Last night we returned from a trip with two wonderful groups of Israelis (one English-speaking, one Hebrew speaking) who traveled together. The people were delightful and China was, as always, a magical place. On the last night of the trip, I read them a poorly rhymed, poorly metered piece of doggerel with which I summarized the trip. Some asked for a copy, so here it is:
Shai Bar Ilan Trip to China, April 16 – May 1, 2007
We took off from Israel on a bright sunny morning,
Full of anticipation but up since the dawning.
At last in China we finally arrived,
Excited and happy and already sleep-deprived.
In Beijing saw Cixi’s Summer Palace,
A home more impressive than J.R.’s in Dallas.
The acrobatics show was thrilling
And we sat there all willing
And fervently hopin’
Our eyes would stay open!
And then in the blink of an eye,
There we all were in Shanghai,
From the Jin Mao we looked down
On the skyscrapered town
On the Bund we started to BUY!
(For the first time we heard the holler
“2 for, 3 for, 4 for ONE DOLLAR!”)
We ate at Chabad with the Jews,
On the Huangpu we took a night cruise,
And saw the bright lights
And all of the sights
And later were grateful to take off our shoes.
In the morning we went to the park
And the monument they put up to mark
The Jews who they saved
And the hardships they braved
Because life there was not such a lark.
At YuYuan Market things were hopping
And we occupied ourselves there by shopping.
The City Museum of Shanghai was one of our priorities,
And there we enjoyed costumes of ethnic minorities.
Our bus to Suzhou without much reconnoitering
Came to a factory where women were embroidering.
That evening all of us were entranced
As at Mater of the Nets people sang, played, and danced.
At the Silk Factory we felt only praise
For the jackets and scarves and duvets.
In the Lion Grove Garden we took stock,
Of each building, tree, pond, and rock.
On shabbat in Hangzhou we took a break
And enjoyed all the sights at West Lake.
The Song Dynasty show in the vernacular
Was nothing short of spectacular.
With waterfalls, lasers, acrobatics, and fire
And more action than your heart could desire.
From the pharmacy to the Dragon Well Tea,
We found cures for what ails you and me.
In Guilin we didn’t lie dormant
But went to the river to watch fishing by cormorant.
We enjoyed the vastness of the Reed Flute Cave,
And at the Pearl Factory temptation tried to brave.
We saw the Li River’s karst peaks.
We’ll be talking about them for weeks.
We walked through the village of FuLi
And saw what life there was like truly.
Yang Shuo we felt was a “winner”
As we sat down to a flag-festooned dinner.
And here’s the thing we felt best,
Tho’ we were at the end of the East, our hearts were in the West!
The show on the river provided us sights,
Waves of red, torches, and shimmering lights.
In Kunming the city of spring,
At the temple, Buddhist women did sing.
At the museum we saw an ancient pillar
And cases that looked good for a megill-er.
To see another example of karst,
We drove through hills and valleys to see the Stone Forest.
After seeing the Stone Forest re-gi-on,
We took a flight to Lijiang.
The mountains’ beauty and the fresh air
Made it a delight to be there.
Then we took a walk through the old city
That we couldn’t stay longer was such a pity
At Tiger Leaping Gorge,
I saw my old friend George,
(Not really, but the rhyme fit this ditty.)
We visited the small village of Axi
Which is home to people of the Naxi.
We returned that night to Kunming,
Rested, then for Xian took wing.
There Qin’s army awaited,
As a world class attraction it’s rated.
We’ll tell our friend, our son, and our dotta-
“What a lotta terracotta!”
For those of us who like jade,
Twas fun to see how the figures are made.
In Xian we saw the mosque they use
Modeled after the shul of the Jews.
The music, dancing, and acrobatics impressed us so
When we went to the Tang Dynasty Show.
With our adrenaline still raging,
We boarded a plane for Beijing.
The Temple of Heaven was simply Divine,
The pearl factory had jewelry quite fine.
At the show we saw about Kung Fu,
They did martial arts, acrobatics and sung too!
Before breakfast we wives saw our boys pray
Afterwards to the factory for Cloisonné.
Like Humpty Dumpty, climbed the Great Wall,
Then Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City & THAT’S ALL!!!
Wowee zowee!!! That was great! Sounds like you had an incredible time! How’d you pack all that in to such a short time???