I actually left Vancouver on August 22. Friend Suzanne from San Jose had been visiting for the four days prior to my departure - lovely chance for one on one time which we haven't had for, literally, decades, but she has a 6,000 mile road trip to get on with, and I, well, I had the Trans Siberian Railway.
We closed the door behind us about 11 A.M. She and (15 year old) puppy Penelope to her car and the Trans Canada Highway, and I with friend John to the River Rock Casino, where the bus leaves for the Seattle Airport. (Apparently, the Vancouver Airport has made it so difficult for the bus service to stop there that it doesn't). Longer trip on the bus, perhaps but it beats driving. After checking in at the Holiday Inn Express at the airport, friend Arlene picked me up for a retro dining experience at a nearby restaurant called 13 Coins. I very much enjoyed it - I haven't had a retro dining experience (with such menu items as liver and onions, mac and cheese, and beef stroganoff) since I left Palm Springs!!!Most important was the company - it was nice to have someone see me off.
I flew out of Seattle at the crack of dawn the next day. I was a bit concerned about the short turn around between flights - LAX is not notoriously that easy to get around - but both turnaround and flights were fine (but for the usual awful food). And, voila, there was indeed someone at the Beijing Airport to meet me! As some of you know, I had been anxious about that, but there he was with the Roads Scholar sign, and all was well with the world.
(By the way, you might have noticed the absence of pictures. I am having technical difficulties, and wanted to at least begin my journey with you. We have a down time day on the train tomorrow, and while I won't be able to post, I do hope to get my pictures sorted.)
Back to the airport....
We collected a few more folks from different planes, then off to the hotel. What a change since I was last here in 2001. Back then, there were still more bicycles than cars. Not now. The commute from the airport was more than 2 hours!
We had a few moments to refresh (by the way, I had a roommate for the Beijing Hotel and for the one night on the Chinese train, but have my own compartment in the Trans-Siberian Railway, and my own room last night in the Ramada as well. As it always does for me, it seems, it worked out perfectly for me - company when I needed it and privacy - not to mention space - later.) and then had a meet and greet, meeting both our fellow travelers as well as our (many) minders.
(I don't know what possessed me to eat Chinese food three days in a row with Suzanne - what was I thinking?
And so passed day #1 of my great adventure.
Day #2. I'll start with a word about my minders. We have one fearless leader for the whole trip, Tamara is a no-nonsense woman, in her 30's I would guess. She is from Moscow, but her English is perfect, and her command of a number of other languages as well. There are dedicated guides from each location, as well as several to "work the train" (and I do mean that in the same way as Hank used to say "work the room").
(Speaking about Hank, I am missing him. He loved train travel, and talked about doing this trip with me....)
Mr. Liu, our "go to" guy in China has been working with Roads Scholar since he left school in 2000. He is a born entertainer, and we learned amazing amounts about life and love and politics in China; more about that in my general impressions, later. He was amazingly forthcoming, and didn't appear to be censoring himself at all - very different from the experience David and I had in 2001! Finally, our baby minder was Jian, a young trainee, willing, but still struggling. More about the others as they join us.
Our first adventure was the Great Wall. ("You are not a man until you have climbed the Great Wall". Chairman Mao. Getting there alone was an adventure; did I mention the traffic? However, Mr. Liu kept us amused with tidbits about life in China. For example, among themselves, informally, they don't say "hello" or "how are you", but, rather, "have you eaten yet?", as befitting people who have such a history of starvation. According to Mr. Liu, however, one thing is the same between East and West - no-one really cares about the answer!
I have been to the Great Wall before, of course, but it is impressive - begun in the 3rd century, 13,000 miles - not to mention the millions of people on it (it was Saturday)! My climbing abilities are not what they used to be, and it is deadly hot and humid here - have I mentioned yet that it was deadly hot and humid? - but I gave it a good try for an hour!
We had lunch at a hotel as the wall. The food was actually yummy - much better than the last time I was here, as I remember. (According to Mr. Liu, after a period of eating more meat - because they could - they have gone back to more vegetable fare, due to health concerns. Well, maybe here. Certainly not in Vancouver).
A bit about our group. I can tell immediately that it will be a good group. There are 18 of us not including the minders, four single men, four single women, and five couples, all educated, cultured and well traveled. And, most important, there are no stragglers. When someone says be at the bus at twenty past, every one is there at quarter past.
On the way home, we passed the Olympic Village, and had a chance to see the infamous Birds Nest and the Water Cube - they are really quite impressive. After another family style dinner (by the way, did you know that fortune cookies were not Chinese at all, but, rather, a Japanese invention?), we were treated to a performance of the Chinese Opera. Admittedly, for some of you, this would not be a treat. It was for me, though. And really, it is not so different from Western opera. Stylized singing, highly charged and dramatic, allowing folks to live vicariously through the trials and tribulations of those onstage. And they did a good job, dramatizing three little stories, but good staging and costumes (I really couldn't say about the voices). One difference from the last time I was at the opera here - in 1986, the first time I came. They now have supertitles!
What else is different? It is way cleaner. No-one spits anymore! There is much less smoking. I've already said about the increased numbers of cars. And they are much more used to round-eyes. No more running up to take pictures with the white-haired or blue eyed!
So much for day 2. A great start. I don't know when I will have a chance to write again, but will do it when I can, hopefully with pictures!
We closed the door behind us about 11 A.M. She and (15 year old) puppy Penelope to her car and the Trans Canada Highway, and I with friend John to the River Rock Casino, where the bus leaves for the Seattle Airport. (Apparently, the Vancouver Airport has made it so difficult for the bus service to stop there that it doesn't). Longer trip on the bus, perhaps but it beats driving. After checking in at the Holiday Inn Express at the airport, friend Arlene picked me up for a retro dining experience at a nearby restaurant called 13 Coins. I very much enjoyed it - I haven't had a retro dining experience (with such menu items as liver and onions, mac and cheese, and beef stroganoff) since I left Palm Springs!!!Most important was the company - it was nice to have someone see me off.
I flew out of Seattle at the crack of dawn the next day. I was a bit concerned about the short turn around between flights - LAX is not notoriously that easy to get around - but both turnaround and flights were fine (but for the usual awful food). And, voila, there was indeed someone at the Beijing Airport to meet me! As some of you know, I had been anxious about that, but there he was with the Roads Scholar sign, and all was well with the world.
(By the way, you might have noticed the absence of pictures. I am having technical difficulties, and wanted to at least begin my journey with you. We have a down time day on the train tomorrow, and while I won't be able to post, I do hope to get my pictures sorted.)
Back to the airport....
We collected a few more folks from different planes, then off to the hotel. What a change since I was last here in 2001. Back then, there were still more bicycles than cars. Not now. The commute from the airport was more than 2 hours!
We had a few moments to refresh (by the way, I had a roommate for the Beijing Hotel and for the one night on the Chinese train, but have my own compartment in the Trans-Siberian Railway, and my own room last night in the Ramada as well. As it always does for me, it seems, it worked out perfectly for me - company when I needed it and privacy - not to mention space - later.) and then had a meet and greet, meeting both our fellow travelers as well as our (many) minders.
(I don't know what possessed me to eat Chinese food three days in a row with Suzanne - what was I thinking?
And so passed day #1 of my great adventure.
Day #2. I'll start with a word about my minders. We have one fearless leader for the whole trip, Tamara is a no-nonsense woman, in her 30's I would guess. She is from Moscow, but her English is perfect, and her command of a number of other languages as well. There are dedicated guides from each location, as well as several to "work the train" (and I do mean that in the same way as Hank used to say "work the room").
(Speaking about Hank, I am missing him. He loved train travel, and talked about doing this trip with me....)
Mr. Liu, our "go to" guy in China has been working with Roads Scholar since he left school in 2000. He is a born entertainer, and we learned amazing amounts about life and love and politics in China; more about that in my general impressions, later. He was amazingly forthcoming, and didn't appear to be censoring himself at all - very different from the experience David and I had in 2001! Finally, our baby minder was Jian, a young trainee, willing, but still struggling. More about the others as they join us.
Our first adventure was the Great Wall. ("You are not a man until you have climbed the Great Wall". Chairman Mao. Getting there alone was an adventure; did I mention the traffic? However, Mr. Liu kept us amused with tidbits about life in China. For example, among themselves, informally, they don't say "hello" or "how are you", but, rather, "have you eaten yet?", as befitting people who have such a history of starvation. According to Mr. Liu, however, one thing is the same between East and West - no-one really cares about the answer!
I have been to the Great Wall before, of course, but it is impressive - begun in the 3rd century, 13,000 miles - not to mention the millions of people on it (it was Saturday)! My climbing abilities are not what they used to be, and it is deadly hot and humid here - have I mentioned yet that it was deadly hot and humid? - but I gave it a good try for an hour!
We had lunch at a hotel as the wall. The food was actually yummy - much better than the last time I was here, as I remember. (According to Mr. Liu, after a period of eating more meat - because they could - they have gone back to more vegetable fare, due to health concerns. Well, maybe here. Certainly not in Vancouver).
A bit about our group. I can tell immediately that it will be a good group. There are 18 of us not including the minders, four single men, four single women, and five couples, all educated, cultured and well traveled. And, most important, there are no stragglers. When someone says be at the bus at twenty past, every one is there at quarter past.
On the way home, we passed the Olympic Village, and had a chance to see the infamous Birds Nest and the Water Cube - they are really quite impressive. After another family style dinner (by the way, did you know that fortune cookies were not Chinese at all, but, rather, a Japanese invention?), we were treated to a performance of the Chinese Opera. Admittedly, for some of you, this would not be a treat. It was for me, though. And really, it is not so different from Western opera. Stylized singing, highly charged and dramatic, allowing folks to live vicariously through the trials and tribulations of those onstage. And they did a good job, dramatizing three little stories, but good staging and costumes (I really couldn't say about the voices). One difference from the last time I was at the opera here - in 1986, the first time I came. They now have supertitles!
What else is different? It is way cleaner. No-one spits anymore! There is much less smoking. I've already said about the increased numbers of cars. And they are much more used to round-eyes. No more running up to take pictures with the white-haired or blue eyed!
So much for day 2. A great start. I don't know when I will have a chance to write again, but will do it when I can, hopefully with pictures!
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