We arrived back home last night after being up and about for 29 straight hours. So today we are a little foggy but hopefully will be back on schedule pretty quick. If you are thinking about taking a trip, we would highly recommend going to China before it becomes a tourist mecca, and prior to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.(Right now there are only 130,000 foreign visitors a year from all over).
I think it was probably the best vacation I have ever had and it ranks among the top with Pat. We picked a Chinese tourist agency located in
Guilin
,
China , just by chance, off of the internet and because they were prompt and thorough with answers to our questions, and arranged our tour based on our requests. Everything was coordinated perfectly. In each town, whether we stayed overnight or were just passing through, as we did in
Chongqing, (a city of 34 million that you have probably never heard of). we were met by a tour guide, with a mini-van and driver that took us to our designated distination. When we boarded the train the guide stayed with us until we were aboard the train and we knew what we were supposed to do to get off.(We had an overnight 13 hr. train trip to experience the local culture). Also when we had air flights within China(we had 3) the guide would stay with us until we had cleared security at the airport and then wave goodbye to us.The amount of auto, cycle, and pedestrian traffic is so heavy and hectic that a separate driver is a necessity. Everyone has the right of way and everyone tries to take it, but we saw only 2 accidents the whole trip and we drove hundreds of miles within the cities. We never saw anyone get mad although drivers get sqeezed out or cut off all the time. Many times there are 3 autos in the space of 2 lanes, just inches apart. Until you get used to it, you literally risk your life crossing streets from 2 to 8 lanes of traffic. We were told that one of the ways of dealing with so much traffic will be to allow odd and even number licensed autos to be on the streets on different days. Something will have to be done by 2008.
The food was great at every city or village we visited and plenty of it. All of our breakfasts were provided and many of our lunches and a few dinners.We had requested to have dinner with a local family and we did that in Beijing
in one of the hutongs.It was great. The house was probably no more than 300 to 400 sq. ft. and yet we visited with the family, a man and his wife, and she cooked our dinner in a kitchen that one could hardly turn around in. We had also requested to visit a farm family which we did in Yangshou.The man was out planting rice plants, and the lady came up just as we did, and she had been gathering fire wood for the kitchen cook stove. Small house(they call it a villa), and they had some electricity, where they raise rice and other crops, a pig, and several chickens. Concrete floor, roof with holes in it, no windows, but satellite TV and 2 TV sets. No motorized equipment. We saw no tractors but only men with hoes out doing the crops. It is like the industrial revolution passed these people by and they went right into the technology age. Most of them have a computer, cell phone, satellite TV and very little space to live in. Everywhere we went the air is very polluted with smog or whatever hanging over the village or city all day. In the smaller villages, there are many 2 cycle truck like vehicles polluting the air.(I believe these are left over from the old communist days)The bigger cities all have modern American, Japanese, German or Korean autos(Mercedes, VW, BMW, Buick, Ford, Chevrolet all are prevalent).
In all we visited 9 major cities and many smaller villages but did not get to spend as much time in all of them as we would have liked. In all of the cities and villages the streets were very clean and also the roads between them were not strewn with trash, none. Beautiful landscaping on all the roads everywhere. We even saw workers out sweeping the roads of dirt or whatever in many areas.The people were very friendly and we could communicate most of the time with only a few Chinese words. Everyone was helpful. We had very good hotels and the locations were all very good. We had read so much about
China before going, some of it negative, that we didn't know what to expect and probably were over cautious, but we were inconvenienced very little. We carried cash and credit card and in all but one location, I was able to use ATM machines(Bank of China) to withdraw Yuan(Chinese money) as I needed it. Although most places accept American money except the department stores which are government owned.
As we visited tourist sites, we were very thankful that we had a private tour guide and the flexibility to do what we wanted as opposed to the large groups with a guide and a bull horn being herded around.Tour guides are tightly controlled by the Chinese government and have to renew their license annually through tests. Even though we were in China for 17 days, we could have used more time as there is so much to see and experience. There is construction going on everywhere. We spent 3 days cruising the Yangtze River(by the way, the food and entertainment on the boat was outstanding)and several million people are being moved as the new dam has started backing up the water, so new apartments plus the concrete along the river banks is phenomenal. Now when I read about all the Chinese construction, I have a much better understanding. I have tried to give a flavor of what we experienced and if anyone wants more info, just let us know.Dick and Colleen also returned with the same feelings.
William Truman Mann
Florida USA
(May 30, 2006)
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