Jiuzhaigou

Hey all,

finally have a moment to update. Got up at 5 in the morning to get on a plane from Beijing to Chengdu, and man was the airport crowded! I found this on the flight to Shanghai as well, but there's really no sense of a lineup here. People pretty much just crowd in and get in as fast as they possibly can. :P Security wasn't too bad, basically the same as in Canada. The flight was 2 hours, but we took off late and arrived late in Chengdu. We then caught a flight to Jiuzhaigou National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site and many other superlatives. Basically, it's the most beautiful place I've been to so far. We'll post some pics as soon as we get access to a faster computer. :P

We've been pretty much going up and down the mountain valley looking at the many jewel-colored lakes in the area. The colors ranged from pale blue to aquamarine to emerald green to indigo. At one point, the sun reflecting through the ripples of one lake created a rainbow ripple effect underwater... There are many buses that travel up and down that you can hop on and off depending on what you want to look at, and well-maintained boardwalks that are pretty easy to walk on. Lots of tourists even in the winter, but the park is pretty spectacular all year round.

The first day in the park the weather was pretty mild, sunny in the morning but starting to snow in the evening. The scenery was relatively green and kind of end-of-fall-ish. It snowed last night, and this morning the scenery had drastically changed into a winter wonderland (*jazz fingers*). Lots of snow, and all the trees had a crown of white. The waterfalls and the lakes hadn't frozen yet, but were rimmed with snow all around. There were even some icicles dripping down the greenery by the waterfall edges!

Weather is certainly warmer than winter in Canada, but it's still pretty cold (inside as well, no central heating). Even in Beijing we had to wear long underwear to bed. Pretty overcast, but the mornings are relatively sunny. Had a few chuckles at the Asian tourists seeing and playing in the snow for the first time, as well as the tourist-trap snowmen photo ops...

We've been trying out different kinds of food (all well cooked of course); the first day here, we were taken to a local Tibetan restaurant which served a variety of traditional dishes, including roast mountain lamb meat and yak butter tea. They had a game where the guests chanted "lhaso, lhaso, lha-lha-so!", and one had to sing a song, drink the wine three times, do a little dance, or stay and marry one of the villagers... guess which one I chose :P... We then were invited to try some traditional dances by the bonfire, the last one in which we joined hands and did a dance kind of like the greek wedding dance... pretty fun... Other nights we tried some Sichuan food, which is overall spicy. Yak meat is kind of like lamb, but more gamey.

We're heading back to Chengdu in a couple days, and will try to hit up some local sights (pandas!) before hopping on a train to Chongqing, where we'll catch a cruise down the Yangtze river to Wuhan. From there, we'll probably be taking a train to Wudangshan, birthplace of Wudang kungfu. Hiyah!

cheers, Ange

Beijing

Hey all,

have been in Beijing for about 3 days and visited a load of tourist sites (and traps for that matter). Beijing is a lot more spaced out than Shanghai, but the pedestrian and traffic recklessness is the same (am getting used to crossing at red lights and jaywalking anywhere). Weather is cold, about freezing, and we've had some light flurries. The Badaling Great Wall section is very steep, mostly stairs, but some breath-taking views at the top. Visited the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden Palace, which were very cool (and old, Yi adds). If you ignore the hundreds of tourists, you can almost imagine what life would be like back then. Well, maybe not. Went and got lost in the hutongs a couple times, ate some Peking duck, saw some ancient astronomical instruments (about the size of you or me), and watched a Beijing acrobatics show (holy cow, those people are built and flexible!). Yi is crying right now because he took some good pics but had some memory card technical issues and lost them. Boohoo...

Here's a few pics, of the Great Wall, Temple of Heaven and Memorial of the War Heroes in Tiananmen Square (seriously, the Square is about the size of the U of A campus it seems). When you get into the Mao Mausoleum, no pictures are allowed, and you're reminded who holds the real power and firepower (definitely not the tourists!).

Next, we're heading off to Chengdu, and Jiuzhaigou National Park (park of a thousand crystal coloured pools or something). We'll hopefully have a place to stay in the Park, otherwise we'll be sleeping under newspaper... keep you posted!


cheers, Ange & Yi

Shanghai

Hey all,

have been in Shanghai 3 days and it's been a blast. Saw the main riverside tourist site (the Bund) where old neo-Classical buildings from colonial times sit across from super-modern neon-lighted skyscrapers. Amazing how many people are packed into even a suburb street during the day.

Don't have a lot of time, so will leave you guys with a few pictures...

On to Beijing!


cheers, Ange

Trip Schedule

So the trip's pretty much been settled on how it's going down:

Nov 18-19 fly out to Shanghai

Nov 20 train to Beijing

Nov 21-23 tour around Beijing (Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven, Ancient Observatory, Hutongs, etc)

Nov 24-25 train to Chengdu

Nov 25-30 Chengdu Panda Observatory, Jiu Zhai Gou National Park

Dec 1 train to Chongqing

Dec 2-4 cruise along the Yangtze River through the 3 Gorges to Yichang

Dec 5-6 train/bus to Wuhan, then Wudangshan, spend a day there

Dec 7-9 train/bus from Wudangshan to Macau, possibly spend a day there

Dec 10 fly to Kuala Lumpur

Dec 11-16 fly to Siem Reap (Cambodia), tour around the temples

Dec 16-20 fly to Langkawi via Kuala Lumpur, spend 3 days/4 nights on the island

Dec 20-21 fly back to Kuala Lumpur, stay with Liu Shi

Dec 22-26 fly to Hong Kong, visit my family and friends there

Dec 26-29 train back to Shanghai, visit Yi's family

Dec 29-Jan 4 fly back to Vancouver, spend New Year's there

Jan 4-7 fly to Edmonton, drive back with Dad and all my stuff

Jan 7 arrive in Winnipeg!


So 3 countries in 42 days. Wow. It's a bit cramped, and we do spend a lot of time travelling, but I think it'll be cool nonetheless. Now all I need to do is learn to use a squatting toilet :P...

cheers, Ange

3 weeks to China!!

YAY I AM DONE

Finally finished the thesis last week, Oct 24 to be exact, then jetted off to Winnipeg to visit with family and friends for a few days. All is pretty much as I expected, we got a dog for a week, but unfortunately it bit my dad and they had to give it back today. Too bad. Friends are in good health, the 10 year reunion date is coming up faster than expected... almost 7 years out of high school and still haven't got a job :P




The next few weeks, I will have to buy my plane tickets, pack, defend and print my thesis, and then all will be well. Am getting over a cold at the moment, but I think that was caused more by stress than anything else. Anyways, will be back in Canada after Dec 29th, and will be in Winnipeg until I find a job elsewhere :P. Time to get my shit together....

cheers, Ange