Brookles
anonymouslady Joined: August 15th 2005
Logged in: December 15th 2010
Logged in: December 15th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
A restaurant
Odd signs I saw all around China.... And some group quotes: "You have obeyed the People's Republic of China!" "I want to see your tongues" "There's beans popping out all over!" "I got a standing ovation from the women at Tai Chi. Reallly? Well, they were already standing...." "Frankly its not all that jazzed" "I think I just told that guy he has a beautiful mustache" "We need a code word for that. It's called English" "Dont worry mom they have bike lanes here" "She's so fugly" "Fine thanks. And you?" "if the cops make us leave do you think they'll let us shop for a couple of hours before they make us go?" "Uniformly Deadly" "Furnace of China" "If we fall down and hurt ourselves make sure you get as many pictures as you can ... read more
Longest day of my life…just about 32 hours. My horoscope today actually says I will pack as much in a day as possible…and oh how right. The flight was long. On it were Kate, James, Jackie, and Kareem, who we had met in Shanghai. We actually almost missed it because the buses ACT ordered to pick us up at the hotel never showed (or showed later) so we needed to cab it last minute. And in all the confusion we didn't get to really say goodbye to Sunny...who I will likely never see again. Forver goodbyes are hard, so maybe it was for the best. We stopped in Tokyo for five hours where we got some eats (yummy). The airport there, Narita, was very modern and very nice. I could definitely spend some time in Japan… ... read more
Everything I saw in China that I bought I could have bought here for less. They had tons of awesome jewelry and other knickknacks. I didn’t even look at the clothes because it was too overwhelming and I had run out of cash. Anyhow after hours of shopping for last minute gifts, I went to the established meeting spot but Sam and Jackie were no where to be found. And I waited….And then I took off to go home. Stopped by the dumpling place we went to yesterday again for dinner (and earlier today for breakfast… because they were so damn good!). I actually ate dinner alone, which was the first meal I had eaten alone since I can remember (while at home I often eat alone, on the go), which gave me some time to ... read more
Sunny marveling at Beijing
Sam, Annie and I had fabulous dumplings for breakfast (16 cents for a whole plate). The group was doing Great Wall today (at Badeling) so we ditched them to check out some modern art, which I had wanted to do for a while. We found this neighborhood, called 768 (kind of soho-ish), that seemed to have a lot of little galleries and studios among a sea of factories. Usually old factory towns become run down and then artists find them, yuppify and gentrify etc. These factories were still very much operating and the pollution in the area was terrible (our eyes were burning). China is developing so fast that it seems they sometimes just skip stages of “normal” development, or they just flat out do it their own way. For example, a lot of places went ... read more
Sunny returns!
After a lot of effort we managed to pick up our bags and make our way to the hotel where ACT, the large group of Americans we started with in Shanghai, would be staying. We would be freeloading off them for a few days (free hotel, and tentative touring costs). Of course they weren’t there when we arrived, but they showed a couple of hours later. Turns out they were going to Tiananmen, so we trekked along for the ride. We had hoped to see Mao (in preservative jelly) but the lines were too long. In the large group Jackie and I suddenly spotted Sunny and started yelling with excitement. Sam hadn’t yet noticed Sunny, so she came up behind him and covered his eyes. Isaac, who was also there, was yelling that a monkey was ... read more
Birthday
I’m 24 (I know I look 12) - I think that’s a pretty damn good age to be, except for the fact that I like odd numbers better. 23 was such a good year. Perhaps I am feeling a little bit old, but maybe that is because I have been traveling mainly with 19 year olds, who, to be fair, are actually very mature. Kate and James met up with us for lunch. They had been in Beijing all this time, staying with James’ uncle, whom apparently lives in a very wealthy neighborhood and has a driver. Kate, James, Annie, Sam, Jackie and I went to this quarter of the city known for the artwork there. It was nice to be with most of the group again. The area reminded me a bit of Xiantao, more ... read more
Great Wall
(AKA THE GREAT HORNET'S NEST) The wall is great, so great that in fact I am going to call it amazing. It is definitely one of the most beautiful and oldest sites (except perhaps some places in Israel) that I have ever seen. It also made the Swiss Alps look lame, including the 3 hour hike I did there. First off, we did not see the wall where most people see it, at Badeling, about an hour from Beijing. Sam, Jackie and I went three hours outside of Beijing, to Simatai, where it is a lot more rugged. At the beginning and end of the hike it looks like Badeling, its flat, bridge-like (not many stairs) and restored. As you go along it becomes less and less in tact. Some of the rock is crumbling and ... read more
Dumplings
We ended up near the wrong train station and had to cab it thirty minutes. The city seems to be ridiculously huge. Our driver spoke no English and didn’t understand our (Sam’s) Chinese. I guess the accident is very different here, but I thought Sam and Jackie had been taught Beijing Chinese. Anyhow…it was kind of cute because she had to call her teenage son at home to talk to us in English. Finally we got there, and who do we see, but Annie (we knew she’d be here). Apparently she still hadn’t been able to leave Beijing. She’s been here over two weeks now and we’ve said goodbye to her two or three times. Her new nickname is Beijing Annie. The hostel is kick ass! It’s totally new and clean and the four of us, ... read more
Local Man
In the morning, in the courtyard, we met this very jaded traveler from Poland/Australia (he said he’s a bit of a nomad). He actually kind of looked Dutch and sounds Canadian. Anyway, he was starting to get on my nerves, especially after he said that all Psychology was crap. He even said this after I said I was a psyche major, which I think is kind of rude. Plus, he had been lucky enough to get to Tibet, but complained that the money to get there (roughly a $300 tax) was just going straight to the Chinese government to persecute the Tibetans (he did sort of have a point). Anyhow somehow I ended up inviting him to brunch with us, mainly because his travel stories were actually pretty interesting, and I kind of felt bad for ... read more
Pingyao
Pingyao is a walled ancient city, from, the Ming dynasty. I believe its one of the only fully intact cities from this time, as most of them have been destroyed and modernized. Anyhow it’s totally a tourist town with nothing to do really but eat and buy trinkets, but it’s a small place, so it isn’t too crowded. When we got off the train some guy said he had a hotel for us for a good price. He drove us to this place which I thought appeared a bit sketchy on the outside. Inside it was actually really cool, totally old school and authentic (my fav hotel so far). It had a very pretty courtyard with a European feel to it. The room had one giant (and very hard) bed for the three of us to ... read more
