Beirut and (thankfully) an American

Beijing is a long way from Beirut.  Somewhere between middle school geography and the year 2011, my brain shrank the distance, resulting in me thinking it was maybe a 3 or 4 hour flight.  Well, it's a 10+ hour flight (Departure: 11:55pm. Arrival 5:25am), and if you've read the post Big Cities, you'll know that flying with a plane-full of Chinese people is not conducive to relaxation or sleep.  I had a seat in the middle of the party for the first couple hours of the flight, but my Turkish Airways stewardess-hero took pity on me and moved me to the economy preferred section (or whatever Turkish Air calls it), and I was able to get a few hours of sleep.

I'll digress for a moment to give thanks for 2 things: the British and speaking English.  I am thankful that I speak English, and I'm guessing the extent of the British Empire is what caused it to become the international language.  All airlines announce things in English (many as the first announcement), and this includes internal India/Nepal/China flights as well as international flights.  Also, most signs across the Near and Far East have an English translation in smaller letters.  I can't imagine traveling only speaking German or Thai. 

Moving onwards, Lebanon is a beautiful country.  You can see this much from the plane before landing.  Just generically, I suppose it's hard to find anything but beauty in a country spilling out into the Mediterranean with mountains in the background.  And the fact that you can swim in the sea and then snow ski 45min later is pretty cool (not that I would ever do that; seems like a lot of effort for a vacation).

Besides spending time in Beirut, we hit Faraya (in the mountains), Harissa, and Byblos.  All were beautiful, and all were worth the short drive from the city.  Byblos is one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world (with signs of civilization dating back to 5000BC).

Yeah...not depressing, to say the least. This is the view down the coast from Byblos.

I know you're all wondering about how my ego has been since Beijing, and I am happy/sorry to say it has been killed.  I was pretty confident in the looks and the physical fitness department, and both have taken hits.  First off, my buddy Mac killed me on a run up and down hills on the coast (seriously killed me).  Then, it became clear that Lebanese women have no interest in skinny white boys.  The cool guys in Lebanon clearly spend more time in the gym (mainly bench press, apparently) than they do yogging.


My four days in Beirut, etc were definitely a highlight of the trip.  It was great to see a friend after 6 or 7 weeks of solo travel, and it was great to hear that friend speak English in a normal, native accent.  I found that I could talk in my usual cadence and actually be understood.  It was quite refreshing.

 

 

 

View from Harrisa.

Byblos.

China pics

I took fewer pictures in China than in India, and I regret that on some level, because there was just as much to photograph.  I think China was just such an enjoyable country overall that I forgot about being a tourist at times.  In India, the famous destinations were the (only) hilights, so I snapped away when they were in view.  In China, it was nice to see famous/beautiful things, but I would have been just as happy wondering around the cities.

Scenery around Yangshuo/Li River

Pandas in Chengdu

Entrance to Three Gorges in Feng Jie

Great mis-translation at the Three Gorges Dam.  There were definitely better ones than this, but I didn't always have my camera, unfortunately.

Shanghai skyline from the water.

Dragon Well tea plantation outside Hangzhou

Warriors in Xi'an

Entrance to Forbidden City in Beijing

Great Wall outside Beijing

Wall, Ego, and Nage

Yes, I went to the Great Wall of China.  Yes, I was expecting to be underwhelmed.  I find that when things are as built-up as this wall (you can even see it from space!*), they generally disappoint.  Is this attitude a clever/sad way of distorting high expectations in an effort to allow myself to be wowed rather than merely satisfied?  Yes, yes it is.  Did I learn this trick from a life full of disappointments?  Yes, yes I did.**

Oh yeah, the Great Wall.  It doesn't disappoint.  There's nothing particularly grand about any given 100 foot (I almost typed 'meter' there; the dark side is creeping into my soul) chunk of the structure; it is, after all, just a big stone wall.  It's the scale of the thing that gets you.  I went to a section about 90min outside Beijing, and as you drive up and see it on the top of a pretty steep hill, it looks mildly impressive.  But once you trek up to the wall (you can take a cable car if you roll that way) and walk along it to a high point, you get it.  It goes on forever, and when that is coupled with the fact that construction began in 200BC and the whole thing hit 5,500 miles long at one point, I was forced to take a deep breath and admit non-underwhelming-ness. 

I am typing this on my last night in China from the city of Beijing.  I am sad to go, though I will not miss having Facebook and my blog blocked.  I would have no qualms being transferred here for a job, and I am tempted to take a stab at learning the language even though it seems quite impossible; the sounds and names and characters have zero to do with any of my life experience thus far, and it's very intimidating.  

Speaking of the language, the people in Northern China seem to use 'that' like we would use 'um.'  For example, I might say, "I'll have um, um, the roast duck."  While a Chinese person would say, "I'll have that, that, roast duck."  No big deal, right?  Well, maybe a little bit.  'That' in Chinese is translated as 'nage', which is pronounced exactly like the slang version of a very bad N-word that is often used in rap songs.  (Rhymes with 'wigga'.)  So, I'm walking the Great Wall or running the streets of Beijing or sitting in a restaurant, and all I hear are Chinese people loudly using an English (American) racial epithet.  I did my part and told my (attractive) tour guide to remember never to say 'that' should she find herself in America.

I hesitate to report this last bit about China, because I do not want it to discredit my previous blog posts of praise.  I will assert that I have enjoyed China for China, and this last piece of the story only affected my ego (and mildly, at that).  The truth of the matter is that my hair has gotten a bit long and more than a bit curly, and Chinese women don't seem to mind.  For the first week, I thought I noticed members of the opposite sex looking at me a bit more/longer usual, but I shrugged it off and figured my eyes still hadn't fully healed from laser surgery.  

But, at the beginning of the second week, a random girl came up and said, "You handsome. Picture?"  She was the first but not the last to look up 'handsome' and 'picture' on her iPhone dictionary before coming up to me and unknowingly plunging me into a struggle to retain my humility.  But not to worry, I am headed to Beirut to hang out with a much cooler and admittedly more attractive man-friend, and should that not cure me, I have complete faith that my Houston friends will help knock me back down to where I belong.  Finally, if they don't succeed, my sister will see how much weight I've lost on my journey and immediately start taunting me with her favorite word: manorexic!   

*apparently a mistake by a US astronaut

**blatant lie

Big Cities

Travels Since Chengdu:

Bullet train to Chongqing: largest municipality in the world at 33mm people 

Bus to Feng Jie: town on the Yangzi River at the entrance to the 3 gorges

Boat down the Yangzi, ending in Yichang: unimpressive city of 4.5mm people where the controversial Three Gorges Dam is located

Flight to Shanghai: great, modern city of 22mm people

Bullet train to Hangzhou: beautiful/peaceful city of 8mm people built around the West Lake (check out www.nytimes.com for a recent article in the travel section)

Flight to Xi'an: see below for thoughts

Musings: 

I have found that the easiest way to differentiate Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Shanghai is by remembering what people continually offered me on the street. In Bangkok, it was sex and tailored shirts/suits. Hong Kong was fake Rolexes and tailored shirts/suits, and Shanghai was fake Rolexes and pot. I may have to throw out the Shanghai survey results, though; my hair is getting pretty fro-ish at this point, and I'm not positive I've shaved since Nepal, so I MAY be putting off the hippie vibe. 

While I continue to experience general enjoyment and amazement in China, I am willing to offer mild criticisms at this point. First of all, I think that the development of Chinese manners is lagging behind their infrastructure/technology progress. The most glaring example of this is with spitting. Men spit in the street very often, which is fine, in theory (I suppose), but this is no ordinary spit. This spitting would qualify as 'hawking a   loogie', but that doesn't even capture it. It's a deep, guttural groan that starts at the bottom of the ribcage, working its grumbling up through the torso, ending with a couple sharp, mucus-laden coughs and, at last, a spit. The whole production takes at least 30seconds. To make matters worse, the loogie is often followed by the runners' nose-blow (no tissue, blowing directly on the ground). I'll try to get it on video just in case my explanation is lacking. 

I have also found that manners on planes are not quite as refined as I am used to. Well, these could be chalked up to just cultural differences, actually. Regardless, people take flights as a time to get really  into some loud discussions. And these discussions are not limited to those sitting in your row, because all the men seem to think the cool thing to do is stand up in the aisle and congregate around the epicenter of the most lively conversation. I find this rude for 3 reasons: 1) flying is my reading and relaxing time, and I don't need people standing next to me and essentially shouting (yes, that's a selfish reason) 2) going to the bathroom is a hassle for everyone because 7 dudes have to decide to let you through 3) it's not a ton of fun for the flight attendants as they try to serve people. 

Lastly on the plane subject, people go wild when the plane finally reaches the gate. There is a sudden, chaotic, shoving-match-ish rush for the door. Mind you, the door is not open (and won't be for a couple of minutes), but everyone sprints 2 or 3 rows forward in an effort to be off the plane 12 seconds earlier (this happens on buses, as well). Yes, you could argue Americans do the same thing at times, but this situation is slightly different, because you'd be the last person off the plane even if you were in the first row. No one lets anyone into the aisle; there's no orderly procession out. So, you have 2 options, and my tour group is split evenly between the 2: 1) sit and wait for everyone to exit and then saunter off the plane or 2) have a little self-respect and throw an elbow into the aisle, letting people know you've played the game before. I respect both approaches, of course. 

Now that I've offered a little color, I'll go bland again and tell you I'm in Xi'an, which was the capital of China for 1,000yrs. It's now a smaller city at only 7.5mm people (seriously, that's not considered big here; I guess if you have 1.2 billion people, you end up with a couple big cities), but it seems to be a pretty cool place. They've got high-tech industry, a great 'old town' inside the ancient city gates, and the terra cotta warriors (I just got back seeing them: awesome). 

China Travels

As mentioned, I had the pleasure of flying on the largest and greatest commercial airplane in existence, and I can confirm that it was a pleasure.  The plane was shockingly quiet, and Emirates does it right on service.  I mean, even in coach, there are wood accents around the windows and marble counter tops in the bathrooms (not that either of those mattered at all, but it was noted and appreciated).  Plus, each seat has a pretty big TV with over 1,000 movies/tv shows on demand (and you can watch through takeoff and landing), music, and 4 live cameras from the front/back/bottom/top of the plane.  Plus, the staircase between decks is bigger than those in most houses, which I found cool, for some reason.

The plane dispensed me in Hong Kong, and while I was sad to leave Emirates, I quickly warmed to the former British colony (protectorate? conquered land?).  English is everywhere; it pretty much felt like New York.  It was nice to feel understood, and I tip my hat to England for conquering the delightful little island and imparting the wonderful English language on the inhabitants.

Late the next afternoon, we took a train into the Chinese mainland, spent an hour negotiating customs, ate an early dinner at the train station, and then boarded an overnight train to Yangshuo.  One fun tidbit I've learned about myself from this round of traveling (first observed in India) is that I can't sleep on trains even when in a pretty soft bed with clean bedding.  Every time the train slows down or stops, my body wonders what is happening and wakes me up.  It's pretty fun.

We got to Yangshuo at 10am the next morning, ate some breakfast, and headed out on a boat tour of the Li River.  Around Yangshuo and the Li River are these odd, sheer limestone hills jutting out of the earth everywhere (they're memorialized in all the Chinese paintings you've seen, and they're on the 20 Yuan note).  I'd upload a picture or two, but China doesn't seem to like that, so check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangshuo_County.

We spent a couple of nights in Yangshuo, and I really enjoyed it.  The town is only maybe 50,000 people, and the culture is really relaxed.  It's a cafe city with restaurants and tea/coffee houses spilling out into the streets everywhere.  All the coffee was good, and the food is great.  I think I'm beginning to reverse the India/Nepal weight losses, which is positive.

From Yangshuo, we flew China Southern (surprisingly nice airline) to Chengdu, where I've seen some giant pandas and red pandas, hung out at Wenshu Temple, jogged, walked around Culture Square (has the largest Mao statue in China) and People's Park, eaten some Sichuan hot-pot (painfully, painfully spicy), and found out I got into the Rice MBA program.  I really like Chengdu; it's about half the size of Shanghai, so merely 12 million people, but it's also a pretty relaxed city with lots of tea houses and spots to relax and play majong.

Apologies for the long and rambling post, but China seems to be randomly deciding whether or not to block this blog from their servers.  We're good today, so I'm trying to get as up to date as possible (mainly so I don't forget things).  Other than random site-blocking, China is really great.  It's very, very modern and clean and everyone is very friendly, trying their best to speak English (most people think they know it better than they actually do).

On one hand, it's awesome to be seeing this vibrant, growing country, and on the other hand, I can't help but thinking they are WAY ahead of what I expected, meaning they are WAY closer to taking over the world than I had anticipated.  Their roads are perfect and buildings are nice and people are hard working and power never goes off and 12mm people drive without traffic jams and subways run on time to the second.  Everything seems too good to be true.  Perhaps I'm just in the tourist twilight zone, and everyone is an actor, and all the building are mirages.  Perhaps.

Back to Bangkok and on to Hong Kong

Well, it did rain for 3 days at the beach. It didn't rain all day, and it didn't rain particularly hard, but it did rain. It was pretty amusing to watch people migrate to and from the pool as the weather changed throughout the day. All the work of getting kids in their pool gear and lathered up with sunscreen only to get an hour or two of decent weather. Oh well. I don't have kids.

I will admit to staying at the Hilton in Hua Hin. I will also admit to staying there mainly because of the Conrad Hilton character in Mad Men. He sold me on the whole 'bringing America to the world' bit, and I was curious to see how the chain is accomplishing his goal. All in all, I'd say it was pretty much America except for the Americans. I'm pretty sure there were mainly Northern Europeans in Hua Hin. Plenty of old dudes in speedos, and lots of not-French/Italian/Spanish being spoken. The only reason I'm not positive is because there were also plenty of fat people, and I thought Americans were the fat people in the world. Perhaps Americans are wearing speedos and learning other languages.

Back in Bangkok, I took a picture for my loyal followers.  The view from my hotel.  You're welcome.

At the Bangkok airport, I just paid a little over $10 for Burger King. Not sure how that happened; I'm not proud of it. Now on to Hong Kong with Emirates in the A380.  That probably doesn't mean much to people, but it's the only plane in the world with private suites and showers on board (no, I'm not in one).  It's also the quietest, biggest (up to 600ppl), and most fuel efficient plane on the market.

  

To Bangkok

The best I could coax out of the iphone

At first, I was regretting not getting up early to take the Buddha Air mountain flight (just an hour of buzzing around the Himalayas) with a couple people from the group. I had heard it could get delayed, and I had no intention of missing my flight to Bangkok, where a real hotel with assuredly clean bedding and towels awaited (I got the feeling many Indian and Nepali linens were their version of clean). Luckily, I sat on the window of the left side of the Thai Air flight out of Kathmandu, and was treated to a view of the entire Himalayan range as we headed down to Bangkok. It was stunning. I tried to take some pictures with my iphone, but none of them do the 20min of perfect mountain views justice.

I ate dinner at the hotel, and then I had breakfast at Starbucks. It was delightful. My theory on the low quality of the last few weeks of my diet was confirmed, and my stomach had its first quiet day in some time. Luckily, it's raining in Bangkok, so I don't feel the need to do any sight-seeing. I'm not even going to take any pictures. But I did take a jog in the gym and relax in the hot tub. Tomorrow I head to the beach in Hua Hin, and I really wouldn't mind if it rains a couple days there, too. The whole point of Thailand is to gain back the 5+ pounds I've lost and rest up before 3 weeks in China.

Back to Kathmandu

If you haven't guessed which airline we flew from Chitwan to Kathmandu, you're way behind. Buddha Air, of course. It's actually the only Nepalese airline foreigners begrudgingly trust. Yeti Air is surprisingly not on the list, and neither is (Royal) Nepal Airlines, which has all of four 70's-era jets to its name.

It's a 20min flight to Kathmandu, but, of course, we had to get there two hours early. On top of that, it was SLIGHTLY cloudy, and our guide was pretty convinced there wouldn't be any flights. They didn't fly any yesterday, and we were thinking it's cloudier today. This brings us to the joy of internal Nepal flights: they don't really have air traffic control, and there's not much in the way of radar. So, mist, darkness, and rain all quickly cancel flights. I was personally really hoping for a flight, because it's a 5hr drive (yeah, it takes 5hrs to get 50-60miles as the crow flies when there are mountains). Luckily, we made it out of the forest and back to civilization. (Fun tidbit: the flight was actually on time, which our van driver didn't even consider possible, so he was late picking us up.)

Cremation platforms

Close-up

We headed out from the airport to see the last sight of the trip: the holy place where the Nepalese burn their dead. The whole area is full of stupas and temples and holy men, but the main point is the platforms built next to the river where bodies are burned. Anyone can use them, and bodies are burned non-stop. I found it unsettling to see mourning families watching a loved one burn. Many tourists seemed to treat it like any other famous sight, but it was all I could do to snap a couple pictures (just to satisfy you blog-readers, of course) before retreating. I didn't really think I'd like random people from Nepal crashing my funeral, so I tried to stay out sight. That being said, they really didn't seem to mind.

Chitwan 2

Bath with elephant

Day 2 in Chitwan may have actually beat day 1.  I skipped the 6am elephant ride.  I know, I know; how many more elephant safaris will I have the opportunity to go on?  Well, I'm a bit spoiled by a week of safaris in the Serengeti, and 2 hours on a lumbering elephant with a wooden bar between your legs may sound comfortable, but I assure you it is not.  Don't worry, I traipsed through the forest on a 1.5 hour nature walk at 830.  The 8ft tall termite hill worried me a little and convinced me not to buy any Chitwan real estate.

River? No problem

Next came the elephant info session and the opportunity to bathe with the elephants.  Fun facts for the kids at home: Asian elephants have a hump-back while African elephants have a straight back.  Asian elephants' trunks have one finger-type thing at the end while African elephants have 2, and (supposedly), Asian elephants' ears are the shape of India while African ones are the shape of Africa.  

The bathing was the best.  People basically volunteered to get sprayed with a fire-hose of river water.  Most of you should have guessed by now that I didn't think that was the best idea, but I was more that happy to watch and take pictures.  In fact, if no one had volunteered, it wouldn't have been any fun, so I thank the brave souls.

We ended the day with a Rover ride through the park.  It probably wasn't that fun for most people, but there's something really cool about conquering forests and rivers with a 1970's British truck.

Chitwan National Park

Getting on the elephants

Five hours of bad Nepalese roads (that's admittedly redundant) in the van and then a 40min Land Rover ride across trails, rivers, and streams, and we're in Chitwan National Park ready to head out on an elephant safari.  The coolest stuff to see in Chitwan is the Royal Bengal Tiger (well, the Bengal Tiger, but more on that later), the sloth bear, rhinos, crocodiles, and rare birds (booooring).  Our group saw everything but the coolest two, so that obviously means no tigers or sloth bears. We also tacked on some surprisingly ugly deer species, wild boars, and the kingfisher bird.

Self-Portrait

I am personally fascinated by the kingfisher because it is a bird, the most popular beer in India (get Kingfisher Blue - aka premium; the regular is a bit rough after a lifetime of premium American beers like Miller Light), and an airline.  I'm not sure about the history of these connections, but I'm thinking that the whole scenario is leftover from when birds used to rule the world.

I'll circle back to explain why there is no longer a ROYAL Bengal Tiger.  In 2008, the Kingdom of Nepal became the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.  In other words, the monarchy was abolished.  The then-king now lives in a normal 2-story house in the suburbs (probably smart keeping a low profile).  Well, the Nepalese decided that since the the government was no longer royal, nothing could be royal...  Royal Chitwan National Park = Chitwan National Park.  Royal Nepal Airlines = Nepal Airlines.  Royal Bengal Tiger = Bengal Tiger.  Clearly, there are many more examples of this.  I find it all mildly amusing.