We flew out of Beijing last night after 14 rather amazing days. China is the only part of our trip where we did a guided tour for the whole adventure, and we are very glad we put ourselves in the hands of some expert guides and drivers. We flew from Brisbane to Shanghai with a layover in Taipei, then flew from Shanghai to Yichang where we boarded a boat for a four night, three day cruise up the Yangtze River. We disembarked at Chonquing, flew to Guilin, flew from Guilin to Xi'An, and from Xi'An to Beijing. We were met and cared for at each stop by a really good group of guides - 3 young women and 3 young men. Our guide in Beijing was particularly outstanding - a young man from Inner Mongolia, a bit cynical about Chinese politics, who dreams of moving to New Zealand.
General impressions of China: Crowded, really bad air pollution, lots of cars and slow traffic, some spectacular scenery, wonderful food except for the cruise cuisine, very good accomodations but the beds tend to be quite hard by Western standards, many very friendly and very helpful people.
The crowds are everywhere. Lots of Chinese tourists in groups of 35 or 40 wearing identical caps or hats so their guide, who carries a flag, can keep track of them. The pollution is pretty much everywhere. In the cities, it's not so much from within but from industry in the surrounding areas. We did have some clear weather on the cruise when we took small boats up a stream off the Wu Gorge. And our last day in Beijing we actually had blue skies and could see the sun. Beijing is hosting the APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Conference) and the government had ordered the surrounding counties to cut back on their industrial activities for the duration of the conference, which probably caused the good weather. The Capitol got some bad press a few weeks ago when a number of runners who had travelled there to participate in the Beijing Marathon pulled out rather than risk their health running in the pollution.
We enjoyed the Yangtze cruise in spite of fairly mediocre meals. Meals were served buffet style and were mainly Chinese, although at breakfast one could get omelettes, fried eggs, etc. Our ship, the Yangtze Gold 7, is billed as 5 star. It's only a couple of years old and rated highly, but evidently none of the Yangtze boats compare to international standards. The cabin was very nice, with a good balcony and good housekeeping staff, but the beds were really hard (and we like a firm mattress!). Big soft towels, however. About two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese, with quite a few three generation families travelling. There were two tour groups of Australians on board and they sort of adopted us. We were the only Americans, as far as we could tell. The off-ship excursions were very good, with guides with excellent English. We actually had a lot of fun and learned a lot during the cruise.
We very much enjoyed our other meals in China. Our breakfasts were at our hotels, and we mainly went "Western" in our choices. Other meals were in local restaurants, and our guides would consult with us about the menu, then order for us. Very little English is spoken in the restaurants we dined in. (I did give in to a craving for a Big Mac one day. The McD's staff didn't have any English but a customer who did helped us get ketchup.)
We stayed in pretty luxurious western style hotels in Shanghai and Yangshuo, and "boutique" hotels with more Chinese character but western comforts in Guilin, Xi'an and Beijing. These had beautiful courtyards, fountains and plantings. The beds were also very comfortable. In Beijing, the Red Garden Wall, where we stayed, features DUX mattresses (from Sweden, I think).
The guides were all good. They have to pass exams in local information and history, and whichever language(s) they will be using to guide, in order to become licensed by the state.
Traffic was very heavy all the places we visited. We were really thankful for skilled drivers and comfortable cars. There isn't a concept of yielding to pedestrians, even in crosswalks. You are advised to cross in larger groups, as drivers fear damage to their vehicles if they run over a lot of people.
There was some celebration of Halloween in Beijing. We saw a few kids in costume and read in the China News (English but "made in China") that the government had banned costumes on the subways because crowds gathering would be detrimental to the APEC event. China News, in their version of "News of the Weird", reported that an elderly Chinese woman had suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized after being frightened by a vampire, who turned out to be her grandson returning from a Halloween party.
We are now in Jerusalem and I want to post this before I get even more behind in my travel tales. Photos to eventually follow.
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