Xi'an to Hong Kong By Plane and Marco Polo Confusion

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

October 29, 2014: Hong Kong: After a gloomy, long and draining, but interesting day in Xi'an and a nice night overlooking the Xi'an bell, the next morning it was time to head to Hong Kong.

View of Xi'an Bell Tower from our Hotel Room

A couple of interesting things were observed on this travel day...

We arrived pretty early at Xi'an airport and had to wait for the airline counter to open.  Ahead of us on line were an older couple, I think from Australia, and they had not filled out their departure cards.  So, we were bumped in front of them.  I am not a big world traveler, but I have learned to always have your arrival and departure cards filled out and ready to be handed in.

We got out boarding passes, made it through security and customs, and headed down to the gate area to wait.  The gate was at ground level as this was an older-style airport where a bus (squeezed to the max with passengers and their bags) takes the passengers out to the plane, which was parked on the tarmac. 

Down in the gate area, it looked like the security guards were having their morning staff meeting as they were all sitting in a corner being lectured by apparently a senior guard.

The Xi'an to HK flight was uneventful, though Joanie was not really happy with the pushing and shoving on the bus, eventhough I have warned here that is just the way it is over here and the pushing and shoving is not considered rude.  I received this very lecture from Raymond when we were in Wuhan and about to push our way off an overfilled Wuhan city bus.

When we arrived in Hong Kong, at customs, we again, wound up behind that Australian couple I mentioned above.  Sure as sh*t, they had again failed to fill out their arrival cards and were pushed to the side so we can continue.  You would think they would have learned the procedure.

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We left the HK terminal and it was far warmer outside in HK than either Xi'an or Beijing.  We grabbed a cab to take us to Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon in HK and specifically the Marco Polo Hotel.  The driver asked us which Marco Polo Hotel we meant, because there are several of them in TST area.  We showed him our confirmation and it read 3 Canton Road, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.  He pullled away from the curb and the drive across Lantau Island and its huge bridges began with little fan fair.

When we then arrived in TST, the driver again started asking us which Marco Polo Hotel we meant and I kept showing him the address of 3 Canton Road.  Maybe my Mandarin accent (not) confused this Cantonese speaker, but he seemed to not be able to figure out where we were going.  Its not like it was a scam, as he took us right to the 3 Canton Road property; which was our ultimate goal.  We got out and checked in to the hotel. 

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Beijing to Xi'an By Train

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

All my native Chinese friends were very impressed when I told them that Joanie and I were taking the overnight train from Beijing to Xi'an, a trip of about 750 miles.  This train takes over 12 hours as compared to the bullet train, which takes about 5-7 hours depending upon which one you take.  I have pleasant memories of riding the bullet train on my last trip to China (2012), when I went from Guangzhou to Wuhan.

For whatever reason, we got to wait for the train in the VIP waiting area.  I am not so sure what was VIP about it as all the fast food dining was located outside this secure area, the area was packed with people, and the VIP area men's room had to be one of the worst toilets I have ever experienced, anywhere.

Who knows what she is doing?

Huge Crowd

Joanie was a little worried we would have some trouble making our train.  There was not many announcements in English at the railway station as compared to the airport.  You also need to find your entry door (gate), train platform, and then the rail car that matched your ticket.  We waited about three hours at the railway station.

Our ticket was for a double sleeper, so it would only be the two of us.  The price was fairly cheap as is most stuff in China (to people not from China).  Since it was so cheap, there was no reason to risk what type of persons we would be mixed in with if we had a four sleeper.

We were told that considering the price of the double sleepers, it would be likely that there would mainly be non-Asians in the train car.  Indeed, what we were told was true and when I took a quick walk up and down the car to explore, I mainly saw white folks, with some German speakers over here and some from who-knows-where over there.

Hall Way

Our sleeper unit was tiny, but acceptable.  Reminded us of our tiny motel room in Valdez, Alaska.

Motel Room - Valdez, Alaska

Railway Sleeper

 Each bunk had its own TV and the room had its own toilet.

Ahhh...Sterlized For Your Protection!!

There was a large window, but it was already evening and we could not really see anything.  After chowing down some DOTS and Sweethearts and some local Oreo's and Chips Ahoy, with my usual Coke, and putting in my ear buds, the next thing I knew we were being awaken by the arrival of our coffee service (coffee was awful) and our excitement over our visit to see the Xi'an Terra Cotta Army (coming soon!).

Dinner of: Dots, Sweettarts, Oreos, and Chips Ahoy!

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Actors? at the Imperial Summer Palace/Beijing

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

October 28, 2014; Beijing, China:  Today, we visited the imperial Summer Palace in northern Beijing. 

Steve and Joanie with Part of Summer Palace in Background

A single picture taken in the haze of a typical Beijing day can in no way substitute for an actual visit to the Palace and the opportunity to stand on the edge of man-made Kunming Lake and take in a true fall breeze (yeah, it is still summer in SoCal).

This location reminded me of East Lake in Wuhan, China (see trip report here).
While exploring the grounds. we saw these brightly dressed ladies collecting in the entrance way to one of the buildings.  We guessed that there was going to be some kind of Manchurian yoga demonstration.

However, we would soon be told by our personal (yes personal) tour guide Herbie (more on that in the future) that these interestingly-styled ladies were not Chinese versions of what we would call colonial Williamsburg re-enactors.  These people were actual Manchurians, not actors acting Manchurian.

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Heigl Hysteria Huh?

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

October 20-22, 2014: Shezhen, PRC - Shenzhen is a relatively new city in the PRC.  It is located just over the international border from Hong Kong.  Most of my work is in Shezhen and that is where I spend most of my work time.  However, I usually do a few back and forth trips between HK and PRC.

On this particular trip, I was put up by my client at supposedly one of the best hotels in Shenzhen.  The hotel was so nice that you could rightfully forget you were in Shenzhen.  Nothing I had ever seen in Shenzhen was this nice.  This was far nicer than the Treasure Hotel, in Long Hua, where I had been put up last time.  It was the porter at the Treasure Hotel who offered to supply me with female prostitutes.

Well, despite the number of stars this best hotel in Shenzhen had and the enormous size of the LED flat-screen television, the room TVs still offered only 2 English language TV channels.  One English channel was CNN from nearby Hong Kong.  However, because of the Occupy Hong Kong Protests, CNN was intermittently blocked and allowed.  The only other English language channel was some movie channel (e.g. HBO-like).

I was at this hotel for three nights. 

For the first night, the movie was Under Siege 2.  Under Siege 2 is not a bad movie, but not as good as its predecessor, Under Siege. Under Siege 2 has a famous scene in which Katherine Heigl sprays what she thinks is mace in the lead villain's face; only for him to then spray it in his mouth saying it was pepper spray and that it "clears the sinuses."

Heigl in Under Seige 2 - Age 17

For the next night, the movie was one of those rom-coms that I had no clue what was its title nor am I aware of any catchy dialogue (Assuming it has some).  However, I did recognize Katherine Heigl again. This movie was The Ugly Truth.

Heigl in The Ugly Truth - Aged 31

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Two nights in Shenzhen, two nights of the actress Katherine Heigl.  I guess she is popular in Shenzhen.

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