trip to China so far
So...everything that has happened since I last posted...
The day I left home, stalker-boy came over again for awhile, and took me to the mall to get my spare pair of glasses fixed. And....we're going out now. Anybody want to give me any tips?
Flew to Chicago that day, met up with my grandparents and my cousin's whole family. We went out to dinner at an Italian place, which was good. Then we flew to Beijing the next day....marathon 13 1/2 hour flight. And it was light the entire way. Saw some of Siberia on the way over, which was cool. My cousin and I met another girl our age on the plane, and we were practically jumping up and down when we spotted a road or something--it was funny.
So then we had the rest of the day in Beijing--it was only 2:00 there when we landed. We walked around some. It's strange--everybody here looks alike. And most of them don't speak English. Despite this, we had no problem buying water bottles from a local grocery store...we can only drink bottled water. And we have to brush our teeth with it too. Even with all those shots we had to have to come.
The next morning, we got up bright and early (ugh) and met the rest of our tour group. Four other couples, all over 60. (The average couple in this group has 7.2 grandchildren.) One is really nice, but the rest can be anywhere from condescending and annoying to downright rude (usually to the guide). They're all together--a group of Mormons from Salt Lake City.
On the other hand, our guides are really nice people. We have one guide for the whole trip--his American name is Tom (I really should find out how to pronounce his Chinese name) and he's great. (though he probably goes home and complains about stupid arrogant Americans--can't blame him) We also get a local guide pretty much everywhere.
So, the first full day after we arrived, we saw the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Summer Palace. They all looked kind of alike after awhile, though. I took pictures. Then the second day, we went to the Great Wall, which went right up a mountain where we were. I ended up being one of three people in our group to reach the top, which was nice. You still couldn't see much, though--Beijing is REALLY polluted, so you couldn't see far in the smog. Oh, and three people there wanted me to be in their pictures, which goes to show how few blondes they have here. (Actually, I've seen a few other blonde tourists, but that's it.) We also went to the Ming Tombs.
Yesterday was mostly just travelling. We stopped over in Chengdu on the way to Lhasa, Tibet, and tried to buy some hard candy, but none of the army of 10 women working in the little airport store spoke English. (They seem to have way too many staff members pretty much everywhere. At some of the restaurants, there will be people standing in the hall apparently for the sole purpose of direction diners to the bathroom.) And we couldn't figure out if they even had any hard candy. Eventually Tom came back with me and translated.
We had to take some altitude sickness medication to come to Tibet. I'm feeling fine, so I guess it worked--but a lot of the other people in the group seem to be kinda under the weather. Explaining why we got so much free time this afternoon. We went to the Summer Palace here (this one belonging to the Dalai Lama) and the Tibet Museum this morning.
So, spending a lot of time with my cousin is...interesting. She manages to be a science nerd, a book nerd, and still more preppy than I am. Also, she thinks "so-and-so said so" is a good enough reason for anything (I don't) and yet she apparently goes to lots of parties that last till 2:00, or later. Very strange. But we're getting along all right for the most part. Spending a lot of time with my paranoid grandmother can be a little strange too, but it's been okay once we worked out what time I have to get up in the morning.
Food here is interesting....tell me to tell you about [I]real[/I] Chinese restaurants when I get home.
That's about it for right now. I think Grandad and my cousin want to leave (we wasted so much of our free time just looking for an Internet cafe....the guide told us there would be one on this one street, but we didn't find it, and nobody can understand us, and it took quite awhile to get to a different one). Plus, the guy beside me is smoking and it's all blowing in my face, which is annoying.
So I don't have time to read my friends page right now. Email me if you want me to know anything. And I will try to update again later!
The day I left home, stalker-boy came over again for awhile, and took me to the mall to get my spare pair of glasses fixed. And....we're going out now. Anybody want to give me any tips?
Flew to Chicago that day, met up with my grandparents and my cousin's whole family. We went out to dinner at an Italian place, which was good. Then we flew to Beijing the next day....marathon 13 1/2 hour flight. And it was light the entire way. Saw some of Siberia on the way over, which was cool. My cousin and I met another girl our age on the plane, and we were practically jumping up and down when we spotted a road or something--it was funny.
So then we had the rest of the day in Beijing--it was only 2:00 there when we landed. We walked around some. It's strange--everybody here looks alike. And most of them don't speak English. Despite this, we had no problem buying water bottles from a local grocery store...we can only drink bottled water. And we have to brush our teeth with it too. Even with all those shots we had to have to come.
The next morning, we got up bright and early (ugh) and met the rest of our tour group. Four other couples, all over 60. (The average couple in this group has 7.2 grandchildren.) One is really nice, but the rest can be anywhere from condescending and annoying to downright rude (usually to the guide). They're all together--a group of Mormons from Salt Lake City.
On the other hand, our guides are really nice people. We have one guide for the whole trip--his American name is Tom (I really should find out how to pronounce his Chinese name) and he's great. (though he probably goes home and complains about stupid arrogant Americans--can't blame him) We also get a local guide pretty much everywhere.
So, the first full day after we arrived, we saw the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Summer Palace. They all looked kind of alike after awhile, though. I took pictures. Then the second day, we went to the Great Wall, which went right up a mountain where we were. I ended up being one of three people in our group to reach the top, which was nice. You still couldn't see much, though--Beijing is REALLY polluted, so you couldn't see far in the smog. Oh, and three people there wanted me to be in their pictures, which goes to show how few blondes they have here. (Actually, I've seen a few other blonde tourists, but that's it.) We also went to the Ming Tombs.
Yesterday was mostly just travelling. We stopped over in Chengdu on the way to Lhasa, Tibet, and tried to buy some hard candy, but none of the army of 10 women working in the little airport store spoke English. (They seem to have way too many staff members pretty much everywhere. At some of the restaurants, there will be people standing in the hall apparently for the sole purpose of direction diners to the bathroom.) And we couldn't figure out if they even had any hard candy. Eventually Tom came back with me and translated.
We had to take some altitude sickness medication to come to Tibet. I'm feeling fine, so I guess it worked--but a lot of the other people in the group seem to be kinda under the weather. Explaining why we got so much free time this afternoon. We went to the Summer Palace here (this one belonging to the Dalai Lama) and the Tibet Museum this morning.
So, spending a lot of time with my cousin is...interesting. She manages to be a science nerd, a book nerd, and still more preppy than I am. Also, she thinks "so-and-so said so" is a good enough reason for anything (I don't) and yet she apparently goes to lots of parties that last till 2:00, or later. Very strange. But we're getting along all right for the most part. Spending a lot of time with my paranoid grandmother can be a little strange too, but it's been okay once we worked out what time I have to get up in the morning.
Food here is interesting....tell me to tell you about [I]real[/I] Chinese restaurants when I get home.
That's about it for right now. I think Grandad and my cousin want to leave (we wasted so much of our free time just looking for an Internet cafe....the guide told us there would be one on this one street, but we didn't find it, and nobody can understand us, and it took quite awhile to get to a different one). Plus, the guy beside me is smoking and it's all blowing in my face, which is annoying.
So I don't have time to read my friends page right now. Email me if you want me to know anything. And I will try to update again later!