Nov 13-16th Guilin and home

 

We were met at the airport by Jessica, our local guide.  Our stop for the day was the Yao Mountain.  We rode the chairlift up, and had our first view of the karst limestone hills for which Guilin is famous, although it was a little hazy, so we did not have the best views.   On the way back down, Jessica got off near the bottom and took the sled route down, the third photo is her flying by us.

In discussing dinner, Jessica identified a good restaurant near our hotel, but she was concerned about the food ordering since no one spoke English.  So we stopped on the way into town and she helped us decide what to have and to write it out on the ordering menu that they use.   We then walked back later and just handed them the paper and ate away, with chopsticks of course. 

The next morning after breakfast at our hotel we drove a short distance to catch our four hour boat trip down the Li river.  There was an armada of boats making the trip.  The country side is just amazing with these Karst Limestone hills.  The boats cruise along and then near the end of the trip a tasty buffet lunch is served. It was prepared in the kitchen at the back of the boat, last picture in this series.

At one spot you are in a location that is on the 20 Yuan bill.   So we of course had our picture taken at that spot.

We saw a boat with two comorant birds.  They tie the birds to the boat with a line and the birds fish for the boaters.

The next morning we went into Guilin on our own and visited a local park with this mountain, called Solitary Beauty Peak.  We walked up to the top, if you enlarge the first photo you can just make out the route up the mountain.

Emma then picked us up and took us on a boat tour of the city, which has a series of four lakes and the Li river.  It was very scenic.

Emma then took us to the airport for our flight to Hong Kong.  We stayed overnight in Hong Kong at a hotel connected to the airport and then caught our 15 hour flight to New York.   We left Hong Kong at 9:25am and arrived in New York 15 hours later at ten minutes after noon on the same day.  We picked up the car and had a good quick drive home.

 

We hope you enjoy our blog as much as we enjoyed the trip.

Nov 12 Xian and the Terracotta Warriors

 

 

We were met last evening at the airport by our guide, Michael.  On Wednesday our first stop was the Xian city wall.  The existing wall was started by the Ming Dynasty in 1370. It runs an 8.5 mile loop around the city, is 39 feet high, and 45-59 feet wide.    It originally had four gates, north, south, east and west.   At the top of each gate is a building seen in the second photo.   It is amazing to be on the wall and look down it and not be able to see where it turns.   They had bicycle rentals, which would have been a great loop ride, overlooking the whole city.   Down below us was a park, with individuals doing Tai Chi.

After the wall we went to see the Terracotta Warriors.  The first stop was a little shop, where we met this gentleman.   In 1974 he was a farmer and he and some other farmers were digging a well, when they uncovered some of the warriors.  They contacted the authorities, who started the investigation of the find.    The terracotta soldiers were made in about 200 BC at the same time as the great wall.  They estimate at that there are about 8000 warriors and horses, but so far, only about 2000 have been uncovered.  The warriors are decorated with colorful paint on but when exposed to air it immediately starts to deteriorate.  They are holding off on doing much more excavation until they can find a solution to ensure this does not continue to happen.

In the next photo you can see how lifelike the faces are…..    The 2nd photo shows pit 1, which is the largest pit.  It is about 750 feet by 200 feet and is estimated to contain about 6000 warriors and horses.  So far only a third of it has been uncovered, exposing 2,000 warriors and horses and about 20 chariots.  They were originally placed in rows, separated by walls you can see.   Photos two through five below are all from pit one.  Only one of the warriors was found intact, the rest were in pieces and had to be reassembled.   Photos six and seven show what it looked like when they are first uncovered.

The next two pictures are of the only warrior found intact, the kneeling archer. Note the color on the back.  

This next picture shows what it looks like before they restore the warriors.  The final picture is one of the weapons that was found with them.   They were all armed with real weapons.  One of the interesting aspects of the weapons is that the some of them had been dipped in chromium powder to help keep them sharp, a use that was lost for thousands of years..

November 11th Beijing

 

On Tuesday we were picked up by Emma and driven first to the Temple of Heaven.  This is a huge temple covering about one square mile.  It was built in the early 1400s and was originally the temple to heaven and to earth, but it was determined it should only be the temple to one, so it became the temple to heaven.  The local residents use the grounds for Tai Chi, and we saw many groups working out.

 

We then went to Tiananmen Square.

On one side of Tiananmen Square is the entrance to the Forbidden City, with the portrait of Mao on the entrance (first photo).  The Forbidden City was built between 1406 and 1420.  The map shows how massive the 180 acre complex is with 980 buildings.  You enter through the gate at the bottom of the map.  It is a block to two block walk between each successive gate as you move up through the complex. 

The first photo below the Meridian Gate, entrance to the most secure section of the Forbidden City, on the map, it is the building with the water on both sides.  It is the first building in this graphic.

 

The next photo shows Nancy and Emma, having passed through the building/gate in photo one above, with the next building/gate (Gate of Supreme Harmony) in the background.  From there, you see Nancy and I in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.  Past this building and the Hall of Middle Harmony, you come to the building in photos three and four. The fifth building shows the large stone (200 ton) carving of the nine dragons, which was carved during the Ming Dynasty.  The last photo shows the gate of heavenly purity in the foreground, with a temple outside the complex on the hill.

After the Forbidden City, Emma took us to the airport and put us on our flight to Xian.