Picture captions!

Just-loaded photo captions:

Photo 1: Soaking in the Muslim Quarter of Xian

Photo 2: Meet Beth, whose come as part of the "infestation of foreign adventurers." Yes, small children have been visibly frightened by her on the street. Seriously.

Photo 3: We are now giants and almost as tall as the Oriental Pearl. I don't think we'll fit on the plane home.

Photo 4: This was the view out our window at our romantic dinner at M on the Bund. Beth proposed to me.

Photo 5: The beautiful Yu Yuan Gardens in Shanghai!

Photo 6: Pingyao!

Photo 7: Happy times and bicycles in Pingyao

Photo 8: Xian at night!

Photo 9: Try not to set fires while at the terra cotta, aiit? Thanks. -- China.

Photo 10: The terra cotta! Seriously so amazing.

Photo 11: Welcome to the "wood craving center." It's not like we can speak Thai or could come even close to translating words, but we're smart-asses at heart. Can't help but enjoy the horrible signage; It's just too good.

Photo 12: Sistas. The traveling hat is traveling, ladies!

Photo 13: Old and new Bangkok.

Photo 14: That crazy small bathroom at the floating market.

Photo 15: The market that floats!

Captions for Thailand part 2 pictures...

Pic. 1 - a Tuk Tuk - we loved zooming around Bangkok and Chiang Mai in these! The're everywhere, and can squeeze in-between busses and other cars to get places in no time!

Pic. 2 - An image from Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai. This Wat was amazing - on top of a hill (where we saw the 6 monks in a pickup truck) overlooking the city.

Pic. 3 - Beth at the Khantoke dinner, with the feast before her.

Pic. 4 - The Khantoke dinner dancers

Pic. 5 - an enormous golden Buddah, the tallest in Bangkok!

More pics from Thailand (China to come!)

"There's something strange in that room..."

So we had good intentions in Shanghai, and were going to blog, post more pictures, etc. but that didn't happen. Our hotel (we sprang for a hotel, as the hostels in the city are just as much. The hotel turned out to be a story in itself...read on for details) had hookups for laptops but no computers, so we were out of luck.

Our journey to Shanghai was fun and interesting as always - we left the hostel early and got to drive through a virtually empty Xian (save for a few pockets of elderly individuals doing tai chi -so cool!). We enjoyed a breakfast of spaghetti and french toast (toast with peanut butter inside, syrup on top and cucumbers on the side) at the airport, and were on our way to Shanghai! As we landed in the city, a light rain began to fall, and driving closer to downtown, we saw the skyline's giant buildings enveloped by clouds. It was a cool/kind of eerie Bladerunner-esque ride - all that new development (much of it still being built with bulldozers and cranes everywhere) surrounded by a mist. We arrived at our hotel, and were greeted by a woman at the reception desk who immediately informed us that the room we had reserved "wasn't very good" and that we should strongly consider upgrading. Hmm. We asked to see the room we'd reserved, and were escorted there by a young guy around our age. We got to the room and the young man, who had slowed his pace as we neared the room, said "wait here, there's something strange in that room" in a dramatic whisper. We said... "ok..." and he went inside, apparently cleansed the room of whatever supposed poltergeist (sp?) was inhabiting it, and he gave us the all-clear to enter. The room was totally fine - clean, big, with electricity and even a bathtub. Hayo. So we said, yep this is great. We went back downstairs to pay, informed the desk attendant that we would in fact like our original room, and although she looked dissapointed, she handed us a key. We got to our room we found that it was actually much nicer than the "there's something strange" room. Beth and I were pretty baffled by this very obvious ploy to get us to book a more expensive room, but chalked it up to cultural differences. Needless to say, I've incorporated the "there's something strange insert whatever we're about to go see/do" quote into my trip commentary.

Shanghai was really cool - a very interesting mix of old and new, foreign and Chinese, as the city was colonized at several points in its long history, and today is one of the major economic centers of China's booming economy. We headed to the Oriental Pearl Tower first, the symbol of modern-day Shanghai (the giant tower with baubles on it - the tallest thing in the city) and as we got off the subway were struck by its enormity and futuristic-ness (it looks like something from a world's fair). It was still misty, so clouds periodically covered the top of the tower and then receded - very cool. We visited the Shanghai History Museum, which is the base of the Pearl Tower, and enjoyed this great introduction to the city. It was really interesting to experience history from the standpoint of another country - to see how wars are discussed and what lessons are taught. We learned a lot about the city's development, and especially enjoyed the exhibit titled "the infestation of foreign adventurers," featuring mostly champagne-weilding white mannequins dancing to Auld Lang Syne. After learning about the city's past, we decided to soak up one of it's more modern offerings, and headed to the nearby...Super Brand Mall (how could we not?). Later we walked along the Pudong (the side of the river with the Oriental Pearl on it) waterway to enjoy the beautiful nighttime skyline of the Bund (the other side of the river, with old-style European buildings from the colonization era). A bit rain-soaked and pretty exhausted from walking the length of Pudong, we splurged on dinner at the very fancy M on the Bund, where we dined on salad (it had been awhile) and giant slabs of meat, and enjoyed the restaurant's truly amazing view of the Pearl Tower and the other Pudong skyscrapers as rain fell and Chinese falgs waved in the wind. A great day in Shanghai!

Other Shanghai highlights included the Shanghai Museum (where we saw examples of calligraphy, lots of chops, traditional ceremonial costumes and masks and lots and lots of three-legged wine holding vessles) walking the Bund to see the historical buildings up-close, taking a boat crusie on the Huangpu river to take in both sides of the skyline, visiting the georgous Yu Yuan Gardens (Ming-era gardens in the center of the city), bargaining at the Yu Yuan Bazaar (the most crazy, people-filled madness ever; we took respite in Starbucks, and found that virtually every other foriegner had decided to do the same; we were packed like sardines drinking lattes and watching from the window as other people, similarly packed like sardines outside bargained - wow), having drinks at the Cloud 9 bar at the Grand Hyatt (such a great view!) and seeing an amazing acrobatic show. Shanghai, we heart you!

We're in Beijing now and will blog more about adventures here shortly! Also, I'll try to figure out more pictures posting... hugs, Amy

"the Terra Cotta!"

We're safe in Xi'an, after night-training it again from Pingyao. I know Beth blogged from Pingyao, but since we've been in China we've been unable to access our own posts, so sadly your comments have gone unread (though we appreciate them!) and I'm not super sure of what Beth blogged about so I may repeat a touch, but hopefully not. There's so much to report on! Pingyao was great - a really nice way to get our feet wet in Chinese culture - apart from the somewhat shocking scale of Beijing (that place is gigantor. All the buildings are huge. Tianamen square is breathtakingly vast. And blocks on the map that look eensy are actually...huge, becuase all the buildings on them are mammoth (it's like las vegas in that - and only in that - where you start walking towards something that looks close and then come to realize 45 minutes later that the giant tower you're heading for is actually still 6 blocks out. The buildings are a tease). So, the pace of Pingyao let us test the Chinese waters, and being in this new culture started to sink in. Beth gave Pingyao details, so I won't repeat - but it was a great place, with a hostel full of really nice people (travelers and locals alike) and we were fans. We left Pingyao after two days, to head out on the night train to Xi'an. The night train was a mass exodus of "waigouren" (foreigners) - it's a very common route to go from Pingyao to Xi'an, and our hostel arranges train travel, so we filled up about 1/2 a train car with other foreigners on the train, which was fun. We were saved once again by someone who took pitty on our lack of muscles and hoisted our big backpacks onto the high racks above. A couple of sleeping pills later, it was smooth sailing until morning. We really like Xi'an - it has a very "polished" feel (it's the former capital of the country so it's enjoyed lots of preservation), and it's a nice size for exploration on foot. Our first day we climbed up into the Bell Tower, a cool pagoda with a nice view of the city's main thoroughfair and traffic circle. The smog was nuts - we thought it was just overcast, but soon realized (as our eyes began to water) that the "fog" was in fact smog. The sun looks like it does at home when there's a big fire - a hardly-distinguishable reddish ball, which is pretty nuts. But the Bell Tower was very cool; neat architecture and fun art exhibits inside. Our next stop was the Drum Tower (another cool old pagoda) which we walked under to get to the Muslim Quarter. This area is really neat - lots of street vendors selling traditional snacks, tons of Mao memrobelia (I had to purchase Mao playing cards. They say "Mao - man, not God. Playing Cards" on one side, and on the top, somewhat puzzingly, they say "Not playing cards." But really...they're playing cards (Mao's even on the Joker.) We went to a georgous mosque, took LOTS of photos (to come - the machine for making CD's is broken here, but I promise we'll load more in Shanghai) and played "Chinese Checkers" at our hostel. Yesterday we bussed to the Terra Cotta Warriors (the bus trip was an adventure in and of itself - we waited at the "bus 306 - Terra Cotta Warriors" bus stop for about 1/2 hour, during which two different local people came up and told us that the bus had been cancelled but that we were welcome to go on one of their private tours instead. We politely declined, knowing this was a scam (we'd been warned). But we waited...and waited...while they circled and eyed us, and then eventually two police women came by and told us that the bus we wanted was actually around the corner, behind a wall in an area with no sign. We walked to the no-sign area, and just chillin at the side of the train station were four 306 busses. Right.) But that made our victory of actually getting there even sweeter, and the Terra Cotta warriors were awesome. They've taken the area where the warriors were found/excavated and built observation rooms and exhibits up around them - big rooms built around this recently-discovered self-proclaimed "8th wonder of the world" (the signage everywhere is very proud of the 8th wonder. the warriors were discovered in the 70's). It's a really cool way of displaying them and preserving them, and Beth and I were amazed at not only the amount of in-tact soldiers they've unearthed (rows and rows of life-size warriors), but also at the massive amount that are still to be excavated (there's a good 2/3 of the room in which the soldiers are that still hasn't been dug into. I bet in 20 years it will look a lot different... Amazing! Today we hung out around town again; honed some bargaining skiznills (Beth types an amount into the calculator - about 1/2 of what she's really willing to pay. She slides the calculator to the shop-keeper, who laughs at the figure like it's a joke. The shop-keeper then types another figure, really not much higher into her calculator like you might expect from the previous "that's absurd" cackle, and Beth considers, then types one slighly lower and the shop-keeper considers...and then says yes. We're learning.), had an awesome time strolling and drinking local Tsingtao beer on the vast, beautifully preserved town wall (we haven't been eating that much, and the beer hit us. Beth observed, "that one asian girl at the front desk is really nice" - as you may have guessed, there are about 6 different "asian girls" who work at the desk; and I later commented that "we should really learn how to say thank you," forgetting momentarily that the only words we really know how to say are "ni hao" (hello) and "xie xie" (thank you.) We say them...all the time. One can of Tsingtao and we so silly), and after walking we decided to rent bikes to ride on the wall (as the sun went down and the lanterns turned on and locals waved and shouted "helllllloooooooooooooooo!" to us, and we shouted "ni hao!" to them- so great!) Tomorrow morning we fly to Shanghai, where more pictures will be posted and adventures had. Much love to you all! Amy

The Smell of Smoke and Noodles

Helloooo! I'm sitting here typing in the restaurant of our beautiful hostel, looking out on one of the main streets of lovely, little ancient Pingyao, a town that is older than, well, the United States of America (Ming or Quing dynasty, anyone?). This place is BEAUTIFUL.=) Intricate lanterns hang from the curved corners of tile roofs, paper cut-outs of flowers and tigers and little Chinese men cover windows, dark wooden walls and dark wooden furniture is accented by light walls filled with painted tile art pieces that tell elaborate stories (we're assuming, as we can't read them...) in Chinese. AND our hostel has a breakfast buffet! Hallelujah! After arriving in Pingyao at 4:25a.m. on an all-night train from Beiing, we were SO grateful to step off the train and be greeted by a Chinese man with a van and a sign that said "Amy." We were tired and starving...having consumed Snickers bars and cookies and bagged chips for dinner, as the pre-packaged beef noodles they sell on the street corners looked a bit sketch to us. The train ride was quite a trip. Getting on the train was like being herded into a small corral with several hundred people who are a bit more used to pushing than you are (the guide books warned that we needed to "hold onto our hats" in Chinese train stations. Thanks for the warning.=)) However, people were so FRIENDLY once we got on board. If only we spoke Mandarin! Thank goodness that a very kind man offered to help us lift our large bags into the tiny luggage compartment over our bunks. It's a tight fit, and not speaking the language means you do a lot of smiling, nodding your head, holding your hands up to communicate, "I have no idea what you're saying" and such. We chose to travel in a "hard sleeper," meaning that we were in a compartment with six bunks. We booked a bit later than some (Chinese trains are the way to go transportation-wise, so they're always packed!) so we got top bunks. We spent most of the ride sitting in tiny seats in the hall, looking out through the gauzy curtains at the small Chinese towns and farms (including some people driving water buffalo and herding sheep) going by and reading books about China. It is a cultural experience to ride the train. We were the only tourists in our car, and were surrounded by locals who were playing cards, chatting about (it seemed) anything and everything, listening to Chinese pop music over the loud speaker, pouring hot water into their cups of beef noddles and stepping into the space between cars to smoke and laugh (smoking, especially by men, appears to be a national past-time). It's so amazing how often the people we met on the train (and meet in general) started speaking to us in Mandarin, just assuming we'd understand them. We're doing our best to learn a few new phrases each day..."excuse me" and "please" and "how much for this?" (in an effort to bargain...which sometimes works!) and other helpful phrases, but all of the guidebooks assure western travelers that trying to take a self-taught crash course in Mandarin is pretty pointless, as the language is tonal and even saying the right words in the wrong tone can mean the difference between asking after someone's mother and asking about their horse. So we try to muddle through as best we can...The young staff members at our hostel are incredibly nice, 17 and 18-year-old girls from the town, and their English is superb (of course...eesh...), so we've gotten the chance to chat with them some. In fact, we just got back from visiting an ancient Buddhist temple on the outskirts of town (pics to come later!) and had a great little chat with a monk there. He's working on his English, and we spoke the scant Mandarin we could muster. People here typically have the same line of questioning..."Where are you from?" "How old are you?" (This question is considered proper and polite here, as is a question about how much money you make, although we haven't gotten that one...) "Are you married?" (Also a big fav') The monk, not surprisingly, wasn't married, and wasn't surprised that we weren't, as Americans typically get married significantly later than most Chinese, apparently. However, the monk had news for Amy and me about our future marriages. He asked us for our palms and did some reading of them...and apparently Amy's going to "marry soon" and "become famous in the USA" (Woohoo for palm-reading monks!), while I, on the other hand, am either going to have a "bad marriage," or perhaps, if we misunderstood that interpretation, I am going to have a good marriage only if I "get married after 30." Cool. Lord knows it ain't happening before then, anyway. The nice thing about getting your fortune told with a language barrier is that you can interpret it as you wish...=)
China is an intriguing place to be, especially for a western and English-speaking traveler. Even though tourism is really on the up and up here, people still seem constantly surprised to see us...Two Chinese girls from this area who Amy and I just met on the street a few minutes ago asked to have their picture taken with us, and this was not the first time total strangers have asked. When we ATTEMPTED to go to the Chinese National History Museum by the Forbidden City in Beijing (details on this shortly!) we actually got sidetracked and ended up getting our picture taken with a young Chinse couple (the guy gave us a small Chinese flag as a gift...cool!). Speaking of not going to the history museum...well, let's just say that the logisitical side of traveling on your own in China is a bit, well, we will say CHALLENGING. Most signs, even in major cities like Beijing, are in Chinese, and even when signs are in English it's often hard to tell where to buy tickets for things, how to enter gargantuan buildings, etc. Upon finding the Chinese National History Museum and walking around more than half of it looking for an entrance (it's a HUGE building) we finally found a door with the name of the museum in English. People dressed in official gear, most likely young soldiers, were standing outside the building, but people dressed like this are standing outside most official buildings in Beijing, so we didn't think much of it. We were stoked, because there was a huge sign that was counting down the months, days and minutes until the Beijing 2008 Olympics (they have olympic fever here!), and we paused to take pics in front of it. Then, we started toward the museum...but we were grunted at, loudly, by the young men in uniform, who waved us off in another direction. We soon ran into two sweet young English-speaking college students who were attending a fine arts college in the Forbidden City (awesome place to go to school!) who informed us that the museum is closed. They're converting the space into a place to host dignitaries during the olympics. Needless to say, we just laughed to ourselves. Ah, what a simple sign can accomplish...BUT, as our museum plans were a bust, we befriended the girls and went with them to see their art show within the walls of the Forbidden City. They're water color artists and showed us their work and the work of their teachers. As it turned out, the place was crawling with foreigners, who it seemed most of the students had found on the square (probably when they were also in a state of confusion!...) and brought into the show. We ended up buying some beautiful work from the students...the proceeds of which will help them study abroad in Barcelona. Not a bad side-trip after all.=) AND, since so much of our time spent in Beijing seemed to be wandering, as it turned out aimlessly, it was nice to just go where life took us for a few...
Amy has been kept trying to figure out how to fit one of our random Thai stories into this blog. You see, as we were walking down a side street near our hostel in Chiang Mai this man kept stepping out at us and saying "MONKEY SHOW!" and flashing us this sheet covered with pics of monkeys doing tricks. It was random and hilrarious, and, every once in awhile, especially if it's hot and we're getting a big discouraged or lost, we remember the "monkey show" man and laugh. Well, that story fits our Chinese experience pretty aptly. As I mentioned earlier, people are incredibly intrigued by us here, and stopping to stare at foreigners is not considered impolite...so, as we walk down the street, we draw more than our fair share of stares, people sometimes pointing and often shouting "Hallooooooo!," and, after awhile, we feel like we've become the monkey show. It's a sometimes mind-boggling experience, but one worth having. We're off to Xi'an (Terra Cotta Warriors!) on another night train tonight, and then on to Shanghai! Next time, more stories from the road.=) Beth

Ni Hao (Hello), China!

As you may have gathered, we're in China!!!!!!!!!!! And it's awesome!!!!!!!!!!! Obviously...I'm pretty excited.

We had a nice last few days chillin' in Thailand - it was good to be there for an extended period to take more advantage of the the "vacation" part of this trip. We sampled a myriad of Thai beers (I recommend Singha), didn't get our hair braided (you're welcome) and took a few day trips to round out our last days in/around Bangkok. We bussed to the near-by beach town of Cha-am, a local spot 3 hours outside of the city. Our books said that this is one of the beach towns were Thais vacation, and it was cool to get to see that, as well as feel for ourselves the super-warm (if brown) ocean water. Cha-am was cute, very laid back and full (seriously, the entirety of the beach was a sea of) sweet rows of nonstop umbrellas that could be rented to protect from the hot, hot day. Mid-afternoon some monsoon-looking clouds started rolling in, so we headed back to the bus stop on foot, and were promptly soaked to the bone by a giant cloud burst. We both brought Brannie's hats and wore them in the storm...so at least our heads were protected. :) Soaked and so ready for a dry bus ride home, we enjoyed the scenery (lots of factories manufacturing fish sauce on the road from Cha-am to Bangkok). The next day we bussed to Damnoen Saduak, the town that houses the famously beautiful floating market. We opted for staying a night in the town's one guesthouse and hitting up the market super early, as opposed to taking a day tour from Bangkok, because our trusty (thanks, Lonely Planet!) guidebook said it gets pretty touristy later in the day. The Little Bird Guest House was pretty nuts - obviously a school or domitory converted into a hotel; Beth and I felt like giants in an insane-asylum in the all-hot-yellow, low-ceilinged bathrom (fun-house pictures to come). The floating market was nice - we hired a boat and got paddled around (and solicited by everyone under the sun) for about an hour. Unfortuanly, we were kind of dissapointed in the experience - the postcard-perfect setting so often seen isn't really close to the real thing. It's turned into a tourist outing, and the local vendors know it. Instead of food items and other, traditional "market" wares, it's now essentially a paddle-up mall at which one can purchase, among other things, fake coach purses. But it was pretty, and people are nice, even as they insist that you purchase a counterfit wallet.

We arrived in Beijing last night, and are excited for some hard-core-how-to-fit-it-all-in Beijing sightseeing funness (though Beth looked worried as I meticulously plotted our course of action for Beijing on the flight over. Muah.) Moreso than in Thailand, arriving at the Beijing airport felt like being dropped into a different world. Though much signage was in English in the airport, figuring out which bus to take to the city was a task (even with Beth and my different travel books - both Lonely Planet and Let's Go were wrong this time! Crazy China!), and after some confusion, mime and pointing to things on the map, we got the right bus tickets (small victories.) The ride into Beijing was awesome - everywere you look are giant buildings with neon Chinese characters on them (a trip), CCP party slogans on freeway overpasses and bridges, lots and lots of bicycles and an entire lane devoted to this mode of transportation, a myriad of trees and public parks and Volkswagens as far as the eye can see (apparently very popular here. I think they're manufactured in Shanghai. I wonder if crap falls off in your had on these cars like it does on my Golf). Our hostel is totally cute - very backpacker friendly and homey - my favorite is the giant rooftop terrace with a cool view of the city's tallest banks and hotels. We arrived pretty late last night, spent this morning booking all of our in-contry travel (hayo, sleeper trains - travel and lodging for one low price!) and are about to head out to start seeing all Beijing has to offer! Will wrote more about it soon - "xie xie" (thank you) for reading! hugs, amy

Laundry time

So we did laundry yesterday. It started out routine enough - sort the clothes in the room, decide what will be washed hot/cold and that. Beth ventured downstairs to ask the people at our check-in desk where the closest washing machine was (we're back in Bangkok on Kao San Road, the super touristy, Johnny Walker Whiskey at every turn, drunk vacationers getting neon braids they'll regret tomorrow and signs for "tattos - experts services" all around... so we figured laundry would be close by and normal enough). Close by it was...normal 'twas not. Beth was informed by the helpful front desk attendants that nobody around here does there own laundry; instead we were to visit the man in the alley adjacent to our hostel and leave our clothes with him. Right. Visit him Beth did (there's people everywhere, so not as sketch as it may sound), and she was instructed to place our clothes on a scale. The man weighed them, made a note, handed her a slip of notebook paper with a number and told her to come back by 9pm for clean clothes. We came back around 8...and the alley was deserted save for a youngish guy selling bootleg cd's (3 for 100 Baht - a pretty outrageous deal. Let me know if you want a Backstreet Boys cd.) Puzzled, we asked him if he knew where the laundry man was. He took our slip, rummaged around underneath his table o'cd's and found a bag labeled with our number. Not sure that location was the best place to put clean laundry, but whatever. We were happy with the end result- good smelling, expertly folded laundry and even knotted underwear. What service! Today we took a day trip to a nearby beach town, Cha-am today, and are super tired, so it's bedtime. Enjoy the posted pictures - hope they come through all right. Will write more soon. Hugs. --Amy

Captions for photos

Picture 1 is at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The royal family used to live here, but now it's open to the public. It's huge and georgous - so much to take in!

Picture 2 (across from 1) is Ronald McDonald "wei-ng" - a wei is what you do to greet someone- it's a sign of respect. It's usually accompanied by "sawatdeeka" (hello). Even Ronald does it, yo.

Picture 3 is of dogs playing poker...at the super spiritual forest wat we visited in Chiang Mai. Beneath it is a wise saying (we think) in Thai. There were other cool things posted in the trees, my favorite being "cut yourself some slack. Remember, one hundred years from now, all new people." aka, Chill - you'll die soon. Will post more pictures of this place lata.

Picture 4 - Beth and I on the steps of another Chiang Mai wat, Doi Suthep. This is the one we took the red truck taxi to up the big green hill - beautiful!

Picture 5 - crap, that's the same as picture 1.

Picture 6 - We take our shoes off to go into wats (those are our feets.)

Picture 7 - Enormous golden buddah! This is at a wat in Bangkok - it's one that was included in our tuk tuk tour!

Picture 8 - These signs are everywhere - this year the King of Thailand celebrates his 80's birthday so it's Thai pride all over the place. Everyone wears yellow polo shirts with the royal logo on it in celebration and on nearly every street corner there are huge posters of the royal family. A cool time to be here - long live the king!

Picture 9 - This is out of order... mom took this right before we left for the airport (thanks, mom). :)

Picture 10 - The view from our longboat the first day we were in Bangkok. This trip was rad - we got to see the canals behind the city - most of the business in Bangkok used to be conducted via canal like in Venice.

Picture 11 - a view of a wat from the longboat.

Picture 12 - A self-photo in a cool wat.

The computer is pretty slow so that's all I had time to load - more pics to come! --Amy

Pictures at last! See the next post for captions...