First Impressions

I truly had no idea what to expect of this country. While realizing people had been traveling here for years and the Olympics being hosted recently, I was still skeptical about how easy it would be for me to get around. While I have only seen a small portion of Beijing I can say it is very accessible to travelers. The airport was extrmely easy to navigate and walking around the city has been fairly easy as well. The use of enlgish style numbers really helps with getting food and drinks at the restraunts. But that is all kind of basic info, the real reason for this blog is the good stuff. The stories of my adventures.

The first night I got here, it was a taxi ride into the city to get to my hotel.  Road lines here seem to be more of a suggesstion than a rule. I would say we almost got in an accident about 40 times on the ride in. Luckily nothing happened and arrived safe and sound. Walked around the area and went out for dinner. Chopsticks were an issue. Being so hungry and failing completlty at being able to eat the food was frustrating. I do believe i will master this skill though. Ended up going out for some drinks on the first night and saw the market by our hotel. Wandered into a bar that had live music that was interesting. The band was playing soft rock in chinese but at one point played Hotel California which was cool.

Our first full day had no set itnerary.
Jenna(roommate) and I got up and walked around. Found a place selling fried dough so had that. Checked out a fruit market and got some healthy stuff for the day. Figured it offset the fried dough. Then went and she got starbucks, turns out it is everywhere. I opted for a strawberry smoothing from a chain here called "Its'Time". We wandered around the streets looking at all the different vendors. Found where my hostel is for when I come back to Beigjing which was nice. As we were walking back to the hotel I noticed a Spurs-Clippers game on at a bar. Ended up watching a cringe worthy lost while having fries and a beer listening to country. Gotta love Wiggly Jigglys
Went and met up with group after.
We walked to a famous market, whose name escapes me. I played Time Crisis at the arcade, bought a silk traditional shirt with a gold dragon on it, had some dumplings, got asked for a photograph because of my height, saw people eat live scorpions, got yelled at for haggling too much, bought a hat. That was about 2 hours of the day. Each and every experience so far has been amazing. I am loving the culture and how people interact. Very friendly and I feel very safe and welcome here. I will take this moment to say I am writing this quickly and will not be doing much spell check or editting, so apologies for that. Dad you can relax now. Time is money here.

After the market went and checked out a Buddhist temple called "Lama Temple" which had an assortment of pagoda style building with various stautes of Buddha, each having a separate purpose. There was one giant Buddha (think 6 stories hight and 3 meters around) that was supposedly from one piece of wood. I doubt it but my group said it was in the guiness book of world records so need to check on that.

After the Lama temple went and saw a temple for Confucius. I really enjoyed this one and the different lessons of Confucius. I am going to have to get some books on him for the summer reading.

The group was very tired by the end of the day as we walked back to the hotel. Spent an hour resting up and showering (declogged shower) before going out for dinner. I was able to push the group to eating at an Indian restaurant (I know, second night in China and I go for Indian). Amazing food and really cheap for it.

Couple drinks then bed. Remember "Dont eat yellow snow, especially while standing up in a canoe"

Today was another full day. Met tour guide (Rocky) at 8 and took a bus to Mind Dynasty Tombs. An underground tomb that was really interesting. Walked through a gate that took my soul, Rocky insisted when I left I went through the same one to get it back.

Took the bus to the great wall of china. Had lunch at restaurant underneath the wall. Best Chinese food of my life. Starting to get better at chopsiticks. Walked up to a cable car lift that took us up to the wall. You can see photos and here stories but being there put it all in perspective. I have been lucky to see many great things in my life, whether the Eiffel Tower, Pompei, Roman Collaseum, Taj Mahal, Empire State Building, and the experience I had today trumped them all. It may have helped that it was a beautiful day with clear blue skies (which happen about once a month here) but I was just so energized by the experience. Got a ton of great photos and just loved the whole thing. Seeing how far it extends and realizing it is built on top of a mountain just highlights it for me. Walked a good distance on it and climbed up about 8000 steps/stairs to get to a high point. Had to take a couple rests and by the time i got to the top i simply collapsed. I am pretty sure some other tourist took photos of me in my pathetic state. Bought a beautiful wall hanging that will be with me for a long time. The walk down saw me doing some bum shuffles to make sure my wobbly legs did not fall.

Oh, and I continued working on my album of me standing in large tour groups. I find it funny because I am so much taller than them. Trust me, there are some good photos here.

After the great wall, and I could go on for much longer but again time is money here, we went for a tea ceremony. Was sponsored by the state so was free. Really enjoyed learning about the tea and got a pee boy to let me know if the tea is hot enough. Dad- I think you will enjoy this guy.

So overall an amazing first couple days. I have loved everything so far and am thrilled I will have ten months to really get to know the culture. I look forward to the rest of my time. I would say it has been one of the most enjoyable travel experiences of my life.


Thats all for now. Got to run for dinner. Check back in a couple days.