CHINA, LIFESTYLE, TRAVEL: Sightseeing In Lien Chan’s Footsteps
By Xu Yan
"The chairman of KMT Lien Chan's eight-day journey takes him to his birthplace, Xian…" I am reading this encouraging news in The Beijing News on the train to Xian. "It seems Mr. Lien has the same traveling plan we do." I am trying to cheer up my touring partner. Having seen a large amount of negative reports on the seven-day May Day Holiday--usually referred to as Golden Week--she has reasonable doubts about the quality of our tour: Chinese travelers will make 36.8 million journeys by train during this year's May Day holiday (from Shanghai Star).
"It only proves every person, ordinary or VIP, chooses to go on a journey during Golden Week," she refutes my attempt at consolation. "I just hope we can safely return," she adds. I can hear my optimism collapsing. In fact, I had realized all of the disadvantages of a Golden Week tour long before she felt the need to remind me. Nonetheless, a tour is a better choice compared with passing time in the dorm. And the majority of people share the dilemma with us: they also only have Golden Week and Spring Festival holidays and have to take advantage of them. Thus, going out is inevitable. The choice is between a long-distance journey and a jaunt.
I have taken Xian as an ideal destination: a comfortable distance by train, cheaper prices and lots of historic sites to visit which will attract less visitors than natural sights in Kunming, Guilin or Hainan. My whimsical assumption shatters the moment we get out of the railway station. Unfortunately, two luggage-carrying tourists can't get a single cab. We move from one place to another to try our luck; however, when mountains of people are trying their luck, the probability factor is equal to winning the lottery.
Having walked only two blocks in an hour, with both of our arms numb, we finally seize a cab from the hand of a young couple. I sense the husband's flaring rage. The only saving grace is that one of those good points I expected proves true--the low cost of consumption. Although stuck in a traffic jam for more than 40 minutes, it costs us only 19 Yuan to the hotel.
"Not a bad beginning," I say. Putting down the luggage with relief, I smile to my partner and add, "Not as bad as it was described in the media." My friend is speechless in her dissatisfaction. She frowns deeper and deeper as she examines the facilities, the narrow space, the old-fashioned TV, the lack of a bathtub, etc. I can see it narrowly escapes her baseline comfort zone. After all, she succeeds in bearing up under it. On the whole, she is a pleasing partner, considerate, interesting and best of all not too particular.
It is only accidental that we are following in Mr. Lien's footsteps, always going to the sights he visited one day later, such as the Drum Tower and the Terracotta Warriors Museum. I think about rescheduling our plan, and maybe getting a chance to take some photos of him as homework for my photography course. But, instead of taking photos of one famous person, I take pictures of seas of ordinary ones. And the latter job is far easier than the former one amidst the impossible crowds.
A nightmare happens at Mountain Hua--of queuing. As a civilized and educated person, I strongly stand for queuing, orderly and efficient. Sometimes I even like small queues: you can take a tiny rest or have an observation of other's manner to learn the procedure. Forget that when you and 4000 people are queuing for a cable car that transports 600 people per hour. It drives us crazy since we only have 7 hours to linger at this sight, which one would think is adequate to go up the mountainside and then down without much variance. Instead, the term "cable car" loses its purpose--convenience and timesaving.
Even though it is tiring, a waste of money and time, I have no choice but do it--take things as they come. Totally distracted by the waiting process, we have no interest in appreciating the scenery. But there is other fun--talking to strangers: a woman in her 40's tells us that her husband and she haven't traveled for 8 years; an old couple say they are taking this journey to celebrate their silver anniversary; a guard at Mountain Hua advises us to come again, avoiding Golden Week, as there are 400 visitors on common days, not the 30,000 a day during Golden Week.
We spend the last day of our 5-day journey in Xian buying souvenirs, an indispensable part of traveling. Personally, I regard the Forest of Stone Steles Museum as the most remarkable sight in Xian, though you have to acquire a great knowledge of steles beforehand to appreciate the historic and cultural beauty. Unfortunately, if you are ignorant of steles and just go with the stream, it may be you who touch and lean on those precious steles casually and will only remember your visit by photos. Have you some lore of steles, it is a good choice to buy a few rubbings.
Xian is also famous for its snacks, but it is a pity that you can't bring back a lot of delicious snacks, as mirror-like cake, glutinous rice dumpling with honey, should be eaten shortly after being made. However, you can't miss mutton with dunked cakes that have been packed like fast noodles.
Carrying several packages of souvenirs and special local products, we head for the train with floods of people. When we are looking for our seats, it strikes us that the two seats are in two different carriages. Suddenly it dawns on me, that mysterious smile of the manager of the travel agency? "It's really hard to arrange all the things in Golden Week, tickets, hotels, etc. And please understand us and forgive us," I remember him saying.
I now know that it was a hidden apology rather than some formulae.
"The chairman of KMT Lien Chan's eight-day journey takes him to his birthplace, Xian…" I am reading this encouraging news in The Beijing News on the train to Xian. "It seems Mr. Lien has the same traveling plan we do." I am trying to cheer up my touring partner. Having seen a large amount of negative reports on the seven-day May Day Holiday--usually referred to as Golden Week--she has reasonable doubts about the quality of our tour: Chinese travelers will make 36.8 million journeys by train during this year's May Day holiday (from Shanghai Star).
"It only proves every person, ordinary or VIP, chooses to go on a journey during Golden Week," she refutes my attempt at consolation. "I just hope we can safely return," she adds. I can hear my optimism collapsing. In fact, I had realized all of the disadvantages of a Golden Week tour long before she felt the need to remind me. Nonetheless, a tour is a better choice compared with passing time in the dorm. And the majority of people share the dilemma with us: they also only have Golden Week and Spring Festival holidays and have to take advantage of them. Thus, going out is inevitable. The choice is between a long-distance journey and a jaunt.
I have taken Xian as an ideal destination: a comfortable distance by train, cheaper prices and lots of historic sites to visit which will attract less visitors than natural sights in Kunming, Guilin or Hainan. My whimsical assumption shatters the moment we get out of the railway station. Unfortunately, two luggage-carrying tourists can't get a single cab. We move from one place to another to try our luck; however, when mountains of people are trying their luck, the probability factor is equal to winning the lottery.
Having walked only two blocks in an hour, with both of our arms numb, we finally seize a cab from the hand of a young couple. I sense the husband's flaring rage. The only saving grace is that one of those good points I expected proves true--the low cost of consumption. Although stuck in a traffic jam for more than 40 minutes, it costs us only 19 Yuan to the hotel.
"Not a bad beginning," I say. Putting down the luggage with relief, I smile to my partner and add, "Not as bad as it was described in the media." My friend is speechless in her dissatisfaction. She frowns deeper and deeper as she examines the facilities, the narrow space, the old-fashioned TV, the lack of a bathtub, etc. I can see it narrowly escapes her baseline comfort zone. After all, she succeeds in bearing up under it. On the whole, she is a pleasing partner, considerate, interesting and best of all not too particular.
It is only accidental that we are following in Mr. Lien's footsteps, always going to the sights he visited one day later, such as the Drum Tower and the Terracotta Warriors Museum. I think about rescheduling our plan, and maybe getting a chance to take some photos of him as homework for my photography course. But, instead of taking photos of one famous person, I take pictures of seas of ordinary ones. And the latter job is far easier than the former one amidst the impossible crowds.
A nightmare happens at Mountain Hua--of queuing. As a civilized and educated person, I strongly stand for queuing, orderly and efficient. Sometimes I even like small queues: you can take a tiny rest or have an observation of other's manner to learn the procedure. Forget that when you and 4000 people are queuing for a cable car that transports 600 people per hour. It drives us crazy since we only have 7 hours to linger at this sight, which one would think is adequate to go up the mountainside and then down without much variance. Instead, the term "cable car" loses its purpose--convenience and timesaving.
Even though it is tiring, a waste of money and time, I have no choice but do it--take things as they come. Totally distracted by the waiting process, we have no interest in appreciating the scenery. But there is other fun--talking to strangers: a woman in her 40's tells us that her husband and she haven't traveled for 8 years; an old couple say they are taking this journey to celebrate their silver anniversary; a guard at Mountain Hua advises us to come again, avoiding Golden Week, as there are 400 visitors on common days, not the 30,000 a day during Golden Week.
We spend the last day of our 5-day journey in Xian buying souvenirs, an indispensable part of traveling. Personally, I regard the Forest of Stone Steles Museum as the most remarkable sight in Xian, though you have to acquire a great knowledge of steles beforehand to appreciate the historic and cultural beauty. Unfortunately, if you are ignorant of steles and just go with the stream, it may be you who touch and lean on those precious steles casually and will only remember your visit by photos. Have you some lore of steles, it is a good choice to buy a few rubbings.
Xian is also famous for its snacks, but it is a pity that you can't bring back a lot of delicious snacks, as mirror-like cake, glutinous rice dumpling with honey, should be eaten shortly after being made. However, you can't miss mutton with dunked cakes that have been packed like fast noodles.
Carrying several packages of souvenirs and special local products, we head for the train with floods of people. When we are looking for our seats, it strikes us that the two seats are in two different carriages. Suddenly it dawns on me, that mysterious smile of the manager of the travel agency? "It's really hard to arrange all the things in Golden Week, tickets, hotels, etc. And please understand us and forgive us," I remember him saying.
I now know that it was a hidden apology rather than some formulae.
1 Comments:
At 6:22 PM , Ellen said...
You made me happy I did not travel this Golden Week. I'm just joking; it's a wonderful, honest travelogue and your description of the food made me hungry. We've been to X'ian and it is a wondrous place.
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