B E I J I N G

September 5, 2014

The train ride from Ningbo to Beijing was 7 hours, which is pretty good compared to the 23 hours by train it will take to get to Yangshuo. 

Once we got to Beijing, we took the subway to our hostel. I've never been to New York, but I picture it being like Beijing. Lots of people and tons to do. The hostel was nicer than I was expecting. Good atmosphere, very touristy, and popular. There were lots of people from all over the world. Staying in a hostel is a good way to meet people, because you sleep in the same room as strangers. I met a girl named Hannah from England, and some guy from the UK. One of my favorite parts about traveling is meeting new people. 

September 6, 2014

We got up bright and early in hopes of catching a public bus to the Great Wall. Only when we got to the bus station.. It was total chaos and we couldn't figure out what was going on. So instead, we grabbed breakfast from a bakery just around the corner and hopped on the subway to go to the forbidden city.

One thing I hate about China, is all the security checks. Bus stations, train stations, you name it. There are security checks everywhere, and they're completely useless. We wasted probably over two hours waiting in lines for security just that day. 

Needless to say, we eventually made it inside the forbidden city, which was ginormous. My favorite part was the garden. It reminded me of the garden of Versailles. The forbidden city was cool, but a lot of it looked the same to me.

Once we finished there, we walked quite a ways to Tianamen square. We waited 45 minutes in yet another security line, but in my opinion it wasn't worth it. But it was cool to learn some of the history of China, I guess.

We went straight to the Silk Market after that. talk about a long day. There were 4 floors of shop after shop. Tons of shoe shops that were selling the exact same things. So while bargaining, if the Chinese people were asking too high of a price and wouldn't go down, we would just tell them we were going to look somewhere else so they would go "okay okay!" And give whatever it was to us for the price we wanted (usually). Bargaining with Chinese people is NOT an easy task.. But I feel like I did pretty good. I got myself, and Josh a pair of Nike's for 300 RMB.. which is only 50 bucks in American money. According to Josh, they're fake.. but they look and feel real so I don't care. Annnd I also got a Nike backpack for $12. Score.

September 7, 2014

We ended up taking a guided tour of the Great Wall that was offered by our hostel. It included breakfast, lunch, information about the Great Wall, transportation, etc.

It took an hour and a half or so to get there, which wasn't bad. Once we got there, our tour guide, David, explained all the options of what we could do. Hike, toboggan, cable car, etc. We ended up choosing the toboggan, which was the best choice.

We took a ski lift to where the toboggans were, and then explored a bit. We hiked up a lot of stairs, and took a lot of pictures. The Great Wall was indeed very great. No picture or video could ever do it justice. The view was indescribable. It felt like a dream. 

Once it was lunchtime, we hiked back down to the toboggan station and got in line. HOLY. It was the funnest thing of my entire life. Picture the alpine slide.. only faster, longer, funner, and on the Great Wall of CHINA instead of PC. It was amazing and definitely the best part of China thus far. 

We ended up going back to the Silk Market afterwards. I bought two more pairs of shoes (oops). One lady threatened to KILL Kenzie because she was helping me bargain. I think they were all sick of us "stupid Americans" because we're so cheap. It was still fun, though. 

We also went to a night market on the way home. A few of the girls ate scorpions. Nasty. I wasn't brave enough to try any though.

September 8, 2014

The train ride home was pretty awful. It was way too hot and I could never get comfortable. When we got back to Ningbo, we were immediately swarmed with a bunch of guys trying to get us to use their private taxi's. We were getting all sorts of bad vibes. They were probably gonna kidnap us or something. 

We ended up waiting in line for 45 minutes for a taxi. Some random couple tried to cut everyone in line and as they got in the taxi someone yelled something in Chinese and the couple got kicked out. 

It was nice to finally get back to our apartment in Ningbo. home. My home for 3 more months.

Beijing, you were so good to me. I hope I can make it back to see your beauty again some day.

ALSO, check out this video my cute roommate Jennie made of our Great Wall Adventure. You won't regret it I PROMISE. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voBSfKOSo8o

                   

shanghai

Better late than never, right??

September 13, 2014

We woke up at 4 am so we could make our bus at 6 am. we didn't leave until 5 though, oops. We literally walked for 45 minutes before we were able to get a taxi to take us to the bus station. I almost got hit by a car trying to flag one down and for some reason they were all driving past us. Eventually, we figured out that they weren't allowed to take people anywhere that early, which makes zero sense. Like why even be out if you can't drive people around?
We made it just before 6, but the last group of girls (it takes 3 taxi's to get us all anywhere) didn't think they were going to make it in time, so we paid to change our tickets. WELL, turns out they came in like a minute or two before 6, so we could've made it. But that's just how the day was going.
The bus ride was miserable. No leg room, a backache, a headache, and an empty stomach.
We made it to Shanghai, and it was raining when we got there. Then we had to take the subway to the Shanghai Wildlife Center, which took another 2 hours, which sucked. But it was so worth it.

Every time I do something cool, I say to myself "this is my favorite thing I've done" or "this is the best day of my life." But this time.. I RODE AN ELEPHANT. Well, actually I rode TWO elephants because it was so amazing. It has been on my bucketlist to ride an elephant ever since I decided I was going to Africa. But it was well worth the wait! a dream come true.

And.. I held a baby lion, which was adorable. and fed a giraffe. It was such a fun day and I loved every second of it. China is so amazing. Each new place is so different and unique and I've loved seeing as much of it as I have. I can't wait for what's next. Stay tuned for more China adventures!

Thanks for the good time Shanghai, I'll be back soon I hope. xoxo

SLC ↠↠ CHINA

So.. I made it to CHINA! I've been here for just over a week now and I love it! Karaoke, being stared at everywhere we go, crowded bus rides, going to the market, trying the food, going to church in an apartment, it has all been good for the most part! 

It's super humid where we're at, which makes it even hotter than it already is (which is hot). Our rooms in the apartment have AC. thank goodness. But that along the wifi tend to go out every other day it seems like. None of the rooms in the school have air conditioning, so that kind of sucks. Especially for the kids.. who are in school like 12+ hours a day! Like I knew Asians were smart, but now I know why. 

We get up at about 6:30 every morning for breakfast. early, I know. But so far it hasn't been an issue since everyone usually goes to bed early anyway. We're all trying to get used to the 14 hour time difference so everyone has been pretty exhausted. Once we all adjust, I don't think it'll be as easy to wake up every morning for food that's not that great..

Food wise, our school is supposedly one of the better ones, but they still have some pretty nasty stuff. At dinner tonight, there were little tiny fish that still had their eyeballs, along with some other kind of fish, some green seaweed looking stuff, and rice. Rice is always safe. I didn't realize that when people told me the Chinese eat rice with every meal, that it was actually true.. Like who eats rice for breakfast?? weird. But I can tell that the cooks/chefs/whatever they're called, really try. This morning they had CEREAL and milk, and some fruit! Although the milk was warm, and expired, (everything here is) it could've been worse. So I'll try not to complain too much about the food. But don't count on it.

We started teaching yesterday. The kids already have my heart. They are adorable. They can be real stinkers a lot of the time, but it's really hard to stay mad when they're so stinkin cute. I'm already starting to realize how incredibly hard it's gonna be to leave in December. 

Buuuut we just arrived in Beijing so peace out. (oh, and I'm loving black and white today if ya can't tell)

xoxo