China

It's been a week since we returned and I'm still having trouble finding the words to describe our trip to China. In short, it was fantastic.

April 13-15 was Songkran, the Thai new year. Bangkok shuts down and anyone who's sensible leaves town to avoid the water wars. We actually stayed for a day of water, but left for China early Tuesday morning.

We arrived in Beijing, met our driver at the airport, and immediately went to the Great Wall, at a town called Simatai. It's a bit less congested than the main tourist area, which is what we wanted. We were there to see the Great Wall, after all, not a bunch of people with cameras. The Wall was incredible. It's truly an engineering feat. These pictures don't do it justice. I only wish it was less hazy, but we discovered that the haze would be a constant during the entire trip.

We spent the morning at Simatai, then went back to Beijing to our hotel. We were then treated to a driving tour of the city, which included the various complexes being built for the Olympics. Beijing has experienced 20 years of development in the past 3 years- and the results are stunning. The streets are wide and clean, many of the buildings are new, every major street has a separate bike lane and there are trees and flowers everywhere. China would have a first-rate city if it wasn't constantly covered by a thick layer of haze. You can literally look directly at the sun without any problems. They say it will be gone by the Olympics, but I have no idea how.

Wednesday was spent sightseeing within Beijing- Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and, naturally, a trip to Wal-Mart. We started the day at Tienanmen Square, the beacon of Chinese Communism, and finished the day at the beacon of American Capitalism- Wal-Mart. What a study in contrasts.

Wednesday night we took the overnight train to Xian, which was quite the adventure. Our original tickets (the only ones we could get) were simply seats on the train. Then we were able to get 2 tickets in a "hard sleeper," a small room with 6 bunks. However, thanks to the Lonely Planet, I learned that, once on board, we could upgrade if there was anything available. I asked, and we soon found ourselves in the first class "Deluxe Soft Sleeper," a private room with 2 berths and our own toilet! It made all the difference in the world.

In Xian, the highlight was most certainly the Terracotta Warriors- 6,000 statues, each different, that were buried near an emperor's tomb to protect him in the afterlife. They were discovered by a farmer digging a well in the late 1970's, and are quite a sight to behold.

Friday morning we flew back to Beijing for one last day. We took in an Acrobat show, which puts Cirque de Soleil to shame. We finished off the day, and the trip, with some shopping at the Silk Market.

I was probably most nervous about the food- having heard some real horror stories. However, when we ate Chinese food, it was amazing. Everything we had was delicious. We most certainly did not go hungry while on the trip.

Saturday morning we flew back to Bangkok, exhausted and glad that I had a day and a half to recover before returning to work!