I’m so glad we could squeeze in a visit to the Great Wall in between factory visits. Research has revealed not one single tour that forgoes factory visits—jade, cloison, silk and tea. Final result: 90 minutes on wall, 128 minutes in factories.. I don’t need no stinkin’ tours. And so for my daily 10 Surprises: 1. The territorial emormity of Beijing—the size of Belgium 2.Unpaved side streets outside the center 3. The wall is actually IN Beijing 4. Litchee tea. A marvel. 5.That dinner of fiery szchuan actually irritated my stomach.Who knew? 6.The amazingly high price of jade 7.Cars are limited in Beijing not by odd or even but my excluding certain final digits based upon the day of week. 8.The amazing softness of a blanket stuffed with spun silk. I wish it didn’t cost a month’s pay. 9.People wear surgical masks in the streets. 10. One million yuan is the price of an apartment 100 sq m in the town center

This is a good recommendation from Lonely Planet. These nice hostel people included a pick-up at the train station when I emerged bleary-eyed at 7.30am. Plus they helped me arrange for my ticket to Xian tomorrow. The only downside is that the two teenagers do enjoy their techno. And then there’s lovely Pingyao. It reminds me of Dubrovnik strangely enough as Pingyao is also a walled city that grew rich from trade. But where Dubrovnik is monochrome, Pingyao is a whirl of color: red lanterns, exquisitely painted exterior panels, carved wood and gilt trim. The buildings are two-story structures, built pagoda style around a central courtyard. The Chinese love being part of a group and the architecture reflects that. As always, I have 10 Surprises: 1. Whoa, cowboy. You want 120 yuan (EUR15) to visit the museum and interior courtyards? I think not. The Forbidden City was only 40. 2. The vigorous renovations going on everywhere. Pingyao is going for the gold in the tourist race. If it had a port there would be a cruise an hour docking here. 3. So few hair salons in China. 4. There are huge thermoses of hot water everywhere (trains, hotels) . 5. … Continue reading →

Such a relief to leave the dust bowl of Pingyao and upgrade to the normal smog of Xian. Pingyao was a major banking center and how did it all get started? A trumpet player in the 18th century married an heiress and turned his head to business, founding the incredibly wealthy Wang banking family. See Mom? It’s not always a disaster to marry a musician. Xian was once the starting point of the Silk Road and you can still get lots of silk in the tiny Old Town along with Gucci bags, jade bracelets, Lacoste shirts and much, much more! More authentic wares line the streets of the Muslim quarter. OMG the food. My beloved sesame noodles were a revelation. Then there were these fresh fried pastries stuffed with dates or sesame with honey. I had two. Which brings me to my 10 Surprises: 1. Despite the fact that there are food stalls, snack stands, noodle shops and restaurants every 10 meters I have not seen one single overweight Chinese person. 2. Tea shops are there to sell tea not serve it. This is not a cafe culture. 3. Xian is dazzling at night. 4. There’s an automatic medicine machine … Continue reading →