Xi'an - the slower pace of China

Last Beijing Pict...post home cooked dinner with Hollis!


Day 20 -

The overnight train ride was really pleasant, 4 people to a car, two sets of bunk beds and they wake you up before your stop so you don't miss it. Train station in Xi'an was organized chaos at best, complete mayhem on the other end of the scale. People everywhere, streaming in and out (generally at the same time, though the same door). In addition to everyone arriving and departing there is the whole group devoted to offering tours, hotels, rides and maps. Pretty sure that is a staple at all transportation points in this country. After clearing the crowds we moseyed to our hostel. Stuff down, it was exploration time, lunch was at a yummy restaurant with zero English on the menu AND no pictures (the saving grace or ordering thus far); between the designated speaker, John's Mandarin book and the food section in Lonely Planet we ended up with two really tasty dishes and one we may chose not to repeat. Post lunch we wandered to see the bell and drum towers and then stumbled onto a grocery. Now those who have traveled with me, know I love a foreign grocery store. After finding what we wanted and braving the lines we realized everyone had bar codes on their bulk items (bananas) and we did not. After being asked a few times in Chinese some questions, the checker sent her friend to get up a bar code so the two in line with blank stares could purchase their fruit.

These are the puppies that live at the hostel in Xi'an:



Day 21 -

Xi'an is known for having one of the longest running Muslim communities in China and is the home to a very active population as well as a Great Mosque. The Muslim quarter was filled with so many smells, sights, and sounds taking it all in was wild. Vendors all over the place selling meat on a stick, meat and onion stuffed in every imaginable bread type (buns, pancakes, dumplings, and croissant type bread), and deep fried persimmons (AMAZING!). In addition to the cooked food, this section appears to be the raw ingredient area any meat, spices, grains and vegetables you need for a meal are for sale here. I'll admit, the meat part gave me the willies.
Enough well places signs let us straight to the great Mosque. One of the amazing things about all these temples it the way the walls block out the hustle and bustle of the city we know is right outside. It was peaceful and beautiful, combining the styles of Chinese grandeur with the middle Eastern styles more traditionally associated with mosques.



Day 21 on our adventure happened to correspond with the 15th day of the Chinese New year. For those of you who are unaware what this means (John & I were on that list prior to this night), it is another chance to show off your biggest, best, longest, loudest, brightest fire works...for hours. We had planned to walk along the Xi'an city walls that evening and when we arrived, it appeared that most of the city of Xi'an along with three neighboring cities had the same idea. There was a massive crowd in the plaza with throngs of people pushing and elbowing to get closest to the booths selling tickets to the wall. John opted to stand guard by a gate (read, get the heck out of the madness), while I attempted to purchase said tickets. After befriending a nice Irish couple, the three of us attempted to get in line, which at this point I've learned means start maneuvering my way to the front with no real regard to who got there before or after me. The ticket line brought back memories of early middle school when a friend and I decided we were going to be grungers and attended one or two shows to prove this point. Somewhere in the middle of one show we decided to try out the mosh pit, who knew years later that would serve as practice for being in line at a Chinese festival? After moshing through the purchase line and then through the front gate, the crowds dispersed quite a bit. The view of all the fireworks from the wall was amazing and lanterns were hung on each light post to celebrate.



My favorite of the Olympic mascots!


Another bonus of the day, we got our waitress at dinner to write the name of one vegetable dish in Chinese so we will be able to order it all over China, woo hoo!

(I'll get some pictures for the fire works as soon as I figure out uploading in yet another city on yet another computer - John)

Day 22 -
Went south of the city walls today to see the Big Goose Pagoda and the Little Goose Pagoda. The name comes from the saying "Bury the goose and build the pagoda". Points if you can better decipher the message in that one. Big Pagoda offered a pretty cool view to look back at Xi'an unfortunately, like many cities in China, this view would work better without the persistent smog.

As you can see, the architecture is also designed for a slightly shorter population:

After some pagoda viewing we actually went to a recommended restaurant. Once seated we pulled out the notebook with our green bean dish written in it and showed it to our waitress. She turned immediately to the page in the menu and pointed to a dish translated as deep fried kidney beans. Not sure who did the original translation, but some how saute has come to be deep fried and green beans have become kidney beans. Ah well, tasted just as good as it did in Beijing!

Day 23 -
We started the day at Starbucks, a local supply of good coffee has been my saving grace because they make Eliza happy. Then we ventured to the train station in order to purchase train tickets to Chongqing. As Eliza previously described, the train station is filled with people who are not so concerned with order or line forming. It took some time to located the English speaking line. If you find yourself in Xi'an, it is line ten. Once you get to within twenty feet of the ticket window there are very rigid steel railings forcing everyone to line up. Which is nice. It doesn't eliminate the pushing, but I have found that I am bigger than most Chinese and can stand my ground with relative success. Upon reaching the ticket window, we are informed that tickets can not be purchased today. They will only go on sale tomorrow. This differs from Beijing, where they can be purchased four days in advance. I am sure there is a sign in Chinese informing us about advanced ticket purchase, because the nice train station employees always give us a "Duh" look when we attempt a purchase.

After the madness of the train station we opted for the relative calm of WalMart. Seemed like a better option for finding breakfast cereal then the local grocery store. It wasn't. We are beginning to think there is no Chinese cereal. There is a lot of oat looking mealy things (probably like cream of wheat). Not the best options for a celiac. Also, apparently Eliza has a moral opposition to Walmart. Something about horrible treatment of the workers and destruction of small town economies. Whatever, they have English signs. Legibility is a small price to pay for ones values.

Following the compromising of values, we headed the Xi'an Forest of Stelae Museum, or Stone Forest Museum, or Xi'an Beilin Museum depending on which book or map you are currently reading. And by "Stone Forest" they mean a collection of stone tablets and pillars covered with engravings, not petrified trees. They are all interesting, but the informative placards are either absent or in Chinese. Either way, not that informative. In one section there is a collection of stone hitching posts. All about four feet tall with animals, gargoyles, dragons, or what ever carved on top. Really cool. Another section housed large carved stone animals. And by large, I think they are life sized. However, I have never stood that close to a rhinoceros, tiger, or lion; so I am going to take the artists word for it.

Upon returning to the hostel, we informed them about our train ticket dilemma. At which point the very helpful front desk lady (as opposed the not helpful front desk lady, where every request is a big hassle and a grave interruption on her personal chatting time) informed us that for a "commission" the hostel can book the train tickets. At this point we are ready to pay anything. One of the many nice parts about China is the relative value of items. $0.85 for a beer, are you crazy? I can get them for $0.35 down the street. $4.00 for a train ticket purchase, where do I sign?

Day 24 -
SNOW!!! Woke up this morning and took a look outside. Unlike at home where we know to anticipate (and hope for) snow, we had zero indicator it was coming! The fact that is snow did not want to stop changed today's plan to visit the terra cotta warriors. We have been willing to get in random cabs and vans for a variety of destinations and just pray they make it there, the snow on the ground was a factor was not going to be added. Will try again tomorrow!

Day 25 -
Terra-cotta Warriors Day. My mother has had a poster of the Terra-cotta Warriors for as long as I can remember. So, for as long as I can remember, I have wanted to see them. The bus ride out there was pretty decent. The nice bus driver's assistant made sure that we knew where the return bus would pick us up; lots of waving, pointing, and eight tooth smiling.

There are three pits which have been partially excavated. And following our trend of finding places under construction, Pit #2 was closed for renovations. However, Pits #1 and #3 were alive and kicking. Pit #3 is the smallest of the three pits and houses about fifteen statues and a couple of horses. Pit #1 is were the action is. The main excavation site has rows and rows of statues. It is contained in a airplane hanger like building, and is about the size of two football fields. You can walk around the whole pit and see the soldiers from every angle. The excavation is still in progress, so you also get to see how they are restoring and cataloging some of the soldiers.

This is a must-see if you have been dreaming about it all your life. And a probably-must-see if you are in China and have a couple of extra days. I would recommend viewing in the off season as it looks like the museum complex is capable of handling hundreds of thousand of visitors a day. And I would not want to be there on that day.

Day 26 -
It was finally time to get a clean start on things, that's right laundry day. When you are traveling laundry day takes on a whole different meaning, sink filled, clothing cleaned and every possible drying surface covered. Problem is, when you check out the next morning and then things are still damp at 7pm we have a bit of a problem. Luckily, John is a thinker and on a departure run to the evil store (aka Walmart) he purchased a hair dryer, slower than a tumble dryer, faster than our current rate. Laundry complete!

Day 27 -
Today we woke up early and caught a bus to Mt. Hua Shan (pronounced Hwa Shan, drawing out the w. Which apparently everyone else knew because we were corrected at least fifteen times). There are three routes to the top of the mountain.
One, a spine-tingling vertical staircase in which some parts are planks and ropes suspended from the shear cliff face. Two, a five hour hike up the front side of the mountain on where there are spectacular vies of the surrounding country side. Or three, aka the cheater way, an Austrian made gondola that takes ten minutes. That's right people, you are looking at two cheaters. In our defense, we did have a train to catch that night. But I still think we cheated.

Once we got to the top, the views were amazing. At the north end of the peak (where the ridge is no more than fifty feet wide) there is a collection of various buildings, shops, and patios. Each located on what ever small section of flat land the owner can find. As one heads south the mountain rises and narrows until you are walking up a staircase carved in to the granite rock no more than three feet wide. On either side is a vertical drop in excess of one thousand feet. But not to worry, some one (who I am sure was following the strictest of Chinese building codes) installed a chain hand rail to help guide you. Very cool, but not for those with the slightest case of vertigo. Due to time restrictions, we were not able to explore further. According to legend, and our map, the mountain top flattens out (relatively) and a you can hike higher to more peaks and even stay in one of the hotels on the mountain.

Upon making our way down the mountain (via the gondola) we found a bus headed to Xi'an. Actually you never need to find you own transportation over here. People will offer to take you to the moon if you need it. The buses (bordering on really efficient or highly inefficient) will not leave until full. After waiting for thirty minutes on a half full bus, a second bus pulls up (also half full). Upon combining the passengers of both buses and waiting the requisite "five minutes" to see if any further customers need transportation, we were off Mt Hua Shan, and on to our overnight train to Chongqing. Or so we thought. Actually the only problem was the return bus dropped us off at the long distance bus terminal, not the train station (where we began our day's journey). This is problematic because, and I don't know about you, but I don't know where the long distance bus terminal in Xi'an is located. The problem was soon solved by hailing and cab, grabbing our belongings, and heading to the train station to make our to the start of the cruise.

The ever changing price of Gatoraid

Preface to this post: Located a store on Day 13 that sells Gatorade, not as easy as we make it sound. Very reasonable starting price of 3 yuan each.

Day 14 -
Two weeks and still having a blast. Got up this morning with every intention of seeing the well preserved (read: pickled) body of Mao. By the time we made it to Tiananmen square and figured out where the mausoleum was, the viewing time was over. Ah well, we can try again another day. Decided some Peking Duck was just the cure for missing the great leader. Walked a number of blocks until we were able to find the restaurant recommended by a good friend of mine. So you order the duck, the pancakes, and the sauce etc and then stare around the immense hall that appears to be a ballroom converted solely for people enjoying duck over the Chinese New Year. Eventually the duck comes out on a cart followed by a gentleman with a very sharp cleaver. He proceeds to carve the whole thing in under 2 minutes, mess free. Enjoy!
Full and happy, we headed over to the Temple of Heaven Park where the royal family and other important heads of state went to pray for a full harvest and strong year. Very symmetrical and balanced showing extreme beauty (direct quote from one of the signs). As we have signed up to walk the Great Wall tomorrow, it was time to turn in and rest up. Gatorade cost today: 4 yuan each.




Day 15 -
On today's listed literary was a trip to the Great Wall of China. Not on todays listed literary - an aggressive driving lesson where Mario Andretti could learn a thing or two. To begin the ride our driver politely introduced himself as "Joe", and then proceeded to scare the crap our of us with his driving. I am now going to list a series of hypothetical driving situations. Please answer each one (to yourself as to not alarm anyone who maybe a past or future passenger in your car). Passing on the left, why just settle for when the opposite lane is clear of traffic? If five cars physically fit on the width of the road (please disregard lane lines or shoulders) then why not have five cars across? Two second following distance is a: guide line to proper braking distances? or state of mind? Why not slow down when approaching a red-light in order to time your acceleration to perfectly coincide with the light change? (A little note on this. There are count down timers (like a shot clock) displaying the time before the red light or green light changes. Who thought this was a good idea?) I could go on for quite a while, but to save my fingers from typing here is my favorite passing story. Let me set the scene: Four cars headed in one direction, we are currently fourth in line, reasonably clear opposite lane (ie one can not see any oncoming cars), the road curves to the right, and cars One and Two (front to back) are traveling slightly over the speed limit (ie too slow). Our driver goes to pass all three cars at once. Car Three reacts late, but goes for the double pass. Our car swerves wide to avoid Car Three and then falls in behind Car Three. Cars Three and Four (us) pass with reasonable ease. Our car then cuts inside Car Three for the right side pass. Leaving Car Three to negotiate a right hand curve in the opposite lane. I prayed to three gods I know, six I learned of on this trip, and two more I made up. One of them was listening cause I am typing this.

Diagram of this pass available upon request.


The Great Wall is truly great. Somethings get built up in your mind and then are disappointing when you actually see them. Not this. We will get some pictures up soon (the internet in China is proving to be slow) so you can get a glimpse of the grandeur. We hiked the wall from Jinshanling to Simatai. All in all about a seven mile trek along the top of the wall. Most sections had not been restored in any way. The wall has mostly fallen into disrepair, and is quite run down (until you remember the last upgrade was 400 years ago, then it looks to be in good shape). 75% is easily passable (mind your ankles), but some parts require you to exit the wall and hike around. The wall follows the crest of the hills leading to a very undulating trek. A must see if you get to China.



Gatorade price 3.5 yuan each. All at the same store, so far 2 different sales people and three different prices...hmm.


Day 16 -
Happy Birthday John! To celebrate it was decided we would find the store called Decathalon and procure sweatpants in order to not freeze anymore in Beijing. Store has everything and the slogan is "It is essential to make sports affordable", pretty sure that is sports gear for all.
Next stop on the days adventure was Panjiayuan aka the Dirt Market. Filled with every sort of art, craft, antique, pearl or jewelry you could ever desire the place was swarming. Some booths sell the same things as the next (jade Buddhas, dolls, beads, etc), but some booths collections are best described as everything but the kitchen sink. Two pieces of jade, a vase, three vests, a small bowl of beads and a pair of shoes. Was really a cross between a garage sale and a flea market.

As it is John's birthday and the choice birthday meal is lasagna, we went in search of the next closest thing, real pizza. Armed with the name of a place recommended by a friend and a hand drawn map we did indeed find The Tree, this is about 2 blocks into a very small alley, the sort of alley you generally would take one look at and realize you were on the wrong street and turn back, only this time is was the right street. Pizza consumed, he says this was his best birthday in Beijing ever.

Day 17 -
Today we tried to see Mao again. But were denied by our inability to find "Bag Check". This guy is pretty elusive for someone embalmed in a glass coffin. I am beginning to think the viewing Chairman is all a charade to confuse tourists.

We then headed to the Silk Market, which really should be renamed the "Hey Lady" market. Basically this is where six floors of knock off vendors try to convince you to pay exorbitant prices for fake brand name labels. As one walks down the rows of shops the shopkeepers guess you speak English and say (at a volume high enough to be heard above the other shopkeepers, but not quite a yell) "hey lady, you buy here, we have nice ____". Now it does not really matter what they are selling, or if it even applies to the particular person they are addressing. They even call out "I got something in my shop you want". Now when you do actually find something you want at a shop with a nice looking sales person you come to realize three things. One, they start you at about nine times the final selling price. Which is really annoying because when they start at 900 RMB you have to under cut them by 90% just so the finishing price is near reasonable. Two, they know the exact price of everything in their shop. They probably have well over 200 different items for sale, and they know the buy and sell price of each. Three, they speak better English then some UN translators. They start with "Hey, you want to buy here" and end with "With the falling dollar and the current economic uncertainties in the US home mortgage crisis, my net profits are slipping. It is only my international client base that keeps me afloat". Also, for simplicities sake, most price negotiations are done on a calculator. And they can do some rapid and creative math when splitting the difference with you. I am not going to go into any detail about what was purchased be cause we didn't get any of your gifts here, no really, we got you all the real things.

- Side note: A couple of fellow travelers are currently trying to stream a Shakira concert performance, but the bandwidth here is not sufficient. Nothing like really choppy Shakira to get you up in the morning.

After the mass chaos of the Silk Market we went to the Confucius Temple. The temple is a working temple dedicated to Confucius. "Working Temple" means it is relatively in good repair, unlike some of the historical sights we have seen. Located here is the description of the history of Confucius and his teachings (all in Chinese so not that helpful to us). The history is written on large stone tablets (3ft across, 8ft tall, and 1ft thick). With my pension for typos, I really would not have wanted that engraving job. What? That happened in 920 not 290? Ah man, back to the quarry, I need another couple tons of polished granite.


Day 18 -
China is the home of the Giant Panda and the Beijing zoo is the home of at least 6 of them and practically on the way to the Summer Palace. As the Pandas are definitely a crowd pleaser, they cost extra on the admission but we decided it was worth the nearly dollar each. The zoo in Beijing, like many things, could use a little TLC, much of the paint is peeling and chipping, cages look pretty run down and overgrown, but hey, maybe this is closer to life in the wild.



Enter the Panda house and are greeted with both the site of an adorable young panda and a Chinese family banging on the glass where it is sleeping and yelling at it so it will move and be more entertaining. Guess there are also different understandings of how one treats animals in a zoo. This lovely woman in a yellow coat continued to harass every panda she passed in hopes of it doing something more interesting than sleeping.

Post Pandas we headed over to the Summer Palace (when a small city doesn't cut it, why not build a lake and second residence?). Something like 136 acres, 85% is this huge lake that was built and enlarged over the various dynasties, similar styling to the Forbidden City but with summer in mind. Of note is a huge marble boat built on the north end of the lake, the empress Cixi used funding marked to the navy to make vast improvements to this residence and then as homage to the group she took the funds from, built this boat. Not sure that is quite what they had in mind...


Day 19 -
Ha, finally got to Tiananmen Square with enough time to find back check. It is across the eight lane street, just follow the signs for "Articles Deposit". Oh articles deposit, why didn't you say so earlier? Of course that translates to bag check. Close enough. The English translations normally make sense with some context. So, after depositing our articles, we join the masses in a semi-line (kept line-like by official looking individuals with megaphones) to see Mao. We passed cleanly through security, no harmful or prohibited item on us, past the booth where you can buy flowers, and into an anteroom containing a large white marble statue of Mao sitting in a chair (maybe half the size of the Lincoln Memorial). In front of the statue are the flowers that you can buy outside. As the line gets ready to enter the room with Mao you are supposed to form a two person wide line in order to get more people past Mao (or so the reader board informs us in may languages). Now up until this point every one has been pushing to get past Eliza and I. They have jumped ever corner where there is a slight gap, pushed past "looking for other family members closer to the front", and cut the line after getting out of line when placing the flowers near the statue. But, now the masses form a single line closest to the rope for better viewing. And this appears to be okay because for the first time in China everyone is quiet, respectful, and lining up nicely. Except for one uniformed guard who is yelling and pushing Eliza, and only Eliza, into forming a second line (no English, only yelling in Chinese). I am not sure what would have happened if I had asked nicely (or not nicely as I was considering) for the guard to please unhand my girlfriend, but luckily it did not come down to that. For once the crowd played into our favor as it pushed us past the not so nice uniformed individual and though to the viewing room. From what we have read there is a waxed version of Mao and a pickled version of Mao. The doctor tasked with embalming Mao was not sure if the process would take, so he had a wax version created. The story goes that you are never sure which one will be on display on any given day. We are pretty sure it was the waxed version.

After Mao we wandered over to the Lama Temple. The street leading up to the temple had more stores selling every variety of incense imaginable. Once we were in the temple grounds we figured out why, it is appropriate to offer incense to Buddha, and it might be one of those "the more the better" type things as people would take handfuls, light and offer then leave them burning in these huge troughs. One of the last building here houses a really huge Buddha, more than three stories high, carved out of a single piece of Sandalwood. On our way out we passed a meditation room that was currently serving as a display room for figures presented to the Lama temple. Half way around the room we noticed a figure on high in meditative stance. As we never caught him blinking or breathing the question of the day continues...wax or real? Pretty sure this was the real deal.

Final stop was Yashow market, which turned out to be like Silk Street. 100% silk, just for you lady, best price for you lady.

Time to grab our bags and head for the overnight train to Xi'an.

Pictures have been updated:
http://picasaweb.google.com/LizaInAsia

China - Land of a Gadzillion Chinese

Day Eleven -

Greetings from China,

First of all thanks for all the comments to the blog. At least we know ten of you read it.

We arrived here on Monday after the most turbulent flight I have ever been on. Eliza says she has experienced worse, so I blame her. At this time I would like to thank Korean Airlines for landing the plane safely. Some ideas/suggestions I have for the next landing include not filling the little plastic cups to the top when the plane is violently shaking about, and when landing, it is customary to touch the back two wheels first and then the front one. Not front first, back right second, back left third, back right again. I am sure my comment card will be reviewed accordingly.

After deciding to donate our lunches back to the Beijing Capital Airport, I noticed a helpful sign in front of customs. Let me paraphrase: "Those who are prone to motion sickness must get a WHO exemption. Upon arrival in Beijing, all passengers who look ill, cough, or show other signs of an infectious disease will be quarantined." At this point I turned to my travelling companion, who's face is a color somewhere between white and evergreen, and say "look lively" under my breathe. She dutifully snapped to attention, looked bright and cheerful all while glaring at me. As if I made the rule.

At this time I would like to thank Korean Airlines for preparing us for Chinese bus travel. Other than a driving style that would make a blind passenger cringe, the bus ride into Beijing was straight forward. As straight forward as it can be when you know no Chinese, they know little English, and there is a lot of pointing and head nodding.

We soon discovered that we were in the middle of the Chinese New Year. I mean, we knew it was the new year, just not that we were going to be in the middle of it. If you can light it they have. There were fireworks every where. And not the ones you can get in the US. I am talking big bangs and even bigger bangs. Six feet strings for blackjacks, no problem. Roman Candles, new name: Bigger Chinese Candles. The classic kind that only professionals handle in Seattle (but you can get smaller versions on a Native American Reservation or from the back of an unmarked van from Lynnwood), more prevalent than sparklers here. My personal favorite is the Combo-Pack. Thirty minutes of unadulterated noise, color, and sheer pyromaniacal bliss.

For dinner we sampled a Sichuan restaurant. We should know this by now, but when they say spicy, they mean spicy. As in when the waitress takes your order, leaves, comes back and (in broken English) double checks that you know the dish is spicy, the dish is spicy. But oh so good. We even managed to get a "present" of dumpling from our very nice waitress.

Day 12 -

Liza here now, calmer day given the start of a very Liza cold. Went off and wandering in our attempt to locate an active Taoist temple called the White Cloud (sounds like a lodging cousin to the Silver Cloud). As the theme goes, hundreds of people streaming in and out and more importantly, looking for a place to park. If there is more than a 2 inch margin, it counts as large enough for your car and you darn well better squeeze in. After viewing this madness it was decided lunch was the next item up (I am hungry, lets eat now, guess who said that one?). Wandered into a busy looking restaurant and plopped down. A quick browse through the menu and we had no clue what we wanted, it seemed the place only served soup and raw food. Well when you put 2 and 2 together (and your waitress insists you need the soup) the realization that the soup it actually a boiling broth used to cook aforementioned raw things, the meal gets good. One side is nice and mild, the other is John style spicy. All in all, China is definitely beating Korea in the restaurant based eats department.

Day 13 -

So the guide book tells you the Forbidden City is a full day affair. John and I take that to mean something we can surely accomplish before lunch. So off we go, after a great walk down a long skinny park situated in the middle of a 6 lanes of traffic we realize we are in the correct place by the throngs of people. Everyone there has something helpful to offer, a Mao hat, a city map, English Guide, postcards for a place we haven't even seen yet. Decided on no to all of these, but did opt for the English audio guides and we were off, with a soothing British/ Chinese accented voice to guide our way. Turns out the guides have trigger points within the FC and sometimes she would pipe in with a story of concubines double crossing one another at random, but overall very helpful. So first site we are greeted with, is the two largest halls covered in scaffolding and a sign stating the obvious that they are indeed under renovation. Luckily, this place is truly awesome and huge. Wandered for nearly 6.5 hours and didn't have a chance to see everything. Did get over to the hall of jewellery right about the time both cameras opted to run out of batteries. Pictures on this site do far better justice than words, though uploading looks a bit harder at this hostel, they will eventually follow.
Ended the day by meeting up with Hollis (a friend of a friend who is working on the Olympics in Beijing). She took us to a great hole in the wall place a few block from where we are staying and had lots of great tips on Beijing, tons of fun and the home of the best green beans we've had in weeks! Well, really the only green beans, or green vegetable for that matter, the whole "only eat things you can peel yourself" puts a damper on the fresh aspect of dining.

-John and Eliza

More to follow, off to locate the closest thing to lasagne this city has to offer for John's birthday

Seoul

Hello there blogger land readers,

Here is a little update since Eliza last "blogged".

Day Seven - Back in Seoul and searching for this Korean Bath thing. First we tried to find the Hurest Spa. Found the building, which is a start in a city with no street addresses. Unfortunately for your truly, the building was under construction. An informative sign let us know the grand reopening is set for 2009. Bit of a problem since are only here until Monday.

Then, because we had stumbled upon a new shopping district, we decided to find me a messenger bag (or merse as Eliza calls it. I have no idea what she is talking about, but I think she is mocking me) so I can better carry items on day trips. And by shopping district please picture Bellevue Square Mall during the Christmas shopping rush. Now add twice as many people. Then make it outside. Add street vender's yelling, in a foreign language, with portable PA systems. Oh and this goes on for six or seven city block in every direction. (After returning to the hostel I found a map. The area is called Myeong-dong and is ten block by nine blocks.) The shops on this area are all upscale (Gap, Puma, Banana Republic, and a bunch of others in Korean).

Since this is obviously my cup of tea, we moved to another shopping district. All still in search of a messenger bag. This time we're in the right place. Another outdoor market, but this one specializes in street vendors unloading blatant knock-offs and other inexpensive merchandise. After several different shops I spotted the bag for me. A Diesel Brand copy (or so Eliza informed me after my purchase. Not that I know anything about the Diesel line of bags, or how a German engineer from the 19th century is associated with my new bag from Korea). Anyway, nice bag with lots of zippers and pockets. And not to shabby of a price at 11,000 Won ($11.75). We'll see how long the stitching holds.

To celebrate our successful bargain shopping, and to toast the vendor who probably just ripped us off, we sat down to a nice dinner of Korean BBQ Pork. Really tasty. The grill is right at your table so you get to watch you food cook to its scrumptious perfection. I would highly recommend it. Now, if only I could tell you what it was called or the name of the restaurant.



Day Eight - Off again to find the Korean Bath. Our first stop ended with no luck, but there was a construction site right were the guide book listed the bath location. No informative sign this time, just a hole in the ground.

Try three. Step one: building located. Step Two: not under construction. Step Three: English sign. Step right up, I think we have a winner. So, a Korean bath is really nice on tired and sore legs. There are hot baths, cold baths, dry saunas, wet saunas, masseuses, masseurs, and a host of other relaxation methods (ladies and gents have separate facilities). So, after twenty minutes, I was done with this, but Eliza told me not to meet her for an hour. And being the dutiful boyfriend, I found a couch with a tv. Now I am not sure why "New York Minute" staring Mary-Kate and Ashely Olsen was playing on the men's side. But I watched it, in Korean. After the hour was up, I headed to the lobby to fetch a relaxed and wholly content Eliza.

We followed this up with a dinner of another grill at your table meal.



Day Nine - DMZ Tour.

The DMZ is a highly humorous and dangerous place at the same time. The military there is on 24hr alert and at any time is subject to the attack on an unpredictable regime. There is an immense collection up of fire power on both sides of the border. However, the posturing done by both sides is kinda funny. All in the name of propaganda there is a list of thing you can and can't do. For instance any acknowledgment of the North Korean Soldiers is forbidden, but lining up in a tour group and taking pictures is okay. Sort of spy vs. spy.

At this time I would like to let you all know Eliza and I have been to North Korea and returned safely. Part of the tour (and the highlight in my opinion) is traveling to the JSA (Joint Security Area) where you are taken to the chief negotiation room, half is in North Korea and half is in South Korea. The room is fairly nondescript. It is about 15ft by 50ft and consist of a couple of tables and chairs. Items you would find in any office conference room. As part of a tour group, we were allowed to roam freely inside of this room. This meant you could walk to the North Korean side of the building and be in North Korea. I have a picture of my feet in North Korea (I'll post it later). Here is a picture of Eliza and I with a ROKA Soldier. If push came to shove, I think I could take him.



After the JSA we were taken to an observation point were you can see several miles into North Korea. It was kinda hazy, but North Korea is definitely there. Following th observation point was a trip down Tunnel #3. Creatively named as it is the third tunnel found dug into South Korea by the north. We were not allowed to take any picture so you will have to take my word on this: North Korean soldiers must be short. I am not the tallest person in the world, and I hit my head every twenty step or so (luckily I had on my required safety helmet). The tunnel is about 5ft-8in tall on average, and probably the same across (wide enough for two people). We were told that the tunnel was designed for 30,000 soldier to pass through in one hour. They must have been able to run without worrying about their heads.



After returning to Seoul we did some sight seeing and souvenir shopping in Insadong. Insadong is a nice neighborhood in the center of Seoul (also happens to be were we are staying).

Dinner was fried rice with chicken and vegetables. This we ordered off the picture menu with an English description, so we knew what we were getting, or so we thought. Turns out we were mostly right. The vegetables were green AND white onions, there was barely enough chicken to choke a chipmunk, but the rice was plentiful. Despite my description the dish was really tasty. And we would eat at the restaurant again (if we could find it).


Day Ten - Last Day in Seoul. Today we started off with a lazy morning. After rallying ourselves out of the hostel (by 1pm), (Eliza was actually the earlier riser, something I ate the previous day caused minor stomach problems, so I was none too motivated for moving) we went to the Olympic Park (Seoul hosted in 1988). The Olympic Park was alive with families playing soccer, volleyball, and a roller blading team. It's a nice park with lots of open grass and is probably quite busy in the summer. I would compare it to Green Lake, but with three or four full sized Olympic venues and scaled to a city of ten million.

We followed this up with a walk along the Cheonggye Stream and the shopping area along its banks. Dinner was a corn dog and a fry dog. That's right Fry Dog. They take a hot dog, shove it on a stick, wrap it in french fries, and deep fat fry it. I am going to mass market this when I get back to the States. Anybody reading this is free to start the process, but I get ten percent of the gross revenue. I think it will be a winner. We have nicknamed it "heaven on a stick".



My Final Thoughts on Seoul and South Korea: This is the largest feeling city I have been to. I think Paris might have a larger population, but not density. There are these housing projects that are twenty-five stories high and must house thousand of people per building. There are underground malls on the walkways that take you under road intersections that are too large to cross above ground. There are vendors in the subway, vendors everywhere. One can not turn around without being offered something for sale. South Korea and Seoul are filled with nice people, we have never been lost without someone trying to guide us in the right direction. The food here is good, as long as you know what your ordering. Will put this on the list of places to revisit.

-John (and Eliza)




P.S.

Eliza's pictures are up

http://picasaweb.google.com/LizaInAsia

Adventures in pickled vegetables

As with any good adventure we've been learning things from the get go, 11 hours on a plane is a long time, even if you get to sit next to someone you like. But, when you board at the tail end of your connecting flight inTokyo, you just might get an upgrade to business class. Woo hoo!

Arrived in Seoul around 11:30 pm expecting a deserted city. Turns out this is a nation of insomniacs and there were plenty of helpful people more than willing to confirm we were headed the correct direction. Once we were above ground the realization that American definitions were not going to hold set in. In navigating to our hotel, every alley counts as a street if you can somewhat safely drive a scooter down it. Bed located, 23 hours of traveling later.

Official day one, clear sunny, below freezing. Headed to the N'Seoul Tower, a structure similar to the space needle on a hill in the middle of Seoul. Distracted by markets and street foot (not brave enough to try it yet) but made it there eventually. 360 degree view shows that this place it truely huge. Every direction shows more skyscrapers and huge urban centers, suddenly the 10 million people in the greater Seoul area seems quite reasonable.


Went in search of Korean BBQ, ended up with incredibly spicy chicken and lots of kimchi, it is everywhere and is a part of every meal, seems that nearly every vegetable can be kimchied, some with better results than others.

Day 2 - Met up with Yoon (a friend of Lisa's) in a hip district known as Insadong. Many little shops filled with antiques, art, snacks and souvenirs. After a great wander there (and our first official lesson in Korean) we went to see Gyeongbokgung a restored royal palace. Huge grounds (probably beautiful in the summer when there is grass and everything is in bloom) and it backs up to the Blue House, where the president of South Korea lives and works. Try two on the BBQ, this time resulting in bravery to try street food (really really hungry) and bean cakes with meat and seafood in the middle. Taste, but huh.



Day 3-5 - Bright and early train to the south eastern town of Gyeongju. It has a much smaller population (only 1/4 mllion) and a slower pace. Rumor has it that in the summer months it is even a celebrity destination. The city is filled with large burial mounds used in the Shila period for royal burials. A small wooden room was built around the dead and filled with things needed in the after life. This was then covered in stones and then heaped with dirt. The modern day result is large grassy mounds 2-3 stories high interspersed though the city.

Took a day trip to the Bulguksa Temple, recently restored and currently both a tourist attraction and active Buddhist temple. The people here were well before their times, every building is designed to have fires lit below the floors for the main source of heat. Headed up the hill on a 3.2km hike straight to the top of the ridge to visit the Seokgulam Grotto. Spent some time laughing at the difference in safety styles between here and home. They allow to your get very close to many monuments and walk most places, without rails, without even steps, without having cleared the snow. Pretty much they expect people to take responsibility for themselves. The trip to man-made reort lake named Bumonho, was really cold and not that eventful. Turns out to be mainly a summer retreat. Also went to a Korean history museum.

No BBQ located on days 3-5, though we ended up with an octopus dish, kimchi, the ability to de-bone a fish with chopsticks, kimchi, and something containing many unidentified but tasty ingredients cooked table side.

Day 6 - Back to Seoul on the KTX (Korean Express Trains), short journey back to a ghost town since today marks the start of the Lunar New Year here and most people have headed home to celebrate with their families. Had a great wander and finally located the infamous BBQ, and indeed it was delicious.

Here are some key pictures of the adventure so far and a link for the rest if you need to kill some time:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jwwinasia
(the pictures off John's camera so far with a note on why we didn't do both)

Hope all is well on the home front,
Liza & John