China

First, I’ll update you as of today: Thursday, April 10.
We’re nearing Kobe, Japan in rough water. It is cold and windy – quit a change from Vietnam and Cambodia. I’m wearing a jacket on the ship’ they know how to cool us down, but not how to warm us up! While we traveled in China, we had cool, rainy weather and lots of fog and smog. While some of us toured Beijing and Xian, the ship sailed from Hong Kong on April 4 and was scheduled to dock in Shanghai on April 7 in the early morning. Because of the heavy fog, the ship’s schedule for docking in Shanghai was delayed for about 14 hours—it was too foggy (even with the radar system) for the captain to get into the port. (That surprised me, but it didn’t affect me because my plane was delayed in Xian). When some of the SAS passengers who had been traveling arrived in port on April 7, the ship wasn’t in port. Surprise! Their “home” was not available. So they had to “hang out in Shanghai” until the ship docked. Luckily many of the students have international cell phones, so they called the ship and found out about the delay. Because many of us were traveling and everything was “off schedule,” there were about 600 of us who were in a huge line late at night to get “processed” to get back on the ship. I don’t think I have mentioned in the past that prior to each port, a “green sheet” is published by the Field Office (and I make 900 copies that are distributed to everyone on board). This green sheet contains all information that we might need/will need for that particular port. It is a life-saver when anything unexpected happens. So now, back to my adventures in China.
After arriving in the port of Hong Kong on Thursday, April 3, I left on a flight to Beijing and thus I (with 82 other participants on Semester at Sea) began my 5-day tour of Beijing and Xian. What a whirlwind! I felt like I did when I went to Egypt on a Grand Circle Tour – up early every morning and on-the-go until late at night. I’m exhausted and reaffirming that is not the way I want to travel. I am always conflicted about doing as many things as possible or doing a few things thoroughly (but like Egypt, I could spend a life time learning about the history and culture of China.) Upon arrival, the air was clear, but for the remaining days of our trip, the smog was very apparent (and I began coughing again.) Traffic was definitely a challenge--just as bad as Orange County or worse. All of us on trips are always grateful that we are not doing the driving.
For dinner the first evening, we had a wonderful Peking duck dinner. We were taught how to use the rice “tortilla” to wrap the pieces of duck, slivers of onions and sauce. Yummy! The tour company (all tour companies are owned by the Chinese government so we were shown only what they were instructed to show us – thus everything was very positive) had chosen a 5-star hotel for us which was quite extravagant. I roomed with another staff person who is a member of the mental health staff. (And yes, we do have two psychologists on board to deal with emotional problems which occur.)
On Friday, we took a bus to the Great Wall. I would love to report that I climbed the stairs to the top and walked on top of the wall, but we only had a little over an hour at the Wall, so I only was able to walk up for about 30 minutes and then I had to start down (which is just as difficult as walking up!) It was a perfect day – not too hot; we all wanted more time to explore the Wall, but our schedule also included lunch and a tour of the Summer Palace. A magnificent place!
On Saturday, we went to Tiananmen Square and visited the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. We followed the advice of the pre-port lecturers and didn’t talk about politics or religion, but the guides volunteered information about the big demonstrations in the Square in 1989. They said “it was never determined how many people were killed and/or injured and the Chinese people didn’t know the final outcome.” I could write a book about each of these places, but I’ll spare you. I have pictures to share when I get back to the States. It was also exciting to see the preparations for the Beijing Olympics. It was surprising for me to see the wide streets that were built in past years – the engineers did a great job planning for future expansion. The newer buildings are architecturally varied and really beautiful. In preparation for the Olympics, Beijing is expanding exponentially and cleaning up the older areas. A friend and I took a rickshaw drive through a Hutong section of the city. It was old, very clean and the residents were friendly.
We saw the new stadium named the “Bird’s Nest” (I think) —still under construction—at a distance, and it looks very interesting. The guide said 80 percent of the hotel rooms are already booked at twice the regular price. I also learned the soccer games will be played in Shanghai. I have really mixed feelings about the protests against the Beijing Games. Of course, I abhor the attacks in Tibet, but do we punish the people of China for the acts of their government? And is the U.S. so much better that we can pass judgment?
After that exhausting day, we flew to Xian in the evening. Xian is a fascinating city where the entire city was surrounded by very large wall in the past. As the city grew, buildings expanded outside the city wall and our hotel (also very nice) was in a newer area outside the wall. While we were there, we visited the Bell Tower, which was one of the main towers built with specific functions in ancient times.
Sunday we toured the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit. There is no way to describe this terra cotta army in a few words. Massive numbers of soldiers, horses, chariots, etc have been unearthed and in the last 20 years, the terra-cotta museum has become the largest on-site museum in China. And more and more valuable cultural relics continue to be unearthed. I bought the latest museum edition of the “The Qin Dynasty Terra-Cotta Army of Dreams” which was signed by the farmer who first discovered the soldiers. He is employed by the museum and was there the day we visited. He signs books in cursive calligraphy upon request. That evening we went to the Tang Dynasty show and dinner. It was comparable to a show in Las Vegas—many beautiful people in outstanding costumes and flowing gowns performing dramas and dances accompanied by various musical instruments (many new to me). Lots of glitz and glitter – and announcements of the performances in English. (China was our most challenging port for communicating in English. Many times the only English speakers were our guides.)
Monday we went to a center for retired people and a teacher explained the types of calligraphy and we experimented with brush, ink and rice paper to make Chinese characters. Fun! I wish I had time to practice. While visiting the center and listening to the director, I was reminded of the Asian tradition of the younger generation honoring and taking care of the elderly—that tradition seems to be supported by the government also. We visited a clinic in the area and had the chance to learn more about acupuncture and “cupping.” I won’t describe it here, but the young women who tried cupping, said they felt their back muscles felt better after being “cupped.”
Before we left for the airport, we visited the Han Yangling Museum. This museum is similar to the Terry Cotta Warriors and was opened to the public in 1999. The main difference between the Terra Cotta Warriors and these figures are that these were made in miniature. Again, an amazing amount of time and talent were required to sculpt these forms. As usual, I was impressed by the kindness the Chinese people showed us – and sometimes they got a good laugh when we were trying to eat (everything) with chopsticks. I forgot to mention, we had “hot pot” one day. The meal was thinly sliced meat, vegetables and freshly-made noodles. We each cooked everything in our personal hot pot (seemed to be boiling water with herbs). The noodles were especially challenging because they were very long and we had no way to cut them. The servers thought we were extremely funny as we tried to eat them. I’m glad we provided them with some entertainment!
As I got up from my desk at 6:15 this evening, I glanced outside and saw a beautiful sunset – just another joy of being at sea. The sun came out this afternoon and we’re hoping for sunshine tomorrow as we dock in Kobe, Japan. The ship is going through a rigorous inspection tomorrow morning: each passenger's temperature will be taken, we will be fingerprinted, a photo will be taken and face-to-face meetings with Japanese officials are required. All this is believed to be in retaliation for the screening of all visitors to the U.S. that the U.S. implemented after 9/11. We'll hope for the best.