abradbury

so we arrived in xi'an, i gave a gift from my tea girl to her father at the airport. after that we went to HanYangLing Mausoleum, it is the only museum where you could go downstairs and stand on glass to see what were buried for Emperor's afterlife. that was the impressive! later that day we finished my going to Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which is the most famous and popular Buddhist temple in Xi'an. then we ate at the most amazing buffet dinner ever at our amazing hotel. it was a great day! the next day we woke up early, had breakfast and then headed out for the day. we first stopped at a factory that makes terra-cotta warriors like they use to in the ancient days. then off to the Terra-cotta Army Museum. the ... read more

well a few nights ago me and my german girl walked to get dinner. it was a really nice night, and we were walking on the beach. then she had to stop by an atm, where we saw this woman with her little dog. they were both wearing strips, so we had to get a picture of them! haha! after that we went to youhome to find green friendly product labels. it was hilarious! the workers in the store had no idea what we were doing, and they didn't know enough english to ask. we got some strange looks, but she got here homework done. i also found a box of condoms that read" medicated for long love making. she took a picture of it haha i also recently made a trip to the forest zoo, ... read more

so we got to Beijing on a thursday night. headed to the hotel and then went to their buffet for dinner. it was the best buffet i ever remember going to! Indian, Japanese, Chinese, and American food. it was delicious! i typically am not a buffet person, but this one was wicked good. the next day we woke up early and had breakfast. then we headed out to the Forbidden City. that was pretty interesting. i took a lot of pictures, and fought my way through the crowds to get good pictures. after that we went to the square across the street. it was by some government buildings. then off to the silk market! i love shopping here, everything is so cheap. i am also pretty damn good at bartering. i got shoes, jeans, a belt ... read more

so the majority of my xi'an pics are on my dad's laptop, so i will post them as soon as i can. the xi'an pics i have in here are of the last day we were there. out hotel room was insanely awesome. it was probably the best hotel i have ever stayed in. on the last day there we went shopping, visited a very old mosque and ate delicious food. it was a fantastic trip! since i have been back, one of dad's amazing coworkers showed me and ze german around another part of this city. we ate donkey, shopped and had Japanese food for dinner. then i hung out at the tea shop till two of the girls got home, they taught me a fun card game. i have been keeping up on my ... read more

you get hit by a car that only has 3 wheels, you see a donkey with a carriage of trash going the wrong way on the road, random people take photos with you, all the english you hear is 'hello' and/or you visit a nice flower park that even has a local man peeing on the flowers. i love china! so dad's coworker made us dinner the other night. it was delicious! shrimp, pork, garlic shoots, dumpling galore! his local coworkers are very hospitable. another one of them is taking me and a german around a different part of town on sunday. other then that i got my nails redone and i LOOOOOVE them. i got a pedicure. bought random accessories. coffee. lattes. finished my second book since i have been here. the language barrier is ... read more

so the other night i went out partying with some Germans, Chinese and Australians. it was a fun time. we got really cheap bottle service, and danced. in china you can literally drink and smoke everywhere: street, bus, train, taxi, bars, ect. i love china! there was free coat check in every bar, and the drinks were insanely cheap. i don't think i will go out partying here again, but it was an experience. the next day me and one of the germans went hiking. we weren't feeling very well, but we hiked for about 3 hours. it was a very beautiful day to hike, and the scenery was really neat. we hiked through some mountains to the ocean. some locals took a picture with us and about 8 random locals said "hello", haha. we stopped ... read more

so yesterday my dad's chinese teacher came over around 1pm, so i had to leave the apartment. i walked around the beach and read for a while. the weather was great yesterday! it was very peaceful being by the water. after that i picked up one of my tea house girls and we went shopping. the place we went to was called 'victory plaza', and it was an underground marketplace. the lower the level you go, the cheaper the prices get. i have been freezing here at night so we went looking for a sweater/jacket and a scarf. it was a lot of fun experiencing the marketplace with a local! she helped me get lower prices and told me when we should just walk away. i am really happy with the sweater/jacket that we got and ... read more

yesterday my driver took me to pick up a few things from the store. then i met with a couple friends for lunch at I 55 cafe. their coffee is to die for, and my sandwich was delicious! we hung out there talking and smoking for a while. then we headed to a flower shop to pick up flowers for our painting class on friday. the teacher told us to get red flowers. i just couldn't help it when i saw the amazing flowers, so i bought 2 bunches. one was yellow and one was orange. then i got a single red rose and a single bird of paradise. all of the flowers, except the yellow ones, i put in a vase in my apartment for dad :) the yellow flowers and some sweets i brought ... read more

i am so full that i probably shouldn't eat for the next week! i pretty much have been trying to relax and learn the area i am living in. so today i went on a long walk. i almost got hit by a car that has 3 wheels. a random local man kept following me saying 'hello... hello...' for about 5 minuets. i pretty much ran away from him after the first couple of minuets. then me and 2 of the tea house girls went for lunch at the chicken place. 2 of their local friends met us there. it was delicious!!! and we had a fun time. after that my driver took me to pick up dad from work. dad showed me around intel a bit and introduced me to a few people. his friend ... read more

yesterday i slept most of the day. dad had plans with his chinese teacher so i went over to the tea house. the girls were finishing up some stuff, so this chinese man made me sit down with him and have tea. i tried the most amazing tea EVER it was a 50 year old red tea. i still can not get over how amazing it was. he spoke some english and was telling me about the teas. it is hard to describe but his tea set up was very native looking. i should of taken a picture. then one of the girls took me to dinner. we took a taxi and ate at this amazing chicken place. i still can not get over how awesome the food was and how cheap it was! we had ... read more