China Part 1 - Can we talk? / Hiina myyr
Look, I know I've been acting a little strange lately and we haven't spoken for a while. But I really want to make sure things don't get weird between us. It's just that I've been SUPER busy lately and things have been absolutely crazy over here. Honestly, it's not you, it's me. We've had such a great past 6 months, let's not ruin it over a couple of weeks. Let's just start the New Year fresh and see where things go in 2007? Sound Good???? Great.
If you'd like, I can give you a quick update on all the places I've been. Sound good? Alright, Here we go......
Ingrid and I spent 2 weeks in Shanghai recharging our batteries in the excellent company of John Gerber. John's a High-school friend of mine that's reaching for the stars with an overseas assignment, he's been in Shanghai for 1.5 years.
Sadly, the weather in Shanghai was miserable (They have winter there too! Who Knew?) and we only took zero pictures. You're not missing much though, our days were filled primarily with sleeping and Ally McBeal. Ingrid watched a combined 45 hours of Ally during the two week stretch, I might have caught a disturbingly high percentage of those shows, something in the neighborhood of 100%. Whatever.
Gerb returned home from the States on January 1st and proceeded to spoil us. Massages (not by John, please) and Food were the primary spoiling methods. It was just what we needed before heading into the depths of China.
We left Shanghai on an overnight train to Beijing on Jan. 8th and it's been Go, Go, Go ever since.
Look Ma, Great Wall!
In Beijing we took in the major sights at breakneck speed. It's wicked cold up there this time of year (again, winter, seriously, it's like January is cold everywhere).
For the great wall we headed 3.5hours North of Beijing a trekked a remote 12Km section of the wall from JinShanLing to Simatai. It was kinda surreal to walk on such a magnificent part of ancient World history and imagine what it must have been like for marauding armies centuries ago. And to do it in the winter simply added to the experience. I mean, imagine being a Mongol Army 1000 years ago. Your life sucks because you sleep in a tent on the good nights and you roam the Shan territory looking for fights. Your commander says "hey gang, I've heard of this great place to the South of here that we should consider sacing. They have heaps of rice and their very own forbidden city." So after a heated debate over the merits of eating rice rather than snow, you follow your leader South across the hills to this Shangri-la. Now after hiking for what seems like forever because this place is a desolate wasteland and you're freezing your tail off because your leader tried to travel through Northern China in January (like anyone would be stupid enough to attempt that!) you come across this giant freakin' wall extending as far as you can see in both directions. AND on top of that giant freakin' wall are little men with Arrows and swords and other rather uninviting weapontry. It's enough to make you want to turn around and go home. Unless of course PFC Copperfield can figure out how to walk the whole army through the darn thing like he keeps claiming.
It was a tremendous life experience and I'm glad to check it off the list. I also met a Mongolian. This is her. Sadly, she has never heard of "The Mongolian Barbecue", heartbreaking.
Other highlights of Beijing included....
The Giant Painting of Chairman Mao (God Bless Him, or rather, not, he not believing in God, being a Communist and all)
The Forbidden City - which is much larger than you think it is. So big that my wide-angle lens could only capture the door knocker. A sub-highlight was that I saw a REAL Ming Vase (though I didn't break it the way Bugs would have)
Tiananmen Square - Not a lot going on here, No pictures. Basically it's just a flat granite area with hawkers chasing you trying to get you to purchase something made in China that you could get for 1/10th their asking price in America. Picture the tanks replaced with an army of merchants and you've got it.
The Temple of Heaven - Surprisingly cool circular temple that the Emperors used for their annual prayer ceremony for healthy harvests and bumper crops. (Though if they're praying for bumper crops every year, I wonder if the general public eventually caught on? I mean, if there ARE bumper crops every year, aren't the leaders just praying for average? and if bumper crops are rare (as the name could imply) would the people ever say "Hey Qing, you suck!)
Inside the temple was the sacred 300M marble walkway that only the emperor was to walk along.......
Who's King Now?
And Public Newspapers
We quickly left Beijing, which also happens to be one of the largest and most inconvenient cities I have ever been to, and headed inland (and South) to Xi'an. Did I mention it's cold in Beijing?
Shangaist lahkusime oise magamis rongiga pealinna Beijingi, et siis erksalt hakata Hiinat vallutama. Rongide koha pealt pean ara mainima, et Hiina rongid on kui luksuslikud hotellid, vorreldes India omadega.
Paeval tuiasime ringi mooda linna millest suure osa veetsime "keelatud linnas" (yks suurimaid ja vanimaid sailinud hooneid, mis oli 500 a. keelatud tavainimestele)
http://www.v2.net.cn/work/upfile/dg2006.wmv
ning ohtu sisustasime Kung Fu showed vaadates, mis oli paris huvitav.
Jargmine hommik olime jalle varakult jalul, et siis soita 4h. Beijingist pohja poole, et Jinshanlingi Hiina myyril 12 km. ronida. Kuigi myyri on voimalik ka kylastada ainult 1 h. kaugusel laane poole soites, otsustasime me sinna mitte minna trygima, kuna see on viimasepeal ylesmukitud ja paksult turiste tais.
Huvitav oli aga see, et isegi myyril ei paasenud me kohalikest myygi meestest(oigemini naistest). Myyrile joudes hakkas meiega 4 naist kaasa turnima,(kellest yks neist oli minu meelest ligi 60 a.-ne) kysides iga paari kilomeetri tagant kas me ehk nyyd soovime vett, apelsiini,postkaarte jne. Ja kui meie jarjekordne vastus oli et EI ! aitah, ei lasknud nad ennast sellest segada ja siblisid meiega kaasa oeldes "no ehk siis hiljem". 10 km. hiljem oli neil siiski aga aeg ymber poorata kuna teises sissekaigus ootasid omad myygimehed. Nii siis parast pikka hinna kauplemist noustusime Adamiga ostma vanimalt naiselt malestuseks pildi Hiina myyrist, mille olime just labinud.
Myyr loomulikult oli ilus ja meil oli jalle voimalik yles alla treppe
If you'd like, I can give you a quick update on all the places I've been. Sound good? Alright, Here we go......
Ingrid and I spent 2 weeks in Shanghai recharging our batteries in the excellent company of John Gerber. John's a High-school friend of mine that's reaching for the stars with an overseas assignment, he's been in Shanghai for 1.5 years.
Sadly, the weather in Shanghai was miserable (They have winter there too! Who Knew?) and we only took zero pictures. You're not missing much though, our days were filled primarily with sleeping and Ally McBeal. Ingrid watched a combined 45 hours of Ally during the two week stretch, I might have caught a disturbingly high percentage of those shows, something in the neighborhood of 100%. Whatever.
Gerb returned home from the States on January 1st and proceeded to spoil us. Massages (not by John, please) and Food were the primary spoiling methods. It was just what we needed before heading into the depths of China.
We left Shanghai on an overnight train to Beijing on Jan. 8th and it's been Go, Go, Go ever since.
Look Ma, Great Wall!
In Beijing we took in the major sights at breakneck speed. It's wicked cold up there this time of year (again, winter, seriously, it's like January is cold everywhere).
For the great wall we headed 3.5hours North of Beijing a trekked a remote 12Km section of the wall from JinShanLing to Simatai. It was kinda surreal to walk on such a magnificent part of ancient World history and imagine what it must have been like for marauding armies centuries ago. And to do it in the winter simply added to the experience. I mean, imagine being a Mongol Army 1000 years ago. Your life sucks because you sleep in a tent on the good nights and you roam the Shan territory looking for fights. Your commander says "hey gang, I've heard of this great place to the South of here that we should consider sacing. They have heaps of rice and their very own forbidden city." So after a heated debate over the merits of eating rice rather than snow, you follow your leader South across the hills to this Shangri-la. Now after hiking for what seems like forever because this place is a desolate wasteland and you're freezing your tail off because your leader tried to travel through Northern China in January (like anyone would be stupid enough to attempt that!) you come across this giant freakin' wall extending as far as you can see in both directions. AND on top of that giant freakin' wall are little men with Arrows and swords and other rather uninviting weapontry. It's enough to make you want to turn around and go home. Unless of course PFC Copperfield can figure out how to walk the whole army through the darn thing like he keeps claiming.
It was a tremendous life experience and I'm glad to check it off the list. I also met a Mongolian. This is her. Sadly, she has never heard of "The Mongolian Barbecue", heartbreaking.
Other highlights of Beijing included....
The Giant Painting of Chairman Mao (God Bless Him, or rather, not, he not believing in God, being a Communist and all)
The Forbidden City - which is much larger than you think it is. So big that my wide-angle lens could only capture the door knocker. A sub-highlight was that I saw a REAL Ming Vase (though I didn't break it the way Bugs would have)
Tiananmen Square - Not a lot going on here, No pictures. Basically it's just a flat granite area with hawkers chasing you trying to get you to purchase something made in China that you could get for 1/10th their asking price in America. Picture the tanks replaced with an army of merchants and you've got it.
The Temple of Heaven - Surprisingly cool circular temple that the Emperors used for their annual prayer ceremony for healthy harvests and bumper crops. (Though if they're praying for bumper crops every year, I wonder if the general public eventually caught on? I mean, if there ARE bumper crops every year, aren't the leaders just praying for average? and if bumper crops are rare (as the name could imply) would the people ever say "Hey Qing, you suck!)
Inside the temple was the sacred 300M marble walkway that only the emperor was to walk along.......
Who's King Now?
And Public Newspapers
We quickly left Beijing, which also happens to be one of the largest and most inconvenient cities I have ever been to, and headed inland (and South) to Xi'an. Did I mention it's cold in Beijing?
Shangaist lahkusime oise magamis rongiga pealinna Beijingi, et siis erksalt hakata Hiinat vallutama. Rongide koha pealt pean ara mainima, et Hiina rongid on kui luksuslikud hotellid, vorreldes India omadega.
Paeval tuiasime ringi mooda linna millest suure osa veetsime "keelatud linnas" (yks suurimaid ja vanimaid sailinud hooneid, mis oli 500 a. keelatud tavainimestele)
http://www.v2.net.cn/work/upfile/dg2006.wmv
ning ohtu sisustasime Kung Fu showed vaadates, mis oli paris huvitav.
Jargmine hommik olime jalle varakult jalul, et siis soita 4h. Beijingist pohja poole, et Jinshanlingi Hiina myyril 12 km. ronida. Kuigi myyri on voimalik ka kylastada ainult 1 h. kaugusel laane poole soites, otsustasime me sinna mitte minna trygima, kuna see on viimasepeal ylesmukitud ja paksult turiste tais.
Huvitav oli aga see, et isegi myyril ei paasenud me kohalikest myygi meestest(oigemini naistest). Myyrile joudes hakkas meiega 4 naist kaasa turnima,(kellest yks neist oli minu meelest ligi 60 a.-ne) kysides iga paari kilomeetri tagant kas me ehk nyyd soovime vett, apelsiini,postkaarte jne. Ja kui meie jarjekordne vastus oli et EI ! aitah, ei lasknud nad ennast sellest segada ja siblisid meiega kaasa oeldes "no ehk siis hiljem". 10 km. hiljem oli neil siiski aga aeg ymber poorata kuna teises sissekaigus ootasid omad myygimehed. Nii siis parast pikka hinna kauplemist noustusime Adamiga ostma vanimalt naiselt malestuseks pildi Hiina myyrist, mille olime just labinud.
Myyr loomulikult oli ilus ja meil oli jalle voimalik yles alla treppe
posted by aiechter at 7:31 AM
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