And so it begins- Along with my [preliminary] itinerary!
Hello to everyone who has navigated to this livejournal!
As I am sure most of you are aware, I am leaving for Mongolia rather soon (hence the name, "mongolian_kid"). I have created this in order to help keep my friends in touch with my experiences while abroad- as well as to keep in contact with everyone as well. I will have internet access while abroad, so I will be able to update this as well as keep in touch via emails. I also may be able to go onto MSN and AIM, but due to the time difference I do not know how often I will be able to speak to all of you.
Anyway, here it is! My [preliminary] itinerary is as follows:
China
16 May 2005 Depart Home city for Chicago where we will meet up as a group.
Depart Chicago on United Airlines 851 16MAY at 12:00 Arrive in Beijing,
China HK2 1440 17MAY
Hotels in China
Beijing -- Songhe Hotel (3 star in downtown area, 5 minutes walk from
Wangfujing Street.)
Address: No. 88, Dengshikou Da Jie, Beijing
Tel: (8610) 6513-8822
Buffet Breakfast included
Shanghai -- New Century Hotel (4 star hotel in city center)
Address: No. 1111, Li Yang Road, Shanghai
Tel: (86-21) 3608-4999
Buffet breakfast included
Preliminary China Itinerary -- Subject to Change -- Not all places to be
visited are included
Beijing, May 17-22
Itinerary will include: Tian An Men Square, Mao's Tomb, Great Hall of the
People, Forbidden City, Beihai Park, Liulichang, Wangfujing, dinner at
famous Jude duck restaurant, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Panda zoo,
Great Wall, Ming Tombs, Beijing sites associated with Mongol Yuan Dynasty
(Yuan Observatory, Yuan buddhist temple/stupa in Hui section, recently
discovered section of old Yuan Dynasty city wall); Yong He Gong
Tibetan/Mongolian Lama Temple; Confucian temple; Home of Mei Lanfang; Home
of Lu Xun; Home of Madame Sung (Mrs. Sun Tatsen); lunch at courtyard home of
Mao's dreaded chief of secret police, Kang Sheng, now a hotel; Peking opera;
etc.
All lunches & dinners to be at Chinese restaurants that cater to Chinese.
For evening meals, we will invite guests. No visits to tourist-trap tea
factories or cloisonne factories.
We will have a 10-seater bus with driver
May 17 -- Eckhardt & 6 students arrive Beijing by air from US -- Remainder
of Day & evening-- FREE
May 18 -- 9:00 AM -- Tour of Great Wall & Ming Tombs for Eckhardt + 6
students -- Dinner (all 8) with Counselor XU Shangwei and his wife Counselor
WANG Hangbao, two of the leading "America Experts" in the Chinese Foreign
Ministry, now retired but still associated with the ministry's think-tank
May 18 -- 2:30 PM -- Saunders arrives Beijing by air from US
May 19, 20, 21, 22-- Tour Beijing (group of 8 for remainder of China
itinerary)
May 19 -- NOT CONFIRMED -- 6:00 PM --Dinner-Reception, Great Hall of the
People, to mark opening of new American law firm
May 20 -- Dinner w/Mr. Patrick Powers, Director of China Operations and
Executive Director of Beijing office, US-China Business Council
May 21 -- NOT CONFIRMED -- Dinner with Chinese students at Beijing
University (Beida), China's leading university
Meeting at some point during May 19-21 with leaders of the local Peoples
Congress for Xicheng District/Beijing -- contact: Mr. Teng Xin Hua, Director
of Foreign Affairs Office, Xicheng District Government, Beijing City,
P.R.China
May 21 (Saturday) -- 08:00/8:00 AM -- Visit Panjiayuan ("Dirt Market")
May 21 -- 3:00 PM -- Packing souvenir items for shipment back to US
May 22 (Sunday) -- 19:00 (7:00 PM) -- depart Beijing for Shanghai, non-stop
soft-sleeper train
May 23 -- 07:00 (7:00 AM) -- Arrive Shanghai
May 23- 25 -- Shanghai
WE will have 10-seater bus with driver
May 23 -- AM -- visit the Bund (waterfront) on Huang Pu River, Yu Garden
(private Qing Dynasty garden) and Yu Garden Market; PM -- visit Jade Buddha
Temple, Shanghai Museum and site of 1st Party Congress. Evening --Dinner
+Xin Tian Di, center of night life in Shanghai.
May 24 -- 08:00AM -- depart for Zhou Zhuang, an ancient water town
(mini-Venice) about 100 km from Shanghai, arriving about 09:30.Visit sites
in Zhou Zhuang and return to Shanghai around 15:00/3:00PM; visit Nanjing
Road, main shopping street, etc.
May 25 -- Leave Hotel around 11:00 AM for Pudong Aiport; depart Shanghai for
Moscow 2:40 PM
China East Airlines, MU 591, Shanghai/Moscow, 14:40-20:40, departing from
Shanghai on May 25, 2005. arrive Moscow local time 20:40 on May 25 to DMC
airport in Moscow.
Russia
Hotels in Russia
Address: Izmailovo Gamma-Delta Hotel, 71 Izmailovskoye Shosse, Moscow
Metro: Izmailovsky Park
Here is the website for more information and pictures about the hotel:
http://www.moscow-hotels.net/izmailovo-gamma-delta-hotel/
May 25, Wednesday: Fly from Shanghai to Moscow
9:00 P.M. Bus transfer from Domodedovo Airport to Hotel Izmailovo
May 26, Thursday
10:00 A.M. (Dr. Olga Vendina)
Walking tour in the historic center of Moscow:
Cathedral Square
Kremlin
Red Square
1:00 P.M. Lunch at Okhotny Ryad (new underground shopping mall, next to Red
Square) Internet café
3:30 P.M. Old Arbat, walking gentrified district
6:00 P.M. Dinner
May 27, Friday
10:00 A.M. Shopping for Russian crafts at Vernisage, next to the hotel
12:00 P.M. Lunch
2:00 P.M. Moscow State University (Prof. Leonid Smirnyagin, former
Yeltsin’s adviser on regional policies) Lecture on Putin’s new reforms
3:00 P.M. Boat trip along Moscow River to the center
4:00 P.M. Tretyakov Gallery
May 28, Saturday
9:00 A.M. Bus tour, Moscow and Environs (Dr. Olga Vendina)
1:00 P.M. Lunch
3:00 P.M. Walking excursion with lecture in central Moscow
May 29, Sunday Pack and Check out of Hotel
Free time
4:00 P.M. Departure to Airport--SVO
Depart Moscow for Ulaanbaatar
While in Ulaanbaatar I will be enrolled at the National University of Mongolia for 9 credits. I will be taking 2 classes (2 credits each): one in the Mongolian language and the other on Mongolian culture. The last three credits will be spend doing my own research project, which for the sake of avoiding the largest post ever conceived of on livejournal will be posted separately. Along with my own research project I will be going out into the countryside with another person's research project, where I will assist in the taking of core samples and water samples for paleoclimateology research. If there is an interest in that I have also written a proposal for that- please comment if you would like to see that proposal.
Anyway, that's it for my first post (until the proposal finds its way up here)!
As I am sure most of you are aware, I am leaving for Mongolia rather soon (hence the name, "mongolian_kid"). I have created this in order to help keep my friends in touch with my experiences while abroad- as well as to keep in contact with everyone as well. I will have internet access while abroad, so I will be able to update this as well as keep in touch via emails. I also may be able to go onto MSN and AIM, but due to the time difference I do not know how often I will be able to speak to all of you.
Anyway, here it is! My [preliminary] itinerary is as follows:
China
16 May 2005 Depart Home city for Chicago where we will meet up as a group.
Depart Chicago on United Airlines 851 16MAY at 12:00 Arrive in Beijing,
China HK2 1440 17MAY
Hotels in China
Beijing -- Songhe Hotel (3 star in downtown area, 5 minutes walk from
Wangfujing Street.)
Address: No. 88, Dengshikou Da Jie, Beijing
Tel: (8610) 6513-8822
Buffet Breakfast included
Shanghai -- New Century Hotel (4 star hotel in city center)
Address: No. 1111, Li Yang Road, Shanghai
Tel: (86-21) 3608-4999
Buffet breakfast included
Preliminary China Itinerary -- Subject to Change -- Not all places to be
visited are included
Beijing, May 17-22
Itinerary will include: Tian An Men Square, Mao's Tomb, Great Hall of the
People, Forbidden City, Beihai Park, Liulichang, Wangfujing, dinner at
famous Jude duck restaurant, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Panda zoo,
Great Wall, Ming Tombs, Beijing sites associated with Mongol Yuan Dynasty
(Yuan Observatory, Yuan buddhist temple/stupa in Hui section, recently
discovered section of old Yuan Dynasty city wall); Yong He Gong
Tibetan/Mongolian Lama Temple; Confucian temple; Home of Mei Lanfang; Home
of Lu Xun; Home of Madame Sung (Mrs. Sun Tatsen); lunch at courtyard home of
Mao's dreaded chief of secret police, Kang Sheng, now a hotel; Peking opera;
etc.
All lunches & dinners to be at Chinese restaurants that cater to Chinese.
For evening meals, we will invite guests. No visits to tourist-trap tea
factories or cloisonne factories.
We will have a 10-seater bus with driver
May 17 -- Eckhardt & 6 students arrive Beijing by air from US -- Remainder
of Day & evening-- FREE
May 18 -- 9:00 AM -- Tour of Great Wall & Ming Tombs for Eckhardt + 6
students -- Dinner (all 8) with Counselor XU Shangwei and his wife Counselor
WANG Hangbao, two of the leading "America Experts" in the Chinese Foreign
Ministry, now retired but still associated with the ministry's think-tank
May 18 -- 2:30 PM -- Saunders arrives Beijing by air from US
May 19, 20, 21, 22-- Tour Beijing (group of 8 for remainder of China
itinerary)
May 19 -- NOT CONFIRMED -- 6:00 PM --Dinner-Reception, Great Hall of the
People, to mark opening of new American law firm
May 20 -- Dinner w/Mr. Patrick Powers, Director of China Operations and
Executive Director of Beijing office, US-China Business Council
May 21 -- NOT CONFIRMED -- Dinner with Chinese students at Beijing
University (Beida), China's leading university
Meeting at some point during May 19-21 with leaders of the local Peoples
Congress for Xicheng District/Beijing -- contact: Mr. Teng Xin Hua, Director
of Foreign Affairs Office, Xicheng District Government, Beijing City,
P.R.China
May 21 (Saturday) -- 08:00/8:00 AM -- Visit Panjiayuan ("Dirt Market")
May 21 -- 3:00 PM -- Packing souvenir items for shipment back to US
May 22 (Sunday) -- 19:00 (7:00 PM) -- depart Beijing for Shanghai, non-stop
soft-sleeper train
May 23 -- 07:00 (7:00 AM) -- Arrive Shanghai
May 23- 25 -- Shanghai
WE will have 10-seater bus with driver
May 23 -- AM -- visit the Bund (waterfront) on Huang Pu River, Yu Garden
(private Qing Dynasty garden) and Yu Garden Market; PM -- visit Jade Buddha
Temple, Shanghai Museum and site of 1st Party Congress. Evening --Dinner
+Xin Tian Di, center of night life in Shanghai.
May 24 -- 08:00AM -- depart for Zhou Zhuang, an ancient water town
(mini-Venice) about 100 km from Shanghai, arriving about 09:30.Visit sites
in Zhou Zhuang and return to Shanghai around 15:00/3:00PM; visit Nanjing
Road, main shopping street, etc.
May 25 -- Leave Hotel around 11:00 AM for Pudong Aiport; depart Shanghai for
Moscow 2:40 PM
China East Airlines, MU 591, Shanghai/Moscow, 14:40-20:40, departing from
Shanghai on May 25, 2005. arrive Moscow local time 20:40 on May 25 to DMC
airport in Moscow.
Russia
Hotels in Russia
Address: Izmailovo Gamma-Delta Hotel, 71 Izmailovskoye Shosse, Moscow
Metro: Izmailovsky Park
Here is the website for more information and pictures about the hotel:
http://www.moscow-hotels.net/izmailovo-gamma-delta-hotel/
May 25, Wednesday: Fly from Shanghai to Moscow
9:00 P.M. Bus transfer from Domodedovo Airport to Hotel Izmailovo
May 26, Thursday
10:00 A.M. (Dr. Olga Vendina)
Walking tour in the historic center of Moscow:
Cathedral Square
Kremlin
Red Square
1:00 P.M. Lunch at Okhotny Ryad (new underground shopping mall, next to Red
Square) Internet café
3:30 P.M. Old Arbat, walking gentrified district
6:00 P.M. Dinner
May 27, Friday
10:00 A.M. Shopping for Russian crafts at Vernisage, next to the hotel
12:00 P.M. Lunch
2:00 P.M. Moscow State University (Prof. Leonid Smirnyagin, former
Yeltsin’s adviser on regional policies) Lecture on Putin’s new reforms
3:00 P.M. Boat trip along Moscow River to the center
4:00 P.M. Tretyakov Gallery
May 28, Saturday
9:00 A.M. Bus tour, Moscow and Environs (Dr. Olga Vendina)
1:00 P.M. Lunch
3:00 P.M. Walking excursion with lecture in central Moscow
May 29, Sunday Pack and Check out of Hotel
Free time
4:00 P.M. Departure to Airport--SVO
Depart Moscow for Ulaanbaatar
While in Ulaanbaatar I will be enrolled at the National University of Mongolia for 9 credits. I will be taking 2 classes (2 credits each): one in the Mongolian language and the other on Mongolian culture. The last three credits will be spend doing my own research project, which for the sake of avoiding the largest post ever conceived of on livejournal will be posted separately. Along with my own research project I will be going out into the countryside with another person's research project, where I will assist in the taking of core samples and water samples for paleoclimateology research. If there is an interest in that I have also written a proposal for that- please comment if you would like to see that proposal.
Anyway, that's it for my first post (until the proposal finds its way up here)!