September 2, 2009 – Day 251 – Xian, China
Xian is a great place to spend the night if you want to go see the Terracotta Warriors. But there are a lot of sketchy people, a lot of poor and homeless people, and a lot of thieves.
Just in case you were thinking about it
September 1, 2009 – Day 250 – Xian, China
Lin spun around with a smack at his hand and a loudly shouted choice phrase. The would-be thief who was either stupid or simply stunned and very bad at his chosen profession merely stopped in his tracks and looked rather alarmed and shocked to have been caught. Not only caught but yelled at by a tiny woman. With that, we sped on our way in search of an ATM. Funny that we were trying to be robbed when we didn’t even have a single Yuan!
The one and only photo we forced ourselves to take in Xian
August 31, 2009 – Day 249 – Beijing, China
Today found us clamoring all over the glorious Great Wall of China. And wow, what a view! Not only is it utterly amazing to be standing on such an incredible and unlikely structure, you can actually see its length go on for miles in either direction!
The Wall
August 29-30, 2009 – Day 247-248 – Beijing, China
Though we really did have larger aspirations for this last weekend in Beijing, the lure of the Panjiayuan antique market was too great for us to fight. Meaning to only spend “an hour or two, maximum” we ended up spending an entire afternoon the second day actually purchasing the particular things we saw and decided on the day before.
Real antiques in the antique market (rare)
August 28, 2009 – Day 246 – Beijing, China
A typical day in Beijing consists of copious amounts of smog so thick it looks like you can slice the air with a smooth karate chop. Today was an inordinantly lucky day for us: the sun was shining! Since Lin was feeling a bit better from an attack of yak flu, we spent the day between 3 very lovely parks (Bei Hai, Zhongshan and the last one we can’t remember the name).
Looking down upon the Forbidden City
August 26-27, 2009 – Day 244-245 – Beijing, China
A work day and a sick day, respectively. Lin has contracted what Dr. Saben believes is the dreaded yak flu (oh my!) and has remained unconscious for nearly 24 hours. Meanwhile Saben, shedding his doctoral duties, spent the same 24 hours deliriously wandering the streets of Beijing in search of a Bank of China into which he intended to deposit the funds for our upcoming Tibet tour. After nearly 4 hours, he returned to the hostel, psychologically tattered and suffering a mild case of PTSD as a result. For a light dinner to soothe the pain, he enjoyed a large piece of cow and a cold beer.
The cow (or part of it, which part? I'm not quite sure)
August 25, 2009 – Day 244 – Beijing, China
Hundreds upon hundreds of tourists flood the gates of the Forbidden City once they has rushed through Tinananmen Square behind their shouting tour guide wildly waving a flag or umbrella (or contraption of both affixed together).
Iconic Mao portrait
August 23-24, 2009 – Day 242-243 – Beijing, China
Yesterday was a boring day for posting. Only exciting thing to happen was that we discovered we had bought tickets for the soft sleeper bullet train to Beijing despite our numerous pleas for “hard sleeper.” Granted it was a really, really nice train and it got us to Beijing in only 10 speedy hours.
Ahh now thats more like it
August 22, 2009 – Day 241 – Shanghai, China
Through the splattering of fat rain drops descending upon our heads, we still managed to have a good time dodging the crowds at the “antiques” market (tourist market with overpriced souvenirs and trinkets, very few antiques, and huge crowds) next to Yuyuan Gardens.
Stuck in the downpour
August 20-21, 2009 – Day 239-240 – Shanghai, China
Well, we spent the 20th on the train to Shanghai arriving to Shanghai the morning of the 21st. We were starving and had just found a great place for breakfast when it started to rain. By the time we crossed the street it had started a surprise storm, with big raindrops falling like no tomorrow. We flat out ran back to the hostel, about 10 minutes away, and were utterly drenched by the time we returned. We rode out the fast-moving storm for a couple of hours and spent the afternoon beginning our exploration of the huge city that is Shanghai.
Nice colorful bridge
Taxi Rides = 123
Boat Rides = 35
Motorcycle Rides = 10
Plane Rides = 16
Bus Rides =330
Train Rides = 124
Rickshaw Rides = 98
Truck Bed Rides = 25
Rainy Days = 42
Current Rummy Score
Lin 10950, Saben 12435
