China - 2013
I go to India every year, so this year I decided to combine that with a trip to China, so I could save on the air fare. I did a lot of research before my trip and planned on what to see, how much time I would need to see everything, entrance hours and ticket prices, how to get to each place etc. After hosting the Summer Olympics, the Beijing subway has got signs in English, making it easy to use. I decided that I would be able to travel around by myself, without taking a tour. I used Google to translate several phrases I thought I might need, and printed those out, so I could show them to someone if I needed help. I also printed out the names of my hotels, the names of each place I intended to visit, and the names of the buses and trains I needed to take, in Chinese, so I could get directions if needed.
I left Los Angeles on May 9 and arrived in Beijing on May 11. I exchanged some money, then easily found the signs to the Airport Express train to the center of Beijing. I had planned on getting the 'Yikatong' card that would store credit for multiple subway rides, that could be topped off as needed. I would be able to get a refund on any unused balance at the end of my trip. But, the person at the ticket counter said they were out of those cards. So I bought a single ticket to the city. The train ends at Dongzhimen station in the city. You can switch to the subway at this station. Again, there were clear signs to the subway station. The automated ticket counter had a button that said 'English', that changed the instructions on the screen to English. The tickets are all one price. One ticket is good for one trip, on any number of subway lines, until you leave the subway. I took the blue line to the next station, then connected to the green line, and got off at the station close to my hotel. As soon as I got out of the station, I was able to spot my hotel, which was a couple of minutes walk away.
On the 12th, I took the subway and saw Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is huge. I bought the audio guide for the Forbidden City. Late afternoon, I took the subway and went to the Temple of Heaven. On the 13th, I took the subway to the Summer Palace. I bought the audio guide there too. Late afternoon, I took the subway to the Lama Temple. Both the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace are huge, and you have to walk a lot. There is no way you can see the entire Summer Palace in one day. My feet were really sore at the end of the day.
On the 14th, I had planned to see the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall has a lot of different sections that can be visited. I decided to go to the section at Badaling, since that can be reached by a train from Beijing, and I thought that would be the easiest to get to. I took a subway to the Beijing North Railway station and went to the area that sells tickets to the trains that go outside Beijing. I showed a guard my paper with the Chinese phrase that said 'is this the S2 train to Badaling'. The guard pointed me to the right ticket counter. There were some foreigners standing in line, but when I asked them if this was the line to buy train tickets to Badaling, they said 'hopefully'. When I got to the front of the line, I showed the clerk my phrase again, and he nodded and I bought the ticket. When I went inside, there was a sign that said 'S2', so I knew that was the waiting area for my train. I verified with another guard and a passenger and they both nodded. When the train arrived, it didn't pull in all the way to the end of the platform. All the Chinese started running to the train. The foreigners looked perplexed and continued walking to the train. Then, one foreigner also started running, and soon all of us were running, not knowing why, but following the example of the locals. The train was comfortable and took about 1.5 hours to get to Badaling. There also, there were signs in English, so it was easy to get to the ticket counter and buy the ticket for the Wall.
The Wall was nothing like I expected. I knew you had to climb to get to the top, but once on the top, I thought it would be fairly easy to walk along it. I expected the top to be uneven, but fairly level. Was I wrong! The wall is supported by towers, and between the towers, the wall is sort of like a 'U'. It descends from one tower and then ascends back up to the next, making it really steep. In some parts there are steps, with the steps being really high and uneven. In other parts, it is a very steep uneven path. There are railings to hold on to as you go up and down. In Badaling, once you climb to the actual wall, there are two directions you can take. I arbitrarily went right. That direction has 8 towers. After the 8th tower, the wall is closed off and you cannot go further on that section. You can pay extra if you want to use the cable car to go up and down the wall. I climbed up the wall, because I wanted to get the full wall experience, but I took the cable car down. You can also pay extra to use a slide instead of the cable car, to go down. The Great Wall is really worth climbing and seeing.
On the 15th, I checked out and took the subway and the Airport Express train back to the airport, for my flight to Xian, to see the Terracotta Warriors. At Xian, with the help of my list of Chinese phrases, I found the Airport Bus to the Xian Railway Station. As the bus pulled up to the front of the station, I could see the name of my hotel rising up behind a few other buildings. It was just a 2 minute walk to the hotel.
On the 16th, I went back to the Railway Station and found the sign that said, in English, 'No 5 Tourist Bus to Terracotta Warriors'. To be on the safe side I showed the same thing, written in Chinese to the bus driver and to one of the passengers, who both nodded that I was on the right bus. When I arrived at the Terracotta Warrior Museum, I followed the crowd to the ticket counter. The Terracotta Warriors were built by the First Emperor of China, to guard his tomb. Work started in 246 BC, when the emperor ascended the throne at age 13. His tomb has not yet been excavated, but the warriors were found a short distance away, by some farmers digging a well in 1974. The army faced east where all the emperor's conquered states lie. The figures are life size, and vary in height, uniform and hairstyle according to rank. They include generals, soldiers, archers, chariots and horses. It is believed that 8 face molds were used and then clay was use to create individual facial features. Originally they held real weapons such as spears, swords or crossbows, and were painted with bright pigments, but the weapons were looted or rotted away, and the color faded away. There is a regular museum with exhibits, and there are 3 excavated pits, covered so they look like big airplane hangers. They show some areas that have not yet been excavated, and some areas that were excavated, but show all the warriors in small pieces. These pieces are painstakingly put together, and two of the pits show the warriors after they were put together and arranged in battle formations. Apparently only a few thousand warriors have been excavated, and many thousands are still buried. This is another of the sites in China that is definitely worth visiting.
On the 17th, I checked out. I had planned on seeing the town of Xian, before flying back to Beijing and on to India. It rained heavily and I didn't feel the town was interesting enough to walk around in heavy rain. That was disappointing, but the other things I saw more than made up for this.
China is not as ornate as Windsor Castle, Versailles, or Peterhof, but it is exquisite and unique. Both the hotels I stayed in were really nice. Breakfast was very good. It had a large variety of dishes, from eggs, bacon, sausages, muffins, pastries to noodles, rice and other Chinese dishes. It was a little expensive. I had a hard time with lunch and dinner. I tried Burger King and KFC and didn't like either. I tried local places, but I had to order by looking at the pictures on the menu, so it was hit and miss - some dishes were good and others were not. I had Kung Pao in one place. In Los Angeles, the Kung Pao includes pineapple, but not in China. I didn't see any fried rice.Most places had the sticky white rice. In Beijing, there was a shopping mall in Wangfujing, called the Oriental Plaza, with a food court. One of the places in the food court is a large room with lots of little food stalls all around, and tables in the middle. You purchase a sort of a credit card for as much money as you think you will spend. You walk around and buy what you like, using this card, and eat at the tables in the center. When you walk out, you can return the card and get a refund on any unused balance. That was a nice way to try different things. In Xian, I had dinner at the hotel one night, but they took so long to bring my food, that they gave me some fruit so I had something to nibble on before my food arrived.
Click on the picture below and you can view the photos.
I left Los Angeles on May 9 and arrived in Beijing on May 11. I exchanged some money, then easily found the signs to the Airport Express train to the center of Beijing. I had planned on getting the 'Yikatong' card that would store credit for multiple subway rides, that could be topped off as needed. I would be able to get a refund on any unused balance at the end of my trip. But, the person at the ticket counter said they were out of those cards. So I bought a single ticket to the city. The train ends at Dongzhimen station in the city. You can switch to the subway at this station. Again, there were clear signs to the subway station. The automated ticket counter had a button that said 'English', that changed the instructions on the screen to English. The tickets are all one price. One ticket is good for one trip, on any number of subway lines, until you leave the subway. I took the blue line to the next station, then connected to the green line, and got off at the station close to my hotel. As soon as I got out of the station, I was able to spot my hotel, which was a couple of minutes walk away.
On the 12th, I took the subway and saw Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is huge. I bought the audio guide for the Forbidden City. Late afternoon, I took the subway and went to the Temple of Heaven. On the 13th, I took the subway to the Summer Palace. I bought the audio guide there too. Late afternoon, I took the subway to the Lama Temple. Both the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace are huge, and you have to walk a lot. There is no way you can see the entire Summer Palace in one day. My feet were really sore at the end of the day.
On the 14th, I had planned to see the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall has a lot of different sections that can be visited. I decided to go to the section at Badaling, since that can be reached by a train from Beijing, and I thought that would be the easiest to get to. I took a subway to the Beijing North Railway station and went to the area that sells tickets to the trains that go outside Beijing. I showed a guard my paper with the Chinese phrase that said 'is this the S2 train to Badaling'. The guard pointed me to the right ticket counter. There were some foreigners standing in line, but when I asked them if this was the line to buy train tickets to Badaling, they said 'hopefully'. When I got to the front of the line, I showed the clerk my phrase again, and he nodded and I bought the ticket. When I went inside, there was a sign that said 'S2', so I knew that was the waiting area for my train. I verified with another guard and a passenger and they both nodded. When the train arrived, it didn't pull in all the way to the end of the platform. All the Chinese started running to the train. The foreigners looked perplexed and continued walking to the train. Then, one foreigner also started running, and soon all of us were running, not knowing why, but following the example of the locals. The train was comfortable and took about 1.5 hours to get to Badaling. There also, there were signs in English, so it was easy to get to the ticket counter and buy the ticket for the Wall.
The Wall was nothing like I expected. I knew you had to climb to get to the top, but once on the top, I thought it would be fairly easy to walk along it. I expected the top to be uneven, but fairly level. Was I wrong! The wall is supported by towers, and between the towers, the wall is sort of like a 'U'. It descends from one tower and then ascends back up to the next, making it really steep. In some parts there are steps, with the steps being really high and uneven. In other parts, it is a very steep uneven path. There are railings to hold on to as you go up and down. In Badaling, once you climb to the actual wall, there are two directions you can take. I arbitrarily went right. That direction has 8 towers. After the 8th tower, the wall is closed off and you cannot go further on that section. You can pay extra if you want to use the cable car to go up and down the wall. I climbed up the wall, because I wanted to get the full wall experience, but I took the cable car down. You can also pay extra to use a slide instead of the cable car, to go down. The Great Wall is really worth climbing and seeing.
On the 15th, I checked out and took the subway and the Airport Express train back to the airport, for my flight to Xian, to see the Terracotta Warriors. At Xian, with the help of my list of Chinese phrases, I found the Airport Bus to the Xian Railway Station. As the bus pulled up to the front of the station, I could see the name of my hotel rising up behind a few other buildings. It was just a 2 minute walk to the hotel.
On the 16th, I went back to the Railway Station and found the sign that said, in English, 'No 5 Tourist Bus to Terracotta Warriors'. To be on the safe side I showed the same thing, written in Chinese to the bus driver and to one of the passengers, who both nodded that I was on the right bus. When I arrived at the Terracotta Warrior Museum, I followed the crowd to the ticket counter. The Terracotta Warriors were built by the First Emperor of China, to guard his tomb. Work started in 246 BC, when the emperor ascended the throne at age 13. His tomb has not yet been excavated, but the warriors were found a short distance away, by some farmers digging a well in 1974. The army faced east where all the emperor's conquered states lie. The figures are life size, and vary in height, uniform and hairstyle according to rank. They include generals, soldiers, archers, chariots and horses. It is believed that 8 face molds were used and then clay was use to create individual facial features. Originally they held real weapons such as spears, swords or crossbows, and were painted with bright pigments, but the weapons were looted or rotted away, and the color faded away. There is a regular museum with exhibits, and there are 3 excavated pits, covered so they look like big airplane hangers. They show some areas that have not yet been excavated, and some areas that were excavated, but show all the warriors in small pieces. These pieces are painstakingly put together, and two of the pits show the warriors after they were put together and arranged in battle formations. Apparently only a few thousand warriors have been excavated, and many thousands are still buried. This is another of the sites in China that is definitely worth visiting.
On the 17th, I checked out. I had planned on seeing the town of Xian, before flying back to Beijing and on to India. It rained heavily and I didn't feel the town was interesting enough to walk around in heavy rain. That was disappointing, but the other things I saw more than made up for this.
China is not as ornate as Windsor Castle, Versailles, or Peterhof, but it is exquisite and unique. Both the hotels I stayed in were really nice. Breakfast was very good. It had a large variety of dishes, from eggs, bacon, sausages, muffins, pastries to noodles, rice and other Chinese dishes. It was a little expensive. I had a hard time with lunch and dinner. I tried Burger King and KFC and didn't like either. I tried local places, but I had to order by looking at the pictures on the menu, so it was hit and miss - some dishes were good and others were not. I had Kung Pao in one place. In Los Angeles, the Kung Pao includes pineapple, but not in China. I didn't see any fried rice.Most places had the sticky white rice. In Beijing, there was a shopping mall in Wangfujing, called the Oriental Plaza, with a food court. One of the places in the food court is a large room with lots of little food stalls all around, and tables in the middle. You purchase a sort of a credit card for as much money as you think you will spend. You walk around and buy what you like, using this card, and eat at the tables in the center. When you walk out, you can return the card and get a refund on any unused balance. That was a nice way to try different things. In Xian, I had dinner at the hotel one night, but they took so long to bring my food, that they gave me some fruit so I had something to nibble on before my food arrived.
Click on the picture below and you can view the photos.
 |
| China 2013 |
