Post by skier1 on Jul 27, 2006 20:18:56 GMT -5
So, here it is at last: my trip to China.
Right off the bat, I’ll get one thing out there. I traveled with a group. Do not do this, as you will greatly regret it. It is much easier, cost effective, and more fun to travel alone. My group was rushed through some major historical sites, some were skipped completely, and there was much time spent doing irrelevant “team-building” activities and taking group photos. I could have condensed this trip into a week and a half if I went on my own, and seen more stuff.
I took pictures whenever given the opportunity, but was severely limited by the fact that my camera was a piece of crap, and by the 128 mb memory card. I got around 120 pictures overall, a good majority of them being from the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. There are 70 of them in here. Be ye warned.
Shanghai – Arrival time was around 5:00 PM on July 6th, China time. Thanks to a complete poop chute sitting in front of me on the flight out, I’ve been awake for a good 24 hours at least now. After dinner (sweet and sour chicken was 70% of my diet for the entire trip), we took a nighttime tour of the city. Getting out of the air-conditioned bus into the hot, humid, polluted air of Shanghai wasn’t the nicest feeling, but there were some great views of the city lights. Shame that only a few of the pictures came out, what with the smog and bustling crowds. It was here that I had my first major revelation about China: for a country that claims to be communist, China is more capitalist than America. There are advertisements everywhere, Pepsi had purchased what appeared to be an entire road, street peddlers will follow you everywhere trying to get you to buy things, and you can haggle over anything and everything. The hotel was nice, and there was much amusement from the Engrish hotel announcements and the bizarre, half-hour-long infomercial about some vibrating weight loss belt (a commercial that ended up recurring through the entire trip on the TV, much to the delight of my fellow campers). The following morning, breakfast was interesting. Chinese don’t really serve drinks at meals, usually serving watermelon instead. After breakfast, it was off to a pearl dealership, a museum, a silk factory, and a rather large garden. The highlight was, naturally, the museum. There were a variety of cultural masks (2), a few pieces of some ancient boats, and plenty of weapons. It’s a shame we only had a day and a half in Shanghai, since we were rushed through everything so we could see everything else. Not to mention, I really could have down without the pearl dealer, silk factory and garden. I really wanted to spend more time on the streets, as there was very little time for exploring the millions of shops in the area. In fact, we had something around 15 minutes for it.
More pictures:
A delicious lunch
The koi at the garden were vicious.
Zhengzhou – From Shanghai, we went a bit further inland to Zhengzhou, where we stayed for a week on a university campus, to work on “creative problem solving” with Chinese students. Once again, don’t travel in groups, you’ll regret it. Anyway, we spent a week in dorms with the Chinese kids. A fun fact about life in China: their sewage system apparently isn’t equipped to take toilet paper, so it is supposed to be thrown in the trash can instead. Now, imagine, or better yet, don’t, what would happen to your standard college bathroom given six kids per toilet and no room service. So, I get settled into the room, which in and of itself isn’t too bad. The fact that I only had 3 roommates, and that they were all so scared of me and/or shy that they all crammed into the other room, helped. The TV programming was mediocre, which wouldn’t have been a problem if the people running my group decided that there were to be no music players of any kind on the trip. Once again, don’t travel in groups. The next morning, during the opening ceremony, I had my second revelation about China: there’s not nearly as much respect for authority as one would imagine in a country where there are armed guards every 50 feet. Now, this obviously isn’t true of all Chinese, but it proved to be true for most of what I saw everywhere I went. The Chinese kids talked straight through the opening speeches. Later in Beijing, I would witness Chinese people standing up after being repeatedly told to sit down by armed guards. Brilliant. This aside, the camp wasn’t too bad, at least in the beginning. There was a supermarket right downstairs from the dorms, with a café next door and internet access in the same building. Down the street was a music and DVD store, where I ended up buying some Metallica for less than a buck, and the entire James Bond collection for around 16. They’re definitely pirated, but I had no idea at the time that I bought them, as the shop looked legit, as did the cases. Oh well.
About halfway through the week, we took a trip to a little place called the Shaolin temple, which was the birthplace of Chinese kung fu. Driving through the complex, we passed fields and fields of kids learning how to fight, using their bodies, swords, and those bamboo stick things. There’s nothing quite like watching a group of kids with swords take a few slashes with broadswords and then throw a couple backflips in unison, seamlessly integrating a few more slashes. On the way back from the temple, I picked up a katana, as the ones for sale inside the temple were overpriced, heavy, poorly balanced, and in general pieces of crap intended for poorly educated tourists. The one I picked up is stainless steel, full tang, mildly well balanced, and, best of all, only cost around $24. In retrospect, I should have picked up two, as this was the last time I’d see a decent weapon for sale in China. This was easily the climax of the week in Zhengzou.
The week kind of went downhill from there. We got room changes for no apparent reason, which means I got moved away from my very comfortable room into one that was a bit more cramped, louder, and more messy (which I was suddenly responsible for cleaning up). Moreover, I had to share a room. At least the kid was a friend. Then, we lose internet access. Apparently, we weren’t supposed to be in that lab, since it’s too convenient or something. So, they shift internet access to a building across campus, which is locked most of the time, in an unlabelled room a couple floors up. This week couldn’t have finished fast enough.
More pictures:
A bit of countryside
Farmland
Best sign ever.
Out of fear of the second dorm room's bathroom, I deployed a unit of the fearsome Cardboard And Styrofoam Navy in the sink, to fend off whatever the hell was growing in there.
Beijing – Ah, the part I’d been waiting for. There was a lot more time to wander around and shop, but nothing particularly notable was nearby. In the interest of space, here are the basics of what happened.
Tian An Men (2) (3) – The political center of China. On one side is the People’s Congress (2), on another the Forbidden City. Opposite the Forbidden City lies the Mausoleum of Chairman Mao (2), and across from the Congress, the Museum of the Revolution. This Square was packed with more peddlers than any other part of the city visited. I actually went twice – once during the daytime, and once at dawn for the flag-raising ceremony. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the body of Mao either day. Apparently, the Mausoleum only opens when the temperature is low enough to not damage Mao’s body (he’s kept in an underground vault otherwise), and openings are rare in the summer. I also didn’t get to see the Congress building or the Museum.
Forbidden City - The group was rushed through the Forbidden City, given only an hour to cover two miles of amazing architecture and riches. This was a crime. Regardless, I took as many photos as possible.
The famous entrance
Gate about halfway through
A river
The following opening
Under reconstruction. Many of the monuments were like this. Apparently, all the buildings are getting a complete refurbishing in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
Very long city. See that building way off in the distance? Yeah, that's about where the end is. This was taken a good way into the city.
A throneroom. I passed 4 or 5 of these. All with ornate thrones.
Golden roofs galore.
Part of a particularly exubrant staircase.
Another throneroom
Badass statue
And another statue
Damn. A structure just outside the royal garden.
Looking towards heaven. This is looking back just outside of the final gate. Everything just lines up perfectly. This is the only one of my pics that really does justice to the City.
Temple of Heaven – Lunch, and a rather lengthy tour of the place on foot. Why didn’t we spend this time at the Forbidden City?
Stairway to Heaven?
The gate leading to...
Another large throneroom! And the contents
A note about this: This kind of complex structure was underneath every roof in the Forbidden City, and quite a few at the Temple of Heaven, where this photo was taken.
Summer Palace – Also large and full of interesting stuff, also rushed through. It seems like we only saw 10% (if that) of the grounds. No photos (by this time, my camera was dead.)
Great Wall – Oh hell yes. This section of wall went over the peak of a mountain from the base. This just lent itself to great shots. I did get to the top of the mountain, but by then the camera was dying, and I wasn’t in much better shape. There’s no way to really describe it with words, so here’s a few pictures. The Great Wall is a photographer's paradise.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
At the top. Too tired to correctly operate a camera. But it was more than worth the effort. The views were incredible. Since there's nothing in that one, Here's the view out that window. I didn't do it justice.
Engrish!
By the way, those little outpost buildings? They're A little short. Being tall sucks *sad*
Ming tombs – Ho hum. We only walked on a small section of the road to the tombs, and then left. Traveling in groups sucks. Seeing the tombs would have been awesome, but there were more important things to do, like sit around awkwardly with Chinese students for a couple of hours.
Random Beijing Pictures:
I realize that I haven't yet gotten a picture of what life is like for the average Chinese citizen. This is kind of dissappointing, as seeing only the great monuments gives you no idea of what is truly like for the locals. So this is the best I could come up with: a picture of across the street from our hotel. The apartments are the standard living unit for people here. However, this barely captures anything I wanted it to.
A double decker bus. Apparently they're in every other country on Earth, why the hell don't we have them in America?
Olympic Stadium, under construction.
One of the statues outside Mao's Mausoleum. The amount of detail is stunning. It is perhaps the greatest letdown of the trip that I didn't get to see Mao himself, a man so revered by the Chinese, and scorned by the West. This is the closest I would come. If nothing else, I want to go back to see Mao.
Visited a museum in Beijing, too. Notable exhibits: the catapult, replica warship, and a water-powered astronomy tower (inside)
On the flight home, I noticed that our plane was powere by a couple of Rolls-Royce engines. The car guy in me never dies
That about covers the trip. Here are a few fun facts I skipped:
Overall impressions: Nice place. Great place to visit, for short or long periods of time, but wouldn’t want to live there. Definitely want to go back. Just alone this time.
Right off the bat, I’ll get one thing out there. I traveled with a group. Do not do this, as you will greatly regret it. It is much easier, cost effective, and more fun to travel alone. My group was rushed through some major historical sites, some were skipped completely, and there was much time spent doing irrelevant “team-building” activities and taking group photos. I could have condensed this trip into a week and a half if I went on my own, and seen more stuff.
I took pictures whenever given the opportunity, but was severely limited by the fact that my camera was a piece of crap, and by the 128 mb memory card. I got around 120 pictures overall, a good majority of them being from the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. There are 70 of them in here. Be ye warned.
Shanghai – Arrival time was around 5:00 PM on July 6th, China time. Thanks to a complete poop chute sitting in front of me on the flight out, I’ve been awake for a good 24 hours at least now. After dinner (sweet and sour chicken was 70% of my diet for the entire trip), we took a nighttime tour of the city. Getting out of the air-conditioned bus into the hot, humid, polluted air of Shanghai wasn’t the nicest feeling, but there were some great views of the city lights. Shame that only a few of the pictures came out, what with the smog and bustling crowds. It was here that I had my first major revelation about China: for a country that claims to be communist, China is more capitalist than America. There are advertisements everywhere, Pepsi had purchased what appeared to be an entire road, street peddlers will follow you everywhere trying to get you to buy things, and you can haggle over anything and everything. The hotel was nice, and there was much amusement from the Engrish hotel announcements and the bizarre, half-hour-long infomercial about some vibrating weight loss belt (a commercial that ended up recurring through the entire trip on the TV, much to the delight of my fellow campers). The following morning, breakfast was interesting. Chinese don’t really serve drinks at meals, usually serving watermelon instead. After breakfast, it was off to a pearl dealership, a museum, a silk factory, and a rather large garden. The highlight was, naturally, the museum. There were a variety of cultural masks (2), a few pieces of some ancient boats, and plenty of weapons. It’s a shame we only had a day and a half in Shanghai, since we were rushed through everything so we could see everything else. Not to mention, I really could have down without the pearl dealer, silk factory and garden. I really wanted to spend more time on the streets, as there was very little time for exploring the millions of shops in the area. In fact, we had something around 15 minutes for it.
More pictures:
A delicious lunch
The koi at the garden were vicious.
Zhengzhou – From Shanghai, we went a bit further inland to Zhengzhou, where we stayed for a week on a university campus, to work on “creative problem solving” with Chinese students. Once again, don’t travel in groups, you’ll regret it. Anyway, we spent a week in dorms with the Chinese kids. A fun fact about life in China: their sewage system apparently isn’t equipped to take toilet paper, so it is supposed to be thrown in the trash can instead. Now, imagine, or better yet, don’t, what would happen to your standard college bathroom given six kids per toilet and no room service. So, I get settled into the room, which in and of itself isn’t too bad. The fact that I only had 3 roommates, and that they were all so scared of me and/or shy that they all crammed into the other room, helped. The TV programming was mediocre, which wouldn’t have been a problem if the people running my group decided that there were to be no music players of any kind on the trip. Once again, don’t travel in groups. The next morning, during the opening ceremony, I had my second revelation about China: there’s not nearly as much respect for authority as one would imagine in a country where there are armed guards every 50 feet. Now, this obviously isn’t true of all Chinese, but it proved to be true for most of what I saw everywhere I went. The Chinese kids talked straight through the opening speeches. Later in Beijing, I would witness Chinese people standing up after being repeatedly told to sit down by armed guards. Brilliant. This aside, the camp wasn’t too bad, at least in the beginning. There was a supermarket right downstairs from the dorms, with a café next door and internet access in the same building. Down the street was a music and DVD store, where I ended up buying some Metallica for less than a buck, and the entire James Bond collection for around 16. They’re definitely pirated, but I had no idea at the time that I bought them, as the shop looked legit, as did the cases. Oh well.
About halfway through the week, we took a trip to a little place called the Shaolin temple, which was the birthplace of Chinese kung fu. Driving through the complex, we passed fields and fields of kids learning how to fight, using their bodies, swords, and those bamboo stick things. There’s nothing quite like watching a group of kids with swords take a few slashes with broadswords and then throw a couple backflips in unison, seamlessly integrating a few more slashes. On the way back from the temple, I picked up a katana, as the ones for sale inside the temple were overpriced, heavy, poorly balanced, and in general pieces of crap intended for poorly educated tourists. The one I picked up is stainless steel, full tang, mildly well balanced, and, best of all, only cost around $24. In retrospect, I should have picked up two, as this was the last time I’d see a decent weapon for sale in China. This was easily the climax of the week in Zhengzou.
The week kind of went downhill from there. We got room changes for no apparent reason, which means I got moved away from my very comfortable room into one that was a bit more cramped, louder, and more messy (which I was suddenly responsible for cleaning up). Moreover, I had to share a room. At least the kid was a friend. Then, we lose internet access. Apparently, we weren’t supposed to be in that lab, since it’s too convenient or something. So, they shift internet access to a building across campus, which is locked most of the time, in an unlabelled room a couple floors up. This week couldn’t have finished fast enough.
More pictures:
A bit of countryside
Farmland
Best sign ever.
Out of fear of the second dorm room's bathroom, I deployed a unit of the fearsome Cardboard And Styrofoam Navy in the sink, to fend off whatever the hell was growing in there.
Beijing – Ah, the part I’d been waiting for. There was a lot more time to wander around and shop, but nothing particularly notable was nearby. In the interest of space, here are the basics of what happened.
Tian An Men (2) (3) – The political center of China. On one side is the People’s Congress (2), on another the Forbidden City. Opposite the Forbidden City lies the Mausoleum of Chairman Mao (2), and across from the Congress, the Museum of the Revolution. This Square was packed with more peddlers than any other part of the city visited. I actually went twice – once during the daytime, and once at dawn for the flag-raising ceremony. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the body of Mao either day. Apparently, the Mausoleum only opens when the temperature is low enough to not damage Mao’s body (he’s kept in an underground vault otherwise), and openings are rare in the summer. I also didn’t get to see the Congress building or the Museum.
Forbidden City - The group was rushed through the Forbidden City, given only an hour to cover two miles of amazing architecture and riches. This was a crime. Regardless, I took as many photos as possible.
The famous entrance
Gate about halfway through
A river
The following opening
Under reconstruction. Many of the monuments were like this. Apparently, all the buildings are getting a complete refurbishing in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
Very long city. See that building way off in the distance? Yeah, that's about where the end is. This was taken a good way into the city.
A throneroom. I passed 4 or 5 of these. All with ornate thrones.
Golden roofs galore.
Part of a particularly exubrant staircase.
Another throneroom
Badass statue
And another statue
Damn. A structure just outside the royal garden.
Looking towards heaven. This is looking back just outside of the final gate. Everything just lines up perfectly. This is the only one of my pics that really does justice to the City.
Temple of Heaven – Lunch, and a rather lengthy tour of the place on foot. Why didn’t we spend this time at the Forbidden City?
Stairway to Heaven?
The gate leading to...
Another large throneroom! And the contents
A note about this: This kind of complex structure was underneath every roof in the Forbidden City, and quite a few at the Temple of Heaven, where this photo was taken.
Summer Palace – Also large and full of interesting stuff, also rushed through. It seems like we only saw 10% (if that) of the grounds. No photos (by this time, my camera was dead.)
Great Wall – Oh hell yes. This section of wall went over the peak of a mountain from the base. This just lent itself to great shots. I did get to the top of the mountain, but by then the camera was dying, and I wasn’t in much better shape. There’s no way to really describe it with words, so here’s a few pictures. The Great Wall is a photographer's paradise.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
At the top. Too tired to correctly operate a camera. But it was more than worth the effort. The views were incredible. Since there's nothing in that one, Here's the view out that window. I didn't do it justice.
Engrish!
By the way, those little outpost buildings? They're A little short. Being tall sucks *sad*
Ming tombs – Ho hum. We only walked on a small section of the road to the tombs, and then left. Traveling in groups sucks. Seeing the tombs would have been awesome, but there were more important things to do, like sit around awkwardly with Chinese students for a couple of hours.
Random Beijing Pictures:
I realize that I haven't yet gotten a picture of what life is like for the average Chinese citizen. This is kind of dissappointing, as seeing only the great monuments gives you no idea of what is truly like for the locals. So this is the best I could come up with: a picture of across the street from our hotel. The apartments are the standard living unit for people here. However, this barely captures anything I wanted it to.
A double decker bus. Apparently they're in every other country on Earth, why the hell don't we have them in America?
Olympic Stadium, under construction.
One of the statues outside Mao's Mausoleum. The amount of detail is stunning. It is perhaps the greatest letdown of the trip that I didn't get to see Mao himself, a man so revered by the Chinese, and scorned by the West. This is the closest I would come. If nothing else, I want to go back to see Mao.
Visited a museum in Beijing, too. Notable exhibits: the catapult, replica warship, and a water-powered astronomy tower (inside)
On the flight home, I noticed that our plane was powere by a couple of Rolls-Royce engines. The car guy in me never dies
That about covers the trip. Here are a few fun facts I skipped:
- No drinking age. No, I didn’t drink any, because I don’t trust myself around alcohol.
- No smoking restrictions anywhere, except on planes. People would just light up wherever they damn well pleased.
- Most salespeople speak good English. The ones that don’t can get the message across by writing down numbers. There’s not a fixed price on much, so you can haggle on whatever. This is often a good idea, as you’ll probably get ripped off if you don’t.
- No sales tax. This is nice, as you never really have to deal with change smaller than half a yuan (five jiao), and no messy numbers.
Overall impressions: Nice place. Great place to visit, for short or long periods of time, but wouldn’t want to live there. Definitely want to go back. Just alone this time.
