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SFCRetired's Trip Across China

John Pierce

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
1,777
All,

SFCRetired is currently on an extended trip to China. Our SPAM firewall prevents all access from China but he is emailing me the occasional update and I will be sharing them here.


First of all, contrary to what my lovely bride told me, Beijing was bitterly cold and the weather is still pretty cold. Hopefully this will moderate very shortly.


We went to a military museum in Beijing while we were there and I was amazed at the amount of American hardware on display. One of the things that caught my eye was an almost identical copy of the HUMMV. During our tour, we found a lot of scale models of firearms on display; everything from AKs down to 1911A1s. Mind you, I would not classify these as toys. They were working, non-firing, very accurate (in a detail sense) of firearms we are all familiar with.


What caught my attention was the fact that the Chinese, male and female, were absolutely over-the-top about them. When my bride told some of them that, at home, I regularly openly carry a pistol, the eyes got as big around as saucers.


We have seen the Great Wall (and, yes, it is very impressive), the Summer Palace, and the Forbidden City. We are planning on visiting the Three Gorges dam and my wife's former hometown. I have a little over forty days before I return to the States and Lu has another sixty days after that.


I do have a ton of pictures and will post many of them when I return.


Best wishes to all and carry on,
Joseph H. Endinger
SFCRetired
 

John Pierce

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Messages
1,777
I have another update from SFCRetired in which he praises my weather predicting skills. :)

Who would have believed our own John Pierce had such amazing powers as a site admin? I mentioned to him that the weather here in China was cold; he said he would keep his fingers crossed for a change in weather. Voila!! The next day, the temperature went to seventy and it is supposed to be seventy-nine by Wednesday!!


One of the things you notice here is the abundant police presence, to include the "volunteers" who act more as a courtesy patrol. There seem to be police substations on almost every street corner and you see both the police and their vehicles all over.


One of the stories being followed voraciously here is the Trayvon Martin shooting. I've been asked a few questions both because I am American and because my lovely bride has let it be known that I carry at home. The best answer I've been able to give is that we do not know the whole story yet and I can't really say whether the shooting was justified or not.


I do go on to add that were I to fear for my life or for the life of my bride, I would not hesitate to defend myself or her. I also add that self-defense, by whatever means necessary, is a basic human right. Usually at that point someone asks if it would bother me to know I had killed someone. My answer is that yes, it would and that it should bother any sane human being.


Ladies and gents, you do not know what naked feels like until you are in a place where you do not know the language and do not have the usual means of defending yourself. I'm enjoying myself, but I will be enormously happy to set foot back in the United States.
 

rodbender

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Jun 23, 2008
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2,519
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Navasota, Texas, USA
One of the things you notice here is the abundant police presence, to include the "volunteers" who act more as a courtesy patrol. There seem to be police substations on almost every street corner and you see both the police and their vehicles all over.

You mean kind of what it will be like here in a few years?
 

Chaingun81

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Joined
Sep 20, 2007
Messages
581
Location
Centreville, Virginia, USA
Ladies and gents, you do not know what naked feels like until you are in a place where you do not know the language and do not have the usual means of defending yourself. I'm enjoying myself, but I will be enormously happy to set foot back in the United States.

Duh, that's what happens when you go abroad. Do people on this forum really travel that little? Last year alone I've been to Germany, Austria, Korea, Vietnam and Russia - and yes, without much more than a pocket knife and a flashlight/kubaton to defend myself and not speaking most of the languages (well, except Russian and basic German). That's not counting trips inside the US - from Gulf coast to Great Lakes. Nothing related to open carry there, so wasn't much to report.
 

John Pierce

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Messages
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Update #3

Well, here I am back from the wilds of rural China. My lovely bride and I went to her home village and spent two weeks there.


I got to meet almost all of her kinfolk and former in-laws. Nice folks, all of them. May sound a little macabre, but we visited her late husband's grave. From what I understand, this is something of a tradition with the Chinese.


Sister-in-law and her husband acted as our hosts while we were there although we were staying in my wife's old home. Those folks could teach lessons in hospitality to a lot of people I know.


For you younger guys and girls, China would be an interesting experience. For you older folks, like me, the squat toilets would be something of a challenge!!


At the end of our stay in the hinterlands, we took a side trip to the Three Gorges Dam. I've seen pictures of this edifice but, like the Pyramids, you cannot appreciate the sheer immensity of the thing until you see it in person.


We are now back in Wuhan and, in a little over two weeks, I will be back in the U.S.A. China has been an experience and I would not have missed it for the world. I have well over four hundred pictures that I am going to share, either on OCDO or on Facebook.


I've missed being able to see OCDO and some of the many other sites that I can't access. See you folks soon!!


Best wishes,
SFCRetired
 

John Pierce

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Final Update From China

Here is his last update until he returns to the US ...

Well, ladies and gents, this is my last update from mysterious China. My bride and I will catch the train from Wuhan to Beijing, a ten-hour ride, tomorrow (Sunday) morning and then Monday I will catch the flight to the U.S.

When I get back, I will have some photos and some personal observations to post. I will tell you that, after two months here, I have a whole new appreciation for my country.


Understand that I met a lot of nice folks and enjoyed hospitality that you wouldn't believe. But there are some differences here that I cannot resign myself to.


Best wishes to all of you and see you soon,
SFCRetired
 

WOD

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Feb 13, 2012
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Onalaska WA
I used to converse regularly with a couple in Berlin, via Skype. We haven't spoken since I returned home, after a 2+ year long stay in Cleveland, without internet access. I would love to go to Germany, as well as, a few other countries of the Old World. My Deutsch spreche ist nicht gut! I won't go until I am better able to speak the language, just a me thing. I've had a strong appreciation for the Chinese culture (prior to Mao) and if things change for the better there, socially and politically, I might venture a trip there too.
 

SFCRetired

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Oct 29, 2008
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Montgomery, Alabama, USA
For all you folks who followed my poor attempts at updates: I'm home and I will tell you for a fact that I never, ever want to be as tired again as I was when I got to Montgomery Monday afternoon. I went to bed around six in the evening and I didn't even turn over until seven the next morning!! I can usually sleep some on long flights, but, for some odd reason, I couldn't this time.

It'll be a day or two before I try to post any pictures. I've got a lot of stuff here at home that I've got to take care of first. But I do promise you that the pics will be coming.

For what it is worth, of all the countries I've either visited or lived in, China is the only one where I felt defenseless. Probably just me because no one offered to harm or rob either of us even when it was just the two of us.

For those of you who can go, I would recommend taking the trip. You do need to find an English-speaking Chinese guide, though. Most of the younger (teen-aged) folk do speak at least some English. The older ones either don't or don't admit it. One of our niece's fourteen-year-old daughter was tickled pink to have someone to practice her English on. Kid was good at it, too.

More later.
 

PrayingForWar

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Sep 9, 2007
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The Real World.
Welcome home, glad you're back and had a good trip. Closest I ever got into the PRC was Hong Kong. Didn't feel defenseless there as I can hurt people with anything I can pick up harder than flesh. I'm more defenseless on military posts CONUS than anywhere I've ever been. Looking forward to the pics.
 

Sig229

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Dec 14, 2006
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Glad to have you back SFCRetired!

I too have traveled to China on a few occasions.

I was wondering, when you went to the Military museum , did you see the display of the "Clock 9mm" hehe

Also,m do they still have the Gold AK's on display there?
 

Malcolm

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Jul 27, 2011
Messages
88
Location
Cleveland Ohio
Thanks for sharing.

Last year, my wife was getting serious about wanting to move there. My answer was this "When China creates a bill of rights and includes firearms, we'll go. All I want is a few civil liberties, is that too much to ask?". Wife's response..."Yes".

Anyway, I wouldn't be opposed to visiting the place. It sounds pretty cool, looking forward to some pictures.
 

SFCRetired

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Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
1,764
Location
Montgomery, Alabama, USA
It's been a while since I got back from China and I thought I'd post this last update on the trip. I posted almost all of the pictures I took on Facebook.

I would like to be able to return to China for a visit, but I fear I have gotten too old to be able to take trips like that. I was entirely too tired and took entirely too long to recover when I got back from the last trip. My doctor pretty well says the same thing.

My lovely bride is planning on returning to China for two months toward the end of this year. She will have a camera with her and, hopefully, I will have some pictures to post on FB from her trip.

Of all the countries I have visited, and lived in, during my life, China was, by far, the most intriguing. The people were, almost without exception, some of the most hospitable, and not just the wife's relatives, I've ever met.
 

The Donkey

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Joined
Sep 21, 2006
Messages
1,114
Location
Northern Virginia
It's been a while since I got back from China and I thought I'd post this last update on the trip. I posted almost all of the pictures I took on Facebook.

I would like to be able to return to China for a visit, but I fear I have gotten too old to be able to take trips like that. I was entirely too tired and took entirely too long to recover when I got back from the last trip. My doctor pretty well says the same thing.

My lovely bride is planning on returning to China for two months toward the end of this year. She will have a camera with her and, hopefully, I will have some pictures to post on FB from her trip.

Of all the countries I have visited, and lived in, during my life, China was, by far, the most intriguing. The people were, almost without exception, some of the most hospitable, and not just the wife's relatives, I've ever met.

I am also planning a trip there, to begin in the Hong Kong area.

I would welcome any suggestions/pics and virtually anything else you might deem useful to one planning said adventure, particularly with a companion with limited mobility.
 
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