October Break

(friendship bridge)

We started off our mid-autumn break just relaxing. Oh how nice to have time to hang out around the house and get a few things done. Then the fun started. We decided to dive into China. Our friends (Joe, Trina, and Sarah) went on the trip with us. We started off by hiring some drivers. To our surprise the drivers were our pungyo (friends). Jack and Jungjalin loaded us up into their cars and we were off. We headed to Anshan. We stayed in a space needle looking hotel. It even had the rotating restaurant on the top floor (we chose not to eat there). We went to lunch at a noodle place and were happy to see Jack and Jungjalin leaving as we were walking in. We had some language issues (can we have bottles of cold water – no you have hot tea - but we want cold water – you have hot tea) but we pushed forward. We ordered what we wanted and she proceeds to tell us everything back in Mandarin. We smiled and shook our heads (hope she got all that right). So the servers brought out our food one dish at a time (The Chinese don’t bring all your food at once – when the kitchen has something ready, the servers bring it out. So chicken and fried rice came quickly and the pork ribs arrived about 25 minutes later. It’s still strange to us, but that’s what they do.)
(Benxi Caves)

After lunch we were off to see some Buddhists Temples. We hiked along a few mountains and saw many temples. Some beautiful views of the surrounding area – Anshan has some big mining and industrial areas right next to these old Buddist temples. Also, the leaves are starting to turn colors, so that definitely added to the views. That night we wanted more blankets for the boys and when we asked they said they did not have any blankets. How can you not have extra blankets in the entire hotel?? (The concept of having extra just isn’t something the Chinese have a grasp on). Oh well we did without (okay, they probably understand that concept).
Because we had drivers we were able to see a great deal. They would drive down alleys and off the beaten track. It was great to see how Chinese people really live. We got MANY (oh so Many) looks. Its harvest time around here too, so the farmers are all busy cutting down the corn (one stalk at time) and harvesting each ear by hand. Amazing the effort that goes into something we think is going to provide food for their animals over the cold winter season.

The next morning we were off to see the largest single piece of jade in the world. We went to Jade Buddha Palace. It was fun to walk around. As we are walking around we are always getting asked if people can take pictures of us (let’s take a picture with the white folks). So we decided that from now on we are going to do silly faces, poses or just be silly (Stay tuned for some of our creative silly poses). They really want the pictures of the boys but we will not let them take them with us Matthew and Isaac.
Around the Palace there is an amusement park that looks like it is going to fall apart at any moment. Funny thing is, we think the park was built in the mid 1990’s. But every ride has visible signs of rust and decay. I counted three or four places metal structures were bring reinforced by wooden poles and/or ropes. Another thing we are learning about the Chinese. They are constantly building (new construction is in every city and town) but aside from the old men and women sweeping the streets, there is no sign of any effort to maintain what they already have. So stuff just ages and fails – then is left to be torn down later on. It’s a very different mind set toward development. So to say the least we just watched the people on the rides. The boys only asked once if they could go on a ride. It wasn’t like Disneyland or anything.

Then we were off to Benxi. We stayed at an amazing Holiday Inn. WOW!!! We saw a sports arena that had the Olympic rings on it. We think that the hotel we stayed in was used for the Olympics. It was a great place to hang out (although the hotel café didn’t have about half of what was on the menu – probably not a large demand for french fries and latte’s after the Olympics were over). So we head into a shopping area for dinner and a walk around town. The group wasn’t in a very adventurous mood so we ended up at KFC. Joe really wanted to get a bucket of chicken. They had NO buckets. Well that’s not true. The buckets were sitting on the counter but they would not sell us one. Why?? Great question. We also thought we were ordering 5 orange drinks. What we got was five HOT orange drinks. They were so hot we could barely drink them. We just laughed.

We went to the Benxi caves the next day. The caves were very cool. The strange part was they funnel you into an area that had dinosaurs, toy elephants (they looked liked they came from Dumbo) and other prehistoric animals. Then we boarded a boat and went through the caves. The driver thought it would be funny to get close to the stalagmites and stalactites formations. We just ducked. It was beautiful. At the caves was the first time we felt really annoyed with the Chinese people. There were so many and they were pushing and shoving. It was the worse yet. It was like going to a rock concert (dirty bathrooms and all) in pink fuzzy bathrobes and slippers. Lots of pushing and shoving, then people kept wanting to touch the kids and take pictures with us.
After the caves we headed to Phoenix Mountain. It was probably really cool when it was first built (in 1998) but it was rundown and primitive. We were miles from anything that would remotely look like civilization up on this mountain. The rooms were small and only had two, hard twin beds, smelly bathrooms and you didn’t feel like you could touch anything – there just seemed to be dust and flaking paint everywhere. Not the best place to stay. We all wanted to leave, but decided to tough it out. “it will be an experience.” The dinner they served was more than a little questionable and not popular with the kids so we were happy that we brought peanut butter and jelly with us. Just as we thought we had the hotel to ourselves for the night a large group of Chinese tourists showed up. They came in and less than an hour later quite a party started. We ended our evening with some kind of celebration but they were just getting started. There was dancing, karaoke, pig roast, and yelling going on until 1 am. Then at 5:30am they were up yelling, spitting and carrying on. What a night.

We headed to the gondola to hike around the mountain. There were stairs cut into the rock. It was beautiful but we quickly go to some areas that not very safe. We finished our hiking and called for our drivers. Boy were we glad to see them. Off we drove to Dandong.
Dandong is a very interesting city. We went and saw the friendship bridge (broken bridge) that leads to North Korea. It was strange to be so close to North Korea. Interesting to see how the Chinese have built up the waterfront across the river from North Korea. Almost like to show the North Koreans, “See what we have. Wouldn’t you like to have this too?” Then the next day we went to the Eastern Most section of the Great Wall. It was so amazing. We hiked across the wall. At one point the stairs were so tall that they went up to Isaac’s chest. The boys did great!! We were so proud of them. It was a great workout. We took a boat ride back to the entrance so we did not have to walk back across the wall. We could almost touch North Korea (key term almost- the armed soldiers on both sides left no doubt that interacting between the two countries was a big no-no). It was an experience we will never forget.
Right across from our hotel was a park (a big space in the middle of a around about) with benches and flower beds, etc. At night the local Chinese neighborhood people gather there. We walked around and watched. To give you an idea here are just a few of the things the 150+ people were doing. Card games, chess games, tai chi, men’s band singing traditional Chinese folk songs, a man writing in Chinese characters on the ground with a stick and sponge, Chinese hacky sack, dancing with swords, ballroom dancing, and a circle forming around us as we watched. It was an amazing sight. We tried not to disturb or mess up the goings-on, but that didn’t always happen. Our presence only always seems to draw attention. Doug took some videos. We hope to share them with you at a later time. It was fabulous.
We left Dandong and were heading to a hot spring. When we got there we were a bit disappointed with the cleanliness of the hotel and again how far away from the rest of the world this place was. The beds were so hard it was as if you were sitting on the floor. We were tired and decided to not stay and tough it out. So we headed home. The drivers didn’t really understanding why we didn’t want to stay, but they didn’t take much convincing to end the trip early. It all worked out for the best. We had a great adventure and we happy to be home.

(more pictures to come)