BEIJING: Where my adventure began. So....this city is nuts. Like mixed bag of all your favorites: walnuts, pecans, cashews. NUTS. My very first day flying solo in the city I was bombarded with people wanting to take photos of me. At one point I had around 30 people waiting for their photo op turn. I like to think this is how Beyonce feels....but it's probably more like the bearded lady in the circus. Welcome to China - where you are officially funny looking! My first day and I already got really good at throwing out the peace signs in photos.
These girls were the first to approach me for a pic - they opened the flood gates for the rest.
Who is this woman? No idea......
Between my photo shoots - I did get the chance to visit Tiananmen Square (where communist China is very good at denying any history occurring here....cough cough...1989....cough cough)
People love Mao so much, that his body is preserved and available for viewing in a mausoleum within the square. If that's not reason enough to visit China, than I don't know what it.
I also took the opportunity to go to the Beijing Zoo in order to see the pandas! I couldn't go all the way to China without seeing a Panda!
You see him back there? This isn't just a standard selfie. It's a panda selfie!
So cute! Even though they kinda suck at life. I mean, c'mon - they have only a few things they need to do: eat and reproduce, and they stink at both of those. But they're cute!
They had raccoons which tickled my American fancy.
What tickled my fancy more was how into the raccoons these people were.
So.....you know how when you're at the zoo and you aren't supposed to feed the animals? China doesn't care. The zebras and ostrich were dining on pringles, chicken wings, and carrots.
Beijing Zoo was also my first introduction to the fashion that this child is debuting in my sneak creep photo. Baby Assless Chaps. Save $ on diapers - just poo in the street!
Another fashion trend on the rise in China: English words on clothing with apparent disregard to what it might actually say.
Other Beijing highlights include the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace (because if you don't have multiple palaces, what's the point of being Emperor?)
FORBIDDEN CITY
View from above
Looking across the moat of the palace
Wee bit crowded. And its the China way to push, shove, and throw some elbows to get to where you need to be.
The Forbidden City (named so because it used to be forbidden for commoners to enter) is enormous.
SUMMER PALACE
Parts of Beijing have Hutongs. They are traditional narrow alley streets forming small neighborhoods. There used to be a lot in the city, but many got demolished recently due to city expansion. Some are still preserved though! My description: gray. Very gray.
Here are other randoms from Beijing!
Teeter Totters with my China roomate, Sally - cause growing up is for weenies.
Get the Beijing Look. (Yes the air quality IS that bad. Although we did get stuck in one of the worst sandstorms Beijing has had in a while which exasperated the problem)
Street Meat!
Starfish - part of a well balanced diet.
My roomie and I enjoying a morning dumpling.
Seeing a KungFu show
I didn't choose the ping pong life, the ping pong life chose me.
Did I mention that China is crowded?
By FAR the best part about Beijing - and all of China for that matter - for me was visiting the Great Wall! Any given day, I feel like I lead a pretty unspectacular life (go to work, go home, go to work, go home), but as I was walking along the wall, I felt spectacular. I was seeing a wonder of the world. I was touching history! Nerdy? Yes. But I don't care. It was awesome! You need to see it for yourself, (And I may have had the Mulan soundtrack on repeat in my head, cause I'm also a Disney nerd. "Let's get down to business! To defeat the HUNS!" (side side note: if you sang this in your head instead of reading it - you are awesome))
Once Beijing was exhausted, it was time to travel like the locals! Catching a snug overnight train to the next city!
How busy the train station is! It was like herding cattle. Again: push push shove shove!
Bunk Beds. Close quarters with all new friends!
Trying to communicate with locals (NOBODY speaks English in China...)
Soooo comfortable (please read as sarcastic)
XI'AN: Once upon a time the capitol of China. Now just another city. But a city with a big ass wall around it!(Not to be confused with the Great Wall of China. Different wall. This is just a city wall. Basically, China was ruled by a lot of paranoid people who like to build walls)
This wall was all flat - so you can ride a bike around it. Leisurely riding, it look a little over an hour to complete the circuit,
Entrance to the wall
Hannah's China Adventure, a.k.a "Look Mom, I'm on a wall!"
View from my handlebars
If I was more culturally genuine, I would have invested in a selfie stick.
Xi'An also has this awesome market area known as the Muslim Quarter. They have food and trinkets as well as a Mosque (cause...ya know, it's Muslim and all)
Oba-"mao" shirts. Because China, that's why.
Main drag of the Muslim Quarter
Toffee whackers.
My attempt at toffee whacking (cause China loves watching Westerners do silly things)
Intricate Cotton Candy! Too pretty to eat
Muslim Quarter drum tower all lit up at night
Xi'An's current claim to fame is being the gateway city to go see the famous Terracotta Warriors. Only just discovered in 1974, it;s estimated that there are over 8,000 soldiers and horses. Again with the 'China is run by paranoid people' trend, these were built by the first emperor of China thousands of years ago to protect him in the afterlife. The Emperor was 13 years old at the time...he obviously didn't have many friends if he was already planning on needing an army in his afterlife. But who is shocked? Kids are jerks.
Every warrior has a different face.
This is how the warriors actually look. All the complete ones have been restored. Many are still buried in order to preserve them.
Another overnight train to visit Shanghai next!
SHANGHAI: China's largest city! And former home to the tallest building in the world (before Dubai took over). Also, a lesser known fact that I ascertained by simple observation: the hub of street karaoke!
Shanghai was fancy, Like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Dolce&Gabbana fancy.
The building that looks like a bottle opener (left side of the photo) is the tallest building currently in Shanghai (another is being built to beat it, don't worry)
This area is called the Bund (teehee)
Look how pretty it is all lit up
I took a boat cruise to see the Bund more properly
I title this: Balls on the Bund.
Remeber that bottle opener building? Yea, that's the Shanghai World Financial Center building. And this is the observatory from the 100th floor.
I was on that river before!
Sky toilet
Not all skyscrapers! Shanghai had some beautiful parks, too
One of my favorites bits of the city was the famous Chinese acrobats I went to see. Clearly I made a HUGE mistake going into healthcare as opposed to the circus. These people are 10000000x cooler than I will ever be. My photos are junk and don't do it justice.
Stacking people high!
Giant hamster ball with 8 motorcyclists driving around in it!
Again with the hamster theme: this time a giant wheel that people would run on the outside of: while blindfolded, while juggling fire, while jumproping.
Just a typical day at work
A true international city, there was a region called the French Concession, which is, as you guessed, very French.
New Orleans, is that you?
A very un-French portion of the French Concession was the Communist history museum.....which told a VERY different perspective than my U,S, history classes did
hmmm.... let's not let US customs and immigration see this photo when I'm trying to come home.
Whelp! Can;t spend all day learning about Communism! Train time to the next city!
LONGJI: Fare-thee-well giant China cities! Hello countryside! I went to see the Longji Rice terraces which date back about 650 years- and involve a lot of They were beautiful! They are said to resemble a Dragon's backbone (assuming that dragon needs significant chiropractic help)
Side note: while the rice terraces are beautiful, I got real sick of eating rice.
This little 70 Year old lady was our guide on a 5 hour hike through the mountains. She smoked us all.
I decided while working here would be beautiful. The commute to work would suck - and I don't know if I'm really a manual labor kinda girl
YANGSHUO: From Lonji, I went south a few hours to Yangshuo. Also mountainous - it's a bit more touristy and came into popularity within the last 20-30 years for rock climbers, rafters, and thrill seekers alike.
Champagne from a tea cup. Keeping it classy no matter where in the world I may be!
This little nugget is called Moon Hill. I huffed and puffed my way to the very top of it.
Ta-dah!
Don't look too closely, as I'm probably super sweaty.
Night life in the streets
My Yangshuo adventures included cycling, bamboo rafting, cave exploring, mud bathing, and fish pedicuring.
Dodging China traffic on a bicycle is only recommended for those with a death wish
Coconut water straight from the nut (I told you China was nuts)
We're smiling, but this mud was freezing
Look Ma! I float
Bluuuuuuueeeee moooooon
So fresh and so clean, clean
Tasty tasty!
Another adventure I embarked on was a chinese cooking class! For those of you who don't know - I'm a miserable cook - so this is a huge adventure
First stop: market! Lots of rice!!!
The freshest ingredients in a less fresh environment
Chop chop chop
Entrusted with sharp objects!
The dumplings I rolled myself!
See!
The spoils (My veggies were a bit salty....)
Street ice cream was better than my culinary experiment
Word on the street (aka the internet) is that there was a storyline to this light show....but I couldn't tell ya what it was. Some people lit fires, little girls sang, there was a cow, and a lady running naked on a moon.....
HONG KONG: The grand finale of my time in China was in Hong Kong. HK was a godsend compared to mainland China because I could finally use the internet unrestricted by the Great Firewall of China (No Facebook, No Google, No Hotmail, No Youtube etc etc etc). I could finally let people know that YES! I was still alive! Despite the confusing 'is it China, is it not really China?' politics, I had a fabulous time in the city! Like Shanghai, it had a fabulous skyline.
Hong Kong was leased to the UK for a long time...Can you pick out any british influence? I dunno, Maybe like the GIANT ferris wheel?
The HK skyline at night puts on a laser light show! It's in the Guinness Book of World Records! I actually don't know why though. I watched the laser light show. It was kinda lame.
So the English translations of things aren't quite right anywhere you go in China. This was probably the funniest mistake on a church banner raising money for children.
For your skin improvement needs
Hong Kong had a 'Walk of Fame' equivalent. I only recognized a few names though...
Selfies with the Bruce Lee statue
Our excitement started early when the last metro train to catch to the park was all Disney themed.
Weeee!
The biggest let down of HK Disneyland was the castle was under construction so it looked super lame.
Sorry Jake. Here I am with the other man in my life.
Getting prepped for the tea cup ride
You spin me right 'round baby right 'round
Like a record baby, right 'round, 'round 'round
This lady and her friend, speaking no English, managed to hilariously demand we loan them our mouse ears for their own photo op.
Patiently waiting for the night parade in "Main Street USA"
Yes: The princesses were asian.
Thanks for taking the time to enjoy my photos :) Until my next big adventure, see you later blog!
