Beijing, China. First stop on the world tour. The city is enormous, constantly in motion with the masses in the streets and various modes of transportation shooting down alley ways and dodging busses. There is a surprising amount of english spoken here, but also a surprising lack of western tourists. There are so many cars, smokers, incense burners, etc here which leaves a perpetual thick smog over the city. There is a "glow" 24 hours a day, either from the sun behind the smog, or the neon lights reflecting it at night.
I have successfully connected with my traveling buddies for the next few months- Carson and Andrew. We had plenty of time to swap stories yesterday, and they definitely have some incredible ones on their journey from Barcelona to Beijing... see the links section on this page to read their tales.
We jumped right into sight-seeing mode yesterday as the three of us walked from our hostel throught the Tiananmen square. It almost looks like a part of Disneyland with Beijing 2008 olympics signs everywhere, and replicas of famous sites in China scattered along the sides of the square. We kept walking north towards the famous entrance of the Forbidden City. It looked big from the outside, but once we stepped inside the walls, it was absolutely overwhelming. It covers 1.2 million square feet, with hundreds of separate buildings, and thousands of rooms filled with artifacts from each of the past dynasties. Way to much to see, even if you had a week to explore it. We walked the length of the City, and kept heading North to the hill beyond the city walls. There we climbed the man made hill to see the entire city (or what was visible throught the smog). Curiousity carried us farther north as we heard Chinese singing in the park below. Festive dance and song was all over the park with hundreds of participants. It was to much to resist, so we waltzed all around the square together with the locals.
Our adventure looks like it should continue on schedule, as we were able to book tickets into Lhasa, Tibet on the new train. We leave tuesday night; I'm soo stoked for this one!! Cant wait to get out of the city and do some hiking in the Himalayas.
I have successfully connected with my traveling buddies for the next few months- Carson and Andrew. We had plenty of time to swap stories yesterday, and they definitely have some incredible ones on their journey from Barcelona to Beijing... see the links section on this page to read their tales.
We jumped right into sight-seeing mode yesterday as the three of us walked from our hostel throught the Tiananmen square. It almost looks like a part of Disneyland with Beijing 2008 olympics signs everywhere, and replicas of famous sites in China scattered along the sides of the square. We kept walking north towards the famous entrance of the Forbidden City. It looked big from the outside, but once we stepped inside the walls, it was absolutely overwhelming. It covers 1.2 million square feet, with hundreds of separate buildings, and thousands of rooms filled with artifacts from each of the past dynasties. Way to much to see, even if you had a week to explore it. We walked the length of the City, and kept heading North to the hill beyond the city walls. There we climbed the man made hill to see the entire city (or what was visible throught the smog). Curiousity carried us farther north as we heard Chinese singing in the park below. Festive dance and song was all over the park with hundreds of participants. It was to much to resist, so we waltzed all around the square together with the locals.Our adventure looks like it should continue on schedule, as we were able to book tickets into Lhasa, Tibet on the new train. We leave tuesday night; I'm soo stoked for this one!! Cant wait to get out of the city and do some hiking in the Himalayas.
2 comments:
You lucky Duck!!! I would love to be traveling with you guys and just hanging out over there. Hopefully you were able to watch "Cry of the Snow Lion". You are going to see some amazing things in Tibet. Take tons of pics for me and please pay attention to what you are witnessing. Very few Westerners get to Tibet and I challenge you guys to embrace the culture you find there and have conversation with as many Tibetans as you can. Make it more than just sight seeing!!! True Tibetan culture and people are amazing and I hope you guys have an incredible time there. I won't lie, I am slightly jealous. ahah Good luck mate.
Paige and i had a blast exploring Beijing. sounds like we went to a bunch of the same places!
have a blast in Tibet!
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