China - Day 11

China – Day 11
Today we conquered Hong Kong. We traveled through island of Hong Kong and visited many sites. We started off taking the subway from our hotel under the water to the island of Hong Kong; there we took a bus to the floating city. From there we took a boat to a floating restaurant on the water called Jumbo Kingdom. It was really cool! From there we had a few drinks and some lunch and headed to back on a boat to Stanley Market. We took a cab to Stanley Market and had a wonderful tour on the way there through the mountains, neighborhoods, and beautiful beaches. The views were spectacular! Stanley Market was like any other tourist trap market, they had all the crap every other market we had visited before had. But we got a few more select goods and took a walk down by the beach. The view from the beach was unbelievable. From the beach we headed to Victoria’s Peak. This is an old cable car system that has been there since 1888 and takes you to the top of the mountain. Once at the top there is in observation deck and TONS of shopping. There were high scale restaurants overlooking the beautiful view of the city. The view from the observation deck was simply breath taking. We had a few drinks at bar at the top and did some shopping at the EA Sports store, and then took the train back down the mountain. From the base we took a cab back to the hotel, where we had dinner at a restaurant near our hotel that was on the roof of a building. The view during dinner of city is something that words could not describe. It was an experience I will never forget.
Tomorrow is our last day in China.

China - Day 10

China – Day 10
Today we set out to explore the city of Hong Kong. We booked a water cruise through the ports of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a one of the world’s largest natural ports, and by taking a cruise through it you can defiantly see why. The harbor is packed with container ships, fisherman, and people just out for a boat ride. Our cruise went under the new bridge that is being built, and it was unbelievable. People are working around the clock getting this bridge ready for people to start driving across it. After the cruise we checked out the Hong Kong walk of fame. We saw a sculpture dedicated to Bruce Lee, and a bunch stars like the Hollywood walk of fame right on ocean. It is very hot here. The humidity and the smog make it very hard to breathe, so going inside is kind of nice. Our hotel is located right on ocean, but it also is connected to a huge mall that spans the entire boardwalk. From Louis Vinton to Prada and everything in-between, this mall has it all! It’s where the rich locals and tourists come to shop. Tomorrow we are going to check out Victoria Peak.

China - Day 9

China – Day 9
Today we traveled all day to get to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is by far the coolest city we have been to yet. It’s like New York City on steroids, without the trash and noise. We are staying right on ocean; you can see the beautiful skyline from our hotel. We got in late last night so we only had time for a few beers. Believe it or not, we found a German Oktoberfest going on right down the street! It was unbelievable! Little Asian guys dressed up in lederhosen were so funny! Everyone was just plastered and the hosts were a German band that had the greatest shtick I have ever seen! From drinking games, drinking contests, horn blowing, and yodeling contests they did it all! We just had a great time! Tomorrow we head out to explorer the city. It should be a crazy time!

China - Day 8

China Day 8 –
Today we went and visited the Terracotta Warriors, in western Xi’an. The warriors we by far a major highlight of the trip! We took an hour drive west, into the mountains where the warriors were discovered. The story behind the warrior is very interesting, from their creation, destruction, and resurrection. We saw all 3 pits where the warriors were discovered and currently on display. Seeing them will leave you speechless. The detail of each warrior is unbelievable; there are no two warriors that are alike. It was hard to believe that they were once buried underneath the earth on a farmer’s field. I actually got meet the farmer that discovered the warriors, we bought his book, and he also signed it for me. We toured the site for 5 hours and still couldn’t get enough. It was again one of the coolest things I have ever seen with my own eyes.
Tomorrow we head to our final stop, Hong Kong. It should be a great time!

China - Day 7

China Day 7 -
Today was a travel day. We left Beijing today for Xi’an. Xi’an is well known for its deep history and the terracotta worriers. We didn’t get to see much today, but we did visit the local drum tower, and see the Great Mosque. The Drum tower was a really cool stop, we walked up to the top and it gave you a beautiful view of the city. Xi’an is like a little big city in the middle of nowhere, we really like here! Xi’an has a lot of different religions in it. We saw a large group of Muslims here and it pretty cool. We decided to stroll down one of the streets and take in some of the local foods, I don’t even know what we were eating but it was amazing! We had little flat bread things with meat in them, little dough balls with meat in them, dried fruits, nuts, it was unbelievable! Good luck getting a Taxi in this town from 5 – 7pm it was quite the battle! Tomorrow we head to see the warriors.

China - Day 6

China - Day 6
Today was the highlight of Beijing! We started the day visiting the Pearl Market next to the Temple of Heaven. And to most people they mislabeled the buildings the Pearl Market was the Temple of Heaven. We found anything and everything to buy at The Pearl Market. From knock off iPhones to very expensive pearls, the market was so cool. We spent a few hours buying up half Beijing for our friends at home. The haggling was world class!
After we toured the market we went over to the Temple of Heaven, this place was awesome! The buildings and landscaping were simply amazing! The architecture was very similar to the Forbidden City but much more elaborate. We really enjoyed the views from the top temple because it was the first day without SMOG. The lack of SMOG was probably the best part of our day! It made a world of difference.
After we toured the temple we decided to take in the Chinese Flying Acrobatics Show. THIS SHOW WAS AWESOME! These people can do things with their bodies I cannot describe! I highly recommend seeing this show if you ever make it to Beijing! It wouldn’t be fair to even try to explain the tricks, they defied human abilities.
Tomorrow we head to Xian to see the Terracotta Worriers.

China - Day 5

China – Day 5
Today was quite the adventure! Our destination today was the Forbidden City. From the moment we set foot near the city we knew it was going to be a great stop. There were thousands of tourists all over the entrance and exists. The Forbidden City is one big maze that has multiple paths. We took the reverse route through the city and saw many many different buildings dating back hundreds of years. The architecture was unbelievable, each building has incredible detail. A few highlights of the Forbidden City were the Gallery of Treasures and The Hall of Clocks. The Gallery of Treasures held all of the former dynasty’s jewels, gold, and other worldly treasures. They had tons of Jade sculptures, diamond jewels, and gigantic gold vases. The Hall of Clocks was my favorite. There were clocks from all over the world in there from as early as 1400 AD. Most clocks were brought in during the Ming dynasty, and they were very beautiful. The detail alone on each clock boggled the mind. I would consider each piece as its own sculpture, with a little clock built into it. After we went through the hall of clocks we finished touring the city. To try and describe how large and how detailed the Forbidden City is would not do it justice. You have to see it for your own eyes. It will leave you speechless.

After we toured the Forbidden City we checked out Wang Fu Jing Street, which was the modern shopping area with shops from all over the world. We found a few really cool silk shops and picked up a few souvenirs. Walking down the street you were just blasted with modern culture, from gigantic digital screens to advertisements with Kevin Garnett on them, we thought it was pretty cool. We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant for dinner and it was fantastic. The service in China has been top notch at every place we have been. It has been refreshing to have such good service in a place where you do not speak the language. People try very hard to make sure you are happy and satisfied. Tomorrow, we will be going to an acrobat show at night, it should be pretty crazy!

China - Day 4

China – Day 4
Today, we visited the Great Wall of China. We visited a part of the wall called Mutianyu. It was by far some of views I have ever seen. We hired a driver named Young, to drive us an hour from Beijing to this part of the wall. This part isn’t traveled much by the Chinese; it is visited more by Europeans, Canadians, and Americans. On the way Young took us to a factory that produced copper art work. We saw how they made copper pots, painted them, and fired them. We also got sucked into buying a few but they are very beautiful! Once we got to the Wall we were mobbed by locals selling t-shirts, hats, little figures, anything you could think of. We took a cable car ride from the base of the mountain to the top to get on the wall. From the minute we got on the wall the views were stunning! We walked down one side and took many pictures. Words cannot describe how cool it was. After we walked down one way we came back up and decided to go up the other way. We ran into a few Americans on our journey that wanted to share experiences and talk to someone who spoke English. At one point on our journey up you could see the Wall go on up into the clouds. It was an unbelievable site. On our trip down from the wall we got into our cable car and noticed a sign that read; “President William J. Clinton took this car down the Great Wall on June 28th, 1998.” Being Americans we had to take a picture of it! After spending a few hours at the Great Wall, we decided to head back and our driver stopped road side market and bought us some apples grown deep in the mountains and they were fantastic.
Once we got back into Beijing our driver took us over to Olympic Village. We saw the aquatics center, the bird cage, and where the torch was lit. We were unfortunately not able to go inside any of the buildings because you needed special clearance to enter the village. From there our driver took us to a tea shop that was supposedly the best in China. We had a special tasting where a woman explained every kind of tea, and there benefits. The tea was fantastic! After our tasting we headed back toward our hotel for some authentic Beijing dinning. Dinner consisted of eating with chop sticks and trying to figure out what we would like. I had the shrimp and scallops and it was great! I defiantly recommend eating with chop sticks for a week; it will give you an appreciation of a fork!

Tomorrow we head off to the Forbidden City.

China - Day 3

China Day 3 –
Communication Breakdown would be the words I would use to explain day 3. We traveled from shanghai to Beijing and our flight was unbelievable! It was the best service, cleanest airplane, and the nicest airplane I have ever been on! After we got into Beijing the first thing we notice is that the smog is so oppressive! It seriously is the worst smog I have ever seen anywhere in the world. You cough when you go outside even for a moment. Immediately after arriving we decided to visit T-Square. We walked around there for awhile, people were everywhere. It was like our Washington DC, people have made pilgrimages from all over China just to see this place. You defiantly get the feeling of a communist government when you are down there. We ran into a few young Chinese people just wanting to speak English with someone, so we humored them and had a few conversations. People in Beijing defiantly do not speak a lot of English. It is hard to communicate here.

After we toured T- Square we decide to go in hunt of the famous roasted duck. We found a place called Quanjude Roast Duck. This place was crazy! It was packed with hundreds and hundreds of locals and tourists enjoying a full course roasted duck meals. They brought out so much different stuff, it was a little overwhelming. Also, they had sweet and sour duck, which was very similar to something out would get at any American Chinese restaurant. It was very fun! Tomorrow we are heading to the Great Wall of China. It should be very cool!

China - Day 2

Day Two was one of the most interesting days thus so far. We decided to travel to a small part of Shanghai called old town. This is what traditional old shanghai looked like; since it was Sunday it was packed with locals praying. We went to the City Temple of Shanghai where there were Buddha’s, incense, and kneeling all over the place. It was about 80 degrees and very humid, it was a little tough to get through the crowds. People in this country feel the need to be right on top of you when there are mass crowds. This can become very trying especially when it gets very hot. Part of old town was Yuyuan Garden; this place was beautiful and went on forever! From there we decided to take a cab to the Shanghai Museum. Cab drivers in Shanghai have the mentality that no one can get in front of them and they have to win the race. This can be a little nerve wracking. My suggesting getting over this would be; never ride in a cab without booze in your system. It makes it easier.

Shanghai museum was UNBEILEVEABLE! It was spilt up into 4 floors. The 4^th floor had galleries on Jade stone, ancient coins, ancient furniture. The coins were absolutely amazing. There were “coins” that looked like little swords from like 4000 years ago. The 3^rd floor had some of the most beautiful paintings and calligraphy I have ever seen. I couldn’t really understand that calligraphy, but it looked pretty cool. The 2^nd floor was devoted to ceramics of china, which was cool, (hard to appreciate), the detail was unreal. The 1^st floor lead out to Peoples Square. Peoples Square was an amazing site. It had people all over it flying kites and just enjoying the Sunday afternoon. In the background were all the skyscrapers, it was a great place to just sit and people watch. Dad, had shown some interest in buying a kite from a women, and she never left us along after that. It was pretty funny!

FOOD, I didn’t touch on this yesterday but the food we have been eating has primarily been western food. Our first night we at a Lawry’s Steak House, prime rib, Fantastic! Day two for dinner, we ate at Luna’s, baby back ribs, also very good! As for Chinese cuisine, haven’t been very interested in it. Ill letcha know when we get to Beijing I bet we will get more into the local food.

Monday, we are leaving Shanghai for Beijing. We are taking an AirChina flight in the morning. Should be quite the interesting trip. Also, me being the Rube that I am, I have woken up at 1am Shanghai time to watch my beloved Vikings beat up the Bears. Let’s hope they can pull another one off.

China - Day 1

Well, our first day in China was quite the experience. We started our day touring the Century Park near the Shanghai Museum of Technology. After that we rode the subway (which was so clean) to the Bund. The Bund is an old colonial area around the main river through the city. We then visited the Super Brand Mall. That place had everything from grocery stores to a brand new Best Buy. I have some great pictures from there. From there we waited in line to go to the top of the worlds tallest building. The view was unbelievable. The smog is pretty bad here so you could only see a few miles out, but it was beautiful. The traffic here is unreal. Makes Mpls/St.Paul look like a drive in the middle of Montana. I will update you tomorrow with our exploration from today.