amyb

<b>Where:</b> Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu, Ya'an and Shanghai, China

<b>Why:</b> Back in January I saw a blip in my Facebook newsfeed about “work with pandas on vacation”. I followed the link on a lark and ended up booking the trip. The 12 day journey would include 2 ½ days volunteering at a panda breeding facility in Ya’an, in the Sichuan province in China. China wasn’t high up on my bucket list (indeed, I’d been saving it for the next “milestone birthday” trip), but this opportunity turned out to be too good to pass up.

<b>How:</b> The tour was organized by Access China Tours for the non-profit group Pandas International, Inc. PI is a charity which helps fund certain panda research and breeding facilities in China. While membership in PI was not required for the trip, most of the travelers (10 total) were members and a portion of the tour cost went to PI directly. I worked with Cherry at ACT who was attentive and responsive to my requests.

Ordinarily I would never consider a tour but China was not someplace I felt I could easily (read: easily) navigate on my own. To cover the ground we did in the time we did required three internal flights and a private mini-bus and guides/drivers in each city. This was, in my opinion, the most expeditious way to make this trip. Plus, I sort of got used to the whole private guide/driver and someone to deal with the logistics and the on-the-ground issues in Russia last year.

<b>Airlines:</b> I flew United BOS-ORD-PEK going over and PVG-SFO-BOS coming back. I chose United solely for the Economy Plus, which was going to afford me extra legroom for minimal extra cost. I wanted to be comfortable but not break the bank on airfare. On the Chicago-Beijing leg, the flight was practically empty and I had the middle seat between me and the guy in the aisle empty, which was nice. From Shanghai to San Fran, the flight was oversold and packed, but the extra legroom made all the difference.

Internal flights were on either China Southern or China Eastern Airlines. Two of our three flights departed exactly on time (defeating the pre-conceived notion that all domestic flights are late) but our flight from Chengdu to Shanghai left 45 minutes late, which was due to air traffic control issues and I am guessing heavy rain. All three flights were fine, with service and experience comparable to any other carrier I’ve taken. In-flight meals were Chinese cuisine (of course!) and good. All luggage made it without issue.

<b>Hotels:</b> all of these were part of the tour package, I did not pick them but was not disappointed with any of them.
<b>Beijing – Doubletree by Hilton Beijing</b>
Any hotel that hands me a hot chocolate chip cookie after 31 hours in transit has won me from the start. I know that's a Hilton/Doubletree thing around the world, but I wanted food and a shower in that order and they fit the bill.

I stayed here 2 nights at the start of my vacation in China. My room was good sized and the bed was comfortable. The bathroom too was good sized with plenty of room to move around and good counter space. Everything was perfectly clean and quiet. The wired internet worked well, but the fee for it was sort of high. Other than that, I have no complaints about the room at all.

Breakfast is served in an enormous restaurant and has an equally enormous selection. Problem is it is quite crowded and the lines at the various buffet stations can be long. Heck, even waiting to get a table can be a long wait. I found the breakfast atmosphere too frenzied and loud for my liking that early in the day.

There's an ATM in the hall near the restaurant, which is quite handy.

I was not bothered by location as I was escorted by a local guide and did not have to get around on my own. I had no occasion to engage staff, so can't speak to service.

I'd gladly stay here again if I get the chance.

<b>Xi’an – Grand Noble Hotel</b>
I only stayed in Xi'an for one night so my review may be tempered by that fact. The location is exceptional; we were able to walk to the restaurant we ate at as well as the market streets nearby no problems. The room was average; my queen sized room felt as though the bathroom area was actually a converted kitchenette, if that makes sense. There was one closet that housed the toilet, one that housed the shower and the sink/mirror faced into the living area with a pass through as if I was to serve dinner through there. Sort of odd, but completely functional and clean. The bed was large, comfortable and clean. Again, I had no complaints whatsoever about cleanliness, comfort or quietness (I heard no street noise whatsoever). Breakfast buffet was vast and delicious. Overall everything was fine, but there was nothing to make this an exceptional place to stay, just ordinary. I'd have no problem returning though. I had no need for contacting any staff for service so can't really comment on that. The wired internet connection in the room was free and fast.

<b>Chengdu – Tibet Hotel</b>
We spent two nights here and of the five hotels I stayed in, this was my favorite.
From the spacious lobby to the breakfast area, the Tibetan vibe is obvious. The room was spacious, immaculately clean and comfortable. The bed and linens were clean and comfortable. The tv spun around to be viewable either in the bedroom or from the tub in the bathroom. The bathroom had separate bath and shower, both of which were very modern. I liked have a small foyer into the room and plenty of room to spread out.

The wired internet connection in the room was free and fast. The breakfast was good, but with less Western options than I'd have liked, but I realize being away from the larger cities with more Western visitors, that's the way it is.

Location was not an issue for me as I was being escorted by a local guide. But being on the corner of what appears to be two busy streets, I was surprised at how quiet (silent) my room was overnight.

I had no reason to contact hotel staff, so cannot speak to service. All this said, it should be obvious that I would gladly stay here again! (I seldom hand out five stars for hotels, but this one is very close!)

<b>Ya’an – Moonstar Hotel</b>
We spent three nights here. I loved the hotel. After staying in three of China's largest cities for a week, this was a nice "escape" from the big city feeling. It was wonderful to sleep with the windows open and hear nothing but crickets (or cicadas?) at night and the rooster in the morning. The location that makes it so quiet makes it very secluded. Without a car, you have access to nothing in Ya'an if you're traveling by foot. It is on the opposite side of Ya'an from the panda base at Bifengxia, so budget about 45 minutes to get there in early morning traffic through Ya'an.

We ate at the attached restaurant for both breakfasts and dinners. All of the meals were good. Breakfast buffet was entirely Chinese though, no Western options other than fried eggs. There was coffee, but it was already milked and sugared on the hot plate. None of the restaurant staff speak English, so ordering dinner is tough without Chinese speaking assistance. That said, we still had great meals, if not exactly what we ordered.

Free wired internet in the room, wireless internet in the lobby.

The room was spacious and comfortable. Bed and bath were immaculately clean. The combination of a comfortable room and a quiet atmosphere was a much needed break at the midpoint of the trip. I would stay here again when I return, but would need a rental car or guide/driver to get me around.

<b>Shanghai – Lexington Plaza Mingde</b>
I went to Shanghai with such trepidation after reading all the reviews about this hotel on TripAdvisor. Rest assured, it is not nearly as bad as advertised.

The Lexington Plaza is large and non-descript. This hotel could be anywhere in the world, NYC, DC, Berlin. It's a big western chain, period, and that fact lends itself to non-descript character and impersonal staff, at least as I've experienced in all my travels. This is, however, the only hotel I stayed in in China where every concierge, bellhop, cleaning person greeted me with a hello in English when we passed in the corridors or elevator. That says something...

The hotel's location is remote from tourist areas, but this was not a problem for me as I was being escorted by a local guide. The area around it reminded me of the area just west of Times Square, NYC. So if you've been in neighborhoods like that and lived to tell about it, you'll be fine here.

The accommodations are excellent. My room was large, immaculately clean and quiet. Bathroom and bed were clean and comfortable. There was a wired internet connection for a fee in the room which was reliable but a bit slow. I was told by my fellow travelers that wireless in the lobby was faster.

Breakfast was average; this was the fifth hotel of five in China for me, and it had the slimmest offerings of them all but a good combination of Chinese and Western foods. I had no complaints about the restaurant service, but did find the dining rooms a bit dark for breakfast time! We had drinks in the bar one night and the service there was good for the number of people in the group.

I rated this Average only because there was nothing that made it special or memorable to me and I felt the fee for wired internet use in the room was high. I had no issues or complaints or problems otherwise. Compared to other hotels I stayed in on this trip, this was just average.

<b>Restaurants:</b>
Usually, food and restaurants are such a big part of my trip reports. Unfortunately, I don’t know any of the names of the restaurants we ate at, because they were all in Chinese and I never asked for them in English. For a tour group, I felt we ate amazingly well. In each city, we ate whatever the local popular cuisine was, so in Beijing we had Peking Duck, in Xi’an we had the dumpling dinner, in Chengdu we had Sichuan hot pot and Sichuan tapas-style meals and in Shanghai we had a traditional Shanghainese meal. Having gotten terribly ill once in Spain, of all places, I am gun-shy now when it comes to even slightly adventurous eating. I got over that in China if only because everything was so good, and tasted fresh and was really tasty. I loved the Sichuan food, and the hotter the better. I fell hard for Ma Po Tofu and a green bean and Sichuan pepper dish that was insanely good. I also enjoyed the 21 courses of dumplings we had in Xi’an and appreciated that the dumpling was usually shaped in the form of the filling inside it, so if it looked like a fish, or a pumpkin or a nut or a chicken, it probably was. It was interesting to try things I’ll probably never find here, like lotus root, and like them. Only now I find myself wanting them again!

<b>The Tour Itself:</b> Our guide said to us one night on the way back to the hotel “This vacation is not for your rest, this vacation is for you to see as much as you can.” Man, I like to jam-pack my vacations, but this trip made even my most industrious independent travel look like child’s play. I don’t regret seeing anything or how we did it, but I think the general fatigue I had when I got home, coupled with brutal jetlag, really got to me. I don’t think we could have done it any differently, but I do wish we’d spent more time in some places (Beijing, Shanghai) and skipped things in other places (Jinsha Museum in Chengdu). I knew when I started reading tour books to prepare that my list of “would love to see this, but won’t on this trip” would be longer than I wanted, so I stopped reading and just went with the flow. Next trip I’ll circle back to “everything else”, I suppose.

We had one tour manager who was not just our guide in Beijing, but stayed with us the entire time and facilitated everything. We'd have to have our luggage outside our room before breakfast, but then we wouldn't see it again until we picked it up in the next city, and we'd show up at the airport with boarding passes already done for us, with about a half hour to kill before the flight, so I feel he really maximized our time on the ground. I'm not used to that service traveling alone! In addition, in each city we'd have a local guide who'd add more color and facilitate our moving around each locale.

That said, only having 10 of us on the tour made us a very efficient bunch who got very friendly very quickly. I was truly sad to leave my tour mates at the end of the tour, because I felt like we'd been through so much together.

<b>Miscellany:</b> More than any other trip, this trip was just sensory overload. There wasn’t much that we did that I didn’t have to consciously process. Brushing your teeth (don’t use the water!), taking a shower (keep your mouth closed), using squat toilets, looking out the window, reading a menu (or asking for a translation), listening to music….everything was new, exciting, different, strange, challenging. I think that constantly being “On” and taking everything in adds a dimension to travel that I hadn’t had before. Nothing I’d seen in Europe or Russia challenged me this much. I loved it, but it is tiring too.

<b>General Travel Tips:</b> Yes, bring your own toilet paper, especially outside the big cities. And be prepared to squat often, especially outside of Beijing and Shanghai. I found once we left Beijing, western toilets were non-existent outside of our hotels.
Bring Handy Wipes to wipe clean your hands and anything else that may be in the line of fire in the toilets. I also highly recommend melatonin or some other sleep aid. I spent the first three days getting next to no sleep due to jetlag until I had a doctor on the trip prescribe me something. And when eating, use common sense. The only people in our group who suffered any form of intestinal distress ate apples, pears or nuts bought in street markets.

For internet access, I downloaded and installed Stealthcube's VPN on my Dell mini. I found it pretty intuitive to use but did have a bit of trouble connecting just to Facebook in Beijing, otherwise I never had any issues getting to either Facebook or my blog, both of which were restricted sites there. It was $8 a month for Stealthcube and money well-spent.

Next up: sights and pandas!

fluffnfold

Great start, amyb! I can't wait to read more! I just returned from China myself last month, and followed a similar itinerary (in reverse), although I traveled independently and didn't visit Ya'an. I can already tell that I'm going to be jealous when I read about your 2.5 day panda adventure!

skibumette

I'm so pleased you are posting this report Amy!! I gave SERIOUS thought to doing this trip (one of my clients in the travel clinic where I work did it last year) -- but, in the end, we opted for Egypt this fall, thinking it would be less crowded than usual. China is probably next on my bucket list -- so I'm looking forward to all the details. (I know what you mean about sensory overload -- India was that way!)

amyb

<b>Vaccinations:</b> I can’t recommend highly enough finding a good travel clinic and making a visit. I had gotten a Hepatitis A shot for Russia and my primary care doc didn’t feel completely comfortable researching the rest of what was needed for China, especially since I’d be working at the panda base. I went to a local travel clinic and consulted with a travel specialist and infectious disease doctor. They plotted on a map everywhere I’d be and they consulted seasonal outbreak trends for those areas. They decided that I would not need a prophylactic rabies series, since if I did get bitten even with the pre-trip vaccinations, I’d still need to get to a hospital within 24 hours anyway, so the series didn’t necessarily buy me anything. I ended up getting my second Hep A, two Hep B (with a follow up in 6 months), a tetanus/pertussis/diphtheria booster and, because of all the measles outbreaks here in Boston, a measles booster. I also took home a typhoid week-long series of pills. What I liked though was the record that they made for me so that now I know what I’ve had when, and I can just go back to them as needed for future travels. They also recommended getting a TB test 3 months after I return just to be on the safe side.

<b>Sights:</b> I’ll cover these out of sequence, since the order in which we saw things doesn’t necessarily matter. I know the panda part is probably of interest, so I’ll start there…

<b>Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center:</b> We visited two panda bases in China, Chengdu’s was the first and we only spent about a half day here. Being more centrally located, this had more of a “zoo” atmosphere than the one at Bifengxia where we’d be later in the week. It actually seemed designed to display and educate visitors about pandas. And being more centrally located, it was also quite crowded. Here, we saw maybe a dozen adult pandas just roaming around their enclosures outdoors (which are larger and more suitable to pandas than any panda exhibit I’d seen in the US) as well as the 12 baby pandas born this summer in the nursery. As if the sheer number of pandas weren’t enough, we also took advantage of a panda cub opportunity, which for a charitable donation, untitled us to each hold a one-year old cub on our laps and have photos taken. As an animal lover and someone who’s admired pandas her whole life, I cannot find the words to describe how incredible it was to do this. The panda, who was being fed a steady stream of bamboo soaked in honey, seemed to just go with the flow as we each got to pet, talk to and hold the panda like it was our own pet. It was just incredible. But little did I know that it wouldn’t be the most rewarding experience of the week! The Chengdu facility also has red pandas, which are similar to raccoons and quite skittish. Honestly, I could have spent an entire day here but we had other stops on our itinerary in Chengdu, so we had to move on.

<b>Bifengxia Panda Center:</b> Bifengxia is located in Ya’an which is about 2 ½ hours drive from Chengdu. It is nestled in secluded mountains in the Sichuan province, which coupled with lack of access to public transportation, makes it a much quieter, less crowded place to visit. Bifengxia allows visitors, but I could tell that educating visitors was not what Bifengxia was all about. It is first and foremost a breeding and research facility and there is little in the way of creature comforts for visitors (no placards on the enclosures, no educational materials or programs) but what it lacks in in-your-face education it makes up for in terms of seeing pandas in as close to their natural environment as possible. The entire base is set in the hills and lower part of the mountains and many of the enclosures for the pandas take advantage of the terrain and give the pandas plenty of room to roam. Many times the pandas were so far off or way up in trees, but that just felt right to me. They weren’t there to entertain us or be seen at all, even. But that’s not to say we didn’t see them. Or touch them, or feed them.

The focus of the base now is to reintroduce pandas to the wild. Mature pandas may be introduced into a semi-wild environment to breed and/or deliver the next generation outside the direct influence of humans. Now that the bases have figured out how to successfully breed in captivity, their focus has turned to reintroduction in order to grow the wild number of the species.

As volunteers, we worked two full days and this got us much closer to the pandas than any visitors could. The first ½ day was an orientation where we signed waivers, got our keeper suits and got acclimated to the base. Once we started working, mornings were spent mucking out the indoor and outdoor areas for 8 adult pandas. We’d sweep poop, scrub the floors, haul out day-old bamboo, haul in new bamboo, pull weeds in the patio outside, sweep the walkways outside the enclosures. It was not easy, there’s no loafing allowed for sure. The benefits to this? Imagine bending down pulling weeds and looking up to find the occupant of that enclosure watching you from inside, just feet away. It was amazing. They were much more aware of and engaged with us than I ever imagined.

Late morning we’d do our first round of feedings. This usually meant “panda bread” which is a form of carbs/protein and other nutrients that they don’t get from bamboo. We’d cut it up in the kitchen based on the panda’s weight and then go to each enclosure and hand-feed the pandas. I was literally within arm’s length of the adults and handing them their bread through the bars of the enclosure. They’d gently take the bread in their mouths and watch me while I sat there, wondering if I’d feed them more. We did this once in the late mornings and twice after lunch, then we’d also bring different types of bamboo stalks to those who wanted it. They seem so quiet and gentle and most were really engaged with me, although how much of it was because I controlled the panda bread is probably a good question!

During free time we could visit the one-year old kindergarten, visit the nursery, visit the “repatriated” adult pandas who were born in the DC and San Diego zoos or take advantage of more opportunities to sit with or play with cubs in the kindergartens (I did both, twice!). We could also visit the enclosures all over the base (over 50 pandas live there) and take photos or just watch them which was incredibly relaxing in itself. Overall, my access to the pandas was something I’d never get here in the US. So few people see more than a handful of pandas in their lives and I saw over 70 in a week! And up close and personal at that! It was truly the experience of a lifetime and I’d do it again in a second.

So while some may frown upon or discourage the whole volunteer experience, I recommend it wholeheartedly. I never felt like either the pandas or I were in any sort of danger or were being used for a cause. The keepers were very clear about our limitations and the priority of the pandas’ health and well-being, as well our personal safety. I worked extremely hard, no question. I’m in excellent physical shape, but both days I left a big tired ball of sweaty amyb, but both days I also felt like I’d done something good. If we freed the keepers up to do other things (because ordinarily they’d be on their own cleaning the enclosures and doing the feedings) then that was good. But if my writing about the experience makes anyone more aware of what they do and how they do it and how it’s funded, that’s even better.

<b>Great Wall at Badaling:</b> This is probably the most touristed section of the Wall, but we “lucked out” because the morning had been torrentially rainy and cold for September, so by the time we arrive here well after lunch, it was practically empty but the weather had cleared a bit. I mean, I walked for 15-20 minutes at a time along the harder section of the Wall (take the left-hand route after the ticket booth) and saw no one at all. What can I say? The views are spectacular. The architectural feat is amazing. The walk/climb itself is steeper than I ever imagined, and I regularly spend an hour at a time on the step mill at the gym! I walked 4-5 guard houses to the left and stopped when I realized I was above some low-lying clouds, but even with the cloudy/overcast conditions, this was just beautiful. On the drive to Badaling, I noticed several very small sections of the Wall along the route that I’m sure you could stop at if you had your own transportation and were so inspired. I would definitely try to see other sections on a repeat trip. I was <i>that</i> inspired by it. We spent about 90 minutes here and I was fine with that. With jetlag and an already full day behind me at that point (on our first full day in China, we’d done Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and a jade factory before this), I wasn’t going to climb more than that.

<b>Tiananmen Square:</b> Keep in mind that Red Square in Russia is one of my favorite outdoor spaces. Tiananmen Square is so much more massive, just enormous, but it doesn’t have the “gathering space” feel to it that Red Square does. In fact, visitors are chased away at night. Interestingly, Lenin would probably be bitter that his tomb looks like a phone booth compared to Mao’s. So while it was a must-see for me, more to satisfy my penchant for newsworthy places than anything, it was a quick hit.

<b>Forbidden City:</b> This was one of those places I wish we had a LOT more time. Our guide did a great job shuffling us through the more popular places and explained things well, but I wish I’d had time to wander more. It is gorgeous though, especially for me, whose first exposure to Asian architecture this was. I appreciated that instead of growing vertically to be large, it grew horizontally and just spread out. I found the guide gave me just enough history to put things into context and explained well what we were seeing without killing me with details.

<b>Temple of Heaven:</b> While the Temple of Heaven itself is really beautiful, the highlight for me was the park surrounding it, which was just full of retirees who were spending their morning with friends doing tai chi, playing cards or chess or mah jong or dominoes or doing karaoke or dancing. You name it, it was going on here. It was such an amazing sense of community and fellowship that I found it utterly amazing. Since men are forced to retire at 50 and women at 55, a whole bunch of people have a whole lot of time on their hands, and this is how they spend it, it seems. I absolutely loved it here and could have spent the whole day just wandering around taking it all in.

<b>Terra Cotta Warriors:</b> Xi’an has been a bucket list destination for me seemingly forever, or at least since I learned about the warriors many years ago. I’d seen the traveling exhibition in DC in 2009, but that did nothing to prepare me for the sheer volume and scale of what I saw in Xi’an. This was just spectacular, and after the pandas, probably the highlight of the trip for me. Again, I just have no words to describe what seeing this was like. It is a stunning accomplishment with an amazing back-story. Our local guide did a good job with a primer in Pit One, then let us loose for over an hour to see it on our own. Then he took us on guided tours through Pits Two and Three and really explained things well. This was one place, fortunately, where I did not feel rushed or that I didn’t see it all. I was blessed in that respect.

<b>Muslim Quarter, Xi’an</b> We spent one night before dinner wandering around the market and just taking it all in. The shop-fronts were interesting with a mish-mash of Chinese traditional clothing, calligraphy brushes in all shapes and sizes, handicrafts and food, lots and lots of food. There were tons of walnuts (a local speciality, it seems), and fast food from stalls. Some of it looked and smelled wonderful, but it was so early in the trip I didn’t risk trying anything for fear of getting sick. Just walking around here was an interesting experience.

<b>City Walls, Xi’an</b> It was pouring down hard when we got to the city wall, so only a few of us ventured out into the rain to walk it. I can imagine on a nice day that it would be glorious and I’d certainly rent a bike and ride. It was tough to enjoy though when running from overhang to overhang and trying to take photos from under umbrellas.

<b>Local art museum and school, Xi’an</b> I wish I knew the name of this, because it was not on our itinerary but it was great fun. The front half of the building had different types of Chinese art through the ages, including paper cuttings, political posters, folk art and farmer’s art. The back half of the building was showroom of art students’ works, which we were free to purchase. We also took a calligraphy lesson there, which was fun but for a type A perfectionist, more than a bit frustrating! This was a fun stop for us and I only wish I could point everyone in the direction of this place, as it was really unexpectedly entertaining!

<b>Jinsha Site Museum, Chengdu</b> This is a glorious new (2007-ish) museum that houses an ongoing archeological dig. While the archeologists have discovered a good deal of treasures, which are now on view in an accompanying museum building, the actual site itself is pretty boring. What I mean is that compared to the warriors in Xi’an where you can still actually see something amidst the digging (thousands of warriors) here you see nothing but little cards that tell you what <i>was</i> found there. I know it’s new, so maybe I should cut it some slack, but I felt that maybe we could do without seeing the actual site, since there was nothing to actually see, and maybe the museum needs some more artifacts to fill up such a vast space. I should give it time, as this is a new dig and new concept to the Chinese. I got the impression from this place and comments our guides made that digging up the past is still a very new thing for them in the post-Cultural Revolution era.

<b>Heming Tea House, Chengdu</b> Three of us in the group (including me) were huge fans of Anthony Bourdain, so we recognized this as the place Bourdain got his ears cleaned in his first episode in China! It was sort of funny to see it and <i>just know</i> where we were! As we were here for the Mid-Autumn Festival, we enjoyed mooncakes (traditional snack food for the festival) and tea. Our local guide taught us how to drink tea properly and we sat for a bit and enjoyed the atmosphere. The ear-cleaner guys and the turtle selling guys were very pushy and persistent, but no one in our group gave in to them. It was neat celebrating the holiday this way though. The rest of the park (Renmin Park, I think) was full of more older folks spending their time much like they were in Beijing outside the Temple of Heaven.

<b>Wenshu Temple, Chengdu</b> This was the first Buddhist temple I’d been to, so obviously there was a steep learning curve for me. It is made up of several buildings each of which have a different icon (not sure if that’s the right word for a statue of a god in Buddhism) and people would come to pray to a particular god based on what they are looking for: benevolence, wisdom, etc. I found that I hadn’t realized how loud China was until we were inside the grounds of the temple where it was almost deafeningly quiet. In the lantern covered lanes, we saw monks walking around and the faithful lighting incense in large incense burners and offering them up to the gods. The contrast of the dark would buildings with the bright red lanterns and the brilliant gold statues of the gods was really striking. This was a cool, quiet respite on what was a very long day.

<b>Local theater, Jin Jiang Theater</b> The local show was really entertaining. There were maybe 10 acts and included hand shadows, Chinese violin, Chinese opera, dancing, puppetry and face changing, which was the big finale. Face changing is an interesting trick. The actors appear with a mask on and quicker than you can blink, they switch their masks right before your eyes. I think I saw a few of the actors pulling them away with strings, but it doesn’t explain how they can get down to bare face and then have a mask on again! This was really a great experience and I’m glad we had the chance to see it.

<b> French Concession, Shanghai</b> We flew through Shanghai, literally. We were in the French Concession early on a Sunday so it was completely deserted and quieted. The tree-lined streets were a surprise in bustling Shanghai. Our guide pointed out where the first meeting of the Chinese Communist Party was held and explained some of the architecture to us. I wish I’d seen it at another time of day and day of week to be able to better compare it to other parts of the city we saw.

<b>Pudong Skyline and The Bund</b> I love big cities and gorgeous skylines, so you can imagine that I was over the moon with the Pudong skyline. What is even more incredible about it is that it (Pudong) is all new since 1995; before that it was farmland. A few of the skyscrapers were formerly the world’s tallest, but have since been displaced. Work continues on a new tower that will take that honor when it opens, probably for a millisecond before it is stripped of the honor yet again. I just loved how modern and futuristic the buildings were and as glorious as they are during the day, at night they are amazing. It’s like a tasteful Times Square without the seizure-inducing overkill of neon. The Bund is a sharp contrast across the river, looking more European than Asian. If it were not for the numerous Chinese flags, I’d be hard-pressed to tell you that’s where we were. It was a gorgeous, warm early autumn day and we saw two wedding parties having pictures done here. One bride wore a red dress, so red like I’ve never even seen before. I can only imagine how pretty their pictures were, mine were awesome!

<b>Forced factory stops</b> Our guides took us to factories for jade, pearls and silk. I’d read a lot online about how distasteful and hard-sell they were and was prepared for it to be utterly distasteful. But I’ve come home with a different opinion. First, we had zero time to shop while we were touring. Had we let everyone loose for say, an hour, and then continued on, that really would have bogged us down and I think seriously eaten into our itinerary. I would have rather seen what we did in the time we had and stopped en route to airports like we did for these factories, it didn’t seem a waste of time. Second, I love to shop. We managed to hit all of these places when they weren’t crowded and I had a personal shopper with me in each place. I knew what I wanted walking into the jade and pearl factories, told the assistant and she helped me find what I was looking for. I also had budgets in mind and was easily able to get what I wanted at the price I wanted. I ended up with a jade bangle and a pearl necklace and ring for me and jade necklaces for family. What I didn’t expect was how much I’d like the silk, so I bought a silk comforter and duvet, silk blouse and jacket. But hey, you only go that way once, right? I felt the prices were more than fair to start with, but certainly negotiated down and took advantage of our guide’s discounts. Without these stops, I don’t think I would have found what I wanted in such expeditious fashion.

Kathie

Great report, Amy!

amyb

<b>General impressions:</b> The entire trip has taken some time to sink in. I'd heard so much about China and people slinging the usual stereotypical replies at me ("you'll hate it, it smells, it's dirty, why would you go there?") really got me concerned before I left. What did I find? I didn't find it overly polluted, didn't need a mask, didn't find it dirty but did find it in a constant state of demolish and reconstruction. China is a developing nation and the first I've been to. Did I see things that opened my eyes? Yes, more than I can enumerate in a trip report. Was I horrified or repulsed by anything? No. I saw some amazing things and met some amazing people among the locals. I noted the cultural differences and chalked them up to that: cultural differences. There was a lot to get used to, which was the first time I'd been challenged like this, but I think it's all part of travel. If I wanted everything to be like I have it at home, I'd stay home. But meeting the family walking the wall in Xi'an and using sign language and one syllable words to ask to take pictures of their absolutely adorable children, or being invited into a wedding we'd seen at a restaurant in Chengdu (where we understood nothing but were amazed by the ceremony run by a guy who had the presentation skills of the host of Iron Chef), to learning that the keeper I worked with at Bifengxia lives 5 hours from home and only gets back there twice a year, the "rest of his family is the pandas"....I wouldn't trade any of that for a trip that was within my comfort zone.

rhkkmk

perfect report... thanks..

i was especially pleased to read that you were not turned off by certain things that you encountered or had read about... pushy vendors, shopping stops, etc..

bob
boston

fluffnfold

Great report, amyb, and a nice way to organize your thoughts. Your posting is easy to understand/read and will be helpful to future travelers. (Can I re-do my own trip report that I just posted yesterday?) Excellent job!

Shanghainese

Well written report, detailed with practical information and candid impressions, I enjoyed it very much, thanks!

rkkwan

Interesting view about the Jinsha site in Chengdu. I have never been there, but was incredibly impressed by the Sanxingdui site, which also dates from the bronze age and similar to Jinsha. No time wasted at seeing the sites, all in the museums seeing the incredible artifacts.

skibumette

Thanks so much -- I'm really going to have to revisit the idea of going to Bifengxia: truly up close and personal with the pandas! Enjoyed the rest of your comments as well.

amyb

rkkwan, I thought it was just me thinking that about Jinsha, but when speaking with others after the fact, they agreed the "Site" in its own building was sort of wasted time given there was nothing to see but open, empty ground with little markers "this was found here". Then in the museum with artifacts, they had some beautiful things, but could fill about 1/8 of that massive building with them. The rest felt like wasted space. Maybe their long-term goals will fill it and if we returned after 5-10 years of excavation it would be different.

skibumette, in 2 years or so, Wolong, the sister reserve to BFX will reopen, it's currently being rebuilt after the 2008 earthquake decimated it. I expect it will be much improved and they will reopen to volunteer opportunities as well. BFX is housing the Wolong pandas on a temporary basis, and from what I read Wolong was sort of the mothership before the earthquake.

skibumette

Waiting for Woolong to reopen could be an option if next spring's China trip doesn't materialize; Fall 2012 is already spoken for. Fall 2013 could be an option -- although I'm not getting any younger! (I'm not ancient; I just feel that way sometimes!)

amyb

Tentatively a bunch of us from this group are planning to go back when Wolong opens, probably in 2013, to work longer, maybe 5-7 days, and tack on a few days in Beijing at the beginning and "somewhere else" at the end. I'd like to spend more time working with them just to get more of the experience overall. It's all very fluid right now, but it definitely was the sort of thing I wouldn't mind doing again!

amyb

skibum, meant to say if you'd want to join us, we'd be doing it independently, but as I said it's very much a "pencil this in" thing right now.

skibumette

amyb: thanks for the tentative invitation to hook up with your fluid group -- I'll keep it in mind! Though it's hard to imagine right now what we'll be doing in 2013! I do have the sense that BFX is a stopgap measure until Woolong can rise from the rubble.

skibumette

atravelynn, whose Africa forum opinions I value, wrote a 2006 trip report about her visit to Woolong. You might want to read it for comparison?

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...da-reserve.cfm

amyb

Thanks. Other than much better accommodations and better ability to communicate with our keepers (who we could call by name, not title) it sounds pretty much the same.

Bifengxia isn't a stopgap, it is a sister facility that has always existed along with and for the same purpose as Wolong. It's just that Wolong was larger when it was hit by the quake and it had to have 65 pandas moved to BFX, which had to hustle to set up temporary housing for the evacuated pandas. I've seen plans for the new Wolong and it looks incredible.

shelleyk

Great report. Very well written and interesting. I can hardly believe how much you covered in 12 days. Thanks for posting.

Miss_Adventure

i heard china stopped doing this program?!?