Sep 16, 2012 - morning on Mount Tai

In the early, early morning had a lucid dream there were five layers (called meiyer, pronounced my-er, as in Oscar Mayer) surrounding the heart. The heart itself was the first layer. Lines represented how close people were; my son reached farthest into the first meiyer, and my husband the longest, from the first to the third. Closest friends were in the second meiyer, and my work, which I do love, was in the third. I'd come to the mountain to know more about my own heart, but never expected to be given a schematic. Waking from that dream...

Sep 15, 2012 - thank you, Bixia

In a hotel restaurant at the top of Mount Tai. Had trouble finding a room – it’s Saturday, and everything is full. I'd resolved to take the cable car down and find a room in Tai’an but passed one of the pre-eminent Taoist mountain temples on the way. I went in thinking I probably wouldn’t be back, and was drawn to a female figure behind an altar, Bixia maybe, goddess of growth and fertility. Everyone around me was praying for stuff (very practical people, the Chinese) so I thought, what the heck, and prayed for a room. I couldn’t find five...

Sep 15, 2012 - the heart is the emperor

In Chinese medicine the heart, not the mind, governs the body. The heart embodies wisdom, and combines experience, information, and emotion in its function of decision making. In this metaphoric system the heart is the emperor, and its rule is benevolent. Tai Shan is the foremost holy mountain of China. It’s here at the summit where the first emperor declared unification. (That’s the same guy who commissioned the Great Wall, the road system, and the terracotta warriors: Qin Shi Huang.) Confucius also spent time here. Numerous sites and...

Sep 14, 2012 - Temple of Cool Rocks and Trees

Though my hotel is by the north entrance to the Dai Temple, I walked around to the south in the footsteps of the emperors who would perform rites before ascending Mount Tai. At the altar south of the temple gate a vendor talked me into buying some incense to make an offering and showed me how to do it. Why not, I thought. I bought a small bundle of stick incense, lit it, and bowed three times, praying for my family. Then I stuck it upright in the ashes of the ceremonial incense holder, which was about the size of a pony cart and festooned...

Sep 14, 2012 - going solo

Starting this morning in the subway I’ve been repeatedly and exclusively photographed by men. I wonder if they realize I’m a middle-aged soccer mom. Here in Tai’an at the Dai Temple several followed me around taking snickity continuous photos. Maybe it’s the hair, but I’d pulled it back in a ponytail today in order to escape attention. When climbing tomorrow I’ll try sunglasses and a floppy hat. This evening I went to eat at the restaurant located at the end of a complex of buildings that together comprise the hotel. The hostess was...

Sep 7, 2012 - Qingdao back to Shanghai

We left Xingang at 4pm and they where in a hurry to get to Qingdao this boat normally sits on 30ks at see but they had it up to 36 ks for 24 hours as they had been told that the next was navel day in the port. Qingdao is a large monden city about the size of Sydney with there tall buildings with a night time colourful light display with different colour laser lights from the top of the tall buildings made the Christchurch beacon of hope look parffeit. Unlike the other ports in China this one was right in the back of the city the city is...

Jul 24, 2012 - Airport Interlude

Okay, so I lied. I did have something interesting happen on the plane. I got to the airport with no problems, but they would not give me my connecting flight’s boarding pass. For whatever reason, they said that I must get my luggage and then check back in. While I was not worried about the time, I thought this was odd. When I arrived at Jinan, the halfway point to Changchun in the Northeast of China, I did get my luggage and recheck in. I accidentally told the woman at the desk I was going to Chongqing….instead of Changchun. Slight slip of...

Sep 19, 2011 - Rainy Days in Xi'an

When people think about Xi’an, they usually think about the famous Terracotta Warriors. I, on the other hand, will always think about the rain. Goda, Brandon, and I arrived in this rainy city Saturday at 4:00 pm. We had reservations at a hostel that was said to be the best in the city, and it just happened to also have one of the cheapest prices. Due to issues beyond our control we were unable to stay at this particular hostel (this part of the story is not mine to tell). So we whipped out our map and made our way to the second best hostel...

Sep 15, 2011 - Qingdao

Story time…Once upon a time the Germans had control over a little town called Qingdao. Their influence over the 50 years they occupied the Chinese port is apparent in most of the local architecture and the beer. They were eventually kicked out, but their influence remained, thank goodness. The city is now famous for its production of Tsingdao beer and the Tsingdao festival. Tsingdao beer was supposed to be given its name to represent the city; however, at the time beer was named there were no phonetic letters applied to the Chinese...

Jun 19, 2011 - Arriving in China

Long check-in in Soekarno-Hatta (well, it takes 1 hour). Luckilly, the immigration takes a quite a good pace. CZ388 good flight, good food, plane is too small. Transit at Guangzhou, have to drag the baggage alone to the transfer counter, it's a really close call, we got to the plane last. Arrived at Jinan 2hr45min later. Better flight than CGK-CAN. Stayed at Huan Lian Holiday Hotel, a 3-star hotel, but comfortable enough.

May 8, 2011 - Unusual Mother's Day

Long trip to Linyi via train - about 8 hours. Lots of time to look out the window, seeing farms, towns, and always, always factories in the distance. Lots of roadbuilding and railway building too. China is a busy place. Train sanitation - not so good. Linyi, which I thought was going to be a little town, turns out to have over 10 million people in the city and surrounding countryside. A bit of a shock. We were toured around the city by some very helpful people who work for the local municipal government, including a very detailed and...

May 9, 2010 - BUSON

ALOHA ALL: Buson, S.Korea where sea fog rules! Our 8AM arrival turned out to be 3PM, but my tour went off anyway-just later. The visits were included but cut short time-wise. Two thousand of us on tour assembled in various locations at set times to catch the various buses waiting. This exercise takes almost an hour. I was C-2. Looking out the window of the bus "WOW" there was Nancy in line with about a thousand other independents waiting on the dock. I rapped on the window, but she didn't see me, so I took her picture as she looked like she...