Blogs from Olympic Park, Beijing, China, Asia - page 3

my last day in Beijing. I started the day with the antiques / flea market in the South-East of the city. They sell anything and everything ("a chap can unload, is sold off the barrel...") much of it kitch and faux-antiques. It was fun to browse but I didn't ever think seriously about buying the apparently priceless antique plate and then carting it round the rest of China with me. My friend and I stopped off for Korean barbeque for lunch - a hillarious adventure trying to translate everything into English / Mandarin, mostly with the help of a poor customer who spoke the best English in the restaurant and was, to my chagrin, constantly interrupted by the waiters when they didn't understand our pidgeon-Chinese / simple English. Feeling very full after that feast, we made ... read more

After the duck we rounded up a group, my three other traveling companions, an awesome Scotsman, Alan and four lovely ladies, all of whom were staying at our hostel and were fellow teachers on vacation from Korea. We finally hailed a cab and made it to the 'back lakes' area where we were fortunate enough to find a club/bar that was big enough to have some loud music and dancing and plenty of people. The night was awesome, complete with good drink, funny conversation, some hilarious dance moves and a post countdown pole dance that came out of nowhere. Throw in a solid (prolonged) new years kiss, and add a partial eclipse of the moon and it was one hell of a good time. Hello 2010! The next day, after sleeping in a little for obvious ... read more

After a large lunch (post climbing) we stopped by the Birds Nest National Stadium. Strange enough it's been converted into a race track for cars somewhat larger than go carts (ROC: Race of Champions?) - perhaps temporary of course. Very cool place but a bit deceiving in size...seemed bigger during the Olympics last August. Tiffany got a nice souvenir which is a preserved piece of the infield grass collected after the games closed...... read more

The day after our Great Wall adventure, we headed out early again this time to see the Summer Palace. I love visiting stuff of historical importance so I was pretty stoked about seeing the Summer Palace. I knew that much of it was rebuilt and not original (courtesy of the destructive plundering of French troops many moons ago) but I was still excited to see how the emperor’s spent their summer holidays. A short train and cab ride from our hostel and we arrived at the main gate. There was an immense lake where one could take dragon boat rides. There were several islands with various temples and the main structure which towered in the distance. Awesome, more stairs. Lots more. We crossed a bridge that was famous for something and stopped at our first temple. ... read more

We awoke to find our ship in a lock. I thought for a moment we were in the Panama Canal. But then realized it was a lock allowing us to enter the port of Inchon. Inchon is a new port for us and this is our first time in Korea. We both have spent a lot of time flying over Korea but now we had a chance to see it at ground level. Korea is quite an anomaly, situated between the two powerhouse nations of China and Japan and having to contend with the menacing presence of Kim Jong Il to the north. Inchon is the port city for Seoul which is about 2 hours away. We decided to visit this historic port town in lieu of spending most of the day on a bus. The ... read more