China Road Trip: Defy Gravity, Strange Slope of China

After our last blog post about holiday stress, I just got back from a phenomenal and unplanned 2 week trip to China! Even though I visit China at least 2-3 times a year, I haven’t had the luxury of staying there for more than a week since I was still in single digits. This trip was a mix of business and pleasure that finished off with a one week road trip together with my parents, my aunt, two of my uncles, my 84 year old grandmother and my cousin. The road trip was rather spontaneous. My mother had talked about it casually but it was really last minute we actually decided to do it and planned each day of the trip the morning of. I left for China with the basic expectation of spending some quality time with family but ended up with a rich experience filled with love, laughs, soul searching and adventures!

My grandmother, my mother and my aunt were born in the Liaoning Province of China. My grandfather used to be the Head of Finance of AnShan’s Steel factory, the largest factory in China. My grandfather was then relocated to Inner Mongolia to run another large steel factory. It’s been 50 years since my grandmother, my mom and my aunt visited their home town. This trip was such a unique opportunity for three generations to go back to our roots. My grandmother couldn’t recognize a single thing in AnShan except for the actual steel factory that still exists. The Liaoning Province is located in Manchuria (where the Manchu people lived. The Manchu people ran the last dynasty in China and my grandmother is of the Manchu ancestry).

We visited several sites and these are my top recommendations:

Shenyang Imperial Palace built in 1625, the only other palace outside of Beijing’s Forbidden City.

The largest jade Buddha in the world in Anshan sculpted from a single piece of jade.

Go for a hike at the Qian Shan National Park.

Have a delicious organic meal at a local farmer’s home and eat fresh fruit picked right from the trees.

Take a boat tour through the Benxi Water Cave.

My favorite place that TOTALLY shocked me and probably the strangest experience I have ever had in my life was a visit to Strange Slope otherwise known as GuaiPo:

This is a slope where gravity is the opposite. What do I mean by that? Well, we drove down the slope and put our car on neutral with the engine off, immediately the car rolled UP the slope backwards at a pretty decent speed… This totally did not make sense so I got out of the car and rode a bicycle down the slope…I felt like I was riding uphill or just extremely out of shape! Then, when I got to the bottom of the slope and going back up, I didn’t even have to pedal, the bike naturally rolled up the hill! I am not joking, I know it sounds crazy but you have to experience to believe it! Many scientists have visited the strange slope and there is still not a clear explanation. If you have a chance to visit China for the first time or again, I highly recommend the Liaoning province.