Mainland China: Harder China

I really debated this China trip since I have very strong feelings about the lack of freedom there. I decided that most of the benefit would go to the tour company, tour guides and other private entities. The main part of China is much more difficult to visit in my opinion. Mostly this is due to government policy. None of the normal western apps function there due to the Great Firewall of China which effectively blocks most Western influence (no Uber, Google Pay, etc). Cash or credit cards are not commonly accepted and security requires that you go through lots of searches, pat downs, and ID checks at most tourist sites. It is not very welcoming to tourists and it was money well spent to have a private tour guide here and visiting usually requires a long and expensive visa process. I am glad I visited but unless something changes, I will not return.

Guilin and Yangshuo: Scenic and Less Crowded

Our first stop was the very pretty Guilin region with its rivers and karst mountains. After traveling almost 10,000 miles, it was a nice place to take a break. Guilin is a small city by Chinese standards with less than 5 million people and only 1.2 million in the metropolitan area. Yangshuo is much smaller but receives 1.5 million visitors so it is no sleepy village.

I DO NOT want to live in China but if I did, I would pick a city like Guilin. It was pretty, affordable, and relatively calm

Except for the great wall, most tourist attractions were 95% Chinese tourists. There are lots of Chinese and they like travel

We really loved the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat outside of town. It was small-ish, family run, and in a beautiful setting. I saw the Impression Sanjie-Liu show in the evening. Zhang Yimou created this show before being chosen to direct the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. You can see some of the similarities.

Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors: Overhyped? I think so

Xi’an is a large city of over 13 million. It has very cool 12th-13th century wall fortifications and a pretty drum tower from the same era but the main draw for people is the Terracotta Army. While it is an incredible work of craftsmanship and an impressive feat, there is actually not variation and it would take 60-90 minutes if it were not packed with people. We visited the Han Yangling Museum on the way from the airport and enjoyed it just as much if not more

The Han dynasty mausoleum of Emperor Jing who ruled as part of the 200 year dynasty of the Western Han. It had everything the previous tombs had but in minature since they realized the cost of the exorbitant early tombs was not sustainable. Here the pits are covered with glass so you walk directly over them. There are 50,000 statues here but they are smaller and less militaristic. For tea drinkers, in 2016 the oldest traces of tea were found here, proving tea was consumed by 2nd century BCE

The building is massive and impressive but it is much of the same view. The small walking space gets super crowded

The back story of the tomb is more interesting to me than the tomb itself. Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor of a unified China but the Qin dynasty was the shortest lived at only 15 years. He ruled as emperor for only 10 years but was said to be obsessed with becoming immortal. In this quest, he drank mercury based immortality elixirs whick killed him at age 49.

Beijing and the Great Wall: The New and The Old

Our final real stop (I am not counting Shanghai since it was dedicated to Disney) was Beijing and the Great Wall. Beijing was just another giant city and I was not impressed with Tiananman square or even the Forbidden City. The Great Wall was a different story. It is unique in how much of it was built; 5500 miles only counting the best preserved brick sections built by the Ming dynasty from the 1300s to 1600s, and where it was built; accross pointy mountains and steep terrain.

Though I recogize the history, Tiananman square was at best disappointing. It is a huge ugly square (mulch not flowers in the beds) with a few late 1950s buildings. For decor, there are giant lamp posts full of lights and security cameras. Throw in a 90 minute wait through multiple security checkpoints and it is a tourists dream destination. The pretty monument to the fallen (the tower looking structure) cannot be approached since the entire platform is fenced off. In fact, the entire thing is fenced off so there is really nothing to do but take a couple of pictures.

The forbidden city was way more interesting. It is huge and historical but also was very repetitive. We spent about 4 hours and it was too much. There are so many buildings that they seem to run together. Even the personal quarters are smaller copies of the official state rooms. Like Tiananman square it is large and built to impress.

The Great Wall: It Truly Is

The great wall was the best most unique thing I saw in our time in mainland China. It was, as advertised, amazing and impressive without trying to be. It was not a perfect success but it mostly worked. I am really glad we splurged on both a night tour of the Simatai section of the wall near Gubei Watertown and a day tour of the more rugged Jinshanling section of the wall since this was really the highlight and must-see of our time in China

Visiting the wall at night was so cool. This part had no railings which made it extra adventurous. A really nice evening.

The day time portion was more dramatic and better preserved. Pictures do not give you the same feeling when you are looking at miles and miles of wall winding through the mountains

So glad we got to see this amazing structure that was 2000 years in the making. Astounding!