Additional Photos of China

Trains Across China

We went overland, via train, from Shanghai to Beijing and into Central China before returning to Shanghai. The last stretch, Chengdu to Shanghai entailed a 37 hour train ride. That's right, 37 hours.

From Shanghai to Beijing we travelled in luxury with Susannah and Eli on the new bullet train. The train travelled up to 150 mph. Real bathrooms, all touchless appliances, including the soap and water dispensers. Very hygenic. Very quiet. Very calm. Our train experiences were downhill from there, at least hygiene-wise.

Besides the 37 hour trek, we did 3 other overnight trips. The first of the three was 1st class (still nothing like the bullet train), which is called "soft sleeper." 4 bunks and a locking door for privacy and quiet. The next two overnight legs we went 2nd class, or "hard sleeper." 6 bunks per "berth," but no doors. Pretty much wide open. It felt a little like a prison, we presume, except you were able to use the "bathroom" whenever you pleased. The bathrooms consisted of a hole in the train (i.e. you need to squat down while the train rumbles along - not pleasant).

We were pleasantly surprised with our first two legs on hard sleeper. We'd heard horror stories of smoking and never ending noise, but it was nothing of the sort. Like everywhere in China, the people were curious, friendly, smiley, and helpful. It was quiet and mellow, especially at night. We were the only whiteys on the train. We were also the only ones who spoke English and the only ones who didn't speak Chinese. The would also be true of many, if not most places we found ourselves. It was rather interesting teaching our fellow passengers how to play the card games Black Jack and War.

We decided to try our luck once more, and signed up for hard sleeper, as opposed to soft sleeper, for the 37 hour trek back to Susannah and Eli's incredible apartment in dowtown Shanghai. We wondered, numerous times, whether we'd been lucky our first two trips on hard sleeper and whether we'd be in for it this third time. Would all of the horror stories finally come to fruition?Our first hour on the train seemed to support our worst fears.

We were in a berth with a grandmother and her three grandchildren, ages 4, 7, and 11. The 7 and 11 year old girl appeared to be well-behaved. The 4 year old boy, did not. Within the first couple hours they had migrated to my bed on the lower bunk. My bed quickly began to accumulate filth, either from the sunflower seeds or the duck head and webbed feet that they were noisily and messily chomping down on. When the train's cleaning crew, a truly unpleasant and thankless job, came around, I asked them to sweep our carpet, which was already covered with sunflower seeds and who knows what parts of the duck. I, in a childish manner, pointed out the mess culprits to the cleaning crew. The cleaning lady instantly started yelling at the grandmother. Although we don't speak Chinese, and rarely try to assume what is going on or being sai, it was abundantly clear that our berthmates were being scolded. I felt a little sheepish for ratting on them, but also hoped it would improve the next 35 hours. And things did go uphill from there. We became friendlier with our berth mates and befriended many others on the train. We were, by and far, the most popular passengers on the train.

I befriended Lin Feng, a 22 year old Animation student at Chengdu University. His father is Japanese and his mother is Chinese. He alluded to some of the racism he has experienced due to his Japanese ancestry. More importantly, however, he informed me that Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen had been traded away from the Sonics. I guess I needed to take a 37 hour train ride in central Cina to obtain pertinent information from the homeland.

Lin asked me whether it was appropriate for a man to tell another man that he is handsome or whether they would think he was gay. Touchy question. I told him I would be okay with it (I actually had had other Chinese men tell me I was handsome), but that other foreigners may be a bit taken aback. He informed me that in Chinese culture it is normal for Chinese men to tell each other they are handsome.

Another group of college students approached us, tentatively, after a half hour of staring and building up the courage. We could hear them practicing English words and the word "Amerigua" (the Chinese name for America) kept coming up in their conversation. We ended up teaching them gin rummy and they promptly beat us.

From our experience, while travelling, the less you insulate yourself, the more you experience. We are glad we chose to travel, via train, the way we did. It has given us lasting memories and a fondness for the wonderful people of China.

Chinese Parks

Unless you are talking about Hangzhou, a city located two hours train ride from Shanghai which claims to be the most beautiful city in China and a mecca for honeymooners, I don't believe China is known for it's city parks. At least in the cities, the parks are where you find the action in China, at least the type of action Lisa and I were looking for. For a variety of reasons (waiting for our visa extensions, recuperating from pink eye, too tired to take another overnight train), we spent a lot of time in Chinese cities (Shanghai: 17-18 million people, Xian: 7-8 million, Chengdu: 4-5 million).

One can only look at so many artifacts from the Qin, Tang, or Ming dynasties. So, with time on our hands, we would gather our miniature backgammon board, deck of cards, journals, and books and start walking towards the green spots on the maps. Sometimes our search would be fruitless and the journey became the focus. Other times we found ourselves in "2-star" parks that were rather unappealing. (Note: We've noticed that many things in China are rated on a starred system. I believe 4 or 5 stars is the highest rating. You do not want to have to use a 1 or 2 star public bathroom.)

More times than not, however, we would find a park that, by Western standards would not be top notch, but would be a wonderful place for us to find a bench and watch the world go by, and the world goes by in a very different way in China. Depending on the time of day, the parks would be buzzing with a variety of activities. Intense games of Mah Jong, cards, or Chinese chess; individuals, pairs, or groups doing tai chi (sometimes with swords or rackets and balls); mini orchestras, choirs or operas rehearsing; ballroom dancing; people writing Chinese characters with water brushes on the pathways...You could sense and feel the energy.

The parks would often surprise you with their quirkiness. Often the parks would have a multitude of cheesy paddle boats available for rental. Since we're not travelling during any of the Chinese holidays, most of the boats sit idle. The size of the water (usually a very small lake or large pond), however, was greatly disproportional to the amount of paddle boats available. I would like to be there at prime vacation time (sort of) so that we could see how in the world all of those paddle boats could maneuver in such a small area.

In a park in Xian, we were walking through a very peaceful, wooded area, when, suddenly in the middle of the park, we discovered a supposedly functional Ferris wheel that looked like it had been plucked a 1950s U.S. summer fair. Lisa, safety conscious as always, decided we would not try our luck.

Our quest for the perfect park hit an all-time high in Chengdu. Sichuan province is known for their 3000 year long history of high quality tea. They have incorporated tea consumption and parks. You can pay about $1 each to get a card table, in the park, and a cup of loose leaf tea with a never ending supply of hot water to refill your tea cup. One Wednesday afternoon we sat in the park in Chengdu, playing gin rummy with a fellow traveler from Taiwan, while surrounded by Chinese women playing mah jong. Obviously we will have some adjustment issues when we return to the States.

Here are some photos (and funny signs) from some of the parks:

A Day in the Life, Parting Thoughts

Traveling makes ordinary errands often extraordinary due to the complexities and intricacies of language and negotiation...One morning we awoke and set out to attempt to renew our visas. Armed with the Lonely Planet for Chinese character translations, we set out to the streets of Pingyao, a tiny (by Chinese standards) town between Xian and Beijing. We made it as far as the Police station, and after asking around, narrowed our search to one building.

As soon as we entered, everyone stopped what they were doing to stare. And stare. We had asked someone in the courtyard for help, and he accompanied us into the office where we showed our homemade sign (courtesy of the hostel staff) stating "We need to extend our visas" (we hope it said that...) in Chinese characters. After a bit of paper shuffling and Chinese murmuring a man surfaced to draw us a map. A woman stated in labored English, "Please wait and then follow him." This seemed to be the cue for everyone around us to throw out whatever English phrases they knew "Good morning," "Good evening," "Sorry" etc. with very large smiles. After a brief wait our leader appeared and we followed him back outside. Ari was very excited, "Hey, they're going to escort us in a police car!" Then quickly realized that our leader was going to retrieve his one speed bicycle to walk us there.

We definitely would not have found it had we not had our volunteer escort. We left the walled city of Pingyao for the outlying village, and after about 15 minutes he stopped, pointed to a sign in Chinese characters and indicated that this was our destination. We promptly displayed our sign to the appropriate office, and they reciprocated by displaying their handmade sign stating in English "I'm sorry we cannot process visa extensions, you must go to ..." Slightly deflated, we thanked them and headed back.

Why we chose this story for the blog is to illustrate yet another example of kindness we met on our journey throughout China. That is what has left the greatest impression on us while traveling here. I lost track of how many times people insisted on giving up their seats to us, or came up to us and wanted to know if they could help at busy intersections, train stations etc. We often wondered to ourselves how they would be treated as travelers in our country, or as immigrants. We know the answer, and hopefully that will make us kinder people upon our return home.