great trip

Sounds like you are getting to see so much!!!! Thanks for the great blogs, it is great to get an account of your experiences and your impressions. We look forward to learning more. All is fine at home. Miss and love you. Mom and Dad PS Hope you are eating and sleeping well!!!!

X'ian and the Terracotta Soldiers

We arrived in X'ian today after an overnight train from Beijing. The train was much better than expected - filled with the common Chinese people but everything was pretty clean. The Chinese people stared at a girl in our group from Scotland (blonde hair, blue eyes) and even took pictures of and with her. Compared to being in Japan, we get a lot of curious looks, but no one has given us a hard time.

From the railway station to the hotel, we saw tents in the park areas of X'ian. Our guide told us that there were people sleeping in tents outside because they are afraid of the aftershocks of the earthquake and they live in poorly constructed buildings. There were seven aftershocks felt yesterday, and during the first quake, people in X'ian died when construction cranes dropped. Buildings cracked here even though this is about 600 km away from the epicenter.

We made our way on a bus to see the terracotta warriors. It is a huge complex with a beautiful musuem covering the excavation site. There were so many warriors, each one unique and modeled exactly after a warrior in the emperor's army 2,000 years ago. The site was discovered in 1974 when a Chinese farmer was trying to dig a well, and pulled up a terracotta head. They were very afraid and thought they had interfered with the god of the earth and so contacted the government, who began excavating the site.

It is incredible to see how many soldiers and horses are there - each one took a long time to create, and burn in a kiln and paint. It took 37 years to do this, his tomb started construction when he was 14! The emperor must have been crazy to do this - and his people were mad, because after he died, they burned the tombs and destroyed many of the soldiers. Archeologists are putting them back together piece by piece. There is a lot of work left to be done, but it is amazing that they did all this 2,000 years ago. They even used chromium as a coating on their weapons to prevent corrosion, which the west only figured out worked in the 1930s.

We are off to eat more dumplings today and hear some Chinese music and see dancing! Tomorrow, it's off to Suzhou (like Venice) and then to Shanghai!

Beijing and the Great Wall

The first thing we noticed was the smog and haze. You can barely see down the street. It was hotter, and even though there isn't trash on the street, everything is covered in a graysih dust, including our faces by the end of the day.

Beijing is HUGE! It takes 4 hours to get from one side to another - 14 million people. We ventured out with the map and thought we made it to a temple, but in fact only went about 1 cm on the map. It is challenging to communicate and get around - hardly anyone speaks english including the hotel staff who wouldn't check us in.



We managed to find some dumplings the first night and saw the Temple of Heaven the next day, which was again HUGE, but gorgeous and recently restored. An amazing prayer temple with gold dragon detail and a beautiful park that provides some oxygen for Beijing locals.

We met up with the group that night for some peking duck - very greasy. One of the disppointments in China has been the food - most things are super oily and just not that appealing. Our group is fun - a bunch of aussies who like to have a good laugh and some beers, which is nice!

The next day we saw the great wall - the world's longest cemetery. I never knew that before - thousands of bodies of the workers are buried underneath it. But, honestly, when there, I didn't even think about the bodies. It was so beautiful in the mountains, and hard to imagine how they carried up these stones over these jagged mountains to build the wall for hundreds of miles. We hiked 496 steps to a great lookout point - chinese stairmaster! On the way back, we saw the olympic grounds and the bird's nest. There is so much left to be completed, it is amazing that it will be complete in two months. Now many of the buildings look 1/2 way complete, and have construction materials and temporary shelters everywhere.

The next day was one of our favorites in Beijing. We toured the forbidden city which was again massive and detailed with gold and dragons, etc. But, a great part was touring the Hutong, Beijing's old neighborhoods, that look a bit like slums from the outside, but inside have winding roads to some beautiful homes. We stepped in a home that exemplified the elements of feng shui perfectly and it would sell for over 1 million USD, even though it was in this poor area! We enjoyed a meal cooked by a retired Chinese couple - the best meal of the trip yet, with lots of interesting stir-fried vegetables like bamboo shoots, mushrooms, eggplant, garlic chives, and more. We road in a rickshaw to Opium street, the oldest street in Beijing. This area was a welcome change from the chaos of the rest of Beijing.

All in all, our first few days in China have been eye opening. It seems as if the entire country is under construction - massive highways, new railways and metros. It seems to us as if everything is the "best" because that's how they describe everything here - the largest palacial complex, the best and largest architectural complex in the world, etc. It's been a big culture shock - the people push you around, no one will stop for you at a cross walk, and a lot of people spit on the street - watch out. We are finally getting used to it after a few days.

Tokyo

After almost missing our flight (12:20 noon vs. what I thought was midnight), we made it to Tokyo. Ate some cold noodles on the plane and we were there!

We loved Tokyo - so clean. The people were gorgeous, so fashionable, and respectful. They bow a lot and we found ourselves getting around easily and communicating with body language.

Despite the confusing metro map in Japanese, we figured things out all right - stayed in trendy Shibuya area complete with karaoke bars and Club Sega (arcade), and we ordered ramen from a vending machine (yes, we are cheap).

Early the next morning, we went to the fish market and saw all kinds of interesting creatures - big squid, red fish, tuna. It was chaos, they cart things around on these crazy storage scooters at mach speeds. We then had sushi for breakfast - the best tuna roll ever!

We strolled over to the Imperial Palace - couldn't go in but got a view from afar. Then we walking to the metro we walked through Hibya park and to our delight, we heard music. Turns out it was octoberfest! What more could we ask for than great german beers, a pretzel, and a crazy german band playing german music but singing in japanese. Our favorite part of the day!

We then checked out Shinjuku, and saw the latest cell phone technology - looks like video conferencing on cell phones will get to the US in about 5 years time.

All in all, a great stay and would definitely go back to Japan for more time. Such wonderful people and really beautiful!

Hot Spots

OK, so here is a tentative list of places we are planning to see on our trip. I know this looks like a lot of places, but some serve only as hubs (crossing points), while others will be longer stays. If we don't come back, this could be a starting point for a search *(just kidding). Dates have been left out on purpose:

Tokyo, Japan

eijing, China

Xi'an, China

Suzhou, China

Shanghai, China

Bangkok, Thailand

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Rai, Thailand

Chiang Khong, Thailand

Luang Prabang, Laos

Vang Vieng, Laos

Vientiane,Laos

Hanoi, Vietman

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Sapa, Vietnam

Ninh Binh, Vietnam

Dalat, Vietnam

Hue, Vietnam

Hoi an, Vietnam

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

ngkor Wat / Siem Riep, Cambodia

Ko Samet, Thailand

Phuket, Thailand

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Singapore, Singapore

Bali, Indonesia or Hong Kong, China

Wishing you both well!!!!

Hi -

I am soooooo excited for you both....What a wonderful experience you are going to have. I am so bummed as we moved back a little too soon. Take lots of pictures and videos and can't wait to hear about your stories. Try to stay cool as it is going to be getting extremely warm there now.

Also, in case you have any issues at all.....Here is the cell number for one of my closest friends (Julie 137 7737 3939) and she pretty much runs are factory. I told her you would be over there and may need her assistance. She is lives in Hangzhou but is only 2 hours away from Shanghai.

Best of luck...enjoy and keep us posted on your whereabouts!!!

Getting Packed!

OK, so this is what I will be living out of for the next 2 and half months. One pack, one day pack, two cameras, two shorts, pair of slacks, three shirts, three pairs of socks, shoes, sandals, malaria meds, book, passport, toothbrush, and of course round the world underwear. Is that everything?

Hey, I was actually able to figure out how to get on this blog!!!!!! Have a great trip. I am looking forward to hearing all about it. Love, Mom

Time is Short

HI Brennan and Summer, It is getting closer to your departure. I'm sure you are both getting excited and a bit nervous about the trip. Just relax and enjoy this time before you depart and I know everything will be fine. Thinking of you both. Don

Setting up the blog

I hope this works when we are gone!