China in a Nutshell

So far I gave you the travel log usually in photos. Now my thoughts and opinions although I stress the word my. China is still a closed government. There continues to be a lot of censorship from news reports, internet freedom, and social strata.  The poor continue to be poorer while the wealthy have the power. This isn't going to change anytime soon.  Famine and the use of "food coupons " existed into 90's. The 1 child rule has created a gap and there will not be enough wage earners to support the elderly. Farming is nonexistent and if China isn't able to continue to buy food from abroad the famine can return.   Exporting goods is high because costs are contained with the low wages and workers taking low paying jobs.  Education of the youth is a mixed bag as I discussed before with tuition required and low salaries for teachers. Enough with the social system

Air pollution is horrendous in all the cities we visited. The air was marginally clear after a rain and near the 3 gorges dam project since they stopped using coal for energy. They control problems by levying a tax as with automobiles. It is almost 100% higher due to taxes although there are no emissions requirements. The roads we were on were well maintained and landscaped with lots of green and flowering plants. This may be due to the Chinese worshiping of nature. The streets were all clean and paved. Not lined with trash. Most of the construction has taken place in the last 20-25 years. Old monuments shrines and temples have been rebuilt due to damage over the 100's of years from their original building

Food:  the food we had was controlled by the tour company. After 1 week Dan was sure he was swearing off Chinese food. Food is served "family style" on a lazy Susan. There are so many courses it is like a buffet only it is impossible to identify anything.  Lots of fried food, always Tofu and eggplant, usually mixed greens broccoli or cabbage, a fish sometimes in a gravy or sweet and sour sauce, chicken,pork, and beef.  Soup is at the end of the meal along with rice. Dessert is fresh fruit. Salad is eaten for breakfast and they are big on 1000island dressing or a vinegarette. Our breakfast was a western style with eggs yogurt toast breads danish (done poorly) cereal etc.  on the river cruise there was an effort to serve more western dishes, we had spaghetti (which is Chinese noodles with tomato sauce) no spices, pizza, and hamburger.  The Chinese also like French fries but potatoes are not served a whole lot.   At meals one glass of beverage is included. This meals beer, water, coke, or sprite. There is no Diet Coke or coke light in China (it is hard to find not sold even in grocery stores). The beer is a 3-4% alcohol content. I was drinking regular coke and right now would kill for a real Diet Coke.  9 weeks without did not break the habit.  In China you can occasionally find a Coke Zero and that is the same with Japan. No we didn't lose any weight food actually has more calories and real Coke is even more.

Bathrooms:  avoided squat toilets all 22 days in China. The problem becomes when the locals attempt to squat while using a western style toilet. Yes urine is all over everything the seat floor etc. the most important rule to remember is always have paper or you will be drip drying more than just your hands after washing. As far as bathrooms. I think I did the bladder retraining only on the way to the airport did I learn about a product called "go girl". Look it up on amazon. It even comes with an extension. Things did improve in Hong Kong. While on the bathroom subject. The Chinese put all the money into hotel bathrooms. They were beautiful. Nice showers and fixtures even with bidets.  Overall the hotel rooms were good, Dan was tired of twin beds and we have to assume this was done as part of the tour package.

Purchases. Everything in China is negotiable. The term never pay full price is for real. Even in upscale dress shops. It never hurts to ask but then you have to buy. Lots of night markets in every town where you can find anything. The other thing is amazing is stores with the same merchandise will be next to each other on the street. So if you wanted a bridal dress there are 6-8 shops in a row selling them   It would make an easy cost comparison shopping. The other thing the Chinese do is spend thousands of $$ on weddings photographs. They take ten in all types of landscapes venues complete with photographer lighting person and even changing clothes during the session. It seems if there is no photograph it is a questionable marriage

I think that concludes the China diatribe. I will probably remember more later.

Travel by train to Hiroshima. Walked to the Peace Garden. Tomorrow will take the street car and see the rest of Hiroshima

Saturday was a busy day. Sunday in the rain we took the train to see the wood workers. On Monday we had Yukiko be a private guide. We saw 3 more parks and the sky tree. Actually had a Japanese lunch

Well looks like we didn't miss cherry blossoms in Japan after all. We went to the Imperial East Gardens and 3 other gardens. Saw some night lights on the blossoms

Our tour ended today and the sun is out. We went to Disney Hong Kong. It was not as nice as Shanghai and seemed a lot like LA Disney. Wide walkways and the castle seemed a little dwarfed. We have one more half day in Hong Kong then we fly to Tokyo Japan. Good news. All of China and no pit toilets 😃😃😃😃

We took a train to Hong Kong. An all day process. The next morning we did a city tour. These are views from Victoria Peak the highest point in Hong Kong

Dumpling Lunch

Today is another fly day but first off to see one of the Buddhist temples and visit a calligraphy studio. There was an optional trip to see another temple earlier in the morning or sleep in for an extra 30 minutes before packing and having luggage out. The weather is warm and sunny so we consider ourselves very lucky. Our flight today is late in the day and we head to a locale restaurant for lunch

Lunch today is dumplings. 16 different types of dumplings as well as some side dishes and as always soup and 1 glass of beverage. On one of the later posts I will expand about our meals in China.  Most likely when we are in Japan.  The flight to Guilin was delayed but we were able to see lights around the lake and river. The city capitalized on the lakes and river and actually created canals for tourists to  see the city lights from boats nightly.

Guilin is in a mountainous area of China known most for limestone and scenery. The Lijiang River is located in a gorge and is known as the little Grand Canyon because of the high hills on each side of the river. The locals have created legends about many of the peaks.  This area also has tea plantations that can be visited.

Our plan for the day is to spend the morning on the boat looking at the hills, the a massage ($25) if interested for either foot reflexology or full body and then a trip to the tea plantation after dinner there is a boat ride to see the lights on the lakes. Dan and I skipped the tea and night lights. We had an early dinner (we were able to locate a pizza to share) and walked along the lakes to see the lights. This is our only night to do anything in Guilin as tomorrow we have a train ride into Hong Kong the final stop

Well Dan managed a fall after his massage seems he fell off the edge of the walkway after his massage. No injuries only a bruised ego. Our evening walk was enjoyable. Wehave a couple that we enjoy doing things with on the tour and found a restaurant not too far from the hotel and as we got to the place 2 Chinese girls asked to take pictures with us. Seems pictures with Americans is the thing.