Flagstaff to Lee's Ferry

Wednesday, November 20th 2013

 PRO arrived at our motel at 10 am with a passenger van and a big truck full of equipment and all our beer that had been delivered to their warehouse on our behalf. We loaded our packs and barrels full of camping gear onto the truck and set off on the 3 hour drive to Lee's Ferry. On the outskirts of Flagstaff, we stopped at a big food store to each pick up some lunch items for the trip.
It was at that point that Jeffy Johnson realized that he'd left his 'passport' back at the motel. Four of our group went ahead in the truck to unload the rafts and inflate them while the rest of us waited at the food store for Jeffy and the van driver to go back to the motel. It wasn't much of a wait and before long we were off in a cloud of smoke.

 It rained off and on all the way to Lee's Ferry. When we got there the rain let up and we spent a couple of hours rigging and loading the rafts. PRO has a really good system so all our gear fit, including almost 3,000 cans of beer, the most that PRO had ever sent on a trip. The park ranger jokingly asked to see our liquor license, and he didn't even see the packs with the hard liquor.

That night we camped just a couple hundred metres downstream from Lee's Ferry. PRO had 2 vans to take us to a little gas station diner for dinner. The lodge where they usually take people had burned the year before. The food wasn't too bad but since we were a large group, the service was very slow. This was our last time spending money for the next 3 weeks. We settled back into camp fairly early. It rained a bit in the night - a taste of the weather to come.

To the Grand Canyon

Monday, November 18, 2013

Well, this trip was unfortunately travels without Anita, who felt that she wouldn't be comfortable rafting the rapids of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. However, it was a unique opportunity to see the Grand Canyon from the river so away I went, although I knew that I would really miss my traveling and life partner.
Our oldest son Zack and daughter-in-law Annie organized the trip, got the permit and made the arrangements with the outfitters far in advance. Because of the high demand, permits are awarded through a lottery system and chances are greater as the weather gets colder. Almost 2 years ago, Zack and Annie got a permit for a 22 day self-guided trip with 16 participants, leaving Lee's Ferry on Thursday, November 21st and arriving 226 miles downstream at the takeout at Diamond Creek on Thursday, December 12th. They booked PRO (Professional River Outfitters) from Flagstaff, Arizona to:
-provide 5 rafts, all kitchen gear and all food (according to their "Winter Hearty" menu as amended by Annie);
-deliver 5 kayaks for those who wished to paddle, plus an inflatable kayak;
-drive us and all our camping gear from Flagstaff to Lee's Ferry; and
-pick us up at Diamond Creek and drive us back to Flagstaff.
Zack reserved 8 rooms at the Motel 6 in Flagstaff for each end of the trip. After much hassle with Air Canada and United Airlines, we each booked our flights individually to Phoenix, Arizona and then made our way by Arizona Shuttle bus or by rented van from Phoenix to Flagstaff.
The other participants in our trip were mostly Zack and Annie's longtime friends from kayaking and working at Madawaska Kanu Centre and Owl Rafting on the Ottawa River. My friend Tom Conyers took the opportunity to fill an opening for the first half of the trip.
On a trip like this, the trip leader (Zack), in consultation with the others, appoints a "boatman" to be responsible for a raft for the whole trip. Our 5 boatmen were Graham Bos, Jeffy Johnson, Patrick White, Andy Atkins and Zack. All of them have many years experience as raft guides on the Ottawa River and elsewhere in the world. Zack had the least experience in a raft but maybe the most experience as a competitive whitewater paddler in slalom races, extreme races and freestyle competitions. He had also worked for 5 months as a kayaker scouting rapids in Costa Rica for raft trips where Andy was one of the raft guides. In addition, a lot of the other members of our group had just as much rafting and kayaking experience and were available to fill in superbly on any class of rapid when needed. Although I had kayaked a bit years ago, I'd only been a passenger in a raft for one day on the Ottawa River a long time ago. I knew I definitely didn't have any skill to guide a raft through the bigger rapids but I had no fear knowing that there were such excellent raft guides at the oars.
On Monday, November 18th, Tom and I drove to Ottawa and stayed at the home of his friends Rick and Vivian for the night. At 4 am the next morning, Rick drove us to the airport and we checked in with no problems. While waiting for our flight we met other members of our group who were traveling on a variety of flights to Flagstaff.
We flew to Newark on United Airlines and then Tom disappeared onto his flight to Phoenix, which left earlier than mine. I flew to Phoenix with US Airways, another Star Alliance affiliate. I had a brief moment of panic at the luggage carousel in Phoenix at 1:30 pm when everyone got their luggage but me. I had my drysuit and some other river gear in my carry-on bag but my big waterproof barrel and big dry bag pack carrying all my warm clothes and camping gear did not arrive. Eventually I discovered that United Airlines in Newark hadn't bothered to transfer my luggage to my US Airways plane and that it would be arriving at 3:50 pm on a different UA flight to a different terminal. So I took the shuttle bus from Terminal 4 to Terminal 2, confirmed again that my luggage was coming, and waited. Thankfully, it did arrive as advertised on the 3:50 flight. Sass Cotnam, another member of our group, arrived on that plane too and we had a brief visit before I hopped on the Arizona Shuttle for the 3 hour ride to Flagstaff. Sass would follow later.
I paid the shuttle driver a little extra to drop me off at Motel 6. Zack, Tom and most of the others were in the parking lot when I arrived. We went for a great dinner at a Mexican restaurant, did a bit of shopping at the WalMart across the street, and tried to get some sleep in our last night in a bed for a long time.
PRO would arrive to pick us up at 10 am the next morning.

The Long Way Home

Sunday, October 27, 2013
We got up at 5:30 am to get showered, packed and check out before breakfast. After breakfast, a bus for all the people on early flights left the hotel at 7 am. We traveled about an hour out to the new Hong Kong airport, which is mostly on landfill in the ocean, and checked in without incident.
Our first 4 hour flight on All Nippon Airways left at 10 am for Tokyo.

 As we approached the coast of Japan, we waved to our youngest son Dylan's girlfriend Kasumi, who is currently staying at her parents' home in Nagoya. I'm pretty sure she didn't see us but it's the thought that counts.

 Tokyo Narita Airport is very modern and comfortable. After I took Anita's photo, the young woman in the background offered to take a picture of both of us.

So here we are. Unfortunately, just being in the airport doesn't count as having visited Japan. Maybe we'll have to go back sometime.
After a 3 hour hangover, our next 13 hour flight on United Airlines left for Newark, New Jersey. Reality struck. The Japanese flight attendants on All Nippon Airways could not have been more gracious or accommodating. The flight attendants on United Airlines could learn a few things from them. Suddenly we were back to the Air Canada/United Airlines standard cattle car treatment.
Anita slept a bit on the flight but I just watched bad movies. When we arrived in Newark, we had to pick up our luggage, go through customs and check our luggage back in, as one does in the US. Then we had to switch terminals and go through stringent security again. They used one of the new body scanners that doesn't just check for metal. My money pouch, which I wear around my neck and under my arm, always passes security with no problem. However, this time the new scanner found an "anomaly" with my body shape so I was taken into a small room and searched. I really can't complain because it was my fault and they only searched the area of the anomaly, took my pouch apart and then did a chemical check for explosives. The security officers were formally polite but they made it very clear that their concern was the safety of the plane and not my feelings on the matter. I can't blame them for that.
We were supposed to spend 4 hours in Newark but our flight to Ottawa was delayed so we ended up spending about 7 hours there. Terminal A in Newark is very small and uncomfortable. I managed to pass out for about 45 minutes but otherwise it was a long hangover.
Our next UA flight to Ottawa took only an hour and 20 minutes but we didn't get in until about 12:30 am. That was too late for our hotel shuttle so we took a cab to the Days Inn, where we had left our car. It was after 1:30 am when we finally got to bed. That was about 32 hours after we got up in Hong Kong. Twelve days later we're still recovering from jet lag and the "sinorama cough". Getting better every day though.
The actual travel part of travel is often the worst part and you either accept it or stay home. We've decide to accept the few inconveniences for the many benefits. You'll never have many new experiences when you're sitting on your couch.
Other than the long ride home we had a great trip and saw more interesting things in China than we ever expected, and we did it with a good group of people. We can heartily recommend a Sinorama tour. We're really glad we went.
That's it for China. Next up is 3 weeks rafting the Colorado River and camping on sandbars through the Grand Canyon. Better get packed.

Hong Kong tour

Saturday, October 26, 2013
For our last full day, we took a tour of Hong Kong.

 Our first stop was the Hong Kong Convention Centre where there is a good view over the harbour.

 After that we went to the Aberdeen area, which used to be a fishing village. There are still some fishing boats as well as pleasure yachts moored there. There used to be no schools for the children of fishing families and they were all mostly restricted to living on their boats. Things have improved.

 Our next stop was the public beach at Repulse Bay, named after a British naval vessel. This is a really nice beach and not too crowded at this time of day.

 Prices for the apartments on the mountains behind Repulse Bay are astronomical.

 For lunch we dined at the Jumbo Restaurant at Aberdeen. We had to ferry out to it in a small boat. It's a famous restaurant where Queen Elizabeth and Tom Cruise, among other celebrities, are said to have dined.

A photo op at the Jumbo Restaurant.

The Jumbo restaurant is shaped like a big boat but it's masonry construction. There are a lot of expensive yachts moored nearby. Private yachts were nonexistent on the Yangtze River but there are many of them in Macau and Hong Kong. Through the day we also visited the Stanley Market, where we bought some T shirts, and a jewelry factory outlet in which we had little interest.

Our final stop was Victoria Peak where there is a great view of Hong Kong. Impressive city.
After saying good-bye to most of our tour group back to the hotel, Frank and Kathy, Kevin and Mary, and Anita and I went back to the Vietnamese restaurant for a bowl of soup. Our other dinner companions, Ram and Nazeera decided to stay in the hotel. Since we were leaving on different flights the next day, we all said our good-byes. We felt fortunate to have traveled with such an amiable group of people and to have forged new friendships with many of our companions on "Bus 4".

Macau to Hong Kong

Friday, October 25, 2013
After breakfast, we checked out of our hotel and took the bus to the ferry terminal. Our luggage had been transferred ahead which was fortunate since there was quite a crowd at the terminal. Our guide, Mark, is very good at encouraging patience and letting others push past if they so desire. Some western tourists seem to get in a panic in these situations. I think they have an irrational fear of being lost in China, when in fact their tour leaders look after them very closely. We were all getting on the same ferry anyway. Our group tends to remain calm because Mark is calm.
We had to go through customs to leave Macau, which was a formality, and eventually we boarded the ferry for the 1 1/2 or 2 hour trip to Hong Kong across the South China Sea.

 Anita at the ferry terminal.

 On the ferry. When we landed, we waited a few minutes to let the crowd go ahead. That worked up to a point. Our baggage had gone ahead of us but many people on the ferry had big suitcases. On one of the escalators leading up to customs, someone got their suitcase caught at the top so we narrowly avoided a big pile-up. We were almost the last people from the ferry to go through customs. Our travelling group were all waiting on the other side and cheered when we finally got through.

 We checked into the Hong Kong L'hotel Nina Tower, which is 5 star again. Our room wasn't ready so we walked through a series of enclosed pedestrian walkways over the streets going from shopping mall to shopping mall. We ate at a good little Vietnamese restaurant and bought some beer at a 7/11. We have yet to encounter any Chinese beer that isn't weak and watery but it's drinkable when there's nothing else.

There was a park next to our hotel that extended under the elevated expressway and out to the waterfront. We sipped beer on a park bench and watched the people go home from work as the sun set.

Zhongshan to Macau

Thursday October 24, 2013
After breakfast, we left the Sheraton Zhongshan Hotel and traveled by bus to Macau.

 When we reached the coast of the South China Sea, we stopped briefly for a photo op with the Fishergirl statue. There's some story behind this but I can't remember what it is.

 The short ferry ride from Zhuai to Macau was a bit hectic. China's leases to Portugal and the UK for Macau and Hong Kong expired in 1997 but they agreed to leave both former European colonies as they were until 2047. It is still necessary to get a visa (on arrival) and go through customs when entering or leaving Macau or Hong Kong from China or anywhere else.

 Our first stop was the Chinese temple near the original Portuguese landing place. There are little shrines all the way up the hill behind the temple.

 The temple itself was very small and crowded so it was nice to relax for a moment partway up the hill.

 Our next stop was the old fortress of Macau with modern Macau in the background.

 From the fortress we could look down on the facade of St Paul's Cathedral, the old Portuguese Church. The rest of the cathedral burned down in the 1830's, I believe.

There are lots of tourists on the steps leading to the cathedral.

 The main square in the old part of Macau is quite beautiful.

We wandered around a bit more in the old part of Macau and then took the bus out to the Sheraton Macao Hotel Cotai Central, which is an area of new construction that seems to be on land reclaimed from the ocean. Once again, our hotel is very fancy. Since Macau is famous for casinos, our hotel has a big casino on the main floor. There is an enclosed mall with shops and restaurants, leading to other hotels and casinos.
For the first time on this trip, dinner was on our own. We looked at some of the expensive restaurants and at the less than desirable food court. We really weren't that hungry anyway. Finally, we saw a few others from our group at a McDonald's so, against all dietary sense, we had a hamburger. That should do for another 10 years.
We wandered through the casino briefly but, not being gamblers, it didn't hold our attention for long.

Guilin to Zhongshan

Wednesday, October 23, 2013
After regretfully checking out of the Guilin Lijang Waterfall Hotel, we traveled to the Guilin airport and flew to Guangzhou, closer to the coast. Being on a guided tour has its perks. For most flights, our luggage is transferred to the airport early and checked in. When we arrive on the bus, Mark, our guide, just hands us our boarding passes. We go through security and that's it. No hassle at all. The airports are all beautiful and the planes are new.

 Nazeera, Anita and I are enjoying the flight with Frank, Kathy and Mark just behind us.

 Our first stop in Guangzhou was the Ancestral Temple of the Chen family.

 Even the roof of this private temple is very ornate.

 If the size of the front door is any indication, the Chen family must have been a race of giants.

 The temple is full of artwork, including this ornate wood sculpture carved from a single block of wood. From skyscrapers to the Great Wall to martial arts to wood or jade carvings, there have been many instances on this trip when we've wondered, "How did they manage to do that?".

 Anita is enjoying the facade of the temple.

 We traveled by bus to Zhongshan and checked into the Sheraton Zhongshan Hotel, overlooking the river or canal (sometimes it's hard to tell which).

 We're getting used to lobbies like this by now.

The view near our hotel. Today was mostly a travel day and we were happy to relax for the evening.

Yangshuo to Guilin

Tuesday, October 22, 2013
This morning we checked out of our hotel and traveled by bus back to Guilin. On the way, we stopped in the countryside and looked at the farming.

 There is land under cultivation everywhere, even sometimes between the lanes at highway interchanges. Much of the farming seems to be on small plots using small equipment, unlike the large farms and large equipment that we have in Canada.

 On our arrival in Guilin we visited a pearl factory and shop. Our tour included a 10 minute fashion show. Different.

 We're doing the tourist pose in the park in front of the Elephant Trunk Hill.

 Anita had a chat in broken Chinglish with an older gentleman from another part of China who was a tourist too. Everywhere we've gone, there are many Chinese tourists. It seems that, with a rising middle class, many people in China now have the opportunity to travel and perhaps for the first time see the same sites in which we are interested.
Our hotel, the Guilin Lijang Waterfall Hotel, was within walking distance from the park. After we checked in, we wandered in the downtown area.

 Just around the corner from our hotel, we happened upon some people outside a doorway, practising martial arts. They invited us in to watch. It turned out to be a big China and southeast Asia tai chi competition.

We sat in the stands and watched for a while. There were some very good competitors demonstrating different techniques.

 At 8:30 pm, water is released from the top of our hotel and flows down one side to form a waterfall.

 With all the lights, it's very pretty.

The central lobby of our hotel is over 30 metres high. They do things in a big way in China. This was another hotel where we could have spent more time.

Yangshuo and the Li River

Monday, October 21, 2013
After breakfast, we traveled out to an old neighbourhood near the boat launch for our trip on the Li River. We bought an ink sketch on paper scroll in a little shop.

 As we traveled on the bus, we got a good view of many karst outcroppings through the mist.

 On the Li River, we went past many more karst mountains.

 Photo op on the top deck of the boat.

 Beautiful landscape.

 When we got back into town, we took a look at one of the motorbikes that has a windscreen and little roof. Very simple and practical.

 In the late afternoon, we took a walk down the tourist vendor street in Yangshuo. When we wandered down the side streets, we discovered a number of backpacker hotels. Yangshuo is a rock climbing destination so there are a number of lower priced hotels, rooming houses and restaurants. When we saw younger people sitting in cafes browsing their Lonely Planet guides, we felt right at home. This is usually the way we travel.

A visibly nervous young Chinese woman was getting her portrait done by a charcoal sketch artist. Anita watched the whole process and, through gestures, re-assured the woman that it was all going well. After the artist was done, it turned out that the woman spoke a bit of English and thanked Anita for her support. I took this picture and the woman's partner took some pictures as well.  A bit of personal contact on the other side of the world. This is how the people of other nations learn that Canadians aren't so bad. A little communication goes a long way.