[Throwback] Final Thoughts on my China Trip

Before I share my final thoughts, here's a summary of links of my China trip:

Vacation in China
Summer Palace and the Lama Temple
Great Wall of China and the Ming Tombs
Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and Forbidden City
Xi'an and the Terracotta Army
Final Thoughts on my China Trip

This visit to China was the first international trip I took with friends. It was also the first time I joined an organized tour. My friends organized everything so all I really had to do was show up (and pay of course).

I mentioned this briefly in one of my previous posts but on our third night in China, I got to watch a Beijing Opera. Everyone in the group was actually given a choice to watch either a Beijing Opera or a circus. I had seen circuses before so I thought the Beijing Opera would be a more unique experience. As I don't speak Mandarin, I didn't understand any of the words but somehow I could follow the story a bit. There were a lot of very well choreographed fight scenes that are reminiscent of great kung fu movies. Despite not understanding the songs/dialogue, it was still a great experience.

Beijing Opera

Aside from getting to see some amazing sights and visiting places that I had been wanting to see for a while, I also remember our awesome meal times as a group. I understand that in traditional Chinese meals, rice gets served last but since we were a group of Filipinos, we always requested the restaurants to serve the rice along with the rest of the food. One of the more interesting moments over lunch was that someone had the hilarious idea to do voice-over skits. Jason and Omar would engage in very funny conversations and Julie and I would act out whatever they were saying. It was so inane, everyone laughed a whole lot.

Evenings were spent hanging out in one of our rooms where we played cards and enjoyed each other's company. The card game of choice was Bridge. It got quite competitive because, well, a lot of us are very competitive haha but it was all in good fun.

Even if this I took this trip many years ago, I still remember a lot of what happened quite vividly. This walk down memory lane also prompted me to reach out to some of my friends from that group, providing a great opportunity for us to catch up. I'm really very fortunate and grateful that I had the chance to go on this amazing trip with friends.

[Throwback] Xi'an and the Terracotta Army

Our fifth tour day was spent in Xi'an, which is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. Despite spending the night in a train instead of in a hotel room, I felt fully energized and excited to see the Terracotta Army.

Terracotta Army

Before that, we visited Banpo Village. This is an archaeological site located near the Yellow River that dates back to the Neolithic period. Our tour guide took us to see excavations of settlements that were built several thousand years ago.

Banpo Village

Our next stop was the Xi'an Terracotta Warriors Museum. We passed by a workshop right next to it where you can find replicas of the original statues. I think you can buy souvenirs here too. Naturally, I had to take a photo.

Terracotta Workshop

Finally, it was time to see the Terracotta Army. The statues were discovered in 1974 by farmers when they were trying to dig a well. Chinese archaeologists continued the excavation and they uncovered thousands of sculptures. To ensure this amazing find would be protected, a museum was built over the dig site. It is believed that these warriors were buried along with Emperor Qin to protect him in the afterlife.

Visitors can also find sculptures of terracotta horses and chariots in the museum.

We spent a couple of hours at the museum before heading to our final stop, the Huaqing Hot Springs. According to Visit Our China, "it gets its fame for being the place where the romantic story of Emperor Tangxuanzong of Tang Dynasty (618-907) and his beloved Yang Guifei (or Concubine Yang) took place."

Huaqing Got Springs

I can understand why an imperial love story would unfold here. It really is quite beautiful.

This was the last place I visited since it was my final day in China. I flew back to Manila the next day.

Next: Final thoughts on my China trip

[Throwback] Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and Forbidden City

The Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City are all located close to each other in central Beijing so it made sense to visit all these sights on the same day.

Temple of Heaven

(Unfortunately, my digital camera had major battery issues in the middle of our trip. This was many years ago when digital camera technology was still not very advanced and a fully charged battery didn't last very long, especially when it was very cold. While I did bring my charger, I didn't have a plug adapter so I had to borrow someone else's. If they were using it, I couldn't charge my camera. And I think that's what happened on my third and fourth days. While our third day was mostly a free day so I didn't miss out on too many photo ops, our fourth day was quite packed and it kinda sucked that I didn't have a working camera. I ended up buying a disposable camera and I later converted the negatives into digital copies which are what you see in this post. As such, the quality of these photos isn't good.)

Entrance of the Temple of Heaven

Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven. According to wikipedia, "the complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for a good harvest." As such, the largest building at the temple is aptly called the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests

Some other interesting structures include the Circular Mound Altar...

Circular Mound Altar

...and the Imperial Vault of Heaven. China Highlights provides a lot of very interesting information about these altars and structures so you might want to give this link a quick read.

Imperial Vault of Heaven

There's also a walkway at the center of the temple from the main gate to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. I remember our tour guide telling us that walking within that lane would bring good fortune. I think I stepped out of bounds at some point but I don't think I jinxed myself haha.

Another point of interest are the Seven Star Stones. I've read online that these stones are meant to symbolize the seven peaks of Mount Tai. There are actually eight stones there now; one was added after the first seven but its original name was not changed.

Seven Star Stones

After our visit to the Temple of Heaven, we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Many people know about Tiananmen Square because of the infamous massacre that happened in 1989. The square sits right in front of the main gate of the Forbidden City. I didn't take any photos of the square itself but I do remember it was terribly cold that day. I think it was "only" zero degrees Celsius but it was extremely windy. Since the square was a wide open space, we could definitely feel the full effects of the wind chill factor and that made the cold even more biting.

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is said to be the best-preserved imperial palace in China. It supposedly got its name because ordinary people were not allowed to enter. However, according to wikipedia, there seems to have been some confusion in the translation; in English, it's supposed to mean "the place where Celestial Emperor lives" instead of Forbidden.

There's a huge and interesting rock formation in the Imperial Gardens in the Forbidden City. Practically every visitor was having their photo taken here so I did too haha. 

In the late afternoon, we boarded an overnight train that would take us from Beijing to Xi'an.

Next post: Xi'an and the Terra Cotta Warriors

[Throwback] Great Wall of China and the Ming Tombs

Our second tour day took us to the Great Wall and Ming Tombs.

Great Wall of China

We started the day by visiting the Ming Tombs. This UNESCO World Heritage site is also known as the 13 Ming Tombs because 13 emperors from the Ming Dynasty are buried here.

Ming Tombs

I remember going into some of the tombs. I vaguely remember our tour guide telling us that there are some false tombs around the complex. I can't recall what the purpose of these were - was it to confuse possible intruders? - but I did have my photo taken in front of one of them. 

A false tomb entrance at the Ming Tombs

The afternoon was dedicated to the Great Wall of China. This was the part of my trip I was most excited about.

Highlight of my trip: visiting the Great Wall

The entire wall is almost 22,000 kilometers long so there are many sections that people can go to visit. I'm not sure which one we went to. But if memory serves me right, there were seven towers we could access, the last of which was at the peak of the mountain, and our tour guide encouraged us to go to walk all the way to the top. I can't be sure if all of us made our way to the last tower but I do know I was in a group of five that did.

On my way up the mountain

Since the wall goes up the slope of a mountain, it actually resembles steps. The physical activity of visiting all seven towers and going up the mountain made this Great Wall experience even more rewarding and memorable. The view from the peak was awesome and the sense of achievement made it even more enjoyable.

Lots of people heading up and down the Great Wall

It probably took about 1 1/2 to 2 hour to get to the end, mostly because we would always stop to appreciate the views and to take photos. It was only our second day and we had a lot more sights to see but I was really happy that I finally got to see the Great Wall.

View from the peak

Next post: Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and Forbidden City

[Throwback] Summer Palace and the Lama Temple

The first place we visited was the Lama Temple. I didn't keep a copy of our itinerary so I don't know if there is more than one lama temple in Beijing but after doing a quick search online, it seems we went to the Yonghe Lama Temple, which is one of the largest and most popular Buddhist monasteries in China. 

Lama Temple

It was Chinese New Year when we visited to naturally, there were hordes of people when we were there.

The Lama Temple is known for its Buddha statues. The main building, known as the Hall of Harmony and Peace, house three bronze Buddha statues which are supposed to represent the past, the present, and the future.

Buddha statues at the Hall of Harmony and Peace

In another hall, you can find the largest sandalwood Buddha in the world. It is supposed to have been carved from one enormous piece of sandalwood. The whole statue has a height of 26 meters (with 18 meters above ground and 8 meters below).

Buddha statue made of Sandalwood

In the afternoon, we visited the the Summer Palace. It was built during the Qing Dynasty and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since December 1998.

Entrance to the Summer Palace

I'm pretty sure there were lots of people when we were there but I remember it felt quite peaceful during our visit. The scenic Kunming Lake definitely adds to the serenity that one feels in this imperial garden.

Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace

Visitors can also enjoy the view of Wanshou Shan, or Longevity Hill.

Longevity Hill

On it stands Foxiangge, or the Tower of Buddhist Incense.

Tower of Buddhist Incense

There are many other buildings and structures around the garden. One of the more interesting ones I saw was the Marble Boat or the Boat of Purity and Ease. Since we were there during Chinese New Year, it was still winter so you can see in the next photo that part of the lake by the boat pavilion was frozen.

Marble Boat

The Summer Palace was one of the most beautiful places I got to visit during this trip. I don't recall entering any of the buildings in the garden but we did get to enjoy the incredible views all afternoon until sunset.

Sunset at the Summer Palace

Next post: Great Wall of China and the Ming Tombs

[Throwback] Vacation in China

Many years ago, several colleagues were assigned to China for a project. When I learned that they were planning to do some sightseeing during Chinese New Year, I decide to take some time off of work to join them. My friends found an interesting tour that would take us to Beijing to see the Great Wall of China...

Great Wall of China

...and to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Army.

Terracotta Army in Xi'an

Naturally, there were a lot of other sights and landmarks we visited. This was our itinerary:

Day 1 - Beijing: Lama Temple, Summer Palace

Day 2 - Beijing: Ming Tombs, Great Wall of China

Day 3 - Beijing: Free day (shopping day), Beijing Opera in the evening

Day 4 - Beijing: Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, overnight train from Beijing to Xi'an

Day 5 - Xi'an: Banpo Village, Terracotta Army, Huaqing Hot Springs

Huaqing Hot Springs

The tour actually lasted 1-2 more days after that I think but I couldn't take too much time off of work, especially since I needed to fly back home to Manila. As such, my participation in the tour ended on Day 5. I will be talking in more detail about this trip over the next few blog posts.

At the Lama Temple

Next post: Summer Palace and the Lama Temple in Beijing

A Surprising US Open

Wow. What an unexpected plot twist the US Open proved to be in the 2021 tennis season. Everyone was expecting to witness history, with Novak Djokovic being one match away from achieving the Grand Slam. However, Daniil Medvedev had a different idea and beat Djokovic to claim his first major title.

Daniil Medvedev stuns Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win the #USOpen pic.twitter.com/Ksup0ClAEI

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 12, 2021

Novak wasn't consistently at his best this tournament. He lost six sets en route to the final and he dropped at least one set to almost all his opponents, even those who weren't seeded. However, in each of those matches, he always found another gear, and when he did, he was practically unplayable. I was still convinced he was going to take home the title because he has such an unparalleled ability to turn matches around and grind out wins even when he isn't at his best.

In the end, it seems the pressure finally got the better of arguably the most mentally tough player in history. Novak was clearly not at his best in the final while Medvedev played top level tennis. One match short of even greater legendary status but Djokovic just couldn't find that extra gear this time.

I've read some people say that winning four-in-a-row is the same whether you do it in the same year or over two years. However, the Grand Slam (which people refer to now as the calendar Grand Slam) is still more difficult to accomplish than a non-calendar Grand Slam, precisely because of the pressure. Remember, Novak won four-in-a-row in 2015-2016. Serena Williams in fact has won four-in-a-row twice, in 2002-2003 and in 2014-2015. Both of these supreme athletes had opportunities to win a proper Grand Slam and both came so tantalizingly close but both missed out on their chances. As such, Steffi Graf is still the last player to win the Grand Slam in the singles main draw, which she did in 1988.

I say main draw because we have two athletes who matched Steffi's rare feat. In fact, just like Graf, they both achieved the Golden Slam. Diede de Groot won all majors and the Olympic Gold in women's wheelchair tennis this year while Dylan Alcott did the same in men's Quad wheelchair tennis. That is impressive!

Diede de Groot has made history as the first wheelchair tennis player to win the Golden Slam!@DiedetheGreat | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/ryfimu8t9O

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 12, 2021

A golden moment for @DylanAlcott pic.twitter.com/PuUpwXb6DF

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 12, 2021

In the women's main draw, Emma Raducanu surprised everyone by powering through the qualifiers, onto the main draw, and all the way to the US Open Women's trophy. Even more surprising is that she won all her matches, including the ones in qualifying, without dropping a set. Along the way, she beat Olympic Gold medalist Belinda Bencic. In the final, she beat Leylah Fernandez, another up-and-comer who did some even greater giant-killing, beating two previousl world #1s and multiple Grand Slam winners Naomi Osaka (seeded 3) and Angelique Kerber. She also beat 2nd seed Aryna Sabalenka and 5th seed Elina Svitolina. The women's final was the first time in 22 years that two teenagers met in the final of the US Open. When you factor in other young players like Osaka and Iga Swiatek, the future seems very bright for women's tennis.

Qualifier ➡️ Champion

Emma Raducanu wins 10 matches to do the unthinkable at the #USOpen pic.twitter.com/K3X5mLlnCL

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 11, 2021

All in all, this US Open was very interesting and satisfying, what with its unpredictability, the fact that we have first-time winners in the main draw, and wheelchair athletes achieved the Golden Slam. Congratulations Daniil Medvedev, Emma Raducanu, Diede de Groot, and Dylan Alcott!