I SLEPT ON THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!

11/11/09

This morning we arrived in HONG KONG! Which actually isn’t part of mainland China, I didn’t know this. I got up early as I do every port in order to see us pull into the harbor. It was beautiful and everywhere you turned were skyscrapers and odd shaped buildings. The weather was warm and a little humid. After I took my pictures of the port area and I got ready for my city orientation by the tour company doing our entire Great Wall trip. The end of gangway was connected to a GIANT mall, I’m talking like 7 floors and never ending sets stores and restaurants. It was ridiculous. We met the group and broke up into groups to board 3 buses to tour Hong Kong. The first place we stopped was at a monument of the Chinese national flower. It was really cool and skyline was in the background so we had great pictures. After that we headed lunch. About 10 of us fit a table and in front of us is a glass table that rotates in the middle. We were having Dim Sum for lunch which really means appetizers. There was a little bit of everything from assorted meats, dumplings, fruit, to jellyfish and white rice. It was delicious and there was just so much food. If there was anything we wanted more of they would bring it right to us. To drink I had a coca cola, but we were also served Chinese tea. There are varieties of different flavors, but this one was Jasmine. I didn’t try it. After lunch we headed to a temple which was filled with incense. I did have a little difficulty breathing, but I sucked it up and looked around inside. After that we boarded the buses and headed to Victoria’s Peak. This is the place at the top of a mountain where you can see the skyline of Hong Kong beautifully. We took the Tram up which gave us awesome views of the city too. At the top we were met by a 7 story mall and restaurants and bars as far as I could see. I was in unbelievable shock the amount of stuff at the top of this mountain. We only had a little time there and then we had to head to our next destination. I took some great pictures though. The next place we went was Hong Kong’s most popular beach. There beaches are different than ours, there is no sand it was like gravel. We spent a little bit there and then walked down to see the different sculptures and monuments. Apparently, a few of them were good luck if you rubbed them from head to toe or threw money in the mouth of one of the monuments. I liked it because it showed us some of the Chinese culture. After that we got back on the bus and went to the market. It was much like the markets that we had in Vietnam, Morocco, and Ghana. We got some gloves as the Great Wall was supposed to be cold. Then, we went back to the bus and headed back to the ship. It was really a packed day, but I’m so happy that we were able to get an orientation of the city as we leave tomorrow for Beijing. Upon returning I went back to my room to relax before the light show and my friends wandered to find dinner. I met them on deck 7 to watch the light show from the ship rather than going out into to the port area. The light show is the biggest in the world and all it is, is the buildings in the port area light up with spot lights, different colors and patterns, etc. it was really cool and it’s only a 14 minute show. After that I was hungry so I grabbed some food quick and then my friends wanted to use their laptops so I went with another one of my friends to find a bar. We found a restaurant and got a Chinese local beer called Tsingtao. It was really good. After that we decided to wander in the port area and found two more bars. One was called Amoeba on the 18^th floor of a huge building. We had a drink there and then went down to the 8^th floor and it was ladies night, ladies drink free. So we had a few cocktails and then headed to McDonald’s then bed. We had to meet at 9:30am to go to the airport. Hong Kong was a lot of fun, I just wish I had more time here!

11/12/09

Today, I woke up and got my stuff together for the airport. I met my group at 930am and we boarded our two buses to the airport. We were there so early so we had time to eat. I found Starbucks so I had an iced coffee and croissant I was in heaven. We talked for awhile then we made our way  to the plane. We took a train to a different section of the airport and took the escalator to the gate. We boarded about 30 minutes early and then had to wait to take off. With the amount of stuff the 70 of us brought it was difficult to find places to put things, all of the overhead compartments were filled. Eventually we took off although it was a little late. The flight wasn’t bad at all, about 3 hours and I watched some weird movie on the TV. We had to fill out paperwork for immigration as Beijing is a part of China and Hong Kong isn’t. On the paperwork it also stated that we would have our temperatures taken again. It was actually really cool because it was an infrared system that took our temperature.  As we were landing you could see the snow covering the ground and you could feel the cold creeping up on us. To be honest I was excited because I was getting sick of the heat. We got off the plan and thankfully none of us turned out to have a fever so we met our guides in the terminal and got on the buses to transfer to the hotel. That whole process took about an hour and a half.  Once we stepped outside I was so happy the cold was amazing. It reminded me of home quickly and how much I missed it. It also got me into the Thanksgiving and Christmas mood. We didn’t reach the hotel until late and were starving at this point. There wasn’t much of food around, so we ended up eating at some coffee shop. I had a burger and fries that was definitely different than anything I’ve had before. We went back to the hotel and I went to bed I was exhausted.

11/13/09

Today, we woke up and had breakfast downstairs at 8:00am. We had a lot to do today as tonight we would travel to the Great Wall. The original itinerary had different plans for us, but the tour company decided to switch it around because the weather was suppose to get really really cold. So we had about an hour and a half at the market to find what we needed. This market had EVERYTHING from north faces, to UGGS, to Nike and Adidas, to silk ties, to souvenirs, to jewelry, to shoes and sandals. It had at least 6 floors of different departments. It was intense. I tried to buy UGGS, but they didn’t have my size so I had to suffer with sneakers for the Great Wall. We were told we would come back on a different day so that we could do the rest of our shopping. After we did our shopping we had a tour of some places in Beijing. The first place had a crazy amount of steep stairs to climb, but it was worth it. There was a line of 25 drums and they weren’t small. They were gigantic! We took some pictures and trekked back down the stairs. I felt like I was going to fall on my face. After that we headed to a home stay lunch which is lunch with a local family. Our group was 25 and we somehow fit into this woman’s dining and living room. We were given free beer, soda, and water. She cooked an amazing meal for us. It consisted of white rice, soup, vegetable dishes, chicken, pork, etc. Again it was a never ending feast. After that we had a rickshaw ride around the town again. Our tour guide Tom explained to us the meaning of the different number of large jewel like objects that are on the front entrance of houses. He said the higher the number the higher the family is in social class. I found that really interesting. After that we took the rickshaw ride back to the bus and headed to the Great Wall. It was about a 2 hour ride so many of us took a long nap. We arrived just as the sun was setting so many of us ran up the icy mountain and stairs in order to see it. I had trouble breathing because of the cold, but I was able to watch the sunset. After that we had about a 20 minute walk in the cold back to the restaurant. We were frozen and many of us were contemplating whether sleeping on the Great Wall was a good idea or not. Dinner was amazing just as my previous meals have been. I filled up on white rice and lots of meats and vegetables. After that we had to change into our warm clothes and thank god my bus was all girls except for one boy. So we changed and took the bus to our last point which dropped us at the foot of a mountain. We grabbed our stuff and started hiking. It was literally a 40 minute incline, freezing temperatures, snow covered steps, ice everywhere in order to get to the top. We finally reached it and then we were told our watch tower was over there. Well it was about 8pm and then sun had gone down already so we were using flashlights that you had to power up yourself. We walked slowly and easily down the ice and snow covered stairs up and down up and down until we finally found our watch tower. It took us over 40 minutes to get there and finally we had made it. We were given two sleeping bags and two mats to sleep on. We also had unlimited water, beer, soda, food such as nuts, crackers, cookies, breakfast food, and Nescafe for the morning. My friend Kate and I sat outside under the stars drinking a beer and watching the sky for shooting stars. I saw about 5 and it was amazing, the whole idea of being up there was unreal. It started getting colder so I decided to climb into my sleeping bag and attempt to sleep.

11/14/09

Well, there was a draft all night coming from the window and I was on the end so therefore I had a little amount of sleep and froze practically all night. Our guide woke us up about 6:15 in order to see the sunrise. I didn’t want to move I was so cold. I was able to get myself out of my sleeping bag and motivate myself to go outside. The sunrise was beautiful and the view was amazing, there was snow covered mountains as far as I could see and the great wall extended beyond the horizon. It was amazing and I couldn’t believe I was actually there. Then we all happened to look over to where we had come from last night. I can honestly say I have no idea how we made it down that stretch of the wall last night, it was a complete straight drop. And then we come to find out we have to walk that way in order to get back to our bus. We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into, it was suppose a 6k hike back to the bus. Our guide told us it would take 3 and a half hours to complete. We were all frozen and wanted to get it done with so we started moving quickly. We were the first group of about 10 to start going. We were going up and down, big steps, small steps, no steps, ice, snow, water, slush, you name it we  experienced it. We took tons of pictures along the way and then we could see the bridge and the final watch tower. We realized we had just hiked it under 1 and a half hours. It was crazy! We made our way around to the bridge we had to cross and finally one last set of intense steps and we were there. It was an amazing night/morning and as we took those final steps we knew it was over. We had just done something that majority of the people in the United States never get to do. We had a bit of time to sit down and relax to let the rest of the group catch up. I really just couldn’t believe that I just accomplished Sleeping and Climbing on the Great Wall of China. We had a choice of either hiking down or taking the zipline for like $6 USD so of course I chose zipline. It was soooo much fun because my friend and I went together. It took you over the river and down to a little bridge. There was a boat that comes and takes you to the other side. It was awesome. We walked around for a little then got warm and had lunch. Same style as the rest of the meals we were eating and it was delicious. We boarded the buses and we were headed back to Beijing to the hotel. We had the option of the bus taking us to the market again so we got ready in about 10 minutes and were back out the door to get on the bus. We went to the market and I got a lot of things that I needed. I also had dinner at O’Brien’s Irish Restaurant. I had some kind of ham and cheese melt that was delicious and my friend Kelsey had a triple decker bacon cheese sandwich. As for dessert we split tiramisu and a muffin. We were stuffed so we took the bus back to the hotel and relaxed. We watched TV and just hung out for the rest of the night. We did have the option of going to an Acrobat show which I would have liked, but I had shopping I needed to do so I skipped out. I passed out at about 11pm.

11/15/09

Today we had to be downstairs the same time we always do 8:15. So, I had breakfast and waited in the lobby to get on the buses. We were all still exhausted and had wind burn that none of us wanted to back out into that cold. However, we sucked it up and started our trek to the bus. About 5 minutes later we found out that we were walking to the Forbidden City. We had a tour of the whole city and it was beautiful. The buildings and designs were really interesting. The artwork on some of the buildings was unbelievable. We spent a good portion of our time following our tour guide through the entire city. After that we walked through Tiananmen Square and met our buses. We headed to lunch at another local restaurant. Same idea as the last, but this meal was the best. There was a sweet and sour chicken, rice paper to make your own spring roll, we had peking duck, white rice, vegetables, etc. In the afternoon we went to the Summer Palace and did another walking tour through there. The view looking over the frozen lake was awesome. I have tons of pictures. After that we went to see the Olympic Venues. Unfortunately we were constricted with time so we ran as fast as we could from the bus stop to the venues. I got pictures of the Bird’s Nest, the Cube, etc. I was so excited to be there and I wish we had more time. Then, we left there and went to a tea ceremony. They taught us how to make the tea, drink the tea, and we taste tested at least 4 different kinds. It was a lot of fun. After that some people wanted to go to a Kung Fu show and I had originally signed up but we were running too late that I didn’t want to waste my money. We ran to get dinner at Pizza Hut instead and then we transferred to the train station for our overnight train. We did have time to relax for awhile there and then boarded the train at 8:45pm. This was immaculate compared to the train in India. There were four beds,  a table, a door that locks, heat, 2 pillows and a down comforter for each of us, a personal  TV built into the wall, lights, headphones, etc. Oh and the best of it all, there was a WESTERN style toilet!!!!! There were a few of us that did the India train and this one so tears of joy were practically running down our faces. We left at 930 and arrived in Shanghai at 7:45am the next morning!

11/16/09

HAPPY BIRTHDAYYY MOMMMYYYYY!!!!! I MISSS YOUUUU!!!!!

Today, we woke up a little before 7am and got our stuff together because we weren’t exactly sure when we had to get off. The train got to Shanghai about 7:45am then we headed to the bus to transfer back to the ship. My friends and I decided if the line is toooo long than we would just go find something to eat. Well unfortunately it looked like nothing was in the port area and we all were going to have to run to get in line. The rain was still pouring and we were already freezing. Somehow we made it to the front of the line and only had to stand in the rain maybe about 10 minutes. We handed in our passports and made our way back inside the ship after security checked us. We were told we would have to wait an hour and a half for paperwork to go through so that we could get back off the ship. I ran to my room dropped my bags, got changed, read my cards from my family, and then met with my friends. It was a little before 11am that we were able to leave the ship. We took a taxi to Najing Road which was supposed to be big for shopping. We were starving so we found a restaurant in one of the shopping malls and got a bunch of appetizers.  Then, I spotted DUNKIN DONUTS!!!!!!!! I was in absolute heaven and we headed down there for some donuts and coffee. I got two donuts that were definitely different than the US. It was some kind of mocha donut. They were both delicious and I had a mocha iced latte which was fantastic! I was literally the happiest person on earth. After that we headed to another market for shopping. We sat down in a tea shop and the women let us try 5 different kinds of tea, we were there about an hour doing this by the way. Some of us bought tea and then we did a little more shopping before we decided we needed to head back to the ship as we were leaving tonight. Mind you that it has been down pouring all day since we had arrived this morning. So were cold, tired, and wet and in search of a taxi. That was impossible to find to begin with and once we would flag one down they had no idea where our ship was. We walked and walked and walked. We tried 5 different taxis to get us home. Our map fell into a puddle it was in 3 pieces, no taxi driver knew where our port is, and that paper was beginning to bleed through. Eventually we found one that knew where he was going, but we didn’t have more than 12 RMB to get back and  we weren’t sure if we were further away it would cost too much more. We had the taxi driver drop us off blocks from the ship once we knew where we were. It was a disaster. We finally got back to the ship and see that a trip is just getting back. Well apparently they were all standing on the bus and cut us in line because they didn’t want to get wet. So about another 20 minutes in the rain before we could get on board to find out……. We weren’t leaving until the next morning due to rough seas and on ship time isn’t until tomorrow. We rushed for nothing. We laughed about it, but it was just so frustrating! I had dinner on the ship with my friends and finally found my other friends that I had not seen in 5 days. We all decided to go out for a few drinks, but didn’t really know where we were going. It was raining, but not as hard as it was earlier so we decided to walk around. We tried walking over a bridge that gave us a dead end, and about 40 minutes of walking we found a bar called Bund 30. So, we went inside and we were the only ones there we had some beers and food and stayed there for about 2 hrs. We were the only ones in the place so of course it was awkward. They all just starred us the entire time. It was fun though to catch up with Katie and Erin on the past few days being in China. After we finished our drinks we walked back to the ship and went to bed.

11/17/09

Today, I decided to sleep in instead of getting off the ship. I had done all of my shopping and had no money left to venture around. I had lunch with my friends, which was difficult going back to ship food. Oh well, it wasn’t too bad a deli sandwich, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, and brownies. I’ve spent all day just putting pictures on my computer, and relaxing. We left Shanghai about 2pm and were on our way to Japan. The weather outside is foggy and cold, so it makes me want to just lie down and watch movies all day. I hope that at some point I can be productive with my school work. I really enjoyed China and the independent trip that I did. It was definitely worth it. The food in China was amazing and everything was so cheap. I had a great time and I can say I’ve hiked and slept on the GREAT WALL!!!! I’ll be in Japan on Friday! Some of the things I am doing are Mt. Fuji and Hakone, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. I’m traveling independently with one of my friends so it should be an interesting experience. We don’t have any really set things we want to see and we just want to travel through the cities. I’m excited! I just wanted to tell everyone that I will be home in 30 days. I’m sad to see this trip come to an end, but it brings me that much closer to all of you. I am so close to say that I’ve been around the world. Love and Miss all of you!!!!!!!