Exhaustion, The Forbidden City, and Impulse Buying

Sunday, March 11^th

I stayed up entirely too late on Saturday night and woke up exhausted on Sunday morning. After rushing through breakfast, I jumped on the bus and we headed to the Forbidden City. Beijing this time of year is cold and most of the time I was chilled, even wearing my down jacket. The morning at the Forbidden City was particularly frigid, making the stroll through the gates a little tough to enjoy.  We started by passing through Tianamen Square, one of the busiest places in Beijing and the notorious site of peaceful rebellion. From there we entered the city with its traditional Chinese architecture and courtyard after courtyard surrounded by high red walls.

The Forbidden City is beautiful, intricate, and huge; though after visiting Wat Prakeaw in Bangkok it doesn’t seem quite as magnificent (more to come about that). It was awesome seeing such a famous ancient place, in fact, just being in China was a kind of surreal and exciting experience.  I would like to say that I took full advantage of my visit to the city but I was freezing, tired, and desperate for a bathroom most of the time. In a moment of panic I had to dash off from the group to find a “happy room” (the name our guide Wendy used to refer to the bathroom) and upon my failure to find one honestly considered finding a corner in which to relieve myself. Luckily, I found the happy room before I had to weigh the options between wetting myself and being arrested for public indecency in the People’s Republic of China. A friend later told me he saw the look of panic in my eyes, let’s just say it was the sweetest relief I can ever recall.

After the Forbidden City we all boarded the bus for the 1.5 hour drive to the Great Wall. We stopped at a restaurant a couple of miles from the wall and had an incredible lunch. I feel like every meal that we ate was a banquet with 10-12 different dishes placed on our lazy Susan each time. I enjoy the Chinese style of eating which involves placing dishes on the turntable and passing them at will so that everyone can pluck out what they want. And chopsticks, I love them. I want to use them EVERYDAY!  The Chinese food was also very good, with the exception of one spice that seems to be a staple and never fails to make my stomach turn. None of the Chinese could give us a name for the spice and generally said it was cumin, I assure you that this vial smell was not cumin. Other than that the food is honestly not all that dissimilar from the typically Cantonese style of Chinese food found in the U.S. There were no crab rangoons but plenty of lo mein and sweet and sour so and so.

On a terribly full stomach I headed off to the Great Wall, excited as I had always found the wall exciting and never seriously entertained the possibility of visiting it. The site did not disappoint and was particularly thrilling to view as I rode the chairlift to the top. The landscape is rugged, dusty, and barren. I know it is winter however I have a hard time imagining this place ever being green. It is so impressive that thousands of years ago people built this mammoth structure on the ridge line of a pretty tall mountain. It was spectacular and beautiful! The photos are more explanatory but I think being there is more impressive than just seeing it. Since we took a chairlift up, the means for descent was a toboggan ride. I was initially skeptical of situating my body on a tiny sled, fitted with a hand brake, and being shoved down a mountain on a tubular track which was a huge mistake on my part. My only regret was that I wish I had ignored more of the slow-down signs and gone faster. The toboggan was a totally unexpected way to experience the Great Wall and totally made me feel like a kid again, especially with my professors participating as well.

                At this point of the day I was completely exhausted but allowed myself to willingly be hustled into the Silk Market (basically the same thing as the Pearl Market, cheap and knock off goods that must be haggled for). Alex and I were determined to come out on top at the Silk Market after failing so miserably at the Pearl Market. I was beat but gave it my best go and left with a pair of fake converse (yes, I know it’s ridiculous) and some superfluous knock off luxury items. Being too tired to bother with eating, Alex and I headed up to the room and crashed!

Day 1- Chinese Food and Friends

After a surprisingly restful night of sleep, on a rock hard Chinese bed, I woke up and got ready for my first day in Beijing. We stayed in a really nice 4 star hotel that provided a huge breakfast buffet. The breakfast was definitely unique as I do not think that I have ever eaten lo mein and salad as a morning meal. There were more traditional options as well (eggs, potatoes, and cereal), however the more traditional things like noodles, steamed buns, and veggies were available. As a person who does not like sweet breakfast or cereal this was right up my alley.

We started the day by gong to the Beijing International University to meet with Chinese international business students and hear a presentation. It was awesome talking with the students and discovering similarities and differences. The presentation itself took forever and was pretty boring but informative in some ways. The university provided a banquet for us complete with an unending stream of new dishes and beer. Lunch was delicious and for the most part very normal. Fish boiled in oil and served kind of like a soup is very common here and despite my pickiness with fish, I gave it a whirl. The Chinese are so friendly and complimentary that I may or may not have grown a large head. My Chinese friends Susan did not hold back her compliments which included, "you are so beautiful, like a movie star" and "oooo your hair, so pretty". Susan was a very sweet girl but a little over the top with her affections, it soon became a running joke among the group members.


Brad, my travel buddy, and I




Susan, Me, Alex, and Claire

Susan and I

After leaving the university we went to the 2008 Olympic Village to see the Bird's Nest stadium and the Water Cube aquatic center. It was cool to see the buildings, however I didn't watch the 2008 Olympics and it was FREEZING. After 20 minutes in the driving wind we were all ready to head back to the comfort of the bus. The evening activity was to go to the Pearl Market, a famous place for cheap pearls and all knock offs, to do some shopping and a lot of haggling. As a non-Mandarin speaker (really, I butcher the 3 phrases I do know), I was nervous to consider haggling with people who did not speak English. It was a little awkward at first but after a couple of times Alex and I really got the hang of it. After about an hour and half we met up with the rest of the group only to discover that we had missed out on an entirely different side of the market that had all of the bags, shoes, and clothing we were interested in. Alex and I left the market dissatisfied with our purchases (particularly 3 overpriced, oversized Zara scarves over which we had immediate buyer's remorse), exhausted, and regretful!

This is our adorable tour guide, Wendy

We ate dinner as a group and somehow managed to find a restaurant and successfully order. The food was great and included a lot of dumplings (which are my favorite)! On the way to the restaurant several of the guys braved the street food and proceeded to eat snake, silk worms, and chicken hearts all neatly skewered on sticks. All of it was disgusting but the general consensus was the the silk worms were the most horrific. Consider this, the remaining silk worms were offered to a homeless person and he quickly rejected them! Exhausted we headed back to the hotel and eventually out in the neighborhood to explore. Exploring was mostly fruitless but it did provide an interesting and sleep deprived night!

China

Because of my complete lack of time and internet connectivity my posting is going to be mostly retrospective. I just arrived in Bangkok with my friend Brad for our week long stay! So far, we have managed to navigate immigration, take a train and a subway, and find our hostel tucked into a cute little alley! I am excited about what is to come in Bangkok and Phuket.

I left for China on the 8th after spending the night in Charlotte with Brad's family. The trip began with some drama as we realized our flight to D.C. was delayed and was eating away at the 45 minute layover we had between flights. After a little running in Washington-Dulles we made it onto our flight to Beijing in time to sit on the tarmac for an hour! The plane was also changed and so were our seat assignments. Brad and I ended up 5 rows apart and my new seat being next to a Chinese man who could not speak English! We were both upset about being shifted away from our travel partners but the packed plane and language barrier made it impossible to reconcile our problems. After some help from the Mandarin speaking flight attendant, the man moved with his wife and I received a new seat mate who agreed to switch with Brad. 

Alex Brad and I in the Charlotte airport!

The 14 hour flight wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated, however it most definitely was not great. Brad came prepared with movies on his Ipad and we were distracted every couple of hours with airplane meals. We arrived in Bangkok 8 hours before the rest of the group, exhausted and excited. After collecting our things and passing through customs we managed to grab a taxi (that initially refused to take us to our hotel but eventually gave in, I don't think he was very happy with us). It took a little more than an hour to make it to the Sunworld Hotel in Beijing traffic, however there was ample time to observe the scenery, cars, and the some times terrifying driving style. Unscathed we arrived at the hotel absolutely exhausted. I think we could only stay up until 9 PM before crashing while watching Chinese TV. The rest of the group came in around 12:30 AM, at which point I was wide awake! My roommate Alex came in from a separate flight and we caught up and settled in!

I am planning to insert photos later because I did not bring a camera chord to upload photos (rookie mistake).

40 Days of Water

My wonderful mother is supporting Blood:Water Missions in their '40 Days of Water' challenge (it started on February 22 and lasts through April 7, so there is still time to participate!). The challenge involves giving up every drink, other than water, for 40 days and donating what you would have spent on those drinks to Blood:Water's efforts to bring clean water to Uganda.  For more information, go here.

To document her experience she has created a blog called Water Washers, check it our here. It is a very eye opening project so take a look!

When I was home last weekend we did a little photo shoot for her blog and here are some of the photos!

I have such a beautiful mom!

Happy Sunday
(I leave for China Thursday morning!)

Biltmore

This past weekend I headed home to catch up with my family and enjoy QT with some of my favorite people.  The most exciting part of the weekend was having the opportunity to visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville and as a first for me, tour the winery.  My friend Phillip works at the Antler Hill winery on the estate and hooked us up with some free tickets, as well as an insiders tour! Being from the area, I have toured the house several times however it had been many years (being older made the experience more enjoyable).  It was a beautiful, cold, wintery day with wonderful light for photos.  I can hardly imagine a more enjoyable day! Sorry for the photo heavy post, I had a difficult time narrowing it down!

 

We ate dinner at Chai Pani, a restaurant that specializes in Indian street food. I heard about this place several months ago so it was great to be able to try it.  I would TOTALLY recommend giving this place a go, the food was delicious and very reasonable!

Plans

Since coming back to Boone and settling into the semester, I literally have not picked up my camera!

In my defense, I have done very few noteworthy things.  Most of my time has been spent in a seemingly never-ending stream of meetings, trying to stay on top of case studies/reading, and desperately trying to work hours for my job and internship.  Honestly though it isn't as bad as it seems!  I love my internship with Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, I am so happy to have more hours at work, and I am EAGERLY awaiting my trip to China and Thailand in March!  Oh yes, my travel bug has finally found its cure!

For Spring Break (and a little extra) I am going on an MBA trip to Beijing and Hong Kong to visit businesses, attend lectures, and of course do some site seeing.  Afterward I am taking a little detour and spending a week in Bangkok and Phuket area of Thailand.  I have never been to Asia so I am pretty nervous about the cultural differences and language barriers however, I am so excited to have the opportunity to see this other part of the world!

The beaches of Phuket

Bustling Hong Kong

I CAN'T WAIT!

Pilot Mountain

Most of my Christmas vacation has been spent lounging around the larger than life houses I have been housesitting and watching sickening amounts of 'Brothers and Sisters' on Netflix.  For me Netflix is an awesome blessing and a horrible curse when it comes to time management, I simply have no self control.  Amidst my battle with lethargy, my dear friend Zack called me up to invite me on a hike with some old high school friends and knowing independent level of motivation, I quickly agreed.  I am so glad that I did take on that late afternoon hike, despite the chilly weather and the snow still on the ground.  Despite living in Transylvania County most of my life, I had never climbed Pilot Mountain but I did know that it was a tough hike.  There were a couple of times that I regretted my decision to come however the view at the top and the energy I had afterword made it so worthwhile!

The dusky light at the top of the mountain was ideal for taking photos, it also made lugging my camera around worth it!

You can subtly see the moon on the horizon

John's Rock off in the distance

Zack and I, enduring the sun!