China 2025 - Epilog

 

In all our previous adventures of this magnitude (Iceland, Africa, Australia, etc.) the blog was written in near real time. That is, generally I wrote the entry for the day that evening. And as some of the days were long the corresponding blog entry was short - there's only so much time in a day... This trip was different in that I didn't take a computer or turn on my phone for the entire trip - mostly out of paranoia but some sage wit once said "It's not paranoia if they're really after you"...  Anyway, this entire blog was written post travel and thus presented a different challenge, mostly in two areas. 

First, we collectively took over 3,000 photos. There's probably at least 30 or so good ones... Picking out the photos for the blog, well after we'd returned to the states was, problematic. So many photos. Donna has created a Google Photo album of our pictures, I say our but they're really hers, I haven't included mine yet as I want to cull them for duplicates and other "only interesting to me" type photos (engineering geek stuff like train cable tension devices...). I'll get mine in there eventually. If you're interested in looking at our photos email Donna @ dfongtaylor@gmail.com, as she is the owner and the only one who can grant access. 

Second, another sage wit (maybe the same one...) said "Memory is the second thing to go, I forgot what the first one is". That challenge came up again and again as I wrote this more than 2 months after the fact. Fortunately, between Donna and myself we could usually reconstruct what I was trying to convey with the help of the pictures. But, there is little in the blog I'd testify in court over... 

The takeaway here is that I'll endeavor to write the blog entries daily as they occur on future trips (except and unless we go to Russia, but I don't see that happening...). So, with that rambling preamble, our trip to China in a nutshell...

• 28 Mar - 28 Apr 
• 28 days in total including 2 trips across the international date line
• 8 airline flights
•  6 flights getting there and back (2 there, 4 back)
• 22,226 miles
•  ~ 46 hrs in the air
• 2 flights in China
• 1,500 miles
• ~ 6 hrs in the air
• We made liberal use of the airline lounges, and they were nice (thanks Jared)
•  6 high speed trains in China (I'm still in awe...)
• Untold hours on tour busses (In awe not so much but I don't know of a better way of seeing so much so efficiently - trade-offs, life as we know it ...) 
• 130 miles - walked! 
• 13 hotels
• Including Marina Singapore Bay Sands, the nicest hotel we've ever been in 
• I would guess 25-ish hotel buffet breakfasts
• Some better than others, none bad but the MBS buffet was the best ever
• I would guess something like 35-ish Chinese banquet type meals
• Again, some better than others but we were in no danger of ever being hungry...
•  Extraordinary sights (and I'm sure I'll forget to mention a few...)
• China 
• Great Wall
• Forbidden City
• Terracotta Army 
• Summer Palace
• 2008 Olympic Park
•  Xi'An City Wall
•  Muslem Quarter and Great Mosque in XI'An
• The spectacular Lingyin Temple
• Longjing Tea Plantation
• Shanghai Library and French Concession
• Humble Adminstrator's Garden
• Grand Canal 
• Yuyuan Garden
•  Mei Guan Pass
•  Guangdong Nanxiong Zhuji Ancient Alley
•  Temple of the Six Banyan Trees
•  Chen Clan Ancestral Hall
•  Dexun Lin Ancestral Hall
• Introduction to Dr. Selia Tan
•  Wuyi University
•  Jiangmen Wuyi Overseas Chinese Museum
•  Cangdong Cultural Heritage Village
•  Kaiping Diaolou, Zili Village
•  Liyuan Garden
•  Baihe Town and Pier
•  Grand Yu Ancestral Hall
•  Baoguosi Temple 
•  Donna's Ancestral Villages
•  Yanhu / Nganwo (maternal grandmother - Situ / Seto / Soo Hoo village)
•  Long'Gang (paternal grandfather - Fong / Kuang village)
•  Dong'Anli (maternal grandfather - Ong village)
• Zhutang (paternal grandmother - Yee village)
•  Singapore
• Botanical garden (in particular, the orchid garden w/in the botanical garden)
• Raffles bar
• Swim in the MBS rooftop infinity pool
• Gardens by the Bay 
• Changi Airport Jewel 

Whew! When I list them all out like that we saw and did a lot! And I'm sure I missed some things. 

It was a great trip by any measure - culturally, educationally, interestingly and more (I've run out of -ly descriptive words...). We met a lot of nice people, made some friends, met some relatives for the first time (well, Donna did...).  Experienced all sorts of cuisine. All in all a truly unforgettable experience of a lifetime.

 

Day 27-28; Homeward Bound (Thur-Fri; 24-25 Apr)

The taxi was waiting for us - at 4:30 AM - at the hotel lobby entrance. Whew! That was a relief. I've scheduled taxis that early a handful of times in the states and have about a 50% no-show record but our guy was there, which was good as there was no Plan B...

Today was all about getting home. Recall that our trip to China took about 30 hours door-to-door after which I told Donna "I'm not doing that on the way home" after which she informed me how much it was going to cost us to fly home in a more "luxurious" manner - I blinked and figured the misery of airline travel to China would fade into the fog in the month before our return. Well, there was a little bit of that but also our return trip was broken into 4 flights. We'd already taken the first - Guangzhou to Singapore (with a 3-day "layover") - now we were headed for Seoul, Seattle then LAX. I think it was actually better stopping and changing planes than the 17-hour LAX to Singapore flight we came on. Moreover, Donna was excited to do some shopping during our 5-hour layover in Seoul. 

So, we got the O'Dark-thirty taxi to the international flight departures and were there just before 5 AM. But we were almost the only people there!  Moreover, Korean Air does not have a "permanent" check-in counter so we spent a fair bit of time just wandering around trying to figure out where we were supposed to check-in. Time went by, more and more people filtered in and a line formed for what we thought might be the "Korean Air line". Donna asked some of the folks in line where they were going, most of them were Russian, I think, and didn't speak English but one guy kind of pointed us to a different line. That line had 4 women who were traveling together (with enough luggage for at least 10 people) and Donna asked them where they were going and sure enough - Seoul. They were going on a "weekend shopping trip". We (the royal We meaning Donna) spoke with them a fair bit until the gate agent finally showed up, well after 6 AM if memory serves. As I recall (so consider the source...) I don't remember ever seeing a "Korean Air" logo and any indication of Korean Air. In any event, we got checked in and made our way through security and onward to the "Priority Pass" lounge for breakfast and a short wait to board our 7:30 flight. The 6-hour flight was uneventful and we arrived in Seoul about 3 PM (with the +1 hr time change).

We wandered about the Seoul airport and while nice, we were now officially spoiled by the Singapore Airport Jewel. Ultimately we found another PP lounge, parked our carry-on luggage and went out shopping in search of ... I guess we (we, as in Donna) were looking for a certain cosmetic line which we ultimately found was not available at the airport. Donna was disappointed, but we did see what the Seoul airport had to offer - to me it was much like the international malls in most international airports but it was fun to see what's what. That took about 2 hours so we went back to the lounge and ate the first of the 3 dinners we'd have that day.  Boarding time rolled around, we boarded (Delta Airlines this time), the plane pushed back and I thought to myself, "whew, US bound at last". Not so fast cowboy... we had some sort of issue and ultimately had to go back to the gate and "re-fuel" as we had burned too much fuel waiting. That's the story and they stuck with it. I found it highly dubious and was waiting for someone to be removed from the flight for one of the litany of reasons stupid people do stupid things these days once they get on an airplane - but if that happened I didn't see it. Anyway, we ultimately took off, ~2 hours late, Seattle bound.

We had a 4-hour layover in Seattle so maybe the 2-hour delay wouldn't scotch the whole works but we had to pick up our checked luggage, go through customs and recheck our luggage so there was that. I had resigned myself to "Well, there are worse places to be stuck in than Seattle" (I've been stuck in many of them...). But, we made it through with time to spare. Of course, it was Friday as we lost the day we gained a month ago crossing the international date line.  Actually, we had so much time that we made our way to the Delta Sky-lounge and after a brief wait went in and had dinner #3 (#2 was on the Seoul-Seattle flight). The last airborne leg of our trip was Seattle to LAX and departed on time about 6 PM. We landed at LAX a bit after 8 PM, picked up our luggage and rented a car from Avis one-way LAX to Simi Valley (it was way cheaper than parking for a month...). Ultimately we got home about 11 PM... at last.

We were both pictured-out by this time so I'll share the only picture I have. Actually, I took 6 pictures -  all of Mt. Rainier as we were landing in Seattle...

As bad as things were in the US then (and IMO they're worse now...), it was good to be back...

 What a trip!

In my next (and last) post for this adventure I'll try to summarize in an epilogue.

 

 

Day 26; Singapore (Weds; 23 Apr)

Today is our second full day in Singapore and we made the most of it as we're homeward bound early tomorrow. To make our travel day (tomorrow) less stressful we're staying at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the airport as we have a 7:30 AM flight which means we have to check in about 5 AM, it's an international flight - more on this later. 

We had to check out of the Marina Bay Sands by 11. We got down to breakfast reasonably early and, as we knew the "lay of the land" now, we were more efficient in taking full advantage of the fantastic buffet. After a somewhat leisurely breakfast we went back to our room to pack up and take a last glance at the fabulous view. We stored our luggage at the lobby holding room then spent the most of the morning at the Gardens by the Bay, adjacent to the MBS.

As I've mentioned before virtually every place we went in Singapore was impressive and my favorite place was always the one we were currently visiting - the Gardens by the Bay was no exception, it was incredible. The gardens were lush, diverse and extraordinarily well tended. The cost of admission was more than reasonable - free! There were admission fees to some attractions, the Cloud Forest and the Supertree Observatory for example, but we just explored a small part of the gardens at large. If we had more time I think we would have visited some of the pay-to-see attractions, I suspect they're worth the cost, but you have to have the time. That said, the park (or garden) that surrounded these and other special attractions was an attraction in and of itself. We probably spent a couple of hours there but were a little anxious to get back to the Marina Bay Sands as we wanted to visit the observation deck while our keys still worked, otherwise it would be $35 each. 

We wandered back to the hotel then up to the roof and out on to the deck. Again, a great 360 degree view and my favorite place (at that moment). It was not too crowded and we spoke with an Australian guy there who pointed out the Formula 1 racetrack (he had attended the race). The deck itself is cantilevered away from the hotel structure, which is not an issue until you start thinking about it - I doubt many people do. I guess that says something about people's implicit trust of structural engineers... We spent about an hour on the deck then went down and went to the mall food court for lunch. 

While at lunch we struck up a conversation with a 30-something Singaporean man who was on his lunch break. We spoke at length about the commonalities and differences between our two countries. He was very pleasant, seemed well educated and appeared to have a good sense of what was going on in the world. Ultimately Donna exchanged contact info with him. We finished with lunch, took one last stroll in the mall then it was back to the hotel to catch a taxi to the airport. 

It seemed like that task should have been simple enough but the lobby entrance was extraordinarily busy and somehow we missed the taxi's first pass, they're not allowed to loiter/wait. It's a little hazy now but as I recall the hotel porter was very helpful - he went out into the street and flagged our taxi driver down and then there was something about money, Singaporean money and our lack of it, and the tip we were trying to give him. Ultimately he turned down our tip in US dollars saying he was grateful for what America had done for him (which we only briefly got into) and happy to be of service. Now that was unexpected... especially these days...

The taxi trip to the Singapore Changi airport took about a half hour and was uneventful. We checked into the Crowne Plaza Hotel then thought we'd take a dry run on the tram to the departing passengers area to see how complicated it might be and how long it would take - the short answer, neither complicated nor long. The airport has a marvelous tram system that passes right through Changi Jewel (more on this later) to the passenger areas (arriving and departing) but it wasn't running as early as we needed it to be (i.e. 4:30-ish). There is also a bus directly from the CP lobby but we weren't confidant that it would be running that early either. Back at the hotel we spoke with the concierge who booked a taxi for 4:30 AM and was very confident it would be waiting for us. Reasonably confidant that we'd be able to get to our flight the next morning on time we struck off to explore the Changi Jewel, which thence became my favorite place in Singapore. Amazing. This is like an amusement park on steroids in the middle of the airport and includes gardens, attractions and some 300 dining and retail outlets. It's 10 stories tall with 1.4 million square feet of floor area. The "jump out at you" feature has to be the Rain Vortex, which defies adequate description (at least for me). You'll have to rely on the pictures, which still does not fully capture its brilliance. We wandered around, essentially in awe and eventually settled on a place to eat dinner - Tempura Makino - it was very good. After dinner we strolled around for an hour or so then it was back to the hotel to prepare for our long day of flying and airports the next day. As was the story for our entire Singapore visit, we didn't have the time the Jewel deserved, but we saw what we could.

We had the buffet figured out on day 2...

I think Donna took a liking to that green juice, I still don't know what it is...

Check out the MBS silhouette, clever...

Entrance to the Gardens by the Bay was across this breezeway directly from the hotel...

... looking into the hotel lobby as we crossed the breezeway.

Interesting artwork everywhere you looked...

Just outside the hotel, we crossed this tree-lined bridge to the gardens.

Trying here to convey a sense of how really big the Gardens by the Bay is - we spent about 2 hours there and only made it to the gardens nearest the hotel. This is easily a one, more likely two day exploration.

From the garden side of the bridge looking out on the Supertree Grove (which we didn't visit, next time I would make time to do so...)

This might give a sense of how lush the gardens are, with the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome in the background (no, didn't visit these either... :-(  )

Can't get enough views of the MBS, here from the gardens. That's the observation deck hanging out (cantilevered) off the right building

More eclectic art - here children riding dragonflies...

... and here, a floating baby.

There were so many picture-worthy plants, trees, rocks and sculptures, it's hard to pick out only a few. And of course, the pictures don't do the subjects justice... 

A better view of the dragonfly rider...

Of course, a wide variety of beautiful flowers. We could only imagine ...

... what the Flower Dome would show. Next time...

The "Supertree" Grove was impressive, apparently you can walk across that suspended bridge from one tree to another...

Out of time, we head back to the hotel and the observation deck.

Here, the Gardens by the Bay (really only part of it) from the MBS observation deck.

The Formula 1 pits were somewhere near the curve in the center of the picture, according to our Australian acquaintance.

A telephoto across the bay of the Merlion. Half lion, half fish, it's the official mascot of Singapore.

One last shot of the infinity pool. It's a gray day trying to rain so maybe not as photogenic as other shots, it's still an amazing structure.

Now on our way to lunch through the mall, which has a canal running through it on which you can charter a gondola. I know what you're thinking, no, we didn't...

 

The mall had all the conventional high-end mall amenities as well, plus a casino. 

No pictures from our taxi ride to the airport but this from our room. Not an MBS view but not bad if you're an airplane geek - like Donna...

The Rain Vortex at the Changi Jewel - hard to convey the size but you get a sense of it from the people walking around the base. The bridge behind the Rain Vortex is for the airport tram, you can just see it passing on the right side.

Here's a video in an attempt to capture the full effect

More of the Jewel. Not clearly evident are the walking paths interspersed along the different floors surrounding the Rain Vortex.

Closeup of the collection basin, I think it's glass and I think you can view it from underneath. No time to check it out though...

There are several other water features... 

... nice in their own right.

At first I thought maybe this was like China where some folks, mostly women, dressed up as in the days of old. This women, however, was being filmed for a commercial, I think for beer...

Time for dinner, we settled on tempura at this place. It took us awhile to find it and when we did we realized we'd walked right by it once. 

Our last meals in Asia...

... not counting the Delta lounge at the airport the next morning.