China Travel Log

Fellow Virtual Travelers,

On this day we recognize the Ides of March stemming from the Latin word 'idus' indicating the approximate day that was the middle of the month.  More notably, it is also the date when Julius Caesar met his demise by conspirators in 44 B.C.

By 44 B.C. in China, Daoist (also spelled Taoist) monks already inhabited the dangerous peaks of Huashan in the northwestern region of the country.  The ruggedness of the mountain lent itself well to a hermit's life and avoided some of the destruction from the days of Mao and the Cultural Revolution.  Taoism is this mountain's historical religion and the mountain's history is rich with Chinese martial arts.  It is believed that China's most famous physician frequented this mountain, in part due to the plentiful herbal medicines that grow naturally - Dr. Hua Tuo.  Hua Tuo is also credited to having developed some of our Kung Fu martial arts history with the Exercise of the Five Animals.  Learn more about Hua Tuo (last name pronounced like our English word toe) here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Tuo

For those who were with us during the October 2012 expedition, you'll remember that we wrote some of our day on Hua and with the pelting rainstorm how we got within 30 minutes walk from one of our goals, before the storm forced us to retreat:

http://www.wherecoolthingshappen.com/huashan-crazy-plank-walk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hua

The mountain is solid granite and consists of five separate but connected peaks.  Being in the colder months of the year and with coal the primary fuel for heat in the city at the base of the mountain, the air was quite hazy and dense.  Not conducive to photography.  Likewise, we noted the increased tourism and multitudes of tourists on the mountain, even though late October is not a peak season for tourism in China.

Until recently, the mountain was traversed via hand hewn hand and foot holds allowing access to many temples scattered across the mountain peaks.  In modern times, we now have the (relative) ease of using hand-hewn steps and walkways.  The only way to get water, food, construction materials and goods to sell onto the mountain is by porters.  Likewise, the only way to get trash and sewage off the mountain is by (you guessed it) porters.

There are historically five great mountains in China, representing the center and all four directions. Huashan is considered to be the West Great Mountain.

Hua itself is described as having five peaks:  North Peak where the cable car from the base of the mountain ends, Central, South, East and West. The highest of the peaks is South Peak measured at 2154.9 meters or 7070 feet in elevation. The name Huashan loosely translates to flower mountain because of the five petaled peaks.

http://www.chinatravelkey.com/xian/attractions/mthuashan/mainpeak.htm

One of the main pathways from north peak to the remainder of the mountain is the Knife edge or Dark Dragon Ridge.  This is a narrow ridge with sheer precipices on either side, an approximate 60 degrees of stair walking, over 1,000 feet in length.  Not for the faint of heart!  All of the steps shown in the attached photos are steps we traversed going up and later down the mountain in the driving rain storm!

Blessings,
Dennis & Anita

China Travel Log

Fellow Virtual Travelers,

Happy Chinese New Year that is!  The Chinese New Year is different than our calendar-based New Year known as January 1st of each year.  Today, February 10th is the start of this year's calendar and this is the year of the Water Snake.  Lunar and solar cycles determine the exact timing of the new year and the Chinese Zodiac plays a large role the new year's celebrations!

Check out the Chinese New Year details here:

http://www.theholidayspot.com/chinese_new_year/

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/focus/calendar.htm

Learn more about the Chinese Zodiac:

http://www.theholidayspot.com/chinese_new_year/calendar.htm

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/story.htm

Following the principle of Chinese yin and yang (the concept of complementary opposites like hot/cold, light/dark and young/old), on this day of National Chinese celebration, we bring to you a story of tragedy from within the lands of China.  We met a warm soul during our travels across the orient, whom we call John. He lived during the time of the uprising of the Red Guard under Mao Zedong, known as the Cultural Revolution.  John's family had for generations been small business owners, passing the business from father to son.  

Under Mao, capitalists and capitalism were deemed undesirable and needed to be purged from society.  As a result, all private business was seized and assets destroyed.  John's father was sent to prison and tortured for years for being a capitalist.  While his father languished in prison, John was sent to work at hard labor with other capitalists' children on rural farms.

John's father nearly died in prison and, although eventually released, he suffered from nightmares to the end of his days.  John later took the college entrance exams and passed with flying colors, so under Chinese law was eventually allowed to attend college. Meanwhile the infrastructure of the entire country collapsed. Only after Deng Xiaoping became Chairman were the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution acknowledged and corrected. But barely in time, as the whole country was on the verge of physical and economic collapse.

While John has persevered and lives life the best he can, it is clear that many emotional wounds exist.

The New Year is a peak travel time in China. One of the big changes we found since our last visits is the huge growth in domestic tourism. Citizens are discovering their rich heritage by visiting places like the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province. While it was once possible to get photos of just buildings at such places, the surge in tourism makes these ancient temples very crowded today.

Blessings,
Dennis & Anita

China Travel Log

Fellow Virtual Travelers,

Happy New Year to all of you!  Now that the holidays are behind us, are you ready for some more China 2012 stories?

A couple of months ago, you met Victor at Wudang mountain.  This story explores perhaps the most unnerving and weird event during our two week China adventure!

We arrived at the base of Wudangshan late in the day on October 22nd, after a five-hour bus ride.  Victor met us at the outdoor bus stop and we walked 10-15 minutes through town to get to our hotel.  After checking in, we hauled our 150 pounds of luggage up four flights of stairs to our hotel room.  Before saying goodnight to Victor, we agreed to meet in the parking lot the next morning at 6:30 am to walk to the town square for exercise with the local towns folk.

On the morning of October 23rd, it was still dark and the temperature brisk as we headed through town, walking along the local waterway.  Coming into the town square some 20 minutes later, there were many groups of locals already dancing, playing badminton, going through sword forms and doing Tai Chi forms, including fans.

After individual warm ups and stretching, Victor started us out by taking us through some of his martial arts material. Partway through one of his Tai Chi forms, we caught a glimpse of something small and black flying high over and around the town center.

The unit flew quite high back and forth along the road and over us for about 5 minutes before it came close enough to really see.  It was a version of an octocopter drone containing a remote control camera!

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2012/04/19/the-camera-bag-x88-j-octocopter-is-drone-of-your-dreams-or-nightmares-for-s

Of course, we're thinking, 'Uh oh!  We don't exactly blend in here in rural China!  Why would big brother be watching us?'

Finally the crew running the unit brought it to the ground on the side of the town square and we got to meet them and take close up pictures of the octocopter.  We presume that they were with a local TV station, so if any of you find footage or photographs of us online, let us know and we'll send it to this list!  Look for three Americans with Victor in Shiyan City, China on October 23rd, at the town square. Seven-thirty (ish) am.

There were no elevators in the hotels, but we had robots in the sky watching us… It's enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up!

Blessings,
Dennis & Anita

China Travel Log

Fellow Virtual Travelers,

As we begin to sort through the estimated 6,000 to 7,000 photos that Dennis and Anita took on the China 2012 excursion, memories of stories are coming to mind!  We'll share some of these with our friends and family.  If for any reason, you would rather not receive these periodic emails now that the trip is complete, just let us know and we'll remove your email address!

Wudangshan.  Wudang Mountain.  A magical Taoist-based mountain with a 5,000 year history of martial arts and Tai Chi!  That hearkens back to the time of the building of the great Egyptian pyramids!  These are mountain ranges plentiful with naturally growing herbs for medicine, temples, walkways and walls built during the Ming Dynasty with compound curves!  Block placement even on those curves are so precise that you cannot fit a dime edge between them!  And then there is Victor Gu...

In 2003, we met Victor in a bookstore in Shiyan City at the base of the Wudang mountains. Victor is his chosen English name - his Chinese name is Gu Shiyi.  He spoke very good English, had an understanding of martial arts and an interest in health and longevity,  We were looking for a book about Wudang in English.  Victor bemoaned the fact that such a book did not exist (and still does not, some nine years later).

Sadly, we lost track of Victor over time.  In preparation for our trip, Anita googled a legend of Wudang (called the Needle Grinding Well) and found in the search results a website with an email address:  wudangvictor@hotmail.com

Wondering if this could possibly be the same Victor (after all how many Victors could there be in a remote mountain region in the middle of China)?  Long story short, it WAS our Victor from 9 years ago and he now runs a travel agency and martial arts wellness center!  Our travel agency eventually approved Victor for our local Wudang guide!  So we ended up with not only the 'inside scoop' on Wudang history, but a fellow martial artist who allowed our video taping a number of his performances!  We'll be editing those and will send him the full versions of each!

In the attached photo, we proudly introduce you to one of our Chinese martial arts friends!  Victor is in a tai chi pose in front of one of the peaks at Wudang.  In fact the highest peak you see is the Golden Summit:
http://english.cri.cn/6566/2010/10/08/902s598292.htm

And check out our friend's website:
http://www.wudangchina.com/index.htm

Nine years ago, the only way to get to Wudang was a ten hour train ride through amazing rural countrysides.  This year we took a five hour bus ride on a new highway that runs over and through the mountains from Xi'an, the city of the Terra Cotta soldiers!  We kind of missed seeing the ox drawn carts, children herding their goats and workers in rice paddies…

Blessings,
Dennis & Anita

China Travel Log

Fellow Virtual Travelers,

Home Sweet Home!  We are again struck with the astounding blessings, freedoms and opportunities that those who live in America enjoy and too often take for granted. More about this after we've had a chance to digest some of what we've seen…

In the meantime, jet lag has set in full force, so we're trying to remember what our names are and figure out which side of the planet we're on!  We have two kitty hearts to fill up and think they have partially forgiven us for being gone so long!  A special thanks to Danielle who took such good care of them!

Thanks to all of you for following us on our adventures and thanks again to everyone who touched us with your emails while we were out of the country!  Attached is an overview itinerary of where we've all been over the last two weeks...

Blessings,
Dennis & Anita

China Travel Log

Fellow Virtual Travelers,

Xi'an, China.  We finished up our tour in Xi'an with a Confucious Temple tour, seeing statues, stone tablets and stone carved calligraphy and poems from ancient times.  Ming Dynasty and before!  We in America have NO idea what ancient history is and it's mind boggling to realize that something you're looking at is older than the pyramids in Egypt!

Confucian Temple (the Stele Forest):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stele_Forest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_Temple
http://www.chinahighlights.com/xian/attraction/forest-of-stele-museum.htm

We were in American Heaven for a period of time, finding out that there was both a Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks within walking distance from our hotel!  So sitting in Starbucks, Xi'an, we enjoyed Raspberry and Hazelnut lattes, while munching on a plain cake and chocolate sprinkle donut.  The lattes tasted as we've come to expect. The donuts…  well… they looked right but something about the dough was a little different…

Then we fell off of the technological map with no internet access.  We've so many colorful stories to tell, but for now, check out where we've been the last three days:

Yuxu Palace:
http://www.damo-qigong.net/wudang/yuxu.htm

Wudangshan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wudang_Mountains
http://www.wudangchina.com/tour.htm
http://www.wudanggongfu.com
http://www.wudanwushuju.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wudang_Mountains
http://blog.chinatravel.net/culture-history/wudang-shan-kung-fu-martial-arts.html
http://www.chinatourmap.com/hubei/wudang-mountain.html

Purple Cloud temple:
http://history.cultural-china.com/en/169History8543.html
http://www.damo-qigong.net/wudang/zhixiao.htm

Golden Summit
http://www.taoistgongfu.com/wudang.htm
http://english.cri.cn/6566/2010/10/08/902s598292.htm

We arrived late on Thursday night in Beijing (10 pm by the time we got to the hotel).  Up early this morning (Friday) for our last day in China before taking the long flight back home very early Saturday morning!

Blessings,
Dennis & Anita

China Travel Log

Fellow Virtual Travelers,

Well, we attacked Hua Mountain and Hua conquered us!  Again.  This was our third visit to this monumental mountain range that translated is 'Flower Mountain'.  The name is due to the five petaled peaks that make up the mountain: North Peak, South Peak, East Peak, West Peak and Central Peak.  The entire mountain is white granite with sheer thousand foot cliffs, outcroppings and cornices. It is easy to slip and fall in good weather and it's tragic that numbers of people meet their accidental deaths on this mountain every year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hua

But I get ahead of myself….  After checking into the hotel in the city at the base of Hua and getting ready for bed Saturday night, we could not get the room to warm up!  So Dennis went to get the hotel floor attendant (the rural areas have this service on each floor of the hotels to provide assistance, hot boiled water, etc.)  After she made numerous phone calls from our room to the front desk, we were connected with our local guide Jim, who explained that the hotel controls the room temperature and it cannot be changed.  If you get cold, there is an extra quilt in the closet. Okay then!  T'was time to get out the long johns!  Glad we brought them!

Then, to prepare for re-packing our backpacks to lighten the load to hike up the thousands of steps of Huashan, we set the alarm extra early.  But… the alarm did not go off (or we slept through it) and had to miss breakfast in hotel.  So we suffered by eating our instant oatmeal in the room while we prepared for the mountain assault!

The Assault on Hua:  We made the trek from north peak all the way to east peak before the rain came. We managed to get some video footage of the struggle to climb the steep and narrow dragon ridge knife edge along the way. Defeated by Hua weather, we walked down the wet & slippery granite steps and made it back to north peak in about an hour. BUT THEN, we waited in line to catch the cable car the rest of the way down the mountain with thousands of pushing and shoving Chinese for 2 more hours, while standing in the rain. As the rain increased, the temperature decreased. Once, this environment caused some locals to get into a fist fight in the line behind us. A hot shower in the Xian hotel felt very good and helped reduce the chills!

So while we made much progress hiking, in spite of the crowds and weather, we did not accomplish one of our goals. The Huashan Plank walk:
http://www.wherecoolthingshappen.com/huashan-crazy-plank-walk/

We've all decided that we'll have to come back someday for another attempt...

Today, we're finishing some touring in Xi'an and then off to the most remote sacred mountain on this visit:  Wudangshan!

Again, thank you to everyone who is emailing us!  It helps us feel very connected to home while in a very foreign environment!

Blessings,
Dennis & Anita

China Travel Log

Fellow Virtual Travelers,

Oh my!  We have not been letting grass grow beneath our feet!  As mentioned in our last update, we spend Friday at the Shaolin Temple, the Pagoda Forest, rode the cable car part way up the mountain for valley sights, drove to Luoyang, only to catch another bullet train to Xi'an.  It is strange to know that one is traveling across the country at 144 mph (or 240 kilometers). Once in Xi'an, we enjoyed local cuisine at a local restaurant, providing tastes we'd never had before!  This is an interesting trip in that while we have local guides for each city's touring, we are on our own sometimes, getting from city to city!  'Here are your train tickets, go to platform 4, get on car 5.  Don't dilly dally as you have 2 minutes to get on the train with all your luggage and they will not wait for you...'  Ack!

Check out where we've been the last two days!
Shaolin Temple
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaolin_Temple
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/henan/luoyang/songshan_shaolin.htm

Pagoda Forest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagoda_Forest_at_Shaolin_Temple
http://www.chinatouronline.com/china-travel/luoyang/luoyang-attractions/Pagoda-Forest_383.html

Then getting up in Xi'an, we drove out of the city to tour the Terracotta warriors and tomb site of China's first emperor who'd ordered his tomb site constructed while he was still alive.  This emperor, Qin Shi Haung Di sought immortality while alive and was given mercury as a potion to extend his life (mercury lasts a long time, right?).  We suspect that the mercury is what ended his life around the age of 50.  In his tomb mound, he ordered rivers of mercury to be placed, and the site is still so toxic that it has not been opened or excavated!

Terracotta Army Museum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/terra_cotta_army/

Qin Shi Haung Di tomb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/terra_cotta_army/mausoleum_1.htm

West Jade Temple at the base of Huashan. This temple grounds was under construction in 2002 and is a small replica of the Forbidden City in Beijing! It is mostly finished and is new construction that looks very old!  We've not been able to find any information about this beautiful sight on the internet, which is too bad!  If any of you find something, let us know!

Doctor Hua To's grave
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Tuo
http://history.cultural-china.com/en/50History63.html

Since last visiting all of the places above, we are shocked with the changes and construction that has happened since 2002!  Sometimes we could not even recognize the place!

Tomorrow we will be climbing Huashan (Hua Mountain):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hua

We've not had a chance to reply to all the emails we're getting from you, but please know that we enjoy hearing from each and every one of you!

Blessings,
Dennis & Anita