China Redeux

Arrived in Qingdao very smoothly. Although they seem to keep examining Andy's beat-up passport, bending at the edge, in-between the laminate where the picture is. Smartly, Sarah has managed to keep hers pretty pristine. After much discussion with the custom guy's partner/superior to make sure it was legit, we were finally let through. After changing money and getting on the bus, you immediately notice China is a little rougher around the edges, but also less than half the price.

Caught a bus then walked and caught another bus to the downtown train station hoping to maybe even get a train that night to X'ian (SHEE-AHN). Ahh, hope, the wonderfully naive notion.


Andy waited in this seedy line outside (it was absolutely immovable inside and the 'Information' booth was in name only) -- it was the only way to find out anything. After tons of people staring at us in the line and one drunk guy up front occasionally beating off people that cut in front for tips, Andy managed enough broken Chinese to find out that there were no trains to X'ian that night and only hard seats the entire next day. It would be an all nighter packed on wooden seats - for 16hrs. Since we wanted to see other distant parts of China overland and still make it to Vietnam in time, we decided to check planes. Plus X'ian was just a two-day stop and there's no way we'd be rested after that train trip to make it worth it.

Out of desperation, some exhaustion and still getting used to the currency, etc., we checked in to perhaps the worst hotel of the trip. Without going into the sordid details, let's just say we learned our lesson fast about getting stuff sorted out beforehand.

Then we had to get plane tickets. We didn't even know if we could get on a flight the next day, much less how much it would be. We found a Chinese travel type place, they had the seats and the price was cheaper than in Korea, so great! But they would only take cash. So we found a Bank of China, and thus spawned another big problem that wouldn't manifest itself fully until later.

The buttons for the PIN code at the ATM not only didn't have the corresponding letters on the number keys (a first in our travels and this is how Andy always remembered his PIN), but also it was in reverse, making it difficult to even mimick it by spacial relations on the key pad. (We also learned quickly just to memorize the number as well as the letters.) After the third or fourth PIN entry failure, Andy's card locked up as the bank assumed it was a security breach. There was no hope for the card now without contacting the bank and who knew how long that would take. Sarah, tried her card a couple of times and also couldn't quite figure out the new keypad. So we wrote on a piece of paper a keypad with what the corresponding letters would be on it, then tried to figure out the numbers from there. We just couldn't remeber if Zero had any corresponding letters.

We also went to another bank machine just to be safe. This time, Sarah's PIN entry worked. We sighed a deep sigh and got the tickets. However, the bank problem would come back to haunt us later.

Tickets in hand for the next day, we caught bus #26 out to the Quindao (others might know it as 'Tsingtao') beer festival. It was a loud raucous night, but we did meet our first black person living and working in China. He was from Ghana and was manning one of the booths at the festival and spoke good English. He said there were probably 5 others from Ghana in the city and that they moved to China for economic reasons, but discovered it was just as bad as Africa, he said!

The next day we hit the 'beach.' It was really more like tepid polluted water, but we walked on the pier and we both tried to go in for a little bit but you couldn't really swim. Well, you could if you liked touching things the whole way.

Later, leaving for the airport, we couldn't figure out where exactly the private airport bus left from so we opted for the public bus then we thought we could take a cab from its end point. It went through some fascinating neighborhoods and one enourmous 'suburb' that must have had a million or so people. Finally, made it to the airport in plenty of time.

The flight to X'ian went incredibly smoothly, although for some reason on Chinese planes they seem to want to update you a lot. They keep giving information like, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are now ten minutes into the flight, we have 45 minutes of flying left." There was also a bizarre statement that sounded like, "Also, please be aware of the attacking mirrors" but we weren't sure what it was.

We were the only westerners on the flight, but that changed after we touched down. X'ian is a pretty big tourist draw. Our bus took us into town and we walked from the hotel from there.

We saw the X'ian History Museum, basically a nice, clear and 'concise' history of China and the dynasties, since X'ian was the ancient capital for so many years. Later, we realized the bank card thing was coming back to us. We were running out of valuable cash. The hotel wouldn't take credit cards or travelers check - and we needed to pay for our room, ongoing train tickets, and buy the tickets to the Terracotta Warriors the next day. We used the last of our cash to buy the train tickets to Chengdu, in the Southwest, in the province of Sichuan, because we had learned that you can only get the upgraded sleeper seats days in advance. And the train station in X'ian was even more of a madhouse than Qingdao.



Also, now we learned that even Sarah couldn't get money because her Citibank account was empty and she was having trouble transferring funds from her main bank to there. Andy finally had to try to call the bank about his card, while Sarah tried numerous PIN combinations and usernames she had forgotten to transfer the money from her main bank to her Citibank.

On the phone, Andy first tried to use the calling card he bought in Qingdao, but the PIN they gave him didn't work and he wasn't sure what other glitches there were to get past it, so that was pretty much a waste. Now he tried to use his original calling card from home. Luckily, the international access number worked and he got through. After 10 minutes and three or four levels of people who said we would have to either go back to Beijing or Shanghai and settle it there OR wait in the mail two weeks for a form to fill out to get a new PIN sent to the New York address, Andy finally got through to an emergency guy in Dallas who said this is 'not normal procedure, but we can reset your PIN over the phone.' Exactly what we needed to hear. He then said, he'd just have to wait till business hours ( 1.5 hours later) to have a second 'unidentified person' come on the line a do a 'dual key turn' to reset the PIN. After that, it would be another two or three hours before it cleared through the system and Andy could get cash. Andy said he would call back in an hour and a half.


He did, and after going through all the levels again, was transferred to a 'mystery woman' at the other end of the line that just said, "Go ahead..." Andy said the new PIN into the phone and that was it. There was not even a 'thank you' or repeating the PIN or anything. She just hung up. Like some kind of espionage scene in a movie or something. A couple of hours later he tried to get cash. No luck. We figured we'd just try in the morning. When we did, about 8 hours later, it finally worked. We were back in business.


The next morning, we paid our hotel bill, plus an extra night and set out on bus to see the Terracotta Warriors. The site was discovered by peasants digging a well in the 70's; there were no real written records of it, and it turned out to be one of the greatest archeological finds of the century. Constructed thousands of years ago to guard the Emperor in his tomb in the afterlife, this place was no joke. The massive first excavation yielded a 2 football field-sized plot with thousands of restored warriors there and many more waiting to be dug out. These are all life-sized warriors (and horses and chariots) made from terracotta clay from the region and baked into present form. No two warriors, however are alike, and each are said to reflect the unique facial features of the actual standing warriors at the time. Moreover, if the statues weren't perfectly executed by the artist, then the artist was. Killed that is. If that weren't enough, even the tomb's builders and architects were murdered and sealed into the tomb, enabling the secret to remain hidden until the mid seventies. Pretty brutal stuff. The originals were colored with a patina which apparently fades upon contact with oxygen, which is why they are delaying excavation of the thousands more warriors believed to be hidden in the new buildings, in hopes of developing the proper technology to preserve them.

The next day, we decided to rent bikes before boarding our 12pm train. X'ian is a crazy city, especially near the train station where we were. But along the city walls, it's actually quite peaceful and a great place to ride. We managed to ride around the inside of the entire city wall, about 15k in an hour until we were back in the bedlam of X'ian's train station. It was so bad, Andy looked back after looking away for 30 seconds and Sarah was gone. Granted Sarah would be the only blond hair in a sea of dark hair, but it just shows how many people there were! Andy retraced his route several times, even jumping over to the hotel. No luck. After 25 minutes and the boarding time to the train approaching rapidly, he figured she would be able to find the hotel and just meet him there. It turned out to be true. There she was, also finding it impossible to see Andy's brown hair in a sea of black! There was no time for small talk, however. We had to pack, check out, then barrel our way through the nightmare train station and it in time for departure or who knows how long we'd be stuck in X'ian because there's only one a day and it's almost impossible to get train tickets on short notice.

When we saw daylight,

we knew we were alive. To get to Korea we chose a dizzying mix of cab to bullet train to bus to ferry to train to subway to foot. Astoundingly, we made each connection seamlessly and waited no longer than 15 minutes in between any of them. The bullet train from Hiroshima took us to Fukuoka (the town we had stopped in earlier briefly on our first leg). We decided to 'wing' the ferry to Japan and it paid off. turned out there was one leaving in 10 minutes which Andy immediately bought a ticket for. Waiting in line, an attendant frantically yelled out 'Beetle! Beetle?' Sarah said yes (it was the name of the hydrofoil we were on). I thought they would just move us to the front of the line and we would board. Instead, we enter another huge room with literally hundreds more people waiting. It was passport control/customs. We had forgotten about that part. But to their credit, they whisked us past everyone, saving us about 2 full hours then onto the boat which already had its engines running. As soon as we sat down, the boat pulled away. The trip to Busan (or Pusan), Korea took about 3 hours. In Busan, we boarded the fast train to Seoul and arrived there a few hours later, taking a subway to the hotel, and eating dumplings and kimchee in the homeland for the first time.


The next day, we treated ourselves to an English bookstore and stumbled on about 200 protesters sitting in the street with 500 riot police were gearing up to remove them. The protesters had music blaring through speakers and would occasionally chant countered by the police yelling demands over their loudspeaker. It seemed like it would go on for hours and blow over peacefully and we moved on to see the rest of the city.

Perhaps the most fascinating was visiting the DMZ through a tour led by the USO. We boarded a bus early in the morning and it seemed like there was barbed wire set up all along the river for the entire trip from Seoul to the border. We crossed a couple of checkpoints, including a bridge where you weave in and out of black and yellow bumblebee-looking metal barricades until you come to the US Camp. We were briefed by U.S. and South Korean Soldiers in conjunction with the UN peacekeeping mission then boarded a military bus, escorted by South Korean Soldiers through the first (and last) 3?lines of defense. A huge mound with wire that is designed to stop tanks. A second minefield. Third, an enormous wire fence with little stones piled on each other which was a technique South Koreans had used for centuries to detect if a fence had ever been tampered with or breached.?All three of these defenses we were told stretched the length of the Korean peninsula, diving the two countries from sea to sea.


We then came to the 'Freedom Bulding,' a UN-designated safe zone marking the border where the South and North Koreans patrol vigilantly. Here, they stand meters apart from each other with nothing in-between, the South Korean soldiers adopting a stiff Tae Kwan Do defense stance the entire time we are there. Then we see the crisply-dressed North Korean soldiers looking at us through binoculars! creepy! -- However it was also strange because either their crisp uniforms were ill-fitting, ( i.e. too big for their bodies), or the soldiers were slightly malnourished, which took away a little of their fierceness. We were told not to point or use any derragatory or inflammatory language, as the North was listening and could construe anything as hostile UN actions.

We even saw one of the three tunnels dug by North Korean to invade the south. Which, I understand the North only recently admitted was theirs (previously they had claimed it was a South Korean tunnel to invade them). Then we got to go up to high ground and see into North Korea itself through binoculars. In the distance, you could see the third largest city in North Korea and barely make out through the glasses the giant white statue president Kim made for himself. The closer North Korean town, the one flying the world's largest flag, is abandoned.

The rest of the week saw us enjoying the art scene in Seoul as well as the rest of the city, and getting ready for our second leg to China. This time, we had to buy one air ticket if we wanted to go overland through remote, vast parts of China and see everything we wanted to while still getting to Vietnam on time.


With all our bags and tickets in hand, we merrily left for the airport, ready to go to X'ian in China. When we got there we were met with a stunner: The gate agent saw that our 2nd entry on our Visa into China had expired. Turns out, BOTH our entries had to be done before a certain date. We felt like idiots and it felt like the guy might as well have reached behind the counter, grabbed a shovel and slammed us across the face. We were dazed, but went all the way back into Seoul and vowed to get new rush Visas for China and readjust our tickets.


After figuring out that the entire Chinese embassy had moved, we did. And in two days, we were on our way back to the airport, this time to go to Quindao, China, opting to make our way to X'ian, China's ancient captial from there by train or plane. We just hoped this time, we'd make it.

large stature

Jan met us at the station. We found Malaina teaching at the language camp with Jolon in hand, good to see/visit with family after almost 5 months of travel. Since they've been living here for quite some time (teaching English among various other things), they were able to give us a good overview of the country before we would set out in a few days.

Forever known for the being the first city hit by an atomic bomb, Hiroshima now has over a million people and is thriving with a vibrant cultural, shopping and night scene. Perhaps the most magnificent things we visited while here were the Mitaki-Jima temple complex and the 500m ascent of Mt. Misen on Miajima island. Both were scenes of what everyone dreams of when they think about Japan.

On Sunday, we were off to explore the rest of Japan (or as much as we could with a 7-day rail pass). First stop was near Fukuoka, where we sampled our first sushi plucked from circling conveyor belts and dipped into our first Onsen, or Japenese Bath, which usually consists of a hot pool -- many times filled with hot, volcanic-based water (with a pungent sulphuric odor to match), which is believed of course to have the requisite healing properties. No cold bath to throw the body into convulsions however like in Russia. Just a shower where you sit and get clean afterward.

The most interesting thing about the bath this day had actually had nothing to do with the bath. In the area where everyone disrobes, an older Japanese man very vocally becomes animated upon seeing Andy, admiring his large stature (compared to Japanese men) like he's a giant or something. So he starts comparing calves, legs, torsos, everything -- and I mean EVERYTHING! -- not the most peaceful welcome to a completely foreign enviornment where everyone gets naked (luckily, he had already been to a russian bath). And maybe the guy was drunk or something too because the exhuberance and seemingly never resolved point or new information except that Andy was 'big,' seemed very un-Japanese. Finally, culturally rude or no, Andy said, 'yeah, yeah, listen I gotta go,' and got out of there. When leaving the bath, there was another older Japanese man who commented on his size and that Andy must have done 'sports.' Luckily, that clunky conversation ended
quickly after they talked about Hideki Matsui.

On Monday, it was off to the fantasmagical Tokyo which did not disappoint. The scene was a surreal mix of crisply dressed businessmen emerging from seedy, dark lounges onto neon-fried streets -- stylish guys and scantily clad girls with sparkling, glittery cell phones and fingernails to match.

The scrambling, kaleidoscopic Tsukiji fish market was a highlight -- as was the insanely fresh sashimi had at a stall nearby.

Caught the first bullet train for the north and by around 4pm, we made it to the northernmost island, Hokkaido, more specifically, Toya-ko where there were two active volcanoes.
The big one, Mt. Uzusu, reeked havoc only last 2000. The hikewe took around the outer rim was stunning, steam rising up on either side of the trail. Back at the hotel, we dipped in the onsen there and caught the fireworks show (given every evening for the throngs in the giant hotels in the next town) from the boat.

The next day, after Sarah loaded us up with trays of beautiful sashimi and rolls, we headed south, taking three trains including the last one a bullet train screaming towards Nagayo (we couldn't get the one to Kyoto we wanted). Crashed at a hotel there, then took early one to Kyoto. In the sweltering heat in Kyoto, we rented bikes and actually caught most of the temples and shrines in the Northeast and Southeast sections of town before the day was over.


Caught the 9pm train back to Hiroshima and effectively ended our 7-day pass. In Hiroshima, we saw the 61-year anniversary of the A-bomb strike on August 6 (bells toll at 8:15am, the exact time the bomb hit) and evening ceremony where hundreds of lanterns are lit and floated up the river commemorating the 140,000 lost lives that day.

The rest of the week we spent seeing the nightlife here, resting a bit, and getting ready for our next phase: S. Korea then an
adventurous tour back through China, to parts known and unknown across the Central and Southern regions.

Our plan is to leave tomorrow on the fast ferry from Fukuoka to Busan in South Korea. But first, as a kind of a 'final goodbye' tonight, we're going to a Fugu restaurant -- serving the poisonous pufferfish that must be prepared by a highly specialized chef, lest the diner meet their demise. So, if in the coming weeks, you notice a mysterious absence of entries, you'll know why.

Thanks: Malaina, Jan and Jolon for letting us regroup at their place, for giving us an overview of the island and introducing us to the joys of udon.