Good afternoon, my friends and family,
We are up and “at ‘em” again, attempting to get everything back in place. The cleaning is taken to the cleaners, three loads of wash are just about done, the paperwork for the business is caught up, bills are paid and I think we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!
I told you I would give you my impressions of Beijing and all the places listed above. Adjectives such as “fabulous”, “fantastic”, “wonderful” and others really don’t give Beijing the credit due. The city is just plain outstanding in every way! Very clean, modern and up-to-date in every way.
Thousands upon thousands of NEW high rise apartment and office buildings have been built using the most modern architecture and designs. If you thought the buildings erected for the Olympics were something, you’ll love what you see in Beijing!
There are literally thousands more being constructed everywhere. The Chinese now list the “crane” as their national bird - the building type of crane - there are thousands of them sticking up here and there, everywhere. Of course, they have had to relocate many, many citizens to other places to make room for these high rises, but since they can no longer move outward, they must go upward.
When we got off the ship, we loaded onto a bus without getting our luggage, which was unusual - you usually have to load it on the bus - and then they took us for a two hour drive from Xingang, where we docked, to Beijing. Xingang also had many, many high rises.
We arrived and after a drive through many modern Interstate style highways, we arrived at a very nice restaurant, where we ate a 12 course Chinese lunch (the first of many to come). We sampled many different and strange concoctions, but most were very good. Tofu is not among my favorite foods.
Then we loaded up again and went to the Marriott City Wall Hotel, a five-star hotel in every way. Beautiful room with a glass desk and huge flat screen TV, King sized bed and a bathroom to die for with glass enclosed shower/bathtub.
That evening we loaded aboard bus 3 with our guide, Wen Tong, or “Wendy” as she asked us to call her, for a trip to another very nice restaurant for another 10-12 course dinner and then on to a great “Flying Acrobats” show that was almost unbelievable. I’ve never seen better acrobats in my life and some of the feats they performed defied imagination. I only wish my camera would have worked a little better.
We got “home” to the hotel about 10PM, then up at 6AM the next morning for a drive to the Great Wall, where we had preferred parking right next to the entrance.
Carol and I made it all the way to the second level where we could see across the valley to the other parts of the wall riding the crests of nearby mountains.
Our group took a “group picture” at the bottom of the tallest part of the wall, which came out very nice. The Chinese put it in a book of pictures of various parts of the wall that are really beautiful. Of course everyone bought at least one copy.
Then it was off to another long lunch of many courses and then to the Summer Palace and a ride on a boat on the Palace Lake, and then our longest walk of the entire trip - I thought we’d never make it to the end of the grounds. Very beautiful and well-maintained buildings and gardens.
That evening, we took another optional tour with another many course dinner included, to see Tiananmen Square at dark with all the lights lit for the Chinese 60th anniversary celebration of their type of government. There were close to 2 million people in the square, (they have a saying - “You are never along in China”), and it’s true. Wendy knew of a “secret” place to enter, and we avoided long lines of security inspections by following her advice. The square was packed, but very orderly. Many people helped Carol up and down the many steps we had to navigate to get under the streets and to the square. They revere the older people - and Carol qualifies.
There were so many floats with lights and TV graphics that we couldn’t see them all in the two hours allotted for our visit, but we did enjoy our walk through the square. It was very late when we returned to the hotel.
After a short nap of 4-5 hours, up and at ‘em again - this time to see the Forbidden City, which took most of the day. Again, Wendy was very knowledgeable about every aspect of the history of the place and a fountain of information.
I bought a book from a vendor, and he attempted to swindle me by sneaking one of the four $1 bills I gave him up his sleeve and claiming that I only gave him $3. He was a great actor, but several others saw what he did and so I just kept telling him to leave me alone until a policeman came over and told him to stop bothering me.
Other than that small event, the day was very nice and we enjoyed seeing the buildings, temples and living quarters of the last emperor.
After another heavy lunch, we returned to the hotel and decided to cancel the tour of the silk and pearl factories that evening. We had been on the go since we got off the ship, and were tired, so it felt good to relax and hit the sack early.
We got up at 5:30AM and got our bus to the airport at 8, got through customs and security in a flash, got our tickets and baggage taken care of and were at the gate about 2 hours before our noon flight.
Eleven and one half hours later, we landed at San Francisco, waited 4 hours for our connection to DFW, were delayed by the “Blue Angels” flying over SF for another hour, and just barely made our connection in DFW to Corpus Christi, where our neighbors were waiting for us.
And, so, that about wraps up the visit to China.
We enjoyed the entire trip and would do it again in a heart beat, especially Beijing. We were definitely impressed with that city.
The Chinese are spending OUR money wisely.
The only problem they have is producing enough food to feed every one of their 1,320,000,000 people. They need more resources, so my novel, “From China with Love” is not too far from reality!
On a lighter note, I had my picture taken with many nice young people at the Forbidden City and gave out many business cards. Too bad I didn’t have a bunch of books along to give away. I’d be interested in what the Chinese think of my novel.
I believe one of the highlights of our cruise and trip was the “Curves” doll, which we named “Curly” for her wild locks. We had a ball figuring out new things for her to do on the ship and off. I plan to develop all the pictures and make an e-book for her travels. She did everything there was to do on the trip, including the “Titanic” thing at the bow of the ship. You’ll get a kick out of her antics and adventures. I’ll let you know when I complete her “story”.
Until the next time, stay tuned, come back to visit often, and ORDER THOSE NOVELS!!!
No jokes for today, maybe tomorrow.
Until next time,
Via con Dias, my friends,
Karl & Carol (and Curly)
