The many faces of Shanghai

Shanghai is an extremely modern city with a spectacular history and lovely skyline (smog permitting), we just didn't find it very interesting. Most of the city seemed like a high end shoppers paradise which isn't really budget friendly. Don't get me wrong, we did find some cool neighborhoods and friendly people while visiting. One major highlight was Boxing Cat Brewery. The head master brewer was from Portland, Oregon and the beer was delicious, although expensive. We had three beers and some western food that went down very nicely together. 

Another thing we enjoyed was when we got lost looking for a historic area, we found a cozy Chinese neighborhood instead. There were groups of old men playing cards on their front porch and women drying their clothes outside their windows. Reminding us that while most of Shanghi is modern, not all the city has seen the same amount of change.

Easily our favorite site we visited was the Propaganda Poster Art Museum. While most of these posters have been destroyed the owner of this gallery has collected an impressive collection. The collection is from Maoist period of communist China. The museum was extremely hard to find, but well worth the effort. It was in the basement of a massive condo complex with no sign. Luckily we got directions in Mandarin before we went searching for it. (No photos allowed).

Not all forests are created equal

Just outside the Shaolin Temple we walked out to a very different type of forest. One I have never seen before, this one was a pagoda forest. In an area roughly the size of a football field stands 228 stone or brick pagodas built as far back as 791 AD. One interesting fact is that the levels on the pagodas are always odd numbers (from 1 to 7) They are based on the achievements of the Buddhist masters they were built for over spanning 5 dynasties. It sort of had this mystical vibe that's hard for me to explain with words.

After the forest we took a chair lift to one of the mountains peak for a view of the temple's grounds and the pagoda forest. Unfortunately, the view was hazy and not as impressive as it could have been. I'm not sure we even really wanted to go to the top but we were trying to lose this Chinese guy who wanted to be our personal guide. It worked, but probably cost us way more than just paying him for his effort.

Kicking it in Zhengzhou

It's seems sorta weird that I became a fan of kung Fu because of Hip Hop, but that's how it happened. When the New York rap group Wu Tang Clan took over the rap scene with sound bits of old Kung Fu movies in the 90's I quickly became a lifetime fan. 13 chambers is still one of the greatest hip hop albums ever made in my opinion. So what does all this have to do with Zhengzhou in central China?

Well Kung Fu was founded here in the world renowned Shaolin Temple in the Songshan mountain range. After taking a few buses we finally arrived where it all started. The temple is still teaching thousands of students at a time and you can hear their kicks and punches from hundreds of feet away. One cool thing you get to see is a Kung Fu performance where they show you their impressive skills with an assortment of weapons.

Zoom Zoom

Exploring ancient city walls doesn't sound very exciting, but when you can do it on a bike atop the wall it improves the experience 10 fold. While cruising the wall you get an interesting view of a modern China city that is growing at an unbelievable rate. We easily saw 30 skyscrapers being built while on our 1 hour ride. The truly shocking thing is that this is what you see in every city in China. Growth at a rate you can't even imagine. 

One is giant, the other one is small

Two of the major sites in Xi'an that are a must see for any visitor would be the lovely giant wild goose and small wild goose pagodas just outside the city's ancient wall. The small goose pagoda was surrounded by a lovely garden and one of the most impressive museums we visited in China. (Interesting fact: All history museums are free because the Chinese goverment wants it's citizens to learn about their country).

A few days later, we explored the giant wild goose pagoda which has a nightly water show. The show was surprisingly excellent, and ends with hundreds of wet spectators laughing and splashing around  in the many puddles left by the spraying water. I got soaked getting these photos for you, so I hope you enjoy them.