China: Cheap. Cheap.

The outer perimeter of Tien An Men Square in Beijing is teeming with tourist buses and with vendors holding armfuls of souvenirs for sale. The first asking price was often five times what the seller expected.  As I walked away from the square, I was followed by a man thrusting baseball caps and straw toys at me for my attention and my money. An olive green hat with a red star was "Fie dollah for hat,  lady". I politely shook my head no. He persisted, repeated, running alongside me, trying to keep the hat at my eye level in front of me. After many repetitions and lots of little prancing steps, he switched.  
"OK lady, cheaper.  You don't like one hat for fie dollah? How about fie hats for one dollah?"  

Some guys simply start their pitches with "Cheaper, Cheaper". 

Huge is not a big enough word for China

China's size amazes me. The first place I visited in China was Tian an Men Square. Although it is smack in the middle of the downtown Beijing, nine football fields could fit into it. 

Tien An Men Square, Beijing

The square is bordered on one side by the entrance to the Forbidden City, which was occupied by the emperor and now by government offices and a museum. The Forbidden City had 999 rooms, but after some consolidations has shrunken to the mere 800s. Once inside its gates, the Forbidden City is all you can see.

Forbidden City, Beijing

There are 6 million cars in Beijing. The throngs of the cars plus 32 million people and industry helps explain the city's constant " fog". 

I also visited Chonqing. It is a city whose name I might have been vaguely familiar with (maybe). It has a population of 9 million in the dense urban core and 34 million in its regional district perimeter. Chonqing leapfrogged over New York, Los Angeles...even Beijing and Shanghai; and it rivals Tokyo. The Chinese government made a strategic planning decision to lure manufacturing and economic growth to Chonqing because it is located well west of Shanghai and Beijing; near populations that provide a ready source of labor. Two weeks ago, an issue of the English language paper, China Daily, featured multiple articles reporting on global companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Coca Cola, and their interest in Chonqing.  The enormity of China's land mass and population is hard to grasp. A Chinese city that is larger than New York isn't even a household name in the United States. 

The world's largest dam project was constructed on China's Yangtze River. Wanting to control unpredictable flooding, to improve river transport and to generate energy, China built a dam, a reservoir and a lock system for shipping. The construction required flooding an area occupied by 1.39 million people who had to be moved.  That's about one and a half times the population of my home state of Rhode Island. China is relocating the people whose homes were submerged and whose lives must be rebuilt higher up on the river's banks. 

Yangtze River Dam: View from one shoreline across the Reservoir

To memorialize the traditional lifestyle along the Yangtze River, the Chinese government has preserved selected antique structures.  When traveling by boat down the river, one periodically passes ancient pagodas nestled into the hillside. A particularly spectacular structure, the Red Pagoda had a wall built around it to protect it from flooding. 

A

Bridge Walkway to the Red Pagoda in Shibaozhai, built in the early 1700s; below.

The government even built a replica of the type of time-honored footbridge that was sunken into the Three Gorges project, but copied and pasted up higher on the side of the gorge.  

Fake footbridge on Yangtze River in one of the Three Gorges, as a replica to ancient pathways that were sunken as part of the Dam Project

Beijing's Boombox Beggars

Visitors to Beijing's Forbidden City are routed along a one-way path that snakes through the palace grounds and out through an exit on Jingshan Gianjie road. The path is bordered on one side by the tree-lined palace moat...

and on the other side by Jingshan Gianjie road.  

As I walked along the gravelly shaded path, upbeat pop music coming from a boombox on the ground caught my attention. I looked down to the source and saw the boombox on a blanket, next to a 30ish year old man with twisted legs and no left arm, motioning by glancing down to his basket for begging. Having been warned about the beggars, I averted my eyes and kept walking. Moments later, I encountered another boombox, playing a snappy dance rhythm. This time it was next to a man with facial deformities. I kept walking. Just as his tunes faded, more peppy music filled the air with yet a third beggar. The poor souls were tough to pass by. After the third, I reached the end of the pathway. But, those poor Boombox beggars are still with me. 

I can't believe my blog is blocked in China!

Before going to China earlier this month, I had a vague awareness that Facebook was blocked in China. It would have been nice and easy to put up a photo and post a couple of words commenting on my travels in China. Nope. I knew that Google was blocked in China. And, after typing "Facebook" into a Yahoo browser, the progress wheel spun around ineffectively and failed to connect. I got in to my gmail account by going through Yahoo.  And, I found this hard to believe--my own worldgrazer blog is blocked. Maybe because the Chinese government dislikes the blogspot host? After a couple of tries, the farthest I could get toward worldgrazer was an error message, "The operation couldn't be completed". Wow. I am going to post this experience when I get back to the USA. 

The T-Shirt vendor calls this "Mao-Bama"

Estep into the Estero

Estero is the Spanish name for the Estuary in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. It is a nature preserve. It's free to visit and easy to find. Just off the main highway Route One, and five minutes down the hill from the Mega Store, the Estero is accessible from the parking lot of the Holiday Inn. It's very quiet. It is especially lovely at the end of the day when the light is golden and the air begins to cool. Birds fly around, fish jump, and the mountains and desert frame a beautiful background.  Locals from the area come to catch fish.

One of the locals trying to catch fish.

One of the locals who caught some fish.

Like a mirror

"H" stands for "Cool Restaurant" in Mexican

H  Restaurant is situated in a century old house decorated with timbered ceilings and intense burnt umber-painted walls. The dark wooden tables summon the feel of an old Mexican hacienda. The menu offerings incorporate local organic produce, with a healthy fresh twist on local entrees from nearby farms and the Sea of Cortes.  Luis Herrrera (whose last name inspires the "H" name) is the charming young proprietor whose training includes a stint at the Culinary Institute of America. He comes from a long line of restaurant owners of the crazy Carlos and Charlie's chain in Mexican tourist towns.  H is in the upscale renovated Arts District of San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. A great time to go is on Thursday night, which is gallery night, after strolling through the art shops. 

Container, Not Cantina, is the Name: Container Restaurant in Campestre San Jose, Mexico

The marina area being developed near San Jose del Cabo, Mexico has a fun and quirky restaurant made out of a shipping container.  I had asked a local to suggest a place for lunch in the area of Puerto Los Cabos.  I thought she said to try the "Cantina". Nope.  She said to try the "Container". It is a casual eatery along the marina, with a view of the yachts, the mountains, and the multiple construction projects at the base of the Puerto Los Cabos Golf development. The restaurant's kitchen and bar is in a shipping container whose side was pried open to serve the half dozen or so tables spread out in the cozy shaded area between it and the pier. The tortilla soup with a cold Pacifico beer was a scrumptious lunch.

Sopa de Tortilla (Tortilla Soup) y dos Pacificos (and 2 beers)