So I’m back from China. Actually I’ve been back for quite some time but life has gotten in the way and blogging was put on the back burner for awhile. So China – how was it? Keep in mind that this was my first trip off of the continent (North America), and have never been anywhere ‘exotic’ (for lack of a better word), so I am pretty much a travel virgin. China was an amazing experience, although a bit of a culture shock for me. 
We met up with our tour guide and our group on the second night. We had Americans, Brits and Canadians. A great group in fact! We had a lot of good laughs together. Hector was a little hesitant to join a tour group when we were first planning the trip. He is a world traveler and likes to do it independently, but we compromised on this trip. We both agree now that a tour is the only way to go when travelling to China unless you speak Chinese or are travelling with someone who does. The language barrier is so great, it is next to impossible to communicate, although the Chinese will try regardless. Our tour leader was a wonderful lady! So helpful and knowledgeable! I don’t know what would have done without her! (Thanks Olive if you are reading this!). 
So Beijing is an interesting city. I wouldn’t necessarily call the city beautiful on a whole, but the historic sites such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven are absolutely breath taking. Oh! And the Great Wall - AMAZING!!! These sites are so rich in history and culture! I think the best part of Beijing was when Hector and I toured around on our own on the first day. We got to see how many of the city dwellers spend their weekends. We ended up in Jingshan Park – the biggest park in Beijing. In this park you can walk up ‘coal hill’ to visit a temple with a statue of the Buddha. We observed many of the Chinese line up to have their chance to bow and pray in front of this Buddha. They would write down prayers and drop them into a box. We also witnessed a wonderful sense of community in this park. At one point we encountered hundreds of people gathered together to sing. They were handing out song books so everyone could join in. The pride and enthusiasm in which they sang was so inspiring and beautiful. 
After 3 days in Beijing, we headed on an overnight train to Xi’an. The train is the lifeblood of China. This is the most common type of travel. Our group had 2 1/2 births with 6 beds in each birth. In China you can go either ‘hard class” (the way we went) or ‘soft class’. In soft class the births have only 4 beds and are more private. In hard class, you have absolutely no privacy at all….unless you go to the bathroom…but you basically want to avoid that as much as you can. A squat toilet….that’s all I’ll say. Note: there are no smoking signs on the trains and many public areas, but again, these signs are guidelines only and are completely ignored by the Chinese. Smoking everywhere (not that I have anything against smokers - I was just amazed by it.)
Xi’an was my least favorite stop. The city was quite smoggy and polluted. It was very warm there; I can only imagine how it gets in the hot summer weather. The main reason for our stop in Xi’an was it’s proximity to the Terracotta Warriors, about an hours drive away. The Terracotta Warriors were found by accident in 1974 when some farmers were digging a well. It soon turned out that they had found a real treasure. The army of Terracotta Warriors was built to protect the tomb of Emperor Qin. There are 3 pits that have been excavated. The largest pit contains approx 6000 life size soldiers. It is quite a site and the story behind the warriors is even more amazing and unfathomable. Google it – for more information!
We stayed 2 days in Xi’an and then we jumped on a plane and took off for Shanghai. I loved Shanghai. A very cool and hip city. More westernized than Beijing with many expats living there. We loved the shopping! The architecture in Shanghai is so great. Lots of interesting structures like the Pearl Tower. We also loved our visit to a local canal town just outside of Shanghai where we got to observe small town life and barter with the local shop keepers. It was raining that day, but that didn’t bother us at all, the town was lovely.
On the third day in Shangjai, H.H and I had to say goodbye to our new friends and head off for the Yellow Mountain on our own. I’ll admit I was terrified to leave our group and to be honest, really wanted to stay with them. Once we were off on the train all was fine (we rode soft class this time). Yellow Mountain was breathtaking. The pictures speak for themselves. If you ever go to Yellow Mountain, I suggest you pack some food with you before you go up. Prices on the mountain are double what you would normally pay.
After Yellow Mountain, we headed back to Shanghai. We spent our last day shopping like crazy and dreaming of home. Our trip was 14 days and we were ready for our own bed.
