"stunning/beautiful/gorgeous/fantastic...."

(Emily)

ni men hao!

we got into beijing this morning. so many people! i've noticed that instead of bikes, people have converted to electric scooters. so chic! we did a quick drive by tiananmen square and mao's memorial (which is open now after years of being closed to the public). i wanted clarification that this was actually mao's final resting place so i asked our guide if this was a mausoleum. i was firmly corrected that it is not called a mausoleum, it is a memorial.

we got to our hotel....the taiwan hotel.... i know, i did a double take too. how ironic is it that we're staying at a hotel named after another country? although i guess the chinese still consider taiwan a part of the country. after breakfast we said our goodbyes to ric, who has been a surrogate father to us. we were all really sad and for the rest of the day we kept thinking we were missing someone. we miss you ric!

after dropping ric off, our guide da li (sp?) took us to the beijing planning exhibition hall. in short, it is a museum on the past, present, and future of beijing. da li was packed with an endless amount of information and while i learned a lot, i didn't find it to be the most interesting. i thought that the models on display were fully encased with glass, so i put my gloves where the glass top was supposed to be. well it wasn't fully enclosed and my gloves fell onto the display, falling into the crack between the glass and the edge of the display. fortunately, drew is tall and he was able to be my hero and rescue my glove from the depths of display. the coolest part of the museum for me was seeing the models for the olympic facilities. the swimming pool display had a very cool feature that, at the push of a button, split the building in half so that it looked like a grilled cheese. also in the museum was a map of the city of beijing, part of which had tiny scale models of the buildings. some of us wanted to be like calvin (of calvin and hobbes) and make like godzilla...however, we resisted that urge and to our knowledge, all the buildings are still intact.

after the museum we went to lunch at a szechuan restaurant. the restaurant was designed in a way so that the diners could see the chefs prepare their food through a glass window. very snazzy. the food was a little salty and we discovered that the mystery spice that we intensely dislike is the (now infamous) peppercorn. after getting sick right after eating a dish that had peppercorn in it a few days ago, cady will not go near the aforementioned spice (she said "it tastes like death"). the rest of us aren't crazy about it either (drew: "i hate it"). well, with the exception of terry, who really liked the spicy tofu dish that was prepared with a liberal dose peppercorn.

the highlight of the day was going to the lama monastery, which is the largest temple in beijing. awwwweeeessoooomeeee. it easily makes the top five places i've been to in china. at first we thought that there was only one shrine, but the back of each shrine opened up to another courtyard, with each shine more elaborate than the previous. the second and third to last shrines were absolutely stunning/beautiful/gorgeous/fantastic/interesting/breathtaking (everyone chipped in words). the second to last held the largest sandalwood carving in the world. carved out of a single piece of sandalwood is a statue of the buddha of the future, maitreya. it was about three stories high and some of the carving was even underground. it was gilt in gold and had elaborate jewels inlaid into the outfit of the buddha. the third to last had the figure of (what i think is) a boddhisattva. inside the shrine is also the seat where the dalai lama would sit if he wasn't in political exile. the seat still waits for him to come and teach the monks of the monastery.

for dinner we decided to move the peiking duck dinner to tomorrow because we were still feeling full and were a little tired. instead, we went to the supermarket and picked up snacks (i.e. jiffy, seedless strawberry jam, chips ahoy cookies, da bai tu, ritz, and dorritos) as well as stopped by mcdonald's for some fries and cheeseburgers....i just realized that in my last post i talked about kendoji. my days seem to fall on the days when we feel the most in the mood for american food.

a side note: most everyone here thinks i'm chinese. when i go into stores all the sales associates flock to me, thinking i can help them translate for the rest of team china. i find this really interesting because in america i'm sometimes stereotypically mistaken for being chinese because i just look asian. in china, the chinese think i'm chinese. the tour guides usually have waited a couple of days until their curiosity gets the better of them and they finally ask me if i'm chinese-american. i thought that everyone would be able to tell that i'm not chinese, but i guess i look more chinese than korean.

Mosque, McDonald's and Mobs

(Nick)

Greetings from Beijing! We spent last night on an overnight train so I will be updating you about our last day in Xi'an.

Luckily we had a free morning, with which we spent sleeping in, packing, and the girls went shopping while Drew and I went to the gym. We met our guide, Richard (aka our new favorite person), in the lobby at 12 and checked out of the hotel. We had a minor passport scare (Drew couldn't find his until I realized that I had put HIS passport in my Chairman Mao bag). Richard took us to the Muslim quarter of Xi'an for a delicious Muslim dinner, consisting of two pieces of hard bread that we ripped into tiny pieces that were then cooked in a stew with beef and noodles. Richard and our driver devoured the meal rather quickly while us Americans could barely finish half of the bowl. Xi'an is home to 600,000 Hui people, a minority group that consists of 30 million people in China. They look like the Han majority and speak Mandarin but only differ in that they are Muslim.

After our delicious (but filling) Muslim dinner, we visited the Xi'an Great Mosque in the Muslim quarter which was absolutely beautiful. Lucky for us, we visited during one of five daily prayers. The Xi'an Great Mosque has the largest prayer hall in the entire city of Xi'an, holding up to 1,000 people. When we visited, the entire hall was full and there were people outside of the hall praying as well. We felt a little awkward spectating during one of the daily prayers, so despite Richard's pleas to look into the prayer hall during prayer, we watched from a distance (though we still managed to get the stink eye from a young girl). Once prayer was over, we walked up to the prayer hall, where the koran is mounted on 42 large boards that surround the inside of the hall.

After visiting the Xi'an Great Mosque, we walked through the bazaar, a very long street with many different shops. All the venders were Hui people. Our bargaining skills have improved quite a bit since the beginning of the trip so bought a lot! Emily bought a Communist cap with a red star on it for 10 yuan (down from 85 yuan). Drew bought a crossbow for 240 yuan down from 400 yuan (He's going to have SUCH a great time getting that thing back into the U.S.....looking forward to it). Ms. Viz told us to ask Richard to bring us to his friend's painting shop near the Great Mosque, so we did! The shop had beautiful block prints as well as peasant paintings. We were really glad we went because we all found prints/paintings we liked and our pockets were a little lighter after.

After a couple hours of shopping we admitted to Richard that we were craving soft serve ice cream. I never thought I'd admit it, but you really do crave western food while you are in China! We are loving Chinese food...but boy did we miss soft-service ice cream and french fries. We stopped at McDonalds and got our western fix (Richard was laughing at us the whole time). We then drove to the Cultural street in Xi'an, which specializes in brushes. We didn't buy any brushes, but Drew found a huge Chinese painting of a tiger. It is really cool...I think he's planning on hanging it in his dorm room next year! A young Chinese man asked Cady to get her picture taken with his girlfriend...Cady thought she was being mugged but complied and walked away with a bright red face. We then explained to her that it was probably because she was American...she was still a bit creeped out though!

We then went to dinner at the same hotel that we had a hot pot dinner at a couple nights ago. It was our last meal in Xi'an but we were all still full from the Muslim dinner! After dinner, we headed to the Xi'an train station....we didn't know what we were in for! It is the end of the Chinese new year so all of China is heading back to work after visiting their families. It honestly felt like the entire population of China was at the Xi'an train station. There was a crowd of hundreds outside of the train station, trying to separate into multiple lines to finally reach security. Thank God we had Richard...he led us through the mob of people until we finally got to our platform. Still, though, it took about 30 minutes to get through the crowd. It made it a million times more difficult because we had our rolling suitcases, which managed to roll over little old women's feet, flip over, and trip people. Richard kept telling us to "Push!" through the crowd, but it felt like we would never get there. It was a pretty stressful (not to mention chlostrophobic) experience, and we were all relieved to finally get on the train. We were not very happy, however, about saying goodbye to Richard. Over the course of our four days in Xi'an we grew very close to Richard...he was always laughing and interested in us as individuals rather than a group of four students. We will miss him so much!

Speaking of Richard, it is amazing the impact one man has had on a village. Our visit to Pangliu village showed us how much he has improved the lives of everyone in Pangliu, yet still he manages to be so modest about it! When we tipped him before we left, he told us he would donate most of the money to Pangliu, which I thought was very admirable.Most villages in China, however, are not as lucky as Pangliu. Pangliu village has been so lucky to have someone like Richard.

China is a developing nation (and I am stressing the word developing greatly). Although many are taking notice of their sprawling, modern cities, roughly 70% of Chinese are peasants. Two days ago, we visited Pangliu village, and that night we witnessed the world's largest water movie screen complete with probably millions of dollars of fireworks. There is such a huge difference between the rural life and the city life in China. The standard of living in China is getting better, but Richard made a point of stressing to us that it is nowhere near the United States and poses no threat. At Dover-Sherborn, it is drilled into our heads that China "is the future," and for me it has been very interesting to see if this statement is indeed true; I am still undecided.

We are wrapping up the three week travel portion of our trip and can't wait to get to Hangzhou and meet our host brothers and sisters! I still haven't done any laundry and am still going strong...Hope everyone had a relaxing February vacation!

Royal Welcome and Explosive Sendoff

(Ms. Luskin and Ric)

Today, the newest link in the chain connecting Pang Liu Village with Dover and Sherborn …

(T) Unlike our last two days, we didn’t see Richard’s smiling face at the end of breakfast; instead, our driver fetched us, and we stopped to pick up Richard on our way to Pang Liu, the village where he grew up. After a drive of about a half hour, our bus turned off a main road south of Xi’an onto a paved lane; Richard noted that the allee of trees was as new as the paving, paid for by the government because so many international visitors had come here of late. We stepped off the bus into the waiting crowd of schoolmaster, town officials, teachers, and oh-so-many students! The band struck up a spirited tune to accompany the many handshakes.

In passing yesterday, Richard had outlined his youth as a village boy, competing his way against well-advantaged city kids on his way through high school, university, and his initial government career when we spoke about the evolution of the communist party’s policies in the twentieth century. If you think this sounds like a dusty corner of history, we certainly didn’t find it so in the context of Richard’s experiences! It’s quite amazing to connect this merry, educated and worldly-wise man with a village boy who rationed himself to three bread pieces per meal (sometimes brushing off mold before setting to) while his feet ached with cold through the winter months. It had us all marveling at his resilience, as well as the way in which he’s used his own success to improve life back to his home village. He’s raised funds (and contributed much himself) to build a library, hire a librarian and an English teacher, build a village office with a clinic and pharmacy, hire a doctor… the list of meaningful changes for his townsmen’s lives is all but endless.

(R) I don’t think any of us had given much thought in advance to what our arrival at Pang Liu would be like. For us it was an anticipated stop among many, albeit one we had prepared for with gifts for students and teachers. But when we approached the school, driving down a narrow lane dotted with new bricks for building and neat piles of sand, intermingled with abandoned, old houses, it became clear that this wasn’t just “any” day for the village. As Terry said, we were greeted by a group of local officials when we stepped off the bus. But what a scene!

The school’s marching band played a fanfare of welcome, one of the young trumpet players blowing with huge puffed cheeks, a la the late Dizzy Gillespie. A bouquet of silk flowers was presented to Terry and the kids and we entered the school like teams enter a super bowl – walking through a gauntlet of smiling, flag waving students lined on either side, arrayed from oldest (6th grade) to youngest. In the interior courtyard there was a fabulous banner reading “Warmly Welcome The Teacher And Students From Dover-Sherborn High School To Our School!” Perhaps to emphasize the importance of the project, we were then ushered into the newly constructed library. A prominent blue sign on the wall proclaims “Books are the steps for the human progress.” Isn’t that a simple truth for all to keep in mind? The room itself, measuring about 250 square meters according to a plaque in the courtyard, was as neat as a pin, with books and magazines arrayed on three low bookshelves. In the English section were picture books about the Boston area – even one on The Big Dig – as well as a number of classics like Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, and Harry Potter. We even saw a copy of Hello Wally written by that noted author Jerry Remy. Yes - Red Sox Nation is indeed everywhere.

Richard says that the only parts of the school he recognizes today are two tall pine trees that survive in the inner courtyard. The rest has been extensively renovated over the years with vast improvements, many of which Richard has helped to fund. We observed a group of 3rd graders in a computer lab working on graphics. “We have internet now” proudly proclaimed the English teacher who accompanied us on our tour. After that, we split up into groups to meet some of the students. Nick & Cady went with the younger kids. Emily and Drew did some animal drawing on the blackboard with an older group, correlating the pictures with English names. Terry and I took the 6th graders, telling them a bit about how DHS works and fielding questions ranging from “How old are you?” and “What is your favorite color?” to “Do you like the food in China?” Jjust for fun – with the aid of a translator - I asked if the class could name a Chinese player in the NBA. A chorus of loud voices, boys and girls, all had the correct answer: Yao Ming, of course!

(T) We had a short walk-about along the village lanes to the home of a villager who’d offered to host us for lunch; yet another wondrous meal, served in the south-facing living room of the house. Our English teacher helped bring dishes back and forth, although we’d have much preferred to have her join us at the (already quite crowded) table! We understood from Richard that this family had hosted an exchange student for five days fairly recently, so they, too, are venturesome and curious about people in other cultures. On the walk back, we noticed again the intermixture of construction and deconstruction: some abandoned traditional houses with leaning walls, next to stacks of bricks and roof tiles for a new house. The last sight we had of Pang Liu was the wide vista, for miles in each direction, of winter wheat sprouting. We’ll think about this place quite often, I feel, especially because we’ve become so fond of Richard!

Leap ahead a few hours, and suddenly we’re entering the Tang Dynasty version of Epcot, called Tang Paradise! Very quickly, we encounter a “performance” of stilt-walking female fan-dancers and male flag-wavers, with cymbal players clanging along… all while recorded music clashed with the rhythm of the band. Cacophony reigned!!

We saw quite a few interesting bits in this reconstructed theme park; but as I glance at the clock, I see that I must skip to the highlights if I’m to make our bus on time!! We all enjoyed rambling through the poet’s area where classic Tang poems have been engraved on the stone walls of a multi-level area; pools and rivulets course through, and it’s by far the most authentic experience of the day.

The kids all rallied when we spied the human-in-inflated-ball-on pool activity (wish there were a name I knew for this zany place!)… Drew, and then Nick, climbed into the small zippered access to the clear plastic beach-ball; the ball was then pumped full of warm air, and off they ran/tumbled/fell into the rectangular pool. Drew ran like a hamster on a wheel, Nick’s specialty was the somersault, and the crowds gathered to watch the madcap exhibition!

Must zip along to the evening of lakeside entertainment… What began as a lighted fountain show, with musical accompaniment, morphed into a water/mist screen projection of a mysterious movie about the moon goddess Chang'e and some sort of dragon cartoon guy, with a hero and the monkey king thrown in for good measure. After the movie ended, we kept hearing in Chinese that SOMETHING was to happen at 8:20; that “something” was a multiple-multi media fountain/gas-jet/laser/fireworks display that knocked our socks off! Far more than the fragment of New Year’s fireworks that we saw in Hong Kong!!

(R) As it was “Lantern Festival” night – the official end of Chinese New Year – the entire city was alight with fireworks displays. Some were small. Others were enormous. And from our lakeside vantage point, we could easily count a dozen within a 180 degree view of the city at any given point in time. In fact, the background display made the water movie even more amazing! We left Tang Paradise for a crazy drive through the throngs of revelers to an impromptu dinner (Richard managed to talk our way into a local restaurant despite the late hour). This was a different form of crazy traffic – slow speed chaos as cars, bikes, and people on foot all fought for a place on the road. Our AMAZING bus driver actually started making noises like Lurch from The Adams Family. But we made it through. Then back to the hotel where the boom of fireworks continued into the small hours of the morning. If there is any gunpowder left in Xi’an today I would be amazed! (Ok – having said that, a string of firecrackers just went off outside our window. Apparently someone had some in reserve!).

Must sign off now. This will be my final blog entry as I’ll head back home tomorrow when we arrive in Beijing after an all night train journey. It’s been a blast! Terry, Drew, Nick, Cady and Emily will now get to experience their own set of adventures. I’ll look forward to following along on the blog with the rest of all of you.

Oodles of Noodles

(Drew)

After a rough morning and a quick breakfast, the group met richard in the lobby of the hotel. Richard is such a great guide for Xi'an he is so energetic and informitive not to mention he has amazing english. Richard was picked (1 of 2)out of his class of 150 to work in the CCP. Richard majored in english so he was a translater, which explains his amazingly fluid english. Our first stop was the history museum in Xi'an which had excavated artifacts from the Shaanxi province (where Xi'an is located). Some of the artifacts dated back thousands of years to the first dynasties. While in the museum, Richard told us a story about a friend of his that bought a piece of jade off a farmer which he bargained down to 5 yuan. The piece of jade turned out to be from the Han dynasty period and was worth about 300,000 yuan, what a deal! The museum was very large with lots of rooms on several different levels making it a very rich destination for anyone interested in ancient China.

After the musuem we had a noodle lunch which we were served various noodle dishes and we took some from each for our individual bowls. The noodles were delicious but hard to pick up with our primitive chopstick skills. After lunch we went to the ancient city wall around Xi'an. It is very large and perfectly preserved. It was built during the Ming Dynasty about 600 years ago. The wall is about 12 meters tall and has gates in the east, west, north and south. We got to the top and rented bikes to ride over 30 kilometers around the entire city. The biking took under an hour, we made pretty good time (Terry and Ric took a little bit longer :D). It was a great day for bike riding, moderate in temperature and the sun was out. Because we felt so proud of ourselves doing the entire wall, the group treated ourselves to foot massages. The foot massages turned into full body massages similar to the ones we got back in Guilin but this place was much cleaner and the massages were much nicer. The group liked them so much we might just have to go back before we leave Xi'an. A hot pot dinner was up next. This was our second hot pot meal in China and much different from the first one. The first meal had one single massive hot pot which everything was simultaniously thrown in, the one we had today each person had thier own individual hot pot so it was easier to customize your meal to your tastes. They also had a whole table of different herbs and sauces which you could play with and concoct your own special sauce, yum...

After dinner went to see the lantern show that had been set up on the city walls of Xi'an. It was amazing how many lanterns/lights and other small shops that had been set up considering we had just been there several hours earlier and there was practically nothing set up. The lantern show had a olympic theme this year with many lanterns in the shape of the olympic panda looking characters that you see all over china these days. It certainly was a busy day but im beggining to like Xi'an more and more. It might even make it into my top three list but we still have some candidates we have yet to visit.

Wakened Warriors and Decadent Dumplings

(Cady)

Hey all!

It is once again my day to write the blog. It seems like yesterday that I did my last entry, so that must mean that time here is really flying. I hope everyone is having a great February vacation right now skiing, beaching or whatever it is you're doing. AND if that's the case then congratulations on reading the blog while on break. Either you have nothing better to do or we really ARE as amusing to read about as rumor tells. Whatever the case may be, here I am in a new internet cafe, the biggest one we've been to yet (with very comfy chairs I might add), in Xi'an writing for your entertainment and enlightenment (we hear a lot about the whole enlightenment thing here, you know, Buddhists and all).

Last night we finally met the famous Richard! I am sure that Em, who is also here writing her blog for yesterday, will mention that, but I thought that I might as well emphasize the fact. We have decided that meeting Richard is about the equivalent of finally seeing Charlie in "Charlie's Angels," though I don't think anyone actually ever does see Charlie. So I guess we're really lucky to meet Richard. It's immediately apparent why Viz and Richard hit it off so well. He's one of those crinkly laugh-lines around the eyes kind of guys (he really does laugh at everything). Actually, he even laughs at everything HE says, though not at all in a pretentious way. We've decided that, aside from Kathy, he's our favorite guide so far. Although, Richard is really more of a friend of the whole exchange than just another guide, so it's really only natural that we like him.

Let's see, health updates. Team China is becoming a little more run down, though we're still going at full speed, don't worry! Drew is still coughing, I'm on my antibiotic now too, and Nick and Emily are getting a bit more sniffly. All in all though, we're holding out very well. This morning "sleep in" was literally written into the itinerary. And that's exactly what we did. Emily managed to sleep through our wake up call, my alarm clock, and me saying "Em, it's 9:15"....."Em it's 9:25".... "Emily get UP!" Finally, after pounding my fist on the bedside table a couple of times, we were both awake and ready to crawl down to breakfast. Actually, Team China is usually up a lot earlier than that, believe me, it's a rare occasion that we sleep so late. Our legs were all quite sore today as a result of many, many stairs climbed yesterday. Ric's words exactly I believe were, "god, it feels like I spent a whole day at the gym." I suppose we're not ones to be complaining though. When Team China returns to the States with massive leg muscles you'll all know why.

We didn't leave the hotel until 10:30 today, which is a super late start for us, but it was good since we had such a long day yesterday. We decided to give our legs a rest today and save biking along the city walls of Xi'an for tomorrow, therefore the terra-cotta warriors were bumped up. We went to a ceramics "factory" first. They make high quality replicas of the terra-cotta warriors in all different sizes. We didn't see them getting made, since most of the workers are still on holiday for the new year, but we got some background on the warriors and how the actual ones and the replicas are made. You can actually tell which type of soldier each warrior is by how he's dressed and how his hair is styled. The ones with nice armor and two bun are generals. I believe our guide said that of the thousands of excavated warriors, there were only seven generals. The men with flat caps are cavalry men, and are usually standing next to horses. There are kneeling soldiers who are archers, and then foot soldiers who can be identified because they only have one bun on top of their heads. They had replicas of each different type of soldier made, which of course were for sale. The process is actually pretty interesting. Each warrior is hollow, their bodies are made by pressing coils into a mold. So essentially each life-sizes terra-cotta warrior is a coil pot. When they come out of the molds they are touched up individually. The original warriors all had custom sculpted heads, which is pretty neat because just like actual humans, no two are exactly alike. I'm getting ahead of myself now. Or a HEAD... ha ha. Anyways, they made other ceramic pieces there as well such as beautiful (and expensive!) tile murals, and sculptures in the Tang dynasty tri-color porcelain style. Basically we ended up shopping there for a while, getting gifts for people and whatnot, until we were thoroughly milked for all we were worth. After that it was on to the real terra-cotta warriors!

Well, first we had lunch. Delicious as always, even though thinking about a traditional Chinese lunch makes me a little squeamish now, after puking one up on the boat ride to see the big Buddha (thus one of the reasons I am on antibiotics now). That may be too much information, I apologize. Actually, once the food is in front of me, all thoughts of being sick go out the door and I am quite happy to chow down. Em and I have been brainstorming for the last five minutes trying to remember why lunch today was so good, aside from the fact that they brought out cookies in the end. Well, there were a lot of good veggie dishes. Anyways, the warriors! First we watched about half of a film on the terra-cotta warriors which was supposed to be shown on screens the encircled an entire room. Only two screens were working however, and the english subtitles/translations weren't working either, so we really just watched the pretty pictures for a while and observed what it was like to be in a room with more white people than we've seen thus far in China. The warriors are a big tourist destination as you can imagine. Next we visited the largest excavation site of warriors. There's hundreds of them just lined up in these pits, guarding the tomb of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty and the lands to the east that he united under him. He actually built the army of terra-cotta warriors to protect him his "afterlife." To the ancient Chinese, humans were comprised of two parts; the visible body, and the invisible soul. The body lives in the yang "world," which is the light side, but once we die the soul lives on in the yin "world," which is the dark side of the symbol we all know. So, the first emperor of China built an army of thousands of ceramic warriors to guard himself and his kingdom in the yin world. For the record, this is also the emperor who built the great wall, so he was eccentric to say the least.

It was really amazing to see all of the warriors lined up in the earthen pits. They are all so realistic, and it's incredible to think that each one is unique. When they were originally made, they were painted very colorfully. Once the Qin Dynasty fell apart and rebels invaded, they burned all of the emperor's grounds, and the wooden roofs that were protecting the warriors collapsed, which is what caused a lot of the damage to them. There are still a LOT of warriors that haven't been excavated yet, and Richard says that they probably won't be any time soon. Seeing the warriors is pretty mind boggling simply because there are so many of them, and each one is so detailed. They have a museum with a couple of the warriors from the from the second pit, which can't be visited right now because it's under renovation right now (all of China always seems to be under renovation). Since they are some of the most intact warriors, the detailing on the is really amazing. The kneeling archer has combed hair and braids in the back. Even his shoes are incredibly realistic- you can see the treads on the bottom of the shoes. Considering the Qin Dynasty only lasted about 50 years, it's absolutely incredible to imagine that all of these warriors and the great wall were made in such a short period of time (less even). Drew said today that seeing the warriors was almost less interesting than he thought it would be because we've already seen so many pictures of them and learned about them in school. On the other hand, I remember reading on one of the previous blogs that someone thought that seeing the real warriors after hearing about them for so long was the truly amazing part. Either way you look at it, it's impossible to look at the hundreds of statues and not imagine the huge amount of work that went in to making them. The fact that they could be reconstructed so perfectly, that a piece of history can be so well preserved, was a reminder that our own culture is so young. The warriors are over 2,000 years old, yet we can stand there and observe them as if they were made just the other day. We also saw incredibly detailed bronze statues of horses and chariots that were excavated along with the warriors. I imagine finding the warriors and everything else found around the emperor's tomb (which has never actually been opened) would have been a field day for archaeologists. Kind of like winning the lottery.

So, we had a good day full of terra-cotta warriors and the works. Dinner was dumplings! We went to a restaurant that really does specialize almost exclusively in dumplings. The really interesting part is that they make each dumpling in the shape of what type of animal meat is inside. So, for example, the spicy chicken dumplings were shaped like little chickens. It was very cute and barbaric at the same time. And by that, naturally I mean delicious. My favorite were probably the vegetable and pork dumplings. Some of the other really strange (but GOOD) varieties included pumpkin dumplings and walnut dumplings. They must have brought us about fifteen different types of dumplings. At the end we got dumpling soup, with tiny ones, which determined your fortune based on hour many dumplings you got. Terry and I both got three, Drew got two, Rick and Em both got one, and poor Nick got no dumplings. Hopefully he'll come back from China in one piece, you never know. Anyways, after that we came to the internet, and now here we are.

So, despite some small setbacks in health, Team China is doing very well. Not to mention eating very well. Since you have probably just ready Em's entry for yesterday AND mine for today, you are probably very China-ed out. So, adios. Enjoy your Feb. break everyone!

Oiliphants and Biting Monkeys

(Emily)

ni men hao!

sorry this is a day late! we got into xi'an at 12 am last night, leaving no time for us to go scope out an internet cafe.

yesterday was mucho fun.... as well as impossibly tiring. we went to emei-shan (mt. emei for non chinese speakers). it is pronounced EUH-MAY, not eh-may like i stupidly said to one of the concierge (he blinked at me a couple times registering the ignorance of it then was like "oh! EUH-may shan!"). i won't make that mistake again!

so back to yesterday's events. we went to emei shan after breakfast, which was not the finest and was probably capitalized by cady mistaking the soy sauce bottle for a cream one... drew had been up all morning because of his cough and opted to stay at the hotel because he felt so lousy (note: he's feeling much better now!). the weather was quite dreary- it was rainy and very chilly. we rode our bus to a bus station that had eco-friendly buses, which in turn took us part-way up the mountain to a cable car station. the cable cars took us to one of the largest temples of the mountain: wannian temple. the mountain's temples are dedicated to the bodhisattava puxian (a bodhisattva is someone who has reached enlightenment and can help people reach enlightenment, but is not a buddha). the temple was a complex of buildings first seen after ascending 238 stone steps,(ric and terry were counting) which opened up to a shrine at the top and on the right, a bell tower. behind the shrine was a path lined by elephants (oiliphants for your lotrs people) that were tri-tusked. they are animal of the bodhisattava puxian. at the end of the path were more stairs (yay!) leading to the shrine to puxian. the shrine was gorgeous and haunting? at the same time. it was very otherworldly with a monk reciting prayers with a drum and gong at the side of puxian's altar. in the center of the domed structure is a large white tri-tusked elephant which puxian is riding. puxian himself is painted gold with an elaborate gold headress (a sign of being a bodhisattava) and red lips. he wears a stare that was narrowed and fixed at those who dared to enter the shrine. very intimidating! surrounding him are arhats on shelves that are embedded into the wall of the structure. arhats are people who have reached personal enlightenment, but are not able to help others reach enlightenment. after paying our respects to puxian and touching the elephants right hind leg- it's the left hind leg for guys- we were on our way! we went to a shrine to all three buddhas that was behind puxian's, which the monks of the mountain pray in two times a day, which was near a well that people had thrown money into (as well as a few token goldfish- an extra measure for goodluck).

after the temple, we walked down more stone steps that had been carved into the side of the mountain to the monkey reserve. the stone steps, surrounded by lush forest, was beautiful surrounded in in hazy gray mist. however, there were A LOT of steps and by the time we reached the bottom, terry's knees were aching, so she opted to stay behind in a pagoda while the rest of us foraged on to the wild monkey area. the walk to the wild monkeys was just as beautiful, with trees standing guard on either side of a creek that ran through the gorge. the monkey area was SO COOL! there were actual monkeys just hanging out on the paths as eager tourists (ourselves included) were snapping pictures of them mere inches away from them! there were many wide eyed baby monkeys clinging to their mothers, which were very adorable (eliciting several "awwws" from everyone). at one point we tried to go higher up to another path, but a woman guarding it blocked cady and then proceeded to imitate a monkey (making ooh ooh ah ah noises) while pretending to bite her arm. that being said, we did not go up further lest we be mauled by biting monkeys.

after going back to the pagoda where terry was hanging out in, we decided to have lunch, which consisted of us walking up more steps to a remote mountain village which had perhaps four families. the food was great (the mildly spicy and garlicy tofu was probably the best dish, though cady contests that the bamboo shoots were the best) but the lunch was pretty uneventful. after eating, we proceeded down the mountain and walked for about thirty minutes to the bus station, where we all collapsed wet, tired, and happy.

we then went to the hotel and picked up drew, and drove 2 and a half hours to chengdu. in chengdu, our guide asked us what we wanted for dinner. we were all a little tired of having chinese food for the past couple of days (very tasty, but with many repetitive dishes). so we went to the very classy kendoji restaurant. we came....we saw....we conquered....the popcorn chicken. yes, kfc was where we dined for our last night in chengdu. and let me tell you, it was delicious. we ordered popcorn chicken, french fries, and several fried chicken sandwiches. oh yeah, we also got bingchiling (ice cream in chinese). the whole experience was quite hilarious- it was a full house and our group was the only one with white westerners. we got stared at for quite a bit. ric has it all documented with his camera skills. after dining at kendoji, we went to the airport, where we bid farewell to our guide zhang han and hoisted our bags onto a scale (for the last time until we come home!) and came to xi'an, which is where we are now!

China Dining with No Hot and Sour Soup?

(Nick)

Before I talk about today's adventures I must gush about Lijiang. WOW. Lijiang was so different from anything we'd seen so far on the trip. Not only is it located basically at the foot of the Himalayas, it is home to the Naxi minority which made it all the more fascinating. When most people visit China, they go to huge cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Although there is a "new Lijiang" (since it is such an ideal tourist destination), the old Lijiang was so great. I could've walked around for weeks! The many canals and wooden buildings, with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the background made Lijiang breathtaking. While I obviously think it is important to see the rest of China, I found it particularly rewarding and refreshing to see a minority group within China. Our guide, Kathy, was so outstanding, and she really made the visit to Lijiang quite an enjoyable one! Lijiang's exotic location made us think about going to Tibet, and Kathy told us that she also really wants to go to Tibet and that she has a friend who could help us plan a trip there. Now that would great!

We are now in Emei City (although we've spent the last two days in Chengdu). Today in Chengdu, before leaving for Emei City, we went to a the Wu Hou temple, a shrine commemorating Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang. Basically, in the third century, China was separated into three Kingdoms (Shu, Wu, and Hui). Liu Bei founded the Shu kingdom in Chengdu and was the Emperor, and Zhuge Liang was the prime minister, known for his wisdom. The shrine was beautiful; the statues of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were beautifully done and the actual compound had many gardens and courtyards. Near the shrine there was an old street that actually wasn't more than a century old, but it looked it compared to the bustling, modern city that is currently Chengdu. Other than a small portion of the ancient wall that surrounded Chengdu, it was very hard to get an idea of what Chengdu was like before modern times.

After our trip to the Wu Hou temple, we went to a restaurant for lunch, which brings me to the topic of food. I am loving the food in Chengdu because of its location in Szechuan province, which automatically means everything is very spicy! Although I have not been able to find my hot and sour soup (anyone who has been to a Chinese restaurant with me in the U.S. knows about my passion for hot and sour soup), I have really been enjoying all the spicy dishes! Come to think of it, I don't think we've had a bad meal in China yet. Every meal keeps on getting better! 6 seems to be the magical number for meals because we have been able to eat almost everything we are offered yet still stuff ourselves!

After another delicious meal, we got on the bus and drove to Emei City. It was about a 2 hour drive, so we used this time to rest (traveling to 6 cities in the span of a week and a half will do that to you!). On our way to Emei City, we stopped in Leshan and hopped on a ferry boat that took us to the largest stone Buddha in the world. It was constructed on the side of a cliff during the 3rd century. We'd already seen a big Buddha in Hong Kong on Lantau island, and we thought that was big! This one was enormous.

We are all doing well (although some of us are under the weather). We have had such a great trip so far. Although we are really looking forward to Xi'an and Beijing, we are SO excited about getting to Hangzhou in 10 days. Traveling has been wonderful but it is very tiring, and the idea of living in Hangzhou with host families for 5 weeks is very appealing to us! I haven't done any laundry yet, and I am hoping to tough it out until we get to Hangzhou (we will see how that goes....I'm sure my Mom will kill me when she hears this!).

Thank you to all who are reading this - it really means a lot to all of us!

Zaijian

Cheng Du to You!

(Ms. Luskin and Ric)

Cheng Du to You!

Terry and Ric thought we’d attempt a co-blog to bring you up to date on today’s adventures. We know you’re all panda-ing with anticipation (today being our long awaited trip to the Panda Breeding Center) so here we go!

(R) We arrived at 11PM last night. Strangest airport you’ve ever experienced. Our China Airlines 737 parked in a row of aircraft away from the available but empty and dark jet way terminals. Why use those when you have a humongous tarmac to play with? They drove a ramp up to the door, off loaded, and bussed us to the baggage claim area. Ditto for about eight other flights - bedlam but efficient. We inexplicably had our luggage in short order – if it was Logan we’d STILL be waiting - and squeezed our way through the single door exit. Our local guide Zhang Han (who I keep wanting to ! call John Paul) was there to meet us with a friendly sign and a welcoming smile. The airport is in the south and our hotel in the north, so it was a bit of a drive to get to the fabulous Cheng Du Tibet Hotel, a journey made longer by road diversions for a new subway system they’re installing. The Big Dig follows us east!

(T) Far and away the poshest accommodations of our stay. The room is beautifully appointed with dark woods, upholstered headboard walls, two comfy double beds, triple sized bathroom with separate tub and shower, CNN & HBO on cable, and free internet access (woo hoo!). Even heated halls and public spaces, and a coffee bar!

We started our day after breakfast by stopping at a local laundry shop for the benefit of several in our group (no names will be mentioned) who decided it was “time”. The bus pulled up – much to the amusement of a number of locals – and an overfilled laundry bag was dissected in a semi-public way! Zhang Han had to cajole the proprietor into 24 hour turnaround – they initially insisted that quicker service was not possible because of the crush of post-holiday laundry from locals.

(R) A land of laundry shops, and you can’t get stuff washed quickly? There’s an irony!

(T & R) The Panda Breeding Research Center has a woven network of paths through hundreds of acres of bamboo heaven! We saw our first giant pandas after a 15 minute walk along well manicured routes punctuated by the odd call of peacocks. Cameras flew out of pockets like guns out of holsters at a high noon duel. The pandas just stared out past their bamboo buffet with indifference…

The park houses pandas that are a variety of ages (since pandas are born in the fall, the youngest cohort of seven-month-olds). Their enclosures look fairly modern zoo-typical, with the visitors having fairly close access over a deep dry moat. Their behaviors ranged from idle bamboo munching, dozing on man-made wooden climb-arounds, and general rumpusing (our behaviors ranged among gawking, clicking, and ooohing). In the final enclosure there was a group of four youngsters who were engaged in a full fledged WWF session – and we don’t mean World Wildlife Fund! Several of us got some video of this unusual behavior which we’ll try to send back as an AVI file (Zhang Han, who knows a lot about “panders”, says that the adults are solitary beasts). We could have had our photos taken with one of the larger pandas but at 1,000 RMB per person, we politely declined. Thought about it though!

(T) Our next encounter was with the far more active Red Pandas; we fell hard for them! Raccoon-like faces at one end, long white-ringed tails at the other, red brown upper fur with black bellies and legs. They prowled their enclosures inquisitively, in contrast to the introspective, noisy munching of the giant pandas. Apparently these fellows are a comparative bargain – it cost just 50 Yuan each to be photographed enjoying the company of a red panda while it munched apples. Each of us put on giant clear plastic gloves and an oversized surgical gown, and then sat in a special chair where a zoo attendant plonked the content munching beast on our lap! A thrill fo! r all . Then off to the gift shop (proceeds in support of panda research), where Drew joined the “Man Bag” contingent with a spiffy panda backpack.

(R) Back to the bus for an hour long drive to Sanxingdui Museum, a fantastic compound along the Duck River. We had yet another terrific Chinese style lunch at the museum’s restaurant then set off to take in the amazing artifacts whose origin continues to puzzle scientists and archaeologists. The articles they found pushed back the known date of habitation in the area by about 1,000 years. Since there were no written records of any kind, the Shu people are still a mystery to be unraveled.

Another mystery to be unraveled is how anyone survives a journey anywhere on Cheng Du roads – especially rural routes. Road rules? Here they are merely vague suggestions. And while some countries have right hand or left hand driving customs, here EITHER seems to apply, while crossing the road at all angles seems also to be de rigeur. It all seems to be a giant cosmic mathematical game of “avoid the moving objects” as people on foot, on bikes, on tricycles, on mopeds, on motorcycles, in busses, cars and trucks all bob and weave for position. Dodging potholes adds to the excitement. In fact, the latter seems to be a perfectly acceptable excuse for cutting off anyone at any time.&n! bsp; “Excuse me! Didn’t mean to veer into 3 lanes of on-coming traffic. There was a big hole in front of a large section of vacant pavement. Thanks so much for swerving to avoid me.” Our implacable driver never so much as raises an eyebrow as he calmly and safely maneuvers us through the frequent chaos. Zhang Han seems unconcerned. “Han”? Perhaps the Force is with us? In any case, Terry and the kids seem oblivious. They’re all asleep!

(T) Napped our way back to Cheng Du city where we see many pre-1990’s structures with royal blue windows. It seems that clear glass is a more recent phenomenon. We drive to People’s Park, home of a flower show as well as a lovely inner city garden. There are very Victorian curving lines of contrasting color plant material but much is potted, not planted in. At the end of a long walkway overlooking a small pond there is an enormous green moss covered elephant topiary bearing the Beijing 2008 Olympic logo. No one is sure why – as the elephant is certainly not the Olympic mascot!

We headed for an outdoor tea house by the shores of that small pond. There Drew discovered soft ice cream cones being sold from a cart; that had the other kids gaping with envy. As we headed for a table for tea, we were accosted by a cadre of “ear-cleaners” who persisted for a good length of time.

(R) We ordered, then sipped our Jasmine tea as they looked on, standing much too close for far too long. Apparently they couldn’t hear our polite and repeated statements in multiple languages that we did not require their services (would you want your ears cleaned in a tea house buy a guy wielding a large tuning fork and a bouquet of metal swab-like things?). They suddenly vanished – perhaps scurrying off to clean their own ears… Leaving the Tea House, the kids stop to buy 4 more cones from the cart. Terry and I resist but I am envious and slightly resentful. Once upon a time I could eat that way too, with no adverse consequences. I probably gained another pound and a half just being in the proximity of ice cr! eam c arnage…

(T) On the way back to the bus we observe a retired peoples’ band accompanying singing swarms of older people who are hanging out and listening. Zhang Han says they can also be seen dancing hour after hour. We motor past the remnant of the old city walls, dark grey with a tall, sloping crenellated top. 2000 years ago they ringed the entire city and over the centuries were frequently renovated. But most of what survived was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Only 200 meters now exist. Hearing this, the kids talk about how much change the older people of today’s China have seen.

(R) Speaking of seeing things, we’ve had quite a day! We get a few hours break then meet in the lobby at 7P for a local dinner none of us is quite ready to eat. We walk a few blocks to a restaurant where the Sichuan cooking style can be… tamed and controlled. We pass a nearer place, where Zhang Han suggests with a broad and knowing smile, that it would be “very dangerous” for people who are unaccustomed to the heat of local peppers. None of us are inclined to argue!

Lone Runner and Vertical Treadwalls?

(Drew)

I woke up an hour early to go for a run around Li Jiang, something i had not done for a while. While i ran i noticed something, i was getting stares from everyone on the busy streets surrounding the hotel. Its a funny feeling knowing that 100+ people are watching you. I guess i stick out more than i thought. I rarely see people running on the streets which is such a contrast to the amount of cyclists and runners you see on the streets of Dover Sherborn in the morning. I got back to the hotel and scrambled to take a shower before the breakfast buffet closed. We had some time between breakfast and our tour with kathy of Black Dragon Park and the Dong Ba cultural museum. We took the time to walk around the old parts of Li Jiang going in and out of the various shops. The girls found one shop which seemed to match their fashion needs so they spent a while trying things on. We returned to the hotel and met kathy and began our short walk to the park. The park had a lake in the middle surrounded by several pagodas and ornately decorated bridges. The water was amazingly clear so we could see the many different types of fish that inhabited the lake. The park was beutiful and very peaceful. Other than a momentary seperation from Ric and Terry and several failed attempts at seach parties for them, it was a great experience.

We went to lunch before we went on a tour of the Dong Ba Cultural Museum. Our lunch was one of the better lunches ive had since being in china consisting of rice, sweet and sour chicken and deep fried potato puffs amoung a variety of other tastybits. The Don Ba people have their own language consisting of characters that resemble pictographs more than chinese characters. The museum had an exhibit that showed all the ethnic dressing of the Don Ba people. The spiritual leaders of the Dong Ba people wore different outfits for different occasions such as for funerals the priests would wear a black robe with a scepter and a feathered head dress.
We had some downtime between when we got back to the hotel and when we had to leave for the airport and fly to Cheng Du. The four of us went out and looked around in the shops although we were instructed not to let the girls reach for thier money to purchase more clothes.

The airport was very small (for a change) so we didnt have to walk a long distance with all our luggage which barely passes the weight requirement each time. The flight to Cheng Du took about an hour and a half. The descent in the airplane was painful because i have had a cold for about a week so my ears could not equalize. I thought it would take days before i could hear again, all i could hear when we landed were distant mumbled grunts. My discomfort from the plane was slightly comforted by the hotel we are staying which is very nice. Our tour guide originally told us that we were staying at a tibetan hotel. The hotel has a free gym and sauna as well as a bowling ally on the fourth floor. The gym has a "tread wall" which is a tread mill only for rock climbing (Imagine a vertical treadmill with footholds).

Sleep was much needed. Another day in China... Successful.