DFR Travels: April 2013

A few more photos...

Friday, April 26. Cloudy, dozy.

We went to bed at 10:00 last night and were wide awake at 1:00. We staggered around for several hours and dozed in the afternoon and then went and did some gardening.

I want to show you a few pictures that continue to befuddle my mind on China. To me, China is unexplainable.

Those carts are parked that way because it's the LAW, not because they are just neat.

Lots of bikes still. But a bike means you are of a lower class, and class matters there.

I don't think I could ever get used to the crowds.

This lady sits and does that all day long and eats at her bench, on some days her kid would be with her. And for not much money.

Meanwhile in the city it's all glitz and Bling.

Night time illumination is everywhere.

I love these things, always have. Those are about three feet high.

You are never far from Big Brother.

Just a local restaurant. Love the vases!

This bus boy could not take his eyes off of us Foreigners.

The entrance to the Forbidden City, a virtual Shrine in Beijing and massive in size.

Typical pose for a Chinese worker. You get what you pay for.

This restaurant was over the top. It was an indescribable experience. These were our servers. Not a word of English. Primarily for rich Chinese.

The parking lot and it's attendant!

Safe and sound...

Thursday, April 25. Hong Kong, muggy.

Thursday, April 25. Vancouver, bright cheery spring day. We had two Thursdays, gaining the day we lost when flying over.

It was a waiting game, again today, but in very relaxing and pleasant surroundings. Eventually we got picked up, driven to the airport and went through security and checked in and soon it was take off time.

We had a dinner and then nodded off for most of the flight as the windows were drawn and it seemed like night, which with our biological clock it was. A light breakfast and down at 5:00 PM to brilliant sunshine and no smog.

We got our car in jig-time and bucked the traffic home. First thing was a visit to the garden which did very well in our absence. Fellette started to unpack while I got the computer cranked up and dealt with some things have to be dealt with by month end.

I did start to download the pictures but my mind is shutting down.

How soon we forget the recent travels and get caught up in our routine daily life.

I hope you enjoyed the trip to China with us.

Cheers for now, Doug

Waiting for the car in the hotel.

12 hour flight, comfortable though, that seat goes into a flat narrow bed.

Our first glimpse of Canada, north of Squamish.

We had the car cleaned while it was parked at the airport, nice way to come home.

Working on the Clematis already!

And the strawberries came to life while we were away.

Thoughts on our travels in China...

Written in Hong Kong as we await the time to go to the airport for the flight home.

This last 17 days we have been amazed at what we have seen. I suppose after 77 years of only knowing about China by what we read and see on TV we have a rather fuzzy picture of this country. My thoughts are clearer now, but still fuzzy.

The country is further ahead in regard to modern amenities and technology than I thought. The Chinese seem to crave the latest gadget or technology in regards to transportation, automation of ticketing, access to facilities etc. Some of the hotel rooms are completely automated in regards to lighting, TV, ease of connecting to internet with laptops etc.

There are scads of high-end cars with chauffeured drivers, status is everything here. The big bosses, in business or government flaunt their status and power to a point that it is sickening. They think that rules are made for others, but not them. Bribery and corruption is everywhere, in all levels of class structure.

Hong Kong is not the same as China. Hong Kong has many problems with Beijing, they seem to be much better educated, orderly and better dressed and more westernized than mainland China.

The west and that means America and Europe, are not their biggest concern. They have big issues with other Asian countries like Tibet and Japan is a big time problem. They have massive internal problems to deal with as well.

The USA seems to have an over-exaggerated sense of it's own importance in the world. It is still a very powerful and important power in the world, but it has to be looked at in the total picture of the world today. The world is developing at a rapid rate, likely too fast for the overall good. Europe and America are stalled, so other developing countries are catching up, very rapidly.

The standard of living is rising in the ever enlarging middle class in China. But it is not fast enough for those that are aware of where they are in relation to developed countries. The government seems to dole out their rise in dribs and drabs. I believe those in the know are a somewhat disgruntled lot. Too little, too slowly, particularly when they see the politicians and the newly very-rich, and what they have.

I seem to have a built-in mistrust of the Chinese, sorry to lay out my bias to you. Too may Charlie Chan movies and war movies with sinister Asians I suppose. Somehow I wonder how our guides, drivers, servers etc. would treat us if we were not their clients!

It was interesting to hear a guide tell us that when she was a child playing in the dirt her mother said "Don't dig too deep or you will come to Canada". Mom's are the same everywhere it seems.

We had a long but comfortable day of waiting for our flight that I just found out is a bit delayed. I will post this from the airport lounge as I do not know what shape I will be in when we do get home.

Adios.

Hong Kong Day...

Wednesday, April 24. Sunny, warm.

Doug was up at 4:00 am. Don't know why. I went to the balcony that is separated by a curtain and went on the internet and searched some sites that I have wanted to for days. I sent a few emails to a variety of people for a variety of reasons.

Around 5:15 Fellette came to life and made coffee. We went to the breakfast room around 7:30 and enjoyed another business-hotel fantastic breakfast. This is really a business hotel, most men and a few women are dressed in suits and we did not see any leisure travellers. The clientele here is mixed: Asian, East Indian, German, French, British and a few from North America.

Our big black Mercedes and driver was in the driveway at 9:30. I had decided to check out the tailor that we used in 2008, the last time we were here. Our guide took us to the Star Ferry terminal and soon we were in Kowloon. Things started to look familiar and we were shortly on the fifth floor and in Vogue Tailors, our destination.

After a short discussion on price and quality and picking some materials, assisted by Fellette, I was measured in great detail. The shirts I had made here five years ago are the best fitting I have ever had and launder and iron beautifully.

I am having four leisure shirts made and a cotton sports jacket. Yes, cotton. I have been looking for one for years without success. It is so that it can be easily washed, not requiring dry-cleaning.

After less than an hour at the tailor we were outside and the car soon whisked us to Stanley on the far side of the Island. Stanley is a touristy fun place which we have been to twice before. We picked up a few things that we have eyed the last two weeks.

All told we were in Stanley a little over an hour. We drove back a different way so we today encircled the island completely. They dropped us at the hotel and we went to the room, cleaned up and went for a bite to eat in the busy streets outside.

We decided to go for a walk after a late lunch but after a few minutes in the hustle-bustle of downtown Hong Kong we both quickly came to the same conclusion: that this is not us. We retired to our posh harbour-view suite. Fellette snuggled up with a new book while Doug recovered from 17 days of China-Touring and a 4:00 am wake-up.

This is our last night in this fantastic journey we have been on, we have seen much more than we ever thought we would see in our life and we are ready to come home to our cozy life and our precious garden.

Tomorrow is just a long waiting day until we board the big silver bird and come home. We have a 2:00 pm checkout. The plane is scheduled to leave at 7:40 pm and we arrive home at 4:35 pm, the same day. In other words, we arrive before we leave: The International Dateline you know.

We dined in our room again tonight again, this time watching the Laser Light Show that Hong Kong puts on nightly on the tall buildings along the waterfront on both the Hong Kong side and the Kowloon side. NA very nice relaxing way to spend our last night.

Pictures:

Fellette and her cuddle spot.
Star Ferry to Kowloon.
Star Ferry.
Measuring.
Measuring.
Would you buy a shirt from this man?
Shopping in Stanley.
Window view, Kowloon on the far side.

This day tops it all...

Tuesday, April 23. Cloudy, light rain.

We were in the lobby with our bags packed and ready by 8:15. We checked out easily and were on our way by 8:30.

Our mission on our last day in Mainland China was to get to the mountainous region of Longshen to see the terraced rice gardens and see the ethnic Dong and Yao people. The drive took about two hours through the countryside, which was pleasant. The light rain eased as we got further out of Guilin.

We arrived at our destination and then began a rather involved and convoluted route to the first village. We drove a few kilometres then left the car and walked a bit. That was followed by an electric golf-cart ride for around five minutes, all upward, on a narrow concrete track. Next we were on foot and soon arrived in a village of no note, but interesting.

We then began what turned out to be a mini-Kilimanjaro hike, ever up, our legs were aching but of course there was no stopping or turning back. This section took a little more than an hour. We arrived at what I will call the top, took some pictures and then commenced our walk to the second village another 1/2 hour walk through amazing scenery, spectacular, not so much the landscape as the buildings. It was like a time-warp: I imagine that this is similar to Tibet as the women were dressed in their traditional costume. Not for us, this is just the way they dress, even the servers in the restaurant we had lunch at.

All too soon it was time to come down, this time via another path, through another ethnic group known for the long black hair of the women. From the age of eight to eighteen, they do not cut their hair. On their eighteenth birthday they cut their hair to about a meter long. They never cut their hair again as long as they live. They do their hair style dependent upon if they are single, married or have children. They also incorporate their previously cut hair into their hair-do. The end result is that our lady had her hair done up so that it looks like a big black hat. One last thing, they wash their hair in plain water and fermented rice wine. [???]

We got down the mountain by hitching onto a Chinese tour that had extra seats. The driver was an ex Japanese Kamakazi pilot we figured. The scariest ride of our entire trip!

We were at the airport about two hours before taking off for Hong Kong and the one hour flight, we arrived early. Hong Kong, from mainland China is considered an International Flight for reasons that I do not fully understand.

Our trip to China is basically over, Hong Kong is just a big waiting room for the flight home as far as we concerned. We have two nights here.

Upon arrival in HK we were off and through customs and immigration swiftly then out to where a gent had our name on a card, swiftly to a big black Mercedes that whisked us into our hotel in half and hour. We were warmly greeted and told that we had been upgraded to an Harbour View suite on the 18th floor. Needless to say it is a fantastic way to end our trip.

We had a bite to eat, a shower and to bed. As I said yesterday, long day.

I do not fully understand the VIP treatment we seem to get, but, heck, who's to argue.