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Thanks everyone for following my blog. I had an amazing trip and I'm glad I could share it with you. Now I'm home and intend on staying here...at least for now;)

Until my next trip-farewell!

China: Day 7

12AM
Well, at least it wasn’t super important I get home tonight. It’s been crazy since Beijing. I realized at 1:05pm that the flight confirmation I had printed (5:30 departure) hadn’t been updated and that my plane was actually leaving at 3:30pm. Yikes. I grabbed my stuff and shoved it in a bag. I’m pretty sure the taxi driver didn’t know what hit him when I jumped in his cab. Thankfully only small traffic jams so I was there by 2:00pm. Yet again I got lucky (or so I thought) that my flight was delayed an hour. By the time I got through Chinese customs, took the airport subway (did I mention how big this airport was) and found my correct flight, I had just enough time to swing through the store to grab some cookies. I wanted to take them home for Cade to try because they were so yummy…well, I just ate the last one for dinner.
It was a long 12 hr flight to Newark airport. At least there was a good movie selection and decent food. When I got off at Newark I had to go through US customs, using up some precious time to get to my plane. The connecting flight to Chicago left 1 hour after I landed from Beijing. Yay, another delay so the rush was off! Then it was time to collect my boarding pass. Humm, somehow I suddenly don’t exist even after they swipe my passport. Three different TSA agents later and I finally have a ticket and I’m now running to my plane. Just made it!
I slept most of the two hour flight to Chicago. Here is the downside to that delay: by the time I got off the plane and full out sprinted across the airport, my connection was already gone. Great, not getting to work in the morning. I wait in this super long customer service line for about 45 minutes before the lady tells me “Well it’s not your fault but it’s not ours either.” By this point I’m exhausted and suddenly felt the urge to smack some sense into her, but I refrained. I asked for the next available flight (7:45am) and some food/phone/place to stay. Reasonable I thought…but apparently not. The most she could do is give me a discount at some hotel where I would have to pay a taxi to get there and then pay for a room. Seriously?!? And they don’t even have a phone! I got a little angry and asked where I could complain. Get this, they don’t even have a number to call-it’s all online. There must have been steam coming out of my ears because she meekly offered to let me use her personal cell phone. I hope I saved my parents the majority of the drive to Detroit.
The $5 I have to my name is Chinese money and the exchange places are closed. That means that pack of cookies I bought earlier was dinner. I don’t really want to sleep here because I’ve got my valuables in my bag and don’t want to take my eyes off it. Only 6 more hours until they board. And the best part-to file the complaint online I had to pay $7 for internet service.
I really want a shower. I guess I’m going to go wander around the airport for awhile. Maybe someone will be on later to chat with. Hopefully I will be home tomorrow sometime.

China:Day 6-Conclusion of my Travels Abroad

9:30 AM
If there is one thing I have learned from traveling it is that people are innately human no matter where you go. There may be customs and beliefs that are different, but underneath it all they are just people getting by in this crazy world. I’ve been to Costa Rica, Japan, Canada, China, Taiwan, and across the US and I have come to believe that people are not evil and that they are inherently good until circumstances change their nature.
I have also discovered that the Taiwanese people are confused on their cultural identity. Some believe they are Chinese, others Japanese and yet others call themselves Taiwanese. China has a different idea in regards to their nationality. Many people asked me if I was studying in China. I replied no, I had been in Taiwan and was only visiting China. They quickly laughed, brushing aside my comment and told me that Taiwan is a part of China.
My time in Taiwan also taught me a good deal about business practices in Asian countries. I had the opportunity to see all three of my majors in action. I now have a better perspective of what I want to do with my international career.
I made a lot of friends that I’m sure I will remember for the rest of my life. I not only became close to the US group, but also had the opportunity to network with many local students. I got to try a lot of food-some good and a lot not so much. I experienced works of art, performances of skill and a culture I had never known.
If I was asked whether or not I would recommend this trip to anyone I would ask them if they were kidding. This was one of the best experiences of my life and I can’t thank Professor Peng and SOM enough for this opportunity.

China: Day 5

4:00PM
Today has been the best day in China! It is a bit cooler out with a faint breeze which made doing everything just a little easier. I had originally planned to go to another palace and temple, but after careful consideration came to the following conclusions: most of the temples look the same here and most of the palaces were built on a mountain. Since today is my last full day in Beijing (well I have almost all of tomorrow but I’d be too worried about missing my plane to go too far) I decided I was going to do something fun. So I went to the zoo! I know I’ve been to zoos in the states when I was a kid but I don’t remember. I took the metro to the zoo exit, bought what I thought was a combo boat tour/panda house pass and started checking out the awesome animals. I felt so comfortable being back around animals-I can’t wait to get home to the barn!
Before I got too far I decided to get on the boat for the tour. Here we go, a tour in Chinese. We are going along not seeing any animals when we get ushered onto a different boat. I’m starting to get the feeling that maybe this isn’t exactly what I thought it was. The boat doesn’t stop again for another 45 minutes, and when it does I’m by the Summer Palace (definitely not near the zoo). It took me a while to discern that the boats were actually water taxis, not tour boats like they were labeled. I could either sit through another hot and smelly ride all the way back to the zoo that would cost 40RMB or find a taxi somewhere. I hadn’t gotten to see the pandas yet so I was determined I was going back to the zoo. After confusing the poor guy at the Summer Palace ticket booth he finally let me cut across the palace to get a taxi. That was a three mile walk.
I finally found my taxi and tried to explain zoo to him. He wasn’t getting it so I pulled out a picture of a panda and pointed at it. Pictures really are worth a thousand words-trust me I tested this theory. Once I was back at the zoo I once again paid for a ticket. This time I wasn’t getting on any boats!
What an awesome way to spend the afternoon. If you ever plan on coming to Beijing don’t miss out on the zoo. There is plenty of shade and benches, the atmosphere is fun and relaxing and there is an amazing collection of animals. I opted out of lunch to buy some souvenirs-I can’t wait to share them with people back home. I even had enough left over for small popcorn. Surprise-all the popcorn is actually kettle corn. Yum!
I got to see lions, tigers, bears, and birds. I really wanted to see the Zebra and horse collection but I couldn’t find it. The place is huge! I could have spent all day there except I still had to metro back for the opera tonight. I managed to take the subway and do the two mile walk a lot faster than I expected. I ran into some ladies from Shanghai that wanted to get tea with me. I politely ran away remembering what happened last time I got tea.
Now I’m back in my room waiting for dinner to start in an hour. Instead of trying to figure out the bus system tonight I’m just going to spend a little extra for a taxi.

10:45PM

I decided to skip dinner so I could eat at the Lao She Tea House. Good thing I did because they served that famous Peking Duck and it was just as good as everyone raved it to be. Yum! I decided to upgrade my ticket to the middle section instead of the back. I’m glad I paid a little extra or else I doubt I could have seen anything.
To say it was a cultural experience would be an understatement. In order of performance: traditional folk music, dancing, lighted drum, Peking Opera, extreme tea serving performance, hand-shadow drama, acrobatics, face-changing opera, and Chinese Kungfu. Talk about talent! The lighted drum was two opera singers who played the drum and sang opera while holding lit candles in their mouths. The Peking Opera was more like a drama about a jester-looking guy who breaks into someone’s house and steals food. The extreme tea serving performance us guys with extra long tea steam pots that flung around boiling water without spilling any except to delicately pour the tea. The hand-shadow man was awesome! He did the best shadow puppets I have ever seen. I tried to get a video clip of all of the shows for reference, but I’m not sure how they turned out. The acrobatics were…wow. Three women (two with 3 plates and one with 5) performing dances and crazy moves, all while spinning plates on sticks. I doubt I could even coordinate one, let alone 5! The face-changing was another funny performance. This guy literally could change his mask in the blink of an eye. Last, but definitely not least was the Kungfu. Perhaps I’m partial to it because I study Hapkido, but I thought this was a great performance of skill and control. One guy even broke a steel rod on his forehead!
Throughout the performances we were served snacks (sunflower seeds, peanuts, and cookies), endless tea, and some white soup concoction that was very good. They even gave everyone a souvenir to take home. There was a room with pictures of all the famous people that had come to the tea house. It was surprising how many there were. It was especially surprising that there was a statue of George Bush in the lobby. Oh, and a side note to anyone from the Taiwan program reading this: some of the dancers did the Bernie. I’m not kidding. I nearly fell off my chair.
Next the epic battle for a taxi began. I waited on the street corner for 20 minutes just to snag one and someone jumped in front of me and stole it. After losing two more taxis I was finally figuring it out. I’d either have to get my game on or walk back (which was super far). 45 minutes later another taxi came around the corner. It was me versus an entire group of Chinese teenagers. Game on. As soon as the turn signal started flashing one Chinese girl and I set off at a dead out sprint after it. She technically beat me by a hair, but I had my address card out and shoved it through the window just before she could open her mouth to talk to the driver. SCORE! I was on my way back!
For some reason all the drivers think the hotel is at the opposite end of the road. My guy tonight was rather grumpy so I decided I would just walk down the road. Probably shouldn’t have done that, but at least I survived. It was a dark alley with drunken guys and creepy people. Definitely never doing that again.
I’m rather sad that my trip is basically over. A taxi is picking me up tomorrow at 1:30PM (hotel check out time) to take me to the airport. Most of the morning will be spent packing. I hope to get lunch and some tea in before I go. I guess my next post will be from home or the airport.

China: Day 4

I love the food here! I woke up to a wonderful shower and breakfast. Now I’m just hanging out in my room until about 1:00pm. I’m trying to time the day so I can see the Capital Museum, Balyun Temple and be done with enough time to try the famous duck dinner.



2:55PM
So I got bored by 10am and set off early. I started by taking a taxi to the Capital Museum. Well, at least the taxi kind of got me close and I managed to cross a bridge and figure it according to the map I had. The museum was 4 stories high and very nice inside. Almost anywhere you go you have to pass security checks. For some reason they stopped me today and asked me to open my water. Strange, but I went with it. Then they made me drink several swallows of it in front of them. Did they think I was going to poison the art work?
Once I got in the museum was pretty cool, even by my anti-museum standards. Some floors let you take pictures while others had angry Chinese people that come yelling if you pulled your camera out. I’m pretty sure all the signs were in Chinese because I couldn’t find a rhyme or reason to when I was allowed. I’m surprised at how many gods the Chinese culture has. I stopped trying to figure it out after the first room full. Religion has had a large influence on the culture here, thought the youth do not often believe in a religion.
After touring the entire museum I decided to walk to the White Cloud Temple, or “Baiyun Temple”. This was an actively used temple. I got to see people praying and offering incense to different gods. Imagine the smell of thousands of sticks of incense burning and that’s what it smelled like.
Snagging another taxi I tried to find the restaurant that served this famous duck. It took several failed attempts and some serious scrutiny of the menus, but I finally found the place! And they don’t serve it until 5pm. Oh well…I don’t even like duck anyways.
There was some confusion on the taxi ride back to the hotel. The guy had a hard time finding it even though I had it written in Chinese for him. Finally he found it and I’m now back in my room. Tomorrow is the opera and I would like to see at least one more place before I leave. Time sure is going fast. I don’t think I will go back out tonight. It seems like people get more aggressive later in the day about selling things or offering rides. I kind of miss the 7-11’s on every corner.

7:30PM
White truffle fettuccine alfredo, crème de sweet potato and pink rose tea. Yum! I’m definitely not going to want to come home after food like this! Plus my butler left me cookies and a weather report when I got back from dinner. Ah, the life of rich people. Now I only have to find a job to afford this forever…

China: Day 3

1:40PM
This must be how Dion felt in Taiwan. Everyone wants a picture with me. People even hand me their babies!
Today was another fun day. I woke up to another yummy breakfast at about 7:30. I swiped some fruit from the bar for lunch (I might have money now, but not that much) and headed for the metro station. My hotel is about 2 miles from the station so it wasn’t a little hike. I was a little concerned about figuring out the metro but thankfully it’s even easier than Taiwan. Interesting side note is the advertisements here. As the train moves, ads race along next to the train. Marketing at a whole new level-nifty!
After a 45 min ride across Beijing I arrived at the exit for the Summer Palace. I’m glad I saved all morning for it because that place is huge! There was music and people dancing and singing. Check out the video clip on Flickr. I found it funny that there were signs warning you about the hills…it was actually a mountain. Once you get to the top you can go left, right or straight to see all the different parts of the palace. There is a sea temple, Tower of Buddhist incense, museum (no pictures allowed), garden of harmony and virtue, and lots of seaside shops. The views make the climb worth it.
After walking uphill for several hours I finally started to head back for the hotel. I was so tired I fell asleep on the metro and managed to wake up with just enough time to hop off. Trying to cross the road was an interesting feat. It doesn’t matter what color the walk signs are because cars are still racing though the intersection. The point where I needed to cross didn’t allow people to pass, only bikes. It took me a while to figure out there was a tunnel down the road you had to go under.
Several people started talking with me as I walked. One was a student studying English and we chatted for about a mile. The other was an artist who was going to New York in a month to set up a studio. His workshop was on the way to the hotel so we went over to look at his work. It was neat because tourists are not allowed in the old residential areas unless invited. He told me that this section of buildings was nearly 600 years old. His work was actually very good. He showed me that they usually sell for 800RMB and offered me one for 100RMB since I had brought good fortune to his shop before he traveled to New York. I’m sure it was flattery, but it was a good deal compared to the others I had seen so I got a horse scroll for Mandi and one of the Great Wall for myself.
The rickshaw people are crazy here. I had one follow me down the street offering me a ride. They don’t understand the word no until you snap at them to go away.
Another thing I’m not used to are all the soldiers everywhere. Pretty much anywhere you go you will see them. At the airport we were warned that foreigners must have a passport with them at all times in case of a random inspection. If you do not then there will be penalties…comforting.
I just got back to the hotel and plan on taking a little nap. The concierge downstairs just called and told me that my ticket for the Chinese opera tonight had to be rebooked. Looks like I’m going Thursday night. Humm, that changes my plans a bit. Maybe I will use this afternoon as a free night to check out the hotel. Or sleep.

7:30PM
What a wonderful nap! I just got back from a tasty dinner of lobster tail noodles with green tea tiramisu. I liked the jasmine tea so much at the tea house I got it again-not as good here. To mix things up a bit I climbed onto the roof for dinner and had a wonderful view of the Forbidden City. Great way to end the day! Now for a shower, Skype home, and some chill time.

China: Day 2

1:00 PM
Thanks to all my friends for uploading my blog! I can’t even access it here.



While being in a foreign country with no money (and no hope of getting any thanks to the bank I argued with) I have to admit today was amazing. I woke up and had a wonderful breakfast of fruit, veggies, and bread. They even served litchi, one of my favorite fruits. Of course I locked myself out of my room, but thankfully the butler let me back in.
I used 800 Yuan to get a taxi to the Great Wall. It was a 2 hour drive, but well worth the money and time. And yes, I did the Great Wall in style! I took a lift (just like a ski lift) up the mountain. Once at the top I climbed the wall as far as they let you go. Note to self* Buy membership to gym before climbing Great Wall*. Talk about putting a stair stepper to shame. The view was breathtaking (and no, it wasn’t just me gasping for air). I can officially say I have now climbed the Great Wall. I could write about it all day, but just take a look at the photos. They were venders selling water and souvenirs at different points along the wall. If they took a photo of you they expected you to buy something from them and weren’t shy to remind you of it. Once I trekked back along the wall (leg muscles twitching) I got to toboggan back down the mountain. How cool! I’ve never gone tobogganing before and it was awesome!!
At the bottom there was a market. I was afraid to even look at things because the venders would get right in your face and not let you pass if you showed the slighted interest. Thankfully I managed to get through the market and find my taxi driver. We stopped at the Bank of China on the way back to the hotel. Let’s just say my opinion of them isn’t very good since they could do nothing unless I had a credit card. Note to future travelers *Bring a credit card*.
After some very careful budgeting, annoying the butler with endless questions about locations and prices, and stealing a map from downstairs I think I have it figured out. I have a tiny bit of money (less than $100) from my emergency fund. If I do a lot of walking and manage to figure out this metro system, I think I can still see everything I was planning on seeing. That isn’t including Ming’s Tombs because the butler asked me why I wanted to see some dead guy’s tomb. He didn’t recommend it at all, and I think I will take his advice. It’s almost 1:30PM and I need to figure out some way to get food for a week with about 50 Yuan.

6:00PM
There is so much to do here! After writing my last blog entry I packed up my things and headed for Tiananmen Square. Here is some background info from http://www.beijingtrip.com/attractions/square.htm:
“Tiananmen Square is the geographical center of Beijing City. It is the largest city square in the world, occupying an area of 440,000 square meters (about 109 acres), and able to accommodate 10,000,000 people at one time.”
Probably should have read how big it was before I started walking. It was a bit much to conquer after climbing the Great Wall. I decided to use my food money to buy Cade a toy soldier that crawls and waves a Chinese flag. After walking through the square I bought a ticket for the Palace Museum. Never was a fan of museums, but if that’s your thing then check this place out. It will take you a full day to see everything. There are miles of buildings filled with artifacts. The museum leads right into the Forbidden City which was pretty cool. It had a lot of ancient architecture that was neat to look at. I never did make it all the way through. I walked until I couldn’t walk anymore, then turned around and started back.
On my way out so Chinese people wanted to get a photo with me. Apparently my blond hair makes me a superstar here. Another girl who was 24 came up to me and started practicing her English. We started talking and she invited me to get some tea with her. I cannot for the life of me remember her name, or her two friends. I agreed thinking how much can tea really cost. Oh boy was I wrong. Since they were from a different providence, they had never been to a traditional tea house before and wanted to check it out. I admit the tea was amazing and the performance to make the tea was very cool. The lady wore traditional clothes and made sure to offer the tea god a cup before we had any. She did this by taking the first tea poured and dumping it over a little idol that looked like a baby dragon/frog/thing. We got to watch her make about 10 different kinds of tea. She taught us the proper way to hold the cup and how to drink the tea in 3 sips (yes, it was a very small cup). Some was made with ginseng, jasmine, fruits, bamboo, and other interesting flavors. They were all very good! We had some tea snacks and sat and talked for a while. The group was very friendly and I learned a good deal about the Chinese culture.
Then the bill came. Ouch. It was almost 4000 RMB for the group. That was almost 1000RMB each. To put it in perspective, the Great Wall cost less than 800RMB. Needless to say I didn’t have enough money to cover it, nor did my friends who were just as surprised by the bill. After some awkward sitting and trying to figure out how not to go to jail my friends told me to go ahead and they would pay the rest. They left their ID cards and cell phones as collateral and went back to their hotel to get the rest of the money. I was very thankful for that, but now I was flat broke. I didn’t even have 1 penny to my name. Now that’s a scary feeling.
As soon as I got back to the hotel (about a 20 min walk) I explained to the desk how I needed my money they took for incidentals. I gave them the credit card info and…thank goodness…they gave me my money back! Talk about relief. I can now eat dinner and visit more of China tomorrow. My plans aren’t set in stone, but I’m thinking of going to the summer palace in the morning and the Chinese opera in the evening.
Now I am off to enjoy dinner at the hotel since I haven’t eaten since this morning. I don’t think I have ever appreciated money so much.

6:40PM
My butler just brought me cookies and a weather report for tomorrow. Wow!


7:47 PM
Dinner was wonderful! Crème pumpkin soup and pink rose tea. The main course was pan seared tofu with eggs. Delightful and affordable! I also set up a reservation for the opera tomorrow. Now I plan on enjoying a shower and bed. Amazing how climbing the Great Wall and walking about 10 miles can do you in for the day.