China Trip 2008

This trip was a rare trip in which I had a travel buddy.  Briana, a friend of a friend decided that she wanted to play tag along on my trip to China.  We left August 12 and stayed for two weeks approx.  The fun part about this trip was also the fact that it was during the Summer Olympic games. 

Overview of our route:

Hong Kong

Shenzen

Chengdu

Xian

Beijing (Great Wall!!!) 

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I Travel

I've created this blog to to tell my story about the places that I've been.  While I have a long way to go until I can say that I'm an avid traveler, I have tried to take a trip once a year.  

My ultimate goal in my lifetime is to visit all 7 wonders of the new world.  If you don't know what they are:

1.  The Colosseum, Italy

2. The Great Wall of China

3. The Taj Mahal, India

4. Chitzen Itza, Mexico

5.  Machu Picchu, Peru

6. Petra, Jordan

7.  Christ the Redeemer, Brasil

I am well on my way, at this point of my life, I have seen the first four.  I hope that you all enjoy my travel blogs.  

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Squat Toilet

For anyone that's ever been to Asia, you would understand the true meaning of the fabulous squat toilet. I first encountered mine when I went to Thailand. The worst is on the train. The stuff inside, if it gets clogged starts sloshing around due to the speed of the train and low and behold, you have pee and poo all over the floor.

Here is my picture of a squat toilet. One that I encountered on the train in Thailand.

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Lil' titbits on China

I didn't really have the chance to conclude on my trip to China. When I got home, I realized that not only did i have tonsilitis, but i also had 550 pictures. Wow.

Here are some at the weekend market called Panj---something in Beijing.





This is Mao Zedong...a huge statue.


As always, I bought a painting from a local artist.




Can you believe that they sell passports at the market?


Does anyone know what instrument this is?




So the question that everyone keeps asking is whether or not Briana and I went to the Olympics. Well, we actually got tickets to see Men's Diving before we left. But when we got there, we found out that they were fraudulent. We complained to the Olympic committee, and were able to get tickets to just get inside the Olympic Green.



This was the remarkable line just to get inside the doors of the official Olympic Store. Inside the store, it was complete madness. There were people shoving and carrying Costco sized baskets of souviners around. I managed to get a few key chains and T-shirts.


Of course, the only thing to eat in the Olympic Village.








Somehow, this picture came out so cool. I am in focus, and everything else is not.


Just something that I thought was interesting was the ticket scalpers. Outside the Olympic subway station, you could find literally, a ticket market with people selling tickets at 1000 times the price of the face value. Yes, you read right. There were people selling tickets at outrageously high prices, and there were signs that said no ticket re-sales. One man said that he got arrested on the first day for buying, but they didn't keep him in jail long and it didn't stop him from going back.





Things I remember:
Every time we took a taxi, there was an automated voice that would say "Hello passenger, thank you for taking my taxi."
I was addicted to these apple pear things.
Everyday Briana and I would miss the Vegas dry heat and come back to the hostel aching for a shower.
The pollution wasn't as bad as I thought.
Once, we stood in line for the bathroom and soon realized that the people standing in line were waiting for the squat toilet, while no one was using the Western toilet.

All in all, China was amazing. I have some wonderful new memories.

Here we are as we leave Beijing with all of our stuff. The trip to the airport wasn't too fun. Long story short, we were those people you occasionally see running through the airport. We were late because we took the wrong subway, and then took a taxi and got stuck in traffic. Then we got dropped off at the wrong terminal. Haha, what more could go wrong? With minutes to spare we made it, thank god.

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THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

I am speechless at what to write about the Great Wall. It was an absolutely amazing and beautiful day. I figure that I will let my pictures do most of the talking.

Many of the watch towers that we crossed were crumbling to pieces and were very steep. Using two hands was a good idea.

At some watch towers or sections of the wall, there would be a green "X" indicating that we were supposed to walk down and around that section of the wall because it was too dangerous.

One thing I have to mention is the dozens of Mongolians that roam on the wall waiting for tourists to come by. Their soul purpose is to get money from us by having us buy something or by acting as a tour guide. I personally believe that many of them live in the watchtowers along the wall, as there were sleeping bags laid out in many of the towers.

Our hike was approximately 10 km (6 miles). Trust me when I tell you it was hot. There was no sun, thank god, but it was hot hiking up and down all those steep stairs and rocks. When we reached the end, we had the choice to walk down the stairs off the wall or to zip line down, then take a boat. Why would we want to walk?

Here is the wooden bridge we crossed to get to the zip line.

Tons of these guys on the wall.

I also wanted to mention this site: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/walkingthewall/index.php/2006/05/

These two people walked the entire 4,160 miles of the Great Wall and wrote an amazing blog about their journey. It is a blog of great pictures and inspiration.

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BEIJING: The summer Palace

The Summer Palace is a place just outside of Beijing where the emperor's went to get away from the summer heat. It is on Kumming Lake which was expanded and deepened in the 1700's. The palace, with its many corridors, temples, and sancturaries are situated on Longevity Hill.

To get to the temple, we took the subway to the end of the line, and then rode a taxi. Rather than walking around the lake, you can take a Dragon Boat across the lake to the palace.

An interesting find parked along the docks is the famous Marble Boat. It was summed by Emperess Cixi in the Qing dynasty. She used money put aside for the military to build herself a marble boat instead. The base of the boat is actually marble, and the top is wood.

To walk across the lake one can cross via the Marco Polo Bridge.

At the foot of Longevity Hill rests the Long Corridor. It is painted with unique pictures and designs and runs along the whole of the north shore. It is the longest corridor in China.

The Temple of the Sea of Wisdom is the largest building seen, rising above the landscape of the hill.

You better believe that we had to hike ourselves up there too. Gee suprising. More stairs.

Random pics from Summer Palace.

View from the top of the hill. There are swarms of paddle boats across the lake.

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Beijing: The Forbidden City

Wow. Two days of exhausting sightseeing. Where do I start? And how can I put it all into words?

The Forbidden City, Dongcheng in Chinese, was a palace belonging to two dynasties of emperors, the Ming and the Qing. It is the best preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China.

You enter through the south gate walls called the Meridian Gate which also holds a picture of the infamous Mao Zedong.

Unfortunately for us, we came at the wrong time. Once inside the gates, the guards rushed the sightseers to the sides of the palace and away from the main attraction so that the president of Belgium can be escorted through. The main sights were closed for at least two hours. Meanwhile we explored some of the outskirts of the palace.

This is the unfinished Crystal Palace.

This is a gazebo-like structure in the imperial garden.

When they finally let us through, fighting the thousands of people was a nightmare especially in the August heat of China, but we were able to see the rest. But the trip to the Forbidden City took virtually all day with much of the palace still unexplored.

This is the gate of Supreme Harmony, the biggest gate in the palace.

This is in the main courtyard before entering the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The moat runs through and five bridges run across representing the 5 virtures.

This is the Emperor's throne.

This is the courtyard between the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony.

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