Our Fabulous 8-day Tour in China

We arrived in Beijing on July 16 after leaving Edmonton on July 15.

After clearing through the customs, we connected on to Air China to Chongqing, arriving there in the later evening. Our eight day tour arranged by Wanda of China Odyssey Tours, just began. We were met at the airport by our tour guide Charlie and driver Ron, who took us to our hotel the centrally located East Garden Hotel.

During our trip, I boiled our water and put it into our own water bottles. You can buy bottled water and everyone drinks it but you have to be careful were you buy it, not from roadside sellers as they will take used bottles and re fill them and cap them and sell. The ice tea was always cool as were the soft drinks. We drank, a lot of lemon waters which was not cold and the great green tea with all its medicinal qualities, as well as cold beer. Everyone's posture is very good as they sleep on very hard beds. Very little mattress on wood planks. The food was tremendous with a lot of fruit and vegetable. The only reason we may have lost some weight was because of perspiration. It was hot and humid, but we loved it that way. A better time to visit would be Sept. and Oct.

There are cars everywhere, buildings going up and everyone who is young has a cell phone and modern dress and styles. The rural countryside is still back in the old traditional ways of hand hoeing and water buffalo, almost subsistence farmers, but so tranquiler and beautiful. China is feeding its people well and all seem to work and is honored. There were fare to many beautiful crafts to bring back and now that I am back should have bought more. I did buy a silk padded bedspread with silk cover and cushions, a silk scarf, some White Ginger Oolong tea with Yixingware tea set, lond jade earnings, Cloisonne´ statues (copper enameling), porcelain, Chinese brush work art (although I still have all of Grandma's work). Terra Cotta statues.

Who ever has one of grandma's Terra Cotta statues, hold on to it with care? The Terracotta Army was found in Xi'an in 1974 and the first pit was only opened in 1978. The grandmothers visited it in April 1979, so were very privileged to do this and the statue you have would be some of the first produced after the pit was opened. The true and official approved statues are all made my hand and are hollow in the center. The molds are carved out by hand by only a chosen few artists and the molds are used for only a few statues so are like a numbered print but larger numbers. Because of the One Child one Family Policy in China the young women and men marry at a much later age, late twenties and early thirties and have the child much later as well. We can now take a big sigh of relief, those of us waiting for daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

Chongqing and Wuhan are known as the "Furnaces of China". They were Hot.

Temperatures while we there were in the low 40°C with 90% humidity. I bought a hand fan which was useful for the heat. The food specialty is Hot Pot of Sichuan Cuisine , like a fondue with the inner pot with oil and hot pepper spice and the outer pot vegetable liquid. Chongqing as well as being known as a furnace city; is an industrial city, cars and pollution; mountain city, Shang Cheng; a river-transportation-port city, on a peninsula meeting where the Jialing and Yangzi Rivers meet; ancient capital city, Ba people of 1000 BC and still administrative Centre of City-province (500 KM with 17 million people); and not least a city of very shapely and beautiful women, as they have to walk up and down steep hills all day. It was the Capital of China during the War II. Was never captured by the Japanese but was bombed heavily. The Flying Tigers were stationed here to help guard the China-Burma Road and Border during the war.

Chinese (dumplings, vegetable egg rolls) and western breakfast (stir fry eggs, coffee ) at East Garden Hotel where we met Lisa. She is a delightful young student of tourism in China and we will be conversing with her over the email.  Her name is Lisa Cheng.  She is a 22 year old student at the Chongqing Institute of Technology College in Tourism. 

She was doing practicum at the Hotel, East Garden Hotel in Chongqing where we spent 2 nights. Her English was very good and she was not affraid to meet and converse.  She has a lovely ying-yang name for good qi, smiling-cry.

On our own we walked a few blocks to the magnificent Great Hall of the People of Chongqing, similar to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, the plaza in front with Red Gate or monumental arch way and the modern glass but some how oriental Chongqing Museum.  We spent about 4 hours in the museum, air conditioned viewing relics of the Han, considered the people of china, largest population 93%. In the museum was a display, half the first floor of the Yangtze River - Three Gorges and the Great Dam project. It was extremely well done and helped us to see and prepared for what we would see on our 4 day cruise on the Princes Elaine, Regal China Cruise Line down the Yangtze River. That evening we ate at the hotel and later went out to walk around the market and watch the people prepare their own meals. 

Thanks for a lovely trip of a life time.

 Liz, John, Mike

September 25th, 2006