Guest Blogger: MMM CJJ asked me to write this entry because I’m an Olympic fanatic! What’s not to love about the Olympics? It is such a wonderful idea to bring the world together in the name of sport despite people’s differences and political ideas. During the Olympics, the world *attempts* to put aside its differences and focus on those who have devoted their lives to representing their countries in search for Olympic Glory. And what’s more is the Olympic Spirit; hence, the Beijing Olympics motto: One World, One Dream. The Olympics is not just about [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 2 of Beijing: Breakfast, Tiananmen Sq, Forbidden City, Silk Market, Hand Pulled Noodles MMM and I got out of the hotel around 9:00 and had breakfast at a nearby Chinese restaurant and had small steamed buns and complimentary soy milk. We then headed to Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. Too bad the weather was overcast and pretty hazy. As you can tell in the pictures, Beijing looked pretty dismal that day. The haze is a mixture of fog and pollution (eew). MMM and I thought the haze added to the Communist feel. Don't be fooled: haze doesn't mean that the [View Full Entry]

---

---

I started to get lazy about journalizing everyday in Beijing. However, the Summer Palace wasn't any less notable just because I'm lazy. On our third day in Beijing we first stopped by to see the progress of the Olympic stadiums (see next posting). Then we visted the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was originally built in the 1750s and was later destroyed by wars. In the late 1800s, the Summer Palace was expanded and rebuilt, as demanded by Empress Cixi. The Summer Palace served as a summer resort for the Empress. There's a man-made lake (Kunming Lake) and a famous 17 [View Full Entry]

---

---

Guest Blogger: MMM (per SF Girl's request) No trip to China would be complete without a visit to the Great Wall of China. So today we put on our best sneakers and got ready for a trek on the #1 ranked site of the Seven Wonders of the World. Since SF Girl, who I will refer to as CJJ (short for C Jie Jie, which means “big sister”), had already been to the Badaling part of the Great Wall, we decided to join a tour to the Mutianyu section, which supposedly has significantly less tourists and better scenery. For 310 rmb [View Full Entry]

---

---

Note: After I posted the last entry, M was disappointed that I was using the same initial to refer to multiple people. Therefore, to clearly identify her going forward, she "insists" on being referred to as something different. We have agreed on "MMM" which stands for M Mei Mei, which means "little sister" in Chinese. We stayed at J's new apartment for two nights. She had some extra space at her apartment as she awaits her new roommate P to arrive. J's place was very modern, clean and nice! Her rent is pretty comparable to a new SoMa apartment, if not [View Full Entry]

---

---

I went to a Target type store looking to buy a bike. I still think I want to buy a bike, despite the crazy cyclists here. The bicycle salesman was quite nice and wasn't trying to sell me the expensive ones. He asked where my parents were from, and I said they are both "Jiangsu ren". He said, "Really? You have a Taiwan accent." This is true. I have an American mixed with Taiwan accent (American/Taiwan accent). I wonder if my Chinese sounds as bad to him as English spoken by China immigrant in Texas (Southern/Chinese accent). I previously wrote in [View Full Entry]

---

---

I kept cancelling my appointment for a massage, but today I went to go get a foot massage! Based on some reviews I read from Shanghaiexpat.com, I went to this place that is literally a block away from my apartment (on Wending near Nandan). It looked pretty legit from the outside and is connected to a large restuarant/cafe called Strait's Cafe. I looked at the services list and went for the oil foot massage - 88 rmb for a 60 minutes. A bit on the expensive side, but I figured I'd start out with something more appealing to the Western eye [View Full Entry]

---

---

I've spent the past two days suffering from bug bites (17 of them). They have consumed me. I've used hydrocortisone, Chinese ointment from the pharmacy, rubbing dry soap on them, and even rubbing banana peel over them (I read that off the Internet) to alleviate the burning and itching. No mercy! I still scratched and the bites bruise, puss, inflame, and it looks as if someone has abused and beaten me. Gross. Additionally, I became quite fatigued on Saturday and I swear it's because my body is trying to fight these bites. I am taking suggestions for how to avoid future [View Full Entry]

---

---

I woke up early to get to Nanjing this morning; I wanted to take a 7:50 am train. I took the metro about 30 minutes to the Shanghai Railroad Station. Good thing I gave myself a lot of extra time because there are literally a million people everywhere. The train station ticket line is a zoo. I got my ticket to Nanjing - a bullet train that only stops once in Wuxi. The station is huge, but easy to navigate, I got to the platform, got to my car number and found my seat. The train ride there was nice, except [View Full Entry]

---

---

I've been walking around a lot and often wearing sandals or reef flip flops. These don't provide enough ankle support. I'm thankful I brought two pairs of overpriced comfort shoes from home. I highly recommend trying on a pair of Geox and Ecco shoes. I hesitated buying them because they don't look very hip, but both shoes are water-proof, light weight and have good ventilation, perfect for this hot rainy weather. Anyway, my feet don't like all the walking, and the heels of my feet have become dry/itchy and cracked, and my ankles feel tired. I bought a pinyin book and [View Full Entry]

---

---