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Hawaii Blog:

Lost and found in China, contd. from front page

By Alvin Koo

Editor's note: I've just come back from a 3 week in China, and here are some of my observations.

...for women to sing with you or even more.

NOTES

In Taiwan, the center of the city for a visitor is the Taipei Main Station. It’s both a rail and metro station. It is huge and the signs are confusing. A few Taiwanese people admitted to me they had been lost in the terminal the first time through. You have to understand that the subway is called MRT and the train is called HRT.

If you want to see Taroko National Park(they say Tai-roko and won’t understand you if you say Ta-roko), I recommend taking two days and staying overnight in Hualien. I did it in one but did not stop to walk, hike or stroll. I left on the 7:10 am train out of the Taipei main station. It got into Hualien about ten. I had to wait till 11 before the city bus to Taroko left. I couldn’t get anyway to tell me how to find another bus, like a tour bus. They just pointed at the building where the city buses stop. The bus stopped at every local stop. It took two hours to get to the main point in Taroko, Tienhsiang. Tienhsiang has restaurants and the one hotel in the park. That left me four hours to play before my 5 p.m. train reservation back to Taipei. But you have to time the bus back.

I decided to try for a taxi back.

But not many taxis make it up that high. So, we asked someone to share their taxi with us back down. They agreed but did not want to stop anywhere as they had stopped everywhere on the ride up. OK. So, no pictures except from a moving car or bus.

Hong Kong has the world’s longest elevator. It goes from the city’s current (May 09) tallest building on the Hong Kong side up the mountain through residential high rises and small shops and restaurants. It’s a great area. The bottom is called Central, but you can’t tell a taxi to go to Central because the buildings are so big that Central is about a half mile wide, at least. It would be good if you get the name of your street and a cross street written in Chinese to get you back. You can show this to taxi drivers, people on the street, at a bus stop or in the subway.

Tip: Even a Hong Kong resident did not know this when I arrived. The Mid-level escalators at Central only run one way. They run downhill from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and the rest of the day till midnight they run uphill.

Tip: Ask a local where to go to buy a bowl of Hong Kong noodles. They are the best. Flour noodles with egg and shrimp flavoring!

Zhongshan is a completely new city. There was not an old building in sight. Tip: if you want a taxi to give you a tour, always negotiate the price before hand. If they can’t speak English well enough, too bad, move on to a taxi that will negotiate it with you. They can be stubborn and insistent, but they will not resort to physical violence.

Guilin is one of the those cities that are larger than they look in the map. The main street is called Zhongshan Lu. Every city has a Zhongshan Lu. Sun Yat Sen’s Chinese name is Sun Zhongshan. He came from that area. You must be precise in telling a cabbie where you want to go, you must say Zhongshan zhong lu. Which means the middle part of Zhongshan Lu. It’s a long street and it makes a difference.

Pingan was the most unimaginable place I visited in China. You take a two hour plus bus ride from Guilin Bus station, which is very confusing. You have to go around the building to the back to find the Pingan bus. Don’t take the tour they offer you at the airport. It’s 400 RMB. At the hotel, they will offer it to you for 140 RMB. If you are gutsy enough to take the public bus, it’s about 15 RMB for the first bus. They change buses at the bottom of the mountain, where it begins to get really steep and curvy. I don’t know how much it is for the second bus, but I met a laowai who did it. Then you have to pay a 50 RMB entrance fee to hike up to Pingan village and beyond.

I took the 140 RMB deal.

Had lunch and stayed one night above the clouds in a authentic looking Yao minority style house made of rough cedar. But instead of sharing an extra bedroom with some farmers, I had a hotel room in the cedar house with TV, AC, western toilet and clean sheets. The laowai I met just hiked until dark and made hand signals for food and sleep to get lodging for the night. He was way beyond Pingan. He was very happy with the outcome.

On to fabled Yangshuo. Ten years ago, this was a sleepy farm village discovered by a few backpackers. I found it on a website called China Backpackers. But Yangshuo is famous all throughout China. And now probably the world. It’s old backpacker street is now closed to cars and is a pure tourist mall, full of varnished knick knack shops and cute cafes, all with internet connection.

All the guidebooks recommend not taking the 400 RMB ferry from Guilin to Yangshuo. You can ride on a bus from Yangshuo to Xing Ping for much less (like 4 RMB) and then ride a boat on the most scenic part of the river. They wanted 250 RMB for that small trip when I was there, so the moral of the story is: China changes fast, all the guidebooks are out of date, including probably this one (May 09).

I bicycled a short part of the Yulong River on the west side of Yangshuo and hiked—it really is quite a climb—to the viewpoint at Moon Hill. But the view, as I was told when I was ready to quit climbing, is worth it.

Tip: the vendors who are cooking dog and hanging it up for display are sensitive about laowai taking their picture. I imagine they have had their share of bad press. But when I was there they were still hanging the dog up in the morning. Tip: go before 8 a.m. because they dog will be sold and gone before afternoon.

Tip: Xing Ping is the small village that Yangshuo used to be.

Tip: Shangrila is like Disneyland. It’s a very complete representation of old Chinese culture.

Shanghai has more new construction than I have ever seen. They are preparing for the 2010 World Expo. Even the locals grab their purses and bags when they walk into the intersection of the Bund and Nanjing Lu. There are more huge computerized signs on Nanjing Lu than I have ever seen. The locals go the the French Concession area about two miles west of the Huangpu River on Huaihai Lu. Lu means road. That area is almost quaint except for a few humongous digital signs.

The Shanghai metro system is the best. The signs are in English and Chinese. They are color coded and numbered. Streams of people go to each platform. So you can’t really get lost. They are maps everywhere including a sign on each side of the platform that tells you (in English and Chinese) every stop that the train coming through on that platform made and will make. You can take a Metro to Nanjing Lu (Nanjing Dong Lu—is east Nanjing road). You can get to Huaihai Lu.

The stop for the famous new, built to look old, Xintiandi is called Huangpi Nan Lu. Or you can get off at Shanxi Nan Lu or Changsu Lu.

Suzhou, the Suzhou you read about in the travel books, is a tiny little jewel set in a large modern city. It is so tiny it is laughable. They call it the Venice of China but there is no comparison.

But it is pretty. So pretty that modern Suzhou brides flock there to get their wedding pictures taken, often in old style beautifully modern qi pao or cheongsam dresses. They all look as beautiful as actresses all dressed up. Red lanterns at night. To get the best pictures, find your spot about an hour before sunset. They will turn the lanterns on early so you can get great natural light pictures.

Tip: if you like hot food, try the cong you bing. It’s Chinese pizza. Made with a great chili sauce that they put on quite generously. But as a Korean-Chinese I didn’t find it too hot. Very nice. With green onions and sesame seeds. Great. Go down the west side of Shantang Street to the old side without the red lanterns. Tip: I found a compass handy.

Hangzhou is the place to hangout. Several miles of lakeside are treelined park. With many park benches at the edge of the water. After about 5 p.m., you can find quite a bit of quiet and solitude. If you tire of walking there is an electric tram that will take you from one end to the other for about 20 RMB.

You can pay 28 yuan for a scoop of Haagen Daas, which they say is imported from America. Or you can walk across the street from Xihu (West Lake) Tiandi, the trendy section of the park, and find a restaurant with glass and locals for about 20 yuan a bowl of noodles.

No glass if you remember is cheaper still.

The touristy shopping street is called Qing He Feng Lu.

Hangzhou because of the ability to sit and watch a sunset over the water in a park was my favorite.

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