ChCHCh..China...

Hello, friends! Happy New Year!!! I hope you all had a wonderful evening! :) I decided to skip the usual New Years Eve festivities and go for something more relaxing... I was getting a massage at a spa as the clock struck 12( 1.5 hr for $35-40)! It was a wonderful massage, but I was trying not to yell or cry during the event. Getting a massage outside the US is always rather interesting. This one was a very intense and this woman was massaging me like she would tenderize a slab of steak. haha. Koreans LOVE their spas. They are very cheap to get in. It is around $5 to use their saunas, pools, and relaxation rooms.They are open 24 hours and people go at all hours of the evening/morning. We left at 3 am. The only catch about using the spa is no clothing is allowed (I went to females only spa). haha. So, I was facing my fears as I entered 2009. I may have conquered my public nudity fear, but you will NOT see me streaking through the streets anytime soon...maybe next year. :)

China!!! Well, I have been avoiding this blog all week! I have so much to tell and show you. I'm not sure where to begin. I will break it up into days. I was there for 5 days and took close to 450 pictures. haha. Don't worry, I won't post them all. China was nothing like I expected. It was MASSIVE. The buildings were HUGE. The streets were clean and well kept up. I didn't notice the pollution until the 3rd day, which I am guessing it was due to the cold weather. I was pleasantly surprised to see Christmas decorations all over the city. There were lights, Santa's, snowmen, and other Christmas themed decorations. I saw a few churches and many temples. I thought that Christian churches were banned in China, but I was wrong. According to the Chinese government, citizens may choose between the 5 official religions- Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, or Taoism. Any other religions are banned and you can be arrested if you are caught. All places of worship must be registered with the government and follow their strict rules. Most churches/places of worship are underground and face persecution daily. According to newspapers here, the government was relaxed during the Olympics, but has become strict again and arrests have increased. Lame.

I felt like I had much more space in Beijing than Seoul. I'm not sure how that is possible, considering Beijing's population is around 17 million and Seoul's population is 12 million. We were twirling around on the sidewalks and waving our arms, being silly and laughing that we weren't running into people or being pushed around by the aggressive Koreans. I didn't realize how crowded Seoul really is.

Although were very busy during the days, the nights were spent hanging out and laughing in our hostel. We shared a room with 5 other strangers. It was like summer camp. So fun! We hung out with some of the guys we stayed with. There was a German (Peter) and a French (Damien) guy that we got to know pretty well. They were both studying in Shanghai and knew quite a bit of Chinese. They helped get us around in the evenings and find food. haha. They were a lifesaver and very entertaining. I was in love with Damien's French accent. There were many times I had to have him repeat what he said because I was in a trance by his voice. He thought it was quite amusing. I told him to drop the accent, so I could actually listen to what he was saying, but he just laughed and continued to be dreamy.

Day 1( Wed)

We arrived in the morning and headed to our hostel. We found out quickly that Chinese people do not speak very much English- if any at all. They are also HORRIBLE drivers. I think I almost died 100 times. I would compare them to drivers in India. They do not stop for pedestrians and red lights are just a suggestion. Geesh. I think they are need to go back to driver's ed- actually, something tells me that they never went there to begin with. The streets were very wide and had an entire lane for bikers. Lots of bikes everywhere.


We headed to the Forbidden City after we dropped our stuff off at the hostel. The Forbidden City took 14 years to build and was finished in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty and then used during the Qing Dynasty. It has 980 buildings within the palace and everything is massive. Again, I felt very small and I am a giant compared to many of the Chinese population. It was so beautiful. I love the color themes of all the temples I have visited thus far. You can tell that the Chinese had influence over the temples in Korea. They were very similar to one another.





















Day 2 (Christmas)
We signed up for a tour of the Great Wall at the Forbidden City, which we were a little hesitant about. There are so many people trying to scam you in China. People will come up to you and try to get you to buy all their little trinkets that look like crap or want to be your tour guide. There were also more beggars in China than I have seen in Korea. It is pretty sad. I haven't been around that in a while.
So, we were picked up bright and early on Christmas morning by our tour guide. We boarded a bus with the other tourists. There was quite the variety of foreigners- 3 guys from Iran, 2 girls from Sweden, A couple from Korea, a guy from Finland, and us 3 crazy American girls. We started off the tour by heading to this lame jade store. I guess all these tours have 2 stops on the way to their destinations to get foreigners to buy crazy souvenirs. Lame. Lame. Lame.

I took a picture of the crap they told me not to. They waste my time, I break their rules. :) I'm a bad ass.

Next, we went to a see the tomb of Emperor Yong Lee, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. It was pretty cool, but I was hoping to see more than one tomb. The rest of the tombs are closed off to the public, unless you want to shell out the big bucks.

This is Mr. Yong Lee's tomb. He is said to be buried behind the tomb.

These stone statues are actually sacrificial incense burners, hence the coins and fruit next to them.

The building that contains the tomb.



I think it is crazy to give the statue of Mr. Lee money. I wonder what he needs money for? Polish? We wouldn't want his statue to get dull or dusty.

Next, we had lunch with our tour group. We had to go back to the Jade crap shoot, because the restaurant was connected to the building. Lunch was pretty hilarious. Most of the people at the table did not know how to use chopsticks. I felt like a professional compared to them, which shows how awful they were. The Iranians were hilarious. They would not eat any of the meat, because they said they don't trust the meat in China. I think they may have eaten some white rice and thats about it. They kept telling everyone to just eat with their hands. It was quite comical. All of us were tourists from all over the world. We were all experiencing a new culture together and it did not matter where we were from. It was a very weird lunch filled with awkward silences and laughter.

Next, we headed to the Great Wall of China. We arrived at the wall and got in line for the tram that takes us up to the more popular portion of the wall- or at least that's what I thought we were doing. We got to the front of the line and saw our transportaion. It was little cars that were connected to one another- just like a rollercoaster. They practically pushed me into the moving car- yes, it was moving. I pulled down the seat belt and found that mine didn't lock. I thought I was going to die. Ok, I am being a little dramatic, but I was worried. What the hell were we doing? See face below.





Well, I made it to the top and they yanked me out of the car and again, decided it wasn't necessary to stop the car. So, we stated walking on the wall and I was in compete awe. The view was incredible. There were no words and the pictures do not even come close to its beauty. If you ever have the chance to see it, I highly encourage you to. There were a lot of people on the wall. There were people trying to sell stuff, which was a little annoying. We stopped and took a ton of pictures. I also had to pose with a few asian people. It's tough being a celebrity in Asia. haha. The wall was FREEZING. The winds were strong and my whole body was numb, but it was worth it. It was very difficult to climb up the wall. It was SO steep.I felt the burn in my legs all the way up! It would have sucked if it was icy.
















So, the Great Wall of China lived up to its expectations and then some. I was very happy to be there on Christmas. I was thinking of all of you and wishing you were experiencing it with me. It was breathtaking. We were on the wall for 2 hours and I could have stayed for another 2 hours. It would take someone 5 years to climb the entire wall. The Chinese people refer to the wall as the "Wall of Tombs" because beneath the wall are mass graves. The graves were of enemies and of the people who were building the wall. It is said that 2-3 million Chinese people died while building the wall. The wall was built to protect the northern Chinese border from attacks. It was built, rebuilt, and maintained from 5th century BC to the 16th century.
On the way home, we HAD to stop at a Chinese medicine place where they tried to sell us more crap. Sweet. :)

We got home, exhausted and starving. We met up with our friends Peter and Damien. They decided that we needed to have duck for dinner. Apparently, China is known for their fabulous duck cuisine. I wasn't too excited about it, because I had seen some not so appetizing duck the day before.

Yummy. blehhh.
So, we spent 3 hours lost in Beijing trying to find this restaurant. We got to see a lot of the city and froze our tushies off. That seemed to be a theme of the week. brrrr. We finally found a place- not duck- and had a great dinner, sorta. The menu contained crazy food like bullfrog, duck blood, liver, tongue, and rooster. I had the rooster and eggplant- it was alright. It was mostly bone.The eggplant was awesome and I ended up having it for every meal after that. American Chinese food is nothing like the authentic stuff. Peter had the duck blood. blehhh. It looked like red tofu. He wanted me to try it, but I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole.

So, my Christmas was great. Very different, but I will never forget it. How could I?