First Impressions of China

When we arrived in Xiamen, China, we were treated to a fireworks show from the window of the airport. If you know me then you know my love of fireworks; it was the perfect beginning to our new journey. "Welcome to China," they seemed to say, and I remember thinking, "How serendipitous! " Little did we know that fireworks would be something we saw and heard on just about a daily basis. People shoot off scads of fireworks, most often it seems to celebrate a wedding or a store opening. So, despite the ubiquity of fireworks we now know, the moment in my memory remains magical just the same.

We were in such a rush getting all of the necessary paperwork, medical forms, visas and moving from our happy little (dare I forget, ant infested) home in Nonsung that we hardly gave ourselves time to ponder or prepare ourselves for China. She's all over the news as the next big thing, an up and coming economic glamour girl and of course, host to the 2008 Olympics. China is a country steeped in rich and prolific, yet isolated, cultures; She is big, influential and has had a rocky relationship with the States. This, the few blurbs that we could find about Qinhuangdao, and a spattering of facts (some founded, some not) that we have learned here and there along the way just about exhausted our knowledge base. It's good to be confronted with how little we truly know despite our best efforts to convince ourselves otherwise; humility is a precious thing.

Tim at the head of the Great Wall in Shanhaiguan. So handsome.

Beautiful scene from the head of the Great Wall. Nearly as handsome.

Never before did I imagine I would have the opportunity to see and walk on the Great Wall of China. I hope my romanticized view and subsequent gushing and bubbling over it doesn't inspire borborygmus, but for some inexplicable reason I am totally enamored with it. It feels like walking back in time, as if in some small way I am able to participate in the history that took place long before my time and so far from my roots. I like knowing that it traverses miles and miles over both beautiful and unimpressive landscapes and villages that I will never be able to see. I find it overwhelming in the same way the sea is because it's impossible to fully grasp its expanse. This unique and bold mark of man feels good to stand on and lucky for us we are close enough to do just that. If it were possible we would trek the length of it. Tim is in fact currently reading a book by a man who did just that. We added to our puny repertoire of knowledge recently that it's actually not one continuous wall (which does not at all factor into our not attempting to trek it). Technically it's illegal, but then, so is this blog.

An unmanicured part of the Great Wall. You can see the earth swallowing it up. Albeit hazy if you look into the distance you can see the Wall rising up the mountain in the backgorund.

Okay, back to the airport...we were confronted with our ill preparation almost immediately. After enjoying the fireworks and making sure we had plane tickets to fly out to Beijing the following morning (no small feat, but not worth your time to explain) we hauled our super-sized luggage collection towards the door. The entire airport was empty except for the two of us and a handful of employees closing up shop. We looked outside and saw one lonely taxi with a driver who was looking intently at us and our awkward load. He waved us over and it was then that it really hit home. We had spent the last six months learning enough Thai to get around and here we were about to start all over again. We were telling our last Taxi driver in Thailand that we were going to China (in Thai)...and he understood us! That was so cool.

Now, here we were exhausting our lexicon of Chinese language with "ni how" (hello). We had no idea how much a taxi should cost nor any way to explain our destination; we were carrying all that we had and we were in a deserted airport. I felt pretty vulnerable. We considered our options. We could call the hotel and ask them to give our taxi driver directions. Brilliant!...except our phone didn't work here (it needed a different SIM card-in case you were wondering). That stinks. Hmm. The car was already loaded with our bags, we were in the only taxi left in a closing airport, we were unable to speak Chinese, and our driver didn't speak any English. There we three sat trying to figure something out. Since I am writing you from our new home in Qinhuangdao you must know that we did make it out. In fact we made our flight out the next day, and we didn't have to spend the night in the airport. I will leave it up to you to guess how we got our of our little predicament. This I think will ensure some e-mail from those we may not have heard from in a while. :0)

In Xiamen, we noticed right away, that China on the surface looked more like home. There were highways that were lined with light poles, trees, green and white highway signs and medians with flowers. We were in a city, so the obvious fact that it was more developed than where we had been was worthy of mention at the time. It felt good. We slept in the most comfortable bed in Asia and woke up early to go back to the airport to begin the journey we had come here for.

We arrived in Beijing smooth-sailing and were met with the open arms of our new boss Helen and her husband John, who we have dubbed "China's friendliest man." Little did I realize at the time that Helen was providing us with the first of many Western considerations and accommodations; hugging is not a Chinese custom. We piled into the car and headed for home. We stopped along the way and had our first "Hot Pot" experience. It's a Chinese soup that you make yourself by selecting vegetables and/or meat to cook in your own pot. It was yummy.

We were watching the countryside whiz by on our drive to Qinhuangdao and decided that it looked a bit like our beloved Colorado. We were liking our Chinese experience so far. I guess I should give some substance to the names I've mentioned. Tim and I flew into Xiamen and spent the night, in short, to save money. For some reason tickets from Bangkok to Beijing were really expensive, so we made our trip in two stops instead. Xiamen is coastal but much farther south than we are now. It's supposed to be a great place, but since we arrived late and left early, all we can vouch for is the awesome bed at the Best Western. We had decided to treat ourselves to a cush night in a nice hotel and, for those of you who have traveled in Asia, you know that hotels of the Best Western/Holiday Inn ilk are for another echelon of society than the ones back home. Beijing won't need any explaining but we are located about a 3-4 hour bus ride from it. It has served as a nice weekend getaway for us several times, though the bus ride can be a bit of a chore.

Tim at our favorite restaurant in Beidaihe. They make a delicious crab and pumpkin soup.

Relaxing at the beach.

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There's not much to say about Qinhuangdao proper, but what is nearby makes it worthy of mention. We are about 45 minutes from the start of the Great Wall in one direction and about 30 minutes to a fairly nice beach/ resort town in the other. We had gotten about that far in our research of this place before we came, though that's about all there is to find. We decided that we were happy to be off the tourist map as it had served us quite well in Nonsung. There are mountains nearby, but you wouldn't know it since they are usually blocked by the high rises and or gray skies. We are told that QHD has beautiful blue skies and we are starting to see more of them recently, but for now, the jury's still out on that one. There is an obscene amount of coal dust in the air which coats our lives, literally. I'm not even sure if Grandma Stringari (the most impeccable cleaner on the planet) could keep a clean house here. The important things are within walking distance: work, grocery stores, restaurants, parks, hair salon, cookie store. This place is not as lovable as Thailand, but it has it's charms; you just have to look a bit deeper to find them.

Tourist twinkies.

Here we are with Rui (aka Henry), our student, neighbor and friend. He was our tour guide for the Head of the GW.

We sorely miss the friendliness, smiles and food we shared daily in Thailand with both friends and strangers. It is generally quite the contrast here. People come off much more distanced and closed than in Thailand and it stood out right away. In fact it is still something we are adjusting to. We've read so many books since we left home and in one of them, "Glass Castle," the main character Jennette Wall concludes as a new and young arrival to the city that, "New Yorkers aren't unfriendly, they just pretend to be." That notion runs through my mind often.

As mentioned in the previous blog, driving here is nuts, so we're not too sad(well, Tim's sad) that our International Drivers Licence is not acknowledged in mainland China. I thought the driving in Thailand was pretty crazy, but China makes it look like driving with Miss Daisy. The traffic runs in a way that is completely opposite to driving as we know it. For example, people making right hand turns seem to have the right of way and will gingerly pull out at a turtle's pace in front of a car that is racing down the thoroughfare. And suprisingly, most of the time, it doesn't cause an accidnet. Lanes, as mentioned earlier, are at best suggestions, and people will often crowd two cars into one lane. Technically you are supposed to drive on the right hand side of the road. However, if you are in a car, you have license to go wherever and when ever with little or no warning. People use their horns more than they do their steering wheels, and since we live above a busy street, there is a constant din of traffic noise. That takes some getting used to as well. No more roosters, birds, lizards or dogs. Nearly 99% of our surrounding sounds are manmade. In fact, I remember the first time we heard a bird singing here. It was so unusual it struck the both of us right away. I felt so happy. Wildlife did exist here after all! But then we looked out the window. Was it Maya Angelou who said, " even the caged bird sings?" She was right.