Were on the way, flying the big, new, China Air 747 from San Francisco to Beijing. Part way into the 12 hour flight, Rebecca joyfully notifies me that we only have 7 more hours to go! But why China? I heard that question frequently in the months leading into this grandiose family vacation, the "mac daddy" of all adventures to date.
The answer to that question was less specific and was more of an evolution. Rebecca has been pushing hard for Europe. However, after a family member recently visited Vietnam, that quickly became my first choice. So, while investigating the price differential of the two possible destinations, I pushed Asia. Vietnam as a vacation destination, was a non-starter, which Rachel vehemently and vocally opposed, like only Rachel can do. With hand on hip proclaiming, "I'm not going to Vietnam!" The other Pletchers, agreed. So the evolution of vacation ideas slowly led to a China tour. Personally, I see China as a rich destination of centuries old history, culture, and a developing nation that has not reached its peak as an exotic yet affordable adventure which will be a highlight of my children's family memories.
Our pre-vacation has already occurred in the wonderful town of San Francisco. That has become our stepping off point to Pacific vacations. Same as 2 years ago, when visiting Hawaii. We launched out of Orlando early Friday, the 17th of July, as my first day of a much needed vacation. I had a fairly typical start to a non-rev experience. I finished my first month of SWA Captain trips the night before at 1215 am. Living the "glamorous life", I commenced to sleep for a fitful 2 hours in a big blue lounge chair, that is ever present in pilot lounges the world over. At 3 am, I went to meet the family in Orlando, at Patrick's house where we would leave Rebecca's mini van.
The non rev drill is to drop the family off curbside, where they will check the baggage, and I go park the car in the Employee lot. By the time I take the Employee Shuttle back to the airport, and proceed through Known Crew Member, the family has already made it through security and is well into a breakfast from McDonald's. For a 2 week trip, I have to admit that this family has done a great job of packing. We each have a carry on bag and a backpack, and only one gargantuan hard sided checked bag with the family communal supplies, as well as the rest of Rebecca's.
We easily made our first flight to Atlanta, a wide open, early am flight. However, Atlanta to SanFran was not as easy, but we did manage to get nearly the last seats, the operations agent questioning, "do you feel lucky?" I guess we did, and commenced to board and subsequently sleep for much of the next 5:15 while enroute to the West Coast.
Arriving in San Francisco, we checked into the Marriott Airport Waterfront hotel. It is scenically located right on the Bay with a great view of the SFO final approach course. By the time we arrived, Ryan had already texted and arranged for he and Dylan to meet his cousin, Natalie. First though, they got bicycles from the hotel, and pedaled to the nearby In n Out Burger, easily their favorite California eatery. In order for the boys to meet Natalie, they walked over to the CalTrans station, and took the train to San Jose. A pretty cool experience for a couple of Cocoa Beach teens. They spent the rest of the afternoon tooling around Santa Cruz, experiencing a little slice of Cali!
Rachel, who has always loved the airline life, was enthralled with all the jumbo jets landing at SFO, just having arrived from long trans Pacific flights. She could've sat for hours to watch those jets lining up on final and landing as we had front row seats on the waterfront of the Bay. The hotel, being quite accomadating, especially to airline crew members, had a Friday afternoon "luau" which consisted of a two person Hawaiian singing group, with a hula dancer. They served free Mai Tai's and grilled swordfish served over a plantain pate. That was a fine appetizer to the main course we enjoyed at the hotel.
Next morning, Rachel slept in. The boys were at Dito's house in Los Gatos, and Reb and I did a glorious 7 mile run along the San Francisco Bay trail. We enjoyed a very pleasant early morning run with comfortable, Pacific temperatures. Of noticeable enjoyment was the smell of the local trees, bushes, and wild plants along the way. It was a very fragrant run, and of particular note was a tall yellowing flower that was a dead ringer for the scent of licorice.
Our turn around point was Coyote Point. Now, I had run to an through Coyote Point multiple times, never discovering the jewel that it had to offer. My most notable previous experience there was a skunk running across the wooded trail ahead of me. This time though, at our turnaround, I noticed a memorial that turned out to be a Merchant Mariner memorial for current Mariners, those who served in WWII, and even more notably, those Cadets from the USMMA who perished in that war. Amazing, firstly since I've never seen this before, but also that this was the second Merchant Mariner Memorial I had discovered on a waterfront run this week. The first was on the Arkansas River in Wichita, KS. I discovered that Coyote Point was one of the original USMMA training facilities, this being the San Mateo facility. Amazed at the discovery.
Upon rallying Rachel from slumber, we proceeded into the City of San Francisco via shuttle to the airport, BART to Powell and Market St. Realizing we were at the height of the tourist season, it was clear that we would not easily make the cable car line in a timely manner. Thusly, we hopped the "F" cable car around to the Embercado area. Now it was time to climb the city streets up to the Coit tower. The views from this high vantage were just glorious, observing the day's clear skies, Golden Gate bridge, and sailboats gliding over the Bay.
For lunch, we proceeded back down the city streets to Tony's pizza. Billed as one of San Fran's under rated restaraunts, we were not disappointed. During our 45 minute wait, we sat in Washington Square observing all of the bustle of a SF Saturday afternoon. Although under rated, Tony's certainly did not disappoint.
Our next city climb was up Lombard Street with it's multiple switch backs, pedestrian and car traffic, and traffic cops directing the whole mess from the top of the hill. Deciding to meet Dito and family for dinner, we made it back down to the BART on a cable car, and headed back to Burlingame. There we missed the Cal Train, but Dito picked us up, and took us to Redwood City for a nice family meal at The Spagetti Warehouse. Redwood City's interesting slogan, "best climate as determined by government test"
That night, we felt the full, and stressful effect of a family of 5 in a hotel room. I wasn't sure that evening if we were going to make it for 2 weeks.
This morning, Rebecca got her first Uber experience. We went to church together in Burlingame to a pleasant parish, and took Uber both ways. The app yielded a driver within moments. Amazing. The mass was pretty abbreviated due to no music. I appreciated the efficiency of it all, but Rebecca yearned for the spiritual stimulation of music. So we returned to the hotel, rousted the family, packed and had an extensive buffet at bargain, aircrew rates there in the hotel.
Interesting to see how our "slow to warm" son managed this daunting trans Pacific journey. Dylan was quite anxious, and was not happy to be out of texting range on the trip.
But there we were, aboard the jumbo, it is not crowded at all, and we are halfway to China! Ryan would burst into that statement frequently today, in an amazed tone, "Were going to China!" And we are off, on what is sure to prove to be a memorable experience and worthwhile adventure for our family!
Beijing arrival
12 hours on a 747! Some slept, some not. The sleepers mostly used a sleep aid called Simply Sleep. Being in a pretty deep sleep, they missed out on the 2nd meal. Same as the first, chicken and rice. However, not bad for an airline meal, and of course the service was quite a bit better than experienced on most domestic carriers, Southwest being the exception! The flight had a pretty extensive inflight entertainment system in the seat back, including movies and audio. I mostly checked out the audio, and was amazed at the blues selection that it contained, spanning from early Robert Johnson, into Jimi Hendrix, and even up to contemporary Keb Mo. Wondering if that's a Chinese thing.
Much anticipation excitement ensued as we departed the plane on the ground in China. Dusk was just settling, and it did appear a tad smoggy. But we retrieved bags and cleared Immigration easily, as each passport was uncerimoniously stamped the double boom boom that is characteristic of every fiercely indifferent Custom officer worldwide.
Our China Spree guide met us with a sign and a smile. Nina who took us to the Marriott Beijing City Wall. Nice nice rooms. Food for snacks was found the across street.
First day of Touring in Beijing
I did not have high hopes for breakfast this morning. China Spree had advertised it as a "Western breakfast", so my expectations were for a plate of runny "English" style eggs, some burnt toast and a sausage. I couldn't have been more wrong. The boys and I walked into a full conference size room maxed out with Asian and Western food choices. These included a noodle bar and omelette bar, multiple fruits, salads, soups and meats and cheeses. I was very impressed. This all followed an early morning, where the kids were up from time zone adjustment, and we hit the fabulous Marriott gym first. This gymnasium was a fully state of the art facility including multiple machines and free weights. That early morning would come back for a visit, when in the afternoon, all of the kids were dragging.
The day was so full of activities, I must highlight: Tianamen Square, meaning Palace of Heavenly Gates. Packed full of Chinese tourists, many waiting in line to view Chairman Mao in his masoleum. The square is purported to hold a million people, and it is the largest in the world. There were seemingly that many in the tourist lines
Forbidden Palace, with it's 9999 rooms, multiple gates, moats and ornate architecture.
W didn't visit all of the rooms, but the walking indicated such. If you slept in a different room in the Forbidden City every night, you would be 27 before sleeping in all of the rooms.
Nina, our local guide was quite informative. One of the interesting facts she conveyed to us was of the Emperors and their concubines. The Emperors could have up to 3000 concubines. To determine which he would have as a companion, the Eunich would bring a tray with tiles on them, each tile was a different named concubine. Whichever tile was chosen was the "companion" of the Emperor for the evening.
After visiting the Forbidden City, we made our way by coach, a Mercedes mini bus, to the "Hutong" area. Hutong is an old Mongolian word, which roughly translated means narrow alleyways. This was the remaining part of Beijing which is like the ancient times of winding narrow alleyways. We traversed the Hutong in rickshaws which were lined up for this purpose. The narrow nature of the roads made Rachel quite nervous, as the clearance between rickshaws and other vehicles was quite minimal.Our destination was a local home which had provided a Chinese typical meal for us. It was very delicious, and there was plenty for all.
After our rickshaw ride through the Hutong, we went to the Beijing zoo, and saw the Giant Pandas there. There were two Panda houses, and we saw 3 pandas, the pride of China.
As the afternoon wore on, the time change began to wear on. Dylan Ryan and Rachel became pretty tired, and were sleeping every time we got into the coach. Arguments also developed over seemingly nonsensical issues.
A comic relief from the irritability was when young Chinese children asked our kids to be photographed with them. Ryan and Dylan were first approached on a street corner, tall blond American boys that they were, a Chinese mother photographed her son with our two boys. Later Rachel was approached by a group of school girls and another young Chinese boy to take pictures with them. Nina said that those kids must be from one of the outer Provinces, since the City kids were used to Caucasians, and it had become commonplace for them, but the kids from the countryside were unfamiliar with such towering Caucasians.
The last attraction for the day was the Imperial Summer Palace. It was the summer retreat for the last of the ruling party, and Nina spent alot of time discussing the "Super Lady" or "Dragon Lady" empress, Cixi. The long corridor brought up past 14,000 painted works of art and out to the Dragon Boat for the boat ride back to the coach.
On the dragon boat ride back to the coach, the visibility was quite obscured from the smog that was ever present during our stay. Lisa, the Chinese American from San Diego, said it was not even that bad, however, it sure gives my contacts a gummed up feeling. I am amazed that the artwork on the Long Corridor is still as visible as it is with the pollution being as thick as it is.
For dinner, we took a ride to a local mall which had a Peking duck restaraunt within. The massive amounts of food was on a Lazy Susan as we all sat at a round table with white linen. We were shown how to use the bean curd pancakes to put a strip of duck meat, a strip of duck skin, and Hoisin sauce to form a "Chinese burrito" to eat the duck delicacy. Certainly there is no lack of food on this China Spree tour, and our family has been eating quite heartily, with an adventurous curiosity.
Even though China is a one party Communist system, we haven't noticed any obvious signs of political repression. There have been next to no outward signs of authority other than a few guards in Tianamen square. In fact, our visits to Panama, a democratic nation have had more obvious signs of police authority. except Nina stating she couldn't get a visa to visit us since single girl who speaks English
July 22 Great Wall of China
The foremost feature of the China Spree tour has been the copious amounts of food. Every meal has been a feast. Starting from the grand buffet at breakfast, and throughout the day, each meal has massive quantities of delicious Chinese food. Even this evening, when Nina said the quantity would not be as great, but the quality would be better, we left food behind. This was at a dinner theatre type restaurant which featured typical Chinese performances including a fan dancer, magician, acrobat, and mask changing dance. Quite interesting. The acrobat was a female who laid on her back on a stand and would juggle a large vase with her feet. Her grand finale was to insert a small Chinese man into a large, heavy vase and do a little juggling routine with him in it. After dinner, we were unable to make a quick get away as our driver had a minor fender bender as he was backing up to save us from walking in the rain to the motor coach. We felt bad for him.
Today started again in the hotel gym, followed by the killer breakfast. Again, we met our tour at 0830, and made our way out of Beijing to the North and West, first stopping at the Ming Tombs. This is a large and important burial ground in China. The first Emperor of the Ming dynasty is buried here. We walked the Sacred Way of the Tombs where many of the early emperors from that Dynasty were buried. There were many beasts, lions, camels and military officers along the way. Next, we stopped at a jade factory, learning of the trade, watching the craftsman, and having lunch. We also purchased some small jade trinkets.
The highlight of the day was the Great Wall of China, as magnificent as you may imagine, traversing a ridge line on the highest peaks. Spanning for 5000 km, we hiked but a short section on the Mutianyu access point. Taking a shuttle to a cable car (gondola) we made it to the spectacular ridge, imagining the ancient Chinese who built this great achievement. This access point was less crowded. Our family did a strenuous hike and run/walk to the top of the tourist access area. It was a wonderful afternoon.
July 23 Temple of Heaven
Today was our last day in Beijing, and in fact, it has just been a half day. Currently, we are waiting at the Beijing airport for our flight to the 2nd destination on our excursion, Xian. We have said good bye to Nina after a grand 4 days of her exquisite and informative touring.
This morning started quite early, as the time adjustment is not quite complete, and Rebecca and I woke up having not used a "sleep aid" last night. However, we did hit the gym once again. I was also loving the breakfast buffet at the Marriott. I even kept it reasonable this morning, in anticipation of the feeding which would take place at lunch.
Our major stop this morning was at the Temple of Heaven, a religious building where early Emperors would perform sacrificial and other rites to please the gods in order to produce better rains and conditions for crops. The temple was surrounded by a wooded area where alot of retired Chinese converge. They were out in force dancing, playing cards, and an interesting game resembling Hacky Sack. They used a large "birdie" made of feathers, resembling one which may be used in badmitton, only larger. These retired men and women could keep that thing aloft with their feet and knees seemingly forever, as they stood in a circle sending it airborne to each other. The boys loved it and Rebecca insisted we buy one for ourselves.
Passing through gates into the temple area, first there is a ring of "sounding stones" in multiple circles, the ring representing heaven, as does the circle of the temple. The square area represents earth, and the circle and square are the convergence of the two. It was here that the Emperor would pray for bountiful crops under the cobalt blue temple which was first built in the 15th century, burned down in the late 19th century after a lightning strike, and rebuilt using the Mind dynasty construction methods. We also observed a few wedding parties who were using this temple as a back drop for their wedding photos.
Lunch was at a 5th floor mall Chinese restaurant, similar to the others with alot of food. After that, we took a steamy stroll in the Olympic village area to photograph the "Birds nest" and "Water Cube" the venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games.
Now, we are awaiting our domestic flight to Xian after a thorough security search where I had to send my bag through a few times before clearing. However, we ended up waiting for 3 1/2 hours to board the flight to Xian. We sat waiting in the gate area for the duration of the time, and were given a "convenient meal" from Air China. It was a TV dinner sized tray with rice, chicken and steamed spiced cabbage served with chopsticks. I ate mine, but it wasn't too popular amongst the others. We ended up leaving a few for the airport cleaning staff.
Boarding the A320, so late, we all crashed out on the flight which was 2 hours long. Arriving in Xian, we were met by our China Spree host, Amber, and drove to the Sheraton. Wow, an amazing hotel. 5 stars, and worthy of every one. Large comfy rooms with elegant furnishings. Its a shame we are only here for 2 nights
Friday, Terra Cotta
I again utilized the hotel fitness center in the Sheraton. Even though I have been getting my work outs in, the rich Chinese food we have been enjoying has gone straight to 5 additional pounds. Oh well.
We had a nice buffet at the Sheraton, and got to sleep in a little extra. We were in bed last night at 1 am, exhausted, and did not meet Amber until 1030.
The City of Xian has quite a different feel than Beijing. First, less pollution, and also, less hustle and bustle feel despite having a population of 9.2 million. It is the oldest cultural area in China, and was the city capitol of the first Chinese dynasty. This was the first Emperor who joined all of China into one Empire, joined the Great Wall, and built his own tomb for 38 years using 700,000 workers.
We passed this Emperors tomb mound on the way to the Terra Cotta soldier site. It has not been excavated, and only 3 pits of over a hundred which house terra cotta kingdom have been disturbed due to the mercury poison and lack of technology to undertake the huge project.
The existing excavation was spectacular. The whole Terra Cotta soldier display was spectacular, and the way it was found so interesting. They bill it as the 8th wonder of the world, and certainly it is a massive archeological find.
We visited all 3 excavated pits, then went to a local home of a cave dwelling family. It was interesting to see how they lived.
Passing back through Xian during Friday rush hour traffic was an eye opener to nearly chaotic traffic flows, very foreign to our seemingly organized flows at home.
Dinner was at the Tang Dynasty dinner theatre for a wonderful dinner of 14 or more types of dumplings and a show of the Tang dynasty with exquisite costumes, dance and traditional music. All were quite tired this evening, and Ryan made us a pot of tea from the room's tea station using the tea we had purchased at the Terra Cotta warriors lunch.
July 25 Xian
Back in the airport, this time for another inter-China flight from Xian to Guilin. Hopefully, we will not be delayed like our Beijing flight. We have really enjoyed it here in Xian, which is the site of China's golden age during the Tang dynasty. Today, was a culturally exciting visit to two religious centers. The first was Buddhist, and the second Muslim.
Reb and I had a quick workout in the Sheraton, which is easily the nicest hotel our family has ever stayed in. It was sad to leave, and we almost wish we had some more time to enjoy Xian. We especially missed seeing the inside of the original palace, and the City walls, which apparently have a biking trail all around the top. We did see the towers and city walls lit up last night on the way home from the dinner theatre, which was beautiful.
This morning, was another seemingly smog free day in Xian. Our first stop was the Wild Goose Pagoda. It is an active Buddhist monastery, and has been since 652 AD. It is the site that a monk returning from India translated many volumes of Buddhism from Sanskrit into Chinese. He is regarded as a Buddhist hero, and there are many classic stories about this pilgrimage. The most famous is taught to all Chinese kids as one of their 4 classic novels called The Journey to the West.
While in the monastery, we saw where the monks lived, and I made a prayer ritual using incense, and candles, bowing 3 times to the Buddha. Also, we went into a back room with our guide, and were shown two of the original bark paper manuscripts of the monk Xuan Zang that he brought back from India in the 7th century. Further into that "off the beaten path" tour, we entered an art gallery where the ancient art of Chinese calligraphy was explained to us. We all bought some prints, and some calligraphy of Rachel and Ryan's names. Rachel meaning "auspicious Autumn" and Ryan meaning "auspicious Thanksgiving" The prints Rebecca and I bought are to be displayed in a Feng Shui manner within the house, the print on the left of the Chinese plum, standing for the female of the house, and the bamboo hung on the right to signify the strong male of the house. The prints work together in a yin yan style, mutually complementary.
The Muslim mosque was also quite old, and this Great Mosque was from the 7th century. It had multiple courtyards, and a mosque prayer area which was covered with Oriental rugs that could hold 1000 praying Muslims. A notable wall hanging had the local time, as well as 5 other clocks that gave the prayer time for this day, with each day of the year having slightly different prayer times. The highlight of the Muslim quarter was the street market. Bustling and narrow streets and stalls were fit into every narrow niche on the street and alleyways. We did a little bit of bartering for gifts and fake Rolexes. It is funny to watch Rebecca's response to my bartering as she is quite embarrassed to seek a good deal, and finds me quite annoying in that pursuit.
This tour group has been quite amazing. We have no stresses of where to go, how to get there, or what to do. All is provided. So much food is given at each of our meals that the Lazy Susan can barely hold it all. It is funny that the food is seemingly limitless, but the drinks are limited to 2 per person of small glasses. I almost feel guilty walking away with so much food left over. It is very rich and noodly, filling and and I can see that after 2 weeks, I will not have a strong yearning for Chinese food for some time.
Well, sure enough, we were almost two hours late departing Xian, and then arriving in Guilin. Of course, we were all very tired, however, once stepping out of the airport, it was clear that we were in a different climate here in south China. Our tour guide, Sue met us at the airport to ferry us to the Guilin Sheraton, which she warned us would not be as good as the previous ones, however, it is quite a bit nicer than where we usually stay.
Sunday Guilin
What our hotel lacks in 5 star comfort, it gains in location. I awoke this morning, and under risk of death crossed the street to the Li River. Diesel fumes and cigarettes, the smell of China. I had seen the river path along the street and decided to check it out on a jog. What a beautiful little path for running, shaded with square marble tiles on a wide thoroughfare. This morning, the elderly Chinese were also taking advantage of the beauty of the humid and balmy morning as they practiced dancing, Tai Chi, walking, jogging, and I even happened upon a swimming club on my run journey.
After breakfast we all assembled in the lobby area, equipped with rain gear and borrowed umbrellas from the concierge. Our motor coach ride was to be a 2 hour drive to Long Sheng. This is a town named for a Chinese fable about a conflict between a dragon and a tiger. Since the dragon claimed victory over the tiger, the town means Victorious Dragon. Appropriately enough, this is also the site of the beautiful terraces of the "Dragon's Spine" It was every bit of 2 hours to the small town where Sue got us set up for another 40 minute shuttle ride.
We waited for a short time in the rain, as the family purchased some plastic shoe covers for our eventual hike up to the terraces. Once we had waited our turn, and boarded the bus, it was immediately apparent that this would be a harrowing experience. The weather was cloudy and rainy, and the road we traversed in a shuttle bus was suitable as a one lane road, however, we came to the conclusion that there was also downhill shuttle bus traffic. Multiple hairpin, blind turns were signalled by a beep of the high power bus horn. Many times in these blind turns, we had to go to the outside part of the lane where oncoming traffic would be, and sometimes was.
Though the kids appeared to be sleeping, we were all glad to get off that bus and start walking to view the terraces as the jumble of up and down, start and stop of the shuttle gave us a queasy wash over.
The hike up to the terraces was wet and rainy. We all had ponchos, umbrellas, and some foot wear protectors. It was an interesting ascent through the alleyways of the local Chinese minority. Their hair and costume garb were almost "indian" like, and all along the way was the smell of charcoal fires cooking corn, chili paste, bamboo rice, and other assorted foods that only a Chinese resident could identify. We ate lunch near the top, and as usual, the plates kept coming and coming.
At the top, we got some pictures of the spectacular view of the thousands of rice terraces that have completely sculpted the mountain tops in this area. As we were snapping our final shots, the clouds moved up the valley, and completely obscured the breathtaking images we had just observed.
It was time to make it down the mountain stepped trail past numerous upward travelers, all battling for airspace as our umbrellas brushed past each other while passing.
Reb got a couple of silver bracelets, and also one for Rachel. She actually let me negotiate for a pretty good price without showing embarassment and blowing the deal!
Getting back to the hotel, we washed up and went to another restaurant on foot. It was located on the "pedestrian street" just outside the door of the Sheraton. Again, plate after plate...........
On the way out, the girls had to try the "Kissing Fish Spa" One of the wildest things I've ever seen. This store had 4 rows of seats with heavy glassed aquariums at your feet. Within the aquariums were fish to exfoliate your feet. They gave it a go for 20 minutes for 25yuan, or about 4 bucks each. Those fish swarmed their feet, sucking, kissing, and tickling away all of the dead skin off their feet. A very wild experience.
Monday Guilin Day 9
An early start precluded a workout this morning. We took a 2 hour ride to the Li River cruise. Boarded a 3 deck river cruise boat and launched with the congested traffic of the river boats. It was very spectacular, traversing 52 miles of scenic landscapes observing Chinese life along the river. Absolutely amazing views for 3 1/2 hours, of which we were able to spend outside on the top deck for almost the entirety, with the exception of lunch. At our disembarkation point of Langshuo, we walked through the market, where Dylan bargained for a "selfie stick" and then went to visit an old style farm house, it felt intrusive to me, but that is their retirement income. It was an old Ming Dynasty General's home occupied by an older couple and his sister in law. On the 2 hour ride home, we seemed to see a bit more of the "real" China, not just the upper and middle class homes, but the lower class. I wonder if the foreign tour groups have to take certain approved routes to present the best image of China to outsiders. The kids had a chance to launch out on their own in the Guilin pedestrian streets, and they all hit the "kissing fish spa"
Feeling tired after so many days of travel. Thankfully, tomorrow is a late start. Sleeping in and working out in the am.
Tuesday Day 10 Last day in Guilin
Our frantic schedule of tour tour tour, eat eat eat took a respite this morning. We were actually given a morning off! Reb and I did a quick work out then she got a foot/leg massage which was described as heavenly. The kids mostly chilled out, slept and played on their video devices.
Right at 1 we went to lunch, then went to the local Tea Plantation. Just as we arrived, it began to rain, but we were given tea picker hats, and went to the field and the sun gloriously came out giving us an opportunity for postcard perfect photos. We had a tea guide describe to us the different types of leaves which are used to produce the different types of tea: black, white, green, and their differing qualities. Next, we were shown how the tea is heated, stirred by hand in the round oven, kneaded, and dried to form the teas suitable for drinking. Quite a process. Our highlight was to sit at a traditional tea table and be shown the intricacies of the "tea ceremony" as we sampled the different kinds of teas that we had just been demonstrated the production process for. We wouldn't be good tourists if we didn't spend some big cash on some tea, so we got a small brick of the 6 tea compressed type which we all enjoyed.
Again, it was quickly off to dinner, then to the airport for another delayed flight to Shanghai. I really started feeling under the weather, and have caught Ryan's cold that he kicked the first few days of our trip. But, sadly we didn't get to our Shanghai Hotel until after 1 am, this after being met by our local guide, Caroline. Oh what a hotel the Inter Continental is though. All are excited to be in this luxurious 5 star in downtown Shanghai with its electric toilet seat lifting device, electric blinds, bidet, and rainforest shower. Living in luxury for the next 3 days.
Wednesday in Shanghai
Our breakfast buffet lived up to the number of stars as our hotel. It was quick, despite getting a 10 am start since we got in so late last night. It was a pretty casual start in Shanghai however, which is welcome because both Dylan and I are feeling slowed by a cold, and all are feeling the fatigue of 2 weeks of travel.
Shanghai is such a nice, modern city though. We took a ride over to the Jingmao tower, the 3rd highest tower in the world, and took the high speed elevator to the top. Very impressive views of the cityscape from the top of this building.
Next we went across the river to the Bund. The best street level view of Shanghai skyline. Best enjoyed on a cooler day, as our temps are closing in on 100 degrees. At the Bund, we found a local Jade center for some gifts. Another lunch followed, and we toured the fabulous Shanghai museum. It was very impressive, more representative of a Western country than a developing nation. The French quarter followed, and Dylan started to feel really bad. The temperature was hot so Hagen Dazs was the relief.
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