Ending With a Celebration

My brother and his fiancee picked my mom and I up from our hotel in Seoul on Saturday afternoon and we all drove together to the wedding hall. We arrived about four hours early so that everyone could get hair and makeup done with enough time remaining to get dressed and take a few hundred photos. While Se Eun and my mom were busy getting ready I chatted with Sui, one of Se Eun's cousins who was just lovely. She works in marketing for Calvin Klein and spoke English really well, which was of course helpful to the general flow of conversation.

I did not end up taking very many photos of my own AT ALL. Something I regretted almost immediately after. But the situation was so new to us that I wasn't really sure when it was appropriate or what would be coming next. I wish I would have gotten photos of the traditional Korean dresses that the women wore or more photos of my brother in his tuxedo, or even a quick shot of my mom and I all gussied up. But the opportunity never seemed to present itself. I'm hoping that when they get their real wedding photos back they'll send some on and I can share them here with you.

Anyhoo. Weddings in Korea are similar to ones in the US in many ways. The bride wore a white gown, carried a bouquet and was undoubtedly the star of the show. The flow of the ceremony was much the same as it is here, and the reception dinner was quite similar. The differences came in the details. For example, instead of her father giving her away, my mom and Se Eun's mom walked down the aisle holding hands. At the end, they each lit a candle on the front alter and rejoined in the middle, bowed to the guests and sat down.

Also, most people in Korea get married in wedding halls which are sort of a one-stop-shop for all things wedding day. The hair and makeup, the room for the ceremony, the hall for the reception, the food, the flowers and even the corsages and some parts of the outfits were all included in the venue. We were also told by one of my brother's in laws that it is traditional for family of the bride/groom to wear white *lace* gloves and a flower corsage. Of course they said that if we did not want to there was absolutely no pressure, but seeing as it was my brother's day and not ours, we were ready to do whatever was asked of us. I was only momentarily disappointed that the white gloves clashed with my royal blue/black outfit, but I got over it when I channeled a little Madonna/Jackie O. (Yes, what a combo.)

After the ceremony and some food the newlyweds came back in to cut the cake. I was personally excited because I was starved and definitely ready to eat ANYTHING other than seafood. So they cut the cake with the worlds largest knife and after at least thirty minutes I finally catch my brother and I say "So like...When are we going to have cake?" and he said that in fact the cake was not real. I still haven't wrapped my mind around whether the cake was only there for the benefit of the westerners in the audience, or if the cutting of the cake in Korea is more of a symbolic gesture and they actually hate cake. But either way, it was just one more quirky and interesting tidbit of the day.

My brother was very obviously happy and excited to be married to his wife. My mom and I observed that she was the most beautiful girl in the room that day (did I mention they had over 200 guests!?) What I did not expect however, was all of the young women in the room saying that my brother was so handsome. That he looked like a celebrity or a model and that Se Eun must have been having a hard time keeping it together. Funny because you know...It's hard to envision your brother that way, but I'm sure he secretly didn't mind.

I think more than anything it was great to see how much his in laws liked him and how glad they were that he had chosen their daughter (or rather, they chose each other) to marry. They are undoubtedly a great match and I have always wanted a sister, so I feel lucky too.


The next morning they took off for Ko Samui, Thailand and my mom and I packed our three week's worth of clothing and souvenirs and headed for the airport ourselves. It was a long and amazing trip - probably a once in a lifetime opportunity and I think I will be glad that I spent this time with my mom for many years to come.

Small details that didn't make it into the blog while I was away will come along this week as well as an excessively long rant about the perils of jet lag and returning to work the day after you get home. Spoiler: It's a mistake when your body clock is 17 hours ahead. More on that later.

Love Hotel, Seoul Style

Oh people.

What an interesting couple of days it's been.

We got on our flight in Singapore and it was great. Six hours later we arrived in Seoul and there my brother and his fiancee were waiting and it almost felt like we had never gone on our adventure - like it was three weeks ago and we had just arrived from San Francisco.

My mom wanted to take them shopping for some household items, because home feels a lot more like HOME when you have the little things that you need. So they picked up pots and pans, some silver wear, towels etc. I think they were really happy and grateful. After shopping we went out to dinner to a Korean barbecue restaurant that was SO good! I don't even know all of the different things they brought to us, but there were at least six dishes to work with and they all involved using the beef that was cooking on the middle of the table. It was our first real Korean meal and we really enjoyed it - a lot of different flavors to try and the way that it was cooked by us on the table was really fun. A sort of DIY Benihana...but you know...Korean.

After dinner we got our things together and headed towards our hotel. My brother had never heard of it, so he didn't know where it was but eventually we found it. It turned out the hotel was sort of up an alley-way and in a sort of random part of town. Booking hotels online, especially in a city you've never been to before, is always hard because they tend to put the nicest possible pictures of the place on the website. You look at the site and you think "huh. This looks pretty nice, and it's a good price. Lets book it."

Well as I mentioned in my first post from the trip, my brother really has an interesting way of 'not looking on the bright side'. Always has. Sometimes its funny, sometimes totally predictable and sometimes I want to shake the shit out of him and say YOU ARE NOT BEING HELPFUL. This was one of those times because as we pulled up to the hotel he starts saying "Oh my god. This is where you guys are staying?? This is a LOVE hotel! This is where people bring their Chinese prostitutes. I can't believe you guys are staying here."

Knowing him the way we do, we have to take it with a grain of salt. I mean, most everything he says involves some level of extreme exaggeration. You can tell this is happening when five minutes later he is saying things like "Oh well, I'm sure the ROOMS are fine." And frankly we didn't see any prostitutes around and I was starting to feel kind of sick from dinner and I really had to pee and I figured, seriously, he's never heard of this hotel before, how can he possibly know?

So we take our bags out of the car and start heading up the stairs and I kid you not, the biggest fucking RAT scampers from out behind the door and INTO the hotel "foyer".

I gagged a little bit and then I died a quiet little death.

Meantime my brother's fiancee says the Korean equivalent of OH HAIL NO and goes inside with my mom to convince them to give us a refund.

Eventually she was able to cancel the reservation but it turned out that the hotel we were hoping to change to was all booked. We could have spent all night looking around, but there is a Hyatt near my brother's house that they said "always has vacancies." So we headed over there. The only thing was, the Hyatt was pretty expensive, actually as it turned out it was a little more than three times as much as the other hotels we've stayed in on this trip. And fancy. But as my mom is talking to the front desk I slowly want to kill myself my stomach hurts so bad and I'm thinking for the love of god woman, please just book the hotel for at least one night, I'm dying over here.

So she does. Because honestly we just wanted to be done with the whole thing, and hey, who minds luxury all that much?

It was nice to get into the hotel, after a while I started to feel better, I waited to catch Jon on Skype for a quick chat while my mom dozed off. And I am not kidding you, as I'm sitting there quietly on my twin bed, our next door neighbors start doing "IT" so loudly there was no ignoring it. And unless they were using a clapper light and they were turning it off and on constantly, there was also a lot of spanking going on. And I die for the third time that day.

Apparently, there are "Love hotels" of many different kinds in this city.

I told my brother this when he picked us up for lunch today. We were meeting his fiancee's family. His fiancee is named Se Eun by the way, pronounced "Say Oon".

We had a very traditional Korean meal which had who knows how many courses. All I know is that the waitresses kept coming and coming and coming with soups and kimchi, and whole fishes and salads and little dishes with things that I did not recognize. There was a lot of seafood which my mom and I don't really eat, but I felt I had to take one for the team and try everything which included some sort of egg pancake with squid tentacles and oysters and who knows what else. It was a really good experience, and I mean no disrespect to them or to Korean food when I say that there were a few times that I literally gagged after taking a bite.

We loved Se Eun's family though. They could not have been more friendly or more perfect in our minds. Which is fitting because we love her too.

And tomorrow she officially becomes part of our family.

Singapore on Foot

We had a plan when we got up this morning. First up the Asian Civilizations Museum, then Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling and a Shirley Temple and finally a trip to the orchid gardens for some peace and tranquility on our last day here in Singapore.

So we set off, on foot, I with my camera and map, my mom with a scratchy throat but a good attitude. It was a bit of a walk, I mean farther than we would walk anywhere at home, but sometimes it seems like a long walk is a whole hell of a lot easier than figuring out the public transportation system. And so we went.

I saw a lot of cool buildings and colors on the way...




We finally got to where our map said the Asian Civilizations Museum was, in fact, theoretically it was right by the Singapore Art Museum and the National Singapore Museum and that seemed to make sense. But alas it was no where to be found. Our whole time here I have attributed my navigational skills to an infallible map that ultimately, and apparently, led us astray. It was okay though. It was hot as hell (what else is new?) and we were ready to sit down for a drink. As we made our way towards Raffles Hotel it started POURING rain. Like major downpour that would have California freeways STOPPED.

And then about 75 seconds later the rain stopped and we kept walking.

Raffles Hotel opened in 1887 and is named after Singapore's "founder" Sir Stamford Raffles. It's colonial style and Asian-British charm draws in tourists from all over the world. Almost everyone visits the Long Bar where the Singapore Sling was invented - there are peanut shells all over the ground, but the wood and vintage details make the ambiance perfect. As it turns out the hotel has a ton of interesting history (which you can read here, if you like.)



After our drinks we thought we'd head to the gardens, but alas the public transportation issue sort of appeared again. Yes, we could see the stop names on the subway map, but we couldn't really be sure if they were anywhere near where we wanted to go and add in a bus transfer somewhere and you've pretty much lost us. We both figured we didn't care enough about the gardens to shlep all the way over there, so instead we did a little shopping and kept on walking.

I read online that Singapore has the world's largest Ferris Wheel. Actually we saw it when we drove in from the airport and it's huge. Although "ferris wheel" is apparently too puerile a word for this thing and so they call it "The Singapore Flyer - the World's largest OBSERVATION WHEEL." Anyway. I really wanted to get a few photos of this thing, so I tried to steer us towards it.

On the way we found ourselves on the marina which had TONS of construction going on. I counted well over fifty cranes all along the bay's shoreline. I knew from our cab ride from the airport that one thing under construction was a new and fancy casino:



After a few moments of doubt and agreeing that we were both totally drained from the heat and all of the walking, we saw the Singapore Flyer peering over the treeline and we headed over there. I had no intention of going on it. Seriously, I just wanted one sweet photo. Please people, that is just too high and too scary.

But my mom said that dammit if we were walking all the way over there we were going to get on it whether I liked it or not.

I didn't like it. But I agreed. And I also paid for the tickets so that I wouldn't feel bad for staring at my feet the entire time. Come on! It's like 42 stories high! You can see Indonesia and Malaysia from the top!




I looked at the floor for a good portion of the time. Palms sweating, audio guide attached to my ear for distractionary purposes. My mom, bless her brave soul wandered about the cabin and took some photos for me. I took some too, but when I looked out the windows, I made sure to look any way BUT DOWN.







All in all I would say that I'm mostly happy that I went on the Singapore Flyer so that I could A. Blog about it, B. Brag about it and C. Never fucking do it again!!

We grabbed a cab back to Little India and decided to have a late lunch/early dinner. We hit up the same place we ate at yesterday, because hey, why mess with a good thing? It was delicious again.

Anyway. I've loved Singapore. I think one of the best parts about this trip is that every city we have visited has been vastly different from the one before - even if they were in the same country. Singapore has been no exception, in fact if anything, Singapore seems to be many different cities all packed into one.

Tomorrow it is back to Seoul for my brother's wedding, which I'm looking forward to. And then back home again.

Sigh.

Oh Asia. What a whirlwind it's been.

Little India and Arab Street

We slept in more than usual today after coming in to Singapore late last night. Our hotel, as I mentioned, is itty bitty, teeny weeny (not pictured here) - smaller than my freshmen dorm room in Chico NO JOKE. But the internet is free and we get HBO, what more could we possibly need?

We are right smack in the middle of Little India and just as our guidebook says, it really does feel like we are in India itself. From the people to the saris and Punjabi suits to the temples and stores around.




It's pretty neat. While we did some shopping today my mom picked up a few long Indian shirts and I got a scarf that I love. We also stopped into an Indian crafts shop and were tempted by everything they had in stock.


And lastly for Little India today, we popped into a nearby Indian restaurant for dinner tonight and it was delicious. As I think about it, I'm pretty sure the only Indian food I've ever had was one chicken dish from a restaurant in San Francisco that also delivered pizza. Needless to say the food tonight was a bit more authentic and I'm glad we ate where we did.

After cruising around Little India this afternoon we made our way down Rochor Canal Road, up Victoria street and over to Arab Street.


Arab street has an enormous number of fabric and embellishment shops from silk to stores completely dedicated to ribbons. We also heard the prayers from the Sultan Mosque playing over the loudspeakers as we meandered through the shops. It was a colorful and interesting place to spend the afternoon.





I'm thinking tomorrow we will see some more classically Singapore sights like the Raffles Hotel and Museum and the orchid and botanical gardens for example. Stay tuned for that.

It is Tuesday and we are going to head back home this coming Sunday. In hindsight I'm not sure where the time went! Arriving in Singapore means we have visited seven cities, five countries, taken nine flights and had twelve stamps and two visas on our passports (so far!)

I guess when I put it that way, it's easy to see where the time went. What an amazing and interesting trip it has been. And yet still more to come. ;)

Phuket to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur

Our time in Phuket was relaxing and a nice change up from the hustle and bustle of the big cities. We spent a lot of time lounging by our hotel's pool which overlooked the Andaman Sea - a perfect turquoise blue body of water that, at night, lit up with the glow of simple fishing boats in the distance. One day at low tide we went across the street to the beach and walked out as far we could go on the rocks and checked out the tide pools. It was pretty neat.





Every evening around 6pm it rained and our last night there had some intense thunder and lightning, but regardless of how hard it stormed it always cleared up within the hour. It was a really beautiful place. Today, before we left for the airport we took a quick trip to Patong Beach which is where the major tourist action is. It really had a sort of Cancun vibe and we were glad that our hotel was tucked away near Kamala Beach where it was more peaceful. All in all I would definitely recommend a trip to Phuket.

We made it to Singapore this evening...Actually it is about midnight and we spent most of the late afternoon and evening traveling. We had a short layover before a connecting flight in Kuala Lumpur which was kind of neat. Our hotel room here is teeny tiny! But we are excited to get out and see the city for the next two full days. So far everything that you hear about Singapore being the cleanest city ever is completely true - even down to the grooming of plants and trees, its pretty incredible. When I mentioned this to our cab driver he said, very practically, "Well. Yes, this is where we are living it is good to make a habit of keeping it nice."

Hm. Certainly makes sense to me.

Bye Bye Bangkok

The night before we left Bangkok we went to Suan Lum Night Bazaar - a massive set of retail spaces near Lumphini park. This place had everything you could ever dream of buying while on vacation in Thailand.


From bathing suits to incense to buddha figures and of course plenty of counterfeit goods. Countless handbag knockoffs and watches that, when real, would set you back several thousand dollars and finally tons of North Face and Lowe Alpine backpacks.

Jon mentioned before I left that if there was one souvenier he might want from my trip here it was a "North Face" backpack - so it was my singular goal to walk away from the bazaar with one.

I've been practicing my bargaining skills on this trip. Also, it is just so easy to be taken advantage of as two female tourists in a part of the world we have never visited so I have learned to keep my game face on at all times. I approached the first "North Face" backpack vendor and asked him how much he wanted for one. Then I got to what I thought his lowest price was. I told him "ok, I'm going to come back." Then I went to the next guy and said "Well. That guy over there told me he would sell it for 'such and such' price. Can you beat that?" Inevitably each vendor was willing to offer a little bit less than the last. And when I felt like I had widdled the price down sufficiently I approached one final vendor. He wanted nearly $100 for the bag. I said "No way. That guy over there said he would sell it to me for $15. I'll just go back to him." He, of course said "No No, ok, I'll sell it to you for $15." It seemed pretty incredible that his price came down so fast and I assumed that must mean that it could go down even more. In the end I paid 10% of what he wanted. I was stoked and I continued to talk about and caress the bag all evening long which I think my mom got sick of.

I also approached one last vendor - backpack on my back I said "Listen. I don't want a bag. I have one here, I already bought it, I just want to know if it was a good deal." After convincing the guy that I did not need two of the same bag he told me his lowest price and with a slap on the shoulder I told him "BAM. I got this for less that THAT."

Victory: Schumanator.

But honestly I'm so over having to sift through the shit to get a fair price on things. Even our cab driver to the airport this morning wanted to barter for a fair price. I wasn't willing to budge on this point.

"Use the meter." I said.

He said "Ok, 400 baht. You pay tolls and you pay me go back fee"

Me: "Go back fee? You're a taxi driver, just pick up another tourist at the airport. No go back fee. Use the meter."

Him: "Ok, how much you pay me?"

Me: "We'll pay you what your meter says we owe you and we will pay the tolls" (which is normal)

Him: "Ok. and you pay go back fee" with this he starts the car and pulls away from the curb

Me: "Meter and tolls. Thats it."

Him: "Where you from?"

Mom: "US."

Him: "Ohhh. Big money."

Mom: "Not really anymore."

Me: "Maybe big money, but taxis still use meters there."

That seemed to settle it. Although conveniently when we arrived at the airport he didn't seem to have enough change for us.

To be fair to Bangkok, we didn't see much of the city - just the malls at the center of the city, the cabs, China Town where our hotel was and the insane traffic in between. But that being said of all of the cities we've been to so far I would say that Bangkok was my least favorite. I'm glad we stopped through, but I probably won't make a point of going back.

Phuket on the other hand....


Well. A girl could get used to it here.*

We arrived early this afternoon and after I took a nap I joined my mom outside on the large balcony that overlooked the ocean. It is utterly gorgeous here. We did a little swimming and later grabbed some dinner at the outdoor restaurant. The staff seemed to be checking the weather a lot while we ate. They all but licked their fingers and put them in the air to get a sense of where the wind was blowing. We've heard that it rains practically everyday here and as though on cue, just as we started to get full from our food the clouds starting dumping rain and the staff quickly and efficiently moved everyone under the overhang in under a minute. And just as quickly as the rain came, it went away.

Something that has been cracking me up is the way that my mom has been unintentionally talking to the locals. Cab drivers in particular. For some reason she feels the need to abbreviate her English so that they can understand her better. So she says things like:

"How many hour you work in one day?"
"You have son? How old he is?"
"We want go to airport. How much you charge?"

I'm not sure why she is doing this, but each time it comes up I take the opportunity to make fun of her for it.

After all...What are daughters for?




*Not too used to it though. I'm missing my Love, my dogs, my plants and my Mexican food.

Arrival in Bangkok

We had a very leisurely last day in Cambodia. We got up later than normal, made our way down to the pool and swam and laid in the sun for about two hours. This fun was finally interrupted by our 11:30 appointment for massages. We had a voucher for 40% off so we each got a one hour massage for like $12 total. It was unreal, and my first professional massage! I fully understand the appeal now.

After our massages we had lunch and then returned to the room to get ready for a little bit of shopping. Siem Reap has a few marketplaces that you can visit and so we hit the Old Market which had a lot of colorful scarves and bags, a ton of silver, and other assorted Cambodian goodness. Everywhere accepted American money and while I absolutely love the things I bought, I don't think I spent over $10 on a single item.

We got to and from the market by Tuk Tuk. Tuk Tuks are everywhere in Asia - picture a motorcycle/scooter with a wooden cart attached to the back that can sit two people (or maybe up to four for inventive Cambodians). We were weary at first, but it ended up being a fabulous way to cool off from the intense heat. And it was a good way to see the back streets and local shops.





As I said before, we absolutely loved Cambodia. The people were very friendly and genuine and the fabulousness of our hotel was an unexpected treat.

This morning we caught our plane to Bangkok Thailand - a forty minute flight and just a hop, skip and a jump over the border. We're only staying here for two nights so tomorrow will be the only full day here. There aren't quite as many tourist sites to visit here, but we've heard the shopping is fantastic and I intend on fully investigating that myself tomorrow.

Our hotel room here is on the 14th floor which feels really really high and it gives us an awesome 180 degree view of Bangkok and Chinatown.



We'll see what tomorrow has in store for us and then it is on to Phuket for a few days at the beach.

A Day of Temples in Cambodia

We LOVE Cambodia! It is gorgeous and green and the people are all incredibly friendly and open.

Today we spent most of the day touring the temples in the area, the most famous of course being Angkor Wat. But actually, there are a ton of temples in this area and as far as I am concerned Angkor Wat is not nearly the most beautiful. It does seem to be the largest though. A driver from our hotel took us from one temple to the next and we got to explore and take photos. I think this area is just starting to boom with tourism and as such we were able to walk on and through almost every single part of each of the ruins and only the very precarious and dangerous parts were blocked off for safety. I'm sure as foot traffic increases here there will be more and more parts that are off limits, so I feel really lucky to be here when we are.








Oh but lord is it hot here. So bloody hot. It feels like 110 degrees outside with 99% humidity. By the time we were leaving the last temple for the day, both my mom and I felt like we could literally faint or throw up it was so oppressively hot. My brother told us that Bangkok has heat and humidity like nothing we have ever experienced, but I wonder if he had been to Cambodia he might compare the two. Seriously, if you are like me and you show up here in a wool sweater you are a chump. Plain and simple.

We did not know what to expect when we got here, and I wasn't sure what our hotel would be like, but we lucked out. Not only is the hotel in a great location, but the service and attention we get here cannot possibly be matched by any hotel in the US unless you are paying thousands of dollars a night. If you're thinking about visiting southeast Asia I can't recommend coming to Siem Reap Cambodia enough, and further you must stay at the Pacific Hotel. It has been such a great experience so far.

Loving it!

I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow, there is a night market that we can visit and also a hike we can take to get a great view of the sunset - and we could probably spend a lifetime and still not see all there is to see of the temples. We're just taking it one day at a time - stay tuned!

Tomorrowland

Hi From Shanghai!

It's awesome here - truly futuristic. Our hotel is on Nanjing Road, which just one block from us turns into a massive pedestrian walkway and mall that has every kind of store imaginable. Taking one step out of our hotel and looking around it feels like we are in the movie Blade Runner or Back to the Future. The buildings are huge and a lot of them have circular/saucer shapes at the top... Sort of like the space needle in Seattle. Some of the buildings have large television screens that stretch the width and height of five floors. At night all of these buildings light up - it's a really beautiful place and a fun change from Beijing.







Yesterday we took a long walk to the Yu Gardens and Bazaar. The Yu Gardens were built during the Ming Dynasty and they are the very definition of peaceful serenity.

The gardens wind around through small stone caves and doorways and the curved rooftops are lined with the curvy body of a dragon.





The Bazaar at Yu Gardens also winds around a central point which is the zig zag bridge.





In ancient Chinese culture it was believed that evil spirits could not turn corners and thus the zig zag bridge keeps people safe. We bought a few things here, a SIM card for my mom's camera, a couple of small Chinese dolls, some postcards and a few other little souvenirs. One thing we've learned here is that every single price you encounter is negotiable. Every. Single. One. It's actually kind of fun and literally nine times out of ten, while negotiating, if we just say "okay, you know what, we'll think about it and come back" the salesperson says "OK! OK! FINE!" and we end up paying the price we've offered.

We planned on walking back to our hotel along the Bund - a long walkway on the edge of the Huangpu River that has a gorgeous view of the Pudong skyline. The Bund is famous for its colonial era buildings that still stand today. But as we made our way over there we realized that the entire thing had been torn up and was under construction - i'M assuming because Shanghai will be holding a World Expo in 2010. It was a bummer because I was hoping to get some good photos but it was also a bit scary as we ended up walking along a shoulderless street with tour buses and taxis wizzing by. Luckily we weren't the only ones, but if my seven days in China have taught me anything it is that it is best to steer clear of the crazy traffic at all costs.

One thing that further adds to the beauty and whimsy of Shanghai is how much the Shanghaiese seem to embrace the arts. Just today we have seen a group of elderly people dancing in couples in the public square - once they were finished a nice man came to us and said that they do it every morning for exercise since many of the men and women retire by the age of 50 or 55. He said that he was ninety years old and we simply could not believe it. He joked that it was probably "the dancing."

Then, as we walked further down Nanjing Rd. we came across what was deemed the 11th Annual Shanghai Arts Celebration, which had people beating drums, dancing and singing on a large stage, there were also awards for photography being handed out. And as if that wasn't enough, there is a sculpture exhibition literally across the street from our hotel in the small park.

And finally, as we headed back towards our hotel tonight after some delicious Haagen Dazs ice cream sundaes we came across a band that was set up about halfway down the block from our hotel. They played very well, but even more fun - there were couples dancing and twirling all over the sidewalk.

I have a great video of a few of these artsy events, but the internet here in Cambodia is so bloody slow I want to poke my eyes out (obviously I am posting this after drafting it up yesterday)...So those will come in a recap post when I get home in a few weeks.

People seem to smile more here and the light hearted nature of the atmosphere is contagious - though I will say that it is exceedingly crowded everywhere.

We love Shanghai, and I also really liked Beijing, but we are glad to keep moving on to Cambodia tomorrow (also will be glad to post these blogs that I've drafted up!). Stay tuned :)

The Great Wall and More

We made a plan to take a tour of the Great Wall; a tour that had a bonus trip of seeing the Ming Tombs. We weren't exactly sure what to expect - and we didn't know what the Ming Tombs were (though we could make an educated guess), but it ended up being a very informational trip and I probably learned more about China in these eight hours than the rest of my life combined. We joined a (very) French couple and an Aussie policeman for the journey.

The Ming Tombs, as it turns out, were built by the third emperor of the Ming dynasty (after he overthrew his nephew, the second emperor of the Ming dynasty). Everything was constructed based on the fengshui of the location, which was scouted out by a fengshui master. There are mountains surrounding it on three sides and an open side facing south, and there was once a small river that flowed through it. There are thirteen Ming emperors buried in the tombs and they are underneath a massive circular mound. The empresses are buried there as well. When the emperor died, his concubines all ate a large meal and then committed suicide together. The concubines are buried just outside of the circular mound.

In ancient China they believed that heaven was represented by a circle, and Earth by a square. So the courtyards and buildings leading up to the tombs are square and a white archway that symbolizes the step between heaven and earth leads to the circular (heavenly) burial ground. When Chinese people walk though this archway on the way out of the circular area they say in Chinese "I have come back!" Since as they see it they have come back to symbolic Earth from symbolic Heaven.



We later made our way to the Great Wall, which was awesome.. The part that we visited was not as remote as the parts that you seen in some photos but once I climbed high enough I got a great view and a definite idea of what the wall is like. First and foremost, it is steep. Very very steep.











Jon and I have joked about the tours you can take that end up in the tour guide's brother's house - who just so happens to be a struggling artist that wants you to buy his art. (Which happened to Jon and his family on a Navajo reservation). But in China, you don't go to someone's house - you make unscheduled stops at government run factories/showrooms. We went to a Ming Vase factory, a jade factory and finally a fresh water pearl factory. At first it was quite interesting...







But by the fresh water pearl factory none of us wanted anything to do with it. The sales person to tourist ratio was 1:1 and if you so much as looked at something in the case, they were all over you with costs and deals. We tried to make our way outside, and our tour guide, who was a very nice and good guy said to us "Can you please stay for a little while longer? You don't need to buy anything, but they will not sign my paper to say that we came here unless we stay for a certain amount of time. It is my job."

Interesting, and it goes to show how much control the Chinese government has on it's people. Oh yeah, and Blogspot is blocked here (hence the late blogs). As is Facebook and a whole host of other social networking sites. I said to my mom while writing this, it is very interesting how much control the government has over the people, and yet the people celebrate the government with such determination and pride that it seems exceptionally counter intuitive. She said she thought it was because they HAVE to celebrate the government.

It has been a very educational and exciting experience to be in Beijing and we can't wait to keep the train moving to Shanghai.

Beijing: The Forbidden City

When we first arrived in China we went through customs and my mom was stopped because her passport photo does not quite look like her in real life. The girl who was checking our passports called her supervisor over and he looked back and forth at my mom's photo. Then he asked her to smile (to see if maybe she looked more similar to her photo if she smiled). She smiled, but I was watching from a ways away and could tell she was sort of laughing at the whole thing. I'm not sure that bodes well with the Chinese immigration team.

The supervisor had three phones sitting on his desk. Two normal ones and one red one. He picked up the red phone and called someone else who eventually came down, asked for my mom's drivers license (which incidentally looks like yet a third and different version of my mom) and also took a photo of her with a digital camera. She took the passport, drivers license and digital photo to the "back" and somehow compared them. In the time that she was gone we sat in this tiny little four chair section that had a rope separating it from the regular foot traffic. It said "waiting area". In the time there we got to joking back and forth about the situation. Typical smug Americans.

"Listen buddy. I can give you ten million reasons why my photos don't look the same, starting with some recent weight loss and a hair-do overhaul and ending with the fact that I haven't slept in 36 hours."

"Well. We're going to have to call headquarters (CIA headquarters that is) and let them know that the new passport isn't working out"

Asian tourists congregated in a group nearby and we heard them sounding out the words "wait-ing ar-ea". Other judgmental travelers probably thought we were up to no good. Eventually we were able to go, but the whole situation put new meaning to the term "Forbidden City"

The next day we went to the real Forbidden City, which is just a few blocks away from our hotel. It took the better part of three hours to walk around, but there is no doubt that we could've spent days there and seen new things each time.

The patterns and the texture in some of the paintings and tile work were just incredible. Not to mention the immensity of the plazas and buildings (which are, like most everything else here based on the principles of Yin and Yang). Some buildings seemed to be renovated, and others were not - I learned later that only the main buildings were restored, and that is because the 2008 Olympics were in Beijing.







After the Forbidden City we went across the street to Jing Shan park, which has a great view of the city (as well as the pollution) and also has a large Buddha in the center pagoda that people were praying at.





We came back to the hotel for some lunch and then headed off again to Tian'an Men Square - which is also very close to our hotel and adjacent to the Forbidden City, to the South.

It was incredibly crowded. Most people were taking a walk around to see the large portrait of Chairman Mao - most of the visitors were Chinese. We walked to the other side of the square where there were huge red pillars (52 in all, representing the different cultural groups of China), and massive television screens that showed a very militaristic parade fully equipped with tanks, soldiers and missles. As it turns out, 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the "people's revolution" and October 1st was National Day although it seems they are celebrating all month long. So we picked an intersting time to be in China and we have witnessed an immense amount of national pride. 60, in China, is more significant that 50 (which we put more value on in the US) as 60 generally means a "wholeness" or "completeness". A human life is viewed as 60.





Something that I wasn't expecting in Beijing are all of the tree lined streets. It is actually quite beautiful. Next up for us was the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs. Read on, Friend.

The Beginning of the Adventure

People I am at Incheon International airport in Seoul and my mom and I are waiting for our flight to Beijing. It's 4:00pm at home, but here it is 8:05am the next day. I'm already confused and I keep asking mom, Wait...It's Monday? To further complicate things, Beijing is one hour "earlier" than Seoul coming in at 17 hours later than California.

Our flight here was fine. Singapore Airlines has tons of movies and tv shows to watch on demand and all seats have their own tv set. I watched Angels & Demons, Night at the Museum, The Hangover and Star Trek. After all that, there was still like four hours to kill.

Our flight basically raced the sunset and so it was light outside until we landed here in Seoul yesterday evening around 7pm. We went through customs and got our bags and found my brother and his fiancee waiting for us at the gate, which was awesome. It was also a little bit surreal.

We made our way to his car (this airport is HUGE by the way) and headed towards his house. This airport, much like the International one in Barcelona and Charles De Gaulle in Paris, is located about forty minutes outside of town. So it was a bit of a drive. Cody's house is located right near Namsan Tower. He lives on a very windy one lane street near a couple of embassy houses in a somewhat international part of town.

It was late, we were exhausted and there was nothing I wanted more than to clock out.

My brother has an interesting way of stressing me the fuck out about The Unknown that we might face. You know, don't look at anyone, don't take any airport taxis unless you want to be fully ripped off, don't sign up for any tours with people on the street, careful with that laptop - if it starts to smell like its on fire, you should probably turn it off, etc etc. I went to bed feeling significantly stressed out. But I eventually let it go. Hey, we're here. I think we'll figure it all out.

As we started thinking about it, we realized that our flight (the one I'm waiting for now) was going to leave at 8am. Since my brother goes to work very early, we planned to catch an airport bus which my brother would drop us off for....at 5am. Which meant this morning we woke up at 4:30. Miraculously, I haven't hit the wall yet. Getting up at 4:30 felt like getting up to my alarm for work. No biggie.

The bus came right as Cody dropped us off, which was lucky since it was still raining.

We've mosied around the airport and now we're hanging around waiting for the flight. I think we are both ready to get the sight seeing part of our trip underway and Beijing will be the perfect place to start. Our hotel there, Hotel Kapok, has free internet access, so I'll write more once I get my Tourist on.

Love from Asia.

PS. I haven't taken any photos yet as any moment we've been outside of the airport has been dark or raining. I'll post some from Beijing soon.

First Rain

Dear California,

Seriously?

One day of rain in the past 300 days and it takes ten times as long to drive five miles?

Shame on you. You know better.

You and your varying climates.

As a native I truly understand the fear that is associated with driving during seasonal precipitation.

But there comes a point when one must swallow their inhibitions and drive over 5 miles per hour on the freeway.

I'm not asking you to speed.

Lord knows I don't want you tailgating me in this kind of weather.

Alls I'm saying is:

If we are all courteous, intelligent and focused drivers, then we ought to be able to operate our vehicles as such without issue. Even when it's a bit wet outside.

I think, together, we can find a way to avoid locked-up parking lot traffic. It's not a tsunami, a broken levee or instant global warming. It's just a little water.

Now go out there, drive safely, and thank god that we don't live in snow.


XOXOXO

Allie

PS. Avoid hydroplaning at all costs.

Not fun.

Ais-cation

All of the sudden it is six days before my Ais-cation and I am not mentally prepared at all.

But trust me, that was all part of the plan.

Since I was a little kid I've looked forward to fun events, outings and holidays in an intense and obsessive sort of way. The promise of an out-of-the-ordinary and fun event had me counting down on calendars and chatting incessantly about whatever it was that was coming up. These days it's three day weekends, a low-tide beach at a convenient time, and three week adventures to another part of the Earth.

I'm not sure why this is, but I blame the annual Christmas advent calendar for encouraging such behavior.

So focused was I in my youth, that by the time I had five potential itineraries penciled and my entire bag packed, there was still at least eight days between me and the fun. And that is entirely too much time for an idle vacationer's mind to run wild.

In short, my little heart can't take the waiting. So I've instituted a sort of Purposeful Procrastination wherein I do not think of the upcoming event until it is very nearly upon me. And Friends, my Ais-cation is very nearly upon me.

I need visa photos for Cambodia and a seamstress to repair a small tear in the dress that I'll wear to my brother's wedding. I need to think of any possible work scenario that might come up while I'm gone. I should probably do laundry. I also should think about what exactly I want to do in each of places I am going. And how to get there. I should consider learning the basic Hello, Do you speak English? in the various dialects I'll encounter...I should probably return the pair of jeans I bought that would make me look so cool standing on the Great Wall of China. I MUST find a wedding present.

Or should I buy one while in Singapore or Bangkok, where the prices meet my current budget a little better?

Who knows.

But I have a lot of hopes for this trip. I think it will be something both my mom and I will be grateful to have done together. I hope to take a lot of photos of the places we go as the meaningful souvenirs of the adventure. I hope to enjoy my brother's wedding.

And also, I hope to think about what this blog is really all about. Is it funny? Is it crafty? A place to show photos I've taken? Is it just about my life? What I do from day-to-day, the scenarios that come together to make my experiences what they are?

We shall see.

Last Gasp of Summer

We spent last weekend at Pat's cabin on Lake Donner. It was utterly perfect - 80 degree weather during the day, no wind and not a cloud in the sky. The lake water was calm and there were only a few boats. I spent every moment thinking of ways that I could soak up the last gasp of Summer.

I'd heard there was a canoe in the basement storage area. Apparently one day Jon's mom looked out the window and saw a big silver thing poking out of the beach sand. They dug it out and it was a massive silver canoe. Biggest canoe I ever saw in fact. I got it out this weekend and it seemed to be in great shape.

But of course there were a lot of questions - it hadn't been used since it was found. Does it float? Are there spiders living in there? Do we have oars?

As luck would have it there was a set of oars in the basement too.

We shoved off from the rocky beach into calm water and abundant sunshine and Friend I tell you it was utterly magical.

We paddled around, dipping our hands in the still water every once in awhile. We would stop and drift along for awhile and then pick it back up again. We bumped over the wake of other boats and glided over the large boulders underneath the surface.

Eventually and inevitably Jon and I decided to play a little game to see how fast we could make the old girl move. We are ALL about friendly competition. The sprint would involve a lot of digging, reaching, and well...rowing, so we took a moment or two to drift along before we counted down to start.

Jon said "You ready?" and I said "Let's do this!" and when I tell you we were taking it extremely seriously I am not even exaggerating.

But as soon as we both dug in to row, the canoe rocked a uncharacteristically. I shot Jon a concerned look, knowing that rocking in such a way would definitely take seconds off of our finish line time. But when I turned to look at him he was holding up his oar, Which, after one meaningful stroke he literally bent into a 90 degree angle.

You see he's very strong.

But bending a metal object in water by brute force, Who does that?

Anyhow, we headed back towards the cabin, and with only one working oar I was determined to do my share of the paddling. But after just a few strokes we found ourselves in an unrecoverable left turn. If I hadn't handed my oar to Jon I'm sure we would have drifted into the nearby docks with the rest of the lake debris.

The day was capped off by a fabulous dinner at Cottonwood restaurant, which has a great patio with a view of old-town Truckee. We had a few drinks, good food and I had a truly delicious creme brulee.

And just when we thought the day couldn't get any better, we ended up playing Trivial Pursuit until 1:30 in the morning. Singing, laughing and...cheating. It was a blast.