Guest Blog: Nana and Poppa

As a child, most of us carry the classic dreams of seeing the world, becoming rich and famous, and more. At least, I did. My dream of seeing the world arose from reading my grandfather's National Geographic magazines, staring at the photos of Africa and China. But there was always an element of realism in my dreaming, understanding how unlikely it was that a kid from a rural town in Nebraska (State motto: I don’t know; what do you want to do?) would really get there. Still, I made my lists of dreams and life moved on. Over the years I accomplished some of my dreams, eliminated some others (my eyesight wasn’t good enough to be a pilot) and set aside several more (I still hope to be rich and famous).

Which brings me to seeing the world. When Ann and I got married, neither of us had seen much of the world. I had made a college trip to Mexico and a fishing trip to Canada, and Ann had never left the country. In fact, neither of us had even met an African-American or Asian person until college in my case, and after college in Ann’s case. Over time, my various careers took me all over the United States for brief visits; but we had kids, a mortgage, and Ann's business, significant family travel just didn’t happen.

But the dream to see the places I had read about, particularly China, still smoldered.

So, I found our first trip to China (May 2008) overwhelming. The mere fact that we were really going was overwhelming enough; coupled with the nearly 24 hours of travel it takes to get there, the noise, the pollution, the crowds, the strange food, eating with chopsticks, our unfamiliarity with the language, and other difficulties would have kept us from going in the first place except that we had a place to stay, a guide and we really wanted to see our grandchildren.

That first trip lasted three weeks. We visited The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and had a great three days in rural China. Lynne wrote blogs about that trip when we made it last year and Dave’s parents made the same trip a couple of months ago and you have read their blogs about that trip as well so, I will write nothing more about the first trip except to say that standing on the Great Wall of China had been of those dreams from age 10. Standing in Tiananmen Square had only been significant for the last 19 years (at that time). Both, however, were incredible experiences.

Ann then returned to China for two weeks in August to help Lynne move to their new digs, and we have just returned from a month long trip together. This time we were much more prepared for the long trip and we expected the noise, the pollution, the crowds, and the unfamiliarity with the language. And by the way, one of the real joys of China is the strange food.

So, this trip we spent the first few days just getting our body clocks adjusted and finding our way around. Since Ann had already been to their apartment, she knew her way around the neighborhood so we pretty well hit the ground running. Our second night there, we met a couple from our church who have become good friends of ours. They were with a tour group and happened to be in Shanghai at a hotel within walking distance of us. So, we got together for dinner and had a great time. It is a small world, after all.

After a few days, Lynne and Dave left for a trip to Singapore, and Borneo in Maylasia and left the girls in our care. What a joy that was. We went to the zoo, the botanical gardens, the Magic Forest, McDonald’s, several playgrounds, watched movies, read stories, visited L--’s school and had a marvelous time. In case you don’t know it, our grandkids are extraordinary in every way and we enjoy being with them.

The highlight of the trip was a week in Central and Western China with the whole family. I should talk a bit about flying with this family. Moving 6 people through Chinese airports is a pretty interesting experience. Lynne carries everyone’s passport so we all have to go through together. Ann and I have one bag between us and a couple of carry-on bags with camera, books, puzzles, and munchies. These guys have two ENORMOUS bags (each is larger than L), two back packs stuffed full, a camera bag and two child car seats. So baggage check is a real treat.

We first flew to Xi’an in Central China, (about a 2 ½ hour flight from Shanghai) primarily to see the Terracotta Warriors. However, I really enjoyed the city. Xi’an was the capital of China several times and has been on that site for 3,100 years. The old city is surrounded by a wall built in the 14th century. The wall (12 km around) is still intact. The best way to see it is to rent a bicycle and ride around the top. We, of course, did so. Ann and I rented a tandem bike and enjoyed the ride very much.

Our first night in Xi’an, we visited Defu Chang Restaurant and had a great meal of a dozen or so different kinds of fried and steamed dumplings. Excellent.

The next morning we headed out bright and early for the Terracotta Warriors. (I should also explain that when we arrived in each city, we were greeted by a guide and a driver who were responsible for getting us everywhere we wanted to go, answering our questions, making restaurant reservations, and solving any problems. Lynne set all this up and did a fine job.) After our visit to the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace in Beijing the year before, I had declared them to be the ultimate example of the arrogance of power and wealth. After visiting the Terracotta Warriors, I have changed my mind. This guy (Qin Shihuang) was emperor in 210 and decided that he was a God and would return to earth after he died. Therefore, he would need his army. So, he buried a reproduction of his army. Archaeologists are still uncovering more of this army but they believe there are more than 8,000 terracotta soldiers buried here along with chariots, horses, etc. Absolutely amazing. The other amazing thing is the excellent condition that many of these soldiers are in.

That evening, we strolled the Muslim Quarter and ate street food.

The next morning it was off to Kunming in Yunnan Province (another 2 hour plane ride). Yunnan Province is in far southwest China and is bordered by Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Tibet.

The primary reason to go to Kunming is to catch a plane to go somewhere else; but since we were there, we visited Devil’s Gate. How can I describe Dragons Gate? We rode up the mountain in a cable car and we were at least 1,000 feet above both the city and the most polluted lake I have ever seen – Lake Dian. Our guide said that all lakes in China are ranked on a pollution index, with 1 the best and 5 the worst. Lake Dian is a 5. We walked back down the mountain, through tunnels and along ledges with great views of the city and the polluted lake. At nine points along the walk down, we would come upon a Buddhist temple which had been carved or built into the side of the mountain. The work involved in doing this and building the path down the mountain was pretty impressive and it was a nice walk down.

We then went to our resort for the evening. Nice place. It had a big pool for the girls to enjoy, and several hot springs. We played in the pool, soaked in the various hot springs, and generally relaxed. We decided, at some point in time, to have supper outside on the lanai but could find no one who spoke English to take our order. Dave and Lynne eventually found a menu and by pointing at various things got us a great poolside supper.

Off again. This time a one hour flight to Dali. The Dali airport is on a mesa above town and so the drive to town is at least half an hour, much of it skirting Lake Ertai which we were scheduled to ride on later in the trip. Dali is approx. 2300 meters and is beautiful. It is the center of the Bai culture and a very interesting place. We first went to Old Town where we had a great lunch. In fact, the lunch was so good that we went back to the same restaurant for supper. As was our custom, each of the four of us ordered something from the menu and then we all shared everything. After a pleasant lunch, we jumped back in the car and visited a few small villages in the area. The first village had native dancers performing their native dances and three servings of tea. In the second village we watched indigo dye being prepared for batik and purchased some finished products. We then returned to Dali and spent the rest of the day exploring Old Town.

The next morning, we took a nice ride on Lake Ertai. Rode out to an island which housed a fishing village and explored there for a while. Grabbed some snacks which served as our lunch and headed for the cable car. We were not returning to the same hotel that night, but we left all of our stuff there because we were going to stay at a mountaintop “resort” that night and could only take what we could carry.

We rode another cable car up high on the mountain and then disembarked for the walk to the resort. I had understood that the walk was an easy 8 kilometer walk, and while that is a pretty good distance, I was prepared to make it. However, the walk began by climbing vertical stairs for at least 500 feet carrying children, packs and ourselves. I was already tired when we got to the road to the resort. However, the road was level, very well maintained and not a difficult walk at all. Rita (our guide) informed us that it was a 12 kilometer walk and we started off. It was a beautiful walk – high on the side of the mountain with great views of the city below and we were able to move along at a fairly good pace. After several short breaks and a couple of long ones, we reached the cabin only to find that it was another 500 foot climb.

The camp was a typical hikers camp – cabins with a dining room, showers, and a great view. Another great supper and off to bed.

The next morning we rode another cable car down to Dali. Picked up our bags and headed over the mountains to Lijiang by car (a 4 hour drive). This was an incredible drive. We began in high mountain valleys growing rice, tobacco, potatoes, and other crops we did not recognize. As we began to climb higher and higher, we still passed farm fields stuck to the side of a slope and some of the most intricate terraces I have ever seen. The views were amazing as we climbed to 10,000 feet or more. The traffic was pretty amazing as well. Heavy duty trucks carrying heavy loads slowed things down since there were few passing opportunities, but more than a few times we found ourselves behind a homemade truck which had been converted from a Cushman or some similar motorbike. These “trucks" would be hauling loads well beyond their capacity to haul, belching smoke and, in short, looking like they would not make it another mile.

We arrived in Lijiang in the rain and it rained off and on during most of our two nights there. It is a beautiful city at 3,100 meters (about 10,000 feet) altitude and would be even more so in the sunshine. The old city is built along a series of canals that come down from the mountains and was quite confusing for me to find my way around. No vehicles are allowed on the narrow streets and it was a wonderful place to walk around.

The next morning, back in the car to drive up the Yangtze River valley to Tiger-Leaping-Gorge. The floor of the gorge at its lowest point is 1800 meters and the mountains on either side reach 5500 meters, making it one of the deepest gorges in the world. The gorge at its narrowest point is 33 meters wide. We took an incredible walk alongside it for a mile or more. It made me want to take the whole two day hiking trip, but that will be another time.

We returned to Lijiang in the late afternoon. Arose early the next morning to visit Black Dragon Pool with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the background. It was rainy and we could not see the mountain but it was a beautiful walk in the mist anyway. That afternoon, a flight back to Shanghai.