NeoPatrick in Asia -- a report as it happens (sort of)
Aug 25th, 2010, 09:08 PM
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Just found your report. I'm so glad you are having a good time, I know how much you planned and agonized while preparing for this trip. You're blessed to have locals to show you around too!
It's wonderful you brought Lee with you and I love that you are scattering his ashes in significant places.
It's wonderful you brought Lee with you and I love that you are scattering his ashes in significant places.
Aug 26th, 2010, 05:36 PM
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PART IV: Xi'an
I arrived at the airport in Beijing by taxi -- and looked for the China Eastern check in -- funny, all the counters had lots of signs, but none that said what airline it was -- I think you are supposed to recognize their symbol, but I didn't. This was a recurring theme in China, so I made the habit of stopping at an information desk, showing them my confirmation with the flight number and asking where to go. In this case, I passed by the first class check in which WAS clearly marked for China Southern -- but a regular little room, not in line with the other check-in counters. So I asked them about economy check-in and she directed me. Then just as I got to the lines at economy, I suddenly remembered -- this was the flight I booked in first class at the same price as economy on CTrip, an "early booking bonus" -- so back I went to First Class check in, where I was also given a ticket for their lounge. Quite nice -- too bad I had just had that huge buffet breakfast -- another was set up here.
The flight was great and quick -- and they served a full meal -- it was now about 11 AM -- filet of beef again, and lots of other courses. One has to eat pretty quickly on a one hour flight though.
At Xi'an I took a taxi to the Hyatt Hotel -- wow, the traffic here made Beijing look like a sleepy little town, and it was well over an hour to get to the hotel and a cost of 200 yuan. We sat in traffic almost as much as we drove, it seemed. There was also rain, off and on. When I got to the hotel I really didn't feel very well. I think it was the exhaustion catching up with me. I really hadn't slept much that night (I rarely do, when I worry about getting up and catching a flight). I lay down to take a little nap, and about two hours later woke up thinking I felt better.
At 5 I was met by a local I've talked to for some time on the internet. He is a bank officer and travels a lot and had given me advice about what to do, and also about the airfares -- he was the one who warned me that in summer, the fares from Beijing to Xi'an don't go down and usually sell out. The rain had stopped for now, and we went off on a walk to the Bell and Drum Towers which are only a couple blocks apart and not that far from the hotel, and to the edge of the Muslim area. Then he took me to his favorite dumpling place -- which later I learned was the one I had read about. I was overtaken with a fit of extreme yawning -- like I couldn't get enough oxygen, and I was feeling very queasy. When they brought the dumplings, I asked him where the toilets were just in case -- and as I took my first bite of dumpling, I jumped up and ran -- where I proceeded to vomit my insides out into a squat toilet --at last, something those things are really good for! When I was finished, I splashed cold water on my face and returned to the table. My poor host was sure the dumplings had made me sick, but it wasn't that at all -- they were delicious, and now I was feeling great and really hungry. After dinner, we would have walked back, but I still felt a little queasy, so he tried to get us a taxi -- totally impossible. He then hired us a "jump-jump" (?) one of those three wheel silent motorbikes with a back seat and off we went. But they are illegal on the main streets, so the guy saw a policeman and had to take us a long way around to avoid being stopped. Fun. I apologized profusely for getting sick and for whimping out, as he had planned on showing me a lot more of the city at night. I just wanted to go back and sleep.
Meanwhile, with only one full day in Xi'an, I had wrestled with how to do it. I'm not big on organized tours, and a private driver and guide was quite expensive (especially through the Hyatt -- like 795 for the day plus all admissions). But they had a bus tour which covered all the five sites I really wanted to see and included admissions and lunch for only 395. My friend who was with me at the time -- before we went to dinner -- insisted it couldn't include admissions because that would be almost 200 by itself. So he went with me to the business center and questioned them and agreed, it was a very good deal. So I signed up and paid.
The next morning after a really great sleep I felt great and ate a huge buffet breakfast (included) at the Hyatt. Then I went to the business center to meet my tour only to find I was the only one who had signed up -- so they gave me a private guide and driver for the full day, but still included all the admissions AND a 110 yuan lunch buffet at Tang Dynasty. The guide said, "you got a really good upgrade". Indeed I did. The guide was great, but he did apologize that since we were following the bus itinerary we did HAVE to visit the terra cotta "factory" and shopping opportunity. We had a talk about how that works with tours, and he kept apologizing as I said I was not interested in buying anything. But as he said -- he'd get fired if they didn't make the required stop. It really wasn't bad though, and there was NO pressure to buy. And the lunch was in a huge spectacular Chinese Theatre turned to restaurant (they do cultural shows with dinner at night) -- but a big disappointment. As I said to the guide -- "if my local Holiday Inn did a Chinese night buffet, this is what I'd expect it to be like". It was really a tourist place, but oddly the guide and driver said it's a real treat for them, as it's actually much better food than they normally eat -- there's no accounting for how much Chinese really like Western food or even Western ideas of what Chinese food should be. I think given the chance to eat beef tenderloin as opposed to eating beef entrails, it ends up most Chinese really would prefer the tenderloin!
But the Terra Cotta soldiers were simply amazing and mind boggling -- I think most because it just shows how far someone will go to show their own worth and self-importance. The Wild Goose Pagoda was fine, and the guide and I had a great discussion about young people in China and their beliefs or non-beliefs. I also enjoyed the Ban Po Village -- an excavated 6000 year old village which is all under cover like the warriors. And I enjoyed the short section of the city wall from the South Gate -- although it was raining pretty good now -- it was fine with umbrellas. At about 5 PM we returned to my hotel, after a circular stop to retrieve the driver's cell phone he had left at the restaurant. Again, the traffic was simply unbelievable.
I had a shower and a short rest, then headed off to the Muslim Quarter to find dinner. I mentioned this to Lisa (my personally assigned "assistant" at the Hyatt -- boy that Platinum membership sure gets their attention there -- and she said I wouldn't want to eat there, but she'd give me some great choices for dinner and make me a reservation. I told her about my lunch at Tang Dynasty and she seemed shocked -- most of their guests LOVE that place. And I said I was adventurous enough to find my own place in the Muslim Quarter -- which I did.
The Muslim Quarter is indeed picturesque -- a very long main pedestrian street with a few others running off it -- filled with open markets and tons of street food stalls. There are a lot of restaurants as well, and I had written down the names of a few, but once again -- NO restaurants had any English names on them. I finally picked one out that looked quite clean and was insanely popular. It was on three floors, and I checked them all out, deciding my chances of getting a table on the second floor were the best. The "host" singled me out (I think I was the only Caucasian in the place) and found me a seat and showed me to go to the counter and order. There were pictures of the dishes and most had a simple line of English. I ordered the mutton slices in broth with "wood ear" mushrooms, and some cold sesame noodles with red peppers and cucumber -- which they warned me were hot (by fanning her mouth) and I said OK. Then I paid and went to my table and soon the food came. I was eating the noodles when a Chinese man came over and offered to help me -- telling me I really needed to stir up the noodles more first because all the hot peppers were on top -- but alas I had already eaten most of those! He gave me his card -- he was a tour guide but was treating his family (wife, son, wife's parents, and a sister or two) to dinner because "I had a wonderful day with tips yesterday" -- so much for that theory about no tipping in China! But the food was really delicious -- the lamb was great and in the most wonderfully scented and flavored broth. The bill was 32 yuan -- less than $5, and may have been the most "flavorful" meal I had yet had in China. I did some more walking in the quarter, then walked all the way back to the hotel -- no "jump-jump" for me tonight. I felt great.
On Friday morning, I headed out to the front of the hotel asking them to get me a taxi. Lisa had offered to get me a "private car" but at 400 yuan, why would I do that? The guy at the front of the hotel told me they had special taxis that were 200 and I said, "just a regular taxi is fine", but after the taxi appeared and I got in, I realized my taxi was a black one and not one of the colored ones that run by meters. So looks like 200 was it. Well, I guess I got the last laugh, as we proceeded to get stuck in solid traffic. There was an accident on a small street where we could not go forward or backward, and everyone laid on their horns for nearly 20 minutes while they tried to clear it away. At last we were moving again, only to get caught in another mess due to the subway construction and a road that was blocked off as they delivered huge steel beams. I had purposely allowed lots of time to get to the airport and it was a good thing I had. At one point the driver was very worried and made a phone call and handed me the phone. The speaker said my driver wanted to know the time of my flight and I told him and he related it to the driver. My flight was at 1, and I said I wanted to be at the airport at noon. It was now just after 10:15 so every one was somewhat relieved, although we were still sitting. The driver typed in "12" on his cellphone -- showed it to me and said "OK", so I knew we were on the same wave length. Well, sure enough, we arrived at the airport almost exactly at 12, just after -- a good two hour trip! So I think my 200 fare turned out OK -- certainly better than a meter would have been.
So off I went from my brief two night, one day stay in Xi'an. I think I timed that right -- especially since it was rainy, dismal, and horribly hot and humid. If I had more time and if it were nice, I'd have loved to rent a bicycle and ride the entire circle of the city wall -- I believe the only intact one in China. It's very wide and easy to do -- by guide says he does it all the time, as it's the only "safe" place to ride a bike in Xi'an without getting hit by cars and buses.
I arrived at the airport in Beijing by taxi -- and looked for the China Eastern check in -- funny, all the counters had lots of signs, but none that said what airline it was -- I think you are supposed to recognize their symbol, but I didn't. This was a recurring theme in China, so I made the habit of stopping at an information desk, showing them my confirmation with the flight number and asking where to go. In this case, I passed by the first class check in which WAS clearly marked for China Southern -- but a regular little room, not in line with the other check-in counters. So I asked them about economy check-in and she directed me. Then just as I got to the lines at economy, I suddenly remembered -- this was the flight I booked in first class at the same price as economy on CTrip, an "early booking bonus" -- so back I went to First Class check in, where I was also given a ticket for their lounge. Quite nice -- too bad I had just had that huge buffet breakfast -- another was set up here.
The flight was great and quick -- and they served a full meal -- it was now about 11 AM -- filet of beef again, and lots of other courses. One has to eat pretty quickly on a one hour flight though.
At Xi'an I took a taxi to the Hyatt Hotel -- wow, the traffic here made Beijing look like a sleepy little town, and it was well over an hour to get to the hotel and a cost of 200 yuan. We sat in traffic almost as much as we drove, it seemed. There was also rain, off and on. When I got to the hotel I really didn't feel very well. I think it was the exhaustion catching up with me. I really hadn't slept much that night (I rarely do, when I worry about getting up and catching a flight). I lay down to take a little nap, and about two hours later woke up thinking I felt better.
At 5 I was met by a local I've talked to for some time on the internet. He is a bank officer and travels a lot and had given me advice about what to do, and also about the airfares -- he was the one who warned me that in summer, the fares from Beijing to Xi'an don't go down and usually sell out. The rain had stopped for now, and we went off on a walk to the Bell and Drum Towers which are only a couple blocks apart and not that far from the hotel, and to the edge of the Muslim area. Then he took me to his favorite dumpling place -- which later I learned was the one I had read about. I was overtaken with a fit of extreme yawning -- like I couldn't get enough oxygen, and I was feeling very queasy. When they brought the dumplings, I asked him where the toilets were just in case -- and as I took my first bite of dumpling, I jumped up and ran -- where I proceeded to vomit my insides out into a squat toilet --at last, something those things are really good for! When I was finished, I splashed cold water on my face and returned to the table. My poor host was sure the dumplings had made me sick, but it wasn't that at all -- they were delicious, and now I was feeling great and really hungry. After dinner, we would have walked back, but I still felt a little queasy, so he tried to get us a taxi -- totally impossible. He then hired us a "jump-jump" (?) one of those three wheel silent motorbikes with a back seat and off we went. But they are illegal on the main streets, so the guy saw a policeman and had to take us a long way around to avoid being stopped. Fun. I apologized profusely for getting sick and for whimping out, as he had planned on showing me a lot more of the city at night. I just wanted to go back and sleep.
Meanwhile, with only one full day in Xi'an, I had wrestled with how to do it. I'm not big on organized tours, and a private driver and guide was quite expensive (especially through the Hyatt -- like 795 for the day plus all admissions). But they had a bus tour which covered all the five sites I really wanted to see and included admissions and lunch for only 395. My friend who was with me at the time -- before we went to dinner -- insisted it couldn't include admissions because that would be almost 200 by itself. So he went with me to the business center and questioned them and agreed, it was a very good deal. So I signed up and paid.
The next morning after a really great sleep I felt great and ate a huge buffet breakfast (included) at the Hyatt. Then I went to the business center to meet my tour only to find I was the only one who had signed up -- so they gave me a private guide and driver for the full day, but still included all the admissions AND a 110 yuan lunch buffet at Tang Dynasty. The guide said, "you got a really good upgrade". Indeed I did. The guide was great, but he did apologize that since we were following the bus itinerary we did HAVE to visit the terra cotta "factory" and shopping opportunity. We had a talk about how that works with tours, and he kept apologizing as I said I was not interested in buying anything. But as he said -- he'd get fired if they didn't make the required stop. It really wasn't bad though, and there was NO pressure to buy. And the lunch was in a huge spectacular Chinese Theatre turned to restaurant (they do cultural shows with dinner at night) -- but a big disappointment. As I said to the guide -- "if my local Holiday Inn did a Chinese night buffet, this is what I'd expect it to be like". It was really a tourist place, but oddly the guide and driver said it's a real treat for them, as it's actually much better food than they normally eat -- there's no accounting for how much Chinese really like Western food or even Western ideas of what Chinese food should be. I think given the chance to eat beef tenderloin as opposed to eating beef entrails, it ends up most Chinese really would prefer the tenderloin!
But the Terra Cotta soldiers were simply amazing and mind boggling -- I think most because it just shows how far someone will go to show their own worth and self-importance. The Wild Goose Pagoda was fine, and the guide and I had a great discussion about young people in China and their beliefs or non-beliefs. I also enjoyed the Ban Po Village -- an excavated 6000 year old village which is all under cover like the warriors. And I enjoyed the short section of the city wall from the South Gate -- although it was raining pretty good now -- it was fine with umbrellas. At about 5 PM we returned to my hotel, after a circular stop to retrieve the driver's cell phone he had left at the restaurant. Again, the traffic was simply unbelievable.
I had a shower and a short rest, then headed off to the Muslim Quarter to find dinner. I mentioned this to Lisa (my personally assigned "assistant" at the Hyatt -- boy that Platinum membership sure gets their attention there -- and she said I wouldn't want to eat there, but she'd give me some great choices for dinner and make me a reservation. I told her about my lunch at Tang Dynasty and she seemed shocked -- most of their guests LOVE that place. And I said I was adventurous enough to find my own place in the Muslim Quarter -- which I did.
The Muslim Quarter is indeed picturesque -- a very long main pedestrian street with a few others running off it -- filled with open markets and tons of street food stalls. There are a lot of restaurants as well, and I had written down the names of a few, but once again -- NO restaurants had any English names on them. I finally picked one out that looked quite clean and was insanely popular. It was on three floors, and I checked them all out, deciding my chances of getting a table on the second floor were the best. The "host" singled me out (I think I was the only Caucasian in the place) and found me a seat and showed me to go to the counter and order. There were pictures of the dishes and most had a simple line of English. I ordered the mutton slices in broth with "wood ear" mushrooms, and some cold sesame noodles with red peppers and cucumber -- which they warned me were hot (by fanning her mouth) and I said OK. Then I paid and went to my table and soon the food came. I was eating the noodles when a Chinese man came over and offered to help me -- telling me I really needed to stir up the noodles more first because all the hot peppers were on top -- but alas I had already eaten most of those! He gave me his card -- he was a tour guide but was treating his family (wife, son, wife's parents, and a sister or two) to dinner because "I had a wonderful day with tips yesterday" -- so much for that theory about no tipping in China! But the food was really delicious -- the lamb was great and in the most wonderfully scented and flavored broth. The bill was 32 yuan -- less than $5, and may have been the most "flavorful" meal I had yet had in China. I did some more walking in the quarter, then walked all the way back to the hotel -- no "jump-jump" for me tonight. I felt great.
On Friday morning, I headed out to the front of the hotel asking them to get me a taxi. Lisa had offered to get me a "private car" but at 400 yuan, why would I do that? The guy at the front of the hotel told me they had special taxis that were 200 and I said, "just a regular taxi is fine", but after the taxi appeared and I got in, I realized my taxi was a black one and not one of the colored ones that run by meters. So looks like 200 was it. Well, I guess I got the last laugh, as we proceeded to get stuck in solid traffic. There was an accident on a small street where we could not go forward or backward, and everyone laid on their horns for nearly 20 minutes while they tried to clear it away. At last we were moving again, only to get caught in another mess due to the subway construction and a road that was blocked off as they delivered huge steel beams. I had purposely allowed lots of time to get to the airport and it was a good thing I had. At one point the driver was very worried and made a phone call and handed me the phone. The speaker said my driver wanted to know the time of my flight and I told him and he related it to the driver. My flight was at 1, and I said I wanted to be at the airport at noon. It was now just after 10:15 so every one was somewhat relieved, although we were still sitting. The driver typed in "12" on his cellphone -- showed it to me and said "OK", so I knew we were on the same wave length. Well, sure enough, we arrived at the airport almost exactly at 12, just after -- a good two hour trip! So I think my 200 fare turned out OK -- certainly better than a meter would have been.
So off I went from my brief two night, one day stay in Xi'an. I think I timed that right -- especially since it was rainy, dismal, and horribly hot and humid. If I had more time and if it were nice, I'd have loved to rent a bicycle and ride the entire circle of the city wall -- I believe the only intact one in China. It's very wide and easy to do -- by guide says he does it all the time, as it's the only "safe" place to ride a bike in Xi'an without getting hit by cars and buses.
Aug 26th, 2010, 05:45 PM
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Ooops. For those who are confused, all airline references above should have been for China Eastern -- since then I've flown China Southern, and I guess I got them a little confused.
Oh, and the Muslim restaurant I went to WAS one of the ones I had written down. As I was about to leave, I noticed certificates posted inside the door and there was the name "Jia San".
Oh, and the Muslim restaurant I went to WAS one of the ones I had written down. As I was about to leave, I noticed certificates posted inside the door and there was the name "Jia San".
Aug 27th, 2010, 02:50 AM
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I am enjoying your report immensely and it is not too long at all. Your ability to rebound after barfing reminds me of my husband! I would have been down for the count! I am glad you are going on a long trip because this is like reading a good book in installments!
Aug 27th, 2010, 02:57 AM
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PART V: Chongqing
Chongqing is a big city -- 33 million in fact. It mostly gets attention from tourists simply as the starting point for Three Gorges cruises on the Yangtze, which flows through the city and is joined by the Jialing River. The downtown part of the city is sort of a peninsula formed by the joining of those two rivers. I'd never have put the city on my list, except I have friends -- a couple who live there. One is a British exPat who teaches English to medical students at the University there. The other is a lawyer who decided lawyers are "scumbags" so instead he uses his background working for a huge shipping company, doing contracts and arranging shipments. In any case I was invited when I started planning the trip, so I decided "why not?"
My flight from Xi'an to Chongqing was uneventful, but then there was the taxi ride from the airport. Wow! The driver flew. We did things like go past an off ramp because cars were lined up there, but then do a sharp turn and go UP the wrong way on the on ramp, cut across traffic and beat the other cars. Then there was the plain two lane street we were on when a light turned red and we were behind 7 other cars. He just passed them on the left, making oncoming cars swerve to avoid him, and then cut in front of the other cars already stopped at the light by essentially pulling in front of them IN the intersection. Since the guy also didn't speak a word of English -- I think he'd make a perfect New York cab driver! Anyway, I was told the ride would be an hour or more, but we were at the hotel in RUSH hour traffic in about 40 minutes! I stayed at the Chongqing World Traders Hotel, quite a luxury business sort of hotel right in the middle of downtown, on the major pedestrian street just a block or so from the Rolex clock tower. My friends suggested it and had me book through e-long, an Asian booking agency where I had to use one of their cell numbers as apparently you have to be Chinese to use the agency. In any case I was upgraded to a huge and luxurious suite with two breakfasts daily for 438 a night (about $64).
It ended up the British guy was off on a trip (this seemed to be the story of my trip -- everybody was either going or coming from some business trip or even away for my visit). But the lawyer guy was anxious to show me the city -- and practice his English. This was amazing though, as his English was flawless -- almost without an accent -- and he had a great vocabulary. He's never been outside of China, so his English abilities were really amazing to me. He came over after work, almost immediately upon my arrival, and off we went to explore. I had deliberately planned this stop for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights so that they would be available for the weekend.
The next couple days are sort of a blur. We hopped on and off the monorail (quite sleek but only one limited line as they build numerous additional lines and a subway). But the main event of the evening was go to Chongqing Hotpot -- what an adventure, and the true original hotpot! He mentioned there are lots of places, but this was his favorite and we went to an upstairs place that I realized was just huge and jam packed where we had to wait about 45 minutes for a table. When we were seated, I realized I had only seen half of it, it was duplicated on the other side of where we had been waiting. Heads turned as we walked to the back corner, one of the smaller tables -- my white hair constantly caused heads to turn in China -- but here I think it was as much that I was one of the few Caucasians perhaps to ever set foot in the place. The hot pot sits on a burner in a hole in the middle of the table, and traditionally is filled with oil and about a million of those little very hot dried red peppers. But he ordered a double one for us with a divider in the middle and the other half had broth (fish head and vegetables). I was pleasantly surprised when we left to see lots of others, yes - locals, did the same thing. He ordered several kinds of meat, mushrooms, some noodles, and some greens. You also get a bowl that has a sauce of soy and sesame oil to which you add heaping teaspoons of chopped garlic. This is to dip your cooked items in and let cool after you cook them. I quickly learned that I had to cook in the broth, but could then flash dip it in the hot oil for a second or two and end up with something still fiery hot, but OK for me to eat. (I do like spicy.) We drank watermelon juice -- as most others seemed to. We got a big pitcher of it and it was delightfully refreshing with the hot food. In any case, the night was a grand winner. This was fun.
Afterwards we walked along the Yangtze. The city is sort of built up on cliffs high above the river. There are numberous overlooks and plazas where people gather, play music, and just hang out. Like other cities, the average population seemed to be around 25 or 30 years old. Where do all these young people come from?
The next morning, Bobby joined me for breakfast, and we took the monorail to the zoo. We had to see the pandas -- they have about 6 or 7 of them and they were out in full force lying on their backs and eating bamboo. We didn't spend a lot of time there until we ran into some acquaintances of his who are Indian as well as a female friend of theirs from Staten Island who has been living in Chongqing for several years. All of them each or work at the University. We talked about joining up for dinner that night, but that never happened.
One of the highlights was going to Arhat Temple. We were passing by it and it looking ancient and interesting and Bobby confessed he had never been inside it, but we should go. It was amazing. Inside there are over 500 various buddhas, all life size and of every description, all made out of terra cotta, I think, and completely painted. There were rows of them and you walk through the aisles between them like some sort of maze. Bobby had no idea they were there.
We also took a cable car across the Yangtze. There are two of them at different places.
And we went to the Three Gorges Museum which was quite interesting -- all about various things in the area as well as the construction and relocating from the damn. It is opposite the beatiful People's Hall which looks surprisingly like the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. When we got to that square, Bobby said before we do the museum we should have lunch. And since he had taken me to the #1 hot pot place last night, today we would go to the most popular restaurant in Chongqing. Around the corner, there it was -- yep, KFC. I laughed and thought he was joking, but he said, "you want to eat like the Chinese people eat -- this is it" and so we did.
We walked through several neighborhoods and went to a little "agency" by the docks where he "negotiated" tickets for the night cruise on the Yangtze on what he said was the nicest boat. Bobby is not used to paying for much as he has a fake military card (he borrowed the uniform from a cousin and had the pictures and the ID made). So he got into the zoo, the museum, and the cable car free and normally pays half price for all transportation and lots of other things. But there was no deal for military on the cruise -- we ended up paying 80 each -- I have no idea what they were supposed to be.
We were to be on the boat by 7 to get good seats on the top open deck, so we sat on a little terrace above the river and ate noodles --a place where he used to go for lunch a lot as he used to work in a building right by there. Then the cruise. We got on board and took a little table right by the railing. We ordered a huge platter of fruit (I have never eaten so much watermelon in my life as I did this trip), and a big pot of tea. The cruise didn't start at 8, but at 8:45. It looked like people were wandering up to the gangplank and negotiating tickets until then, so more and more people kept packing on. Finally we left and it was indeed spectacular with the lights of the city. But after half an hour or so, out of nowhere the sky opened up and it started pouring rain -- and I do mean pouring. So of course everybody scrambled to the two lower indoor decks which were already crowded and wedged ourselves in. After a while the rain slacked, and we did return to the top hanging out under a little roof from the stairs and holding an umbrella over our heads. But it was fun.
After the cruise, we tried to get a taxi back to the hotel, but there were thousands of people from all the various cruises and with the rain few taxis to be found. Then the weirdest thing happened. A big fancy black car pulled up to us and this very well dressed Chinese businessman inside started talking to Bobby. It seemed he was there from Beijing and couldn't figure out his GPS and had no idea how to get to his hotel -- The Intercontinental. So Bobby didn't miss a beat but told him that we'd hop in and show him the way as it was too complicated to explain. Hooray, the Intercontinental was right by my hotel, so it worked out for everyone! What a busy, exhausting, and HOT day this had been.
The next day, again Bobby joined me for breakfast and then we took a taxi from the hotel to Ciqikou, which is an ancient town on the outskirts of the city. It was fun -- definetly a touristy place -- but a favorite of Chinese visitors as well as locals. It's a couple long cobblestone streets along the banks of the Jialang River of old buildings nearly all of which have been turned into craft shops, tacky souvenir stores, and hundreds of restaurants. We did street food today, and I trusted him. We had some skewered spicy lamp from a charcoal grill, some great noodles, tasted some various pastries, and ended up sitting by the river at a little tea place -- tables and umbrellas and drank tea and had more fruit. It seems we had spent most of the day there.
That evening we walked the downtown area -- lots of shopping, and ended up watching part of a rock concert in a big plaza with an outdoor stage --some sort of music festival going on. And nearby was a new restaurant Bobby's colleagues had raved about -- La Paella -- Spanish, of course. Bobby had no idea what Paella was so it was my turn to show him. What a great idea for Chinese this Spanish couple had to open this restaurant -- rice with seafood -- what could make the Chinese happier. We ordered both a seafood paella, and a classic chicken and sausage one -- both in small sizes and had a fantastic tapas of warm slices of potato topped with warm octopus in a vinagrette and we also had gazpacho -- another thing Bobby had never heard of, but loved. The place was quite lovely and elegant and the food was delicious -- though a little pricey for their standards -- the total was 260, and I did have a beer, but Bobby doesn't drink. (about $38).
It was fairly early, but Bobby had a birthday party he had to put an appearance in, so he bid me farewell and I made my way back to the hotel. I think it was about 9 when I went to bed. What a pace for the weekend.
So Chongqing was a huge success -- no doubt due to having a local to show me the town. And it still probably wouldn't be high on a list to visit otherwise. But the HOT POT remains the best experience.
Chongqing is a big city -- 33 million in fact. It mostly gets attention from tourists simply as the starting point for Three Gorges cruises on the Yangtze, which flows through the city and is joined by the Jialing River. The downtown part of the city is sort of a peninsula formed by the joining of those two rivers. I'd never have put the city on my list, except I have friends -- a couple who live there. One is a British exPat who teaches English to medical students at the University there. The other is a lawyer who decided lawyers are "scumbags" so instead he uses his background working for a huge shipping company, doing contracts and arranging shipments. In any case I was invited when I started planning the trip, so I decided "why not?"
My flight from Xi'an to Chongqing was uneventful, but then there was the taxi ride from the airport. Wow! The driver flew. We did things like go past an off ramp because cars were lined up there, but then do a sharp turn and go UP the wrong way on the on ramp, cut across traffic and beat the other cars. Then there was the plain two lane street we were on when a light turned red and we were behind 7 other cars. He just passed them on the left, making oncoming cars swerve to avoid him, and then cut in front of the other cars already stopped at the light by essentially pulling in front of them IN the intersection. Since the guy also didn't speak a word of English -- I think he'd make a perfect New York cab driver! Anyway, I was told the ride would be an hour or more, but we were at the hotel in RUSH hour traffic in about 40 minutes! I stayed at the Chongqing World Traders Hotel, quite a luxury business sort of hotel right in the middle of downtown, on the major pedestrian street just a block or so from the Rolex clock tower. My friends suggested it and had me book through e-long, an Asian booking agency where I had to use one of their cell numbers as apparently you have to be Chinese to use the agency. In any case I was upgraded to a huge and luxurious suite with two breakfasts daily for 438 a night (about $64).
It ended up the British guy was off on a trip (this seemed to be the story of my trip -- everybody was either going or coming from some business trip or even away for my visit). But the lawyer guy was anxious to show me the city -- and practice his English. This was amazing though, as his English was flawless -- almost without an accent -- and he had a great vocabulary. He's never been outside of China, so his English abilities were really amazing to me. He came over after work, almost immediately upon my arrival, and off we went to explore. I had deliberately planned this stop for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights so that they would be available for the weekend.
The next couple days are sort of a blur. We hopped on and off the monorail (quite sleek but only one limited line as they build numerous additional lines and a subway). But the main event of the evening was go to Chongqing Hotpot -- what an adventure, and the true original hotpot! He mentioned there are lots of places, but this was his favorite and we went to an upstairs place that I realized was just huge and jam packed where we had to wait about 45 minutes for a table. When we were seated, I realized I had only seen half of it, it was duplicated on the other side of where we had been waiting. Heads turned as we walked to the back corner, one of the smaller tables -- my white hair constantly caused heads to turn in China -- but here I think it was as much that I was one of the few Caucasians perhaps to ever set foot in the place. The hot pot sits on a burner in a hole in the middle of the table, and traditionally is filled with oil and about a million of those little very hot dried red peppers. But he ordered a double one for us with a divider in the middle and the other half had broth (fish head and vegetables). I was pleasantly surprised when we left to see lots of others, yes - locals, did the same thing. He ordered several kinds of meat, mushrooms, some noodles, and some greens. You also get a bowl that has a sauce of soy and sesame oil to which you add heaping teaspoons of chopped garlic. This is to dip your cooked items in and let cool after you cook them. I quickly learned that I had to cook in the broth, but could then flash dip it in the hot oil for a second or two and end up with something still fiery hot, but OK for me to eat. (I do like spicy.) We drank watermelon juice -- as most others seemed to. We got a big pitcher of it and it was delightfully refreshing with the hot food. In any case, the night was a grand winner. This was fun.
Afterwards we walked along the Yangtze. The city is sort of built up on cliffs high above the river. There are numberous overlooks and plazas where people gather, play music, and just hang out. Like other cities, the average population seemed to be around 25 or 30 years old. Where do all these young people come from?
The next morning, Bobby joined me for breakfast, and we took the monorail to the zoo. We had to see the pandas -- they have about 6 or 7 of them and they were out in full force lying on their backs and eating bamboo. We didn't spend a lot of time there until we ran into some acquaintances of his who are Indian as well as a female friend of theirs from Staten Island who has been living in Chongqing for several years. All of them each or work at the University. We talked about joining up for dinner that night, but that never happened.
One of the highlights was going to Arhat Temple. We were passing by it and it looking ancient and interesting and Bobby confessed he had never been inside it, but we should go. It was amazing. Inside there are over 500 various buddhas, all life size and of every description, all made out of terra cotta, I think, and completely painted. There were rows of them and you walk through the aisles between them like some sort of maze. Bobby had no idea they were there.
We also took a cable car across the Yangtze. There are two of them at different places.
And we went to the Three Gorges Museum which was quite interesting -- all about various things in the area as well as the construction and relocating from the damn. It is opposite the beatiful People's Hall which looks surprisingly like the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. When we got to that square, Bobby said before we do the museum we should have lunch. And since he had taken me to the #1 hot pot place last night, today we would go to the most popular restaurant in Chongqing. Around the corner, there it was -- yep, KFC. I laughed and thought he was joking, but he said, "you want to eat like the Chinese people eat -- this is it" and so we did.
We walked through several neighborhoods and went to a little "agency" by the docks where he "negotiated" tickets for the night cruise on the Yangtze on what he said was the nicest boat. Bobby is not used to paying for much as he has a fake military card (he borrowed the uniform from a cousin and had the pictures and the ID made). So he got into the zoo, the museum, and the cable car free and normally pays half price for all transportation and lots of other things. But there was no deal for military on the cruise -- we ended up paying 80 each -- I have no idea what they were supposed to be.
We were to be on the boat by 7 to get good seats on the top open deck, so we sat on a little terrace above the river and ate noodles --a place where he used to go for lunch a lot as he used to work in a building right by there. Then the cruise. We got on board and took a little table right by the railing. We ordered a huge platter of fruit (I have never eaten so much watermelon in my life as I did this trip), and a big pot of tea. The cruise didn't start at 8, but at 8:45. It looked like people were wandering up to the gangplank and negotiating tickets until then, so more and more people kept packing on. Finally we left and it was indeed spectacular with the lights of the city. But after half an hour or so, out of nowhere the sky opened up and it started pouring rain -- and I do mean pouring. So of course everybody scrambled to the two lower indoor decks which were already crowded and wedged ourselves in. After a while the rain slacked, and we did return to the top hanging out under a little roof from the stairs and holding an umbrella over our heads. But it was fun.
After the cruise, we tried to get a taxi back to the hotel, but there were thousands of people from all the various cruises and with the rain few taxis to be found. Then the weirdest thing happened. A big fancy black car pulled up to us and this very well dressed Chinese businessman inside started talking to Bobby. It seemed he was there from Beijing and couldn't figure out his GPS and had no idea how to get to his hotel -- The Intercontinental. So Bobby didn't miss a beat but told him that we'd hop in and show him the way as it was too complicated to explain. Hooray, the Intercontinental was right by my hotel, so it worked out for everyone! What a busy, exhausting, and HOT day this had been.
The next day, again Bobby joined me for breakfast and then we took a taxi from the hotel to Ciqikou, which is an ancient town on the outskirts of the city. It was fun -- definetly a touristy place -- but a favorite of Chinese visitors as well as locals. It's a couple long cobblestone streets along the banks of the Jialang River of old buildings nearly all of which have been turned into craft shops, tacky souvenir stores, and hundreds of restaurants. We did street food today, and I trusted him. We had some skewered spicy lamp from a charcoal grill, some great noodles, tasted some various pastries, and ended up sitting by the river at a little tea place -- tables and umbrellas and drank tea and had more fruit. It seems we had spent most of the day there.
That evening we walked the downtown area -- lots of shopping, and ended up watching part of a rock concert in a big plaza with an outdoor stage --some sort of music festival going on. And nearby was a new restaurant Bobby's colleagues had raved about -- La Paella -- Spanish, of course. Bobby had no idea what Paella was so it was my turn to show him. What a great idea for Chinese this Spanish couple had to open this restaurant -- rice with seafood -- what could make the Chinese happier. We ordered both a seafood paella, and a classic chicken and sausage one -- both in small sizes and had a fantastic tapas of warm slices of potato topped with warm octopus in a vinagrette and we also had gazpacho -- another thing Bobby had never heard of, but loved. The place was quite lovely and elegant and the food was delicious -- though a little pricey for their standards -- the total was 260, and I did have a beer, but Bobby doesn't drink. (about $38).
It was fairly early, but Bobby had a birthday party he had to put an appearance in, so he bid me farewell and I made my way back to the hotel. I think it was about 9 when I went to bed. What a pace for the weekend.
So Chongqing was a huge success -- no doubt due to having a local to show me the town. And it still probably wouldn't be high on a list to visit otherwise. But the HOT POT remains the best experience.
Aug 27th, 2010, 04:13 AM
#52
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I'm glad you enjoyed the Chongqing detour. Too bad Bobby didn't take you to Dazu, although he did at least take you to Dazoo. I've never had anything as spicy as the hot pot there and who knows what we were dipping. I was particularly concerned about what appeared to be a recycling of the broth but figured nothing could survive a stay.
Don't leave China without getting a foot massages. We had our first one in Chongqing, trying to kill some time before restaurants opened. Incredible!
Don't leave China without getting a foot massages. We had our first one in Chongqing, trying to kill some time before restaurants opened. Incredible!
Aug 27th, 2010, 04:28 AM
#53
Agree with Marija that's Dazu is well worth seeing, but you clearly had a fabulous weekend anyway. I remember noticing that KFC seemed more popular than McD's, but Pizza Hut was doing well, too - I ate at one, and watched the Chinese creating amazing towers of food from the one-visit salad bar.
Aug 27th, 2010, 05:12 AM
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Marija, funny you should mention foot massage, I had one today on a very rainy day in Changsha with an ankle that had gotten better but today was throbbing and swollen. The foot massage was great but it didn't cure my ankle -- I guess I was hoping for a miracle. More about that later.
Aug 27th, 2010, 05:22 AM
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Patrick, I had my own miracle foot massage, back in 2001, in Bangkok, at Wat Pho. It was my very first day in BKK ever, and I sprained my ankle on an uneven pavement early in the day... my first day of exploring BKK. A Thai friend suggested that I needed foot massage. It worked for me! Sorry it didn't work for you.
