5 Senses Review: BEIJING

We have arrived safely in Hong Kong for 4 nights! Continuing to have amazing adventures as always, here are my thoughts on Beijing.

SIGHT: As I am sure you all read in the last blog entry... we encountered some heavy rain and hail as we scurried along the top of the Great Wall, heading for the nearest covering. I hustled quickly to keep up with the group, but at the same time I couldn't help but take in the beauty of my surroundings. The one sight that stood out was watching the rain fall down from above. It was completely foreign to see the rain below me as we pranced amongst the clouds.

TOUCH: As we wandered around the Summer Palace I could not help but to run my hand across the many marble railings lining Kunming Lake. The rough feel of the worn marble showed the age and history of the place we were standing, but the rare smooth spot was a wonderful reminder of the luxurious life the royalty had at the Summer Palace.

SMELL: As I huffed and puffed up the steep trail leading to the Great Wall I became very away that the smog that had surrounded me for days had dissipated. Along with the fresh air was the smell of sweet white flowers that naturally emerged from amongst the brush. It was all so very refreshing.

TASTE: A "must" according to Lonely Planet was to have a dumpling breakfast. So we followed the locals one day and found a place that had 10 dumplings for 5 rmb (70 cents-ish). As we sat surrounded by old Chinese men, I savored the flavor of the authentic breakfast food. Unique spices, and a mixture of pork (and who knows what else), all embedded in a soft doughy layer was surprisingly my favorite food in Beijing.

SOUND: The pleasant singing and chanting of local women's choirs as we strolled through numerous parks. The local feel, gorgeous voices, and accompanying flute made me feel like I was truly in China. (I would post a video I recorded but the computer I am using dates back to the DOS ages and there isn't a USB port)...

Alright... Another update soon from Hong Kong. We expect you to be waiting on the edge of your seats for these pictures (and stories, obviously) because this city is both of our favorites so far.

Beijing and Beyond...

We last left y'all with our stories of Shanghai. On Saturday we woke up and packed up our belongings because we had to check out of the hostel by noon. We wandered the city for bit- just checking out People's Square a bit more, using the free international phone calls from an expensive hotel (apparently we blend in), and having one last snack at McDonald's. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the hostel, clean up a bit and take a taxi to the train station.

Goodbye Shanghai!!

Boarding the train to Beijing!

We boarded the train right on time, unsure of what the proper "train etiquette" was, but we soon met our cabin-mates, a couple guys from Sweden who worked for H&M. After chatting about great places to visit in Beijing and meeting other train friends, we ate a quick dinner in the dining car. We soon met even more international friends, but we were so exhausted that we crashed by 11pm.

SUNDAY: We arrived in Beijing around 7am, stood in a ridiculously long line for a taxi, breathed in even worse smog than Shanghai, and eventually found our way to Leo Hostel, only "750 meters from Tienanmen Square"...

Note the construction below... lots to do in the next 2 months for the Olympics!!

We got situated in our room, gave them our laundry to do, and set out to explore our home for three nights. We were not far from Tienanmen Square at all, so after walking through there we wound up spending the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon in the Forbidden City. There are 999 rooms in the place, not a small place to explore, but we did our best in the 4 or 5 hours we allotted. Wonderful architecture, amazing history and unbelievable decor.

It was obviously laundry day, as seen by Chris' matching socks.

Jennifer met a friend in the Forbidden City... they sat and waved a while.
The crowds at the Forbidden City, escaping the sun in the shade of the building.

Afterward we headed via subway to Ritan Park, on a whim from a recommendation Jennifer had from a magazine before leaving. Although the restaurant didn't pan our exactly, Chris had a chance to play Table Tennis in the park with an outdoor rec center. Below is Chris showing off quick paddle-skills against his 10-year-old opponent. Down the street we had a beer and dinner at the Oriental Taipan. The bartender spoke very little broken English, but we had fun getting him to circle fun spots to visit in Beijing for us. Unfortunately we lost that map before Monday, but it was fun nonetheless. On our walk home from the park, after a stop in a market area of town, we ran into Jennifer's friend Drew on the street! Such a wonderful surprise, especially for half-way around the world :)

Jennifer and Drew!

MONDAY: A 7:30am start, but in hindsight it was well worth it. This was our Great Wall day, and we were so very excited! We joined a group of 8 other travelers from our hostel on "Leo's Secret Great Wall Tour." A thrilling 2-hour van drive, and several near-death turns later, we pulled into this remote village where an old man hopped in right next to Jennifer. Another ten minutes and we were let out of the van and before we knew it, the van drove away. The ten of us (plus the 70-something Chinese man that did not speak a word of English) were in the middle of these huge mountains with what seemed like nothing around but brush. We quickly found out that our tour guide was quite the machine. We followed him along a narrow path through the jungle surroundings for what seemed like forever. Eventually we got a glimpse at our destination- the abandoned and untouched section of the Great Wall. Spiders, centipedes, snakes all around, but we could only focus on the Wall above us. After 45-minutes we reached the wall.

We hiked along The Great Wall for around 2 hours. We kept on moving, stopping along the way to take in the beauty. As we continued, the view kept on growing, revealing further stretches of the Great Wall. At one point we reached the highest point around us and as we climbed into the old fortress there was a man with a table of souvenirs to sell. haha. Considering there were no other tours that day to this section of the wall, it was quite a surprising find. The most awe-inspiring part was to see the wall from the highest point, where you could see it snake along the spine of the mountains for miles and miles. Towards the end of our hike we heard loud thunder, and before we knew it, the skies began to pour... and then hail. We hurried along the wall, eventually arriving at a covered fortress. After it died down some we continued with caution, as the non-restored wall did not have much of a ledge, and sections we had left were rather steep. At one point the guide decided to assist Chris, as seen below. Quite the Kodak moment.

After the hike we were soaked to the bone, and exhausted, but luckily they brought us straight into a remote village and cooked us a huge meal of local cuisine.

Our gross shoes after the hike through mud.

The group shared travel stories, which was lots of fun. Our newest friends were from Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, and Israel. Another 2-hours van ride home, and then some down-time at the hostel.

The street our hostel is on.

We then ate dinner across the street from the hostel. We had Peking Duck, a Beijing specialty. We both thoroughly enjoyed the feast!

TUESDAY: Our last full day in Beijing, today we started early knowing we had a lot to fit in. We bought out our train tickets for tomorrow (off to Hong Kong tomorrow!), then took the subway to the Temple of Heaven Park. We spend a couple hours meandering through the crowds. But it was pleasantly different- the crowds were not tourists, but locals practicing Thai Chi, playing hacky sac, and working out in the outdoor recreation area. We took plenty of pictures of the temple, and then headed on to our next stop.

Next, we took the subway to the Olympic Park (actually, the stop was about a mile walk away because the new subway line is not open yet). As we ran into many closed gates and dead ends, things finally payed off as we turned another corner to find the soon-to-be-infamous Birds nest stadium. After hopping a fence, befriending some locals trying to get a close-up shot as well, and getting shoo-ed away by the Chinese police, we wound up with some pretty great photos. One thing is for sure- it will be a very different scene there in 2 short months. It was surprisingly desolate and filled with construction dust. Next was a taxi ride to the Summer Palace where we spent a few hours exploring the massive grounds and enjoying the beauty of the lake. The weather was slightly overcast, but we appreciated the break from the muggy weather in Shanghai. There was on huge lake, and small pagodas with towers along the edges.

We stayed until it looked like rain and then we took a long bus ride back to our hostel. We commented on how even after 3 days the city feels comfortable. Places that were foreign just 48 hours ago even are now familiar landmarks as we find our way back to the hostel. It would be wonderful to stay another day or more, but off we go to Hong Kong to keep up with our schedule. Last night's dinner was in an Aussie bar, but still we ate Chinese food- some chicken & curry fried rice and veggie stir fry. Yum! We're definitely becoming more familiar with the chop sticks as the days go by. As for now we better get some sleep so we can enjoy our last few hours tomorrow morning in Beijing tomorrow morning. Then we will get some much needed down-time on our 24 hour train ride south!

Thanks for reading and of course we appreciate all the comments. By the way- that is 7 comments for Jennifer and zero for Chris *cough cough*...

Until next time. Peace from China,

Jenn & Chris

5 Senses Review: SHANGHAI

So it has occurred to me (Jennifer) over the past few days that this blog truly is not capable of expressing everything I have experienced over here, even thus far. Seven days into the journey and I have already seen, heard, felt, smelled and tasted hundreds of new things. I have decided that after each city I am going to go through the five senses and pick one thing that stood out to me, as a way of reflecting and in an attempt to paint a picture of each city for all of those reading this...

SIGHT: Nanjing Road (I don't have a picture handy, you can google it if you want)... It is one of the most crowded spots in Shanghai, but at night this place turns into a sea of lights. The view down this walking street is so uniquely Shanghai. The foreign signs made me realize how far away from home I really was, but the crowds made me feel somewhat at home. The street came alive and the view of the lights glowing through the thick smog was one of my favorite sights in Shanghai.

TOUCH: The food has been wonderful so far, but more than that was the touch of those smooth wooden chop sticks. Each meal is unique, but they are all accompanied by those foreign eating utensils. At first a little awkward but they are already becoming a normality.

SMELL: This I must say will probably not be a positive category of the "5 Senses Review" posts. In Shanghai the smell that you cannot avoid is the whiffs of trash and rotten food throughout the streets and marketplaces. One bad incident included a trash truck, which I am still trying to clear my nostrils from.

TASTE: In order to give you an accurate portrayal of my time in Shanghai, I would love to tell about the fun and exotic cuisines we have eaten so far, but that is not what came first to my mind. The 'taste' pick has to be the McDonalds ice cream cones. At only 2.5 rmb a piece, the 40 cent snack has become a part of our routine. Yet at the same time it doesn't taste exactly like it would back home- slightly foreign but wonderfully familiar.

SOUNDS: Many sounds come to mind from Shanghai, but undoubtedly the strangest to get used to is the language. The constant murmur of unfamiliar words is still just setting in. I love how different it is than American though, and look forward to picking up other small sayings along the way.

That's all folks. Another update with pictures and all from Beijing coming soon.
Love you and Miss you all :)
Jenn

Can Anyone Say "Culture Shock?"

I know you all have been waiting in anticipation, we can tell by the overwhelming amount of comments, but no worries, we have made it to Shanghai alive. Thanks for at least looking at the pictures folks. For those of you actually reading this thing (thanks, Mom) here is what we have been up to for the last 3 intense days.

In hindsight, our last night in the states wasn't nearly sufficient for taking in the amenities of America. But, in brief, we hit the Rock n' Roll McDonald's in Chicago, moved hotels to near the airport, hiked the ghetto of Chicago with our packs after dark, both completely repacked, and managed to fit in a mere 2 hours of sleep.

WEDNESDAY: We woke up early and took the 7:35am shuttle to O'hare airport. We were definitely crossing our fingers to get tickets on standby, but we were even luckier than we thought... 2 first class seats! Luxuries included a six-course meal, concluded with an ice cream sundae, seats folding down into beds, movies on demand, gin & tonics, and the flight attendant even gave us mini bottles of Skyy for 'sterilizing' things (THANK YOU!).Three movies, two meals, fours hours of sleep, fourteen hours of flying and abundant amounts of tap water later, we arrived in Shanghai! I think we were pretty much in shock that we actually did this thing. As most of you know, we talk big game, but actually breathing in the thick smoggy air made us both realize how real this whole trip is. The one and only word to describe the first day in China: overwhelming. We definitely need to get back into the swing of being backpackers after our first class flight and six nights in the Hilton.

When we walked out of the airport and easily boarded the bus labeled "3" (also equally labeled in Chinese, of course), it almost seemed too easy. But we quickly became aware of the uniqueness of our voices. As we would talk on the crowded bus, I began hearing how foreign I must sound to the ears of the Chinese natives. Thanks to some helpful people along the way, we finally made it to the Longyang metro station, onto the correct train and eventually we emerged from underground in the middle of downtown Shanghai. As helpful as several people attempted to be, the unhelpfulness of the hostel's tiny print-out map, paired with thousands motorcyclists who fail to follow traffic signals and the sudden rain storm all made for a very challenging excursion. Through sweat and smog we finally found our hostel on Middle Jiangxi. We checked in smoothly and after swapping some stories with our roommates from California, we rested for a bit in the cool air conditioning. Before too long we decided to brave the city again. The best advice we were given: Get the front desk at the hostel to write down the Chinese characters of what you need in the city and then take the note with you and get people to read it. As we walked one block down and handed the transit office the note we asked the hostel for, it worked smoothly enough to purchase tickets on the Bullet Train to Beijing for Saturday night. To ease the bit of culture shock we were having, we happened upon a very Americanize mall and wandered in to rest for a little while. We explored some more, ran a couple errands in the city and rested once again back at our hostel.

Just after dark we decided to head out for food before it got too late, as the jet-lag was definitely kicking in. Our Lonely Planet suggested a restaurant nearby but it was either closed down or at the end of a dark alley, so we decided to find another place on our own. Eventually we found ourselves on Nanjing Rd- filled with bright lights and tons of people! After rejecting all the nearby options of American fast food chains we found a place called the Old Shanghai Restaurant. It was on the seventh floor of a building overlooking the brightest part of Nanjing Rd. and for only $7 we shared a beef stir-fry, fried rice and had bottled water. We walked home afterward and quickly fell asleep after a much-needed shower.

FRIDAY: With a new map in hand we felt confident in our abilities to navigate the city with greater ease and less frustration.

Right outside our hostel is this street-market thing with some sketchy raw fish, etc.

We also learned that pedestrians never have the right-of-way, and people stare at Americans like it's their job (in fact several have asked to take pictures with us... awkward?). We left the hotel by 7:30am ready to make the most of the day.

We walked through Nanjing Rd again and even before 8am huge groups of people were doing Thai Chi on the streets!

Our first mission was to find something to eat! Jennifer braved a flat-bread off a street vendor, Chris opted for a Starbucks cinnamon roll, and both had a 30-cent McDonald's ice cream cone (really healthy mom, I swear).While heading towards the People's Square we had a rough itinerary in our minds for the day, but of course we were thrown off track fairly quickly.

View from the People's Square

While taking pictures a Chinese man asked us to take a picture of him and his cousin. Well, one thing led to another and we took them up on the offer to join them for a Tea Culture Fair. Our new friends Hester and Alfred were happy to practice some English and have some company. Hester was visiting her cousin in Shanghai after finishing her high school exams and they made wonderful company. We wound up going to the old section of Shanghai where we sat in a little room and sampled two different teas.

The entrance to the Tea Room, but we couldn't take pictures inside because Buddha was present...?

For a while we weren't sure what we got ourselves into, but our friends translated every bit to us and we both got a wonderful education and a chance to taste authentic Chinese tea. After one Ginseng tea and one Fruit & Flowers tea we said "goodbye" to our new friends.We adventured to the traditional part of Old Shanghai and into the Yuyuan Gardens and shopping market. This ancient district offered wonderful scenery, traditional Chinese buildings, and tons of people wanting to sell us watches and purses (we look like we need those apparently). Our Chinese friends taught us how to say "no, thank you," but considering our accent, most people just laughed at us... but at least they stopped harassing us. By the way, phonetically that one is "Poo She She"... just in case you want to try your hand at that.

Our first coca-cola purchase... at least we're hoping that's what those symbols meant.

We made our first souvenir purchase, learning a thing or too about bargaining on the street (hint: start at a quarter of the offering price, at least).

An unknowing suspect of Jenn's stealthy photography in a street market

After a while we walked over to the Bund which has great views of the city across the river.

We decided to splurge on a boat ride on the Huangpu River to get even better views of the infamous skyline. After that relaxing excursion, we went back to the hostel to do a little travel business, planning the itinerary for next week. For dinner we went back out to Old Shanghai and found a restaurant called "Noodle 78" where we enjoyed our first Hot Pot and some delicious Dumplings. Once again we only spent a total of $7 for the whole dinner, and spent a while relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere (we're getting good at that one).

Hot Pot!

Then we took a stroll along the Bund at night to see the city all lit up. It was hopping with locals and tourists both... hopping kind of like a fifth grade roller skating party (thanks Chris for that amazing analogy). Jennifer racked up the photo count a bit more (possibly rounding the 400 mark)(but all incredible, obviously)... and we once again went back to the hostel to call it a night. (Chris would also like to add that the estimated total for Jenn's final picture count over the next 50 days would be 17,500) (Jennifer would like to add that Chris has only taken 36 photos).

Well now we are hanging out in the hostel using up our fair share of free internet. We already took showers after a long day of walking in the smog, but tomorrow calls for another day in the city and then off to Beijing on a nine-hour over-night direct Bullet train... we cannot wait to continue on our journey. We will update you when we can from Beijing.

If you sent our photo to CNN, just tell them to put it on reserve over the next 7 1/2 weeks... and keep checking back here for updates. Thanks in advance for the overwhelming amount of in-depth comments to this incredible first post from Asia.

Much Love,
Jenn & Chris.