More to Come

Hey friends. I'm back home from China, but that doesn't mean I have shared all my thoughts, snaps, and exploits. When I have sorted and categorized the 2,325 photos now stored in iPhoto, I'll begin more postings. I've made new friends and want to keep up with them--and am looking for Jane Austen and Mark Twain books to forward to Shanghai--and plan to post some thoughts on families and children. I just couldn't resist taking photos of kids--with parents' permission of course. More later. Right now, I'm coping with jet lag and sleepless nights. The monkey mind--too busy and not ready for rest.

Did I mention 300 and 500 year old trees?
That's a topic for one future blog.

The Flight From Beijing

This will be like the clowns
in the VW trick--thinks the van driver 
(the one in the red shirt).

 The departure from Beijing was part chaotic closure to a four-week adventure and part exhilaration at the thought of going home. Again, the luggage. It’s a good thing we weren’t an army on a mission or we would have failed to meet many rendezvous points. We were not a group that moved easily, quietly, or efficiently. An 8:30 a.m. luggage call pulled everyone to the hotel lobby and the scales to weigh bags destined for the U.S. The goal was 22 kilos or less to avoid overage charges. Ah, the repacking, rearranging, and discarding. Susan and I weighed luggage back in Shanghai, so we had more time to toss any excess weight. Blue jeans, old tee-shirts, clothes that had seen more than their share of wear in China, half-empty bottles of shampoo, and packages of wet wipes and tissues became the detritus of the exodus from China. 

The first departure surprise was from the van driver who was transporting our luggage to the airport. See the photo and remember the number of bags I reported earlier. Then notice that he is in a van! He made it. We were warned NOT to open the van door and told that “late” luggage would be hauled to the bus by the owners. The van pulled out of the hotel drive exceeding its load limit for sure and headed down the narrow alley. More about alley ways later.

Before the airport, there was one final stop at Olympic Village. It didn’t seem the same without athletes and national flags and cheering crowds, but I was impressed with the vast space and lack of shade. I snapped the obligatory photos and tried to get a posed shot on one of those little riding machines, but no go. I had the option of renting and riding, but I had made it this far without an injury and thought it best not to risk it on the last hours in Beijing.

Loved the wall. Too late to join the races though.

When we approached the airport, I knew I was home free. After the train station, I had no concern about pulling my belongings into the queue of travelers, making my way to the first security check, easing toward the second security check, catching the tram to the terminal, maneuvering another check point and finding the right gate. Even at the ticket counter, there was still some gnashing of teeth by fellow travelers and more than a few credit cards pulled out. When the rules say 50 pound limit, they mean 50 pound limit. Not 51 pounds.

I might have been under the weight limit, but for some reason, I was targeted for two carry-on searches at security points. My own on-the-go repacking left a trail through the airport. Maybe it was the hat that gave me a suspicious profile.

It was at the first security check when I ran into problems. My iPod was in the bottom of the carry-on. I had taken out my computer, put my hat in the x-ray basket, tossed in my phone, and declared no liquids. People ahead of me told me iPads and iPods were not a problem. Then, I got the signal to empty my bag. Of course the iPod was at the bottom, so everything came out in a jumbled heap. There was a line waiting their turn—well, there were lines everywhere--so speed was a necessity. Back through the machine. Another warning. The iPad, which had been clearly on top in plain view was now the problem, so again I emptied my bag and put the iPad in a plastic tub. All those hours of carefully packing the organized carry-on went out the window. As I left the security checkpoint (minus the water bottle I had just bought), I was balancing a travel blanket and a sweatshirt and would have been holding my passport between my teeth except that I stopped to rearrange. A very nice worker got the blanket and another woman, emptying trash bins got the sweatshirt. Lightening my load.

Window Seat--The better to see Beijing.

A step ahead.

The plane ride was smooth sailing. I had a window seat, my favorite pillow, no water, and a handful of Wintergreen lifesavers. I was also wired—too much adrenaline. For the next twelve plus hours, I listened to music, looked out the window, watched the flight pattern on the movie screen, and dozed—images of all the places we visited flashed across my mind. Even quiet meditation didn’t work. The pillow was no help. Then we landed in Newark. Then we landed in Nashville. Then 30 people were stumbling to collect 100 pieces of luggage and find family. It was over. As quickly as it started and as long as we thought it would be, it was done and we were back to our regular American lives—almost. And we got another opportunity to relive Thursday thanks to the time factor. I know now that it will take a lifetime to absorb those four weeks of experience and there's a lifetime to exchange emails and Skype with new friends in Shanghai and Beijing. 

Beijing Sights

This is my last Beijing tourist recounting of sights and sounds. We have just returned from a day at the Great Wall and an afternoon at the Summer Palace of the Emperors. Yesterday we walked through what felt like most of Tiananmen Square and then visited the Forbidden City. 

Chairman Mao and Me

Tiananmen Square

In the Square, a long line of people waited to view Chairman Mao in his mausoleum. There were rows upon rows of red Chinese flags and many, many security cameras covering every possible angle of the area, with

uniformed guards marching about and "guarding."  But it was a very good snapshot view of the Chinese population. There were families with small children and grandparents, young couples, school groups--a bird's eye view of the social system. Think of a Memphis in May crowd milling about with snacks and cold drinks and you have the general picture. Even when we were in the Beijing train station, I didn't get a sense of the crowd potential until we walked through this square. Picture acres of concrete with the widest roadway in the world (12 lanes I think it is) on one side. It was on that roadway that the students and tanks faced off some years ago in June. (I just had to get my bearings in regard to those famous photos.) It was both a festive and solemn setting--flags, memorial statues, guards, and then the family photo opportunity to mark a visit, and the stunning landscaping. The flowers made the gardener in me snap not only Mao photos but pictures of petunias and marigolds. 

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was straight out of the movie The Last Emperor. Oh, wait a minute. Make that--the movie set was a dead ringer for the real thing. Vast, regal, vast, and impossible to capture the small details with my camera. Everyone has noticed, I'm sure, that I did the tourist-thing, photos with me in front of the scenic stops--yes, to prove I really was there. 








I particularly love the children playing in the Forbidden City--maybe like the little emperor would have liked to do. Even Barbie and the Walt Disney princesses are now in the Forbidden City (which was in its glory forbidden to all but the select few in the emperor's entourage). 

The Great Wall...goes on and on... and up and up

On Beijing, Day Two, the Great Wall was GREAT, but there was not a trolley/tram option. Our tour guide was fleet of
foot and thought nothing of climbing, scrambling, and walking for a "quick" 30 minutes to the next venue. So, she announced as we were making hairpin turns in the bus inching our way up the mountain that we were not going to the tram landing, but to a walking point. After disembarking from the bus (yes, we all wore sturdy shoes) we had a "quick" 15 minute walk to the entrance and then began climbing. To say the incline was 45 degrees would be an understatement. There were not so many steps (what there were are very old and uneven--think back to a start in the 7th century BC. Anyway, we went through narrow passages and peered out of slits used to protect archers. Three of us in my little trekking group made it to the first outpost (20 minutes+ of climbing, huffing, and puffing) and then headed down. I did not feel like I could in good faith buy a " climbed the Great Wall tee-shirt, but I did get my photo taken (tourist style) on the wall and I'm proud of it. The red shoes came out at the Great Wall and even made the Buddha laugh.

The trip to the Summer Palace was also wonderful. Our tour guide told a long story of the Emperor's concubine who had the baby boy who became the emperor, but she ruled behind the scenes and eventually put her own son under house arrest. We got to see the quarters where they all lived and the grounds where they walked and the lake and.. and .. and... Spectacular.

The Kylin (Qilin) bronze statue at the Summer Palace. This mythical creature is supposed to punish evil and repel the wicked. It has a dragon head, a lion's tail, ox hooves, and the antlers of a deer. The body is covered with scales (dragon-like). I especially liked the lake, longevity hill, and the Hall of Joyful Longevity. 

I am compiling a reading list of Chinese history books for this next year's educational reading. Now that I've seen where they lived and walked and fought, I want to have a better picture of the when and how it all happened. 

The Night Train from Shanghai to Beijing

Ready, set, go!

All the warnings about boarding the train to Beijing and wrestling luggage through the station were well-founded. There were escalators, but the trek to the rail car had to be the length of two football fields. Perhaps the fear added adrenaline to our efforts, but nothing prepared us for the reality of stuffing luggage into Lilliputian cabins. The wide-angle photos on the Railway web site were misleading.

Just imagine, squeezing toothpaste BACK into the tube and you have a general idea of what it was like to get 30 people and about one hundred pieces of luggage stuffed into car 314--scrambling to sort out which cabin belonged to which four inhabitants. Now, add an audio track of rumbling train and irritable students and screams of "Really...you expect us to fit in THERE" or "I am NOT sleeping on the top bunk."

A solid line of luggage.

As the train swayed down the tracks and left the Shanghai station behind, we managed to get all luggage pulled and pushed from the passageway--let's just say it was not ADA compliant. Our compartment was well-organized. We stuffed a big suitcase under the little useless table, then smaller stuff under the benches, then threw things onto the bunks, and stacked the backpacks and small bags wherever they would fit. Even the photos can't do this Houdini's box justice. Susan climbed into her casket-sized sleeping space; I squeezed into my bunk (we were older so we got the lower berths). One of our younger roommates found the tiny pull-down step to help her hoist up into the upper bunk and the other roommate was motion sick as soon as the train left the platform. I doled out Dramamine, but she opted to sleep next door in a bottom berth with another girl who also felt a bit woozy.

My Bunk

We boarded the train at about 8:45 p.m. and were to arrive in Beijing at 7:45 the next morning. Not much air circulated, so we did the best we could and Susan watched a little television/movie screen for a while (at the foot of her bunk, but partially obstructed by the suitcase that was also sleeping with her). We woke up well ahead of the Beijing station and made our way to the "facilities" but realized we would be less than fashionable tourists on our first day in Beijing. Two big sight-seeing adventures were on the agenda for 9 a.m. Then, there was the unloading to contend with. All the luggage was pushed to one end of the car and the "guys" were recruited to haul, toss, drag bags off the car before the train left the station again.

Breakfast in Beijing

We arrived in Beijing with all our bags and after the trek up and through the station--let's not talk about the size of the stations and the escalators and the wagon train of luggage. Breakfast was at McDonald's and then we hiked off to the bus. I don't think anyone prepared the bus driver or the tour guide for the size of our entourage. It was a toss-up whether the luggage and the people would actually make it onto the bus.

Last day of tai chi

Just reporting that I have completed tai chi. See photo with my teacher. 

 

Last night in Shanghai tonight and our last night in the dorm.  I'm practicing racing up the stairs carrying my luggage in preparation for the train station.  I will let you know how that goes after the fact.  And I've already finished packing to make sure everything will fit into my suitcase.

The food post

Breaking bread, sharing a meal, gathering around the table—has been literally and symbolically three times a day events as we have traveled throughout Shanghai and an ever-expanding circle around the city and to Hangzhou and Suzhou. Our last dining experience near the French Concession was the Spicy Hot Pot, a description true to its name. 

In the center of our table for eight we had a spicy hot pot—one side “tame” and the other side “fiery,” filled with seasoned liquids and chili peppers, dried cinnamon, bamboo, mushrooms, onions, and other things I could not identify. The aroma easily opened one’s sinuses and made breathing much easier.

Then came the meal. Small platters of  raw meat (ham-spam, lamb, beef, meatballs of some sort), bamboo shoots, more mushrooms, spinach, shrimp, tofu, potatoes, chard of some sort, bok choy, daikon (white radish), and quail eggs. We pushed the platter contents into the boiling liquid (nicely divided between hot and spicy hot in a large copper pot) and waited until someone tested to see the doneness. Great fun using dippers and chopsticks and sometimes being surprised at what surfaced. There was more garlic down in there than we ever imagined. The quail eggs were delicious (partially boiled already and peeled, unlike the pigeon eggs from the lunch buffet the day before).

I’m still on my vegetarian regime and faring quite well. Cucumbers (fresh and cooked), eggplant, and spinach are at the top of my favorite foods.  We did go to the market this afternoon, and I bought Asian pears (shengli), bananas (xiangjiao), and apples (pingguo) for snacks this weekend. 

The photos I am snapping of foods along the streets and in the markets are no reflection on Chinese culture in a negative way. I’m sure that a quick trip down the aisles of some of our local Tennessee supermarkets would yield equally surprising photos of pig ears, pig feet, chitterlings, chicken gizzards, and the list goes on. The sights, sounds, and smells of food along the Chinese streets is part of the experience, and I’m having as much fun taking photos of the experience as I am trying the foods at the table. Well, I’m trying some of the foods.

One confession: When we had to jump off the bus and grab a quick lunch two days ago, many people raced down the shopping corridor looking for options. My roommate and I headed for the Starbucks and settled for croissants and coffee. A little taste of home for sure, and we avoided the magnetic pull of KFC. Did you know there are over 300 KFC locations in Shanghai alone? There are just over 100+ McDonald’s locations in the city.

Following our Starbucks safety lunch, the next day we were more adventurous (and had about 40 minutes longer to order and eat), so three of us ventured into a small Chinese restaurant only to discover no one spoke English or understood our limited Chinese. I do know how to order noodles with vegetables and no meat. Unfortunately that combination did not fit their menu. Finally, an English-speaking Chinese customer came to our aid, and we soon found ourselves at a table with a steaming bowl of noodles, cauliflower in a tasty mushroom sauce, crisp edamame, and fried rice. For $16.00 US dollars we had enough food to feed six people. Granted there was somewhat of a crowd huddled nearby watching us eat—they even brought over forks, which we did NOT need. The food was great and the challenge was fun.  Hope you enjoy the photos of food along my yellow brick road.

Day off for an update

We can hardly believe it, but we have today OFF. We get to stay on campus (unless you want to take the bus and subway into Shanghai for more shopping--and we ran away from that option). This is truly our first day off since we landed in Shanghai. Last night we got back to campus at 11:30 after:

•  visiting the Port of Shanghai, 
• visiting a private orphanage / medical intervention facility for abandoned children who have special needs, 
• lunch out on our own (an experience I'll relate in another post --positive but challenging--even with pictures on the menu), 
• an open market visit, 
• night life in the French Concession, 
• and back on the bus at 10:15 for the long trip home.

It was a very interesting day, but first let me start with this morning. See the photo of my teddy bear mug (with coffee), a STARBUCKS chocolate muffin (note the bag from Starbucks to confirm the purchase) and my computer opened to email. 

Email is my only connection to the people I have left behind. Great start to a day. I ate an apple earlier, which I had saved from a hotel visit and protected from the dorm mice by hanging it up high. We did the same last night with our muffins. We used a clothes hanger to put the muffin sack out of reach from what we thought were mice (I have seen the evidence). 

Last night at about 11:50 p.m., however, there was horrific screaming two doors down, and I went outside to see what was going on. Two of our girls had discovered a RAT in the room.  There was much commotion, then some boys to the rescue, then their retreat. One brave guy grabbed a broom and a shoe and the hunt continued. Girls on the beds and in the chairs, boys running down the hall (they hate rats), and the rat hiding in spots we didn't even know were accessible. Finally, the culprit was cornered and disposed of. Triumphant march of the dead rat down the hall, and then more screams as his companion came out to start the chase all over again. Such is life!  

I haven't written about the mosquitoes because, frankly, I think we have all become used to them and opted for mosquitoes instead of the electric mosquito killers putting out vapors of some kind. The rat adventure provided for a little variety in night life in the dorm, but in case those two guys (the rats) had friends who loved Starbucks muffins, Susan and I elevated our breakfast treats to be out of reach for all but the most acrobatic little rodents. 

Note too the photo of my NEW red shoes.

 Well, not mine really! With only one week left in China, you make the connection. I'm stepping out like a big girl. 

We toured the GM and VW plants on Wednesday and I found the car of my dreams. Of course everyone else rushed to have photo ops with the Cadillac, but I'm finding my balance in a slower pace. 

 The port at Shanghai (busiest port in the world) was evidence of all the MADE IN CHINA goods that come to our local Walmart. Ye gads...containers everywhere. It was too overwhelming for my photos to capture, but I tried. 

 

We got to go into the control room and watch dozens of computer panels showing cargo, ships, destinations, and tracking. Think a major air traffic control center except with ships and truck containers and large robotic lifts and the miles of stacked containers. This was possible only after we crossed a 32 kilometer suspension bridge ("Don't think bridge and water! Don't think bridge and water.")

Our highlight of the day was not more shopping, even though that was included. It was an hour plus visit to the Shanghai Healing Home. It's an American couple (from New Orleans) who work with local Chinese Children's Welfare institutes by providing medical care to abandoned babies with special needs. It was simply incredible. The husband and wife (non-denominational faith-based ministry) have a large house (19 babies in residence now) and they do pre- and post op care for the children and arrange for their medical needs to be met. They have one caregiver for every three babies and what is even better is that they hire migrant women from the provinces to be "mothers" to these children and train them in pre- and post medical care. 

Most of the children are eventually adopted, except a few who come in with no identification (the equivalent of our SS number), so are "invisible" and can't be processed for adoption. I was really impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of Christina, the director. She and her husband have three children of their own (they go to a public school nearby--the youngest is almost 4--and they speak fluent Chinese and English). We collected almost $400 to give to them when we left, and I certainly want to do more to help when I get back home. I have included a few photos of the visit. Our students were really taken by the children. 

Well, I have to do laundry and preliminary packing for our Monday night departure on the night train (10 hours) for Beijing. I also have two assignments to turn in today and a final exam on Monday morning. Let's not forget the academic part of the trip.