Xi’an with the Fords

Terracotta Warriors

Arrival: We arrived in the afternoon and were picked up by our guide, George, and the driver. We’d already ate on the airplane and were not feeling entirely hungry, but when we learned the Shangri-La Hotel would be serving Happy Hour from 5-7pm, we managed to find our appetites. The club lounge featured an impressive happy hour indeed, including a throw back to my days in Thailand with a homemade, refreshing and spicy Papaya Salad. We dined happily and looked out upon the city. From the 19^th floor, we could spy a Brothers (printer company) factory across the street. The staff was friendly and seemed to enjoy our company, as we were the only guests partaking in the happy hour. I asked the chef to bring out a dragonfruit so my family could see the whole fruit (they’d only seen the pieces at the breakfast buffets). We marveled at the pink peel and then the chef was nice enough to demonstrate how to cut up the pretty fruit.

After stuffing ourselves with the hors d-oeuvre, we went for a stroll out behind the hotel, to the nearby park and pond. The park was full of activity for the local people and this makes perfect sense. The daily reality for most people in China is a life inside a small apartment unit, surrounded by tall buildings and millions of people. Parks are the perfect place to spread out a bit and enjoy a small slice of nature. Parents and grandparents walked along with their child, while old men gathered for games or to bend the strings of their old, traditional Chinese instruments. In other places, small groups assembled for some evening tai chi. And in the center area of the park, a large group of women (and one tall, uncoordinated man) gathered for some dancing. Miranda was courageous enough to join the dancing! But I think I better not post that video… J

Day One: Terracotta Warriors. Our first stop was to the ceramics factory where the clay souvenirs are manufactured. We learned about the process of forming the mold, etching detail into the clay, and then placing the clay into the kiln. We also purchased some souvenirs, and I teamed up with Miranda to haggle a lower price on some beautiful wall hangings for her new home (to be found) as well as Celeste to buy some great warrior magnets.

Next stop was the actual site of the Terracotta Warriors, exactly where they were found by some famers digging for a well in 1974. Several long hangars has been built over the three different pit-sites. Since the warriors were by-and-large destroyed by enemies of the emperor, and then buried and forgotten over the generations, few statues are ever unearthed intact. So a team of dedicated scientists have been working to carefully dig them up and piece them back together, like the most complex of puzzles. Many more pieces of the statue are still buried and no one expects the entire project to finish anytime soon. Our tour began in the museum where we saw a short video to provide the background history.

We had lunch at a nice buffet restaurant featuring “noodle entertainment” from the chefs. One chef cut large slices of noodles with a large cleaver to send into a bowling pot of water, while the other chef continuously stretched and twisted the noodles in the air before slamming them against the prep table. Once we had eaten our share, it was time to explore the pits and see the soldiers.

                                 

The statues were impressive and the stories that George regaled us with were entertaining. Equally impressive and entertaining was the sheer mass of people pushing past one another to get the best view into the different pits of warriors. Unfortunately, no one is allowed into the pit for side-by-side photos.

The agenda for the night: dinner and a show. We enjoyed a sumptuous dumplings (my favorite Chinese food!) feast with a wide variety of different types, almost 20 types in all.

The show was a feast for the senses: dancing, colors, and beautiful traditional Chinese music on instruments that might be long since forgotten if not for their classic sounds. The peaceful show was interrupted, on more than one occasion, by a drunk local who insisted on taking calls throughout and was not shy about noise volume. This is quite commonplace for the Chinese guests in attendance, but the drunkard received several glares from the various tables of foreigners.

Day Two: We did further damage to the great breakfast buffet; I think everyone had two cups of yogurt plus large servings from the rest of the spread! George greeted us after we checked out of the hotel and our merry band went into the inner city. This part of Xi’an is a large remnant of ancient China, surrounded by the 600-year old wall. The weather cooperated, so we were able to see the entire length of the wall, looking down at the city, from bicycles! It took about 80 minutes, but we were able to bike the full 25km distance around the top of the wall, with plenty of breaks allowed for water, photos, and reading about the history.

                                   

The bike ride was followed by a short visit to the Drum Tower. This is a tall, traditional-style tower that is the display place for the drums of old. These were no small, snare drums, but drums the size of grown men!

We left the drum tower and headed to the airport.

Sadly, it was time to say goodbye. We watched the checked-bags go down the chute then I gave long hugs to the Fords, not knowing when I’d get to travel with them again, let alone see them. Having lived abroad for almost 17 months now, I really appreciate those hugs from family when I can get them!

My flight returned safely, albeit delayed 30 minutes to Nanjing. The Fords arrived safely to Chengdu (home of the pandas), but only after completing the flight two times! Shortly after they left Xi’an and were approaching Chengdu, the pilot was forced to turn around and return to Xi’an due to bad weather. They waited patiently, like pandas in a tree, for a while before the plane was authorized to make the flight-again!

Doherty Travels

My brother checks in on my blog from time to time, but doesn't maintain a blog of his own. That is a shame because he just had a wonderful 3 year anniversary celebration with his wife, Jill. He sent me a play-by-play of the trip as well as some pictures, so I figured that was his permission to post them! Enjoy!

From Ryan:

Our flight left Denver at midnight, direct to San Jose, Costa Rica. Five hour flight. We didn't rest well on the flight so our first day was spent sleeping. We did get up for lunch and dinner, which we got at the steak house next door to our hotel.

Day 2: Our guide, Paulo, picked us up and we drove to our new hotel, which is where we would be staying for the next five days. (pic attached) We went on a one hour horse ride, it was so the horse owner, Stanley, could see how well we rode and plan our future rides accordingly. Dinner and breakfast are provided at our hotel for our stay. Fresh fruits, coffee, pancakes, toast, fresh sea bass, fresh chicken. Our breakfast eggs were hatched by hens that the hotel kept in a coop on the property.

Day 3: A hike through a "National Forest nature walk" it was basically a gravel path laid through part of the jungle. We saw cool animals and bugs there. Then we took a longer horse ride. Our average ride time was 2.5 to 3 hours each day. Most of our rides involved a portion of through the jungle trails. Since we were there in the rainy season, the vegetation was growing so fast it overgrew the normal trails. Stanley was hacking away with his machete. On this particular ride, the preferred trail was too over grown to ride. So we went down a river bed that is normally so low it  barely gets the horses hooves wet, but this time it was full. I had to pull my legs up like a jockey to keep my feet out of the water. The horses were in past their bellies. Jillian was riding the Stanley's 5 year old stallion. I guess we are good enough riders that he offered us the opportunity to ride his stallion. Unfortunately, the stallion has not the same experience as the older horses the rest of us were on. We had to climb out of the river bed, up a muddy slope, into thick vegetation. Paulo's horse fell getting up the slope. We went riding down along a barbed fence, in between thick vegetation. It got so bad we had to turn back. Jillian's horse fell getting back down the slope and Jilllian jumped off the horse. She was fine, but she got soaked and had mud all over her. Her shoes never dried for the rest of the trip. Too much humidity near the ocean.

Day 4: We rode to the beach today. I was on the stallion for most of this ride. That horse has speed and always wants to go faster. But he was very well trained and easy to handle. We galloped on the beach, and stopped at a small local restaurant. This place was so out of the way that you would only know about it if someone told you about it. There are no signs for it or advertising. That was cool. The riding today was over 5 hours.

Day 5: Our guide, Paulo, and the horse owner, Stanley, are buddies and set up an extra day of riding that Jillian and I didn't know about. Our schedule said today was no riding, but we were to go snorkeling and kayaking. We did that early in the morning which was fun. After that we met up at Stanley's and rode to his favorite local bar. He has a couple tequilas, and was all about running the horses back home. He is normally shy, but tequila breaks his shell. Back at his house, his wife made us a sweet tortilla snack and some coffee. We sat on his porch and enjoyed our snack.

Day 6: Went on a boat on the river and saw crocodiles. The boat guide got out of the boat on the shore and hand fed chicken bits to the crocs! Crazy dude, but good photo ops. More horse riding after the boat.

Day 7: Took an arial tram up a small mountain, then zip lined back down along 10 different cables. That was fun. After that, more horses. Rode to a river where we had a picnic. Traditional lunch for ranchers on the road moving cattle or what have you. It was a burrito... go figure. Plus something that tasted a lot like brown sugar in water, but they claim it is some traditional drink. Paulo took us back to our first hotel, which is central in the country, in San Jose.

Day 8: We went on a tour group up an active volcano. Also toured a coffee plantation and walked through an animal rescue that displayed large cats, small cats, sloths, lots of birds, butterflies, and monkeys. The end of this tour took us on a hike to a water fall.

Day 9: Wake up at 330AM for our trip back to the airport to head back home.

Moment in Peking

This blog post is named after a book I read last year, shortly after I arrived in China. The book was written entirely in English by a native Chinese author and was a tremendous read. I recommend it entirely.

Beijing used to be known to us in the West as Peking, and thus the title is appropriate for my recent travel to Beijing. I spent three awesome days with my relatives, but looking back it all seems like but a short moment…

Arrival: My flight was delayed from South Korea to Beijing, but that turned out to be a happy coincidence because I walked into baggage claim at the Beijing airport just in time to spot my aunt Celeste, Uncle Kevin, and cousin Miranda’s boyfriend Russ collecting their bags. We met our tour guide, Vicky, and the driver, Mr. Zhang, who then drove us to the Sheraton Hotel downtown. For dinner we went out to Hot Pot and I really enjoyed introducing this experience to my relatives. Hot Pot is a popular dining out tradition for Chinese people. Think fondue dining where you cook the food at your table but in spicy soup instead of cheese and different Chinese foods instead of Western foods.

Day One: After a good power breakfast at the Sheraton, we visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We had a nice lunch at a traditional restaurant along the water. This was the group’s first experience of a Chinese feast: we must have had 12 or 15 different dishes presented for us on the “lazy susan” and spun around for everyone to share. The waiter asked if we also wanted some rice and we accepted, though we all wondered where we could find room for the rice on the table and in our bellies!

 

That night we went for some Peking duck. The duck was not just food, it was an experience: a chef came out to our table to cut the full duck into tender slices of meat. Then a waitress showed us a few ways to wrap/stuff the duck inside two types of Chinese bread then to add vegetables and sauces, etc.

Day Two: The Great Wall! But before we got there, we did visit the Summer Palace. A historical figure that kept surfacing in the stories from Vicky was the Dragon Lady, who was operating behind the throne, pulling the puppet strings of the Last Emperor. She suggested watching the movie: The Last Emperor.

The Wall was as big and as impressive as we'd all imagined and been told to expect.  The section we were on was well-maintained for the purpose of tourism, but other stretches were wildly overrun with plants and trees that had grown into the rock. The long stretch of wall running through the forested hillside was a sight to behold.

Going up and coming down wasn't bad either: we took a chairlift up to the wall and rode the alpine slide back down!

 Beijing Opera for the show that night. Interesting. We had a taste of this earlier in the day so we were prepared for the out-of-tune, high pitched sounds, but not prepared for how long those sounds would last! The tea was served by a kung-fu master who poured from a three-foot long spout and made twists and turns in between pours. We were joined by two Colombian women at our table so Kevin and Celeste got to show off their Spanish skills!

After dinner, we caught up with Miranda at a posh bar downtown for her class party. I showed up under-dressed, so the bouncer required me to rent some yoga slippers and leave my sandals outside. My dear family bugged me about those slippers that night and for the rest of the trip, never letting me live it down J Pictures? Oh no, I did not even think to take pictures of my rental yoga slippers!

Day Three, morning:

We finished another good breakfast meal at the hotel then loaded into the van and were taken straight to the airport. Our guide, Vicky made sure we checked in OK and had no issues with baggage weight limits, and then we made our way to the gate bound for Xi’an.

Seoul, South Korea

My former roommate here in China, Anthony (Panda), and I had purchased a ticket to South Korea last year but never had a chance to use them, but an opportunity finally presented itself. After eating dinner at his new restaurant in Tianjin, China, we flew to Seoul. We called our other former roommate, Paul, who is Korean-American and has returned home to Texas to finish college.

Three different factors influenced our Korea itinerary: 1) Panda has been there several times and has seen most of the major attractions 2) I was tired of doing the touristy “take photos” routine and was expecting to put a lot of miles on my camera with a trip to Beijing and Xi’an later in the week and 3) my brother and his wife were taking an adventure vacation to Costa Rica complete with horseback riding and kayaking. So I got back in touch with my Colorado “adventure” roots and decided on wakeboarding in the river!

The food in Seoul was great: I am an even bigger fan of Korean cuisine now! And the people were very nice and seemed to enjoy having foreigners explore their city.

Saw Batman: Dark Knight Rises, while in Korea since the film will not be released in China until September. 

There was definitely a chill that came over both me and Panda, since the news of the tragic shooting in Colorado was still fresh. I know this feeling must be even worse for those watching movies in theaters back in Colorado and the other states.