Awake at 0440 and picked up at 0515 for our 0700 HA flight to Maui. Arrived 10’ early at 0915. \240Picked up rental car and drove to Four Seasons in Wailea. \240Because of our early arrival the room wasn’t ready for us. \240Even though it’s been 14 years since we were last here it felt like returning to a familiar place. \240Not much has changed. \240Spent the day by the pool with lunch at Ferraro’s. Dinner at another familiar spot, Tommy Bahama, at the Shops at Wailea. \240

Slept OK. \240After breakfast at Duo I had a meeting with the director of sales. \240Then spent a nice day at the pool. Dinner at Hailemaile General Store. \240Ribs were as good as always. \240

Another nice day by the pool. \240The hotel has really emptied out. \240There were large blocks of unoccupied cabanas. \240 I guess families have gone home with the end of Spring break. \240

We left the Four Seasons at 0900 and drove to OGG for our 1100 flight to Tokyo-HND on ANA. \240The 8-hour flight was very smooth and we watched both Wicked and Conclave which was very timely with the death of Pope Francis earlier this week and a Conclave to choose his successor coming soon. \240We arrived HND at 1700 (the following day due to crossing the date line) and found our way to the Hotel Villa Fontaine Premier. \240It took almost 1 hour to transit between terminals and find our way through the terminal to the hotel. \240We shared a light dinner of soba noodles and shrimp/vegetable tempura. \240Now to sleep before our early morning wake-up tomorrow. \240

Up at 0600 for our 0830 China Air flight to Beijing. \240Arrived at 1100 after a 3.5 hour flight with 1 hour time change. \240We were met at the airport by Amanda our A&K guide who escorted us to the Four Seasons Hotel. After check-in we took a short walk around the hotel but found nothing of interest. \240Weather is close to perfect; sunny, low 70’s, no wind, and only a little air pollution. Back at the hotel we found that internet access is worse than I anticipated. \240Neither Yahoo nor Gmail email programs are accessible. \240Furthermore, multiple browsers, including Yahoo, Google, Chrome, DuckDuckGo, and Firefox can’t be accessed. \240The only things that do work are app-based sites such as NY Times, Yahoo Sports, and WeatherBug. \240Dinner in the hotel was fine. Now it’s only 8:20 and little to do to stay awake.

Awoke to a beautiful day. \240Overnight winds blew out the air pollution. \240We can see the mountains outside the city and AQI is in the low 30’s. \240After breakfast we drove to a hutong neighborhood where there are private homes set on narrow alleyways. \240The homes, which were formerly those of medium and high ranking military and civilian officials now are subdivided amongst several families. \240We took a pedicab through a hutong and alongside a small artificial lake. We ended up at a private home where we were hosted by a young mother who teaches art in the schools and also, paints the insides of small snuff bottles.

We then drove to a rural area on the outskirts of the Beiging city limits. \240Following lunch we boarded a gondola which whisked us up to the Great Wall. \240We spentb2 hours exploring the wall before descending and returning to the Four Seasons. \240 Dinner was in the Lonny restaurant before packing got tomorrow’s departure.

Mark Blum \240 \240Montecito Village Travel \240 \2403329 State St. \240Santa Barbara, CA 93105 \240 (916) 425-1794 \240 markblum.globaltravel@yahoo.com

I’m having a rough day. \240Yesterday I started having bilateral LBP. \240Today it’s worse and seems to be switching back and forth between bilateral pain and pain localized in the R posterior pelvis. \240This is similar to how previous exacerbations of my R L2-3 disc herniating have started. \240However, at least so far, no pain radiating into my R anterior thigh. \240I’ll have to see how this progresses. \240I’m still able to keep up with the grouo(at least the slower walkers, but it’s quite limiting in my activities. \240 Getting up out of a chair or bed us the worst movement.

After breakfast we left for Beijing Airport for our 11:00 Hainan Airways flight to Xi’an. This city of 13 million isn’t huge by Chinese standards and is considered to be a second tier Chinese city. \240After arrival we drove into the city to the city wall which dates to the 15th century. \240It’s about 50’ wide and is 9 miles in length. \240The next site was Muslim Quarter, home to about 80,000 Chinese Muslims. There is a 4-block long pedestrian mall that houses dozens of small restaurants and food stalls. The nearby mosque is in the Chinese style and looks nothing like other mosques we’ve seen in other countries. Our last stop was a dumpling restaurant where we had an early dinner with about 12 different dumplings. \240After dinner we bused to the Ritz Carlton where our club room is on the 25th floor. \240

The good news is that my back pain is significantly better today, perhaps by 50%, and it hasn’t spread into the L2-3 distribution of my thigh. But it still tightens up after sitting for a while.

After breakfast we traveled for >1 hour to the site of the terracotta warriors. \240These were 8000 life-size reproductions of the soldiers to Emperor Qin Shi Huang that were buried with the emperor when he died in 209 BCE. \240 Their purpose was to protect the emperor from his enemies in the afterlife. \240They were accidentally discovered in 1974 \240by a farmer digging a well. \240The emperor himself is buried in a huge tomb under an artificial hill about 1.5 miles away. \240There are no current plans to excavate the tomb, probably due to concerns that exposing the contents to air could lead to sudden and massive damage. When the warriors were excavated and exposed to air their paint peeled off within minutes. The figures were shattered into many pieces when the wooden roof collapsed, possibly due to natural deterioration of the wood or perhaps a fire which was started by a rival successor emperor. \240They are now being restored by a full time team of archeologists who are also conducting excavations of some of the burial pits. \240

After spending several hours at the burial site we drove back into the city for lunch at a noodle restaurant. \240Next stop was a jade store where Donna was unable to find earrings she was looking for. \240We then had an unexpected massage treatment courtesy of A&K. \240They spent about 45’ working on neck, shoulders, and feet. \240Following the massage I have better rotational ROM of my neck than I’ve had in several years. \240Even Donna enjoyed it. \240We had an elegant Western-style dinner back at the Ritz Carlton.

We left the hotel a drive about 1 hour through Xi’an to the North Railway Station. \240Like most other infrastructure in China, this is an engineering and architectural triumph. \240It opened about 8 years ago. It’s huge and well designed, moving thousands of travelers every hour. \240We found our way to the boarding platform for the bullet train to Chengdu. \240 Cruising at ~245 mph, it made the remarkably quiet and smooth trip to Chengdu, a city of 21 million inhabitants,

in a little over 3 hours.

After arrival we stopped at a local restaurant for lunch. We then stopped off at People’s Park. This is a gathering place for locals. In Matchmaker’s corner parents of singles post a notice of availability, weight, job, income, etc. \240It’s then up to relatives or friends to set up a meeting for the couple. \240The park also houses martial arts, tea garden, impromptu dance troop, and other activities. \240By 4:00 we arrived at the Waldorf Astoria. \240Like other 5 star hotels here in China it is ultramodern and beautifully designed. \240After dinner at the hotel we were treated to a great light show on a pair of nearby buildings.

Happy May Day, a big holiday in the peoples’ paradise that is China. \240Because of the holiday tourist sites were incredibly crowded today, especially the Panda Breeding Center. \240It was wall-to-wall bodies and full contact photography. \240But, despite the panda-monium, it didn’t disappoint us. \240We saw at least 10 adult giant pandas in a very natural setting. \240They were busy, for the most part, dining on bamboo. \240There was also an enclosure with several juveniles including a 6-month old who seemed to be having a great time climbing in a tree. \240There was also a display with several lesser red pandas. \240At the end of the visit we did some damage in the gift shop, finding panda backpacks and mittens fir the kids.

After spending the morning at the panda site we visited the Wide and Narrow Alleys of Chengdu. \240This is a recreation of what Chengdu was like in the Ming and Qing dynasties, dating back to the 14th century. \240The alleys are lined with small shops, restaurants, spas, and small hotels. \240Like the Panda Center, it was also incredibly crowded. \240We were taken to lunch at a Sichuan Hot Pot restaurant. Using a choice of spicy or mild cooking oil, this is a signature dish of Sichuan cuisine. \240Much like Swiss fondue, you cook your own meats and vegetables in a pot of boiling oil placed on a burner in the center of the table. \240It was easily the most unique and enjoyable meal we’ve had, so far, in China. \240We were back at the Waldorf by 4:00 for a nap before dinner. \240