Goodbye Beijing, Hello Kyoto

So after the Scorpion fiasco we hung out at the hotel, and got ready for our last night in Beijing. We decided we were going to make the most of it and just not go to bed since our flight left so early the next morning. After a little pregaming we headed to workers stadium where we heard there we some hopping clubs. After seeing the covers and absolutely no foreigners we decided we would go with what we knew and headed to Sanlitun. The bars were packed this night since it was Friday. We met some really nice Chinese girls and hung out with them most of the night. The bars actually played good music instead of the garbage they play in American bars so Joe and I were actually dancing. The alcohol may have had something to do with that but who knows. We stayed out until about 5:30 and decided to go to the hotel.

I'm definitely going to miss Beijing. Besides the pollution it really was a nice city that was good to foreigners. All the sites were excellent and I completely recommend it. There is a sense that it is red but its not overwhelming. It sucked not having facebook, twitter, or blogspot but we managed.

We got back to the hotel passed out for about a half hour and somehow managed to make it out. The cab ride was brutal due to being hungover. We got to the airport, had some starbucks, and just made our flight to Seoul. Two hours later we arrived in Seoul, South Korea and got really lost finding our transfer. We just barely made it to our flight, two hours later we made it to Osaka, Japan. Then a 75 minute train ride and a lot of walking we made it to Kyoto. Found a Geijien friendly cab and made it to our hotel. Hardest day of traveling ever! Staying out the entire night before was not a good idea! Our hotel is nice and the staff is extremely friendly. We passed out at about 7pm and slept till about 11:30 this morning. A very good sleep.

We found a McDonalds and walked around Kyoto. It's a really clean beautiful city. Seeing the sky for the first time in a week felt so good. Joe and I headed to the Kyoto Imprial park and watched some Japanese play some sports. We followed a map to the Heian Jingu Shrine. Which basically is an amazing garden. We walked through and took in the serene sights. There was a really nice bridge over a lake where we watched people feed the coy and turtles. We walked around a little more and now back at the hotel.

Dewa mata

San Li Tun, Summer Palace, and Scorpion Tails

 As you can imagine after our seven mile hike across the Great Wall, we didn't have too much energy left, so we ate dinner at the complimentary Novotel  happy hour, watched a movie, and called it a night.  The next day we slept right through breakfast and into the afternoon.  We then walked around Beijing, got some lunch at Pizza Hut, and hung out until sunset.  We spent sunset watching 108 Chinese soldiers take down the Chinese national flag.  It was pretty interesting, reminded me a lot of the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  We were among tens of thousands Chinese citizens, so it was very cool to take in the culture.  I am so surprised to see the pride the Chinese people have in their country, but then again it's hard for me as an outsider.

The night we went to our favorite San Li Tun bar street, and started out the night the right way, with a couple of strong cocktails.  The night was a lot of fun, we talked to many locals, and expats alike.  We went to a bar/club and met a nice group of three Chinese hair styleists.  We ended up spending the whole night hanging out with Marco, Alice, and Lucy, and many Tsing Taos were drunk, and good conversation was had.  Of course only Marco spoke English, and our Mandarin is nonexistent, so the conversation was slow, but we still managed to have a blast. 

I woke up this morning around 9:30 to make breakfast, Jed decided to sleep in which was okay with me, because I had some emails to write, and a newspaper to read.  I brought Jed back some croissants, and we got ready to greet the day.  We wanted to go to the Mao Mausoleum, but unfortunately it is only open for about two hours a day, and two early hours at that.   So we settled on the Summer Palace, kind of like the summer version of The Forbidden City.  It took about an hour to get there, and when we did, instead of getting an audio guide, we opted for a tour guide.  Her name was Carol and we all had a blast with her showing us around.  It was really funny because her English wasn't perfect, but she tried so hard, and she really did know so much .  She would also quiz us at random intervals to make sure we were paying attention, and she taught us how to say a few more Mandarin words.   The Summer Palace is so nice, there are trees everywhere, so plenty of shade, a huge man-made lake, and a boat made out of marble.  It was really beautiful, and having the tour guide to show us around made it even more enjoyable. 

Jed really wanted to see the CCTV tower, and Carol said she would take us since she lived right by, and hey we were paying for a taxi.  Well what Jed really wanted to see was the CCTV building, but we didn't realize that until we were already at the CCTV tower.  It looked just like the Space Needle, and it is the tallest building in all of Beijing!   To make things even better there was an Aquarium underneath, and Carol really wanted to take us.  So Jed, Carol and myself visted the Beijing Aquarium, and it was exactly pretty cool.  We got to see the Sea Lion show which only lasted for 6 minutes, but was so funny to watch, and Carol seemed really love it, she even taped the whole thing on her phone. 

After the Aquarium we said our goodbyes to Carol, and paid her 100Y, with a generous tip because we had such an unexpected fun day.  I highly recommend getting a tour guide if you ever come to Beijing.  We went back to the hotel, and fought exhaustion and decided that we were going to have a tradional Chinese dinner.

We went to Ju De Roast Duck Restaurant, which was recommended by the hotel, and got seated.  After looking through the menu we decided to get half of Peking duck, and fried duck with scorpions.  Yes scorpions.  The duck was delicious, except the duck brain, which I didn't eat but Jed didn't make me wish I had.  Then the scorpions got there, and it was a bit of a shock, I mean there were 20 fat fried scorpions over a couple of pieces of fried meat.  Jed was the brave one, and ate the first scorpion, and after his third I finally gave it a shot.  It looked a lot worse that it taste, kind of like a salty fish, with a satisfying first crunch.  After the first one, we just starting popping em, feeling pretty bad ass as we did it.  I think Jed and I are ready for an eating challenge on some reality show. 

After dinner we bought some souvenirs and are back in the hotel now, getting ready for our last night in Beijing.  Our flight leaves tomorrow at 8:40 going to Osaka, Japan with a stopover in Seoul.  So excited for Japan, but actually a little sad that were only stopping in Seoul to change flights.  Seoul has a great reputation over Asia, and if we had known about it we would have definitely set aside some days to visit the city.  Oh well, there is always next time!!  We will be in Kyoto until 7/15, and the Tokyo until 7/20.  I can't believe we are in our last 10 days of this trip, it has gone by in a blink of an eye. 

Alright got to go make myself look cool. 

Zai Jian!

Olympic Village and THE GREAT WALL!

Monday night we headed to the bar area of Beijing where it was extremely slow. We had a couple of drinks and were approached by some scammer from Ghana trying to get us to go to some other bar. Luckily we didn't go. We came back to the hotel and went to bed. Not a very active night.

On Tuesday July 7th we woke up made breakfast and headed out around 10:30am. In our lonely planet guide it says to rent bikes and do a biking tour. We figured this was a good idea because it is so flat here and there are tons of bike lanes on all the roads. We got two bikes for the day at 40 RMB. We headed to the bank then did the tour around the forbidden city according to the guide. After this it was about noon. Joe and I decided to ride up to the Olympic village which is on the northern tip of Beijing and we were in the center. Not the best idea. We rode in the hot sun for miles and miles. We probably stopped and asked directions 5 times. The thing with Beijing is that the roads here change names every 50 meters and the map we had was the whole of Beijing with only the major roads labeled. On the map the Olympic village didn't look too far but after riding for about 3 hours and getting substantially lost we finally made it.

The village they built is HUGE! Like ridiculous for one event. We walked over to the water cube (the bubble looking building) where Phelps won all his medals. It was pretty cool inside but nothing to write home about. After we watched an empty pool we headed out to the National Stadium (The Birds nest). By far the coolest looking stadium from the outside. It was enormous and very new and well designed. We walked in, sat in the seats, walked around the track and hung out in the air-conditioned gift shop. It was cool to see but not three hour bike ride cool. It really is amazing and kind of sad that the Chinese put so much effort into making these Olympics special. We all remember how amazing they were this year but now the whole village is just a tourist trap and they don't really hold events there at all.

After being asked by Chinese families for our photograph we got on our bikes and headed back to the hotel. This time it only took an hour and a half since we sort of knew where we were going woo… Once back we showered up and bought tickets to our next destination Kyoto, Japan (more on that later). We then found a hostel and booked tickets for our Great Wall journey. Our bus was leaving the next morning at 6:15 so we just saw Terminator Salvation at the mall then called it a night.

Today, Wednesday July 8th was our Great Wall day!! A big reason we came to China was to climb the great wall. We successfully got up on time and caught the bus to the Great Wall. It's located about 3 hours outside of Beijing. The section we decided to do was the more challenging 10km walk from Jinshanling to Simatai. The drive was beautiful. Seeing the Chinese countryside instead of the city was like a breath of fresh air. When our group finally got off the bus we took a Gondola type thing to the beginning of the wall. The second we got there we started taking in the amazing view of where we were until we began being followed by "tour guides". Basically locals wait at the top and when they see tourists they follow along for a good amount of time offering tips, to take pictures, souvenirs, and water. It was pretty annoying walking and trying to enjoy but after some maneuvers Joe and I lost them.

The climb really was intense. Parts of the wall were so dilapidated that we were basically climbing loose stones. It was really cool though. Going up some of the really steep parts was extremely exhausting. But some parts downhill were nice. We went through 30 towers, over a shaky rope bridge and finally made it to the end. The views really were indescribable. It was really nice taking it all in. Once we made it to the end they had a optional zip line down to a boat that would take us to bus. Naturally Joe and I took the zipline instead of walking back down. It was really fast going down it and it was over a river about 300 feet below. Amazing! We got on the boat, bought some t-shirts then headed to the bus. Our dinner was included in the tour. Had some pretty shitty Chinese food and headed back. I slept like a baby all the way to the hotel which was needed heavily. A day well spent! Miss everyone!!

-jed

Invasion of The Forbidden City

Had a well needed night of relaxation last night, stayed in the hotel and watched The Strangers, read, than fell asleep fairly early.  Jed went for a walk to Tiananmen Square while I surfed the net, and planned out what we would do the next day.  We settled on The Forbidden City, home to the two Chinese dynasties.

We woke up around 9AM, and shuffled down to breakfast.  This was our first day of making a hotel breakfast, and it did not disappoint.  They had traditional Chinese food, as well as western breakfast.   I got pancakes, and a chocolate croissant, which was delicious and a great break from the local fare we have been having.   Got back to the room, and found we neither had clean clothes.  The laundry situation is pretty dismal in Beijing, and we were at the mercy at the hotel, where they charge about 5 dollars to wash one tee-shirt.  Picked my three favorite to wash, and put on my least dirty shirt, which says "I <3 HK" so much for not sticking out as a huge tourist.

Walked to The Forbidden City from our hotel, took about 20 minutes.  When we arrived I was reminded why China is the most populated country in the world.  The square to get tickets was insanely crowded, there had to me thousands of people waiting to get in, but the line to buy tickets was pretty fast.  We opted for an automatic guide, kind of a like an audio guide, but you have no idea when it goes off.  Mine was a bit more sensitive the Jed's, and would go off always like 2 minutes before.  The Forbidden City itself is just too cool for words.  It is immense, and it took us over 4 hours just to visit every building.  The architecture is just about as authentic as you will ever see, and it gives a great sense of what it was like for the Emperor living in the city.  There is a path made out of white marble that only the Emperor was allowed to walk on, so naturally we spent the whole say only walking on that path.  We felt pretty regal and decided that it would have been good to be Emperor.

We left The Forbidden City and went to explore Tiananmen Square.  It was pretty cool, but surprisingly enough, it doesn't have a warm feeling to it.  It's immense, but everyone seems like their kind of walking on egg shells, while visiting.  The whole communist style architecture that makes up Tiananmen can be described in two words:

Stone and Massive.  It has a 1984 vive, and with all the cameras, you can be sure that Big Brother was watching.

Went back to the hotel after getting a quick lunch.  This hotel is so great, we discovered that with our upgrade we now have access to a happy hour in the premiere lounge, which basically means free drinks and food for two hours a day.  Signing off now to go pick up our 30 dollar laundry, and see what to do tonight.  

Beijing...finally a post

Hey guys, so apparently in China there are a number of sites blocked by the Chinese government due to too much free speech. They call it China's great firewall. Unfortunately, Blogger.com is one of those sites that can't be accessed at all. So we are posting through emails, hope this work. 

Thursday Night July 2nd

So after we got back from Macau Joe and I decided to just have a chill night and watch a movie. We ended up watching Bangkok Dangerous. It turned out to not b e the best movie but it was cool seeing the sites of Bangkok again from a Nicolas Cage point of view.

Friday July 3rd

The next day we woke up pretty late. We went to this amazing Mexican restaurant where I got a salmon and pineapple salad. We then wanted to do some shopping so we took a bus to Stanley market . Its about 15 km south of the city. The bus ride was beautiful and scary. There were cliff edges constantly and we were literally a foot from going over. At Stanley we bought some pretty sweet gifts. We took the bus back got ready and headed  out for our last night in Hong Kong.  After hitting a few bars and buying an amazing special (6 shots for 100HK) we ended up in a pretty sweet bar called Club 9 where basically it was all white people from HK trying to see who can spend the most money and look the best while doing it. Kind of weird. We were hurting by the end of this night and only had three hours of sleep.

Saturday July 4th

The next day was a travel day…yay.  A great way to spend Independence Day. We got up at 7 and almost fought each other because of crankiness. Took the airport express to HK international and caught our flight to Beijing leaving at 10am. To summarize Hong Kong would be difficult. It really is like the New York of the East but with a different vibe. The western influence permeates the  city everywhere it seems.  But you still get a hint of a feeling that there is some traditional Chinese culture in the nooks in crannies. East meets west is this city and I really had a great time.  Joe called HK China light. Now Beijing is the real China or China heavy.

We got to Beijing around 4  and were utterly exhausted. We are staying at the Novatel Peace Hotel close to the Forbidden City. The hotel is excellent. We asked if they had any upgrades available and they put us on their luxury floor. The room has two beds so life is good.  We got some food at Pizza Hut after an exhaustive search. In Beijing no one speaks a word of English. We were told that the Pizza Huts here are like legit high class restaurants and it's true! They are so nice and the pizza was excellent. We then relaxed in the room and I found a blog explaining where we could celebrate the fourth. After some convincing we headed a really classy club opening called the beach. It was alright. Kind of a lounge on a roof deck with a beach motif. We luckily met a group from England who ended up being really chill who have lived in Beijing for some time.  They knew all the hotspots in Beijing. We all went bar hopping and eventually found ourselves in the bar district. The drinks were cheap and the music was excellent at this one venue where we spent the majority of the night. We met some Korean girls who raved about Seoul. We may visit. After a party night that we didn't expect we went home and crashed around 4am.

Sunday July 5^th

We woke up around 1pm today got some McDonalds. Then walked around a mall and found ourselves in a Chinese arcade. This place was amazing. So many DDR type games that the people were playing were just unbelievable. Joe wanted to show his skills but I saved him from embarrassment. It seemed whatever game we played the people would constantly be watching and be intrigued. I almost beat a little Chinese kid at some fighting game but lost.  Now we're back in the hotel relaxing and trying to figure out what were going to do next.

-jed

City of Dreams

Last night was our first really clear night in Hong Kong, so after a quick dinner, we decided to take the tram to the top of Victoria Peak. The tram itself is really cool, especially because it is really old, and the angle it goes up make it feel more like a roller coaster, and less of a tram. We got to the top after about 20 minutes, and rushed up 10 escalators through a fancy mall to finally get to the sky view terrace.

Looking down on the city, I was dumbstruck. It was one of the most breathtakingly beautiful views I have ever seen. It is one thing to be in Hong Kong walking the streets, and another thing entirely to look out it from above. Jed especially liked the "The Dark Knight" building, you know the one where Batman kidnaps the Chinese business man. I hope the pictures give you an idea of what is looked like.

Woke up this morning to try to make breakfast, but it didn't happen. So we got up at 10:30 and got ready to go to Macau! The ferry ride took an hour, and it was very comfortable. As soon as you get to Macau, there are just tons of Casinos who all want you to come to theirs. We skiped out on the sightseeing (heard it's nothing to write home about), and headed straight to the Venetian Macau. The casino was fun, and after a while we switched it up and went to City of Dream. It was more fun, and we were like the only white people on the floor. Someone even ran up to us and asked if he could take a picture with us. He must be a fan of The Lost Breeds. So fun day in Macau, lost some money, but had a blast while doing it!

Don't know what is up for tonight, or tomorrow. I want to hit up the Jade market, and buy some trinkets! We are all booked for our flight to Beijing on Saturday.

Cananda D'eh

Canada day was excellent! Apparently the person who developed Lan Kwan Fong was Canadian so they celebrate it pretty hard. Hong Kong also has the next day off so our street was packed. Joe and I got some half liter hogos then went bar hopping. We met some amazing Hong Kong locals who seemed to love Americans and our dance skills. We hit up a couple bars then found ourselves in a Russian ice bar. Unfortunately, the "ice bar" was just like 50 degrees and the ice blocks that made up the walls were made of plastic. But after being a hot sweaty mess the faux ice did feel nice.

The next morning we slept in until about one after that pesky Canada day. Then, for lunch, had some traditional dim sum. We had some chicken feet, dumplings, and noodles. The chicken feet were pretty gross to look at and actually just pretty gross in general. Joe and I were a little out of our element at this place but we ended up with a good meal. After this we took the star ferry which is Hong Kong's pride and glory for public transportation. We went across the river back into Kowloon. The public transportation here is amazing. The star ferry and MTR are way above anything in NYC. Walking through the subway system is like walking through a luxury mall.

Once in Kowloon we went to the Hong Kong Art Mueseum which was excellent! There was a really good exhibit of contemporary art that was hosted by Lois Vutton. I'm not a huge fan of a museum partnering with a commercial entity but some of the art pieces were utterly amazing. After this we headed to the Science Museum. It was basically a playground packed with children. I wasn't a huge fan because when I wanted to play anything there would be a large line of impatient kids looking like, "WTF is this guy doing taking my toys". We then took the MTR back to our hotel and are slowly recuperating.