I wish there was some big story to end this on, but there isn't. The last day I packed, researched Japan, and took it easy. I tried to go to the Summer Palace. Even took some pictures and walked around. But it was a rainy day, and I didn't like my pictures very much. Didn't even bother posting them.
I did try to go the Wangfujing street markets. These are the ones where they sell all the cool and gross foods right there on the street. I thought they served fried scorpion and seahorse. I was even excited to try them, and maybe a little scared. I took a few steps into the market, walking toward a vendor with scorpions on a stick. I was ready to go.... and then one of the scorpions moved. NOPE. DONE. I don't have many rules, but one of them is that my food must be dead. D-E-A-D. DEAD. Thanks for playing. See ya next time. After that I went to a Pizza Hut, followed by a Cold Stone Creamery.
Today I woke up at 4am for a flight to Japan. This was by far the worst transit experience I have had so far. Delta Airlines and Beijing Airport, you fail in so many different ways. To start the day off, they confiscated my airline bottles of alcohol. Now it was just two of the little bottles, but they would have helped me sleep through the flight. They made it through 3 seperate inspections. At the gate, two Chinese guards confiscated them saying they weren't allowed on. When I asked why, their English all of a sudden got bad. Really? You're scamming people out of little liquor bottles? Whatever.
The flight was a disaster. I have never had turbulence that bad. At one point we dropped so sharply and suddenly, a woman who wasn't wearing her seat belt actually lifted almost a foot or two out of her seat right in front of me. It just got scary at some point. I buried my head in my book and did my best not to think about it. So now I am in Narita in Tokyo, tired, hungry, and very angry. And my checked bag looks like it went through a meat grinder. It's disgustingly dirty, one strap is completely missing, and my padlock is gone. Not the one closing my baggage, the one I had carefully placed on the outside of my bag. It made it all the way around the world that way, but apparently Delta didn't like the look of it and had broken it off. It wasn't even closing any openings! So in my last bit of complaining here, I'll just say this. DELTA AIRLINES YOU FAIL!
BUT after that experience, I am now a strong proponent of a cure to bad travel. One hot shower, and one hot Big Mac. (Big Mac can be replaced by any unhealthy and warm meal.) This is all it takes to make you feel better. It won't fix any problems, simply bring you the comfort you need and clear your head. But a lot of times that's all you need. Anyway, Tokyo is awesome! There's technology all over the place. My toilet has a computer! More details on the land of the rising sun to come soon. Expect all of them to be nerdy in nature.
Showing posts with label china. Show all posts
Showing posts with label china. Show all posts
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The > Wall of Some Big Asian Country
Finally on the third day the weather was clear! I was going to go to the Great Wall of China! This was an easy 2nd for the top tourist sites I wanted to see on this trip, just behind the Pyramids. There are a bunch of different sites you can go see near Beijing, and originally I wanted to do this big hike between the Simatai section and another one. But in July they started more work on the Simatai section, so it won't be open for a while. Lame. BUT... I was also running low on money, so I went to the only part of the wall accessible by public bus alone, Badaling!
Of course this is the closest section, and so the most crowded. But I knew a few tricks for avoiding that. For starters, when you get off the bus (I was the only non-Chinese person on that bus FYI) they will try to lure you onto the chair lift. THIS IS A MISTAKE! At the top of that lift is a river of people all the way back to the main entrance. Don't do it! Instead walk to the main entrance and take a left, away from the river of people. You will immediately be met by several sections of wall that feel like a straight vertical climb... because they pretty much are. But keep going! Because after your 3rd heart attack, is a part of the wall with only 12 to 24 people. And it's big, and flat, and there are guard towers where cool breezes move through the stone and cool you off quickly. But the best part is the view. You can see the wall snake around for miles in either direction. You cannot see this view from any other part of the Badaling wall. It is worth every bit of the horrible pain you will go through to attain it.
If Badaling, the most overcrowded and touristy part of the wall, was that amazing, I can't even imagine how the other parts are. If I had hated the rest of my trip to China (which wasn't even close to true), the Great Wall alone would pull me back. I'm gonna have to come back at some point, I just have to. It was that much fun. Anyway, I put up lots of pictures on facebook. Sorry I haven't been able to put them on the blog. If I had known Blogger's pictures upload was this bad from abroad, I would have done something else. But it's too late now. Oh well, on to the last days in China!
Of course this is the closest section, and so the most crowded. But I knew a few tricks for avoiding that. For starters, when you get off the bus (I was the only non-Chinese person on that bus FYI) they will try to lure you onto the chair lift. THIS IS A MISTAKE! At the top of that lift is a river of people all the way back to the main entrance. Don't do it! Instead walk to the main entrance and take a left, away from the river of people. You will immediately be met by several sections of wall that feel like a straight vertical climb... because they pretty much are. But keep going! Because after your 3rd heart attack, is a part of the wall with only 12 to 24 people. And it's big, and flat, and there are guard towers where cool breezes move through the stone and cool you off quickly. But the best part is the view. You can see the wall snake around for miles in either direction. You cannot see this view from any other part of the Badaling wall. It is worth every bit of the horrible pain you will go through to attain it.
If Badaling, the most overcrowded and touristy part of the wall, was that amazing, I can't even imagine how the other parts are. If I had hated the rest of my trip to China (which wasn't even close to true), the Great Wall alone would pull me back. I'm gonna have to come back at some point, I just have to. It was that much fun. Anyway, I put up lots of pictures on facebook. Sorry I haven't been able to put them on the blog. If I had known Blogger's pictures upload was this bad from abroad, I would have done something else. But it's too late now. Oh well, on to the last days in China!
Rainy Day in Beijing
Day two was a full on let down. It was raining so I couldn't get to the Great Wall just yet. So I tried to go to the Military Museum, but it and most other museums in Beijing are closed on Mondays. Fantastic. So I spent most of the day hiking to the CCTV and Olympics buildings to take some pretty awful pictures. I also went to the Silk and Pearl markets, but more on them in a second. First I want to give you guys my impressions on China and the Chinese, which I was pretty surprised by.
Most of them are pretty obvious and expected. There are a lot of people. They are all shorter than me, and thus walk slower than me. The one thing I didn't expect is the level of commercialism. Not globalism, commercialism. In the sense that China has brought commercialization to it's own population. Instead of stores like GAP or Burger King, you have Chinese companies and stores doing the same thing. You will see the same clothing store chains, all Chinese. That's not to say their parent or partner corporations are not the same as the GAP, but it seems more like China is moving into that phase of a economic super power. The one where it begins to create it's own monsters of the commercial world, the same as the US and Europe has done. That was just my impression anyway.
Back to the markets, which still retain some of that haggling and deal finding spirit that China is so famous for. I went in looking for sunglasses, and came out with every but. Actually I came out with sunglasses. Fake Oakleys, that I haggled the guy down to $15 from $25. I still got ripped off though, because 24 hours later they broke. And not even when I was wearing them! I put them down in one piece on the desk, woke up from a nap, and there were 3 big cracks in the plastic. Meh, what was I really expecting? Anyway, I also got a 4gb flash drive for about $12 down from $40! I don't know who this girl thought she was selling to, cause I was never paying $40 for a flash drive. I can't imagine she knew I was a CS major, but still.
The markets are fun, but you gotta be careful, and can't be afraid to be firm with the vendors. One girl selling purses grabbed my wrist at one point and started to scream and pull me into their booth. In the middle of a big crowd of people, none of whom thought it was out of the ordinary. They also didn't think it was strange when I ripped my hand away and not so politely told the girl to get lost. In the end it was all fun, and you can find some pretty crazy stuff there.
Most of them are pretty obvious and expected. There are a lot of people. They are all shorter than me, and thus walk slower than me. The one thing I didn't expect is the level of commercialism. Not globalism, commercialism. In the sense that China has brought commercialization to it's own population. Instead of stores like GAP or Burger King, you have Chinese companies and stores doing the same thing. You will see the same clothing store chains, all Chinese. That's not to say their parent or partner corporations are not the same as the GAP, but it seems more like China is moving into that phase of a economic super power. The one where it begins to create it's own monsters of the commercial world, the same as the US and Europe has done. That was just my impression anyway.
Back to the markets, which still retain some of that haggling and deal finding spirit that China is so famous for. I went in looking for sunglasses, and came out with every but. Actually I came out with sunglasses. Fake Oakleys, that I haggled the guy down to $15 from $25. I still got ripped off though, because 24 hours later they broke. And not even when I was wearing them! I put them down in one piece on the desk, woke up from a nap, and there were 3 big cracks in the plastic. Meh, what was I really expecting? Anyway, I also got a 4gb flash drive for about $12 down from $40! I don't know who this girl thought she was selling to, cause I was never paying $40 for a flash drive. I can't imagine she knew I was a CS major, but still.
The markets are fun, but you gotta be careful, and can't be afraid to be firm with the vendors. One girl selling purses grabbed my wrist at one point and started to scream and pull me into their booth. In the middle of a big crowd of people, none of whom thought it was out of the ordinary. They also didn't think it was strange when I ripped my hand away and not so politely told the girl to get lost. In the end it was all fun, and you can find some pretty crazy stuff there.
Forbidden Palace, City, and Starbucks
Wow, two weeks with restricted internet access make Greg go... something.. something. Not to say that China and Vietnam weren't fun to travel in, but censorship gets to me. Especially on that large a scale. Anyway, I'm back in a country that promotes a more liberal freedom of speech, and also has a ridiculously fast internet connection. So here come the stories and pictures!
First up was the Forbidden City. It is actually called a bunch of things, Forbidden City, Imperial City, Forbidden Palace, and Imperial Palace. There's even a Starbucks (Forbidden or Imperial, whichever you prefer) inside somewhere. I couldn't find it though. The place was PACKED when I was there. It was impressive. The actual Palace was gorgeous. You go through like 6 gates before you get to it though, in fact a lot of people walk right past it thinking it's another gate. (Like one very clueless Jersey kid.) There were museums, but they are the kind I hate. The buildings that were designed for something else, but they still pack as many people as they can in there to see the exhibits. I hate that. Instead I just enjoyed walking amongst the streets and gates. It's a breathtaking structure.
Next came the Temple of Heaven. This is what I wish every tourist attraction was like. It is a giant park, with plenty of space for everything. It just happens to have a series of gorgeous temples in the middle of it. You pay to get close to them, but not much, and even then there is plenty of room to walk, view, and take pictures without wanting to kill every person walking around with a parasol in their hands. (Doesn't matter who is holding it, man, woman, child, the parasol thing is annoying. Just wear a hat!) What was really cool were all the people in the park. All of the retired Chinese pretty much just hang out here all day. They play mahjong, practice singing, dancing, yoga, martial arts, and every other park activity you can imagine. There was one old guy whose face showed his age, but he was ripped. He looked like someone had taken an older man's head and placed it on a marine's body. At this point, I was absolutely beat. I went back to the hotel and crashed hard.
First up was the Forbidden City. It is actually called a bunch of things, Forbidden City, Imperial City, Forbidden Palace, and Imperial Palace. There's even a Starbucks (Forbidden or Imperial, whichever you prefer) inside somewhere. I couldn't find it though. The place was PACKED when I was there. It was impressive. The actual Palace was gorgeous. You go through like 6 gates before you get to it though, in fact a lot of people walk right past it thinking it's another gate. (Like one very clueless Jersey kid.) There were museums, but they are the kind I hate. The buildings that were designed for something else, but they still pack as many people as they can in there to see the exhibits. I hate that. Instead I just enjoyed walking amongst the streets and gates. It's a breathtaking structure.
Next came the Temple of Heaven. This is what I wish every tourist attraction was like. It is a giant park, with plenty of space for everything. It just happens to have a series of gorgeous temples in the middle of it. You pay to get close to them, but not much, and even then there is plenty of room to walk, view, and take pictures without wanting to kill every person walking around with a parasol in their hands. (Doesn't matter who is holding it, man, woman, child, the parasol thing is annoying. Just wear a hat!) What was really cool were all the people in the park. All of the retired Chinese pretty much just hang out here all day. They play mahjong, practice singing, dancing, yoga, martial arts, and every other park activity you can imagine. There was one old guy whose face showed his age, but he was ripped. He looked like someone had taken an older man's head and placed it on a marine's body. At this point, I was absolutely beat. I went back to the hotel and crashed hard.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Chinese Visa
This one was a little tougher than the Vietnam visa. China actually wants you to come into their consulate to get the visa. You can have a travel agency do it for you, but unless you're booking a package with them, you're looking at a pretty hefty markup, not to mention the original cost of $130 for the visa itself. Thankfully I live a short train ride from NYC, and was able to go to the consulate myself. I left the application, photo copy of passport, and the passport itself there for a week, and one week later got my travel visa for my trip to Beijing! As for what to do if you don't live near a consulate..... no idea. They seem pretty strict about not doing mail visas. I would just suck it up and pay a travel agent. The prices I saw were $200-$260 for the agent to do it. Not cheap, but I am really looking forward to seeing China, so definitely worth it!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Visa Problems
Originally I was hoping for online forms for requesting a visa. Unfortunately, none of the countries I'm visiting allow this. I need tourist visas for China and Vietnam, and a transit visa for Russia. The Chinese and Russian visas aren't much of a problem, since NYC has consulates for both. However, the Vietnamese only have a UN mission in NYC. Their embassy in DC is too far away, and their consulate is apparently in San Francisco. Fortunately, the embassy does mail in visas, so it looks like I'll have to do that for Vietnam, and in person visa for China and Russia. Kind of a pain, but should all work out. Everyone else is recommending I hire a travel agent to do this. I could do that but there's the problem of me being broke. Meh.
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