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We flew from Tokyo to Shanghai on United Airlines. Upon our exit from the airport, we were assaulted by more than 10 highly aggressive taxi drivers, who quoted fares as high as 100 yuen. According to my friend Chen, who is from Shanghai but works in Tokyo, the fare should be about 30. We got in a slightly nicer looking taxi and paid about 45-50 using the meter.
The next morning,we met Chen, my Chinese co-worker living in Tokyo, in the lobby of our hotel at 0930. We walked to the railway station and she bought hard seat tickets for us for the night train to Nanjing. We took a taxi to the waterfront area, where there are a lot of european-style buildings from the early 1900's. We had lunch in a food court type of place along the waterfront, and ate vegetables and small birds with heads intact. After sightseeing, we got on the night train for Nanjing. As this was our first experience in China, we had a little difficulty in Nanjing trying to buy a train ticket. Although my wife speaks Chinese, the train station people couldn't understand my wife's pronunciation, so we experienced our first staring squad, while providing the evening's entertainment for the people in the station. As the Lonely Planet book says, "The programme is aliens, you are the star, and cinema-sized audiences will gather to watch." We ended up buying a hard seat ticket in the asphyxiation car. Once the train arrived, there was a mad scramble to get on the train, complicated by our large backpacks. Most of the people were smoking, with very little ventilation. After about 30-45 minutes, we couldn't take anymore, and made our way to the hardsleeper car, where we upgraded our tickets and were finally able to breathe. It was one of the older types, but was comfortable, clean, and uncrowded.
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My Tokyo co-worker Chen, a native of Shanghai. |  |
The hardseat section, minus cigarette smoke |  |
The older type of hardsleeper. |
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Dave in the hardsleeper. |
Days 3-4: Qufu, home of Confucious
The next morning, we arrived at the station closest to Qufu, the hometown of Confucious. We took a bus to Qufu. That evening, we ate in an unheated restaurant and ordered a carp. The "waiter" took it out of the fish pond, threw it on the floor to stun it, and carried it into the kitchen. There was a puppy running around, but I don't know if he was a pet or someone's future dinner (see the Trip Number 4 photos for a dog meat wrapper). The next day, in Qufu, we took a pedicab to Confucious Forest, where Confucious and other important people are buried. We went to Confucious Temple also. It is a large complex, over 1 kilometre long.
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Our first Chinese bus. |  |
The baked sweet potato lady. |  |
Donkey carts pulling large clay pots. |
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The burial mound of Confucious. |
Day 5-Tian and Mt. Tai
In the morning, we got on another bus and journeyed to Tian, at the base of Mt. Tai. From the base of the mountain to the top there are over 6000 stairs. We walked about halfway up, but since it was already around 3:30 and would be getting dark soon, decided to take the gondola up the rest of the way. The ticket seller sold us a round trip ticket, and we went to the top. However, once we were on top, we asked them what time the last one down was, they said "You were on it." So, we had to hurry down the hill, as we didn't have a flashlight.
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A statue at the main railway station in Tian. |
Day 6-Beijing
After arriving in Beijing, we went to our $10 hotel. In Beijing, we saw the Forbidden City and Tian Tan, or the Temple of Heaven.
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This motorbike repairman makes house calls. |  |
The largest pancakes in China? |  |
Incense burners at the Forbidden City. |
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Dave at the Temple of Heaven. |
Day 7-The Great Wall
We went by train, soft seat, to the Wall. At the Wall, we walked east to the end of the rebuilt section, and started along the unmaintained section. After about half an hour, we descended into a small village. Tourist are a little unusual there, and we saw the local militia in formation, double-timing in the road. They found us rather interesting, a bearded foreigner in an army parka, accompanied by a Japanese woman in a bright purple goretex coat. We hitchhiked back to the Wall on the highway.
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Yukari on the unrestored section. |  |
A watchtower. |  |
Us on the Wall. |
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A fort on the Wall. |
