CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES China Trip
My wife Verla and I received a call last July from a family we were close to when we lived in the Sonora, CA area several years ago. "Pinocle partners". They wanted to know if we would be interested in going to china in October. It turned out that the chamber of commerce in Sonora was planning the trip, and Will & Carol were longtime members. They had bought up a block of quite a few tickets at $1399 apiece, and offered us the opportunity to purchase three at that price, including one for our grandson Charles. We told them we would call them back with a decision later that day, and after a lengthy discussion of about 30 seconds we called them back with affirmative responses. Charles also made a near instant decision, and would cough up the required money for the trip. We all agreed that it was now or never.
The trip included bus transportation to and from San Francisco, but we were in WA, so flew down a day ahead, and would stay an extra day there on the return trip. Getting older you know! The flight to china was long and tough, but they fed us actually too often. If it wasn't a snack it was a meal every couple of hours, and the food was good. The chinese flight attendants were so perfect looking, so pure and immaculate, so gracious and polite. Made me feel like pigpen! Upon arriving at Beijing, we were met by two tour guides and split into two groups for the entire time we were in china. We were in group TC2, or Tuolumne County group 2. The food was ok in Beijing, but the beds were rock hard. Most of our meals during the stay in china would be self serve at a round table with a huge lazy susan in the center. The dinner plates were the same size as our normal cup saucers - VERY SMALL! The food always looked fantastic, but forewarned is forearmed. What looked like a dish of sweet & sour pork might be bone riddled fish batter fried. Lots of duck was served, some pork, very little beef, and I don't want to guess at what else. Some of the unknown was good though, enough to satisfy.
Breakfasts were the load up meal. Full sized plates, pancakes, waffles, toast, omelets, ham, bacon, veggies, cheeses, wonderful fresh fruits, pastries, noodle and many other tasty chinese dishes, several kinds of juices, coffee and at least a dozen more mouthwatering dishes. Oh yea, we loved the breakfasts. However, these were in the hotels geared for tourists. The hotel where we stayed in Beijing was fancy, but the ones in Hangzhou and Shanghai were outstanding. One even had thousands of little colored lights in the pavement of the drive in front of the lobby. WOW! a huge fountain with gyrating colored water shows. Even the palm trees were fancy and full of tiny colored led lights. I felt out of place! Not worthy! The guides were great and very helpful. The first guide in Beijing was named Wally, and his favorite saying was "Follow Wally". The second guide for Hangzhou (pronounced "HON ZOO" and Shanghai was named Jimmy, everyone's favorite guide. If you ever make that trip, be sure to take enough batteries for your camera for the entire trip. AAs averaged about $1 each in packs of four, or $4 per package. Occasionally they could be found at USA prices,very seldom.
The vast majority of the elderly chinese obviously despised us, but the younger generations either tolerated us or were happy to see us. Many of the bathrooms in the native portion of the towns and cities were real tough to enter, and some required you to hold your breath upon entering. The ammonia smell was a killer. The crap smell was tolerable and faint. We saw sights that were fantastic, loved their small personal transportation means and methods as you will see in the photos, and I swear there are mini vans that you can sit in and hang your arms out both doors. TINY! The skies in china as far as we saw were hardly ever blueish, mostly tan colored from dust and air pollution. The Maglev (magnetic levitation) train was exciting to ride in, but the ride was too short. Our good friend Will lost his boarding pass just before we were scheduled to board the bus from the terminal to the 747. He did some tall talking and was allowed to board at the last minute. I think they just wanted him out of there after dealing with his aggressiveness when he gets upset.
Anyway, if you want to see the photos my wife posted on her website, just type in www.verlakay.com, then scan down toward the bottom to china photos. These are a very small portion of the 1522 photos she took, of which 1300 were acceptable. Many of the photos were shot from a moving bus. Don't expect the picture quality of the photos that George produces, it's just not there. Hope you like the trip,
Terry B
My wife Verla and I received a call last July from a family we were close to when we lived in the Sonora, CA area several years ago. "Pinocle partners". They wanted to know if we would be interested in going to china in October. It turned out that the chamber of commerce in Sonora was planning the trip, and Will & Carol were longtime members. They had bought up a block of quite a few tickets at $1399 apiece, and offered us the opportunity to purchase three at that price, including one for our grandson Charles. We told them we would call them back with a decision later that day, and after a lengthy discussion of about 30 seconds we called them back with affirmative responses. Charles also made a near instant decision, and would cough up the required money for the trip. We all agreed that it was now or never.
The trip included bus transportation to and from San Francisco, but we were in WA, so flew down a day ahead, and would stay an extra day there on the return trip. Getting older you know! The flight to china was long and tough, but they fed us actually too often. If it wasn't a snack it was a meal every couple of hours, and the food was good. The chinese flight attendants were so perfect looking, so pure and immaculate, so gracious and polite. Made me feel like pigpen! Upon arriving at Beijing, we were met by two tour guides and split into two groups for the entire time we were in china. We were in group TC2, or Tuolumne County group 2. The food was ok in Beijing, but the beds were rock hard. Most of our meals during the stay in china would be self serve at a round table with a huge lazy susan in the center. The dinner plates were the same size as our normal cup saucers - VERY SMALL! The food always looked fantastic, but forewarned is forearmed. What looked like a dish of sweet & sour pork might be bone riddled fish batter fried. Lots of duck was served, some pork, very little beef, and I don't want to guess at what else. Some of the unknown was good though, enough to satisfy.
Breakfasts were the load up meal. Full sized plates, pancakes, waffles, toast, omelets, ham, bacon, veggies, cheeses, wonderful fresh fruits, pastries, noodle and many other tasty chinese dishes, several kinds of juices, coffee and at least a dozen more mouthwatering dishes. Oh yea, we loved the breakfasts. However, these were in the hotels geared for tourists. The hotel where we stayed in Beijing was fancy, but the ones in Hangzhou and Shanghai were outstanding. One even had thousands of little colored lights in the pavement of the drive in front of the lobby. WOW! a huge fountain with gyrating colored water shows. Even the palm trees were fancy and full of tiny colored led lights. I felt out of place! Not worthy! The guides were great and very helpful. The first guide in Beijing was named Wally, and his favorite saying was "Follow Wally". The second guide for Hangzhou (pronounced "HON ZOO" and Shanghai was named Jimmy, everyone's favorite guide. If you ever make that trip, be sure to take enough batteries for your camera for the entire trip. AAs averaged about $1 each in packs of four, or $4 per package. Occasionally they could be found at USA prices,very seldom.
The vast majority of the elderly chinese obviously despised us, but the younger generations either tolerated us or were happy to see us. Many of the bathrooms in the native portion of the towns and cities were real tough to enter, and some required you to hold your breath upon entering. The ammonia smell was a killer. The crap smell was tolerable and faint. We saw sights that were fantastic, loved their small personal transportation means and methods as you will see in the photos, and I swear there are mini vans that you can sit in and hang your arms out both doors. TINY! The skies in china as far as we saw were hardly ever blueish, mostly tan colored from dust and air pollution. The Maglev (magnetic levitation) train was exciting to ride in, but the ride was too short. Our good friend Will lost his boarding pass just before we were scheduled to board the bus from the terminal to the 747. He did some tall talking and was allowed to board at the last minute. I think they just wanted him out of there after dealing with his aggressiveness when he gets upset.
Anyway, if you want to see the photos my wife posted on her website, just type in www.verlakay.com, then scan down toward the bottom to china photos. These are a very small portion of the 1522 photos she took, of which 1300 were acceptable. Many of the photos were shot from a moving bus. Don't expect the picture quality of the photos that George produces, it's just not there. Hope you like the trip,
Terry B
