CHINA TOUR 2017 TRAVEL LOG
China Tour 2017 Travel Log #1
Plymouth United Church of Christ
September 15, 2017
31 persons are traveling as part of the China 2017 Tour. Yesterday, we toured Tiananmen Square. Next, we walked to and through the “Forbidden City,” also known as the Imperial Palace. We walked 3 and a half hours. Following the tour of the “Forbidden City” we ate lunch at a vegetarian restaurant with the most incredible selection of non-meat food items. We are staying at a Novatel Hotel in Beijing, which is comfortable, clean and modern. Our tour this morning and afternoon will include stops at the “Temple of Heaven,” a pearl factory, a visit to the Summer Palace and a cruise along Kunming Lake. Tomorrow, our tour will take us to the Great Wall. Everyone in our tour group is healthy and seems excited to be here in China. Pray for us and we will pray for you. Blessings… Nick – Rev. Dr. Nicholas Hood III
China Tour 2017 Travel Log #2
Plymouth United Church of Christ
September 17, 2017
We left the hotel this morning at 8 AM, a half hour earlier than we previously departed. Our first stop was a jade factory and showroom. We learned about why jade is so expensive and some in our group made purchases. After leaving the jade factory we drove to the Great Wall.
The Great Wall extends 3000 miles – like traveling from the east to west coast in America! We took a photo at the entrance to the steps that lead to the top. Most in our group walked about three quarters of the way to the top. The steps are uneven, and some are quite large. Kristyn Brundidge and Perryn Raiford Thompson made it to the very top and said they could see on the other side, which I presume would be Mongolia – quite impressive! Our time walking up the steps to the Great Wall was an hour and a half.
Following the visit to the Great Wall, we ate lunch at a Muslim Restaurant. The last tour of the day was the Ming Dynasty Burial Grounds. We walked about an hour through the Burial Grounds, which has statues of some of the advisors to the emperors, body guards for the emperors and animals of the kingdom – all quite impressive!
We returned the hotel around 5 pm, and are on our own for the evening. Tomorrow, is a free day. Some will take a rickshaw tour in an ancient neighborhood in Beijing. The rest will be on their own. We check out at noon tomorrow in preparation to take a plane that will take us to the Yangtze River. We will be on the River for three days, as part of a cruise. Yes, this will be a cruise, but I do not believe that it includes an “Endless buffet” or the many of the types of activities that we associate with the big cruise lines out of America. Thank you for taking the time to read this “Travel Log.” Yours, Nick — Rev. Dr. Nicholas Hood III
China Tour 2017 Travel Log #3
Plymouth United Church of Christ
September 18, 2017
Yesterday, 14 members in our Tour Group took rickshaw rides to one of the oldest sections of Beijing. We were taken to the home of a gentleman who is an artist in the traditional form of Chinese letters and figures. The visit was fascinating because he took a lot of time answering all sorts of questions about day to day life for working class citizens. He served us tea and snacks. After our questions, he showed us two rooms in his home. The second room got my attention because it is his home artist studio. He works a day job as an artist, but it seems like he has a great passion for his craft. Several in our group purchased pieces from his studio. Some of the pieces were large, others small. I purchased a strikingly beautiful piece for Denise. I was not with her while she was in the studio, because it is small. I went in the second wave. When Denise excited the studio, she asked me to make the purchase. After I made the purchase, some of our folk pretended to be upset with me because they said they were thinking about purchasing the same piece. Lovingly, I told them that the lesson from this exchange is that there are people who think about taking an action and there are others who make it happen. In other words, I told them that I know how to, “Pull the trigger.” That analogy does not sound good coming from the lips of a non-violent peace lover, but I hope you get the picture. Smile. 🙂
We rejoined our group to check out from the Novotel Hotel at noon. Lunch was at a Cantonese Restaurant, which was delicious.
After lunch, we headed to the airport. Once in the air we were headed to meet a cruise ship to sail the Yahtzee River to the Three Gorges Dam. Because of heavy rain and turbulent weather, we made an unexpected landing at Wuhan. Wuhan is a city of 9 million people that produces a great deal of manufacturing, that I had never heard of. The airport looks like the size of London Heathrow or Charles De Gaulle airport in France.
After boarding a bus, we were driven in the rain, to a brand-new hotel 10 minutes from the airport. I have just finished breakfast and went back to the room to peck out this Tour Log number 3. At 7:45, our plan is to make a four-hour drive to the river to catch up with the cruise ship.
One of the impressive things to me about our travel group is that all the persons seem cheerful and treating this as an adventure. In talking with our Chinese tour coordinator at breakfast, I asked him to explain to us the sights in route to the river, which we both agreed would probably be much more interesting than an air plane ride which would by-pass the local sights and sounds.
Pray for us, and know that I am praying for you. Nick — Rev. Dr. Nicholas Hood III
China Tour 2017 – Travel Log #4
Plymouth United Church of Christ
September 22, 2017
I apologize for the gap in sending the travel logs, but we have not been able to use the internet for the past several days. The China Tour 2017 continues to move at a great pace. Everyone is healthy, and by the end of the trip all of us will be more adept at using chop sticks. Smile. Most of our meals are traditional, authentic Chinese foods, with no egg-foo young! We are eating a lot of vegetables, rice, noodles, chicken, beef and pork at every meal. Our meals are also introducing us to certain foods that we do not see often in America, such as exotic mushrooms that we were told have medicinal qualities.
We just concluded sailing three days up the Yangtze River where we went through three gorges and toured a big dam. While on the river we listened to a lecture on traditional Chinese medicine. Joan Gist allowed herself to be the test case for acupuncture on her knee and arm regarding a problem with her ankle. Although the needles were in her for no more than 20 or 30 minutes, she said that her affected foot was draining fluid all day and she is walking much better.
The last night on the boat, we were asked to participate in a talent show. I suggested that we do the “Cupid Shuffle.” Our tour guide asked if we needed to rehearse, I told him, “No,” and thought to myself, but did not tell him that this dance is “Tribal.” Sure enough, we stole the show! The other passengers never knew what hit them! Smile. 🙂 Joe Thurmond made a video and I am sure at some point it you will be able to see us on the church web page.
After leaving the cruise ship, we flew to Chongqing, the former capital of China, which is much larger than Beijing, at 33 million people, and toured the zoo. It was there that we saw the giant pandas and white tigers. While at the zoo, Kristyn Brundidge made a big hit keeping up with a local Chinese woman and our tour guide by keeping a weighted device with feathers, balanced in the air like a miniature soccer ball. Last night, we took another plane to Xian, where we this morning we will tour the “Terra Cotta Warriors.” Like many of the other days, this tour is expected to include three hours of walking.
Between the food and walking, all of us will probably lose a little weight on this trip. Until the next time, blessings and peace.
Rev. Nick
