my pink toes

Filed Under "200708 - China" on September 04, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I board my plane in a few short hours. I have so much to process and write about. It's been a great trip, and I'm absolutely exhausted. I look forward to distilling my thoughts and posting them over the next few weeks.

For now, enjoy more photos with captions.
And if you're really bored, you can check out all my China photos.

Zaijian!

Filed Under "200708 - China, Chronic Babe-ness" on August 27, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

We went to the Great Wall yesterday. It truly is amazing. I don't know if you can tell in the photo, but the wall goes on as far as the eye can see, at the peak of every ridge. Yes, I said the "peak". When the Chinese built it, they sure didn't spare any effort.

I was very glad to not be responsible for carrying bricks up the mountain - I took the chairlift up and down, and only hiked for a few watchtowers. It was 33 degrees celsius (about 92 F), so it's been HOT and humid. Thankfully there was a lovely breeze.

There weren't very many tourists, so we didn't feel crowded. It also made for good haggling with the vendors. I got some "I Climbed the Wall" T-shirts for my boys and had a good time joking with a vendor.

On the way back we went to a cloisonne factory. I didn't realize it's an ancient Chinese tradition. Paul brought me a teacup from there from a previous trip and it was fun to see the artists making them.

Today is a great "down" day. I'm enjoying uploading my photos, writing, and just taking it easy. On Sunday we're doing a marathon day to see the terracotta warriors in Xi'an. (The equivalent of leaving Seattle in the morning to attend a museum in Los Angeles and coming home the same day). So I'm resting up and taking it easy. After forking over two inches of cash for our upcoming tour, I could also use a low-budget day. And, the bank has frozen my card until they can verify during US business hours that it really is me getting all the cash in China. I hardly ever get cash at home, so I'm sure my current banking activity is raising all kinds of red flags.

Tomorrow will probably be Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven - we'll see.

Click here for a smaller set of photos with captions.

Filed Under "200708 - China" on August 23, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm in China! I can't get into my email account right now, but I am able to update my blog. I don't have anything terribly insightful to say at this point - just a quick post to say I'm here and doing well and to document my small amount of travels so far. I slept 6 hours on the plane (a miracle) and slept 12 hours last night, so my body is well-rested. It is still confused, though. It's as if it doesn't understand why it's well-rested, awake, and eating when it should be asleep. I also miss my boys terribly. (And Dave too, of course).

The skyline view from my hotel is so amazing. Buildings and buildings as far as the eye can see (through the smog). The city is full of construction as they work madly to get things built in time for the Olympics. The Beijing Olympic symbol is everywhere.

Yesterday, Paul took me to the Silk Market - 4 floors jam-packed with people, knock-off shirts, bags, and touristy knick-knacks. Haggling is expected and part of the fun. Calculators serve as a kind of voice - you go back and forth, with them putting the number of RNB they want on the screen and then you hand it back with your offer. It's expected that you will walk away at least once. They grab you by the arm and say "no bye-bye, no bye-bye". Paul is the haggling expert. I managed to bargain for a Chinese-style shirt from 1080 RNB down to 150. Who knows what the "real price" is? Trying to figure it out is part of the fun.

After the market, we went to Xiao Wang's Home Restaurant and ordered up a feast: broccoli and asparagus stir-fried in garlic, lemon chicken, Peking duck, Beijing noodles, and deep-fried crispy bean curd (tofu) with mild chlii sauce. It was amazing - like all the flavor of Asian food back in the US, but none of the grease. The sauce on the lemon chicken was bright and flavorful, and actually looked like a natural color (unlike the sno-cone type syrup they pour on it in the States). My favorite thing was the tofu - it was crispy on the outside, soft like butter on the inside, and served with a sauce of the perfect balance of spicy and sweet. Amazing - I can't believe I get to eat like this every night!

We are headed to a Tibetan restaurant and show tonight. This is one of Paul and Shanti's favorite places and I've heard so much about it, it will be fun to experience it in person.

Feel free to use the comments as email if you need to.
Cheers!

UPDATE: My email is back in action (thanks to Dave Smith, Wonder Husband! He can troubleshoot from Seattle all the way to China. Swoon.

Filed Under "200708 - China" on August 19, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been running around the last few days like a Peking Duck with my head cut off! It's amazing how much time it takes to get ready for a trip when you don't travel very often (which I don't) and when you have small children (which I do).

Rounding up all my medications alone was a hefty task requiring two doctor's visits, three trips to the pharmacy, and a ton of faxes and phone calls. I haven't needed any Vic0din in the last couple days, so I'm hoping this latest flare is over.

Staying up all night and flying 16 hours won't be the best for my chronic pain issues, but guess what? I didn't even realize until last week that my brother is flying me business class. I'm such a travel newbie that I didn't realize that international business class is even better than domestic first class. Paul told me to make sure I use the waiting lounge and special shorter lines.....personally, I plan to make full use of the free cocktails!

Dave and I have always traveled on a shoestring, which is its own kind of fun adventure. It will be a different experience traveling like a business person. I won't know what to do when I get back and have to do all my own cooking and driving again.

My sweet husband loaded an entire season of 24 AND a season of Arrested Development onto his PSP for me. He also made me a custom music mix to play on the plane. What a sweet guy! I loaded a bunch of music and pictures on it too - it should be a lot of fun to play with on the trip - I don't have any time in my "regular life" to play with all that technology OR to watch TV (I spend my free time CSSing and HTMLing and learning Photoshop).

I'm still stressed out, but am feeling like there's little more I can do at this point. The shuttle comes to get me at 2 a.m., so I'm just going to hang out here until then. Here's to the adventure!

Filed Under "200708 - China" on August 16, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

And no, I'm not adopting a baby (for some reason that is the first thing people think when they hear I'm going. Um, aren't I on record saying that the vasectomy is the best medical procedure ever invented? Yeah, I know I didn't actually go through it myself, but I gave birth twice so nyah - I win).

I'm going to travel and tour. My brother travels a lot for work and has spent a ton of time in China this last year. And when I say my brother "travels a lot for work", I am not exaggerating. He is only home about 10% of the time. He gets on the road and is often re-routed during his trips (Italy to Iceland to Denmark to Dallas to China...etc). He rarely knows where he's going to be next. In fact, he RAN OUT OF PAGES on his only TWO-year-old passport and had to have more pages sewn in (so fascinating - I didn't know they did that!).

Anyway, that's why the trip is so last-minute. Paul couldn't nail down the dates he'd be in China until just recently.

So I am on a crash course of travel guide-reading and packing and oh-my-gosh-I-am-leaving-behind-two-small-children-who-need-to-be-cared-
for-ing. I'm excited and stressed. In equal parts, I believe.

The other big thing I'll be doing in China besides touring is meeting my brother's girlfriend and her daughter for the first time in person (we've IM'ed and webcam-ed, but never met face-to-face). Hopefully we'll like each other because we are going to spend 10 days living and touring together! If she can stand my brother, hopefully she can stand me. Ha!

Oh, and I figured I'd let them know about my blog now. So welcome, Paul and Shanti! I'm still figuring out how to tell people about my blog. There's never really a good time....

I don't know if this site will be accessible, but if it is, I'll blog from China. Here's to the next big adventure!

Filed Under "200708 - China" on August 13, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)