We've learned our blogging lesson and have decided that waiting a full week to provide an update is just too long and results in too much information being packed into 1 blog. Thinking about our experiences in Japan and then reading our blog, we also feel that we've left out so many great things. As a result of this:
- We will now try and blog every few days (we're still looking for a picture uploading option, but are concerned that we will not be able to find one. If anyone has any suggestions, please let us know)\
- We have updated a few brief bullets with some more observations from Japan as we don't want that part our our trip to miss out.
-The taxi doors automatically open and close (don't try and do it yourself or you will be yelled at)
-Art displays should not be touched or you will be yelled at (Jeremy tried to roll a ball which he thought was a toy, but was actually part of the art work...ooppss)
-The word hai (pronounced hi) is said over and over again when listening to someone else speak. It means "Yes". Dave was an expert at this.
-Correction to the last blog where I was discussing the baseball game and said that the girl vendors were carrying keys on their back as they are actually carrying KEGS!
-We worked on learning some Japaneses words during our time there and my favorite phrase that I wanted to use was i kura des ka which means "how much is that". I finally used it, but somehow forgot that they would respond in Japanese and realized that I don't know the numbers in the language past the number 2, so that failed and I just gave her a bunch of cash.
Ok, now it's time for our China excursion for which I will hand the keyboard over to Erin.
Yesterday morning we said goodbye to Dave and Nikki and headed off to catch our flight from Tokyo to Beijing. We were able to enjoy some time in the lounge before boarding, so Jeremy tried his hand at the famous beer tap that so many people told us about. It pours your beer and then spits out the perfect amount of foam. It was neat, but we weren't really eager for beer at that hour. Our flight arrived in China in the early afternoon. Our driver, Mr. Wang was eagerly waiting for us and holding up a huge JEREMY CIACCIA sign. He didn't speak any English but motioned for us to follow him, which we did. The airport is about 30 minutes from the city. The drive was fine but drivers are insane here. We've never seen anything like it. Mr. Wang passes car into oncoming traffic just to get moving. It's scary stuff!
When we arrived at the hotel, our English speaking guide, Annie was waiting for us. We quickly checked in before running off to Tianamen Square. She wanted to make sure we could do as much as possible. Tianamen Square was very big - we think it's the biggest square in the world, but could be wrong. After walking around and admiring the square, Annie took us to Qian Hai Lake which is a huge pond surrounded by bars, shops and other interesting things. We walked around the water and tried a few different treats. One was a baked dough ball covered in sesame seeds. The other was a stick of berries covered in hard sugar - very good! Our last stop of the day with Annie was the Donghuamen Night Market, a famous market that sells all kinds of random foods from fried star fish to lamb skewers. We tried a range starting safe with the dumplings and ending with fried scorpions! They were very crunchy and tasted a bit like chicken.
When we returned to the hotel, we were pretty exhausted. We enjoyed a cocktail in the bar before relaxing in our very nice hotel room.
Mr. Wang picked us up this morning at 9 am. We drove outside the city to pick up Annie on our way to The Great Wall. The part we were going to is about 1.5 hours from the city. It is supposed to be less touristy as buses don't go that far. Well, it was busy, but nothing like other places we have seen in Asia. There definitely are a lot of people over here! We decided to take a gondola ride up to the wall as the walk is a steep 40 minutes upwards. We walked from tower to tower exploring the amazing site. We were really lucky to have a great sunny day and were happy that we packed a big bottle of water! When we got to the end of the section we were exploring we had two options - walk down or luge down. I bet you can guess which we chose. LUGE time!! The ride was similar to those we have done in New Zealand but we agreed that it was much better. We whizzed down the mountain in our little carts and had a great time.
Annie took us to lunch at one of her favorite local restaurants. We enjoyed a mushroom and chicken dish as well as a beef dish. The food was delicious but we struggled a bit with the chop sticks. Annie told us not to worry though as table manners don't exist in China, thank goodness for us!
Our next stop was the Summer Palace which is where the royal families spent their time to escape the heat of the city. This place was very busy. I noticed a sign that said they had 30,000 visitors yesterday and were expecting 15,000 today. There were so many tour groups. We laughed as many of them wore matching hats. We joked that we should wear hats so Annie wouldn't lose us, but agreed that my bright yellow t-shirt would stand out in the crowd.
We have been relaxing this evening. We enjoyed a swim in the hot tub and dinner at an Indian restaurant nearby. We also took some photos of a tragic site near our hotel. A fire in February engulfed the Mandarin hotel that was being built: News Story
Our time in China has been great so far. It is definitely a struggle not speaking the language, but good fun and full of laughs as well!
2 comments:
That's awesome you guys had a driver and tour guide ready - how did you pre-arrange that?
We had received a recommendation from someone who had used the same guide. It has been very helpful and we notice lots of other english speaking people with guides as well, so it must be a common thing!
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