My second week in China is kind of a blur. We went out around Matt’s place just about every night. We went to Pizza Hut in China. It’s really funny because they have pizza…obviously… but also a ton of Chinese food. We walked along the river, everything in China has tons of lights at night. We went out to dinner with one of Matt’s friends another night. And then we tried to go see Kung Fo Panda 2 at the theater but they only had the 3D version and it was expensive so we just bought the DVD for like a dollar at the store and went to McDonalds to get some ice cream. Another night we got a massage but my lady hurt me. My skin hurt to light touch for like 2 days. Besides this and eating I didn’t do too much this week with Matthew teaching. Since I got here I have finished 3 books and over 4 seasons of How I Met Your Mother. I would also go into school and help Matt grade and stuff like that. But other then that I couldn’t go around town by myself because I would just get lost and almost no one in Matt’s city speaks any English.
On Friday Matt was done at school around noon so we were able to take the train into one of the cities right next to where Matt lives. It’s supposed to be one of the most beautiful places and they have these really pretty gardens. I guess Marco Polo called it the closest thing to heaven on earth. After we got off the train we hopped onto the subway. Then when we got off the subway there were a ton of people trying to sell us maps and tours and whatnot, just like it is everywhere else. But this time we actually took this one lady up on her offer because it was actually a good deal to have this guy be our driver for the day and take us to three different places. So we ended up with this old van all to our selves with a personal driver to pick us up and drop us off. The first place we stopped was the silk factory. It was pretty cool and we got a tour and everything. I have some pictures that I will put up later of that. Then we went to this one garden I don’t remember what it was called. But we could tell that it was about to rain so we bought and umbrella which was good except that it poured so hard that the one umbrella couldn’t cover both of us and we still ended up soaked. So when we got out of that garden we bought another umbrella so that we could both have one and try to stay at least more then half dry haha. The last place we went to was Tiger Hill. This place was really close to the other garden so we were to just walk there and our driver would meet us when we were done at Tiger Hill. But we didn’t know it would still be pouring while we were trying to find it. We only walked the wrong way for a few minutes though so that’s good. Tiger Hill was really amazing because it has this super old and tall pagoda. I have some good pictures of this too that I will put up when I get back from this vacation. After we looked around the garden we went to a couple shops around the garden. I got myself and some other people some suvineers. I was able to find a little something for Grace and something else (that the guy said is very popular) for Brianna. And a set of matching something’s for my sisters and one more person so maybe Grace again haha. Then we called our driver and started our trek back home so that we could meet the people that Matt works with for dinner which was fun but the restaurant was really nice so we both felt funny wet and underdressed haha. Then we got home and had to pack to come here (where I am writing this right now).
On Sabbath morning we walked the 20 minutes to the train station with our heavy bags because we didn’t want to leave the scooter at the station for almost a week. That was not a very fun part of the trip. Then we got on the train to Shanghai and then a connection subway to the Church. The Church is huge. We go up to this top room where the service happening downstairs is projected onto a screen and there was a lady translating everything for us. It was communion Sabbath so I was able to wash feet with this lady from Africa that spoke English very well, and was very nice. It is interesting because the foot washing process was pretty stressful because it was so loud and there were so many people trying to get the basin and you are just standing crammed for a pretty long time (just like almost everywhere in China) But it was still a nice experience. After that a bunch of the younger people that speak English meet up at the mall right across the street for lunch. And then we get back on the subway and then walk to this guy Jerry’s house to have Sabbath school. Luckily one of the guys we were walking with offered to carry my duffel bag so I only had my backpack at that was so nice! Sabbath school was really nice I enjoyed it and liked the lesson. We had to leave early to walk to the train station to catch our 22 hour soft sleeper train ride. I wish that the guy that carried my bad was going with us to the train also because it wasn’t super close, we had to walk back to the subway and then to the train from there. But it was ok. The train was really funny. We had the “soft sleeper.” We shared our room with two other people and the man that was in there was kind of odd, really nice, and kept sharing food with us, but odd. It was weird because we didn’t turn off the light until like 11pm when Matt and I finished watching the new X-men movie (which I didn’t think was nearly as good as the first three) and we weren’t sure how to get the light off. But then our roommates woke up really early and just turn on the light and start talking really loudly. I don’t understand manners in China sometimes I don’t think they exist haha. And there was also this really loud annoying music coming out of a speaker in the ceiling, which was old so it didn’t even come in clear. But overall the trip was pretty good. I was able to sleep pretty well and the 22 hours didn’t seem all that long. Ok well I will write more later about the trip I am on now.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
BEIJING!
This weekend was AMAZING. I still can’t believe that I was at the Great Wall and the Forbidden City and Summer Palace. I really loved Beijing.
We left on Friday at about 4 to take the e bike to the train station. And then the train to the airport and then the airplane to the taxi and then finally the taxi to the hostel. Our flight was delayed about an hour and we had to sit on the plan for a bunch of that with no air and I was roasting. That was the bad part of our trip haha. We got into the hostel and I was very impressed. It was really nice and actually was voted best hostel in all of Asia.
We left the hostel Saturday morning at about 6:15 to take a little bus to meet up with our great wall tour bus. They gave us breakfast. It was a egg mcmuffin from McDonalds lol and I picked off the ham thing haha. And it came with a coke and Matt saved his and it was sitting by him in the seat and he feel asleep and when he woke up he spilled it all over his seat. Luckily this guy next to us was sitting next to a box and so we traded and the box took the coke seat. The bus ride was about 3 hours and we got to the great wall just after 10. We decided to take the little cable cars up because Matt hadn’t done that yet. It was pretty cool. And we saw a couple horses on the way. Climbing the great wall was seriously so cool. It was beautiful and just unbelievable. It was really hot climbing up and an absolutely beautiful day. We could see pretty far considering that we were still in China and the smog factor is never gone I don’t think. We got all the way to the 5 window lookout building and then decided we needed to get back so that we could make it to the lunch down at the bottom on time. We didn’t go back down the cable cars because we wanted to go to a couple of the shops that were down the other trail. I got a book with pictures from the great wall and also a T-shirt that says I climbed the great wall. Matt haggled with the lady and got them both for like 25 RMB which is like 7 dollars. Then we made it to lunch and then back to the bus for the trip back.
We ended up back at the hostel sometime after 6 and we had a new roommate. This guy named Michael that was traveling around by himself so he came to dinner with us. We borrowed some bikes from the hostel and went to this really busy restaurant and I had some food that I liked. I tried some duck because it’s just something you have to do in Beijing and I also had this really good honey chicken. Everything has the bones in it here so I just ate it with my hands but it was delicious. I took some pictures of the meal that will be up on facebook in 8 minutes from now. There was also this really good fruit milk drink/soup that was nice.
After dinner we tried to make it to the famous market that has all the live scorpions to eat and like snack on a stick and all that but by the time we got there it was closed. And we were beat from climbing the wall so we just went to bed at like 11 again.
We woke up and ate breakfast at around 7:30 at the hostel. It was an American breakfast so we had eggs and toast and some fruit and yogurt. It was delicious then we made our way to the Forbidden City. There were a ton of people there! We decided to get the audio guide instead of an actual guide so we could walk to wherever we wanted so we walked around with this little gps block around our necks and a headphone in. It was really cool because it knew where we were and would talk about that building. We walked around there for a couple of hours and then took a look at the Tiananmen Square and got on the subway towards the summer palace. And that is where I saw my first little Chinese kid pooping in a public place. Just right at the bottom of the stairs down the subway this little kid was just pooping away and his mom was just whipping it up with toilet paper. I don’t understand how they think that is the best way haha.
We got off the subway and ate at McDonalds cause it was right by the subway and would be fast because we were kind of on a time limit. It is way better here then back home. I got a chicken sandwich and it was like one you would get at an actual sit down restaurant back home. So good. And it was spicy and just delicious. Then we made our way over to the Summer Palace.
I can’t imagine that there are many places on this earth that I will like better then the summer palace. I just thought it was so beautiful. I have a bunch of pictures from here up on facebook also. I saw my second kid pooping in public. We walked around and hung out by some of the water and watched the koi swimming around and admired the plants and lily pads and buildings. Went up to the Buddha incense temple and a bunch of other buildings all over. Then we took a yacht back to the beginning because it was really cheap and then we didn’t have to walk all around. Left the summer palace and took the bus/subway back to the hostel to get our stuff before flying back home.
We didn’t make it home until after midnight but it was well worth it. I had some an amazing weekend. One of the best weekends ever. This week we are just going to go out to eat a few times, go see kung fo panda in theater, and get a massage together. Should be fun and then we are off to travel some more. I’ll write more later!
We left on Friday at about 4 to take the e bike to the train station. And then the train to the airport and then the airplane to the taxi and then finally the taxi to the hostel. Our flight was delayed about an hour and we had to sit on the plan for a bunch of that with no air and I was roasting. That was the bad part of our trip haha. We got into the hostel and I was very impressed. It was really nice and actually was voted best hostel in all of Asia.
We left the hostel Saturday morning at about 6:15 to take a little bus to meet up with our great wall tour bus. They gave us breakfast. It was a egg mcmuffin from McDonalds lol and I picked off the ham thing haha. And it came with a coke and Matt saved his and it was sitting by him in the seat and he feel asleep and when he woke up he spilled it all over his seat. Luckily this guy next to us was sitting next to a box and so we traded and the box took the coke seat. The bus ride was about 3 hours and we got to the great wall just after 10. We decided to take the little cable cars up because Matt hadn’t done that yet. It was pretty cool. And we saw a couple horses on the way. Climbing the great wall was seriously so cool. It was beautiful and just unbelievable. It was really hot climbing up and an absolutely beautiful day. We could see pretty far considering that we were still in China and the smog factor is never gone I don’t think. We got all the way to the 5 window lookout building and then decided we needed to get back so that we could make it to the lunch down at the bottom on time. We didn’t go back down the cable cars because we wanted to go to a couple of the shops that were down the other trail. I got a book with pictures from the great wall and also a T-shirt that says I climbed the great wall. Matt haggled with the lady and got them both for like 25 RMB which is like 7 dollars. Then we made it to lunch and then back to the bus for the trip back.
We ended up back at the hostel sometime after 6 and we had a new roommate. This guy named Michael that was traveling around by himself so he came to dinner with us. We borrowed some bikes from the hostel and went to this really busy restaurant and I had some food that I liked. I tried some duck because it’s just something you have to do in Beijing and I also had this really good honey chicken. Everything has the bones in it here so I just ate it with my hands but it was delicious. I took some pictures of the meal that will be up on facebook in 8 minutes from now. There was also this really good fruit milk drink/soup that was nice.
After dinner we tried to make it to the famous market that has all the live scorpions to eat and like snack on a stick and all that but by the time we got there it was closed. And we were beat from climbing the wall so we just went to bed at like 11 again.
We woke up and ate breakfast at around 7:30 at the hostel. It was an American breakfast so we had eggs and toast and some fruit and yogurt. It was delicious then we made our way to the Forbidden City. There were a ton of people there! We decided to get the audio guide instead of an actual guide so we could walk to wherever we wanted so we walked around with this little gps block around our necks and a headphone in. It was really cool because it knew where we were and would talk about that building. We walked around there for a couple of hours and then took a look at the Tiananmen Square and got on the subway towards the summer palace. And that is where I saw my first little Chinese kid pooping in a public place. Just right at the bottom of the stairs down the subway this little kid was just pooping away and his mom was just whipping it up with toilet paper. I don’t understand how they think that is the best way haha.
We got off the subway and ate at McDonalds cause it was right by the subway and would be fast because we were kind of on a time limit. It is way better here then back home. I got a chicken sandwich and it was like one you would get at an actual sit down restaurant back home. So good. And it was spicy and just delicious. Then we made our way over to the Summer Palace.
I can’t imagine that there are many places on this earth that I will like better then the summer palace. I just thought it was so beautiful. I have a bunch of pictures from here up on facebook also. I saw my second kid pooping in public. We walked around and hung out by some of the water and watched the koi swimming around and admired the plants and lily pads and buildings. Went up to the Buddha incense temple and a bunch of other buildings all over. Then we took a yacht back to the beginning because it was really cheap and then we didn’t have to walk all around. Left the summer palace and took the bus/subway back to the hostel to get our stuff before flying back home.
We didn’t make it home until after midnight but it was well worth it. I had some an amazing weekend. One of the best weekends ever. This week we are just going to go out to eat a few times, go see kung fo panda in theater, and get a massage together. Should be fun and then we are off to travel some more. I’ll write more later!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Massages and Food and Suicide Alley.
I just finished my 2 hour massage and I am now sitting in this really nice coffee shop waiting for matt to pick me up after his Chinese class is over. I ordered a passion fruit sorbet. It looks really good (I just got it and it is really good, it’s a smoothie not sorbet but still good.) My massage was really good. I don’t really know how something could be so painful and yet so wonderful at the same time. I’m also glad that she was a she and not a he because some of the things would have been pretty awkward haha. Like our legs would always be intertwined. Or she would be balancing on my butt with her knees and shaking me all around with them. And this one time somehow she was on her back with her knees up in the air and I was on my back on top of her knees. Some of the time I was trying my hardest not to yell in pain a few times. But it still felt so good haha. I was trying to sit up after this one part and my hair was caught in her shirt somehow haha. When I first got up to the room the guy just left me and I had no idea what I was supposed to do so I just put the shirt and shorts on but I was shirtless when the lady came in lol. And she kept trying to talk to me in Chinese and I had no idea what she was saying. When I left the guy that took my money spoke a little English so I talked to him for a little bit. He told me I was cute haha. And asked me where I was from and then said a bunch of stuff I didn’t understand and then asked me if I knew Obama haha and so I said yes. I don’t know if he was just asking me if I knew who he was or if I have actually met him but oh well.
Last night we went to this DVD store where I got two full season’s of two different shows for like 12 dollars each series. So I am watching How I Met Your Mother to help my boredom times while Matt is teaching.
Two nights ago I went with him to his Chinese class and we got out on his scooter for the first time. It is pretty crazy driving around. Everyone is always honking! And there are no horn signs everywhere that have the instrument horn on them. I took a picture of one. We rode the scooter down “suicide alley” I took a video of it today because it wasn’t raining so that I can show people what it’s like more then the pictures show. I can’t believe how much Chinese Matthew knows. He is so smart. It sounds so crazy to hear him talking to people all over in Chinese.
FOOD- So far I haven’t really liked the food here. I have only tried a couple things though. And havn’t had to experience any chicken feet or anything haha and I’m pretty sure no dog yet lol. And it doesn’t make your stomach feel good after until you are used to it. I took a few pictures of some of the food so I will post those. We went to the grocery store this evening and it is absolutely nuts. So many people sometimes you can't even walk. And Matt said it is way worse if you go on a Sunday. I can't even imagine. And there were a bunch of large fish in some fish tanks. And chickens bodies hanging. And Chicken necks and stuff for sale. hahah. So funny.
I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS WEEKEND. Tomorrow we fly up to Beijing and then Sabbath we climb the great wall. And Sunday go to the forbidden city and the summer palace and then fly back that evening. And then the Friday after that we are going to take the train to the yellow mountains. And from there taking a sleeper train down to Qualin, which is the place I really want to go. We would be flying there but the visa company is going to have Matt’s passport so we can’t fly. And after that I will get back and then leave for home the next day.
Last night we went to this DVD store where I got two full season’s of two different shows for like 12 dollars each series. So I am watching How I Met Your Mother to help my boredom times while Matt is teaching.
Two nights ago I went with him to his Chinese class and we got out on his scooter for the first time. It is pretty crazy driving around. Everyone is always honking! And there are no horn signs everywhere that have the instrument horn on them. I took a picture of one. We rode the scooter down “suicide alley” I took a video of it today because it wasn’t raining so that I can show people what it’s like more then the pictures show. I can’t believe how much Chinese Matthew knows. He is so smart. It sounds so crazy to hear him talking to people all over in Chinese.
FOOD- So far I haven’t really liked the food here. I have only tried a couple things though. And havn’t had to experience any chicken feet or anything haha and I’m pretty sure no dog yet lol. And it doesn’t make your stomach feel good after until you are used to it. I took a few pictures of some of the food so I will post those. We went to the grocery store this evening and it is absolutely nuts. So many people sometimes you can't even walk. And Matt said it is way worse if you go on a Sunday. I can't even imagine. And there were a bunch of large fish in some fish tanks. And chickens bodies hanging. And Chicken necks and stuff for sale. hahah. So funny.
I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS WEEKEND. Tomorrow we fly up to Beijing and then Sabbath we climb the great wall. And Sunday go to the forbidden city and the summer palace and then fly back that evening. And then the Friday after that we are going to take the train to the yellow mountains. And from there taking a sleeper train down to Qualin, which is the place I really want to go. We would be flying there but the visa company is going to have Matt’s passport so we can’t fly. And after that I will get back and then leave for home the next day.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
China...is really weird.
I arrived in China last night. My trip was better then I thought it could be and mostly uneventful besides almost missing my first flight... even though I got there 5 hours early on accident haha... and this crazy weird lady starring at me and taking pictures of my laying down in the airport. When I landed I went through customs and all that good stuff and then there were a million people on the other side and I couldn't find Matt for about 15 minutes. Our subway tickets had expired so we decided to take the "long distance bus." What Matt didn't know was that for some reason this bus was going to take us to a random part of town that he had never seen before and then just leave haha. Of course there were random guys trying to give us a ride in their illegal taxi. It was really funny to see Matt talking to everyone in Chinese. We (and by we I just mean Matt) were talking to this Japanese man and trying to help each other figure out where we were and how we were going to get to were we needed to be. Finally we just ended up taking a regular taxi. They are super cheap it was like 5 US dollars to go all the way into the town (I think that was about 10 miles or something). Then we got out of the taxi at the train station where Matt's little scotter/moped thing was (it's called an e bike here I think.) And somehow both of us (me in a skirt), my giant suit case, two backpacks, me purse, and pillow made it to his apartment on that little e bike. Then I just took a shower while Matt went into the street market to grab some food. And after I ate I was out cold until now.
China is just really weird so far. It feels kind of like Gotham city meets the world when Wall-E is trying to clean it up. A lot of people drive really nice cars here. And then we pass this little area where people are just living in garbage, I don't know how else to explain it. It smells really bad and almost everyone is smoking everywhere. In this funny book I read about China once the author was saying that breathing cigarette smoke is probably better for you then breathing the regular air haha. There are also a bunch of people that drive these little bicycles that are attached to a little flat bed trailer type thing and then ride around with a ton of junk on the back piled like 10 feet high at least.
We are going to Beijing this weekend! I'm really excited for that. I am just excited for this whole trip. I missed being in another country it's always so interesting. And more then that I really missed Matthew so it's nice to see him again. Ok the cat, "the general" wants me to play with him I think.
Until next time,
Marisa
China is just really weird so far. It feels kind of like Gotham city meets the world when Wall-E is trying to clean it up. A lot of people drive really nice cars here. And then we pass this little area where people are just living in garbage, I don't know how else to explain it. It smells really bad and almost everyone is smoking everywhere. In this funny book I read about China once the author was saying that breathing cigarette smoke is probably better for you then breathing the regular air haha. There are also a bunch of people that drive these little bicycles that are attached to a little flat bed trailer type thing and then ride around with a ton of junk on the back piled like 10 feet high at least.
We are going to Beijing this weekend! I'm really excited for that. I am just excited for this whole trip. I missed being in another country it's always so interesting. And more then that I really missed Matthew so it's nice to see him again. Ok the cat, "the general" wants me to play with him I think.
Until next time,
Marisa
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