Conquering China: Part 3
I know I've been a terrible blogger lately (and my dad won't let me forget it), so here's the stunning conclusion to my adventures in China!
XI'AN 西安
Day 7: May 3
Up and out of the hostel by 4:30am to catch our flight to Xi'an--easily one of the most exhausting mornings of my life--so I took advantage of the questionable weather and took a 3 hour nap immediately upon arrival. When I woke up it was lunchtime, so we decided to get out into the city a bit to eat and sightsee.
First stop, the Great Goose Pagoda.
...and the KFC Pagoda?
Then we wandered back inside the city walls to eat some dinner and wander through the Bell/Drum Towers and Muslim Quarter. There were a lot of small vendors selling the same souvenirs that we saw in Beijing, but the food market was a pleasant change of scenery. I bought some dried fruit and yummy sweets before heading back to the hostel for an early night in.
(Xi'an's most pleasant surprise--while waiting for a stoplight to change we realized that there was a little dance lesson/activity taking place outside this McDonald's, so we stood and watched for a bit... so so cute.)
Day 8: May 4
Overslept a bit because there was no sun and my cell phone/alarm clock died in the middle of the night, but after a yummy breakfast we headed out of the city to see the terra-cotta soldiers. Five seconds after we walked out of the hostel it started to pour and didn't stop for a day or two. Perfect timing. We made it to the soldiers though (and thanks to our sketchy cabbie, to some other lovely tourist sights) and snapped a few pics amid the 10 million people who shared our travel itinerary.
Caught a bus home, enjoyed a hot shower, bit of shopping, yummy dinner and another early night...
SHANGHAI 上海
Day 9: May 5
We were at the airport before 7am again and, after a short incident where our cab driver tried to unload us on another cabbie en route, finally arrived in Shanghai sometime around noon. (Honestly, as you may have detected, I wasn't terribly disappointed to leave Xi'an--two days of bad weather, mediocre food and the shadiest hostel employees/cabbies that I've ever encountered was more than enough for me.) I needed to change some money, so I wandered out into the drizzle to find a bank that would be open on the holiday (along the way I also found some yummy gelato--Shanghai was already winning against Xi'an). The rain only got worse as the evening went on, so we welcomed the opportunity to relax and regroup for a good weekend to round out our trip.
Day 10: May 6
Woke up and caught a taxi to the Bund area along the water in Shanghai. Famous for its European architecture on one bank and the Pearl Tower on the other, we enjoyed walking through the area before lunch. Hoping to finish souvenir shopping at the antiques market we set off on foot into the city. Walking along the main roads proved to be noisy and boring, so we broke off the beaten path and wandered though some more residential areas. The narrow alleys, crowded electric/telephone lines and low hanging laundry reminded me of photos from American and European cities in the early 1900s. The open market-style streets were fascinating--every block had a different theme: prepared food, fruits and veggies, bicycles, tools, large appliances, small appliances, clothes and we even caught a glimpse into a dentists' office in the front room of a residential neighborhood. While this was one of my favorite peeks into China, it felt rude to photograph people and their homes, so there are no pictures for you to peek into my peek. Eventually we stumbled into the antiques market, ate some yummy food and finished our shopping.
Headed back to the Bund to see what the evening view was like.
Day 11: May 7
Woke up to sunshine for the first time since day 6! Decided to ditch our plans to spend the day at the National Museum in Shanghai and opted instead to spend another day wandering through the city--anything to be outside. Grabbed some take-out lunch and ate in the park behind the museum then set out toward our hostel on foot.
Once dinnertime rolled around we hailed a cab to take us the rest of the way to our hostel. After a bit of packing we headed to a nearby restaurant and had heaps of yummy dumplings and other yummy food for dinner.
Day 12: May 8
Another early morning trip to the airport and some office-omiyage buying before catching our flight back to Tokyo.
It's been a full month since returning from China, but I still think about it quite a bit. Like any other trip, it left me with an incomplete feeling--some unfinished business that makes me tell myself that I have to go back. That I'll go back some day and see the Temple of Heaven and revisit the other sites in Beijing that were being renovated for the 2008 Olympics. That I'll go to the south, or farther west, or catch the new train into Tibet. I feel the same about seeing Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, Pusan in Southern S. Korea, a million places in Japan and the other main islands in Hawaii. Then I really start to think about it and I begin to feel that way about nearly everywhere. *sigh* The JET Program has allowed me many opportunities to learn about living and working in an international environment, but more than that, it has made it possible for me to have experiences like this trip to China.
Looking forward to the next adventure!
XI'AN 西安
Day 7: May 3
Up and out of the hostel by 4:30am to catch our flight to Xi'an--easily one of the most exhausting mornings of my life--so I took advantage of the questionable weather and took a 3 hour nap immediately upon arrival. When I woke up it was lunchtime, so we decided to get out into the city a bit to eat and sightsee.
First stop, the Great Goose Pagoda.
...and the KFC Pagoda?
Then we wandered back inside the city walls to eat some dinner and wander through the Bell/Drum Towers and Muslim Quarter. There were a lot of small vendors selling the same souvenirs that we saw in Beijing, but the food market was a pleasant change of scenery. I bought some dried fruit and yummy sweets before heading back to the hostel for an early night in.
(Xi'an's most pleasant surprise--while waiting for a stoplight to change we realized that there was a little dance lesson/activity taking place outside this McDonald's, so we stood and watched for a bit... so so cute.)
Day 8: May 4
Overslept a bit because there was no sun and my cell phone/alarm clock died in the middle of the night, but after a yummy breakfast we headed out of the city to see the terra-cotta soldiers. Five seconds after we walked out of the hostel it started to pour and didn't stop for a day or two. Perfect timing. We made it to the soldiers though (and thanks to our sketchy cabbie, to some other lovely tourist sights) and snapped a few pics amid the 10 million people who shared our travel itinerary.
Caught a bus home, enjoyed a hot shower, bit of shopping, yummy dinner and another early night...SHANGHAI 上海
Day 9: May 5
We were at the airport before 7am again and, after a short incident where our cab driver tried to unload us on another cabbie en route, finally arrived in Shanghai sometime around noon. (Honestly, as you may have detected, I wasn't terribly disappointed to leave Xi'an--two days of bad weather, mediocre food and the shadiest hostel employees/cabbies that I've ever encountered was more than enough for me.) I needed to change some money, so I wandered out into the drizzle to find a bank that would be open on the holiday (along the way I also found some yummy gelato--Shanghai was already winning against Xi'an). The rain only got worse as the evening went on, so we welcomed the opportunity to relax and regroup for a good weekend to round out our trip.
Day 10: May 6
Woke up and caught a taxi to the Bund area along the water in Shanghai. Famous for its European architecture on one bank and the Pearl Tower on the other, we enjoyed walking through the area before lunch. Hoping to finish souvenir shopping at the antiques market we set off on foot into the city. Walking along the main roads proved to be noisy and boring, so we broke off the beaten path and wandered though some more residential areas. The narrow alleys, crowded electric/telephone lines and low hanging laundry reminded me of photos from American and European cities in the early 1900s. The open market-style streets were fascinating--every block had a different theme: prepared food, fruits and veggies, bicycles, tools, large appliances, small appliances, clothes and we even caught a glimpse into a dentists' office in the front room of a residential neighborhood. While this was one of my favorite peeks into China, it felt rude to photograph people and their homes, so there are no pictures for you to peek into my peek. Eventually we stumbled into the antiques market, ate some yummy food and finished our shopping.
Headed back to the Bund to see what the evening view was like.
Day 11: May 7
Woke up to sunshine for the first time since day 6! Decided to ditch our plans to spend the day at the National Museum in Shanghai and opted instead to spend another day wandering through the city--anything to be outside. Grabbed some take-out lunch and ate in the park behind the museum then set out toward our hostel on foot.
Once dinnertime rolled around we hailed a cab to take us the rest of the way to our hostel. After a bit of packing we headed to a nearby restaurant and had heaps of yummy dumplings and other yummy food for dinner.Day 12: May 8
Another early morning trip to the airport and some office-omiyage buying before catching our flight back to Tokyo.
It's been a full month since returning from China, but I still think about it quite a bit. Like any other trip, it left me with an incomplete feeling--some unfinished business that makes me tell myself that I have to go back. That I'll go back some day and see the Temple of Heaven and revisit the other sites in Beijing that were being renovated for the 2008 Olympics. That I'll go to the south, or farther west, or catch the new train into Tibet. I feel the same about seeing Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, Pusan in Southern S. Korea, a million places in Japan and the other main islands in Hawaii. Then I really start to think about it and I begin to feel that way about nearly everywhere. *sigh* The JET Program has allowed me many opportunities to learn about living and working in an international environment, but more than that, it has made it possible for me to have experiences like this trip to China.
Looking forward to the next adventure!
posted by Kris at
9:48 PM
2 Comments:
wow, sounds like the food was yummy.
note: yummy count = 12.
i guess that's why there are so many chinese restaurants.
isaac
p.s. i'm glad you rounded out the trip with part 3. i was wondering when that was gonna come out.
By
Izzy, at 6/13/2006 12:23 AM
I had a hard time figuring out where to leave a comment until Izzy clued me in. Your whole blog is mind blowing, but I particularly was intrigued by the fact that you had visited the soldiers. All those enigmatic soldiers. Wow. Thanks for helping me see the sights that you have seen. I appreciate it!
By
Vicki Larson, at 6/26/2006 11:15 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home