We had checked into our very Chinese hotel in Xian. It has the complicated name of Tang Dynasty art garden Hotel. Not exactly a very catchy name for a hotel but I presume for Chinese people it sounds very historical and they are definitely proud of their history. Xian was for many centuries and through several dynasties the capital of China. The famous silk road started here. Merchants from all over Europe and Asia came here to buy silk, spices and other products unknown at that time in Europe. The Chinese guarded for a long time the technology of developing silk. It was a state secret which many Europeans try to break.In fact, it is a simple process which requires silk butterflies and mulberry bushes. The butterflies lay eggs around which they weave a cocoon using their natural silk. The cocoons hold some 7000 feet of silk each although they are less than an inch long. The cocoons are harvested and plumped into water. Then they are opened and worm inside is removed ( and eater),and the cocon is stretched over a half moon shaped wooden form with a width of about 6 inches. These cocoons are the pure silk and are very thin but strong. When woven together they can make bullet-proof vests and parachutes.
On our last day, we arranged for our driver Ding Yi to pick us up at noon to take us to the airport. He suggested we stop and visit the underground Tang dynasty museum which is on the way to the airport. It was only dicovered some 20 years ago when they decided to expand a highway. It is a site about 100 acres with a burial mound for the emperor an other for his concubines and some 80 trenches fanning out from his burial mound which is about 50 meters high. The trenches are about 20 feet underground and only 10 have been excavated. One enters underground to see the open trenches showing the terracota forms which are all in miniature form. This is really not as impressive as the other terracota museum.Interesting for archeologists but not much to see.
We arrived at about 10pm in Guilin and were picked by the Sheraton hotel driver I had contracted. I did not relish the idea of trying to find a taxi and to have to negotiate a rate at 10pm. Our hotel was downtown and it was a 45 minute drive from the airport even at 10pm.
The next morning our guide was a young lady calling herself Emily. We were the only persons with our guide which was nice. Moving in groups is not the way we like to travel. All Chinese people give themselves a western name when dealing with foreigners. We visited the famous caverns of Guilin. They are spectacular and very nicely lit. The disadvantage is that there are lots of steps up the hill, again, to reach the entrance. There is an elevator installed but it is only used once or twice a year to ferry party officials when they come to visit the caverns. The rest of the world is obliged to climb the steps. Welcome to the people's republic where party officials are a few notches above the people...
We then went to visit a local silk factory showroom and were convinced to buy a beautiful king bed duvet out of silk with a silk filling as well as silk pillow cases. It is put into a compressed package which takes up half of my trunk but should be beautiful when installed. It has a duvet in it with 2 kilos of raw silk so it should be warm in winter.
Our last stop for the day was at a huge pearl store which was the size of a football pitch. This was very well laid out with rows and rows of pearl jewelery going from moderately priced to hugely expensive items all tended by ladies who spoke all sorts of language and who were expert marketers. One of them latched on to Monique with the result that a sale was consumed and a nice set of earrings and a ring came into our possession. These are sea water pearls which grow only in a small section of the Chinese coast where the water is still clean enough for oysters.
The next morning we were picked up at the hotel by a new guide in a rickedy mini van with 2 other tourists. We now headed out into the hills to visit a spectacular mountain area inhabited by one of the minority groups of China. These are montain people who seem to live in the mountains of Vietnam also as they dress in the same way. The trip is a 2.5 hour drive from Guilin up a rather good road for the most part which climbs the whole time. The morning was rather foggy so one did not have to see down the gorges which were often over 1000 feet deep we found out on the way home. After a rather harrowing drive we came to a village of these mountain people and were treated to a dance and singing show by some 50 local ladies all done in their native tongue. The distinguishing feature of these people who are no more than 5 feet tall is that the women never cut their hair which is pitch black and hangs down to their feet when undone. Normally, the hair is twisted and worn on the head in a way that makes it look like they are wearing black hats. After an hour of rather monotonous singing and dancing, we were treated to a heavy soup containing most vegetables and looking ominous. It tasted of not much but it was at least filling. It is surprising that these people have maintained the way of living and speaking in this huge China but it seems that the Chinese government has taken the position that minorities should be left to their own. Thus these people live far from any centers and have maintained their style of life and archetecture which is very unique. They live in large family houses of wood with several stories hung on the edge of the river which flows through their valley. They farm huge areas of the mountains using terraces which rise thousands of feet. Their main crops are rice grown in water held in these terraces. After the lunch we drove up higher into the mountain area where these terraces are maintained. We had the option of taking a 2 hour hike up the mountain or of paying to ride the gondola up the mountain, some 5000 feet up. After no deliberations, we opted for the Gondola which is a new installation and which rises up for 25 minutes. It is the longest gondola we had ever ridden and we were quite happy as we looked down on the hardy souls who were struggling up the hill on uneven steps. The view from the top was spectacular. The sun even appeared and the terraced mountain sides were beautiful in all the different shades of light as far as the eye could see. We spent over an hour taking in the sights and taking endless pictures of the very unique place. The ride home was mostly downhill and seemed much quicker than in the morning. Back at the hotel, I was able to get a nice swim in the hotel pool as the weather was still warm. That evening we went back to a small restaurant around the corner from our hotel for dinner.
On our third day, we again were picked up at the hotel and driven for an hour to boat harbor to board the boat up the Yi river to Langshou. This is the most beautiful trip in China as it takes one through the gorges of the Karst mountains. These are huge rock formations which come straight out of the ground and reach heights of 1000 feet. These are where many of the classical paintings of China are made showing misty moutains. The formations are covered with greenery and have mostly conical shapes. The ships hold some 100 passengers on two decks and are fairly modern. The river itself was very low and one could see the bottom in many places The 4 hour trip was a highligh of our trip. I was our on the upper deck most of the trip admiring the landscape as we floated by. At one point, the scene shown on the 20 Yuan bill of Chinese money shows up and the guides show us the bill which depiticts that exact spot. We eventually arrived at the city of Langshou where the boat puts it bow onto a city wall. As we were spending the night in Langshou, we had our 2 suitcases with us. As there was not port there, we had to carry our bags up some very rough steps and then walk a half mile through a market before finding transport to our hotel. For a country which can build trains doing 350 kms per hour this was really bad. Considering that millions of tourists take this trip each year, one should expect that some money would be invested in improving the infrastructure. This is the irony of China where one sees such primitive situations alongside the most recent and highest level of technology. The contrasts of China, a country with one foot in the 22nd century but with the other in past centuries.
The next morning were driven from Langshou to the railway station in Guilin to catch our train to Shenzhen. We boarded our bullet train for the 4 hour ride to Shenzhen which is on the coast facing Hong Kong. This train is a modern rapid train which reaches some 300 kms an hour and is a nice way to see the country side. We arrived in Shenzhen around 2 pm and we took a taxi to our hotel which took about 40 minutes. Shenzhen is a very modern and clean city where China launched its move away from Communism to Capitalism. It is a city which blossomed and is now a rather attractive city with large swathes of green spaces and broad roads. We took a monorail tour around part of the city and were impressed how clean everything was. That evening the Chinese were celebrating Halloween and were met thousands of kids all dressed up and wearing all sorts of make up for the occasion.
The following morning we went to the local harbor and boarded a fast ferry to Hong Kong. The trip takes about an hour and one leaves China at the harbor and then enters the Special Admin region of Hong Kong on arrival. It is a nice trip as one approaches the skyline of Hong Kong and Kowloon. We then got a taxi to get to the apartment of a niece who had invited us to stay with her and her family. We gave the driver the address and the driver headed off. After 10 minutes, I questionned him whether he knew where he was going. As it happened most of our time in Hong Kong, these drivers spoke no Manadarin and even less English. At that point, I fired up my Google Map app on my phone and it showed that the driver had gone the wrong way around the island. I showed the driver who at one point wanted to turn around. I showed him the phone and insisted he continue on. After 45 minutes we arrived at Katherine's Parkview apartment. By this time the meter was at 200 Hong Kong dollars. The driver excused himself and insisted we pay only half that as he admitted it was his mistake.
Katherine is a daughter of a first cousin of mine. She is married to an executive of Moody's and they have lived in HK for 6 years with their son and daughter. The parkview is a huge complex of 18 25 story buildings looking down into the central area of Hong Kong. A stunning view from a 6 bedroom apartment hung on the hillside. On our first day, we went down to Central as I needed to get a new tablet and phone for Monique. We went to WanChai centre and found what we wanted. At noon, we headed out to Repulse Bay for lunch we had set up to meet with the mother of a friend of our grandson Emmett. Sadly, she had caught a bug and could not join us. Repulse Bay is on the other side of HK and on the beach. It used to be a hotel but is now only a very nice restaurant with a beautiful terrace.
The next morning we jumped on the ferry and headed out to Macau which is about an hour away. Macau was the Portuguese area of China going back to 1511, long before any other Europeans arrived in China. It has been turned back to China but still has an old town with lots of Portuguese influence. We hired a driver for the day, visited the old city and then headed out to Taipa island for lunch at Fernando's restaurant. It was a nice day so we enjoyed the sights. In the evening we headed back to our apartment in the hills for a last evening in HK. It is such a modern town and very much different from the rest of China. It has a feel of being in New York, only it that it is much more expensive. It is the most expensive city in the world but it is a very beautiful place.
We flew out the next day from the very modern and efficient airport of HK builty some 50 miles from the downtown on an island fully reclaimed from the ocean. In very little time, we were on board of our Air Canada flight to Vancouver where we are now recovering.
