The Great Wall of China5. The Wall

The Great Wall of China is actually a lot of different walls that stretch out thousands of miles. You get to different walls from different cities. Beijing is probably the most popular starting point because it is the easiest, and also since Beijing is a destination on its own.

The easiest entrance from Beijing is Badaling. Buses and taxis from Beijing go there every day, and it only takes an hour. It is also the most crowded. The only reason we rented a car was so we could get to a less crowded, more scenic section.

Mutianyu is supposed to be far more authentic than Badaling and far less crowded. Fewer people go there because it is harder to get to by bus and far more expensive by taxi. In China, taxi drivers are generally honest, but when it comes to the biggest tourist attractions with the most foreigners that are out in the middle of nowhere, getting ripped off is not rare.

With our own car, we could drive to whichever entrance we wanted. We would also not have to worry about missing the last bus back to Beijing. Some of the buses stop running surprisingly early. With a car, we could set our own schedule, go where we wanted and not deal with scams. That was the plan, at least.

One Day At a Time part 6

I'm going back to Fuzhou on Sunday. I think I'm getting used to these tiny overnight trips. I remember the first time I went to Fuzhou. It was my first trip to Mainland China. Everything about it was new and strange to me. The Fuzhou airport is nothing like Hong Kong Airport, and just walking the streets of Fuzhou feels like you are in a different country. The signs are all in the same language, but the atmosphere is different.

Now it is almost routine. Going to China is like hopping a flight from Minneapolis to Chicago. Almost. I have been to several other Chinese cities, but now I have been to Fuzhou more than the rest of them combined. It is still a strange little city, but it is familiar. If I ever go back to Shanghai, I will probably get that feeling that I'm in some new exotic place. But Fuzhou will never feel exotic again.

One Day At a Time part 5

Since I have the day off tomorrow, I'm going to Fuzhou again. It is another tiny one night trip, but I knew about it far enough in advance that I was able to book a hotel. Staying at Ryan's house is cheaper, but more crowded.

He likes staying at my apartment whenever he comes to Hong Kong. That is because he gets along with my roommates and has a bit of a crush on Lily. I don't especially like staying at his house whenever I go to Fuzhou. I think his roommates act too much like teenagers. It's not that they are old. They are all pretty much our age and they have all been living there for a while, but they act like they are away from mommy and daddy for the first time.

At a hotel, Ryan and I can have far more privacy than we ever get at his house. I have said it before and I will probably say it a million more times, but privacy is of the utmost importance when you are in a long distance relationship. Lily and Kevin see each other every day. They share a bedroom. They can live in sin like there's no tomorrow. Ryan and I live in different countries, more or less. We have to get on a plane to see each other. After I have gone through all the airport hassles and a hundred Chinese people manhandling my passport, I want to do things with my boyfriend that I can't do with four teenagers listening at the door. In a hotel room, I can go 50 shades of red on his ass.

One Day At a Time part 4

I'm taking another mini trip to Fuzhou tomorrow. The plan is to go more often, but that pesky New Year interfered. Now that it is mostly over, I should be able to go more often.

I will have to stay at Ryan's house again. We did not book a hotel in time. The downside to taking these shorter trips more often is that there is a lot less time to book anything. Plane tickets are pretty easy. Hong Kong Airlines and Dragonair have several flights a day from here to there. Hotels require a little more advanced notice, especially in Fuzhou.

One Day At a Time part 3

I took what must have been the shortest trip of my life on Wednesday. I flew out to Fuzhou Wednesday afternoon, spent the night and flew back to Hong Kong Thursday morning. Fortunately, it is only a two hour flight. Unfortunately, I stayed at Ryan's house. I have always said that getting a hotel is the much better option in Fuzhou, but during the New Year, getting a room is very difficult. Fuzhou has fewer hotel choices than a lot of Chinese cities and everything is more crowded and more expensive during the New Year.

I have actually taken shorter trips, but Hong Kong to Fuzhou is almost like going to a different country. I still have that American attitude that any trip to another country should be a long vacation. I'm not used to going through passport control one day and then leaving the next.

One Day At a Time part 2

I have the day off tomorrow, so I'm going to Fuzhou. I have to work Thursday. That means I have to fly out of Fuzhou Thursday morning. At least that gives us most of Wednesday. This is probably not the best way to do things, but if we can take tiny trips more often, it might even out. One weekend a month was not the best way to do it either.

One Day At a Time part 1

Rather than wait until we have more time off to see each other, Ryan and I have decided to do our trips a little differently. We all like it better when he comes out here, but that is not going to happen anytime soon. This is the busiest time of year for both of us and Hong Kong is not the easiest place to fly to during the New Year.

I'm not going to have two or three days off in a row for a while, so we have decided that I should just fly to Fuzhou whenever I can, spend the night and fly back the next day. A full weekend is better, but even one day is better than nothing. The New Year just started, so this weekend is definitely out of the question.

The Other New Year

Ryan and I are talking about what to do for Chinese New Year, which is in the middle of February this year. Since he came to Hong Kong for Christmas and New Year's Eve, it seems only fair that I go to China for the Chinese New Year. The problem is that it is the busiest time of year for both of us. He will definitely have to work on 農曆除夕, Chinese New Year's Eve. I do not always work New Year's Eve or even New Year's Day, but I always work at least some of the days during the holiday period. Technically, only the first three days are legal holidays, but the entire festival lasts about two weeks, from 農曆除夕 all the way to 元宵節.

Whenever he comes to Hong Kong, he stays at the new apartment. There is plenty of room for everybody. Whenever I go to Fuzhou, we either stay at a hotel or his house, with his four roommates. Naturally, I would rather stay at a hotel. I kind of like privacy. But Chinese New Year is the worst time to stay at a hotel in China. They fill up quickly and are usually far more expensive. I always have to pay the extra foreigner price in China, but during the New Year, everyone pays extra. If we are going to book a room, we have to do it now. It might already be too late.

Weekend in Xiamen part 5

Zhongshan Park is at the end of Zhongshan Road, so we already knew how to get there. Zhongshan Road is pretty easy to get to since it is the main tourist area of the island and is probably the most popular shopping street in the entire city.

Neither of us wanted to go back to Zhongshan Road, but I wanted to see the park. Ryan reluctantly agreed.

Zhongshan Park was not the most exciting place in the world, but it was a nice, clean place to take a walk. Pretty much the opposite of Zhongshan Road. The shopping street was dirty, loud and far too crowded. The park was clean, relatively quiet and almost empty, at least when we were there. It was not strictly empty. There were probably hundreds of people there, but anything in China with less than a million people is empty.

The highlight of the trip for both of us was the grocery store. That might seem strange, but I am still impressed by how many American items this store had. People visiting from the United States would not care. It is a tiny shop compared to American supermarkets. Since we live far away from the United States and real American food is hard to find, this store was a blessing to us.

I liked one of the two Italian restaurants, but Ryan's favorite food in Xiamen was pizza. Our hotel, aside from being in a good location, had a Papa John's in the courtyard. They even delivered to our room, which is a small price to pay for mediocre pizza.

It's easy to find better pizza in Hong Kong. Pizza Express is not bad and Paisano's is quite good. Ryan has neither in Fuzhou. His pizza choices are Pizza Hut and Chinese pizza. Frozen pizzas are better than Pizza Hut and no one from Italy or New York would recognize Chinese pizza as pizza. The first time I saw a Chinese pizza, I asked someone what it was. They said it was pizza and I laughed. I thought they were joking.

Papa John's is enormously flawed, but it is better than Pizza Hut and much closer to what most of the world calls pizza than Chinese pizza. The housekeeping staff at our hotel had to pick up a lot of pizza boxes.

Weekend in Xiamen part 4

The big sights in Xiamen are Gulangyu, Nanputuo Temple, Xiamen University, Zhongshan Park and Zhongshan Road.

We went to Gulangyu on our first trip to Xiamen and we absolutely hated it. There was nothing wrong with the island itself. It might even be pleasant on its own. The problem was that you can't really see it with millions of people milling about. Literally millions of people. It reminded me of Disneyland on opening day, only the people on Gulangyu were much angrier.

A quick ferry ride gets visitors from Xiamen Island to Gulangyu, but they cram the ferry as full as they possibly can. Even fuller than that, really. If you don't want to stand in a giant ashtray and smell what everyone else just ate, don't take the ferry. Gulangyu is an island with no connecting bridges, so there is no other way to get there. It is technically illegal to smoke on the ferry, but smoking laws are merely suggestions in China. Since pretty much everyone smokes, those suggestions are always ignored.

Once you are pushed off the ferry by the mob, it is still unbelievably crowded. Chinese people naturally push their way everywhere and this island is wall to wall people pushing to get to whatever they want to see. There is an observation deck on the highest hill, but getting there was an absolute nightmare. I have seen lions on the Discovery Channel that were more polite to the zebras they killed than the way most of the people on Gulangyu acted in their mad lust to be the first at everything.

We also went to Nanputuo Temple on our first trip. That was another place that is probably nice without millions of people all pushing each other. We did not even bother attempting the top of that hill.

Our first trip to Xiamen was in the middle of June and this one was at the end of May, so maybe we did not pick the best times to go. It might be less crowded in January. Maybe some of these places are better when there are only hundreds of thousands of people.

We never went to Xiamen University, on either trip. We never saw the point. There is supposed to be a nice lake at the university, but our hotel was next to a lake, so we never bothered.

Zhongshan Road is a major tourist shopping street. We went there on our first trip with mixed results. This was where we saw the world's filthiest Walmart and a woman urinating at the front door. There is nothing else on Zhongshan Road besides tourist shopping. Since we already knew that, we did not go back.

What we never saw on our first trip was Zhongshan Park, so we went there this time.

Weekend in Xiamen part 3

Xiamen Island is small, so getting to everywhere we wanted to go was pretty easy. There is more to the city than the island, but we were not there long enough to explore the outer reaches, and we really didn't care anyway. We mostly went for the grocery store. That was on the other end of Yundang Lake. We could have walked to it from the hotel, but then going back with all those groceries would have been too much.

We actually went to the grocery store twice. The first time, they were out of too many of the things we wanted. They said another shipment would come in on our last day in Xiamen, so we went back just before we left the city. It would have been ironic if the main reason we went to Xiamen was a bust, but that's the chance you take when you go somewhere for a single reason.

Across the street from the American grocery store are two Chinese Italian restaurants, Duole and Mamma Mia. We did not try either of them the first time we went to Xiamen because we were on a cruise ship full of free food, or at least food that was already paid. This time, we had to find our own meals, so we went to one of the Chinese Italian restaurants on our first night and the other one right next door on our second night.

From the outside, both restaurants looked basically the same. You could tell they were two different restaurants, but there was nothing that distinguished one from the other. From the inside, one definitely looked more like a traditional Italian restaurant than the other. We assumed that one would have the better food. We were completely wrong.

The restaurant with the more generic café interior, Duole, had much better food. I don't know who runs either restaurant, but I would be surprised if the chef in Duole was not Italian, or at least trained in Italy. The pasta was as fresh as could be and the sauces were excellent. Almost every single Italian restaurant in China serves dried pasta. The better places put more effort into the sauce. The worst places just slap ketchup on top. Duole served us fresh pasta that was probably made that day. The best part, to me at least, was the garlic bread. I love garlic bread. It is one of the hardest things to find in Hong Kong. Lots of places have Chinese bread. Some places have what they call garlic bread. No one has genuine, fresh bread with genuine garlic and genuine olive oil. Who knows why. Bread is not a Chinese staple, but we have fresh garlic all over the place.

Even if you find a place that says it has garlic bread, it is usually Chinese bread, which is nothing like Italian, French, German, Dutch, American, Canadian, Irish or Scandinavian bread. Sometimes they will put Chinese butter on it or Chinese vegetable oil. Chinese butter tastes nothing like what I think of as butter. I don't know how they make it, but something is just off, like vegan cheese. Chinese oil is usually corn or peanut oil, which is not always a bad thing, but is not ideal for garlic bread. Olive oil is more expensive and not a traditional Chinese ingredient, so few places will use it.

Cheaper places use something called gutter oil. The less said about that, the better. Foreigners can usually tell which places use gutter oil since you will have a dramatic reaction to the food right away. My rule is if any food comes out of me right after I put it in, I never go back to that place.

Weekend in Xiamen part 2

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on the island, which was a very good choice. Even though we had been to Xiamen before, we knew nothing about the hotels since the cruise ship was our hotel.

In Fuzhou, you have few options. There are a few western hotels, but they are easily the most expensive. Most of the hotels are Chinese, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but Chinese customers seem to have different ideas about what is clean and comfortable. Chinese hotels also look like they were decorated 50 years ago. I don't care about the latest furniture and whatever this week's trends are, but I think you have to redecorate your hotel every once in a while. If nothing else, newer carpets and beds tend to be cleaner.

Xiamen has more choices. They have plenty of Chinese hotels, of course, but they also have a greater variety of western hotels. It's not just the most expensive western chains. They have cheap western hotels, too.

The Crowne Plaza is neither the most expensive nor cheapest hotel in Xiamen. It is supposedly a 5 star hotel, but Chinese 5 star is usually not the same as actual 5 star. I have seen some Chinese 5 star hotels that Motel 6 would not want to touch. The Crowne Plaza would probably be 3 stars in Paris. It was clean and comfortable, which are the most important things to us, and it was in a great location.

The hotel had all the basics you expect of an international hotel that are sometimes hard to find in China. Everything in the room worked properly and did what it was supposed to do. The hotel even had a swimming pool, which is not as common in China as it should be, but the pool was being renovated while we were there, so we never used it.

The hotel was a few blocks away from Yundang Lake. We could not see the lake from our room because we were facing the opposite direction, but it was an easy walk. We went to the lake during the cruise, but we spent more time there this time. Yundang Lake is not the most exciting piece of real estate in the world, but it is a pleasant place to walk around and a lot cleaner, and a million times safer, than walking on the street.

Since we stayed at a major hotel, it was easy to get a taxi. We were on one of the major streets that cross the island, so taxis and buses were always an option. Buses in China can be difficult to impossible if you don't understand the Chinese system. Most foreigners just use taxis, which can also be difficult if you don't speak any Chinese. In my limited experience, I would say that Xiaman taxi drivers are almost guaranteed to try to rip you off, until you say something to them in Chinese. Once they hear Chinese, they immediately shape up, and perk up. More than a few taxi drivers stopped for us begrudgingly, but were suddenly animated when I spoke even the smallest amount of Chinese. I can't assume anyone's political persuasion, but my impression was that some of these drivers were sick and tired of waiguoren expecting them to speak anything other than Chinese. Since Xiamen is not among the most popular of international destinations, there has never really been any effort to bring in English or Japanese. Hong Kong taxis are the opposite. Most drivers are comfortable, or at least tolerant, of English while some are personally offended by whichever Chinese dialects they have political disagreements.

If you can't speak any Chinese, any decent hotel should be able to write down where you want to go. The Crowne Plaza, like most better hotels, has business cards with a Chinese map on the back. Whenever you go back to the hotel, you can simply hand the driver the card. Whether he approves of funny sounding foreigners or not, he can probably read the Chinese card.

Weekend in Xiamen

It's getting busier and busier at work. Summer is one of the busiest times, along with Christmas/Chinese New Year. Ironically, Memorial Day weekend is nothing special. It is not technically summer yet and no one here cares about American vets. So I took some time off a little earlier than usual because it is only going to get busier.

Ryan came to Hong Kong the last two times, so it was definitely my turn to go to him, but since it was a holiday weekend, at least to us, we decided to do something different. Instead of me going to Fuzhou or him coming to Hong Kong, we went to Xiamen.

We went to Xiamen on our cruise last summer. Ryan hated it. I did not exactly hate it, but I was not all that impressed. What I liked the most was a small grocery store that had a surprisingly large selection of American items. These were actual American groceries made in America by American companies, not the “genuine” “made of USA” things with Chinese packaging and Chinese names you see throughout China.

Ryan misses American food even more than I do, especially since I live in Hong Kong where I can get a wider variety of international food. He lives in Fuzhou where his non-Chinese options are limited. They have plenty of Chinese Italian restaurants, but they are even more Chinese than our Chinese Italian restaurants. I convinced him to go back to Xiamen for the food.

I also told him that if he really hated it that much, we could just stay in the hotel all day naked. It was an empty compromise since I knew he could easily say he hated the city no matter what he really thought and he knew I was never going to spend the entire trip inside a hotel room.

Even though neither of us was all that impressed with the Xiamen stop on the cruise, I knew there had to be more to it than what we saw. We were only there while the shipped was docked, about nine hours. Since then, I have heard a few people say how much they like Xiamen and how much cleaner it is than most Chinese cities. I figured there must be something to it that we missed.

I went to see what else was there. Ryan went for the hotel. We both went for the American grocery store.

Chinese Valentine’s Day

I went to see Ryan for Valentine's Day. I went to China last month, so technically it was his turn to come to me, but we gave up taking turns a long time ago. Now we just go wherever makes the most sense at the time.

Chinese Valentine's Day is actually in August. It is called Qixi and 7/7 because it is on the 7th day of the 7th month on the Chinese calendar. There is also White Day in March, but I don't think that one is as popular in China.

Our Valentine's Day is not a big deal in China, but all the hotels were still booked. I assumed it would be easy to get a hotel at the last minute in Fuzhou because it always is. Since the Chinese New Year is over, I thought everyone would go back to their usual routines. I don't know if the hotels were full because of Valentine's Day or for some other reason, but I had to stay at Ryan's house. That is never the ideal situation. He lives with too many guys, and all of their Chinese girlfriends were there for Valentine's Day. It is a big enough house for five people, but when you add all the girlfriends, it gets a little crowded.

It was still a good trip. By staying at Ryan's house, I saved some money. Fuzhou hotels are not that expensive, but free is still less than cheap. It is colder in Fuzhou than Hong Kong, but it never got below zero. 10-15 is very cold to the locals, but we are from Minnesota, so it was pretty mild to us. It rained a little on Saturday, but it was nothing serious. The weather overall was decent.

The main thing is that we got to spend time together. For Valentine's Day that's all that really matters.

Weekend in Fuzhou

I just got back from Fuzhou. Ryan came to Hong Kong for my birthday and Christmas, so it was definitely my turn to go to him. I prefer it when he comes to me. Not just because it is easier for me, but also because I would rather be in Hong Kong than Fuzhou. There is nothing particularly wrong with Fuzhou. It is simply not my kind of town. Hong Kong has more to offer.

As usual, we stayed in a hotel. We picked the Ramada Plaza because it is near the lake. Ramada hotels are never the best in the world, but this one was clean enough and did not look too old. A lot of hotels in China look like they were decorated by Chairman Mao. I don't stay at a hotel based on its furniture, and I really don't care what is trendy and what is not, but if a hotel can't bother to redecorate after twenty years then you know they are not that interested in details. You definitely have to change the carpet every once in a while. Not because styles change, but because they wear out fast.

Our room was clean and not too small. The hotel had an indoor swimming pool, but we never used it. I rarely eat at hotel restaurants and this time was no exception. There is food all over the place in Fuzhou, and most of it is cheaper and better than whatever the hotel has.

My only real complaint was the cigarette smoke. I have stayed in enough Chinese hotels to know there is no such thing as a non-smoking room. At most, they will spray the room with disinfectant after a smoker checks out. Often, they will not even do that. Some rooms claim to be non-smoking and some hotels say they have non-smoking floors, but that is either to stop people from complaining or is a rule never enforced. You can smoke in any room you want. That's great for smokers. Not so great for those of us who like to breathe and think cigarettes smell like shit.

I'm all for freedom, and people have rights, of course, but where is my right to not have to breathe in poison? It's not like the lingering stink of some food I don't like. This is smoke. Smoke is not unhealthy the way cookies are unhealthy. Smoke is toxic. It will kill you. Why does someone's right to kill themselves outweigh my right to live?

We complained about the smell of the room and they sprayed the hell out of it. That does nothing to take the poison out of the room. It merely covers up one stink with another. Luckily, we could open the windows. You can't in some smoke hotels. By the end of the day, the stench was not as bad.

The room was cold with the windows open, but not really cold at all with the windows shut. Fuzhou gets cold in January, but it was ok inside the hotel.

Fuzhou Trip part 3

The trip was great, mostly, and the hotel was very nice. We got a better than average good hotel because it was either that or a really cheap hotel, or stay at his house with all of his roommates. The hotel made it noticeably different from my first trip to Fuzhou. Privacy is a wonderful and rare thing on this side of the world.

Mainland China is always a strange place to go to. Even though I live in Hong Kong, I still think of China as a different country. They are technically the same, but they are very different in a lot of ways, like living in New York and visiting Kansas. Except you need a visa and the money is different.

For this trip, we spent a lot less time sightseeing. Ryan showed me all the main attractions in Fuzhou the first time. This trip was about spending time with each other.

We also got in a big fight, mostly because we never really see each other anymore. When Ryan moved to Mainland China, I thought it would be for a few months and then he would come back to Hong Kong. That was 15 months ago. He is obviously not coming back any time soon. He makes more money there and, even though he does not particularly like living in China, he likes it better than Hong Kong. I could never do my job in China, so moving to him is out.

Since he left, we have taken a couple of vacations together. I have gone to Fuzhou and he has come to Hong Kong, but we usually go months without seeing each other in person. We talk on the phone and Skype all the time, but it is not the same. So we decided we need to make more of an effort. We are not old enough to have a long distance relationship without physical contact for months at a time. We are both in our prime. We need to touch and be touched.

Ryan just might be the only foreigner in China who does not have a thing for Chinese girls, but if two months ever turns into six months, there is no way he will be able to hold out. He is at that age where a car commercial can give him an erection. I'm not much better. Car commercials don't do it for me, but I want some sweaty monkey action just as much as he does. The difference is that it would be easier for me to cheat on him than for him to cheat on me. I have more options. That and the lack of sex scares the hockey sticks out of him.

So we decided to make more of an effort and see each other more often. It does not have to be a vacation or a week in Hong Kong or Fuzhou. Even just a day or two is better than nothing. Flights between our cities are short and not expensive. He can come here without a visa and I have a multiple entry visa to go there. I just need to get a new one before it expires. Getting a visa to Mainland China is actually a lot easier than people think.

We have not decided when we will see each other again, but it is definitely his turn to come here.

Fuzhou Trip part 2

I'm leaving Monday for Fuzhou. Coincidentally, it is the same flight that I took the first time. It is also almost exactly one year since the first time. That one was in the beginning of November and this one is the end of October. We never planned any of that. That's just the way it worked out. The typhoons and work determined the timing more than anything else and I keep picking this flight because it is the cheapest one.

Since the flight gets in just before midnight, which is probably why it is the cheapest, I will stay at Ryan's house Monday night. He does not want to pay for a full day at the hotel if we are only going to be there late at night. I don't think it makes any difference, but his way is cheaper and we are not made of money. He also says it is easier to go to his place from the airport after midnight.

Fuzhou Trip

I'm all set to go see Ryan in Fuzhou on Monday. We are both working this weekend, so Monday was the soonest typhoon-free day we could get.

Ryan suggested we stay at a hotel this time. Last time I went to Fuzhou, I stayed at his house. I don't mind getting a hotel since he lives with too many roommates. It will be nice to have some privacy.

I don't know why, but there were only a few hotel options. Maybe there is some Chinese holiday that they don't celebrate in Hong Kong. Nothing is going on here, but something is taking up all the hotels in Fuzhou. Or maybe there are simply few hotels.

Our options were higher end 4 and 5 star hotels, like the Ramada, Sheraton and Westin, or cheaper dive hotels like Days Inn and Howard Johnson. There was even a Super 8. I had no idea they were in China.

We decided to aim high because why not. I live in a tiny Hong Kong apartment with two other people and he lives in a small Chinese house with four other people, and the occasional visiting girlfriend. A few days in a decent hotel will be a nice change of pace.

Xiamen part 2

The highest peak on Gulangyu, which is not at all easy to get to
Even from the bottom you can see all the people struggling to be the first to the top



Nanputuo Temple



Hubin North Road, Just north of Bailuzhou Park
This was close to the American grocery store
What's exceptional is how few cars there are on this road



The temple at the base of the mountain on Gulangyu

Shanghai

The old side of Shanghai
This was right in front of the boat



The new side of Shanghai
This was right across the river from the boat



Pudong



The Bund