Part of a series: Around the World
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- March 4, 2001 (Day -4)
- March 6, 2001 (Day -2)
- March 7, 2001 (Day -1)
- March 8, 2001 (Day 1)
- March 10, 2001 (Day 3)
- March 11, 2001 (Day 4)
- March 12, 2001 (Day 5)
- March 13, 2001 (Day 6)
- March 14, 2001 (Day 7)
- March 15, 2001 (Day 8)
- March 16, 2001 (Day 9)
- March 17, 2001 (Day 10)
- March 18, 2001 (Day 11)
- March 19, 2001 (Day 12)
- Time Check: Day 12
- March 20, 2001 (Day 13)
- March 21, 2001 (Day 14)
- March 22, 2001 (Day 15)
- March 23, 2001 (Day 16)
- March 24, 2001 (Day 17)
- March 25, 2001 (Day 18)
- March 26, 2001 (Day 19)
- March 27, 2001 (Day 20)
- March 28, 2001 (Day 21)
- March 29, 2001 (Day 22)
- March 30, 2001 (Day 23)
- Time Check: Day 23
- March 31, 2001 (Day 24)
- April 1, 2001 (Day 25)
- April 2, 2001 (Day 26)
- April 3, 2001 (Day 27)
- April 4, 2001 (Day 28)
- April 5, 2001 (Day 29)
- Time Check: Day 29
- April 6, 2001 (Day 30)
- April 7, 2001 (Day 31)
- April 8, 2001 (Day 32)
- April 9, 2001 (Day 33)
- April 10, 2001 (Day 34)
- April 11, 2001 (Day 35)
- Time Check: Day 35
- April 12, 2001 (Day 36)
- April 13, 2001 (Day 37)
- April 14, 2001 (Day 38)
- April 15, 2001 (Day 39)
- April 16, 2001 (Day 40)
- Time Check: Day 40
- April 17, 2001 (Day 41)
- April 18, 2001 (Day 42)
- April 19, 2001 (Day 43)
- Time Check: Day 43
- April 20, 2001 (Day 44)
- Intermission
- April 21, 2001 (Day 45)
- April 22, 2001 (Day 46)
- April 23, 2001 (Day 47)
- April 24, 2001 (Day 48)
- April 25, 2001 (Day 49)
- April 26, 2001 (Day 50)
- April 27, 2001 (Day 51)
- April 28, 2001 (Day 52)
- Time Check: Day 52
- April 29, 2001 (Day 53)
- April 30, 2001 (Day 54)
- May 1, 2001 (Day 55) – Part I
- May 1, 2001 (Day 55) – Part II
- May 2, 2001 (Day 56)
- May 3, 2001 (Day 57)
- May 4, 2001 (Day 58)
- May 5, 2001 (Day 59)
- May 6, 2001 (Day 60)
- May 7, 2001 (Day 61)
- Time Check: Day 61
- May 8, 2001 (Day 62)
- May 9, 2001 (Day 63)
- May 10, 2001 (Day 64)
- May 11, 2001 (Day 65)
- May 12, 2001 (Day 66)
- May 13, 2001 (Day 67)
- May 14, 2001 (Day 68)
- May 15, 2001 (Day 69)
- Time Check: Day 69
- May 16, 2001 (Day 70)
- Time Check: Day 70
- May 17, 2001 (Day 71)
- May 18, 2001 (Day 72)
- May 19, 2001 (Day 73)
- May 20, 2001 (Day 74)
- May 21, 2001 (Day 75)
- May 22, 2001 (Day 76)
- May 23, 2001 (Day 77)
- May 24, 2001 (Day 78)
- May 25, 2001 (Day 79)
- Intermission – Part II
- May 27, 2001 (Epilogue)
Some thoughts on the trip so far, from the perspective of being halfway done. Boarding the ship in Osaka represented a significant change in the trip. From this point forward, we would be less on our own. In some ways, the most difficult things were behind us. It was a good point to commit things to paper before the memories became lost in a jumble of mental images.
| First impression | |
| Steven: | That 80 days was a long time. On the first day, the destination seemed so far away |
| Anna: | In 44 days, one can see a lot of incredible things and pack and unpack a lot of times. Not sorry to have seen or done anything, but happy to have “one home” for awhile. |
| Most memorable moments | |
| Steven: | The docent at the Siege of Leningrad museum |
| Anna: | The docent at the Siege of Leningrad museum |
| Meeting Li-Wei’s mother | |
| The night the lights went out in Beijing | |
| Favorite city | |
| Steven: | Beijing |
| Anna: | Beijing |
| Helsinki | |
| Favorite site or museum | |
| Steven: | Vasa museum, Stockholm |
| Anna: | Vasa museum, Stockholm |
| Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg | |
| Favorite park or garden | |
| Steven: | Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai |
| Anna: | Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai |
| Garden in Kyoto, Japan visited on the walking tour | |
| Best scenery | |
| Steven: | Stockholm at sunset |
| Siberia around Lake Baikal | |
| Anna: | China |
| Kodak moments | |
| Steven: | The Great Wall of China from the Trans-Mongolian train |
| Anna: | Sunset on the ChinJif ferry the first night |
| Best meal | |
| Steven: | Mongolian Hot Pot |
| Anna: | Mongolian Hot Pot |
| Noodles in the university cafeteria in Beijing – it wasn’t “just add water” | |
| Meal with Erin and Dan | |
| Best food | |
| Steven: | Chinese |
| Anna: | China, when I knew what it was |
| Prickynoo, Düsseldorf | |
| Worst meal | |
| Steven: | Tourist lunch after visiting the Great Wall |
| Anna: | The choice I did not take in China, like fresh dog meat. Made me more comfortable to be vegetarian |
| Favorite foods | |
| Steven: | Mongolian Hot Pot |
| Georgian | |
| Anna: | Mongolian Hot Pot |
| Georgian | |
| Beef dish on the ChinJif | |
| Favorite drink | |
| Steven: | Beer at the Shanghai Brewpub |
| Anna: | Tea in China |
| Favorite hotel or accommodation | |
| Steven: | The ChinJif ferry. It was nice to have some downtime and peace and quiet. |
| Ryokans in Japan | |
| Anna: | Hostel in Helsinki |
| Ryokans in Japan | |
| Worst place you stayed | |
| Steven: | The night train to Shanghai, complete with French tour group and constant stream of visitors |
| Anna: | All our hotels were very good. The least quiet night may have been to Shanghai on the train |
| Best mode of transport | |
| Both: | The ChinJif ferry. |
| Worst mode of transport | |
| Steven: | On foot in the cold |
| Anna: | I can’t think of one. Everything seemed safe and always got us there OK |
| Favorite store | |
| Steven: | The DeliFrance bakeries in China gave me a much needed pastry fix. |
| Anna: | Friendship Store in Beijing only because it felt like we could find anything there, especially the grocery section |
| Best purchase | |
| Steven: | New hiking boots. Best investment in this trip. |
| All those flashlights | |
| Anna: | Tempo packs in Germany |
| Garbage bags and paper towels before the train ride to Beijing | |
| Favorite souvenir | |
| Steven: | The brochure from the Siege of Leningrad museum, signed and dated by the docent |
| Anna: | Porcelain rabbit in Japan |
| Silk pouch for holding jewelry | |
| Funniest experience | |
| Steven: | The American in the Sannomiya-Kobe train station |
| The lights going out on campus in Beijing | |
| Anna: | When it was done – the boat ride from Estonia to Helsinki |
| The lights going out on campus in Beijing | |
| Moment you wondered why you were there | |
| Steven: | The Beijing zoo |
| Anna: | The Beijing zoo – not the pandas |
| Walking down Nevsky Prospekt in the cold on the first day in St. Petersburg | |
| Time you wished you were alone | |
| Both: | None of it |
| Time you were glad you were not alone | |
| Steven: | Entrances to the Moscow subway |
| Anna: | Most of Russia |
| Place you wish you could have spent more time | |
| Steven: | Kyoto |
| Anna: | Helsinki |
| Japan | |
| Other parts of China | |
| Place you wish you could have spent less time | |
| Steven: | The Dortmund rail station waiting for our night train to Copenhagen |
| Anna: | Shanghai |
| Things you were glad you saw | |
| Steven: | Lake Baikal |
| Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang even though it was just a mound of dirt | |
| Anna: | Terracotta Soldiers |
| Himeji-jo Castle | |
| The Hermitage | |
| Lenin’s Mausoleum | |
| Forbidden City | |
| Siberia in winter – through a train window | |
| What was better than expected | |
| Steven: | Helsinki – We had just expected it to be a place to get ready for Russia. It was an excellent city. |
| Anna: | The Kremlin |
| Helsinki | |
| Most over-rated site or event | |
| Steven: | The Lama Temple in Beijing. It was a political exhibit about Tibet |
| Anna: | The Lama Temple in Beijing. |
| I wouldn’t miss this for anything, but what am I doing here? | |
| Steven: | Suomenlinna fortress in the extreme cold |
| Anna: | Climbing the Great Wall |
| Most romantic spot | |
| Steven: | Nara in the evening with all of the temples lit up. |
| Anna: | Top of the Peace Hotel overlooking the river in Shanghai |
| Strangest word in a foreign language | |
| Steven: | Anything in Chinese when spoken by American students. |
| Anna: | Hai in Japanese. I thought people were overly friendly at first |
| Coolest people you met | |
| Both: | Erin and Dan – they had a great attitude and wonderful experiences they were willing to share with two people they had never met before. |
| The students at the university in China | |
| Oddest foreigners | |
| Steven: | Drunk Finns returning from Estonia. |
| Anna: | The Chinese habit of noisly clearing their throat |
| Ugliest Tourists | |
| Steven: | The visitors at the Beijing Zoo |
| Anna: | Me mostly |
| People traveling between Tallinn and Helsinki | |
| Kindest strangers | |
| Steven: | The students in Beijing who made us feel welcome, showed us around, and made our stay in Beijing special. |
| Anna: | Customs officer in Helsinki |
| Students in Beijing | |
| Best conversation | |
| Steven: | Erin and Dan |
| The Canadian couple, Keith and Les, in Xi’an | |
| Anna: | The three businessmen on the train from Beijing to Xi’an |
| Conversations with Fiona and Julia – learning German | |
| Worst conversation | |
| Steven: | Any interaction with the grumpy attendant on the Trans-Mongolian |
| Anna: | Conversations with Fiona and Julia – I am never quite sure what they are saying |
| Most notable event of culture shock | |
| Steven: | Filling out the survey at lunch in Xi’an. |
| Being saluted in Mongolia | |
| Anna: | Seeing "fresh dog meat" on the menu |
| Breakfast in Shanghai | |
| Memorable unavoidable event | |
| Steven: | The combination of sand, snow, and rain in Xi’an |
| Anna: | The boat ride from Tallinn to Helsinki |
| Biggest learning experience | |
| Steven: | All of it so far. |
| Anna: | The trip as a whole, particularly the endurance needed for long term travel |
| Biggest surprise | |
| Steven: | The feedback from the web site. All the notes from people following our trip. |
| Flying fish | |
| Anna: | How much I liked China |
| In spite of our best efforts… | |
| Both: | We left Russia with too many roubles. |
| Biggest achievement | |
| Steven: | That it has gone this well so far. |
| Anna: | That we have made it this far, are still married and like each other |
| Biggest disappointment | |
| Steven: | Our guide in Beijing |
| Anna: | The behavior of the visitors at the zoo in Beijing |
| Biggest regret | |
| Steven: | Not having more time to spend seeing things |
| Anna: | That I did not like Shanghai better |
| If I were to do it again, I would bring: | |
| Steven: | A pack without shoulder straps. My pack is great, but I am not using it as a backpack as I thought I would |
| Anna: | Given the amount of space I had to work with I would do it the same way |
| May consider a silk undershirt / turtleneck | |
| …I would not bring: | |
| Steven: | As many pens and coffee for gifts. Instant coffee might have been more popular than the real thing. |
| Anna: | Can’t think of anything I didn’t use |
| I must go back to | |
| Steven: | Kyoto. There is so much we did not see. |
| Anna: | China |
| Japan | |
| Place you could see yourself living | |
| Steven: | Stockholm |
| Anna: | Stockholm |
| Possibly Beijing or Kansai | |
| Thing you are most glad you brought along | |
| Steven: | Warm clothing |
| Anna: | Jacket, boots, hat, earmuffs, and gloves |
| Least favorite museum or site | |
| Steven: | The Lama Temple in Beijing. |
| Anna: | The Beijing zoo – outside of the panda exhibit |
This entry was posted in Around the World
