Traveling overseas~ Part 1
[Dividing the picture post in two]
A two-month-late report:
China!
I don't even know where to start. When I told people I went to China, they always ask how it was. How do I sum up my first trip off of the continent, to the origin of my ancestors? So I leave it up to chronological order with pictures. Haha.
The two-week journey began on the evening of July 17th. International flights apparently suggest allowing 3 more hours than domestic flights, and our flight was at 1:40am on the 18th. I was traveling with my mom, and Rebecca arrived shortly after we did. It was a gruelling 12-hour flight. There was a toddler sitting by us and cried the entire way.
Received our roses and D tags! Yay Trip D.
Wednesday. Meet and greet.
Where we ate breakfast. Pretty :D
Aww Ikea! I thought about Eleena.
Our first sight-seeing trip, to one of the many gates/towers.
Yeah I don't know what it says. I thought I could look it up but it being Chinese writing doesn't necessarily make it kanji.. so I couldn't find all of them XD
The view from the top
Another tower
Walking around Tiananmen Square.
The building has a timer set for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We did not stop hearing about the 2008 Olympics, but then, our "Ambassador" trip was created by the committee..
We went for lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant. One out of the many minorities in China.
Entertainment XD
Afterwards, we had some free time, so my mom's cousin, Judy, took us to this radio tower.. but then the Friendlies are here. They're the Olympic mascots. Brilliant scheme for merchandise. HAHA
Lovely waterfall-ish thing in the front.
Wall art in the radio tower.
Up at the top.
View of the city down below.
This was on one of those crazy telescopes. It was free too.. Awesome... But I think the most amusing notice was "sun's dazzling."
Picture with adorable mascot.... I believe his name is Huan Huan. We would later learn that the mascots' names put together would mean "Beijing welcomes you."
What am I doing.. scaling the wall.. Ignore the ground 2 feet below me.. haha
Our first dinner, with Legends of China. This banner must have gone all over China. It was almost at every dinner.
The hotel we were staying at supposedly wasn't the first choice, but it was still really nice. Water boilers were in every hotel because you can't drink the water straight from the faucet. It even had free internet! Freeeee. It was too bad though, because this was the only place it was provided.
Must be Thursday. Summer Palace and Qinghua University.
We went to the Summer Palace.
A gate
The Dowager had this boat so she could drink tea... and there was a mirror where she could look at the scenery of her man-made lake from the mirror..
From there we went to Qinghua University and got a campus tour.
I don't think I would be able to study here.. I'd want to go explore the campus. So pretty.
Water lilies
Ah Confucious
Remnants of some nobility's property on the campus?
The "nest" as it was called is a structure built for the 2008 Olympics. That's where the pools will be.
I thought this was funny, but we actually did meet a man who called himself Dr. Tea (he got a Ph.D in tea production or whatever that major is called in China).
Friday. The Jade factory and the Great Wall of China!
We had already gone to a pearl factory the day before, and here's the jade factory... both government-runned to ensure authenticity, blah blah.
Apparently this part of the jade work requires a delicate and nimble hand, which is why it's only done by women.
I thought this was pretty... jade phoenix. I developed somewhat of a fascination with the phoenix while in China.
If there's a phoenix, there must be a dragon... OK maybe not always.
And here's the gate to the Great Wall.
Ah,... there are our silk banners we made!
Flailing in the wind.
How amazing... Rebecca's and my banner happened to stay together. So we point them out. And I look like an idiot haha.
Getting ready to go up.
Realizing how far up that is....
Long way to go.... so...
I stayed where I was and took pictures. The view below.
My mom kept going without me. We weren't given much time to do climb anyway.. only and hour and a half??
I like the view of the town behind the mountains.
Evidence! Although it's not much evidence that I climbed the wall... there's still a lot of wall up there...
Buying a certificate that says I climbed it... dude that's what pictures are for.
This Nestle chick was everywhere. I'm considering cosplaying it one day XD
Our student rep sang "Eyes on Me" for us :D I'm sure only a few people got that if they played Final Fantasy.
Saturday. The Forbidden Palace and the Temple of Heaven.
I don't know why I look so serious here... with a portrait of Chairman Mao... /swt
Dragon carvings in marble... on the bridge only the Emperor could use at the time.
Huge carving of 9 dragons up the steps. 9 is significant for power in China. Lots of 9x9 knobs on doors.
Nice carving of the dragon counterpart, the phoenix. This part of the palace was for the Emperor's supposed 80-some odd rooms for his concubines. Eesh.
A natural stone formation which was significant because it looks like a man (left, clothing had the long sleeves) praying to the heavens (right, spots of white for stars).
My mom at one of the better points for viewing the moon or eating the moon cake or something of that sort...
Yay then we had lunch at a Thai restaurant. It was a big procession to welcome us into the building w/ someone playing the drums and some other chiming instrument. We had some nice entertainment inside too :D Another one of the minorities they felt like pointing out to us.
Off to the Temple of Heaven!
The construction of this temple is supposed to be amazing in that it is held by the positions of only a dozen beams and pillars (or was it four of one and twelve of the other..? I forget).
You enter Heaven when passing this gate.
Supposedly one can speak with God when on the round stone in the center. There was a lot of pushing to get there... Oi.
Anddddd another factory. Bronze this time. This guy's shaping a scene.
I love these things.
Pretty detail of the cranes.
I like the style of the clouds too XD
That evening, a few people went to an acrobatics show.
Obligatory martial arts..?
This part was cool..
Our group got to meet the cast backstage!
Sunday. Shopping in Bejing.
It was our last day in Beijing, so we had some free time to do whatever. We met up with my mom's cousin again, and she took us out for good Peking duck :D
Bye bye to Bruce Li, our Bus D captain. HAHA
This seems perfectly random, but when I saw this, I thought, I-House: International House at UCSD. XD
Oh Friendlies... These guys will be everywhere in 2008. Glad I got 'em now when they're relatively cheap. HAHA Yay thanks to Judy for these :D
Left to right: Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying, Ni Ni.... Beijing huan ying ni = Beijing welcomes you. How cute?
A two-month-late report:
China!
I don't even know where to start. When I told people I went to China, they always ask how it was. How do I sum up my first trip off of the continent, to the origin of my ancestors? So I leave it up to chronological order with pictures. Haha.
The two-week journey began on the evening of July 17th. International flights apparently suggest allowing 3 more hours than domestic flights, and our flight was at 1:40am on the 18th. I was traveling with my mom, and Rebecca arrived shortly after we did. It was a gruelling 12-hour flight. There was a toddler sitting by us and cried the entire way.
Received our roses and D tags! Yay Trip D.
Wednesday. Meet and greet.
Where we ate breakfast. Pretty :D
Aww Ikea! I thought about Eleena.
Our first sight-seeing trip, to one of the many gates/towers.
Yeah I don't know what it says. I thought I could look it up but it being Chinese writing doesn't necessarily make it kanji.. so I couldn't find all of them XD
The view from the top
Another tower
Walking around Tiananmen Square.
The building has a timer set for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We did not stop hearing about the 2008 Olympics, but then, our "Ambassador" trip was created by the committee..
We went for lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant. One out of the many minorities in China.
Entertainment XD
Afterwards, we had some free time, so my mom's cousin, Judy, took us to this radio tower.. but then the Friendlies are here. They're the Olympic mascots. Brilliant scheme for merchandise. HAHA
Lovely waterfall-ish thing in the front.
Wall art in the radio tower.
Up at the top.
View of the city down below.
This was on one of those crazy telescopes. It was free too.. Awesome... But I think the most amusing notice was "sun's dazzling."
Picture with adorable mascot.... I believe his name is Huan Huan. We would later learn that the mascots' names put together would mean "Beijing welcomes you."
What am I doing.. scaling the wall.. Ignore the ground 2 feet below me.. haha
Our first dinner, with Legends of China. This banner must have gone all over China. It was almost at every dinner.
The hotel we were staying at supposedly wasn't the first choice, but it was still really nice. Water boilers were in every hotel because you can't drink the water straight from the faucet. It even had free internet! Freeeee. It was too bad though, because this was the only place it was provided.
Must be Thursday. Summer Palace and Qinghua University.
We went to the Summer Palace.
A gate
The Dowager had this boat so she could drink tea... and there was a mirror where she could look at the scenery of her man-made lake from the mirror..
From there we went to Qinghua University and got a campus tour.
I don't think I would be able to study here.. I'd want to go explore the campus. So pretty.
Water lilies
Ah Confucious
Remnants of some nobility's property on the campus?
The "nest" as it was called is a structure built for the 2008 Olympics. That's where the pools will be.
I thought this was funny, but we actually did meet a man who called himself Dr. Tea (he got a Ph.D in tea production or whatever that major is called in China).
Friday. The Jade factory and the Great Wall of China!
We had already gone to a pearl factory the day before, and here's the jade factory... both government-runned to ensure authenticity, blah blah.
Apparently this part of the jade work requires a delicate and nimble hand, which is why it's only done by women.
I thought this was pretty... jade phoenix. I developed somewhat of a fascination with the phoenix while in China.
If there's a phoenix, there must be a dragon... OK maybe not always.
And here's the gate to the Great Wall.
Ah,... there are our silk banners we made!
Flailing in the wind.
How amazing... Rebecca's and my banner happened to stay together. So we point them out. And I look like an idiot haha.
Getting ready to go up.
Realizing how far up that is....
Long way to go.... so...
I stayed where I was and took pictures. The view below.
My mom kept going without me. We weren't given much time to do climb anyway.. only and hour and a half??
I like the view of the town behind the mountains.
Evidence! Although it's not much evidence that I climbed the wall... there's still a lot of wall up there...
Buying a certificate that says I climbed it... dude that's what pictures are for.
This Nestle chick was everywhere. I'm considering cosplaying it one day XD
Our student rep sang "Eyes on Me" for us :D I'm sure only a few people got that if they played Final Fantasy.
Saturday. The Forbidden Palace and the Temple of Heaven.
I don't know why I look so serious here... with a portrait of Chairman Mao... /swt
Dragon carvings in marble... on the bridge only the Emperor could use at the time.
Huge carving of 9 dragons up the steps. 9 is significant for power in China. Lots of 9x9 knobs on doors.
Nice carving of the dragon counterpart, the phoenix. This part of the palace was for the Emperor's supposed 80-some odd rooms for his concubines. Eesh.
A natural stone formation which was significant because it looks like a man (left, clothing had the long sleeves) praying to the heavens (right, spots of white for stars).
My mom at one of the better points for viewing the moon or eating the moon cake or something of that sort...
Yay then we had lunch at a Thai restaurant. It was a big procession to welcome us into the building w/ someone playing the drums and some other chiming instrument. We had some nice entertainment inside too :D Another one of the minorities they felt like pointing out to us.
Off to the Temple of Heaven!
The construction of this temple is supposed to be amazing in that it is held by the positions of only a dozen beams and pillars (or was it four of one and twelve of the other..? I forget).
You enter Heaven when passing this gate.
Supposedly one can speak with God when on the round stone in the center. There was a lot of pushing to get there... Oi.
Anddddd another factory. Bronze this time. This guy's shaping a scene.
I love these things.
Pretty detail of the cranes.
I like the style of the clouds too XD
That evening, a few people went to an acrobatics show.
Obligatory martial arts..?
This part was cool..
Our group got to meet the cast backstage!
Sunday. Shopping in Bejing.
It was our last day in Beijing, so we had some free time to do whatever. We met up with my mom's cousin again, and she took us out for good Peking duck :D
Bye bye to Bruce Li, our Bus D captain. HAHA
This seems perfectly random, but when I saw this, I thought, I-House: International House at UCSD. XD
Oh Friendlies... These guys will be everywhere in 2008. Glad I got 'em now when they're relatively cheap. HAHA Yay thanks to Judy for these :D
Left to right: Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying, Ni Ni.... Beijing huan ying ni = Beijing welcomes you. How cute?