Thank You!

Well, I'm home. I've been here a week and it seems all I've done is jump through hoops and try to cut red tape, as I had to get my driver's license renewed and my registration for the car and motorcycle. Plus the car was dead. It needed a new battery and the transmission fluid had leaked out. So, welcome home. However, that's why I came back a few weeks before school starts, so that I could get back into the swing of things.

I want to thank all of you who have followed along with me on my travels. It has been an amazing trip and I am really pleased how well it all went. Ultimately this blog is for me, so that I remember what I did while I was away, but, it was great to know that there were people out there reading what I had posted. It was great that family and friends were reading it, and also that new travelling friends were interested in reading it too. I appreciated it when people took the time to type me a short note. It made me feel connected with people at home and around the world. So, thank you for that.

If you have the time, and are so inclined, I'd love it if you would type me a short note or give me some feedback via either the blog or my e-mail address: joejarrett2020@gmail.com

I will post two more entries in the next few days. One will be an outline of how this trip came to be in the first place and the other will be an overall summary. So, please check back.

Some Final Thoughts About China

Some thoughts and observations about China.

This is a huge country, with 1.3 billion people, that they know about. It is modernizing at a phenomenal rate. Everywhere we went we saw evidence of new building of skylines and infrastructure. On the trains we saw lots of coal burning power plants, new roads, bridges and rail lines. Huge complexes of dozens of high rise buildings going up that all look similar. All stations we were in (except Xi'an) were new and very modern. I did not see single house dwellings anywhere in the cities.

The sky here is always overcast and thick. People say it's because of the humidity in the air, but I've been to lots of humid places, including Canada and never seen this before. It is probably pollution, but there is no smell to it. My nose did get stuffier than other places. If it is pollution they have a huge problem and I wonder of the long term consequences to the people.

In the streets there are more cars than scooters, but there are still poor people and peddlers riding bicycles and and three wheeled carts carrying produce to market. Although I was told that tuk tuks are illegal there are quite a few around. Members of our group were intimidated by the traffic, but although it was chaotic by Canadian standards, it didn't hold a candle to India or Egypt or Vietnam. I had learned to indicate you intention and just walk out. You have to be careful, but realistically, they don't want to hit you any more than you want to be hit. They will stop or go around behind you.

In Beijing taxis are impossible to get. I have never been in a city where hailing a taxi is so difficult. If they stop, they might still refuse to take you.

It is frequently very difficult to talk to the Chinese people, because of all the places I have been, fewer people speak English here than anywhere else. However, I frequently found them staring at me, because Westerners are still oddities, and I would say “Hi” and “How are you?” They'd look surprised, but they'd always smile and if they could they'd say something, at the very least “Hello.” I found them to be very friendly and warm people.

In hot weather Chinese men frequently pull their shirts up above their belly in order to cool off, not necessarily an attractive sight. I didn't notice a difference in the ratio of men to women as we've been told because of the one baby policy. I was told by a number of people the problem exists more in the rural areas than the cities. Unfortunately, I didn't get to any real rural areas on this trip. I talked to a couple of young women who were from the country and came to the city to find work. They made money to send home to family but didn't have enough left for themselves to go back home to see their families more than once every few months. Rally, is also from the country and likes working in the city. I got the impression she was happy to be away from her mom, who was trying very hard to set her up with someone there. Her mother also told her that she was ugly, and that to be a lady she had to wear high heels.

Young Chinese women wear high heels everywhere. Their dress is very influenced by a combination of Western and Japanese culture. They dress in a very feminine way, wearing short shorts or skirts.

Chinese people like to wear clothes with English writing or sayings on them. Much like Westerners who like to get tattoos of Chinese letters on their bodies. Many of the sayings make no sense, or are really bad translations of English. I think there is someone out there making these shirts who is having lots of fun laughing at people who wear shirts that say things like: 'I'm Not Easy, But We Can Talk About It'. Unfortunately I can't remember any of the others at the moment. They also like to wear clothes from some of the sports team or universities in the US.

This is a Communist country and the West portrays Communist countries as bland, boring places with repressed, controlled and unhappy people. I didn't see much evidence of that. People seemed happy. Communities seemed vibrant and alive. People danced and did tie chi in the parks. People play mahjong, Chinese chess and card games out on the streets. Our guide at the Terra Cotta Soldiers talked about the progress that the Chinese people have made in the area of human rights, but said there was still a long way to go. Hard to know and impossible to get a really accurate impression of the country or the people in a three week tour like this. However, there is no doubt that this is a country to be reckoned with. I have met lots of fellow travelers and guides who are convinced that China will be the number one super power within the next decade. The feeling is they are unstoppable and that America has yet to see the writing on the wall.

China Day 22, Lama Temple & Summer Palace

Monday July 18th

Paul and I got up and ready by 7:30 and headed down to the lobby to met Jason, Sarah and Cassie. They decided to come with Paul and I to see the Lama Temple, as they wanted to spend the last day of my year long trip with me. When we got to the lobby it started to rain. So, we waited it out and talked to Danny who was down there too, and said our goodbyes to Rally who had come down to see us off. The rain abated a half hour later and we walked to the subway and arrived at the Lama Temple by 8:30. This is the largest Tibetan Buddhist Temple outside of Tibet. We walked around and explored the many buildings of the temple, viewing all the buddhas, including the statue of Maitreya that is about 26 metres tall and is reputed to have been made from a single trunk of sandalwood. The colour scheme and construction of the buildings are very similar to the Forbidden City, and dates from around the same time. We finished our tour faster than we anticipated, so Paul suggested that we take the subway to see the Summer Palace. This was the summer residence of the emperor and his court, and I had wanted to see it but we thought that we wouldn't have enough time. The other three decided to come along too, so off we went. It was about a half hour subway ride on two lines and then we went the wrong way on the street before getting our bearings. Again we paid our admission and walked around the grounds. This site is a huge park on a big lake with numerous buildings in the same mold as the Forbidden City, the Heaven Temple and the Lama Temple. There were thousands of Chinese tourists there and a few westerners. We walked to the lake, saw the 'Quiet and Relaxing' marble boat and watched as people used paddle boats on the lake. Then we climbed back up the hill to see the Buddha Temple of Burning Incense. It was a beautiful pagoda style building. After that we had to leave and set out for the hotel, so that I could get ready for my flight and Paul could check out and move to his new hotel for the remainder of his Beijing stay.

We took the subway back. Jason, Sarah and Cassie had decided to continue on to the Olympic site, so we said our goodbyes and Paul and I continued on to the hotel. We were supposed to check out by 14:00 – noon (that's what it said on our card), so we were worried about getting back on time. We had to take three subway lines for about 40 minutes and still had a 15 minute walk from the subway to the hotel. When we got there we were glad to see Rally in the lobby and asked her to see if there was any problem with us getting back 15 minutes late. I asked her to get reception to order me a taxi, as I had to get going to the airport. Then we went up to the room to get our stuff. Our room keys didn't work and we had to get reception to send up a maid to let us in. We got our bags, handed in the keys and were told there were no additional charges. We couldn't find Rally, but saw that her stuff was still in the lobby, so I asked reception to get me a taxi and was told that the lines were busy and no one was answering. I considered taking the subway, but it was a 15 minute walk back, with all my gear, and three subway lines to get there. Then reception told me I had a phone call. It was Rally and she was out on the main street, about two blocks away, and was having no luck getting me a taxi cab! She was refused by three cabs. But she had found me a private car with a Chinese man who spoke no English but was willing to take me to the airport for 150 yuan ($25) and wanted to know if I agreed to that. I quickly considered my options and said, yes please. So, she brought him into the hotel parking lot and told me the agreement. I gave her a big hug, said my goodbyes to Paul, and got in, and away we went. After I got comfortable, it crossed my mind that I was in a car with a guy I couldn't talk to, my luggage was locked in his trunk and I really didn't really know where I was going. I just had to trust him and the fact that Rally had set it up. I watched the highway signs and was pleased to see that we were indeed headed to the airport. It took us about 40 minutes to get there, but I arrived on time for an easy check in, and a two hour wait for the flight. I wandered around and looked at shops and spent the last of my yuan on an instruction book and set of Chinese chess, a bag of dark chocolate M&M peanuts and a bottle of Minute Maid orange juice.

As I was walking around the finality of things struck me. I've know for a long time that I was heading home, but I don't think the reality of that really hit home. I'd talked to people about it and the group asked me about what I missed, what I was going to do when I got home, etc. and I talked about people back home, the cottage, the bike and work, but it all seemed a long way off. Although I will be happy to see family and friends, I have very mixed emotions about going home. I have looked forward to this trip for so long, spent so much time dreaming and planning it, and then I have lived the dream for 12 months. It has been an incredible ride. It has been everything I had hoped for and more. I have done so many things, seen so many countries, learned so much, met so many great people – fellow travelers and native people and have lived the life of Riley for so long, I can't believe it has come to an end. Wandering around the airport I was lost in thought. It's the end of a dream that I made a reality. Given the time and resources, I would gladly continue for another 12 months. It was a really bitter/ sweet time. Then we boarded the plane, took off and I left China and began the last leg of my journey.

I am typing this on the plane, and just had dinner. As I was eating I watched the simulation of our flight route, and it turns out I don't fly over the Pacific at all! I am flying over Mongolia, Russia and the Arctic before entering Canada from the north.

The flight was uneventful although the landing was a bit weird. We tried to land, wheels down and everything, and then it pulled up again. The pilot came on and said that the previous plane had hit a bunch of birds and then were cleaning it up, so we had to circle the city for ten minutes. We flew right over my house, so I knew it was still standing, which was good.

Carol and my mom picked me up at the airport and took me home where I saw Danny for a few minutes, before we drove over to my parents to see my brother and sister who had just driven down from the cottage and had stopped in to see my Dad and his new knee. Good to see everyone and we had a couple of drinks and a good talk.

An exciting day from start to finish and as usual I fit in as much as possible. It's been a hell of a ride!

So, I am home, and Nomadic Joe is no longer on the road. Sad but true. However, please stay tuned, I will have a couple of summary posts to put up in the next couple of days.

China Day 21, The Great Wall

Sunday July 17^th

This morning we were off by 9:00 for the hour and a half drive to the Muttianyu section of the Great Wall of China. Penny decided to take the cable car to the top and we waited for Rally to buy her a ticket and get our tickets. Meanwhile we hung around the tourist market mayhem and listened to the hawkers try to sell us stuff. I found a man who would engrave your name on a stamp. This is something I wanted to do in Water Town but the electricity went off and he couldn't use his drill. So, I asked this guy if he could do it. He agreed, but he'd have to cut a piece of jade off a stamp and then engrave it for me and I could pick it up on the way down. So, I agreed, spelled my name and gave him a deposit. I looked at t-shirts and other stuff, but I told the seller (a different guy) that I didn't want to carry anything up the hill, so the guy told me he'd remember me on the way down.

At last we were underway and began to climb the hundreds of steep rock steps to get to the wall. The weather was warm and humid and it wasn't long before we were drenched in sweat. Finally we got there and we were standing on a portion (lookout number 8) of the Great Wall! From where we were standing we could see a section of the wall running up and down hills in both directions. Unfortunately the view was hampered by the haze in the air. I think it is a combination of humidity haze and pollution. A clear day would be wonderful, but... We had to head over to lookout number 6 to meet Penny. Paul and I headed over to lookout 10 first to see the view. It was steeping climbing up and down to get to the other lookouts. Then we headed over to lookout 6. Paul decided to head back to 10 and further along. I followed Danny and Jason and a few others towards lookout number 1. On the way we met a man dressed in the Communist uniform who was selling drinks. We asked him to take a couple of photos of us with him. He obliged and we had fun talking to him. We continued on and I went all the way to the first lookout from which you cannot go further. It ends in a dead end, as from there it is in ruin and not restored. So we doubled back and I bought beers for the three of us from the Communist. He took pictures of us drinking the beer on the wall, how cool is that? We continued on enjoying the view and taking photos. Unfortunately we had to leave and met up with the group again. I would have loved to have stayed longer and be able to hike the whole distance from lookout 1 to 25, but not to be.

Some of group went down by the toboggan run, but Sarah, Paul and I climbed back down. There was the t-shirt hawker waiting for me. I bought a t-shirt and a medal saying I'd climbed the wall from him. It was a lot of fun haggling with him, as he had a great sense of humour. I got it for about a quarter of what he wanted originally. Then I went to the engraver. He showed me the piece of jade and proudly showed me my name stencilled out in English! I broke out laughing, because I thought he was going to do it in Chinese characters, which in my mind was the whole point. So, I asked him to flip it over and engrave my name again. Of course it cost me a bit more. I wandered down a bit further and saw some Communist buttons, but the guy wanted a 150 yuan. I knew they should be about 20 yuan, so I just walked away as he kept yelling 'What do I want to pay?' Then I found a woman who was painting beautiful Chinese pictures inside small glass bottles. I couldn't believe the work involved. I asked her what one cost and she told me 150! The same as those mass produced buttons. I bought a bottle from her. Rally saw me and said I could get it for a better price and wanted to bargain for me, but I cut her off. I couldn't in all conscience devalue her effort and talent by haggling. I thought the price was more than reasonable.

Then it was time to get on the bus for the one and a half hour drive back to Beijing. We stopped at a food court area in an indoor market mall. I had a quick bowl of dumpling noodle soup and then did a bit of last minute shopping. On the way back Rally negotiated with the driver that he would drop us off at the Heavenly Temple. We paid our admission and walked around the site. Unfortunately, it rained on us a bit and made picture taking difficult. It is a huge complex with many buildings and artifacts from the era. The highlight is the large circular pagoda on top of the hill. Beautiful and peaceful place. From there we took the subway back and walked the 15 minutes to the hotel.

We met up with Rally and the whole group at 7:00 and walked to a nearby restaurant for our last dinner together. Rally ordered a variety of dishes including Peking (Beijing) duck. The sliced duck is served with the other dishes and then they brought us soup made from the carcasses and then later the deep fried bones, which were like unseasoned KFC. We had a few beer and a really good time. We had collected a tip for Rally and I was asked to speak on our behalf. After thanking her for her efforts, I took the opportunity to thank the group for making the last leg of my year long adventure so memorable. This was a really great group of people who bonded very well in a week and with whom I had a great time. We were kicked out about ten and walked back to the hotel where we called it a night, and sadly a trip.

China Day 20, The Forbidden City

Saturday July 16^th

Again I slept pretty well on the train and it arrived in Beijing only twenty minutes late, at 6:20am. We took taxis from the station to the hotel. That was fun, as Rally gave us written Chinese instructions for the cab driver and we lined up in a line with hundreds of other people waiting for cabs. Luckily there were lots of cabs. We arrived at 7:30 and were given two rooms, one for the men and the other for the women. We then proceeded to take showers one by one. We met again in the lobby at 8:30 to walk through the area to the local bus, which we took to Tiananmen Square. This is where the students were massacred for demonstrating against the government in 1989. Even now the Chinese don't talk about it as they can get in trouble. As a result many young people have never heard of it. The square is huge but there isn't much to see there, except a large red sign commemorating the 90^th anniversary of the Communist Party. However, there were thousands of people there. I had fun 'photo bombing' people. What's that? When some one is taking a photo of someone else I walk up and stand in the photo. It's fun to be at the back of a big group, or stand beside a little lady, or put your arm around someone. It always brings first surprise, then smiles and laughter and no one has ever told me to get lost. In fact frequently they want to pose with me some more. It's a great way to meet people and interact in a little way. I've done this many times in Asia. I also met a large group of Indians from Mumbai that I talked to after photo bombing them.

We crossed the road to get to the entrance to the Forbidden City. Again there were thousands of people. Rally took us on an 90 minute tour of parts of the city. It is huge, and contains many buildings, however, most of them are done in the same style and it all began to look the same. Plus you couldn't see in any of the buildings. That coupled with the sunny hot day, wore some of us down. At the north exit everyone left to go their separate ways to shop or eat or whatever. Paul and I decided to stay in the city and explore some more as we felt we hadn't seen it all (FOMO). We were right. We found two areas that you had to pay a little extra to get in, but they were museum buildings with artifacts from the palace, huge pieces of carved jade, furniture, and a room devoted to about 100 different and amazingly complex and large clocks that had moving parts of people or animals or waterfalls that were animated. Most of them were built by English and French artisans and were traded to the Chinese. Not surprisingly, the Chinese learned to copy them and improve them, and there were examples of them too.

When we left the Forbidden City, we crossed another street to Jingshan Park and climbed a steep set of stairs to a temple on a hill that had a commanding view of the Forbidden City. From here we could see just how massive it is. The last emperor of China committed suicide in this park when the city was overrun during the peasant rebellion.

We walked from there back to the hotel and took a break from all the walking and the heat. Later we went out to a local cafe for some dumplings before we met up with the group again in the lobby to go to the Kung Fu show. Getting there was crazy. The hotel was supposed to order cabs, but forgot, so poor Rally was frantic as she herded us out to the main street and tried to get cabs for us. For some reason most of the cabs wouldn't take us, but finally we got most of the people underway. Rally, Penny and I were last and it took awhile to get a cab. When we finally did we knew we were going to be late for the show, so she was trying to phone the theatre to let the others in before we got there. What a mess. Anyway, we arrived a few minutes late and then watched an excellent Kung Fu show. It is basically the story of one old master who trains a young boy to be his successor. It was done with lots of martial arts, dancing and Kung Fu stunts. The athletic ability of the whole group was amazing.

Getting cabs for the return trip was just as crazy. Some people headed downtown by tuk tuk, but Rally, Beverly, Penny and I went back to the hotel just as it started to pour! I fear the rest of them are going to get soaked.

China Day 19, Xi'an

Friday July 15^th

I got up really early this morning to join Adam and Beverley and to go to a neighbourhood square that Michael told us about, where people exercise every morning. We watched an aerobic fan class, a ti chi class, people playing badminton, ballroom dancing, water sidewalk painting and many other activities.

Then we went back to the hotel to have breakfast, but we rejected the hotel buffet as it was disgusting and the place was filthy. So, I went to a local bakery and got a couple of sweet buns for Paul (who was still sleeping) and I. Then we all met up in the lobby and went for a half hour walk to the Xi'an Hui Ling Service School. This is an Intrepid sponsored school for people with learning disabilities. They have about 70 students aged from 14 to 40 who they are training in simple skills so that hopefully they can get jobs and become more useful citizens. In this way they can become more independent and not so much of a burden to their parents. After we were introduced to the program we watched an aerobic presentation by a group of girls and then listened as a young man sang to us. Then we played musical chairs with them and the hokey pokey game. They had a small shop there with crafts that the students had made. I bought yet another necklace, a bracelet and a beautiful piece of art called paper cutting, that I hope to teach my students to do at school. It was a very heart warming visit.

After that we had free time and a group of us headed off to explore the Muslim section again. We wandered through the narrow streets and checked out the shops and local foods. We wound up at a Starbucks where we had a drink to escape the hot sun. Everyone else went back to the hotel, but Paul and I continued to walk through the area and discovered a couple of beautiful old temples that are being restored. On the way back to the hotel we walked through a very upscale shopping centre that is very different from the markets we were just in.

Back at the hotel, we packed up and got ready to leave. We took the minibus to the train station to board our last overnight train. The train station was bedlam and it was very crowded. We paid a little extra for a special waiting room but by the time we made it there we were called to board the train. Again we are in hard sleeper cabins, six to a compartment and this time I had the middle bunk with Paul above me. We had a hot pot noodle for dinner and then we all talked until the 10pm lights out. This is a really nice group of people to end my trip with.

China Day 18, Xi'an City Wall

Thursday July 14^th

This morning Rally decided to take us to a little takeout place that made a local breakfast that she had heard from someone was really good. However, it was a really long walk, she wasn't really sure which way to go sometimes, people wanted something closer and faster because we wanted a quick breakfast so we could do our morning activity of bicycle riding before the heat of the day and when we got there there was no vegetarian option, and we have one person who is a vegetarian. It turned out the meal was basically corned beef in a flat bread bun, which was nothing special for most of us, but the locals were lined up twenty deep to get one. Everyone was pretty frustrated. Anyway we ate them and then Rally walked us to the city wall (another long walk). Then she went back to the hotel and a couple of other people went shopping. The rest of us rented bicycles and rode around the top of the city wall. Xi'an is an ancient walled city. The wall is about ten metres tall and maybe ten metres wide all around. It is a large rectangle and about 18 kilometres round trip. The top is cobblestoned and was quite bumpy on our one speed, old bikes. We had a good time, although is was sunny and very hot. We rode for about 90 minutes.

When we were finished we headed to a Starbucks and I had a green tea chai which was not as good as a Canadian chai latte. After that Paul and I went for a walk through the Muslim quarter and got lost in the narrow streets trying to find the Great Mosque. We stumbled upon a different mosque and when we went in we met two really nice people. The first was a little girl named Lucy who spoke pretty good English and was lots of fun to talk to. She was a really precocious girl. The other was a Chinese tourist from Beijing named something that sounded like “Orange” (that was his description). He told us he'd take us to the Great Mosque, which he did. He was really friendly and gave Paul his phone number so that he can contact him when he gets to Beijing, as he is staying a few days after I fly home. We explored the mosque and then the narrow market streets of the area watching people.

We headed back to the hotel by 6:00 to meet up with the group and Rally as we were going to dinner for a dumpling banquet. Rally told me then that Michael had been able to find my camera bag and the iPod as well! And he would bring them to the hotel the next morning. Man was I happy and lucky!

The restaurant was huge, noisy and had two musicians playing traditional instruments to play Western songs. There were 14 different types of dumplings and we consumed quantities of beer. After that we caught a small fleet of taxis to take us to the Wild Goose Pagoda, which is outside the city walls and supposedly has the largest water fountain show outside of Las Vegas. It was fun to stand there under the full moon and drink a couple more beer while we watched. The return trip to the hotel was lots of fun, as we loaded up into tuk tuks and had a wild and crazy ride through the city traffic. The end of a really fun day.

China Day 17, Terra Cotta Soldiers

Wednesday July 13^th

I slept well on the train. We had a couple of hours of daylight on the train before we arrived at Xi'an Station to watch the countryside go by. Getting out of the station was chaotic, with people and buses and traffic going every which way. We got to our hotel, left our luggage and then went for a quick breakfast. Then back to the hotel for a shower. Then we were met by our local guide, Michael, or MJ as he wanted to be called. He was to be our guide for the trip to the Terra Cotta Warriors. We took a minibus for about an hour to get to the museum site. On the way Michael gave us a great deal of information about China and the Terra Cotta soldiers. He is a GAP guide most of the time, and spoke English very well. He told us that he went to Hong Kong awhile back and was surprised to hear that there had recently been a demonstration there to mark the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. He had heard nothing of it reported in the Chinese media. This demonstrated to him that although he thinks China has come a long way in regards to human rights and media reporting, that it still has a ways to go. He said that things are much better today than twenty years ago and that they do hear about things like mining accidents now and some recent news from the outside world, which previously would have been covered up entirely. However, the Chinese people think that Taiwan belongs to China and so does Tibet.

The Terra Cotta Warriors were originally discovered by a couple of local farmers who were digging a well. Even though all the land and anything in it belongs to the Communist Government the farmers and their families were rewarded for the great historic find with new homes. Since then several of the farmers have died, but we ate lunch at the home of one of them. The food was good and mostly vegetarian.

Then Michael walked us to the actual Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum. There were lots of tourists around as this is a very popular site for foreign tourists and Chinese tourists as well. So, Michael held a meeting and told us all what we would see before we went in.

The museum site consists of three large pits that are all covered by a roof enclosure that protects the warriors from the elements. The first one we visited was the largest one and contains about eight thousand total, some of which are still buried, or in pieces and about four thousand that are restored. When they discovered the site they found that most of the warriors had been crushed by the collapsed roof of the mausoleum and by vandals of the ages. The soldiers were originally painted colours with natural dyes but most of that has disappeared after they were dug up and brought up into the air. The area is huge and impressive. The warriors are in rows in eight trenches. The viewing area, which is a walkway around the pit, is about five metres above the trenches. We walked to and went through the other two sites which are still being excavated. We could see some of the archeologists working and trying to restore other warriors, much like assembling a jigsaw puzzle.

At the second pit there was spot where we could pose with some fake warriors. I wound up taking photos for everyone in the group, and then put down my camera bag and my waterproof bag with my iPod in it down on the floor, and handed both my cameras to two people in the group to take photos of me. After the third pit we visited a museum that housed two bronze chariots and horses that they unearthed recently. They are done to half scale and both have four horses. One is probably for the guards and the second for the emperor. They are beautiful.

Then we drove back to the hotel. On the way back I couldn't find my camera bag and realized I'd left it behind. I was mad but it was only a camera bag, a lens cap and four rechargeable batteries, right? It's just stuff. But when I got back to the hotel I remembered the waterproof blue bag and the iPod. I was really upset. I tried to explain the problem to Rally, but it is really hard to explain things to her sometimes. Then I remembered that Michael said he was going back there the next day. So, I asked him to check to see if there was a lost and found there and if it had been turned in.

Rally took us for a night walk orientation through the city and we saw the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower and the area known as the Muslim Quarter. Muslims in China? Yes, their history extends back to the time of the silk route and the explorers from the west who came to China to trade for silk, tea and opium. Then we broke up, and Rally went back to the hotel. Most of the group went to a restaurant in the area, but Paul had his heart set on going to a noodle restaurant that he had read about in Lonely Planet, so I accompanied him. He had two bowls of soup with a 3.8metre 6cm wide noodle. One of the soups was shark fin, but I declined and had an eggplant dish and a fried chicken and pine nuts dish. We had a beer as well and a good time. As usual it was fun trying to talk to the waitresses.

When we got back to the hotel we decided we wanted another beer so we went to a local outside eatery and had a beer and watched people and traffic go by. Then we called it a night.

China Day 16, Xi Tang or Water Town

Tuesday July 12^th

This morning we finally met up with the rest of our group, two guys and three girls who were on a shorter Intrepid trip from Hong Kong to Shanghai and are joining us for the rest of the trip. They were travelling with Rally, our new guide. We checked out of our hotel and boarded our minibus for the two hour drive to Xi Tang.

We arrived by 11:00 and went for a walk through the 'downtown' of the town, visiting the local food market where they were selling meat and other unidentifiable types of fish or eels. Then we walked to the really pretty section of town. This is where there are traditional type houses along the river bank. There are little boats that take tourists for rides on the river. There are lots of shops and little restaurants all along the river. Rally gave us free time to explore. I walked around checking out the town, watching the people and looking in the shops.

We met at 1:30 at the Tom Cruise poster (apparently he shot part of a movie here) and then went to a restaurant where Rally ordered us way too much food. After lunch we had another couple of hours to explore the town. I bought a couple of snacks, and a few necklaces. It was fun interacting with some of the local people. I like to smile and say 'hello' and see what I get. Most times all I get is a smile back, but some can say 'hello' too. But when you say 'how are you?' they frequently don't know how to answer. But it's fun, especially when someone can speak some English.

Then we met up again and walked back to our bus for the drive back to Shanghai Railway Station to catch our overnight train to Xi An. The station is huge, is very modern and looks more like an airport. We sat in the waiting room with hundreds of local people before boarding at 7:00 for our fifteen hour train journey. The train is air-conditioned, but more crowded and cramped than the last one. I am on the top bunk, along with Oliver. Adam and Beverly are on the middle bunks and on the bottom are local Chinese people. The bunks seem smaller and have less head room than before. I climbed into my bunk to get out of the way and typed up the last couple of days of blog. Once the people had all settled and I was finished I climbed down and we socialized for a bit and I had a packaged bowl of noodles for dinner. There are a some really nice new people, Adam, Danny and Beverly, wish they'd been on the whole trip. I played with a little Chinese boy for awhile. Then it was lights out and time for bed.

China Day 15, Shanghai Museum & Exploring

Monday July 11^th

When I woke up this morning I Skyped my Dad to talk to him before his knee operation on the 13^th . Then I took the subway to the Shanghai Museum. However, it was difficult to find. First I found the Shanghai Art Museum, which was closed for renovations, then the Urban Planning Museum, which was closed on Mondays. I finally found someone who pointed me in the right direction. This museum was built in 1996 and houses thousands of historically significant artifacts from Chinese history. There were areas set aside for pottery, bronze age statues, bowls and other items, a roomful of Chinese art drawing, calligraphy, minority group clothing and traditions, and Ming dynasty furniture. It was beautifully laid out and very interesting.

Then I walked across the square to the People's Park. I walked though the park which also houses a small amusement area for children, complete with rides. Then I sat for awhile by a pond full of lotus flowers and watched the local people.

I walked further and stumbled across a little park that had a sign commemorating the 90^th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. There were a group of Chinese people posing in front of it and others taking photos, so I took a photo of the group too. They saw me and wanted to see the photo. We couldn't talk to each other but we smiled a lot and the next thing I knew one guy sat me down with five Chinese women and took our photo. So I gave him my camera to take another one. We all had a good laugh.

A couple of young students came up to me, asked me to take their photo and then asked me where I was from and we struck up a conversation. After a few minutes they said they were going to a traditional tea ceremony and asked if I wanted to join them. Normally with my FOMO I might have gone, but we had been warned by Allen, Intrepid and Lonely Planet, that this is a scam where you go for tea and then they charge you an exorbitant fee. So, I declined, walked away and shortly after another couple came up and started the same shtick. Glad we were warned.

So, when I walked away and again set out to find the French Concession area and another Chinese guy came up and asked me where I was from I was very wary. He told me he was a student from another town who was in Shanghai for a month with his dad. His name was Cao Wang. So, I talked to him and told him where I was going. He said he'd never been there before and wanted to go too. I kept waiting for him to ask me to go to tea, but he was just a nice guy who wanted to speak English and help me find the French Concession First he pointed out a building that was where the first meetings of the Communists were held in 1921. The building is called the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China. There were thirteen members and Mao Ze Dung was one of them. So, we went in and toured the building which is now a museum. The meetings were held here for nine days until the French Concession searched for the subversive Communists and the last meeting had to be held on a pleasure boat on a lake in another area. Then we walked further to another building called the Memorial House of the Shanghai Office of the Delegation of the Communist Party of China, where a lot of the original Communists lived in the early days.

Then Cao and I continued our search for the French Concession area. He asked several people and they all told us different directions. No one seemed to know exactly where it was. I noticed an American looking woman and asked her. She turned out to be from California and had lived in Shanghai for a few years. She told me where it was, but said that in her opinion there was a better area to go to. She told us the street, Takang, and helped us find it on the map and away we went. It was about a twenty minute walk. Turned out to be a really nice bohemian type area full of shops, boutiques and eateries on winding, narrow streets (as it turns out this was the area that everyone else had told me about). We walked around for awhile exploring before Cao had to go home for dinner. He was good company. I walked around for awhile more and met an Irish guy who was having a beer at a bar and sitting with his Chinese girlfriend. He told me he had moved to Shanghai for work and loved it there. We chatted for a bit and then I headed back to the hotel to met up with Paul.

Paul, Penny and I went back to Waggas for dinner and I met another Canadian guy there who wanted to start up his own travel company like GAP, going through China. Paul and Penny wanted to go to the French Concession area, and as I'd just come from there, I opted for going back to the Bund area to get some photos of the night skyline. After that I found a little bar called the Captains Bar, that Maggie had recommended. It was on the sixth floor of a hostel and had a great outside view of the skyline. I sat up there by myself and had a beer before heading back to the hotel for the night. It was a very good day, and I've decided I quite like what I have seen of Shanghai, clean, well laid out and friendly.

China Day 14, Tower & Temple

Sunday July 10^th

Got up by 8:00 and headed across the road for a egg and bacon pancake/wrap type thing that Allen recommended, for breakfast. Cost a dollar. Then Paul and I headed out by subway to the World Financial Centre. This used to be the tallest building in the world, but is now third, but is still the tallest in China. We paid to go up to the 100^th floor. From the outside it looks like a large bottle opener. The building is very modern, and the organization of the tour to the top and the elevators are very efficient. The view from the top was stunning. Shanghai stretches out in every direction with high rises and sky scrapers as far as the eye can see. This city is immense and houses twenty million people. Down below the Haungpu River wound through the city.

After that we headed back to hotel and then we went out for lunch. We went to a fancy restaurant that Paul had read about in the Lonely Planet. We ordered a beef, onion and chillies hot pot and I wanted a plate of eggplant, but somehow he screwed up the order and we got a vegetable that was like celery stalks. However it was good. After lunch Paul decided to hang around the hotel area because he was still feeling a bit weak from his bout of tummy upset and I headed off to find the French Concession This is supposed to be a very picturesque area with winding streets and interesting shops. I took the subway again and wandered around a nice area but was not really sure if I was in the right area or not. However I did find an interesting antique street market that sold lots of interesting things including some old communist uniforms and books of saying by Chairman Mao. It was a local community and I could see some of the daily life/activities of the people.

Then I took the subway to The Jing'an Temple. This is a 1000 year old temple that has been moved, damaged during the Cultural Revolution and remodelled in time for the 2011 World's Fair. It is beautiful and houses three large Buddha statues.

I headed back to the hotel by 6:00 to meet our new guide, Rally, and the new group. Turns out that there were six people from a previous group who are to join us, but they decided to skip the meeting and go out for dinner by themselves. So, we met our new guide, a young Chinese woman, and an American, Adam, who has been living in Stockholm for twenty years and his two sons, Oliver and Alexander. Then we went across the street for dinner at a local restaurant. Like Allen, Rally ordered a variety of dishes for us and we had a good time getting to know each other over a beer. After dinner Rally left us and we all walked down to the Bund, which is by the river, to see the skyline light up at night. Very impressive. Then back to the hotel for bed.