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Beijing was our last stop. (When planning the trip we thought it was somehow appropriate to start in the western city of Hong Kong and end up in capital city of Beijing–covering 1,200 miles and a huge culture gap in the process.) The city has numerous historical sites, so we spent four days there, longer than anywhere else in China.

When we arrived on a night train from Shanghai, the infamous Beijing smog was covering the city. However, a storm swept through on our first night and cleared the air–resulting in beautiful blue skies for the rest of our stay.

Here are the highlights of our stay in Beijing.

- Two nights at a courtyard hotel (Lu Song Yuan) in a hutong, an old Beijing neighborhood of narrow streets and courtyard residences. Many hutongs have been torn down during Beijing’s modernization but the Banchang hutong where we stayed has been well preserved. The area is a mix of residences and businesses catering to the Chinese inhabitants and trendy restaurants, coffee shops and bars, which have discovered that the area has a large appeal to tourists and foreign expats.

- A Jingshanling to Simatai hike along the Great Wall. (For pics, see previous post). Incredible views and quite a workout. The Beijing Downtown Backpackers hostel organized this day-long excursion, so all we had to do was show up (and pay).

- A midnight dinner at a hot pot restaurant on a late-night dining street in Beijing–fun and delicious (see video below). Hats off to our waiter for patiently teaching us the hot pot techniques although we could only communicate in gestures.

- Soaking in the sunshine and watching the performances of Beijing Opera by its fans in the Temple of Heaven park on a Sunday afternoon.

- A 25+ course dinner at the Li Family restaurant in the Yangfang hutong. It was an amazing culinary experience in an intimate, home setting. The restaurant has a prix fixe menu that starts at 200 RMB but can go up all the way to 2000 RMB if you choose to include the rarer of the local delicacies. We went for the 400 RMB menu, which included sea cucumber (not a vegetable as Katy thought and definitely an acquired taste) and snow frog (tastes like chicken)

Here are the pics:

China – Beijing

We enjoyed China even more than we expected to. When it was time to leave for the airport, we wished for at least a few more weeks to further explore this fascinating country. Maybe next time…

- Peebo (and Katy)

We took a day trip out of Beijing (about 4 hours by bus) and hiked for about eight miles along the Great Wall.

It lived up to the hype.

China – Great Wall

Enjoy,
-peebo

From Xian we flew to Shanghai and took the Maglev Train into the city–top speed 268 miles per hour. (It was awesome.)

Highlights in Shanghai included:

• Yuyuan Gardens
• The Shanghai Museum
• Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall (Much more interesting than it sounds)
• Nighttime walk on The Bund
• Living it up in the swank, Rui Jin Hotel
• Walking around the tree-lined French Concession (which reminded Katy of the West Village in New York)
• Avoiding the “Tea House” scam in People’s Park (more on that later)
• Dinner at the “changes faces” Szechwan restaurant with two Shanghai locals that graciously took us out on the town

Enjoy the photos.

China – Shanghai

- peebo

It was hard to leave Yangshuo after only two and a half days days in the area. There was so much more to see and explore but, alas, it was only a 15 day trip.

Our host in Yangshuo, Mr. Wei, arranged for a car to drive us from Yangshuo to the airport in Guilin (~ 42 miles). The car trip was uneventful except for two strange incidents:

1) While driving down a large, four lane highway we passed a crashed motorcycle that was lying in the middle of the road. There were no people or emergency vehicles around, just the smashed bike

2) About 10 miles out of Guilin our driver pulled into a busy gas station and a man, who looked like he’d been waiting for us, immediately walked up to our car. He and our driver, a tiny woman from Yangshuo who was by far the safest driver we encountered in all of China, spoke briefly, then we all (Katy, myself and the driver) got out of the car we’d been in and got into the man’s car. The man took the car we’d been in before and drove away, and we took the man’s car the rest of the way to the airport.

Our theory is that this exchange had something to do with permit stickers and toll roads (many if not most of the big, new highways in China
are toll roads). The second car was a very nice Mercedes so we didn’t complain….

It was about a two hour flight from Guilin to Xian. We took a packed (but comfortable) airport bus into Xian and as we approached the city it was evident that we were no longer in the countryside.

Wikipedia lists the population of Xian as just under 3 million, but any population estimates for China should be taken with a grain of salt. The population is currently in flux as millions of people from the rural countryside are migrating to the booming urban centers in search of better jobs. It has been estimated that 150 to 200 million people have made this shift from rural to urban in the last two decades, making this the largest migration in human history.

For some perspective, the United States has nine cities with a population over one million. China has forty-nine.

Xian is an ancient city rich in Chinese history. It was the first capital of a unified China under the first emperor, Qin Shi Haung (Qin dynasty 221 BC – 206 BC), and remained the seat of imperial power for another 12 dynasties. As result, Xian and the surrounding areas is home to some of the most important archeological and historical sites in China–the most famous being the Terracotta Army.

While the Terracotta Army is what prompted our visit to Xian (the site is actually about 45 minutes by car out of the city proper) we enjoyed spending time in the city itself. It’s packed with historical sites and spending an evening in Muslim Quarter was one of the highlights of our trip.

China – Xian

Enjoy Xian.
- Peebo

While in Yangshou we took a day trip to the fishing village of Xingping–about a 45 minute (and 4 Yuan) bus ride north.

We had some anxiety about finding the right bus in Yangshou (after a horribly frustrating experienced in Shenzhen) so we did our best to memorize the phrases we’d need to ask for the correct bus, buy tickts etc. However, as we approached the bus station a woman intercepted us and said “Xingping?” We nodded and followed her into a small, crowded bus and she motioned for us to sit on the floor. We complied and ended up in Xingping 45 minutes later.

Xingping is a slightly less popular destination (for both Chinese and foreign tourists) but the Li River cruises that run right by the village are very popular–especially among the Chinese. In the photos you’ll see some larger cruise ships making the run from Guilin to the north to Yangshou.

The distinctive mountains in this area (see also Yangshou photos) are known throughout China and are even featured on the 20 Yuan bill (shown above).

Enjoy the photos.

China – Xingping

-peebo

So, it’s the Sunday after Thanksgiving and I’m in Arkansas with the family. Me, Katy, Mom and Dad are at a department store in Little Rock. Katy has just finished shopping for a dress (very nice…) to wear to her office Christmas party and we’re all goofing off in the random-gadget area of the store–sitting on massage chairs, playing with the sharper-image-ish toys.

At this point I notice a $29 clock radio with an iPod dock and a sign that reads “Works With All iPods!” My clock radio sucks… this could be cool. So, I whip out my iPhone and place it in the cradle to see if it fits. It does! The screen didn’t light up so I punch the iPhone button. Nothing happens. Oh, well. Probably not compatible with the phone.

I remove the iPhone from the cradle and the screen pops on. Only it’s really dim and has some weird white lines on it.

uh, oh…

I press the button and nothing happens. I try to power down and nothing happens. I hold both buttons to do a reset and the screen goes off (yeah)! It does not power back up (crap!). Pressing the buttons again does nothing. Instead of coming on, it starts getting warm. Then warmer. Then kind of hot. (it cooled down after about a half hour).

In short: it was toast.

Needless to say I was… agitated. (I think my mom heard me say “Fuck” more times that she has in a long while…) I informed the store that their radio toasted my iPhone and they were polite, a bit confused, and made it clear that there was no one on the premises that could address any issue even remotely associated with liability.

* * *

However, my tale does have a happy ending.

I went to the Genius Bar at the Apple store when I got back to SF and told them it “just died.” They pressed the buttons and said, “yep. It’s dead.”

The guy opened a drawer and pulled out a small, un-branded, cardboard box with an iPhone in it. (no manuals, cords, earphones–just a phone), popped out my SIM card and put it in the (fully charged) iPhone from the box and then handed it to me. No reactivation required. (He never even asked for a receipt, but later I realized all iPhones are currently under warranty). I synced when I got home and all is well.

Moral of the story:
Never stick your unit is strange receptacles.

-peebo

We took a commuter train from Hong Kong to Shenzen, where we (barely) caught a night bus to Yangshuo.

This was the only rural area we visited and it was also the highlight of our trip.

China – Yangshuo

Happy Thanksgiving.
-peebo

It took a while, but we’ve finally gone through our hundreds and hundreds of China pictures. There are still a lot we’d like to share, so I’m going to post in chunks to keep your eyes from glazing over.

First up: Hong Kong.
(click the pic below)

China – Hong Kong

Enjoy.
-peebo

After a 3.5 hour flight from Beijing to Hong Kong, a two hour layover and a 12 hour flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco we made it home safe and sound yesterday afternoon. Due to time zone and International Date Line voodoo, we somehow arrived home before we left. (Departed Hong Kong at 4:25pm on Sept. 30th. Arrived San Francisco at 1:30pm on Sept 30th.)

I didn’t sleep for the whole flight so I’m still recovering today.

I have three memory cards full of pictures (~1000 photos) so I’ll be sorting out the goods ones to share over the next few days. Stay tuned…

We hiked 8km (about 5 miles) on the Great Wall of China today….

Wow….