China & The Far East (2003)

Friday, February 21^st, 2003

The countdown is finally over. We woke up at around 5:30am. After final preparations and a quick breakfast, Odie showed up and we all headed to LAX for our awaiting flight to Shanghai. The only worry I had this morning was my back pain, which really bothered me. Most of the flight was spent sleeping and went rather quick.

Saturday, February 22^nd, 2003

We lost 16 hours (which we will get back, upon returning to California).

Our first stop was at Tokyo International Airport. We had about an hour for our next flight and we spent it (what else) shopping. I purchased a nice Seiko watch.The flight to Shanghai was pleasant as well. As we landed at Pudong airport, we were surprised to see one of the most elegant and clean airport we have ever seen.

After the arrival we entered the “Waiting Corridor” on the second floor, which contained many fresh flowers bouquets and the aroma was so refreshing. We took the escalator to the arrivals hall on the first floor to fetch our luggage.

We went through the passport checks and custom and then went out of the terminal building, to the awaiting tour guide, Ping, who was holding our names on a big piece of cardboard.

Ping used her cell phone to call our driver, who parked in the near by parking structure, and a nice van pulled besides us. The first thing we had notices was the white covers over the seats. The car was pretty new and made us feel as V.I.P’s.The drive to the JC Mandarin Hotel, took about 50 minutes.

We checked in and admired the room we are to spend the next couple of night. It was a deluxe room, pretty large with all the latest high techs installed.

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We walked down to Nanjing Street. Temperatures outside were around the 40’s. We found a restaurant near by. The waiter’s knowledge of English summed up to “YES” and “NO”. We managed to order some delicious Dumpling and Noodles Soup, by pointing out to nearby patrons’ plates (The menu was all in Chinese…).

We headed back to the hotel and turn the TV on to catch the end of the Lakers vs. Portland games. (Kobe scored 43 points!! and continued with his streak of 40 or more points per game.)

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Sunday, February 23^rd, 2003

After breakfast (Chinese Style!) we met with Ping and headed, in the elegant van, to our first stop of our day (and our vacation): The Jade Buddha Temple.

On the way Ping taught us some useful words in Chinese: “Ni-Hao” (Hello, How Are You), “Shes-Sheh” (Thank You), and “Yuan” (Garden).

The Jade Buddha Temple, the most famous Buddhist temple in Shanghai, is located in the western part of the city. In 1882, a monk named Huigen left two of five jade Buddha statues brought from Burma in Shanghai and built a temple there to keep them.

In 1918, the old temple was burned down and a new one was built on the present site and named the Jade Buddha Temple. Still inhabited by monks, the temple consists of three main halls and two courtyards. The first hall is Tianwang Dian Hall where statues of the four celestial kings and Maitreya are enshrined. It was said that the Maitreya is, in fact, the Budai Monk. In 916, before his death, he had told people that he was the reincarnation of the future Buddha Maitreya. Later, people called him Buddha Maitreya and began to worship him in temples.

We witnessed the worshippers as they lighted the incenses, hold both hands together, closed their eyes and prayed. The smell around us was unbelievably delicious (from the incenses). Some people threw coins into a fixture in front of the hall. They believe that if the coin they throw hit its target (a small hall at the top of the fixture) then they will have long and happy life. In the second hall we saw three large gilded Buddha statues: the Buddhas of the past, present and future are kept in the hall. Eighteen gilded statues stand around them. After visiting the second hall, we reached the Jade Buddha Tower. A jade Buddha, which is 1.9m tall and 1.3m wide, stands on the second floor. Inlaid with diamonds and agates, the jade Buddha is sitting leisurely at the moment of his enlightenment. In a hall on the western part of the temple grounds lies a 96-cm-long recumbent jade Buddha. Both of these two Buddha statues were carved out of a single piece of white jade. Besides all this, many Buddhist sculptures and classics are housed in the temple.

As we left the temple a light rain welcomed us back in the streets. We climbed the van and headed to the huge TV Tower. The Oriental Pearl Tower is a multi-functional establishment satisfying various needs in tourism, dining, shopping, entertainment, boarding and Audio & Video Broadcasting. It has already become one of the symbolic buildings and tourism resorts in Shanghai and is honored as one of the ten best views in Shanghai. Situated within the Pudong Park in Lujiazui, Pudong New Area, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, with a giddy height of 468 meters, is the world's third tallest TV tower after the 553-meter CN Tower in Toronto and the 535-meter Moscow TV Tower.

The designers magically set the eleven beautiful spheres of various sizes up from the green grassland to the blue sky with two giant spheres shining like two rubies. The whole design is rich in poetic and pictorial splendor, which gave us the impression that pearls of various sizes are dropping onto the emerald plate. The sightseeing floor in the brilliant upper sphere is 263 meters high and 45 meters in diameter; it is the best place to get a bird's eye-view of Shanghai. Ping told us that when it is sunny, it makes one relaxed and happy to see the distant views of the Sheshan, the Chongming Island and the Yangtze River. In the upper sphere, there are also the Revolving Restaurant, the Disco Hall, the Piano Bar and twenty KTV (Local TV Network) rooms.

We had some excitement at the end of the tour when Tovale’ used the restrooms and as she got out she used a different path out of the restrooms and could not see Ping and me. Tovale’ assumed that we went downstairs and therefore used the elevator to try to find us downstairs. In the meantime, Ping checked the restroom and when she realized that Tovale’ is not there, we headed to the elevators and asked the operator if she saw “a white woman with green eyes” using the elevator in the last 15 minutes. We were assured that Tovale’ used the elevator. As we were on our way to the ground floor, Tovale’ had realized that we are not on the ground floor and decided to look for us at the top of the tower. So, like a Situation Comedy, she headed up as we were heading down. The happy ending for this story came only 30 minutes later when Ping located her, while I was waiting downstairs.

Rain was really heavy by now.

We climbed the van and headed to Ohel Moshe.

We entered the main building and were seated next to a long table. A Chinese man showed up and told us the history of the Jews in Shanghai: Tens of thousands of Jews, first fleeing the Russian Revolution and then escaping Hitler, arrived in Shanghai from Germany, Austria, Poland and Russia. We were also told about the famous Sir Victor Sassoon, a Jewish “playboy” whose extravagant ballroom parties were the celebration of the late 20’s Shanghai. When the Japanese invaded Shanghai in 1943, they forced all the Jews into the "Designated Area for Stateless Refugees" in Hongkou District, where they lived until the end of the war. This synagogue was built in 1927. It no longer holds services, but has a small museum, which tells of the Ashkenazi Jewish community of old Shanghai. For us it was kind of a “Closing The Circle”, since we saw an exhibition of the Jews In Shanghai while visiting Sydney, Australia and we also had watched the documentary “The Shanghai Ghetto”.

Next on the agenda was lunch at the Sea Gull Hotel. This is when we found out about one of the Chinese rules: Since we were the customers, the guide and driver were not allowed to eat with us. As much as we begged Ping to sit with us, we had realized it was in vein. Ping and the driver, Chi, sat in a different table. However, Ping came a couple of times to make sure we enjoy our lunch.

After lunch we stopped at the river to take a 3.5 hours cruise down the Hungpu River. We passed the Shanghai's port facilities, the ships of the world that dock there, and the junks and Chinese barges that clot the narrow river avenue.

Unrivaled, too, are the postcard views of Shanghai's celebrated European skyline to the west and the booming cityscape of Pudong to the east. We enjoyed a sight of rows of magnificent buildings on the banks and ships of different sizes briskly plying the river. We witnessed a glimpse of the yesterday and today of Shanghai. On one side of the river is The Bund, which is regarded as a landmark as well as the birthplace of Shanghai. With a length of 1 km, the bund is dotted with various grandiose, solid buildings of western style dating back to the early 20th century.

Due to these imposing buildings, the bund is also reputed as "an international exhibition of architecture". Compared to the west, The Pudong New Area to the east of the bund is a newly developing Shanghai with high towers and fantastic buildings. Along the way we saw many boats, which carried their good (from rice to fruits and vegetables) to the port. Those boats made their long Journey on the Yangtze River and have now reached their final destination.

Upon our return to the port we strolled up the Bund and per our request, we released the guide and the driver and decided to walk back to the hotel. Ping thought we are really crazy, telling us that it will take about two and a half hours to reach the hotel but we insisted!

We located Nanjing Road and started our journey.

Nanjing Road was the first commercial road in Shanghai. In the early 20th century, there were only four department stores along this stretch. Today, it has become the number one place for shopping in the city. The money at work in the road has encouraged many companies and business over the years to set up bases near here. Nanjing Road is fantastically located, stemming off the Hungpu River and the Bund at a right angle and linking the city's main commercial and residential districts to the mouth of the river. One estimated that there are one million people, on the average, who make their way along this street, each day. We walked the street astonished by the amount of people and noise. A huge TV screen is located in the middle of the street in a place called “The People Square”, with local news and advertisement. At one point we had to use an escalator, to take us to the other side of the street. To our surprise, the escalator reached its destination inside the huge Number 1 Department Store, Which means that everyone who wishes to cross the street HAS to visit inside the store and before taking the escalator down to reach the other side, has the “chance” to buy something.  

We later found out that the government, which built the escalator, owns this department store…. We ate dinner at a small restaurant and ordered our food by pointing to other people plates, to the delight of the waitresses and patrons. Nevertheless, dinner was delicious. We ate three different main courses and drank beer for the total amount of $4 (four) US Dollars! We left a dollar tip and created a scene when we told the waitress that it is hers to keep. We continued our walk and found ourselves in a small market off Nanjing Road. It is called the Yunnan Road Night Bazaar. Every evening after dusk until 10 p.m., hawkers sell, for pennies, such Chinese snack foods as dumplings, spring rolls and fried noodles. We promised ourselves to return to this place when we are really hungry! In the market (and also during the day) we had both noticed how people are staring at us especially at Tovale’, who decided that since she is so popular in China, we should move there! We finally reached the (now) familiar hotel and collapsed on the bed.

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Monday, February 24, 2003

Right after a Chinese breakfast we met with Ping and headed to the Yuyuan Garden. The weather was perfect: not a cloud in the sky! At the entrance of the garden there is this famous Tea House, which attracts many visitors including head of states (Clinton drank tea there). We wanted to have a taste of this famous tea but when we found out that each cup of tea is around $25, we politely said that we need to hurry and cannot stay…

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The Yuyuan garden, maybe the most celebrated classical Chinese garden in Shanghai, is located in the northeast part of the old town and has an area of fives acres. The garden each year attracts countless visitors at home and abroad. Built in a style that Suzhou gardens often take, Yuyuan garden is characterized by an exquisite layout, beautiful scenery and artistic architecture. Each pavilion, hall, stone and stream in the garden can express the art of South China landscape design from Ming and Qing dynasties. The entrance is shaped like a Zig Zag shape, since they believes it stops the evil spirits to enter the garden. The bounding wall in the garden decorated with dragon's heads and paved by tiles on top, looks like a huge wandering dragon. People named it Five-dragon Wall. More interesting is that each dragon in this wall only has four claws. Legend goes that when the wall was first completed in the Qing Dynasty, like the dragon in royal palaces, they all had five claws. The feudal ruler, regarded it as a sign of irreverence and rebellion, and then cut one of the claws of each dragon. The garden is acknowledged as "an architectural miracle in the region south of Yangtze River".
 

The next stop was the Shanghai Museum.

With a collection of over 120,000 pieces of cultural relics, the museum is especially famous for its treasures of bronzes, ceramics, paintings, and calligraphy. There are 10 permanent exhibit areas spread over four floors:

Gallery of Ancient Chinese Bronze, Gallery of Ancient Chinese Calligraphy, Gallery of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Gallery of Chinese Furniture in Ming and Qing Dynasty, Gallery of Ancient Chinese Jades, Gallery of Arts and Crafts by Chinese Minority, Gallery of Ancient Chinese Numismatics, Gallery of Ancient Chinese Paintings, Gallery of Ancient Chinese Seals, and Gallery of Ancient Chinese Sculpture.

After a delicious lunch we reached the Longhua Pagoda And Temple.

Longhua Temple, first built in the 3^rd century during the Three Kingdoms Period, is the biggest and oldest temple in Shanghai. The temple was destroyed and rebuilt for many times. The present temple was built during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. Splendidly constructed, the temple, till today, still keeps the original feature of Buddhist "Chan" sect of the Song Dynasty. Buddhist scripture, gold seals and Buddhist statues of Tang, Ming and Qing Dynasties are kept in the temple. Longhua Pagoda: Standing opposite the Longhua temple, the pagoda, according to historic documents, was built as early as the 3rd century. The present pagoda, which is octagonal and seven-storied with about 40 meters in height, is the restoration of 977. Built of wood and bricks, this pagoda, with upturned eaves and hanging bells in the corners of the eaves, is the only pagoda in Shanghai city.

Once again we witnessed the worshipers and their customs. It was very impressive. At the end of the tour we entered a shrine, which is used to store the urns with ashes of the dead people, who pay in advance (while they are alive.. of course…) to ensure a burial place in this temple after they are gone. We left the temple heading to a Silk Carpet Weaving Factory. By looking through this factory, we learned about Chinese carpets, which have one of the longest traditions in the world. We also became acquainted with a number of terms used to describe carpets and the methods by which they are created. The tour guide explained the various steps associated with weaving the carpet and at the end of the tour he lead us to the factory store, where he was trying (very hard) to sell us one of the carpets. The next stop was the Open Market (also called the “Wet Market”).

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We walked through an alley where dozens of vendors presented their merchandise very loudly. We discovered that the “Copying” business flourish in China. Many DVD’s and CD’s are there for sale with all the latest movies and music. We saw DVD’s with movie titles that were just released to theatres in the USA such as “Chicago”, “Gangs Of New York”, “The Pianist”, “Lord Of The Ring – The Twin Towers” and more. Each for $1 (One American Dollar)! Many individuals approached us, offering to sell “hot” Rolex watches and brand names handbags (all copies of course). Further down the alley we saw the wet market with hundreds of stands, offering live animals such as fish, shrimps, turtles, chickens, pigs, snakes, and all kind of other animals. There were, of course, the vegetable and fruit stands along with those, which sell rice.

This was a great festival for our eyes, ears and of course our noses.

Dinner was served in a quite Chinese restaurant.

 
Right after dinner we reached the Shanghai Center for the Portmas Acrobatic Show, where we witnessed Chinese talents from acrobatic flyers to performers who demonstrated their talents in maintaining balance, while performing unbelievable tasks.

We reached our hotel at around 11:00 pm.




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Tuesday, February 25^th, 2003

Today is our “Free Day” in Shanghai. We had a great breakfast at the hotel and headed toward the Bund. We decided to use unfamiliar roads this time and by doing so, we discovered the “real” Chinese life in the big city. Once again we were stared at. A lady approached us and with a good English presented herself as an Art Teacher in High School. She offered a picture that one of her pupils had drawn. We thanked her and as we wanted to proceed, she said: “I give you a gift.. now you give me a gift…One Dollar!”. We gave her the dollar and as we walked away we both agreed that this is a graceful technique to make money… oh well!

We walked through some narrow streets watching the daily life of the average urban Chinese. We bought some kind of bread at a street corner, which smelled and tasted so delicious.

We finally arrived at the Bund. As we walked by, an old man (with three teeth in his mouth), introduced himself as an English Professor and offered to show us around. He led us to the Bank Of Hong Kong building with its magnificent floor and ceiling. As we left the bank he made his intentions very clear: he wanted to get paid for showing us the bank. I gave him two dollars and we walked away, promising ourselves that he was the last person in China to trick us like that.

Our next stop was the Bund Tunnel, Shanghai’s underwater pedestrian tunnel crossing the Hungpu River, has been in operation since October 2002 on a trial basis. It gives citizens and tourists alike another choice when crossing the river.

The tunnel exit in the Pudong New Area close to the west side of the Oriental Pearl Television Tower. The tunnel is approximately 6 Kilometers long. Underground buildings on both sides of the tunnel are as high as three stories, and in some sections four stories. It takes only 5 minutes for a one-way trip. We returned to the Bund using the tunnel again. In our opinion it was a waste of time…

We crossed the street and visited the Peace Hotel, formerly known as the Cathay Hotel, was built in 1929, symbolized as the most luxurious"No.1 Mansion in the Far East". Remember the Yunnan Road Night Bazaar? Well, we decided to have an early dinner there. We took (the now familiar) Nanjing Road and found our way to this Night Market.

We located a restaurant on the middle of the street where dozens of Chinese stood in line to buy dumpling and noodle soup (That was the entire menu). The tables and chairs were laid out in the street and if you can’t find an empty table you simply ask to join in to an already occupied table. No problems! Tova assured me that this is a good place: “Look how many Chinese people eat here…”. Anyhow, she was absolutely right. We ate the dumpling (8 of them!) and the noodles soup and stood in line again for seconds. The total cost was an amazing $1.60 (One dollar and 60 cents) for both of us!

We reached the hotel and after a hot shower we took a taxicab to a massage clinic. It was an amazing experience. Remember my back pain? Well, My masseurs did a wonderful job and as we left the clinic I announced to Tova: “NO MORE BACK PAIN!” We went to sleep early, as tomorrow we need to wake up at 5:00am.

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Wednesday, February 26^th, 2003

After breakfast, we checked most of our luggage in the hotel and with one bag we headed toward the train station, along with Ping. We boarded the train and sat in 1^st class, on our way to Suzhou. The journey took only 50 minutes and we viewed the rice fields and farms along the way. The “Countryside” looks so refreshing! As we departed the train, a lady carrying a cardboard with our names stood right next to us. It was Rong: our new tour guide. We boarded a van and headed to our first destination: Tiger Hill. On the way Rong told us briefly about the history of Suzhou: The city is also known as "Gusu city", having the fame of "Garden City, Venice Of The Orient", Suzhou was set up in 514 BC; being a city with history of more than 2500 years, it was named Suzhou in 581 A.D. A light rain started as we reached Tiger Hill.

Formed about 150,000,000 years ago, Tiger Hill is 36 meters high and 630 meters in perimeter with a total area of 20 hectare (200,000 sq. meters). Tiger Hill's history is entwined with that of the ancient city of Suzhou, and both can be traced back 2,500 years. How it received its name is an interesting story. It is recorded that in 496 B.C., Wu King Helu died in a war between the Wu Kingdom and the Yue Kingdom and was buried by his son under what we now call Tiger Hill along with all of his swords, which were of exceptional quality and beauty.

According to the Historian, three days after the burial of Wu King Helu, people found a white tiger squatting on the tomb, hence the name Tiger Hill.

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We visited four interesting sites, which were: Tiger Hill Pagoda: This is the oldest pagoda in Suzhou with a history that reaches back more than 1,000 years, and it has the special honor of being regarded as the symbol of the city of Suzhou. Starting in 1638 the pagoda began to lean to one side and it has become known as "China's Leaning Tower". Sword Testing Stone: This rock has a split within it that appears to have been cut by a sword. The legend says that Wu King Helu, who tested all of his swords on this stone, cracked it. Tomb of the True Lady: This is the tomb of Hu Ruizhen, a beautiful lady of the late Tang Dynasty who was also skilled at singing and verse. She committed suicide by hanging herself when a bad procuress forced her to “fool around” with a visitor. A pavilion was subsequently built next to her tomb in memory of this special lady. Broken Beam Hall: Popularly known as "the Second Entrance Gate", it was first built in the Tang Dynasty and rebuilt during the Yuan Dynasty. Its principal beam consists of two pieces of round timbers that demonstrate the skill and wisdom of the ancient Chinese architects and builders

Our next stop was Hanshan Temple, which used to be one of the ten most famous temples in China. The poem of "A Night Mooring by Maple Bridge" by Zhang Ji, a famous poet of the Tang dynasty, is so oft-quoted and widely loved that the poetic rhyme and the bell-tolling sounds have made the Hanshan Temple celebrated at home and abroad. As we entered the temple, Rong knelt and had a long pray. It was quite impressive. As we headed to a restaurant for lunch, heavy rain had started. After lunch we walked to the nearby Silk Museum, which combines exhibits with demonstrations of silk weaving. Exhibits on display in its various exhibition halls reflect the origin, evolution and development of silk production, from primitive times to the Shang, Zhou, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties right through to present day. Among the exhibits are many traditional silk looms, fragments of silk from various dynasties, bolts of ancient silk, ancient garments, and a large number of samples of modern silk products. The final room we had visited was the museum store, where we purchased large pillows, silk sheets, silk pillow covers, and more. I was really surprised to find out that even there, in the museum, there are no fixed prices. After a long negotiation, which included some phone calls to “the boss” we finally reached a “final price”. The goods will be shipped to us soon!!  

We headed to the Grand Canal for an awaiting boat. One of the reasons that Suzhou is a big industrial city is the Grand Canal. This engineering masterpiece runs some 1000 miles from Beijing to the sea. Every day the canal is busy with all kinds and sizes of crafts hauling a variety of materials in and out of Suzhou. Many of the boat people live on their vessels along the canal. It is, in essence, the main street of the town. As we cruised along the canal we understood exactly why Suzhou is called the Venice Of The Orient.  

We later checked into The Bamboo Grove Hotel and since it was raining heavily now, we decided to spend the evening having a foot massage in the hotel. An hour later, the skies had cleared and with our “fresh” feet we walked toward downtown (about a mile). We had dinner in a Xiang style restaurant where the food is very tasty and very spicy. After dinner we “windows shopped” for a while and headed back to the hotel.

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Thursday, February 27^th, 2003

 

After a delicious breakfast we met Rong and headed to Tongli Town, which is the best -preserved water township in the province. After about an hour we arrived to the town. Surrounded by water Tongli town is set among the five lakes of Tongli. It is divided into seven islands by 15 rivers and combined into a whole by 49 ancient bridges. Intersected by many rivers, nearly all of the architectures in this town were built facing the water, bestowing Tongli with the name "Venice in the East". Fortunately thanks to these lakes and waterways Tongli town was kept safe from the wars since it was inaccessible in olden times, leaving ancient buildings well preserved.

As we walked down the narrow streets of the town we saw a woman washing her vegetables in the dirty river. Another woman was cooking lunch outside her little home. Rong explained to us that running water, electricity and even a sink are not part of the household and that quite a few functionalities are done outside of the house including washing, toilet, and cooking. The small bridges are so simple and beautiful. We purchase some pictures from a woman who was embroidering them as we walked by. We entered a Residential House. This house reflects the traditional style of Tongli town. Decorated with flying eaves, brick carvings and elegant windows, mostly are facing towards the water, with a small garden at the rear. In order to be convenient for washing, small stairs were built in front of the house leading down to the river.

As we crossed one of the bridges, a lady was seated in a boat with four trained water birds, called cormorants. For $1 we had a demonstration: These birds are thoroughly tamed and wonderfully trained; they sit around on the sides of the boat and dive off after fish when urged by gentle touches with poles. The birds dived several feet under water and searched for fish. Strings or bands are put around their necks so that no fish large enough for cooking purposes can be swallowed. Upon their return to the boat, the lady fisherman snatched them from their beaks and deposited them in the specially made fish-basket. Rong told us that each bird knows his own master. We walked back to the van passing a market, where we bought some Chinese candies. I tried to purchase a coat there but they do not carry “western sizes”…

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As we were driving back to Suzhou, we witnessed a truck, full of wine bottles, on its side, blocking 3 lanes of the highway. The smell of alcohol was all over the road.
We had a delicious lunch in one of the hotels in town tasting the local seafood. It was so yummy!
The next attraction was Garden Of The Master Of The Nets, where beauty and tranquility are intertwined in graceful proportions. It is the most exquisite and the best-preserved garden of all the old residential gardens in Suzhou. The garden is divided into three parts. The eastern section is the residential area - originally with side rooms for sedan-chair lackeys, guest reception, and living quarters. The central part is the main garden and the western part is an inner garden where a courtyard contains the Dianchun Studio, which served as the official's study. At the Western side we crossed a very small bridge, known as “The smallest bridge in China”. It is only 3 feet long! We left this garden and headed to yet another garden called The Humble Administrator Garden. This garden is representative of Chinese classical gardens in the Ming Dynasty, which are focused on a central pond with pavilions, terraces, chambers, and towers located nearby. Humble Administrator's Garden is divided into three parts: the eastern, middle and western parts. The middle part is the cream of the garden with marvelous mountains, clear water, exquisite buildings and exuberant trees and flower reminiscent of the scenery in the south of the lower Yangtze River. The buildings in the western part of the garden are properly arranged by the lake, in which the Hall of the Thirty-Six Mandarin Ducks and the Hall of Eighteen Camellias are most important. Both halls are furnished with ancient furniture, paintings and calligraphies hung on the wall, embodying the leisurely life of the master. To the end of west garden lays a bonsai garden, where about 700 bonsais are put on display. The name Humble Administrator's Garden was inspired by the essay: "To cultivate my garden and sell my vegetable crop is the policy of a humble man". On the way back to the hotel we peaked at the Twin Pagodas. Once again we walked to the Downtown area and after receiving yet another massage, this time given by blind men, we wondered the streets amazed by the number of bicycles crossing the intersections. At one point I was standing in the middle of the bikes lane and hundreds of bikes went besides me, avoiding my body.  

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Friday, February 28^th, 2003

Breakfast and then, along with Rong, we headed to the train station. The ride back to Shanghai was very interesting. This time, our ticket was good enough for a sleeping cabin where we met two very interesting men. One of them is an American (from Arizona) who lives in Suzhou for the last couple of years. He is a manager with Honeywell and told us about his life in China. When I asked him what he misses the most (besides his family), he did not hesitate when he said: “Margaritas and thick juicy steaks”. The other person was a Chinese doctor who lives in Belgium and came to visit his Homeland. He speaks 30 different languages! Once in Shanghai, we met Ping in the train station. We drove back to the JC Mandarin Hotel to pick up our stored luggage and headed to the airport for our flight to Beijing.  

It was time to say our goodbyes to Ping, whom we liked so much. The flight was very pleasant. Even the food was delicious and the time went by fast as we watched “Candid Camera” in Chinese… We arrived to Beijing and met our new tour guide: Tony.  

On our way to the Asia Hotel, Tony briefed us about the Chinese Capital. After checking in we headed, taking the subway, to the Silk Alley, which is ironically situated right beside the American embassy, this is Beijing's center for counterfeit designer goods, and a shopping experience. We decided to walk back to the hotel and were not frightened by the distance of 4 miles. Upon arrival (two hours later) we took a shower, changed our cloths and went for dinner, with Tony (who waited in the lobby all this time). We arrived to Lao Beijing Zha Jiann Mian Restaurant (Lao means Old). This was by far the best Chinese food I have ever tasted! We walked back to the hotel, still raving about the food and the service at the restaurant.

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Saturday, March 1^st, 2003

As we finished with our breakfast, Tony arrived and we asked him to find a Laundromat for our dirty cloths. We “dumped” a bag in a nearby Laundromat and headed toward Tian’anmen Square. With a total area of 440,000 square meters, the Square, found in the center of Beijing, boasts the largest of its kind. Over a hundred years, many ceremonies and demonstrations have been held here. On October 1, 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the new China here. Its size and the many visitors overwhelmed us. I kept whispering to myself: “You are now in Tian’anmen Square..” As I could not believe that one of my dreams had been fulfilled. The square has many monuments and buildings.  

Our first stop was at the Mao Zedong Mausoleum, which opened in 1977. Five million visitors a year come to view Mao's preserved remains. The line of visitors stretches out for a few hundred yards, but it continuously moved along at a very slow, strolling pace. A guard was watching over the chairman’s remains in a freezing temperatures room. Some people do not believe that this is actually the remains of the chairman. However, I think it was. The security for this place was very tight with people being body searched.

 
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From there Tony took us to a very unique pharmacy. The Tongrentang Pharmacy has been in business for over 300 years. This pharmacy was once a royal dispensary during the Qing Dynasty and still produces all the pills and secret concoctions once used by royalty. The enormous size of this pharmacy is overwhelming, as is the selection of remedies. We were seated in a private room and a lecturer explained to us about Chinese Medicine. We left the pharmacy, loaded with some remedies and headed toward the Forbidden City. On the way we passed The Monument to the People's Heroes - the 36 meters high obelisk made of granite, which dominates the center of the square. On the top of the central door of the Forbidden City is a gigantic portrait of Chairman Mao with slogans on each side saying 'Long Live the People's Republic of China' and 'Long Live the Unity of the Peoples of the World'. The Forbidden City is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a 10-meter high wall are 9,999 buildings. Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from the Inner Court, fourteen emperors of the Ming dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here. Having been the imperial palace for some five centuries, it houses numerous rare treasures and curiosities. Since yellow is the symbol of the royal family, it is the dominant color in the Forbidden City. Roofs are built with yellow glazed tiles; decorations in the palace are painted yellow; even the bricks on the ground are made yellow by a special process. We toured the city for about 3 hours (!). In the rear of the City is a large and ornate garden, with a number of bonsai-type trees, many well cared for flowerbeds, and a host of trees that are tagged with brass plates designating them as historical sites. After a late lunch we headed to the Enamel Factory, which is the only one in which "Jing fa" brand Cloisonné ware are made in China. We watched some of the employees at work.
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We headed toward the Temple Of Heaven complex, situated in the southern part of the city in Chongwen district. In ancient China, the emperor was regarded as the "Son of Heaven", who administered matters on the earth on behalf of the heavenly authority. To show respect to the heaven, ceremonies for sacrifices to heaven were extremely important to the emperor. The temple was built for the worship of heaven and prayers for good harvests. A double wall encloses the temple. The upper northern half is circular, representing Heaven and the southern half is square, representing the Earth, coincident with the Chinese saying of "Round Heaven and Square Earth". We experienced the Echo Wall, which is a circular wall surrounding the Imperial Vault of Heaven. It is about 200 meters long, and 4 meters high and 1 meter thick. If one speaks against the wall at one end, another can hear his voice at the other end of it.  

On the way out of the temple we entered the Temple Of Heaven Park and one of the most amazing and enjoying experiences had occurred: we strolled through the grounds and observed elderly men out for a walk with their pet birds, or playing a game of Chinese Checkers with their friends. But the most amazing part was to watch hundred of Chinese from all ages joining together to play music and sing popular old songs about China. There were the musicians with their accordions and balalaikas and they led the weekend crowd, who follow them singing. I saw a woman holding her daughter in her arms while both were singing. I watched an elderly man swaying with his eyes closed as he enjoyed the sound in the air. I also saw three women singing in harmony. This whole scene will never leave my memory. If it were up to me I would have stayed there for a couple of hours.  

We left the park heading toward Liulichang Street taking a promenade among the rows of Traditional Buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. A man followed us and as it turned out, he painted my face on a plate. At the end of the street he approached me and sold me the plate with my picture on it for the whopping price of $1. Most of the street stores are antiques store and as Tony said: “If you do not understand in antiques, do not go in there…”. Tony also asked me if I would like him to find out what we could do tomorrow night, since it was the only night we had nothing to do. I told him to go ahead and find out. On the way to the hotel, I asked Tony to stop at a records store so I could purchase a CD with the Sing Along songs we had heard in the park. After refreshing in the hotel, we rushed to Tian’anmen Square to try to catch the “Flag Ceremony” but we missed it by few minutes. Tony promised that we’d try to catch it tomorrow.  

We walked to the famous Quanjude Restaurant to have a Roasted Beijing Duck for dinner. It is the largest roast duck restaurant in Beijing if not in the world. Quanjude Restaurant can serve as many as 5,000 meals a day. Quanjude, founded in 1864, uses an oven without door. After a kind of dressing being spread all over a duck, it will be hooked up in the oven over the flame coming directly from the burning of the fruit-tree wood and it will be done in forty minutes. When roasted and dried, the duck will look brilliantly dark red, shining with oil and with crisp skin and tender meat. Because of its appearance, few people could resist the temptation of it. Now it's time to serve it! First, the chef showed us the whole duck. Then, he sliced it into many pieces with both skin and meat and served together with special pancakes (Moo Shou), hollowed sesame bun, green onions and sweet sauce. We wrapped duck slices, onion, and sauce in the pancakes and the sesame buns with our bare hands.  

It was a delicious and messy experience. We wanted to walk back to the hotel, but Tony begged us to use the subway: The 21-year-old guide was exhausted. On the way back to the hotel, a group of Chinese nomads (4 of them) entered the train. They smelled bad and had all of their belonging with them. They were from the Xiang area (according to Tony) and by the way they had looked at Tovale’ it was only apparent that they had never seen a white woman before. Tovale’ loved every minute of it!

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Sunday, March 2^nd, 2003

After breakfast we met with Tony. Another one of my dreams will be fulfilled today. We are scheduled to visit the Great Wall of China. The first stop, however, was at the Jade Factory. Our driver parked next to a large, single-story building that housed a Chinese government-run jade factory. In the side room were about a dozen craftsmen, each hard at work using a bench grinder with diamond blade to turn their piece of jade stone into an intricately carved piece of jewelry. 

Next stop was a room with large, showy jade carvings. Jade, they explained, is considered by the Chinese to be the most important type of raw material in existence, even more so than gold. That's because it takes many years to find, transport, and develop into jewelry and other items. We got a lesson in telling real jade from the fake glass and marble look-alikes that abound in the tourist shops. At the end of the tour, we were taken to the obligatory jade showroom.  


Next we headed toward Badaling and The Great Wall Of China, which is located more than 70 kilometers northwest from the center of Beijing City. The part of the Wall where we were headed, Tony told us, was one of the most important in the entire 6,700 kilometers the wall stretches. Although the entirety of the Great Wall was completed in 220 BC, this particular section, because of its proximity to Mongolia (remember from your world history classes: The Mongol hordes swept down from the North), was put into place by 700 BC. That's because, not only was Mongolia directly on the other side from the part of the Wall where we'd be visiting, but this particular area contained one of the only easily traversed passes through the mountains. On the way we saw a glimpse of the famous wall and were anxious to get to our destination.  

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As we drew closer, we could see there were actually two walls, separated by about 200 feet. Two Walls provided even more security against invaders coming through the mountain pass, said Tony. An advancing army would have the twin difficulty of breaching Wall #1, only to be then trapped in front of Wall #2. On each, of course, would be the defending Chinese army. We parked the car and walked for about 20 minutes toward the attraction site. My heart was racing. I finally saw it and it was more than anything I could have ever imagined. The wall of Badaling has a total length of 3,741 meters with an average height of 8 meters. The highest part is 15 meters. We arrived at a spot where tourists could walk along either of the Wall sections. Both were extremely steep as they clung to the mountainside. We entered the wall site and had a choice to either make a right turn or a left turn. When I saw that most of the tourists make a right turn I asked Tony what would be the difference. Tony’s answer was simple: “it is easier to climb the wall on the right”. My decision was an easy one: “Let’s make a left turn”. My calculations were simple: instead of fighting the traffic, I rather fight my own physical condition. Tony’s face was paled when he heard my decision. Nevertheless, we made the left turn and started climbing the paths within the walls. Our climb was a grueling over 400 steps up a very steep incline; (it seemed even harder coming back down). We finally reached the end of the wall on this section.  

When we looked over the mountainside we saw another part of the wall, which was broken and under construction. Every 100 meters or so, there is a tower. In each of these tower buildings there are an entry and exit door, plus a window facing each of the other two directions. No one would have a chance of sneaking up on the Wall as long as soldiers manned these vantage points. Then, once at the base, an invader's next challenge would be to scale the 30 meters of sheer surface to the top. There were, of course, the vendors along the wall selling everything from water bottles, coins, hats to certificates indicating the date and time you had climbed the wall. There were the artists alongside as well, painting this wonder of the world. Saying goodbyes to the Wall was difficult but we had to continue our tour. On our way back to the car, we stopped in a unique market along the mountainside and tasted some sour dates. We headed toward the Ming Toms. Lunch was served at the back room of huge souvenirs store (Yu Long) and was AWFULL. After lunch we told Tony that this is the last time he will decide what we eat for lunch. We told him that we rather eat from a Noodle Stand than eating such boring and tasteless food. It created some kind of a tense in our relationship. A short drive took us to the Sacred Way and Ming Tombs.

At a distance of 30 miles northwest of Beijing stands an arc shaped cluster of hills fronted by a small plain. Here is where 13 emperors (out of 14) of the Ming Dynasty (1366-1644) were buried. Construction of the tombs started in 1409 and ended with the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644. In over 200 years tombs were built over an area of 40 square kilometers, which is surrounded by walls totaling 40 kilometers. Each tomb is located at the foot of a separate hill and is linked with the other tombs by a road called the Sacred Way.

As we entered the Sacred Way we visited some stalls, which sold souvenirs and hats. Alongside the Sacred Way are 18 pairs of marble figures lined up in antithesis, these marble figures, sculptured from whole stones, were erected over 500 years ago, the traditional was of putting over marble figures as guard of honor in front of the mausoleum began in the Han Dynasty which signified the dignity of the emperor, symbolizing the good fortune and warding off evil influence. The Sacred Way starts with two hexagonal columns called Wang Zhu on either side. Then follow, one on each side, lions, xie zhi (a mythical beast of feline family, with a mane and a horn on its head), camels, elephants, qi lin (a kind of imaginary animal with a scaly body, a cow's tail, deer's hooves and horns on its head), horses. All these six animals are two kneeling, two standing, and 12 animals on each side: 24 animals in all. They were supposed to change guards at midnight. This archway is the earliest and biggest stone archway existing in China today.  

The Ming Tomb was built below ground in a great vaulted brickwork cavern. The vault must be at least thirty feet high and supports a rather large hill on its roof. We entered from the top and there seemed to be about five or six full flights of stairs to the bottom. (Fortunately, there are only two flights up to the exit -- the archaeologists provided a pleasant surprise for tourists and went through the side of the hill…)  

On the way back to the hotel Tony told me that he has a solution for what to do tonight. He suggested we should attend the “Kung Fu” show, acted by some monks from Tibet. It sounded great and Tony asked me to hand over 400 Yuans ($50) for the show. He told us that while we would rest in the hotel, he would personally go over to the theater to purchase the tickets. After about an hour of refreshing at our hotel’s room we met Tony at the lobby and headed, with a taxicab to the theater. I paid the driver but noticed that Tony is asking for a receipt from the driver and kept this receipt in his wallet. We arrived at the theater, after a short visit at the local supermarket and for my surprise, Tony handed over his Tour Guide ID Card and we walked straight into the theater, without getting any tickets. As we walked in, we found a seat in the 12^th row.    

I noticed that we are seated among older people and some children. Something did not smell right. I did not think that these people could afford to pay $25 a person for these seats. When I saw that in another section of the theater there were seats around tables and that food was served there, I asked Tony how come we could not sit there and he answered that these seat are reserved ONLY for VIP’s. I was not lazy and approached these tables. I saw a group of German tourists sitting around, eating food and sipping wine. I asked them how much they paid and the answer was “Only 120 Yuans”. I came back to our seats and complained to Tony, who defended himself: “They cheated me.. I will straighten it up”. Two minutes later an usher led us to the VIP section. The show itself was amazing. About 20 Kung Fu warriors, including some children, demonstrated their talent and entertained us for about 90 minutes. They also invited some members of the audience to participate with them.  

After the show, Tony approached me and admitted that he tried to steal the money from me. He told me how sorry he was, as he handed over 160 Yuans. I felt so bad about being cheated by our own tour guide and also realized that the receipt he had asked from the taxi cab driver was to be used for his personal “gain” and that he will probably tell his supervisor that he spent this money on us and will get reimbursed. We entered a “Hot Pot” restaurant where we cooked our own dinner. We were served with layers of meat, which included beef, lamb, and chicken. Also served were assorted fresh vegetables. The boiling pot was brought over and we threw meat and vegetables inside and cooked the food ourselves. It was an unbelievable experience. After dinner we entered a music store and bought some DVD’s. We took a taxicab back to the hotel. Once again I paid the driver and once again Tony asked for the receipt. Once again he kept it.

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Monday, March 3^rd, 2003

Our first stop, after breakfast is Summer Palace. After fighting traffic for 90 minutes, driving only 10 miles (It was Monday morning traffic), we arrived at this beautiful site.

The Summer Palace has a history of over 800 years. Early in the Jin dynasty, an imperial palace named Golden Hill Palace was built on the present site of the Summer Palace. In 1750 Emperor Qian Long of the Qing dynasty built the Garden of Clear Ripples here and renamed it longevity Hill to celebrate his mother's birthday. Later on it got the name Summer Palace, since the king and his family used to spend the hot (and humid) summer days in this place.

However, it was WINTER and temperatures hung around the zero (Celsius) mark when we arrived and to top it all, it was windy as well. In spite of the warm cloths we wore, I felt the how the crispy dry air is penetrating into my body. As we entered the complex we saw Kunming Lake, half frozen. When the wind passed through the lake it made the chill factor to about –15 (minus fifteen Celsius). We walked through a long hall called Long Gallery, which is Located on the north bank of the Lake and the south foot of Longevity Hill, The gallery stretches 728 meters from the Moon Gate (where we entered) in the east to the Shizhang Pavilion in the west. 

It is the longest and most famous gallery in China. First built in 1750 with 273 rooms, the gallery was fully painted and decorated with colorful designs and pictures, winding its way along the lake like a colorful ribbon. Four octagonal pavilions with double roofs were built at regular intervals to represent the four seasons. The gallery has about 8000 colorful paintings, which, as the most charming part of the gallery, depict landscapes, human figures, battle scenes, flowers, birds, etc. Next to the Shizhang Pavilion we saw a beautiful ship, which served the king’s daughter. We walked the gallery back and forth and headed to the exit. Tony insisted that we should not visit the Longevity Hill, saying it is not different from what we had seen in the Forbidden City and Temple Of Heaven. We found out later that we had missed a beautiful exhibition of art. I think Tony got back at us for discovering his “criminal” acts. He also behaved very strangely in the car, not talking to us at all and having the radio tuned to some Chinese rap music, pretty loudly. When we arrived at a restaurant for lunch we asked Tony NOT to order the food for us and we did it ourselves, ordering some fish and noodles. It was delicious.  

Our next stop was at the Yonghegong Lamasery, a renowned lama temple of the Yellow Hat Sect of Lamaism. The temple is situated in the northeast part of Beijing city (We passed it on our way to the Wall Of China). It was originally built in 1694 as the residence of the Qing Emperor Yongzheng. After his death in 1735, his coffin was placed in the temple. Emperor Qianlong, his successor, upgraded Yonghegong to an imperial palace with its turquoise tiles replaced by yellow tiles (yellow was the imperial color in the Qing Dynasty). In 1744, it was converted into a lamasery and became a residence for large numbers of monks from Mongolia and Tibet. Now there are about 70 lamas in this temple. For a small fee, you can also get the lamas to bless things for you. At the main temple, Tony knelt and prayed (maybe asking for forgiveness… who knows..).

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Fighting traffic again, we headed to the Beijing Zoo. Beijing Zoo was initially named Ten Thousand Animal Garden, which was built in 1908. The Zoo mainly exhibits wild and rare animals growing in China, such as the Panda and the Golden Monkey. Also, it boasts many rare animals from all around the world, such as White Bear from the North Pole, Kangaroo from Australia, Elephants from Africa. Moreover, heads of states gave some of the animals. The most fascinating building was the one with the Panda bears. We were lucky enough to see them being fed lunch. The next building of amusement is where the Tigers, Lions, and Black Panthers reside. 

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We left the zoo just before closing and headed toward Tian’anmen Square to witness the Flag Ceremony. We wanted to visit the square at sunset when the national flag is lowered in a grand ceremony. The Army, who is in charge of this ceremony, closes the main boulevard for traffic and then emerges from the gate of The Forbidden City, marching toward the square. A special unit lowers the flag with mechanical movements. The whole ceremony lasts about 20 minutes with thousands people in the square watching.  

The evening has just begun. We walked toward our next destination: The Beijing Opera. Beijing Opera (or Peking Opera) has existed for over 200 years. It is widely regarded as the highest expression of the Chinese culture. It is known as one of the three main theatrical systems in the world. As we entered the theater we witnessed how the actor and actresses put make-up on their faces. We were seated in a respectable place (1^st row, in the middle!). We were served some tea and some appetizers and waited for the opera to sweep us. As the story unveiled, translation appeared on both side of the theater, helping us, the foreigners, understand what is going on. It was AMAZING! I will never forget the arias, the way they carried their dialogues, and the way they danced! Overall they had told us three different tales of ancient China. Dinner was served in a Korean BBQ joint. In the middle of our table they put hot charcoals and brought the meat over. We Bar-B-Q’ed the meat ourselves and sipped some of the local wine, which I think was 100 proof! The whole experience was delicious!!!



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Tuesday, March 4^th, 2003

After breakfast, we checked-out of the hotel and with the luggage in the car we headed to the Hutong. We arrived to the Hutong area and saw about two dozens of Rickshaws waiting for passengers. We rented two of them and a girl named Victoria joined us, as our tour guide.

Victoria described to us what we are about to see: A Hutong is an ancient city alley or lane typical in Beijing, where Hutong run into the several thousand. The main buildings in the Hutong were almost all quadrangles--a building complex formed by four houses around a quadrangular courtyard. The quadrangles varied in size and design according to the social status of the residents. The big quadrangles of high- ranking officials and wealthy merchants were specially built with roof beams and pillars all beautifully carved and painted, each with a front yard and back yard. However, the ordinary people's quadrangles were simply built with small gates and low houses. Hutong, in fact, are passageways formed by many closely arranged quadrangles of different sizes.

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Our first stop in the tour was the Bell & Drum Towers. On our way I noticed that the rickshaw driver began pedaling faster to pick up speed. When I looked ahead of us I saw a small bridge coming up on our left. It was obvious that he was building up steam to make it across the bridge. It didn't work. Midway across the span he jumped off and began to pull the rickshaw.  

We stopped in a rather large courtyard, where we saw the Drum and the Bell Towers. The bell was used to sound every two hours to let the Hutong resident what time it was. We climbed the Bell tower. Seventy-Six steps later we had reached the top of the tower where we witnessed the view of the Hutong, the Forbidden City, and many parts of Beijing. Victoria told us a bit about the Bell Tower: the tower was first constructed in 1420 and rebuilt of bricks in 1747 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. A great bronze bell replaced the original iron bell.

The rickshaws were waiting for us and took us to the narrow allies. We stopped at the entrance of one complex and entered a typical home in the Hutong. A charming lady (Mrs. Wang) invited us in, where we witnessed a very warm, simple and beautiful living quarters. The room we sat in served as the kitchen, the dining room, the family room and even a bedroom. They had many modern conveniences including a refrigerator, stove, television and a computer, but the reality was that they lived in cramped quarters with little privacy. We asked few questions and then were led to the other parts of the quadrangles. The lady told us that both of her sons were married and they live in the back of the complex. All share the same kitchen and same washing facilities. We left the Wang’s and walked in the narrow alleys. In one corner we saw a set of exercise equipment. Victoria told us that the city provides these facilities for the residents of Beijing, free of charge, and that many people use the equipment to stay in shape.  

We wondered around for about an hour and headed toward the Hutong Tea House, where a beautiful woman described how a tea is being made and served in a traditional way.

At lunch Tova asked for a fish and created a scene since the lunch was prearranged between the tour company and the restaurant. Nevertheless, we got the Mandarin Fish, which was very tasty, among with other noodle dishes.

Beihai Park was our next stop. About half a kilometer to the west of the north gate of the Forbidden City is the famous Beihai Park. It used to be the former palace of the emperors in successive dynasties, called the Winter Palace by Westerners. This popular park has a total area of over 68 hectares, half of which is a lake. It boasts one of the best of China's classical gardens with artificial hills, pavilions, halls, temples and covered corridors. 

We entered the park through its south gate, touring the island and then walked along the eastern bank to the north gate. We saw a white onion-shaped shrine pagoda in Tibetan style, which was erected in honor of the fifth Dalai Lama's visit to Beijing in 1651. Besides the lake, the main things we saw were the Round City, which contains a jade vase from the time of Kublai Khan; the Temple of Eternal Peace; the Nine Dragon Screen, which is actually a 5-metre-high, 27-metre-long wall covered with glazed tiles carved into nine intertwining dragons. Tony was very impatient in the park and went through it rather quickly. I could feel how tense he was. 

We left the park and headed toward the airport for our awaiting flight to Xian. Tony walked us through until we got our tickets and then just turned aound and walked away, without even saying goodbye... We landed in Xian in the evening.  

Our new guide, Dragon, was waiting in the terminal. A light snow welcomed us as we walked outside to our awaiting car. Dragon explained to us that a severe Siberian Storm is heading our way. Dragon told us some of the important fact about Xian: Xian is in Shaanxi province, it is the provincial capital and it is the chief base of industry. As a whole, Xian covers an area of almost 10,000 square kilometers and has a population of over six millions. Xian is a famous historic and cultural city. From the 11th century BC onwards, Xian or its vicinity was established as the capital city by 11 feudal dynasties successively. It served as an ancient capital.  

We checked into the Anna Grand Castle hotel and were pleasantly surprise to see a true five-star hotel in this city. We were extremely hungry and decided to dine in a local restaurant. We walked the streets, freezing our butts and found a nice vegetarian restaurant where we spent an hour eating and drinking like there is no tomorrow. The food was EXCELLENT and in spite of not having an English Menu we managed to order 5 courses of delicious local food & Beer. The total bill was an astonishing $7 (Six US Dollars), including tip… We walked back to the hotel and discovered that the snowstorm had covered most of the building and street. The city’s color has changed to White. A thermostat in the hotel indicated that the temperatures outside were minus 8 Celsius but for some reason it did not feel that cold.

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Wednesday, March 5^th, 2003

We looked through our room’s windows, as we woke up, and a white powder was all over the streets. After breakfast we met with Dragon and despite the horrible weather and the roads condoning we decided to continue with our plans. First stop was the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, is situated in the Da Ci'en Temple, and is one of the most famous Buddhist pagodas in China. Originally built in 589 A.D. in the Sui Dynasty, the temple was named Wu Lou Si Temple until 648 A.D. when Emperor Li Zhi, then still a crown prince, sponsored a repair project on the temple. This was a symbol of thanksgiving to his mother for her kindness, after she had suffered an early death. The 7 stories pagoda was an architectural marvel. It was built with layers of bricks but without any cement in between. The bracket style in traditional Chinese architecture was also used in the construction. The seams between each layer of bricks and the "prisms' on each side of the pagoda are clearly visible.  

Pictures of the Heavenly King and of Buddha are on the doorframe sand horizontal bars on four sides of the pagoda's base. Out of these artistic works, the one on the horizontal bar of the west door is the most precious. It is a rare piece of art, now used for the study of the Tang architecture. Inside the temple where the pagoda is situated, there are two small buildings: the one on the east side houses a bell, and the one on the west side a drum. The bell, an iron cast from the Ming Dynasty, weights 15 tons. Together with the drum, the bell was used to strike time for the monks in the temple. In the Doctrine Chamber stands the Amitabha Buddha. In the Tang Dynasty, every successful candidate who passed the imperial examinations would have to climb up the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and wrote poems and inscriptions there. This ritual would symbolize a soaring career in the future. The fashion of writing poems and leaving inscriptions on the horizontal bars over doors and stone frame-works by successful candidates of the imperial examinations went on as far as the Ming Dynasty. These poem sand inscriptions have survived till this day as a fine mirror to the city's past.  

We climbed the 248 steps (The pagoda is 60 meters tall) to the top of the Pagoda and the city of Xian was laid in front of our eyes, all colored in white. We left the pagoda and headed to the nearby Art History Museum, where we witnessed an art collection from the Tang Dynasty. We were told about the art of the Tang Dynasty and a demonstration took place on how the Chinese characters were created. After a tasty lunch we arrived at the Shaanxi Provincial History Museum. The museum houses a large collection of over 100,000 historic and cultural artifacts unearthed in Shaanxi, dating one and a half million years ago and until today. The main complex is a mixture of ancient palaces and courtyard buildings, in a simple and elegant style. The exhibits on the ground and first floors are arranged in roughly three parts: Basic Exhibition Hall, the Theme Exhibition Hall and East Exhibition Hall. 

We saw the pre-historical and bronze period exhibits, together with Terracotta figures and murals from tombs of the Tang Dynasty. Dragon was very fluent with his knowledge about the Chinese History and it was a joy listening to him. As we left, we both agreed that we were just given a valuable lesson in history. The next highlight of the day was The Forest Of Stele (Tablets), the largest collection of books in the world with the earliest of these more than 2,000 large engraved stone tablets dates from the Han Dynasty. Most interesting includes an enlargement to the Confucian Classics stone inscriptions in the Tang Dynasty. With the successive collections of Steles in other dynasties, it was gradually renovated and expanded like a forest of steles. Collections here are also of high value for exploring Chinese calligraphy history. Here stand the many tablets engraved with works of many outstanding calligraphers through ages.

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Xian City Wall was next on the agenda. Xian city wall, now the biggest, ancient wall in the world, was built in the Ming Dynasty. The perimeter of the wall is 10 km, and the height is 12 meter. With a rectangle form, the Xian city wall has four gates. Each of them has a gate tower in Xieshan style, majestic and magnificent. In addition to the four gates, it has four corner platforms, arrow towers, and a city moat, all of which constituted a tight defending system. From Ming Dynasty to present, the wall has been renovated for several times. The large-scale renovation in early 1980´s gave the wall a brand new look. We walked on top of the wall but the weather won and frozen to death we surrendered and headed down to the streets. We walked the streets of Xiang toward our next destination: Dumpling Dinner At The Bell & Tower Hotel. Walking through the streets was rather enjoyable, and we saw how the ordinary people go about their daily lives, working, shopping, eating, and sometimes even sleeping! Crossing the street is an adventure: there are no traffic lights to be found. Once at the Bell & Tower hotel we had a tasty dumpling dinner that had over twenty creative types of dumplings, in shapes such as ducks, chickens, pigs, monkeys, and fish. They kept serving us with dumpling and we did not know that we must tell them to stop or they will keep be coming our way. We also discovered another delicacy of the region: A warm Rice Wine. Delicious!! We walked back to our hotel for a good night sleep.

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Thursday, March 6^th, 2003

Today, another one of my dreams is going to come true: The Terracotta Warriors Site. A sunny day welcomed us, as we woke up and after a delicious breakfast we met with Dragon and off we went. Dragon was filling us in on what we already have known: In 1974 a group of peasants digging a well, made what was to become the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century when they unearthed fragments of a life sized Terracotta Warrior. Excavation of the vault revealed thousands (over 6,000!) of life size warriors, their horses, and chariots lined up facing east and ready for battle. An entire army follows its emperor into eternity. Many considered it as the eighth wonder of the world. The terracotta warriors were made for Qin Shihuang, also known as The First Emperor, and with his mausoleum lying only 1.5km, away it is assumed the army was made to accompany him on his journeys after death. Since that important date, back in 1974, three pits containing soldiers and artifacts have been slowly and carefully excavated. The three vaults or pits are protected by large hangar type structures and the process of excavating the army is an ongoing task. Who knows what they will discover  there tomorrow? 




We visited the three vaults. Vault number one is the most impressive one. We met the farmer who had dogged the initial hole in 1974; His farming career is over as he is now working for the government and signs his autographs for visitors who buy the book of how this wonder had been discovered. On the way out an army of vendors had “attacked” us pleading us to buy their merchandise. They held on and did not let us advance unless we buy something from them. I discovered a unique way to get rid of them: I aimed the video camera at them and since they sell their goods illegally, they preferred to disperse and find another victim.   They simply did not want their picture taken worrying that the authorities will have proof of their wrongdoing. After lunch, at a local restaurant, we visited the Huaqing Pools. Having been a palace and resort for emperors and kings in ancient times, this popular scenic spot, situated at the bottom of Lishan Hills, has a history of more than 3,000 years. More popularly known as the winter hideaway of Emperor Xuanzong who spent many winter days here in the company of his favorite concubine, Yang Guifei (Lady Yang). The hot springs maintain a year-round temperature of 44 degrees Celsius. Rich in mineral resources, the hot springs are said to have curative powers for ailments ranging from muscle pains to paralysis. For 12 cents we washed our faces with the precious water.

After our visit we took the cable car up to the top of the Lishan hill. A magnificent view was laid in front of our eyes.

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A short drive took us to the Banpo Neolithic Village. The remains of this village, located just east of Xian and inhabited from about 4500 B.C. to 3750 B.C., were discovered in 1953. Placards in English helped us understand this very early settlement of the area. Inside the museum, there is the hall for the ruins, the hall for cultural relics, and the clay cave ruins. The Banpo Lady Statue on the rock in the garden pond bears a physical resemblance to the early Banpo people. Six to seven thousand years ago, the Neolithic people built a stable village. Banpo had about 500 people lived in the village. We could see the remains of 45 houses, 2 stables, more than 200 cellars, and about 250 graves. The village includes a cave where they make rice paper even today. After a demonstration we headed back to our car.

We arrived at the hotel and took a much deserving rest. For the evening, we arranged to enjoy the Tang Dynasty Dinner & Show. A delicious dinner was served to us, which included local favorite dishes. Warm Rice Wine was served as well. Right after dinner we had one of the greatest experiences of our journey: The Tang Dynasty Dinner Show, a performance of Chang'an music and dance originated in China's Tang Dynasty over a thousand years ago. It has been recreated in accordance with various historical records as well as ancient art and relics discovered in Xi'an. This type of performance has been treasured as a national art that reflects the glory and richness of the Tang Dynasty era.

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Friday, March 7^th, 2003

We checked out of the hotel and after breakfast we drove off to the Muslim Section and its Great Mosque. Inscriptions from the stone tablets indicated that the Great Mosque was originally set up in 742 AD during the Tang Dynasty. After restorations the present complex proudly ranks among the largest mosques in China. Unlike Arabic mosques, which have splendid domes the mosque is built in a Chinese traditional style with the grounds taken up by platforms, pavilions and halls.

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We wondered around the Muslim Market on our way to the Bell Tower, a five minutes walk. The original tower built in 1384 during the Ming Dynasty was used for telling time. Standing at the heart of the city, the iron bell, which hung in the tower was struck 70 times a day. It was rebuilt at the present location in 1739 during the Qing Dynasty. The tower, square-shaped in construction, 36 meters in height and built on an 8 meter-high base, is a wooden structure joined without a single iron nail. We climbed the tower (225 steps) and as we reached the peal, we looked over Xian to discover streets packed with residents trying to cross the intersections with hundreds of vehicles passing by. A policeman was standing in the center of it all but without any positive results.

We headed back to the Muslim Section, wondering through the market, and found a local Muslim-Style restaurant. We ordered about 8 different plates. The meal was spicy and very delicious.

Our drive to the airport took about an hour. We said goodbye to Dragon, who we enjoyed so much for the last three days, and boarded a plane to Guilin. Lee, our new tour guide was waiting at the terminal. We drove toward our hotel when a pleasant and warm day greeted us. The view was amazing with hills and valleys. Lee told us some facts about the city and started with a famous quote: "I often sent pictures of the hills of Guilin which I painted to friends back home, but few believed what they saw." The writer was the Song-Dynasty scholar Fan Chengda and his comments show that the scenery of Guilin has been attracting and astonishing visitors for many centuries. It has also been the inspiration for classical Chinese landscapes of fantastically shaped peaks, studded with pines and small pavilions, partly shrouded in mist.  

After checking into the beautiful five-stars Royal Garden Hotel, we received a very relaxing Foot Massage inside a clinic and headed to a famous restaurant for dinner. Famous, because it serves all kind of animals for dinner; we saw a gentleman ordering a rat, a snake, and a turtle for dinner. We witnessed the waiter chopping off the snake’s head and weighing the rats for pricing purposes. In the same room we saw an ostrich, a peacock, and some other animals waiting for their final destiny. We ordered a fish, rice noodles, soup with dumplings, fried string beans and a favorite vegetarian dish called “Fried Taro” (Chinese Potato Chips) topped with sugar. It was pretty expensive (for China) and we ended paying about $30.

Night had fallen on the city as we drove, a short distance to witness the Silver And Gold Pagoda’s all covered with thousands of light bulbs. It was a great sight. Lee recommended earlier that we should get tickets for a show and that the price for two is 300 Yuans (about $40). Tova and I looked at each other: “Sounds familiar”. Tova told Lee that there is no problem but we would like to actually purchase the tickets. Lee made the reservations over his cell phone. We arrived at the theater and sure enough there were two tickets waiting for us. However, there were no price tags on them. Later on, at the hotel, I found out that the real cost was only 240 Yuans. Lee profited 60 Yuans (About $8) for this transaction. It sounds like this is a regular practice for some tour guide in China: take advantage of tourists!! Nevertheless, the show, Light Up The Fire Passion, performed by the Moonlight Circus And Ballet was By Far the best show we have watched during our trip. The cast performed some beautiful acts, which included acrobatic stunts and pure ballet dancing. I described it later as the “Circus De Sole’ Of China”.

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Saturday, March 8^th, 2003

After a delicious breakfast we met Lee at the lobby of the hotel and started our new day, as a beautiful and warm sun welcomed us. We arrived at the Diecai Hill by the Li River. The Folded Brocade Hill got his name from its beautiful shape. Besides its ravishing scenery, it has many ancient relics, including the Buddhist pagodas built in the Tang Dynasty, inscriptions and Buddhist sculptures. It was easy to climb up the hill along the stone pathway that took us through the Wind Cave where the wind blows at all times of the year. We visited the Bird Sanctuary where hundreds of birds call it “home” and fed the birds with some seeds we had bought earlier. As we reached the top we held our breath when the most beautiful bird view had folded. The city, river, and the valley were right there at the palm of our hands.

We walked down the hill to our awaiting car and headed toward the Reed Flute Cave. Situated in a completely concealed spot on Guangming Hill, 3 miles northwest of the town, Reed Flute Cave is Guilin's largest and most impressive cave. Its name is explained by the fact that reeds for making flutes and pipes have been grown in this region since ancient times. This dripstone cave is 790 feet deep, and a visitor will walk for some 550 yards through a zigzagging sea of stalactites and stalagmites in dazzling colors. Although the cave is also known as a Palace of Natural Art, manmade artificial lighting is used to emphasize the coincidental similarity of the rock formations to birds, plants, and animals in fantastic shapes and colors. We saw the “Status Of Liberty”, “Santa Clause”, and “Buddha” and as we arrived to Crystal Lake we actually saw “New York Skyline” in the water. Lee was very familiar with the cave and acted as the cave operator when he turned the lights on and off. It benefited us, since we did not have to mingle with a large tourist group, which was right behind us.

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As we left the cave we witnessed a man and a woman falling off their boat in the near by lake. They were able to hold on to a branch of a tree and waited for another boat to come and rescue them. After lunch we called home and talked to the kids, who entertained many guests at our home, for Friday Night Dinner.

A short drive took us to the Solitary Beauty Peak, which is a 152-meter (500ft) peak, known as the "pillar under the southern sky". We climbed 300 or so steps up the steep incline and were rewarded with beautiful panoramic views of the surrounding hills, the Li River and the town of Guilin.

Around the peak we saw a chain all tangled up with locks. Lee told us the story of the locks: When a couple gets married they climb the hill, carrying with them a lock and a key. They inscribe their names on the lock, put the lock around the chain, and throw the key to the river, from the top of the hill. This act will ensure that no one will ever unlock their wedding vows. At the foot of the hill there is a gate built in the 14th century leading to what once was the home of the nephew of a Ming emperor, but is now the Guangxi Teacher's University. We visited the Art Gallery on campus and admired the beautiful pictures; most of them were expressions of Guilin’s and Li river beauty.

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After a short visit to the pearl factory we headed toward the Elephant Trunk Hill, which is regarded as the symbol of Guilin landscape. Originally named "Li Hill", it has a history of 3.6 hundred million years. Resembling an elephant, leisurely sucking water from the river with its long trunk, this hill is famous as Elephant Trunk Hill for hundreds of years. We decided to climb that hill as well. Lee opted to wait for us at the bottom of the hill. We discovered a cave between the trunk and the legs of the elephant, in the shape of a full moon. On the walls in and around this cave, over 70 inscriptions from the Tang and Song dynasties were found, praising the beauty of hills and waters nearby.  

Halfway up the hill lies another cave, which goes through the hill and serves as the eyes of the elephant, through which we witnessed the beautiful scene of Guilin city and the many bamboo boats carrying their passenger from one bank of the Li River to the other. As we reached the top of the hill we saw a pagoda named Puxian Pagoda, which looked like the handle of a sword. Tired and happy we reached the bottom of the hill and found Lee.  

We drove to our last stop of the day: The Seven Stars Park, which is one of Guilin's most important sights. The seven stars symbolize the seven mountains around which the park grounds were laid out. There is a zoo there and once again we saw the graceful Panda Bear. Bill Clinton gave a speech at this park in 1998 and a memorial rock commemorates the event. There is a famous cave in the park but Lee decided to ignore this cave and we headed to the exits. We arrived at the hotel at around 7:00 pm and at 7:05 we were OUT. We slept the next 12 hours…

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Sunday, March 9^th, 2003

Another one of my “wish to do in my life time” items will be crossed out today as we are scheduled to take a cruise along the Li River.

We checked our luggage with the hotel and after breakfast we took one bag with us and headed to the Li River.

 

We boarded a small cruise ship and situated ourselves in the front of the ship. A group of Japanese tourists joined our table and we set sail toward Yangshuo. The cruise was a very enjoyable experience, with ever changing scenery on a partly cloudy day. I took pictures of the scenery as the Li River boat cruised through the bends, and watched the passing boats of the Li River traders or farmers. We saw an occasional farmhouse and buildings with tracks leading down to the river. A group of children playing and swimming near one section of the bank provided another image for the over-worked cameras. 

We saw trained cormorants of fishermen perched on their masters' boats moored in a Li River bay, ladies doing their laundry, backpackers along the trails and hills shaped like figures from real life. Lunch was served and included tasty dishes. Four hours later and we docked in Yangshuo. As the old saying goes, "Guilin's scenery is the most beautiful in the world, Yangshuo 's scenery is far more superior to that of Guilin's". The natural scenery of Yangshuo is unique and like none other in the world. In Yangshuo County alone, there are over 20,000 hills. Moreover, many consider the landscape of the plains and the villages, in Yangshuo County to be like a beautiful picturesque poem. Amongst the mountains and waters are old buildings and old bridges that reflect the rich cultural heritage of Yangshuo. Yangshuo was one of the first counties to be appointed as a national tourism area. Each year 1.5 million visitors come to Yangshuo. 

The Li River quay was a hub of activity and we walked, along with Lee, past the many stalls, the taxicabs, and hotel "agents”. We passed through West Street and ended up in the Paradise Hotel. Lee caught a bus back to Guilin, as we opted to have a Free Day. It was around 3:00 pm and we decided to “walk the streets”. I wanted to buy a map of the city at the hotel but the clerk let us understand that a map for tourists costs $3 since it is English. A Chinese map cost a dollar. Insulted, we rejected his offer. As we re-entered West Street, a local Chinese girl started to talk to us in Hebrew. I thought I was going crazy. As it turned out the girl, named Chin-Chin, picked up some words, as she is a freelancer tour guide and had had some experience with Israelis she had taken on tours. I liked her style and we negotiated for a full day with bicycles for tomorrow. We entered the street and did some shopping as we befriended with the local vendors. The shops in the Li River town are like magnets attracting the tourists into their Aladdin Caves, and in one of them we bought a dress for Tova, in another we bought a set of wooden ducks all painted with beautiful colors. A couple of “hippies” were playing guitars and singing 60’s songs, in one of the bars. Wow!! We left touristy West Street and walked the main residential street, Xi Jie Road. 

We purchased a map (and in English) for a total of 75 cents.  

What we saw was unbelievable: The streets were DIRTY and so were the many stores and restaurants. We saw many individuals who sat in the sidewalks and used them as their place of business: a tailor, a shoemaker, a fortuneteller chanting her predictions to an old lady, a dentist, fully equipped with a chair and hooked up to a building for electricity, A hair-stylist, fully equipped with mirror, brushes and scissors, and more. One of the stalls had jars, which include dead snakes and juice. The merchant told us that the juice is “Chinese Viagra” and once a man drinks it he could perform great sex.  

It was early in the evening when a group of boys, aged 7-9 years, greeted us (in English) with “Good Morning”. We laughed and asked them to pose for a picture. We gave each one of them a gift: One Dollar. You should see the commotion and the huge grin over their faces. They probably thought that they have just won the Lottery.  

In one corner we saw a Youth Hostel with an amazing price of 25 cents a night, which included a bed and “a guaranteed” hot shower (no breakfast??? Just kidding…). No wonder this city is considered to be the Backpacker Capital Of China. We walked back toward the hotel and discovered Europe Alley with all kind of Cafés and restaurants. The alley had chairs and tables laid out on the street and waiters soliciting the crowd. 

We stored the goods we had bought at the hotel and went out to the main street looking for a massage and a good restaurant. Chin-Chin was still there in the same corner. I asked her to help and recommend a good clinic and a good restaurant. She actually left her post and showed us around. We enjoyed a one-hour massage ($5 each) and then a nice dinner, where the kitchen of the restaurant was in the street and we actually picked the (live) fish and vegetables to be cooked for us. For desert we found a woman who sell Pamela’s and she peeled one for us.

Exhausted but happy we returned to the hotel.

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Monday, March 10^th, 2003

Breakfast today was the best one yet. At the hotel there are two restaurants and we opted to skip the “Western-style breakfast” and eat our favorite “Chinese-style breakfast”. We were seated around a HUGE round table and 2 waitresses started serving us with all kind of local dishes: Tea Boiled eggs, Noodle soup, rice pudding, steamed vegetables, all kind of dumplings, and more.  

At one point I begged them to stop serving us. As it turned out this breakfast would hold our hunger ‘till the late afternoon hours. We met Chin-Chin at 8:30 in the same spot we had seen her yesterday. She was waiting for us since 5:30 am to make sure we do not try to skip town… Chin-Chin checked the bikes; and made sure they could take the punishment of our upcoming adventures. We left the center of town and into the fields. The unpaved road was rough with many small rocks laid on the road. A 20-minute ride took us to a small village. We stopped to look at a woman filling up a bucket of water from an outside well. Few people gathered around us as we became the attraction of the day for these poor people. We continued the ride and stopped near a rice field. A man was working in the field, using a water buffalo and a primitive instrument to prepare the field for planting. A woman passed by and carried two bucket full of manure. The two buckets were tied to a long pole that she carried on her shoulders. Chin-Chin explained that they are using the water buffalo manure to enrich the garden. We continued our journey and saw few more small villages with few hundred years old houses, decorated with green vegetable gardens.  

The vegetables they grow are for self-usage, we were told. We arrived at the Jinbao River and negotiated with a bamboo boat owner to take us down the river. We doubted he could fit the three bikes and all of us in one boat, but as it turned out, we all were aboard and two “sailors” operated the boat. The boat owner took the fee we had paid and joined his friends for a card game under a near by tree.  

The boat ride was quite an adventure and we enjoyed every minute of it: beautiful and peaceful scenery surrounded us. The reflection of the hills in the water made me feel as if I was part of a gigantic picture. We reached a very small waterfall and the two “sailors” maneuvered the bamboo boat, which splashed into the water with us sitting in it. 

We arrived at a village and it was the end of the “cruise”.  

As we rode our bikes into a village locals greeted us and by their looks we assumed they haven’t seen many “white, round-eyes people” very often. We stopped next to a woman and tow men who were taking a break in the shades, smoking cigarettes.


  
We posed for pictures and as we left I tipped the woman 10 Yuans ($1.25).  She embraced me and kept mumbling: “Sheh-Sheh, Sheh-Sheh”. Chin-Chin told me that I just gave this woman enough money to buy pork for one week.  

We crossed a main road and back to the countryside. We started to climb a small hill. Huffing and puffing we reached yet another village. Chin-Chin told us that this is a 500-year-old village and that she knew many people here. Once again people were watching us and gathered around us as if WE are the main attraction.  

As we left the village we saw 2 dozens men participating in a funeral. A 97 year old had passed away, we were told. We crossed the main road and entered into a small village, Yueliang Shan Village, to visit the Buddhist Cave.  

We hired a local guide and he told us that this interesting Cave has been used by the locals for the last 600 years but was just recently discovered by tourists, as the locals decided to use this cave as a source of income.  

The hill is about 380 meters high and we started to climb the 891 marbles stairs leading to its’ peak. Two women followed us, carrying coolers with water. The price per bottle of cold water was 50 cents and I just thought to myself what a person must do for a living is amazing. You see, the climb to the peak would take about an hour and we would purchase probably 2 bottles each so for three dollars, these two ladies would have to “work” for a couple of hours.  

The climb on the steep steps was really hard. We stopped few times to catch our breath and as we got closer to the peak we were rewarded with the most amazing view we have ever seen. Other hill peaks and beautiful green valleys with endless rice fields were just in front of our eyes. My finger worked over time, taking as many pictures as I could. On the top of the hill we met two Englishmen who asked us about the Buddhist Cave. We were more than happy to give them directions and recommendations.

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After a rest for about 20 minutes at the top, we breezed through the stairs down the hill. Chin-Chin and Tova became good friends by now. Chin-Chin told Tova a little about herself: She is a farmer’s daughter having two other sisters. One of the sisters is married and lives with her in-laws and the other goes to the university. Chin-Chin’s mission in life right now is to provide enough money for her sister to complete her academic career. In her house there are no running water but as of 1998 they have electricity and even a TV. 

The average annual net income of her father is 4000 Yuans ($500 per year!!). Although some of their crops is sold in nearby town markets, most of it is used to feed their family. Due to the uneven terrain around Yangshuo, using tractors and other laborsaving machines is not feasible; so her father, as his ancestors did centuries ago, works with his hands.  

We rode our bike back to Yueliang Shan Village and had lunch at the local Moonlight Café, located on the roof of a residential house. We ordered some plates, which included chicken cooked in vegetables, mandarin style fish, noodles, rice, beer and fruits for desert. The meal was most delicious and the total cost was about $15 for the three of us. Once again we saw the two Englishmen, who got lost in the village, searching for the cave. Once again we gave them directions.

After lunch we started heading back to town. We stopped at the Tall Banyan Tree. It is said that the banyan was planted in the Jin Dynasty and is now famous for its age and towering beauty. The banyan tree is now 17 meters high, 7 meters around the trunk, and covers an area of 1000 square meters. When we looked closely we saw that it has beautifully twisted roots and gnarled branches, hoary with primitive simplicity. Its crown is round with an exuberant growth of branches and leaves. There is a huge branch stretching out straight beginning at 1 meter above the ground. Enduring wind and rain for thousands of years, it is surprising that this branch has not been harmed. Few more kilometers and we had reached Yangshuo. We thanked Chin-Chin for a beautiful day and doubled her quoted price, giving her 200 Yuans. She was overwhelmed and hugged us both. I’ll never forget the expression on her face when she realized how much she got paid. Lee and our driver were waiting for us at the Paradise Hotel. We drove Northbound, back to Guilin and watched as the sun set in the West. An hour later we arrived at the Royal Garden Hotel. Tomorrow we are going to fly to Singapore.

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Tuesday, March 11^th, 2003

We woke up at 5:00 am and headed to the airport. Our flight to Guangzhou took about an hour and after a layover of about 3 hours we entered the International Terminal to board the plane to Hong Kong. We had an unpleasant encounter with the authorities: First, they make you pass through “Agriculture Inspection” which is nothing less but a way to milk 20 Yuans per luggage you have. They did not open any luggage and did not perform any inspection.

  
Next, we were told by (an armed) guard that we are not allowed to take our carry on bags with us since they do not meet their criteria of carry on. They must be 60 centimeters in length. We ended up paying an additional 800 Yuans ($100) in “fine”, since now along with the carry on luggage, we exceeded the allowed weight. I asked to talk to a supervisor pleading my case. The supervisor, a lady with perfect English, warned me that if I continue to complain they will charge me even more money for checking-in more than the four luggage allowed per couple and ended her statement by saying: “You American tourists always create problems for us”.  

We arrived at Honk Kong International Airport and were impressed by the beautiful terminal. We both smiled when we said: “Welcome to the Western World”. The flight to Singapore was pleasant and relaxing and we arrived to this amazing island/country/city 3.5 hours later. 

We located our driver outside the terminal and he took us to the Orient Hotel.  

The driver told us the history of Singapore and some of the fascinating facts about this Island-Country-City all in one. There are tough laws here, which prohibit people to throw gum on the streets, disallowing people to throw their cigarette butts (or any other items) on the streets. A law prohibits the residents of Singapore to sell chewing gum and people actually go to jail for breaking these laws. If a restaurant receives five legitimate complains, the authorities would close it – no questions asked! Our room looked fantastic and the view from the 21^st floor was amazing. 

We decided to have dinner at a local restaurant. We heard so many good things about the food in Singapore that we had to try it NOW.  

The local fusion food was born of the marriage of Chinese and Malay influences. We asked a man on the street and he directed us to the La Pa Sat Festival Market, located at the heart of the Finance District. It was humid (a lot) and we felt it pretty good, sweating all over. We arrived at the market to discover one of Singapore's larger hawker stands with a wide variety to choose from and enough competition to keep prices down. The market is popular with locals working in the surrounding Financial Center area during the day and tourists at night. We ordered food from 5 different stands and had a delicious meal. On the way back to the hotel we stopped inside the Esplanade Theater with its triangular aluminum shades, which cover the glass shells.

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Wednesday, March 12^th, 2003

We took the elevator to the 4^th floor to have breakfast and to greet our partners for the next two and a half weeks: Sarah & Brian Chisick. They were already seated in the dining room and looked kind of tired as they arrived last night, at 1:00 am, after a cross pacific flight, which lasted 17 hours or so.

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Dennis, our tour guide in Singapore met us in the lobby of the hotel and a beautiful Mercedes van was waiting for us.

We drove through the city to the suburbs and took a ferry to Pulau Ubin, an island off Singapore, which is still Singapore, but the lifestyle there is much like Singapore was decades ago. Except for the resorts that are now going up in full force, Ubin is largely undeveloped, with lots of hills and dirt roads, which makes it a perfect place for mountain biking in a country which is otherwise very unfriendly to bike enthusiasts. Hiring a bike for the day is simple as there are many rental shops as soon as you get off the boat. 

We found a bike’s shop and gave it a “once-over” to make sure everything works (especially the brakes). We visited a local house and met the residents: a Chinese family who escaped China in 1949 and established their home here. Our next stop was a Malay House with rubber trees surrounding him. The Shrimps farm, our next stop, was not that impressive. The ride itself was somewhat uncomfortable as the weather was hot and humid. We made few stops along the way to drink cold water and relax.  

We had lunch in a restaurant, located next to the dock and our table was actually on the sidewalk overlooking the bay. After lunch we continued our bike tour to the beach resort. On the way back to the dock, a light rain welcomed us. Our driver was waiting for us as we disembarked the ferry and took us back to the hotel for a much-needed shower and rest. In the elevator we heard very familiar sounds in Hebrew. We met two business people, from Israel, all dressed up in jackets and ties. 

Dennis was waiting in the lobby all this time, and we walked to the nearest Subway station. What we discovered was a new world underneath the city. The floor we walked on was so clean that we actually saw our reflections in it. There were dozens of stores, restaurants, and Cafés, along the underground passage, with flower stores, which enriched the aroma underneath the city. We purchased tickets through an automated machine and entered a train toward Newton Night Market for dinner.  

We ordered different plates from different food stalls and ended up with a most delicious dinner, which included the local favorites: Black Pepper Crabs – Crabs cooked in spice and black pepper and Malay Pot stickers. We walked toward Orchard Road with its high-class hotels predominate. It is also the domain of Singapore's elite, who is lured by the shopping centers, nightspots, restaurants, bars and lounges. We visited Mark & Spencer and some other department stores and then just walked the boulevard admiring the many popular stores. 

We hired a taxicab and after a short trip we were back at the hotel. We turned on the TV, tuned in to CNN and learned that Elizabeth Smart was found alive.

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Thursday, March 13^th, 2003

Dennis and light rain were waiting for us in the lobby. 

We arrived at our first destination of the day: The Spice Garden at Fort Canning Park. Here, we walked through a spice garden and learned about various exotic spices that are essential ingredients in Southeast Asian cuisine. As we climbed the small hill we saw many tombstones on the wall. Our next stop was a visit to Peranakan showroom to see what kept the womenfolk out of the public eye just decades ago, a display of Peranakan kitchen crockery used, and an exhibition about weddings. 

 In little India, we explored narrow streets overflowing with gold and spices, pots and pans, saris and gold. Few restaurants were serving Indian dishes - famed for its variety and infinitely subtle blend of aromatic spice and seasonings. 

Our next stop was at the Raffles Hotel. This famous hotel was built in 1887 and declared a national landmark in 1987. After a renovation restored this hotel to its original splendor, the Raffles Hotel has been ranked among the world's most luxurious hotels. The hotel is situated in the center of Singapore, convenient to local attractions, as well as shopping and entertainment. The hotel has a dozen onsite bars and one of them is the legendary Long Bar, where the world famous Singapore Sling was born. The price for a room here is between $500 and $2000 a night.  

After lunch at an Italian Restaurant, located next to the harbor, we continued our trip and visited the Katong, a complex of many building where people, from many races and religions live side by side and are provided with all the necessary facilities in nearby shops. Some “big-name” department stores had opened branches there. As it is all around Singapore, the complex is very clean. T


he Wet Market in the Malaysian Village, our next stop, was very colorful and occupied by many stalls. Malaysia is a dominant Muslim country and therefore many Muslims live in the village. The vendors sell everything from fruits, vegetables, live chickens, and live seafood to traditional items like handicrafts, fabrics, prayer rugs, furniture and antiques. At one point, a Muslim passed by us and after making sure we are Americans he declared: “Long Live Osama Bin Laden” (it was the only time during our trip that we felt hatred toward us for being Americans).  

We arrived, a short while later at the Changi Chapel And Museum, a lasting testament to the endurance and courage of World War II prisoners-of-war, and highlights an important part of Singapore's war history. Located in an open-air courtyard, Changi Chapel was first built by the inmates of Changi and stands as a monument to those who kept their faith and dignity in the face of seemingly hopeless odds. Through a collection of photographs, drawings and personal items donated by former prisoners-of-war and their families, Changi Museum tells the story of over three years of occupation by the Japanese and the imprisonment of more than 50,000 civilians and soldiers. Many pictures tell the story of cruelty performed by the Japanese army toward the people of Singapore. 

A short distance away is the Johore Battery.  

A gun emplacement site, that consists of tunnels that were used to store ammunition to support three monster guns that could fire 15-inch shells. Built by the British in 1939 for the defense of Singapore, the guns were the largest installed outside Britain during WWII. The guns were destroyed before the surrender of the British army and the tunnels were sealed up after the war. Dennis told us the story of the worst defeat in history by an English Army. The British were sure that Japan would attack the island from the sea. They built their whole defense to protect the island from such attack. Japan however, attacked from the North, marching through Malaysia and advancing toward Singapore, using bicycles. The Brits surrendered after only 48 hours of heavy fighting. 

Our next item of the day was the Hokkien Chinese Temple, which was brought stone by stone from China in 1840. Now, it is a reminder of the primarily Chinese character of the city. There are nine different Buddha’s in the temple each representing a different side of life. Our driver (Gary) knelt and started praying in front of one of those statues. Dennis brought us back to the hotel and we decided to spend the rest of the evening shopping. We needed some items for the upcoming cruise and tonight was the last chance we could shop since tomorrow we board the ship. We visited the following: Marina Mall, where Indian tailors tried to convince us that they could complete a suit in 4 hours, Technet Mall, and ended up at Raffle City Mall. We made our way through the underground links and once again were impressed how clean they are. We had dinner at the last mall, enjoying some spicy noodles, dumplings and delicious fruits. We used the underground links to return to the hotel and packed our luggage for the upcoming cruise.

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Friday, March 14, 2003

We overslept and woke up at 800 (!). We breezed through breakfast, checked out of the hotel and headed toward Arab Street. The Muslim center of Singapore is a traditional textile district, full of batiks from Indonesia, silks, sarongs and shirts. Add to this mix rosaries, flower essences, hajj caps, basket-ware and rattan goods, and you have a fair idea of the products haggled over in this part of the city. The grand Sultan Mosque is the biggest and liveliest mosque in Singapore but we opted not to visit, as time did not allow. 

From Arab Street we drove to Chinatown, which is Singapore's cultural heart and still provides glimpses of the old ways with its numerous temples, decorated terraces and its frantic conglomeration of merchants, shops and activity. We visited the Heritage Museum there, shopped for some souvenirs and had lunch in a local restaurant. A 30 minutes drive from Chinatown is Singapore Port and the awaiting Prinsendam, Our home for the next 14 days.

We boarded the ship and got acquainted to our cabin (#326) and the many facilities on the ship. We also registered at the La Fontaine restaurant for tomorrow night’s dinner.

At 6:00 pm we headed to the dining room and met Alian, our headwaiter for the length of the cruise, and his assistant Hadiz. Both men are from Indonesia. We watched Hugh Grant’s movie “About A Boy” and surrendered to our cabin.

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Saturday, March 15^th, 2003

I woke up t 9:00. Tova was still sleeping and seemed as if she could use some more hours of sleep. After breakfast at the Lido Lounge I walked around the ship on the seventh deck. Four rounds are equal one mile and I walked 8 rounds in about 25 minutes. Next I decided to “donate” some money to the casino. An hour later I deposited $60 with their dealers. I met Tova, who woke up at 12:00, and along with the Sarah & Brian we had lunch. At 3:00 O’clock I registered at the spa to receive a wonderful massage and then took a nap in the afternoon. The Captain Gala took place at 5:00. The dress was formal and both Tova and me looked really nice.

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We met Sarah & Brian, who also looked very elegant, and had dinner at the La Fontaine restaurant. The Italian Dinner was delicious and the service was superb.

After dinner we sat at the Queen Lounge and enjoyed a performance by the ship’s group. The program, A Tribute To Songwriters was excellent. Thereafter, we climbed to the 10^th deck to check Sarah & Brian’s suite. It was pretty spacious. Brian and me sat in the balcony enjoying a fine cigar and the girls talked in the living room. As we went back to our cabin Tova mentioned: “When was the last time we had such a lazy day?” I couldn’t remember.

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Sunday, March 16^th, 2003

The ship arrived at Muara Port, Brunei Darussalam. After breakfast we walked to the wharf and met Sandra, our new tour guide.

Sandra told us about some of the history of the kingdom: Brunei Darussalam resumed its international responsibilities as a fully independent and sovereign nation shortly after midnight on 31st December 1983, after almost one hundred years of British protection.

Soon after Brunei Darussalam became a member of ASEAN (Associated of Southeast Asian Nations); OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference); the Commonwealth; and the United Nations. Brunei Darussalam is Asia's oldest kingdoms, having been in existence for more than 1,500 years and was an imperial power from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The Sultan who controls the kingdom is one of wealthiest people in the world (if not THE richest one). His name is: His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di Pertuan Brunei Darussalam, who ascended the throne in 1967 as the 29th Sultan.

When we asked Sandra about the Sultan’s brother and the allegations that he stole billions of dollars, acting as the Minister Of Finance, she answered simply: “No Comments”. However, Sandra could not say enough about the generosity of the Sultan and about the kingdom’s welfare programs. Sandra also told us that both boys and girls are being circumcised on the island.

Our first stop was at the Brunei Museum, located on top of a hill overlooking the Brunei River. Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the museum in 1972. At the entrance we saw something we have never seen before: A collection box for the Palestinians’ cause. Our cameras had to be checked in since pictures are not allowed at the museum. We headed toward Kampong Ayer and rented a boat, which took us to the water village. This Water village is a very unusual place. The houses built on poles, in the Brunei River, and the people get to their jobs on land by water taxi. School boats, instead of school buses, take children to school and The Muslims worship at mosques on poles.  

The government of Brunei has offered the people in Kampong Ayer houses on land, but they don't want to move. They like living in the water. As we entered the village we saw a wedding reception. Boats brought the guests over, all dressed up for the occasion. Once back on land, we entered a shopping mall and were impressed by the amount of people in the stores. We left the mall and found a local restaurant for lunch.

Our next stop was the highlight of the day: the world famous Omar Ali Mosque. Amazing in appearance, but too beautiful to be true, The Omar Ali Mosque is Brunei's proudest architectural achievement. It sits on an artificial lagoon near the Brunei River in Kampong Ayer. The mosque is the largest in the Far East, and considered among the most beautiful in the world. It reaches a height of 52 meters and is topped with a gold dome supported by walls of Italian marble, which also forms the mosque's columns, arches, and towers. The stained glass was hand made in England and the carpets are Saudi Arabian. The Kiarong Mosque (as it's locally known) is also the most expensive mosque in Asia; the marble stone lines astonished us, also the tile mosaics that cover its exterior with its minarets and the dome crowned in 22-carat gold.

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Shoes and cameras are not allowed so we left the shoes at the entrance and deposited our cameras with the guard. Tova & Sarah were dressed up in robes and we entered the Mosque. It was truly an amazing site. Once again we saw the, now familiar, donation box for the Palestinians’ cause. Still trying to absorb this wonder, we arrived at the Royal Regalia, which was Built to commemorate the 1992 Silver Jubilee of the Sultan’s succession to the throne, the Royal Regalia Building contain all the regalia connected to the Royal Family and the Brunei Darussalam Constitution. Once again we were told to take our shoes off and deposit our cameras.  

Once again we were overwhelmed by the expensive displays and once again we saw that donation box. A short drive took us to the Sultan’s Royal Palace. The palace is actually hidden behind tall trees and since we were not invited, we could not see the 200 cars collection and the palace, which is considered to be one of the most beautiful palaces in the world. Sandra told us the following: Construction of the Palace began in 1980 and was completed in 1984, in time for Brunei’s independence celebration. It is one of the largest buildings in the world – 525 meters long and 228 meters wide. It has approximately 1,788 rooms, including a banquet hall for 4,000 people and another for 400. There is also a mosque with room for 1,500.  

The Palace sits on a plateau above the capital on 300 acres of landscaped scenery. It is used for state functions, issuing of royal proclamations, the Sultan’s birthday and other important events. It is closed to the public except for Hari Raya (the end of Ramadan) when the Sultan and his family receive approximately 60,000 visitors. We returned to the ship in the late afternoon and decided to plunge into the Jacuzzi. Brian & Sarah met a nice couple on the ship: Gigi & Mark and introduced them to us. After dinner we joined the others in the Queen Lounge for a fantastic performance by a great pianist – Mr. Bond! After the show we joined Sarah & Brian at the Ocean bar, sipping B-52 drinks and talking until about 11:00 pm. The Chisick’s retired to their cabin and we returned to the Queen Lounge to watch an Indonesian show, performed by the Indonesian crew on the ship.

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Monday, March 17^th, 2003

After breakfast, I walked along the 7^th deck for about 30 minutes and enjoyed the fresh sea air penetrating into my lungs. A visit to the Casino profited me $475. I met Tova for lunch and we both retired for an afternoon siesta. Today is St. Patrick Day and we all dressed formal to celebrate this event. We participated in a Match Game, which took place in the Queen’s Lounge and enjoyed an English comedian, who entertained us for about an hour. After the show we joined the Chisicks once again at the Ocean bar, drinking B-52’s and dancing. Sarah, the lovely Cruise Assistant Director, approached me and asked me to be “Mr. Prinsendam”. The rules were very simple: If someone would ask me if I am Mr. Prinsendam, then I should get their names and report back to her. If I would reveal to anyone that I am Mr. Prinsendam, then they could not participate in the game. (I told Tova and Brian). The winner would get some “Cheap-Ship” prizes on the last day of the cruise during a ceremony.  

The movie theater on the ship was screening “Die Another Day”, the new James Bond movie. Popcorn bags were set at the entrance of the theater. I watched the movie by myself since none of our group had any interest in watching it. Back in the cabin, I turned on the TV and tuned into CNN. The headlines brought me back to reality: “The War Against Iraq Could Start Any Minute”

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Tuesday, March 18^th, 2003

We joined Gigi, Mark, Sarah, and Brian for breakfast. Brian joined me as we walked along the 7^th deck for 2 miles. We both joined Sarah and Tova at the Ocean bar for Tango lessons where we met three Israeli couples: Yechezkel & Chava, Ori & D’vora, and a third couple with names that were so familiar to us: Tova & Avi. As it turned out, they were from Toronto, Canada and all knew our friends Shoshi & Shlomi. Yechezkel is the father of another friend we know: Ilana. Ori & D’vora had moved out of Toronto and live now in Arizona. Dinner was delicious and along with Gigi & Mark we watched the “Who Want To Be Nothing Like A Millionaire” game, which followed up by a spectacular dancing performance. Mark suggested that we all go to the Lido Lounge for Champaign and cigars and we all agreed that this is a great idea. Mark brought the Champaign and Brian the cigars. CNN headlines for today was: “Deadline To Saddam Hussein will expire in 12 hours”

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Wednesday, March 19^th, 2003

We woke up rather early to witness our ship docking into Thailand Harbor. (200 kilometers east of Bangkok). After breakfast we met our guide, Terry, who was fluent in English and carried a smiling face.  

The drive to Bangkok took almost two hours and as we arrived to this magnificent city, Terry told us about the history and culture of Thailand: Thailand whose origins are known as Khoms, who spread from a powerful Indian influenced kingdom in Kampuchea. The Thais are thought to have migrated from China. From there, they moved to the southern Chinese province of Yunnan and, later, further down towards Siam. Peasant communities already inhabited parts of the land long before that. Siam is the name by which the country was known to the world until 1939 and again between 1945 and 1949. On May 11, 1949, an official proclamation changed the name of the country to "Prathet Thai", or "Thailand", by which it has since been known. The word "Thai" means, "free", and therefore "Thailand" means: "Land of the Free." The Kingdom of Thailand, located in Southeast Asia on the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, shares boundaries with Myanmar (Burma) on the west and northwest, Laos on the east and northeast, Cambodia on the southeast, and Malaysia on the south.  
Thailand, although rich in rubber and in mineral resources, was never colonized by Europeans and has existed as a unified monarchy since 1350. The capital, Bangkok, an attractive blend of Western and Thai architecture, was established in 1782. The city boulevards are covered with the royal family’ pictures and thousands of vehicles jammed the roads, as we approached the inner city. We arrived at our first destination: The Grand Palace. As we entered this magnificent complex we were overwhelmed by its shining structures and astonishing architecture. We stopped next to the main gate and 

Terry told us the story of the Grand Palace: When King Rama the 1^st ascended the throne in 1782, he decided to move the capital city from the area on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River to the Eastern side of the river. The construction work lasted for three years. The Grand Palace was built then, with a temple or Royal Chapel located within the compound of the palace. The architectural plan of the new Grand Palace is almost identical in every detail to that of the Royal Palace in the former capital of Ayudhaya.  

The palace covers an area of 60 acres and consists of several buildings with highly decorated architectural details. We visited the Funeral Palace, the Reception Palace, the Throne Hall, the Coronation Hall, the Royal Guest House, and the beautiful Emerald Buddha Temple (Wat Phra Kaeo), the most sacred Buddha image in Thailand. Along the palace’s walls are paintings that tell the story (or legend) of a beautiful princess, who was kidnapped by evil people and rescued by the king. We also visited a Weapons Museum where we found all kind of weapons throughout the history of the world.

As we exited, we were “mobbed” by vendors who were selling postcards, maps, and other souvenirs. They followed us until we entered the awaiting van.

After lunch, which was served on a floating restaurant and featured a buffet of Thai and Italian food, we boarded a speedboat to visit the Canal Village on the Chao Phraya River. The views were magnificent: fifty-story modern condos, a golden temple, old wooden shacks on stilts, and more. At one point we saw a dog barking at a creature in the canal. It turned out to be a huge water lizard, looking like an Iguana.  

We watched the kids swimming in the dirty water of the canal. We even saw the section where a James Bond movie was filmed. On small boats all kinds of goods are transported, the whole live is on the water. Swimming gas stations as well as little shops at the banks supply the residents. Each house has its own landing stage, and is also the bathing and washing place for the families. We stopped at an Orchid Farm, Stopped at a temple where catfish hung around the wharf without any fear as if they knew that they will not be harmed here. We threw some breadcrumbs and watched the fish compete to get their meal. We stopped next to a “kiosk-boat” and bought some mineral water bottles.

As we returned, the driver took us to a main street where, after some negotiation done by Terry, we rented a tuk-tuk (a three-wheeled motorized vehicle). The name was given to this “vehicle” because of the chugging sound it makes. It is also a symbol of Thai artistry. Although the make is similar, tuk-tuk’s are adorned and painted in many different ways and colors. The colorful tuk-tuk has in fact become a tourist attraction in itself because of its novelty and is the most popular means of transportation in the city. They operate like taxis, although without any meter. They are occasionally faster than ordinary taxis in heavy traffic because they can easily wave in and out a jam.

The tuk-tuk took us, on a wild ride, to a local Massage Parlor and for the next 90 minutes we enjoyed a very unique massage, Thai Style.

Next stop was the Night Market and Patpong, the Red Light District. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner and entered the market. With only a short time left for shopping, we managed pretty well and as if in a race, we bought some cloths, souvenirs, and custom jewelry. Pimps and other “agents”, who asked us if we wish “to play Ping Pong”, also approached us. Terry explained that playing Ping Pong means smoking hashish.

We arrived back to the ship at 11:30.

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Thursday, March 20^th, 2003

We started our day rather early and met Terry on the wharf at 7:30. At 9:30 we reached our destination: The former capital of Thailand: Ayudhaya, located about 90 kilometers from Bangkok Towards the middle 14th century (1350), the city of Ayudhaya became the new seat of government for the Thai people for a total of 417 years (!), ruled by 33 Kings of 5 Dynasties. The Burmese invaded Ayudhaya and the capital fell in 1767. The Burmese destroyed much of the city’s temples and religious sculpture. However, proud monuments to its glory are still standing. Our first stop was at the Wat Lokayasutharam: The temple is famous for the Reclining Buddha image. The reclining statue is approximately 29 meters long and is crowned with "Serd", a hat or crown, used only in "Nora", an important performance in southern Thailand. The image here is unique because other images with "Serd" usually stand or sit down but scarcely are they found lying down. We visited many large hexagonal pillar ruins near the image, which are believed to be the ruins of the Ubosot.

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Our next stop was at the Chankasem, which is on the bank of Pasak River, this palace was destroyed by the Burmese and left ruined for a long time. One of the kings of the present Chakri dynasty ordered reconstruction of this palace for use as a residence during his occasional visits to Ayudhaya. Next we visited Wang Lang (or The Rear Palace), which is located close to the western city wall of Ayudhaya. It was originally the garden where the king made a visit from time to time. There was only one residential building in the entire area. One of the kings asked for more buildings to be built in the area to make it a palace. Later on this rear palace was only the residence of royal family members so that now no one can see the important items, except the Queen Pagoda. A short distance walk took us to a huge tall hall with a rather tall Buddha statue (40 feet). We spent lunch at a restaurant on the bank of the river. Terry showed up at our table (he was seated with the driver in another table) and announced: “Iraq is being attacked by the USA and UK. It all started 30 minutes ago.”  

We left the restaurant and stopped in a park where we saw many elephants, all dressed with expensive material. I purchased some sugar canes and fed a baby elephant. We returned to the ship at around 4:30 and glued to the television set watching CNN.

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Friday, March 21^st, 2003

Happy Birthday Tova! Once again we woke up early as the ship docked in Cambodia. After breakfast we met Butha, our Cambodian tour guide and started an adventure ride to Phnom Penh. In the next three and a half hours we drove on a primitive road, passing many poor villages, open markets, and rice fields. I have never seen so much poverty in one place. We saw shacks without any running water. Butha told us that these peasants live without any furniture (except beds, chairs, and tables). People live here without any electricity. Many kids are around the “homes” helping their parents around the house (girls) and giving a hand to the fathers in the rice fields (boys). We saw many Water Buffalos used to work on the field and as transportation “vehicles”.  

As I looked outside of the windows at one spot, I saw an image I will never forget: A little girl (maybe 8 years old) carrying two buckets of water, which seem to be bigger than her. We finally arrived at Phnom Penh and witnessed another “wonder” of this region: A scooter carrying MORE than one passenger on it. Many of them were carrying two and three passengers.  

We also saw a whole family of five on one scooter. It was very difficult to understand Butha as he spoke rather quickly not stopping between statements and his accent was horrible. (I felt as a natural born American next to his ability to speak…). Nevertheless, we were able to understand some of his brilliant descriptions (This guy knew lots of information and was fluent with dates, facts, etc.), when we asked him to “please slow down”. Here is a brief history of Cambodia, as was told by Butha: Cambodia's recent history has been associated with violence and political instability. 

Hundreds of thousands of people died in wars. The country is one of the most murderous regimes of the 20th century. Cambodia attained full independence from France in 1953. Since 1964, the government had been facing an underground Marxist insurgent movement - The Khmer Rouge. Prince Sihanouk was deposed in a right-wing coup in 1970. The prince left the country and formed a government-in-exile, which was supported by the Khmer Rouge. In 1972 Lon Nol was elected president of a newly proclaimed Khmer Republic. Forces loyal to Prince Sihanouk, mainly comprising Khmer Rouge fighters, gained control of Phnom Penh in April 1975 and named Cambodia: “Democratic Kampuchea”. Under the Khmer Rouge with the leadership of the notorious Pol Pot, the country was subjected to a radical attempt at social re-engineering. Towns were evacuated, intellectuals were rounded up and killed and the rest of the population was subjected to forced labor in the countryside. More than a million and a half people died from torture, disease and starvation. In 1990 the UN Security Council endorsed a framework for a comprehensive peace settlement in Cambodia, with a UN supervised interim government and free elections. Pol Pot was denounced by his former Khmer Rouge comrades in a show trial in July 1997 and died (?) in April 1998. But the country is still under a state of unrest. As we drove to the city we saw many amputated people. Butha told us that they were victims of mines, planted in the rice fields, by the Khmer Rouge soldiers. Cambodia has the most amputated victims in the world (per capita).  

We stopped at Wat Phnom, Which resides on the highest artificial hill in Phnom Penh. Built in 1372 the wat is considered the founding building of today’s Phnom Penh. It is told that Lady Phnom found a tree log at this site, which contained four Buddha’s. The wat is a favorite with the locals and the hill on which it is built is a popular recreational spot. As we entered the site, we saw a family of monkeys climbing a tree. The temple itself, with a beautiful Buddha statue, is thought to help influence the fate of the individual. This rumored power attracts large numbers of incense burning worshippers hoping to improve their odds of a fortunate future.  


At the temple we witnessed a wedding ceremonial of a Chinese man and his Cambodian bride. We also bought some birds (25 cents each) and let them fly free. We were told that this act would bring lots of happiness and luck our way. There are many beggars around the wat. Most of them were amputated but lots of kids, sent by their parents were there as well, asking for money. At a short distance away we visited Wat Ouanlom, the most important Wat (temple) of Phnom Penh, and the center of Cambodian Buddhism. It was built in 1443. Before the Khmer Rouge emptied Phnom Penh in 1975, more than 500 monks used to live at the temple. The Khmer Rouge killed the chief monk and a large number of his followers and vandalized the buildings and their treasures. 

After the Vietnamese invasion on 1979 the Wat was restored, and today again serves as the center of Cambodian Buddhism. We arrived at a very elegant restaurant and had a tasty lunch. As we left the restaurant beggars, who apparently heard about “American Tourists” in the neighborhood, “mobbed” us.  

We arrived at the Holocaust Museum and visited a site we will never forget. Museums can be dark, dank and dull – this one however was just grim. When the Vietnamese conquered Phnom Penh in 1979 they found, housed in an old school, Security Prison 21. The building was a detention ground used for interrogating, torturing and exterminating 'traitors' to the Khmer Rouge. Between 14,000 and 20,000 are thought to have perished here – a small fraction of the approximately one and a half million murdered nation-wide. The Vietnamese turned the building and it's contents into the Tuol Sleng Holocaust Museum. Many of the displays are plain hideous. We saw where victims were housed and tortured. The Khmer were nothing if not meticulous – every victim was photographed and we saw pictures staring down blankly from the walls of the rooms. There is a picture there I would never forget: The picture of the Interior Minister, a young woman accused for conspiracy, holding her two months baby in her arms, while sitting in the electric chair with electric cathodes hooked up to her neck. The picture was taken minutes before electricity was run into her body, killing herself and the baby.  

Our next stop was at the Russian Market, which is a cluttered and intense shopping experience; it offers the best range of products in town of Western styles and sizes. Locally made textiles, handcrafts and jewelry are among the best buys here. Stallholders also do a roaring trade in pirated CDs, DVDs and computer software. We saw few Interesting looking (and dirty) market restaurants, which produce excellent Khmer food at around 50 cents a plate. We bought some souvenirs and other goods for amazing prices. Brian was able to find a calculator there, which included a calendar and an alarm clock for $1.50 (one dollar and fifty cents!). We bought some souvenirs and “fought” the one-dozen-or-so little kids, who were holding cardboards and used them as fans to blow a breeze in our face… all for a price of course… Tova wanted me to buy her a birthday gift: Seven 18 Karats bracelets. Butha took us to a respectable store but they did not have her size as she is considered to be a “big woman” here. The Royal Palace was our next thing on the agenda.  

Upon entering the palace we were told to pay “Photography Fees” of $7. A tour guide was assigned to us and for a while we didn’t have to hear Butha mumbling about some things we could not understand. The new tour guide (forgot her name) gave us a brief history of the Palace: Building of the Palace commenced in 1866. The Palace, along with most of Phnom Penh, was damaged during the turbulent 1970’s but restoration has done much to fix the cracks. 

The Palace complex houses several different buildings with rather differing styles – the French Pavilion, a present from Napoleon, was shipped all the way from Egypt. Home to His Majesty Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, the Royal Palace, is painted in the royal color of yellow. The king was away in China, due to an illness. Housed inside the Royal Palace is the most sacred Silver Pagoda.  

We took our shoes off (holy place) and were told that photography could be taken only from the outside of the Pagoda. 5329 silver tiles, each weighs 1 kilo (together the tiles are believed to weigh over six tones), line the floor of the main temple, hence the name. However, to our great disappointment only a small portion of the tiles is displayed as a carpet covers the rest. The temple acts as a house to some of the cultural treasures of Cambodia – in particular Buddha images. Copied from the Thai version, inside the pagoda sits an Emerald Buddha, considered one of the most powerful images throughout Buddhist South-East Asia. This one is made of Baccarat and dates back to the 17th century. Of more worth in the financial sense is the life-size Gold Buddha figure. The Buddha is built to the exact proportions of King Norodom who built the original wood version of the Silver Pagoda in 1866 and is decorated with more than 9000 diamonds. (Nobody could estimate the value of the statue only that it is worth hundreds of million dollars). On the way out of the city we stopped at Monument Victory for a brief moment (just to take a picture or two) and headed toward the ship.

 

In the midway point, we stopped at a village to buy some fruits. Instantly, we became the attraction of the village, as no other foreigners stop here. We bought Mangsteen. This delicious fruit has a thick, dark-red skin, inside which are creamy white segments with a sweet, slightly tart flavor; as a general rule, the more segments a Mangsteen has, the fewer seeds one will find.

Brian took pictures of the locals and then was able to show them how they look on his Digital Camera. The crowd was extremely happy as it was apparently the first time they had seen themselves instantly on a screen.   

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We continued toward the ship and watched a beautiful sunset. We made it on time for the ship’s Bar-B-Q at the Lido Lounge. For some reason everything tasted SO GOOD!!

“The Strings Trio” appeared at the Queen Lounge and performed beautiful pieces. The violinist, Victor, had won an important award in Holland in 2000: “European Musician Of The Year”.

Back in the cabin I watched CNN as the ship sailed away toward Vietnam.

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Saturday, March 22^nd, 2003

After breakfast and the “traditional” walk around the 7^th deck, I joined a group of people who were playing the “Pentathlon”. A five course event which includes: Ping-Pong, Soccer, Ring throwing, Golf Putting, and Golf driving. I already missed the Ping-Pong event as it took place several days earlier but was assured by Sarah, the Assistant Cruise Director that it is okay and that I would get the average points as if I was playing it. Today we played soccer where a player has to kick the ball and hit a rope. After the competition I was ranked first (Yeah!!).  

Lunch with the Chisicks and then napping. What a life!! In the afternoon, the ship had its’ “Chocolate Gala”. Hundreds of gourmet creations were on display for our eyes to watch and mouths to taste. The “Strings Trio” played at our tables and the mood was sky high. A second event of the Pentathlon took place today and was the “Ring Throwing”. After this event I was still in 1^st place. Dinner tonight was “formal” and we also celebrated Tova Birthday, which really occurred yesterday but according to the USA Calendar it happened today (as we were 16 hours ahead). The show tonight had the theme “A Salute to Broadway Shows” and was fantastic. The “Officers Ball” took place later on and we joined others dancing as the ship was swaying from side to side. Later on we won a bottle of Champaign.

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Sunday, March 23^rd, 2003

Good Morning Vietnam!! After an early breakfast we met Tien, our tour guide in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), also called the "Pearl of the Far East". An hour drive to the city revealed beautiful scenery and amazing countryside with many rice fields. Tien told us about this part of the country and some of Vietnam history: Virtually from the outset, the Chinese ruled the Vietnamese, and they would continue to be until 938 A.D. during the centuries of Chinese control over the Red River Delta, two independent states rose to power in what is now central and southern Vietnam. From the 1^st to the 6^th centuries, the kingdom of Funan held sway over the Mekong Delta and the region that is now called Cambodia; the Mon-Khmer, who founded the Cambodian empire, overthrew the kingdom. Vietnam's contacts with the West began as early as 166 A.D., when Roman travelers passed through the Red River Delta. It wasn't until much later, however, that there was any sustained Western contact. By 1516, a number of Portuguese adventurers had arrived, followed by missionaries and soldiers. 

Over the next century a trading center and mission were established in the port of Faifo, just south of present day DaNang. Missionaries followed the Portuguese from Spain, Italy, and France. Everyone seemed intent on converting the Vietnamese, and in the process, cultivating stronger trading ties, but no one had much luck in making a profit from trade with the Vietnamese. The Dutch tried and failed, as did the English. The early French trading efforts foundered as well, but the French never gave up. Off and on for nearly two centuries, the French kept lurking around Indochina. From about 1850s on, French abandoned diplomatic overtures and settled on a policy of conquest. It would take them several decades, but by 1893 they had carved out an Indochina’s empire that included Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The French then set about plundering the immense wealth of those holdings. The exploitation visited on the Vietnamese by their French masters created fertile conditions for the resistance movements that sprang up over the years. Most of the resistance efforts were successfully put down, but in 1925 a man, who in later years would take the name Ho Chi Minh “the bringer of light”, established a new movement. 

 Ho's Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League became the nucleus of the Vietnamese Communist Party. The American support of the Viet Minh led Ho to believe that the United States would back his bid for an independent Vietnam. But after the war, the Allies allowed France to reoccupy Indochina, setting the stage for the protracted guerrilla campaign that resulted in France's ouster in 1954 and the subsequent partitioning of Vietnam into North and South. The recognition and support of South Vietnam by the United States would lead to the bloody conflict that ended in 1975 when the Communists overran Saigon, proclaiming an independent Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Tien referred to the “Vietnam War” as the “American War” and said that we (American) believe that the American came to “liberate Vietnam” where the North Vietnamese believe the Americans came to “occupy Vietnam”. It is all a matter of perspective.


Along the way we saw thousands of scooters and motorbikes. Tien told us that in Ho Chi Minh City there are seven million residents and three million scooters (!). Once again we saw multiple passengers on a single scooter. 

Our first stop was at the Reunification Hall. Originally built as the home of the French governor, this building was destroyed and rebuilt in 1966 by the South Vietnamese President Diem. 

The Palace became the home of then President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu until the fall of Saigon in 1975. The hall is opened to the public and we discovered many rooms and offices. Tien led us to the basement of the hall where we saw the “war room” and also a tunnel that connects the hall with the former American Embassy and was used in the “Vietnam War”. Heat and an extreme humidity forced us to shorten the visit at the hall. 

A short drive took us to the Old Post Office, located in the city center where a huge portrait of Ho Chi Minh was hanging at the back wall. Next to the post office we saw the Notre Dam Cathedral. This Catholic Church was constructed between 1877 & 1883. In front of the cathedral there is a statue of the Virgin Mary, where we saw a couple posing for pictures on their wedding day. Tien told us that March is the season of marriages and there are thousands of wedding during this month. We drove to the Rex Hotel and had Vietnamese Ice Café’ at the hotel’s coffee shop. It was absolutely delicious. Our next stop was at Cholon (Chinatown), as we visited Binh Tay Market, to witness a wonderful array of noises, smells (mostly bad ones) and colors. It is one of the most colorful and exciting wholesale markets in Vietnam, we were told. Tien seemed to be in a hurry as we walked in front of us (and NOT with us) and we had lost him a couple of times during our visit in the market.  

We headed back to the Rex Hotel and enjoyed a multiple courses lunch. Tien was waiting for us at the lobby and we drove to Thien Hau Pagoda. This early 19th century pagoda is dedicated to the worship of both Buddha and the Goddess of the Sea and protector of sailors. The most interesting part of the pagoda is the roof, richly decorated with the high-relief frieze depicting episodes from the Legends of the Three Kingdoms. It is one of the most ornate in Vietnam and can best be seen from the open courtyard. Another short drive brought us to Cho Ben Thanh Market. This is the largest in the city. 

The market is interesting to walk through, but there is little of its clothes, food household utensils, cheap jewelry, and toys worth buying. We asked Tien to take us to a jewelry store and he took us to Dong Khoi Street, where Tova found (at last) the desired seven bracelets that fit her. We arrived at the Prinsendam a bit late and Sarah was the last person to board the ship at the port, as everyone else had already arrived. Ship Ahoy! After dinner Mark brought a Champaign bottle to the Lido Lounge as we all enjoyed sipping it, while puffing fine on cigars. Mr. Bond, the pianist had yet another performance, at the Queen’s Lounge, and was very entertaining.

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Monday, March 24^th, 2003

This morning breakfast we spent with Ori, D’vora, Avi, and Tova. Avi joined me to the “7^th Deck Walk” for 30 minutes as the others spent the time talking about world affairs. After lunch I competed in “Golf Driving”, the 4^th obstacle in the pentathlon. I did terribly and finished last. Dinner was formal and tonight theme was Dutch. We were handed traditional hats and the menu featured Dutch food. The food was absolutely delicious. Tonight’s performance, at the Queen Lounge, was a magician, who dazzled us with his tricks and quick hands. Remember “Mr. Prinsendam”? Well, nobody had asked me yet.

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Tuesday, March 25^th, 2003

The ship arrived at Danang at 6:30am. After breakfast we met with our new tour guide Nah, and drove to our first attraction of the day: China Beach. To millions of American viewers, China Beach was merely the backdrop for a hit TV show. But it was dead real to thousands of GIs, offering them a rare respite from battle. The Vietcong used the place as a terrorist base. Later, it launched the boat people, perpetuating the tragedy of the Vietnam War for a new generation. Nowadays, though, hawkers sell seashells and stalls grill up local delicacies for a new invading force: foreign tourists. As we disembarked the vehicle, Tova said: “I feel as I was already here… it looks exactly like in the show.” We walked on the white sands and posed for some pictures.  

A 2.5-hour drive was waiting for us as we started our journey toward Hue, taking Highway One. Highway One runs the entire length of Vietnam along the coast, or close to it. The driver maneuvered his way through pedestrians, motorbikes, large trucks and an assortment of livestock to reach the edge of town. Once out of town, our speed picked up and we started making pretty good time. We stopped for a break after about 1 hour of driving at the beautiful Hai Van Pass (Cloudy Pass) that cuts through the Troung Son Mountains between Danang and Hue. Beautiful scenery was at the palm of our hands with the beautiful sea, rice fields, and shrimp farms on the right and the green mountains on the left. We arrived at Hue and as we entered town hundreds of bikes and scooters were zooming along the road. Brian and I exited the van to take pictures of this unbelievable sight.  

We arrived at Khai Dinh Tomb. Nah gave us some details of this beautiful tomb: Emperor Khai Dinh (1885-1925) ruled Vietnam for 9 years. His tomb took 11 years to complete. Construction began in 1920 and was completed in 1931. Under Khai Dinh, Western culture and influence began to seep into Vietnam. The king himself visited France in 1922. As a result, his tomb has many elements of Western architecture. The tomb is built using concrete; its roof with slates and the gate is made of wrought iron. The builder made use of the lighting rod and electricity is used to light the place. Beyond these modern building materials and designs, the tomb had elements of eastern art mixed with western designs. Throughout the interior of the tomb, colored glass and ceramic chips were used to form mosaics of oriental design. The ceilings were hand painted much like the ceilings of western churches, but the designs were of dragons and clouds. As we climbed the stairs, a group of women were trying on some cloths they had purchased.  

Tova and Sarah looked over and the ladies insisted that they should try on their cloths, which they did. We had lunch at a restaurant situated on the river bank, and tasted some of the local favorites, including pineapple juice called here “Anannas Juice”. Loaded with food we climbed a Dragon Boat and started cruising along the Perfume River to witness one of the most amazing sights of Vietnam: The Boats People. Hundred of boats parked on the water with people living in them and conduct their daily routines. We arrived at the Thien Mu Pagoda.  

As we disembarked the boat we viewed the octagonal tower, which was built in 1844, although the pagoda was originally founded in 1601. There are smaller pavilions on either side of the tower. In one, a large turtle carved out of marble carrying a large stone stele. The other houses a huge bell. Behind the tower and the small pavilions is the main sanctuary. 

There is a pleasant courtyard with the main sanctuary at the back. The sanctuary has a long hall in the front, with a wall of shutter-like doors leading to the Alter behind. A path to the left of the sanctuary leads to more courtyards, and along one side are the monk's quarters. There is a special sort of "shine" here to one of the former monks of the temple. At one end of the cells is a sort of carport in which an old rusty Austin sits on blocks. It was in this car that one of the monks from the temple drove to Saigon in 1963, got out, and set himself on fire. 

Although I was only about thirteen years old at the time, the image is one that I still remember. The van was waiting for us and we started heading back toward Danang. The driver seemed to be in a hurry as he passed vehicles recklessly.  

At one point Brian said: “We are dead now” as we passed a slow truck climbing uphill and a huge 16 wheelers came toward us. Visibility was near zero (about 3 feet) as our driver found his way back to our path. We arrived at Danang three hours later and visited one of its markets. As soon as we got in, Sarah saw this huge rat running in the middle of the market next to the stalls. This was the end of our visit as we hurled back to the street. 

We arrived at the ship and had dinner at the Lido Deck. At the Queen’s Lounge Tom Lee (The Cruise Director) urged the passenger to start asking “Who Is Mr. Prinsendam”. As no one had asked me if I were the lucky guy, I decided to initiate a conversation with Yechezkel and Chava and let them have the chance to win the “Cheap Ship” prizes. I approached them and asked Yechezkel: “Are you Mr. Prinsendam?” Yechezkel replied: “No”. I then told him: “Why don’t you ask me the same question?” His answer put a huge smile on my face, as it was so "Israeli": “I am not going to waste a question here as I know for sure it is not you!!!” I left them wondering how their reaction will be tomorrow at the “Mr. Prinsendam Ceremony”.

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Wednesday, March 26^th, 2003

At breakfast I spotted George and Esti: A Jewish couple from Arizona. George suffers from Parkinson Disease and amazingly is finding a relief when he paints. I saw some of his creations and was very impressed. During the cruise we had talked few times and I found them very charming. I asked George: “Are you Mr. Prinsendam?” and he answered “No, are you?” What a relief! Finally someone identified me. I think I was more excited than George, though he was extremely happy about it. By the way: No one identified Mrs. Prinsendam yet!  

After breakfast we headed toward the Queen’s Lounge to let Sarah know that George identified me as Mr. Prinsendam. Tova went inside the lounge and started asking women, who were seated in the lounge: “Are you Mrs. Prinsendam?” The third woman answered, “Yes!” The ceremony started and when Sarah announced: “Will the REAL Mr. And Mrs. Prinsendam, please stand up” I looked over Yechezkel, who was seated not far from me and as I stood up he yelled: “It was you??!!??” The ceremony was nice, especially that BOTH Tova and me won all kind of prizes! I was given a pin and was asked to wear it as long as the cruise lasts. Afterwards, Brian and me walked around the 7^th deck as people greeted me: “Good Morning Mr. Prinsendam”. We walked for about 45 minutes and joined our wives for lunch. The 5^th obstacle of the pentathlon took place and this time we had to putt a golf ball into a hall. I was able to putt 2 balls (out of six) into the hall. Not so bad, as this was my first time ever to putt a golf ball! The ceremony of the “Pentathlon Winners” took place in the afternoon. The winner was Preston (from Hawaii), a semi pro golfer who took the lead in the last two events. I came in a respectable place: 4^th. (It actually shows how poor the rest of them were as I could not believe I will end up in 4th position). After dinner we went to the Queen’s Lounge to watch a very entertaining show: “It Takes Two” and then joined the gang for some cocktails drinking at the lounge while listening to the “Strings Trio”.

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Thursday, March 27^th, 2003

The ship was making its way toward the port in Hong Kong, as we were eating our breakfast in the Lido’s balcony. Since Holland America planned this cruise only in June 2002, they did not have enough time to reserve “parking” in the magnificent Hong Kong Harbour and therefore, the ship docked in an isolated commercial port, far from the center. We met Maria, our new tour guide an hour later on the dock. When she pointed out to the 25-seats-mini-bus she asked: “Is this car okay?” Brian answered without any hesitations: “It is a bit small, but we’ll manage!”  

We were on the floor laughing!! 

Hong Kong is divided into four main areas - Kowloon, Hong Kong Island, the New Territories and the Outlying Islands. Kowloon and the New Territories are on a peninsula of the Chinese mainland, on the northern side of Victoria Harbour; Hong Kong Island is on the southern side of the harbour facing Kowloon; the Outlying Islands simply refers to any of the other 234 islands. The New Territories has a 20km land border with China Mainland. The city itself is centered on Victoria Harbour. The main business district is Central, on Hong Kong Island. Kowloon (the name means "Nine Dragons") is the large peninsula on the Chinese mainland north of Hong Kong Island that became part of Hong Kong in 1860. (Hong Kong, by the way, means "Fragrant Harbour"). 

We decided that the first day we should spend in Kowloon and that tomorrow we’ll spend in Hong Kong Island. Twenty-Five minutes drive brought us to the center of Kowloon.  

After a coffee break we entered the Hong Kong Museum Of History and its’ world famous display of "The Hong Kong Story". Tracing back some 6,000 years of fascinating archeology, ethnography and more than 400 million years of natural history, "The Hong Kong Story" exhibition offers a complete view of Hong Kong, its inhabitants and the amazingly rich cultures that have evolved. After a delicious lunch we strolled along Yuen Po Street Bird Garden, which is set in an attractive Chinese courtyard where the locals sell their songbirds and a huge range of bird paraphernalia is sold here. Maria told us that birds are favorite pets in Chinese households, and the price of a bird is determined not by its plumage but by its singing talents. The locals also flock here to chat with their friends while they hang up their songbirds to do their bit. What I found interesting was the bags of live crickets to be sold to the owners to feed their birds.  

Next we walked over to the nearby Flowers Market, a square block consisting of flower shops. The flowers come from all over including Holland and Hawaii. My nose was celebrating as the aroma of the ten of thousands of flowers filled up the street and overcame the smell of smoke and other nuisance smells. I saw some flowers that I had never seen before with magnificent colors and shapes.  

Maria drove us to the end of Nathan Road, (Canton Road) next to the bay and we decided to walk up Nathan Road and spend the entire evening there. Nathan Road, the Golden Mile of Kowloon, is lined with luxury hotels, lots of shops, and fast food stalls. Sarah and Brian wanted to leave early, as they already been on Nathan Road few times before this trip and were extremely tired. Tova and me decided to stay.  

We took the subway to the Ladies Market. This market caters exclusively to women's clothing, accessories, cosmetics, etc. There are also food stalls selling noodles, seafood, and congee for late-night snacks. We bought some gifts and souvenirs and found a café’ where we tasted a great cup of Taiwanese Coffee, which energized us as we WALKED the rest of the way, taking Nathan Road, to the pier (6 miles!) passing dozens and dozens of stores and watching ten of thousands of people walking in this busy street. A very interesting sight was to see that about 20 percent of the people were wearing “surgical masks” to protect themselves from SARS. We also saw newspaper headlines, which indicated, “Schools were closed in fear of SARS”.  

We caught the last bus shuttle to the ship and arrived around midnight. We spent the next two hours packing our luggage: Tomorrow we’ll disembark The Prinsendam. We lined up our luggage in the hallway to be picked up by the ship crew.

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Friday, March 28^th, 2003

We spent the last breakfast on the Prinsendam with the Chisick’s and then went through the disembarkation process. Once on the pier, we met Maria and headed to the Great Eagle Hotel, our home for the next couple of days. This five star hotel is located on Peking Road, right next to Nathan Road in Kowloon. As we entered the lobby, the smell of fresh flowers filled up our nostrils. The lobby itself is amazing with its beauty and elegance. The room itself was very spacious and equipped with elegant furniture.  

We met Maria at the lobby, as she was waiting for us while we checked in the hotel. We walked a short distance to Kowloon Harbour and boarded the Star Ferry, which has been plying the short route between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon since colonial times. The journey took about 10 minutes. On board the Ferry, we enjoyed the grandeur on both banks of Victoria Harbour: the Commerce Tower with its unique design and special architecture, the Bank of China looking like a sharp file, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in the shape of geometric figure, the Exchange Square of Bond Center, and the Legislative Council Building in the structural style of the Victorian Era.  

Once in Hong Kong Island, we walked a short distance to Status Square and listened to Maria as she described each building and the influence of Feng Shui on the structures. Our driver was waiting for us right near by (He drove the distance while we were on the boat) and took us to Western Market. In our short visit there we noticed that the only attraction is the building itself, with its Edwardian design and architecture. The stores offered some lovely fabric and Chinese handicraft. Nevertheless, the place was empty of shoppers. 

Our next visit was to the Mid Level Escalators. This 800-meter hillside escalator starts from Downtown, passes through the Central Market and continues to climb past Hollywood Road to the prime Midlevels residential district. The free ride takes about 20 minutes, a lot quicker than walking up which usually takes forever. This is the longest covered outdoor escalator system in the world; the system took two and a half years and more than $205 million ((HKD) to build.  

We stopped at Hollywood Road, which is lined with shops selling antiques of all kinds -- furniture, carpets, books, carvings and much more. At the end of the road we visited Man Mo Temple, built in 1847 and dedicated to the Taoist gods of literature (Man) and Martial Arts (Mo) who sit side-by-side on the main altar where huge incense coils suspend from the ceiling. Adjacent to the temple is a shrine, which is really kind of a cemetery where urns filled with ashes are stored inside vaults on the walls. We saw some plates of food on the floor offered to the dead, as the Buddhists believe that the spirits of the dead are still around us. We had lunch at a unique place. We sat around a table at the bottom of a market, which looks like a small hill. The “kitchen” of the place was across the street and it is one of the few places left in Hong Kong, where the chef prepares his dumplings by hands. There are no menus as the only food they offered are dumpling, noodles soup and steam vegetables. Lunch was so delicious that we ordered “seconds”. The cost was an amazing $2 per person.  

After lunch, we opted to walk for about a mile to the Victoria Peak Tram. It is a funicular railway that carves a steep 373-meter (about 1224 feet) up the lush hillside. It started operating in 1888 and has, over the last century, served the city well. The track is 1400 meters (4592 feet) long. It runs along the shortest yet most scenic route to the Peak, taking about 7 minutes. Victoria Peak, overlooking the west of Hong Kong Island, is the highest peak on this island and is the icon of Hong Kong. It sits at an elevation of over 396 meters (about 1300 feet) with a commanding view of the spectacular Victoria Harbor, Kowloon and the New Territories. We sat at the terrace drinking coffee and absorbing the wonderful view.

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Our mini-bus was waiting for us and we settled in for a 30-minute drive to Aberdeen Village. Aberdeen is nestled around a naturally protected harbor. Famous for its colorful floating seafood restaurant (Jumbo) and boat people who live on junks in the Harbour, the village has undergone massive changes in recent years. 

Originally a typhoon shelter and land base for seafarers, it used to be a charming fishing village and boat-building port, supported primarily by several thousand junks and boat people. Many of the boat people, however, have since been moved to massive housing projects, and the waterfront surrounding Aberdeen is now crowded with high-rises. At anchor are almost as many yachts as fishing boats and junks. A Woman, wearing a funny hat and operating a sampan boat took us around the harbor. Although the boat population is shrinking, we passed huge boats that house extended families; we saw men repairing fishing nets, women hanging out their laundry, dogs barking, children playing, and families eating. I found the ride very fascinating.  

Next, we arrived at Repulse Bay, which is a sandy beach of having the highest representative characteristics in Hong Kong by its long and broad beach, clean water, fresh sand, calm tides and gentle waves. On the beach there is a temple with images of Tin Hau (the Queen of Heaven and Protector of Seafarers) and Goddess of Mercy, more than ten meters high. Beside it, there is a Bridge of Longevity across which the image of another god (forgot his name!).  

A sign on the bridge stated that every time someone crosses the bridge, he adds three days to his life. Our last stop of the tour with Maria was at Stanley Market. This open market operates Seven days a week and throbs with the passing parade of life as bargain-hunters from all over the world join in the fun of haggling with shopkeepers and stallholders. We managed to purchase a piece of luggage (American Tourister) for a real bargain price. Maria brought us over to the hotel and after a rest for about an hour we met with the Chisick’s and headed down to have dinner in a small restaurant.  

After a short visit at the New World Center, a modernized shopping mall, we took the subway to the Ladies Market for some last minute shopping. We noticed that about 50 percent of the people there were wearing the “surgical masks” and decided to blend in. We purchased the masks and put them on our faces. It kind of gave us a comfortable level knowing that by wearing the masks we reduce the chances of getting the virus SARS. We wanted to have some coffee and desserts. However, the café’ did not have any desserts so we stopped at the next door bakery, bought some cakes and returned to the café’ with our treasure. We ordered coffee (which was excellent) and nibbled on the delicious desserts. We took a taxicab back to the hotel.

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Saturday, March 29^th, 2003

We met the Chisick’s for breakfast at the hotel and said our goodbyes to them as they were leaving to the USA. Last night before Maria left, she mentioned to us that a visit to Tse Chau Island would benefit us. We decided to take her advice and instead of visiting more markets an/or temples it will be a nice way to spend the day. A short walk from the hotel brought us to the Star Ferry and few minutes later we docked at Hong Kong Island Wharf. 

We located terminal 7 as we boarded another ferry and started a 40-minute voyage to the island. This little island offers walks, bike trails, temples and a traditional fishing village, as well as markets and seafront, seafood restaurants. One unique fact about this island is that vehicles are prohibited on its roads and the locals use bicycles and their own feet to get from point “A” to point “B”. Since there are no factories around as well, the island air is considered to be the cleanest in the region.  

Most of the tourists who come to visit this island are Chinese, as Westerners prefer to visit the main attractions in Hong Kong. We rented a pair of bikes and started touring the island. Without any maps, we used our senses as we entered and exited alleys and markets. We headed to the hill on the other side of the island and once we reached our destination we parked our bikes and climbed the hill to discover a magnificent sight of the village and the surrounding sea and bay. Along the way we realized that we were the only “white people” around. We rode the bikes back to the village and stopped for lunch in one of the markets.  

The restaurant we selected was situated, literally, in the middle of a market. We sat outside in the street and ordered a delicious fish, chicken with noodles and rice. The meal, including the Tiger beer and Sprite was an amazing low price of $10. After returning the bike to the shop we bumped into 2 aquatinters: Remember the two Englishmen from Yangshuo? Well, as we walked up the street they came out of a fish market. We felt like old buddies and exchanged stories of where we had spent the last three weeks. We boarded the ferry back to Hong Kong Island and then took the Star Ferry to Kowloon. 

We walked along, the now very familiar, Nathan Road, to Temple Street Night Market, which open at night and hosts one of the best markets in Hong Kong. Essentially there is the same mix of goods available as in the other Hong Kong markets: silk shirts & ties, arts & crafts, t-shirts, toys, etc. Unlike the other markets, there is also a very good range of videotapes, CD’s and DVD’s. Whether or not they are pirate copies is anyone's guess, as Chinese are known s the master of copiers. 

They say that if you are a first client of the night, they will not refuse your price offer. They were right! We were able to find some real bargains as we arrived early enough to be such lucky patrons! Nine out of every ten people were wearing the masks now. We were among them as news of a worldwide spread of SARS has reached us. We walked back to the hotel, stopping at a restaurant next to the Jockey Club (Horse Race Betting). The food was simple and delicious and the restaurant was noisy as all the tables were occupied by locals and of course US! On the way to the hotel we saw a familiar face from the cruise: “Good Evening Mr. Prinsendam” he greeted me.Tomorrow we head back home!

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Sunday, March 30^th, 2003

The alarm clock went off at 5:00am. We checked out of the hotel and waited for Maria to come and get us. Maria arrived at 6:00 and we headed toward the international airport. Hong Kong International Airport is located 40 kilometers west of the city of Hong Kong. A busy airport, it serves the city and acts as a hub for much of China and South East Asia. We boarded the plane at 8:30 and started our journey back home. We arrived at LAX on the same day at 7:30am. We finally got back the 16 hours that were taken away from us 37 days ago!!!

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