Into the Wild

A friend of mine showed me the following quotation from "Into the Wild:"

"We like companionship, see, but we can't stand to be around people for very long. So we go get ourselves lost, come back for a while, then get the hell out again."

Seriously - could this be any better of a description of me?!?!

Stupid Jet Lag

I hate jet lag!!!! I was only able to fall asleep for 3 hours last night, and now I have to somehow stay awake through a 2 day work retreat out of town. Sigh...

I see a grande Starbucks soy hazelnut latte in my future. Or two.

Home Sweet Home!

Finally, after 17 days of travelling, I am back in my apartment! As much as I loved my trip, I am so excited to get to sleep in my own bed tonight!!!!!

Tomorrow, I have to go back to work - vacation's over. sigh... :( Speaking of work, as of this past Friday, I've officially been at my job for a full year.

Even though I'm happy to be home, I always feel pretty down when I come home from a big trip like this. It happens every time I go abroad: all the weeks of planning and built up excitement leading up to the trip, then the excitement of the trip itself, suddenly are all over and it's back to life as usual. Watching tv on my couch on a Sunday night and getting ready for a week of work as usual just seems so boring compared to travelling around China, where every day was an adventure. Oh well...it's nothing a pizza or some KFC can't fix haha.

Vacation Video

Here's a video I made displaying some of my best photos from my trip - Enjoy!

Full Circle

So, today was last full day in China. We spent the day mostly just lounging around our hotel room in Xi'an before checking out and having lunch at an Italian restaurant nearby. The food was actually quite good, though we were the only two customers there, so we had about 20 restaurant workers staring at us the whole time haha.

After lunch, we took a taxi to the airport and checked in for our flight on Hainan Airlines. Somehow, the taxi ride was half as much on the way to the airport as it was from the airport to the hotel a few days ago, confirming our suspicion that the first taxi driver was scamming us. Sigh...

Anyway, the flight was uneventful and they even fed us dinner despite it only being a 1 hour and 45 minute flight.

Now, here's the best part: We were able to get a room at the Ritz Carlton again in Beijing!!!! As soon as I got the confirmation email this morning, we were so excited. This is just such a wonderful hotel, and it felt very reassuring driving up to it in the taxi this evening. Not only did the bellman remember us and have a nice conversation with us, but they also sent us a fruit basket and personalized note!!

I just came back from relaxing in the jacuzzi and sauna, and I feel so relaxed now. Coming back for one last night at this hotel was truly the best way to end this trip: it is definately ending on a high note! As the note on the room service cart says: "a good beginning makes a good ending."

Tomorrow, I'm going to get up early to relax in the jacuzzi/sauna one last time, have breakfast at the hotel (sooooo looking forward to this - it was so delicious last time!), and head to the airport for our flight home.

I'm a little bit sad to leave, just as I am whenever a vacation abroad comes to a close. But, I've really had a great experience on this trip and I'm sure that I will remember it always. It's definately rekindled my desire to live abroad a little too. But, it will be nice to be back in my apartment where I can sleep in my own bed and eat out of my fridge whenever I feel like it.

Here's to great adventures and great vacations! And here's to the Ritz Carlton!

Xi'an

Today was our first of two days in Xi'an. We had originally planned to take the bus for a few hours to Luoyang to see the Longman Caves, but we decided last night not to. So, we slept in a little today (and watched Snakes on a Plane on HBO) and then started our day.

First up, we took a taxi to the Xi'an Train Station, where we caught a minibus to the Terra Cotta Warriors about an hour away. The trip was less than pleasant - the scenery was boring and grey, and the road was super bumpy. But, it was only 7 Yuan (1 USD), and compared to the prearranged tours which cost upward of 500 Yuan per person, the ruggedness was worth it.


Once there, we bought our tickets and headed in. The site itself is really large and consists of a museum, gift shop (of course), lots of grounds/gardens, and the three excavated sites. The 2nd site was still be excavated, so we couldn't see it, and the 3rd site was pretty small. But, the 1st site was huge and pretty impressive. There were hundreds (probably thousands) of carefully detailed warriors all lined up and ready for battle.

After we finished up there, we caught a minibus and headed back to the city. From there, we took a taxi to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which is Xi'an's biggest highlight. It was pretty cool, and there were some nice views and architectual elements. You could also climb up to the top of the pagoda for an extra 20Y, but neither of us really had any desire to walk up and down all those stairs, so we decided to have dinner instead. Interestingly, despite it's name, we didn't see a single goose there, real or statue - not sure what's up with that. haha

We ate at a pretty touristy restaurant on the pagoda grounds, but we were so cold and hungry that we didn't really care. My food was pretty good. I had a curry chicken set with rice, steamed greens, vegetables, steamed egg custard, and a really horrible smelling/looking soup that I didn't even try. I also had some picked cucumber dish, a few types of dim sum, and 2 plates of egg tarts. I was a very happy man. :) They also had some really delicous jasmine tea, which I couldn't get enough of. Not only was it delicious, but it was also not too hot. I love tea, but I hate when they serve it at such a high temperature at some restaurants that you can barely even hold the glass. This one was just right!

All in all, I am pretty unimpressed with Xi'an. Honestly, I wasn't super excited to come to Xi'an in the first place, and perhaps if I had come here first, I would have liked it more. But there just doesn't seem to be anything special or extra charming about it. It's just a small city. It reminds me sort of of Reno - it's a big tourist destination, and in it's hay day, it used to be super cool, but Vegas is so much better. haha

At any rate, since we didn't go to Luoyang today and there isn't much else to do here in Xi'an that is of interest to us, I think we are just going to relax during the day tomorrow before our flight back to Beijing. It's a little dissapointing, since I would have liked to have ended our trip on a strong note, but relaxation isn't a bad thing. We are also trying to book a room in the Ritz Carlton in Beijing for our last night in China tomorrow since we liked it so much the first time - I hope it works out!!

Karaoke on the Mini Bus

This is the silly music video that the people on the mini bus from Jiajiang to Emei Shan sang along to yesterday!!!

Farewell to Chengdu

Today was our last day in Chengdu, which was unfortunate because Katie and I both woke up with pretty low energy to start the day. All that hiking yesterday at the Thousand Buddha Cliffs really tired us out I guess.

Anyway, we eventually got up, checked out of our hotel, and took a taxi to the Wenshu Temple in Chengdu. The outskirts of the temple are lined with so many alleys and side streets that are full of shops, tea houses, and food stands. It was a really nice walk.

Since today is a national holiday, the temple itself was super crowded with worshipers. Despite that, we managed to walk around the grounds a lot and take some good pictures. Although the temple was really beautiful, it felt a little strange to be walking around as tourists when so many people were there to worship. And to be perfectly honest, we have seen so many temples since we've been here, that we are pretty temple-d out at this point. So, rather than going to see some of the other temples in the area after that, we decided to take a taxi to the People's Park.

Lonely Planet said good things about the park, and it turned out to be quite a nice place. Though, like the temple, it was super crowded. There were some koi fish lakes, some cool buildings, and a garden made entirely out of potted bonzai trees. The definate high point though was the animatronic haunted house that was there. It was like a primitive version of "It's a Small World" at Disney World and was soooo cheesy that it was actually funny. (Katie was scared though haha)

After that, we headed back to the hotel area to have lunch and decided to just go to KFC since we didn't have much time. This was a big mistake though - it was soooo crowded, the lines took forever, and we couldn't even find a table to eat at despite looking and walking around in circles for about 10 minutes! It was really frustrating.

But, food is food, and food makes me happy :) Once we finished eating, we got our bags and headed to the airport for our flight to Xi'an. The flight was really nice, and really short, and with the exception of the super long taxi ride to our hotel, Xi'an seems like a nice place so far. Our hotel is really nice/luxurious, and we just had a nice dinner at a restaurant nearby.

As nice as Xi'an is, Chengdu left a really strong impression with me and I miss it already. Tomorrow, we are headed to Luoyuang to see the Longman Caves. We are planning on taking the bus there, and based on our bus experience yesterday, we are a little nervous. Hopefully it'll be okay!