China May 2006

After several years of traveling around north america I was finally able to reach out to the rest of the world in May of 2006. The main purpose of this trip was to attend the BIR recycling conference held in Beijing, I was able to visit with Terry and Kate who had moved to Beijing in September and joined a whirlwind tour prior to the conference with a group of international recycling industry professionals.

Departing from Toronto it was a 14 hour flight direct to Beijing, this route was flown directly over the north pole and down the coast of Russia before crossing into Mongolia and finally to Beijing. This was the first time I have ever sat through 5 consecutive movies at once and was a fairly exhausting flight.

Beijing rd.1:

I arrived just before noon at Beijing airport and was met planeside by an airport attendent provided by the Shangri-la hotel, she took my bag and guided me quickly though the various stages of customs and directly to a car waiting for me in a near by parking garage. I was extremely impressed with the simplicity of the customs procedures.

Driving from the Beijing airport to the city was about a 45 minute ride, impressed with the construction projects to build the highways into the city and a questioning the yellowness of the air I quickly realized this was not the third world country I had expected to see. As we approched the 4th ring road traffic became heavy and as chaotic as I had ever seen. The longest part of my journey from the airport to the Kerry Center Hotel was traveling the 6 blocks in the center of beijing.

After arriving at the Kerry Center (a Shangri-la hotel) and being extremely impressed by the level of service, the high end all sprakling new hotels around the 3rd ring road I was wisked to my room given some information about the hotel and the city and left to rest.

Later in the evening I met up with Terry and Kate who introduced me to real chinese food at a restaunt about 5-10 minute walk from the hotel. The restauarnt was located in down a back alley away from the hustle of the new city growing around it, simple and filled with working class people. I was introduced to the picture menu, which Terry discribed as point and hope its good. We ended up getting several dishes for the table including some veggies, a "squirril fish" that was brought live to the table prior to being cooked, peking duck, and some delicious chinese treats.. little fluffy cookies with a sweet sugar sauce.

After getting a great nights sleep, I was off to discover Beijing. First thing - the Great Wall of China. After talking to Terry and Kate they highly recommended visiting the Mutianyu section of the wall for the scenery and the fact it would be a little less busy than badaling section most popular and most accessable to tourist. I was able to book myself onto a tour operated by Greyline Tours. On the bus out to the Mutianyu Wall I sat beside two Americans in Beijing on Business, as we approached the wall the tour guide announced that you had the option to climb the stairs or take a gondola ride up to the top of the hill, and suggested walking to the right once arriving at the top although the best views were a more challenging hike to the left. Invited by the challenge I and two other brave members of the group decided to venture on the more difficult hike to the left. An increadable 1.5 hours later we arrived at the break in the wall that signified we must stop and turn around. We had toured through several guard houses walked along the waving hills of and amazing piece of construction build high on mountin peaks, climbed stairs so steap at one point that using your elbows to pull your legs to the next step. I was completely awe struck and after returing down the path we took to amazed at how increadable this simple wall truely was. Being a monday my new friends and I were almost the only people on this strech of the wall, a big suprise for me thinking it would be crowded and difficult to see much of the wall. A tourist trap stop on the way back to beijing and the better part of a wonderful day was complete.

The next day I spent with Terry touring some parks and Temples including the sun temple and moon temple. All of these stops are required for any visitor and the vast size of the city truely overwhelmed me.

The third day I ventured off on my own to visit forbidden city, and Tianimen Square. After nearly getting swindled by the "art students" working a tourist trap in Tianimen and not feeling very well after eating only chinese food for 2.5 days i decided to go rest before heading to Shanghai later tonight.


Shanghai:

I arrived at the PuDong airport in the cover of darkeness and after a bit of confusion at the airport i met my ride and was taken across the sprawling city of lights arriving at the guangdong hotel that is near the university area of shanghai. By the time I arrived it was nearly 2300h, i had seen a convience store around the corner from the hotel so i decided to venture out and see if i could get something for my stomach and a coke. On my way to the store there was an older couple with plates of food and a barbque on the street corner they were very friendly and tried to convince me to sit down and have a snack, i was able to carry on to the store and find the coke but nothing recognizable for my stomach. Luckily on my way back to the hotel the couple had prepared a plate of food and all but forced me to sit down and eat with them. It was a wonderful meal that i have no idea what the food was. The next morning i woke up and felt fantastic.

Meeting up the next morning with the BIR group i learned i was on the International bus. 26 people from 9 countries we would be travelling through Shanghai, and Xi'an together. I met some wonderful people from Turkey, Isreal, Lebenon, Germany, France, Greece, Brazil, and switzerland.

Shanghai is an ultra-modern city. It does not have many tourist sites so travelling here for a day or two is all you really need. We had a two days here and had lots of free time. We visited the Shanghai Museum, The Old City (which was busy but is an amazing icon of chinese culture), the pearl tower, nanjing rd, the bund and the chinese acrobat show.

The pearl tower was very interesting to see as it has a timeline from 1994 to present at the enterance. To see there was nothing around the area only 12 years before was hard to believe. We visited the tower in the morning and viewed the overcast city fading away before your eyes. Visiting the bund and learning the history of this famous port was an important thing to do however there was little to actually see there. Stumbling down nanjing rd in a heavy rain strom made for an intersting day and a true understanding of how busy a city of 20 million people can be.

Xi'an

Arriving mid morning we were able to visit the wild goose pagota park and climb the funny looking buildings that are the iconic asian buildings. after being in busy Shanghai visiting the peaceful pagota was wonderful. Later in the day we traveled into the city and toured the Old City wall fortification, and checked in to our hotel overlooking the south side of the city wall.

I decided to skip dinner with the group and venture off on my own for the evening. After sampling some local foods i noticed some students with guitars so i went to listen, was forced to play and didn't notice the rather large group of people gathering around. After a few songs they students who could not speak english took me for a pint at a small restaurant near by. As the sun set over the city my new non-english speaking friends lead me safely across the most insane road i have every crossed to a small park outside the city wall near the hotel i was staying in. A large group of people of all ages had gathered, and to the beating of a drum the crowd danced. they danced together, apart with each other and with me. I was invited to do many things and had some great fun being part of this strange cultural event. Later i learned this is something that is done every day.

Bright and early the next morning the group travelled out of Xi'an to see the great Terra Cotta Warriors. I am not sure what i expected to see but this army of protectors was amazing. The protective area coving this important historic site gives not clues to the treasures inside. Looking down the dug out lengths of 100 meters and seeing the reconstructed soldiers was amazing. This working museum had scientits working on reconstructing more of the falled soldiers and always discovering more treasures.

Beijing pt.2

A day in Beijing with Terry just seeing some sights of the concrete jungle that is appearing. Beijing is a conflicted city stuck between growth and keeping the historic beijing life in tact. The next couple of days were spent at the BIR conference, with one noteable exception. I went on an excursion out in the country to find a plastics trading market and visit a government controled recycling area. A frightful journey with a crazy driver and some beatiful chinese countryside showed everything from ancient chinese farming, and brick making techniques to modern construction and progressive movement of the country.

Post 1!

Okay so i have given up on creating the full jamesroszel.com website for now. Instead i have decided to post my travel journals in the blog form. Most of the trips i have taken were from 2005 - current and i have detailed journals written that i will try to decipher and add online. I may even get around to some earlier trips.