pictorial china
TRANSCRIPT
58 59
CHINA
Thomas Barnard
Contents
3 Chronology
4 Beijing
20 Details
22 Great Wall
24 Sacred Way & Ming Tombs
26 Xi’an
35 Parks
36 Inner Mongolia, Hohhot
42 Inner Mongolia, Grasslands
44 Friends
46 Dining
48 Transportation
50 Shopping
52 Beijing Foreign Studies University and Miscellany
54 Dispatches
Photography
Thomas Barnard
Sharon Herene
Peter Tupa
Cover: Black BambooPark, Beijing
Contents
3 Chronology
4 Beijing
20 Details
22 Great Wall
24 Sacred Way & Ming Tombs
26 Xi’an
35 Parks
36 Inner Mongolia, Hohhot
42 Inner Mongolia, Grasslands
44 Friends
46 Dining
48 Transportation
50 Shopping
52 Beijing Foreign Studies University and Miscellany
54 Dispatches
Photography
Thomas Barnard
Sharon Herene
Peter Tupa
Cover: Black BambooPark, Beijing
Chronology
MAY 23Arrive in Beijing
May 24Summer Palace
MAY 25TB tries 1,000 year egg.Shopping for sinus medicine atdepartment store pharmacy,Forbidden City
MAY 26First bus ride, subway trip toFriendship Store. Temple ofHeaven, Pearl Market. BuyEmily’s working girl ceramic.
MAY 27Yonghe Gong Lamasery,Confucius House, Korean dinner,more 1,000 year eggs, wholesquid, canal walk at night
MAY 28Shopping Liulicheng antiquemarket. Tea house, SH plays Go,walk to pizza place through“real” Beijing
MAY 29Great Wall, Ming Tombs,Sacred Way, adults-only dinner
MAY 30Beijing Zoo, Dumplings at Mr.Jiang’s apartment, Beijing Opera
MAY 31Train to Xi’an (soft sleeper)
JUNE 1 Children’s DayXi’an tour, Banpo neolithicvillage, baths, terracottawarriors, pulled noodles forlunch
JUNE 2Xi’an city wall, Big GoosePagoda, jade factory, drivethrough Muslim quarter, train(hard sleeper) to Beijing
JUNE 3Shopping: Liulicheng, DazhalanJie, Observatory, long march toSchlotzky’s, dust storm
JUNE 4TB plays a little volleyball, tourof Hutongs, Prince Gong’s House
JUNE 5Canal boat ride to SummerPalace, more shopping at theFriendship store, Silk Market,TB gets a haircut
JUNE 6Minorities University,SH shopping, TB Black BambooParkTrain to Hohhot (soft sleeper)
JUNE 7Breakfast: TB eats lamb’sstomach stew and milk tea.Hohhot tour, lamasery, lunch:Mongolian hot pot, elementaryschool, dinner: Sorghum “wine”with “bull penis”
JUNE 8Breakfast TB tries chicken feet,bus ride to Grasslands, horseride, overnight in cement yurt
JUNE 9Old road to Hohhot, Hohhothistory museum, train to Beijing(soft sleeper)
JUNE 10Shopping at Sporting goodsmarket for suitcase. Beihai Park,White Pagoda, last taxi ride
JUNE 11Depart for Cleveland
Chronology
MAY 23Arrive in Beijing
May 24Summer Palace
MAY 25TB tries 1,000 year egg.Shopping for sinus medicine atdepartment store pharmacy,Forbidden City
MAY 26First bus ride, subway trip toFriendship Store. Temple ofHeaven, Pearl Market. BuyEmily’s working girl ceramic.
MAY 27Yonghe Gong Lamasery,Confucius House, Korean dinner,more 1,000 year eggs, wholesquid, canal walk at night
MAY 28Shopping Liulicheng antiquemarket. Tea house, SH plays Go,walk to pizza place through“real” Beijing
MAY 29Great Wall, Ming Tombs,Sacred Way, adults-only dinner
MAY 30Beijing Zoo, Dumplings at Mr.Jiang’s apartment, Beijing Opera
MAY 31Train to Xi’an (soft sleeper)
JUNE 1 Children’s DayXi’an tour, Banpo neolithicvillage, baths, terracottawarriors, pulled noodles forlunch
JUNE 2Xi’an city wall, Big GoosePagoda, jade factory, drivethrough Muslim quarter, train(hard sleeper) to Beijing
JUNE 3Shopping: Liulicheng, DazhalanJie, Observatory, long march toSchlotzky’s, dust storm
JUNE 4TB plays a little volleyball, tourof Hutongs, Prince Gong’s House
JUNE 5Canal boat ride to SummerPalace, more shopping at theFriendship store, Silk Market,TB gets a haircut
JUNE 6Minorities University,SH shopping, TB Black BambooParkTrain to Hohhot (soft sleeper)
JUNE 7Breakfast: TB eats lamb’sstomach stew and milk tea.Hohhot tour, lamasery, lunch:Mongolian hot pot, elementaryschool, dinner: Sorghum “wine”with “bull penis”
JUNE 8Breakfast TB tries chicken feet,bus ride to Grasslands, horseride, overnight in cement yurt
JUNE 9Old road to Hohhot, Hohhothistory museum, train to Beijing(soft sleeper)
JUNE 10Shopping at Sporting goodsmarket for suitcase. Beihai Park,White Pagoda, last taxi ride
JUNE 11Depart for Cleveland
4 5Summer Palace, Beijing
4 5Summer Palace, Beijing
6 7Forbidden City, Beijing
6 7Forbidden City, Beijing
8 9Temple of Heaven, Beijing
8 9Temple of Heaven, Beijing
10 11Yonghe Gong Buddhist Temple, Beijing
10 11Yonghe Gong Buddhist Temple, Beijing
12 13Confucius House, Beijing Beijing Zoo
12 13Confucius House, Beijing Beijing Zoo
14 15Beihai Park, Beijing
14 15Beihai Park, Beijing
16 17Black Bamboo Park, Beijing Beijing Observatory
16 17Black Bamboo Park, Beijing Beijing Observatory
18 19Beijing Hutongs Prince Gong’s House, Beijing
18 19Beijing Hutongs Prince Gong’s House, Beijing
20 21Details
20 21Details
22 23Great Wall
22 23Great Wall
24 25Sacred Way & Ming Tombs
24 25Sacred Way & Ming Tombs
26 27Xi’an Warriors
26 27Xi’an Warriors
28 29Xi’an Warrior Museum
28 29Xi’an Warrior Museum
30 31Xi’an Hot Spring Baths
30 31Xi’an Hot Spring Baths
32 33Xi’an Big Goose Pagoda
32 33Xi’an Big Goose Pagoda
34 35Xi’an City Wall and Warrior Reproduction Center Parks
34 35Xi’an City Wall and Warrior Reproduction Center Parks
36 37Hohhot’s Oldest MosqueInner Mongolia, Hohhot Museum
36 37Hohhot’s Oldest MosqueInner Mongolia, Hohhot Museum
38 39Hohhot Lamasery
38 39Hohhot Lamasery
40 41Hohhot School Old Road to Hohhot (from Grasslands)
40 41Hohhot School Old Road to Hohhot (from Grasslands)
42 43Grasslands, Inner Mongolia
42 43Grasslands, Inner Mongolia
44 45Friends
44 45Friends
46 47Dining
46 47Dining
48 49Transportation
48 49Transportation
50 51Shopping
50 51Shopping
52 53Beijing Foreign Studies University and miscellany
52 53Beijing Foreign Studies University and miscellany
54 55
From: Tom BarnardSent: Wednesday, May 29, 2002 5:47 AMSubject: May 29 - Beijing
“Now that’s a Great Wall”-Richard Nixon
Its not only a great wall, but a steep wall. The most aggressive souve-nir hawkers to date corner and strong arm you at every opportunity.
Last night the leaders wimped out and we went for pizza. Corn andhot peppers with practically no tomato sauce.
This week we are having classroom presentations by professors at theschool. Yesterday’s professor spoke on the single child policy. Hespent time in the states and lived in Mt. Vernon, Washington (about20 minutes from where my grandfather lived, well north of Seattle).The previous evening we had dinner with another prof. fromLaConner, Washington. The exact same town where grandpa resided.The other presentation was about high school and college entranceexaminations in China’s school systems.
Its 80+ every day. Heat is wearing everybody down, not to mentionthe 24-hour hi-rise construction immediately outside our window.Toilets now working and getting plenty of it, but we are holding upOK. Hot water has been restored too.
Tom and Sharon
From: Tom BarnardSent: Sunday, May 26, 2002 10:08 AMSubject: May 26 China update
Hello! Cheap! Hello! Cheap! Buy? you want to buy?
That’s how we are greeted on most of our field trips. Went to the de-partment store and Forbidden City yesterday. Today we took ajammed bus and a pleasant subway ride to the Friendship store,Pearl Market, and the Temple of Heaven. As with any tourist destina-tion their are Japanese tourists everywhere taking pictures.
We’ve been bartering for a few things while here. I learned the num-bers 0-99 pretty well and when the negotiating gets tough, I surprisethe stalwarts by bidding in Chinese.
The meals are fabulously cheap. Dinner last night, hot pot, was $1.25each. Tonight we spent a fortune, $9 for both of us. As for experimen-tation, I’ve been pretty adventurous: thousand year egg soup forbreakfast—egg is soaked in (you don’t want to know) so that it turnsblack. It was mostly rice soup with a goopy base. Tonight we had awhole fish that was fantastic and calamari soup with whole, tinysquid; and I mean whole! We declined on frog, and found out after-wards that they also served shark’s fin. Mostly we’ve had rice andnoodle dishes, which are quite good. Only a couple times have dishesshowed up laden with red peppers which we pick off.
Coffee is nonexistent except at the Forbidden City which has a *$.Sometimes you see espresso on the menu, but its vending machinestyle, no thanks. Chrysanthemum tea was served with our pricey din-ner. Otherwise we get run-of the mill green tea. We’ll attend a serioustea ceremony and taste real top notch teas on Tuesday night.
Weather has been in the high 80s everyday, sunny and dusty. Lots ofsunscreen.
Today our toilet failed. Tank refused to fill and drained all over thefloor. Not to worry, there’s a drain in the center of the bathroom. Thehot water was shut down Saturday night, so the bathroom alwaysseems to be the center of our attention. You can’t drink tap waterhere, so every room and everyone has a large thermos. There’s aboiled water machine next door. We fill up and dump it in the sink tocover for us until the running water is returns. The plumber did showup and fix the toilet promptly.
Walking is taking its toll. Sharon has a tender foot (sort of like abruise she says). I have yet to get on a bicycle—they are everywherein every possible configuration carry all kinds of loads. Problem hereis that there is no established right of way. Cars, trucks, bikes, peds,and busses are all exactly equal (the only socialist doctrine we haveseen in practice) so everyone crosses the intersection or turns at ex-actly the same time whether you are in the way or not. Lots of horntooting to scare peds back on the curb and get bikes out of the way.Our cabbie even straddled the painted line on the road because carsencroached on him from both sides. No fender benders yet.
A new adventure waits tomorrow.Tom (and Sharon, who’s back in our room elevating her foot)
From: Tom BarnardSent: Friday, May 24, 2002 5:18 AMSubject: Ni hao! from the Chinese tourists
Hello everybody. We have arrived after several long but unadventur-ous flights. Today it’s very hot but the breeze is refreshing. Left theuniversity where we are staying and traveled 1/2 hour to the SummerPalace on the edge of the city where the emperors would retreat dur-ing the summer months. Perfectly situated on the principles of ‘fengshui’ for harmony and beauty. A large lake is surrounded by lovelyold buildings and bridges that have wonderful views. A canal wendsit way from the palace to the Forbidden city. The entourage wouldtake the annual pilgrimage with much fanfare, except nobody wasactually allowed to look at the emperor. Canal is still there.
We joined a group of Australian birding tourists as they sought anIndian cuckoos across the canal where Chinese lazily fished nearby.The buildings offered nice places to rest and take in the architecturaldetails.
Already had exciting bus rides and long walks through our end oftown. New buildings going up that reminds us of Arlington VA 10years ago—a bustling spreading metropolis including one right nextto our room. They work noisily until midnight and then continue arcwelding through the night—it’s like a lightning storm withoutthunder.
Sharon and Tom
From: Tom BarnardSent: Friday, May 31, 2002 1:18 AMSubject: China May 31
About to leave for Xi’an where the 7,000+ life-size, terracotta war-riors are being unearthed. We’ll have a chance to see the countrysideon our 14 hour train trip southwest.
Still very hot here—95 degrees yesterday and nearly as warm today.The Beijing Zoo was nicely shaded and we saw extremely large ti-gers, non-African lion cubs, gorilla, chimps, alligators, and snakes.Tom made a special impression on the Malayan tapir—4 feet tall,with white and black panda spots. It ‘sprayed’ Tom on the kneeswhile marking it’s territory. We also watched the pandas. One lazilyrolled from front scratching positions to its back—doing a wonderfulimpression of a panda rug. The other reminded us of Momcat with itsstrong interest in possible food behind the door.
Tom washed his knees and in the evening we saw scenes of theBeijing Opera. While the singing and face paint are very stylized, theacrobatics and costumes are amazing. It’s easy to see where Circquedu Soliel picked up the idea for some of their acts, costumes andmake-up.
Tom practiced his dumpling-making skills with the Hiram students atthe home of our Chinese tour director. The students are quick studiesbut Tom needs more practice.
Sharon and Tom
PS. Attached is a photo of a few members of our group at the GreatWall courtesy of Peter Tupa
Dispatches
54 55
From: Tom BarnardSent: Wednesday, May 29, 2002 5:47 AMSubject: May 29 - Beijing
“Now that’s a Great Wall”-Richard Nixon
Its not only a great wall, but a steep wall. The most aggressive souve-nir hawkers to date corner and strong arm you at every opportunity.
Last night the leaders wimped out and we went for pizza. Corn andhot peppers with practically no tomato sauce.
This week we are having classroom presentations by professors at theschool. Yesterday’s professor spoke on the single child policy. Hespent time in the states and lived in Mt. Vernon, Washington (about20 minutes from where my grandfather lived, well north of Seattle).The previous evening we had dinner with another prof. fromLaConner, Washington. The exact same town where grandpa resided.The other presentation was about high school and college entranceexaminations in China’s school systems.
Its 80+ every day. Heat is wearing everybody down, not to mentionthe 24-hour hi-rise construction immediately outside our window.Toilets now working and getting plenty of it, but we are holding upOK. Hot water has been restored too.
Tom and Sharon
From: Tom BarnardSent: Sunday, May 26, 2002 10:08 AMSubject: May 26 China update
Hello! Cheap! Hello! Cheap! Buy? you want to buy?
That’s how we are greeted on most of our field trips. Went to the de-partment store and Forbidden City yesterday. Today we took ajammed bus and a pleasant subway ride to the Friendship store,Pearl Market, and the Temple of Heaven. As with any tourist destina-tion their are Japanese tourists everywhere taking pictures.
We’ve been bartering for a few things while here. I learned the num-bers 0-99 pretty well and when the negotiating gets tough, I surprisethe stalwarts by bidding in Chinese.
The meals are fabulously cheap. Dinner last night, hot pot, was $1.25each. Tonight we spent a fortune, $9 for both of us. As for experimen-tation, I’ve been pretty adventurous: thousand year egg soup forbreakfast—egg is soaked in (you don’t want to know) so that it turnsblack. It was mostly rice soup with a goopy base. Tonight we had awhole fish that was fantastic and calamari soup with whole, tinysquid; and I mean whole! We declined on frog, and found out after-wards that they also served shark’s fin. Mostly we’ve had rice andnoodle dishes, which are quite good. Only a couple times have dishesshowed up laden with red peppers which we pick off.
Coffee is nonexistent except at the Forbidden City which has a *$.Sometimes you see espresso on the menu, but its vending machinestyle, no thanks. Chrysanthemum tea was served with our pricey din-ner. Otherwise we get run-of the mill green tea. We’ll attend a serioustea ceremony and taste real top notch teas on Tuesday night.
Weather has been in the high 80s everyday, sunny and dusty. Lots ofsunscreen.
Today our toilet failed. Tank refused to fill and drained all over thefloor. Not to worry, there’s a drain in the center of the bathroom. Thehot water was shut down Saturday night, so the bathroom alwaysseems to be the center of our attention. You can’t drink tap waterhere, so every room and everyone has a large thermos. There’s aboiled water machine next door. We fill up and dump it in the sink tocover for us until the running water is returns. The plumber did showup and fix the toilet promptly.
Walking is taking its toll. Sharon has a tender foot (sort of like abruise she says). I have yet to get on a bicycle—they are everywherein every possible configuration carry all kinds of loads. Problem hereis that there is no established right of way. Cars, trucks, bikes, peds,and busses are all exactly equal (the only socialist doctrine we haveseen in practice) so everyone crosses the intersection or turns at ex-actly the same time whether you are in the way or not. Lots of horntooting to scare peds back on the curb and get bikes out of the way.Our cabbie even straddled the painted line on the road because carsencroached on him from both sides. No fender benders yet.
A new adventure waits tomorrow.Tom (and Sharon, who’s back in our room elevating her foot)
From: Tom BarnardSent: Friday, May 24, 2002 5:18 AMSubject: Ni hao! from the Chinese tourists
Hello everybody. We have arrived after several long but unadventur-ous flights. Today it’s very hot but the breeze is refreshing. Left theuniversity where we are staying and traveled 1/2 hour to the SummerPalace on the edge of the city where the emperors would retreat dur-ing the summer months. Perfectly situated on the principles of ‘fengshui’ for harmony and beauty. A large lake is surrounded by lovelyold buildings and bridges that have wonderful views. A canal wendsit way from the palace to the Forbidden city. The entourage wouldtake the annual pilgrimage with much fanfare, except nobody wasactually allowed to look at the emperor. Canal is still there.
We joined a group of Australian birding tourists as they sought anIndian cuckoos across the canal where Chinese lazily fished nearby.The buildings offered nice places to rest and take in the architecturaldetails.
Already had exciting bus rides and long walks through our end oftown. New buildings going up that reminds us of Arlington VA 10years ago—a bustling spreading metropolis including one right nextto our room. They work noisily until midnight and then continue arcwelding through the night—it’s like a lightning storm withoutthunder.
Sharon and Tom
From: Tom BarnardSent: Friday, May 31, 2002 1:18 AMSubject: China May 31
About to leave for Xi’an where the 7,000+ life-size, terracotta war-riors are being unearthed. We’ll have a chance to see the countrysideon our 14 hour train trip southwest.
Still very hot here—95 degrees yesterday and nearly as warm today.The Beijing Zoo was nicely shaded and we saw extremely large ti-gers, non-African lion cubs, gorilla, chimps, alligators, and snakes.Tom made a special impression on the Malayan tapir—4 feet tall,with white and black panda spots. It ‘sprayed’ Tom on the kneeswhile marking it’s territory. We also watched the pandas. One lazilyrolled from front scratching positions to its back—doing a wonderfulimpression of a panda rug. The other reminded us of Momcat with itsstrong interest in possible food behind the door.
Tom washed his knees and in the evening we saw scenes of theBeijing Opera. While the singing and face paint are very stylized, theacrobatics and costumes are amazing. It’s easy to see where Circquedu Soliel picked up the idea for some of their acts, costumes andmake-up.
Tom practiced his dumpling-making skills with the Hiram students atthe home of our Chinese tour director. The students are quick studiesbut Tom needs more practice.
Sharon and Tom
PS. Attached is a photo of a few members of our group at the GreatWall courtesy of Peter Tupa
Dispatches
56 57
From: Tom BarnardSent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 5:34 AMSubject: June 6 Beijing
June 6 Beijing
Our trip is slowly winding down. No more huge tourist attractions onthe itinerary. We traipsed through the hutongs on Tuesday (a block ofhomes surrounding courtyards—part of old Beijing that is quicklybeing destroyed to build hi-rise apartments).
We had tea at Prince Gong’s residence (father of last emperor) whichwas surreal. The walls were painted to look like bamboo. The or-nately decorated period room boomed with the techno-beat and theservers were wearing tube tops. All four were actually sleeping whenwe first walked in. By the time we left, soft pop was on the PA andthe servers slipped into traditional garb.
Yesterday, We took a boat ride down the emperor’s canal to the Sum-mer Palace and enjoyed a picnic on the shores of an immense man-made lake. At the palace we visited the largest ancient theater inChina (anything before the founding of the Republic in 1911 is an-cient). We were able to review spectacular opera costumes up close(no photos allowed).
We spent the late afternoon in the silk market haggling for the bestpossible price on “Gortex/NorthFace” rain gear. After a lot of grimac-ing and walking away, we got the price of the parka down from ¥450to ¥150 ($19 USD).
After dinner, we were looking for something to do when Sharon spot-ted a barber’s pole. “Tom you need a haircut!” To our party’s delight Iagreed to have a ¥10 cut ($1.25). The barber was quite confident anddid a good job. He was very tentative on how short to cut the top, butwe kept encouraging him. A couple of his staff sat behind me andwatched, others—with customers—kept stealing glances. At the end,the barber (college age, blonde highlights, tight shirt, and tight pants)gave everyone the OK sign.
Tonight we take the train to Inner Mongolia, we’ll be there all week-end. So we won’t have access to the internet café at the school untilwe return Monday.
Tom and SharonBeijing Foreign Studies University
From: Tom BarnardSent: Friday, June 14, 2002 3:37 PMSubject: June 14 | Cleveland
We are home. The contractor has started work on our bathroom(stripped down to the studs), our street is under repair, our water isconnected by hose to the fire hydrant. This morning we had no water.Just like Beijing.
Here are some early returns from the digital camera collection.
Tom and SharonCleveland OH
From: Tom BarnardSent: Monday, June 17, 2002 10:44 AMSubject: June 17 | Final dispatch
Our China photos are in. We’ve been showing them off over the week-end and have answered many questions. It seems that everyone en-joyed the story of the Tapir, so by popular demand, a retelling (withphoto attached!)
“...Tom made a special impression on the Malayan tapir—4 feet tall,with white and black panda spots. It ‘sprayed’ Tom on the kneeswhile marking it’s territory...”
From Tapir.orgAlthough tapirs are often mistaken for pigs and anteaters, they’re inthe odd-toed hooved animal family (perissodactyls), as are the horseand rhinoceros. All four species of tapir are endangered. The Malaytapir is native to Asia, where its natural enemies are the tiger andman. The largest tapir, the Malay tapir weighs up to 800 pounds. Italso has the most dramatic coloration, with black shoulders, head,and legs and a white band around the body.
If you see a tapir lounging on a hot day, you might think it is slothful.However, in motion, tapirs are fast and agile, and they also swimwell. Tapirs in captivity sometimes have violent tantrums...
http://www.tapir.org/about_tapir.html
Tom and SharonCleveland OH
From: Tom BarnardSent: Monday, June 03, 2002 11:44 PMSubject: China Travels June 4
We have returned from Xi’an (the original capitol of China for centu-ries), and now famously home of 6,000 life size terracotta soldiers and6,000 shopping opportunities. We had a hired tour guide who spokeEnglish very well and with great confidence. He would lead us to atechnology center before the site visit so that we would learn howsoldiers were made or how jade was carved and then gave us unlim-ited time to buy, buy, buy. This would be followed by a short visit tothe main attraction followed by more free time in the shopping venue.
The soldiers and their building were impressive. The first few ranksare complete and in formation. The rear guard are still being un-earthed. There are archers, generals, footmen, horses, etc. all defend-ing the emperor’s tomb. Each sculpture has unique facial features,individually carved to represent an actual person. The site was dis-covered by a farmer digging a well in the 1970s. The farm was shutdown by the state, and became a huge dig. The farmer was given ajob as a celebrity. He now signs books for tourists in the gift shop. Hesigned our copy
We travelled by train which rivaled Amtrak (except the food was toospicy).
Tom and Sharon
56 57
From: Tom BarnardSent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 5:34 AMSubject: June 6 Beijing
June 6 Beijing
Our trip is slowly winding down. No more huge tourist attractions onthe itinerary. We traipsed through the hutongs on Tuesday (a block ofhomes surrounding courtyards—part of old Beijing that is quicklybeing destroyed to build hi-rise apartments).
We had tea at Prince Gong’s residence (father of last emperor) whichwas surreal. The walls were painted to look like bamboo. The or-nately decorated period room boomed with the techno-beat and theservers were wearing tube tops. All four were actually sleeping whenwe first walked in. By the time we left, soft pop was on the PA andthe servers slipped into traditional garb.
Yesterday, We took a boat ride down the emperor’s canal to the Sum-mer Palace and enjoyed a picnic on the shores of an immense man-made lake. At the palace we visited the largest ancient theater inChina (anything before the founding of the Republic in 1911 is an-cient). We were able to review spectacular opera costumes up close(no photos allowed).
We spent the late afternoon in the silk market haggling for the bestpossible price on “Gortex/NorthFace” rain gear. After a lot of grimac-ing and walking away, we got the price of the parka down from ¥450to ¥150 ($19 USD).
After dinner, we were looking for something to do when Sharon spot-ted a barber’s pole. “Tom you need a haircut!” To our party’s delight Iagreed to have a ¥10 cut ($1.25). The barber was quite confident anddid a good job. He was very tentative on how short to cut the top, butwe kept encouraging him. A couple of his staff sat behind me andwatched, others—with customers—kept stealing glances. At the end,the barber (college age, blonde highlights, tight shirt, and tight pants)gave everyone the OK sign.
Tonight we take the train to Inner Mongolia, we’ll be there all week-end. So we won’t have access to the internet café at the school untilwe return Monday.
Tom and SharonBeijing Foreign Studies University
From: Tom BarnardSent: Friday, June 14, 2002 3:37 PMSubject: June 14 | Cleveland
We are home. The contractor has started work on our bathroom(stripped down to the studs), our street is under repair, our water isconnected by hose to the fire hydrant. This morning we had no water.Just like Beijing.
Here are some early returns from the digital camera collection.
Tom and SharonCleveland OH
From: Tom BarnardSent: Monday, June 17, 2002 10:44 AMSubject: June 17 | Final dispatch
Our China photos are in. We’ve been showing them off over the week-end and have answered many questions. It seems that everyone en-joyed the story of the Tapir, so by popular demand, a retelling (withphoto attached!)
“...Tom made a special impression on the Malayan tapir—4 feet tall,with white and black panda spots. It ‘sprayed’ Tom on the kneeswhile marking it’s territory...”
From Tapir.orgAlthough tapirs are often mistaken for pigs and anteaters, they’re inthe odd-toed hooved animal family (perissodactyls), as are the horseand rhinoceros. All four species of tapir are endangered. The Malaytapir is native to Asia, where its natural enemies are the tiger andman. The largest tapir, the Malay tapir weighs up to 800 pounds. Italso has the most dramatic coloration, with black shoulders, head,and legs and a white band around the body.
If you see a tapir lounging on a hot day, you might think it is slothful.However, in motion, tapirs are fast and agile, and they also swimwell. Tapirs in captivity sometimes have violent tantrums...
http://www.tapir.org/about_tapir.html
Tom and SharonCleveland OH
From: Tom BarnardSent: Monday, June 03, 2002 11:44 PMSubject: China Travels June 4
We have returned from Xi’an (the original capitol of China for centu-ries), and now famously home of 6,000 life size terracotta soldiers and6,000 shopping opportunities. We had a hired tour guide who spokeEnglish very well and with great confidence. He would lead us to atechnology center before the site visit so that we would learn howsoldiers were made or how jade was carved and then gave us unlim-ited time to buy, buy, buy. This would be followed by a short visit tothe main attraction followed by more free time in the shopping venue.
The soldiers and their building were impressive. The first few ranksare complete and in formation. The rear guard are still being un-earthed. There are archers, generals, footmen, horses, etc. all defend-ing the emperor’s tomb. Each sculpture has unique facial features,individually carved to represent an actual person. The site was dis-covered by a farmer digging a well in the 1970s. The farm was shutdown by the state, and became a huge dig. The farmer was given ajob as a celebrity. He now signs books for tourists in the gift shop. Hesigned our copy
We travelled by train which rivaled Amtrak (except the food was toospicy).
Tom and Sharon
58 59
CHINA
Thomas Barnard
58 59
CHINA
Thomas Barnard