CHINA - impressive history and stormy present by Klaus Metzger (books to read to improve english txt) 📕

Jutta and Klaus in front of the Great Wall

In recent years, my second wife, Jutta Hartmann-Metzger, and I have very interesting experience journeys undertaken. At the turn of 2003/2004 we were on an adventurous cruise on the Nile to the ancient sights in Egypt ( Nile Cruise in Egypt).




The Karnak temple

Very interesting was the tour of Rajasthan, which we experienced in the fall of 2007, very intense and with many impressions. It was also a very tiring trip, because we placed the total distance of 2500 km in fourteen days, almost always with our bus back and on bumpy roads back.


The Taj Mahal

Quite different impressions gave us the 14-day stay in Kenya in October 2009. The political situation was still somewhat uncertain. Nevertheless, we ventured on a two-day jeep safari to Tsavo East National Park and were not disappointed. The subsequent relaxing holiday on the Indian Ocean, we found delightful and unforgettable.





The Red Elephant

Since we always allow us in every two years a long-haul, found recently in the period from 11 to 25 April 2011, the long-planned CHINA tour instead. Long time ago (1978) I had in South Korea as part of a week-long business trip already in contact with Asian culture (South Korea). These impressive traditions that seemed so interesting in South Korea, I could no longer find in China. The entire lifestyle has become (after 1990) westernized part of the modernization in an incredible way. But more of that later !






Korean wedding couple

Now through the other trips we had experience with the VISA procurement. But in the case of "China" it was a bit unusual that we should appear in person in Hamburg in the Chinese Consulate. On the Internet, we discovered the VISA service Bonn, took us to a total price of 109, - EUR procured the necessary VISA within a week. A visit to the Chinese Consulate was not required, and neither the A nor when leaving China there were problems .

Usually we use for flights from Frankfurt Airport a shuttle flight from Hanover Airport. A taxi takes us to Hildesheim Train Station and take the S-Bahn it comes to Hanover or continue to Hannover-Langenhagen airport.

This time we wanted to try alternative ways: by bus (the bus stop is located opposite our house) we went to the train station Hildesheim and from there with the ICE (2nd class) to Frankfurt. This worked quite well - only we could go (without transfers in Frankfurt) to the railway station to the airport directly. There are the corresponding compounds .

In the converted airport wandered a bit confused back and forth until we found the correct departure terminal . Mistakenly examined the switch from AIR CHINA in Terminal 2 ( he was but in Terminal 1). We first used the "Sky Train", connects Terminal 1 with Terminal 2. Bad it was on the return trip, because we were on Easter Monday on the road and numerous trains were delayed. Our scheduled train with change in Hanau (Hildesheim) no longer fit and we decided to take the ICE to Hannover. Since we had to drive from there to Hildesheim, we arrived - after a total journey time of 26 hours and a two-hour train delay - only at 24 clock back safely at home.

The train pushed us the "friendly" conductor forms entitled " passenger rights " in hand. Jutta went to the trouble and filled the requests made​. After 14 days and multiple calls sent us the track 42 - Euro (taxi costs plus compensation) to our account. What are the experiences we had done? In all likelihood, we will choose for our further travels the first variant (feeder flight from Hannover-Langenhagen). But in any case we allow ourselves to take the bus to the train station Hildesheim .

Since we are on the plane of the AIR CHINA could not book in advance the places we went to Frankfurt in time for the switch and could two opposite places (53 H and 53 J) reserve the right aisle in the tourist class. This has distinct advantages as we could - without regard to the other passengers - leave our seats and stretch our legs . On the return flight we chose the same arrangement and to be able to see on the way out the window, we will gladly renounced.

Our departure had begun at about 12 clock in front of our house and against 20 clock 30 launched our plane (Boeing 747) towards Beijing (via Siberia). The TV program soon running not working properly and the stewardesses hidden behind their "baby-face-mask " all their emotions. Nevertheless, we found the flight to be very pleasant and after a scheduled flight time of 9 hours we landed on Tuesday morning, 12 April 2011, around 11 clock 30 local time (time difference 6 h) on the Beijing airport. We had covered a distance of 8250 km and were grd from the outside temperature of 26 grd. C surprised.

At the time of the "Cold War" were the air travel to Asia much more complicated and dangerous. In my trip report " South Korea " I have written extensively about this:


We flew with SAS from Copenhagen to Amsterdam and from there with a KLM plane via Anchorage to Tokyo. After a one hour wait in the transit area (we were both really tired already) brought us on the last leg of an aircraft KOREAN AIRLINES to Seoul. Without the exact relationships to know, we headed back then not worry about the so-called " polar route" and the associated dangers. At this time had to be chosen for political reasons the polar route to East Asia. There was the Cold War and the Soviet Union did not allow flights over their territory. Shortly before our trip (20 April 1978) there had been in this respect to a nasty incident in which a passenger aircraft in the Korean Airlines Flight 902 (KAL 902) was involved.
This aircraft was from Paris to Seoul on the go. After landing and refueling in Anchorage (Alaska), this machine was not flown to Seoul, but due to a navigational error on Russian territory to Murmansk. The Russian hunter who approached her, had orders to shoot down this machine. He hit a grand piano - but still the Koreans on a frozen lake (near the Finnish border emergency landing).

 There were 2 dead, 107 passengers and crew members survived. Russian helicopter brought the survivors to flight to Helsinki. For some reason this event was us on our Korea - flight thankfully not known.
Were quite different with the information about another disaster of a Korean airliner (Flight KAL 007), on 1 September 1983, on the flight from New York via Anchorage to Seoul. Again, a navigation error was present and the machine fell west of the Russian island of Sakhalin on Soviet territory. Since the Soviets ran out of a provocation by the United States, they shot the aircraft from a rocket. All 265 passengers and crew were killed. Thereafter, the then U.S. President Ronald Reagan decided the new GPS system can also be used for civilian purposes, to ensure the aircrew safety. My guardian angel has never let me down, because I have experienced in my travels some " dicey " situations (see travelogue "The Adventures trip from MEXICO CITY by CHICAGO! " .

For checking our passports when traveling to China a very complex procedure was used: the passport photograph was carefully checked by photo scanning. For photographing had to adhere to a predetermined position in front of the officials very closely. At the baggage claim you came back with an airport train (as in Frankfurt, the "Sky Train" - but this time at ground level ). The baggage collection worked amazingly fast.

Our Chinese guide CHEN

At the exit waiting for us Chen, the young Chinese tour guide. He was very easy to recognize by its highly held tenenen DERTOUR flag. Now we got to know some of the members of our group closer DERTOUR. There were 10 couples (20 people). The remainder of the group (7 persons) had previously flown with the LUFTHANSA. The number of participants of our CHINA tour so was 27 people. We realized very quickly that here in Beijing, the nuclear disaster in Fukushima / Japan for the Chinese, a much smaller role than in Germany had (although the distance was only about 2000 km).

Our bus (this was us the whole time for the trips in and around Beijing are available), we drove to our hotel in Beijing, the hotel YONG AN. Actually, we thought now the afternoon to relax (sleep) to have available! But this was not so, because already by 14 clock 30 we went out as planned (originally the 4th day in Beijing was intended) to the Summer Palace, we located 20 kilometers from the city center reached in half an hour in a northwesterly direction.

Door in the Summer Palace

Now we can for the first time the historic China to know in all its glory . It was very impressive to us. In 1752 the Emperor Qianlong has this impressive his mother summer palace of the 60th Birthday present . Since 1914, this garden is open to the public.

The Imperial Dragon

Jutta (she is a trained bookseller and graduate social worker) has repeatedly tried to interest me for the American writer and Nobel Prize winner, Pearl S. Buck, who has lived a long time with her missionary family in China. After our return, I read with great enthusiasm her novel " The Girl Orchid" . It is by the Empress Dowager Cixi , who lived from 1835 to 1908 alternately in the summer and in the Imperial Palace in Beijing. At a young age she had come as a concubine at the court. The author calls it in her book " Tsu Hsi ." Amazingly, today there is concubines in China. The ZEIT correspondent in Beijing, Angela Köckritz, has recently written about a very interesting article " The Return of the concubines.

During the second Opium War (1856-1860) the Summer Palace by French and British troops was completely devastated. From 1888, the Empress Dowager was completely rebuild the facility. They embezzled funds (hence the Marble Boat on Kunming Lake) that were designed to build up the Navy.

After this successful tour, for which we had sufficient time (up to 17 clock) could follow and the interesting comments of our German speaking tour guide Chen with enthusiasm, our feeling of hunger reported. Therefore, Chen took us on the bus to a typical Chinese restaurant, where the food was served in the traditional manner (later repeated itself): We participated in a round table (approximately 10 people).

On the table is a rotatable plate (diameter of about 1 meter) was located. Gradually add the hot dishes were served in small bowls (on the plate) and each took by turning the round table a small portion of his choice on his plate. If desired, you could