This will be short - have to go for my last Chinese breakfast. Judes and I went to the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven yesterday with Jason. I forgot to bring the camera.....
We had dinner with Andy, Frances and 3 other Chinese professors. Lots of food, some of it quite good. The host gave me a doll dressed in a minority costume at the end.
Off to Princeton! Judes will leave tomorrow and hopes to meet Yuval in the airport before he takes off and Avi will be back on Sunday.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
E#mail from Eyal (April 26)
today is the 4th and last of the rest days in bc, tommorow i will go up with dan, max and kuy (the german friend) to carry some food up to camp 2, and then continue up to camp 3 and start fixing ropes obove to camp 4. its a lot of work planned, but hopefully we feel good and manage to complete the task. the sherpas should be be up a couple days after us to help doing this job.
i think that we will stay on the mountain for about a week, and then
come down for the final rest before the summit attempt. i will probably go down to one of the lower villages alonge the trek to rest more properly, and the come back to try the summit.
i think that we will stay on the mountain for about a week, and then
come down for the final rest before the summit attempt. i will probably go down to one of the lower villages alonge the trek to rest more properly, and the come back to try the summit.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Beijing - April 25
First - all the latest posts from Summit Club mention the Seder Eyal celebrated at basecamp! http://www.everestnews.com/Summitclimb2005/everestnepal2005uaa04252005.htm (look at Mike O'brien and Maximo Kausch dispatches. Eyal even seems to have added a sentence to Mike's report).
After brekafast in the hotel and a cappucino in our favorite cafe we were picked up by Mr. Song and taken to the CS department in Chingua University. It's a brand new building in a very new part of campus. Andy's office is huge and very stylized and impressive. But then he took us over to see "Avi's office" - it's the office which is reserved for Mr. Li, hte riches man in Hong Kong who donated the building and it is a spectecular suite - we will definitely take photos of Avi using it....
Judes and I took a cab to ashopping center (basically an indoor market), and to our great suprise we spent about 6 hours there and shopped until we dropped. Very uncharacteristic!
We met Avi in the cafe around 7 and had a nice leisurely (western) dinner, and then collapsed into bed.
Today Judes & I are going with Jason to the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven and Avi will continue toiling away in his magnificant office. He enjoyed talking to the students a lot yesterday.
After brekafast in the hotel and a cappucino in our favorite cafe we were picked up by Mr. Song and taken to the CS department in Chingua University. It's a brand new building in a very new part of campus. Andy's office is huge and very stylized and impressive. But then he took us over to see "Avi's office" - it's the office which is reserved for Mr. Li, hte riches man in Hong Kong who donated the building and it is a spectecular suite - we will definitely take photos of Avi using it....
Judes and I took a cab to ashopping center (basically an indoor market), and to our great suprise we spent about 6 hours there and shopped until we dropped. Very uncharacteristic!
We met Avi in the cafe around 7 and had a nice leisurely (western) dinner, and then collapsed into bed.
Today Judes & I are going with Jason to the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven and Avi will continue toiling away in his magnificant office. He enjoyed talking to the students a lot yesterday.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Hangzhou - April 24
After gorging ourselves at breakfast on the hotel's verandah looking at the beautiful garden, we postponed our meeting with Xu to 12 as we decided we'd much rather stroll in the park by the lake than have lunch. All of Hangzhu was hanging out at the park - lots of families and everybody was eating. Even so the park remained spotlessly clean.
We were struck again by how few children you see and how each child has a whole retinue of doting parents and grandparents with it. That was a bit sad but the whole morning was just lovely.
We did go with Xu to one more Budhist temple, also in beuatiful park-like surroudings. The whole area was mobbed and it was amazing to see how many people burned incest and prayed. This is a 1600 year old temple but most of the statues were destroyed during the cultural revolution and were renewed since. Very big and ornate but exactly my taste...
The airport is very new and impressive. The highway leading to it winds through miles of new developments - all the houses are very similar, in bright pink and green colors with odd structures sticking out - very Disnelandish.
Jason waited for us at the Beijing Airport and it felt like meeting an old friend and coming back home. We went out for a non-Chinese dinner which was not bad at all. Today Avi is going to the University and Judes & I will explore some markets. We decided we need a guide-free day...
We were struck again by how few children you see and how each child has a whole retinue of doting parents and grandparents with it. That was a bit sad but the whole morning was just lovely.
We did go with Xu to one more Budhist temple, also in beuatiful park-like surroudings. The whole area was mobbed and it was amazing to see how many people burned incest and prayed. This is a 1600 year old temple but most of the statues were destroyed during the cultural revolution and were renewed since. Very big and ornate but exactly my taste...
The airport is very new and impressive. The highway leading to it winds through miles of new developments - all the houses are very similar, in bright pink and green colors with odd structures sticking out - very Disnelandish.
Jason waited for us at the Beijing Airport and it felt like meeting an old friend and coming back home. We went out for a non-Chinese dinner which was not bad at all. Today Avi is going to the University and Judes & I will explore some markets. We decided we need a guide-free day...
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Hangzhou - April 23
We had a Pessach miracle - we got off the train in China - in fact the city looked very rundown and ugly around there, went to lunch in a downtown restaurant (nothing to write home about) and then went for a couple more kilometers and were transported - either to Swtizerland or to heaven (the saying here is that there is paradise in heaven and Suzhou and Hangzhou on earth).
Our hotel is extremely fancy and is located on the shore of the Western Lake, which has the most beautiful and meticulously groomed park around it. The place swarmed with people (mainly Chinese tourists) and not a scrap of paper on the ground! And the lay-out and gardening are really unbelievably beautiful - they city must emply thousands of people to keep this huge pak (probably larger than Central Park) so well groomed.
We took a boat ride on the lake which we would have enjoyed more if the woman who was blaring away into a megaphone on deck would have fallen into the lake - her group looked quite unhappy too.
Then we continued to a tea village and plantation (where they have the 'best green tea in China'). The view around there is amazing - steep mountains covered with tea bushes and dotted with people picking the leaves. It is of course highly commercialized and the only way to get rid of the young woman who gave us tea and demonstrated things was to buy 1 can... But the scenery was definitely worth the investment.
Close by we looked at the Pagoda of Six Harmonies, and then returned to the hotel. Our guide here is Leon (Xu, pronounced Shoe) - nice and has excellent English - he spent 6 months in Madison Wisconsin as an exchange student.
We took a walk along the lake to find a restuarant and ended up in a strange place - an exquisite tea house in a very Japanses looking setting. They had a buffet there with very unusual buffet things like nuts and candy, but also noodles and eggrolls and such and the whole meal was dirt cheap. We still do not understand what kind of place this really was but it was very nice and tasty and different from the regular Chinese meals.
And finally - there is a partial photo of Eyal on SummitClimb: http://www.everestnews.com/Summitclimb2005/everestnepal2005uaa04232005.htm
Our hotel is extremely fancy and is located on the shore of the Western Lake, which has the most beautiful and meticulously groomed park around it. The place swarmed with people (mainly Chinese tourists) and not a scrap of paper on the ground! And the lay-out and gardening are really unbelievably beautiful - they city must emply thousands of people to keep this huge pak (probably larger than Central Park) so well groomed.
We took a boat ride on the lake which we would have enjoyed more if the woman who was blaring away into a megaphone on deck would have fallen into the lake - her group looked quite unhappy too.
Then we continued to a tea village and plantation (where they have the 'best green tea in China'). The view around there is amazing - steep mountains covered with tea bushes and dotted with people picking the leaves. It is of course highly commercialized and the only way to get rid of the young woman who gave us tea and demonstrated things was to buy 1 can... But the scenery was definitely worth the investment.
Close by we looked at the Pagoda of Six Harmonies, and then returned to the hotel. Our guide here is Leon (Xu, pronounced Shoe) - nice and has excellent English - he spent 6 months in Madison Wisconsin as an exchange student.
We took a walk along the lake to find a restuarant and ended up in a strange place - an exquisite tea house in a very Japanses looking setting. They had a buffet there with very unusual buffet things like nuts and candy, but also noodles and eggrolls and such and the whole meal was dirt cheap. We still do not understand what kind of place this really was but it was very nice and tasty and different from the regular Chinese meals.
And finally - there is a partial photo of Eyal on SummitClimb: http://www.everestnews.com/Summitclimb2005/everestnepal2005uaa04232005.htm
Eyal called! (not us, though...)
From an email from Miryam:
"Eyal called me just now to wish Chag Sameach. He is fine, has been up the mountain for three days to acclimatise, is now back at camp for a rest. The same procedure will be repeated once more, then the real climb will start."
This made our day! Chag Sameach to all! (a.k.a Happy Passover).
"Eyal called me just now to wish Chag Sameach. He is fine, has been up the mountain for three days to acclimatise, is now back at camp for a rest. The same procedure will be repeated once more, then the real climb will start."
This made our day! Chag Sameach to all! (a.k.a Happy Passover).
Suzhu - April 22
Breakfast was less delicious than in Shanghai but we ate a lot nontheless (we are a bit fed up with Chinese food by now, and it's easy to find western food in the breakfast buffets). We started the Suzhu exploration at the Garden of the Humble Administrator. Turns out the Administrator was not humble at all, in fact he was a very powerful and rich man, but his humbleness manifested itself when he designed and worked the garden. In any case, it is a very large3 and beautifully laid out graden and residence, with lots of gems such as beautiful plants, pavillions and corridors with interesting
windows allowing tantalizing views into the garden.
We asked Alvin to add a side trip to the Silk Museum which got good reviews in the book and was really very nice. This caused a small blowup with the driver who tried to bill us exoiberantly for his time, which was ridiculous as he was engaged to drive us around
for the whole day anyway. But all is well that ends well....
We continued to the Silk Factory where Alvin passed the baton to his
girlfriend Anita - a 23 year old student who might become a guide too. (He had a medical examination.) This friendship is apparently unusual as he is 9 years older. Alvin has a constant sad expression on his face, even when he attempts jokes, but Anita was very lively and bubbly. We continued to a restaurant and ate some of the local specialities - most notable was the lotus root stuffed with rice and some beef with bitter green unidentified stalks.
Next we went on the canal in a motor powered glass enclosed boat. Suzhu waterways are very pretty, and we spent the time thinking of Hebrew songs to teach Anita (we did not get very far but she sang a Russian song iwth a very familiar tune).
We continued to the Garden of the Master of Nets - this is to commemorate the fisherman who saved the owner's son who fell into the canal. A much smaller residence and garden but also very beautiful with the bonus of a nice courtyard and a decent cappucino machine in the bar! The guards had to throw us out of the place forcefully at 5:30 when they closed.
We went to see the streetlife on the aptly named Street in Front of the Temple (the temple was a Tao temple but it was closed already), and then to the hotel to put down our stuff.
Anita had told us that it was the opening of the Silk Festival and there will be festivities on the river which we decided to attend. This was a slight misunderstanding as Alvin had invited us to meet his family and we misunderstood him, but were forgiven.
We took a cab to the Center and then stood on the bridge for an hour looking at the floats on the river and the fireworks. These were rather tame, but seeing the multitudes of people on bikes, motorcycles and on foot moving across the bridge, and the different soldiers and policemen guarding the place was extremely entertaining. It's really impressive to see thousands of people crowded together, all in a good and cooperative mood, joking with the soldiers and having a very good time....
We had a short night as we had to catch the 7:24 train to Hang-zhou. I am writing this on the train - another people-full place - everybody eating, or sleeping and/or talking - and a general sense of satisfaction. We'll arrive in about 2 hours.
windows allowing tantalizing views into the garden.
We asked Alvin to add a side trip to the Silk Museum which got good reviews in the book and was really very nice. This caused a small blowup with the driver who tried to bill us exoiberantly for his time, which was ridiculous as he was engaged to drive us around
for the whole day anyway. But all is well that ends well....
We continued to the Silk Factory where Alvin passed the baton to his
girlfriend Anita - a 23 year old student who might become a guide too. (He had a medical examination.) This friendship is apparently unusual as he is 9 years older. Alvin has a constant sad expression on his face, even when he attempts jokes, but Anita was very lively and bubbly. We continued to a restaurant and ate some of the local specialities - most notable was the lotus root stuffed with rice and some beef with bitter green unidentified stalks.
Next we went on the canal in a motor powered glass enclosed boat. Suzhu waterways are very pretty, and we spent the time thinking of Hebrew songs to teach Anita (we did not get very far but she sang a Russian song iwth a very familiar tune).
We continued to the Garden of the Master of Nets - this is to commemorate the fisherman who saved the owner's son who fell into the canal. A much smaller residence and garden but also very beautiful with the bonus of a nice courtyard and a decent cappucino machine in the bar! The guards had to throw us out of the place forcefully at 5:30 when they closed.
We went to see the streetlife on the aptly named Street in Front of the Temple (the temple was a Tao temple but it was closed already), and then to the hotel to put down our stuff.
Anita had told us that it was the opening of the Silk Festival and there will be festivities on the river which we decided to attend. This was a slight misunderstanding as Alvin had invited us to meet his family and we misunderstood him, but were forgiven.
We took a cab to the Center and then stood on the bridge for an hour looking at the floats on the river and the fireworks. These were rather tame, but seeing the multitudes of people on bikes, motorcycles and on foot moving across the bridge, and the different soldiers and policemen guarding the place was extremely entertaining. It's really impressive to see thousands of people crowded together, all in a good and cooperative mood, joking with the soldiers and having a very good time....
We had a short night as we had to catch the 7:24 train to Hang-zhou. I am writing this on the train - another people-full place - everybody eating, or sleeping and/or talking - and a general sense of satisfaction. We'll arrive in about 2 hours.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Zhouzhuang - April 21
After another huge and delcious breakfast at the Garden Hotel Shanghai we were met by 'Alvin' (Su something - I forget his first name) and immediately fell in love with him. A very gentle and sweet guy. His English is very idiomatic and he loves using euphemisms, figures of speech and expressions to a very startling effect. So we never heard any word about rich people but encountered many opulent people and were treated to lots of similar goodies.
Soon after leaving Shanghai the landscape became very green and lush and as we approached the Zhouzhuang area we saw more and more gardens full of flowers, canals and bridges.
The town itself has been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco and rightly so. It looks like a cross between Venice and Amsterdam - built on canals with hundreds of very picturesque bridges spanning them and many flat bottomed boats, often peddled by middle-aged women (the boats are peddled using a single oar). Some of the women also sang and as most of the tourists here were Chinese, many of the clients were clapping on wooden instruments to the tune of the songs - it really was a most romantic sight.
We strolled around the town for a couple of hours, heard some Chinese opera rehearsal, visited an opulent man's house and garden, and then had another medicore lunch. Seems that our request not to take us to those touristic resaurants did not get so far west. As we expressed our disappointment, Alvin got very concerned and we hope he can change our next lunch reservation. We did eat a couple of local specialities - hog hoofs which Avi enjoyed and wild rice stems which were very nice, and Judes and I enjoyed a lot. Avi also bought some street food - a red bean paste stuffed pita which was nice and some dried yam candy which he trashed rather quickly.
From Zhouzhuang we continued to Suzhou - a very pleasant town of only 6 million inhabitants. It is clearly in good economic shape but without the glitz of Shanghai which makes it seem like a very pleasant place to live. The people look well off, many cars on the street and comfortable looking hi-rises. The old city center is surrounded by a moat and also here there are many canals and waterways. Very nice!
Our first stop was a teapot factory where we got an explanation on the virtues of their teapots, signed by a master and containing some most excellent minerals which will give us lots of health (all the Chinese we met seem very concerned about their inner organs and we got enough medical and cosmetic advice here to last a lifetime). To Alvin's dismay we declined buying $100 teapots and continued to the hotel.
The hotel is much simpler than the previous one and we are back to the very hard Chinese mattrasses but it is clean and nice. Alvin waited for us in the lobby and we invited him to a cup of coffee (he had tea) in a close-by coffee shop. It was ok but we should have gone to Starbucks instead (we saw a couple later in the evening).
The next agenda item was a foot massage where we made complete fools of ourselves laughing hysterically all the time. Unfortunately, Daphna's life is now in great danger as Judes swore to kill her for recommending this ordeal. Turns out that by not talking Chinese we could not react to the particular pressure points and they could not diagnose our ailments correctly, although looking at the chart on the wall I am very worried about Judes' digestive tract. She denies any problems with it though. Was very amusing.
Alvin and the driver dropped us of at the City Center where we decided to forego the local specialities at KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds and bought some pita bread instead. We took a cab back to the hotel, and as usual I woke up at an indecent hour and am spending the wee hours of the day writing this...
Soon after leaving Shanghai the landscape became very green and lush and as we approached the Zhouzhuang area we saw more and more gardens full of flowers, canals and bridges.
The town itself has been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco and rightly so. It looks like a cross between Venice and Amsterdam - built on canals with hundreds of very picturesque bridges spanning them and many flat bottomed boats, often peddled by middle-aged women (the boats are peddled using a single oar). Some of the women also sang and as most of the tourists here were Chinese, many of the clients were clapping on wooden instruments to the tune of the songs - it really was a most romantic sight.
We strolled around the town for a couple of hours, heard some Chinese opera rehearsal, visited an opulent man's house and garden, and then had another medicore lunch. Seems that our request not to take us to those touristic resaurants did not get so far west. As we expressed our disappointment, Alvin got very concerned and we hope he can change our next lunch reservation. We did eat a couple of local specialities - hog hoofs which Avi enjoyed and wild rice stems which were very nice, and Judes and I enjoyed a lot. Avi also bought some street food - a red bean paste stuffed pita which was nice and some dried yam candy which he trashed rather quickly.
From Zhouzhuang we continued to Suzhou - a very pleasant town of only 6 million inhabitants. It is clearly in good economic shape but without the glitz of Shanghai which makes it seem like a very pleasant place to live. The people look well off, many cars on the street and comfortable looking hi-rises. The old city center is surrounded by a moat and also here there are many canals and waterways. Very nice!
Our first stop was a teapot factory where we got an explanation on the virtues of their teapots, signed by a master and containing some most excellent minerals which will give us lots of health (all the Chinese we met seem very concerned about their inner organs and we got enough medical and cosmetic advice here to last a lifetime). To Alvin's dismay we declined buying $100 teapots and continued to the hotel.
The hotel is much simpler than the previous one and we are back to the very hard Chinese mattrasses but it is clean and nice. Alvin waited for us in the lobby and we invited him to a cup of coffee (he had tea) in a close-by coffee shop. It was ok but we should have gone to Starbucks instead (we saw a couple later in the evening).
The next agenda item was a foot massage where we made complete fools of ourselves laughing hysterically all the time. Unfortunately, Daphna's life is now in great danger as Judes swore to kill her for recommending this ordeal. Turns out that by not talking Chinese we could not react to the particular pressure points and they could not diagnose our ailments correctly, although looking at the chart on the wall I am very worried about Judes' digestive tract. She denies any problems with it though. Was very amusing.
Alvin and the driver dropped us of at the City Center where we decided to forego the local specialities at KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds and bought some pita bread instead. We took a cab back to the hotel, and as usual I woke up at an indecent hour and am spending the wee hours of the day writing this...
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Shanghai - April 20
I have been meaning to write for a few days now that the only sign of Internet censorship we found here is that we cannot read our blog (although we can post to it - go figure). So we cannot see comments - better email them....
Back to our regular programming:
Shanghai is China's economical and business capital and that was evident immediately upon landing - a very modern skyscraper-rich skyline and some very beautiful modern buildings mixed in a peculiar fashion with old, run down buildings with laundry hanging out to "air" in the smog. The hotel is Japanese-run and very fancy. And the Shanghai population immediately proved true to what we heard about them - much less friendly and pleasant than the other Chinese we met (and supposedly much more stingy too), with many more educated and very affluent-looking people and a very high population of expats - foreigners who work here in the many international companies in the city.
Our guide this time was 'Victor', and he was extremely annoying. He kept changing the program on us, talked on the phone incessantly, tried keeping us on a very short leash by barking short commands at us, and doing very little guiding in between. We started in the Shanghai Museum which is one of the best museums we have ever seen with amazing bronzework and pottery dating back all the way to around 2000 b.c.e ! We could have stayed there the whole day....
The next stop was a typical tourist trap - a silk factory with an attached store. Notwithstanding, the silk manufacturing process is very interesting and we ended up bying a duvet...
We continued to the Jewish section where, to Victor's surprise, we insisted on leaving the van and seeing the synagogue. The synagogue keeper was half Jewish and gave us a nice explanation which was very hard to follow due to his most peculiar accent. But we loved the way he pronounced the Jewish holidays' names (mostly in an Ashkenazi accent, but he had a good grasp of the difference between Ashkenazim and Spharadim - at one point Shanghai boasted of 3 synagogues!) and we got an idea of the Shanghai Jews' history from the pamphlets and posters there.
Then we were herded to the Yu Gardens - an amazing oasis in the middle of the bustle of Shanghai surrounded by an Arts & Crafts Market. This part of town really reminded me of Kyoto but Avi denies the similarity.
Lunch won the 'worst meal so far' award - similar to the bad meal experiences we had 4 years ago in China, although truthfully the food was no worse than mediocre.
By then we were so fed up with Victor we decided to have them drop us off at the hotel so we can get rid of our bags and continue on our own (without tipping Victor - I am afraid we have created another antisemite...)
We took the subway (very modern and easy to navigate) to Najing St. - a bustling pedestrian street lined with stores and much less interesting than advertized in the book, and continued to the Bund - a promenade on the riverfront with a view to Punong - the very modern section with high-rises. We were disappointed by the lack of cafes on the Bund but had a very pleasant stroll and then walked back through a pretty park and a bamboo grove. We were hoping to get back to the Arts & Crafts section but ended up in a local food market and then a local general market - both places lacked tourists and tourist-geared merchandise completely and were lots of fun.
At this point we hailed a cab and started going to the hotel but stopped the driver when we he drove through a modern area full of malls which looked like having a high coffee-potential. We ended up in a Haagen-Dasz and just as we ordered, Karin - Judes's cousin called and came there to meet us. She is working here for Pepsi, and we spent a very nice evening with her - had the best Chinese meal in a very hip restaurant and then took a stroll in the local SoHo - there definitely is a lot of money in this town!
Back to our regular programming:
Shanghai is China's economical and business capital and that was evident immediately upon landing - a very modern skyscraper-rich skyline and some very beautiful modern buildings mixed in a peculiar fashion with old, run down buildings with laundry hanging out to "air" in the smog. The hotel is Japanese-run and very fancy. And the Shanghai population immediately proved true to what we heard about them - much less friendly and pleasant than the other Chinese we met (and supposedly much more stingy too), with many more educated and very affluent-looking people and a very high population of expats - foreigners who work here in the many international companies in the city.
Our guide this time was 'Victor', and he was extremely annoying. He kept changing the program on us, talked on the phone incessantly, tried keeping us on a very short leash by barking short commands at us, and doing very little guiding in between. We started in the Shanghai Museum which is one of the best museums we have ever seen with amazing bronzework and pottery dating back all the way to around 2000 b.c.e ! We could have stayed there the whole day....
The next stop was a typical tourist trap - a silk factory with an attached store. Notwithstanding, the silk manufacturing process is very interesting and we ended up bying a duvet...
We continued to the Jewish section where, to Victor's surprise, we insisted on leaving the van and seeing the synagogue. The synagogue keeper was half Jewish and gave us a nice explanation which was very hard to follow due to his most peculiar accent. But we loved the way he pronounced the Jewish holidays' names (mostly in an Ashkenazi accent, but he had a good grasp of the difference between Ashkenazim and Spharadim - at one point Shanghai boasted of 3 synagogues!) and we got an idea of the Shanghai Jews' history from the pamphlets and posters there.
Then we were herded to the Yu Gardens - an amazing oasis in the middle of the bustle of Shanghai surrounded by an Arts & Crafts Market. This part of town really reminded me of Kyoto but Avi denies the similarity.
Lunch won the 'worst meal so far' award - similar to the bad meal experiences we had 4 years ago in China, although truthfully the food was no worse than mediocre.
By then we were so fed up with Victor we decided to have them drop us off at the hotel so we can get rid of our bags and continue on our own (without tipping Victor - I am afraid we have created another antisemite...)
We took the subway (very modern and easy to navigate) to Najing St. - a bustling pedestrian street lined with stores and much less interesting than advertized in the book, and continued to the Bund - a promenade on the riverfront with a view to Punong - the very modern section with high-rises. We were disappointed by the lack of cafes on the Bund but had a very pleasant stroll and then walked back through a pretty park and a bamboo grove. We were hoping to get back to the Arts & Crafts section but ended up in a local food market and then a local general market - both places lacked tourists and tourist-geared merchandise completely and were lots of fun.
At this point we hailed a cab and started going to the hotel but stopped the driver when we he drove through a modern area full of malls which looked like having a high coffee-potential. We ended up in a Haagen-Dasz and just as we ordered, Karin - Judes's cousin called and came there to meet us. She is working here for Pepsi, and we spent a very nice evening with her - had the best Chinese meal in a very hip restaurant and then took a stroll in the local SoHo - there definitely is a lot of money in this town!
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
The Blog
by Avi
to the tune of מה עושים העצים
After Judes complained of the blog being too dry
Where is Tieneman Square? Beijing
And in the Forbidden City? A King
And his dynasty, I think, was Ming
But he was kicked, by Chairman Mao
Where are the Budhas so tall? DaTong
And which tea reduces fat? Oolong
And our guide was Mrs. Wong
But time to move on. To Shnghai
So what am I to do? Click, click
Focus, aim and shoot again
And put the pictures in the blog.
Which all the info, will contain
Oh yes the blog, the blog, the blog
It all the info will contain!
And in the Forbidden City? A King
And his dynasty, I think, was Ming
But he was kicked, by Chairman Mao
Where are the Budhas so tall? DaTong
And which tea reduces fat? Oolong
And our guide was Mrs. Wong
But time to move on. To Shnghai
So what am I to do? Click, click
Focus, aim and shoot again
And put the pictures in the blog.
Which all the info, will contain
Oh yes the blog, the blog, the blog
It all the info will contain!
Datong - April 19
Another most excellent day, after a very long night's sleep. We started out by driving 65 km to the Hanging Temple. The way passes through a dessert, with occasional small villages on the roadside. Mrs. Wang continued telling us about life in China and her history. She really is remarkable - very frank and realistic, and with that very patriotic and appreciative of the regime and all it has done for the country.
The Hanging Temple is a wooden structure built in the middle of a sheer cliff. The monks who built it stuck wooden posts into the mountain and erected a whole structure on them and then filled them with Budhas. Avi also continued up more steps into a tunnel shaped like a dragon which leads to a water reservior built under Mao's rule in 1959.
From there we drove on to another city and visited the Wooden Pagoda there - a pagoda built originally as a guard post and then converted to a Budhist temple. Today it is a historical museum.
The next stop was for lunch in a convention center adjacent to a spirits distiller. This time Mrs. Wang and the driver ate with us. Mrs. Wang ordered the food, with an emphasis on vegeterian dishes and local specialities and did very well.
From there we had a 200 km drive to Taiyuan - the provincial capital, which has an airport. It has 5 million inhabitants (Datong has only 3 million), and 59 universities! This city has a lot of heavy industry and no toristic attractions at all.
Now we are in the plan flying to Shanghai. The only other westerner on the plane is an Israeli businessman sitting in the row in front of us...
The Hanging Temple is a wooden structure built in the middle of a sheer cliff. The monks who built it stuck wooden posts into the mountain and erected a whole structure on them and then filled them with Budhas. Avi also continued up more steps into a tunnel shaped like a dragon which leads to a water reservior built under Mao's rule in 1959.
From there we drove on to another city and visited the Wooden Pagoda there - a pagoda built originally as a guard post and then converted to a Budhist temple. Today it is a historical museum.
The next stop was for lunch in a convention center adjacent to a spirits distiller. This time Mrs. Wang and the driver ate with us. Mrs. Wang ordered the food, with an emphasis on vegeterian dishes and local specialities and did very well.
From there we had a 200 km drive to Taiyuan - the provincial capital, which has an airport. It has 5 million inhabitants (Datong has only 3 million), and 59 universities! This city has a lot of heavy industry and no toristic attractions at all.
Now we are in the plan flying to Shanghai. The only other westerner on the plane is an Israeli businessman sitting in the row in front of us...
Monday, April 18, 2005
DaTong - April 18, 2005
I am sure you were all in suspence....
Yes, we did get a room and could take a shower in the hotel upon arrival!
Then a quick breakfast, and on to Yungang Caves.
These are very similar to the Ajanta and Ellora caves we have seen in India - Budhist temples and monestaries with multiple HUGE Budha sculptures which are carved in the rock inside the caves. They too were created about the same time, about 500AD. It is extremely impressive to see these 20m tall Budhas, and all the thousands of smaller scupltures (many painted).
Talking to our guide, Mrs. Wong, about her life, was as interesting as her explanations about the caves. She is about our age. During the cultural revolution her father was arrested for 2 years as "capitalist", but then released and appointed mayor of Datong, as the government thought he would be powerful enough to contain bloody clashes (fighting mainly with tridents!) between two groups in the city (both loyal to Mao - we didn't quite get what they fought over). Indeed he was successful. However, she, at 16, like many others, was sent to Inner Mongolia for "re-education".
But unlike any story we ever heard or read, she enjoyed it, and even considers it the best time of her life (no school, life in the country, the Mongolians who taught them farming and horse sheparding treated them well) and she still goes there with her "tent-mates" (they lived in a half buried tent to be protected from the fierce weather) every year for reunion.
She wanted to stay there and drive tractors for a profession, but was then sent back, and since she was tall, was sent to study English and become a guide (yes, appearantly this was logical in someone's eyes).
She told us many other interesting things - appearnatly with the many changes and privatization of buisnesses there is no global health insurance for everyone anymore and many, like in the US, have nowhere to go for opeations and hospital care when they need to.
Then we went to lunch in the city's best restaurant. It was indeed excellent (almost as good as yesterday's dinner), but the highlight was the wedding which was taking place there at the same time. Judes asked to see the bride, and Mrs Wong, in characteristic extrovert and aggressive Chinese style, plowed through the guests and waiters, brought the bride and groom to meet us, pose for pictures, give us candies and have the wedding videoman tape us with them for posterity.
Exhasuted after the little sleep we got on the train we went to rest an hour, and then (luckily everything very near the hotel) to the "9 dragon wall", and two Budhist monestaries. It seems that while practicing any religion is allowed (only in the appropriate temples), noone with education wants to be a monk anymore, and on the other hand farmers and other uneducated people prefer it to their current lives. In short, these poeple are now responsible for the monestaries, which during communist care were well preserved, and are now deteriorating.
Just as we were done, the excellent weather of the day took a turn for the worse and we went to hide in the hotel.
Yes, we did get a room and could take a shower in the hotel upon arrival!
Then a quick breakfast, and on to Yungang Caves.
These are very similar to the Ajanta and Ellora caves we have seen in India - Budhist temples and monestaries with multiple HUGE Budha sculptures which are carved in the rock inside the caves. They too were created about the same time, about 500AD. It is extremely impressive to see these 20m tall Budhas, and all the thousands of smaller scupltures (many painted).
Talking to our guide, Mrs. Wong, about her life, was as interesting as her explanations about the caves. She is about our age. During the cultural revolution her father was arrested for 2 years as "capitalist", but then released and appointed mayor of Datong, as the government thought he would be powerful enough to contain bloody clashes (fighting mainly with tridents!) between two groups in the city (both loyal to Mao - we didn't quite get what they fought over). Indeed he was successful. However, she, at 16, like many others, was sent to Inner Mongolia for "re-education".
But unlike any story we ever heard or read, she enjoyed it, and even considers it the best time of her life (no school, life in the country, the Mongolians who taught them farming and horse sheparding treated them well) and she still goes there with her "tent-mates" (they lived in a half buried tent to be protected from the fierce weather) every year for reunion.
She wanted to stay there and drive tractors for a profession, but was then sent back, and since she was tall, was sent to study English and become a guide (yes, appearantly this was logical in someone's eyes).
She told us many other interesting things - appearnatly with the many changes and privatization of buisnesses there is no global health insurance for everyone anymore and many, like in the US, have nowhere to go for opeations and hospital care when they need to.
Then we went to lunch in the city's best restaurant. It was indeed excellent (almost as good as yesterday's dinner), but the highlight was the wedding which was taking place there at the same time. Judes asked to see the bride, and Mrs Wong, in characteristic extrovert and aggressive Chinese style, plowed through the guests and waiters, brought the bride and groom to meet us, pose for pictures, give us candies and have the wedding videoman tape us with them for posterity.
Exhasuted after the little sleep we got on the train we went to rest an hour, and then (luckily everything very near the hotel) to the "9 dragon wall", and two Budhist monestaries. It seems that while practicing any religion is allowed (only in the appropriate temples), noone with education wants to be a monk anymore, and on the other hand farmers and other uneducated people prefer it to their current lives. In short, these poeple are now responsible for the monestaries, which during communist care were well preserved, and are now deteriorating.
Just as we were done, the excellent weather of the day took a turn for the worse and we went to hide in the hotel.
Beijing April 17
We met the guide 'Jason' (his real name is something like Ying Ki) and the driver Mr. Cheng at 12 and went off to Tiananenmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was a perfect day for such an excursion - very pleasant tempreatures and not too many people, in contrast to our previous tour of the same area which was hot and extremely crowded. The Forbidden City
again impressed us with its very elegant buildings and courtyards and very non-interesting interiors.
Lunch was not part of the plan (the whole day was very different from the planned itinerary, but the changes were excellent) so we bought some ice cream at the North Gate to the Forbidden City (the Stabucks is at the Eastern Gate which we did not go to so we missed this great cultual improvement), and continued to the Hutong tour. Hutong are the old alleyways and courtyards which were typical of Beijing. Most of them have been torn down and replaced with hi-rises, but a small section has been declared a preserved area. For some reason, tourists are transported around there on a tricycle, under the guidance of a local guide - a very nice young woman with very limited English knowledge called 'Wendy'.
The first stop was the Drum Tower to which we ascended on 69 very steep steps. The view was very smoggy and Wendy got very worried when Judes disappeared around a corner for a few minutes. Every 30 minutes they hit a bunch of large drums there - seems this old tradition was renewed and the tower refurbished very recently.
After that we started cycling through the narrow roads and Avi rebelled and insisted we are better off on foot, so we can get a better glimpse of the going-ons inside the courtyards. This caused Wendy a lot of anguish as she did not understand what he wanted, but after about 10 minutes it suddenly dawned on her and we all continued happily on foot with the tricycle drivers being sent on to a further point of the tour. This was a great walk -
narrow streets with all kinds of stores, street vendors and very cool looking cafes and bars. Part of the walk was along the Lake of 10 Temples - there were lots of peddle and row boats on the water and lots of people out having fun. At this point we were sorry we cannot just sit there rather than go to the Chinese family, which we were afraid will be a very silly and embarassing experience. We could not have been more wrong - it was a great experience too. The house had the most kitschy stuff we ever saw, but we immediately discovered its first good point - a clean bathroom. The food was great - about 15 different dishes and all of them excellent. Quite a few were vegeterian so we all ate a lot and still hardly made a dent in the mounds of food on the table. After that the host showed us his hobby - fighting crickets. He was very amusing and pantomimed lots of jokes, and Avi and he went into a long negotiation about the price of one of the crickets.
Finally we were cycled out and driven to the new theater where we bought tickets to a Shaolin Warriors show. Jason had insisted it will be wonderful, even though we had seen such a show in Princeton which was very silly. This was an amazing Broadway-like production - still with an incredibly stupid plot, but lots of jumps and kicks and quite enjoyable (I managed to sleep thorugh parts of it though).
The final event was catching the train. We were a bit worried about navigating the crowds in the station with our luggage, finding our berths etc., but Jason stayed with us and got us on the train. We got a 4-bunk compartment which we shared with a lawyer who went to Datong for a court appearance. His English is very limited but we he tries very hard. The night was pleasant although we did not get too much sleep and now we are close to Datong where we will get off. The big question is if we'll get rooms so early in the morning - a shower would be nice...
again impressed us with its very elegant buildings and courtyards and very non-interesting interiors.
Lunch was not part of the plan (the whole day was very different from the planned itinerary, but the changes were excellent) so we bought some ice cream at the North Gate to the Forbidden City (the Stabucks is at the Eastern Gate which we did not go to so we missed this great cultual improvement), and continued to the Hutong tour. Hutong are the old alleyways and courtyards which were typical of Beijing. Most of them have been torn down and replaced with hi-rises, but a small section has been declared a preserved area. For some reason, tourists are transported around there on a tricycle, under the guidance of a local guide - a very nice young woman with very limited English knowledge called 'Wendy'.
The first stop was the Drum Tower to which we ascended on 69 very steep steps. The view was very smoggy and Wendy got very worried when Judes disappeared around a corner for a few minutes. Every 30 minutes they hit a bunch of large drums there - seems this old tradition was renewed and the tower refurbished very recently.
After that we started cycling through the narrow roads and Avi rebelled and insisted we are better off on foot, so we can get a better glimpse of the going-ons inside the courtyards. This caused Wendy a lot of anguish as she did not understand what he wanted, but after about 10 minutes it suddenly dawned on her and we all continued happily on foot with the tricycle drivers being sent on to a further point of the tour. This was a great walk -
narrow streets with all kinds of stores, street vendors and very cool looking cafes and bars. Part of the walk was along the Lake of 10 Temples - there were lots of peddle and row boats on the water and lots of people out having fun. At this point we were sorry we cannot just sit there rather than go to the Chinese family, which we were afraid will be a very silly and embarassing experience. We could not have been more wrong - it was a great experience too. The house had the most kitschy stuff we ever saw, but we immediately discovered its first good point - a clean bathroom. The food was great - about 15 different dishes and all of them excellent. Quite a few were vegeterian so we all ate a lot and still hardly made a dent in the mounds of food on the table. After that the host showed us his hobby - fighting crickets. He was very amusing and pantomimed lots of jokes, and Avi and he went into a long negotiation about the price of one of the crickets.
Finally we were cycled out and driven to the new theater where we bought tickets to a Shaolin Warriors show. Jason had insisted it will be wonderful, even though we had seen such a show in Princeton which was very silly. This was an amazing Broadway-like production - still with an incredibly stupid plot, but lots of jumps and kicks and quite enjoyable (I managed to sleep thorugh parts of it though).
The final event was catching the train. We were a bit worried about navigating the crowds in the station with our luggage, finding our berths etc., but Jason stayed with us and got us on the train. We got a 4-bunk compartment which we shared with a lawyer who went to Datong for a court appearance. His English is very limited but we he tries very hard. The night was pleasant although we did not get too much sleep and now we are close to Datong where we will get off. The big question is if we'll get rooms so early in the morning - a shower would be nice...
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Beijing
It was a long flight, and even longer for Judes with a 10 hour stopover in London. But all went according to plan, Andy's driver met us in the airport, gave us a cellphone and took us to the hotel where we found Judes well and in good spirits.
We took a walk to the strip mall across the street and found a very hip and up-to-date cafe with Illy coffee and a good espresso machine - Just as if we were back in Small World or Jerusalem...
Avi & I woke a bit too early, and went down to breakfast early, but now we will all go to hunt for better coffee in the same cafe. We are meeting the guide at noon. After a Beijing tour today we will take the night train to Datong, so no updates until tomorrow.
And we read a new dispatch from the Lhotse-Everst tour - they have arrived at basecamp! http://www.everestnews.com/Summitclimb2005/everestnepal2005ua04152005.htm
We took a walk to the strip mall across the street and found a very hip and up-to-date cafe with Illy coffee and a good espresso machine - Just as if we were back in Small World or Jerusalem...
Avi & I woke a bit too early, and went down to breakfast early, but now we will all go to hunt for better coffee in the same cafe. We are meeting the guide at noon. After a Beijing tour today we will take the night train to Datong, so no updates until tomorrow.
And we read a new dispatch from the Lhotse-Everst tour - they have arrived at basecamp! http://www.everestnews.com/Summitclimb2005/everestnepal2005ua04152005.htm
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Yuval
Yuval's trip starts tonight when we deposit him at JFK. The poor guy is sick - has strep throat and stayed home from school yesterday and today. But seems like the antibiotics started doing its magic and he seems a bit better today, and in good spirits.
Another Lhotse dispatch at http://www.everestnews.com/Summitclimb2005/everestnepal2005ua04142005.htm
Another Lhotse dispatch at http://www.everestnews.com/Summitclimb2005/everestnepal2005ua04142005.htm
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Lhotse climb moving along
There has been another Lhotse post:
http://www.everestnews.com/Summitclimb2005/everestnepal2005u04092005.htm
http://www.everestnews.com/Summitclimb2005/everestnepal2005u04092005.htm
Friday, April 08, 2005
Email from Eyal
"everything here is good, we just had a nice rest day
in namche and tommoro we go to pangboche."
Seems to be acclimitizing well.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Eyal
The SummitClub group left Kathamndu on Tuesday morning. We had long conversations with him on Monday, and are eagerly anticipating the next phonecall.
The expedition posts updates on http://www.everestnews.com/ . The first such bulletin appeared on Tuesday - http://www.everestnews.com/Summitclimb2005/everestnepal2005u04052005.htm with Eyal's name slightly misspelled. Oh well.
The expedition posts updates on http://www.everestnews.com/ . The first such bulletin appeared on Tuesday - http://www.everestnews.com/Summitclimb2005/everestnepal2005u04052005.htm with Eyal's name slightly misspelled. Oh well.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Getting Ready
With the China trip coming up, it seems easier to just set up a blog, and post and upload photos to it than sending lots of email to the interested parties. So here we are...