Still Catching Up

Terra Cotta Army near Xian

Shanghai Skyline

When I decided to leave China without doing an extensive tour as I had anticipated, I chose to limit my destinations to a couple of choices, Xian and Shanghai. I wanted to give China a fair shot but I just was not "feeling it."

I took the overnight sleeper train from Beijing to Xian. My rest on the train was quite comfy and I slept very soundly. The slight swaying and white noise of the wheels on the tracks relaxed me and I decided that another overnight train in China would be a fine idea. Upon arriving in Xian I was met by a representative from my hostel who was holding up a sign with my name. I always enjoy the luxury of being escorted to my destination when in a new place.

The weather in Xian was no better than what I experienced in Beijing---cold and a little rainy. I spent my first day exploring the area near the hotel which was centrally located near the ancient bell tower. Xian still retains its ancient wall from the time when it was the capital city of China. Hardly any remains from that time are known inside the city which is now a skyscraper filled metropolis. Xian's present claim to fame is the terra cotta warriors which were discovered by a farmer digging a well in the 1970's, nearly 2000 years after internment.

The terra cotta warrior army consists of over 2000 clay statues of all types of military men from foot soldiers to generals which were buried along with an emperor to serve with him in the afterlife. The statues do not contain bodies as I had originally thought, however each artisan was killed after completing his sculpture so that the location of the grave site would be kept secret. One would not want to rush to finish the job under those circumstances. On the guided tour I took I kept wondering why the heavily accented guide kept mentioning Harry Potter until I realized she was saying "terra cotta."

From Xian I took another overnight train to Shanghai. Again I was pleased with train travel and I recommend the overnight trips which both get you to where you are going and also save paying for a hotel. I did not have an escort to meet me in Shanghai so I took the metro to my hotel following the instructions included with my confirmation letter. I was pleased that it was quite easy getting there.

Shanghai is one of the worlds major cities but still the dearth of English speakers was obvious. It is contrary to all that I believe about travel to expect people to speak English to accommodate me, but I guess I have become more accustomed to it than I realized. Even the beggar children on the beaches in Cambodia speak basic to excellent English, and that is such a poor country. Maybe it is the Chinese confidence in their upcoming place in the world that they do not bother to learn another language, just like Americans did not learn other languages when I was in school.

The Bund in Shanghai is the famous waterfront. This is where international trade prospered and it was interesting to see since I just finished reading "Around the World in Eighty Days" and I could picture Phileas Fogg and Passepartout scrambling to get the boat to Hong Kong in time to catch another ship for their trans Pacific crossing. The Bund is a dazzling display of impressive modern buildings.

From Shanghai I flew to Hong Kong which brings me up to date. I will give more info on Hong Kong soon. I plan to fly to Saigon in the next few days so I expect to enjoy my time in Hong Kong for now. Details will follow.