Was it worth it? Absolutely! It was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I would definitely recommend it. I learned so much about the culture and norms in different places, which is a completely invaluable lesson in empathy and understanding. I saw places that weren’t just major cities, walked through the countryside, and I think that’s also a really important part of this trip. When traveling, it’s so easy to just go to the main cities and never explore an entire country. It’s so rare to get the chance to see this much of a single country. Why travel alone? It’s partially an exercise in exploring my personal endurance, and learning…
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Train Musings
Reflections on Beijing When I was planning this trip, Beijing was actually the place I was least interested in. Not that I specifically didn’t like it, it just hadn’t cracked my top 10 list of cities I would want to travel to. But Beijing was the starting point for this tour if I wanted to go through Mongolia, which also wasn’t ever on my top 10 list, but seemed more interesting and exotic because who has ever been to Mongolia? So I was really surprised at how much I liked Beijing. I really loved the city. It’s huge, unfathomably huge and populous. And yet things run pretty smoothly, at least…
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History
Tiananmen Square Today, my last day in Beijing, will be a trip from south to north, visiting many historical sites. My new tour guide and I started in the morning, caught a bus, and went to Tiananmen Square. She explained about the history and purpose of the square, a place where a million people can gather to listen to the words of the government leader. In the square, there is the tomb of Mao Zedong, where his body is preserved and you can actually see it. It was fascinating, encased in a glass tomb, with a red hammer and sickle laid over him and a red light shining on his…
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Hutong District and Cooking Class
Facing the day Today was my second full day in Beijing, and I had such awesome adventures! My tour guide, Mr. Slackerson, said yesterday that today it would be too cold for the rickshaw drivers in the morning, so we should go to them in the afternoon. The itinerary was to have lunch at 11:30, go do a rickshaw tour of the Hutong alleys, then a tea ceremony, then visiting Shichahai Lake. After yesterday, I had little faith in his ability to actually arrange the tea ceremony that I had requested, so I got up this morning and hoofed it over to a fancy tea parlor. Let me back that…
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Great Wall – Great Food!
Starting the day After a late night, I was now scheduled to meet the tour guide at 8:30, so I meandered down at 7:40 to check out the hotel breakfast buffet. It was an amalgam of cultural breakfast foods, from Western bacon, toast, and sausages to Chinese breakfast items like dim sum and congee, but also Chinese dinner items like black pepper beef…even baked beans in case an Irish person shows up. I tried to stick with things I’ve never had before, but I’m pretty particular about breakfast food and I don’t consider things that are dinner foods good as breakfast foods. I even saw 2 Italian guys, so I…
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The Big Day – Flying to Beijing
Ok, travel days are never fun, but wow, this was a long one. My flight from San Jose was delayed, so I spent a few hours fretting at work about what time to leave for the airport. I have zero chill. Finally, it was time to leave for the airport. Now, I had to pack 3 weeks worth of winter clothes into a carry-on size bag, so I *thought* it would be a great idea to wear the bulkier items so they didn’t take up so much space, as my suitcase is jam-packed as-is. Well, it isn’t so cold in San Jose, so spending a few extra hours in my…
