We decided to walk around a little. Mike and I wanted to take his mom to an acrobatic show. We had been to a marvelous one in Hong Kong. We asked the front desk where there was one and started walking. It was a long walk, we got tickets for that evening and decided to get a taxi back to the hotel.
We had some time for sight seeing before the performance so we went to
the Temple of Heaven. It was really neat to see and the grounds were
great. If we had had more time, it would have been neat to walk all
around. When we wanted to leave we could hear traffic but couldn't find
the South exit. We tried asking people and finally tried drawing the
character for "EXIT". We were pointed yet another direction. After a
long walk we found an unlocked gate. Next time get a map.
We still had enough time to go back to our hotel room for a quick supper. We had brought a lot of instant oatmeal and grits that went well with the hot water we got in the room. Mom also brought some Little Debbies that kept our energy up!
The acrobatic show was awesome. Our seats were front row, center. We were right next to the stage. I had never been that close before. It was great. The show was neat to see with balancing plates and glasses, juggling, cycling, and tumbling. The ladies were really limber and could turn their bodies any which way. It was incredible to see. After the show we watched Mike's mom shop at the gift shop. It was neat to watch. It seamed as if every one wanted to sell her something.
We got up late the next day (Monday) and hurried to breakfast. It was a pretty good buffet. It had good hash brown potatoes, fresh fruits and pastries, and great omlettes. Then we tried to go to the Great Wall. The man at the tour desk didn't want us to go to the Huanghua section of the wall. "No village, too dangerous." It was Chinese New Year's eve so people would want to go home early to be with their families and we weren't getting to the wall so we instead took a taxi to the Summer Palace. Remember, it is winter time and cold. When we got out of the taxi, immediately there were ladies wanting us to buy postcards and brochures of the Summer Palace (which included a map) and more vendors selling fried sweet potatoes on a stick and other unknown things to eat. After our experience at the Temple of Heaven, Mom bought a map of the Summer Palace so we could know where we were and where the exits were. When we bought the tickets, we found out that the same brochure came with each ticket. We learned to buy the tickets before we purchased anything.
The Summer Palace has over 290 hectares, part of which is a large
lake. It was neat to see the Chinese style buildings. Then we discovered
that Mike's camera was missing. We figured it was stolen out of his
pocket. It was really frustrating to lose all the pictures we had already
taken. We went and bought little disposable cameras so we did get some of
our own pictures on the trip. Mike's mom had a wonderful camera and she
shot around 24 rolls of film throughout the trip. I hope to get the
pictures soon. We had a fun day hiking around the place. The Long
Corridor is almost a half a mile long and has 14,000 beautiful pictures
painted on the ceiling. It was amazing!
We walked up Longevity Hill to
the famous Tower of Buddhist Virtue. There were lots of stairs, but Mike
persuaded me to keep going and we were rewarded with a great view of the
lake and surrounding grounds. We ate a picnic lunch on the hill and then
walked down the other side. We went to the lake where it was frozen over.
Mike got out on the ice and wanted to push me around on a sled. I was too
scared because to get to the ice I would have had to walk on a long board
across open water. He enjoyed running and sliding on the ice for awhile.
We saw the large marble boat. The hull and upper deck were made of massive stone slabs. It did have some wood that was covered in stone. It never did sail, but it did look pretty. We hiked around the grounds all day. It was fun, but cold and tiring. I was glad to finally go back to the hotel. We had Pizza Hut pizza for supper.
When we were warmer and rested we asked to go to Tiananmen Square. We
discovered that our hotel was on the same road and not too far from the
square. The road was decorated nicely for Chinese New Year. The trees
had lights on them, like Christmas in the States. We walked through the
Tiananmen Gate. I felt awed to actually be there. I had read about it,
and seen pictures, but now I was actually there. We walked through the
courtyard on our way to the Forbidden City. Since it was night time, the
city was closed, but we did go to it another day. We then walked back and
walked around Tiananmen Square. Unfortunately we couldn't walk in it. It
was all blocked off for some construction and repairs. I don't quite know
what they were doing in it. We did walk around a bit and saw the other
official buildings and where the new forbidden city is. That is where the
current officials of China are and they don't let foreigners in there.
That is OK. We don't let just anyone in the U.S. Pentagon either, so it
is fair. The end of another day.
Tuesday morning we got up a little late and I ate breakfast, Mike
didn't want to get out of bed and mom ate in the room. Then we got all
dressed up to go to the Great Wall. We hired a driver for the trip. On
the way to the wall we stopped at the Ming Tombs where 13 of the 16 Ming
emperors are buried. Leading to the tombs is the Sacred Way which
starts about three miles from the tombs. At the beginning is a large
triumphant arch covering a giant stone turtle. On the turtle's back is
the largest stele in China. Along the Sacred Way are 12 pairs of large
stone animals and 6 pairs of warriors which are to protect the tombs.
There are determined, persistent vendors at each end of the Sacred Way.
Mom bought a Chinese hat and we both bought a Panda quilt. The ladies
tricked us though. They wrapped up a much smaller quilt than the one we
bargained for. It is still nice, but not what we thought we were getting.
Then it was off to the Great Wall. Mom picked a good place that
hadn't been restored, was remote, and no vendors. We got to see a lot of
the country side while driving through the mountains which we really
liked and also the little villages with their brick houses and shepherds
in the hills. It was great! Then we got to the wall. It was so awesome
to see. It snaked around on the mountain ridges and went as far as you
could see. It reflected the sun rays just right and looked a little
golden. We all had tears in our eyes. It was such a great awesome
feeling to see this wall that I had read about since I was little and it
is the only man made thing seen from space. Mike got out of the car and
was gone to the wall. He had to walk over a dam with water running over
it. He didn't mind jumping from one stone to another. Then he went
straight up these really steep stairs and we lost him for around two
hours or so. Mike's mom took a different route and crossed the river
below the dam. I tried, but I kept slipping. I didn't make it to the
wall. Mike really liked hiking this unrestored section of the wall.
Brush was growing on top of the wall but there was a path and he was
thrilled exploring the wall and the several towers along the wall. He
came back so excited. We decided to also go to a restored section with
easier access so I could get to the wall and walk on it.
Wednesday, our first adventure was to the train station to get tickets to Shanghai. We finally found the place to buy the tickets after wondering around for a long time, with people pointing one way and then others pointing the opposite direction. After that we went to another part of the wall at Mutianyu. This one had cable cars that took you up the hillside to the wall instead of having to hike. This was the part of the wall that President Clinton visited when he came to China. We were glad there were not many tourists or vendors there that day. We saw places even on the wall where vendors would have been, but there really wasn't that many since it was still during Chinese New Year. When we got up to the wall I just stood there and then touched the wall. It was awesome. Then we went hiking on it for a couple of hours. We ate lunch on the wall around 4:00. The view was spectacular. I will have to email pictures when we get them. We did find a little snow on the wall in places that didn't get much sun. Mike and I threw snowballs at each other and had fun. We went to the top of one of the guard houses and looked out. What wonderful scenery with the mountains all around. It was great. We got back to the cable car just on time, almost. Mom heard them shut the door. She pounded on it and got them to let us in. It would have been a long hike all the way back down to our driver. Right after we got down they turned off the cable cars. One of the vendors was still waiting for us. We bought souvenir sweat shirts of the wall (matching of course!) Back at the hotel we sent to sleep early. We were all tired and happy and sore after hiking around.
Thursday, we went to the Forbidden City and spent the day walking around the grounds there. I loved the rock gardens they had and the thrones. It was really neat to see. The thing I liked the most was the clock museum. They had all sorts of elaborate clocks that had been given to the royalty from other countries. They were really awesome to see.
That evening we got on a fast train to Shanghai, 14 hours. We had hard sleeper tickets. The bunks are three high and Mike and I had top bunks. And mom had the middle bunk on the next isle over. It wasn't bad sleeping, but we wished they didn't play the music until 11:00 pm then start it again at 6:00 am. I was tired and covered my head with the pillow and slept until 8:30 am. Then I got up, ate breakfast (cold pizza) and watched the country side go by while playing parcheesi with Mike.
So it is now Friday morning, Feb 19. We got off the train and had to decide where to go. We sat down at the train station, inside out of the cold, and read the Lonely Planet Book. I picked an inexpensive hotel out of the book and off we went. It was above a shopping mall and we had to go through the mall and up the elevators to the hotel rooms. After we unpacked, we went wondering around and tried to get tickets to Hong Kong for Saturday night. We didn't find any. Since it was the last weekend of Chinese New Year everything was already booked up. We were told there were no tickets to Hong Kong until March 2. I had to be back to teach on the 25th, and mom's plane tickets for the States were for the 28th. Mike finally worked it out to get a train on Monday night that would take us to Shenzhen, the Chinese city just across the border from Hong Kong. We figured we could get home from there. We got a local hard sleeper train, 39 hours to Shenzhen, but we were glad we got something. I went back to the hotel for a shower and to get warm. Mom went out exploring around our hotel. I felt better after a shower and mom brought back McDonald's fries, milk shakes, apple pies, and hot chocolates. It was nice to have warm food. Since it was Friday night, we went to bed.
Saturday morning we got up later than we had planned. We were just so tired and it was hard to sleep with all the other people running around the hotel partying since it was the last weekend of Chinese New Year. We quickly got ready and tried to find the SDA church. In Hong Kong we were told the church was near a certain intersection. The Pacific Hotel was by that intersection so we indicated to a taxi driver that we wanted to go to the Pacific Hotel. The taxi driver seamed confused but started driving. It was only a block away and we could have walked. We didn't see anything we thought was the church. We finally called someone in Hong Kong that had been to the Shanghai church. They gave us the street address which we gave to another taxi driver. He drove three blocks. Well, again we could have walked. It turned out that our hotel was only four blocks from the church. The church members rent a Sunday church, a government approved church building, and it works well for the many SDA members. The church was packed! It was a large Medieval style building. The whole service was in Mandarin, but we did run into one person from our church here in Hong Kong! That was neat to travel all that way and see someone we know. After church someone walked by and said "Good morning" to mom in beautiful English. She was surprised and said, "Hi. Where are you from?" She found out that he had moved from New York to Collegedale, Tennessee to attend Southern! Now they're both surprised! Currently he is working in Shanghai in the English Language School there. He interpreted for us after church.
I finally got to meet my best friend's (Susan Ferneyhough) parents. It was awesome. Her father had been on the platform and had given the closing prayer. They invited us home to their house. David Zhong went with us to translate because Susan's parents speak very little English. We had a wonderful time at their house talking about China, families, church work, and seeing kid pictures of Susan. They are incredible people with much faith in God. Susan's dad had even been arrested and put in jail for his faith, but he keep believing. They are both very God fearing people. Her mom made us a feast. I mean it, too. There were about 10 different Chinese dishes on the table. The food was good and so was the company. We played with Susan's nephew, and Mike made origami for him. Sadly we had to go home in the evening, before the buses stopped running. It was a blessing that we didn't get train tickets for Saturday night like I wanted so we could have wonderful Christian fellowship with Susan's parents. While we were going home we saw lots of firecrackers and fireworks. It is a big day 5 days after Chinese New Year. The Chinese light lots of firecrackers to their gods. The more firecrackers the more luck and money one will have in the new year. The SDAs don't light them because they believe in the true God and there is no such thing as luck. There is only God's providence and His protective power. I agree! I know God was leading when we didn't get the tickets I thought I wanted.
Sunday, we found ourselves just going around Shanghai shopping. Since we had already paid for the hotel and our train tickets home, now Mike and I could buy souvenirs for ourselves and others. We didn't have that much money, but I bought Mike a Chinese Domino (Taipei game) he had always wanted. He bought me a wonderful big stuffed Panda bear. It was really neat. That is all we got for ourselves. We had a little money left so we bought a couple souvenirs for others. We figured since we didn't have that much money we would get family and friends souvenirs from Hong Kong, that is where we live anyway.
David Zhong (our translator) and his wife come over for the evening. We found out that she is the Aunt of Angela Chin who married Vernon Chin. Vernon was my lab assistant in Organic Chemistry at Southern and I worked with him at the Biology department. I was Angela's lab assistant for Anatomy and Physiology. It was nice to hear how some old friends were doing. Then she told us of the wonderful faith of her father. Her father was put in prison for 20 years in China. One of our friends in Hong Kong, Stanley Maxwell (grandson of the person who wrote the Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories,) wrote a book about her father's experience. It's titled, "The Man Who Couldn't Be Killed." It was neat to hear her account of her father's faith and of her and her brother and sisters living without their father while he was in prison. He father is still alive and is around 93 now. He is not in prison now and still tells others about his best friend, Jesus, whenever he can. What wonderful faith. It encouraged me and my faith in God and his protective care. The man reached more people in prison than he probably could have outside of prison. God does work in mysterious and wonderful ways!
On Monday, we went on a boat trip down to the great Yangzi River, the third largest in the world! We were put in first, first class. We had the center seats on the top, front of the boat with wonderful comfortable chairs and tea and snacks. It was wonderful. We thought we might see some countryside, but all along the river were shipping industries and a lot of huge ocean going ships that carried the factory goods all over the world. It was neat to see the big ships in contrast with the small local river traffic, and several Chinese navy boats as well. After that we rushed to a Vegetarian Chinese Restaurant and had a quick supper before getting on the train. Since it was a local train, it would take us 39 hours to get from Shanghai to Shenzhen. So we stocked up on good food.
The train was an older train than the one we rode on from Beijing to Shanghai. It was really weird, but they had us get on the train first and get all settled before they let all the other passengers on. The conductor tucked our blankets in around us at night and treated us really special. This time Mike and I got the two lower bunks and mom got the middle above mine. We were happy for the lower ones, because we got to sit on the lower bunks and there was a small table between the two bottom bunks. The other people that were in our isle (6 beds to an isle) were all really, really nice and they didn't smoke. I was glad. Several times, even though it was cold and no heat, we opened the window for fresh air. Since the middle of 1998, smoking is forbidden in the train cars but some people seem to forget. With a gentle reminder they would comply and go smoke between the cars even though it was much colder there. This train didn't have any heat and it was a very cold night the first night leaving Shanghai. We played lots of games and slept some during the next day. There wasn't the constant music in our car. One of our isle mates spoke some English and mom chatted with him for awhile. She showed postcards of Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains and the hills around to show them where we were from. The view from the train was nice. We did see some countryside, and it seams that we stopped at every town we went through. We were stopping and starting all the time. If I had a choice and booked tickets ahead, I would have rather gone a little faster. By the second night I was tired of the train and we didn't get to Shenzhen until Wednesday afternoon at 1:15 pm. That's OK, we finally made it. It was nice we took some canned vegemeat products. We got some plain rice from the dinning car and mixed Fried Chicks and mushroom soup. We really had a feast with that and the little bit of Little Debbies we had left.
Anyway we finally got to Shenzhen Wednesday afternoon. We left the
train station and then didn't know which way to go. We looked around
and followed signs that said Hong Kong. We were really amazed! We went
through immigration and customs then just walked across the boarder to
Hong Kong from Shenzhen, China! It was really neat. We used our Octopus
cards (proximity debit cards) for the local KCR train that took us to
Kowloon Tong. Then we transfered to our local subway type train known as
the MTR and got all the way back to Tsuen Wan our home part of Hong Kong.
>From there we took a taxi to our front door. All in all it was a great
trip. The best thing I liked was finally getting to hike on the Great
Wall. Also I loved the Adventist fellowship with incredible people that
stand up for their faith everyday even though the government could through
them in jail for it anytime they wanted. What awesome faith.
I will end on that note. God bless you all. You have been in our thoughts and prayers. No, I haven't forgotten you, just been busy. Talk to you soon. Write and let me know what you have been up to lately too. I would love to hear from you and I will try to keep up with my email a little better now.
Here is our cooking class on the left, and Mountain View SDA Church on the right
back in Hong Kong.
Love and miss ya,
Jamie