Egypt Trip Canceled!

Sadly, I must say that the trip has been canceled due to the unrest in Egypt. We were offered the opportunity to go during the summer but chose not too. It is way too hot, especially in the south, during the summer. I know the people we were going to visit will be disappointed as well but there will be a time for another trip to the Land of the Pharaohs.

When the Lord closes a door he opens up a window. We just have to be open to the opportunities presented.

More on a substitute trip later.

Up the River Nile

Seems there is always more to see no matter where you go. There is always a new adventure around the corner. It could be a trip across town to some place you have never been right in your backyard or a place halfway around the world that you would like to see for the first time along with others you would like to visit again.

We are embarking on another trip to Egypt this spring. While the last Egyptian trip was to Cairo and north this time we will go up the Nile and visit Memphis, Aswan, Luxor and places in between. This trip will be very different from others we have done. There will be three people from Alaska, two wonderful Egyptians that seem like brother and sister to us, and on Egyptian guide. It should be quite a fabulous trip. Four and five star hotels are in the offing, overnight train ride, cruising on the Nile, and of course air transport when necessary. Life should be relaxing and very enjoyable of the the short time we will be away. I look forward to a time of little work and much play even if it is for just a short while.

Visas are applied for, tours are paid, anticipation is rising as the time approaches. What a wonderful trip it will be.

Reflections on the China Trip

I was blown away by the breathtaking attractions this country has. (See the pictures at the left and sprinkled throughout this BLOG and on Picasa) The Great Wall, the museums, the temples, the Terracotta Warriors are all incredible. The scenery is also very beautiful as well as the combination of modern and ancient architecture. China has millennia of history all around its people and tourists. Much of this is taken fore granted by the people of China and for that matter by the tourists that visit the country. China has more than many countries to offer the world. Its natural and man made wonders exceed even the expectations of the informed people of the world. I would return to look at the same venues again and hopefully view some new ones. I was more amazed as each day passed. I guess the bottom line is the answer to the question: “Would I do it again?” The obvious answer is YES, in a heartbeat.

Li Jun (John) our tour guide is phenomenal. He is personable, knowledgeable, spoke impeccable English, and is good looking to boot. He worked tirelessly to make sure our trip was the best experience we could have. The “extra” tours that he arranged for us were fantastic. His selection of “local” guides to enhance our experience was excellent as well. Again there are just not enough superlatives to lavish praise on this man. Li Jun is the best!

Once we were in China we were introduced to the others on the tour. There were 9 from Canada, the leaders from the Ottawa area, and 7 from the Phoenix, AZ area. Again I find it difficult to find superlatives enough to thank these people for joining us on this journey of a lifetime. These people made our trip so much better and in a short time I thought of them more as family than people we had recently met. Teaming up with these folk made our trip much more enjoyable.

The airline service in the country was top notch. In my opinion it is much better than those of the US. I didn’t feel the crunch of the “cattle car” that I do in the US. Our checked baggage was waiting for us when we arrived to claim it. What a pleasant change from the waits at bag claim in the US. The buses we rode on were comfortable. They had large windows to see from but the same windows let the baking sun in as well. One of the challenges was to keep the windows clean. The drivers all handled themselves very well and I felt safe everywhere we traveled.

EF Tours did a very good job of putting this tour together. With the exception of the last hotel we stayed at the accommodations were very good. The meals while often nothing to write home about were generally tasty and the food was plentiful. The in country transportation was very good. There were only two exceptions to a job well done. They were using United Airlines. Cramped space and movie equipment that did not work well were a problem. The fact that one of our adults was booked in a room with a student the whole trip was really not acceptable. We also had what I would call extreme layovers in both San Francisco and Seattle. The SFO layover on reflection seems reasonable with the possible difficulties in customs and immigration but there was little reason for the layover in SEA. The one thing that EF did for our group that was exceptional was hire Li Jun as our tour director, BRAVO.

The current government is certainly much more “open” than those of the past. It allows tourists to go places that not long ago they could not venture. As far as tourism goes they have one major obstacle to overcome, air pollution. The pollution is not just limited to the major cities; it has spread throughout the country from those metropolitan areas. Even in a town well removed from the big cities, Yangshou, the evidence of the unhealthy air is present. There is a gritty dust all over everything in the city. The carvings in the Forbidden City are even somewhat obscured by the sooty particulate matter. Much of the pollution comes from motor vehicles and much comes from factories and power generation facilities.

Major cities in the USA have dealt with the air pollution problem and while the Chinese cities are often larger they should be able to execute the same measures. One would think the task would be easier in a totalitarian government. But then in the US much of the cleanup was done at the demand of the populous. The people demanded the government do something. It took time but the air was cleaned up.

Another obvious difficulty for the traveler is communication with those outside of China. Telephone doesn’t seem to be a problem even email isn’t a problem, however try to write in a BLOG from China and you won’t be able to do it. It seems absurd that you would be able to send email and not be able to update a BLOG. Maybe I was there at a bad time but try as I might I could not get to any BLOG publishing software on the web. I say it’s absurd because I could email the entry to my daughter for her to post but I couldn’t post it myself. I suppose it’s a way for the government to feel they are in control of the information flow.

Going Home

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Going home always signifies the end of the trip. Today was that day, wake-up call given at 6:30 AM, breakfast, and on the bus by 8. We of course repacked things the night before so we be ready to go. Two groups were going home the Alaskans and the Arizonans. The Canadians were headed to a three day tour in Hong Kong.

On the bus ride to the airport everyone shared what they thought was the best part of the trip. Some were reluctant and some anxious to share their highlights. For me the best part of the trip was the people, the new friends. Getting to know the students we took on the tour was a pleasant task. All four of them are great young adults each with their own unique strengths.

At the airport we said our often-tearful goodbyes to the Canadian crew. Janet and Susan are great folk to travel with as well as their students. They helped to make the trip a richer experience for us all. Mason was sorry to see the Canadian girls leave but as they say, “all good things come to an end”. Everyone vowed to keep in touch and I really hope that we do. I will cut DVDs or the pictures I took on the trip and sent them off. And of course there is the blog, Facebook, and email. The travel blog will have new entries about China for a week or more.

The flight home is actually pretty interesting, well the departure and arrival times are interesting anyway. 10 hours on an airplane are not fun. But we did arrive in San Francisco about four hours before we left Shanghai. Now if that isn’t interesting than nothing every will be. Our Arizona friends will part from us in SFO. They will head to Phoenix and we will be off to home in Alaska. The trip was fun. Yet when I see my bed tonight I will be happy that I am home.

We got to Anchorage about a half hour early, which was fine will all of us. The kids were all picked up by 9:30 PM and Bonnie and I were home before 10. It was a great trip but it's always good to be home. Will write more later about general thoughts of the trip and recommendations for future exotic excursions.

Away to Shanghai

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

This was the day to go to Shanghai. Breakfast, get on the bus, and drive to the airport at Guilin. Once again I highly recommend the spending time in Yangshou if you get the chance.

The bus ride was uneventful and the scenery along the way was stunning. The air was much cleaner today making more things visible. When we arrived at the airport in Guilin we got on the plane for the flight to Shanghai. A meal on the flight was our lunch. We had the “honor” of being some of the first people to set foot in a new terminal at one of the Shanghai airports. The terminal was nicely appointed but there were still bugs to work out with the elevator systems and moving tourists to their tour buses. We made it through we were off to see Shanghai. Well as much as you could see in a few hours.

Jin Mao Tower

Shanghai is the financial center of China and has a larger population than Beijing in a much smaller area. There are high-rise apartment buildings whichever direction you look. There are many tall buildings in the downtown area. We were headed to one of those building to ride and elevator to the observation deck on the 88th floor. The elevator makes the climb in 45 seconds, a lifting experience. You can see much of Shanghai from the tower but visibility is severely limited by the haze of the ever present air pollution. You could see people washing the windows of the “bottle opener” building (right) very near to where we were. These buildings in downtown Shanghai are incredible architectural and engineering feats.

Yellow River

We next spent a short time on the banks of the Yellow River. The group took pictures of each other with many different backdrops including the communications tower that is downtown. Nearly all of us had an ice cream cone there. Everyone enjoyed the short time on the banks of the Yellow River.

Silk Market

Next we were off to the silk market. We had a short presentation on the silk moth and it larvae. The pupa of the moth is used to make silk and unfortunately the moth that is metamorphosing in the pupa is killed to get the silk. There is no danger though that this species of moth with go extinct. A demonstration of making a silk duvet was given along with a exhibition of how strong silk is. After all of the hype we were let into the store. We did buy a duvet and cover along with a few other silk items and the prices were pretty good.

From here we went to the hotel. The hotel was absolutely the worst one we stayed in while on the trip. The room we were in had visible patches in the wall and the tub area had a lot of black mildew. We had dinner in the hotel and while the food was actually pretty good it was the first time we did not have enough for everyone to eat their fill. I was pleased we would only be at that hotel one night.

A hard morning rain to a brilliant evening light...

Monday, March 15

Got to sleep in this morning. The first tour was scheduled at 9:30 so spent a little extra time in bed and a later breakfast. Everyone appreciated the break from the hectic schedule of the tour. Breakfast was nice. Bonnie and I got down to the dining room just as the kids were finishing up. When the kids left the Canadian group leaders came down and sat with us so we had a nice talk with them during breakfast. It was a very enjoyable start to the day.

As we came down to go on our hike we all saw that it was raining very hard and so the first tour was postponed until 10:30. That gave me a chance to send some blog entries to my daughter for her to post along with some pictures. It’s nearly 10:30 so I must stop here and go for the tour. More later.

We had a little change of schedule at 10:30. We went on our bamboo raft trip. This was really spectacular. The rafts hold two people and the boatman. The boatman poles the raft down the river through a very picturesque portion of the river. It is unfortunate there are actually vendor on rafts anchored in the river harassing you as you move down the river. You should have either waterproof shoes or boots on or a plastic shopping bag to cover your shoes. They will get wet. The river is made deeper by having damns along its length. Of course the dams have gaps in them so that the rafts can get through. There is up to a five-foot drop and the rafts are long enough to make this “jump” in levels easily without getting the passengers too wet. Bonnie did get her butt wet when we went over the last dam. The river runs slowly and there are few enough ripples that often you can see the reflection of the surrounding hills. There is spectacular beauty everywhere you look in Yangshou. It’s an amazing place.

After the spectacular rafting trip we went to climb Moon Hill. One of the rock outcroppings that stud the landscape has a great circular hole near the top. It looks pretty cool from the bottom but the view is spectacular from the top. Getting to the top is the hard part. You must climb what seems like a million steps to get there. The climb is about 300 meters so there are a lot of steps but getting to the top gives you bragging rights and a spectacular view. Another amazing short journey in our tour.

Lunch was next on the schedule. Went to a local establishment and generally I thought it was pretty ordinary but then maybe after all of the wonderful meals we have had I am getting a little jaded, only time will tell. The meal was certainly satisfactory but nothing to write home about.

Shortly after the lunch we went on the bicycle ride that had been originally scheduled in the morning. We started out along the highway, which seemed quite unimpressive. After about 10 minutes we turned down a country lane and soon were in the midst of farm country. Rice fields, orange groves, wheat fields, and crops we couldn’t identify surrounded us. We also got the opportunity to spend some time at a village farm. Looked around the house, kitchen, and other areas of the farm itself. There was a variety of meats and vegetables hanging in the house drying. It's a method of preservation that is used extensively in China. I had a turn at the wheel of a soy liquid extract machine. Soon found out the task was more about technique and stamina than strength. I think this trip was the highlight of the day. It seems that each day gets better than the last. The extraordinary thing is that we still have one more event after dinner this evening.

We had dinner on West Street and from there went to the light show. The show was pretty spectacular. Most of it took place on the river and was a dazzling display. Over 600 actors, mostly local, are in the show and it is a very well attended show. No rain so no worries. Another day is at an end and we look forward to another exciting day in China.

Terracotta Warriors a must!

Saturday, March 13

Terracotta Warriors

This is truly an amazing exhibit to see. There are three pits that are under excavation at the site. Many of the soldiers are damaged beyond reconstruction but there are hundreds that have been restored and placed in their original positions. There were horses among the soldiers indicating that they we cavalrymen. There are also infantry and a separate area (pit) for the officers and VIPs. Pit one is more than 240 meters in length and only about half of it has been excavated. Pit two is about 100 meters long and contains both cavalry and infantry personnel as well. Pit three is directly behind pit 2 and contains the officers and important people.

The soldiers are part of a 53 sq

kilometer site that is the tomb of Emperor Qin. Much of this are is completely closed now. There are some difficulties in excavating the soldier pits that has caused little activity in the rest of the area. These include oxidation of much of the paint that was used to color the soldiers and a strain of bacteria that is causing premature deterioration of the terracotta clay that the army is made from. Solutions to these two difficulties need to be found before much further excavation takes place.

This exhibit is a must for anyone going to the Xi’an area. The group was totally and utterly amazed by the exhibit. There could be a large tome written on the soldiers and indeed there have been many, so if you want to find out more please surf the web to find out.

Dumpling Lunch

From the Soldiers we went back to Xi’an and gorged ourselves on a sumptuous lunch, at least some

of us did. There was an opportunity to upgrade lunch to a sixteen-course dumpling lunch. Those opting (3 of our group did) out of the optional lunch had a delicious meal as well. This lunch presented dumpling after dumpling.

Sixteen different kinds of dumpling, most all delicious, were even shaped into the figure of the substance they contained. Shrimp in the shape of shrimp, duck in the shape of duck, walnut in the shape of walnuts, and many others, let your imagination be your guide. I would call this the best meal I have had in China so far on the trip.

Art Gallery & Calligraphy

After the wonderful lunch we went to an art gallery where we got a tour and a lesson in Chinese Calligraphy. This was interesting and enlightening as well. It seems that the Chinese characters are all made up of 8 basic strokes that in themselves are pretty easy to learn. It’s the combinations that are difficult. There are after all more than 50,000 characters. All seemed to enjoy this activity.

Massages

After the gallery and lessons most all of us went to get a massage, either a full-body massage or a foot massage. Results and opinions of this activity were mixed. I enjoy the activity. Those choosing not to participate went on a walk in the city with our guide.

Mongolian Pot Dinner

This dinner was one of mixed reviews. I enjoyed the meal but other thought it was the worst we have had on the trip. The meal consists of a pot of boiling water in the center of the table and then the food, noodles and various types of meat and fish, are put in the boiling water to cook. When the food is done it is put into a sauce that is mostly soy sauce though one could also included sesame paste and of course hot oil. This meal was not spicy at all unless you chose to make it so.

One of the Canadian girls had her 16th birthday during this dinner. We had a cake for her and sang Happy Birthday. She was really surprised and I thought the cake was pretty tasty, though some thought otherwise. This was also a great addition to the dinner.