Yin and Yang on the Yangtze, Part Two
A brief note for the Horizontally, Vertically and Physically Challenged Traveler
At the busy Beijing airport, our plane did not merit a jet way and, in fact, several small airports in our itinerary did not have any jet ways at all. Instead, we were guided to special buses which took us to the plane far out on the tarmac where we climbed up a portable set of some 20 steps. The buses had one very high, wide step with no middle pole to pull me up. Don pushed me and one of our male tour members pulled me and I managed to then hang on to an interior pole for the jolting, packed ride to the plane. At this point in the trip, I had begun to realize that the Chinese population is in most cases smaller in all ways from the average American and European tourist.
When we settled in for our first internal China flight to Xi’an, I discovered that the plane seat and leg room were very tight. The seat belts were especially tight on me, so, as for several of the in-China flights, I asked for a *seat belt extender. Luckily the flights were generally under two hours.
The buses we used in Beijing and in all cities from then on had very tight leg room. Although we rotated seats everyday to allow each person the best views from the bus, I generally chose a seat in the unassigned elevated rear seats — the view was good and the seating roomier. Other people on the tour would periodically join me when their long legs got cramped.
Xi’an : Ancient Walls and Terracotta Warriors
We were late arriving at the beautiful Xi’an Sheraton Hotel and hurried through dinner in order to leave for a performance of the Tang Dynasty Musical Show, a colorful performance with period costumes and music featuring exotic Chinese instruments. This hotel was our favorite of the trip, not just because the room and bath were very well appointed, but because the management went out of its way to make sure that the Tauck guests were well treated. We had fruit, flowers and candy in our rooms as well as a present of a small terracotta warrior from the museum store. In the restaurants, the manager and maître d' were always checking on our dining comfort.
Our second day in Xi’an was busy. The weather was cool and damp so I had a chance to wear my new raincoat. Our first stop was the Little Wild Goose Pagoda, an ancient Buddhist temple. Again, there were very few places to sit, so I sat on wall planters. There was a Tai Chi class in progress and some individuals doing other independent exercises. We then visited the south City Gate of the Xi’an City Wall. Since Xi’an was a capital of China in ancient times, and the terminus of the famous Silk Road, it needed a way to protect itself from the many travelers. The city defenders could keep out the invaders by shooting arrows from atop the wall. Since it was damp and slippery and the steps to the top of the wall were steep and many, I opted to stay in the “Fish Bowl” with the bus and look at the wall from below.
After a return to the hotel for a buffet lunch, we headed out to the Museum of Qin Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses. This was on my ‘must see’ list of China sites, so I wasn’t going to miss it. Annie, our tour guide told us that the approximately three hour tour of the four major buildings would be very tiring, with only rest areas in the lobbies of each building and multi-leveled viewing areas with many steps. We would also be standing through a 20 minute multi-media presentation.
Annie suggested that several of our group take advantage of the Chinese men who met the tourist buses and offered rides in wheelchairs for a small fee. Two of us accepted. My ‘pusher’ was a very nice man with little English and a rather small and dilapidated chair. But I decided to ‘rough’ it. Where the only access to the buildings or to another viewing level was up or down steps (one building had an elevator for the handicapped), I walked up (or down) with the man carrying the wheelchair behind me. I took my seat cane with me for navigating steps when Don wasn’t nearby.
The visit was one that I will never forget. The enormity of the task that created these figures beginning around 200 B.C. with no modern tools was beyond belief. As we headed back to our hotel for dinner at the hotel’s Tang (Cantonese) restaurant, I was thanking providence in Chinese (‘Xie Xie’) for sending me the man with the wheelchair who had helped to make my visit so enjoyable.
Before we headed for the airport and a flight to Chongqing, we stopped at the Wang Ling Han Tomb Archeological Museum. Here is another burial site with terracotta figures, but compared with the Qin Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses, the pottery figures are one tenth of the actual objects and vary from the warrior to civilian, male to female. The now naked figures once were clothed and had wooden arms. Because the bus couldn’t get close to the museum, I decided not to take the long walk, saving my energy for the plane ride and the walk to the river boat. Following this visit, we headed to the airport and our flight to Chongqing (formerly Chungking in the late 1930’s) and today the fastest growing urban center in the world.
*(I have since found a number of companies that sell airplane seat belt extenders. I plan to never fly without one from now on in case a plane can’t supply an extender)
