Final Thoughts on my China Trip

It's hard to believe 5 weeks went by so quickly.  I remember landing in Hong Kong, and then on the Yangtze River cruise.  After that, all the places I visited were like a blur.  I pretty much stuck to my travel plan, except for not going to Guangzhou.  The trip had been more than I thought.  There were many highlights so I thought it'd be nice if I summarized them.

The Number One highlight has to be touching and taking picture with a 10-month old panda.  Not many people get the opportunity to do this and I wasn't even expecting to be able to do it.

The other highlights, in no particular order, are:

1. Cruising on the Yangtze River, then seeing the Three Gorges Dam
2. Traveling on the Silk Road - understanding its impact on history
3. Visiting Jiuzhaigou and Huanlong in Sichuan
4. Riding a camel in Dunhuang
5. Seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian with my own eyes
6. Admiring the karst landscape in Guilin
7. Visiting Macau for the first time.
8. Tasting the freshest lychee in Hong Kong

What are some regrets on the trip?  I wish I spent more time in Chengdu and Xian.  Chengdu was recently voted the Most Livable City in China by the Asian Development Bank:  Most Livable City in China  It's not as intimidating as a big city like Chongqing and the people there are known to be quite laid-back.  It's centrally located in China so it's easy to get to some of beautiful places in Yunnan and Tibet.   I also wish I had an extra day or two in Guilin, to explore the country side.

Overall, I am very happy with my trip.  It takes a little getting used to traveling in China, even for a seasoned traveler like me.  You have to be constantly on the lookout for the traffic.  People in China are not as courteous and they talk loudly.  If you've never used a squat toilet, you will have plenty of opportunities.  Oh yes, the toilets are not the cleanest but they are much better than they used to be.

Am I planning on more trips in China?  Absolutely.  Places that I like to explore are Yunnan and Tibet.  I heard a lot of good things about places in Yunnan:  Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, etc.  The scenery in the countryside is absolutely gorgeous.  Tibet - it sounds like such a mysterious place and yes, it is part of China, but not China.  Well, I am almost ready for my next trip.  Thanks for reading my blog.

Macau

My final stop before flying home from Hong Kong was Macau.  I wanted to visit Macau because a good friend of mine from my North Dakota days lives there.  This is my first trip to Macau even though it's only a 1-hour ferry ride from Hong Kong.
There is a lot of history here.  It's one of the first places in Asia that was occupied by Europeans.  The Portuguese have occupied Macau since the 16th century but returned it to China in 1999.  All the signs are in Chinese, English and Portuguese.  Most of the residents here are Chinese, with Cantonese  being the main language.
For most Asians, Macau is known as a gambling mecca.  Most of the big Las Vegas casinos have casinos here:  Wynn, Sands, and MGM.  Besides gambling, tourism has been a big driver of the economy, with most tourists coming from mainland China.

A parade down a busy street

Street signs in 3 languages

Lots of tourists from mainland China

Ruins of St. Paul

Egg Tarts - originally from Portugal, now a dim-sum favorite

A fortress built by the Portuguese

Lisboa Casino

Guilin

When you see beautiful scenery pictures of China, they almost always include Guilin.  It's karst landscape is unique.  Another place that I've seen similar landscape is Halong Bay in northern Vietnam.  This topography is formed by the dissolution of limestone.  Where there is limestone mountains, you almost certainly see caves as well.  There are many caves in the region and I visited a couple of them.
I flew from Chongqing to Guilin, on my way to Hong Kong to catch my returning flight.  Guilin is in Guangxi province, in the south-central part of China.  It has a population of about 5 million.  Most tourists who come here to enjoy the scenery actually go to Yangshuo, about an hour's drive south of Guilin.  There are many hotels, tourist attractions and activities in Yangshuo.  You see many Westerners here, some staying for longer than 2-3 days.  I flew to Guilin, stayed 1 night, then stayed 1 night in Yangshuo and another night in Guilin.  I had to spend my last evening in Guilin because my flight  was leaving early in the morning for Hong Kong.
Most tourists, international and local, like to walk around West Street.  This is a street that has been converted into a pedestrian mall.  There are many shops and restaurants here.  I stayed at the Bamboo House Hostel, located in one of the small alleys off West Street.

West Street in Yangshuo

Several tourists and I were bussed from Guilin to Yangshou early in the morning.  Most of these tourists were from different parts of China.  We took a 2-hour boat ride up and down the Li River and the karst landscape was indeed beautiful.  The karst are everywhere, not just concentrated in one area.   Outside the city area, there are farmlands and although I did not see them, there are terraced rice fields as well.  This is a wonderful area to spend a few days, to leisurely enjoy the scenery and the countryside.

A similar type of boat that we cruised along the Li River

Karst Landscape

Narrow alley in one of the villages along the river

Riding on bamboo rafts is very popular here

A fisherman and his cormorants

In some of these karsts are caves because karsts are mostly consists of limestone.  The local tourism authorities have done a good job of beautifying these caves and made them accessible to tourists.  However, some of them are over-commercialized; having souvenir shops and photographers located within the caves themselves.

Underground tunnels

Brightly lit stalactites and stalacmites

Souvenir shop inside the cave

Xian

On my two previous trips to China I wanted to visit Xian but couldn't because of time constraints.  This time I made it a point of going there.  Of course, everyone has heard about the Terra Cotta Warriors but there is more to Xian than that.
We ended our Silk Road trip in Dunhuang and from there we flew to Xian.  Xian was an old capital of China and is usually considered the start of the Silk Road from China.  It's Chinese name, 西安, means Western Peace.  Today it's an important industrial, cultural and educational center for the northwestern part of China.  Many big multi-national countries have operations here.  There are also many universities here.  It's fast becoming one of the big cities in China, currently a population of around 8 million.  In ancient times, this was a wall-city.  The walls still exist.  In fact, you can rent a bicycle and ride along the ramparts around the old city.

Rampart above the city wall with guard post on the left

The Bell Tower

Most Americans associate Xian with the Terra Cotta Warriors.  In 1974, a farmer while digging for a well, made a monumental and historic discovery.  The sculptures depicted the army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China.  They were buried with the emperor to protect him in his afterlife.  The sculptures are life-size and include horses and chariots.  For more than 2,000 years, they were buried and preserved under about 16 feet of earth.  Four pits were discovered although the public was shown only 3 pits.  When they were first discovered, the soldiers were exposed to the open air and sunlight and as a result, lost their color.  After that, they built enclosures around the pits. It was an amazing experience to see something that was built over 2,000 years ago and still so well preserved.  The sculptors were superb because the soldiers were life-like and the details so real.  I was fortunate that the farmer who discovered the site was there that day.  I bought a souvenir book for him to autograph and I also took a picture with him.

Picture with farmer who discovered the Terra Cotta Warriors

Pit No. 1 - About the size of a football field

The soldiers are life-size

Close-up detail of one of the soldiers

Wait a minute....is that Bill Clinton?

Xian has a sizeable Muslim population, probably due to it being on the Silk Road and influence of the Islamic traders.  They are concentrated mostly in the Muslim Quarter, a very popular tourist spot.  Here you can find all kinds of food native to this area.

Muslim Quarter

Shop selling dried preserved foodstuff

Kebabs are popular here

Dried persimmons, a nice snack

The Great Mosque, with Chinese architecture

Being an old capital, you'd expect a lot of historic sites around Xian.  There are.  However, we only have 3 days there and we want to be selective as to where we go.  For me, the interesting thing is walking around the streets and watching the locals.  I especially enjoyed the Muslim Quarter because it's so different from other parts of China.  It's fascinating to see the Islamic culture influence on the Chinese.
Another place we went is The Ruins of the Imperial Hot Springs.  This is where Emperors in the past come here to enjoy the hot springs.  Today it's also a popular tourist place.  In the evening they have a very impressive lights and laser show about a classic Chinese story.

Grounds of the old Imperial Hot Springs

Another View of the Hot Springs

Modernized version of a classical story

The Silk Road

I am back in Phoenix, after a long trip from Hong Kong to Tokyo to San Francisco and finally, to Phoenix.  I have trouble sleeping on planes so this makes it extra longer.  On top of that, the service on United Airlines is way below other international airlines.  I can go on and on but suffice to say that I flew United only because I was able to get a good price on a round-trip ticket to Hong Kong.

I joined a group of my niece's friends in Chongqing (CQ) on the trip to the Silk Road.  The Silk Road was made famous by Marco Polo, who made the journey in the 13th century.  Contrary to what Western history book said, Marco Polo did not "discover" China.  He was not even the first European to reach China.  However, he did document his travels in a book called "The Travels of Marco Polo," which brought him great fame.

Long before the Europeans set out in ships to find a route to the East, there was a flourishing trade route on land between Europe and Asia.  Chinese silk was highly desirable in Europe so a lot of the trade was in silk, hence the name the Silk Road or Silk Route.  There are actually many Silk Roads, but according to our tour guide, there are 3 main ones:  north, central and south.  The total length is about 4,000 miles.  We travelled only a short portion of it, all in Gansu province, from Lanzhou to Dunhuang.  The westernmost part of the Silk Road in China is in Xinjiang province.  We did not go there because there have been some violence and racial unrest in the area.  You can read more about the Silk Road in this Wikipedia article:  The Silk Road

Members of the tour group

A 52-seater bus for 15 people, very comfortable

We took a 1 1/2 hour flight from CQ to Lanzhou.  This was a holiday weekend to celebrate the Duanwu Festival or popularly, the Dragon Boat Festival.  Chinese dumplings or zongzi are eaten during this festival.  You can read more about this festival:  Zongzi Festival

We only stopped briefly in Lanzhou but two things are obvious when we drove into town.  One, we were in a desert area and two, there are more muslim Chinese here.  This was a 5-day/4-night trip, with stop in towns like Wuwei, Jiayuguan, and finally, Dunhuang.  We stopped at historic sites, temples and even a portion of the Great Wall.  

Dunhuang is noteworthy because it was a popular hub along the Silk Road.  During its heyday, it could be compared to London or New York today.  The famous historic site here is the Mogao Grottoes, where many Buddhist paintings and statues are found in almost 800 caves.  Only guided tours of a small number caves are allowed.  Because of the age and the artistic value of these historic sites, the government is planning to limit the time and number of visitors to the caves.  For more on the Mogao Grottoes, click on this link:  Mogao Grottoes

Chinese Dumplings or Zongzi

Monument in Wuwei

A historic temple on the route

This looks like Arizona but it's not

Garrison at Jiuyuguan

Western part of the Great Wall

A Camel Caravan in Dunhuang

Mogao Grottoes

Entry Point to China in the old days

Camel Jockey

Jiuzhaigou 九寨溝

Jiuzhaigou (JZG, pronounced "Chiu Chai Go") is one of the most popular tourist attractions in China but not many people outside of China have heard about it.  The name literally means Nine Village Valley but today only 7 villages are inhabited, mostly by Tibetan minorities.  Not much was known about this area until 1974.  Today, it's a popular tourist destination with hotels and all the usual tourist traps here.
JZG is in the northern part of Sichuan province.  I took a 1-hour flight from Chengdu.  Many on the flight were surprised by the cold when they got off the plane.  It's at about 3,000m (about 10,000 ft) elevation.  I joined a local tour so everyone in the group is from different parts of China.  It was a no-frills tour - cheap hotels and simple meals.
We arrived in JZG in the afternoon and only had about 4 hours to see JZG.  That's a pity because you need at least a full day to appreciate its beauty.  We saw a local variety show in the evening.  The next day we visited a Tibetan family, some local shops.  In the afternoon, we went up to Huanglong (Yellow Dragon) Mountain, another top tourist attraction in China.
I am not doing justice to JZG with my pictures.  If you just google "jiuzhaigou pictures" you will see some of the beautiful pictures that others have taken.  The best time to visit JZG is in the fall, when there is a lot of water and the leaves are just changing color.
I am glad I took this opportunity to go to JZG.  It was not originally in my travel plans but since I was so close, I might as well go.  Only regret is that I did not spend more time admiring the beauty of the place.

Rugged mountains in the area

Beautiful waterfalls

Clear Lakes everywhere

A Tibetan variety show

Selling Noodles at the Tibetan Village

A Tibetan Boy

Color pools of water

Temple in Huanglong

There are hundreds of colorful ponds

A mini-waterfall