TEA DAY!

We woke up and headed for brunch at a local restaurant. We had so much food it didn’t fit on our table, but it was all very good. We especially liked the nan with yogurt.

Then we went to a neat tea shop, where we were served 4 different kinds of tea in the traditional way. Clark and I bought a lot of tea, and tea sets as gifts. Then we headed back to Peter’s place to finish packing up. We had a lot more with us when we left than when we came! In fact, our one extra duffel bag wasn’t enough! But we managed to get everything together, said our goodbyes and took a taxi to the airport.

Our flight back to Toronto took about 13 hours. We were on a new plane, which had a personal entertainment system for each seat. I finished my book, and slept for awhile. I watched part of Shooter, and I tried to get up a lot to walk around. Clark and I sat across the aisle from each other this time. In Toronto, we waited for our bags to bring them through customs, but we had to leave to catch our connecting flight. We were very excited to have candy! Clark had been craving Skittles for the entire trip. When we returned to New York we had to file a claim for our bags, and they brought them late the next day.

BARGAIN DAY!

We woke up at 6am to finish packing and head to the airport by taxi. We had another airport buffet and left for Beijing. We saw a fun English sign: Exti Firenguisher

Clark and I left a backpack at the airport and Peter took our other bags so that Clark Sunia and I could go to the silk market. This was a 4 story market with lots of little stalls. The first 2 floors were mostly knock off brand clothes.

We got to the more touristy section with silks, lanterns, jewelry, tea etc. I wound up getting most of my gifts for people here. It was a lot easier to shop for women than men, as usual I guess. The whole environment was very intimidating, people were constantly calling for your attention, saying ‘hello lady!’ When you were interested in something you really had to barter with them. It was difficult because we had no idea what anything was actually worth. We mostly just picked a number and stuck to it, sometimes pulling the walk away trick, which seemed to work pretty well. Then we took a long subway ride back to Peter’s apartment. It was really nice to be in a place resembling a home! We putzed around, caught up with Drew and nakia and shared pictures.

For dinner we went back to the school cafeteria’s restaurant, where Clark and I had our first meal also. We had a great beef dish, as well as some really good vegetables, and more beer and toasts. We walked to a KTV place and sang karaoke for a couple of hours, returning to Peter’s around 1am.

BIKE DAY!

We woke up and had a western style buffet breakfast at the hostel. We had intended to go to Suzhou, but after reading about Hanzhou in the book, it seemed as though it was a similar pretty city, and would be worth exploring for the day instead of spending 4 hours on the bus. The others agreed, especially since we were all still tired from the mountain.

We walked around a nearby island in the lake, and sat by the water for awhile. This was the hottest day we had and we were all sweating just sitting there. Peter and Sunia dumped water on each other. We talked to an Australian father and daughter for awhile, and then went in search of ice cream.

It was surprisingly tough to find, but was refreshing when we finally did! I didn’t feel very well after that, I think because it was the first sugar we’d had in awhile. Then we went walking and found a little stream that we could walk through on rocks.

We found a spot to have lunch and had mutton and mushroom dumplings in a soup. I tried a little baby shrimp that had eyes! Luckily it didn’t taste like anything. We were all exhausted so we headed back from a quick nap and wound up sleeping for 2 hours. It was difficult to figure out the Chinese characters on the air conditioner, so our room was really hot and miserable. I was definitely feeling crabby!

Around 7 we rented bikes from the hostel, which was a great way to see the city. We biked mostly on the roads, but they had bike lanes and there were lots of bikers and mopeds. No one wears helmets, but I felt pretty safe.

We made a couple of stops to see the sights as we made our way around the lake. We peeked over a fence to see a cool show in the middle of the water. People were running through the water in different formations.

We biked through the center of town and found a restaurant for dinner. There were lots of live animals in the front, but we ordered well and had mushroom and pork, spring rolls, fried pumpkin, chicken with veggies, and clams.

We biked back to the hostel arriving around 11. We were still exhausted and headed to our rooms to shower and repack. It was nice to be staying in the same place for 2 nights in a row.

SACRED MOUNTAIN DAY!

We woke up at 3:15 am by cell phone alarm and dressed to meet a new driver at 3:30. He drove us back to the same gate. I guess we were counting on the people to let us in. The gate turned out to be closed, so we took some side steps, which it turns out we could have taken the whole time. We climbed to a hut where a nicer guy sold us a 200 yuan ticket. He just said to go slow and be careful. There were several Chinese men going up before and after us. They appeared to be workers at the mountain. We began our climb at about 4am in complete darkness, using two flashlights. It was somewhat scary but a cool feeling to be climbing a mountain that early. We saw a big toad on the path, a stream trickled down to the right of the path. We had packed our packs with water and food, which turned out to be very heavy, and made the climb even more difficult.

The hike was almost ALL very steep stairs, with only a few scattered platforms and landings as rest areas. It curved around with the stream. Around 4:30 the sky became a little pink and we were able to go without flashlights. We got out of breath very quickly and rested often. We had hoped to make it to the top by sunrise, but the sun came up around 5:00. We quickly realized we were on the western side of the mountain, and thus taking the ‘western steps,’ which the lonely planet describes as “the longer harder way” and “a precarious route hewn out of sheer rock cliffs.” They recommended taking an easier way up and coming down this way for the beautiful scenery.

We climbed for about 3 hours, stopping for food, water, and pictures. We came to a platform and had to choose right or left – we went right, following more people.

We finally reached a peak, the capital celestial apex, around 7am. It was 1810 meters high. The view was gorgeous and we had the peak to ourselves for about ½ an hour. We could see the hotel on another area, and it was packed with people. There were locks attached to the chains at the top with hearts and names carved out, signifying love forever.

As we descended there were a lot more people coming up, and we were grateful that we had started so early and had the top to ourselves for awhile. We decided to try to take the easier eastern steps down, thinking it would be a good change of scenery and maybe a little easier on our bodies. However, we had to climb around the mountaintops for a couple more hours to find them.

We climbed up the other path to the left and went through the major hotel area. It was like walking through times square – it was SO crowded! And of course we had to deal with the Chinese pushing again, so we had to become that way too in order to get anywhere. The worst part was climbing a very narrow step path. People were slow and kept stopping to take pictures which made everyone else stop.

Despite these frustrations, the views were gorgeous and we got in a solid workout. After going up and down for awhile we finally found the eastern steps and started our three hour descent. These steps had more and longer landings, and thus were a bit easier, however it was really hard on our knees coming down.

We also had to weave in and out of the stick men, who were carrying all of the hotel supplies up and down the mountain. We couldn’t believe that they didn’t use the cable cars! These stick men had amazing endurance and really strong big calf muscles. They carried everything, including sheets and towels, beer, water, vegetables and other food. I hope that they get paid a lot! They also had men who would carry people up and down in a chair for 400 yuan. We saw one guy riding like this – it looked ridiculous, and I felt really bad for the workers!

The entire hike took 10 hours. We definitely felt as though we conquered yellow mountain! Upon reaching the bottom we took a van back to where we had left our things. We left them at the place we had dinner, and they expected us to have lunch there also. We did, and collected our things, then took a taxi to Tunxii (1 ½ hours), where the driver had called ahead to a contact. We were dropped off at some random restaurant where we sat in hot, humid heat, for 20 minutes. Then we were led about 2 blocks to a random hotel, where a bus picked us up. We then took the bus about 3 hours to Hanzhou.

The point of this was to get closer to Suzhou and Shang’hai so there was less travel time the next day. It began storming and the lightning was neat to see across the horizon. We took a taxi from the bus to the International Youth Hostel. Hanzhou is supposedly the most famous tourist attraction in China because of West Lake. As we drove in, the city appeared very ritzy and wealthy, and we even saw Porsche and Mini dealerships. The city is right on the lake, as was our hostel.

We checked in and looked at further tickets. We found a cheap plane ticket back to Beijing for Friday morning, so we scrapped Shang’hai from the schedule and planned to go to Suzhou for the day, staying in Hanzhou both nights.

We walked a ways to get to dinner because we kept finding neon-lit expensive restaurants on the lake. We finally found a noodle shop and had noodles, potatoes, and egg and tomato dishes. It was hot sitting in the restaurant, and we were all pretty delirious since we’d gotten up at 3:15. We hadn’t showered since climbing, and finally returned to the hostel for showers and sleep.

BUS DAY!

We woke up about 7 and felt pretty well rested. We checked out and took a taxi to the bus station where we got our tickets and sat down for a quick breakfast of hardboiled eggs, fried noodles, and fried bread. I continue to be surprised at the heavy breakfast food here. It seems that meals here are more focused on getting the nutrients you need, and then filling up on stables like rice or noodles.

We got on the bus and spent an hour driving around the city picking up more people. It was quite annoying and made it difficult to sleep. People were very loud and shouting into their cell phones, which got to be obnoxious.

We stopped for lunch and paid 15 yuan for a plate of 4 dishes and rice. It wasn’t great, but filled us for the rest of the ride.

It’s amazing we were able to entertain ourselves for the 10 hour trip. I slept some in the beginning, journaled, read my book, beat Clark at Scrabble, and watched the mountain scenery. As we got closer, the mountains grew and the road started winding around. There was a pretty river and lots of tiered crops.

They were building an expressway, but it wasn’t completed yet. That would have made our trip much faster!

We arrived at the foot of Yellow Mountain (Huangshan) and had dinner around 6. Dinner was good with cucumbers, potatos, kungpao chicken (HOT!) fragrant pork, tofu and mushrooms, and spinach. We filled up on rice, anticipating a 3 hour hike up the mountain. We finished dinner and repacked our bags as Peter asked questions and bargained a taxi ride. Everyone was giving us different information and it seemed like they were lying in order to get our business at their hotels. They were telling us the gate was closed and that we wouldn’t be able to hike at night as we had planned. We finally decided to just go see for ourselves.

We took a taxi there and the gate was open. We searched around for the path, but couldn’t find it. We looked at map but it was unclear where we should start climbing. Our taxi driver was of no help. We decided to take our bags and just walk around until we found the path, but then a woman got involved saying that we couldn’t. She cited things like bad weather (we could see lots of stars), bugs (we had bug spray), darkness (we had flashlights), and finally ended with “it’s just against the rules.” The lady threatened to call someone and finally did as we started walking.

Slowly people came out one at a time, including 2 guards. Peter continued to argue until eventually there were about 10 people surrounding him, seemingly telling us more lies. They said we could stay in a dorm room there, but when we asked to see it, they said the lady with the key had gone home for the night. The rest of us felt helpless in that we couldn’t understand anything or help Peter at all. About an hour after we had arrived, we finally decided to take our taxi back down and stay in a hotel.

Ironically, they said we could come back at 3:30 to begin our climb, so we could see the sunrise. The hotel was grungy, the sheets were full of holes, and the window screen too. We got 2 doubles for 20 yuan for each person, which was cheap.

DAM DAY!

We were lazy on the boat this morning, and stayed in bed until 10am. We caught the very end of the 3^rd big gorge while we had a breakfast of ramen noodles in a big bowl. Around 11 we were in the lake and approaching the dam. We got off the boat and boarded two buses to begin our tour.

The dam was HUGE and impressive – the engineering is mind boggling. They had to hire different companies, both Chinese and foreign, to complete it in order encourage integrity of the structure. We saw a model of the entire project and then climbed to see the dam and the boat locks. There are 5 locks from the upper to lower level.

We took the bus to 4 different stops, basically different vantage points of the dam. It was amazing how people pushed to get on the bus at every stop. Again, there was just no sense of personal space. We rushed a little because they told us we had to be back on the bus by 2. But then we sat on the bus waiting for one guy until 3pm. We ate an orange, which was some of the first fruit we’d had.

The bus brought us about an hour through the longest mountain tunnels I’ve ever seen, to Yichang, where we boarded another bus to get to Wuhan. Clark played scrabble against himself to entertain himself.

We arrived in Wuhan around 9:00. It’s interesting to see the different major cities – this one apparently gets really hot during the day, so everyone comes out at night. There’s more of a night culture. We found a nice hotel (Chinese) for a reasonable price. 2 rooms for 150 yuan each.

Sunia wasn’t feeling well and stayed in the room. Peter, Clark and I ventured out and walked around a bit, happening upon a little restaurant area. We had a dinner of fried rice, eggplant and potato, cauliflower and tomato, and street meat (beef).

Peter was wearing his ‘You sha shuo sha’ shirt, which means, ‘If you have something to say, say it! People feel the need to read this outloud and laugh at it. This happened everywhere we went. Apparently there are very few shirts with Chinese written on them, and the funny saying stands out. This is in addition to Peter being so tall, and a foreigner.

This was a great meal. It’s funny that it came from such a hole in the wall restaurant in Wuhan, a city I’d never heard of before.

We returned to the hotel via the red light district. Whoops! It was interesting that there were little kids (4 and 5) hanging out all around.

The hotel was fantastic with western toilets, clean showers and floors and big beds. It was a little piece of luxury in the middle of our trip!

GORGEOUS GORGES DAY!

We woke up at 7am and got on a smaller boat to see the lesser three gorges. These were very majestic and impressive. The river just cuts through the mountain and the walls rise straight up from the river. On the way out we were allowed to stand on the front deck of the boat and everyone was pushing to take pictures. More people wanted pictures with the tall foreigners.

We stopped off at a little market town that sold a lot of junk. Their premise was that they were all being displaced by the floods, and now this market is their only means of making a living.

We also stopped and climbed a ways up to a temple and a waterfall that had a good view of the gorge. The upper part of the mountain hung out over us, and water drops were falling off the edge onto us.

Clark and I spoke to 2 girls on the boat and gave them a NY postcard. They gave me a little necklace in return.

favorite was the misty gorge, which was actually quite misty and a lot cooler temperature wise. We saw a lot of garbage boats picking up trash with tiny little nets. On the way back we had to stay seated and got very sleepy.

We got back on the big boat and almost right away entered the 2^nd gorge. It was much wider, but just as majestic and impressive as the lesser 3 gorges.

As we floated downriver, we noticed a lot of garbage floating by, including hundreds of sandal shoes. We also saw about 10 dead pigs floating by. Clark and Peter think they also may have seen a human body, but couldn’t tell because of the discoloration. They said it also could have been a mannequin.

As we went along we could sign markers that show how high the river will rise to: 175 meters. You could see which houses, towns, and crops would be covered by the water once the dam is completed.

At the end of the gorge, we took a 1 hour nap, and woke up to a song and dance performance on a barge. We didn’t pay for the temple or the show at this stop, instead choosing to wander around the town. It was difficult to get away from the area that they channeled the tourists into. We had to go under some stairs and then on a muddy path up the side of the mountain.

We finally came across a road and followed it a ways and watched a beautiful sunset. We walked by a cemetery and finally got to a spot where the road had collapsed, we think due to flooding. We found an easier way down through the cemetery and then onto a road.

Back down at the river I found a sandal and threw it in, thinking maybe it is good luck and that is why there are so many shoes.

We returned to the touristy section and sat at an outside table in the square. We had lots of fresh vegetables and good dumplings, along with a couple of spicy dishes. We returned to the boat and drank two beers each at the stern. Then we showered and went to bed around midnight.