Monday, September 17, 2018

Day 6 (14 Sep 2018) – Beijing to Xi’An to Guilin, Adventures by Disney Enchanted China Adults Only Tour


On our way to/from the Great Wall yesterday, “Tinker Bell” had air dropped us a few pictures from our trip.





We were heading out this morning before the restaurant opened for breakfast so we were provided boxed breakfast (chocolate muffin, croissant, and yogurt) and coffee in the lobby beginning at 4:30 am.




The Beijing airport is one of the biggest airports in the world and getting though it to the gate was an adventure in and of itself. Ralph had already warned us in the bus about getting through security and he was not exaggerating in the least bit. It was amazingly strict. We had already been instructed about umbrellas so had them in our carry ons but what came next was really interesting.

We were stopped when entering the airport and random samples were taken for gunpowder residue as a group and when testing was negative, the group was “released” and allowed into the airport. We got our passports and boarding passes from Daisy – our luggage had already been taken care of and would be magically transported to our hotel in Guilin.

We had been fingerprinted in this airport when we had arrived. Our passports and boarding passes were checked and a picture taken. We were accustomed to taking out our electronics (laptops, ipads etc) but it took a few tries to get through security for me because you also need to remove umbrellas, charging cables/cords, converters, and charging batteries out of your carry on and put into a bin. If your charging battery isn’t under a certain wattage, it was confiscated. We had someone in our group lose their battery for this reason. This is probably something that should have been communicated before our trip.

Even after getting through the scanner, we were wanded and frisked with the airport security person even running her fingers along the inside of the waistband of my shorts and gently patted ALL over. We were later discussing how this type of shake down in a US airport would have been met with some very very angry and offended people.

We were a little bit early for our flight so I wandered around the shops and found some very interesting “snacks” in some of the shops.



The flight to Xi’An was just under 2 hours and we were served breakfast on board. I have to really praise Disney in that even though most of our flights had in-flight meals, they didn’t rely on just that to keep us fed. On this airline, we were given congee with vegetables, yogurt, and a roll that had some dried meat inside. Later, some of the Adventurers were discussing this breakfast. The vegetables came in a separate container from the congee and many ate those first like a salad without realizing they were actually for the congee – to be mixed in and eaten together. Someone commented on how they liked the bread until they got to the “cobwebs” in the middle.



Xi’An was noticeably cooler and less humid. We did our usual bathroom meet up and then went right past luggage claim and met up with our local guide, Yale. “Call me Yale. Just don’t call me Stanford or Harvard”.



We boarded a bus that was warm and, unfortunately, the windows couldn’t be opened and the air conditioning was really struggling. It was about an hour to the terracotta soldiers. We were dropped off first a ways out from where we would see the warriors and walked to the “shopping village” and into a restaurant/tea house where we would be having another of our pre-ordered meals while they did a tea demonstration.




The last time we had been out to this area, this shopping village wasn’t in existence. Instead, we remember being pounced on by vendors selling souvenirs and walking on dirt to get to the museum. This village was all new to us and a much nicer option than the very very aggressive vendors who used to hang out here.

We were seated at long tables and got fruit in a starbucks cup, 2 huge chocolate muffins (also labeled starbucks) and the fried rice we had ordered. The fried rice was very simple – just peas, carrots, and chopped ham. We were also invited to order drinks or tea so Seth ordered the lychee concubine black tea and I ordered a crysanthemum tea. I was surprised at how expensive the tea was – 30 RMB (about $4.50) per cup. Maybe this was the Starbucks equivalent of a tea house.




They had a tea service set up to do a demonstration and a small bowl of each type of tea that they sold. We were also given a list describing each type of tea. She demonstrated the water temperature by pouring the water over the small zodiac figures on the front of her tray – when the temperature is just right, the figurines turn colors. For some teas, you wash the tea cups and filter with hot water – other teas, you add the tea leaves, pour water over them and then rinse the cups/filter with the tea. Seth’s tea was delicious and the woman doing the demonstration pointed out that it was their most popular tea. I was amazed at how quick the tea prep process was – hardly any steeping time at all – literally seconds and she was serving the tea. She didn’t use very many leaves either – maybe a heaping teaspoonful. She also showed us the correct way to hold the cup – different for ladies from the gentlemen using 3 fingers – 2 to hold the edges of the cup and 1 finger to support the cup from underneath, We decided to buy some lychee concubine black tea leaves as well as some of the oolong tea leaves. We got 200 grams for 360 RMB (about $50 USD).





After we made our purchases and marked the bags with our names, they were left at the tea cafe for us to pick up on our way back out. We also picked up Xi’An magnet but there was no body around to pay money to so I took it back into the tea cafe and they charged me 30 RMB for it (about $4 USD) but the store next door was selling them for 10 RMB each. Lesson learned. Yale passed out Quiet Vox units and narrated during our tour.

We were each given a ticket and Yale explained what each building was – pit #1 and pit #2 and the display of the bronze chariots. He took us into pit #1 first which was the bigger of the 2 – and the most crowded. As soon as you enter, you overlook the entire pit and everyone was jostling around for a spot at the railing and to take pictures.


We then went left and around the corner where Yale pointed out where the 4 farmers had been digging and had discovered the ruins. I couldn’t tell you that the soldiers looked different from when we had visited 15+ years ago but the building was definitely the same. We made our way slowly along pit #1 and also saw the terracotta warrior “hospital” where they painstakingly put the pieces of the soldiers together.





We visited pit #2 and then had some pictures taken (Mickey Mouse’s “treat”) in front of staged soldiers and horses of which we received a printed copy of later in Guilin. Yale handed out our next pin and gave us some free time to explore. 



We headed over to see the bronze chariots but it was dreadfully crowded. The chariots were smaller than we had remembered.

We met up again outside the museum cafe and were soon on our way back to re-board our bus and head back to the Xi’An airport where we were taken to the Regal airport hotel in the airport (before security) to have a buffet dinner. The choices were good.





Getting through security was much easier this time and we soon boarded a bus that took us to the tarmac to board our China Eastern flight to Guilin. We were served dinner on the plane but it was noodles with pork that I didn’t really care for (plus I was already very full from our ABD dinner). The snack peas were good, though.


About 2 hours later, we were landing in Guliin where we met up at the customary bathroom location and then past security to meet up with our local guide, Jenny.


Once we reached the Shangri-La hotel, we were given our room keys and our instructions for the next morning’s activities. The room was pretty nice but this was the first time on this trip that we had to break out our voltage converters to use for all of our various electronics. I could have sworn I had brought a power strip with me but couldn’t find it anywhere so we fixed up several different converters to get all of our stuff charged up. We could see the gumdrop mountains from our window but the sun had already gone down so we really couldn’t see them well as it was almost 10 pm. It was lights out shortly after that.




Next post:  Day 7 (15 Sep 2018) - Guilin, Adventures by Disney Enchanted China Adults Only Tour

No comments: