On your mark, get set, GO!!!

The traffic activity was amazing to see.  At all times it looked like there are many people risking their lives, with cars, bicyles, scooters and pedestrians, all challenging each other for every inch of road. But it was encouraging to find their disposition to all of it seems much better than in the US.   The difference in attitude is that when you're in China and you quickly decide to "cut in" to the 5 feet of available road surface, they will beep the horn at you a couple times but then completely accept it and move on without any ill feelings towards that one in 1.3 billionth person.  Whereas that same move, that we saw maybe 100 times while we were there for two weeks, would cause someone to literally come "unglued" in the US.  In the US you'd be fingered, cursed and possibly hunted. In China it seemed just accepted that that's what everyone there should do to get their place in traffic.

So there is a LOT of horn work being done but it's an understanding horn, if you will.  I told Ran that it would be such great fun if they put a horn in the backseat of the taxi or guide car, so we could play the game too.  I'd be happy as a lark, beaping at every bike, every car or any one of the crazy bastards...that's what they do. Maybe it's the "traffic of the future". Something we'll see in the US someday??

I kept trying to get pictures of the traffic and realized that if I were to do a coffee book with pictures from China (ya know, a coffee book) it would be of all the different bikes in traffic.  There were people from many different generations and many different social classes but all Chinese.  Not one American on a bike in the crowd. And every bike seemed different than the other.  Most had some degree of a homemade customization done to them.  Some looked like the make/brand of the bike should be that person's family name, with maybe just a surviving generation number for the model.  If we lived there, I imagine the "Kelley1" transportation vehicle lookin something like this, with Randi pimpin it out with leopard skin curtains.





We even ran across like a 'cycle rickshaw depot'.  I imagined this is where the advanced cyclists graduate to.







I like this sign, we saw there at many intersections.  I think it says "Don't walk.  RUN!, you crazy bastards, RUN!!"

The Great Wall

Our guide and new best friend, Robert, picked
us up at 8:30am on our first day tour of
Beijing. Our itinerary for the day was packed.
It included the Ming Tombs, Dingling Tomb,
Sacred Way, Jade shop & Badaling Great Wall!

On our way to the Ming Tombs we pulled the car
over to get a look at the exterior of the
Olympic stadiums of the 2008 Olympics held
there.  We took a couple quick pictures of the
Bird's Nest and Water Cube. We discussed Michael
Phelps's success and his resemblance to a large
American freshwater fish.  From there we drove
on to the Ming Dynasty tombs, where 13 emperors
have been buried.  We walked down the Sacred Way,
which out of all the spiritual locations we
were taken to, this one turned out to be the
most serene.

Mostly because it was early morning and free of the typical
heavy tourist throng.  Frickin amateurs!

The Ding Ling tomb (great name) from the
1500's that was just excavated in the
1950's. It's the only one of the tombs
that the government decided to excavate.
Apparently there was a lot of controversy
over it back in the 50s, then there was
a revolution in the middle of the work
and things got put on hold for 10 years.
During that time many of the artifacts
that were uncovered were just thrown into
a holding room that was later damaged by
floods. All in all, it didn't sound like
it went like they originally planned.
But they still had a lot of artifacts from the tombs, from this Emperor and
his 2 Empresses (you know Ding Ling).  It was kind of like a Pharaoh's tomb concept, try to keep all your good sh*t with you in the afterlife, in case it's still worth something or comes back in fashion a 1000 years later.  They even had a wishing well (more like a slot) that many people had aimed from 20 feet away and missed.  I came up to the line and delivered a strike...no problem!  I had Randi telling me the rest of the trip "you're so lucky John Kelley"  :)

It was built in 200 BC and is the longest man made structure in the world.  It is also listed as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.  It is truly
amazing and it goes as far as the eye can see. We went in on a certain area called Badaling.

Our guide Robert explained to that we can either
go the one direction that everybody takes and is
less steep or you can take the road less traveled
because it can be a strenuous hike at times but
the view is so much better and it's much less
crowded.

So we didn't have much of a choice...the gauntlet was thrown down!

The part about being less crowded was true and so
was the strenuous part. I had to reach back to my
2008 Olympic shape to get up the steep inclines.
It may not have been a medal quality performance
but we did it. It was actually a really great hike
with some incredible views.

Bullet to Beijing

On Sunday we were ready to start the Beijing leg of our China adventure and to get there we would be taking a $100 per person bullet train ride.

When we arrived at the train station we went right to the 'Information' booth that had that spelled out in English.  Excellent!  Unfortunately English was not a language that they spoke behind the counter.  But after some pointing, repeated questions and lots of head nods, we felt pretty sure we were waiting at the right track.

We got on and could spread out, as the train was really pretty empty for this first leg of the few stops it would make, on the way to Beijing.  It's a good thing it was empty too because the large American suitcases needed to have some room.

I looked over at Ran as she sat there lookin cool, having a sucker. She gave me a big thumbs up and said "we made it".  I found that to be really cute and funny.

For lunch on the train we were served a tray of rice, vegetables, some chop suey,  a few little chicken wings and a cup of soup. All for 35 RMB (about $5).  Everything was really pretty good.  The only thing was that the soup said it was 'laver egg' soup.  After just touring that silk factory tour yesterday I couldn't help but question if there was a small spelling mistake on the soup description.  I thought of asking the stewardess about it but decided not to...I really wasn't hungry for soup anymore anyways. Looking it up later I found out 'laver' is another word for 'seaweed'.  So that picture of the little guy in the top right corner of the soup cup, is not a cute characterization of a unhatched insect....nooooo, of course not.






Eventually the train filled up and we sat next to a young professor of physiology who spoke some English and was very nice.  The train cooked along near it's top speed of 308 KPH (191 MPH) most of the time, with the scenery usually being rice fields and tree farms.  It was a very comfortable and enjoyable ride all in all.

When we got off the train we had to find and meet our guide for the week.  As we exited the track area we found him right away.  He said he knew it was us because we were the only Americans in the crowd and we knew it was him because he had a sign with both of our full names, with middle names, as they appear on our passports. Little embarrassing...at least the Fitzgerald part.