Space Goddess

“Riding on a horse to smell the flowers” describes how fast-paced this journey has been. We had a taste of some of the many highlights of China and we definitely want MORE! Leaving Beijing, we flew to Xi’an, home of the Terra Cotta Warriors and countless other amazing archeological finds. We were granted special access to the vaults of the art museum where we saw some beautiful paintings that were 2000 years old and younger. The paintings were done on a material like the plasterboard we use for walls in our homes. We also visited a very old mosque (Who thinks Islam in China—they have 30,000,000!) and were all surprised with a gift of reflexology-style massages when we returned to the hotel.We flew from Xi’an to Chungqing (China’s largest city when you include the population of the outlying area) to board the Yangzi Explorer, A & K’s new deluxe riverboat. We cruised the Yangzi River for 3 nights and stops included a visit to a rural farm, a country school, and floating journey down a tributary by sampan. We disembarked in Yichang and flew to Shanghai.

We love Shanghai! It’s East meets West, old Victorian and Art Deco meets Post Modern, knock-off Heaven meets edgy, emerging designers, New York meets London meets Hong Kong. We toured the Urban Planning Museum that houses a complete model of the existing layout of Shanghai. Remember the days of toy electric trains on miniature landscapes? Now, take that image and multiply it times a zillion! This was the largest and most intricate 3-D model I’ve ever seen. It even includes models of the upcoming World Expo 2010 which will be held in Shanghai. From that museum we went to the Shanghai Museum. We only had 1 ½ hours there and we easily could have spent 3-4 hours or more. It houses the best exhibits of all things Chinese—art, bronzes, silks, textiles, jade, currency, clothing, and ceramics. We walked along the Bund (from the Indian word for Quay), visited the historic Shanghai bank building with a breathtaking mosaic domed ceiling depicting the major world cities of the 1920’s. We shopped at the Knockoff market, did hotel site inspections, and last night we went to a show of the Shanghai acrobats. My body ached watching their stunts! Picture doing a one-handed handstand, slowly lowering your body parallel to the ground. Now picture doing this while balancing on the edge of a wooden chair. Take this pose and add another one above your chair, continuing upward until you have a 7-Acrobat skyscraper. In Shanghai we stayed at the Grand Hyatt on the Pudong side. The city is divided by the Huangpu River. The Pudong side, developed since 1992, is the financial and business center of Shanghai, featuring a myriad of modern skyscrapers, one more architecturally amazing than the next. The Puxi side (pronounced Poo-shee) is where vacationers should stay. It has the Bund, shopping, history, museums, markets, culture, dining, etc. Do NOT stay at the Grand Hyatt! Although they have some lovely suites, the basic rooms are worn, have filthy carpeting, and the oddest room lighting system any of us have experienced. Yesterday we moved to the Portman Ritz Carlton, totally divine! It overlooks the former Sino-Soviet Center (a gift from Stalin to Chairman Mao in 1953) and is on Nanking Road, a famous street in Shanghai. We were told the other top hotel here is the Four Seasons. We visited the St. Regis and it is absolutely lovely; however, it is in a remote area on the Pudong side, near nothing. A good choice for moderate hotels would be the Westin, near the Bund. The Fairmont bought the famous, old People’s Hotel and is in the midst of renovating it. It sits close to the Bund and should be wonderful.Tonight we head home flying from Shanghai to Chicago to Kansas City. We will take the new magnetic train to the airport and we take off at 6:00 PM tonight Shanghai time. We arrive in Chicago ½ hour before we leave, 5:30 PM Central Standard Time. The 14 hour time difference makes us true time travelers.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had planned to blog from China; however, because of some mysterious reason, I was unable to connect to this website. So, because I am a travel advisor, selling journeys on Earth and into Space, I now will offer a few comments I made in emails to friends about our recent journey to this amazing country: 

What a whirlwind few days! Went to the Forbidden City (where Emperor, concubines, and eunuchs lived but was “forbidden” to commoners), Tiananmen Square, a traditional hutong (house built around a courtyard and passed down through the generations, did site inspections at the St. Regis and Ritz Carlton, climbed the Great Wall (originally Chinese called it the Long Wall—actually several walls blended together when China unified in 221 BC), ate at a country-style Chinese restaurant (so delicious!!!), visited the “Bird’s Nest” Olympic venue, the Temple of Heaven, and a shopping area. We’ve been served wonderful meals—most of them have been “non” Chinese until today. The first day we had one mediocre Chinese meal and then all sorts of gourmet cuisine, French, Italian. Finally today we had both a Chinese lunch and dinner. Both were outstanding! Beijing is very modern, very clean, and, unfortunately very polluted. People have traded bicycles for cars. Also, lots of factories and coal-generated heat. Tomorrow we fly to Xi’an to see the Terra Cotta warriors, the largest mosque in China, a new excavation area, a new museum, and end up at the Shangri-La Hotel. Then off to Chongqing to board the riverboat for our brief few day Yangzi River cruise.Written on November 11, 2008

Dear Mr, Ms, Mrs, Miss, Father, Mother, Brother, Sister Terrorist,

I don’t know why you do what you do. I can’t imagine anything that would cause me to purposely kill people–not a war, not a cause, no fervent beliefs. Nope, nothing except insanity—are you insane? I am looking for some rational explanation of your actions the past few days in Mumbai, and in the past bombings in London, Madrid, Yemen, New York, Kenya…

I know, I know—one can’t define illogic using logic and perhaps my desire to “understand” is my attempt to tie this all in a neat little package and put it safely on some remote shelf in a distant place in my brain to forever remain, collecting cobwebs and dust, and never causing anyone pain ever again. Ahhh, sounds like a fairytale for grownups, doesn’t it?

Michael and I stayed at the Taj Mahal Hotel and Towers in Mumbai in April. A grand dame of historic prominence, it overlooks the famous Gateway of India. I love Mumbai (called “Bombay” until 1995). It is a potpourri of people, customs, and architecture. A blend of modern financial and traditional business models (e.g. the famous “Dhobis”—washermen), traditional cuisine mixed with McDonald’s (no meat, thank you very much!), contemporary buildings moments away from World Heritage sites, Mumbai is an enthralling city.

As a survivor from Vancouver so aptly said, we need to go to Mumbai and put our arms around its citizens. This violence is NOT Mumbai and we cannot allow the terrorists to win by avoiding this magnificent city. In fact, perhaps the only way we can fight this insanity is to continue to discover new friends in every corner of this world.

Smiling, confident, and toting my laptop I boarded the plane on November 7th enroute to Beijing. I could hardly wait to begin chronicling our journey through China. After settling in at the Peninsula Beijing, a superb hotel in a convenient location, I plugged in my laptop, found the wireless network and went to spacegoddess.net…almost!

You may have noticed that there are NO entries for our sojourn. Why? Because (I hope you’re listening, Mr. Blog host), I couldn’t connect to it from China! Hmmm, does China discriminate against Midwest USA bloggers? Is this some kind of Bush administration retribution (I bet you didn’t know I was that powerful!)? Perhaps a pro-Communist, anti-Zionist, isolationist, rightwing-leftwing, anti-female vendetta against travel advisors? Does my venting strike you as paranoid? I’ve told you countless times, “DON’T LISTEN TO MY ENEMIES!”

So, why couldn’t I connect to my blog? My best guess (feel free to correct me, Mr. Blog Host) is that I use WordPress and am connected through a circuitous route to my site that bypasses that wordy, long address ”spacegoddess.wordpress.com.yada.yada.yada”! Nah, that’s way too logical! I’m sure it’s those spinach eating, poison mushroom-growing post modern, victorian nihilists!