “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” in the boxing rings in many courtyards.

Nearby is Zhangbi Village, below which nearly a mile of ancient tunnels were dug 1400 years ago to protect the village from “the enemy”. The village is also apparently built to correspond to various constellations in the sky; something we thought very interesting though we’re slightly skeptical. In any case, we were appreciative of our English speaking guide since we learned so much more from the tour than we normally do from just aimlessly walking around.

We did enjoy Shanxi, but cannot leave without mentioning the coal. Oh the coal! The air is horrible here – we were hacking up our lungs and blowing a lot of black snot. Coal mines and coal-burning plants are everywhere. If China wants to develop their solar power capacity, they’ll have to clean up the air in Shanxi first. But that will require lots of work (or lots of silver iodide rockets).

We are now in Xi’an and heading out to see the Terracotta Soldiers tomorrow. I can’t wait!

We saw baby panda cubs, 2 year olds, sub-adults, and adult pandas. They were all super cute. Each had a different technique for eating bamboo, some tore at the stalks, some opted only for leaves. The funniest ones would lie on their backs and roll all over in the bamboo. Again, due to our inability to access YouTube here, we can’t upload the video… Trust us though, the pandas were very cute!

In Chengdu, we also ate the tastiest mapo tofu. Sichuan also is known for very spicy food and particularly dishes flavored with Sichuan peppercorns, which is less spicy than a chili pepper, but has a very strong numbing effect that made our lips quiver. And it’s not like you get a few peppercorns sprinkled in – you get hundreds per dish. Cris remarked that the taste sensation is like nothing he’d experienced before.

Later we visited Jiuzhaigou (Nine Village Gully) National Park, about 400km north of Chengdu. It is absolutely gorgeous there. I would definitely put it alongside Yosemite and Yellowstone as one of the most beautiful parks. The most distinctive feature of the park is its deep, clear tourquoise and emerald colored lakes scattered throughout the park. Before coming here, we had assumed that hot springs or other Yellowstone-like features caused the vivid colors. The water is actually icy cold, and in some cases, teeming with fish. Apparently, the surrounding limestone rocks and carbonate contributes to the amazing clarity and colors of the streams and ponds. But we’ll leave the geology factoids for Dad! These iPhone pictures really do not do the place justice – for some great pictures and a good article about the park, check out this March 2009 National Geographic issue – http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/jiuzhaigou/hoagland-text

We are now in Beijing and getting a crash course in Chinese history. More updates soon!

p.s. The Holland loss was sad, but we are glad they made it as far as they did. Euro 2012 – Hup Holland!

Guilin was the perfect launching point for us to see the Longji (Dragon’s Backbone) Rice Terraces, a very impressive set of terraces that stretch for miles along the ridges of the mountains with the highest ones as tall as 1000m high. To get here, we joined a local tour and became numbered among the obnoxious large tour groups with tour guides blaring info over amplified speakers as we tromped through local villages.

On our way, we visited the Yao minority village known for the women with long hair, some as long as 2 meters! The Yao women only cut their hair once in their lifetime when they get married, but even then, they keep their hair and include their old locks in their hair wrap. The people in this village apparently like to “pinch your ass” (the exact words of our tour guide) to show affection; something which we both experienced first hand. To learn about local village life, we were subjected to a Disneyland-esque performance by the locals which ended in an embarrasingly hilarious mock wedding ceremony between a Scandinavian tourist and young village girl. We laughed our pinched butts off.

To get the full Li River experience, we took a bamboo (PVC pipe) raft down the Li River to Yangshuo where we got to experience the karst landscape up close. Just two weeks ago, the river was flooded due to heavy rains in China. The river seemed to be back to normal level, but we could definitely see traces of high waters from the debris left in the tree branches.

Yangshuo is picturesque in every way. The thing to do here is bicycle through the countryside which we of course did in expert style.

After getting an early flat tire fixed, we headed towards the Yulong River.
The all-day ride was stunningly beautiful. After riding just 5 minutes off the main road, we were swept away into a vastly more laid-back countryside. At every turn, we saw karst peaks surrounded by rice fields. We passed through small villages and meandered alongside the river. Besides one or two sections of our path, we were the only tourists or people in sight. At one point, we got lost in some villager’s vegetable and citrus garden. We got back on a path that only took us further afield to even larger mountains. Finally some enthusiastic buffalo herding woman put us back on the right path. After crossing the hill we were relieved to be greeted by an eager young man whom took us and our bikes across the river back to our initial village. What a day!

The next day Cris spent rock climbing the karst peaks. It was challenging for sure. But he got a taste of the thrill and the skill involved, plus some pretty views from the top.

To top it off we went to see Impressions Sanjie Liu, an outdoor show directed by Zhang Yimou – the same person who directed the 2008 Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies and many movies. The outdoor theater is performed primarily on the river and the surrounding islands and takes advantage of 12 limestone peaks as a backdrop. The show is quite spectacular with around 600 performers singing, dancing and maneuvering on bamboo rafts. Every scene left us ooing and awing. It was awesome!

Next stop is Chengdu in Sichuan province where we hope to see the Giant Panda Reserve and Jiuzhaigou National Park.

p.s. Get an orange shirt, buy a chunk of Gouda, some Heinekens/Grolsch/Amstel/Ketel One, and cheer on Holland in the final! We will be watching from our hostel in Chengdu at 3 in the morning!

Aanvallen! Hup Holland!

I think it’s the makings of a Chinese pop star or at least a member of next season’s Jersey Shore.

What do you think about this for a new passport photo? Maybe then the immigration officials won’t have as much trouble Identifying him. Last time it took 4 people and a smile test to confirm his identity.

Well we made it. We are finally in China. Right now, we’re in Yunnan province in southwestern China. From what we can tell, there is some pretty amazing scenery here, a great deal of sprawling development, and tons of people everywhere. China = People Power!

We are definitely getting a crash course in Mandarin via immersion. Ni hao! Ni huay shua ying yu ma? (hello, do you speak English?)

Before leaving on this trip, Cris downloaded 190 Mandarin lesson-podcasts of which we’ve only listened to 6. We now know how to say, ‘Canada is great!’ and ‘I don’t like coffee, I like tea.’ Both of which have not gotten us very far. As such, we are also sharpening our pantomiming skills.

To recap our last several days:

We started off in Kunming which was quite a shock after being in little tiny Laos. Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province is about a thousand times bigger, more dense, and more developed than Vientiane. Despite it’s size, Kunming seems quite relaxed, at least based on the two days we spent there.

We also had just about the spiciest food ever here, a spicy beef hot pot. Delicious, but much too spicy. The entire pot was filled with all variations of chillis then there were dried chilli flakes in it and chilli oil in the broth. My entire face was throbbing after just a few bowls, which was surprising to me since we have already gone through several countries known for their spicy food, namely India and Laos (think Thai food).

We also witnessed our first nightly community dance-fest. Practically the whole town shows up at the square and then breaks off into two or three groups of varying skill/dedication levels (of several hundred people each). At this point someone emerges from the group as the dance leader. Then the throngs shimmy and twirl in semi-unison, nonstop for hours. I would post the video but YouTube is a no-no here so just let your imaginations run wild. And this was not a one-night or one-town occurance either. It happened in Kunming, Lijiang and Shangri-la.

Next stop was Lijiang. Imagine China hundreds of years ago with cobblestone streets, carved wooden buildings, and canals filled with water cascading from the Tibetan plateau. Well that’s what you find in ‘old-town’ Lijiang. And it is a very wonderful sight. The UN agreed and made it a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the late ’90s (that makes UNESCO town #3 for us after Hoi An and Luang Prabang). There are issues with the UNESCO status though. The authenticity of many locations are questionable as we saw many ‘old’ buildings being built right before our eyes. Furthermore, the old town is full of vendors selling trinckety junk (animal-tusk comb anybody?) and an army of junk-buyers. And also with the old town came the construction of a new town, which is probably around 10 years old, yet is sprawling with no end in sight. UNESCO has even threatened to revoke the World Heritage Status as a result. Despite all of this, it is truly a neat place to visit.

Last stop in Yunnan province was Zhongdian aka Shangri-la. Zhongdian also has a very interesting history as it was renamed Shangri-la in 2001 after a crack-team of government experts concluded that James Hilton’s 1933 FICTIONAL ‘Lost Horizon’ took place there. The evidence is pretty comical, pbut as a result *poof* – a center of tourism is born.

Shangri-la is another cute little new ‘old town’. It is perched at 10,500 feet above sea-level and the air is subsequently nippy and thin. After strolling through old-town and surveying the wide assortment of yak products, we visited a breathtaking Tibetan Buddhist monastery. Gamden Sumtseling Gompa was our little taste of Tibet without the painful visa process or altitude sickness.

We are leaving Yunnan in a few days to go to Guangxi. The learning process continues!

Zaijian for now!

p.s. We’ve been really surprised how the Chinese have managed to attach entrance fees to every possible site. Sometimes there is very little to see, but our piggy bank ends up 150 yuan lighter. Go figure!

And, happy 4th of July everybody. Eat lots of hamburgers for us!

And the duthchmen look great, especially the coaches in their slick grey suits and starched white shirts! (this is Jane speaking, of course). Hup Holland!