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Mandarin Meanderings
15 Jun 2006 - 30 Jun 2006
Knee how what??
Joni and Kathryne are taking a two week jaunt to mainland China with a very large tour group. Not our normal mode of travel, but hey, they carry your luggage. So we thought we'd try it out.
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| User: | katieliz |
| Name: | Kathryne Elsberry |
| From: | United States |
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| katieliz@juno.com |
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30 Jun 2006 |
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| Los Angeles,
United States
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Friday - two for one
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Today was our travel home day. We had to meet the bus at 5:30 AM (eek!), at which point they handed us a box breakfast. Personally, I was a little scared since the hotel’s regular breakfast was so questionable. I was rightly concerned as it seems they just took some leftovers and threw them in the box. Hard boiled eggs, cheese on a roll, some pastries, and my favorite, bottled water. The funniest part of the water, that both Kathryne and I discovered simultaneously was that it touted that it was the best water because it was rich in… calcium? No. Iron? No. Vitamin B? No. No, it was rich in… Strontium. What in the heck? What did strontium ever do for our health? Kathryne and I had a healthy chuckle over that one; it became the joke of the day and kept returning. Have you had your strontium today? I think I even made a jingle… hm.
Anyway, we got to the airport and I practically ran for the desk to make sure Kathryne and I got seats together (avoiding the previous flight’s problem). After a little wait, the first people approached the desk and found out our flight was delayed. How much? SEVEN HOURS!!! Let’s just say that we were more than concerned about connecting flights and getting home. We got tour leadership up there, and because we were up front, I was assigned as a helper. They took our passports and put us on another airline (Air Nippon? instead of Japan Air). So, we ran over to their counter to get seats. Even though we were practically first, we got in the slowest line on the planet, where our agent looked eleven. I honestly wonder if it was her first day. She kept making funny faces and asking questions, and eventually got booted by her boss. It was taking her a ½ hour per person!!! Anyway, by the time we got to the counter, she was back, and most of the plane had gone through the other lines. What did that mean? No seats together for us. Arrrghhh!
After a lovely long line at immigration, we ran to a store to spend the last of our Chinese money, then off to our gate. Happily, I got a seat right behind Kathryne (through some switching of course), and we proceeded to be as annoying and obvious as possible so someone might offer to switch with us. Sadly, that did not work, but the flight was fine (we got to watch a Matthew McConaughey movie : ).
In the Tokyo airport, we had a very pleasant check-in and had plenty of time to relax before the flight. We went and purchased some Japanese candy and found a sign that showed the ice cream flavors of the day: chocolate, green tea, and VANIRA. Yes, that’s how they spelled it. Too funny.
Anyway, the flight to LA went off without a hitch; we crashed for most of it. Funny though, when we woke up, it was Friday all over again; gotta love that tricky dateline. Our luggage made it too, which is a terribly good thing. We were glad to be back in the USA, but sad our China adventure was over. It certainly was an unforgettable trip. We thank all of you who came along with us through our travelogue. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Zai jian!
Joni
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29 Jun 2006 |
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| Beijing,
China
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Beijing - the end of the road
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We awoke this morning to a VERY rainy day. We had a very short breakfast, which was as disappointing as yesterday’s, and headed off on the bus for our last day of touring. We were told that, due to the rain, our schedule had been slightly altered and that we were going to the silk rug factory first to try and wait out the storm. The rest of our stops that day would be outside and involve a lot of walking, so we were hoping the rain would clear up quickly.
The rug factory was amazing. We watched girls sit at old looms and hand tie silk rugs in incredibly intricate patterns that they seemed to have memorized. We were told that a 5’ x 8’ rug done in this manner would take four workers (two workers on two four hour shifts per day) four years to produce. They were fascinating to watch as they had perfected their wrap and cut movement to the point you could hardly even seen what they were doing. We watched them for a while and then moved into the gallery where all the beautiful carpets were. After seeing one price tag, we decided that we weren’t going home with anything from here, and so we spent the rest of our time helping others pick out beautiful rugs. One of the women on our tour even custom ordered hers, just telling them what the design looked like in her head, color scheme, etc.
When we came out of the rug factory, the rain did seem to have stopped and we headed for our next stop – the Temple of Heaven. This temple was a large complex with gardens, etc. It seems to be a favorite hangout for the retired population, and we saw old Chinese people swing dancing, playing hacky sack, and just hanging out. It was a beautiful Buddhist temple where they would come to pray every year for good weather and a good ha | | | | | |