Today we visited the place where Chinese people throughout history have believed that people’s spirits go to be judged when they die. It is called Fengdu, or the City of Ghosts. There is a temple for the “King of Hell” as well as statues depicting what happens to people if they are not good in this life. Yep, a bit creepy to say the leas, but also very interesting. There are also three bridges to choose from that you can walk over. Depending on your choice, you will either have love, health, or riches in your next life. We learned a lot about the Chinese Buddhist beliefs about the afterlife from our experience.

We attended a pearl lecture and learned all about how to determine which pearls are best and watched as the instructor harvested 20 pearls from a huge oyster (we always thought you only got one pearl per oyster, apparently not!). After the pearl lecture we attended a Chinese painting demonstration by the artist that Val bought the paintings from. He gave us a little history on Chinese calligraphy as well as information about free-hand painting as well as detailed painting. Then he completed a free-hand piece right in front of us. It was so cool to watch him work.

Jessica was determined that our tour group participate in the Talent Show tonight so Val wrote a rap about our experiences on the trip (many of you have participated in similar rapping adventures with Val, so you can imagine what a hoot this was). Our group was totally game for it so we had a practice session in the afternoon and decided that in terms of costuming, it would be tourist garb all the way. We had a blast and the video is hilarious. Here’s the text for you (don’t worry, the shirts were just bought from street vendors, but we had to make it a little more interesting so we took a little poetic license :).

China Spree  Rap

We came on this trip with China Spree
Martinezes, Val, Jess and the Lambies

Our adventure started out in Beijing
Learnin’ all about Mao and Deng Xiao Ping

The Forbidden City was super huge
But we got caught in a deluge

We ran up the Great Wall like Rocky Balboa
Bought black market shirts which was against the lawah

Xi’an was next with the crazy night bazaar
But the terra cotta soldiers were the best by far

Now we’re crusin’ down the river with eclipse yahoos
They’ve got announcements and lectures up the wazoo

We got the Danes and the Aussies and Foster City too
Not to mention the New Yorkers and Captain Hu

We love Phoebe and Fancy and Michael too
And the super great job that they do

The Shennong Stream dudes are totally ripped
They got us up the river lickety split

Rowin’ and pullin’ looked really tough
And we were super glad they weren’t in the buff

We were sweatin’ in the ghost town and a little freaked out
By the statues and the punishments we learned about

We’re eatin’ watermelon at breakfast lunch and dinner
As well as sharing dishes on the table spinner

We’ve got great memories from our Yangtze cruise
Like really loud horns and stinky paint too

There’s just two weeks left on our Chinese trip
But nothing beats sailin’ on the President’s ship

Today we woke up to the stinky smell of gasoline laden paint. The smell pervaded our room and made us choke. Then we escaped by going to breakfast. After breakfast we were pleasantly surprised to experience the Shennong Stream. This area was once inhabited by the ancient Ba people, who hung their coffins up in the air on the sides of the cliffs. Very interesting. We got to see two of these coffins. Most of them are no longer visible due to the rising of the Yangtze River. We took a ferry up the stream and hopped onto little “pea pod” boats rowed by five local dudes. These dudes are in amazing shape because they had to row and then pull the boats complete with 15 passengers upriver.  We wore life jackets and melted in the sun, until we reached the section of the river that had clean cool water and shade from the cliffs. The view was spectacular and our local guide and the men sang their traditional songs while we floated back down river. The whole experience was super amazing and made us thankful that we had opted for the tour that included the Yangtze River.

We experienced our first Chinese massages today for a whopping $40. Pounding, slapping, and pressure points seemed to be the defining elements, but it was lovely nonetheless.

Val bought some fabulous paintings from an artist and is very excited about them.

We are very excited to experience the crew's masquerade extravaganza tonight after dinner. Jessica is wondering when we will be able to do a little Karaoke.

We woke up bright an early so that we could join the Taichi morning exercise group on the upper deck. Then we stood amazed at the view of the first gorge, the Xiling Gorge. The scenery was breathtaking and we took a million photos of the mist-shrouded mountains.

After breakfast we jaunted off to the world’s largest engineering project, the Three Gorges Dam. We learned all about the planning and building of the structure and were amazed at its immensity. The dam is over 600 feet high and extends more than 1 mile across. The purpose of the dam was to prevent the river from flooding, which usually happens every decade, and eventually provide about 10% of China’s electricity. Right now, China uses coal for about 90% of its fuel, so the dam will reduce the need for fossil fuels and save them from building one thousand nuclear power plants. The project was started in 1994 and completed in the fall of 2008, which was about a year ahead of schedule. Our local guide, Cherry, explained to us that her dad worked on the project for many years, all the while being separated from his family. About 1.3 million people were relocated in order to create the 400 mile-long reservoir (what a logistical nightmare!). Once the dam was completed, the Yangtze River rose over 500 feet, submerging many historical sites and endangering many species of wildlife such as the Yangtze dolphin, alligator, giant salamander, and sturgeon. Pros and cons, folks. Our boat traveled through the five level lock system in order to get over the dam, which was pretty cool to watch.

After our afternoon nap, we attended a very interesting lecture about the Yangtze River and the dam project. Mr. Johnson would have loved it! We learned all about the environmental issues surrounding the dam project as well as other issues related to the Yangtze. It is the third largest river in the world, as well as the most polluted. Hundreds of towns and cities rely on the river for drinking water, which is a little bit alarming considering the junk we’ve seen floating by in the brown water.

We talked to the silk embroidery artist on-board artist and were amazed at her work. She enrolled in silk embroidery school at age six, and was trained in painting on silk for six years. At age 12 she began learning to embroider her own paintings and continued her education in the same school until she was 20. The most beautiful pieces were done on sheer silk and were double-sided. Each side was slightly different. For instance, one piece showed two tigers on one side, but on the reverse she had turned them into leopards. Val bought a beautiful double-sided piece that showed a picture of a community during the Tang dynasty.

We had a welcome banquet for dinner starring our ship’s captain, Captain Hu. We were excited to have our picture taken with him enjoyed the super yummy dinner provided. After dinner we watched the crew perform some lovely dances and skits, some of which were quite hilarious.

Our local guide, Ambrosia, and our fabulous driver took us to the Xi’an airport in the morning for our flight south to Wuhan. As we were landing , the pilot told us that the current temperature in Wuhan was 98 degrees. That’s super hot, folks! Our local guide, Eric, met us at the airport and we hopped in the van for a “4 ½ hour” ride to Yichang, where we would hop on our boat for the Yangtze cruise. First off, the van’s air conditioning was not functioning very well. Secondly, there was something akin to a heater pumping out heat on the floor. Needless to say, it was a toasty trip.

We had a lovely dinner in Yichang and then got in the van for the “short” ride to the boat. Unfortunately, when we reached the bridge that led to the dock, they happened to be constructing a wall in front of the entrance. Our driver was a bit perplexed and had to call someone for some help. We ended up going around the mountain, along with the hundreds of other folks who had been detoured, and were stuck in traffic forever. By the time we got to the boat, we were about four hours later than scheduled. We were very excited to find out that because we were with China Spree we were able to upgrade to a VIP super fabulous “luxury” room for a fraction of the cost. Woo hoo! We jumped right on it and love our room!

Today was another very exciting (and roasty toasty) day in Xi’an. We started out at the Wild Goose Pagoda, which was built in 652 AD during the Tang Dynasty to house the Buddhist scriptures brought back to China from India by a monk named Xuanzang (the story of the Monkey King describes his journey to India and back). The area around the pagoda is a working monastery. They created a huge mural showing the life of Buddha that was created using all different colors of jade (the picture to the right shows a portion of the mural depicting his birth). You might not be able to tell in the picture to the right that the pagoda is leaning a bit due to the angle I took it from, but the locals call it the “leaning tower of Xi’an.” We took a group picture in the gardens so you can check out our fun fellow travelers, the Martinez family from Miami and the Lambies from Los Gatos.

After the pagoda we visited a factory where they create exact replicas of the Terra Cotta Warriors using the same methods that were used to create the originals for the emperor Qin Shihuangdi. They also create other traditional Chinese crafts like lacquered furniture and we were able to hear how they go about making them.

We had a yummy lunch, which included a noodle dish that Xi’an is famous for, and then we were off to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. It was amazingly hot and humid inside the Pit 1 hanger, but seeing all the soldiers lined up was almost enough to make you forget about the heat.  We learned all kinds of fascinating information about the excavation and their plans for the future.

In the evening, we attended a Tang Dynasty dumpling dinner and musical show, which was pretty amazing. The dumplings were delicious, of course, and the music, costumes and sets were super impressive.

We leave tomorrow for our Yangtze River cruise and might not have access to the internet for a few days, but we’ll be back online to tell you about our adventures once we get to Hong Kong.

Beijing Impressions & Surprises

1.The city is really quite modern due to the efforts made for the Olympics. The streets are clean and there’s lots of greenery, flowers, and tree-lined streets.

2.There aren’t as many bike riders or as much traffic as we expected from movies, documentaries, etc.

3.The food is great!

4. Believe it or not, there’s a Starbucks at the base of the Great Wall of China.

5. No scary bugs so far!

A quick note about breakfast in our Beijing hotel…it was served buffet style with a variety of both American and traditional Chinese breakfast items, along with baked beans and corn on the cob. There was a made-to-order omelet station and a personal server to give us coffee. Val was super excited about the dim sum options and Jessica loved the yogurt.

Our first adventure of the day was to the Summer Palace. The palace has the longest corridor in the world, which is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. It has over 14,000 scenic paintings of all the various regions of China as well as scenes from daily life. The story of the Summer Palace relates to the demise of the Qing dynasty due to the Empress Dowager Cixi’s desire to sink the money set aside for updating the navy into a marble boat to enjoy on her summer vacations. Thanks to our amazing tour guides, we skipped to the front of an endless line of tourists and took a ride in a dragon boat across Kunming Lake.

After that, we were off to the Olympic Village to visit the Bird’s Nest Stadium. It is surprisingly beautiful and very impressive in person. They had cute little lights on the ground that looked like miniatures of the stadium, which was super cool.

Next, we flew to Xi’an, which is about a two-hour flight west of Beijing and was the capital of China under the crazy first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi. It was also the starting point of the Silk Road. Once we arrived we had dinner, and then experienced the amazing nightly bazaar in the Muslim Quarter. Wow! Talk about craziness! They were selling everything from toys to giant calligraphy brushes with an amazing array of interesting food options like rice lollipops. Occasionally, a motorcycle would try to make its way through the crowds of people while giving the impression that they had the right of way in the middle of a shopping area. One of the kids on our tour said, “It’s like they don’t even have any rules!” (It reminded Val of a much crazier and even more crowded version of Vienna’s Naschmarkt on the busiest Saturday you can imagine.)

We checked into our hotel and were AMAZED at how beautiful our room was. We are super excited about it and may never leave. We’re talking granite bathroom, living room, two TVs, two desks, two showers, and it’s all brand new. We are livin’ it up in China, folks!

Tomorrow we get to see the Terra Cotta Soldiers!!!!

Our morning started out with a visit to a government-run jade factory. Who knew that there are 1,200 types of jade? Not us! They gave us lots of interesting information and then had us all try on jade bracelets so that we would plunk down a few hundred bucks for one. We resisted, though Val did buy a cheap one on sale for kicks.

After the jade factory, we got down to the real business of the day, THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA! It took about an hour to drive up there, but the scenery was beautiful. Our tour guides took us to Badaling, which is the most visited section of the Wall. They told us that the less crowded route would be a steeper climb, but we opted for it nonetheless and are soooooo glad we did. We actually hiked to the end of the Great Wall, believe it or not (or at least as far as they let you go). We bought cute T-shirts that say, “I climbed the Great Wall of China” when we got to the end for a whopping $3 and then turned around and headed back. It was as awesome of an experience as we had hoped it would be and we were glad that it wasn’t all stairs, but a decent amount of graded surfaces as well. It truly was amazing how long and serpentine the Wall was as it snaked over the mountains. We had an “American style buffet” lunch, also known as Chinese food, and then hopped back in the bus.

Back in Beijing, we visited the Temple of Heaven, which is where the emperors used to make their sacrifices to heaven for good harvests. They were such beautiful buildings, but man was it hot! Not to mention that we were dodging umbrellas left and right and almost lost an eye a time or two. Then, believe it or not, we opted to attend “The Legend of Kung Fu” show, which was pretty amazing. The sets, music, and Kung Fu choreography were like a Broadway musical, Chinese-style. We were at a special showing that was done in English for all the tourist-types in town, which was super. Dinner, again, was family-style, with a huge lazy Susan and all kinds of dishes. During dinner, we were treated to a Manchu song and dance.

Needless to say, we are worn out from hiking the Great Wall, but are so excited to have finally seen the 7th Wonder of the World for ourselves. Despite being hot and sweaty and ready to pass out, we did visit the hotel gardens before returning to our room to satiate Jessica’s curiosity. (This happens to be an indoor garden, complete with caged birds on the 8th floor of the hotel. Interesting.)

That’s it for now, tomorrow we see a couple more sights in Beijing and then fly off to Xi’an to visit the Terra Cotta Warriors.

Breakfast was lovely with lots of options. Then we were off on our adventure at 9am. We headed to Tiananmen Square and saw the People’s Congress, Mao’s Mausoleum, the Chinese Museum and, most importantly, the Forbidden City. We took a lovely group picture with the whole gang and then the Forbidden City welcomed us with a downpour of rain that soaked us to the skin, but was over in a flash. Jessica created a slicker out of a garbage bag, which was very creative. We walked through each of the courtyards, which were super beautiful. The buildings were so colorful and intricately detailed. We tried to look at the throne and almost lost our lives in the process. People were pushing and shoving like crazy. We got to see the area where the emperor's wives lived as well as their private gardens.  In the gardens we were convinced by some students to view an art show…otherwise known as a tourist trap to buy paintings.

After the Forbidden City we went to the Hutong area, which was originally built during the Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan. The alleys were tiny and we wove our way through them to have lunch in a courtyard home of a local family. It was super yummy! We especially liked the garlic sprouts. They told us a little about their lives and home, which was very interesting. Apparently, the homes in the Hutong do not have toilets…yikes! (The government is rebuilding the houses and updating them.) The family even had some lucky crickets!

After lunch we all hopped into rickshaws and jaunted around the Hutong. We learned about the houses and that the house color as well as the pillars indicate what class the family is part of. They dropped us off for a traditional fan dance, which we both participated in. Thanks to our cheerleading training, we were the stars of the dance. We rode in the rickshaw back to the Bell Tower, feeling a bit like the folks in the Amazing Race.

The Bell Tower was used to let people know what time it was. We climbed the 73 very steep stairs to the top of the tower. There were all kinds of interesting informational signs that were very helpful. The most interesting was one that described how the bell maker’s daughter jumped in the vat of boiling copper in order to save her father’s life.

After the Bell Tower, we were off to the Beijing Zoo to see the Giant Pandas. They were so cute. Our favorite was one that was chillin’ up in a tree.

Back to the hotel for a shower and then we were off to our Peking Duck dinner. The food and service were both delightful, but there was tons left over. Our favorite part was the Peking Duck and the beautifully arrayed fruit platter.

We are pleasantly surprised that we’re not feeling jet lagged!

We set off late from SFO and found ourselves seated next to a very nice lady who, it turns out, grew up in China and moved to southern California with her husband when she was 30. She shared all kinds of interesting information with us about China and how it has changed over the past 20 years. At the “end” of the flight, they told us we had to land in Hohot instead of Beijing due to weather issues. We were sad not to be able to get off the plane and scared that we might be stranded in Inner Mongolia forever. We eventually took off and made it to Beijing about four hours late. In the meantime, we met Sandy and Sarah who were on our China Spree trip and had fun getting to know them. It was hot and humid at 10pm when we disembarked, but the airport was beautiful, empty, and air conditioned! We checked into our very nice hotel, Joy City Hotel, and crashed.Our tour guides are Jim (who is the national guide for the group we’re with for a few days) and Richard, the Beijing local guide. They are both super nice and helpful.