Roaming Chuck Taylors

We visited the incredible Stone Forest. Just amazing tree tall rocks sticking out jaggedly from the ground. The forest goes on for miles. There are areas that have been turned into a beautiful garden, but it is obviously not even close to what the plant life is supposed to be like naturally.

Guilin is a small town, with a population of only 4 million in the greater area and some 600,000 in the inner city. Strangely then, that one would experience traffic rivalling that of the bigger cities. I am told that it is due to the start of the Golden Week, occupying the first week of October, when local tourists from the outskirts and cities visit this beautiful place.

Guilin can be circumnavigated by small boat, as it is surrounded by four lakes joined by waterways. It is a pleasant trip by day, as the city boasts its tree-lined banks and miniature replicas of famous world bridges. But it is a small wonder by night, particularly during Golden Week, as the parks and pagodas are lit up magnificently and dramatic arts performers sing, dance and act for tourists all around the lakes.

Guilin sits by the Li River, whose unique limestone mountainside scenery is just as stunning as the more famous Yangtze River. Like the Yangtze, mere photos cannot capture the wonderment of China's natural landscapes and cultural diversity.

The only regret I have of my stay in Guilin is that it lasted a mere 2 nights and the time spent there must have excluded a much wanted leisurely bicycle ride around the town and the fascinating marketplace in the neighboring town.

Wuhan and Yichang are small agricultural towns and the first time I see locals in a rural area. The highlight of the arduous 6 hour coach ride between the two towns was the the dinner stop during which we were able to sample the local cuisine, the famous Sichuan hot pot. It was indeed hot, as Sichuan is know for its peppers, yet one would still expect that the dishes served to tourists is only "tourist hot" and not quite "local hot".

Sleepy Xi'an is an ancient city, the first capital of China, so it is little wonder that the Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor are found there. The enormous army, enclosed in a tomb near the Emperor's mausoleum, was constructed so that the great warrior's power would continue in the afterlife. The army was discovered incidentally by a humble farmer in the 1970s and each soldier was painstakingly reconstructed from hundreds of fragments, having been destroyed 2000 years ago during the Farmers' Rebellion.

Apart from the Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an offers an impressive city wall. 600 years old and in excellent condition, with a lovely garden and moat surrounding it. It is massive; solid, tall and wide as a highway, its perimeter some 44km, perfect for hiring a bicycle to kill some 2 hours of the day.

Today was a very full day to see the Terracotta Warriors. We went to the factory first, where they use the same clay to reproduce the warriors in various sizes. They don't paint them (the originals were), but this is where I got my souvenirs. It is apparently the only place to get the good quality replicas, as there are lots of small local shops that sell cheap replicas.

The Terracotta Warriors and the First Emperor
At about 220 BC, there was an Army General who united China by defeating several countries. He declared himself the First Emperor over these regions. He had a mausoleum built by several thousand people over 40 or so years, including an army of terracotta warriors to command during his afterlife.

Like the pyramids, the secrets of building the statues and technologies (metallurgy) died with the Emperor, as all his servants were buried with him too... alive. Later, there was an uprising now called the Farmers' Rebellion, where the empire was overthrown and mobs destroyed the mausoleum, rendering it lost for 2000 years. (Some accounts attribute the destruction to the rotting of wooden beams housing the statues.) Each soldier and horse has been meticulously reconstructed from hundreds of fragments.

The discovery of the warriors after 2000 years happened in 1974, when farmers digging a well found some clay remnants. It became the site of the Number One Site. The Number Two Site is much smaller but deeper, and the Number Three Site is enormous, with regimented soldiers. It is housed by an enormous pillar-less roof designed by the architect responsible for the Nest Stadium in Beijing.

Because the colors (brilliant blues and red) of the statues are quickly destroyed by exposure to air, the remaining unexcavated areas have been left intact until technology is good enough to preserve them.

The Number One Site.

Beijing offers every experience one could wish for in a Chinese city. Like Shanghai, it is large, with traffic to suit its population, yet unlike Shanghai, it is openly planned and has an air of space about it.

Clean, with beautiful parks and nature strips, it is not the eyesore one would expect. However, the Olympics is coming up, so I think a lot has been put into preparing the city for the Games, including large screens to hide the shanties. The city has a veil of smog perpetually hanging over it, but surprisingly, the air is not choked with fumes.

Several of China's most famous and intriguing attractions lie in or near Beijing, including Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and of course, the Great Wall. Each place is unexpectedly enormous, and much walking is done to see even the smallest fraction of each amazing site.

The Great Wall (left), and outside the Dragon Lady's cottage at the Summer Palace (right).

They are the sources of incredible history, culture, legend, engineering and architectural ingenuity, skill and sheer manpower. From grand scale walls, buildings, lakes and gardens, all man-made, Beijing is one of my favorite cities, but it is also the ancient hutongs that capture me.

These are the traditional living quarters of the poor majority, usually housing several families in one hutong, and living in what we Westerners consider primitive condtions. Parts are being demolished while others refurbished into trendy cafes, boutiques and hostels, and to get lost in the maze on a rented bicycle would be one of my aims the next time I visit Beijing.

Tianamen Square was crowded with tourists, mostly local. The Forbidden City is huge. The terms "Power behind the throne" and "Through the back door" apparently come from Ancient China. Then onto the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon. The temple is built entirely with dove tail joins; no nails. And it is a round temple, symbolizing heaven, standing on a square platform, symbolizing the earth. The Emperor would pray for good crops.

Tiananmen Square (left), and chilling out in the Forbidden City (right)

The Shanghai Museum is fascinating. I particularly enjoyed the sculptures of Buddhas and bodhivistas that were partially destroyed by the Cultural Revolution. Also fascinating were the furniture, minority culture traditional dress, paintings and calligraphy. It was unfortunate that we had little time to see everything.

Museum skylight

Statues damaged by the Cultural Revolution

Dragon Boat

The best fun of the outing was before we even got there. Monsoonal rain had flooded the curb, so a few of us jumped off the bus barefooted and noisily slapped our feet on the beautiful marble floor of the museum lobby.