For the last 5 days we have been in Hong Kong! We are staying with our good friend Debbie (Lyons Ellis... not me :)'s brother and his family which has been a lovely change of pace. It is always nice to have people to give you advice and show you where the locals hang out. We've been taking it a little easy, getting ready to head to South East Asia tomorrow (via Bangkok) to meet up with our friend John!! Yay guest! We love guests. Everyone should keep that in mind.
While we've been here we have managed to do some fun stuff in between all of our relaxing. Yesterday we took an amazing gondola ride out to the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. It's supposedly the 'largest outdoor bronze buddha in the world' which is a lot of qualifiers but it is big, majestic and beautiful.
We also spent a day out at the 10,000 Buddha Temple, which is super fun (see pics) with golden monk/buddhas lining the sides, and temples at the top with toooons of buddhas, and one big one and one mummified monk covered in gold gilt...
Today we went to the Hong Kong History Museum, which was really great to give us good context for Hong Kong, and it's place in this part of Asia. The most interesting parts for me were understanding how little of Hong Kong exsisted when the UK took possession of it. What we really think of as Hong Kong, was really built as a British colony.
Also fun? The longest escalator in the world (although non-contiguous) is a series of escalators here which are about 800 meters long! Hong Kong is built into a hill, so downtown is at the bottom and people mostly live built into the hill. Steve and Erica live at the top, so every night we get to ride it all the way up! (Even funnier.. it runs down hill from 6-10 am for commuters, then uphill from 10:20-midnight... don't you wish you could say that you commute by escalator?)
We also spent a night out on Lan Kwai Fong... which is essentially the restaurant/bar area of any college town on steriods, it's where all the westerners hang... best burger I've had in Asia though! It was a really fun night.
All told, it's been a great time, and we are super excited for our South East Asian unplanned extravaganza!
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Monday, May 10, 2010
Pictures from Hong Kong (I know, original title, but it gets the point across...)
Just a few of the 10,000 Buddhas
Debbie channels her inner golden crazy looking monk/buddha
Mike from the top of Victoria Peak
the awesome gondola up to the Big Buddha
What up Big Buddha!
Me & Central Hong Kong from the Kowloon side
Sunday, May 9, 2010
China part 3... almost caught up!
We're now finishing up Hong Kong, which I'll tell you about tonight, before we head to Thailand to meet up with John tomorrow!! But here is our last China post.
Then we headed to Shanghai! Our first afternoon we intended to walk around our neighborhood, but we didn’t get that far… we stopped for happy hour. What we didn’t know was that Happy Hour in some bars in China is two for one, but only for each person. Which forced us each to have a second ½ liter of beer… because it was free. Then we met these lovely American businessmen from the Savannah area, who were in China to do some consulting for a Chinese factory that is a part of their company. It was really interesting to swap stories with people who were in China for a totally different reason. We had a ton of fun with them (Hi Tom & Rob!) and it made for an unexpected but awesome evening. Our second day we actually made it on our neighborhood walk, then headed to the Shanghai museum where we saw some AMAZING bronze work, and ended our day in the French concession where we had delicious Chinese food (all steamed!).
The next day was… EXPO! Which was insane, ridiculous and interesting. We headed out early in the morning anticipating huge lines and craziness (did we mention that we went day 2 of the expo?). Getting in was actually managed really well, we didn’t have to wait too long at all. We got in right when the pavilions were opening, so we headed to the first one we saw… ironically, Thailand. During the course of the day we went to a ton of pavilions including: Thailand, the US, Russia, Sweden, Austria, Moldova, Lithuania, San Merino, Israel and the Africa pavilion. Here are some highlights, low lights and interesting bits:
The architecture was interesting, although, like all world’s fairs, totally shoddy (a pipe leaked on me… it was day 2). We walked under the Netherlands without realizing at first because their pavilion is suspended above a bunch of dutch snack booths, but figured it out eventually. For tiny pavilions, San Merino took the prize for us. Theirs was cute, informative and interesting (a rarity). For mid-size, I have to go with my ancestors in Lithuania! They had a nice pavilion and a really friendly staff (who told me their pavilion was missing a bunch of stuff because it was stuck in Chinese customs…of course). For large pavilions, I think we would go with Sweden, mostly because theirs was the only pavilion that we went to that actually mentioned specific technology that they think is moving them forward, and will eventually spread to the world. Also their pavilion was cute (there was Ikea furniture on the ceiling and a robot that would give you a ping pong ball to take home!). We ended up staying about 12 hours, and it was one crazy and interesting day. Oh goodness, I almost forgot. The most insane thing? There were these fake passports you could buy that you could have stamped at each pavilion, but the Chinese went bonkers over them. Like we thought about trying to buy them, and then we saw a mob fighting over them at a store. When you think about it, it makes sense, the average Chinese person will never leave the country in their lifetime, so it was kind of a big deal, but man, those people would do anything for a fake passport! At the end of the day, we attended the largest World Expo in history, on the second day it was open, and that was cool.
The following day we did a Jewish tour of Shanghai. It was really interesting, there has been a varied history, from Iraqi Jewish opium dealers in the 1800’s to the Jews who were sheltered there during WWII (because it was an open port… it was one of only a few destinations in the world that you didn’t need a visa to get into at the time, just an exit visa from Europe). The funny thing, is that there is so little left, I mean, it was fun to walk around and see the neighborhoods, but China loves progress, and realistically, I would guess that in 10 years, just about everything will be gone. The funniest part of the tour, was that we met an AP reporter who was in Shanghai doing a story about the Expo… and we all know where that led!
The next day it was back to Beijing suuuuuper early. We spent that afternoon walking down a crazy food market (live scorpion on a stick anyone?), and going back to actually stand in Tienamen square. We actually ended up hanging out there for a really long time, it just felt very BIG in every sense. We sat in the middle, had a good ole American Coke and discussed what it meant to live in a communist country (aren’t we cute?). Then we took pictures by Mao’s mausoleum and went home. That night was a big one…. PEKING DUCK NIGHT!! You have to have Peking Duck in Beijing… well provided you eat meat anyway. It was awesome! Marc and Veronica know a great place, and it was truly delish.
Our last day in mainland China we spent at the Summer Palace, a grand compound built just out of the city as a get-away in nice weather for the royalty. It was really pretty, and a nice day to just hang out, we had a great time exploring the huuuge compound, dodging Chinese hawkers and people watching. We also had one last great Chinese street snack on the way home. They make a thin crepe, spread an egg on it, cover it in like plum sauce, the sprinkle chives and cilantro, then put a big fried wonton in the middle and fold it into a huge rectangle. AMAZING. As a China endnote. I’m determined to learn to make steamed buns when we go home, I think I need them to remain a part of my day to day life. Just an FYI ;)
Then we headed to Shanghai! Our first afternoon we intended to walk around our neighborhood, but we didn’t get that far… we stopped for happy hour. What we didn’t know was that Happy Hour in some bars in China is two for one, but only for each person. Which forced us each to have a second ½ liter of beer… because it was free. Then we met these lovely American businessmen from the Savannah area, who were in China to do some consulting for a Chinese factory that is a part of their company. It was really interesting to swap stories with people who were in China for a totally different reason. We had a ton of fun with them (Hi Tom & Rob!) and it made for an unexpected but awesome evening. Our second day we actually made it on our neighborhood walk, then headed to the Shanghai museum where we saw some AMAZING bronze work, and ended our day in the French concession where we had delicious Chinese food (all steamed!).
The next day was… EXPO! Which was insane, ridiculous and interesting. We headed out early in the morning anticipating huge lines and craziness (did we mention that we went day 2 of the expo?). Getting in was actually managed really well, we didn’t have to wait too long at all. We got in right when the pavilions were opening, so we headed to the first one we saw… ironically, Thailand. During the course of the day we went to a ton of pavilions including: Thailand, the US, Russia, Sweden, Austria, Moldova, Lithuania, San Merino, Israel and the Africa pavilion. Here are some highlights, low lights and interesting bits:
The architecture was interesting, although, like all world’s fairs, totally shoddy (a pipe leaked on me… it was day 2). We walked under the Netherlands without realizing at first because their pavilion is suspended above a bunch of dutch snack booths, but figured it out eventually. For tiny pavilions, San Merino took the prize for us. Theirs was cute, informative and interesting (a rarity). For mid-size, I have to go with my ancestors in Lithuania! They had a nice pavilion and a really friendly staff (who told me their pavilion was missing a bunch of stuff because it was stuck in Chinese customs…of course). For large pavilions, I think we would go with Sweden, mostly because theirs was the only pavilion that we went to that actually mentioned specific technology that they think is moving them forward, and will eventually spread to the world. Also their pavilion was cute (there was Ikea furniture on the ceiling and a robot that would give you a ping pong ball to take home!). We ended up staying about 12 hours, and it was one crazy and interesting day. Oh goodness, I almost forgot. The most insane thing? There were these fake passports you could buy that you could have stamped at each pavilion, but the Chinese went bonkers over them. Like we thought about trying to buy them, and then we saw a mob fighting over them at a store. When you think about it, it makes sense, the average Chinese person will never leave the country in their lifetime, so it was kind of a big deal, but man, those people would do anything for a fake passport! At the end of the day, we attended the largest World Expo in history, on the second day it was open, and that was cool.
The following day we did a Jewish tour of Shanghai. It was really interesting, there has been a varied history, from Iraqi Jewish opium dealers in the 1800’s to the Jews who were sheltered there during WWII (because it was an open port… it was one of only a few destinations in the world that you didn’t need a visa to get into at the time, just an exit visa from Europe). The funny thing, is that there is so little left, I mean, it was fun to walk around and see the neighborhoods, but China loves progress, and realistically, I would guess that in 10 years, just about everything will be gone. The funniest part of the tour, was that we met an AP reporter who was in Shanghai doing a story about the Expo… and we all know where that led!
The next day it was back to Beijing suuuuuper early. We spent that afternoon walking down a crazy food market (live scorpion on a stick anyone?), and going back to actually stand in Tienamen square. We actually ended up hanging out there for a really long time, it just felt very BIG in every sense. We sat in the middle, had a good ole American Coke and discussed what it meant to live in a communist country (aren’t we cute?). Then we took pictures by Mao’s mausoleum and went home. That night was a big one…. PEKING DUCK NIGHT!! You have to have Peking Duck in Beijing… well provided you eat meat anyway. It was awesome! Marc and Veronica know a great place, and it was truly delish.
Our last day in mainland China we spent at the Summer Palace, a grand compound built just out of the city as a get-away in nice weather for the royalty. It was really pretty, and a nice day to just hang out, we had a great time exploring the huuuge compound, dodging Chinese hawkers and people watching. We also had one last great Chinese street snack on the way home. They make a thin crepe, spread an egg on it, cover it in like plum sauce, the sprinkle chives and cilantro, then put a big fried wonton in the middle and fold it into a huge rectangle. AMAZING. As a China endnote. I’m determined to learn to make steamed buns when we go home, I think I need them to remain a part of my day to day life. Just an FYI ;)
Saturday, May 8, 2010
China series... part 2
The following I wrote in Xi’an….
We are currently in Xi'an, home of the famous Terra Cotta Warriors. Yesterday we went out to the Warriors, we happened to have the cutest/most absurd tour guide ever. Her name was Jiajia (Zha zha)and she was a ball of energy who really enjoyed waving her hand at you and yelled, HELLO! EXCUSE ME! Granted she weighed about 80 lbs... Hilarious. We spent a few hours out at the site (after being pulled off the road to let 'someone important' through). The warriors are incredible because they have found over 8,000 (although many are still buried) and all of them are different. The assumption is that each one represented a person that Emperor Qin had working on the project (and then killed). Each of them has different facial features, hair, detailing, regional hairstyle... it's incredible. They're slightly different heights, postures, everything, like real people. It was totally fascinating.
Last night we went to a fountain show (a la Bellagio) which is apparently the largest fountain in Asia (I'm not sure if that is true, but it is HUGE) and the show was similar to the Bellagio... if you had thousands of people pushed up to the edge all around it, and running through it, and selling the opportunity to take pictures of you in it (they'll tell you where to stand to stay dry)... it was crazy!
Today we walked on the city walls, then spent some time shopping... which up until now we have done very little of, but here you can bargain so cheaply, and once you start bargaining in earnest, you often end up buying... needless to say, we now each own gloves (although mine are 'timberland' and mike's are 'north face' and they are the exact same :) and t-shirts with Obama dressed as Mao on them (the front says, 'serves the people' in chinese, the back says, Oba Mao... haha.. get it?) we couldn't resist.
We are currently in Xi'an, home of the famous Terra Cotta Warriors. Yesterday we went out to the Warriors, we happened to have the cutest/most absurd tour guide ever. Her name was Jiajia (Zha zha)and she was a ball of energy who really enjoyed waving her hand at you and yelled, HELLO! EXCUSE ME! Granted she weighed about 80 lbs... Hilarious. We spent a few hours out at the site (after being pulled off the road to let 'someone important' through). The warriors are incredible because they have found over 8,000 (although many are still buried) and all of them are different. The assumption is that each one represented a person that Emperor Qin had working on the project (and then killed). Each of them has different facial features, hair, detailing, regional hairstyle... it's incredible. They're slightly different heights, postures, everything, like real people. It was totally fascinating.
Last night we went to a fountain show (a la Bellagio) which is apparently the largest fountain in Asia (I'm not sure if that is true, but it is HUGE) and the show was similar to the Bellagio... if you had thousands of people pushed up to the edge all around it, and running through it, and selling the opportunity to take pictures of you in it (they'll tell you where to stand to stay dry)... it was crazy!
Today we walked on the city walls, then spent some time shopping... which up until now we have done very little of, but here you can bargain so cheaply, and once you start bargaining in earnest, you often end up buying... needless to say, we now each own gloves (although mine are 'timberland' and mike's are 'north face' and they are the exact same :) and t-shirts with Obama dressed as Mao on them (the front says, 'serves the people' in chinese, the back says, Oba Mao... haha.. get it?) we couldn't resist.
Friday, May 7, 2010
China.. a three part series
I'm gonna post these in three parts, because... well we were in China a while and this way you can read at your leisure.
Beijing!
We flew into Beijing from Tokyo and my friend Marc from NFTY was gracious enough to pick us up from the airport (awesome!) and let us stay with him and his girlfriend Veronica for the time we were there. It really makes such a difference to have local hosts who can give you ideas of what to do and what to eat( very important!). He showed us around his neighborhood and took us out for an awesome dinner, which ended up costing something insane like…$7.50… for all 3 of us.
The following day we headed out on our trip to the Great Wall! Marc has a friend who runs overnight camping trips to an unrestored section instead of the ‘Disneyland’ bits that most tourists go to. We showed up to our meeting point and found that the rest of our group was a whole family! They are from Vermont, their son and daughter-in-law are living in Seoul, so the parents and younger sister came and met them for a family vacation in China, Tibet and Korea (cool right?). They were a lovely addition, and it was totally fun to be a part of a family dynamic for a couple of days. Before and after we hiked out we had lunch at a local farmhouse (which was an unbelievable amount of food, and very tasty). Then we packed up our bags and headed out for a hike, about an hour, pretty straight up, but then there we were… right at the wall!
It wasn’t quite as peaceful there as usual, somehow a giant tour group was there that was repelling off the wall! (which is not only stupid, but also lame, it’s only like 20 ft. ) But, they were only there for a bit and we dropped our stuff off and went on a hike. The wall is lovely and majestic… it feels so grand when you are there. We had a great time scrambling up ruined staircases and on guard towers. You aren’t supposed to camp at the wall, but our guides have made a deal with the local village that takes care of this area. Ironically, I think because our campsites were set up there, some Chinese tourists set up camp right on the other side of the wall from us… which seemed fine until they were wasted at like midnight and one of them was standing on the wall singing, holding speakers with his headlight on strobe…
The next day was foggy, so the views weren’t clear, but it was still fun to climb around, then we headed down and eventually back into Beijing where Marc and Veronica and some of their friends took us out to K-TV! That’s Karaoke TV, the most popular way to do karaoke in Asia, they are often super fancy places where you get a room, a few microphones and a couple of hours to play around. Awesome! The following day we took it slow (not so much sleep at the wall) and just went to a couple of local temples. The Lama Temple is particularly interesting, as it is the seat of the living Panchain Lama… well… sort of. The last time one died and the monks in Tibet started looking for his reincarnation, China said, well, maybe we found him…and then Tibet found one… and then theirs disappeared…and there is only a Chinese one now. Oh China…
Our last day, for part one of Beijing we spent in Tiennamen square and the Forbidden City… well, the Forbidden City, as the entire square (which I think is the largest in the world) was closed for the upcoming May day holidays (May 1-3), oh China! But the Forbidden City was fun, and huuuge. We actually particularly enjoyed going up to a park right behind where you can get a great view (picture on the blog) it gives you a great sense of how big it actually is! The next morning we headed out to Xi'an.
Beijing!
We flew into Beijing from Tokyo and my friend Marc from NFTY was gracious enough to pick us up from the airport (awesome!) and let us stay with him and his girlfriend Veronica for the time we were there. It really makes such a difference to have local hosts who can give you ideas of what to do and what to eat( very important!). He showed us around his neighborhood and took us out for an awesome dinner, which ended up costing something insane like…$7.50… for all 3 of us.
The following day we headed out on our trip to the Great Wall! Marc has a friend who runs overnight camping trips to an unrestored section instead of the ‘Disneyland’ bits that most tourists go to. We showed up to our meeting point and found that the rest of our group was a whole family! They are from Vermont, their son and daughter-in-law are living in Seoul, so the parents and younger sister came and met them for a family vacation in China, Tibet and Korea (cool right?). They were a lovely addition, and it was totally fun to be a part of a family dynamic for a couple of days. Before and after we hiked out we had lunch at a local farmhouse (which was an unbelievable amount of food, and very tasty). Then we packed up our bags and headed out for a hike, about an hour, pretty straight up, but then there we were… right at the wall!
It wasn’t quite as peaceful there as usual, somehow a giant tour group was there that was repelling off the wall! (which is not only stupid, but also lame, it’s only like 20 ft. ) But, they were only there for a bit and we dropped our stuff off and went on a hike. The wall is lovely and majestic… it feels so grand when you are there. We had a great time scrambling up ruined staircases and on guard towers. You aren’t supposed to camp at the wall, but our guides have made a deal with the local village that takes care of this area. Ironically, I think because our campsites were set up there, some Chinese tourists set up camp right on the other side of the wall from us… which seemed fine until they were wasted at like midnight and one of them was standing on the wall singing, holding speakers with his headlight on strobe…
The next day was foggy, so the views weren’t clear, but it was still fun to climb around, then we headed down and eventually back into Beijing where Marc and Veronica and some of their friends took us out to K-TV! That’s Karaoke TV, the most popular way to do karaoke in Asia, they are often super fancy places where you get a room, a few microphones and a couple of hours to play around. Awesome! The following day we took it slow (not so much sleep at the wall) and just went to a couple of local temples. The Lama Temple is particularly interesting, as it is the seat of the living Panchain Lama… well… sort of. The last time one died and the monks in Tibet started looking for his reincarnation, China said, well, maybe we found him…and then Tibet found one… and then theirs disappeared…and there is only a Chinese one now. Oh China…
Our last day, for part one of Beijing we spent in Tiennamen square and the Forbidden City… well, the Forbidden City, as the entire square (which I think is the largest in the world) was closed for the upcoming May day holidays (May 1-3), oh China! But the Forbidden City was fun, and huuuge. We actually particularly enjoyed going up to a park right behind where you can get a great view (picture on the blog) it gives you a great sense of how big it actually is! The next morning we headed out to Xi'an.
Blame China for these late photos
Us rockin' the Great Wall of China
Great Wall... evening view
Mike and Mao (near Tianeman Sq.)
Overlooking the Forbidden City, Beijing
Mike and his bff a faux Terra Cotta Warrior, Xian
Me and the legit Terra Cotta Warriors, Xian
Mike meets Haibo the Shanghai Expo mascot
Me at the Kenya Pavillion with my bff
Us at the flag site outside the expo
Me, hanging with some really happy looking communists at Mao's mausoleum
Us at the Summer Palace, Beijing
Thursday, May 6, 2010
We're famous! ;)
We made it safely to Hong Kong, land of free press.... So we're back! We have a ton to say about China, but I'm majorly sleepy, we got up at 4:30 two out of the last three days for flights.... So here is a funny thing to tide you over. We went to the Shanghai expo, and happened to meet an AP reporter on our Jewish tour who was writing an article on Americans at the Expo... one thing led to another and..
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15027203?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15027203?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
Sunday, April 25, 2010
We're in China!
Yup, we made it, and blogs are usually blocked, but I am hopping on our friend Marc's computer for a second to tell everyone we are safe and sound. We've been here a couple of days, and we even went on an overnight camping trip to the Great Wall! (it was awesome, we are a bit sore). Tomorrow we are heading down to Xian to see the Terra Cotta Army, then on to Shanghai to see Jewish china and the world expo!
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