Day number 6, now I am on my way to Beijing after five days in the Shanghai area.

For my last two days in Shanghai, I had hopped to visit the cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou (two supposedly heavenly cities full of gardens, temples and canals/lakes). I guess the other half of heaven will have to wait because on Monday instead of getting on a bus to Suzhou, I got on a bus to Xitang. How did this happen? Well the day before I decided I wanted to go on a tour of both cities instead of going by myself and roaming around for the day. The cheapest option was to take a one day bus trip from the Shanghai Tour Bus Station. Simple enough, but the tour would be in Chinese. That was fine with me, I really just wanted someone to take me to the important places and hang out with some Chinese people. I specifically told the lady, Suzhou and Hangzhou. I guess Suzhou sounded like Xitang. Perhaps both of our tongues and ears betrayed us that day. My ticket said Xitang (in Chinese characters). I didn’t even realize it until they dropped us off at Xitang which is an ancient (700 year old) water town, kind of like Venice, where you get around by canal and bridges over waterways. This Chinese American woman looked at my ticket and said “that says Xitang.” Oh well, Xitang was a pretty cool place. I basically roamed around its shops, bridges and canals. I had some of the best fried dumpling and potatoes from a street vendor and some good milk tea. The museums were crappy, but what do you do. There were some Chinese American people on my tour that helped me out at least, like letting me know the important fact of what time to be back at the bus. All in all there was some good photo opportunities. These water towns are quite famous in this area and there are a number of them. I am glad I got to go to one.

 Smile, Your in China!!!

I was sitting down writing out a postcard (passerby’s were stating over my shoulders because I was writing in English and with letters I suppose) and the next thing you know there is a person sitting very close to me, with her arm tightly around my shoulders and in front of me was her friend pointing a camera in my face. WTF!!! At least in India they asked, here they just appear next to you (or grab you) and start taking pictures. Its kind of jarring, before I can even say yes or protest the camera has already flashed. What else can I do but smile and laugh. Thailand has thought me to smile more, everybody smiles there in any and every situation, which just makes life more pleasant. I probably smiled more there then half my life. You can only smile back when people are smiling at you. So I smile at the bad-mannered Chinese people. Smile, You’re in China!!!

The day after made up for the previous day’s mishaps. Blessing number one – I did indeed get on the right bus or better yet my ticket was correct. Number two – there are a few people that speak English, so I can at least know where we are going on. I also made two lady friends and had two Chinese mothers for the day…Thali and Kris.

When Thali sat next to me, she waved smiled and asked (via gestures) was I alone. “Yes just one”

Then, she gestured that it was cold outside. Then she looked at my jacket, felt the fabric as if to say, this is all your have, not warm enough. I showed her that under my Northface shell was a fleece and cardigan and a shirt. She was pleased, as a mother would be. Then seeing that I was drinking tea with nothing else (I had already eaten my bread snack), she took out some of her raisin bread and offered it to me. Tasty raisin bread, my favorite. Later, she offered me an orange, and some other candies. When we needed to leave at any point during the tour, she would pull my arm or point, making sure I kept up. I spent the day with her and her friend Kris, who spoke good enough English. Thali was from Taiwan and Kris from Malaysia. Also on the bus was a Chinese man from Singapore, who spoke English very well. He had worked in Oklahoma for 2 months and said in a surprised manor that Americans are hard workers. He liked the country but thought there was a lot of waste and was baffled that it seemed that many people had two cars. “Lots of buffets” he said “$9.99”

The three of them were very helpful as we went to lunch, took a cruise around beautiful West lake and visited the scenic area of Lingyin. I had the pleasure of spending the day with Chinese people from all over China and a few other countries. In fact, I was the only non Asian person on the tour. Can you imagine, me and 25 Asian people. What a sight. Of course, like everywhere, everyone wanted to know where I was from and was my hair original/how did I make it like that. Next time I travel the world (not that there will be a next time) remind me to cut all my hair off. Or maybe I should be happy that I am intriguing and mysterious. Again, all I can do is smile. When people stare and nod towards my head, I make a palm rolling motion with my hands. The hear a “oohhhhhh” instantly.

We also visited a silk factory and saw the process of making silk, which is impressive. A silk worm’ss cacoon can basically be stretched out to the size of a double bed. Then we went to this green tea village and had some tea. There were tea bushes all around the hillsides. It was overall a great day, indeed a bunch of perfect moments. Half of heaven was not so bad who can complain about that.

Randomness

Facebook is blocked in China. Can you believe it?

I have come to the conclusion that for the most part, Americans probably would not like real Chinese food very much. Some of it is very good and normal looking, other stuff is like the strangest food ever. They eat eel, snails, every part of the pig, chicken feet, livers, some stuff that looks unidentifiable stuff, bull frog, congee (a porridge looking white dish). In the tea village there was a string of roasted duck hanging from what seemed everywhere. On top of that there was also fish and draw duck hanging outside too. On my list to try though is Dim Sum, which is meat and rice wrapped in a lotus. All the teas are good and you kind of cant go wrong with noodles, dumplings, vegetables and rice.

The pilot just announced that there are some crosswinds at the Beijing airport, so now we are going back to Shanghai. Great!!! who knows when I will get to my destination. I am really not moved by this announcement, just think its interesting….I just wonder oh a twist in plot, how will this day unfold. “I dont know what is going to happen, that’s alright with me, I open up my aim and embrace the mystery. Just for today” Words from India Arie that just happen to be playing in my ears. What happened, well we flew back to Shanghai, stayed there for one hour and then few back to Beijing. Just a 3.5 hour delay.

In the morning, as I am walking to the train station, see ladies in their 60′s doing Tai Chi outside. This makes me smile.

I think this month will be the hardest, as my trip is almost over so I have started to count my blessings.

So far, I have traveled almost 30,000 miles

met hundreds of people from all over probably from 30+ countries

50 cities/villages/towns in 15 countries

Visited sites like Machu Picchu, the Colosseum, The Cape of Good Hope and Taj Mahal to name a few

Seen the French and Swiss Alps, rainforests, volcano’s, waterfalls, cruised rivers and lakes, went on Safari, tasted some of the best wines in the world and paraglided

I can say hello in 7 languages

I read about 15 books

Rode an elephant 3 times

volunteered for 4 months in 6 countries

Dipped my foot in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans

All in one trip

Things I am looking forward to:

1. The great wall of course – sleeping there or hiking from one portion to another (which is like a 4 hour walk)
2. Maybe a cooking class in Japan and they also have sumo wrestling tournaments going on in January – I must find some Karaoke as well
3. Riding a bullet train – how fast is it? – an 8 hour trip driving from Kyoto to Tokyo only takes 2.5 hours on a bullet train.
4. Scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef – one of the natural wonders of the world in Australia with all type of fish and plant life down under.
5. Visiting some of the Australian people I have met in other places
6. Coming home

Half of Heaven

In Heaven

there are no doubt splendor all around

On Earth

there is Suzhou and Hangzhou

two twins of magnificence

Who would not be eager to enter their bliss

Yet, In this instance

I was deceived by my own tongue into visiting Xitang in ignorance

Upon the second day

I did reclaim my fate

To take in the great West Lake and

scenic settings of Hangzhou

That’s good enough for now

I’ve seen half of heaven

Can I ever complain of having to do without?