2 1/2 month trip to the Far East

Tom and I have just returned from a 2 1/2 month trip to the Far East. Our first stop was Beijing. Many of our past travelers remember Mike, our guide. We had the opportunity to spend some time with Mike and his family. We also visited with our guides from years ago, Andrea and Joe, and their handsome baby boy YuYu.

We spent many days exploring the hutongs and new areas of the city we had not explored in the past. We also investigated many destinations in China for possible future Teacher Treks tours.

We flew to Chongqing, where in the past we had disembarked from our Yangtze Cruise.

After an overnight in Chongqing we traveled by car to Dazu, a 90-minute ride from Chongqing. Dazu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are over 50,000 stone sculptures in this province. We visited Baodingshan’s horseshoe-shaped mountainside carvings. Some of these carvings reach 23 feet. We found the reclining Buddha, a carving approximately 90 feet long extending into the mountainside, and the bodhisattvas with 1000 arms the most impressive. These stone carvings date back to 1174 and took over 70 years to complete. After lunch we had the opportunity to visit the Beishan Stone statues dating back to the Tang Dynasty in 895AD. We were so impressed with this destination that we have included an overnight in Chongqing and a visit to Dazu to see both Baodingshan and Beishan during Teacher Treks 2006 Yangtze Cruise.

Our next destination was Guilin, famous for its limestone mountain and Li River Cruise.

The pace in Guilin is relaxing, the air is clean, and the people are friendly.

When we arrived Tom climbed 420 feet Fubo Hill to view the whole area. We also visited Red Flute Cave. The cave is one kilometer long with lighted stalagmites and stalactites creating illusions of New York City, large goldfish, a giant Buddha and more. During the evening we cruised the lakes of Guilin. From our boat we watched fishermen using cormorants to catch fish, enjoyed the colored lights and bridges of Guilin, and joined tourist and locals at the outdoor restaurants along the lakes.

The next day we boarded our triple-decker tour boat with western toilets and air conditioning. The Li River winds between incredible limestone peaks, the highest around 260 feet. The mist around the peaks make for beautiful views the whole way down the river. Paintings and photographs are found all over the world of this area.

We disembarked from the boat around 2pm at Yangshou and found Mike our friend and wonderful guide waiting for us. He was guiding another group. We had just enough time for a libation and good-bye. Yangshou is a charming lovely Chinese town with extraordinary scenery. We planned to stay overnight at the Yangshou Resort right in the center of town. The view overlooking the city was very nice. There are many western and Chinese restaurants and stalls with souvenirs along West Street.

Our guide suggested that we attend the Night River Show Impressions. We hesitated as the price was high for what we thought was a local Chinese show, but we bit the bullet. We found out later that the show was under the direction of the man who directed the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The show is staged about 5 miles from town directly on the river. The show was sold out, mostly Chinese tourists and local people. We had no idea that such a wonderful show awaited us. After the lights were turned down, the whole river and limestone peaks were illuminated with colored lights. The sight was magnificent. A cast of over 300 performed over the water, on boats, rafts, and moving stages. Costumes light up, red silk waves glistened, and beautiful music filled the air. There is no way to describe this show. We both agreed it was one of the best we have ever seen.

The following day we visited a local village outside of Yangshou where there were no other tourists. Villagers were making large Chinese fans, Christmas lights, and other items from home cooperative workshops. Other villagers were cultivating the fields with water buffalo. We enjoyed this area and will certainly try to include it in a Teacher Treks Tour.

Our next destination was Bangkok, where we planned to spend 3 weeks. We used the Skytrain often, as the traffic is very heavy in Bangkok. We found the shopping in Bangkok even better than in Chiang Mai. We spent time shopping in a 7-story Tec Plaza where every possible brand of telephone, camera, computer, part, program, and more could be found. We shopped at an 8-story plaza where clothing, knock-off goods and souvenirs were sold. We visited the night market, Sunday market, the klongs, the Cabaret Show, and more. We had some custom made clothes done. Time flew by.

Our next stop was Singapore. Our hotel in Singapore overlooked the marina and the

Merlion (half lion, half fish), the symbol of Singapore. Singapore is amazingly clean and regimented. All cars must be less than 10 years old. On every 10th light post you will find a camera. Singapore is a very safe city!

During the city tour we visited Little India, Chinatown, Orchard Street, the Marina, the orchid gardens, and more. Shopping malls are expensive and endless in Singapore. We had cocktails at the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, where the Singapore Sling was concocted. I had two “Slings” but Tom remains a Tiger Beer fan.

We were so close to Malaysia we decided we would take a tour into Malaysia. We crossed the border at Jobor and continued to the old city of Malacca. Though Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, there are many Chinese Buddhists and Taoists in Malaysia. St Francis Xavier was buried in Malacca before he was taken to Goa. The religions seem to be very tolerant of each other. We visited the Formosa Fort, a hallmark of Malacca, built in 511 by the Portuguese, and mostly destroyed by the Dutch until Sir Stanford Raffles saved it in 1808. Malay architecture with its slopping roofs gave the town added appeal. We had some time to explore the town and shop. The local wood bowls are beautiful and very reasonable. It was a long, but enjoyable day.

Our time abroad pasted very quickly. We were not homesick and wished we had more time. There are some many things to see in the world and so little time. We plan to in-cooperate our travels into Teacher Trek tours. Please join us and explore the world.