Lino and I recently got back from a trip to China. It was never our intention to go to China, until we saw an ad in the Prince George Citizen.
The trip promised English speaking tour guides and included the admission fees including entertainment shows to a long list of exciting things to see and do, and all of this at a reasonable price.
Lino checked it out and it all proved to be true, and I must say it was one of the nicest trips we have ever taken.
We checked out the reviews of both the company and the tours; the ratings were excellent so we phoned the company and before we knew it we had booked our trip. They took care of all the details to obtain a visitors visa to enter China and sent us information on what to expect on our trip to China. But the person who really made our trip exceptional was our national tour guide Andy Yang.
We arrived in Beijing and Andy was there to meet and greet us at the airport.
We quickly learned that we were assigned to bus No. 4 and that there were a total of five buses in our entourage with approximately 32 people on each bus. We had 34 cheerful, fun loving and friendly people on our bus; most of them were from B.C. and thankfully 30 of them were seniors.
Andy got us all organized and onto the bus and then the introductions began as we headed to our hotel.
The traffic was horrendous which apparently is normal. We soon learned that the concept of right-of-way is totally different in China. There is no right-of-way and in fact the rule is "first is right..."
This rule essentially allows any driver the habit of cutting right into the traffic flow forcing the opposing vehicle to either stop or crash. If they do not force their way in they would never be able to enter the flow of traffic.
The population of China is 1.4 billion compared to 36 million people here in Canada so with that you can just about imagine the traffic. The roads are crowded with transport trucks, tour buses and cars and they honk their horns constantly.
The bicycle lanes are crowded with tricycle cars, tricycle trucks, mopeds, motor bikes, scooters and bicycles and they collectively cause 60 per cent of all the accidents. We were told that traffic lights are merely a suggestion for those traveling in the busy bike lanes. Chinese drivers routinely go through red lights if there is no opposing traffic. Pedestrians do not count as traffic; they just honk at them to get out of the way or swerve around them. We watched this entertainment daily from the safety of our tour bus. That aside, China is a pretty amazing place.
Lino wore his green volunteer Canada Winter Games jacket and believe it or not a fellow recognized it in China of all places and introduced himself to Lino.
It turns out he was from Prince George as well.
I will tell you in a nutshell some of the many places we went and some of the things we saw. We arrived in Beijing and visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the emperor's palace, the Temple of Heaven, walked on the Great Wall, visited the Ming Tombs and attended the Beijing Opera.
We saw the Water Cube and the Birds Nest Stadium (capable of seating 91,000 spectators) at the Olympic Village site in Beijing where the 2008 Summer Olympics' were held.
From there we took the beautiful and comfortable bullet train from Beijing to Xi'an. We traveled 1,285 kilometres in just over four hours at speeds of 307 km/h.
While in Xi'an we saw the Terra-Cotta Army, museums and much more. We took in a Tang Dynasty Dancing Show along with a Dumpling Banquet in the evening and the next morning we left on a two hour flight to Shanghai.
Shanghai, the largest city in China at 22 million people, is a skyscraper-studded global financial center. Nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to discover in Shanghai and we only saw a small part of it.
Signs of commerce were apparent everywhere from the traffic at the airport, the busy roads and bridges, the rail lines as well as the freight being moved on the inland waterways.
Our bus took us out into the country and on our way to visit Yellow Mountain we saw tea plantations everywhere. Yellow Mountain is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, and one of China's major tourist destinations.
Our entire trip was everything that we were promised and more.
It was first class all the way.
Andy Yang our national tour guide was perfectly organized, he kept us informed and he was helpful, friendly, funny and very knowledgeable. Andy was the glue that kept the 34 people on our bus interested in the history of China and he kept us all safe and together. In fact, he became a trusted friend to all of us.
December birthdays: Marlene Wenschlag, Dirce Pandolfo, Bill Bosnich, Laurie Meier, Elaine Swaykoski, Ivy Whitfield, Roy Whitfield, Phil Staniland, Marie Horbach, Lucy Buchanan, Paul Duperron, Marg McLachlan, Jean Durston, Carlos Green, Wilfred Vogt, Margaret Keibel, Harvey Clark, Terry Burgess, Shirley Byman, Alcide Gauthier, Erika Gregson, Elaine Sokolowski, Lucy Young, John Warner, Faye Sibley, Joan Watt, Deb Wood, Jim Doucette, Joyce Shaw, Louise Wiebe, Mary McNeil, Denise Baldock, Erika Harders, Judy Schlesier, Donalda Carson, Erika Harders, Simone Kwast, Shirley Michaud, Bob Michaud, Trish Barnes, Elvin Finstad, Anita MacDonald, Andy Horwath, Catherine Halladay, Fred Archibald, Arthur Cardinal, Lorita Woelbern, Joann Eikum, James Obrien, Fred Bagg, Albert Gendron, Maggie Sauerwein and Ralph Chappel.
December anniversaries: 65 years for Ivor and Joan Buchi (nee Perry), 60 years for Jack and Avis Cook, 59 years for Alcide and Margaret Gauthier, 57 years for Aimee and Lena Dumoulin, 53 years for Malcolm and Elaine Lamb, 52 years for John and Eva Werlberger, 52 years for Roy and Shirley Green, and 49 years for Mario and Emma Mauro.
