The Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an China.. Found by a farmer about 20 years ago attempting to dig for a well. Each of the hundreds unearthed are unique. They were modeled after the emperor’s own soldiers… The artists worked on this clay army for the purpose of protecting the emperor kingdom in the afterlife. The  emperor had all the artists killed Inorder to keep it a secret We are spending our last night in China. Today we took scenic cruise on Li River. Yesterday was my best day in China… We climbed to the tip top of the a mountain through the rice terraces and then walked through villages. Beautiful.

Tomorrow: Ha Noi Vietnam.

NOW FROM BOBBY:

June 18,  Today we took a tour (one of a the few we have taken on this trip) to cruise down the Li River, about an hours bus ride from Guilin. Although it was billed as an English speaking cruise, ( our guide did speak some English) out of the 60 or so passengers , only Cathi, me and a couple from the U K were the only “Westerns” on the boat. It was a very beautiful 4 hour cruise. Most of the way we were surrounded by Limestone cliffs, waterfalls, occasional water buffalo, and small traditional bamboo rafts.

After the cruise we walked thru the tourist town of Yangshuo for about an hour, then a little ride on a bamboo raft. Frankly the afternoon activities weren’t that exciting. It only confirmed why we prefer to go it on our own rather than joining tours.

As Cathi said at the beginning of this update, tomorrow we leave for Vietnam. To summarize our China experience and impressions, it is not the closed society we expected. The Chinese people have become tourists in their own country as well as abroad over the last 10 to 15 years. They have definitely learned about capitalism,marketing, and American Brands such as McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks, Subway, and many other retailers. In the large cities of Beijing,Shanghai, and Hong Kong, they have malls that equal or surpass anything South Coast Plaza or Fashion Island have to offer. They have definitely gotten”the taste of ice cream” and they like it! Figuratively  speaking. It will be interesting to see how the people continue to accept their government’s control over the next 10 to 20 years as they become more and more ‘Westernized’. The times we have had a chance to interact with their younger generation (4 to 10 year olds) it is very obvious English will be a strong second language for them, since they are now learning it at an early age.

The other factor,that left a big impression on us, is the amount of construction and building going on every where. You can’t believe how many 20 story plus apartment buildings are either under construction or are built, but just sitting empty. They have been referred to as ‘ghost cities’.Cathi thinks we should invest in the crane business!  It is truly mind boggling. When our friends,the Barons, told us about seeing a city built, but basically empty,  I know we didn’t really understand what they meant at the time… We do now! Those sites are everywhere.

It has been a fascinating 3 plus weeks in China, but we are both ready to move on. This is not a place we will trade our home in Laguna Niguel for to live out our golden years! Next stop Hanoi, Vietnam!! Who would have thought. I keep going back to the 60’s in my mind. It should be interesting!

6/19  Friday

We took the train this morning from Guilin to Guangzhou, then flew to Hanoi without any hassles until we landed. What we thought would be a quick trip thru immigration (we had paid and arranged for a Visa ahead of time) became a 2 hour ordeal. Only because the Vietnam Immigration staff was unorganized and understaffed. Although we were the first of about 60 people to submit our paperwork,we wound of almost being last to get our Visa’s. The good news was the driver from our hotel who we arranged to pick us up waited for us. Thank goodness. Our boutique hotel is in the middle of the Old City, right where the action is!

Saturday we toured the old city on foot. After a stop at St Joseph’s Cathedral and a tourist office, we went to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum, better known to Americans as the HaNoi Hilton during he Vietnam War. This is where John McCain and other American pilots where held captive. As you would expect, the Vietnamese perspective and presentation of the war is different then what we heard back in the 60’s and early 70’s. We ate Pho Noodles with beef $2.50 a bowl, and drank local HaNoi beer,$.25 a glass. Both are excellent. After visiting the Nite market, taking a tuck tuck ride and battled the street traffic,(motor scooters everywhere) we called it a night. We booked a boat trip to HaLong Bay for this coming Tuesday.(A Unesco World Heritage site). We spent the rest of the day walking the town and eating and drinking more local food and giving English lessons to a group of Vietnam students who wanted to practice their English with us. Can you imagine me teaching kids how to speak English? Hell I don’t speak it that well myself. This happened while we were waiting to go to the Lotus Water Puppet Show that was fantastic. The music, singing, and puppeteering was an Art form everyone would enjoy experiencing. Thanks to Cathi for encouraging me to go.

Between Sunday and Monday here, I have watched most of the U S Open golf championship. And, yes, I saw Dustin Johnson choke. We did celebrate Fathers Day talking to all of our children and our granddaughter on Face Time. It made for a great morning. The rest of today has been spent doing research and planning our next couple of weeks traveling south thru Vietnam and on to Cambodia.(Laos also) we should be going to the temples of Ankor Watt about mid July.  In case your wondering, it is pretty hot and humid here, and we expect it will be this way for the next couple of months thru summer.  Hopefully by the time we get to India in late July their heat wave will have ended.  

ZWT

Love to all

Bobby and Cathi

Truly amazing