I've always wondered why the Missus had never wanted to "visit home" as it were, and visit Her hometown(s) (QingDao and Beijing). Whenever I'd mention visiting China, She'd usually reply, "I don't think you'd be able to deal with China…. the crowds, the people, and all that." But a funny thing happened a bit over a year ago; the Missus's Fifth Aunt visited, for just a short while; and after they left, you could just tell that something had changed. At that point, I think that the Missus started to miss Her large family, and began wondering how Beijing and QingDao had changed over the last, almost two decades. Over the last year, a couple of events occurred that led to our making plans for a tirp to China. First, one of the Missus's cousins was getting married. Second, the timing was perfect for a family reunion of sorts. Third, the home where my MIL was born, and where the Missus was raised was scheduled to be razed. Progress had caught up with the Missus's old neighborhood. Last, but not least, the Missus's parents had purchased a new home in Ewa Beach, and was itching to have us visit.
And so we started making plans, which started at two weeks, and eventually blossomed into a whole month. In the end we ended up with a itinerary that looked like this; Oahu – Beijing – QingDao – Jinan – Hangzhou – Suzhou – Nanjing – Xi'an – Chengdu – Beijing – Oahu. We flew to Honolulu, then to Beijing, caught trains from Beijing to QingDao, then from QingDao to Jinan. In QingDao, we decided to fly on trips that would take over six hours via bus or train for several reasons, which I'll detail later. So we flew from Jinan to Hangzhou, did buses from Hangzhou to Suzhou and then onward to Nanjing. We then flew to Xi'an, then to Chengdu, finally flying back to Beijing. What struck me as being interesting is that we caught different airlines on each leg of our trip in China. Shandong airlines to Hangzhou, Shenzen Airlines to Xi'an, where I took this photo from the bus to the terminal. The plane may be new, but the garbage collection vehicle has been around a while.
We flew to Chengdu on China Eastern Airlines, and back to Beijing on Sichuan Airlines. Airlines are pretty convenient in China, as trains and buses are still the most used methods of long distance travel. Folks still can, and do show up at the airport and buy tickets for the next flight out without problem.
Many of the airports are quite nice, as is true in the case of the airports in Beijing (obviously upgraded for the 2008 Olympics), and Jinan.
Level of service and attitudes in the airport vary greatly. The double security check at the airport in Beijing was very, ummmm, ahem thorough. You do end up on a podium of sorts and have a go over with a metal detector, and your pockets, hems, waistline, and other areas checked by hand. I will say that the folks I dealt with were very professional and even friendly. The person who ran my ticket through the scanner at the security check, pointed up at the little camera and told me in English, "smile for the camera please", again probably due to training from the 2008 Olympics. Whereas, in Xi'an, perhaps due to tourist burn-out, I was pushed around a bit, and even yanked off the security check podium by my beltline.
As you can imagine, airline food varied greatly. My favorite was probably the Bi Bim Bap provided on Korean Airlines on our flight to and from Seoul (we flew HNL-Seoul-Beijing).
The Missus really enjoyed the tubes of Gochujang! I swear She's brush Her teeth with the stuff if She could!
The oddest item we had was a version of Rou Jia Mo (肉夹馍), a meat sandwich of sorts which is a specialty of Shaanxi Province. Nothing really odd about a pita sandwich, right? Except, that in the traditional style of Rou Jia M0, the meat was heavily seasoned with cumin….. I mean a lot of cumin. The smell of the cumin was obviously recycled into the A/C system. It wasn't too bad that everyone on the flight shared in the same smell, which got into your clothes. But once you got off the flight, folks would kinda steer clear of you…. a rarity in a country where personal space is basically nil. Come to think of it, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing……
The nicest bus station was in Hanzhou…..
Even though the ticket window looked a lot like the betting window at the racetrack.
The bus station in Suzhou was bit worn and old looking….
And let's not even talk about the restrooms……. though the woman selling toilet paper was doing good business. If traveling to China, remember to always have some TP in your pocket.
Being able to hold your breath for several minutes and being a good squatter is also a plus.
Speaking of squat, this woman, right after deciding to come to a complete stop to send a text message in the middle of a crosswalk at the airport for several minutes. Ignoring the honking horns of the drivers swerving around her, decided to just squat down and make herself comfortable right off the curb for about fifteen minutes.
I guess now's a good time for a photo of the Great Wall????
My apologies for not having much food in this post, but believe me when I say, there are a bunch coming up.
And maybe some interesting snacks as well……
Thanks for reading!