- Packing
- A week of extremes
- Preparation
- Dress Rehearsal
- H6, #13, and Bo
- Vlotho
- Stockholm
- Tallinn
- Helsinki
- Helsinki II
- St. Petersburg
- St. Petersburg II
- Moscow
- Beijing
- Beijing II
- Beijing III
- Beijing IV
- Xi’an
- Xi’an II
- Shanghai
- Nara – Halfway plus one day
- Kyoto
- Back in the (Former) USSR
- Muroran
- 180th Meridian
- Seward
- Ketchikan
- Vancouver
- St Paul
- Chicago
- New York City
- North Atlantic
- 78 Days and 9 Minutes
- London
A power outage on the campus last night made sending an update a little difficult. However, I am happy to say that we had enough flashlights to share and meet the needs of the darkened floor.
Last night, some of the students let us accompany them for a Mongolian hot pot dinner. This quickly became the best food I have tried on this trip. Dinner was a lot of fun. It was especially interesting to talk with other people interested in travel and to hear their views of living in Beijing.
Went to the Great Wall yesterday, the same section that we passed thorough by train. A lot of climbing. Of course we went as far up as that part of the wall will allow. Although the views were hindered by haze, the scenery was still interesting. The mountains on which the Wall is built are really interesting and can compare with nothing in the States.
Today, we went back to the Forbidden City and let the recorded voice of Roger Moore fill in the gaps left from our previous visit. Spent almost the entire afternoon wandering around, exploring on our own. The guide thing hasn’t worked out as well as we hoped in this case. We had hoped for a little more information as part of our touring and that did not happen as we expected. We have learned a few things and have a chance to try again in Xi’an.
Dinner tonight was an experience as well. Anyone who complains they are left hungry after eating Chinese food needs to come to China. Again we ventured out to a restaurant with no English on the menu. And we managed to get food – a lot of food – without having to resort to charades or sound effects, so we were able to maintain some degree of dignity. Our dictionaries were helpful and it was gratifying when the food appeared on the table and looked as we had expected – for the most part anyway. It all tasted really good which is what really matters. We are not really sure who was more satisfied when the communication “clicked”, the waiters or us. We are fairly certain that this particular restaurant does not have too many English-speaking guests. It was a good challenge for both of us! Fortunately there was always a waiter “standing guard” near our table in the eventuality that we misunderstood and attempted to devour what was supposed to be the centerpiece.
This entry was posted in Around the World
