Final Thoughts

A few final thoughts about China:

• Best job: The guy in Chinese dress who stands by the elevator at the hotel and gracefully gestures towards the open door where the bell just rang, in case anyone couldn't see it on their own.
• Best menu item: "Jew's ears". Since no one in the restaurant spoke English, we could not inquire and we were afraid to order it. When passing that restaurant last night, we gave it a wide berth, in the event their inventory was running low.
• Most irritating: The waitresses who stand next to you during the entire meal to make sure you don't get tired repouring your tea once you take a sip.
• Best drivers: Our bus driver. How he managed to squeeze that big bus through tiny spaces defies the laws of physics.
• Best tourist site: Hands down, the Great Wall. After hearing about it all our lives, it was nice that it lived up to its billing - it is indeed "great".
• Best lesson: Don't play ping pong on a slippery surface
• Best two things about traveling: It is great to get away and see different places and it's great to get back.
  

Last full day

Good news! You can stop worrying about the Chinese economy! 1.4 billion Chinese and their economy has been slowing down, but Susan went shopping today and all is righted!

Actually, the most fun part of shopping was the part we did on our own. Rather than take the tour today, we went off by ourselves, with plans to meet up with the tour at a silk factory. We ended up in Chinatown (not too hard to find around here), meaning a real people area, not touristy. We just went into various stores, the most fun one being a pharmacy where drugs were being sold on one side and herbs, roots and traditional Chinese remedies on the other.

We went into grocery stores (we think we saw some of the Cinn's relatives for sale in the butcher section) and the Chinese version of a shuk. We were the only Westerner's in the entire place and had fun looking at what they were selling - Susan got a scarf and I got a pair of gloves.

Enough for the inexpensive shopping - we then met up with the tour and accompanied them to a silk factory. The tour part - watching the silk being spun and stuff made was fun - the shopping part, not so much. It's not a matter of fitting everything Susan bought into our suitcases - rather, we have ordered a separate cargo plane.

After the silk factory, we went to the Olympic area and saw the Water Cube and Bird's Nest stadiums (stadia?). Real cool.

Driving through the city is fascinating. Unlike Moscow, the architecture is not gray and forbidding, but modern with an Oriental flavor. Many, many huge beautiful buildings. Lots of cranes. No empty storefronts, vacant lots or signs of economic blight. Milwaukee should be so fortunate. The only negative is the horrendous traffic - we were lucky in that today was sunny and clear (a bit chilly, ergo my new gloves and Susan's scarf), but none of the famous pollution.

Also unlike Moscow, no sign of anti-Americanism. Even in the shuk, everyone was as nice and forthcoming as could be.

The only negative is that my leg continues to hurt and prohibited my plans for a run today. Belinda has made an appointment for me with the same orthopedist who treated my knee last year and I'll be seeing him on Thursday.

We leave tomorrow - the flight leaves here late in the afternoon and if all goes well, we should get to Chicago about the same time, the same day (must be a fast plane!) and to Milwaukee in the early evening.

Other than a few problems, a fascinating and fun trip. But, all good things have to come to an end.

Xi'an and back

Hello loyal blog readers. Hey, are there are any loyal readers? How about just readers? Or am I writing this for myself!

Well, at any rate, we are back in Beijing after a trip to Xi'an - the city was wonderful, but we had a few (three, to be exact) problems.

The first one was the morning we left when, for reasons not at all apparent to anyone, I chose to walk into a wall in our room while trying to go to the bathroom in the dark. No major damage, other than a lot of blood and some consideration of whether a stitch or two would be necessary. But, the bleeding slowed down, so we left about 6 a.m. for the airport. After a flight of 1 hour, 40 minutes, we were in Xi'an, a little burb of about 7 million Chinese people. (Of course, I called Joshua both before leaving and on arriving to get updates on the Badger game - probably only one of several people calling from China for that purpose).

We went immediately to the Terra Cotta museum, where we saw the excavations which were truly amazing. About 1,000 life sized warriors have been unearthed and many repaired after being discovered by a farmer in 1974 (the original farmer - or a reproduction, was at the museum signing copies of the coffee table book, which we bought to avoid repeating Susan's failure to do something similar in London in 2000).

As I said, the museum was great, but problem #2 occurred when my digital camera card was full and when I put in the replacement, the camera could not detect it and would not reject it. And, Betsy, it has nothing to do with the power button, which I have now distinguished from the shutter button. Fortunately, I have the pictures I really want on the previous card, but since we can't get the new card to eject, those will be the only pictures we will have.

After the terra cotta museum, we went on a city tour, then to dinner and a spectacular show.

Problem #3 arose this morning. After breakfast, having some time before we left, I took a walk and found a park where all these Chinese people (no shortage of them here!) were walking, jogging, doing tai chi (sp?) and other exercises. When I passed the ping pong area, I was invited to take part. How could I refuse? So, I played this Chinese woman, who was obviously playing down to my level, to the delight of a number of Chinamen. But, going for an errant shot, I slipped and heard a loud crack in my leg. I refused the offer of Chinese therapy and limped back to the hotel. A pediatrician on our trip told me that it was the biggest leg he has ever seen - OK, no, he didn't say that. He said that it could be a pulled muscle or I could have cracked a bone or both. I can walk, with difficulty, but my plans for another run tomorrow are scrubbed. Sigh. I may have to get this checked out by an adult doctor when I get back.

Otherwise, all is well. We are really enjoying this interesting country. Tomorrow, we are on our own and plan (if I am mobile) to try to help support the local economy. Hmmm, maybe I should claim immobility, true or not...

Hope all is well with everyone back home.

Gregg and Susan

The Great Wall

Hi folks. We just got back from the Great Wall and Ming Tombs. The Great Wall was supposed to be a highlight of our trip and it lived up to its billing. It's about 1 and 1/2 north of Beijing (absent traffic, it would be about 15 minutes, which should give you an idea about the traffic here). Then, you can climb the easy route or the tough one. Susan chose the easy route, climbed for about 2 minutes and decided that she had done enough. I went about 45 minutes the tough way and - well, it was tough. It has incredible climbs and all I could think about was how they did a marathon here (btw, if my friend Peter is reading this - I ran this morning to and around Tienammen Square - awesome!).

After the Great Wall, we had lunch and the obligatory shopping, then to the Ming tombs which were rather disappointing. Not much to see, actually.

Aside to Danny: Yes, I know how to post pictures to make this blog more interesting - how dumb do you think I am? And before you answer that, how much do you want to come with us to Barcelona? The reason I'm not posting pictures is that I didn't think to take the cable to connect the camera to the laptop!

Uh, sorry for the rest of you having to read that - I'm sure you enjoy my writing enough without need for pictures, right?

OK, tomorrow we leave real early for X'ian, which we are told is a 1 hour 40 minute flight. Since I'm not taking the laptop, there may not be any updates for 48 hours, so I hope you all can find some other form of entertainment!

Hope everyone is well - we are fine and enjoying this experience very much.

First day in Beijing

We had our first day of touring today - after breakfast, we took the day tour of Beijing, starting with Teijamin or Tei'amin or... well, the big square. And it is a big square. Lots and lots of tourists, but almost all were Chinese tourists. Guess there are a lot of Chinese people...

After the Square, we went to the Forbidden City, which isn't so forbidden anymore. It's located across a busy street (see reference to "a lot Chinese people" above - that also equates to a lot of traffic!) from the Square. Anyway, the Forbidden City is where the emperor lived with his retinue and up to 3,000 concubines. Lots and lots of Chinese tourists again. All the concubines are gone, which is a shame, although I suppose there are enough tourists as it is.

After lunch, we went for a rickshaw ride - now that's a tough way to make a living! Then to a silk factory so our tour guide could get a kickback if anyone paid $10,000 for a silk rug. I wanted to buy one, but Susan said that if the Cin either puked or pooped on it, it would be the end of her. So, no rug for us and no kickback for the guide.

Tonight, Susan is meeting with some woman who sells pearls - at least there won't be a kickback, unless Karen Arbit (who told Susan about this woman) wants one. Sort of doubt it!

Tomorrow, the Great Wall!

Here we are...

Well, we are here after a 13 hour flight. I wonder if it ever occurred to anyone in the Chinese tourist office that they would have a lot more business if they moved this country closer to the U.S?

Other than a long flight and the worst movie selection in forever, everything is fine. The Beijing airport may be the biggest in the world - I swear we walked further from the gate to baggage claim than some half marathons I've run. Then, traffic was awful as it was rush hour, but we finally got here, the hotel is very nice with a great view of the city. We are exhausted, so we'll just hit the sack tonight and leave sightseeing for later.

Tomorrow, we are taking the tour to see the Forbidden City, Tianammen (sp?) Square and anywhere else they take us.

Test Blog

This is my first attempt at a blog. If I can figure this out (don't count on it!), I'll be blogging later this week from China.