Take off

Monday, May 21^st

Grandma tells me “take off. Go run.” Jessie, our tour guide, says “left is Korea, right is Russia. Left is hard. Right is harder.” I listen to both of the women who have guided me to China, and run towards Russia.

I am finally on the Great Wall of China! The reason people travel to China. One of the 7 World Wonders. The trip 11 days in China has been physically and emotionally draining, but I have had no chance to go get my daily exercise that I am used to. I take advantage of being one of the first people on the wall in the early morning and run as far as I can go, only stopping for photographs. I run until I reach a sign that says “no visitors”. Below the sign is the continuation of the wall which has not been renovated. It is falling apart still. So, I casually turn around and head back to the center.

The great wall was originally unified by the First Emperor Qin. Before that China was 7 different countries who had all built their own walls. Emperor Qin combined all these walls and almost every emperor after him as added on to the wall trying to keep out the Barbaric Minorities. The wall was originally built with sticky rice and dirt as cement and spans about 4,000 miles. The last dynasty in the 1700s was the last dynasty to build upon the wall and repair the wall. The piece of wall that I ran on today was reconstructed in the 1700s. It was steep the entire way up and required long legs to take strides on the stairs.  I stood where many historians, slave laborers, military men, present day international leaders and past day emperors had stood before me. 270 degrees of the view must look like it did over 2000 years ago, but that 90 degrees had changed into a commercialized world. Vendors, tourist stops, hotels, and even a subway sandwich stop covered that 90 degree view.

After the Great Wall, we went to a jade display show where I bought jade earrings. Jade in China is more valuable than diamonds. It is a stone that you buy and pass down to your children for a family heirloom. It protects you from evil spirits and it brings prosperity and longevity. This factory that had jade on display were the same factory that put the jade discs in the center of the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Olympic Medals. As much as I would have liked to purchase a 1,000 US dollar jade pendant, I settled for lower quality jade in $40 dollar earrings, my first real purchase in China.

China or SF?

May 12, 2012

China was myth.  A foreign land that manufactured many of the goods I use, who populate quite a bit of the earth, and have much political and economic control in the global market. Not a real, tangible place! Even flying over the country, about to land in Shanghai, I couldn’t believe it was real. I landed, saw the water, the foggy/smoggy air, and Chinese Characters and still assumed that I was not in China. It’s just too far! It’s just too foreign! I Must have just in landed in SFO. 

Yesterday (or was it two days ago?) I flew from Phoenix Sky Harbor airport to Burbank, where Grandma Jane picked me up for the night. We spent all night packing and looking over her old photo album of her trip to China in 1988. I slept for 3 hours and woke up to LAX. LAX to Vancouver (2.5 hours) and Vancouver to Shanghai (12.5 hours). With minimal amount of sleep and a day lost due to the international date line, we arrived in Shanghai and I was ready to explore!!! We are staying in the Shangri-La Hotel in Pudong area of Shanghai. Our hotel room oversees the Huongpu River and the oriental pearl.

We walked for 2 hours in the Bund, and I could have walked all day, but my body simply wouldn’t let me. I need sleep.  I am delirious. I still think China may be a myth. I am pretty sure I am just in San Francisco. Despite the 16 hours of air time it took for me to get here, yup, I am pretty sure I am in San Francisco. Maybe tomorrow I will learn better.