Fengdu City of Ghosts

The steps before The Steps

Our Riverboat Home

Docking at Fengdu

When I watched us arrive at our first port from our balcony I was sure we were running into the boat next to us. Never having been on a riverboat cruise before, docking was a new experience.  Since a riverboat was already docked , Victoria tied up to her and we departed for our tour by walking through that boat to shore.

Our guide explained that the Chinese come here to Ghost City to get their next life and to remember the way after life.  No one wants to go the wrong way.  This city was originally built during the Ming Dynasty 500 years ago.   She warned us there were 170 steps to the top of the mountain and that would be the most difficult part of the journey.

We stopped in front of Hen and Hap…I’m quite sure that is not the correct spelling but that is what it sounded like to these untrained ears. If we said their name loudly they would protect us inside the city so that ghosts wouldn’t follow us out. 

On the way up we passed a few interesting statutes. For parents who were seeking helping with their troublesome children, there is a statute of a boy being spanked. It is said if you touch the boys behind then your troubles with your own children will lessen.

Then there was a stone goddess who trapped men with her charms. They evidently became a part of the statute.

At the top were 3 Naihe bridges. The first only allowed good people to cross. If you were not good you would fall into the stream below that contained vipers. Fortunately we all made it. The two other bridges were a choice, either longevity or wealth.  If you choose the longevity bridge it is said you would have a long life. If you chose the wealth bridge you would receive riches.  We choose the longevity bridge so we could go on a lot more cruises.  It did nothing for my cold though.

Another bridge was the marriage bridge…if you wanted to stay married to each other in the next life you held hands and crossed together. Otherwise you could cross on the single bridge. We choose to stay together.

A third test was ascending a set of stairs in one breath. If you made it you would be granted a long life.

I Made It!

Buddhists believe in reincarnation, Taoists immortality.  Everything has a god. This is a hard concept for westerners to grasp.  There was a God of Heaven who is number one, but then she showed us the God of Hell and said he was the one who decided whether you went to heaven or hell, which seems like a pretty  important position.

I took way too many pictures to post them all here. Should I ever figure out how to do so, I may be able to load them to facebook. Or maybe here. But its now 12:32 AM and I think I have been doing this one simple page for about 2 hours. I may need a class in remedial blogging.

Xian, China

XIAN

sounds like Ceean

We were to fly to Xian to see the Terra Cotta warriers. This was our first flight on a domestic flight owned and operated by the Chinese government.

Xian was the capital of China twice during the Hon Dynasty.  Silk, porcelain tea, music, dancing and fine horses were introduced during this period.

During Tang Dynasty from 7th to 10th century, Xian grew to a population of one million, 30,000 foreigners, similar to New York or London. Like most important cities  in China it built a wall to protect itself from invasions.

Chongqing and Pandas

Chongquing

Apartments Chonquing

Our second internal flight on a government airline took off on time from Xian  Our local Guide Windy gave us a brief tour around Chongqing, which means Double Happiness.

 It is the biggest city in China with nearly 34 million people living there.  In China’s long history, this city too was a capital. 

 There are only 4 cities in China that are not controlled by a Province, I.e. they report directly to the Chinese Government. Chongqing is one of them.

An average apartment is 90 square meters and costs 90,000 to buy.  That 90,000 does not include doors, floors, toilet.  It was only recently that windows were included.  Her first apartment did not have an elevator and was on the 9th floor.  She had to walk that every day - 100 steps.  Stickmen make their living helping residents carry their packages up and down the stairs using a bamboo stick and she was grateful for their help..

Rent is between 300 to 400 US dollars per month. Water and gas and electricity are extra.  The average salary is 700 US dollars per month.  There is not a lot left to spend. Summer time Chongqing can get as hot as 45 to 50 centigrade with 70 percent humidity. Like Dallas, without air conditioning, the city would not exist. She recommended March, April, May, September or October as the best months to visit China, especially southern China.

On our way to the 20 acre zoo she told us that pandas are only wild in Centrum Province.  I think at some point we heard that they were not in the wild anywhere.   Pandas are considered a national treasure to the Chinese.  Only 1200 pandas exist. One of the reasons there aren’t more is that they simply aren’t interested in sex.  Put a female and male together with some bamboo and they will opt for the bamboo.  They even tried medication and had them watch a movie to show them how it was done.  With all that effort they
produced one baby.  Until they are four years of age you can’t tell if they are male or female.
Renting a panda for a year will cost  1 million dollars US or more.

The Baby - 1 1/2 years old

Enjoying a Bamboo Snack

This zoo has seven pandas.  She warned us not to expect a lot.  In captivity at least, they are a lazy animal.  They basically eat, sleep and poop.  Their daily schedule...eatt bamboo from 9 to 11, nap from 11 to 3 and eat from 3 to 5.  One adult eats from 20 to 40 kilos of bamboo a day, average weight from 150 to 250 kilos. If we are lucky we will get to see them eat.

They have very bad eyesight, smell and are food addicts. Put two of them in an enclosure together and they will fight. According to our guide, they have survived since the days of the dinosaur doing just that.

After the zoo we headed for the riverboat.  Windy warned us to stay away from the stickmen and pointed a few of them out to us.  They are men (and women) who walk around with a stick and offer to help you carry your packages up and down stairs. They charge for it of course.  They might also just lend you an arm to get down the stairs, and that is going to cost too.  They usually don’t tell you that until after the service .

At first glance we wondered what we got ourselves into

Almost to the Victoria

Stairs in the background-no railings

View from the Victoria

City of Ghosts Pictures

WHO carries a backpack up 176 plus steps?

This Guy....Hopefully Near the Top

Hen and Hup

A couple colorful characters to greet us

You want me to do what with that?

Piece of cake...Stand on it for 3 seconds without losing your balance to ensure safe passage for everyone

Crossing the Longevity Bridge -choosing health over wealth

One of the few happy guys we saw up there

The Final Destination

View from the Top

Along the Way

Home at Last. Guess who has the backpack?

Terra Cotta Museum

Terra-cotta Officer

 

 Our Guide Jenny educated us about the soldiers.

The first emperor of China, Qin (pronounced Chin) ShiHuang Tin, around 220 BC, terrified by his own mortality, believed he needed to be protected and accompanied in his afterlife.  Some required their servants to be buried with them, or even their wife. That practice was eventually outlawed in 383 BC.  Emperor Qin  decided instead to have an army of soldiers - infantry, charioteers, horsemen, and generals -created to protect him in the afterlife so he had  7000 terra cotta soldiers created over a span of 4 decades who were then buried in his underground tomb located in a secret place to prevent tomb robbers (a common profession at that time) from robbing the grave.  It was the largest mausoleum in the world.

Pit 1 - The largest # of soldiers found

The Museum and Grounds

During a subsequent uprising there was a fire on the roof of the first pit and the wooden beams in the ceiling burned and collapsed.  The structure collapsed, breaking the soldiers into pieces.

An accidental discovery of some of these terra cotta soldiers occurred  on March 29, 1974 by 5 farmers who were drilling a series of wells.  On July 17th of the same year archeologists arrived onsite. The museum opened in October of 1979. 

Pit 1 contained pieces of Infantry, Calvary and Charioteers, Pit 2 had weapons and pieces of  archers: 172 standing  and 150 kneeling.  One of these archers was intact.5 meters below the surface.  Pit number 3 had few statutes and appeared to be the headquarters of the operation.

The Archer

The soldiers and horses were made with local clay.  The weight varies from 110 to 300 kilos, average height is 1.8 meters. No two solders have exactly the same expression leading some experts to think that real soldiers served as models. So far 80 craftsmen have been identified.  After they were made the statues were put in kilns to be fired. Round holes in horses allowed gases and vapors to escape preventing deformed or exploded horses.

President Clinton visited the museum n 1998. Guide Jenny meet the president and remarked to Eric, Hilary’s  bodyguard, that the president was very handsome. Eric responded “Come on Jenny. He’s already having a lot of trouble.”

Mr. Yung, one of the original farmers was on hand to meet the President. He was taught a few English phrases to use when he was presented to him.  He was to ask the president “How are you?” with an expected response of “Fine” to which he would answer “me too”.  Instead he asked him “Who are you?” with a response from the President that he was the husband of Hilary. Mr. Yung responded as taught with “me too’.  He has been known as Mr. Me Too ever since.  Mr. Me Too was on hand to autograph the book that we bought. If you would like to see it, let me know!   

Soldiers in the Process of Reconstruction

TerraCotta Ponies Reconstructed

Terra-Cotta Terry

Beijing and the Summer Palace

Our Tour Guide, Michael, was delightful.  I especially loved his sense of humor complimenting his serious attempt to teach us a little bit about this country that censors facebook, blogspot and emails.

For anyone who might be as confused as I was about China, Beijing and Peking are different names for the same town.  Jing translates to capital, bei to north, so Beijing was the North Capital when China had more than one.  Today Beijing is THE capital.

The Penisula Hotel stands on land that prior to the Olympics was a narrow pathway. Now it is surrounded by high dollar name brand stores, although there didn’t seem to be much merchandise in them and fewer customers.

We tried local food at the Royal Restaurant across the street. Michael advised us to stick to the hotel.  He joked that the Royal ‘may be clean or not, depending on their mood’. Which seemed to be a recurrent theme.

With 5.2 million cars in Beijing, parking can be a problem.  The 1^st hour is 31 Yuan, the 2^nd 40 and the third 51. Clearly they do not want you to stick around long.  With 21 million residents, it can take 20 to 30 minutes to catch a cab. Most drivers do not speak English so we were warned to get a card from the hotel to ensure our return and to have the hotel write in Chinese our destination so he could read it. Otherwise you may end up on a tour of the whole city when you didn’t want one.

Lest we succumb to alternate forms of travel he warned: “No Bus, No Subway, No English” There were so many pickpockets in the city, it can sometimes feel like the flea market. Sometimes they want to have their picture made with you, but it can be a ploy to get close to your wallet and cash.

Pollution appears to be a problem: there was a more or less permanent haze over the city. The official stance is that it is fog.  Certainly not everyone shares that opinion since some wear face masks. It might have been my cold or my bias, but I thought it was harder to breathe.

Passing the City Moat where the City Wall once stood Michael pointed to the fishermen. It is illegal to fish in China, at least here, so the fishermen come early and leave before they are caught.

They eat everything. The Royal menu included donkey meat, horsemeat, scorpions and silkworms. The Chinese toilet is basically a hole in the ground. Michael said it was a good way to stay in shape; squatting several times a day.  Walking is a major form of transportation. “Within walking distance” has a different meaning in China. We think of it as a block or two..they think of it as a couple of miles. One of our guides traveled 2 hours on a bus and then walked 40 minutes to get to her job.  The farmers we saw along the way were not on tractors, they were breaking the earth with hoes, grounds keepers were using brooms not leaf blowers. Although there probably are some, I didn’t see any overweight Chinamen or women.

The Summer Palace, created in 1750 as the Garden of Clear Ripples for the 60^th birthday of the Emperor’s mom was enhanced through the years. In 1891 the new Emperor’s mom known affectionately as the Dragon Lady, changed the name to Summer Palace after building Emperor appropriate shelters. In April they would move to the Summer Palace to enjoy the lake and greenery.

Cruising Yahgtzee Georges, Wuhan and Quitang

Entrance to Wuhan Gorge

One of the great parts of riverboat cruising is being able to enjoy the spectacular beauty without a few thousand of your favorite people standing in front of you.  This picture was taken  from the front of the ship, Deck 2, with a crowd of five.

China's Flag

The large star represents unity with the government/communist party, the red background represents the revolutions, the 4 stars the four classes of people: working class, peasantry, urban and national bourgeoisie. Flying everywhere.













 

  

Or you could just watch from your own balcony as the Victoria motors by one scenic wonder after another

Frequent barges on the river...this one coal a coal barge.  80 percent of inland transportation is done on this 'golden waterway' transmitting good equivalent to 40 railways from Chungquin to Shanghai.  This area is a granary for China producing 40 percent of China's crops and 70 percent of the grain output.

From construction to beauty ... I hope

Photo above taken at Chihuly 

Photo Below is a partial view of the wonders in my neighborhood.

Hopefully  by the time we return it will be done.

They are upgrading the sewers, water line, streets and sidewalks.

I should be grateful they are doing it, and I am, but I wish they could do it overnight and quietly.

Happy to leave it behind for awhile.

Hoping for Chihuly vistas on vacation.  At the airport exploring the new terminal and blogspot

What will I miss? My constant companions, Starbucks and Jackie

Traveling to the other side of Planet Earth Tomorrow

Photo from show at Hudnall

Except Maybe Here

Wow, I am so tired of this construction right outside my front door, and so ready to get on that plane for Beijing. Unfortunately, due to old age, it took me at least 3 hours to figure out my login and password to this blog, so that is 3 hours less to do things that will actually enable my departure. No wonder I take the day off before I leave on the real vacation, with my propensity for last minute activity.

Terry had this GREAT idea to take the grandkids to Spring Break at the Villages. Due to a myriad of commitments, only two could make it - Madison and Matt. I had the luxury of working with bookend weekend trips to transport. Only a crazy person would take a vacation before a vacation, because as we all know, vacations can tire you out more than staying at home.

So Saturday we drove from The Villages to Dallas to deliver Matt to his anxious parents and then down to Conroe where we spent the night at the Hampton Inn, my favorite - thanks Marlene! - going to a 10:45 PM viewing of Oz the Great with Madison, delivering her to her Mom the next day at Culvers where we all ordered kids meals so that Madison could get her stuffed toy custard boy and then raced back to Dallas to work on Lee's computer before going to the Mavericks game. GREAT TICKETS! Being so close makes one feel like one is part of the game, or maybe that they have reduced the size of the Court. At any rate there was no problem seeing the action.

Today was son Jon's 27th birthday. He bought himself an engine for his motorcycle. We bought him a steak from Outback. Not to spare any expense or effort, we got take out. While we had an entertaining conversation about cruises and girlfriends, it further delayed any possible preparation for the inevitable.

Evidently they have improved blogging. I just can't keep up with the software developers. Especially with a lapse in usage. I decided to make sure I could post pictures. Well NOT. After spending the 3 hours on figuring out how to get in, now I can't figure out how to post a picture. Honestly, it cannot be this hard. Sigh. Well i did figure out how to use links. I think.

Well I'm tired and giving up. There is always tomorrow. Darn it, it is tomorrow...