China Experience, May 2017

First some advice prior to departing your hometown; If you happen to be a social media addict like myself make sure and download a VPN so that while in China you can access your social media, also I would advise you look into downloading a translator app for your phone so that communication will be made a lot easier.

For such an ancient civilization China is lacking in social graces; definitely not a destination for the finicky or faint of heart traveller, for seasoned travellers that enjoy history and culture this is the perfect destination.

As I was travelling with my daughter we decided to make Disneyland Shanghai our first place to visit; Disneyland is very popular with the locals and was very crowded the day we visited. All the rides and directions are in Chinese, a translator app would have come in very handy. This Disney park was only opened in 2016 and is already the most popular Disney park in Asia; with profits higher than the Disney park in Hong Kong. I would recommend splurging to purchase the fast pass.

We flew into Beijing next to start our guided tour. We were picked up by our driver and taken directly to the Four Points by Sheraton in Beijing. The beds were very comfortable, the hotel and room were very nicely decorated; Buffet breakfast was included daily, there was a large selection of food to cater to all tastes.

We started our tour with a visit to the Ching Dynasty Emperor's underground Palace, in other words his final resting place; as their belief is that even though his body has died his spirit remains alive, therefore they build elaborate tombs to ensure comfort in the afterlife. We then headed to a Jade factory where we saw the art of jade crafting and were able to purchase some jade ornaments at very reasonable prices.... We were also treated to a delicious traditional Chinese meal. The rain finally let up in the afternoon and we were able to carry onto the Great Wall of China. Climbing the Great Wall is quite an undertaking; it takes approximately 4 hours to hike right around the Wall; I managed to climb part of the way, but as we were only given 2 hours here I decided not to climb all the way around. We then headed back to our hotel for dinner and a relaxing evening. Gabriella and I decided to explore our environment and headed to the nearby mall; where we had a very spicy meal at MacDonald's.

We headed straight for the Summer Palace first thing in the morning, where Alice from Stunning China Tours painted a verbal picture of what life was like living there; she went through the history and explained the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by the Emperor and Empress as well as the Emperor's many concubines. We purchased some of the pearl jewellery cultivated in the man-made pear-shaped lake at the Summer Palace. We visited a pearl factory and were given a presentation on how to distinguish between real and fake pearls; after which we were shown around their showroom and given the opportunity to purchase Pearl Jewellery produced from the lake at the Summer Palace; as well as Jade Jewellery and Ornaments at a drastically reduced rate. We then drove over to Tiananmen Square and walked onto the Forbidden Palace, which has been around since the Ming Dynasty. This Palace has been rebuilt and renovated many times since it was originally built in the 1400’s the current buildings date from the 1700’s. This was a very long and gruelling walk with intense heat; I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the day; I would recommend bringing an umbrella or wearing a hat as well as liberally dousing yourself with sunblock. We continued onto the Chinese Institute of traditional medicine whereby looking into our eyes, checking our pulse and looking at our tongues we were diagnosed and given possible solutions to our everyday medical problems such as cleansing our liver and kidney’s for water retention and weight loss.

After breakfast, we said goodbye to Beijing and boarded the high-speed bullet train to Suzhou. This journey is very long and the train did not feel as if it were high speed at all, we had many stops along the way and about 5 hours after boarding the train in Beijing we finally made it to Suzhou. We were met by Faye, also from Stunning China, on the train; which was great as she helped us navigate our way from the train through the station and to our driver. Gabriella and I chose to spend a relaxing evening at the Grand Metropark Hotel as by this time we were both exhausted; we walked over to the nearby Subway and had an extremely spicy Chicken Sandwich. Our hotel was nice, but the beds were very uncomfortable, it was like sleeping on a rock.

This morning we visited the lingering garden first, which was lovely; very peaceful and calming as you walked around enjoying the various areas of the Garden. Then we were shown the silk factory where we were given a demonstration of how the silk is made from the pupa to the fully grown worm within about 5 days. The worms live for approximately 25 days before they cocoon themselves with the silk; which is then taken and stretched into the various fabrics or threads. We were also given the opportunity to browse the factory outlet to purchase any of the silk goods made there at a drastically reduced rate; after which we moved onto visit Shan Tang street, with the cobbled stones and narrow alleyways, and street vendors on each side; they had a lot of little rickshaws’s around the streets with little old man that looked extremely exhausted; a dying breed, I would imagine pretty soon rickshaw rides will be a thing of the past. We drove to Hangzhou, which took a little longer than expected about 3 Hours due to traffic, we spent the night at the Grand Century Hotel; Gabriella and I decided to have dinner at the Western Restaurant on the 1st floor where we ordered tuna sandwiches; something almost impossible to ruin; but unfortunately they did not have tuna so they made tuna flavoured apple sandwiches with fries and charged me 68RMB each approximately $13.60 CAD each; at least the fries were nice. The service was appalling, I wondered why we were the only customers at this restaurant considering the hotel was filled to capacity.

Today we first stopped off at a Green Tea farm, we were told about the process of picking the Green Tea as well as the cleansing and weight loss benefits of green tea due to its high concentration of antioxidants. We then stopped off for a cruise along West Lake, had a leisurely stroll through the gardens, where we stopped to enjoy some Green Tea ice cream. We then drove to Shanghai and checked into the Renaissance Hotel, I decided to spend the evening with my sister Anna-Lisa and her family, we had a lovely evening together.

The following day we enjoyed a sightseeing tour of Shanghai, we spent some time visiting the Bund. Shanghai is divided by the Huangpu River into Eastern and Western sections. The Bund is a 5-mile riverfront section with many of Shanghai's banks. We stopped off to admire the old HSBC bank, the building is about 100 years old with fabulous stone ceilings with their original pictures; built by the Russians, it still has the Russian symbol of a star on the building. We then bought lunch at an underground food market and returned to our hotel to relax. In the evening we were taken on a sightseeing cruise of Shanghai's Huangpu River where we took many pictures of the brightly lit buildings.

This morning I said goodbye to Faye and my other 2 traveling companions Lorraine and Michelle; Gabriella and I took the metro to the People’s Square; then onto Pudong to a Plaza mall to meet my sister Anna-Lisa and her family for lunch at Latino restaurant; after lunch we strolled around the mall for about an hour before taking a taxi back to the Renaissance Hotel to catch our ride to the airport for our flight to Yichang for our Yangtze River Cruise. 

Our flight arrived into Yichang late in the evening, we were met by our guide and had an hour transfer to our cruise. Unfortunately, due to our late arrival, the cable car down to the port was not operational so we had to walk down many stairs to finally arrive on the ship; we managed to check in and head straight for our cabin; where we crashed for the next 4 nights. I would suggest an earlier flight into Yichang if taking a river cruise so that you may use the cable car down to the port.

 Each morning we were offered a complimentary tour of the port we were docked at; each tour included a commentary on the history and culture of the area; for most of the excursions we had to do a lot of walking definitely a destination for the more fit traveller as this included many stairs that were not evenly built in height; as they were built many centuries in the past.

 The entertainment on board was performed by the crew; each evening we were treated to a different performance by the very talented crew; this included the history and dress of the various provinces of China throughout the centuries; as well as the different dances performed by the indigenous people of each province. We were also treated to a professionally performed magic show by the head of housekeeping. The crew onboard the American owned and Chinese operated Victoria Cruise ship were very helpful and provided great customer service at all times. The only barrier is that of language, which can be easily resolved by using a language app.

Our first day we were taken on an excursion of the 3 Gorge’s dam which is the world’s largest dam; included was a boat trip up the dam and onto the ship elevator; this is a major feat in engineering; they started construction on the ship’s elevator in 1997 and was completed approximately 16 years later. The dam has two five-stage locks to raise and lower ships to the different river levels. Each lock in the five stages is 65 feet high and 910 feet long. 

Day two of our river cruise our excursion included a leisurely ride through Shennong Stream, which offers clear running waters, picturesque rock formations, and even monkeys and goat along its banks. Drifting along the Shennong Stream in a sampan is the unique way experiencing the beauty of Shennong Stream, a sampan is about 40 feet long, 6 feet wide, usually steered by six boatmen. We Sailed through Qutang Gorge, the shortest and most dramatic one of the Three Gorges. Wu Gorge is famous for its quiet beauty. 

Day three we were treated to a shore excursion of Shibaozhai Pagoda; this town looks like a ghost town as they had to relocate the many inhabitants to build the dam; they preserved the Shibaozhai Pagoda by building a wall around it about 3 feet higher than the water level at its highest. We climbed the Pagoda while our guide provided us with insight into the history and hardships faced by the locals in the past as well as the present; I would have to say while observing the locals doing their laundry in the river not much has changed for them.

We arrived at our final port Chongqing a little later than was scheduled therefore we had to change our onward flight to Xian; we arrived in Xian too late to do the tour of the Terracotta Warriors Museum and were taken on a quick tour of the city wall; before checking into the Grand Noble Hotel, Xian. 

 We had a morning flight from Xian to Shanghai and then finally back home to Canada.