TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2004
China Trip: Day 8
Last night before I went to bed I got to witness some live censoring of TV by the Chinese government. I was watching the BBC World News channel and they started to talk about some children that were stabbed the night before in Beijing. As soon as the story came on, the channel went black for 30 seconds until the story was over. The government blocks out any TV that makes China look bad. Very strange. Today when I woke up, we had docked in Chongqing(Chungking). The cruise is over. Chongqing is a huge city, both in population and area. Chongqing is very different than Beijing. Beijing was flat, Chongqing is in the mountains. There are no bicycles here, but there are stick soldiers... men who put large sticks on their shoulders and baskets on each end of the stick to help them carry things up the hills. We had a day to explore the city today. First they took us to the Zoo and we saw some giant pandas, tigers, and lions. They also to us to an art museum. We also drove by the City Hall and visited the Stilwell Museum. Chongqing is know to many Americans as China's last wartime capital in WWII. The Stilwell Museum was Gen. Stilwell's residence when he was sent here during the war by Pres. Roosevelt to help advise Chiang Kai-shek. The food here in Chongqing is the spicy Sichuan food where is really good. So far this has been my favorite food here. We spent the night at the Hilton which was really, really nice. One of the best hotels I've ever been in.
China Trip: Day 9
Today we flew to ancient city of Xi'an along the Silk Road. We visited the Shaanxi History Museum which was really nice for a museum and our guide was very helpful in telling us about the city. There was a little snow on the ground here because it had snowed a couple of nights before but it wasn't cold... 50s. Today we also visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda which was nothing special. At night, we went to a Dumpling Banquet which was very good and we got to try about two dozen kinds of steamed dumplings. The banquet was followed by a Tang Dynasty Theatre show which costume dancers and musicians. We stayed at the Hotel Royal.
China Trip: Day 10
Still in Xi'an today. The old part of the city is surrounded by a huge city wall and a mote. Today we visited the wall. The wall is really cool at night because it is lit up. Then we went to a Terracotta Warrior Replica Factory. This is the second factory tour we've been taken too and all it is is a 5 minute tour of some people pretending to make something and they you are sent to a government store with over priced junk. I didn't buy anything. Finally we went to the see the Terracotta Warriors which was one of the main things I came to China to see. These are amazing. Over two thousand years ago, the emperor had these pits of thousands of life size warriors created to protect him in the afterlife. It took more than 700,000 workers to create these and these warriors were left untouched for 2000 years until a farmer discovered them in 1974. The farmer was actually at the site today signing autographs because it was the off-season. They are still excavating the warriors, but it is quite a site. This blows the Great Wall and all the other tourist sites away. This afternoon, we had some free time for the first time since I've been in China. I decided to walk around town for a few hours. It was really interesting. In 2 hours of walking around, I did not see one other non-chinese person and I got lots of stares. I'm starting to get used to chinese culture. I have learned to cross the street without getting hit. I'm getting good at bargaining which I still hate. And, I'm getting used to all the service people everywhere. Every where you go there are dozens of people following you around ready to help you with everything. I don't understand why they do it because there is no tipping here, but I'm getting used to it. Everything is very cheap here. An expensive dinner in a nice restaurant is about $2-3. An expensive sweater in a show would be about $4-5. I did go into a fancy department store called Parksons where the prices were a little closer to what I'm used to, but the prices on the street are very cheap, even though I'm getting overcharged everywhere since I'm a foreigner. But I deserved it. I make more money in a half-day, then these people do in a month. I was very surprised today when I noticed a giant billboard on a building outsite of my hotel that said "Paramount - Original Studio Clothing" and had the address of my work! Apparently there is a store here that carries Pararmount brand clothing. I found the store and went inside. They've got all kinds of nice clothes that say Paramount on them. Even Paramount-brand jeans. It's really funny. I can only assume that they are not licensed to do this but I'll have to find out for sure when I get home. But I do know that they have better Paramount gear than the studio store on the lot.
