Our China Trip

3/1/14 Saturday and 3/2/14 arrival:
There was an early morning light snow in Chicago with a heavier storm forecasted to
begin Saturday night. Ray and Mary Ann arrived at O'Hare for the American 289 flight
to Shanghai that left at 11:05a (1:05a Sunday in Shanghai) for the 7,050 mile, 14 ½
hour flight. Jack and Leslie's flight from Tampa was delayed and they just made the
gate connection (Mar was worried they would miss the flight, but Ray was looking
forward to all of the extra seating). After an uneventful flight we landed at Pudong
International Airport in Shanghai where Lindsey met us once we cleared customs
around 3:30p. We took the first commercial Maglev train part way (traveling at around
150 miles per hour) and transferred to a Metro station for the trip to the Renaissance
Shanghai at Zhongshan Park. Hint: when riding the Metra, your bags will go through
X-ray and save you need to save your fare card that you use to enter the turn style as
you will need it to exit once you reach destination. After arriving underground at this
huge mega mall where the hotel was located, we took an elevator to the 25th floor lobby
to check in. After going to our rooms on the 33rd floor, we returned to the lobby and
had a beer, which was followed by an adventurous search for a restaurant back in the
shared mega mall. After dinner and a stop at Cold Stone Ice Cream, sleep finally caught
up with us.

3/3/14 Monday:
A sunny and cool day started with breakfast at Mr. Pancake House, an iconic breakfast
establishment across from the hotel. We caught the Metra to go shopping at Shanghai’s
Hongqaio Pearl Market, which is in the Changning district. After arriving at the Metro
station, we turned left and walked off in the wrong
direction. Fortunately, Jack saw a Marriott and
wanted to view the hotel's facilities where we
learned that the pearl market was in the opposite
direction. Heading off again, we got to see a
massive luxury single family home campus with
one mansion in the design of the White House.
After finally locating the market, Leslie and Mary
Ann spent a couple of hours working with the staff
at one of the shops, while the rest of us wandered about the area. Upon completing the
pearl acquisitions, we took the Metro to the Yuyuan station to visit the Yu Garden area,
a 4th century Ming dynasty private garden home that was used during the Xiaodaohui
uprising during the ensuing Qing dynasty. Wandering around after exiting the Metro
station trying to figure out where the Yu Gardens might be, we decided it was best to
grab lunch. In an alley, we located a small, and using the word loosely, street food
"restaurant" where they handmade their noodles and we had a great lunch. Finally
getting some general directions from a hotel, we located the Yu Garden (directional
signage to major tourist sites is lacking to say the least) and spent a couple of hours
wandering the area. Leaving the Gardens we promptly got lost, but we did manage to
walk through an interesting local area of food vendors. Another hour of walking and
realizing we were nowhere near our hotel, Lindsey found a Metro station and we took
3 lines to get back Zhongshan Park, arriving around 6:00p. We spent the next 2 hours
at the hotel working on changing some travel plans for later in the trip and then grabbed
dinner back in the mega mall before calling it a day.




3/4/14 Tuesday:
Today was overcast with light rain, but before starting our planned journey to the
Ancient Waterfront area in Zhijiajiao (Shanghai's version of Venice), another exquisite
breakfast was had at Mr. Pancake House. Zhujiajiao is said to be the best preserved
southern China waterfront town and it was a traders-infested town during the Ming
dynasty. We took the Metra to the Hongqiao
station where we were planning on boarding a
train for a 30 minute trip to Zhujiajiao, but found
out that we needed passports which,
unfortunately, were back at our hotel. However, if
one takes the optional 1 ½ hour bus ride, no
passport is needed - go figure. So after some
discussion as to whether this was going to be a
“wise” decision we voted on the bus ride, which provided us with sites and life well
outside of Shanghai. Just outside of the terminal was a massive (and clearly an
understatement) construction project with huge (again an understatement) building
structures underway, construction cranes everywhere, new highways and overpasses
and huge temporary construction worker housing complexes - this undertaking was
going to take years to complete. Also, throughout the trip the highways were not
crowded and we would see new areas with 10 or more 20 to 30 story, mostly identical,
housing towers either under construction or fully complete with no apparent sign of
people living in them. Upon arrival in Zhijiajiao, the bus stopped at a bank and we were
all told that this was the end of the line. With no bus terminal and no one that spoke
English, our immediate priority was "forget the ancient waterfront" (besides there was
no signage telling us were to find it anyway) and instead, we needed to find out how
the heck were we going to get back to Hongqiao! We found a local hotel, but again, no
one spoke English. Lindsey found an entrance to a local Metra station, again, no
English. We wandered around the area looking for any indication of a bus terminal
when Jack of all people, noted a small store front on a street corner that looked to him
like it had promise (the logic that he used was the fact there was one big bus on the side
of the building). Entering the front lobby, we were pointed to go through a door to the
back of the building and, "success," it was what one would call a "one-bus" bus
terminal. But it was where we got our return tickets, which Lindsey promptly
purchased. So having only about 2 hours left before the return trip, we wandered around
the town and had a great lunch in a neat little shopping area during which the wait staff
took breaks from their Mahjong game. Catching the 3:30p bus back to Hongqiao and
the Metro to Zhongshang Park station, we only had a short time before we were to leave
to see the ERA “Intersection of Time” acrobatic show. The 40 minute 42 Yuan cab ride
was an event as this was rush hour and there was no holds barred. People, scooters and
bikers everywhere and every intersection was a challenge for the cabbie, but we arrived,
got great seats and the acrobatics were fabulous – a must see. Another cab ride back to
our hotel, we decided we needed food before crashing and thus, we ended our trip to
Shanghai at Pizza Hut.

3/5/14 Wednesday:
Up at 4:00a to pack and get ready to travel to Hongqiao airport for a flight on Juneyao
Air to Chengdu. The van ride took about 30 min and 400 Yuan, 10 times the cab ride
the night before. Things went pretty well checking in and finding the gate, except for
Lindsey and Mary Ann's bags that required extra inspection. The flight was scheduled
to leave at 7:00a. We had to take a bus to the plane and to say the Chinese are punctual



is an understatement as, even though people were still in the aisle, the plane began
moving from the parking area. We were in the air about a half hour when we found out
we were on a puddle hopper and started landing at Chizhou Jiuhauashian airport, well
south of Chengdu where, and you had to be there, everyone had to grab all carry-ons
were given a departing pass and told to leave the plane - even though we were the only
plane at the airport. We entered the terminal area and, in less than 10 minutes, they
announced the re-boarding of the flight - go figure. We got back into a queue, handed
back the departing pass and re-boarded the flight plane and everyone but us seemed to
think this all was a natural thing to happen. And then of course, since the flight to
Chengdu was about 2 hours, we had full meal and drink service. Arriving in Chengdu,
we grabbed two cabs to head to the Somerset Hotel. The rooms were huge with
kitchenettes and a living area. Jack and Leslie's even had a washer and dryer that we all
used later that day. We dumped our suitcases and went off to search for a restaurant.
The hotel was in the medical district and there were not many restaurant close by, but
we found the Grandbay Restaurant above a bank were we had a great lunch. We decided
to pick up some wine, beer and snacks and went back to the hotel where we did laundry,
played this card game that Lindsey suggested where you first design the playing board
on newspaper with a magic marker, throw out a lot of peanuts that are used for chips
and in the end, Lindsey wins. Where after, we just relaxed for the remainder of the day.

3/6/14 Thursday
We wake up and Mary Ann and Ray's safe doesn't
open (Mary Ann's fault!!). We go to the hotel's
breakfast while the desk staff made arrangements
to reopen the safe before we caught 2 cabs to the
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
– cabs only are big enough to hold 4 people, so
with 5 of us, we tended not to use them during our
trip. We arrived around 8:30a and spent the next 3
plus hours walking the reserve. This is a must do
for anyone visiting Chengdu and be sure to go
early as that is when the Pandas are most active. Returning around 12:30p, we dropped
our stuff at the hotel and grabbed a veggie lunch at a vegan/tea restaurant next door.
Then we went off and took about a long walk around Chengdu with the highlights being
a local food market; a good size group exercise/dance along the river front and a sugar
cane drink made manually by grinding the cane – too sweet! We decided to stop at a
mall near the hotel to buy some more wine, cheese and crackers and head back for the
remainder of the day (note that everyone seems to have a job in China, whether it is
sweeping the sidewalks and streets (all by hand) or working in the stores where every
aisle or counter seems to have a person assigned to it). Back to hotel, Ray's Jaw Bone
indicates that we walked about 9 miles today.

3/7/14 Friday
Another early morning wake up for our trip to the Chengdu airport and our flight on
Chengdu Air to Xi'an to see the Terra-cotta Warriors. Fortunately our safes open
without incident as Jack herds everyone to get to the airport with time to spare, but he
inadvertently leaves Lindsey's banana at the hotel (by now Ray and Mary Ann realize
that Lindsey is not a morning person and that she really missed her morning banana).
But we knew the flight was only about 1 ½ hours, so a full meal service was to be had
wherein Lindsey's mood brightened and we had a happy flight. Upon landing in Xi'an



we gather our bags in another mega terminal, which was virtually empty, and we
grabbed 2 cabs. But herein the adventure starts. As we are leaving the airport, both
cabbies realize they have no idea where the Ramada Xi’an Bell Tower Hotel is, which
Lindsey knows is in the heart of the city near the train station. Stopping in the right
hand lane of a 4 lane highway our cabbie, who has
2 phones neither of which had map service, stops
and gets out to consult with the other cabbie.
Fortunately, there is almost no traffic on this
highway and after about 3 to 4 minutes of
discussion, we get back underway. About 30
minutes into the route, our cabbie still seems lost,
but eventually does find the Ramada. We check in,
clean up and head out for an early lunch. Around
noon we head for the Metro station, followed by a
bus to another train station and then another bus for the 1 ½ hour ride to the Emperor
QinShihuang Mausoleum Site Museum and the Terra-cotta Warriors. We decide it best
to hire a guide for 100 Yuan (a must considering the vastness of the site, which covers
over 20 hectares or some 56 acres) and spend the next 3 ½ hours touring this exceptional
historical area. QinShihuang was born in 259 BC
and became the first Emperor of China in 221 BC
establishing a centralized State, abolishing the
feudal system and standardized the system of
weights and measurement. He also ordered the
destruction of many ancient records and
Confucian writings. Construction on the
mausoleum started soon after he became King of
Qin and took 38 years from 247 BC to 208 BC
peaking with over 720,000 conscripts. He died at
the age of 50 in 210 BC. There are 3 main buildings where the Terra-cotta Warriors can
be seen, Pit 1, 2 and 3 along with the museum and multiple research facilities.
Discovered in 1974 by a farmer digging a well, the museum was opened in 1979 and
the area is described as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” After covering the 3 Pits
and museum building we were directed to the gift center where, would you believe it,
the farmer who discovered the site was present signing autographs for 200 Yuan –
scouts honor, we were told it was him!!! Almost the last to leave the site before closing,
we caught the bus from hell for a 1 ½ hour back trip to the main train station arriving
around 7:30p. It was raining lightly and the square around the terminal was packed as
we went to look for the taxi stand. Finally locating the taxis at the far end of this huge
square, Lindsey negotiated with a guy who says he has a small van that can take all 5
of us (and who also seems to be the only one in the city that knows where the Ramada
is). We then go for a wild ride through the back streets of the city and various alleyways
and pop out of an alley right next to the Ramada. We decide to do the buffet at the hotel
and after an in depth analysis of President Kennedy’s "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, we
retired for the evening.










Saturday 3/08/14
With no hurry in the morning as our high speed
train to BeijingXi doesn't leave until 1:10p, we all
sleep late and finally meet up around 9:30a in the
lobby. Lindsey does her bank thing (as trip
treasurer, she is constantly withdrawing Yuan for
all of us and keeping this massive Excel
spreadsheet of appropriate debits and credits) and
we walk to a pastry shop for a light breakfast. Back
to the hotel we check out, which Jack was pleased
as the Ra-ma-da as our cabbies who took us from
the airport the day before called it, lacked the efficient internet connection service that
he so desires during his hotel stays! Catching the Metro we go to the Xi’an North train
station, another enormous railroad station where we catch the high speed train for a 5
hour trip to Beijing. During the first hour of the trip at speeds of 310 kilometers per
hour, things were going well until Jack spilled his beer. Fortunately, the train has staff
that frequently comes down the aisles either sweeping or mopping (again, lots of
workers everywhere). Hours into the trip we see the ever-to-frequent mega cities being
built, again seeming to lack people, and the smog never lifts. In the more remote areas
early in the trip we noticed lots of cave-like dwellings in the hillside and the only crop
noticeable throughout the entire ride is soy. We see few people in the countryside and
virtually no livestock. Arriving in Beijing we decide to take 3 different Metros to the
Park Plaza Beijing Wangfujing Hotel in the Dongcheng district and actually beat a
couple we met on the train who had taken a taxi. Dropping off our baggage we walk
across the street and had a great dinner before calling it a day.

Sunday 3/09/14 Sunday
It's time to turn the clocks ahead in the U.S., but not in China where it remains the same
exact time over the entire country. There's a Starbuck's across from the hotel and we
meet there at 9:00a for coffee and breakfast. We're
not that far from the Forbidden City and
Tiananmen Square, so we decide to walk, which
takes about 30 minutes. Tiananmen Square is a
large city square, named after the Tiananmen gate
(Gate of Heavenly Peace) located to its North and
is the fourth largest city square in the world at some
109 acres. We encounter huge crowds and tight
security and after clearing a couple of check points
find out the Square is closed because the Chinese
Central Committee is in session. So not being able to access the Square, we take some
pictures and decide to check out the Chinese Museum, but wouldn't you know it, they
want to see our passports, which again are back at
the hotel. So our only option is to try to get into the
Forbidden City across the street. We work our way
across what looks to be a 10 lane highway by going
underground through the Metro station and
encounter another check point where they are
announcing no access for an hour. Lindsey comes
to the rescue and seeks mercy from the guard who
seems impressed that she knows the language and





he suggests we go to the end of the block behind us, make two lefts and try the East
gate. As we make the first turn and begin walking down this side road of small local
shops for what seems to be ½ mile, we decide to grab lunch at a local shop. Continuing
on after eating, we find an entrance to small area where very few people are mingling
that turns out to be a backdoor into the Forbidden City and pop out right at the location
where we purchase the entrance passes. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial
palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Built in 1406 to 1420,
the complex consists of 980 buildings and served as the home of emperors and their
households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government and
is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures
in the world. We then spend the next 3 ½ hours walking through one massive area to
the next, ending up at the Emperor's garden where we turn around and eventually find
the East entrance gate and walk back to the hotel and took in happy hour. Ray, Jack and
Lindsey went out for a quick dinner near the hotel while Mary Ann and Leslie decided
to call it a day. Lindsey then needed to go off to the airport to pick up her friend
Katherine who joins us for the remainder of the trip.

Monday 3/10/14
Today we are going to cover a lot of sites on the outskirts of the city so Lindsey made
arrangements with a tour company for a bus and guide. We met at 8:30a and boarded
our tour bus for the first stop at the Ming tombs. The thirteen Tombs of the Ming
Dynasty are located some 26 miles north-northwest of central Beijing within the
Changping District. The site was chosen by the third Ming Dynasty emperor Yongle
(1402–1424), who moved the capital of China from Nanjing to Beijing. After the
construction of the Imperial Palace (the Forbidden City) in 1420, the Yongle Emperor
selected his burial site and created his own mausoleum. From the Yongle Emperor
onwards, 13 Ming Dynasty Emperors were buried in this area. This was followed by
our first required “tour shopping stop” - a jade
market where we spent an hour of shopping
followed by lunch. After boarding our bus we
moved onto the Great Wall of China. The Great
Wall is a series of fortifications made of stone,
brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials,
built in part to protect the Empire against attack.
Several walls were being built as early as the 7th
century BC with the majority of the existing wall
from the Ming Dynasty. It is estimated that the
Ming walls measure some 5,500 miles and that the entire wall with all of its branches
measures about 13,000 miles. It is also said to be
the longest cemetery in the world as the workers
are said to be buried within. We travel to
Mutianyu, a section of the Great Wall located in
Huairou County approximately 110 miles
northeast of central Beijing and one of the best-
preserved parts of the Great Wall. Built mainly
from granite, the pass at Mutianyu is a unique
section of the Great Wall 20 to 25 feet high, and
12 to 15 feet wide with crenellations (battlements)
on both sides of the Wall. The section of the Wall at Mutianyu stretches for over 1.2
miles. The Mutianyu Great Wall has 22 watchtowers built at almost 300 foot intervals.




We take a chair lift up and hike to the Peking tower watch tower, tower 6, and after our
climb back we all go down the mountain in sleds down a metal toboggan chute to the
base. We then moved on to our second required tour shopping stop, which is a silk
market for the required demonstration tour and purchases. Returning to the hotel we
quickly clean up as Lindsey has arranged for us to
have a Peking duck dinner at a lovely restaurant a
few blocks from the hotel and we spent the
remainder of the evening in gastronomic delight!









Tuesday 3/11/14
We start the day with a breakfast-search-from-hell as Jack makes the suggestion that
we look for a place to have breakfast rather than first grabbing coffee at the Starbucks
across from the hotel (and where Ray was one person away from his cappuccino
grande). We walked for over an hour, ending up at a McDonald's after passing through
several places including a Kentucky Fried Chicken - go figure. We catch the Metro to
the Temple of Heaven and toured the grounds for a couple of hours. The Temple of
Heaven, or more literally the Altar of Heaven, is a temple of Chinese religion used for
imperial ceremonies for five centuries.
Construction of the Temple of Heaven began
during the reign of Emperor Yongle and was
completed in 1420. It was used by all subsequent
Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. We
then moved across the street to the Pearl Market
for lunch and a couple of hours of shopping. Jack,
Ray and Katherine vote to go back to the hotel
while Lindsey, Leslie and Mary Ann move on to
another silk market and do some more financial
damage. Later, we all meet up in the lobby bar and then went back up to Jack and
Leslie’s room for snacks, wine and the Green Lantern movie, one of Jack’s favorites,
before calling it a night.

Wednesday 3/12/14
Checkout day at the Park Plaza. After breakfast at
Starbucks we stash our luggage and then take 3
Metro lines to the Summer Palace where we spend
4 terrific hours wandering the grounds. Here again
the signage is non-existent. We exit the Metro and
even though the Palace area is right behind us we
have no idea where it is. Fortunately, we turn to
the right and walk a couple of blocks where we
finally see the entrance – if we had turned left, we
might never have found it!!! The Palace area is







where the imperial court would leave the summer heat in the Forbidden City for the
cooler Kunming Lake area. It was favored by Empress Cixi, the last Empress of China,
who had it rebuilt twice, once in 1860 after its destruction by French and English troops,
and again in 1902 after being damaged during the Boxer Rebellion (one should see the
movie “Last Emperor of China” before visiting). Leaving around 3:30p, we make it
back to the hotel for our last happy hour. Lindsey
and Katherine leave to check in to their hostel
before returning to the Park Plaza where we then
go out for a hot pot dinner. It was decided early on
that the four of us would leave for the Crowne
Plaza near the airport as we have a 10:10a flight in
the morning and we are a long way from the
airport. It takes us almost an hour without traffic
to the hotel where we check in and return to the
lobby for a night cap. Lindsey, Katherine and
Steve (Katherine’s boyfriend who has just flown
in) stop in to say their goodbyes and we finally turn in around 11:30p.

Thursday 3/13/14
We leave the hotel at 7:30a and proves a good thing that we stayed close to the airport
last night. We are in the 5th day since a Malaysian Boeing aircraft flying from Kampala
Lumpur to Beijing was lost and security is very tight at the airport. The airport is huge
and we're in another long queue waiting to check in at the ticket counter and then
through several check points and a train ride before getting to the international terminal
with only a half hour before boarding for our 10:10a, 6,569 mile flight to Chicago. Ray,
Mary Ann and Leslie go to the duty free area to quickly dispose of their Yuan, while
Jack gets comfortable in a remote area that has good internet access. As we begin
boarding, we can't find Jack. Mary Ann and Ray board and as they are getting ready to
close the doors, Jack is found and we all head for home. Finally, this trip would never
have been as memorable and successful without Lindsey – she did an awesome job start
to finish and we can’t thank her enough.

Thoughts on China
- The cities visited, especially Shanghai and Beijing, but also Chengdu and Xi’an, are
huge cities with the very prosperous interspersed with the extremely poor.
- Everyone seems to have a job and there is virtually no begging.
- Cars are plentiful, especially during the rush hours in the cities, but not so much
outside. However, most of the population travel by walking, bike, scooter or the very
efficient Metro systems, trains and buses.
- The young are all connected to the internet and are constantly on their cell phones.
- Taxi cabs are very common, so are smokers.
- There is construction everywhere, the national bird could be the “construction crane.”
- But at the same time, all cities were extremely clean.
- Scooters and bikes are everywhere – but hardly anyone uses helmets and no lights –
it makes for wild night time traveling.
- People don't bother you and few speak English - even at the hotels.
- Males on the right, females on the left.
- No tipping - it's an insult.
- Signage to major visitor sites, virtually non-existent.
- LED lighting at night on the buildings is cool.