October 25

Hello all from Hong Kong. We arrived here on Saturday and have been having a pretty good time. Things are more expensive here than on mainland China but you can flush your toilet paper and they have good cheddar cheese and red wine from Australia so that some how compensates for the extra costs! :-)

So what have we been up to since October 18 - enquiring minds want to know?

On the 18th we took a 6:30pm train from Chengdu to Shiyan in Hubei Province. We were able to get a soft sleeper on the train and had a fairly comfortable ride until 9:30am the next morning. We only had one person share our compartment for this period - he did not interact with us too much as I don't think he spoke much English. We brought plenty of supplies with us on the train so we did not venture out much from our compartment. When we got to Shiyan (the largest auto and truck manufacturing town in China according to some info that I read about it) we went to the ticket counter and bought our tickets to go to Wuhan on Friday Oct. 22. We could only get hard seat (unassigned) as they do not allocate soft seats to this station - she said that we could try to upgrade on the train if we wanted. We then asked where to get the bus for Wudang Shan - a sacred mountain site for Taoists. We were told to go out of the station and go to the left....OK...so off we went looking for a bus station or someplace that would look like a bus for the mountains would leave from there. We walked a little ways and asked a policeman if we were going the right way - he said yes and we kept going but then he caught up with us and motioned for us to come back to take a bus to the bus (or so we thought) as it was too far. So he put us on a number 9 bus explaining (we thought) where we wanted to go. The number nine bus took us about 10 mins and then said to get off and go up a road to the left across the street (or so we thought)....so we crossed the street and started walking up the street indicated - there was a market and then it got very residential....there were signs for a number of auto manufacturing plants...nothing that looked like a bus station or someplace where a bus would leave from so we started to ask people. A young woman looked pretty friendly so we tried with her and she seemed to understand that we wanted to go to the mountains not a car manufacturing plant or residence. She took us back to a playground where taxis were waiting and suggested that we take a taxi to the mountains - she asked how much and the drivers (2 different ones) said RMB 100....by now quite a crowd had gathered - some thought this was too much others thought we should just take the cab (at least that is what it seemed like) but the woman understood that we thought it was too much and she agreed that the bus would only be RMB 10 so we followed her back down the road to the bus stop that we got off at. We asked if the bus had a number - she said no we just had to wait - now the crowd was about 15 people or so...they were all finding this expedition with the Americans very amuzing. One guy was amazed by the size of Tom's hands and held his up to Tom's for everyone to see - everyone agreed that the American is very big! So we waited for a bit and the woman assured us that the bus would come which it did - no number just characters in the window so we would have never figured it out. She flagged it down and told the conductor that we wanted to go up the mountain. We paid the RMB 10 and waved goodbye to all our new friends - thanking them all very much for their help and got on the bus. The conductor wanted us to sit down so we took off our packs and put them on the floor near the driver and then I found a seat but the only other seat left is squished in the back and Tom would never fit so a Chinese man nearer the front gave Tom his seat....it was very nice of him. We trundled along on the bus - stopping once to let what I guess was an official from the bus company (no uniform and standing at an orange stand) check over the conductors records of who has gotten on/off. We arrived at the bus station at Wudang Shan town - hmm we thought we would go up the mountain on this bus but this bus wasn't going up the mountain. A private car offers RMB 180 to go up and quickly drops to 40 when he understood that we were not interested. We walked out of the station and found a minibus cab that agreed to take us up for RMB 10 per person and we climbed in. We arrived at the gate of the park and were told to go buy our tickets which I did. Then another minibus driver came over and started giving our driver a hard time about the fact that our bags were taking up space that another person could have sat in...he thought we should pay more money. We keep insisting that the driver already agreed to RMB 10 per person and finally after a lot of shouting and gesturing the driver relented and took off up the hill. We did stop to pick up two more people so he was able to earn RMB 40 for the trip afterall. On the way up the car overheated so we spent a little time stopped while he put more water in the engine! So after a very eventful day we arrived at the hotel at the end of the road recommended by Loney Planet! The place was desterted and we went in to find out if we could get a room. They said that we could but the prices were higher than we had expected - RMB 298 for a standard and RMB 398 for a tripple. We looked at the rooms and liked the tripple better - it was a bit less worn and dirty....we asked what they could do about the price if we agreed to stay at least two nights....they brought the standard room down to RMB 200....we suggested 150...they thought that the price was too low but gave in when we pointed out that no one else was staying in the hotel at that point! So we have arrived and we have a room - what an accomplishment for this day! We are very happy - although a bit tired as we did not sleep as much as we had hoped on the train ride - it had been a bit rocky on the rails.

The end of the road is a bit touristy with hotels and souvenir shops lining the road side. After we settle in and as usualy trash the room (by that I mean get our stuff good and spread out in the room) we decided to try to find food and then go for a short walk on one of the mountain trails. We found a restaurant near the entrance that has some people in it and go on in. The menu was all in Chinese so we sought out help first a girl tried to help but she relinquished her spot to a young guy that seemed to speak pretty well. He was from Fujian province. We were trying to figure out what a dish was - both tables had ordered it....everyone was trying to find the correct words - they said it was flowers - it did not look like flowers to us...there was egg and onion in it....we asked if there was meat - no...how about vegetables...no...flowers they insisted...well we ordered it anyway and got a pork dish and some soup. It was all good albeit a bit greasy. We figured out later that it really was flowers as we saw a woman on the mountain pulling them off a branch and putting them in a basket to dry...hmm and I thought they tasted a bit like fish - who would have guessed. After eating we walked out to some of the monestaries closest to the base - we spent about 2.5 - 3 hours doing this. The area and the views from some of the sites were very beautiful despite it being a bit hazy - it was hard to tell whether this was just natural haze or pollution or a bit of both. While we were walking around we saw one other westerner and learned that he was from LA and that he and his wife had spent the prior night at the Golden Summit in the monestary there. He said that it was pretty good and that he had the opportunity to talk to some of the monks living there....we are tempted but had already made the decision to stay in the village at the base. As the sun started to go down we decided to try and find a beer some place and end up at a small kiosk at the summit trail head. We get a couple of beers and settle down on some small wooden benches to watch the sun go down behind the mountains. Another westerner came up the trail - Ian from the UK. He was cycling around China - his 14 th trip! He said that the hike was pretty challenging - that was saying something from a guy that spends most of his days on a bike....we let him know that we are going up the next day. We chatted with him for a while and then walked down the road together until we reached our hotel and bid him goodbye - he was headed down the mountain (on foot!) the next day....the drive up was about a 50 minute drive...something he had also walked the prior day!

We just had munchies for dinner and turned in early that night - we were both pretty tired.

The next day we were up pretty early and had our own supplies for breakfast....somehow the time went by and we did not hit the trail until 10:15am. As experienced before in China, the trail is a developed trail with a concrete path - most of which are steps up and up and up and up......we took Ian's advice and took the "easier" trail to the left when we reached the split and still the stairs went up and up and up. It was interesting to pass vendors along the trail that would offer you drinks, food or souvenires - they obviously lived behind the stores....a pretty difficult way of life. There were also men living in more temporary structures along the way - they seemed to be doing repair work along the trail. In addition to these folks we passed porters going up and down the mountain with loads that looked impossibly heavy - sacks tied to either end of a bamboo pole that was then balanced on their sholders - there is a cable car that goes up this mountain as well but that I guess was not an option....and as Tom pointed out then these guys would not earn a living. We had to take a break to eat some supplies just before the final push up to the top as our breakfast energy had run out....the summit we were trying to reach was only 1700 meters or about 5000 feet but it seems much higher some how - maybe it was just the number of steps - we lost count how many. One area was called the 100 steps to heaven.....if this was true it is a long climb to heaven - we can guaranty it! :-)

When we finally got up to the first terrace that is part of the summit temple complex we found a group of Swiss people practicing Tai Chi - it was pretty cool. We stopped and talked to some of them for a while before making our way into the temple itself. The complex is pretty big with a number of smaller worship areas in different locations - each is tended by a Taoist monk. One of the monks was very friendly. He first was facinated by our camelbacks and I had to show him that this strange tube I was sucking was for water. He then wanted our camera - I was a bit nervous but gave it too him - he scambled up what was a very narrow ledge and gestured for me to stand in a certain place so he could take my picture which he did - he wanted to take a lot of pictures.....I finally managed to get the camera back from him and took his picture and showed it to him - he seemed pleased....we said goodbye and continued to the top part of the temple. At the summit was a bronze alter - there were a number of people sitting around it resting and the usual souvenir and photo vendors. We found a quiet spot to have lunch and enjoy the sunshine. After a good rest we decided we had better make our way down - it had taken almost three hours with our stops to get up and we wanted to be sure to get back before dark although Tom had brought his head lamp in case we got stuck somehow. We were tired enough that we almost wished we had decided to stay at the summit but one whiff of the bathroom facilities (not a lot of running water up there) and we were off down the trail (it is after all, all about the toilet facilities! :-)). We took a different trail down for part of the way than we had taken up. Our buddy Ian from the day before had told us that this trail was a bit up and down and narrower than the trail up and was somewhat steeper - hence better to go down it than up it. He wasn't kidding - it was very steep and instead of the 100 stair sections there were times when there were well over 200 stairs in one section - there will be a picture of this to give you some perspective. As we came down one of these I realized that the next section was a steep and the same number of stairs...but up...I thought I was going to cry...but we made it up and then down again and that was the last up section thankfully. We stopped a couple of times for water as we had used up our supplies at the top of the mountain - it was a hotter day than we had expected. We used our bargaining skills to get two small bottles for RMB 6 one place and 5 the next...still a steep price when much bigger bottles cost RMB 2 in the grocery stores. Oh well.

We made it down around 5:30pm and decide to try dinner at our hotel that night and make arrangements to eat at 6:30pm after a long shower. We get out all our books that have food references in them and head to the front desk. The hotel does not have a large dining room but smaller private dining areas instead so we get one of these to ourselves with two or three wait staff. They want to practice English so we go back and forth with our phrase book and their note book - there is a lot of giggling and disappearing to the hallway on their part and patience on our part but we have a great time "talking" to them and learning some things about them. We definately provided all the evening entertainment....and the best part about it was the food was great - we were really hungry and ate quite a lot.

The other interesting thing that I did not mention about this hotel is that you were not given a key to your room but instead had to ask a floor attendant to let you into your room each time you went in and out....this was the first time we experienced this. Also another quirck about our room...and here I go I am going to talk about bathrooms again.....so there was a tub and a shower but at some point the hotel thankfully added hot water but rather than replace the old fixtures they just added the new ones to the set up. So the old head and faucets were there and then there was a new water heater mounted on the wall with a hose coming out of it attached to a European style shower head which you could mount on the wall in the middle of the tub. As there was no shower curtain you either had to hold the head in your hand or put it in the bracket and point it towards the wall so as not to spray the whole bathroom with water...it was a bit of a challenge but there was hot water and that was good!

And so ended our second day at Wudang Shan. We decided to stay another day as we did not want to move and asked the next day if we could arrange to get a taxi fairly early the next day to take us back to Shiyan to catch the train. We managed to get this all arranged and paid for another day in our palace - I think that there might have been two other rooms occupied at this point. The weather was cooler and it looked like it might rain. Big change from the day before and we felt blessed that we had chosen to do the big climb the day before. We had breakfast at the hotel and then walked down the road and some side paths to the Purple Mist temple - we pretty much had this to ourselves accept for the monks that were living there. We took our time for the visit and then climbed back up to our hotel - it rained on us a bit on the way back up but we got back without being too soaked....it was about 2:30pm...Still tired from the day before we decided just to read and nap for the afternoon - a good thing to do given the weather. We dined again at the hotel this time sharing our private dining room with a family with a very cute little boy that entertained everyone for the evening.

The next day we got up, packed up and then tried to get our breakfast. We had arranged for it to be at 6:45am....we left the room, locked the door and then went looking for people...no one was around and we were locked out of our room. About 15 minutes later someone showed up and managed to get keys to let us back in our room - 10 minutes later our friendly wait staff was apologizing and wanting to give us breakfast but it was too late by that point and we loaded up in our cab - it was a two seater pick up truck but whatever...and set off for Shiyan. We were delivered there at 9am in plenty of time for our 10am train to Wuhan. We bought some more supplies at the store and went to wait for our train. We tried to upgrade our seats but couldn't and went to wait for the train. We had never taken hard seat so we did not know what to expect...the only thing we knew was that there were no assigned seats so we would have to find something free. We did do this successfully after a bit of a wait and because it was fairly comfortable we did not bother with the upgrade. The ride was a quick 5 hour ride and the scenery out the window changed from fairly high mountains and many tunnels to flat farmland as we approached Wuhan.

When we reached Wuhan we realized that the train had come into the south station - the Lonely Planet had said that we would come into the north.....we figured this out when we crossed the Yangtze River. We made sure by asking in the station and then went outside to get a taxi - we were headed to one of the hotels suggested by Lonely Planet on the north side of town as we figured it would be easier to get from there to the airport the next day. Our cab driver did not really know where it was and wasn't too happy but we had a map and tried to direct him - he finally let us out at a hotel but we did not think it was the right one. We were standing there pouring over our map when a guy came up to us to offer us help. He spoke English very well! We told him what we wanted and he offered to help by calling the hotel...as he was about to do that another guy came up and told us that the hotel that we were standing in front of was indeed what we were looking for but that they had just changed the name - in fact workers were just changing the signs - that were all in characters - no pignon..again the kindness of people saved us from wandering the streets. So our first friend - Larry Lee we find out is in the textile business and his company has offices in LA and NY among other places. He comes with us into the hotel and arranges for us to see a room, negotiates the price for us and then offers to buy us dinner! We are a little taken a back but what the hell and we agree to meet at 7pm. At 6:58 he calls our room and lets us know he is back. He worked just across the street and worked strange hours as many of his clients are in the west. We have an interesting dinner with him - trying Cantonese food for the first time - Tom eats more tofu! He talks business during dinner - it is very interesting. He has one son that lives with him parents in Hangzhou and his wife is working in Paris. He thinks they will all get together at some point but now are taking advantage of the opportunities that they have.

Oh I have to interrupt this session - it is time to go....it is getting late and we need to go for dinner although Carmen isn't feeling that great so we will wait and go out with her tomorrow.

More later I promise. I also am loading more photos and will send the link tomorrow. Cheers.