Ben eats berries and shrinks to the size of a mouse!

Ciang Mai, Thailand
April 1, 2010 (2553)

While participating in the Flight of the Gibbons, Ben inadvertantly "injested" some local berries found only in the very tops of the highest trees in the Thai/Loatian jungle. "I look away for one second and boom he eat them...very bad!" the guide was heard to say. The shrinking berries, as they are know here, are well known among Gibbons whose offspring often mistake the berries for a tasty non shrinking variety. Some scientists say that the famous Gibbon hooting is actually Gibbon parents warning their babies not to eat the berries.

After eating the berries Ben uttered a quick "I don't feel so good mommy" and began to shrink. He shrank so fast his harness came off and guides were forced to fashion new cloths and a harness from banana leaves.

Jumping in to save the day, Amelia has graciously agreed to carry Ben until the shrinking berries wear off. Amelia said, "I am happy to carry my mouse brother around". Ben is conveniently the same size as most Barbie dolls so Amelia has plenty of outfits for him to wear.

The local doctor assured us that this will wear off in time. Jackie was heard quoting Shakespere saying "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy".

Cambodia - a Land of Contradictions

Chiang Mai, Thailand

March 27, 2010

Cambodia - History Old and New

Wow, Cambodia! From thousand year old temples to a country relatively fresh out of civil war. From the richness of the culture to the scrabbling poverty.

When we arrived the immigration person waved us all by the immigration check desk but Paul - normally each person has to stand in front of the immigration official and get their passport looked at and a photograph taken. Now Cambodia did have the photo equipment (working?) but the official specifically waved us through but Paul. When the passport person finished stamping all the passports he looked up at Paul and while smiling said what sounded like, "Tip?" very quietly. He repeated it several times while smiling and basically not moving his lips. Try to say, "Tip," without moving your lips - it's a challenge. Paul just kept saying, "What? What?" and shrugging his shoulders. The official finally gave up and waved Paul through.

Cambodia is a country relatively recently out of civil war - 20 years have passed but it's present. From seeing land mine victims to memories shared by people we met. One man we met in Cambodia, my age, said when he was eight the Khmer killed his father and his mother was sent off to the fields to work. He and his brother and sister were put in an orphanage for several years until the Vietnamese kicked out the Khmer when he was reunited with his mother. What a different life I was leading then - going to school, plenty of food, a roof over my head, and a happy family.

The same man also told us that while he had turned in his AK47 and some bullets recently he kept a bunch of bullets just in case. He said guns are easy to get but not the bullets. He went on to say that he has lots of friends who are keeping guns hidden in their homes in attics, behind walls, under floors, etc.. He explained that AK47s from Russia are much better than those from China as they are much lighter. Can't imagine having to know which gun is lighter to carry around!

When we left the country the kids and I got waved straight through customs again and kept Paul behind and this time the official hung on to the passports as he said what sounded like, "Something for me?..." Paul and his magic got us through. Not something you'd find in the U.S. at all - a different culture.

However, 99% of the people we met were sooooo nice! Everyone was so warm, and welcoming - going out of their way to be helpful from drivers, hotel staff and our English guide. We had a great time chatting with a waiter at the hotel. The Internet connection was best in the outdoor restaurant and the waiter was just fascinated by our computer as he had never used one before. So as we worked on the computer we shared how we were calling and emailing home.

Angkor Wat, the mystery and beauty of it and the surrounding temples in the enveloping trees, and the people of Cambodia are an amazing testament to human capabilities, including that in the face of ongoing conflicts, that the temples are still standing (with a few bullets holes here and there) and, after losing half their population - estimates vary from 1 - 3 million people killed in the war, that the people are so kind and welcoming.

We would definitely go back and wish we had planned on staying longer. But we really wanted to go to a elephant conservation area in Thailand that only lets in 25 people a day and they only had one opening that would work for us so today we flew back to Thailand and early tomorrow morning are off to spend the day with elephants.

Much love,

Jackie

Cambodia in 36 hours

Siem Reap, Cambodia
March 27, 2010



Old Country starts to meet new

Today finds us in Cambodia a country with very nice people, many bicycles (unlike Thailand which is now all motorcycles), carriages pulled by motorcycles, and elephants walking down the roads of Angkor Wat. We can hear the music from the Buddhist monastery almost across the street from our hotel, the Indochine Pavilion, a small gem of a hotel which happens to be on a dirt road (which you don't see at all in this tropical retreat). In the market you can get a foot cleaning on the street by putting your feet in a small pond and having the fish eat the dead skin off your feet and by the temples you can listen to music played on traditional music played by (legitimate) land mine victims.

At the Angkor area we saw temples, including Angkor Wat, with bas-relief and Buddhas galore. The happy Buddha is the most popular. Cars are parked in the same field with stone structures a thousand years old.


We also took a boat out to the 'Great Lake' and saw people, who are the poorest of poor and who are forced to live on rafts/boats on a lake - 9,000 people - whole families - live on boats and don't touch land often (at all?). They buy their food goods from other market boats, go to school on boats (those few lucky enough to afford a uniform), swim, wash their clothes and drink from the lake.


We have much more to say about Cambodia but are flying to Chaing Mai, Thailand this morning.

Paul said are bags are in the taxi - got to run!


Jackie

Training on the road

Kata Beach

Phuket Thailand

March 22nd, 2010

I've never been a great athlete, but I've always liked the feeling of a good workout. Finding time for working out while traveling can be a challenge, but its worth the effort. The obvious choice for training your body when traveling is running. Running requires almost no gear and you can do it wherever there's a road or trail in front of you. I'm doing a lot of running on this trip.

New Zealand is a runner's dream. Little traffic, country roads and temperate climate.

Australia, was too damn hot, but for some reason I ran more in Oz than New Zealand.

China was a no running zone. I could barely see my hand in front of my face most days, so I opted for push-ups and crunches indoors to get my heart rate up.

Thailand is a terrific place to run if you don't mind stifling heat, thick, pungent aromas of yesterday's business and crazy traffic laden roads filled with holes and all matter of hazards. Actually its the endless hazards that make running here so fun. Its like trail running in that it takes a lot of concentration on your foot placement.

Running is also ideal as a way to explore the local area. I try to lace up and head out before sunrise so I can catch the town just as its waking up. I run out and away from my lodging until I'm totally gassed, lost or both and then begin weaving my way back through back roads, alleys and foot paths. I always feel safe in the morning because bad guys are notoriously late sleepers.

We're heading to Angkor Wat on the 25th. I wonder what I'll find on my runs in Cambodia...

-Paul

Thai Language - and - Dominoes with Motorcycles

Phuket, Thailand, Kata Beach
March 23, 2010


Thai Language Lessons - why to learn a language young
We are doing our best to get rudimentary language knowledge of the countries we are visiting so we can say, "Thank you, please, yes, no, hello," etc.. In Bangkok we were able to take a two hour Thai lesson from the same teacher who teaches our host, Jeff. The teacher went over numbers for about 10 minutes and then she quizzed us - reading numbers out loud in Thai and having us write them down without looking at a book. So, for example she would say, "Saawng-phan-haa," and we were supposed to write down 2,500. She read up to numbers as high as 659,842 - and Ben was getting them all right - after ten minutes of learning! Amazing! Amelia did really well with conversations and pronunciation! Both did much better than mom and dad - a clear reason to learn a language young.


Motorcycles and Dominoes Don't Mix
We have seen so many injured tourists with taped up ankles, scrapped up arms and bandaged shoulders and we wonder if they are from motorcycle accidents, as we've read and heard from everyone including ex-pats to local residents that motorcycles are so dangerous for tourists to ride as they are mostly new drivers in crazy traffic. Tourists on motorcycles are everywhere and in the last two days alone we've seen two motorcycle accidents. In one case, right across the street from a restaurant we were eating, the motorcycle driver came around a corner too fast and ran right in to a motorcycle parking area and, like Dominoes, took down nine parked motorcycles! The Thai police arrived and the street was soon filled with unhappy motorcyle owners. We'll stick to dominoes on the table - no motorcycles for this family.

All the best,
Jackie

Civics lessons - the role of the citizen

Kata Beach, Thailand (West of Phuket on the Andaman Sea)

March 19, 2010

Civics Lessons

The Red-Shirt protesters, as their party is called and who all do wear red shirts (unlike the opposition party that are the yellow shirts), are continuing their demonstrations in hopes of ousting the current government. Since we didn't get to see some sights in downtown Bangkok because of the Red Shirt protesters the children are very aware of their presence and agenda.

One day, while we were staying near Bangkok with friends, I told the kids it was time to do school work. Ben ran right up stairs and with a big grin came down the stairs - having changed in to a red shirt - and started marching around the room smiling all the way and protesting school.

As I told Ben, just as the Prime Minister had said, "No," to the Red Shirts' demands I was saying, "No," to his request.

Driving to the airport to catch our flight to the Phuket area police had roads blocked and military personnel were stationed along the way. The last time there was a big protest in Bangkok the protesters took over the airports and no flights could go in or out. The governement did not want it to happen this time so they are gaurding the airports.

While we were still loading the plane I thought I over heard someone saying to the flight attendant, "The Red Shirts are coming, the Red Shirts are coming." Now, in retrospect, as far as we know no Red Shirts went to the airport (and we made sure not wear our red shirts that day) so I don't know what it was they were saying, but at the time I was hoping we would just board and take off fast. Amelia's response was to say, "That's almost what Paul Revere said, 'The Red Coats are coming. The Red Coats are coming.'"

Nothing like making civics and history come alive.

Kata Beach

Our hotel is up hill from the beach. Amelia sat for about 2 hours while she had her hair done in braids and beads today.

Tsunami

We can easily walk to the blue clear water beach in ten minutes at most but it's a climb back. Something I am glad of once we started seeing all the signs for, "Tsunami Evacuation Route," pointing uphill towards our hotel. Especially as the last Tsunami hit when it was early and most people were still in bed.

So, while the Red Shirts may (or may not) be coming we'll hopefully miss being washed away by a Tsunami.

Love,

Jackie

One Night in Bangkok ...

March 17th, 2010
Bangkok, Thailand
Traveling is about meeting new people and seeing new places. Last night we did both! We enjoyed a lovely dinner with new friends in the "Beer Garden" in central Bangkok. What a great way to celebrate St. Patty's Day!

The kids especially liked having other kids to spend some time with.

Our hostess Carrie P. is a local who happens to be buds with some terrific folks back in Falls Church. (You know who you are). and she graciously invited us to crash her party.

Thanks Carrie for a fun and delicious dinner and thanks for all your help making us feel welcome in Thailand!

Paul

All peaceful where we are

Minburi, Thailand
March 16

For those of you who receive our blogs via email want to let you know all is very peaceful here.

The last blog that was emailed, titled, "Don'..." went out before I finished writing the whole blog - much less the title!

I revised the blog on the blog site, as hadn't even gotten to the part about us being totally fine, but I don't think the edit comes through via email notification of new blogs.

So, if you like, please go directly to the website to read it in its entirety: handlytravel.blogspot.com

Peace to all,

Jackie :o)

Thailand - Don't you wish you could be here too?

Bangkok, Thailand
March 16, 2010

Thailand Protesters

In downtown Thailand there are about 80,000 estimated protesters trying to oust the current government. Though we understand after four days of standing around in the heat many protesters are heading home and the crowds are thinning.

The kids and I are at home getting schoolwork done and hanging out and it's very peaceful here. Paul and one of our hosts, Jeff, went downtown for the day. They've enjoyed a ride on the canal and more and they have seen no activity at all and are having a good day seeing some sights.

The protesters are trying to stay peaceful so to up the protest without violence they have decided to draw blood - about one small vial per protester (with clean needles supposedly) - and throw the blood at the gates of government offices and houses. Lovely.

There are also been about eight grenades tossed (though not all worked). Mostly property injury, though two government guards were slightly injured.

With all that going on bet you wish you could be in Thailand too. :o)

Jackie

The Great Wall of China (the real one)

Beijing- Chengdu - Shanghai (Tried to post in China but turns out did not get through the Great Fire Wall of China so posting this from Thailand.)

The Great Wall (the real one)

After Xian we flew back to Beijing for a visit to the Great Wall, Tiananmen
Square and the Forbidden City then on to Chengdu, we find ourselves in Shanghai.
We've found food including donkey meat, fried pigeon and frog on a plate. An editorial in the 'Daily China' English paper included pros and cons on eating dog. Pro arguments included that fact that the author had pet goldfish yet still ate fish and that people had pot belly pigs as pets so should we stop eating pork.

In terms of the 1.8 billion (!) people in China and visiting with them at tourist sites the time to visit China is winter. The crowds we read about, even with tips to walk linking arms to stay together, have not transpired. We found many sites we've been able to have total peace - the Summer Palace in Beijing, The Minorities Nationalities Museum (the Asels, the kids and I and one other couple were the only ones there!), Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City
did have people but the lines for tickets were only about ten people long.

A visit to the Great Wall, in the snow, gave us space on the wall enough to take pictures with just us and at times with just people in the distance. (see "The Great Fire Wall of China Post" for picture.) It was incredible. The Great Wall, begun over 2,000 years ago as an earthen wall and built on mountain ridges to take advantage of natural geography, must have been an unbelievable site for a traveling merchant or advance soldier to come upon and try to figure out how to get around. The wall undulates through the Chinese landscape for several thousand miles in a long but fairly narrow strip.

Arriving at the wall ticket area we found the temperatures had plummeted compared to Beijing and we started with the merchants lining the walk on a buying frenzy. We had come to the wall with a friend who does business in China and he needed gloves. Next a hat and scarf for Amelia and a XL sweatshirt for Ben to go over his fleece jacket, windbreaker, t-shirt and long john shirt - it was cold! The merchants, with their many outdoor stalls were ready for us. A gondola took us to the top and after an hour or so of walking along the top of the wall we walked the long winding path down the mountain rather than take the open air chair lift down.

Chengdu - Pandas and Giant Buddha

The day of our plane trip to Chengdu started with finding six inches of snow had
fallen over night - in a city that doesn't get much snow. So arriving at the airport we found our flight delayed. Then ended up sitting in the plane on the run way for several hours in line for deicing. But really who can get upset about waiting for that - really want to get a good deicing done! We made it to Chengdu - and, among other things - went to the Panda Reserve and saw about 15 pandas including 4 pandas 18 months old and 5 pandas all less than one year old.
Having our incredible pandas at the National Zoo in D.C. and their new enclosure
I enjoyed the pandas but with the cold was ready to move on.

Leshan

In the afternoon we drove about two hours out Leshan, home of the Giant Buddha,
largest sitting Buddha in the world towering 71 meters above the ground. Hand carved more than 1,000 years ago. (Everything in China is old - 1,000 years old here, 3,000 there! Talk about culture.) First you have to climb the mountain to the Buddha's head - almost 400 steps up. Then you get to the head and take the cliff steps down along the side of the Buddha to his feet. The cliff walk is a one way path - wide enough for one person - and only down (up is a different path). The cliff wall leans towards you so you are tipped toward the bent, rusty, metal railing and I went from being a tiny bit blasé about the pandas in the morning to being totally terrified on the walk down the Buddha path to the point, I admit, of almost tears in my eyes. Where was my peace and enlightenment - at the end when we lived through it. Nothing refreshes the mind like a near death experience. (Though probably seeing the 80 year-old woman jauntily going down
the trail in front of Paul would have given me a different perspective :o))

China and its contradictions

On our drive from Leshan we saw farmers bent over in their cold muddy fields on
their hands and knees as we sped along on the four land highway (and Ben downloaded a book on Kindle). Then a flight brought us to Shanghai, the home of the second fastest train in the world reaching speeds of 400 km an hour (number one is in Japan). We rode the train just for fun.

Added note - Thailand

In case anyone is wondering - the house where we are staying in Thailand is about the same distance outside Bangkok as Alexandria, Virginia is from Leesburg, VA - about 45 minutes away from the city.

Peace and love to all,

Jackie

Thailand and The Great Fire Wall of China

Bangkok, Thailand

Bugs - the edible kind

We arrived in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday and are happy to be here. We are being very kindly hosted by friends of Paul's brother that he's had since Peace Corps days. Last night we all went out to an Italian restaurant and sat outside enjoying the humid warm weather once again wearing flip flops. As we sat there a cart selling food passed by and Paul and Jeff (our host) hopped up. The cart's choices included grubs of various sizes and species, crickets and grasshoppers. In great glee the cart seller offered Paul a grub which he promptly swallowed. Then Paul bought a bag of fried crickets he and Jeff crunched on merrily - just like potato chips.

Bugs - the monitoring kind

While we don't really know if we were monitored in China we do know we had to show our passports at every hotel. One day when I called the front desk in Xian with a question and they asked me my room number, after 7 weeks in different hotels, etc., I was off a few floors and said, "Room 240," instead of, "Room 640." I got a big silence on the other end and they asked me if I was sure as room 240 was usually for their Chinese guests.

Bathrooms

I actually think it had to do with the toilets. Probably room 240 had a squat toilet rather than a seat toilet. In China most of the toilets are squat toilets, a hole in the ground, which I understand many Chinese feel are more sanitary as you don't have to touch any part of them with your body...true. However, amazingly now in about 70% of the bathrooms you can find a 'Western' style toilet as they sometimes label them. One thing to look for is the sign saying, "Deformed Man End Place." This would be known as the accessible bathroom stall in the America. If they have an accessible stall it's a seat toilet (Yea!).

The Great Chinese Fire Wall

Notice how you didn't hear from us much in China? China blocks blog sites!!

While there is a way to email your own blogs to your blog site it was much more complicated. You have email your blogs to the website somehow and no posting of pictures at all.

We tried to download a movie for the children to watch on an airplane flight as we had done in Australia (New Zealand web interfaces too slow) and found it was cut off. Either China didn't want the movie downloaded in to the country or the movie site didn't want the movie pirated in China.

Either way we were somewhat cut off from the world. Glad to be in Thailand!

Jackie

Don't Stir the (Sichuan) Pot and More

Written in Shanghai, China 3/12

Don't Stir the (Sichuan) Pot

For all the avoiding of snake, cow tongue and shark fin (note below about this) we've also had some delicious Chinese food. Dumplings are a big hit with all. We've had rice and noodles served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Peking duck, pork dumplings, fried pork and fried potato cakes help fill us up (really fried anything is good).

In Chengdu a hot pot meal, a Sichuan specialty, included two pots on our table, one with spicy liquid (oil and spices) and the other with not spicy liquid (fish based) boiled in a pot recessed in the middle of our table. Then from the menu (including cow tongue and turtle) we picked pork meatballs, sausage, thinly sliced chicken, cauliflower, and lotus (root?) among other things to dip in the liquids. The food arrived raw and we placed it either the spicy or not spicy liquid until it was cooked. Turns out the more we stirred the spicy side the spicier it got (a fact we only found out happens as the meal went on and the food got spicier and spicier...). A loose canister in the bottom released more and more spice as it was moved around. Even Ben ate the spicy food turning redder and redder as he ate, as we all did, but he kept going. (Shark fin: Ads, on small screen t.v.s on the back of Chinese taxi seats, are working to convince people to avoid shark fin soup. The fin is cut off the shark and the rest of the shark carcass tossed away causing tremendous amount of waste but more critically leading to a decimation of the shark population.)

How We Get Around - Magic Cards

To get around cities in China as most people, understandably, only Mandarin and/or their local dialect we've given taxi drivers written names of where we want to go. Here they don't use the Roman Alphabet but the Chinese Characters so we've relied on kind friends, hotel desk clerks, guide books with English and Chinese characters and what we call, "Magic Cards." The business cards written with addresses and often small maps written in Chinese characters for the Asels neighborhood or for our hotels. We've had the kids each put a 'magic card' in their pockets in case we get separated they can find their way back to us. Remarkably that is an incredible amount of information in English. The safety guidelines on air planes, train station stops, street signs, hotel signs, menus include pictures and often English descriptions. Quite a surprise.

Happy Family

While China has opened up incredibly in the last twenty years, with modern highways everywhere and people in modern clothes - jeans, sweatshirts, cell phones, etc.., there are still relatively few 'foreigners' in many cities and very few 'foreign children. (In Shanghai a city of 21 million they pride themselves on having many foreigners - about 30,000 - but you don't see 'foreign' children,). Plus China, we some exceptions, has a one child policy so with two 'foreign' children with us we've drawn attention. People often said, "Happy family," in English as we passed by.

We got a lot of stares - especially Ben. Amelia is the height of many adult Chinese women but Ben is clearly still a little kid (Amelia's height has made getting child discounts a challenge sometimes - when we say she is 11 but she's taller than the ticket seller). People have come up to Ben stared at him and asked to take pictures with him (something we had read about could happen before we got here). We stopped in one grocery store near Xian and, while the store had seemed almost deserted when we arrived, after I stepped outside and came back in to the store I saw a crowd had formed around Paul and the kids at the cash register. Little kids have run over to our table and peeped at us in delight. In a taxi at a red light, a little boy on a bus started waving at Ben and Ben smiled and waved back. Soon a bus load of people were bent over peering in to tour taxi . One woman came up to Ben and stood right behind Ben and stopped and starred at him in the outdoor market (people are not very subtle when they stare). She was tiny - shorter than Ben and dressed in more traditional clothing than most of those in Shanghai, wearing a long sleeve silk shirt and black pants. Ben responded, as we have been doing, by smiling and saying, "Ni Hao," making the woman break in to a big smile and peels of laughter.

Much love and happiness to all, Jackie

Everything is Big In China

Chinese people hold there arms out wide when people are taking pictures of them at tourist sites. I first saw this behavior at the Temple of Heaven in downtown Beijing. Folks were lining up to have their picture taken while standing in the center of a large alter used by the emperor when making seasonal sacrifices on the winter solstice. As each person stood on the marble disc they raised their arms in up like and away from their body as if they were flying. Initially I interpreted this as an exclaimation that the subject was at the top of the world!

Now, after traveling through several cities in China I think it can be roughly translated as "Sooo Big!"

You see, China is truely a land of superlatives. Biggest damn, longest wall, oldest continuous civilization, largest buddha, most construction, largest plaza, most polution, and the list goes on. Everywhere you look China is busy going big. Starting from the Great Wall, China's history is full of big ideas and monumental achievements and unlike other great civilizations, the Chinese are still at it. They say a new sky scraper is completed in Shanghai every month. During the last ten years they've completed five tunnels, 4 subway lines, 5 major bridges, inconceivable numbers of highrises and factories and they're showing no signs of slowing down. And thats just Shanghai. Everywhere we went the pace of development and the scope of investment was awe inspiring.

If you haven't been to China you need to come take a look. Its "Sooo Big!"

Paul

When Haggling Become Sport

Huairou District Beijing, China
March 7th, 2010

There we were at the base of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall trying to decipher the multitudes of options offered by each of the several ticket windows. We knew we wanted to do the traverse that would start with the cable car / gondola and would culminate in a death defying ride down a raised metal alpine slide from the Great Wall to the parking lot hundreds of feet below. I approached the window and said three adults (we had our buddy Ben Burde along) and two children for a one way ride to the top of the wall.

Before approaching the window I had stood about five feet back and thoroughly read the english text taped neatly to the window that explained in pain staking detail the various rates, discounts and classes of customer. The first thing I noticed is that each window was selling different tickets for different activities. One window sold Gondolla rides, the other sold Alpine slide tickets and yet another apparently sold nothing at all. Each ticket window was tinted so that you could not see the woman behind it, but you could hear her voice as she called out like a street vendor beconing you to slide your money under the glass in front of her. Since we wanted to ride up and slide down I'd need to conduct business at two windows. I figured it was best to start with the trip up the mountain. So I walked toward the gondola window.

After I determined that each adults would cost 40 RMB and the children (12 and under) were 20 a piece for a grand total of 160 RMB I took that amount from my wallet and confidently approached the window where the tinted woman had been shouting at me to presumably approach so she could help me out. I approached and confidently asked for three adult and two child one way gondola tickets while simultaneously presenting her the 160 to indicate that I knew what I was doing.

Her tone and lack of tickets told me there was something wrong. Suddenly a calculator appeared with the figure 190 typed in and she yelled "no child discount". I naturally found that an interesting position since the window she was hidden behind clearly indicated, in red one inch adhesive lettering, that there was indeed a child discount. I responded by typing 160 into the calculator, pointing up at the child discount lettering and sliding the calculator back under the glass while loudly saying "child discount". A couple of back-and-forths later and a line has formed behind me as other contestants waited for their turn at the window. The woman finally relented with a huff and sold me the tickets at face value.

I graciously said "shieh shieh" (thank you) and turned to leave knowing that I had stood at the window, toe to toe with a true professional, and won. I was ready for the Wall.

-Paul

Xian and Terra cotta Warriors

Beijing-Xian-Beijing

Xian and Terra cotta Warriors

A flight took us to Xian (pronounced sort of like 'She-on') the home of the
Terra cotta Warriors. The Terra cotta Warriors were placed in the tomb of an
emperor to protect him in the afterlife (unlike other emperors who buried live
soldiers). What an incredible site - the warriors, now protected from the
elements with what looks like a plane hanger, stretched into the awe-inspiring
distance. The interesting thing is when the warriors were found they were in
pieces - all of them - approx 7,000-8,000 - except one kneeling archer. The
statues had been demolished by hoards of revolutionaries throwing over the
emperor's reign. Then they were buried for about 2,700 years until a farmer,
Mr. Young, digging a well discovered them in 1974. (Mr. Young was at the museum
were he sits and signs books now for a living.)

Each warrior has an individually carved face, based on a real warrior who lived
thousands of years ago. Each face, posture, height, uniform, hairstyle and
even fingernails and hand lines is different. Some have happy faces, some sad,
some disappointed, some stern. These reflect the faces of actual men who lived
thousands of years ago. The Chinese archeologists are piecing the warriors
together one by one. They have completed hundreds (thousands?) of them but
have years and years more work ahead.

Some of the Terra cotta Warriors are traveling around the world on display.
Some of the warriors are at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C.
though March 31. Other Warriors were in Chili during the earthquake -
fortunately they are all O.K..

Xian Muslin Quarter

Xian, a city of about 8 million, has a Muslim quarter where about 100,000
Muslims live. We went to see the Grand Mosque. Along the way we walked
through narrow city alleys, about 10' wide, filled with merchants selling silk
scarves, dates, backpacks, mini Terra cotta warriors and more. Pet birds in
cages hung outside the stalls chirpping through the alley. Bikes, including
those pulling carts of bread, wound around the early morning crowds. As we
stopped to look at a chess set suddenly all the merchants started yelling, "Get
in, get in!" and everyone in the alley was herded in to the tiny shops. As we
were being pushed to the back of the stall my head spun wondering what could be
happening. Police raid? (Had just been told about some illegal activity in the
alley.) Riot?

Looking out in to the alley we soon saw that we had cleared the way for a Muslin
funeral. The alley was filled with men wearing white hats and soon six men
carrying the body, of the mostly quilt covered deceased, on a shoulder height
stretcher passed solemnly by.

Today we are in Beijing at the Asel's and heading out to Tiananmen Square and
the Forbidden City.

All the best,

Jackie

Snakes, Fireworks and School

Beijing, China

Ni Hao (hello),

After the Cathay Pacific employees kindly put us on the Sydney to Beijing flight for no extra cost we made it to the Asels, a family from our hometown who is now living in China for three years , who are kindly helping us get off on the right foot on our China adventure.

Snakes for Dinner Anyone?

For dinner the first full day in China we taxied with the Asels to Ho Hai a beautiful small lake surrounded by Chinese architecturally inspired restaurants and shops. The restaurant menu included pictures of all the meal choices, Chinese characters and English translations. Some of the choices presented and pictured were snake (with skin), frogs and baby turtles. We passed on those and got some great choices - mushrooms, spicy beef (really mostly hot chilies) and a hot pot of chicken soup in addition to other delectables. The steaming chicken soup came and it was a whole chicken laying in broth - including the chicken head. Fortunately the head was under a piece of bok choy (or similar green) but every time we scooped out some soup I was afraid the head would pop up and stare at me with its beady little eyes and make me feel guilty.

Fireworks
Around the lake fireworks exploded for the last night of the New Year celebration and the smell of gunpowder hung in the air as the Chinese New Year celebrations reached their epiphany. Fireworks, the size of U.S. 4th of July fireworks, were being set by anyone and everyone around the lake - less than 10' from the crowd as individuals set off fireworks where ever they wanted. In the U.S. these fireworks would have been set off at least 100's of feet away form the crowds with cordons between the crowds and the explosions. Here you literally had to duck the flying canisters. Imagine the 4th of July fireworks everywhere - on the sidewalks, in the neighborhood and even as we drove home fireworks exploded, popped, crackled and boomed all along the entire highway route.

School
We've been traveling schooling along the way. Every weekday the children have a certain amount of work to do. They've done school work on planes, in the car, hotels, youth hostels, and in the campervan. Clearly it's a challenge for all of us when the pool or beach are beckoning and school work has to be done but the kids have been great about getting their work done.

Today Amelia and Ben are at an actual school! The English speaking school where the Asel children go to allow guests for the day. (The school curriculum includes Chinese language classes.) One of the Asel boys is in 5th grade, like Amelia, and another is in third grade, like Ben, so our kids are in school for the day. We walked them over to school this morning. It's an incredible facility - inspiring classrooms, sun lit cafeteria, playing fields everywhere, an auditorium (like a high school) a swimming pool, a gym the size of 2 or 3 normal American schools gyms, and on and on. Both of our kids were very excited and were surrounded and warmly welcomed by international classmates when we dropped them off.

Happy Year of the Tiger,

Jackie