TravelStream™ news feed for member hlance23 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/hlance23 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 01 Sep 2008 03:50:35 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1220254500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1220254500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1220254500/tpod.html Mon, 01 Sep 2008 03:50:35 -0400 Asian Peregrination

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Berlin, Germany

Being alone in Latvia was boring. So, like any young man my age, I went shopping. It was kind of fun. I also did some wandering through the streets of Riga. I tried my best to walk to the ocean, but the road I was walking on started to lead in the wrong direction, so I gave up. I met some Spaniards and Italians in my hostel, and we cooked dinner together. It turned out delicious and we discussed my trip. Apparently, I don't seem American to some of them, because I talk to slowly. I was offended, I am an American, and I don't talk slowly. Do I? It was a fun evening.
I left Riga by bus on Thursday afternoon, completely forgetting my hostel key in my pocket. I feel badly for having stolen it, but I'll mail it back or something. The bus was much more comfortable than those in Vietnam. And I didn't have to watch Ironman for the 6th time in a language other than my own. Instead, we watched Hancock in Russian. It looked good.
I got into contact with Tye when I reached Berlin. He was already on his way to pick me up, but not at the right place. He did find me quickly after our phone calls (6 Euros for about 3 minutes) and we had joyous reunion as we drove back to Friedensau where Tye spent a year studying German. It was a fun time. I was able to go to church for only the second time on the trip. I also tried to tackle Tye, and instead was tackled by a stupid tree. Dumb thing made my head bleed, and it still hurts. It was neat to spend time with Tye's old friends from Friedensau, truly fun people.
On Sunday morning, we said sad goodbyes and boarded the train to Berlin. Berlin is beautiful, and the Brandenburg gate wasn't covered up for renovation like it was last time. We saw quite a bit of the city in half a day, and will do some more sightseeing today--my last day!

Crazy Germans!

I think this is pretty well the end of my blogging since I am coming home tomorrow. But I will try and put up one more post showing how many miles I traveled and stuff if that interests you.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1219738560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1219738560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1219738560/tpod.html Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:44:18 -0400 Asian Peregrination

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Riga, Latvia

Moscow was mostly a pleasure. I guess the downside was that four tomatoes would have cost $10.00, I thought that was a ripoff. The city itself, however, has plenty to see. We went back to St. Basil's Cathedral and the Red Square on multiple occasions--just because they are so cool! Our hostel was nice, too. Possibly one of the best night's sleep of the trip. And the free Internet had great Skype connections so we were able to call home. I enjoyed my time as a whole in Moscow, but St. Petersburg took the Russian cake.
Our hostel in St. Petersburg was tough to find, had a boring atmosphere and so many mosquitos that I still haven't stopped itching. Aside from the hostel, the city is a beautiful one. St. Basil's Cathedral has a brother in St. Petersburg that was also very neat. Alban even thought it was nicer, but I prefer St. Basil's. Everywhere we walked through St. Petersburg were old buildings and beautiful, impressive cathedrals. It would be easy for some people to spend a quality week touring the city. The highlight for Alban (I'll take the liberty of guessing, and he can correct me) was the Hermitage museum. It was impressive to me also, but each successive museum I go to seems to make them all start feeling the same. Maybe it is narrow-minded of me, but museums just don't thrill me. Also, Alban got in for free because he brought his student I.D. card; I didn't bring one, so it cost me $15. I think if it was free for me--like I think it should have been--maybe I would have enjoyed it more. It also would have helped knowing more of the history behind the art. Nevertheless, it is a quality museum--if that's what you're into.
The non-historical highlight for both of us (Alban certainly wouldn't disagree to this) was the random Doener Kebab stand we happened to run into by the train station. We each got four kebabs in total during our two day stay, and they were the most delicious things we have eaten since China. Oh mercy, I may go back to St. Petersburg someday just for those. Or maybe I should have just gone to Turkey with Alban, I bet they're easy to find there.
Sunday night took us into Riga, Latvia which exceeded my expectations as another beautiful city. Riga has the first well-landscaped parks that I have seen since leaving home, everything in them is beautiful. Our hostel is in the quaint old-town section of Riga with cobblestone streets and sidewalks and awesome window shopping. We found a record store with old and new music. The vinyl was more expensive than what I would be willing to shell out at home, but the selection quality was awesome! The city, thus far, has just been a pleasant experience. As we were searching for our hostel Monday afternoon, we got lost and asked a casually-dressed young man for directions. He completely dropped his conversation with another person, whipped out his phone and called someone for directions. He then drew us a perfectly accurate map pointing us in precisely the right direction. He was well-appreciated by us.
We cooked our own supper last night--Alban did most of it. I thought it was good, although it had a different taste compared to most pasta. We shared it with some Aussies to shared their delicious Baklava with us--certainly a fair trade! The Aussies had planned to do a trip of the same lscope as our's but a longer time. They wanted to do the silk route through western China and Tajikistan, Uzbekistan etc. but were unable to get the appropriate visas. Certainly a shame!
Today Alban and I said our sad farewells at the Riga airport as he left to Istanbul to meet Aaron Marson. I will spend the next couple days relaxing in this comfortable city before taking the bus to Berlin to meet Tye. I won't lie, I'll be really happy to see him, especially after being all lonely these next couple days.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1219326780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1219326780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1219326780/tpod.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:10:48 -0400 Asian Peregrination

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Moscow, Central Russia, Russian Federation

Kazakhstan improved drastically for us after I wrote my last blog. We had been stuck in a hotel that was actually costing over ten dollars a night and didn't have any hot water. Actually, I think that they refrigerated the water, because it gave us brain freezes. Alban e-mailed local Adventists to see if we could stay in a church. We finally got an answer Thursday evening, and met some Adventist on Friday. The name sounded familiar to me, and they claimed to be WWU graduates. Sure enough, I recognized the guy as soon as he walked to our meeting spot. David and Gina Hebley graduated about a year ago from Walla Walla, and had come out to my church several times. It was so neat to see friends in a place so bizarre to us.
Friday night, David took us to help him teach English at the English school. It was fun, but I don't think that I am teacher material. Alban, however, may be. He lead out Sabbath school Sabbath afternoon (they do late churches) and did a great job with it. I was asked to do a mission spotlight, but fortunately they found someone else. The church service was nice. Both English and Russian were used and Gina gave a good sermon. We had some delicious gluten steaks in the evening, and then sang hymns for hours. I never realized how nice hymns were, until I realized how deprived I had been over the last ten weeks. Sunday morning we climbed some hills behind Almaty for some great views. Then we caught our train to Novosibirsk.
On the train, our first class seats turned out to be second class, and the stewardess gave us no chance of catching any train to Moscow, this made us worried. Upon arrival to Novosibirsk, however, we actually caught a train to Moscow leaving only two hours later. On the train, we met three young comrades who were training for luge. One of them had already competed in the World Cup and had nine medals. The other two were a team, with one riding atop the other. We had a lot of fun with them and we told them that we would be rooting for them in 2014 when the Olympics come to Sochi, Russia--they won't be the minimum age of 18 by the time of the Vancouver Olympics.
This morning, we finally arrived in Moscow and had little trouble finding our hostel, which was actually a little cheaper than expected. We spent the morning at the Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral, it was incredible! Anyway, Russia has been a pleasure for me so far. Everyone-ish seems to be very friendly.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1218520020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1218520020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1218520020/tpod.html Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:45:49 -0400 Asian Peregrination

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Almaty, Kazakhstan

Leaving Ulaanbaatar, we got our worst scam yet. It was only fifteen dollars, but this guy really really worked us over to get it. I actually wrote out the whole story for you, but this Kazakh Internet cafe blew the breakers twice now. Writing it again would take too much time. If you really wamt to know how to scam passengers as a taxi driver, though, asl me and I will tell you in person.

We boarded our train to Ulaanbaatar early Thursday afternoon. Our compartment had one other lady who was Mongolian and middle-aged. As our trip wore on toward Russia, other ladies kept pouring in and out of our stall trading various goods with our lady. It soon became apparent that they were just dispersing black market good among eachother to make passing through the border a little easier. It worked and they managed to pull a brand-new laptop and cellphone across along with eight fat sausages.

They say there was a study made indicating that 60% of Russian border patrolmen at the Mongolia border are unstable. I will atest to that, because only one of the several patrolmen in our car seemed to be all there. We made it through without incident, though it took a really long time. Once we made it into Russia, most people left the train. Alban, the smuggler lady and I were the only ones left in our entire car. Apparently east to west on the Trans-Siberian is unpopular. A couple days after leaving Ulaanbaatar and traveling by Lake Baikal and several Russian villages and feeling like we were closer tp home, we arrived in Novosibirsk. where nobody speaks English.

First thing in the train station, Alban and I wrote out dates, train numbers, and the Cyrillic equivalent of Almaty to pass to the lady at the ticket window. I paid with my card (a first in a long time) and hoped that we ended up with the right tickets, preferably in a sleeper. The tickets indicated that our train left the following day, so we had to find a place to sleep. This is really rough without a lonely planet, people that speak our language or at least Internet connection. We ended up paying way more money than I would ever like to for a room, but it was right across from the train station, had a delicious continental breakfast, and was the only option we had--aside from the street. The nicest thing was, we were able to watch some Olympic events, including Michael Phelp's first Gold medal. We proudly (out of sight from any Russians) held our hands to our hearts as most of the national anthem was played. The next day we wandered all day looking for an Internet cafe, which finally presented itself after about three hours of walking. We then purchased some groceries and boarded our train to Kazakhstan.

The train turned out to be a sleeper, but it was crowded with about 70 people per car. Alban and I settled down to play hours and hours of card games. Instead, halfway through our first game a 12 year-old Russian comrade presented his cards to us and taught us to play an Uno-style game, without the fun of reverses and skips and draw fours. We added these to his game, and soon we had made three new friends who hardly spoke English. It was a party. As we slept that night, however, the party left, and it was just Alban and I again.

There were new people in the car the next morning after passing into Kazakhstan by Semey. And they were even more fun. The lady on the top bunk by mine shared her sausage,bread and tomato with us so that we could feel loved. Then, the two sweetest little Kazakh girls interrupted our card game to play a new one (same Uno-style game, our rules). The girls were 12 and 8 years old and they were learning English, the twelve year old was getting a pretty good grasp on it, and they both made the whole train ride worth it. At the end they gave us their emails and told us we had to write to them. Pretty heart-warming, really.

When we arrived in Almaty we had no clue where to stay, or how far to find a place or where to get money. Five miles and three hours later we popped our heads into a nice hotel and now I am fresh out of the coldest shower of my life. That's the latest.

Oh yeah, and the Georgia/Russia problem messed up our plans of getting to Turkey. Obviously, compared to their problems our's is minor, but still frustrating. We will probably go up to Moscow and St.Petersburg afterall, and then split around the 26th.

The Beatles were right. I won't lie, I actually went completely weak at the knees in Novosibirsk at least four times--in the first ten minutes! Mercy! Do they only let the pretty girls on the streets?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1217933760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1217933760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1217933760/tpod.html Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:39:20 -0400 Asian Peregrination

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Ulan Bator, Mongolia

Oh, Mongolia!
I will definitely come back here with my kids someday. Anyone else up for another trip before then?
I LOVE this place.
We left Beijing last Friday (clear back in July) on our first genuine Trans-Siberian Railroad train. It was a comfortable trip with few stops and lots of sleep. In between naps, Alban and I squeezed in some rummy and Scrabble games to wile away the hours. We pulled into Ulaanbaatar Sabbath afternoon, where people humanely (unlike China and SE Asia) tried to coax us to their hostels. With so many offers, we felt it would be rude to take up just one, so we decided to explore on our own. After searching from sunlight, to dust storm, to rain and back to sunlight, we found a hostel that we just about settled in. However, after a little thought, we figured we could do better for the price and moved to the UB Guesthouse--a wise decision. It is pretty crowded there, but we were comfortable, near everything, and could book tours.
Our first tour was on Monday morning to a nearby national park in which Turtle Rock lies. We ended up with a couple of English lads just heading into University to study Politics and Physics; the wise young men who know that Gabon is Canada's opposite and therefore would lose an Olympic curling match. There was also an Indian (India, not Native American) stock broker from New York. Two ladies from South Africa and Boston who had been teaching English in South Korea. And finally, a lovely Dutch couple with whom we would spend the next week. The trip was wonderful! Probably a highlight of this entire trip, and definitely what made me fall in love with Mongolia. I know, those are strong words, but I really do appreciate this place.
When we got to our Yurt (I guess Mongolians call them Gers) camp, we settled in and tried some mutton. It was probably the best local food we would enjoy in Mongolia. Then, even though horses and I don't see eye to eye, I rode a horse for about an hour. The stirrups and the saddle were too close together, so I couldn't stand up without getting the metal bar rammed into my butt. The other option was to sit on the saddle all cramped up while feeling the other metal bar underneath what was supposed to be padding. It was a very uncomfortable hour, and I don't see myself riding another horse until the next time I am in Mongolia. Although, I would say I make a dang good cowboy. We spent the evening exploring the hills near our camp and getting to know one another. It turned out to be a bitterly cold evening, so when we got back to camp we tried to start a fire. The New Yorker thought we could get one started magnifying glass style, but all we had was a pair of binoculars which couldn't focus long enough to start the fire. We finally used a few matches, toilet paper, and cow dung. The cow dung was the Dutchman's idea, and the English lads agreed that it was the Rolls Royce engine to the fire. Needless to say, it was a fun evening. We played a few charades with everyone, but the non-Americans had charades down to a science. It was incredible how quickly they broke them down. Then the booze was brought in and Alban and I settled down to play cards with a few other sober people. That first night in a ger proved to be the most comfortable, and the morning brought us quickly back to Ulaanbaatar.
Next, Alban and I decided to take a weeklong safari through the Gobi with the wonderful Dutch couple and our trusty Mongolian driver, Mo. The week was a pleasure. We had no paved roads, and our 4-wheel drive man van took us everywhere. We stayed nights in random gers at the side of the road, and played "Hey Cows" until our lungs were sore. Mostly, it was a daily trip from nowhere to nowhere, but on occasion we found some fun places. All the while, we had a great time getting to know the Dutch couple, Peter and Vanessa. Peter decided that he would cook lunches (breakfasts and suppers were provided, but terrible) and he did a good job of it. We broke out the cookstove early every afternoon and added a bunch of garlic to make everything taste good.
The first fun stop was at an oasis where there were hundreds of camels. We got to go on a camel tour and were shown some dinosaur bones that an old patriarch was digging up. Very cool! That was day two. On the first of August, we headed deep into the desert to where the biggest dunes of Mongolia lie 300m high. That was day that there was supposed to be a solar eclipse at ten in the morning, the actual eclipse caught us (me in the outhouse) by surprise at 6 in the evening (never trust Dutch newspapers). It was really neat, although not 100% where we were. Things got pretty dark and we could watch the moon pass slowly in front of the sun.
In the evening, Alban and I went streaking on the massive dunes. I mostly just rolled around on them until there was a weird rumbling sound. As I was rolling down one dune, I started to make a sand avalanche, the resulting friction of sand on sand made the whole dune vibrate and sing. It was really cool but also scary.
There really weren't many exciting things to that week, and I have little more to write about it. Let it suffice to say that it was a ton of fun doing nothing in nowhere for a week. And taking a shower after that week was over was a highlight in itself.
Mongolia truly is great. The most vast country I have ever seen with no (well, a few) people living in it. I really enjoyed my time here. A verbal account, however, would do it better justice than my writing could.

I will never again eat goat meat.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216639140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216639140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216639140/tpod.html Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:52:19 -0400 Asian Peregrination

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Beijing, China

Today marks 42 days down and 41 to go. That's right, I now know when I'll be home--September 3.

According to Lonely Planet, spending a day in Beijing is the equivalent to smoking 70 cigarettes a day. So far we have spent 5 days here, you do the math. Honestly, my lungs feel no worse in this city than they have anywhere else. The sky is pretty hazy though.
Beijing (and the rest of China) are nothing but excited to be hosting the Olympics. The militia has been called in to control every underpass and overpass. Thousands of volunteer guards are on the streets to keep order and help out those who are lost. Buildings are taking shape as we watch. The transportation system is being perfected. T-shirts, hats, pants and mugs are being sold with the Beijing 2008 logo on them. China is anxious to show the world just how great of a nation it is--poor human rights record and all. Good luck China, it will be tough.
Monday evening I got money out of an ATM, but in typical Lance fashion, I left my card in the ATM, totally forgetting about it until I tried to buy my plane ticket that evening. In the morning, I went straight back to the bank to see if it was still in the ATM and if they could help me. The kind lady at the service desk was happy to help out. First, she showed me what number to call for help. This did me no good, because I don't have a phone. So she walked me out the building and around the block to a public phone. She got someone on the line for me who could speak English, and they said they could get me my card in five business days. Sadly. I couldn't wait that long because, we will be on our way tyo Mongolia within that time. So, with a little bit more pushing, I convinced them to come earlier. They said they would be there in half an hour. I walked back with the service lady who explained to me that this was just a summer job, really she was a student. I sat in the little cafe in the bank lobby eating a croissant and struggling to read Chinese magazines for about 20 minutes. Then a man came over to me and waved me toward an open ATM. My card was right there in another man's hand who was filling out all sorts of forms. He examined my passport, and the signature on my passport which he compared with a signature that he had me sign on one of his forms. And finally, after about five minutes of scrutinization, he handed me my card. I shook both of the mens' hands to show how thankful I was and then walked out the door. There was a huge military-style vehicle parked in front of the bank that the men jumped into. It was complete with soldiers with automatic weapons and bullet proof vests and helmets. And they had all just made a special trip just for me. Thank you Chinese taxpayers!
Tuesday was spent exploring Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Both were impressive, but the Forbidden City was the highlight. It really is a beautiful area with huge courtyards and fancy buildings. At one end, there was a park, full of ancient trees and ponds with fish. I would definitely recommend it to anyone spending an afternoon in Beijing.
Wednesday we went to see the great wall. We took a bus about halfway, then caught a taxi the rest of the way. The taxi driver wanted 300 yuan (a little over $40) for his services, but we read that it should only cost about 120 yuan. Alban translated my German to Phil, and Phil's Spanish to me as we decided on a price among ourselves (in a language the driver could not understand) that we thought would be more reasonable. I first tried for 100 yuan, but that didn't fly, so then I said we woulkd go no higher than 150 yuan. He said 160, so we started walking away. At this, he said okay, 150 would be fine. The drive to the great wall was scenic, and we arrived about an hour later.
It turns out, the part of the wall that we went to was ideal. We walked about 11km along it up and down steep portions of the wall. This is the kind of place that can make anyone's photos look good. The first part of the wall was restored wall, definitely the best-looking part. Next, we walked along ruins. This was a more accurate idea of what the wall really looked like. It was a really hot day, and there were locals walking along the wall selling ice water. We declined for a long time, but soon I decided I needed water. All I had left in my wallet was Cambodian money. I asked if the man would accept the rest of the Cambodian money that I had which was worth only a little bit less than what he was asking. After telling him the real value of the money, he thought for a bit, then gave me the water. What a gentleman! We settled down for a break then, and played a game of rummy on the great wall. The wall was super neat! Even better than I had expected.
Yesterday, we took Phil to the airport and said our good-byes as he left for home. It is going to be just Alban and I now until we get to Istanbul. Kind of a new phase of the trip.
Tomorrow morning we are heading into Mongolia!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216472820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216472820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216472820/tpod.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:40:54 -0400 Asian Peregrination

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Xi'an, China

Xi'an has been a pleasure! The food is pretty good, and most of the people are friendly. There are not too many tourists, which is always a bonus. Most of all, there are some pretty neat things. Yesterday (Friday) we took an early morning bus to see the Terracotta warriors. They are very impressive because they are each so individual, life-size and there are so many of them. If you are into history (which can be fun for some) the history behind these warriors is fascinating, so you should Google it because I'm not going to try and re-write it. Although they were impressive, it was not really a highlight since it is so commercialized and we could only get so close.
Friday evening, Alban and I boarded a train to nearby Hua Shan to visit the mountains there, this turned out to be one of the trip's top highlights. We intended to get to the town in time to find a hostel and get a good night's rest before climbing the mountain. So we first found a shuttle bus to get us as close to the hostel as possible. This small bus was very overcrowded with me in a fetal position by the window, and a dozen more people standing in the aisle. Suddenly, someone yelled something and everyone began to duck as if they were afraid about something. Alban and I thought that we were maybe being shot at or something. Why else would everyone duck, right? As we looked for the answer, a lone police car drove by in the opposite direction. They were just concerned about having an overloaded bus. This was very funny to us, because EVERYTHING here is overloaded, and police NEVER pull drivers over for anything. In town, we found a hostel above a restaurant on the main street. It looked pleasant enough on the outside, but the price quoted was just a little more than what we wanted to pay. After bargaining, we pulled the price down to what our very nice hostel in Xi'an had cost us, so expectations were high. Our room had much to be desired, though. The restaurant light glared in through the curtains, the room wasn't very clean, there was no A/C nor even a fan, the bed was as hard as a piece of plywood, the street below sounded like a circus, and the bathroom was a short jaunt from anything--and it was just a ditch. Nevertheless, we thought we would make the most of it and got to bed shortly before nine o'clock. At ten-thirty we still weren't able to fall asleep. The noise and biting bugs were unbearable, but if we blocked out both with the blanket then it was too hot and there was no more padding. Finally, somewhere between one and two in the morning, I fell asleep. The street noise had ceased, the light had turned off, and I was too tired to be uncomfortable. We awoke shortly after 5:00 to start our journey up the mountain. I had a very swollen lip and left eye due to the bugs, and I couldn't use the desperately needed toilet because there was no toilet paper. That was alright, though, because we were going to climb a mountain and nothing could stop us.
That mountain killed us, though. The climb was only a short distance, but there were a solid 7,000 steps between the village and the top, according to Alban's busy counting. We visited four of the five peaks in six hours from top to bottom, and it was a beautiful climb. There were very few westerners, which made it all the more fun. Several people stopped to take photos with the tall white boys. The climb itself, proved treacherous as many of the carved-out stair cases were nearly vertical and still more crowded than a lobster bucket. At the end of the day, we had climbed or descended a well-estimated 18,000 steps! Ridiculous! My legs are a little sore. The only disappointment was not finding what we were looking forward to the most--the cliffside plank walk. This was supposed to the craziest thing on our trip, but we couldn't find it anywhere. You can probably type in Hua Shan in Google and see what we missed out on, you'll be disappointed for us.
Anyway, we got back to beautiful Xi'an a few hours ago and have settled into our new hostel. I am going to sleep in a soft and comfortable bed to prepare for a relaxed day tomorrow before our sleeper car train ride to Beijing at 9:30 tomorrow evening.
G'night.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216275900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216275900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216275900/tpod.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:44:29 -0400 Asian Peregrination

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Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

We spent a good Tuesday evening on the streets of Shanghai. It's reall a beautiful city. We spent some time at the riverside admiring the impressive skyline while being pushed around from every side. These people have not heard of personal bubbles and they are very touchy and do not leave room for you to even catch a breath.
We did find a train to Xi'an which left Wednesday morning. It was a rough twenty-hour trip. We squeezed into our three seats facing another three seats. The three across from us had four people and a baby crowding it. The baby was great (at first) it loved to stare at us strange looking people, and the more faces we made him, the happier he was. The first 4 hours were not so bad either, but then the train became more and more uncomfortable. Soon, the aisles were filled with nearly as many people as the seats and going to the toilet was a chore. The hard seats didn't recline, so there was no comfortable way to sleep. Smokers (most all the men) began to ignore the no smoking signs, permeating the train with cigarette smoke causing us to breathe through our shirts. By 1:00 in the morning, when I had finally gone to sleep for a few hours, the baby woke up and started to cry, keeping me up for another hour. I finally got back to sleep and slept the rest of the way into Xi'an where we arrived at nearly 5:00. It may not sound like too bad of an experience, but I am still sore from sitting for so long and I will not do another 20 hours on a hard seat.
This morning we disembarked from the train and caught a taxi to our friendly hostel just inside the city walls. The city looks exciting, although we haven't seen too much of it. We went back to the train station this morning to buy our Sunday evening (hard sleeper) tickets to Shanghai. Our cab driver drove us in circles until the meter nearly doubled what it took to get to our hostel. We finally jumped out and handed him a majority of the money that the meter read, but we were pretty upset that he couldn't just take us straight to the train station. We took a bus back to the hostel.
Anyway, we are going to spend today exploring the city, tomorrow with the Terracotta Warriors, and Sabbath at Hua Shan. So it should be a fun weekend.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216089840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216089840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1216089840/tpod.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:04:56 -0400 Asian Peregrination

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Shanghai, Shanghai, China

Travel through China is tough. Not only do they not speak English, but there are 1.3 billion other people trying to travel at the same time that we are. On this note, the plan was to go from Guilin to Xi'an, but there were no available trains between those cities. Instead, we boarded a bus to the bigger city of Changsha (pop. 2.3 million) where we thought our chances of finding a train to Xi'an would improve. Sadly, the only train available to Xi'an had standing room only--for TWENTY hours. We had a group vote and unanimous decision to head to Shanghai instead to perhaps find another route to Xi'an. Missing Xi'an would be painful to me, because some of our most exciting stuff was going to be there. They have the Terracotta Warriors, which would be neat, but even better was the crazy mountain trail we were planning to walk. This was going to be the wildest part of our trip, and to leave it out is disappointing. Our chances of coming home alive did improve however, because this trail was sure to be our death. Changsha proved to be a boring, but friendly city. There is absolutely nothing to see there, so sadly we s[ent a good majority of our time in our hotel. The food was delicious, though, and everyone was friendly. We had a lot of stares, especially Phil, who had a lot of fingerpointing and 'ahhhs'. But what should we expect from a city that sees so few tourists? One family even took a family portrait with us, pretty funny. A lot of younger people in this city are learning English and they were eager t opractice it. While Alban and Phil were looking for train tickets, I watched the bags and spoke with the crowd of at least a half-dozen students wanting to hear everything about me and America. This was a lot of fun for me.
Anyway, after a ten hour train ride to Shanghai, we now need to find something to do. There is still the off-chance we will find a way to Xi'an, even with our limited time frame. We'll see how that all pans out today. We found a nice hostel here last night, but it was so crowded we had to separate into differen dorm rooms, with no room key. It is kind of obnoxious to go to the toilet and then have to find someone to open the room again, but I guess that is life sometimes. I'm going to try and find somethihng to eat now. Maybe that bag of Oreos that is in my room. I have become quite addicted to those amazing little cookies.

Did I mention that I saw Jacki Chan? I think about 53,000 times.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1215609840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1215609840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hlance23/1/1215609840/tpod.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:40:50 -0400 Asian Peregrination

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Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang, China

Our first day in China was rough, but things are improving.
Things started out poorly in Hanoi. Although are hostel was clean and cheap, the service was lacking and I think they disliked us for some reason. We woke up Tuesday morning early enough to catch our 7:30 bus to China. The people at the hostel informed us that it would come at around 7:30 to pick us up, we started worrying when none had shown up by 8:00. In the meantime we had eaten our "continental" breakfast, complete with a baguette, butter and jam. They said we would be given an egg too when we checked a couple days before; thus far they had not given us any, although the other guests at the next table were given so much egg they were unable to finish. I kindly requested an egg, but was turned down by the staff. One would have preferred sleeping, while the other just didn't like me. By the time breakfast was over, we finally learned that the 7:30 bus was not coming for us, but we had to go catch it. Obviously, we had truly missed the bus, but fortunately we were able to hop aboard the 9:00 bus instead. It was a beautiful drive, especially as we neared the Chinese border.
At the border we went from the chaotic mess, that Vietnam had set up for immigration, to the clean, efficient and friendly Chinese immigration building. We went through immigration one at a time and I got through first and boarded my shuttle car to wait for Alban and Phil. My car eventually left without them, but not to worry, the bus was still there waiting for me and them. Alban came next amd we boarded the bus to wait for Phil. There we sat for the next twenty minutes doing a crossword, and there was no sign of Phil. We explained to the bus stewardess that there was one more person and we needed to wait, she nodded patiently. Suddenly, with no warning, the bus closed its doors and left the parking lot. Panicking Lance and Alban rushed forward to request to get off the bus and wait for the absent Phil. It was all to no avail, some kind people translated for us that they could not stop now and we were stuck without our buddy. We made the three hour trip from the border to Nanning safely, and just prayed that Phil made it through the border and would be able to meet us in Nanning on the next bus in a couple of hours. Sure enough, a couple hours later he cam walking into the train station to everyone's relief.
Chinese people do not speak English. In the small town of Nanning (1.3 million) I asked dozens of people where to find an ATM, but no one knew what an ATM is. Finally, Alban copied the Chinese characters for ATM and our hostel address onto a piece of paper and we showed it to a cab driver. He understood perfectly where he was supposed to go. First we stopped at an ATM. I ran to get money from it, but no matter what I tried it said that my PIN number was wrong. So I went and looked fopr another one on the same block, asking several people where one could be found; still, none could speak English well enough. I finally found a security guard, showed him my card and made motions of using an ATM. This, he understood, and walked me straight to a new ATM with a Visa logo on the outside. To my frustration, this ATM also wouldn't work for me. I ran back to the cab, with a very upset driver, and tried to show him what the problem was while Alban ran to see if his card would work. It wouldn't. We drove to a new ATM, each of us trying our cards several times before Alban's finally produced some money. Our driver was finally happy with us and drove us straight to our $5 per night hostel. He demanded an extra ten yuan for the hassle of running us around, we tried to get out of it, but finally gave up and gave him the money.
Chinese food in China, thus far has been delicious. The first place we found made their noodles right in front of us. They had picture menus on the wall, so we only had to point to what we wanted and they would bring it to us. Last night, however, was a different story. We found a restaurant that looked like it may have delicious noodles. The only menu, though, was in Chinese, with numbers for prices. We just randomly pointed at the different numbers and waited to see what our food was going to be. My bowl turned out to be egg and noodles, and it was very delicious, Phil got some sort of chow mein, and Alban ended up with some sort of white meat that wasn't chicken.
We are now in the beautiful city of Guilin, it would definitely be worth your time to look it up on Google images. The scenery around here is something incredible, I never thought this kind of land existed. We'll try and explore it in the morning. In the meantime, we have found ourselves a quaint hostel in town where we will spend a comfortable night.

Why do they make their sidewalks out of smooth marble where it rains? There have been a lot of close-calls...
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