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.

Leia Mais…

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.

Leia Mais…

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.

Leia Mais…

Beijing, China; yum yum in my tum tum

When me and Brianna arrived early in the morning, 7 am to be exact, we took on the Pearl Market. The name is decieving as there is much more than just pearls to buy. The venders there can really wear you out...at one point I was held hostage in a booth by a lady wanting me to buy a fake Dolce bag. She held on tightly to my arm.

I was intrigued. Have you ever seen a crystal ball this big??

So after the Pearl Market we walked across the street to see the Temple of Heaven. It doesn't exactly look like a typical temple, but the designs on the outside were outstanding. The temple dates to the Ming dynasty.

On the outside of the temple. The popular Chinese dragon and phoenix.

As much fun as were were having shopping and sightseeing we were definately in need of some good food. We were up for trying some of Peking's famous Roast Duck. On Wanfujing Street we found a place called Quanjude Roast Duck Resturant. At this place you either have the choice of ordering half a duck or the whole thing. We went for the half, and it came with some dark sauce, onions, and wonton wrappers. Apparently the Chinese like to eat their duck rolled in the won ton wrapper with the sauce and onions like a fajita. Let me tell ya. I throughly enjoyed my duck.

They come to your table and carve the duck for you. Oh, and by the way Brianna ate the duck's brain. Eww.

Leia Mais…

Xian, China

I have to say, that Xi'an (said she-ann) was a very cool city to visit. As an added bonus, we stayed in an even better hostel than the night before.

In Xi'an, there are old city walls in the center of the city. They used to obviously surround the city, but now the city is too big to fit inside. The south gate used to be the starting point of the silk road. Briana and I hired a guy to drive us on the wall a short distance.

We walked around the Muslim Quarter night market the first night. It goes on my list as favorite markets I've been to. You can find many stands selling dried fruit and nuts as well as knock off bags, shoes and everything else you can imagine. There are an assortment of vendors selling arts, crafts and also exotic teas.

This is a brushes shop.

We also got the chance to try cow heels. I didn't mean to order the dish, but the waiter didn't understand that I said no and sent me the dish anyway. I tried it. Besides for being extremely spicey, it wasn't that bad. Very tender. I didn't eat much of it, so I gave it to a begger that had come up to our table (we were eating outside.) Bri and I were shocked to watch him down the plate in 3 seconds considering how spicey it was.

This is me eating cow heels.

The next day, we got up early, and rode the bus to see the Terracota Soilders. The tourist attraction was suprisingly well laid out with marble steps, a park, shopping plaza, and museum. I was a little disappointed at the trip because it wasn't as amazing as I had imagined.

Inside pit 1, the largest of the three.

Afterwards, we got back into Xi'an and paid a visit to the Big Goose Pagoda. It is 7 floors high, and they say the higher you climb, the more successful in life you will be. Of course, we climbed to the top.

We also had lunch at the best dumpling place. We enjoyed pork dumplings boiled and steamed, and also a plate of prawn dumplings. The nice thing was that it was all free. The locals sitting next to us paid for our lunch and bought us beers!

This is us enjoying our dumplings.

So I absolutely had to post this picture. This is Brianna and some locals outside the Pagoda. Everywhere we go, the local people come up to her and ask to take a picture of her, or most often, with her. Of course they definately don't want me, I had this one lady come up and I actually thought that she wanted me in her picture too, but she pushed me out of the way! I roll in laughter inside everytime!

We left Xi'an last night with a very positive perspective of the city. Definately a place you wouldn't want to miss if comming to China.

Leia Mais…