China Trip Introduced

Now that I am back in mind, body, and circadian rhythm, I feel ready and obligated to write to those I love and let ya'll share a part of my journey with me. This is going to be long, but you can read it piece by piece if you wish, it is unreasonable for me to expect you to drink such distilled experience in one gulp! Sip on this my friends, and I pray that my thoughts are clear, experiences vivid, and that you are entertained as well.

I have spent the last two weeks traveling in China. Two weeks is indeed cosmically short, only about one-fiftieth of a lap around the sun, but 14 days spent in a new land among new friends, can change a life forever. I adventured with a friend from “Unie” (that's how we found the Britons refer to college) who is a fluent mandarin speaker. She made the trip possible and proved to be a fantastic traveling companion. Traveling with a person who speaks the language helped me to experience the culture in a deeper manner than most.

For more pictures check out my Picasa album here.

The Journey

We began our trip in Seattle after Katie drove up to Pullman from Utah. We stayed with my cousins (Nathan and Emily Fitch) and Katie visited her brother the submariner. The Fitches were fantastic and I wish I could give them more than the 20 yuen fan bartered from a Chinese storekeep. On Monday we then flew to Chicago where my mother's extensive network of former voice students provided us with another wonderful place to stay. Thanks again Cameron and good luck with school!

On Tuesday/Wednesday we then flew to Shanghai from Chicago. The fourteen hour flight was made more than bearable with the help of empty nearby seats, on demand Tetris, and a fantastic selection of movies. American Airlines is a marvelous way to travel to China and I would recommend it to all those who wish to make the haul. They kept us well watered, fed, and comfortable.

It took a while for it to sink in that I was really halfway around the world. It was hard to tell at first. Everything wasn't upside-down as one would expect on the opposite side of the globe. Through the window of the airplane the same sun shone, the same lines stitched the runway, and the captain welcomed us to our new destination. The customs people greeted me in English and looked over my paperwork. It wasn't until I went to exchange money that I realized that I was in a completely different place.

I smiled at the man in the glass booth and slid my money through a little cage in the bottom of the counter. He wanted something else. What else did he need? I gave him the money, what more could he want? I give you the Benjamin's, and you give me the Maos. Dollars for Yuans. Apparently there was more to the equation and that's when I realized that I was in a different place. This was the first of many times that Katie became my voice. I needed to give him my passport first. Money was then exchanged and it finally sunk in that I it was going to be an interesting few weeks.

Day One in Shanghai

We got a Taxi from the airport (always say no to the people that ask you if you need a taxi, look for an official taxi with a meter and signage) and started the drive from the Pudong airport to East Nanjing Rd. As Katie chatted with the driver I looked through the windows. Skyscrapers towered through the haze like the trees of a steel jungle. Cars, most of them taxis, pulsed down the highway like schools of piranha, weaving around each other and jockeying to get ahead even the slightest bit. After about an hour we made it to our hotel where we checked in, dropped off our stuff, and hit the streets of Shanghai.

I remember people, scooters, and more people. I remember laundry hung over the sidewalks dripping water on my head. I remember lights, LCD signs, and the smell of street vendors steaming dumplings and frying eggs. I was in China. I had read books, seen documentaries, and talked with friends, but nothing can give you a complete picture until you have seen the grandmas gossip in front of shops filled with bike parts or two lovers walk close with entwined arms. Chairman Mao referred to the vast populace as “The Paper Dragon of China” and in Shanghai I saw the dragon's bowels.

That night we walked to the Bund. Once a great row of international ports its now a walkway where young people smoke and hawkers sell toys and tiny carvings. We looked across the river and saw the giant Oriental Pearl TV building lit up like a bulbous Eiffel Tower. We got noodles and an Ice drink, then walked back to the East Asia hotel where I fell into a windowless coma.

Our Chinese Friends

We made some friends with some vacationers from Xi'an. I only remember their English names (I'm sorry) so will now refer to them as Vickie and Amy. We met them and ate lunch together on Thursday. Vickie (the short one) came with us to the Shanghai museum and the three of us strolled through thousands of years of bronze casting and calligraphy. They also had an exhibit on Greek art installed for the Olympics. That night we saw a performance by some traditional Chinese acrobats featuring such time-honored acts as driving motorcycles around in a giant hamster ball and dancing to the theme song from Titanic. My hat goes off to the announce as well, her dress was stunning and while we often weren't sure if she was speaking Chinese or English, she presented with such confidence that we didn't really care.

Zhouzhuang

Friday we went to Zhouzhuang with our friend Amy. The town is famous for three things:

1. Its a canal town with boats like those in Venice.

2. It has an ancient “Twin Bridge” that is oft referenced in Chinese poetry and art.

3. It has a famous pork dish known to have saved a man's life from the emperor

I saw the canals and they indeed have boats similar to those in Venice. I saw the twin bridge, a marvelous structure, and I ate the pork. All I can say about the above is that the emperor must have been a fan of pig that still had hairy pieces of skin on it and that gave him diarrhea.

We also drank flower tea in a traditional ceremony and saw a bunch of cool households that had been restored from long ago. (I didn't write down the dates, bit I want to say at least 500 years). That night we hung out at the studio of a painter and as Katie tried her hand with brush and ink, I walked the dark streets a bit.

Two children dashed across the cobblestone and as I looked at the plaster alleyway I thought that this night was not too unlike any other night in this place for the last few hundred years. Men gathered outside their closed shops and ate noodles while playing dominoes and red lanterns threw their muted light along the canal. If the people in the nearby building where to turn off their television, I could have traveled back in time and not have noticed too much. Katie finished her painting and we drove back to Shanghai with our friend.

Separation Anxiety

Saturday was the true adventure. We decided to split up for the morning. Katie fretted over me like a mother sending her child to his first day of school. “Now where are you going?” she asked as I traced my path to Chairman Mao's house on our torn map of Shanghai. I thought I saw I little tear of pride hang from her eye as I crossed frogger style through the weaving scooters.

And then I walked. If I was smart I might have realized that it would only be like two dollars to take a taxi, but I enjoyed the stroll. I passed through shopping centers, neighborhoods, and lots of people. I was getting anxious to leave Shanghai. I saw Mao's place. He only lived their 11 months and afterwards didn't spend much time there. I read some of the signs and walked back to meet Katie.

Sacrament in Shanghai

Sunday we went to church with American ex patriots (a subject for another essay) and there made some friends with a couple from Utah. We went with Kevin and Jen to the Yu Yuan Gardens. The buildings where all in a traditional style (even though they couldn't have been more than twenty years old) and we soon said goodbye to our friends so we could make our night train to Beijing. From our hotel we took a cab to the train station. As we got out two attendants demanded to see our tickets and offered to help us with our bags. They then started to tell us that we were going to miss the train. Excitedly they told us to pay them 100 Yuan! They would help us get there on time and slow down the train. No thanks. We were 40 minutes early and made it to our sleeper fine. I wonder how many times they get foreigners with that.

I had never taken a train with a sleeper before. We shared it with two other men traveling for business. We talked with one quite a bit. His name was Zhou Ying Hui and he lived in Germany for many years before returning to China. He was very friendly and helped the ride go by much faster. I slept great and had a dream that I was a cowboy in Mongolia with a friend from high school. I wish I could remember more of it because I recall it was epic. I woke up in Beijing Monday morning ready to explore the forbidden city.

Beijing

We got to our lodgings, a place recommended by our friend from the train, and I went out to explore the city while Katie took a nap (the train ride was not as kind to her as it was to me). I saw some old buildings and bought some delicious dumplings for breakfast. We met back up and started the walk towards the forbidden city. We visited two old bell and drum towers that used to pound out the watches both day and night kept in time by a mechanical water-clock. We ended up in Beihai Park. It used to be the imperial gardens and was magnificent. We saw some older Chinese ladies playing a game with a bunch of feathers reminiscent of a shuttlecock. They invited us to play with them and fun was had by all, except for possibly the shuttlecock.

We then walked up a big hill in the center of the gardens and caught our first glimpse of the forbidden city. It spread as a walled jumble of clay roofs and regular roads. We saw it from the vantage of a great bronze Buddha that kept watch over the city from a temple on the top of the hill we climbed. We then walked to the walls of the forbidden city to check the opening time. We were followed there by a pleasant enough rickshaw driver who was very helpful. In retrospect...a little too helpful.

For anybody out there who desires a bicycle rickshaw ride through the “historic” Hutang neighborhood of Beijing, please send me a twenty dollar bill an do the following:

1. Close your eyes and imagine a one-story china town

2. Sit on a park bench that's missing some slats

3. Get satellite TV and listen to a TV show that you don't trust in a foreign language that you do not speak that discusses history

4. Occasionally mist your face to mimic the expectorating of a shady tour guide

5. Stop every few minutes and try to talk yourself into paying extra money to visit the “Historic Emperor's ice house” and museum.

Following our experience with the rickshaw from down under, we made the rule that we would categorically reject anyone approaching us offering something. I would suggest that to any traveler to China. The people in general are wonderful, honest, and friendly. The people that approach you with something you can never be sure about. Stick to brick and mortar storefronts and you will avoid some educational experiences.

The Great Wall

We got food, went home and signed up for a trip to the great wall, that icon of China. Tuesday we awoke early and got on a bus to see if indeed building a really big wall was the best way to keep out immigrants. We got to the wall, and judging from the great numbers of Mongolian farmers that chased me with over-priced chopsticks, I would have to say that there has to be a better solution to immigration. China ended up annexing Mongolia for a time...

After hiking on the great wall, or running from the Mongolian farmers, we reached the end of the section our group was doing. There where two ways down:

1. A long and rather boring looking walk down a stone path or

2. A quarter-mile long, hundreds of feet tall zip line over a reservoir of green water

Although we have all heard council against ziplining in developing nations, it all looked safe enough and the harnesses where all Petzls. (Or Petzl knock-offs, but if they were they were really good knock-offs) I couldn't help but giggle all the way down.

The Forbidden City and back to Shanghai

Wednesday we went to the forbidden city. It was amazing. Imagine a town of red walls and gilded ceilings, incredible wooden wealth and gardens designed to take you to the mountains of your birth. Imagine doors only used by the son of the sun and great rooms filled with waterfalls of silk and stone. Imagine water pouring through the mouths of a hundred stone dragons. This would get you closer to understanding how the phoenix and the dragon lived in ancient China. Go there if you can, and if you can't, read a good book about it.

That night we took another sleeper to Shanghai to see if we could then get to Huang Shan, the Yellow Mountain. Thursday morning we found a travel agent who got us on a bus to Huang Shan leaving at 3:30. Other than the seven hours, smoke, vinyl seat covers sticky with sweat, honking horns, and bumpy ride, the journey to Huang Shan was absolutely miserable. We stayed in the town for the night and woke up Friday, got on another bus, and rode to the base of the mountain.

The Yellow Mountain

Our native group thought we were a little strange for eschewing the cable car for our own feet. Why would you want to sweat your way up the mountain when you could be carried? The hike was great. I sweated out the grime of the city and expelled the smoke of a million scooters. We passed waterfalls and great stone carvings as well as we wound our way to the top of one of the most beautiful mountains I have been on. Cable car? No thanks.

The yellow mountains are the classic images of China silk paintings. There are the great white granite cliffs and gnarled trees bent by the breath of a thousand years. They are the swirling mists of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon along with the inspiration for countless gardens of the Orient. The pictures only serve to remind me of what it was like there. I am sorry that along with these words they are all I can give you to take you there. The bus trip could have been twice as long and the journey still worth it. The Hotel at the top however was another story.

Katie pulled back her bedspread to be greeted by a series of Rorschach bloodstains on her sheets. Not being in the mood for a personality test, she was unhappy to say the least. Cigarette burns mottled the floor and the carcasses of bugs clung to the walls. I later found a pair of socks in the closet and the shower was a trickling pipe over the tiled bathroom. Home sweet home.

After leaving the “hotel”, the next day was as wonderful as the hike up. The day was clear and we hiked around the natural sculpture of the mountain. We hiked down and got on the bus with the rest of our group, but the adventure of the day was not over.

Drink with a Bite

With the group we made a few stops before returning to town where we would take a bus back to Shanghai. One stop was to a traditional medicine shop where a Chinese woman gave a rehearsed speech while holding up a cage holding some sort of horned viper. Now I only tell this story as a cautionary tale to help others when faced with the prospect of drinking snake venom.

After talking for a few minutes (apparently extolling the wonders of the venom) the woman poured a clear liquid from a glass jar into a cup. A weathered looking man walked in, plucked the snake out of the wooden cage, and milked its venom into the glass with the flair of a janitor sweeping a middle school cafeteria. He then walked out with as much showmanship as he entered and the woman held the glass up, showing us the tendrils of venom swirling in the liquid.

She diluted the venom further, then produced a platter of small shiny cups. She circled the room pouring glasses. Now I know the time honored advice often shared to travelers that you should never accept strange venom-filled drinks from Chinese women that you have not been formally introduced to but hindsight is 20/20. Please consider the following in my defense. Firstly I was aware that snake venom is merely a collection of proteins that are less than curative when injected into your bloodstream. All of these proteins would rapidly be denatured in my acidic stomach, so I had no fear of poisoning. And secondly our Chinese friend challenged me to drink some from across the room. I couldn't understand what he said, but I could read it in his taunting eyes.

I knew that if I thought about it that I very well might lose heart and fake a seizure or heart attack. I also knew that If I smelled it first I might start dry heaving, and that I would have to do it in one shot. So I turned off the major logic centers of my brain (easier for me than for most), cheered Katie, cheered the Chinese man across the room, and drank the drink in one quaff.

Wow, snake venom burns I thought as the liquid lumped down my throat. Katie had the presence of mind to sniff first and realized that the clear liquid the snake had been milked into was some high proof water. To those who do not know me as well this was indeed my first real taste of alcohol other than some rum candies I accidentally ate while I was serving as a missionary and possibly an alleged incident on the streets of New Orleans during Mardis Gras in 1997. Call me crazy, but that night my left arm went numb and I had an overwhelming desire to sing karaoke. I'll have to take the venom straight next time to determine if it was the alcohol or the coagulants.

The Return

We made it back to Shanghai that night, went to church again Sunday, and did some final souvenir shopping. The next day I bought a collection of strange Chinese candy, including some corn flavored jelly thingies, and had the longest day of my life. Our plane left Shanghai at 4:00 PM June 2^nd and we arrived in Seattle around 10:30 PM the same day. The Fitches of Seattle opened their house to us for yet another night and we drove back to Pullman. Katie is currently en route to Provo and the China adventure of 2008 has officially ended.

China is a wonderful place. To understand its people is to understand a growing percentage of the world's scientists, businesspeople, and world leaders. There are indeed rough spots where the lacquer is worn thin so to speak, but it is important to do our best to understand what has shaped the China we see so far. I returned with a completely new perspective to the world and one that will help me throughout my life.

I also want to thank the Fitches, the Clevengers, Cameron, Katie, and all the friends who made the trip possible. Thanks for making it this far and have a wonderful life.