The Great Wall

Despite having to get up at 6 o'clock on a Saturday morning, today was the most incredible day yet. After figuring out a small issue with the Chinese taxis (ours being that we had two show up when we called for one, both fighting to take us as passengers) we left Beijing and headed up to Simatai, one of the less touristy parts of the Great Wall. Thanks to a thunder storm last night the weather was a little cooler today and a little clearer.

When we arrived at the wall we bought our tickets and began our climb to the top of the hill. We then spent three hours walking along the wall between the different towers. It was absolutely incredible. The views of the wall snaking over the mountains was breathtaking and I can now proudly check off "visiting the great wall" from my list of things to do before I die.




The highlight of the afternoon was our discovery of the flying fox on the way back to the parking lot. The flying fox is a zipline that takes you from the edge of the mountain over the river and down to the riverbank below. Once you reach the riverbank it is a short boat ride back to the parking lot. Although I was a little apprehensive about the ride, I have to say it was more than worth the $5 dollars it cost. It definitely felt like an "Amazing Race" moment.


Tomorrow we pack up and head off to Shanghai. It will be great to see a new city in China and get to see some new sights. Unfortunately it also means we'll be leaving the laptop and internet connection behind, so I can't say when the next post will be. But do know that I will be thoroughly enjoying myself until I am able to write again!

Beijing

Today was our first full day exploring Beijing. Ex-roommate had to spend the day at work so Amnesty, Ma-My, and I headed out to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tian'anmen Square is basically a large square, not much to see. But we made the most of it by reading about the history provided in our rough guide. We thought about climbing Zhengyangmen, the south gate, which once was the boundary between the imperial city and the commoners. However, due to the haze we decided the view probably wouldn't be very rewarding. So after taking the obligatory photos of Mao on the front of Tian'anmen (the gate of heavenly peace) we headed into the forbidden city.

Two hours later we had explored the ceremonial halls, the imperial living quarters, and the imperial garden. It was really interesting to read about the history of all the different buildings; learning how they were renamed by the different dynasties and learning what the buildings were used for. The forbidden city is so spectacular even the bathrooms have garnered a four star rating.


Plaque outside the toilets in the forbidden city

But what exactly does the four star rating get you? Well, it gets you a squat toilet that flushes automatically and the option of purchasing tissue. If you don't purchase the tissue before you use the toilet you WILL be kicking yourself for not spending the extra Yuan.


Example of a squat toilet. Note this is not an automatically flushing toilet as shown by the foot pedal at the top.

A highlight of today was ordering lunch. Without ex-roommate as a translator we decided we would brave the language barrier and find a restaurant on our own. The first restaurant we walked into was serving food that looked delicious, unfortunately we couldn't figure out a way to communicate what we wanted to eat. So instead we found a restaurant with pictures posted on the wall of the available dishes. We then relied on our abilities to point and smile to order what we wanted. I am still not 100% sure what exactly I ordered but it sure was delicious.

Hong Kong Airport

Currently I am standing at the connect zone in the Hong Kong International Airport. It's a stand of about six computers with free internet access, how come American airports don't do this?!

 

My flight from LA to Hong Kong was pretty uneventful. I shared my row of three seats with a gentleman named Mitch who was travelling to Vietnam. Lucky for me, he was super nice and allowed me to stretch over two seats. This meant that besides watching two movies, Reign Over Me with Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler and Premonition with Sandra Bullock, I was able to get lots of sleep on my 14 hour plane flight. I estimate probably about 7 hours. That means that for the first time in my life I am not feeling completely exhausted after a long flight.

 

The food on the plane was also really good. I had some chicken thai pan with rice and steamed vegetables for dinner and then chicken and mushroom congee (rice porridge) for breakfast. I had completely forgotten about my recently found favorite chinese comfort food until they passed out the menu, Mmmmmm. The other interesting food item was the in-flight snack. Which consisted of a cup o'noodle. I've NEVER seen that before.

 

Unfortunately my next flight which will take me to Beijing is currently on a half hour delay. Who knows how long it will actually be but for now I have an hour and a half to wander the airport. Luckily there are quite a few stores to peruse and funny signs to take pictures of.

Los Angeles

So once again I find myself at the Monterey Park library, with only a few minutes to use the internet. Strange how the limit here is 30 minutes and in Virginia it's one hour. Plus in Virginia you can relog on about two times and here you can only log on once. Heh. Anyway, the last three days in LA have been great.

I got here on Friday and was able to squeeze myself in for a haircut with the best stylist in the world. If you have curly hair and are in LA, you should definitely visit Margeaux at Ohm in Venice. She is amazing. This now means that my hair should look real purty for my travel pics! The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind of meeting up with as many friends as possible and getting all my last minute errands done for my upcoming trip. With the purchase of a travel journal and some immodium (for traveler's diarrhea) this afternoon I think I am ready to go.

Unfortuantely one weekend is too short to see everyone, but I was able to spend time with trouble and double trouble as well as my future travel partners. Tonight I am spending some time with little girl big car before I head off to the airport for my 1am flight. Ugh. Hopefully I'll be able to make the most of my window seat and get some sleep or at the very least let's hope Cathay Pacific has a good selection of movies.

Rumor has it there is free internet available at the Hong Kong airport so hopefully I'll be able to post a little during my two hour layover. Fingers crossed!

China

Okay dear readers, once again it is time for me to hit the road. This time I am off to China and Hong Kong for just about a month! I'll be heading back to Los Angeles for the weekend and then off to Beijing on Tuesday. That being said, I wanted to warn you that postings will be a bit sparse until my return in August. But don't worry, if I have a chance to blog while I'm there I'll do it and if not, you can expect some major posts upon my return.

Summer Evenings

This past weekend I had my first visitor to Washington DC. Thanks to a summer friday at work, soul-friend was able to come down from New York for a long weekend. I have to say it was really nice to have someone to explore with. On Friday we wandered around old town all the way to the waterfront. Then friday evening we met up with high school sweethearts for Jazz at the Sculpture Garden. Clear, warm evening temperatures made it the perfect setting for a picnic dinner outside in the garden as the sounds of modern jazz floated through the air. The picture below shows where the band was (underneath the green tent) and the number of people that were out with us.


After the jazz, soul-friend and I decided to wander the Mall and ended up at the capitol. For now I am amazed every time I walk by such iconic structures, but soul-friend remarked to me that after a while you just don't notice them anymore.

Things I love about evenings in DC

• Watching the fireflies at dusk.
• The warm evening air.
• Being able to stroll around historic places.

The rest of the weekend was spent exploring restaurants, grocery stores, and the like.

East Coast Weather

Today was my first experience of "east coast" weather. I had been warned by almost everyone that east coast weather is hot and sticky, nothing like the dry heat I am used to from California. It was as though they were saying, "You're going to hate it." But a few weeks ago when I was here apartment hunting I really had nothing bad to say about the weather (check back on the blogs if you don't believe me). Yeah it was warm, a little humid, but to me it felt tropical. As it would for someone whose only recent experience of humidity was in Veracruz, Mexico.

Since I officially moved in, the weather has actually been pretty mild, hot but not humid. Dad and I definitely had pink faces when we moved all my stuff into my apartment but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Then last night on the news, the weather person mentioned that humidity and more heat was coming. I probably could have figured that out myself considering it was still 80 degrees outside when the 11 o'clock news was on. So this morning when I walked out my door it was no surprise to me when the air felt sticky. What was surprising was when I looked at my car thermometer and it read 100 degrees. And even more surprising was when the weather switched in the blink of an eye. One minute it was 100 degrees and sunny; The next minute it was torrential downpour complete with lightning and suddenly a cool 78 degrees (not that it felt that way, this thing they call the heat index).

Once I got home I did what any crazy Californian girl would do, I stood at my window smiling at the downpour, counting the seconds between the lightning and the thunder and marvelling at nature and it's thunderstorms. By the looks on everyone else's faces, thunderstorms aren't something a native Virginian would smile about but that won't stop me from enjoying them. At least for now.

My List of Things to Do Today

This morning I woke up to find out that the garbage trucks arrive at 7:30am during the week. Bummer. But on the other hand at least I can get an early start on the day. Which means that I have been able to accomplish loads.

• I went to home depot, bought some wood and put shelves up in my closet for additional storage space.
• I've been to the local library and got a new library card.
• I've talked to the manager of my apartment complex and both the locks on the windows and my angry dishwasher have been fixed.
• I've talked with Verizon and now know that the problem with my phone isn't that the painters painted over the phone jack, but it's a problem on Verizon's side. They're coming out on Thursday so hopefully after that I'll have a phone and internet.
• I've booked my ticket to China and Hong Kong. Two weeks from now I will be beginning my 26 day trip . . . I can't wait!

And I still have half the afternoon and the evening to spare! What else can I get done?

It's a learning experience!

It was quite the exciting day today here in Virginia. I got up this morning to the sound of the garbage trucks emptying the dumpsters in the alley behind my apartment. Seeing as this is the second day in a row that they have been out there at 8:30am, I fear that this is going to be a daily occurrence. I guess we'll comfirm that tomorrow morning.

The overall plan for today was to finish unpacking. Yesterday I had pretty much finished unpacking everything for my room, the kitchen and the bathroom, but the living room remained a complete and utter disaster. So the morning was spent unpacking boxes and then repacking** other boxes.

Here's what I learned today:

• Virginia has bugs. I didn't really think about bugs and spiders because in LA I didn't have any of them. I think we had a cricket in our kitchen a couple of times but that was pretty much the extent of it. So when I walked into the kitchen this morning and saw a small roach run across the linoleum, I couldn't help but scream. Then I realized that the scream which would normally make a roommate appear is completely ineffective at arousing assistance when you live alone. So I sucked it up, got some paper towel, and then proceeded to smash the bug with my own two hands. Pat on the back for me. I then promptly went to Target to buy roach bait and spray roach/ant killer. Take that suckers!
• Dishwashers are not always efficient.When I packed my dishes for the move I wrapped them in newspaper for protection. So before using them in my new apartment, I figured I would just run them through the dishwasher. Being a girl that has never had a dishwasher in her apartment before, I was really excited about being able to do other things while this machine was cleaning my dishes for me. Little did I know the excitement would be cut short when the dishwasher started to drain. Instead of draining directly into the pipes of the kitchen sink, when the dishwasher began to drain the water started pouring out of the overflow spout next to the faucet. Not a big deal, I just twisted the spout of the overflow so that the water poured into the sink instead of over the counter. Or so I thought. As the dishwasher started to drain for the second time the water began to shoot into the sink, around the sink, over the counters, and on the floor. After exclaiming some not so very nice words and trying my best to channel the water into the sink with my hands, the dishwasher switched back to cleaning. Not a big deal, I used my sponge and more paper towels to clean up the water. But do you know how many times a dishwasher drains during one wash cycle? Four. I learned that today.

Luckily tonight I have finished unpacking and now my living room is actually a nice space to spend time in. Tomorrow I am figuring out the telephone and internet so I don't have to keep bothering my friends for their internet.



**Before I left LA I had to sell all of my living room furniture because the expense of shipping it across the country just wasn't worth it. Unfortunately this means that I don't have furniture to unpack everything into, hence the repacking of boxes. Furthermore, this means that these repacked boxes will now be a permanent fixture in my living room. Well at least until I purchase some living room furniture.

On the Road Day 6 - Virginia

Today was the final day in the car together. It was a short drive from Troutville, VA to my new home and we couldn't have timed it any better. As we pulled up in front of my apartment, the ABF Freight Truck with my relocube also pulled up. After I signed the shipping papers and the cube was placed in a parking spot, it hit me that I had finally reached home.

I'm really lucky that my dad agreed to embark on this journey with me. Had I done it alone, I wouldn't have stopped at half the places that we stopped at and I wouldn't have had the opportunity to make great memories with my father. I know I'll never forget Bucksnort, Tennessee or watching my dad eat a Hardee's Thickburger. I'll never forget the subtle drifts or the hike to jumpinoff rock. I'll also never forget the excitement in my dad's eyes at finally seeing the places he heard of as a boy. Thank you Dad.

On the Road Day 5 - NC, VA

Sadly, we had to leave Nashville this morning. I have to say, out of all the states I have visited on this trip, Tennessee is definitely the one to beat. Today's travels took us out of Tennessee and into North Carolina where we picked up the Blue Ridge Parkway. This scenic road, an American road, travels along the crest of the blue ridge mountains from North Carolina all the way to Virginia. It is quite the scenic drive, all though it is a lot more scenery of forests and trees then it is of the mountains. Below are some pictures from the drive:




The Blue Ridge Parkway


The Blue Ridge Mountains as seen from Jumpinoff Rock

When we left the Blue Ridge Mountains we passed through a small town called Galax. Here are three reasons why I loved this town:

1. The sign outside the church read Happy 50th Birthday Ronald and Donald!
2. Off to the side of the previous sign was the advertisement for Bingo every Wednesday. However, underneath Ronald and Donald's birthday announcement was the note "No bingo this Wednesday" due to the fourth of July Holiday.
3. But don't fret! Instead of playing bingo on Wednesday you can go down to the Fourth of July fair at the high school where they have . . . lawnmower racing!!

I told you Galax, VA was awesome.

Tennessee Rocks!

Here are some pictures from Memphis and Nashville. While we were in Memphis we enjoyed some southern cooking, listened to a live blues band, and visited Elvis. In Nashville we spent the evening at the Grand Ole Opry House, visited the Country Music Hall of Fame, and took part in the one of the nation's largets fourth of July celebrations.


Memphis. Home of the Blues. Birthplace of Rock and Roll.


Beale Street


Graceland. Home of the King.


A few of Elvis' records.


The American Eagle Cape. Elvis tossed this cape into the audience at the end of the 1973 "Aloha from Hawaii" concert.


The Grand Ole Opry House where we saw and listened to the music of Porter Wagoner, Mandy Barnett, Connie Smith, Jason Michael Carroll, Jack Greene, Restless Heart, Mel McDaniel, and Neal McCoy.


One of the nation's largest Fourth of July Celebrations. You can see the main stage where Taylor Swift, Rodney Atkins and Van Zant performed, as well as the masses of people in front of the downtown Nashville skyline.

On the Road Day Four - AK, TN

So far we're loving Tennessee and loving the fact that it's all about music in this state. Last night we hung out on Beale Street in downtown Memphis and listened to some blues, this morning we experienced rock at Elvis' Graceland and then this afternoon we spent the evening at the church of country, also known as the Grand Ole Opry House, in Nashville. We even drove on the Music Highway (Interstate 40) between Memphis and Nashville.

Tomorrow we are off to the Country Music Hall of Fame and in the evening we'll join the rest of the city for the fireworks show down by the river. But right now I must get off the computer and climb into bed for some much needed rest. Pictures and more stories to come tomorrow!

On the Road Day Three - TX, AK

I'm happy to say that we have finally made it out of Texas and here in Arkansas the weather is much nicer. Well, for the most part. Dad and I left this morning at 5:30 am and headed off on Interstate 35 through Austin and Dallas before heading East towards Arkansas. On the whole, the drive was pretty un-eventful. Just a lot of flat land and open highway in front of us. We hit a few storms along the way, but nothing too drastic, although it was a little bit disconcerting when this conversation occurred:

Dad (looking down at gear shift)
Me: What are you looking for?
Dad: Oh I was just checking what gears I have with your car.
Me: Why?
Dad: Just in case I begin to hydroplane off of the highway.


Texas in the rain

Luckily it was only a conversation. This is the first time either of us have been in Arkansas and so far we're unimpressed. I'm sure once you get off of the main interstate there are some really lovely parts of the state, but off of Interstate 40 it's not that interesting. I also think that Arkansas has a weird obsession with naming things. Take for example the following:


This is the city that straddles the border of Texas and Arkansas, as you may be able to tell by the name. Texarkana.

This city must be Arkansas' version of Philadelphia.

Dad and I also noticed how clean the interstate was. We came up with two reasons why.

1. Because the fine for littering is $1000
2. Because of these fabulous billboards

Texas is Big!

Here are some photos from my drive into Texas.


Picaho Peak, somewhere in Texas


The long drive through Texas


As you can see from the pictures, there isn't much to see on the scenic Texas Mountain drive. Unfortunately for me Texas is big and there's a lot more of it to drive through tomorrow. Fortunately I'll have my dad with me.

Yesterday we took the dogs to the dog park. When we got back to the car they were hot, happy and most importantly, tired.


Riley and Jager


Kahlua