Chapter 100
Places I Traveled To
I didn’t go to a lot of places like some people. The first time that I went to China was with the LLFA (La Crosse Luoyang Friendship Association) delegation in April of 2002. There were sixteen of us. It cost $2,000 for two weeks which included the flight, hotels, meals, tour buses and a guide/translator. We had a different guide at each place we went to.
We flew to Beijing and stayed there for three days. We went to places like the Great Wall (one of my favorite places to go to), the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven and the Hutong Tour (This was where a man would take you around the back streets where some of the original areas of Beijing are). This was a three wheeled bike that the man drove and two of us sat behind him and the carriage had sides and a top.
There were sandstorms two of the three days. This is common at this time of the year. It was really windy and cool on the Great Wall. The section that we went on is called Badaling (baa daa ling not bad a ling). Beijing is in the northern part of China. If La Crosse was in China, it would be north of Beijing. I will tell about two of the most popular sites, the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.
The Great Wall: The part where we went is forty miles Northwest of Beijing. The Badaling section is the most visited section. In peak seasons, the visitor flow can be up to 70,000 people per day. This section of the Wall is 7.5 miles long. The part that is open to tourists is 2.3 miles. It is 26 feet high and 16.5 feet wide. This section dates back to the year 1505. Wherever the wall was built in China, it can vary in height and width according to the lay of the land and the steepness of the mountains.
The Great Wall: The part where we went is forty miles Northwest of Beijing. The Badaling section is the most visited section. In peak seasons, the visitor flow can be up to 70,000 people per day. This section of the Wall is 7.5 miles long. The part that is open to tourists is 2.3 miles. It is 26 feet high and 16.5 feet wide. This section dates back to the year 1505. Wherever the wall was built in China, it can vary in height and width according to the lay of the land and the steepness of the mountains.
My roommate on the trip was Mark Mattison. He and I went to the end of this section and each of us paid to get a certificate with our picture on it. It is said that “he who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man”.
How long is the Great Wall? The total length of the Great Wall with all of its branches built during the different dynasties is over 13,000 miles, announced by China's State Administration of Cultural Relics in 2012. This would cross the US from East to West over four times. Over time, some of the Wall has fallen down or sunk into the ground because of not being kept up. The construction period was over 2,000 years.
Following a 45-day long survey of 101 sections of the Wall in different provinces, as of December 12, 2002 the forces of nature and destruction by mankind are bringing about gradual reduction of extent of the Wall with the result that less than 30% remains in good condition. The China Great Wall Academy has called for greater protection of the Wall.
The Forbidden City: The Forbidden City was known as The Chinese Imperial Palace from 1420-1912. This is where the Emperors lived when they ruled China. It is located in the center of Beijing and now houses the Palace Museum. It is the size of ninety football fields, 180 acres.
From Beijing, we went to Luoyang for six days. It was during the Peony Festival. This Festival is for one month. The Peony is the national flower and thousands of people come from China and all over the world for the festival. It is great for the hotels and restaurants and others as far as making money. It is said that some places make more money during that time than the rest of the year.
Following a 45-day long survey of 101 sections of the Wall in different provinces, as of December 12, 2002 the forces of nature and destruction by mankind are bringing about gradual reduction of extent of the Wall with the result that less than 30% remains in good condition. The China Great Wall Academy has called for greater protection of the Wall.
The Forbidden City: The Forbidden City was known as The Chinese Imperial Palace from 1420-1912. This is where the Emperors lived when they ruled China. It is located in the center of Beijing and now houses the Palace Museum. It is the size of ninety football fields, 180 acres.
From Beijing, we went to Luoyang for six days. It was during the Peony Festival. This Festival is for one month. The Peony is the national flower and thousands of people come from China and all over the world for the festival. It is great for the hotels and restaurants and others as far as making money. It is said that some places make more money during that time than the rest of the year.
We went to many tourist sites there like the White Horse Temple, Shaolin Temple, Longmen Grottoes, Guanlin Temple, Wangcheng Park and other places. Some were with the Foreign Affairs Department and we also did things with the teachers and schools where the Chinese teachers were that had come to La Crosse to teach Chinese in Central and Logan High Schools.
Then we went to Shanghai for three days and one afternoon we went to Hangzhou, stayed overnight and then back to Shanghai the next day and then came back to the US the following day.
I went back to Luoyang to teach in August of 2002 and between then and July of 2004 when I came back to the states, I went with teachers and other friends to several places. I have been to Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province. Luoyang is in Henan Province two hours west of Zhengzhou. I have been to Kaifeng, Xi’an, Guilin and went to a few mountain areas. I was always with friends. I didn’t want to travel alone because I didn’t speak Chinese.
The trip to Xi’an was during the National Day holiday in October 1, 2002. National Day is like our Independence Day in the US. People get seven days off. There were three of us American guys that went there with two of the teachers, Ms. Qin and Zhuan Hongjuan (Rebecca), from the Number One Foreign Language School where Justin and I were at. Travis Rusin, from the La Crosse area, was at the Number Two Foreign Language School. We saw the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses (also known as the Terra Cotta Army) and other things. The Terra Cotta Warriors are really something to see. They were discovered on March 29, 1974 when some farmers were digging a water well. This army was made to protect the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, in his afterlife. There are a total of 8,000 warriors plus horses and chariots. Pit 1 holds 6,000 warriors by itself. They were buried with the emperor in 210 BC.
My favorite place traveling was Guilin in southern China. I was told that the population in 2003 was one million people. I always wanted to go there again but didn’t make it. It is so very beautiful.
Then we went to Shanghai for three days and one afternoon we went to Hangzhou, stayed overnight and then back to Shanghai the next day and then came back to the US the following day.
I went back to Luoyang to teach in August of 2002 and between then and July of 2004 when I came back to the states, I went with teachers and other friends to several places. I have been to Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province. Luoyang is in Henan Province two hours west of Zhengzhou. I have been to Kaifeng, Xi’an, Guilin and went to a few mountain areas. I was always with friends. I didn’t want to travel alone because I didn’t speak Chinese.
The trip to Xi’an was during the National Day holiday in October 1, 2002. National Day is like our Independence Day in the US. People get seven days off. There were three of us American guys that went there with two of the teachers, Ms. Qin and Zhuan Hongjuan (Rebecca), from the Number One Foreign Language School where Justin and I were at. Travis Rusin, from the La Crosse area, was at the Number Two Foreign Language School. We saw the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses (also known as the Terra Cotta Army) and other things. The Terra Cotta Warriors are really something to see. They were discovered on March 29, 1974 when some farmers were digging a water well. This army was made to protect the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, in his afterlife. There are a total of 8,000 warriors plus horses and chariots. Pit 1 holds 6,000 warriors by itself. They were buried with the emperor in 210 BC.
My favorite place traveling was Guilin in southern China. I was told that the population in 2003 was one million people. I always wanted to go there again but didn’t make it. It is so very beautiful.
Justin, Travis and I went with two of our Chinese friends, Celia (Lv Ming) and Echo (Li Rui). We met Zhang Jian and Wang Wanxia there. These two women had been in La Crosse working at UWL when I met them. They worked at the Guanxi Normal University, a teacher’s university. They showed us around while we were in Guilin.
It is a mountainous area. The mountains are actually limestone pinnacles. The Li River runs by Guilin. We took a boat to the tourist town Yangshuo, did a little shopping and then we were brought back by a small bus. I think it took one hour to get there. If anyone should go there, I suggest taking the boat ride. The scenery is really beautiful. Take a camera and video camera.
We went during the second week of the Chinese New Year which was in February 2003 and stayed for five days. It was kind of cool and rainy but it was fun to go there.
We went during the second week of the Chinese New Year which was in February 2003 and stayed for five days. It was kind of cool and rainy but it was fun to go there.
During my time in China, I also did some mountain climbing. This is not climbing with a rope. It is walking up the mountain on steps. I went with Ms. Wei and friends to one place, another time with Celia, her parents and two of her cousins and another time with Bai Li, a teacher at school, and her sister Bai Yan and we met other friends there that went along.
The first time in China, Justin and I went with a family to the Xiao Lang Di Dam and also to Kaifeng. The second time in China, Mary and I went with Yang Ni (Rinny) to Kaifeng. We went in the afternoon and found the hotel that we would stay at and went around town and ate at a walking street that is very popular. The next day we went to the Dragon Pavilion Park. There were lots of people there, it was a beautiful day. We had taken the train to and from Kaifeng. On the trip home, I stood part of the way because there were so many people.
I went to Sanmenxia, which is about two hours west of Luoyang by car or bus, with Barbara (Liang Feng) and her daughter Lois (Han Xiao). Barbara is a teacher at the Number Two Foreign Language School and had been here to La Crosse to teach Chinese at Logan High School. We took the high speed train from Luoyang to Sanmenxia. Those trains are wonderful. I wish we had them here in the US. It took forty minutes by train. We went 150 mph. It could go faster, I was told it could make it in twenty-eight minutes. Unless you looked out the window, you had no idea you were going that fast.
I also went another time to Sanmenxia with Guan Jigang and his wife Huang Guoqin. That time we went by car and stayed overnight in a hotel. Both times were interesting because I saw different things. I also had gone to Sanmenxia a third time. Mary and I went with three others, that trip was arranged by the Number 19 High School.
As time went on, I really didn’t care to travel much. As a foreigner and not being able to speak Chinese, dealing with people and how to buy tickets for buses and trains made everything difficult. When you go to buy tickets for buses, trains or planes, it is much more difficult there than here. Standing in lines, fighting the crowds and knowing how to deal with the people selling the tickets. Although, now as the years have gone on more of that can be done online. For a long time, you could only buy tickets for a holiday time one to two weeks before the holiday. Long, long lines to stand in for hours. I would never travel to places alone; I would always want someone with me.
I can give you an idea about what it is like to travel during a holiday. In Beijing, the West Train Station is the busiest. On the Chinese New Year's Eve Day, five hundred thousand people leave on trains that afternoon from that one station.
The first time in China, Justin and I went with a family to the Xiao Lang Di Dam and also to Kaifeng. The second time in China, Mary and I went with Yang Ni (Rinny) to Kaifeng. We went in the afternoon and found the hotel that we would stay at and went around town and ate at a walking street that is very popular. The next day we went to the Dragon Pavilion Park. There were lots of people there, it was a beautiful day. We had taken the train to and from Kaifeng. On the trip home, I stood part of the way because there were so many people.
I went to Sanmenxia, which is about two hours west of Luoyang by car or bus, with Barbara (Liang Feng) and her daughter Lois (Han Xiao). Barbara is a teacher at the Number Two Foreign Language School and had been here to La Crosse to teach Chinese at Logan High School. We took the high speed train from Luoyang to Sanmenxia. Those trains are wonderful. I wish we had them here in the US. It took forty minutes by train. We went 150 mph. It could go faster, I was told it could make it in twenty-eight minutes. Unless you looked out the window, you had no idea you were going that fast.
I also went another time to Sanmenxia with Guan Jigang and his wife Huang Guoqin. That time we went by car and stayed overnight in a hotel. Both times were interesting because I saw different things. I also had gone to Sanmenxia a third time. Mary and I went with three others, that trip was arranged by the Number 19 High School.
As time went on, I really didn’t care to travel much. As a foreigner and not being able to speak Chinese, dealing with people and how to buy tickets for buses and trains made everything difficult. When you go to buy tickets for buses, trains or planes, it is much more difficult there than here. Standing in lines, fighting the crowds and knowing how to deal with the people selling the tickets. Although, now as the years have gone on more of that can be done online. For a long time, you could only buy tickets for a holiday time one to two weeks before the holiday. Long, long lines to stand in for hours. I would never travel to places alone; I would always want someone with me.
I can give you an idea about what it is like to travel during a holiday. In Beijing, the West Train Station is the busiest. On the Chinese New Year's Eve Day, five hundred thousand people leave on trains that afternoon from that one station.
Chapter 101
Mountain Climbing
This is climbing up the mountains by walking up steps not by using ropes. I went several times. Once was with Ms. Wei, a teacher from the No. One Foreign Language School, including her dad and sister and two friends Gao Zhe and Wang Wei. We went to Long Yu Wan. It was two to three hours from Luoyang. We went up 10,000 feet (3,000 meter) to the top. Her dad is five years older than me. Another time was with my friend Celia (Lv Ming), her dad (Lv Xianhao) and mom (Zhang Xufang), one of mom’s sisters and two of Celia’s cousins Liu Lin and Zhang Pei. We also went to a place called Monkey Mountain, in Chinese it is Hua Guo Shan. Yes, there are monkeys there. One other time I went with Bai Li, a teacher from the No. 19 High School, her sister Bai Yan and other friends of theirs to Wang Wu Mountain. We walked up and took the cable car down.
The places that I went to all had steps going up the mountains. None had trails like we do here. I always wondered how they did all that work of putting those steps in. Did they just make the steps as they went up the mountain and make the path as they went? That would have been a long difficult job. They would have had to carry water, cement powder, sand and gravel to make the cement along with the tools.
All of the places were really pretty. Sometimes we could see in the distance when we got to the top, sometimes we couldn't because of the fog or being in the clouds.
Chapter 102
Guilin
Guilin is really beautiful. It is in southern China in Guangxi Province. I was there for one week with friends in February of 2003. When you look at the pictures, you will see the beauty. It is surrounded by “mountains”. They are not mountains like the Rocky Mountains. They are called Karst hills and are actually limestone pinnacles and they are not very big compared to a mountain. I believe they are between 500-600 ft. high. There are many things to see in Guilin. When I looked online to find out the population, it showed five million.
Guilin ranks fourth on China’s list of the ten best tourist destinations. The Li River, Guilin’s most popular scenic area, was selected by the National Geographic Magazine as one of the world’s top ten watery wonders.
There were three of us American guys that went and two of our Chinese friends. Justin worked with me at the Number One Foreign Language School and Travis was at the Number Two Foreign Language School. The girls were Celia (Lv Ming) and Echo (Li Rui). Echo is Emily's (Li Xiao) sister, one of the teachers at the Number One School.
We were taken to Zhengzhou by Celia’s father, the capital of Henan Province. Luoyang is also in Henan Province and the two cities are two hours apart. It was cheaper and easier to take a train from there. All of us could not get tickets to go on the same train. Celia and I went on one train and the others went on another train three hours behind us.
It took twenty-one hours to get from Zhengzhou to Guilin. Celia and I and the other three both were in what is called a sleeper car. Each car has nine compartments. Each compartment has four bunks, two upper and two lower. Kind of like bunk beds. They are attached to the walls, two on each wall. There is a door that slides shut so you have privacy from the aisle where people walk by.
In our room it was Celia and I and two other people. We got to Guilin about 7:00 a.m. and the others came at 10:00. We met two of my friends that I had met in La Crosse, Ms. Wang Wanxia and Ms. Zhang Jian. Both of these women had worked at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) at different times but both worked at the Guangxi Normal University. A Normal University is a teacher’s university where the students go to school to become teachers. Ms. Wang was a teacher and Ms. Zhang did research. They were our guides and had arranged a hotel for us to stay in.
The week was cool and rained sometimes but we saw a lot of things. We took a boat and went on the Li River to the town Yangshuo, about forty miles south of Guilin, and then rode back in a van.
On the way back to Luoyang, we all went together on the same train and were on one of the hard sleeper cars. A hard sleeper car consists of eleven semi-open compartments. Each compartment has six berths going from two top, two middle and two bottom bunks across from each other. A ladder at the end of the beds is for passengers to go up and down. Basic bedding-such as a quilt, pillow, and a sheet are provided. These do not have doors like in the soft sleeper cars. The hard sleepers are the most common ones to take because they are cheaper. I found pictures online of soft and hard sleeper cars so you can see what they are.
For anyone that goes to China, I suggest that they go to Guilin. I always wanted to go back there but I didn’t make it. Maybe some future time.
The week was cool and rained sometimes but we saw a lot of things. We took a boat and went on the Li River to the town Yangshuo, about forty miles south of Guilin, and then rode back in a van.
On the way back to Luoyang, we all went together on the same train and were on one of the hard sleeper cars. A hard sleeper car consists of eleven semi-open compartments. Each compartment has six berths going from two top, two middle and two bottom bunks across from each other. A ladder at the end of the beds is for passengers to go up and down. Basic bedding-such as a quilt, pillow, and a sheet are provided. These do not have doors like in the soft sleeper cars. The hard sleepers are the most common ones to take because they are cheaper. I found pictures online of soft and hard sleeper cars so you can see what they are.
For anyone that goes to China, I suggest that they go to Guilin. I always wanted to go back there but I didn’t make it. Maybe some future time.
With the reflections in the water, they say that these are perfect circles.
If you are standing further away so you can see that rock formation, it looks like an elephant bending over and drinking water. This is in the Seven Star Park.
Zhang Jian, her daughter Mo Ziru (nickname is Duoduo), Wang Wanxia, Justin Patch, Travis Rusin, Echo (Li Rui), Celia (Lv Ming)
Duoduo feeding the peacocks
I was so surprised to see a pheasant there. Those are back in South Dakota where I am from.
Maybe he got lost.
Here we are in front of the rock formation that looks like a camel.
Monkeys running free in the park
I should have had a picture with him also. I am a Tiger in the Chinese Zodiac.
Reed Flute Cave
This is the Li River (Li Jiang) where we took a boat and went to the tourist town of Yangshuo. This was so beautiful to go on the river and see the mountains.
These are all over China. They are found in certain places in sidewalks. You take your shoes off and move your feet around and they massage your feet.
The top picture is a hard-sleeper car. There are eleven sets in one car. These are all open, no doors for privacy like the soft-sleepers. There are three sets of beds across from each other and each set has a ladder on the end.
This is a soft-sleeper car on the train. These have doors to close for privacy. You can see the aisle where you walk, there are windows on the right. The bunkbeds are attached to the walls.
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